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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17436-h.zip b/17436-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fea3728 --- /dev/null +++ b/17436-h.zip diff --git a/17436-h/17436-h.htm b/17436-h/17436-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f42923 --- /dev/null +++ b/17436-h/17436-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10413 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Queen's Cup, by G. A. Henty</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + body {background:#ffffff; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + font-size:14pt; + margin-top:70px; + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align:justify} + h1 {text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.05em} + h1.pg {text-align: center; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: 0em} + h2 {text-align: center; letter-spacing: 0.04em} + h3 {text-align: center; letter-spacing: 0.04em} + h3.pg {text-align: center; letter-spacing: 0em} + hr {height: 5px} + em {font-weight: bold} + pre {font-size: 70%;} + p {text-indent: 4% } + caption { font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.04em; font-family: "Arial";} + caption.toc { text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 18pt; } + table {text-align: center} + td { font-family: "Arial";} + thead { font-weight: bold;} + td.ltoc { letter-spacing: 0.04em; font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; + text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; vertical-align: top } + td.rtoc { font-weight: bold; font-size: 18pt; text-align: left} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 1px; } +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Queen's Cup, by G. A. Henty</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Queen's Cup</p> +<p>Author: G. A. Henty</p> +<p>Release Date: December 31, 2005 [eBook #17436]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN'S CUP***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Martin Robb</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>The Queen's Cup</h1> +<h2>by G. A. Henty.</h2> +<p> </p> +<hr /> +<table summary="Table of Contents"> +<caption class="toc">Contents</caption> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch1">Chapter 1</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch2">Chapter 2</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch3">Chapter 3</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch4">Chapter 4</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch5">Chapter 5</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch6">Chapter 6</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch7">Chapter 7</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch8">Chapter 8</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch9">Chapter 9</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch10">Chapter 10</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch11">Chapter 11</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch12">Chapter 12</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch13">Chapter 13</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch14">Chapter 14</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch15">Chapter 15</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch16">Chapter 16</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch17">Chapter 17</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch18">Chapter 18</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch19">Chapter 19</a>.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="rtoc"><a href="#Ch20">Chapter 20</a>.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="Ch1" id="Ch1">Chapter 1</a>.</h2> +<p>A large party were assembled in the drawing room of Greendale, +Sir John Greendale's picturesque old mansion house. It was early in +September. The men had returned from shooting, and the guests were +gathered in the drawing room; in the pleasant half hour of dusk +when the lamps have not yet been lighted, though it is already too +dark to read. The conversation was general, and from the latest +news from India had drifted into the subject of the Italian belief +in the Mal Occhio.</p> +<p>"Do you believe in it, Captain Mallett?" asked Bertha, Sir +John's only child, a girl of sixteen; who was nestled in an easy +chair next to that in which the man she addressed was sitting.</p> +<p>"I don't know, Bertha."</p> +<p>He had known her from childhood, and she had not yet reached an +age when the formal "Miss Greendale" was incumbent upon her +acquaintances.</p> +<p>"I do not believe in the Italian superstition to anything like +the extent they carry it. I don't think I should believe it at all +if it were not that one man has always been unlucky to me."</p> +<p>"How unlucky, Captain Mallett?"</p> +<p>"Well, I don't know that unlucky is the proper word, but he has +always stood between me and success; at least, he always did, for +it is some years since our paths have crossed."</p> +<p>"Tell me about it."</p> +<p>"Well, I have no objection, but there is not a great deal to +tell.</p> +<p>"I was at school with—I won't mention his name. We were about +the same age. He was a bully. I interfered with him, we had a +fight, and I scored my first and only success over him. It was a +very tough fight—by far the toughest I ever had. I was stronger +than he, but he was the more active. I fancied that it would not be +very difficult to thrash him, but found that I had made a great +mistake. It was a long fight, and it was only because I was in +better condition that I won at last.</p> +<p>"Well, you know when boys fight at school, in most cases they +become better friends afterwards; but it was not so here. He +refused to shake hands with me, and muttered something about its +being his turn next time. Till then he had not been considered a +first-rate hand at anything; he was one of those fellows who +saunter through school, get up just enough lessons to rub along +comfortably, never take any prominent part in games, but have a +little set of their own, and hold themselves aloof from school in +general.</p> +<p>"Once or twice when we had played cricket he had done so +excellently that it was a grievance that he would not play +regularly, and there was a sort of general idea that if he chose he +could do most things well. After that fight he changed altogether. +He took to cricket in downright earnest, and was soon acknowledged +to be the best bat and best bowler in the school. Before that it +had been regarded as certain that when the captain left I should be +elected, but when the time came he got a majority of votes. I +should not have minded that, for I recognised that he was a better +player than I, but I fancied that he had not done it fairly, for +many fellows whom I regarded as certain to support me turned round +at the last moment.</p> +<p>"We were in the same form at school. He had been always near the +bottom; I stood fairly up in it, and was generally second or third. +He took to reading, and in six weeks after the fight won his way to +the top of the class and remained there; and not only so, but he +soon showed himself so far superior to the rest of us that he got +his remove to the form above.</p> +<p>"Then there was a competition in Latin verses open to both +forms. Latin verse was the one thing in which I was strong. There +is a sort of knack, you know, in stringing them together. A fellow +may be a duffer generally and yet turn out Latin verse better than +fellows who are vastly superior to him on other points. It was +regarded as certain that I should gain that. No one had intended to +go in against me, but at the last moment he put his name down, and, +to the astonishment of everyone, won in a canter.</p> +<p>"We left about the same time, and went up to Oxford together, +but to different Colleges. I rowed in my College Eight, he in his. +We were above them on the river, but they made a bump every night +until they got behind us, and then bumped us. He was stroke of his +boat, and everyone said that success was due to his rowing, and I +believe it was. I did not so much mind that, for my line was +chiefly sculling. I had won in my own College, and entered for +Henley, where it was generally thought that I had a fair chance of +winning the Diamonds. However, I heard a fortnight before the +entries closed that he was out on the river every morning sculling. +I knew what it was going to be, and was not surprised when his name +appeared next to mine in the entries.</p> +<p>"We were drawn together, and he romped in six lengths ahead of +me, though curiously enough he was badly beaten in the final heat. +He stroked the University afterwards. Though I was tried I did not +even get a seat in the eight, contrary to general expectation, but +I know that it was his influence that kept me out of it.</p> +<p>"We had only one more tussle, and again I was worsted. I went in +for the Newdigate––that is the English poetry prize, you know. I +had always been fond of stringing verses together, and the friends +to whom I showed my poem before sending it in all thought that I +had a very good chance. I felt hopeful myself, for I had not heard +that he was thinking of competing, and, indeed, did not remember +that he had ever written a line of verse when at school. However, +when the winner was declared, there was his name again.</p> +<p>"I believe that it was the disgust I felt at his superiority to +me in everything that led me to ask my father to get me a +commission at once, for it seemed to me that I should never succeed +in anything if he were my rival. Since then our lives have been +altogether apart, although I have met him occasionally. Of course +we speak, for there has never been any quarrel between us since +that fight, but I know that he has never forgiven me, and I have a +sort of uneasy conviction that some day or other we shall come into +contact again.</p> +<p>"I am sure that if we meet again he will do me a bad turn if +possible. I regard him as being in some sort of way my evil genius. +I own that it is foolish and absurd, but I cannot get over the +feeling."</p> +<p>"Oh, it is absurd, Captain Mallett," the girl said. "He may have +beaten you in little things, but you won the Victoria Cross in the +Crimea, and everyone knows that you are one of the best shots in +the country, and that before you went away you were always in the +first flight with the hounds."</p> +<p>"Ah, you are an enthusiast, Bertha. I don't say that I cannot +hold my own with most men at a good many things where not brains, +but brute strength and a quick eye are the only requisites, but I +am quite convinced that if that fellow had been in the Redan that +day, he would have got the Victoria Cross, and I should not. There +is no doubt about his pluck, and if it had only been to put me in +the shade he would have performed some brilliant action or other +that would have got it for him. He is a better rider than I am, at +any rate a more reckless one, and he is a better shot, too. He is +incomparably more clever."</p> +<p>"I cannot believe it, Captain Mallett."</p> +<p>"It is quite true, Bertha, and to add to it all, he is a +remarkably handsome fellow, a first-rate talker, and when he +pleases can make himself wonderfully popular."</p> +<p>"He must be a perfect Crichton, Captain Mallett."</p> +<p>"The worst of it is, Bertha, although I am ashamed of myself for +thinking so, I have never been able to divest myself of the idea +that he did not play fair. There were two or three queer things +that happened at school in which he was always suspected of having +had a hand, though it was never proved. I was always convinced that +he used cribs, and partly owed his place to them. I was jealous +enough to believe that the Latin verses he sent in were written for +him by Rigby, who was one of the monitors, and a great dab at +verses. Rigby was a great chum of his, for he was a mean fellow, +and my rival was always well supplied with money, and to do him +justice, liberal with it.</p> +<p>"Then, just before we left school, he carried off the prize in +swimming. He was a good swimmer, but I was a better. I thought +myself for once certain to beat him, but an hour before the race I +got frightful cramps, a thing that I never had before or since, and +I could hardly make a fight at all. I thought at the time, and I +have thought since, that I must have taken something at breakfast +that disagreed with me horribly, and that he somehow put it in my +tea.</p> +<p>"Then again in that matter of the Sculls at Henley. I never felt +my boat row so heavily as it did then. When it was taken out of the +water it was found that a piece of curved iron hoop was fixed to +the bottom by a nail that had been pushed through the thin skin. It +certainly was not there when it was on the rack, but it was there +when I rowed back to the boathouse, and it could only have got +there by being put on as the boat was being lowered into the water. +There were three or four men helping to lower her down—two of them +friends of mine, two of them fellows employed at the boathouse. +While it lay in the water, before I got in and took my place, +anyone stooping over it might unobserved have passed his hand under +it and have pushed the nail through.</p> +<p>"I never said anything about it. I had been beaten; there was no +use making a row and a scandal over it, especially as I had not a +shadow of proof against anyone; but I was certain that he was not +so fast as I was, for during practice my time had been as nearly as +possible the same as that of the man who beat him with the greatest +ease, and I am convinced that for once I should have got the better +of him had it not been for foul play."</p> +<p>"That was shameful, Captain Mallett," Bertha said, indignantly. +"I wonder you did not take some steps to expose him."</p> +<p>"I had nothing to go upon, Bertha. It was a case of suspicion +only, and you have no idea what a horrible row there would have +been if I had said anything about it. Committees would have sat +upon it, and the thing would have got into the papers. Fellows +would have taken sides, and I should have been blackguarded by one +party for hinting that a well-known University man had been guilty +of foul practices.</p> +<p>"Altogether it would have been a horrible nuisance; it was much +better to keep quiet and say nothing about it."</p> +<p>"I am sure I could not have done that, Captain."</p> +<p>"No, but then you see women are much more impetuous than men. I +am certain that after you had once set the ball rolling, you would +have been sorry that you had not bided your time and waited for +another contest in which you might have turned the tables fairly +and squarely."</p> +<p>"He must be hateful," the girl said.</p> +<p>"He is not considered hateful, I can assure you. He conceived a +grudge against me, and has taken immense pains to pay me out, and I +only trust that our paths will never cross again. If so, I have no +doubt that I shall again get the worst of it. At any rate, you see +I was not without justification when I said that though I did not +believe in the Mal Occhio, I had reason for having some little +superstition about it."</p> +<p>"I prophesy, Captain Mallett, that if ever you meet him in the +future you will turn the tables on him. Such a man as that can +never win in the long run."</p> +<p>"Well, I hope that your prophecy will come true. At any rate I +shall try, and I hope that your good wishes will counterbalance his +power, and that you will be a sort of Mascotte."</p> +<p>"How tiresome!" the girl broke off, as there was a movement +among the ladies. "It is time for us to go up to dress for dinner, +and though I shan't take half the time that some of them will do, I +suppose I must go."</p> +<p>Captain Mallett had six months previously succeeded, at the +death of his father, to an estate five miles from that of Sir John +Greendale. His elder brother had been killed in the hunting field a +few months before, and Frank Mallett, who was fond of his +profession, and had never looked for anything beyond it save a +younger son's portion, had thus come in for a very fine estate.</p> +<p>Two months after his father's death he most reluctantly sent in +his papers, considering it his duty to settle down on the estate; +but ten days later came the news of the outbreak of the Sepoys of +Barrackpoor, and he at once telegraphed to the War Office, asking +to be allowed to cancel his application for leave to sell out.</p> +<p>So far the cloud was a very small one, but rumours of trouble +had been current for some little time, and the affair at least gave +him an excuse for delaying his retirement.</p> +<p>Very rapidly the little cloud spread until it overshadowed India +from Calcutta to the Afghan frontier. His regiment stood some +distance down on the rota for Indian service, but as the news grew +worse regiment after regiment was hurried off, and it now stood +very near the head of the list. All leave had not yet been stopped, +but officers away were ordered to leave addresses, so that they +could be summoned to join at an hour's notice.</p> +<p>When he had left home that morning for a day's shooting with Sir +John, he had ordered a horse to be kept saddled, so that if a +telegram came it could be brought to him without a moment's delay. +He was burning to be off. There had at first been keen +disappointment in the regiment that they were not likely to take +part in the fierce struggle; but the feeling had changed into one +of eager expectation, when, as the contest widened and it was +evident that it would be necessary to make the greatest efforts to +save India, the prospect of their employment in the work grew.</p> +<p>For the last fortnight expectation had been at its height. +Orders had been received for the regiment to hold itself in +readiness for embarkation, men had been called back from furlough, +the heavy baggage had been packed; and all was ready for a start at +twenty-four hours' notice. Many of the officers obtained a few +days' leave to say goodbye to their friends or settle business +matters, and Frank Mallett was among them.</p> +<p>"So I suppose you may go at any moment, Mallett?" said the host +at the dinner table that evening.</p> +<p>"Yes, Sir John, my shooting today has been execrable; for I have +known that at any moment my fellow might ride up with the order for +me to return at once, and we are all in such a fever of impatience, +that I am surprised I brought down a bird at all."</p> +<p>"You can hardly hope to be in time either for the siege of Delhi +or for the relief of Lucknow, Mallett."</p> +<p>"One would think not, but there is no saying. You see, our news +is a month old; Havelock had been obliged to fall back on Cawnpore, +and a perfect army of rebels were in Delhi. Of course, the +reinforcements will soon be arriving, and I don't think it likely +that we shall get up there in time to share in those affairs; but +even if we are late both for Lucknow and Delhi, there will be +plenty for us to do. What with the Sepoy army and with the native +chiefs that have joined them, and the fighting men of Oude and one +thing and another, there cannot be less than 200,000 men in arms +against us; and even if we do take Delhi and relieve Lucknow, that +is only the beginning of the work. The scoundrels are fighting with +halters round their necks, and I have no fear of our missing our +share of the work of winning back India and punishing these +bloodthirsty scoundrels."</p> +<p>"It is a terrible time," Sir John said; "and old as I am, I +should like to be out there to lend a hand in avenging this awful +business at Cawnpore, and the cold-blooded massacres at other +places."</p> +<p>"I think that there will be no lack of volunteers, Sir John. If +Government were to call for them I believe that 100,000 men could +be raised in a week."</p> +<p>"Ay, in twenty-four hours; there is scarce a man in England but +would give five years of his life to take a share in the punishment +of the faithless monsters. There was no lack of national feeling in +the Crimean War; but it was as nothing to that which has been +excited by these massacres. Had it been a simple mutiny among the +troops we should all be well content to leave the matter in the +hands of our soldiers; but it is a personal matter to everyone; +rich and poor are alike moved by a burning desire to take part in +the work of vengeance. I should doubt if the country has ever been +so stirred from its earliest history."</p> +<p>"Yes, I fancy we are all envying you, Mallett," one of the other +gentlemen said. "Partridge shooting is tame work in comparison with +that which is going on in India. It was lucky for you that that +first mutiny took place when it did, for had it been a week later +you would probably have been gazetted out before the news +came."</p> +<p>"Yes, that was a piece of luck, certainly, Ashurst. I don't know +how I should be feeling if I had been out of it and the regiment on +the point of starting for India."</p> +<p>"I suppose you are likely to embark from Plymouth," said Sir +John.</p> +<p>"I should think so, but there is no saying. I hardly fancy that +we should go through France, as some of the regiments have done; +there would be no very great gain of time, especially if we start +as far west as Plymouth. Besides, I have not heard of any +transports being sent round to Marseilles lately. Of course, in any +case we shall have to land at Alexandria and cross the desert to +Suez. I should fancy, now that the advantages of that route have +been shown, that troops in future will always be taken that way. +You see, it is only five weeks to India instead of five months. The +situation is bad enough as it is, but it would have been infinitely +worse if no reinforcements could have got out from England in less +than five months."</p> +<p>"Is there anything that I can do for you while you are away, +Mallett?" Sir John Greendale asked, as they lingered for a moment +after the other gentlemen had gone off to join the ladies.</p> +<p>"Nothing that I know of, thank you. Norton will see that +everything goes on as usual. My father never interfered with him in +the general management of the estate, and had the greatest +confidence in him. I have known him since I was a child, and have +always liked him, so I can go away assured that things will go on +as usual. If I go down, the estate goes, as you know, to a distant +cousin whom I have never seen.</p> +<p>"As to other matters, I have but little to arrange. I have made +a will, so that I shall have nothing to trouble me on that score. +Tranton came over with it this morning from Stroud, and I signed +it."</p> +<p>"That is right, lad; we all hope most sincerely that there will +be no occasion for its provisions to be carried out, but it is +always best that a man should get these things off his mind. Are +you going to say goodbye to us tonight?"</p> +<p>"I shall do it as a precautionary measure, Sir John, but I +expect that when I get the summons I shall have time to drive over +here. My horse will do the distance in five and twenty minutes, and +unless a telegram comes within an hour of the night mail passing +through Stroud, I shall be able to manage it. I saw everything +packed up before I left, and my man will see that everything, +except the portmanteau with the things I shall want on the voyage, +goes on with the regimental baggage."</p> +<p>A quarter of an hour later Captain Mallett mounted his dog cart +and drove home. The next morning he received a letter from the +Adjutant, saying that he expected the order some time during the +next day.</p> +<p>"We are to embark at Plymouth, and I had a telegram this morning +saying that the transport had arrived and had taken her coal on +board. Of course they will get the news at the War Office today, +and will probably wire at once. I think we shall most likely leave +here by a train early the next morning. I shall, of course, +telegraph as soon as the order comes, but as I know that you have +everything ready, you will be in plenty of time if you come on by +the night mail."</p> +<p>At eleven o'clock a mounted messenger from Stroud brought on the +telegram:</p> +<p>"We entrain at six tomorrow morning. Join immediately."</p> +<p>This was but a formal notification, and he resolved to go on by +the night mail. He spent the day in driving round the estate and +saying goodbye to his tenants. He lunched at the house of one of +the leading farmers, where as a boy he had been always made +heartily welcome. Before mounting his dog cart, he stood for a few +minutes chatting with Martha, his host's pretty daughter.</p> +<p>"You are not looking yourself, Martha," he said. "You must pick +up your roses again before I come back. I shall leave the army +then, and give a big dinner to my tenants, with a dance afterwards, +and I shall open the ball with you, and expect you to look your +best.</p> +<p>"Who is this?" he asked, as a young fellow came round the corner +of the house, and on seeing them, turned abruptly, and walked +off.</p> +<p>"It is George Lechmere, is it not?"</p> +<p>A flash of colour came into the girl's face.</p> +<p>"Ah, I see," he laughed; "he thought I was flirting with you, +and has gone off jealous. Well, you will have no difficulty in +making your peace with him tomorrow.</p> +<p>"Goodbye, child, I must be going. I have a long round to +make."</p> +<p>He jumped into the dog cart and drove away, while the girl went +quietly back into the house.</p> +<p>Her father looked up at the clock.</p> +<p>"Two o'clock," he said; "I must be going. I expected George +Lechmere over here. He was coming to talk with me about his +father's twelve-acre meadow. I want it badly this winter, for I +have had more land under the plough than usual this year. I must +either get some pasture or sell off some of my stock."</p> +<p>"George Lechmere came, father," Martha said, with an angry toss +of her head, "but when he saw me talking to Captain Mallett he +turned and went off; just as if I was not to open my lips to any +man but himself."</p> +<p>The farmer would have spoken, but his wife shook her head at +him. George Lechmere had been at one time engaged to Martha, but +his jealousy had caused so many quarrels that the engagement had +been broken off. He still came often to the house, however, and her +parents hoped that it would be renewed; for the young fellow's +character stood high. He was his father's right hand, and would +naturally succeed him to the farm. His parents, too, had heartily +approved of the match. So far, however, the prospect of the young +people coming together was not encouraging. Martha was somewhat +given to flirtation. George was as jealous as ever, and was unable +to conceal his feelings, which, as he had now no right to criticise +her conduct, so angered the girl that she not unfrequently gave +encouragement to others solely to show her indifference to his +opinions.</p> +<p>George Lechmere had indeed gone away with anger in his heart. He +knew that Captain Mallett was on the point of leaving with his +regiment for India, and yet to see him chatting familiarly with +Martha excited in him a passionate feeling of grievance against +her.</p> +<p>"It matters nought who it is," he muttered to himself. "She is +ever ready to carry on with anyone, while she can hardly give me a +civil word when I call. I know that if we were to marry it would be +just the same thing, and that I am a fool to stop here and let it +vex me. It would be better for me to get right out of it. John is +old enough to take my place on the farm. Some of these days I will +take the Queen's shilling. If I were once away I should not be +always thinking of her. I know I am a fool to let a girl trouble me +so, but I can't help it. If I stay here I know that I shall do +mischief either to her or to someone else. I felt like doing it +last month when she was over at that business at Squire +Carthew's—he is just such another one as Captain Mallett, only he +is a bad landlord, while ours is a good one. What made him think of +asking all his own tenantry, and a good many of us round, and +getting up a cricket match and a dance on the grass is more than I +can say. He never did such a thing before in all the ten years +since he became master there. They all noticed how he carried on +with Martha, and how she seemed to like it. It was the talk of +everyone there. If I had not gone away I should have made a fool of +myself, though I have no right to interfere with her, and her +father and mother were there and seemed in no way put out.</p> +<p>"I will go away and have a look at that lot of young cattle I +bought the other day. I don't know that I ever saw a more likely +lot."</p> +<p>It was dark when George returned. On his way home he took a path +that passed near the house whence he had turned away so angrily a +few hours before. It was not the nearest way, but somehow he always +took it, even at hours when there was no chance of his getting the +most distant sight of Martha.</p> +<p>Presently he stopped suddenly, for from behind the wall that +bounded the kitchen garden of the farm he heard voices. A man was +speaking.</p> +<p>"You must make your choice at once, darling, for as I have told +you I am off tomorrow. We will be married as soon as we get there, +and you know you cannot stop here."</p> +<p>"I know I can't," Martha's voice replied, "but how can I +leave?"</p> +<p>"They will forgive you when you come back a lady," he said. "It +will be a year at least before I return, and—"</p> +<p>George could restrain himself no longer. A furious exclamation +broke from his lips, and he made a desperate attempt to climb the +wall, which was, however, too high. When, after two or three +unsuccessful attempts, he paused for a moment, all was silent in +the garden.</p> +<p>"I will tackle her tomorrow," he said grimly, "and him, too. But +I dare not go in now. Bennett has always been a good friend to me, +and so has his wife, and it would half kill them were they to know +what I have heard; but as for her and that villain—"</p> +<p>George's mouth closed in grim determination, and he strolled on +home through the darkness. Whatever his resolutions may have been, +he found no opportunity of carrying them out, for the next morning +he heard that Martha Bennett had disappeared. How or why, no one +knew. She had been missing since tea time on the previous +afternoon. She had taken nothing with her, and the farmer and his +two sons were searching all the neighbourhood for some sign of +her.</p> +<p>The police of Stroud came over in the afternoon, and took up the +investigation. The general opinion was that she must have been +murdered, and every pond was dragged, every ditch examined, for a +distance round the farm. In the meantime George Lechmere held his +tongue.</p> +<p>"It is better," he said to himself, "that her parents and +friends should think her dead than know the truth."</p> +<p>He seldom spoke to anyone, but went doggedly about his work. His +father and mother, knowing how passionately he had been attached to +Martha, were not surprised at his strange demeanour, though they +wondered that he took no part in the search for her.</p> +<p>They had their trouble, too, for although they never breathed a +word of their thoughts even to each other, there was, deep down in +their hearts, a fear that George knew something of the girl's +disappearance. His intense jealousy had been a source of grief and +trouble to them. Previous to his engagement to Martha he had been +everything they could have wished him. He had been the best of +sons, the steadiest of workers, and a general favourite from his +willingness to oblige, his cheerfulness and good temper.</p> +<p>His jealousy, as a child, had been a source of trouble. Any +gift, any little treat, for his younger brothers, in which he had +not fully shared, had been the occasion for a violent outburst of +temper, never exhibited by him at any other time, and this feeling +had again shown itself as soon as he had singled out Martha as the +object of his attentions.</p> +<p>They had remarked a strangeness in his manner when he had +returned home that night, and, remembering the past, each +entertained a secret dread that there had been some more violent +quarrel than usual between him and Martha, and that in his mad +passion he had killed her.</p> +<p>It was, then, with a feeling almost of relief that a month after +her disappearance he briefly announced his intention of leaving the +farm and enlisting in the army. His mother looked in dumb misery at +her husband, who only said gravely:</p> +<p>"Well, lad, you are old enough to make your own choice. Things +have changed for you of late, and maybe it is as well that you +should make a change, too. You have been a good son, and I shall +miss you sorely; but John is taking after you, and presently he +will make up for your loss."</p> +<p>"I am sorry to go, father, but I feel that I cannot stay +here."</p> +<p>"If you feel that it is best that you should go, George, I shall +say no word to hinder you," and then his wife was sure that the +fear she felt was shared by her husband.</p> +<p>The next morning George came down in his Sunday clothes, +carrying a bundle. Few words were spoken at breakfast; when it was +over he got up and said:</p> +<p>"Well, goodbye, father and mother, and you boys. I never thought +to leave you like this, but things have gone against me, and I feel +I shall be best away.</p> +<p>"John, I look to you to fill my place.</p> +<p>"Good-bye all," and with a silent shake of the hand he took up +his bundle and stick and went out, leaving his brothers, who had +not been told of his intentions, speechless with astonishment.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch2" id="Ch2">Chapter 2</a>.</h2> +<p>Frank Mallet, after he had visited all his tenants, drove to Sir +John Greendale's.</p> +<p>"We have got the route," he said, as he entered; "and I leave +this evening. I had a note from the Adjutant this morning saying +that will be soon enough, so you see I have time to come over and +say goodbye comfortably."</p> +<p>"I do not think goodbyes are ever comfortable," Lady Greendale +said. "One may get through some more comfortably than others, but +that is all that can be said for the best of them."</p> +<p>"I call them hateful," Bertha put in. "Downright hateful, +Captain Mallett—especially when anyone is going away to +fight."</p> +<p>"They are not pleasant, I admit," Frank Mallett agreed; "and I +ought to have said as comfortably as may be. I think perhaps those +who go feel it less than those who stay. They are excited about +their going; they have lots to think about and to do; and the idea +that they may not come back again scarcely occurs to them at the +time, although they would admit its possibility or even its +probability if questioned.</p> +<p>"However, I fancy the worst of the fighting will be over by the +time we get there. It seems almost certain that it will be so, if +Delhi is captured and Lucknow relieved. The Sepoys thought that +they had the game entirely in their hands, and that they would +sweep us right out of India almost without resistance. They have +failed, and when they see that every day their chances of success +diminish, their resistance will grow fainter.</p> +<p>"I expect that we shall have many long marches, a great many +skirmishes, and perhaps two or three hard fights; but I have not a +shadow of fear of a single reverse. We are going out at the best +time of year, and with cool weather and hard exercise there will be +little danger of fevers; therefore the chances are very strongly in +favour of my returning safe and sound. It may take a couple of +years to stamp it all out, but at the end of that time I hope to +return here for good.</p> +<p>"I shall find you a good deal more altered, Miss Greendale, than +you will find me. You will have become a dignified young lady. I +shall be only a little older and a little browner. You see, I have +never been stationed in India since I joined, for the regiment had +only just come home, and I am looking forward with pleasurable +anticipation to seeing it. Ordinary life there in a hot cantonment +must be pretty dull, though, from what I hear, people enjoy it much +more than you would think possible. But at a time like the present +it will be full of interest and excitement."</p> +<p>"You will write to us sometimes, I hope," Sir John said, when +Mallett rose to leave.</p> +<p>"I won't promise to write often, Sir John. I expect that we +shall be generally on the move, perhaps without tents of any kind, +and to write on one's knee, seated round a bivouac fire, with a +dozen fellows all laughing and talking round, would be a hopeless +task; but if at any time we are halted at a place where writing is +possible, I will certainly do so. I have but few friends in +England—at any rate, only men, who never think of expecting a +letter. And as you are among my very oldest and dearest friends, it +will be a pleasure for me to let you know how I am getting on, and +to be sure that you will feel an interest in my doings."</p> +<p>There was a warm goodbye, and all went to the door for a few +last words. Frank's portmanteau was already in the dog cart, for he +had arranged to drive straight from Greendale to Chippenham, where +he would dine at an hotel and then go on by the mail to Exeter.</p> +<p>It was three o'clock when he drove into the barracks there. +Early as the hour was, the troops were already up and busy. Wagons +were being loaded, the long lines of windows were all lighted up, +and in every room men could be seen moving about. He drove across +the barrack yard to his own quarters, left his portmanteau there, +and then walked to the mess room. As he had expected, he found +several officers there.</p> +<p>"Ah, Mallett, there you are. You are the last in; the others all +turned up by the evening train, but we thought that as you were +comparatively near you would come on by the mail."</p> +<p>"I thought I should find some of you fellows keeping it up."</p> +<p>"Well, there was nothing else to do. There won't be much chance +of going to sleep. We all dined in the town, for of course the mess +plate and kit have been packed up. We are not taking much with us +now, just enough to make shift with. The rest will be sent round to +Calcutta, to be stored there till we settle down. The men had a +dinner given to them by the town, and as they all got leave out +till twelve o'clock, and the loading of the wagons began at two, +there has been a row going on all night. Most of us played pool +till an hour ago, then we gradually dropped off for an hour's +snooze."</p> +<p>"There will be a chance of getting breakfast, I hope?"</p> +<p>"Yes, there is to be a rough and tumble breakfast at a quarter +to five. We fall in at a quarter past. We got through the +inspection of kits yesterday. The mess sergeant and a party will +pack up the breakfast things, and the pots and pans will come on by +the next train. There is one at eight. It will be in plenty of +time, as I don't suppose the transport will be off until the +afternoon, perhaps not till night. There are always delays at the +last moment.</p> +<p>"However, it will be something to be on board ship. That is the +first step towards getting at those black scoundrels. We are all +afraid that we shall be late for Delhi; still there is plenty of +other work to be done."</p> +<p>"Any ladies with us?"</p> +<p>"No, there was a general agreement among the married officers +that they had best be left behind. So for once the regiment goes +without women."</p> +<p>"There is a levity about your tone that I do not approve of, +Armstrong," Frank Mallett said, reprovingly. "There were no women +when we went out to the Crimea, at the time when you were a good +little boy doing Latin exercises."</p> +<p>"Well, altogether it is a good thing, Mallett, and we shall be +much more comfortable without them."</p> +<p>"Speak for yourself, Armstrong. Lads of your age who can talk +nothing but barrack slang, and are eminently uncomfortable when +they have to chat for five minutes to a lady, are naturally glad +when they are free from the restraint of having to talk like +reasonable beings; but it is not so with older and wiser men. How +about Marshall?"</p> +<p>"He has been away on leave for the last ten days. He has not +come back here. There have been two fellows inquiring after him +diligently for the last week. There was no mistaking their errand, +even if we did not know how he stood. I expect he is on board the +transport. I fancy the Colonel gave him a hint to join there. No +doubt the Jews will be on the lookout for him at Plymouth, as well +as here; but he will manage to smuggle himself on board somehow, +even if he has to wrap up as an old woman."</p> +<p>"He deserves all the trouble that has fallen upon him," Frank +Mallett said, angrily. "I have no patience with a young fool who +bets on race horses when he knows very well that if they lose there +is nothing for him to do but to go to the Jews for money. However, +he has had a sharp lesson, and as it is likely enough that the +regiment won't be back in England for years, he will have a chance +of getting straight again. This affair has been a godsend for him, +for had he remained in England there would have been nothing for +him to do but to sell out."</p> +<p>So they chatted until the mess waiters laid the table for +breakfast, when the other officers came pouring in. The meal was +eaten hastily, for the assembly was sounding in the barrack yard. +As soon as breakfast was finished, the officers went out and took +their places with their companies.</p> +<p>There was a brief inspection, then the drums and fifes set up +"The Girl I Left Behind Me," and the regiment marched off to the +station, the streets being already full of people who had got up to +see the last of them, and to wish them Godspeed in the work of +death they were going to perform.</p> +<p>The baggage was already in the train that was waiting for them +in the station, and in a few minutes it steamed away; the soldiers +hanging far out of every window to wave a last goodbye to the +weeping women who thronged the platform. Two hours later they +reached Plymouth, marched through the town to the dockyard, and +went straight on board the transport.</p> +<p>There was the usual confusion until the cabins had been +allotted, portmanteaus stowed away, and the general baggage lowered +into the hold. A tedious wait of three or four hours followed, no +one exactly knew why, and then the paddle wheels began to revolve. +The men burst into a loud cheer, and a few minutes later they +passed Drake's Island and headed down the sound.</p> +<p>They had, as expected, found young Marshall on board. He kept +below until they started, although told that there was little +chance of the bailiffs being permitted to enter the dockyard. As he +had the grace to feel thoroughly ashamed of his position, little +was said to him; but the manner of the senior officers was +sufficient to make him feel their strong disapproval of the +position in which he had placed himself by his folly.</p> +<p>"I have taken a solemn oath never to bet again," he said that +evening to Captain Mallett, who was a general favourite with the +younger officers; "and I mean to keep it."</p> +<p>"How much do you owe, young 'un?"</p> +<p>"Four hundred and fifty. What with allowances and so on, I ought +to be able to pay it off in three or four years."</p> +<p>"Yes, and if you keep your word, Marshall, some of us may be +inclined to help you. I will for one. I would have done so before, +but to give money to a fool is worse than throwing it into the sea. +As soon as you show us by deeds, not words, that you really mean to +keep straight, you will find that you are not without friends."</p> +<p>"Thank you awfully, Mallett, but I don't want to be helped. I +will clear it off myself if I live."</p> +<p>"You will find it hard work to do that, Marshall, even in India. +Of course, the pay and allowances make it easy for even a subaltern +to live on his income there, but when it comes to laying by much, +that is a difficult matter. However, so long as the actual campaign +lasts, the necessary expenses will be very small. We shall live +principally on our rations, and you can put by a good bit. There +may be a certain amount of prize money, for, although there is +nothing to be got from the mutineers themselves, some of the native +princes who have joined them will no doubt have to pay heavily for +their share in the business."</p> +<p>"Well, you won't give me up, will you, Mallett?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not. I was as hard as anyone on you before, for I +have no patience with such insane folly, but if you keep straight +no one will be more inclined to make things easy for you."</p> +<p>The voyage to Alexandria was unmarked by any incident. Drill +went on regularly, and life differed to no great extent from that +in barracks. All were glad when the halfway stage of the journey +was reached, but still more so when they embarked in another +transport at Suez.</p> +<p>Here they learned, according to news that had arrived on the +previous day, that at the end of August Delhi was still holding +out; and that, although reinforcements had reached the British, +vastly greater numbers of men had entered the city, and that +constant sorties were made against the British position on the +Ridge.</p> +<p>Excitement therefore was at its highest, when on the 20th of +October a pilot came on board at the mouth of the Hooghly, and they +learned that the assault had been made on the 14th of September; +and that, after desperate fighting extending over a week, the city +had been captured, the puppet Emperor made prisoner, and the rebels +driven with tremendous loss across the bridge of boats over the +Jumma.</p> +<p>The satisfaction with which the news was received, in spite of +the disappointment that they had arrived too late to share in the +victory, was damped by the news of the heavy losses sustained in +the assault; and especially that of that most gallant soldier, +General Nicholson.</p> +<p>Nor were their hopes that they might take part in the relief of +Lucknow realised, for they learned that on the 25th of September +the place had been relieved by Havelock and Outram. Here, however, +there was still a prospect that they might take a share in the +serious fighting; as the losses of the relieving column had been so +heavy, and the force of mutineers so large, that it had been found +impracticable to carry off the garrison as intended, and the +relieving forces were now themselves besieged. There was, however, +no fear felt for their safety. If the scanty original garrison had +defied all the efforts of the mutineers, no one doubted that, now +that their force was trebled, they would succeed in defending +themselves until an army sufficiently strong to bring them off +could be assembled.</p> +<p>Not a day was lost at Calcutta. General Sir Colin Campbell, who +was now in supreme command, was collecting a force at Cawnpore. +There he had already been joined by a column which had been +despatched from Delhi as soon as the capital fell, and by a strong +naval brigade with heavy guns from the ships of war.</p> +<p>All arrangements had been made for pushing up reinforcements as +fast as they arrived, and the troops were marched from the side of +the ship to a spot where a flotilla of boats was in readiness. The +men only took what they could carry; all other baggage was to be +sent after them by water, and to lie, until further instructions, +at Allahabad. As soon, therefore, as the troops had been packed +away in the boats, they were taken in tow by two steamers, and at +once taken up the river. Officers and men were alike in the highest +spirits at finding themselves in so short a time after their +arrival already on the way to the front, and their excitement was +added to by the fact that it was still doubtful whether they would +arrive in time to join the column. Cramped as the men were in the +crowded boats, there was no murmuring as day after day, and night +after night, they continued their course up the river.</p> +<p>At Patna they learned that the Commander in Chief was still at +Cawnpore, and the same welcome news was obtained at Allahabad; but +at the latter place they learned that the news of his having gone +forward was hourly expected.</p> +<p>They reached Cawnpore on the morning of the 11th, and learned +that the column had left on the 9th, but was halting at Buntara. +Not a moment was lost. Each man received six days' provisions from +the commissariat stores, and two hours after landing the regiment +was on the march and arrived late at night at Buntara, being +received with hearty cheers by the troops assembled there.</p> +<p>They learned that they were to go forward on the following +morning. Weary, but in high spirits at finding that they had +arrived in time, the regiment lighted its fires and bivouacked.</p> +<p>"This has been a close shave indeed, Mallett," one of the other +captains said, as a party of them sat round a fire. "We won by a +short head."</p> +<p>"Short indeed, Ackers. It has been a race all the way from +England, and it is marvellous indeed that we should arrive just in +time to take part in the relief of Lucknow. A day later and we +should have missed it."</p> +<p>"We should not have done that, Mallett, for the men would have +marched all night, and, if necessary, all day tomorrow, to catch +up. Still, it is a wonderful fluke that after all we should be in +time."</p> +<p>"There is no doubt that it will be a tough business," one of the +majors said. "Havelock found it so, and I expect that the lesson he +taught them hasn't been lost, and that we shall have to meet +greater difficulties than even he had."</p> +<p>"Yes, but look at our force. Sixteen guns of Horse Artillery, a +heavy field battery, and the Naval Brigade with eight guns; the 9th +Lancers, the Punjaub Cavalry, and Hodson's Horse; four British +regiments of infantry and two of Punjaubies, besides a column 1,500 +strong which is expected to join us tomorrow or next day.</p> +<p>"I hope in any case, Major, that we shan't follow the line +Havelock took through the narrow streets, for there we cannot use +our strength; but will manage to approach the Residency from some +other direction. We know that it stands near the river, and at the +very edge of the town, so there ought to be some other way of +getting at it. I consider that we are a match for any number of +these scoundrels if we do but get a fair ground for fighting, which +we certainly should not do in the streets of the town."</p> +<p>"I don't care how it is, so that we do get at them," another +officer said. "We have heard such frightful details of their +atrocities as we came up that one is burning to get at close +quarters with them. I suppose we shall go to the Alumbagh first, +and relieve the force that has so long been shut up there. I only +hope that we shan't be chosen to take their place."</p> +<p>There was a general exclamation of disgust at the +suggestion.</p> +<p>"Well, someone must stay, you know," he went on in deprecation +of the epithets hurled at him; "and why not our regiment as well as +any other?"</p> +<p>"Because I cannot believe that after luck has favoured us so +long she will play us such a trick now," Frank Mallett said. +"Besides, the other regiments have done something in the way of +fighting already while we have not fired a shot; and I think that +Sir Colin would be more likely to choose the 75th, or, in fact, any +of the other regiments than us. Still if the worst comes to the +worst we must not grumble. Other regiments have had weary times of +waiting, and it may be our turn now. Your suggestion has come as a +damper to our spirits, and, as I don't mind acknowledging that I am +dog tired with the march, after not having used my legs for the +last seven or eight weeks, I shall try to forget it by going off to +sleep."</p> +<p>Making a pillow of his cloak, he lay down on the spot where he +was sitting, his example being speedily followed by the rest of the +officers.</p> +<p>The next morning the troops were on the march early, but they +were not to reach the Alumbagh without opposition, for on passing a +little fort to the right they were suddenly attacked by a small +body of rebels posted round it.</p> +<p>But little time was lost. Hodson's Horse, who were nearest to +them, at once made a brilliant charge, scattering them in all +directions. A short pause was made while the fort was dismantled, +and then the column proceeded without further interruption to the +Alumbagh.</p> +<p>There was some disappointment at its appearance. Instead of +finding, as they had expected, a palace, there was nothing but a +large garden enclosed by a lofty wall, and having a small mosque at +one end. It had evidently been a place of retirement when the Kings +of Oude desired to get away from the bustle and ceremony of the +great town.</p> +<p>The Commander in Chief was thoroughly acquainted with the +situation in the city, by information that he had received from a +civilian named Kavanagh; who had at immense risk made his way out +from the Residency, and was able to furnish plans of all the +principal buildings and the route which, in the opinion of +Brigadier General Inglis, was the most favourable for the +attack.</p> +<p>In the evening the reinforcements arrived, bringing up the total +force to 5,000. When the orders were issued, the officers of the +––th found to their intense satisfaction that, as Captain Mallett +had thought likely, the 75th was selected to remain in charge of +the baggage at the Alumbagh.</p> +<p>The force moved off, early on the morning of the 14th, but, +after marching a short distance along the direct road followed by +Havelock, struck off to the right, and, keeping well away from the +city, came down upon the summer palace of the Kings of Oude, called +the Dilkoosha. It stood on an eminence commanding a view of the +whole of the eastern suburbs of the town, and was surrounded by a +large park.</p> +<p>As soon as the head of the column approached this, a heavy +musketry fire broke out, and it was at once evident that their +movements had been watched and the object of their march divined. +The head of the column was halted for a few minutes until +reinforcements came up. Then they formed into line, the artillery +opened on their flanks, and with a cheer the troops advanced to the +attack.</p> +<p>"The beggars cannot shoot a bit," Frank Mallett said to his +subaltern, Armstrong. "I expect they are Sepoys, for the Oude +tribesmen are said to be good marksmen."</p> +<p>Keeping up a rolling fire at the loopholes in the walls, the +infantry pressed forward. The fire of the enemy slackened as they +approached, and they soon forced their way in, some helping their +comrades over the wall, others breaking down a gate and so pouring +in. A halt was made until the greater portion of the troops came +up, and then the advance was continued.</p> +<p>The defenders of the wall had been considerably reinforced by +troops stationed round the Palace itself, but they were unable to +withstand the British advance, and soon began to retreat towards +the city; stopping occasionally where a wall or building offered +facilities for defence, but never waiting long enough for the +British to get at them. In two hours all had been driven down the +hill to the Martiniere College. Here again they made a stand, but +were speedily driven out, and chased through the garden and park of +the college, and thence across the canal into the streets of the +town. Here the pursuit ceased, the ––th being told off to hold the +Martiniere as an advanced position. Sir Colin established his +headquarters at the Dilkoosha, the rest of the troops bivouacking +around it or on the slope of the hill between it and the +college.</p> +<p>After seeing that the men were comfortable, and getting some +food, most of the officers gathered on the flat roof of the +college, whence a fine view was obtainable over the town. The +Residency had been already pointed out to them, and the British +flag could be seen floating above it. Several very large buildings, +surrounded for the most part with walled gardens, rose above the +low roofs of the native houses in the intervening space.</p> +<p>"The way is pretty open. A good deal of the ground seems to be +occupied with gardens, and most of the houses are so small that +they could not hold many men."</p> +<p>"I agree with you, Mallett. It is evident that we shall be +passing through an open suburb rather than the town itself. Those +big buildings, if held in force, will give us a good deal of +trouble. They are regular fortresses."</p> +<p>"I don't think that any of them are built of stone. They all +seem to be whitewashed."</p> +<p>"That is so," the Major agreed, as he examined them through his +field glass. "I suppose stone is scarce in this neighbourhood, but +it is probable that the walls are of brickwork, and very thick. +They will have to be regularly breached before we can carry +them.</p> +<p>"It makes one sad to think that that flag, which has waved over +the Residency for the last five months, defying all the efforts of +enormously superior numbers, is to come down, and that these +scoundrels will be able to exult in the possession of the place +that has defied all their efforts to take it. Still one feels that +Sir Cohn's decision is a necessary one. It would never do to have +six or seven thousand men shut up there, when there is urgent work +to be done in a score of other places. Besides, it would need a +vast magazine of provisions to maintain them. Our force, even when +joined by the garrison, would be wholly inadequate for so +tremendous a task as reducing to submission a city containing at +least half-a-million inhabitants, together with thirty or forty +thousand mutineers and a host of Oude's best men, with the +advantage of the possession of a score or two of buildings, all of +which are positive fortresses."</p> +<p>"No, there is nothing for it but to fall back again till we have +a force sufficient to capture the whole city, and utterly defeat +its defenders. With us away, this place will become the focus of +the mutiny. Half the fugitives from Delhi will find their way here, +and at least we shall be able to crush them at one blow, instead of +having to scour the country for them for months. The more of them +gather here the better; and then, when we do capture the place, +there will be an end of the mutiny, though, of course, there will +still be the work of hunting down scattered bands."</p> +<p>"We may look forward to very much harder work tomorrow than we +have had today," Captain Johnson said. "With these glasses I can +make out that the place is crowded with men. Of course, today we +took them somewhat by surprise, as they would naturally expect us +to follow Havelock's line. But now that they know what our real +intentions are, they will be able to mass their whole force to +oppose us."</p> +<p>"So much the better," Frank Mallett said. "There is no mistaking +the feeling of the troops. They are burning to avenge Cawnpore, and +little mercy will be shown the rebels who fall into their +hands."</p> +<p>"I should advise any of you gentlemen who want to write home," +the Colonel said, gravely, "to do so this evening. There is no +doubt that we shall take those places, but I think that there is +also no doubt that our death roll will be heavy. You must not judge +by their fighting today of the stand that they are likely to make +tomorrow. They know well enough that they will get no quarter after +what has taken place, and will fight desperately to the end."</p> +<p>Most of the officers took his advice. Captain Mallett sat down +on the parapet, took out a notebook, and wrote in pencil:</p> +<p>"Dear Sir John:</p> +<p>"Although it is but four days since I posted you a long letter +from Cawnpore that I had written on our way up the river, I think +it as well to write a few lines in pencil. You will not get them +unless I go down tomorrow, as I shall of course tear them up if I +get through all right. I am writing now within sight of the +Residency. We had a bit of a fight today, but the rebels did not +make any serious stand. Tomorrow it will be different, for we shall +have to fight our way through the town, and there is no doubt that +the resistance will be very obstinate. I have nothing to add to +what I wrote to you last. What I should like you to know is that I +thought of you all this evening, and that I send you and Lady +Greendale and Bertha my best wishes for your long life and +happiness.</p> +<p>"Yours most sincerely,</p> +<p>"Frank Mallett."</p> +<p>He tore the page from his notebook, put it in an envelope and +directed it, then placed it in an inner pocket of his uniform.</p> +<p>"So you are not writing, Marshall," he said, as he went across +to the young ensign who was sitting on the angle of the +parapet.</p> +<p>"I have no one particular to write to, Captain Mallett, and the +only persons who will feel any severe sorrow if I fall tomorrow are +my creditors."</p> +<p>"We should all be sorry, Marshall, very sorry. Ever since we +sailed from Plymouth your conduct has shown that you have +determined to retrieve your previous folly. The Colonel himself +spoke to me about it the other day, and remarked that he had every +hope that you would turn out a steady and useful officer. We have +all noticed that beyond the regular allowance of wine you have +drunk nothing, and that you did not touch a card throughout the +voyage."</p> +<p>"I have not spent a penny since I went on board at Plymouth," +the lad said. "I got the paymaster to give me an order on London +for the amount of pay due to me the day we got to Cawnpore, and +posted it to Morrison; so he has got some fifteen pounds out of the +fire. Of course it is not much, but at any rate it will show him I +mean to pay up honestly."</p> +<p>"Well done, lad. You are quite right to give up cards, and to +cut yourself off liquors beyond the Queen's allowance; but don't +stint yourself in necessaries. For instance, fruit is necessary +here, and of course when we once get into settled quarters, you +must keep a horse of some sort, as everyone else will do so. How +much did you really have from Morrison in cash?"</p> +<p>"Three hundred; for which I gave him bills for four fifty and a +lien on my commission."</p> +<p>"All right, lad, I will write to my solicitor in London, and get +him to see Morrison, and ask him to meet you fairly in the matter. +He will know that it will be years before you are likely to be in +England again, and that if you are killed he will lose altogether; +so under these circumstances I have no doubt that he will be glad +enough to make a considerable abatement, perhaps to content himself +with the sum that you really had from him."</p> +<p>"I am afraid that my letter, with the enclosure, assuring him +that I will in time pay the amount due, will harden his heart," +Marshall laughed. "I am much obliged all the same, but I don't +think that it will be of any use."</p> +<p>However, on leaving him, Mallett went downstairs, borrowed some +ink from the quartermaster, and wrote to his solicitor, enclosing a +cheque for 300 pounds, with instructions to see the money +lender.</p> +<p>"You will find that he will be glad enough to hand over young +Marshall's bills for four fifty for that amount," he said. "He has +already had fifteen pounds, which is a fair interest for the three +hundred for the time the lad has had it. He will know well enough +that if Marshall dies he will lose every penny, and that at any +rate he will have to wait many years before he can get it. I have +no doubt that he would jump at an offer of a couple of hundred, but +it is just as well that the young fellow should feel the obligation +for some time, and as the man did lend him the money it would be +unfair that he should be an absolute loser."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch3" id="Ch3">Chapter 3</a>.</h2> +<p>The next morning three days' rations were served out to the +troops, and the advance begun; the movement being directed against +the Secunderbagh, a large garden surrounded by a very high and +strong wall loopholed for musketry. To reach it a village, +fortified and strongly held, had first to be carried. The attack +was led by Brigadier Hope's brigade, of which the regiment formed +part. As they approached the village, so heavy a musketry fire was +opened upon them that the order to advance was changed and the +leading regiment moved forward in skirmishing order. The horse +artillery and heavy field guns were brought up, and poured a +tremendous fire into the village, driving the defenders from their +post on the walls.</p> +<p>As soon as this was accomplished, the infantry rushed forward +and stormed the village, the enemy opposing a stout resistance, +occupying the houses and fighting to the last. The main body of +them, however, fled to the Secunderbagh. The 4th Sikhs had been +ordered to lead the attack, while the British infantry of the +brigade were to cover the operation. The men were, however, too +excited and too eager to get at the enemy to remain inactive, and +on leaving the village dashed forward side by side with the Sikhs +and attacked the wall. There was a small breach in this, and many +of the men rushed through it before the enemy, taken by surprise, +could offer a serious resistance. The entrance was, however, so +narrow that very few men could pass in, and while a furious fight +was raging inside, the rest of the troops tried in vain to find +some means of entering.</p> +<p>There were two barred windows, one on each side of the gate, and +some of the troopers creeping under these raised their shakos on +their bayonets. The defenders fired a heavy volley into them, and +the soldiers, leaping to their feet, sprang at the bars and pulled +them down by main force, before the defenders had time to reload. +Then they leaped down inside, others followed them, the gates were +opened, and the main body of troops poured in.</p> +<p>The garden was held by 2,000 mutineers. With shouts of "Remember +Cawnpore," the troops flung themselves upon them; and although the +mutineers fought desperately, and the struggle was continued for a +considerable time, every man was at last shot or bayoneted.</p> +<p>In the meantime a serious struggle was going on close by. Nearly +facing the Secunderbagh stood the large Mosque of Shah Nujeeff. It +had a domed roof, with a loopholed parapet and four minarets, which +were filled with riflemen. It stood in a large garden surrounded by +a high wall, also loopholed, the entrance being blocked up with +solid masonry. The fire from this building had seriously galled +Hope's division, while engaged in forcing its way into the +Secunderbagh, and Captain Peel, with the Naval Brigade, brought up +the heavy guns against it. He took up his position within a few +yards of the wall and opened a heavy fire, assisted by that of a +mortar battery and a field battery of Bengal Artillery; the +Highlanders covering the sailors and artillerymen as they worked +their guns, by a tremendous fire upon the enemy's loopholes. So +massive were the walls that it was several hours before even the +sixty-eight pounders of the Naval Brigade succeeded in effecting a +breach.</p> +<p>As soon as this was done the impatient infantry were ordered to +the assault, and rushing in, overpowered all resistance, and slew +all within the enclosure, save a few who effected their escape by +leaping from the wall at the rear.</p> +<p>It was now late in the afternoon, and operations ceased for the +day. The buildings on which the enemy had chiefly relied for their +defence had been captured, and the difficulties still to be +encountered were comparatively small. The next day an attack was +made upon a strong building known as the Mess House. This was first +breached by the artillery, and then carried by assault by the 53rd +and 90th regiments, and a detachment of Sikhs; the latter, single +handed, storming another building called the Observatory, in the +rear of the Mess House.</p> +<p>At the same time the garrison of the Residency had, in +accordance with the plan brought out by Kavanagh, begun operations +on their side. The capture of the Secunderbagh and Mosque had been +signalled to them, and while the attack on the Mess House was being +carried out they had blown down the outer wall of their defences, +shelled the ground beyond, and then advanced, carrying two large +buildings facing them at the point of the bayonet.</p> +<p>All day the fighting continued, the British gaining ground on +either side. The next day the houses still intervening between them +were captured, and in the afternoon the defenders of the Residency +and the relieving force joined hands. The total loss of the latter +was 122 officers and men killed and 345 wounded.</p> +<p>Frank Mallett's letter to Sir John Greendale was not sent off. +He received a bullet through the left arm as the troops advanced +against the Secunderbagh, but, using his sash as a sling, led on +his company against the defenders crowded in the garden, and took +part in the desperate fighting. Three of his brother officers were +killed during the three days' fighting, and five others +wounded.</p> +<p>"Well, Marshall," he said on the evening of the day when the way +was open to the Residency; "you have not cheated your creditor, I +see."</p> +<p>"No, Captain Mallett. I thought of him when those fellows in the +mosque were keeping such a heavy fire upon us as we were waiting to +get into the Secunderbagh. It seemed to me that his chance of ever +getting his money was not worth much. How the bullets did whizz +about! I felt sure that we should be all mown down before we could +get under the shelter of the wall.</p> +<p>"I don't think I shall ever feel afraid in battle again. One +gets to see that musketry fire is not so very dangerous after all. +If it were, very few of us would have got through the three days' +fighting alive, whereas the casualties only amount to one-tenth of +the force engaged. I am very sorry you are wounded."</p> +<p>"Oh, my wound is a mere trifle. I scarcely felt it until the +sergeant next to me said, 'You are wounded in the arm, Captain +Mallett.' The doctor says that it narrowly missed the bone, but in +this case a miss is as good as a mile. I am very sorry about +Hatchard and Rivers and Miles. They were all good fellows, and when +this excitement is over we shall miss them sadly. It will give you +your step."</p> +<p>"Yes, I won't say that it is lucky, for one cannot forget how it +has been gained. Still it is a good lift for me, for there are two +or three down for purchase below me, and otherwise I should have +had to wait a long time. It puts you one higher on the list, +Captain Mallett."</p> +<p>"I am going to clear out altogether as soon as the fighting is +all over, so whether I am fourth or fifth on the list makes no +difference whatever to me."</p> +<p>"Still it is a great satisfaction to have been through this and +to have taken one's share in the work of revenge. It was a horrible +business in the Secunderbagh, though one did not think of it at the +time. The villains richly deserved what they got, but I own that I +should not care to go into the place again. They must have suffered +tremendously altogether. The Colonel said this afternoon that he +found their loss had been put down as at least six or seven +thousand."</p> +<p>The regiment took its full share in the work that followed the +relief of Lucknow, portions being attached to each of the flying +columns which scoured Oude, defeated Kunwer Singh, and drove the +rebels before them wherever they encountered them.</p> +<p>In the beginning of February the vacancies in the ranks were +filled up by a draft from England. The work had been fatiguing in +the extreme, but the men were as a rule in splendid health, the +constant excitement preventing their suffering from the effect of +heat or attacks of fever.</p> +<p>Two companies which had been away from the headquarters of the +regiment for six weeks, found on their return a number of letters +awaiting them, the first they had received since leaving England. +Captain Mallett, who commanded this detachment, found one from Sir +John Greendale, written after the receipt of his letter from +Cawnpore.</p> +<p>"My Dear Mallett:</p> +<p>"We were all delighted to get your letter. Long before we +received it we had the news of the desperate fighting at Lucknow, +which was, of course, telegraphed down to the coast and got here +before your letter. You may imagine that we looked anxiously +through the list of killed and wounded, and were glad indeed that +your name in the latter had the word 'slightly' after it.</p> +<p>"Things are going on here much as usual. There was a terrible +sensation on the very morning after you left, at the disappearance +of Martha Bennett, the daughter of one of your tenants. She left +the house just at dusk the evening before, and has not been heard +of since. As she took nothing with her, it is improbable in the +extreme that she can have fled, and there can be little doubt that +the poor girl was murdered, possibly by some passing tramps. +However, though the strictest search was made throughout the +neighbourhood, her body has never been discovered.</p> +<p>"We lost another neighbour just about the time you left—Percy +Carthew. He went for a year's big game shooting in North America. +We don't miss him much, as he lived in London, and was not often +down at his place. I don't remember his being there since you came +back from the Crimea. Anyhow, I do not think that I ever saw you +and him together, either in a hunting field or at a dinner party; +which, of course, you would have been had you both been down here +at the same time. If I remember right, you were at the same +school."</p> +<p>And then followed some gossip about mutual friends, and the +letter concluded:</p> +<p>"The general excitement is calming down a little now that Delhi +is taken and the garrison of Lucknow brought off. Of course there +will be a great deal more fighting before the whole thing is over, +but there is no longer any fear for the safety of India. The Sikhs +have come out splendidly. Who would have thought it after the +tremendous thrashing we gave them a few years back?</p> +<p>"Take care of yourself, lad. You have the Victoria Cross and can +do very well without a bar, so give someone else the chance. My +wife and Bertha send their love."</p> +<p>Two or three of his other letters were from friends in regiments +at home bewailing their hard fortune at being out of the fighting. +The last he opened bore the latest postmark. It was from his +solicitor, and enclosed Marshall's cancelled bill.</p> +<p>"Of course, as you requested me to give 300 pounds for the +enclosed, I did so, but by the way in which Morrison jumped at the +offer I believe that he would have been glad to have taken half +that sum."</p> +<p>Mallett had gone into his tent to open his letters in quiet. He +presently went to the entrance, and catching sight of Marshall +called him up.</p> +<p>"I have managed that affair for you, Marshall," he said; "and +have arranged it in a way that I am sure will be satisfactory to us +both. You must look upon me now as your creditor instead of +Morrison, and you won't find me a hard one. Here is your cancelled +bill for four hundred and fifty. I got it for three hundred, so +that a third of your debt is wiped off at once. As to the rest, you +can pay me as you intended to pay him, but I don't want you to +stint yourself unnecessarily. Pay me ten or fifteen pounds at a +time at your convenience, and don't let us say anything more about +it."</p> +<p>"But I may be killed," Marshall said, in a voice struggling with +emotion.</p> +<p>"If you are, lad, there is an end of the business. As you know, +I am very well off, and the loss would not affect me in any way. +Very likely you will light upon some rich booty in one of these +affairs with a rebel Rajah, and will be able to pay it all off at +once."</p> +<p>"I will if I can, Mallett, though I think that it will be much +more satisfactory to do it out of my savings, except that I shall +have the pleasure of knowing that if I were wiped out afterwards +you would not be a loser."</p> +<p>A few days later Frank Mallett was sent with his company to rout +out a party of rebels reported to be in possession of a large +village twenty miles away. Armstrong was laid up by a slight attack +of fever, and he asked that Marshall should be appointed in his +place on this occasion.</p> +<p>"One wants two subalterns, Colonel," he said, "for a business +like this. I may have to detach a party to the back of the village +to cut off the rebels' retreat, and it may be necessary to assault +in two places."</p> +<p>"Certainly. Take Marshall if you wish it, Captain Mallett. The +young fellow has been behaving excellently, and has gone far to +retrieve his character. Captain Johnson has reported to me that he +is exemplary in his duties, and has shown much gallantry under +fire, especially in that affair near Neemuch, in which he rushed +forward and carried off a wounded man who would otherwise have +certainly been killed. I reported the case to the Brigadier, who +said that at any other time the young fellow would probably have +been recommended for a V.C., but that there were so many cases of +individual gallantry that there was no chance of his getting that; +but Marshall was specially mentioned in orders four days ago, and +this will, of course, count in his favour.</p> +<p>"Take him with you by all means; your ensign only joined with +the last draft, and you will certainly want someone with you of +greater experience than he has."</p> +<p>Marshall was delighted when he heard that he was to accompany +Captain Mallett. In addition to his own company, a hundred men of +the Punjaub infantry and fifty Sikh horse were under Captain +Mallett's command, the native troops being added at the last +moment, as a report of another body of mutineers marching in the +same direction had just come in.</p> +<p>Frank spent a quarter of an hour in inspecting some maps of the +country, and had a talk with the native who was to act as guide. +When the little force was drawn up, he marched off in quite another +direction from that in which the village lay. Being in command, he +was mounted for the first time during the campaign. The lieutenant +in command of the Sikhs presently rode up to him.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon, Captain Mallett, but I cannot but think that +your guide is taking you in the wrong direction. I looked at the +map before starting, and find that Dousi lies almost due north. We +are marching west."</p> +<p>"You are quite right, Mr. Hammond, but, you see, I don't want +any of the natives about the camp to guess where we are going. None +of these Oude fellows bears us any goodwill, and one of them might +hurry off, and carry information as to the line we were +following.</p> +<p>"We will march four miles along this road, and then strike off +by another leading north. We must surprise them if we can. We don't +really know much about their force, and even if we did, they may be +joined by some other body before we get there––there are numerous +bands of them all over the country. And in the next place, if they +knew that we were coming, they might bolt before we got there.</p> +<p>"Besides, some of these villages are very strong, and we might +suffer a good deal before we could carry it if they had notice of +our coming. However, you were quite right to point out to me that +we were not going in what seemed the right direction."</p> +<p>The column started at four o'clock in the afternoon. It had been +intended that it should move off at daybreak on the following +morning, but Frank had suggested to the Colonel that it would be +advantageous to march half the distance that night.</p> +<p>"Of course, we could do the twenty miles tomorrow, Colonel," he +said, "but the men would hardly be in the best fighting trim when +they got there. Moreover, by starting in the afternoon, the natives +here would imagine that we were going to pounce upon some fugitives +at a village not far away."</p> +<p>The permission was readily granted, and accordingly, after +marching until nine o'clock in the evening, the column halted in a +grove of trees to which their guide led them, half a mile from the +road. Each man carried four days' cooked provisions in his +haversack. There was therefore no occasion for fires to be lighted, +and after seeing that sentries were placed round the edge of the +grove, Frank Mallett joined the officers who were gathered in the +centre.</p> +<p>"What time shall we march tomorrow?" the officer in command of +the native infantry asked.</p> +<p>"Not until the heat of the day is over. We have come about +twelve miles, and have as much more to do; and if we start at the +same hour as we did today we shall get there about nine. I shall +halt half a mile away, reconnoitre the place at night, and if the +ground is open enough to move without making a noise, we will post +the troops in the positions they are to occupy, and attack as soon +as day breaks.</p> +<p>"In that way we shall get the benefit of surprise, and at the +same time have daylight to prevent their escaping. Besides, if we +attacked at night a good many of the villagers, and perhaps women, +might be killed in the confusion.</p> +<p>"Tomorrow morning we will cut down some young saplings and make +a dozen scaling ladders. We have brought a bag of gunpowder to blow +open the gate, and if the main body enter there while two parties +scale the walls at other points we shall get them in a trap."</p> +<p>At about nine o'clock the next evening the guide said that they +were now within half a mile of the village, and they accordingly +halted. The men were ordered to keep silence, and to lie down and +sleep as soon as they had eaten their supper; while Mallett, +accompanied by the two officers of the native troops and the guide, +made his way towards the village.</p> +<p>It was found to be larger than had been anticipated. On three +sides cultivated fields extended to the foot of the strong wall +that surrounded it, while on the fourth there was rough broken +ground covered with scrub and brushes.</p> +<p>"How far does this extend?" Captain Mallett asked the guide.</p> +<p>"About half a mile, and then joins a big jungle, sahib."</p> +<p>"This is the side they will try to escape by; therefore, Mr. +Herbert, you will lead your men round here with four scaling +ladders. You will post them along at the foot of the wall, and when +you hear the explosion of the powder bag or an outburst of musketry +firing, you will scale the wall and advance to meet me, keeping as +wide a front as possible, so as to prevent fugitives from passing +you and getting out here. The cavalry will cut off those who make +across the open country. I would give a good deal to know how many +of these fellows are inside. Four hundred was the number first +reported. They may, of course, have already moved away, and on the +other hand they may have been joined by others. They were said to +have some guns with them, but these will be of little use in the +streets of the village, and we shall probably capture them before +they have time to fire a single round."</p> +<p>At three o'clock the troops stood to their arms, and moved +noiselessly off towards the positions assigned to them. Captain +Mallett led his own company to within four hundred yards of the +wall, and then sent Marshall forward with two men to fix the powder +bag and fuse to the gate. When they had done this they were to +remain quietly there until warned that the company was about to +advance; then they were to light the fuse, which was cut to burn +two minutes, to retire round the angle of the wall, and join the +company as it came up. The troops lay down, for the ground was +level, and there was no spot behind which they could conceal +themselves, and impatiently watched the sky until the first gleam +of light appeared. Another ten minutes elapsed. The dawn was +spreading fast, and a man was sent forward to Lieutenant Marshall +to say that the company was getting in motion.</p> +<p>As soon as the messenger was seen to reach the gates, Mallett +gave the word. The men sprang to their feet.</p> +<p>"Don't double, men. We shall be there in time, and it is no use +getting out of breath and spoiling your shooting."</p> +<p>They were within a hundred yards of the gate, when they heard a +shout from the village, and as they pressed on, shot after shot +rang out from the wall. A moment later there was a heavy explosion, +and as the smoke cleared off, the gate was seen to be +destroyed.</p> +<p>A few seconds later, the troops burst through the opening. +Infantry bugles were sounding in the village, and there was a loud +din of shouting, cries of alarm and orders. From every house the +mutineers rushed, musket in hand, but were shot down or bayoneted +by the troops. As the latter approached a large open space in the +middle of the village a strong body of Sepoys advanced in good +order to meet them, led by their native officers.</p> +<p>"Steady, men, steady," Captain Mallett shouted. "Form across the +street."</p> +<p>Quickly the men fell in, though several dropped as a volley +flashed out from the Sepoy line.</p> +<p>"One volley and then charge," Mallett shouted. Some of the guns +were already empty, but the rest poured in their fire, when the +word was given, as regularly as if on parade.</p> +<p>"Level bayonets—charge!" And with a loud cheer the soldiers +sprang forward. The Sepoys, well commanded though they were, +wavered and broke; but the British were upon them before they could +fly, and with shouts of "Cawnpore," used their bayonets with deadly +effect, driving the enemy before them.</p> +<p>As they came into the open, and the fugitives cleared away on +either side, they saw a long line of men drawn up. A moment later a +flash of fire ran along it.</p> +<p>"Shoulder to shoulder, men," Captain Mallett shouted. "Give +them the bayonet."</p> +<p>With a hoarse roar of rage, for many of their comrades had +fallen, the company rushed forward and burst through the line of +mutineers as if it had been a sheet of paper. Then they divided, +and Captain Mallett with half the company turned to the right. +Marshall took the other wing to the left.</p> +<p>Encouraged by the smallness of the number of their assailants, +the mutineers, cheered on by their officers, resisted stoutly. A +scattering fire opened upon the British from the houses round, and +the shouts of the mutineers rose louder and louder, when a heavy +volley was suddenly poured into them, and the Punjaubies rushed out +from the street facing that by which the British had entered. They +bore to the right, and fell upon the body with which Marshall was +engaged.</p> +<p>The Sepoys, taken wholly by surprise, at once lost heart. +Cheering loudly, the British attacked them with increased ardour, +while the Punjaubies flung themselves into their midst. In an +instant, that flank of the Sepoys was scattered in headlong flight, +hotly pursued by their foes. There was no firing, for the muskets +were all empty; but the bayonet did its work, and the open space +and the streets leading from it were thickly strewn with dead.</p> +<p>The Sepoys attacked by Captain Mallett's party, on the other +hand, though shaken for a moment, stood firm; led by two or three +native officers, who, fighting with the greatest bravery, exhorted +their men to continue their resistance.</p> +<p>"Would you rather be hung than fight?" they shouted. "They are +but a handful; we are five to one against them. Forward, men, and +exterminate these Feringhees before the others can come back to +their assistance."</p> +<p>The Sepoys were now the assailants, and with furious shouts +pressed round the little body of British troops.</p> +<p>"Steady, men, steady," Captain Mallett shouted, as he drove his +sword through the body of one of the rebel leaders who rushed at +him. "Keep together, back to back. We shall have help here in a +minute."</p> +<p>It was longer than that, however, before relief came. For three +or four minutes a desperate struggle went on, then Marshall's voice +was heard shouting:</p> +<p>"This way, men, this way!"</p> +<p>A moment later there was a surging movement in the ranks of the +insurgents, and with a dozen men Marshall burst through them, and +joined the party. These at once fell furiously upon the mutineers, +and the latter were already giving way when some fifty of the +Punjaubies, led by their officers, fell upon them.</p> +<p>The effect was decisive. The Sepoys scattered at once, and fled +in all directions, pursued by the furious soldiers and the +Punjaubies. Reaching the walls, the fugitives leapt recklessly +down. Forty or fifty of them were cut down by the cavalry, but the +greater portion reached the broken ground in safety. Here the +cavalry could not follow them, for the ground was covered with +rocks and boulders concealed by the bushes. In the village itself +three hundred and fifty lay dead.</p> +<p>"Thanks, Marshall," Frank Mallett said, when the fight in the +village was over. "You arrived just in time, for it was going very +hard with us. Altogether it was more than we bargained for, for +they were certainly over a thousand strong. They must have been +joined by a very strong party yesterday."</p> +<p>"I ought not to have gone so far," Marshall replied, "but I had +no idea that all the Punjaubies had come to our side of the fight. +The men were so eager that I had the greatest difficulty in getting +them off the pursuit. Fortunately I met Herbert, and learned that +all his men were with us. Then I gathered a dozen of our fellows, +and rushed off, telling him to follow as soon as he could get some +of his men together.</p> +<p>"You can imagine what agony I felt when, as I entered the open +space, I saw a surging mass of Sepoys, and no sign of any of you; +and how I cursed my own folly, and what delight I felt, as on +cutting our way through we found that you were still on your +feet."</p> +<p>"Yes, it was a close shave, Marshall; another two or three +minutes and it would have been all over. The men fought like lions, +as you can see by the piled-up dead there. Half of them were down, +and twenty men cannot hold out long against four or five +hundred.</p> +<p>"We owe our lives to you beyond all question. I don't see that +you were in the least to blame in the matter, for naturally you +would suppose that some of the Punjaubies would have joined us. +Besides, it was of course essential that you should not give the +Sepoys time to rally, but should follow them up hotly.</p> +<p>"Where is Anstruther?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. I have not seen him since we entered the +square."</p> +<p>"Have any of you seen Mr. Anstruther?" Captain Mallett asked, +turning to some soldiers standing near.</p> +<p>"He is lying over there, sir," one of the men said. "He was just +in front of me when the Pandies fired that volley at us as we came +out of the streets, and he pitched forward and fell like a stone. I +think that he was shot through the head, sir."</p> +<p>They went across to the spot. The ensign lay there shot through +the brain. Four or five soldiers lay round him; one of them was +dead, the others more or less seriously wounded.</p> +<p>"Sound the assembly," Captain Mallett said, as he turned away +sadly, to a bugler. "Let us see what our losses are."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch4" id="Ch4">Chapter 4</a>.</h2> +<p>The bugle sounded, and in a short time the infantry fell in. +They had been engaged in searching the houses for mutineers. The +Punjaubies had lost but five killed and thirteen wounded, while of +the whites an officer and eighteen men were killed and sixteen +wounded; nine of the former having fallen in the bayonet struggle +with the Sepoys. Nine guns were captured, none of which had been +fired, the attack having been so sudden that the Sepoys had only +had time to fall in before their assailants were upon them.</p> +<p>"It is a creditable victory," Mallett said, "considering that we +had to face more than double the number that we expected. Our +casualties are heavy, but they are nothing to those of the +mutineers.</p> +<p>"Sergeant, take a file of men and go round and count the number +of the enemy who have fallen.</p> +<p>"Ah, here comes a Sowar, and we shall hear what the cavalry have +been doing outside."</p> +<p>The trooper handed him a paper: "Fifty-three of the enemy +killed, the rest escaped into the jungle. On our side two wounded; +one seriously, one slightly."</p> +<p>"That is as well as we could expect, Marshall. Of course, most +of them got over the wall at the back. You see, all our plans were +disarranged by finding them in such unexpected strength. Had we +been able to thrash them by ourselves, the Punjaubies would have +cut off the retreat in that direction. As it was, that part of the +business is a failure."</p> +<p>The Sergeant presently returned.</p> +<p>"There are 340 in the streets, sir," he reported; "and I reckon +there are another 20 or 30 killed in the houses, but I have not +searched them yet."</p> +<p>"That is sufficiently close; upwards of 400 is good enough.</p> +<p>"Now, Mr. Marshall, set the men to work making stretchers to +carry the wounded.</p> +<p>"Mr. Herbert, will you tell off a party of your men to dig a +large grave outside the village for the killed, and a small one +apart for Mr. Anstruther? Poor fellow, I am sorry indeed at his +loss; he would have made a fine officer.</p> +<p>"Sergeant Hugging, take a party and search the village for +provisions. We have got bread, but lay hands on any fowls or goats +that you can find, and there may be some sheep."</p> +<p>While this party was away, another tore down the woodwork of an +empty house, and fires were soon burning, an abundance of fowl and +goats having been obtained. The cavalry had by this time come +in.</p> +<p>While the meal was being cooked the British and Punjaub dead +were carried out to the spot where the grave had been dug. The +troops had a hearty meal, and then marched out from the village. +They were drawn up round the graves, and the bodies were laid +reverently in them. Captain Mallett said a few words over them; the +earth was then shovelled in and levelled, and the troops marched to +a wood a mile distant, where they halted until the heat of the day +was over. They returned by the direct road to the camp, which they +reached at midnight.</p> +<p>All concerned gained great credit for the heavy blow that had +been inflicted on the mutineers, and the affair was highly spoken +of in the Brigadier's report to the Commander in Chief. Shortly +afterwards Mallett's name appeared in general orders as promoted to +a brevet Majority, pending a confirmation by the home +authorities.</p> +<p>Two days after the return of the little column, the brigade +marched and joined the force collected at Cawnpore for the final +operation against Lucknow, and on the 3rd of March reached the +Commander in Chief at the Dil Koosha, which had been captured with +the same ease as on the occasion of the former advance.</p> +<p>They found that while the main body had gathered there, 6,000 +men under Sir James Outram had crossed the Goomtee from the Alum +Bagh, and, after defeating two serious attacks by the enemy, had +taken up a position at Chinhut. On the 9th, Sir Colin Campbell +captured the Martiniere with trifling loss. On the 11th General +Outram pushed his advance as far as the iron bridge, and +established batteries commanding the passage of the stone bridge +also. On the 12th the Imambarra was breached and stormed, and the +troops pressed so hotly on the flying enemy that they entered the +Kaiser Bagh, the strongest fortified palace in the city, and drove +the enemy from it.</p> +<p>The ––th was engaged in this action, and Major Mallett was +leading his company to the assault on the Imambarra when a shot +brought him to the ground. When he recovered his senses he found +himself in a chamber that had been hastily converted into a +hospital, with the regimental doctor leaning over him.</p> +<p>"What has happened?" he asked.</p> +<p>"You have been hit, Mallett, and have had a very close shave of +it, indeed; but as it is, you will soon be about again."</p> +<p>"Where was I hit? I don't feel any pain."</p> +<p>"You were hit in the neck, about half an inch above the +collarbone, and the ball has gone through the muscles of the neck; +and beyond the fact that you won't be able to turn your head for +some time, you will be none the worse for it. An inch further to +the right, or an inch lower or higher, and it would have been +fatal. It was not one of the enemy who did you this service, for +the ball went up from behind, and came out in front; it is +evidently a random shot from one of our own fellows."</p> +<p>"I am always more afraid of a shot from behind than I am of one +in front when I am leading the company, doctor. The men get so +excited that they blaze away anyhow, and in the smoke are just as +likely to hit an officer two or three paces ahead of them as an +enemy. How long have I been insensible?"</p> +<p>"You were brought in here half an hour ago, and I don't suppose +that you had lain many minutes on the ground before you were picked +up."</p> +<p>"Have we taken the Imambarra?"</p> +<p>"Yes, and what is better still, our fellows rushed into the +Kaiser Bagh at the heels of the enemy. We got the news ten minutes +ago."</p> +<p>"That is good indeed. We anticipated desperate fighting before +we took that."</p> +<p>"Yes, it was an unlucky shot, Mallett, that knocked you out of +your share in the loot. We have always heard that the place was +full of treasure and jewels."</p> +<p>"If there is no one else who wants your attention, doctor, I +advise you to join the regiment there for an hour or two. As for +me, I care nothing about the loot. There are plenty of fellows who +will benefit by it more than I should, and I give up my share +willingly."</p> +<p>The doctor shook his head.</p> +<p>"I am afraid I cannot do that; but, between ourselves, I have +let Ferguson slip away, and he is to divide what he gets with +me."</p> +<p>"Have we any wounded?"</p> +<p>"I don't know yet. The whole thing was done so suddenly that the +loss cannot have been heavy. I was in the rear of the brigade when +you were brought in, and as the case at first looked bad, I got +some of the stretcher men with me to burst open the door of this +house and established a dozen temporary beds here. As you see, +there are only four others tenanted, and they are all hopeless +cases. No doubt the rest have all been carried off to the rear, as +only the men who helped me would have known of this place.</p> +<p>"Now that you have come round, I will send a couple of hospital +orderlies in here and be off myself to the hospital in the rear. I +will look in again this evening."</p> +<p>In a short time the doctor returned with an orderly.</p> +<p>"I cannot find another now," he said, "but one will be enough. +Here is a flask of brandy, and he will find you water somewhere. +There is nothing to be done for any of you at present, except to +give you drink when you want it."</p> +<p>Two hours later Marshall came in.</p> +<p>"Thank God you are not dangerously hurt, Mallett," he said. "I +only heard that you were down three-quarters of an hour ago, when I +ran against Armstrong in the Kaiser Bagh. He told me that he had +seen you fall at the beginning of the fight, and I got leave from +the Colonel to look for you. At the hospital, no one seemed to know +anything about you, but I luckily came across Jefferies, who told +me where to find you, and that your wound was not serious, so I +hurried back here. He said that you would be taken to the hospital +this evening."</p> +<p>"Yes, I am in luck again. Like the last it is only a flesh +wound, though it is rather worse, for I expect that I shall have to +go about with a stiff neck for some weeks to come, and it is +disgusting being laid up in the middle of an affair like this. Have +we lost many fellows?"</p> +<p>"No. Scobell is the only officer killed. Hunter, Groves and +Parkinson are wounded—Parkinson, they say, seriously. We have +twenty-two rank and file killed, and twenty or thirty wounded. I +have not seen the returns."</p> +<p>"And how about the loot, Marshall?" Mallett said, with a smile. +"Was that all humbug?"</p> +<p>"It is stupendous. We were among the first at the Kaiser Bagh, +and I don't believe that there is a man who has not got his pockets +stuffed with gold coins. There were chests and chests full. They +did not bother about the jewels—I think they took them for +coloured glass. I kept my eyes open, and picked up enough to pay my +debt to you five times over."</p> +<p>"I am heartily glad of that, Marshall. Don't let it slip through +your fingers again."</p> +<p>"That you may be sure I won't. I shall send them all home to our +agent to sell, and have the money put by for purchasing my next +step. I have had my lesson, and it will last me for life.</p> +<p>"Well, I must be going now, old man. The Colonel did not like +letting me go, as of course the men want looking after, and the +Pandies may make an effort to drive us out of the Kaiser Bagh +again; so goodbye. If I can get away this evening I will come to +see you at the hospital."</p> +<p>A week later Frank Mallett was sitting in a chair by his +bedside. The fighting was all over, and a strange quiet had +succeeded the long roar of battle. His neck was strapped up with +bandages, and save that he was unable to move his head in the +slightest degree, he felt well enough to take his place with the +regiment again. Many of his fellow officers dropped in from time to +time for a short chat, but the duty was heavy. All open resistance +had ceased, but the troops were engaged in searching the houses, +and turning out all rough characters who had made Lucknow their +centre, and had no visible means of subsistence. Large gangs of the +lower class population were set to work to bury the dead, which +would otherwise have rendered the city uninhabitable. Strong guards +were posted at night, alike to prevent soldiers from wandering in +search of loot and to prevent fanatics from making sudden +attacks.</p> +<p>"There is a wounded man in the hospital across the road who +wants to see you, Mallett," the surgeon said one morning. "He +belongs to your company, but as he only came out with the last +draft, and was transferred only on the day that the fighting began, +I don't suppose you know him. He said I was to tell you his name +was George Lechmere, though he enlisted as John Hilton."</p> +<p>"I seem to know the name, doctor, though I don't remember at +present where I came across him. I suppose I can go in to see +him?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, there is no objection whatever. Your wound is doing as +well as can be; though, of course, you are still weak from loss of +blood. I shall send you up this afternoon to the hospital just +established in the park of the Dil Koosha. We shall get you all out +as soon as we can, for the stench of this town at present is +dreadful, and wounds cannot be expected to do well in such a +poisoned atmosphere."</p> +<p>"Is this man badly hit, doctor?"</p> +<p>"Very dangerously. I have scarcely a hope of saving him, and +think it probable that he may not live another twenty-four hours. +Of course, he may take a change for the better. I will take you to +him. I have finished here now."</p> +<p>"It must have been a bad time for you, doctor," Mallett said, as +they went across.</p> +<p>"Tremendously hard, but most interesting. I had not had more +than two hours' sleep at a time since the fighting began, till last +night, and then I could not keep up any longer. Of course, it has +been the same with us all, and the heat has made it very trying. I +am particularly anxious to get the wounded well out of the place, +for now that the excitement is over I expect an outbreak of fever +or dysentery.</p> +<p>"There, that is your man in the corner bed over there."</p> +<p>Mallett went over to the bedside, and looked at the wounded man. +His face was drawn and pinched, his eyes sunken in his head, his +face deadly pale, and his hair matted with perspiration.</p> +<p>"Do you know me, Captain Mallett?"</p> +<p>"No, lad, I cannot say that I do, though when the doctor told me +your name it seemed familiar to me. Very likely I should have +recognised you if I had met you a week since, but, you see, we are +both altered a good deal from the effect of our wounds."</p> +<p>"I am the son of Farmer Lechmere, your tenant."</p> +<p>"Good heavens! man. You don't mean to say you are Lechmere's +eldest son, George! What in the world brought you to this?"</p> +<p>"You did," the man said, sternly. "Your villainy brought me +here."</p> +<p>Frank Mallett gave a start of astonishment that cost him so +violent a twinge in his wound that he almost cried out with sudden +pain.</p> +<p>"What wild idea have you got into your head, my poor fellow?" he +said soothingly. "I am conscious of having done no wrong to you or +yours. I saw your father and mother on the afternoon before I came +away. They made no complaint of anything."</p> +<p>"No, they were contented enough. Do you know, Captain Mallett, +that I loved Martha Bennett?"</p> +<p>"No. I have been so little at home of recent years that I know +very little of the private affairs of my tenants, but I remember +her, of course, and I was grieved to learn by a letter from Sir +John Greendale the other day that in some strange way she was +missing."</p> +<p>"Who knew that better than yourself?" the man said, raising +himself on his elbow, and fixing a look of such deadly hatred upon +Mallett, that the latter involuntarily drew back a step.</p> +<p>"I saw you laughing and talking to her in front of her father's +house. I heard you with her in their garden the evening before you +left and she disappeared, and it was my voice you heard in the +lane. Had I known that you were going that night, I would have +followed you and killed you, and saved her. The next morning you +were both gone. I waited a time and then went to the depot of your +regiment and enlisted. I had failed to save her, but at least I +could avenge her. That bullet was mine, and had you not stumbled +over a Pandy's body, I suppose, just as I pulled my trigger, you +would have been a dead man.</p> +<p>"I did not know that I had failed, and, rushing forward with my +company, was in the thickest of the fight. I wanted to be killed, +but no shot struck me, and at last, when chasing a Pandy along a +passage in the Kaiser Bagh, he turned and levelled his piece at me. +Mine was loaded, and I could have shot him down as he turned, but I +stood and let him have his shot. When I found myself here I was +sorry that he had not finished me at once, but when I heard that +you were alive, and likely to recover, I thanked him in my heart +that he had left me a few more days of life, that I could let you +know that it was I who had fired, and that Martha's wrong had not +been wholly unavenged."</p> +<p>He sank back exhausted on to the pillow. Frank Mallett had made +no attempt to interrupt him: the sudden agony of his wound and his +astonishment at this strange accusation had given him so grave a +shock that he leaned against the wall behind him in silent +wonder.</p> +<p>"Hello! Mallett, what the deuce is the matter with you?" the +surgeon exclaimed, as, looking up from a patient over whom he was +bending a short distance away, his eyes fell on the officer's face. +"You look as if you were going to faint, man.</p> +<p>"Here, orderly, some brandy and water, quickly!"</p> +<p>Frank drank some of the brandy and water and sat down for a few +minutes. Then, when he saw the surgeon at the other end of the +room, he got up and went across to Lechmere's bed.</p> +<p>"There is some terrible mistake, Lechmere," he said, quietly. "I +swear to you on my honour as a gentleman that you are altogether +wrong. From the moment that I got into my dog cart at Bennett's I +never saw Martha again. I know nothing whatever of this talk in the +garden. Did you think you saw me as well as heard me?"</p> +<p>"No, you were on one side of that high wall and I on the other, +but I heard enough to know who it was. You told her that you had to +go abroad at once, but that if she would come out there you would +put her in charge of someone until you could marry her. You told +her that she could not stay where she was long, and I knew what +that meant. I suppose she is at Calcutta still waiting, for of +course she could not have come out with you. I suppose that she is +breaking her heart there now—if she is not dead, as I hope she +is."</p> +<p>"Did you hear the word Calcutta or India mentioned, +Lechmere?"</p> +<p>"No, I did not, but I heard quite enough. Everyone knew that you +were going in a day or two, and that was enough for me after what I +had seen in the afternoon."</p> +<p>"You saw nothing in the afternoon," Captain Mallett said, +angrily. "The girl's father and mother were at home. We were all +chatting together until we came out. She came to the trap with me +while they stood at the open window. It was not more than a minute +before I drove off. I have not spoken to the girl half a dozen +times since she was a little child.</p> +<p>"Why, man, if everyone took such insane fancies in his head as +you do, no man would dare to speak to a woman at all.</p> +<p>"However," he went on in an altered voice, "this is not a time +for anger. You are very ill, Lechmere, but the doctor has not given +you up, and I trust that you will yet get round and will be able to +prove to your own satisfaction that, whatever has happened to this +poor girl, I, at least, am wholly innocent of it. But should you +not get over this hurt, I should not like you to go to your grave +believing that I had done you this great wrong. I speak to you as +to a dying man, and having no interest in deceiving you, and I +swear to you before Heaven that I know absolutely nothing of this. +I, too, may fall from a rebel shot before long, and I thank God +that I can meet you before Him as an innocent man in this +matter.</p> +<p>"I must be going, for I see the doctor coming to fetch me. +Goodbye, lad, we may not meet again, though I trust we shall; but +if not, I give you my full forgiveness for that shot you fired at +me. It was the result of a strange mistake, but had I acted as you +believed, I should have well deserved the death you intended for +me."</p> +<p>"Confound it, Mallett, there seems no end of mischief from your +visit here. In the first place, you were nearly knocked over +yourself, and now there is this man lying insensible. So for +goodness' sake get off to your room again, and lie down and keep +yourself quiet for the rest of the day. I shall have you +demoralising the whole ward if you stay here."</p> +<p>Captain Mallett walked back with a much feebler and less steady +step than that with which he had entered the hospital. He had some +doubts whether the man who had made this strange accusation and had +so nearly taken his life was really sane, and whether he had not +altogether imagined the conversation which he declared he had heard +in the garden. He remembered now the sudden way in which George +Lechmere had turned round and gone away when he saw him saying +goodbye to Martha, and how she had shrugged her shoulders in +contempt.</p> +<p>The man must either be mad, or of a frightfully jealous +disposition, to conjure up harm out of such an incident: and one +who would do so might well, when his brain was on fire, conjure up +this imaginary conversation. Still, he might have heard some man +talking to her. From what Sir John had said, she did leave the +house and go into the garden about that hour, and she certainly +never returned.</p> +<p>He remembered all about George Lechmere now. He had the +reputation of being the best judge of cattle in the neighbourhood, +and a thoroughly steady fellow, but he could see no resemblance in +the shrunk and wasted face to that he remembered.</p> +<p>That evening both the officers and men in the hospital were +carried away to the new one outside the town. When the doctor came +in before they were moved, he told Mallett that the man he had seen +had recovered from his swoon.</p> +<p>"He was very nearly gone," he said, "but we managed to get him +round, and it seems to me that he has been better since. I don't +know what he said to you or you to him, and I don't want to know; +but he seems to have got something off his mind. He is less +feverish than he was, and I have really some faint hopes of pulling +him through, especially as he will now be in a more healthful +atmosphere."</p> +<p>It was a comfort indeed to all the wounded when late that +evening they lay on beds in the hospital marquees. The air seemed +deliciously cool and fresh, and there was a feeling of quiet and +restfulness that was impossible in the town, with the constant +movement of troops, the sound of falling masonry, the dust and +fetid odour of decay.</p> +<p>A week later the surgeon told Mallett that he had now hopes that +the soldier he was interested in would recover.</p> +<p>"The chances were a hundred to one against him," he said, "but +the one chance has come off."</p> +<p>"Will he be fit for service again, doctor?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I don't see why he should not be, though it will be a long +time before he can carry his kit and arms on a long day's march. It +is hot enough now, but we have not got to the worst by a long way, +and as there is still a vast amount of work to be done, I expect +that the regiment will be off again before long."</p> +<p>"Well, at any rate, I shall be able to go with you, doctor."</p> +<p>"I don't quite say that, Mallett," the doctor said, doubtfully. +"In another fortnight your wound will be healed so that you will be +capable of ordinary duty, but certainly not long marches. If you do +go you will have to ride. There must be no more marching with your +company for some time."</p> +<p>A week later orders were issued, under which the regiment was +appointed to form part of the force which, under the command of +General Walpole, was to undertake a campaign against Rohilcund, a +district in which the great majority of the rebels who had escaped +from Lucknow had now established themselves. Unfortunately, the +extent of the city and the necessity for the employment of a large +proportion of the British force in the actual assault, had +prevented anything like a complete investment of the town, and the +consequence had been that after the fall of the Kaiser Bagh, by far +the greater portion of the rebel force in the city had been able to +march away without molestation.</p> +<p>Before leaving, Mallett had an interview with George Lechmere, +who was now out of danger.</p> +<p>"I should have known you now, Lechmere," he said, as he came to +his bedside. "Of course you are still greatly changed, but you are +getting back your old expression, and I hope that in the course of +two or three months you will be able to take your place in the +ranks again."</p> +<p>"I don't know, sir. I ain't fit to stay with the regiment, and +have thought of being invalided home and then buying my discharge. +I know you have said nothing as to how you got that wound, not even +to the doctor; for if you had done so there is not a man in +hospital who would have spoken to me. But how could I join the +regiment again? knowing that if there was any suspicion of what I +had done, every man would draw away from me, and that there would +be nothing for me to do but to put a bullet in my head."</p> +<p>"But no one ever will know it. It was a mad act, and I believe +you were partly mad at the time."</p> +<p>"I think so myself now that I look back. I think now that I must +have been mad all along. It never once entered my mind to doubt +that it was you, and now I see plainly enough that except what the +man said about going away—and anyone might have said that––there +was not a shadow of ground or suspicion against you. But even if I +had never had that suspicion I should have left home.</p> +<p>"Why, sir, I know that my own father and mother suspected that I +killed her. I resented it at the time. I felt hard and bitter +against it, but as I have been lying here I have come to see that I +brought their suspicions upon myself by my own conduct, and that +they had a thousand times better ground for suspecting me than I +had for suspecting you.</p> +<p>"All that happened was my fault. Martha cared for me once, but +it was my cursed jealousy that drove her from me. She was gay and +light hearted, and it was natural for her to take her pleasure, +which was harmless enough if I had not made a grievance of it. If I +had not driven her from me she would have been my wife long before +harm came to her; but it was as well that it was not so, for as I +was then I know I should have made her life a hell.</p> +<p>"I did it all and I have been punished for it. Even at the end +she might never have gone off if I had not shouted out and tried to +climb the wall. She must have recognised my voice, and, knowing +that I had her secret, feared that I might kill her and him too, +and so she went. She would not have gone as she did, without even a +bonnet or a shawl, if it had not been for that."</p> +<p>"Then you don't think, as most people there do, that she was +murdered?"</p> +<p>"Not a bit, sir. I never thought so for a moment. She went +straight away with that man. I think now I know who it was."</p> +<p>"Never mind about that, Lechmere. You know what the Bible says, +'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,' and whoever it may be, leave +him safely in God's hands."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, I shall try to act up to that. I was fool enough to +think that I could avenge her, and a nice business I made of +it."</p> +<p>"Well, I think it is nonsense of you to think of leaving the +regiment. There is work to be done here. There is the work of +punishing men who have committed the most atrocious crimes. There +is the work of winning back India for England. Every Englishman out +here, who can carry a weapon, ought to remain at his post until the +work is done.</p> +<p>"As to this wound of mine, that is a matter between us only. As +I have told you, I have altogether forgiven you, and am not even +disposed greatly to blame you, thinking, as you did, that I was +responsible for that poor girl's flight. I shall never mention it +to a soul. I have already put it out of my mind, therefore it is as +if it had never been done, and there is no reason whatever why you +should shrink from companionship with your comrades. I shall think +much better of you for doing your duty like a man, than if you went +home again and shrank from it."</p> +<p>"You are too good, sir, altogether too good."</p> +<p>"Nonsense, man. Besides, you have to remember that you have not +gone unpunished. Had it not been for your feeling, after you had, +as you believed, killed me, you never would have stood and let that +Sepoy shoot you; so that all the pain that you have been going +through, and may still have to go through before you are quite +cured, is a punishment that you have yourself accepted. After a man +has once been punished for a crime there is an end of it, and you +need grieve no further over it; but it will be a lesson that I hope +and believe you will never forget.</p> +<p>"Hackett, who has been my soldier servant for the last five +years, was killed in the fight in the Kaiser Bagh. If you like, +when you rejoin, I shall apply for you in his stead. It will make +your work a good deal easier for you, and I should like to have the +son of one of my old tenants about me."</p> +<p>The man burst into tears.</p> +<p>"There, don't let's say anything more about it," Mallett went +on, taking the thin hand of the soldier in his. "We will consider +it settled, and I shall look out for you in a couple of months, so +get well as quick as you can, and don't worry yourself by thinking +of the past. I must be off now, for I have to take down a party of +convalescents to rejoin this evening.</p> +<p>"Goodbye, lad," and without waiting for any reply, he turned and +left the marquee.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch5" id="Ch5">Chapter 5</a>.</h2> +<p>"It is little more than two years and a half since I left, +Lechmere, but it seems almost a lifetime."</p> +<p>"It does seem a time, Major. We must have marched thousands of +miles, and I could not say how many times we have been engaged. +There has not been a week that we have not had a fight, and +sometimes two or three of them."</p> +<p>"Well, thank God, we are back again. Still I am glad to have +been through it."</p> +<p>"So am I, sir. It will be something to look back on, and it is +curious to think that while we have been seeing and doing so much, +father and my brother Bob have just been going about over the farm, +and seeing to the cattle, and looking after the animals day in and +day out, without ever going away save to market two or three times +a month at Chippenham."</p> +<p>"And you have quite made up your mind to stay with me, +Lechmere?"</p> +<p>"Quite, sir. Short of your turning me out, there is nothing that +would get me away from you. No one could be happier than I have +been, ever since I rejoined after that wound. It has not been like +master and servant, sir. You have just treated me as if you had +been the squire and I had been your tenant's son, and that nothing +had ever come between us. You have made a man of me again, and I +only wish that I had more opportunities of showing you how I feel +it."</p> +<p>"You have had opportunities enough, and you have made the most +of them. You were by my side when I entered that house where there +were a score of desperate rebels, and it would have gone hard with +us if aid had not come up. You stood over me when I was knocked +down by that charge of rebel cavalry, and got half a dozen wounds +before the Hussars swept down and drove them back."</p> +<p>"I was well paid for that, sir," the man said with a smile.</p> +<p>"Yes, you got the Victoria Cross, and no man ever won it more +fairly. But, after all, it was not so much by such things as these +that you showed your feelings, Lechmere, as by your constant and +faithful service, and by the care with which you looked after me. +Still, as I told you before, I don't like standing in your way. In +the natural course of things you would have had your father's farm, +and there is now no reason why you should not go back there."</p> +<p>"No, sir. Since we heard that that poor girl came back home and +died, there is no reason why I should not go back to the old place, +but I don't like to. Two years of such a life as we have been +leading does not fit one for farm work. Brother Bob stopped and +took my place while I went soldiering, and even if I were willing +to go back to it, which I am not, it would not be fair to him for +me to step in just as if nothing had happened. But, anyhow, I shall +be glad to be back again at the old place and see them all. Father +and mother will know now that they suspected me wrongly. But they +were not to blame. Mad as I was then, I might have done it if I had +had the chance."</p> +<p>"Well, Lechmere, you know well that I shall be always glad to +have you with me as long as you are willing to stay. Perhaps the +time will come when you may wish to make a home for yourself, and +you may be sure that the first farm on the estate that falls vacant +shall be yours, or, as that does not very often happen, I will see +that you get a good one somewhere in the neighbourhood."</p> +<p>The man shook his head, and without answering went on unpacking +his master's portmanteau. They were at the Hummums Hotel, in Covent +Garden, and had arrived half an hour before by the evening train, +having come overland from Marseilles.</p> +<p>Two years' soldiering had greatly altered George Lechmere. He +had lost the heavy step caused by tramping over ploughed fields, +and was a well set-up, alert and smart-looking soldier; and +although now in civilian clothes—for his master had bought him out +of the service when he sent in his own papers—no one could avoid +seeing that he had served, for in addition to the military carriage +there was the evidence of two deep scars on his face, the handiwork +of the mutineers' sabres on the day when he had stood over his +master surrounded by rebel horse. His complexion was deeply bronzed +by the sun, and there was that steady but watchful expression in +his eyes that is characteristic of men who have gone through long +and dangerous service.</p> +<p>"I shall stay two or three days in town," Major Mallett said. "I +must get an entire refit before I go down. You had better come +round with me to the tailor's tomorrow, the first thing after +breakfast. You will want three or four suits, too."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. And besides, they would like to know down there when +you are coming home. They are sure to want to give you a +welcome."</p> +<p>"And you, too, Lechmere. I am sure that all your old friends +will give you as hearty a welcome as they will give me. Indeed, it +ought to be a good deal heartier, for you have been living among +them all your life, while I have been away for the most part ever +since I was a boy."</p> +<p>Four days later they went down to Chippenham. Mr. Norton, the +steward, was on the platform when the train came in.</p> +<p>"Welcome home again, sir," he said warmly, as Frank stepped from +the carriage. "We were all glad, indeed, when we heard that you +were back safe, and were coming down among us."</p> +<p>"I am glad enough to be back again, Norton," Frank Mallett said; +as he shook the man's hand. "We had warm work of it for a bit, but +at the end, when the excitement was over, one got pretty tired of +it.</p> +<p>"This is George Lechmere, Norton," the Major said, as he went +along with the agent to where George was standing with the pile of +luggage. "You have heard how gallantly he behaved, and how he saved +my life at the risk of his own."</p> +<p>"How are you, George?" the agent said, as he shook hands with +him. "I should hardly have known you. Indeed, I am sure I should +not have done so if I had met you in the street. You seem to have +grown taller and altogether different."</p> +<p>"I have lost flesh a bit, Mr. Norton, and I have learnt to stand +upright, and I shall be some time before I get rid of this paint +the sun has given me."</p> +<p>"Yes, you are as brown as a berry, George. We saw in the gazette +about your getting the Victoria Cross in saving the squire's life. +I can tell you every man on the estate felt proud of you.</p> +<p>"Are you ready to be off, sir?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I suppose you have got the dog cart outside, as I asked +you?"</p> +<p>"Well, no, sir," the agent said, in a tone of some +embarrassment. "You see the tenants had made up their minds that +you ought to come in a different sort of style, and so without +asking me about it they ordered an open carriage to be here to meet +you. I knew nothing about it until last night. The dog cart is here +and will take up your luggage."</p> +<p>"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped," Mallett laughed. "Of +course, they meant it kindly."</p> +<p>"I will see the luggage got in the dog cart, and come over with +it," Lechmere said.</p> +<p>"You can see it into the dog cart, George, but you must come +with me. I have got to put up with it, and you must, too."</p> +<p>He stood chatting with Mr. Norton on the platform till George +returned, and said that the luggage was all packed, and that the +dog cart had gone on ahead. There was an amused look on his face, +which was explained when, on going out, Mallett found an open +carriage with four horses, with postilions in new purple silk +jackets and orange caps, and large rosettes of the same colour at +the horses' heads.</p> +<p>"Bless me," said the Major, in a tone of dismay. "I shall feel +as if I were a candidate for the county."</p> +<p>"They are the family colours, you see, sir."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know, Norton, and the Conservative colours, too. Well, +it cannot be helped, and it does not make much difference after +all.</p> +<p>"There will be no fuss when I get there I hope, Norton," he went +on, as he took his place, and Lechmere climbed up into the seat +behind.</p> +<p>"Well, sir," the agent said, apologetically, "there is an arch +or two. You see, the tenants wanted to do the thing properly, and +the school children will be on the lawn, and there are going to be +some bonfires in the evening, and they have got a big box of +fireworks down from London. Why, sir, it would be strange if they +did not give you a welcome after going through all that, and being +wounded three times and getting so much credit. Why, it wouldn't be +English, sir."</p> +<p>"I suppose it's all right," Mallett said, resignedly; "and, +indeed, Norton, one cannot help being pleased at seeing one's +tenants glad to have one home again."</p> +<p>In half-an-hour's drive they arrived at the boundary of the +estate. Here an arch had been erected, and a score of the tenants +and tenants' sons, assembled on horseback, gave a loud cheer as the +carriage drove up, and as it died away one shouted:</p> +<p>"Why, that is George Lechmere behind. Give him a cheer, too!" +and again a hearty shout went up.</p> +<p>The carriage stopped, and Major Mallett said a few words, +thanking them heartily for the welcome they had given him, and +assuring them what pleasure it was to him to be back again.</p> +<p>"I thank you, also," he concluded, "for the cheer that you have +given to my faithful comrade and friend, George Lechmere. As you +all know, he saved my life at the risk of his own, and has received +the greatest honour a soldier can gain––the Victoria Cross. You +have a good right to be proud of him, as one of yourselves, and to +give him a hearty welcome."</p> +<p>The carriage then drove on again, the farmers riding close +behind as an escort. At the entrance of the drive up to the house +another and larger arch had been erected. Here the rest of the +tenants and the women were collected, and there was another hearty +greeting, and another speech from Mallett.</p> +<p>Then they drove up to the house, where a number of the gentry +had assembled to welcome him. After shaking hands and chatting with +these for a short time, Frank went round among the tenants, saying +a few words to each. When he had done this he invited them all to a +dinner on the lawn that day week, and then went into the house, +where the steward had prepared a meal.</p> +<p>Among the familiar faces, Frank missed those he would most +gladly have seen. He had a year before received a letter from Lady +Greendale, telling him of Sir John's sudden death, and had learned +from the steward during the drive that she and her daughter were in +London.</p> +<p>"They went there a month ago," he said. "A year had passed after +Sir John's death, and people say that it is not likely that they +will be much at home again for some time. Lady Greendale has high +connections in London, as you know, sir."</p> +<p>"Yes, she was a daughter of Lord Huntinglen, Norton."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. They always went up to town for the season; and they +say Lady Greendale liked London better than the country; and now +that Miss Bertha is out—for she was presented at Court a fortnight +ago—people think they won't be much down at Greendale for the +present."</p> +<p>"Has Miss Greendale grown up pretty? I thought she would, but, +of course, when I went away she was only a girl, not fully +developed."</p> +<p>"She is a beautiful young lady, sir. Everyone says she is quite +the belle of the county. Folks reckon she will make a great match. +She is very well liked, too; pleasant and nice without a bit of +pride about her, and very high spirited; and, I should say, full of +fun, though of course the place has been pretty well shut up for +the last year. For four months after Sir John's death they went +away travelling, and were only at home for a few weeks before they +went up to London the other day, in time for the first Drawing +Room."</p> +<p>"I suppose we shall not see much of you for a time, Mallett?" +one of his friends said, as they sat at luncheon.</p> +<p>"No, I don't suppose I shall be able to settle down for a bit. +After the life I have led, I am afraid that I shall find the time +hang heavily on my hands, alone here."</p> +<p>"You must bring home a wife, Major Mallett," one of the ladies +said.</p> +<p>"That is looking quite into the dim future, Mrs. Herbert," he +laughed. "You see, since I first went on active service I have been +removed altogether from feminine attractions. Of course I have been +thinking it over, but for the present my inclination turns towards +yachting. I have always been fond of the water, and had a strong +wish to go to sea when I was a boy, but that aspiration was not +encouraged. However, I can follow my bent now. Norton has been +piling up money for me in my absence, and I can afford myself the +luxury of a big yacht. Of course I shall be in no hurry about it. I +shall either build or buy a biggish craft, for racing in summer, +and cruising in winter."</p> +<p>"That means that you won't be here at all, Major Mallett."</p> +<p>"Oh, no, it does not mean that, I can assure you. I shall run +down for a month three or four times a year; say for shooting in +September or October, and for hunting a month or two later on; +besides, I have to renew my acquaintance with my tenants and see +that everything is going on comfortably. I expect that I shall +spend four or five months every year on the estate."</p> +<p>"Till you settle down for good?"</p> +<p>"Yes, till I settle down for good," he laughed. "I suppose it +will have to be someday."</p> +<p>"Then you don't think of passing much time in London, +Mallett?"</p> +<p>"No, indeed. Fortunately my father sold his town house three +years ago. He did not care about going up, and of course it was of +no use to me. I have never had any opportunities for society, and +my present idea is that it would bore me horribly. But I'll dare +say that I shall be there for a month or so in the season.</p> +<p>"Of course, there is my club to go to, and plenty of men one +knows; but even if I had a longing for society, I know no one in +what are termed fashionable circles, and so should be outside what +is called the world."</p> +<p>"Oh, you would soon get over that, Major Mallett. Why, Lady +Greendale would introduce you everywhere."</p> +<p>"It is not likely I shall trouble her to do that," Mallett +answered.</p> +<p>Frank had told George Lechmere that, as soon as they arrived, he +would be at liberty to go off at once to his father and mother.</p> +<p>"Stay as long as you like," he said. "I shall get on very well +without you for a few days."</p> +<p>"I shall come up again tonight, sir, and get your things brushed +and your bath ready in the morning. I should not be comfortable if +I did not do that. Then after breakfast, if you do not want me, I +can go to the farm for a few hours. Of course I shall have lots to +tell the old people about India. But for that I don't know what I +should do to pass the time away, with no work on hand."</p> +<p>"Oh, you will have your old friends to look up, George. After +being over two years on service, you have a right to a month's +leave. As you have got your six months' batta in hand, besides your +savings, you have enough cash to go on with; but when you want +money, you know that you have only to speak to me."</p> +<p>"I have a good bit, sir. I have scarcely spent a penny since I +joined, and in the two years have laid by a nice little sum. +Besides, we all picked up a bit. Most of those native chiefs and +their followers had money or jewels about them, and all of us got +something; some good prizes. So one way or another I have made as +much or more in the two years' soldiering as I should have done in +two years' farming; but if I had not above a few shillings in my +pocket, I should do well here, for I have no occasion to spend any +money with all my friends wanting me to go round to see them and +tell them of our doings."</p> +<p>"Found everything going on satisfactorily at home, George?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, all well. Bob has turned out a great help to my +father. I was sure he would do well when he got the chance. Of +course, so long as I was there he had not much responsibility, but +I could see then that he would make a good farmer. Things have been +going on just as well as when I was at home."</p> +<p>"Are you going over there now?"</p> +<p>"Not until after breakfast, sir, anyhow. I told them that I +might look in some time in the morning, but that I could not say +whether you might want me for anything."</p> +<p>"No, I shan't want you at all, George. I told you so yesterday. +However, after breakfast I will walk over to the farm with you. I +only had time for a word with your father yesterday, but I told him +that I would come over to see them sometime today."</p> +<p>Accordingly, after an hour's talk with his agent, Frank Mallett +walked over to the farm with George. The latter's father and mother +were both in the house, an unusual thing at that time of day with +the former, but he had said at breakfast to his son:</p> +<p>"You must look after things by yourself today, lad. The Squire +said yesterday that he would come over sometime, and I would not be +out when he came, not for a twenty pound note."</p> +<p>He and his wife came to the door when they saw Frank coming +across the field towards the house.</p> +<p>"Well, Lechmere," the latter said, when he came up. "I am glad +to see you and your dame looking so well and hearty. I had not time +to say more than a word to you yesterday, and I wanted to have a +comfortable talk with you both. I wrote you a line telling you how +gallantly George had behaved, and how he had saved my life; but I +had to write the day afterwards, and my head was still ringing from +the sabre cut that had for a time knocked all the sense out of me, +and therefore I had to cut it very short. How gallantly he defended +my life against a dozen of the enemy's cavalry was shown by the +fact that he received the Victoria Cross, and I can tell you that +such an immense number of brave deeds were performed during the +Mutiny that George's must be considered an extraordinary act of +bravery to have obtained for him that honour."</p> +<p>By this time they had entered the farmhouse parlour. George had +not followed them in, but on inquiring where he was likely to find +Bob, had gone off to join him.</p> +<p>"I was proud to hear it at the time, Squire; and when it was in +the papers that our George had got the Victoria Cross, and all our +neighbours came in to congratulate us, we felt prouder still. Up to +the time when we got your letter, we did not know for sure where he +was. He had said he meant to enlist, and from the humour that he +was in when he went away we guessed it to be in some regiment where +he could get to the wars. We felt the more glad, as you may guess, +from the fact that both the Missus and I had wronged him in our +thoughts. We learnt that before we got the news, and it was not +until we knew that we had been wrong that either of us opened our +lips about it, though each of us knew what the other thought."</p> +<p>"I know what you mean, Lechmere. He told me all about it."</p> +<p>"Well, Squire, you may be sure, when we knew that we had wronged +him, how the wife and I fretted that we did not know where to write +to, nor how to set about finding out where he was, and so you can +guess how pleased we were when we heard from you that he was with +your regiment, and that he had saved your life at the risk of his +own.</p> +<p>"We did not know then, Squire, that if he had had twenty lives +he would have done right to have risked them all for you. He told +us the whole story yesterday—just to mother, me and Bob. I can't +tell you yet, Squire, what we thought of it. I do not know that I +shall ever be able to tell you, and we shall never cease to thank +the good Lord for saving George from being a murderer in his +madness—a murderer of our own Squire—and to bless you, Major, +that you should not only have forgiven him and kept his crime from +everyone, but should have taken him in hand, as he says, as if it +had never happened."</p> +<p>"There was no occasion for him to have said anything about it, +Lechmere. He was undoubtedly more or less mad at the time. Upon the +whole, I think that the affair has made him a better man. Up to the +time when he saved my life, he did his duty as a soldier well, and +was a most devoted servant to me, but the weight of this business +pressed heavily upon him, and in spite of all I could say he held +himself aloof as much as possible from his comrades; but after that +he changed altogether. He felt, as he told me, that God would not +have given him this opportunity of saving the life that he had so +nearly taken had He not forgiven him, and his spirits rose, and +while before he certainly was not popular among his comrades—a +reserved man never is—he became a general favourite.</p> +<p>"The officers, of course, showed a good deal of interest in him +after what he had done. He could have been a sergeant in the course +of a month, but he refused corporal's stripes when they were +offered to him on the day after the battle, saying that he +preferred remaining with me, though the Colonel told him that, +after what he had done, he would stand a good chance of promotion, +after two or three years' service, as a sergeant. He told me that +he knew his jealous disposition had been a sort of trouble to you; +but I am sure that he will never worry you in that way again. I +believe that he is now thoroughly master of himself, and that even +the man who wrought that foul wrong need not fear him."</p> +<p>"You heard, sir, that the poor girl came home and died?"</p> +<p>"Yes. He told me when he heard the news from you."</p> +<p>"She never said who did it, sir, but from other things that came +out there is no doubt who it was."</p> +<p>"He told me, Lechmere, but I stopped him short. I did not wish +to know. I had my suspicions, but I did not want to have them +confirmed. The fellow I suspect is no friend of mine, and I don't +want to know anything about him. If I were certain of it, I could +not meet him without telling him my opinion of him."</p> +<p>"You are not likely to meet him here, Squire. A year ago he +happened to be over at Chippenham one market day. There were a +dozen of us there, and I can tell you we gave him such a reception +that he mounted his horse and rode straight on again. If he hadn't, +I believe that we should have horsewhipped him through the town. +Three months afterwards his estate was put up for sale, and he has +never been down in this part of the country since; not that he was +ever here much before. London suited him better. You see, his +mother was, as I have heard, the daughter of a banker, and an only +child; and even if he hadn't had the estate he would have been a +rich man. Anyhow, I am heartily glad that he has left the +county."</p> +<p>"I, too, am glad that he has gone, Lechmere. I have not met him +for years, but if we had both been down here we must have run +against each other sometimes, and after some matters that had +passed between us years ago we could scarcely have met on friendly +terms. However, as there is nothing beyond mere suspicion against +him, he may in this case be innocent. You see, I was suspected +unjustly myself, and the same thing may be the case with him."</p> +<p>"That is so, Squire; though I don't think that there is any +mistake this time. In fact, I believe she told her mother, though +she kept it from her father for fear he would break the law. At any +rate, it is a good thing he has gone; for he was a hard landlord, +and there was not a good word for him among his tenants."</p> +<p>"That makes the probability of a mistake all the more likely," +Frank said. "If I, who as a landlord, as far as I know, have given +no grounds for dislike to my tenants, was suspected unjustly; this +would be still more likely to be the case with one who was +generally unpopular.</p> +<p>"And now, how has the farm been going on since I was away?"</p> +<p>"Just about as usual, Squire. Bob is not such a good judge of +horses and cattle as George was, but in other respects I think he +knows more. George did not care for reading, and Bob is always at +the papers and getting up the last things these scientific chaps +have found out; so matters are pretty well squared. Altogether, I +have no call to grumble, and I ain't likely, Squire, to have to ask +for time on rent day. We were worried sorely about George as long +as that matter hung over him; but since that was cleared up, and we +heard of his having saved your life, we have been happy again. We +got a big shock yesterday, however, when we heard what had happened +out there."</p> +<p>"Well, that is all past and over long ago, and we have none of +us any cause to regret it. It has done George a great deal of good, +and as for me, I might not be here now talking to you if it had not +taken place, for it was the memory of that which led George to the +desperate action which saved my life. Besides, you see, it has +gained for me an attached and faithful friend, for it is as a +friend rather than as a servant that I regard your son."</p> +<p>"He will always be that, I am sure, Squire. He told us that you +had offered to set him up on a farm, but he is quite right to say +no. I don't say that if it had been with somebody else, his mother +and I might not have felt rather sore that our eldest boy should +have taken to service; but, of course, it is different with you, +Squire. It is only natural that a Lechmere should serve a Mallett, +seeing that our fathers have been your fathers' tenants for +hundreds of years, so that even if all this had not happened we +should not have minded. As it is, we are proud that he is with you; +and it seems natural that, after wandering about the world and +fighting with those black villains out there, he should never be +content to go on as he was before, or to settle down to +farming."</p> +<p>"It is like man like master, in this case," Mallett laughed. +"After I have once been over the estate, and seen all the tenants, +and learned that everyone is satisfied and everything going on +well, I shall very soon begin to feel restless, and shall be +running off somewhere. You see, I have never been broken in to a +country life. I have no idea of becoming an absentee; but I think a +month or two together will be as much as I can stand, at any rate +as long as I am a bachelor."</p> +<p>"That is just what I was saying, Squire," the farmer's wife +said, speaking for the first time—for during the first portion of +the conversation she had been crying quietly, and had since been +busying herself in placing decanters and glasses and a huge +homemade cake on the table. "We all hope that you will soon bring a +mistress home. I said only this morning that you would never be +settling down until you did.</p> +<p>"And now, will you take a glass of wine and a slice of cake, +Squire?"</p> +<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Lechmere, I will; especially a piece of your +cake. Many and many a slice of it have I had here when a boy, and +famously good it always was."</p> +<p>Major Mallett ate two big slices of cake, drank a glass of wine, +and refusing the offer of a second glass, got up to go, saying:</p> +<p>"No, Mrs. Lechmere; I must not treat myself to another glass +now. I am going round to four or five other houses before I return +to lunch, and I know that the tray will be put on the table +everywhere. I can say that I have eaten so much cake here that I +cannot eat more. But I know I shall have to drink a glass of wine +at each place, and I can assure you that I am not accustomed to +tipple in the morning.</p> +<p>"Ah, here come your two sons across the fields. I will meet them +at the gate. If I were to begin a regular talk with Bob today, the +morning would be gone."</p> +<p>"George has changed wonderfully," Mrs. Lechmere said, as they +accompanied him to the gate. "It ain't his face so much, though he +is well nigh as brown as that cake, but it is his figure. I should +not have known him if he had not come along with Bob. He walks +altogether different."</p> +<p>"It is the drilling, Mrs. Lechmere. Yes, it is wonderful how +much drill does for a man; and there is a good deal in the cut of +the clothes. You see, there is not much difference in the material, +but George's were made at a good tailor's in London, and I suppose +Bob's were made down here."</p> +<p>Mallett stayed for a few minutes chatting at the gate with Bob, +and then, saying that he would certainly come in again before he +went up to town, started on a round of calls.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch6" id="Ch6">Chapter 6</a>.</h2> +<p>"And so you have bought a yacht, Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"Yes; at least she is scarcely a yacht yet. I was going to have +one built, but I heard of one that had been ordered by Lord +Haverstock, who, they say, has been so hard hit at the Derby that +he had to tell Wanhill, the builder, that he could not take her. As +the season was getting rather late, the man was glad to sell her a +bargain, especially as he had already got a thousand pounds towards +her; so I got her for twelve hundred less that Haverstock was to +have paid. It suited me admirably, for he has engaged to finish her +in six weeks. She is just about the size I wanted, 120 tons, and +looks as if she would turn out fast, and a good sea boat. Of +course, I shall race a bit with her next year, though I have bought +her more for cruising.</p> +<p>"I hope that you and Lady Greendale will favour me with your +company, on her first cruise after the season ends. I know it is of +no use asking before that."</p> +<p>"I should like it immensely, Major Mallett. It would be +delightful. How many can you carry?"</p> +<p>"Eight comfortably. The ladies' cabin has four berths, but will +be only really comfortable for three; and there are four other +state cabins––that is, three besides my own, but one of them has +two berths. Of course, I could put up three or four others in the +saloon for a couple of days, but for a cruise of three weeks or a +month it would be too many for comfort. We could not seat that +number at table without crowding, and I doubt whether the cooking +arrangements would be altogether satisfactory.</p> +<p>"Of course, we shall want two more ladies. I will leave the +selection of those to you and Lady Greendale, for, except +yourselves, I know no ladies; though, of course, I could get plenty +of men."</p> +<p>"That will be delightful," Bertha said; "but I dare say that by +the time the season is over you will know plenty of ladies that you +can ask. You see, you have met so many people here now that, as you +have just been grumbling discontentedly, you are out nearly every +night."</p> +<p>"Yes," he laughed. "At present, you see, I am regarded rather as +an Indian lion; but I shall bid goodbye to London as soon as the +yacht is afloat."</p> +<p>"What is her name to be?"</p> +<p>"I have not given it a thought, yet. I only bought her two days +ago. It seems to me that it is almost as hard to fix on a name for +a yacht as for a race horse."</p> +<p>"Oh! there are so many pretty names that would do for a +yacht."</p> +<p>"Yes; but you would be surprised if you knew how many yachts +there are of every likely name."</p> +<p>"It ought to be a water bird," the girl said.</p> +<p>"Those are just the names that are most taken."</p> +<p>"Yes; but there are lots of sea birds and water birds, only I +cannot think of them."</p> +<p>"Well, you look them out," he laughed. "Here is a Hunt's +Yachting List that I bought on my way here. I will leave it with +you, and any name that you fix on she shall have. Only, please +choose one that only two or three boats, and those not about the +same size, have got. It leads to confusion if there are two craft +going about of the same name and of about the same size. But I warn +you, that it will involve your having to go down to Poole to +christen her."</p> +<p>"Do they christen yachts, Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"I really don't know anything about it," he replied; "but if it +is right and proper for ships it must be for yachts; and I should +regard the ceremony as being likely to bring good luck to her. When +the time comes, I will fix the day to suit your arrangements."</p> +<p>"I will try to come down, Major Mallett, if mamma will agree; +but it is a long way to Poole, and somehow one never seems to find +an hour to do anything; so I really cannot promise."</p> +<p>"Well, if you cannot manage it, Miss Greendale, I will have her +launched without being named and bring her round to Southampton, +and then you could go down and christen her there. That would only +be a short railway run of a couple of hours after breakfast, and, +say, two hours for luncheon there, and to have a look at her, and +you could be home by four o'clock in the afternoon."</p> +<p>"That seems more practicable."</p> +<p>Captain Mallett had been three weeks in town. He had called upon +Lady Greendale on the day after he had come up, and been received +with the greatest cordiality by her and Bertha. The latter, in the +two years and a half that he had been away, had grown from a +somewhat gawky girl, whose charm lay solely in her expressive eyes +and pleasant smile, into a very pretty woman. She was slightly over +middle height, and carried herself exceptionally well. Her face was +a bright and sunny one, but her eyes were unchanged, and there was +an earnestness in their expression which, with a certain resolute +curve in the lips, gave character to the laughing brightness of her +face. Society had received her warmly, and consequently she was +pleased with society. Both for her own sake and as an heiress she +was made a deal of, and, though she had been but two months in +town, she had already taken her place as one of the recognised +belles of the season.</p> +<p>Lady Greendale had a dinner party on the day when Major Mallett +called, and was discussing with Bertha whom they could invite to +fill up at such short notice a vacancy which had occurred.</p> +<p>"You come at the right moment, Frank," she said, after they had +chatted for some time. "We were lamenting just now that we had +received this morning a note from a gentleman who was coming to +dine with us today, saying that he could not come; but now I regard +it as most fortunate, for of course we want you to come to us at +once. I suppose you have not made any engagements yet. We shall be +sixteen with you, and I think they are all nice people."</p> +<p>"I shall be very happy to come," he said. "I have certainly no +engagements. I looked in at the club last night. It was my first +appearance there, for my name only came up for election four months +ago, and I should have felt very uncomfortable if I had not +happened to meet two or three old friends. One of them asked me to +dinner for tomorrow. For today I am altogether free."</p> +<p>In the course of the evening Major Mallett received three or +four invitations to dances and balls, and, being thus started in +society, was soon out every evening. For the first week he enjoyed +the novelty of the scene, but very speedily tired of it. At dinners +the ladies he took down always wanted him to talk about India; but +even this was, in his opinion, preferable to the crush and heat of +the dances.</p> +<p>"How men can go on with such a life as this," he said to a +friend at the club, "beats me altogether, Colonel. Two or three +times in the year one might like to go out to these crowded balls, +just to see the dresses and the girls, but to go out night after +night is to my mind worse than hunting the rebels through the +jungle. It is just as hot and not a hundredth part so exciting. I +have only had three weeks of it, and I am positively sick of it +already."</p> +<p>"Then why on earth do you accept, Mallett? I took good care not +to get into it. What can a man want better than this? A well-cooked +dinner, eaten with a chum, and then a quiet rubber; and perhaps +once a fortnight or so I go out to a dinner party, which I like +well enough as a change. I always get plenty of shooting in winter, +and am generally away for three months, but I am always heartily +glad to get back again."</p> +<p>"I am afraid I should get as tired of the club as I am of +society, Colonel."</p> +<p>"You have plenty of time, lad. I am twenty years your senior. +Well, there is plenty before you besides society and club life. Of +course, you will marry and settle down, and become a county +magistrate and all that sort of thing. Thank goodness, what money +came to me came in the shape of consols, and not in that of land. A +country life would be exile to me; but, you see, you have left the +army much younger than I did. I suppose you are not thirty yet? The +Crimea and India ran you fast up the tree."</p> +<p>"No, I am only twenty-eight. You know I was only a brevet Major, +and had two more steps to get before I had a regimental +majority."</p> +<p>"That makes all the difference, Mallett; and it is absurd, a +young fellow of your age crying out against society."</p> +<p>"I don't cry out against it," Mallett laughed. "I simply say +that it is out of my line, and I have never been broken into it. I +was talking of buying a yacht, or rather of building one."</p> +<p>"What size do you want? I know of one to be had cheap, if you +are thinking of a good big craft."</p> +<p>And thus it was that Mallett came to hear of the yawl at +Poole.</p> +<p>"I have fixed on the Osprey, Major Mallett," Bertha Greendale +said, when he took her down to dinner two days after he had last +seen her. "What do you say to that? There are two or three yachts +of the same name, but none of them is over thirty tons."</p> +<p>"I think the Osprey is a pretty name, Miss Greendale. I should +have accepted the Crocodile if you had suggested it. The name that +you have chosen will suit admirably; so henceforth she shall be the +Osprey, pending your formally christening her by that name. I +might, of course, be hypercritical and point out that, although a +fishing eagle, the Osprey can scarcely be called a water bird, +inasmuch that it is no swimmer."</p> +<p>"But it is hypercritical even to suggest such a thing," she +said, pouting. "The Osprey has to do with the sea. It is strong and +swift on the wing, and the sails of the yacht are wings, are they +not? Then it is strong and bold, and I am sure your boat will not +be afraid to meet a storm. Altogether, I think it is an excellent +name."</p> +<p>"I think it a very good name, too."</p> +<p>"You ought to have one for your figurehead."</p> +<p>"Yachts don't have figureheads, else I would certainly have it. +At any rate, I will choose an eagle for my racing flag."</p> +<p>"I have never been on board a yacht yet," the girl said. "I +think I only know one man who has one, at least a large one; that +is Mr. Carthew. Of course you know him; he had a new one this +spring––the Phantom. He has won several times this season."</p> +<p>"I saw he had," Frank said, quietly. "Yes, I used to know him, +but it's seven or eight years since we met."</p> +<p>"And you don't like him," she said, quickly.</p> +<p>"What makes you think that, Miss Greendale?"</p> +<p>"Oh, I can tell by the tone of your voice."</p> +<p>"I don't think it expressed anything but indifference, as it is +such a long time since I met him. But I never fancied him much. I +suppose we were not the same sort of men; and then, too, perhaps I +am rather prejudiced from the fact that I know that he was +considered rather a hard landlord."</p> +<p>"I never heard that," she said.</p> +<p>"No, I dare say you would not hear it, but I fancy it was so. +However, he sold his estate, at least so I heard."</p> +<p>"Yes, he told me that he did not care for country life. I have +seen him several times since we came up to town. He keeps race +horses, you know. His horse was second in the Derby this spring. +That takes him a good deal away, else one would meet him more +often, for he knows a great many people we do."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know that he races, and is, I believe, rather lucky on +the turf."</p> +<p>"You have no inclination that way, Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"Not a shadow," he said, earnestly. "It is the very last vice I +should take to. I have seen many cases, in the service, of young +fellows being ruined by betting on the turf. We had one case in my +own regiment, in which a man was saved by the skin of his teeth. +Happily he had strength of mind and manliness enough to cut it +altogether, and is a very promising young officer now, but it was +only the fact of our embarking when we did for India that saved him +from ruin.</p> +<p>"The man who bets more than he can afford to lose is simply a +gambler, whether he does so on racehorses or on cards. I have seen +enough of it to hate gambling with all my heart. It has driven more +men out of the service than drink has, and the one passion is +almost as incurable as the other."</p> +<p>Bertha laughed. "I think that is the first time I have ever +heard you express any very strong opinion, Major Mallett. It is +quite refreshing to listen to a thorough-going denunciation of +anything here in London. In the country, of course, it is +different. All sorts of things are heartily abused there; +especially, perhaps, the weather, free trade, poaching, and people +in whose covers foxes are scarce. But here, in London, no one seems +to care much about anything."</p> +<p>"People in your set have no time to do so."</p> +<p>"That is very unkind. They think about amusement."</p> +<p>"They may think about it, but it is all in a very languid +fashion. Now, in a country town, when there is a ball or a dance in +the neighbourhood, it is quite an excitement; and, at any rate, +everyone enters into it heartily. People evidently enjoy the +dancing for dancing's sake, and they all look as if they were +thoroughly enjoying themselves. Whereas here, people dance as if it +was rather a painful duty than otherwise, and there is a general +expression of a longing for the whole thing to be over."</p> +<p>"I enjoy the dancing," Bertha said, sturdily. "At least, when I +get a really good partner."</p> +<p>"Yes, but then you have only been three months at it. You have +not got broken into the business yet."</p> +<p>"Nor have you, Major Mallett."</p> +<p>"No, but while you are an actor in the piece, I am but a +spectator, and lookers-on, you know, see most of the game."</p> +<p>"What nonsense! Don't pretend you are getting to be a blase man. +I know that you are only about ten years older than I am—not more +than nine, I think—and you dance very well, and no doubt you know +it."</p> +<p>"I like dancing, I can assure you, where there is room to dance; +but I don't call it dancing when you have an area of only a foot +square to dance in, and are hustled and bumped more than you would +be in a crowded Lord Mayor's show. My training has not suited me +for it, and I would rather stand and look on, listen to scraps of +conversation, watch the faces of the dancers and of those standing +round. It is a study, and I think it shows one of the worst sides +of nature. It is quite shocking to see and hear the envy, +uncharitableness, the boredom, and the desperate efforts to look +cheerful under difficulties, especially among the girls that do not +get partners."</p> +<p>"For shame! I am disappointed in you," Bertha said, half in +jest, half in earnest. "You are not at all the person I thought you +were. Whatever I may have fancied about you, I never imagined you a +cynic or a grumbler."</p> +<p>"I suppose it brings out the worst side of my nature, too," he +laughed. "When you come down on board the Osprey, Miss Greendale, +you will see the other side. I fancy one falls into the tone of +one's surroundings. Here I have caught the tone of the bored man of +society, there you will see that I shall be a breezy +sailor—cheerful in storm or in calm, ready to take my glass and to +toast my lass and all the rest of it in true nautical fashion."</p> +<p>"I hope so," she said, gravely. "I shall certainly need +something of the sort to correct the very unfavourable impression +you have just been giving me. Now let us change the subject. You +have not told me yet whether you had any flirtations in India."</p> +<p>"Flirtations!" he repeated. "For once, the small section of +womankind that I encountered were above and beyond flirtations.</p> +<p>"I don't think," he went on seriously, "that you in England can +quite realise what it was, or that a woman in London society can +imagine that there can exist a state of things in which dress and +appearance are matters which have altogether ceased to engross the +female mind. The white women I saw there were worn and haggard. No +matter what their age, they bore on their faces the impress of +terrible hardship, terrible danger, and terrible grief and anxiety. +Few but had lost someone dear to them, many all whom they cared +for. A few had made some pitiful attempt at neatness, but most had +lost all thought of self, all care whatever for personal +appearance. There was an anxious look in their eyes that was +painful to witness."</p> +<p>"I spoke without thinking," the girl said, gravely. "It must +have been awful—awful, as you say. It is impossible for us really +to imagine quite what it was, or to picture up such scenes as you +must have witnessed. I can understand that all this must seem +frivolous and contemptible to you."</p> +<p>"No, I don't go so far as that," he smiled. "It is good that +there should be butterflies as well as bees; and, at any rate, the +women of India, who had the reputation of being as frivolous and +pleasure-loving as the rest of their sex, came out nobly and showed +a degree of patience under suffering and of heroic courage +unsurpassable in history.</p> +<p>"I am afraid," he said, as the hostess gave the signal for the +ladies to rise, "you will long look back upon this dinner as one of +unprecedented dullness."</p> +<p>"Not dullness," she smiled. "Exceptional certainly, but as +something so different from the usual thing, when one talks of +nothing but the opera, the theatres and exhibitions, as to deserve +to be put down in one's diary by a mark. I won't flatter you by +telling you whether a red or a black one."</p> +<p>"Who are the party going to be, Mallett?" his friend Colonel +Severn said, as they stood together on the deck of the Osprey early +in August. "You guaranteed that it would be a pleasant one when you +persuaded me to leave London, for the first time since I retired, +before shooting began."</p> +<p>"Well, to begin with, there is Lady Greendale, an eminently +pleasant woman. She comes as general chaperon, and I shall consider +her under your especial care. You will not find it hard work, for +she is an eminently sympathetic woman, ready to chat if you are +disposed to talk, to interest herself in other ways if you are not. +She has plenty of common sense, is tolerant of tobacco, and a +thorough woman of the world, though her headquarters have for years +been in the country. With her is her daughter."</p> +<p>"Well, what about her? I have heard of her as having made quite +a sensation this season, and between ourselves I had some idea that +this party was specially planned on her account."</p> +<p>"To some extent perhaps it was," Frank Mallett laughed. "Bertha +Greendale is an old chum of mine. I knew her in very short frocks, +for they were near neighbours of ours in the country; and her +father, Sir John, was always one of my kindest friends. She was a +slip of a girl when I went out to India, and though I thought that +she would turn out pretty, I certainly did not expect she would be +anything like as good looking as she is. She was always a nice +girl, and success so far has not spoiled her.</p> +<p>"Then there is a Miss Sinclair, a great friend of Bertha's; and +Jack Hawley of the Guards. I knew him out in the Crimea. The other +two are Wilson, who is a clever young barrister, and a particularly +pleasant fellow; and his wife, who is a sister of Miss Sinclair; so +I think there are the elements of a pleasant party. All the ladies +are broken into smoke, for Sir John smoked, and so does Wilson; so +that you won't be expected to go forward, as they do on the P and +O, whenever you want to enjoy your favourite pipe."</p> +<p>"That is a comfort, anyhow, Mallett. If there is one thing in +the world I hate, it is having to go and hunt about for some place +to smoke in; and I never accept an invitation to any shooting party +unless I know beforehand that smoking is allowed. At what time do +you expect the others?"</p> +<p>"They will be down at half-past twelve; they are all coming by +the same train, and it was because I knew that you would want to be +in a smoking carriage that I told you to come down by the earlier +one. And, besides, I thought it well to get you here first. You are +the only stranger, as it were. The others are all intimate with +each other, and it was as well to post you as to their various +relationships."</p> +<p>"One thing, Mallett. I hope Lady Greendale is not in any way a +marrying woman. I am not like Mr. Pickwick, afraid of widows, and +have perfect confidence in my power to resist temptation; but at +the same time it makes all the difference in the world to one's +comfort. I am not ass enough to suppose that Lady Greendale would +even dream for a moment of setting her cap at a Colonel on half +pay, but if a woman is in the marrying line she always expects a +certain amount of what you may call delicate attention. It is her +daily bread, for she considers that unless every man she comes +across evinces a certain amount of admiration, it is a sign that +her charms are on the wane, and her chances growing more and more +remote."</p> +<p>Mallett laughed. "You can set your mind at ease, for nothing is +further from the thoughts of Lady Greendale than re-marriage. She +was very happy with her husband."</p> +<p>"The more reason for her marrying again," the Colonel said. "A +woman who has been happy with her husband is apt to get the idea +into her head that every man will make a good husband; and a +confoundedly mistaken idea it is. She is much more likely to marry +again than the woman who has had a hard time of it."</p> +<p>"Well, you may be right there, Colonel, but putting aside my +conviction that Lady Greendale has no idea of marrying again, is +the fact that at present all her thoughts are occupied by her +daughter. She is not at all what you would call a managing mother, +but I am sure that she has set her heart on Bertha's making a good +match, and that the fear that she will succumb to some penniless +younger son or other unsuitable partner is at present the dominant +feeling in her mind. I don't think she would have agreed to Jack +Hawley being of the party, had not Bertha entertained a conviction +that he was rather gone on Miss Sinclair, who by the way has, like +her sister, money enough to disregard the fact that Jack is hardly +in that respect well endowed.</p> +<p>"However, it is time for me to be off; I see the skipper is +getting the gig lowered. I suppose you will be content to sit here +and smoke your pipe until we come back; and, indeed, seven is as +many as the gig will carry with any degree of comfort. The cutter +will go ashore to fetch off the luggage, which will probably be of +somewhat portentous dimensions."</p> +<p>Two minutes later Mallett took his place in the gig, and was +rowed to the shore. He was delighted, with his new purchase. She +was an excellent sea boat, and, as he had learned from a short spin +with another craft, decidedly fast. He had not, however, entered +her for any race.</p> +<p>"There is no hurry," he said to his skipper, when the latter +suggested that they should try her at Cowes. "I should like to win +my first race, and in the first place we don't know that she is in +her best trim. In the next place we must get the crew accustomed to +each other and to the craft. I bought her as a cruiser rather than +a racer, and don't want to have her full of men, as are most of the +racers. It is a heavy expense, and fewer hands accustomed to work +well together do just as much work, and more smartly than a crowd. +We found, when we sailed round the islands with the Royal Victoria +race, that, considering we went under reduced canvas, we held our +own very fairly; and I have no doubt that when we get all our light +canvas up, the Osprey will give a good account of herself. Our gear +is scarcely stretched yet.</p> +<p>"No; I will wait until next season, and then we will make a bold +bid for a Queen's Cup."</p> +<p>Frank Mallett reached the platform at Southampton a few minutes +before the train came in. The party were on the lookout for him, +and alighted in the highest spirits.</p> +<p>"Now, ladies," he said, "the first thing is to point out the +luggage. My man here will get it all together, and stand guard over +it till two others arrive to get it on board. They will be here in +a few minutes. In fact, they ought to be here now."</p> +<p>He looked on with something like dismay while the boxes were +picked out and piled together.</p> +<p>"My dear Lady Greendale," he said, "I am afraid you must all +have very vague ideas as to the amount of accommodation in a +120-ton yacht. She is not a Cunarder or a P and O. Why, two or +three of those trunks would absolutely fill one of her cabins."</p> +<p>"You did not expect, Major Mallett," Bertha said demurely, "that +we were coming for a month's cruise with only handbags; especially +after telling us that very likely we might not get a chance of +getting any washing done all that time."</p> +<p>"Well, I dare say we shall stow them away somewhere. Now, as you +have got them all together, we will go down to the boat.</p> +<p>"Now, lads, you had better get a hand cart, and get these things +on board as soon as you can."</p> +<p>"Which is the Osprey?" Amy Sinclair asked Bertha, as they took +their places in the boat.</p> +<p>Bertha looked with a rather puzzled face at the fleet of +yachts.</p> +<p>"That is," she said, confidently, after a moment's hesitation, +pointing to one towards which the boat was at the moment +heading.</p> +<p>Frank Mallett laughed.</p> +<p>"Really I should have thought, Miss Greendale, that, although +making every allowance for feminine vagueness as to boats, you +would have known the yacht you christened a month ago; or, at any +rate, would not have mistaken a schooner for a yawl, after the +patient explanation I gave you on your last visit as to the +different rigs. That is the Osprey, a hundred yards lower +down."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, I remember now, that when there is a little mast +standing on the stern it is a yawl. These things seem very simple +to you, Major Mallett, but they are very puzzling to women, who +know nothing about them. Now, I venture to say, that if I were to +show you six different materials for frocks, and were to tell you +all their names, you would know nothing about them when I showed +them to you a month afterwards.</p> +<p>"I suppose the gentleman on board is Colonel Severn."</p> +<p>"Yes, he came down by the train before yours. I thought it +better that he should do so, as in the first place, he did not know +any of you, and in the next, as you see, we are pretty closely +packed as it is."</p> +<p>"What is that flag at the masthead?" Lady Greendale asked. +"Bertha said that your flag was going to have an eagle on it."</p> +<p>"That is on my racing flag. Let me impress upon you, ladies, +that a racing flag is a square flag, and that that is not a flag at +all, but a burgee. Every club has its burgee; as you see, that is a +white cross on a blue ground with a crown in the centre, and is the +burgee of the Royal Thames, of which I was elected a member last +month.</p> +<p>"Here we are. Properly, I ought to be on board first, but I am +too wedged in. You and Wilson had better go up first; that will +give more room for the ladies to move."</p> +<p>"You have got new steps," Bertha said. "When I came down with +Mrs. Wilson to christen the boat we had to climb up nasty steep +steps against the side. This is a great deal more comfortable. I +was thinking that mamma would have a difficulty in getting up those +other things, if it were at all rough."</p> +<p>"Yes, I have had them specially made for the present occasion. +Large cruisers always have them, and, at any rate, they are more +comfortable for any-sized boats. But they take up rather more room +to stow away, and they are really not so handy in a sea, for the +boats cannot get so close alongside. Still, no doubt they are more +comfortable for ladies. Now it is your turn."</p> +<p>The cruise of the Osprey was in all respects a success. The +party was well chosen and pleasant. Colonel Severn and Lady +Greendale got on well together. He liked her because she had no +objection whatever to his perpetual enjoyment of his pipe. She +liked him because he was altogether different from anyone that she +had met before; his Indian stories amused her, his views of life +were original, and his grumbling at modern ways and modern +innovations in no way concealed the fact that in spite of it all he +evidently enjoyed life thoroughly.</p> +<p>The Osprey had fine weather as she ran along the south coast, +anchoring under Portland for a day, while the party examined the +works of the breakwater and paid a visit to the quarries, where the +convicts were at work. She put into Torquay, Dartmouth and +Plymouth, spending a day in the two former ports and two at the +last named. They looked into Fowey, and stopped two days at +Falmouth, and then, rounding the Land's End, made for Kingstown. +From here they started for the Clyde; but meeting with very heavy +weather, went into Belfast Lough.</p> +<p>The Osprey proved to be a fine sea boat, and behaved so well +that even Lady Greendale declared she would not be afraid to trust +herself on board her in any weather. They sailed up the Clyde as +far as Greenock, and then returning, cruised for a fortnight among +the islands on the west coast. They had enjoyed their stay at +Kingstown so much that they put in there again on their return +voyage, shaped their course for Plymouth, and then, without looking +into any other port, returned to Southampton.</p> +<p>Jack Hawley and Miss Sinclair had become engaged during the +voyage, and the Colonel and Lady Greendale had become so +confidential that Frank laughingly asked him if he had changed his +views on the subject of matrimony, a suggestion which he +indignantly repudiated.</p> +<p>"I should have thought that you knew me better," he said, +reproachfully. "I admit that Lady Greendale is a very charming +woman, but you don't think that she can imagine for a moment that I +have ever entertained any idea of such a thing? You said that I was +to amuse her if I could. I have tried my best to keep the old lady +as much to myself as possible, so as to enable all you young people +to carry out your flirtations to your heart's content. By gad, sir, +it would be a nice return for following out your instructions to +find myself in such a hole as that."</p> +<p>Frank had some difficulty in persuading the Colonel that his +remark was not meant as a serious one, and that there was no fear +whatever that Lady Greendale had ever had the slightest reason to +suppose that his intentions were not of a most Platonic nature.</p> +<p>"I am heartily glad," the Colonel said, when he was quite +pacified, "that Hawley's affair has come off all right. Even if she +had not been an heiress I should have said that he was a lucky +fellow, for she is an extremely nice and pleasant young woman, +without any nonsense about her; still there is no doubt that her +fortune will come in very handy for Hawley. As to the girl herself, +I think she has made a very good choice. She has plenty of money +for both, and as he has managed to keep up on his younger son's +portion, he can have no extravagant tastes, and will make her a +very good husband. There is no other engagement to be announced, I +suppose?"</p> +<p>"As I am the only other unmarried man on board, Colonel, your +question is somewhat pointed. No; I hope there may be one of these +days, but I don't think that it would be fair to ask her here, +where I am her host, and she is under the glamour of the sea. I +doubt whether she has the slightest idea of what I want. That is +the worst of being very old friends; the relations get so fixed +that a woman does not recognise that they can ever be changed. +However, I shall try my luck one of these days. I don't think that +I shall meet with any serious opposition on her mother's part, if +Bertha likes me, but I know that Lady Greendale has very much more +ambitious views for her, and has quite set her mind upon her making +a good match. No doubt she has a right to expect that she will do +so. However, I think she is too fond of Bertha to thwart her, +however disappointed she might feel. At present I don't think that +she has any more suspicion than Bertha herself of my +intentions."</p> +<p>During the voyage Bertha and Amy Sinclair had become quite +adroit helmswomen, and one or other was constantly at the tiller +when the wind was light. Bertha had learned the names of all the +crew, and often went forward to ask questions of the men tending +the head sails, becoming a prime favourite with all hands. On +arriving at Southampton the rest of the party went up at once to +town, while Frank remained behind for a day or two, going round in +the yacht to Gosport, where she was to be laid up for the +winter.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch7" id="Ch7">Chapter 7</a>.</h2> +<p>"I am so sorry," Bertha Greendale said, "so awfully sorry. I had +no idea that you thought of me like that. We were such friends so +long ago, and it has been so pleasant since you came home last +year, and I like you as if you were a big brother; but I have never +thought of you in any other light, and now it seems dreadful to me +to give you pain; but I feel sure that I should never come to love +you in that way."</p> +<p>And she burst into tears.</p> +<p>"Do not think anything more about it, dear," Frank Mallett said, +gently. "I have felt sometimes when we have been together, that you +were so kindly and frank and pleasant with me that you could feel +as I wanted you to. I ought to have known it always. But I suppose +in such cases a man deceives himself and shuts his eyes to facts. +You have certainly nothing to blame yourself about. Of course, it +is a hard blow, but no doubt I shall get over it as other fellows +do. At any rate, I know that we shall always be dear friends, and +you need not fear that I shall mope over my misfortune. I shall run +up to town for a bit, and as you are going up for the season next +week, I shall no doubt often meet you. Don't fret about me. I have +been hit pretty hard several times, though not in the same way, and +I have always gone through it, and no doubt I shall do so now.</p> +<p>"Goodbye," and when Bertha looked up, he had left the room.</p> +<p>"Oh, mamma," she said, when she went into the room where her +mother was sitting, "I am so sorry, so dreadfully sorry. Frank +Mallett has asked me to be his wife. I have never thought of such a +thing and of course I had to say no."</p> +<p>"I have thought such a thing likely for some time, Bertha, but I +thought it best to hold my tongue about it. In such matters the +interference of a mother often does more harm than good. I felt +sure, by your manner with him, that you had no idea of it; and I +must say that much as I like Frank Mallett, I should have been +sorry. I have great hopes of your making a really first-class +match."</p> +<p>"I could not make a better match," Bertha said, indignantly. "No +one could be kinder or nicer than Major Mallett, and we know how +brave he is and how he has distinguished himself, and he has a good +estate and everything that anyone could wish; only unfortunately I +do not love him—at least not in that way. He has never shown me +what I should consider any particular attention, and never talked +to me in the way men do when they are making love to a girl. +Nothing could be nicer, and it was all the nicer because I never +thought of this. I suppose it is because he is so different from +some of the men I met in town last season, who always seemed to be +trying to get round me. No, I know it is not a nice expression, +mamma, but you know what I mean."</p> +<p>"I know, my dear," her mother smiled. "Of course you are a very +good match, and though I do not want to flatter you, you were one +of the belles of the season. Though some of the men you speak of +were by no means desirable—younger sons and barristers and that +sort of thing—still, there were two or three whom any girl might +have been pleased to see at her feet, and who, I am sure from what +I saw, only needed but little encouragement from you to be there. I +was a little vexed, dear, you see, that you did not give any of +them that encouragement; but I understand, of course, that the +novelty of your first season carried you away altogether; and that +you liked the dancing and the fetes and the opera for themselves, +and not because they brought you in contact with men of excellent +class. So far as I could see, it was a matter of indifference to +you whether the man was a peer with a splendid rent roll, or a +younger son without a farthing, so that he was a good dancer and a +pleasant companion; but of course after a season or two you will +grow wiser."</p> +<p>"I do hope not, mamma," Bertha said, indignantly. "I don't mean +to say that it might not be better to marry, as you say, a peer +with a good rent roll than a younger son without a penny, other +things being equal; that is to say, if one liked them equally; but +I hope that I shall never come to like anyone a bit more for being +a peer."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale smiled, indulgently.</p> +<p>"It is a natural sentiment, my dear, for a girl of your age and +inexperience; but in time you will come to see things in a +different light."</p> +<p>Then she changed the subject. "What is Frank going to do? It is +fortunate that we are going up to town next week."</p> +<p>"He is going up to town himself tomorrow, and I am sure that you +will never hear from him, or from anyone else, what has happened. +We shall meet in town as usual, and I am sure that he will be just +the same as he was before, and that I shall be a great deal more +uncomfortable than he will. It is a very silly affair altogether, I +think; and I would give anything if it had not happened."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale did not echo the sentiment. She liked Frank +Mallett immensely. He had always been a great favourite of hers, +but since she had guessed what Bertha herself had not dreamed of, +she had been uncomfortable. It threatened to disturb all the plans +she had formed, and she was well contented to learn that she had +refused him. Lady Greendale was a thoroughly kind-hearted woman, +but she could not forget that she herself might have made, in a +worldly sense, a better match than she had; and her ambition had, +since Bertha was a child, and still more since she had shown +promise of exceptional good looks, been centred on her making a +really good match.</p> +<p>Frank went up to town next day, and the Greendales followed him +a week later. They did not often meet him in society, as Frank +seldom went out; but he called occasionally in the old friendly and +unceremonious way. It would have required an acute observer to see +any difference in his manner to Bertha, but Lady Greendale noticed +it, and the girl herself felt that, although he was no less kind +and friendly, there was some impalpable change in his manner, +something that she felt, though she could not define it, even to +herself.</p> +<p>"Have you had a tiff with Major Mallett, Bertha?" Mrs. Wilson +asked one day, when she was alone with her in the drawing room.</p> +<p>Frank had just left, after spending an hour there.</p> +<p>"A tiff, Carrie? No! What put such an idea into your head?"</p> +<p>"My eyes, assisted perhaps by my ears. My dear, do you think +that after being with you on the yacht last autumn, I should not +notice any change in your manner to each other? I had expected +before now to have heard an interesting piece of news; and now I +see that things have gone wrong somehow."</p> +<p>"We are just as good friends as we always were," Bertha said, +shortly; "every bit."</p> +<p>"You don't mean to say that you have refused him, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"I don't mean to say anything of the sort. I simply say that +Major Mallett and I have always been great friends, and we are so +now. There is no one that I have a higher regard for."</p> +<p>"Well, Bertha, I do not want to know your secrets, if you do not +wish to tell me. All that I can say is that, if you have refused +him, you have done a very foolish thing. I don't know any man that +a woman might be happier with. When we were out last year with you, +Amy and I agreed that it was certain to come off, and thought how +well suited you were to each other. Of course, in worldly respects, +you might do better; just at present you have the ball at your +feet; but choose where you may you will not find a finer fellow +than he is. Yes, I told Harry that it was lucky that I had not made +that trip on board the Osprey before I was irrevocably captured, +for I should certainly have lost my heart to Major Mallett. Well, I +am sorry, Bertha, more sorry than I can say; and I am sure that Amy +will be, too."</p> +<p>"I said nothing whatever, Carrie, that would justify this little +explosion, which I certainly don't intend to answer. I should +really feel very vexed, if I were not perfectly sure that you would +never tell anyone else of this notion that you have got in your +head."</p> +<p>"You may be quite sure of that, Bertha. At least when I say no +one else, of course I do not include Harry; but you know him well +enough to be certain that it will not go further. I am sure he will +be as disappointed as I am. In fact, he will have a small triumph +over me, for after the usual manner of men he saw nothing on board +the yacht, and has always maintained that it was pure fancy on my +part. However, I won't tell anyone else, not even Amy. She can find +it out for herself, which you may be sure she will do when she +comes back from the continent, if indeed her own happiness with +Jack has not blinded her to all sub-lunary matters.</p> +<p>"Well, goodbye, dear. You will forgive my saying that I am +disappointed in you, terribly disappointed in you."</p> +<p>"I must try to put up with that, Carrie. I am not aware that you +consulted me before you made your own matrimonial arrangements, and +perhaps I may be able to manage my own.''</p> +<p>"Well, don't be cross, Bertha. Remember that I am not advising +or counselling. I am simply regretting, which perhaps you may do +yourself, some day or other."</p> +<p>And with this parting shot she left.</p> +<p>The weeks went on, and when May came and Frank told her that the +Osprey was fitted out, and that he would join her in a day or two, +Bertha heard the news with satisfaction. The season was a gay one, +and she was enjoying herself greatly; the one little drop of +bitterness in her cup being that she could no longer enjoy his +visits as she formerly did. He had been the one man with whom she +was able to talk and laugh quite freely, who was really an old +friend, a link not only between her and the past, but between her +and her country life.</p> +<p>And now, she thought pettishly, he had spoiled all this, and +what annoyed her almost as much was that the change was more in +herself than in him. She no longer gave him commissions to execute +for her, nor made him her general confidant. She knew that he would +be as ready as before to laugh and to sympathise, that he would +still gladly execute her commissions, and she felt that he tried +hard to make her forget that he had aspired to be something nearer +to her than a brotherly friend. She felt that after what he had +said they could never stand in quite the same relation as +before.</p> +<p>Accustomed as Frank was to read her thoughts, he was not +deceived by the expression of regret that she should now see but +little of him, as he saw the news was really pleasant to her. She +was not aware that it was a conversation that he had had the +evening before with Colonel Severn, which had decided him to go +down to the Osprey a fortnight earlier than he had intended.</p> +<p>"You are getting to be almost as regular an attendant here, +Mallett, as I am. I think you are altogether too young to take +regularly to club life. It is all very well for an old fogey like +me, but I don't think it a good thing for a young fellow like you +to take so early to a bachelor life."</p> +<p>"I don't want to do anything of the sort, Colonel. But I can't +stand these crushes in hot rooms; I cannot for the life of me see +where the pleasure comes in. I begin to think that I was an ass to +leave the army."</p> +<p>"Not at all, lad, not at all. When a man has got a good estate +it is much better for him to settle down upon it, and to marry and +have children, and all that sort of thing, than it is to remain in +the army in times of peace. I had Wilson and Hawley dining with me +here yesterday. We had a great chat over the pleasant time we had +last year on board your yacht. I don't know when I enjoyed myself +so much as I did then. Lady Greendale is a remarkably clever woman, +and her daughter is as nice a girl as I have come across for a long +time, and without a scrap of nonsense about her. I wonder that she +has not become engaged by this time. General Matthews, who, as you +know, goes in a good deal for that sort of thing for the sake of +his daughters, told me recently that he fancied from what he had +heard that Miss Greendale's engagement was likely to be a settled +thing before the season was over. He said there were three men +making the running—Lord Chilson, the eldest son of the Earl of +Sommerlay; George Delamore—his father is in the Cabinet, you know, +and he is member for Ponberry; and a man named Carthew, who keeps +race horses, and was a neighbour of hers down in the country. He +is, I hear, a good-looking fellow, and just the sort of man a girl +is likely to fancy. Matthews thought that the chances were in his +favour. As you are a neighbour of theirs, too, I suppose you will +know him?"</p> +<p>"I knew him at one time, Colonel, but I have not seen him now +for a good many years, beyond meeting him two or three times at +dinners and so on last season. He was away when I was at home +before going out to India, and he had sold his estate before I came +back."</p> +<p>"They say he has been very lucky on the turf, and has made a pot +of money."</p> +<p>"So I have heard," Frank said; "but, you see, one generally +hears of men's good luck, and not of their bad. Besides, many men +do most of their real betting through commissioners, especially if +they own horses themselves. He is a fellow I don't much care for, +and I hope that whomever Miss Greendale may marry, he will not be +the man."</p> +<p>"I thought, when you first asked me down last year, that you had +got up the party specially for her, Mallett, and that you were +going in for the prize yourself. But of course I soon saw that I +was mistaken, as you were altogether too good chums for that to +come about. I have often noticed that men and girls who are thrown +a lot together are often capital friends, but, although just the +pair you would think would come together, that they hardly ever do +so. I have noticed it over and over again. Well, she is an +uncommonly nice girl, whoever gets her."</p> +<p>Frank did not return to town until the end of June.</p> +<p>"I have to congratulate you upon the Osprey's victory," Bertha +said, the first time he called to see them. "You may imagine with +what interest I read the accounts of the yacht races. I saw you won +two on the Thames, and were first once and second once at +Southampton."</p> +<p>"Yes, the Osprey has shown herself to be, as I thought, an +uncommonly fast boat. We should have had two firsts at Southampton, +if the pilot had not cut matters too fine and run us aground just +opposite Netley; we were a quarter of an hour before we were off +again. We picked up a lot of our lost ground and got a second, but +were beaten eight minutes by the winner."</p> +<p>"Have you entered for the Queen's Cup at Ryde?"</p> +<p>"I have not entered yet, but I am going to do so," he said.</p> +<p>"Mamma and I will be down there. Lord Haverley—he is first +cousin to mamma, you know—has taken a house there for the month, +and he is going to have a large party, and we are going down for +Ryde week."</p> +<p>"Yes, and there will be the Victoria Yacht Club ball, and all +sorts of gaieties. I have not entered yet, but I am going to do so. +The entries do not close till next Saturday."</p> +<p>"You will call and see us, of course, Frank?" Lady Greendale +said. "Haverley has a big schooner yacht, and I dare say we shall +be a good deal on the water."</p> +<p>"I shall certainly do myself the pleasure of calling, Lady +Greendale."</p> +<p>"I warn you, Frank, that Bertha and I will be very disappointed +if the Osprey does not win the cup. We regard ourselves as being, +to some extent, her proprietors; and it will be a grievous blow to +us if you don't win."</p> +<p>"I do not feel by any means sure about it," he said. "I fancy +there will be several boats that have not raced yet this season, +and as two of them are new ones, there is no saying what they may +turn out."</p> +<p>Frank only stayed two days in town. He learned from Jack Hawley +that it was reported that Lord Chilson and George Delamore had both +been refused by Bertha Greendale.</p> +<p>"Chilson went away suddenly," he said. "As to Delamore, of +course as he is a Member he had to stop through the Session, but +from what I hear, and as you know I have some good sources of +information, I am pretty sure that he has got his conge too. I +fancy Carthew is the favourite. As a rule I don't like these men +who go in for racing, but he is a deuced-nice fellow. I have seen a +good deal of him. He put me up to a good thing for the Derby ten +days ago. He gives uncommonly good supper parties, and has asked me +several times, but I have not gone to them, for I believe there is +a good deal of play afterwards, and I cannot stand unlimited +loo."</p> +<p>"Is he lucky himself?" Frank asked.</p> +<p>"No, quite the other way, I hear. I know a man who has been to +three or four of his suppers, and he told me that Carthew had lost +every time, once or twice pretty heavily."</p> +<p>"Carthew's horse ran second, didn't it, for the Derby?"</p> +<p>"Yes, the betting was twenty to one against him at +starting."</p> +<p>"I wonder he did not give that tip as well as the other."</p> +<p>"Well, he did say that he thought it might run into a place, but +that he was sure that he had no chance with the favourite. As it +turned out, he was nearer winning than he expected; for the +favourite went down the day before the race, from 5 to 4 on, to 10 +to 1 against. There was a report about that he had gone wrong in +some way. Some fellows said that there had been an attempt to get +at him, others that he had got a nail in his foot. The general +feeling had been that he would win in a canter, but as it was he +only beat Carthew's horse by a short head."</p> +<p>"Had Carthew backed his horse to win?"</p> +<p>"He told me that he had only backed it for a hundred, but had +put five hundred on it for a place, and as he got six to one +against it he came uncommonly well out of it."</p> +<p>"And do you think it likely that Miss Greendale will accept +him?"</p> +<p>"Ah! that I cannot say. He has certainly been making very strong +running, and if I were a betting man I should not mind laying two +to one on the event coming off."</p> +<p>Frank joined the Osprey, which was lying off Portsmouth Harbour, +on the following day.</p> +<p>"I am back earlier than I expected, George," he said, as +Lechmere met him at the station. "I have got tired of London, and +want to be on board again."</p> +<p>"Nothing gone wrong in town, I hope, Major?" George said next +day, as he was removing the breakfast things. "You will excuse my +asking, but you don't seem to me to be yourself since you came on +board."</p> +<p>"Well, yes, George. I am upset, I confess. I am sure you will be +sorry, too, when I tell you that it is more than probable that Miss +Greendale is going to marry Mr. Carthew."</p> +<p>George put the dish he was holding down on the table with a +crash, and stood gazing at Frank in blank dismay.</p> +<p>"Why, sir, I thought," he said, slowly, "that it was going to be +you and Miss Greendale. I had always thought so. Excuse me, sir, I +don't mean any offence, but that is what we have all thought ever +since she came down to christen the yacht."</p> +<p>"There is no offence, George. Yes, I don't mind telling you that +I had hoped so myself, but it was not to be. You see, Miss +Greendale has known me since she was a child, and she has never +thought of me in any other way than as a sort of cousin—someone +she liked very much, but had never thought of for a moment as one +she could marry. That is all past and gone, but I should be sorry, +most sorry, for her to marry Carthew, knowing what I do of +him."</p> +<p>"But it must not be, sir," George said, vehemently. "You can +never let that sweet young lady marry that black-hearted +villain."</p> +<p>"Unfortunately I cannot prevent it, George."</p> +<p>"Why, sir, you would only have to tell her about Martha, and I +am sure it would do for his business. Miss Greendale can know +nothing about it. So far as I can remember, she was not more than +sixteen at the time. I don't suppose Lady Greendale ever heard of +it. She knew, of course, of Martha's being missing, because it made +quite a stir, but I don't suppose that she heard of her coming +back. She was only at home three weeks before she died. There were +not many that ever saw her, and father told me that he and the +others made it so hot for Carthew one day at Chippenham market that +he never came down again, and sold the place soon after. I don't +suppose the gentry ever heard anything about it. If they had, Lady +Greendale would surely never let her daughter marry him."</p> +<p>"No, I feel sure she would not; but still, George, I don't see +that I can possibly interfere in the matter. The story is three +years old now, and even if it had only happened yesterday, I, after +what has occurred between us, could not come forward as his +accuser. It would have the appearance of spite on my side; and +besides, I have no proof whatever. He would, of course, deny the +whole thing. I do not mean that he would deny that she said so—he +could not do that—but he might declare that she had spoken +falsely, and might even say that it was an attempt to put another's +sin on his shoulders. Moreover, as I told you, I have other reasons +for disliking the man, and, on the face of it, it would seem that I +had raked up this old story against him, not only from jealousy, +but from personal malice.</p> +<p>"No, it is out of the question that I should interfere. I would +give everything that I am worth to be able to do so, but it is +impossible. If I had full and unquestionable proofs I would go to +Lady Greendale and lay the matter before her. But I have no such +proofs. There is nothing whatever except that poor girl's word +against his."</p> +<p>George's lips closed, and an expression of grim determination +came over his face.</p> +<p>"I dare say you are right, Major," he said, after a pause; "but +it seems to me hard that Miss Greendale should be sacrificed to a +man like that."</p> +<p>Frank did not reply. He had already thought the matter over and +over again, and had reached the opinion that he could not +interfere. If he had not himself proposed to her, and been refused, +he might have moved. Up to that time he had stood in the position +of an old friend of the family, and as such could well have spoken +to Lady Greendale on a matter that so vitally concerned Bertha's +happiness. Now his taking that step would have the appearance of +being the interference of a disappointed rival, rather than of a +disinterested friend. He went up on deck, sat there for a time, and +at last arrived at a conclusion.</p> +<p>"It is my duty. There can be no doubt about that," he said to +himself. "If Bertha really loves Carthew, she will believe his +denial rather than my accusation, unsupported as it is by a scrap +of real evidence. In that case, she will put down my story as a +piece of malice and meanness. But, after all, that will matter +little. I had better far lose her liking and esteem than my own +self respect. I will tell Lady Greendale about this. The +responsibility will be off my hands then. She may not view the +matter as an absolute bar to Carthew's marrying Bertha––that is her +business and Bertha's—but at any rate I shall have done my duty. I +will wait, however, until Bertha has accepted him.</p> +<p>"I have made up my mind, George," he said, later on. "If I hear +that Miss Greendale has accepted Carthew, I shall go to her mother +and tell her the story. I have little hope that it will do much +good. It is very hard to make a girl believe anything against the +man she loves, until it can be proved beyond doubt, and as Carthew +will of course indignantly deny that he had anything to do with it, +I expect that it will have no effect whatever, beyond making her +dislike me cordially. Still, that cannot be helped. It is clearly +my duty not only as her friend, but as the friend of her father and +mother. But I wish that the task did not fall upon me."</p> +<p>"I am glad to hear you say that, Major," George said, quietly. +"I can see, sir, that, as you say, it would be better if anyone +else could do it, but Lady Greendale has known you for so many +years that she must surely know that you would never have told her +unless you believed the story to be true."</p> +<p>"No doubt she will, George. I hope Miss Greendale will, too; but +even if she does not see it in that light I cannot help it. Well, I +will go ashore to the clubhouse and find out whether they have +heard anything about the entries for the cup."</p> +<p>When he returned he said to the captain:</p> +<p>"I hear that the Phantom has entered, Hawkins. I am told that +she has just come off the slips, and that she has had a new suit of +racing canvas made by Lapthorne."</p> +<p>"Well, sir, I think that we ought to have a good chance with +her. She has shown herself a very fast boat the few times she has +been raced, but so have we, and taking the line through boats that +we have both sailed against, I think that we ought to be able to +beat her."</p> +<p>"I have rather a fancy that we shan't do so, Hawkins. We will do +our best, but I have met Mr. Carthew a good many times, for we were +at school and college together, and somehow or other he has always +managed to beat me."</p> +<p>"Ah! well, we will turn the tables on him this time, sir."</p> +<p>"I hope so, but it has gone so often the other way that I have +got to be a little superstitious about it. I would give a good deal +to beat him. I should like to win the Queen's Cup, as you know; but +even if I didn't win it I should be quite satisfied if I but beat +him."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch8" id="Ch8">Chapter 8</a>.</h2> +<p>It was the week of the Ryde Regatta. At that time Ryde disputed +with Cowes the glory of being the headquarters of yachting, and the +scene was a gay one. Every house in the neighbourhood was crowded +with guests, many had been let for the week at fabulous rates, the +town was bright with flags, and a great fleet of yachts was moored +off the town, extending from the pier westward as far as the hulks. +The lawn of the Victoria Yacht Club was gay with ladies, a military +band was playing, boats rowed backwards and forwards between the +yachts and the clubhouses.</p> +<p>It was the first day of the Regatta, and the Queen's Cup was not +to be sailed for until the third. On the previous morning Frank had +received a note from Lady Greendale, saying that they had arrived +with Lord Haverley's party the day before, and enclosing an +invitation from him to dinner that day. He went up to call as soon +as he received it, but excused himself from dining on the ground of +a previous engagement, as he felt sure that Carthew would be one of +the party.</p> +<p>"I suppose, Lady Greendale, it is no use asking you and Bertha +to sail in the Osprey on Friday?"</p> +<p>"I should not think of going, Frank. A racing yacht is no place +for an old lady. As for Bertha, she is already engaged. Mr. Carthew +asked her a fortnight since to sail on the Phantom. Lady Olive +Marston and her cousin, Miss Haverley, are also going. I know that +it is not very usual for ladies to go on racing yachts, but they +are all accustomed to yachting, and Mr. Carthew declares that they +won't be in the way in the least."</p> +<p>"I don't see why they should be," Frank said, after a short +pause. "Of course, in a small boat it would be different, but in a +craft like the Phantom there is plenty of room for two or three +ladies without their getting in the way of the crew.</p> +<p>"Well, I must be going," he broke off somewhat hastily, for he +saw a group coming down the garden path towards the house.</p> +<p>It consisted of Bertha and two other ladies, Carthew and another +man.</p> +<p>"What other evening would suit you, Frank?" Lady Greendale asked +as he rose.</p> +<p>"I am afraid I am engaged all through the week, Lady +Greendale."</p> +<p>"I am sorry," she said, quietly, "but perhaps it is for the +best, Frank."</p> +<p>The door closed behind him just as the party from the garden +entered through the French windows.</p> +<p>The next morning George Lechmere went ashore with the steward, +when the latter landed to do his marketing. The street up the hill +was crowded, and numbers of yachts' sailors were ashore. Stewards +with the flat rush baskets, universally used by them, were going +from shop to shop; groups of sailors were chatting over the events +of the day; and carriages were standing before the fishmongers', +poulterers', and fruit and flower shops, while the owners were +laying in supplies for their guests. People had driven in from all +parts of the island to see the races, and light country carts with +eggs, butter, fowls, and fruit were making their way down the steep +hill.</p> +<p>George had learnt from a casual remark of Frank's where the +house taken by Lord Haverley was situated, and going up the hill +turned to the right and kept on until he came to a large house +embowered in trees. Breakfast was just over when a servant told +Bertha that a gentleman who said his name was George Lechmere +wished to speak to her. She went out to him in the hall.</p> +<p>"Well, George," she said, holding out her hand to him frankly, +for he was a great favourite of hers; "I suppose you have brought +me up a message from Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"No, Miss Greendale, the Major does not know that I have come to +you. It is on my own account that I am here. Could you spare me a +quarter of an hour?"</p> +<p>"Certainly, George," she said, in some surprise. "I will come +out into the garden. We are likely to have it to ourselves at this +hour."</p> +<p>She fetched her hat, and they went out into the garden together. +George did not attempt to speak until they reached the other end, +where there was a seat in a shady corner.</p> +<p>"Sit down, George," she said.</p> +<p>"Thank you, Miss Greendale, I would rather stand," and he took +his place in front of her.</p> +<p>"I have a story to tell you," he said. "It is very painful for +me to have to tell it, and it will be painful for you to hear it; +but I am sure that you ought to know."</p> +<p>Bertha did not say anything, but looked at him with eyes wide +open with surprise.</p> +<p>"I am sure, Miss Greendale," George went on, "that the Major +never told you that the bad wound he received at Delhi that all but +killed him, was my doing––that he was wounded by a ball from my +musket."</p> +<p>"No, George, he certainly never said so. I suppose he was in +front of you, and your musket went off accidentally?"</p> +<p>"No, Miss Greendale, I took deliberate aim at him, and it was +only the mercy of God that saved his life."</p> +<p>Bertha was too surprised and shocked to speak, and he went +on:</p> +<p>"He himself thought that he had been hit by a Sepoy bullet, and +it was only when I sent for him, believing that I had received my +death wound, that he knew that it was I who had hit him."</p> +<p>"But for what?" she asked. "What made you do this terrible +thing? I thought he was liked by his men."</p> +<p>"There was no one liked better, Miss Greendale; he was the most +popular officer in the regiment, and if the soldiers had known it, +and I had escaped being hung for it, I should have been shot the +first time I went into action afterwards. It had nothing to do with +the army. I enlisted in his company on purpose to shoot him."</p> +<p>Bertha could hardly believe her ears. She looked at the man +earnestly. Surely he could not have been drinking at that time of +the morning, and she would have doubted his sanity had it not been +for the calm and earnest look in his face. He went on:</p> +<p>"I came here to tell you why I shot at him."</p> +<p>"I don't want to hear," she said, hurriedly. "It is no business +of mine. I know that whatever it was Major Mallett must have +forgiven you. Besides, you saved his life afterwards."</p> +<p>"Excuse me, Miss Greendale, but it is a matter that concerns +you, and I pray you to listen to me. You have heard of Martha +Bennett, the poor girl who disappeared four years ago, and who was +thought to have been murdered."</p> +<p>"Yes, I remember the talk about it. It was never known who had +done it."</p> +<p>"She was not murdered," he said. "She returned some months +afterwards, but only to die. It was about the time that Sir John +was ill, and naturally you would have heard nothing of it.</p> +<p>"Well, Miss Greendale, I was at one time engaged to Martha. I +was of a jealous, passionate disposition, and I did not make enough +allowance for her being young and naturally fond of admiration. I +quarrelled with her and the engagement was broken off, but I still +loved her with all my heart and soul."</p> +<p>Then he went on to tell of how maddened he had been when he had +seen her talking to Major Mallett, and of the conversation he had +overheard in her father's garden, on the evening before she was +missing.</p> +<p>"I jumped at the conclusion at once, Miss Greendale, that it was +Captain Mallett, as he was then. He had been round saying goodbye +to the tenants that afternoon, and I knew that he was going abroad. +What could I suppose but that he had ruined my poor girl, and had +persuaded her to go out to join him in India? I waited for a time, +while they searched for the body I knew they would never find. My +own father and mother, in their hearts, thought that I had murdered +her in a fit of jealous rage. At last I made up my mind to enlist +in his regiment, to follow him to India, kill him, find her, and +bring her home."</p> +<p>"How dreadful!" the girl murmured.</p> +<p>"It was dreadful, Miss Greendale. I believe now that I must have +been mad at the time. However, I did it, but at the end failed. +Mercifully I was saved from being a murderer. As I told you, I was +badly wounded. I thought I was going to die, and the doctor thought +so, too. So I sent for Captain Mallett that I might have the +satisfaction of letting him know that it was I who fired the shot, +and that it was in revenge for the wrong that he had done +Martha.</p> +<p>"When I told him I saw by his face, even before he spoke, that I +had been wrong. He knew nothing whatever of it. Well, miss, he +forgave me—forgave me wholly. He told me that he should never +mention it to a soul, and as he has never mentioned it even to you, +you may see how well he has kept his word. I wanted to leave the +regiment. I felt that I could never mix with my comrades, knowing +as I did that I had tried to murder their favourite officer. But +the Major would not hear of it. He insisted that I should stay, +and, even more, he promised that as soon as I was out of hospital I +should be his servant, saying that as the son of an old tenant, he +would rather have me than anyone else. You can well imagine, then, +Miss Greendale, how willingly I would have given my life for him, +and that when the chance came I gladly faced odds to save him.</p> +<p>"Before that I had come to learn who the man was. It was a +letter from my father that first gave me the clue; he mentioned +that another gentleman had left the neighbourhood and gone abroad, +just at the time that Major Mallett did. He was a man who had once +made me madly jealous by his attentions to Martha at a fete given +to his tenants.</p> +<p>"The Major had the same thought, and he told me that he knew the +man was a bad fellow, though he did not say why he thought so. Then +I heard that Martha had returned to die, and I learned that she had +told her mother the name of her destroyer, who deserted her three +months after he had taken her away. When he came back from abroad +her father and mine and some others met him at Chippenham market. +They attacked him, and I believe would have killed him, had he not +ridden off. The next day he went up to London, and a fortnight +later his estate was in the market, and he never came into that +part of the country again.</p> +<p>"I have told you all this, Miss Greendale, because I have heard +that you know the man, and I thought you ought to know what sort of +a man he is. His name is Carthew."</p> +<p>Bertha had grown paler and paler as the story went on, and when +he ended, she sat still and silent for two or three minutes. Then +she said in a low tone:</p> +<p>"Thank you, George. You have done right in telling me this +story; it is one that I ought to know. I wonder—" and she +stopped.</p> +<p>"You wonder that the Major did not tell you, Miss Greendale. I +asked him, myself. When you think it over, you will understand why +he could not tell you; for he had no actual proof, save the dying +girl's words and what I had seen and heard; and his motive in +telling it might have been misunderstood. But he told me that, even +at the risk of that, he should feel it his duty, if you became +engaged to that villain, to tell the story to Lady Greendale.</p> +<p>"But if he found it hard to speak, there seemed to me no reason +why I shouldn't. Except my father and mother and he, no one knows +that I was well nigh a murderer. And though he has so generously +forgiven me, and I have in a small way tried to show my gratitude +to him, it was still painful to me to have to tell the story to +anyone else. But I felt that I ought to do it—not for his sake, +because he has told me that what I had looked for and what he had +so hoped for is not to be—but because I thought that you ought not +to be allowed to sacrifice your life to such a man; and partly, +too, because I wished to spare my dear master the pain of telling +the story, and of perhaps being misunderstood."</p> +<p>"Thank you, George," she said, quietly. "You have done quite +right in telling—"</p> +<p>At this moment some voices were heard at the other end of the +garden.</p> +<p>"I will be going at once," George said, seizing the opportunity +of getting away; and turning, he walked down the garden and left +the house.</p> +<p>"Who is your friend, Bertha?" Miss Haverley said, laughingly, as +she met Bertha coming slowly down the garden.</p> +<p>"Why—is anything the matter?" she exclaimed, as she caught +sight of her face.</p> +<p>"I have become suddenly faint, Hannah," Bertha replied. "I +suppose it was the heat yesterday; and it is very warm this +morning, too. I am better now, and it will soon pass over. I will +go indoors for half an hour, and then I shall be quite right +again.</p> +<p>"My friend is no one particular. He is Major Mallett's factotum. +He only brought me up a message, but as I know all the men on the +Osprey, and have not been on board this season, of course there was +a good deal to ask about."</p> +<p>"Well, you must get well as soon as you can," Miss Haverley +said. "You know we shall leave in half an hour for the yacht, so as +to get under way in time for the start."</p> +<p>At the appointed time, Bertha joined the party below. Her eyes +looked heavy and her cheeks were flushed, but she assured Miss +Haverley that she felt quite herself now, and that she was sure +that the sea air would set her up altogether. The schooner was +under way a quarter of an hour before the gun was fired, and sailed +east, as the course was twice round the Nab and back.</p> +<p>Yachts were flitting about in all directions, for a light air +had only sprung up during the last half hour.</p> +<p>"There is the Phantom," Lord Haverley said. "She has been +cruising about the last two days to get her sails stretched, and +they look uncommonly well. Carthew told me yesterday that she would +be across early this morning, and that he should go round with the +race to see how she did. I think you young ladies will have a very +good chance of being able to boast that you have sailed in the +yacht that won the Queen's Cup. I fancy it lies between her and the +Osprey. Mallett is getting up sail, too, I see, but as the Phantom +is going with the race, I don't suppose he will. She is a fine +craft, though I own I like the cutter rig better. The Phantom will +have to allow her time, but not a great deal, for the yawl is the +heaviest tonnage.</p> +<p>"There is the starting gun. They are all close together at the +line.</p> +<p>"That is a pretty sight, Lady Greendale. Talk about the start of +race horses, it is no more to be compared with it than light to +dark."</p> +<p>After cruising about for three or four hours, their schooner +dropped anchor near the Osprey, which had come in half an hour +before.</p> +<p>"Have you ever been on board the Osprey, Lord Haverley?" Bertha +asked.</p> +<p>"No, my dear, I don't know that I have ever before been in any +port with your friend Major Mallett."</p> +<p>"Well, what do you say to our going on board for a few minutes, +on our way to shore? Mamma and I are very fond of her, and I am her +godmother, having christened her."</p> +<p>"Godmother and curate coupled in one, eh, Bertha? We will go by +all means; that is to say, we cannot invade him in a body, but +those of us who know Mallett can go on board, and the gig can come +back and take the rest ashore and then come to fetch us."</p> +<p>Accordingly, Lord Haverley and his daughter, Lady Greendale and +Bertha, and two others of the party were rowed to the Osprey. Frank +saw them coming and met them at the gangway.</p> +<p>"We are taking you by storm, Major," Lord Haverley said, "but +Lady Greendale and her daughter claim an almost proprietary +interest in the Osprey, because the latter is her godmother. +Indeed, we are all naturally interested in her, too, as being one +of our cracks. She is a very smart-looking craft, though I think it +is a pity that she is not cutter rigged."</p> +<p>"She would look prettier, no doubt," Frank said; "but, you see, +though she was built as a racer, and I like a race occasionally, +that was not my primary object. I wanted her for cruising, and +there is no doubt that a yawl is more handy, and you can work her +with fewer hands than you can a cutter of the same size."</p> +<p>They went round the vessel, and then returning on deck, sat down +and chatted while waiting for the boat's return.</p> +<p>"I sincerely hope that you will win, Frank, on Friday," Lady +Greendale said. "Our sympathies are rather divided, but I hope the +Osprey will win."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Lady Greendale, but I am by no means sanguine about +it.</p> +<p>"I fancy, Miss Haverley, that you and Miss Greendale will see +the winning flag flying overhead when the race is over."</p> +<p>"Why do you think so, Major?" Lord Haverley asked. "The general +opinion is that your record is better than that of the Phantom. She +has done well in the two or three races she has sailed, but she +certainly did not beat the Lesbia or the Mermaid by as much as you +did."</p> +<p>"That may be," Frank agreed, "but I regard Carthew as having +been born under a lucky star; and though my own opinion is that if +the Phantom were in other hands we should beat her, I fancy his +luck will pull her through."</p> +<p>Haverley laughed. "I should not have given you credit for being +superstitious, Major."</p> +<p>"I don't think that I have many superstitions, but I own to +something like it in this case."</p> +<p>Bertha looked earnestly at him. Just before the gig returned +from the shore, she and Frank were standing together.</p> +<p>"I am sorry that I shall not have your good wishes tomorrow," he +said.</p> +<p>"I have not said that anyone will have my good wishes," she +replied. "I shall be on board the Phantom because I was invited +there before you asked me, but my hope is that the best yacht will +win. I want to speak to you for a minute or two. When can I see +you?"</p> +<p>"I can come up tomorrow morning early," he replied. "What time +will best suit you?"</p> +<p>"Ten o'clock; please ask for mamma."</p> +<p>The next morning, Lady Greendale and Bertha came together into +the sitting room into which Frank had been shown on calling at Lord +Haverley's.</p> +<p>"You are early, Frank."</p> +<p>"Yes, Lady Greendale. I am going for a run round the island. It +makes me fidgety to sit all day with nothing to do, and I am always +contented when I am under sail. As I shan't have time to come in +tomorrow morning, for you know we start at nine, I thought that I +would drop in this morning, even if the hour was an early one."</p> +<p>After chatting for a few minutes, Lady Greendale made some +excuse to leave the room.</p> +<p>"She knew that you were coming, and that I wanted to speak to +you," said Bertha.</p> +<p>"Well, what is it—anything of importance?" he asked with a +smile.</p> +<p>She hesitated and then went on.</p> +<p>"Some words you spoke yesterday recalled to me something you +said nearly four years ago. Do you remember when we sat next to +each other in the twilight, the day before you went to India? We +were talking about superstitions then, and you told me that you had +only one, and said what it was—you remember?"</p> +<p>"I remember," he said, gravely.</p> +<p>"About someone who had beaten you always, and who you thought +always would beat you, if you came in contact again. You would not +tell me his name. Was it Mr. Carthew?"</p> +<p>"I would not answer the question then, Bertha, and you surely +cannot expect me to answer it now."</p> +<p>"I do expect you to answer it."</p> +<p>"Then I must most emphatically decline to do so," he said. +"What! do you think that if it were he, I would be so base as to +discredit him now? For you must remember that I said that only one +of my defeats was due to foul play, that most of the others were +simply due to the fact that he was a better man than I was. The +matter has long since been forgotten, and, whoever it is, I would +not prejudice him in the opinion of anyone by raising up that old +story. I have no shadow of proof that it was he who damaged my +boat. It might have been the act of some boatman about the place +who had laid his money against my winning."</p> +<p>"That is enough," she said quietly. "I did not think that you +would tell me whether it was Mr. Carthew, but I was sure that if it +were not he you would not hesitate to say so. Thank you, that is +all I wanted to see you for. What you said yesterday brought that +talk we had so vividly into my mind that I could not resist asking +you. It explained what seemed to me at the time to be strange; how +it was that you, who are generally so cordial in your manner, were +so cold to him when you first met him at our house. I thought that +there might be something more serious—" and she looked him full in +the face.</p> +<p>"Perhaps I am a prejudiced beggar," he said, with an attempt to +smile, and then added somewhat bitterly; "You see things since have +not been calculated to make me specially generous in his case."</p> +<p>She did not reply, and after a moment's pause he said, "Well, as +Lady Greendale seems to be busy, I will be going."</p> +<p>"You will come to the ball tomorrow evening, won't you?" she +asked.</p> +<p>"I suppose I shall have to," he said. "If I win, though mind I +feel sure that I shan't, it will seem odd if I don't come. If I +lose, it will look as if I sulked."</p> +<p>"You must come," she said, "and you must have a dance with me. +You have not been keeping your word, Major Mallett. You said that +you would always be the same to me, and you are not. You have never +once asked me to dance with you, and you are changed +altogether."</p> +<p>"I try to be—I try hard, Bertha; but just at present it is +beyond me. I cannot stand by and see you going—" and he stopped +abruptly.</p> +<p>"Well, never mind, Bertha. It will all come right in time, but +at any rate I cannot stand it at present. Goodbye."</p> +<p>And without giving her time to reply, he hastily left the +room.</p> +<p>Bertha stood silent for a minute or two, then quietly followed +him out of the room.</p> +<p>The next day Ryde was astir early. It was the Queen's Cup day. +Eight yachts were entered: three schooners––the Rhodope, the +Isobel, and the Mayflower; four cutters––the Pearl, the Chrysalis, +the Alacrity, and the Phantom; and the Osprey, which was the only +yawl. It was half-past eight, and all were under way under mainsail +and jib.</p> +<p>The Solent was alive with yachts. They were pouring out from +Southampton water, they were coming up from Cowes, and some were +making their way across from Portsmouth. The day was a fine one for +sailing.</p> +<p>"Have you got the same extra hands as last time?" Frank asked +the skipper.</p> +<p>"All the same, sir. They all know their work well, and of course +if there is anything to be done aloft, our own men go up. I don't +think any of them will beat us in smartness."</p> +<p>As the time approached for the start, the racers began to gather +in the neighbourhood of the starting line; and as the five-minutes +gun fired, the topsail went up, and they began to sail backwards +and forwards near it.</p> +<p>As the Phantom crossed under the lee of the Osprey, the three +ladies waved their handkerchiefs to Frank, who took off his +cap.</p> +<p>"May the best yacht win," Bertha called out, as the vessels flew +quickly apart.</p> +<p>"We could not want a better day, George," Frank said. "We can +carry everything comfortably, and there is not enough wind to kick +up much of a sea. As far as we are concerned, I would rather that +the wind had been either north or south, so that we could have laid +our course all round; as it is, we shall have the wind almost dead +aft till we are round the Nab, then we shall be close-hauled, with +perhaps an occasional tack along the back of the island, then free +again back. There is no doubt that the cutters have a pull +close-hauled. I fancy with this wind the schooners will be out of +it; though if it had been a reach the whole way, they would have +had a good chance.</p> +<p>"Four minutes are gone."</p> +<p>He was holding his watch in his hand, and after a short pause +called out, "Five seconds gone."</p> +<p>The Osprey had a good position at present; though, with the wind +aft, this was of comparatively little consequence. She was nearly +in a line with the mark boat nearest to the shore, and some hundred +and fifty yards from it.</p> +<p>"Haul in the main sheet," Hawkins said quietly, and the men +stationed there hauled on the rope until he said, "That will do, we +must not go too fast."</p> +<p>He went on, turning to Frank (who had just called out, "Twenty +seconds gone"):</p> +<p>"I think that we shall about do."</p> +<p>The latter nodded.</p> +<p>"A bit more, lads," the skipper said ten seconds later. "That +will do."</p> +<p>"Fifteen seconds more," Frank said presently.</p> +<p>"Slack away the sheet, slack it away handsomely. Up foresail, +that is it," shouted the skipper.</p> +<p>As the boom ran out, and the foresail went up, the Osprey glided +on with accelerated speed, and the end of the bowsprit was but a +few yards from the starting line when the gun fired.</p> +<p>"Bravo, good start," Frank said, as he looked round for the +first time.</p> +<p>The eight yachts were all within a length of each other, and a +cheer broke from the boats around as they sped on their way. For a +time there was but little difference between them, and then the +cutters began to show a little in front. Their long booms gave them +an advantage over the schooners and the yawl when before the wind; +the spinnaker was not then invented, and the wind was not +sufficiently dead aft to enable the schooners to carry their +mainsail and foresails, wing and wing; or for the yawl's mizzen to +help her.</p> +<p>As they passed Sea View the cutters were a length ahead, the +Phantom having a slight advantage over her sisters. They gained no +further, for the schooners fell into their wake as soon as they +were able to do so, thus robbing them of some of their wind. The +Osprey, having the inside station, kept straight on, and came up +with the cutters as they were abreast of the end of the island. All +were travelling very fast through the water.</p> +<p>"We shall be first round the Nab, sir," Hawkins said in delight. +"The schooners are smothering the cutters, but they are not hurting +us."</p> +<p>"Give her plenty of room when we get there," Frank said.</p> +<p>The skipper nodded. "I won't risk a foul, sir, you may be +sure."</p> +<p>The three ladies on board the Phantom were seated on footstools +under the weather bulwark—although as yet the yachts were +travelling on an almost even keel. Miss Haverley and Lady Olive +uttered exclamations of satisfaction as the Phantom slowly drew +ahead of the others, and were loud in their disgust as they saw the +effect of the schooner's sail behind them on their own speed.</p> +<p>"I don't call it fair," the former said; "if a vessel cannot +sail well herself, that she should be allowed to damage the chances +of others. Do you, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"I don't know. I suppose it is equally fair for all, and that we +should do the same if a boat had got ahead of us. Still, it is very +tiresome, but it is just as bad for the other cutters."</p> +<p>"Look at the Osprey," Lady Olive said soon afterwards. "She is +coming up fast; you see, she has nothing behind her. I do believe +that she is going to pass us."</p> +<p>"It won't make much difference," Carthew, who was standing close +to her, said confidently. "The race won't really begin until we are +round the Nab, and after that we shan't hamper each other. I am +quite content with the way that we are going."</p> +<p>The Osprey rounded the lightship two lengths ahead, the Phantom +came next, three lengths before the Chrysalis, and the others +followed in quick succession. The sheets were hauled in, and the +yachts were able to lie close-hauled for Ventnor. The three leading +boats maintained their respective places, but drew out from each +other, and when they passed Ventnor the Osprey was some five +lengths ahead of the Phantom.</p> +<p>"Don't be downcast, ladies," Carthew said, gaily. "We have a +long way to go yet, and once round the point we shall have to turn +till we pass the Needles."</p> +<p>The sea was now getting a good deal rougher. The wind was +against tide, and the yachts began to throw the spray over the +bows. Bertha was struck with the confidence with which Carthew had +spoken, and watched him closely.</p> +<p>"We shall get it a good deal worse off St. Catherine's Head," he +went on. "There is a race there even in the calmest weather, and I +should advise you to get your wraps ready, for the spray will be +flying all over her when we get into it."</p> +<p>They were now working tack and tack, but the Osprey was still +improving her position, and as they neared St. Catherine's Head she +was a good quarter of a mile to the good. Still Carthew maintained +his good temper, but Bertha could see that it was with an effort. +He seemed to pay but little attention to the sailing of the +Phantom, but kept his eyes intently fixed upon the Osprey.</p> +<p>"I should not be surprised at some of us carrying away a spar +before long," he said. "The wind is freshening, and we shall have +to shift topsails and jibs, I fancy."</p> +<p>They were now lying far over, and the water was two or three +planks up the lee deck. Each time the cutter went about, the ladies +carried their footstools up to windward, when the vessel was for a +moment on an even keel. When there they were obliged to sit with +one hand over the rail, to prevent themselves from sliding down to +leeward as the vessel heeled.</p> +<p>"There goes the Chrysalis's topmast," the skipper exclaimed +suddenly. "That does for her chance. I think I had better get the +jib header ready for hoisting, Mr. Carthew; the spar is bending +like a whip."</p> +<p>"Yes, I think you had better get it up at once, captain. It is +no use running any risk."</p> +<p>As the Phantom's big topsail came down, the Osprey's was seen to +flutter and then to descend.</p> +<p>"He has only been waiting for us," the captain said.</p> +<p>Carthew made no reply. He was still intently watching the craft +ahead.</p> +<p>"It is just as well for him," the captain went on. "He will be +in the race directly."</p> +<p>Bertha was still watching Carthew's face. Cheerful as his tones +were, there was an expression of anxiety in it. Three minutes +later, he gave an exclamation as of relief, and a shout rose from +the men forward.</p> +<p>Following the direction of his eyes, she saw the bowsprit of the +Osprey swing to leeward, and a moment later her topmast fall over +her side.</p> +<p>"What did I tell you?" Carthew said, exultingly. "A race is +never lost till it is won."</p> +<p>"Oh! I am sorry," Bertha said. "I do think it is hard to lose a +race by an accident."</p> +<p>"Every yacht has to abide by its own accidents, Miss Greendale; +and carrying away a spar is one of the accidents one counts on. If +it were not for that risk, yachts would always carry on too long. +It is a matter of judgment and of attention to gear. The loss of a +spar is in nine times out of ten the result either of rashness or +of inattention.</p> +<p>"However, I am sorry myself; that is to say, I would prefer +winning the cup by arriving first at the flag boat. However, I am +certainly not disposed to grumble at Fortune just at present."</p> +<p>"I should think not, Mr. Carthew," Lady Olive said. "I am sure I +congratulate you very heartily. Of course, I have seen scores of +races, and whenever there is any wind someone is always sure to +lose a spar, and sometimes two or three will do so. I don't think +you need fear any of the boats behind."</p> +<p>"No, yet I don't feel quite safe. I have no fear of any of the +cutters, but once round the Needles, it will be a broad reach, and +you will see that the schooners will come up fast, and I have to +allow them a good bit of time. However, I think we are pretty +safe."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch9" id="Ch9">Chapter 9</a>.</h2> +<p>The Phantom presently came along close to the Osprey, and +Carthew shouted:</p> +<p>"Is there anything that I can do for you?"</p> +<p>"No, thank you," Frank replied.</p> +<p>Then Bertha called out:</p> +<p>"I am so sorry."</p> +<p>Frank waved his hand in reply. The men were all busy trying to +get the wreckage alongside. The cross-trees had been carried away +by the fall of the topmast, and her deck forward was littered with +gear. The difficulty was greatly increased by the heavy sea in the +race.</p> +<p>"As soon as you have got everything on board, Hawkins, we will +put a couple of reefs in the mainsail. She will go well enough +under that and the foresail. If the mizzen is too much for her, we +can take it off."</p> +<p>It was nearly half an hour before all was clear, and the last of +the yachts in the race had passed them before the leeward sheet of +the foresail was hauled aft, and the Phantom resumed her course. As +soon as she did so, the captain came aft with part of the copper +bar of the bobstay.</p> +<p>"There has been foul play, sir," he said. "I thought there must +have been, for I could not imagine that this bar would have broken +unless there had been a flaw in the metal or it had been tampered +with. I unshackled it myself, for I thought it was better that the +men should not see it until I had told you about it."</p> +<p>"Quite right, Hawkins. Yes, there is no doubt that there has +been foul play. The bar has been sawn three-quarters of the way +through with a fine saw, and, of course, it went as soon as she +began to dip her bowsprit well into it in the race. You see, +whoever has done it has poured some acid into it, and darkened the +copper, partly perhaps to prevent the colour of the freshly-cut +metal from being noticed, and partly to give it the appearance, +after it was broken, of being an old cut."</p> +<p>"It cannot have been that, sir, for we were out in quite as +rough a sea as this last week, and the bowsprit would have gone +then if this cut had been there. Besides, we should have been sure +to have noticed it when we went round her to polish up her +sides."</p> +<p>"I don't know about that, Hawkins. You see, the cut is from +below, and it is only two or three inches above the waterline. It +might very well have been there without being noticed. Still, I +agree with you, it could not have been there last week, or it must +have gone when she put her nose into it then. In point of fact, I +have no doubt that it was done last night or the night before. It +could easily have been managed. Of course, everyone was below, both +here and in the yachts lying round us, and a man might very well +have come out in a small boat between one and two o'clock in the +morning, and done this without being noticed."</p> +<p>"He might have done that, sir, but we should have heard the +grating down in the forecastle."</p> +<p>"I don't know, Hawkins. A fine steel saw, such as burglars use, +will work its way through an iron bar almost noiselessly, and I +should say that it would go through copper almost as easily as it +would through hard wood. It is as well to say nothing to the crew +about it, but I think it my duty to lay the matter before the club +committee, and they can do as they like about it. Mind, I don't say +for a moment that it was done by anyone on board the Phantom. It +may have been someone on shore who had laid a bet of a few pounds +against us, and wanted to make sure of winning his money. Besides, +the Phantom might very well have hoped to have beaten us fairly, +for she was just as much fancied as we were. Take it below, and lay +it in my cabin, and when we get in unshackle the other bit of the +bar, and put it with this."</p> +<p>It was impossible, however, when the bowsprit and bobstay were +brought on board, that the crew should have failed to notice the +break in the bar, and the news that there had been foul play had at +once been passed round. Seeing the angry faces of the men, and the +animated talk forward, Frank told the captain to call all hands +aft.</p> +<p>"Look here, my men," he said. "I see that you are all aware of +what has taken place. It is most disgraceful and unfortunate, and I +need hardly say that I am as much vexed as yourselves at losing the +Cup, which, but for that, we must have carried off. However, it is +one of those cases in which there is nothing to be done, and we +should only make things worse by making a fuss about it. We have no +ground whatever for believing that it was the work of one of the +Phantom's crew, and it is far more likely that it was the work of +some longshore loafer who had laid more than he could afford +against us. It has partly been our own fault, but we shall know +better in future, and your captain will take good care that there +shall be an anchor watch set for two or three nights before we sail +another race.</p> +<p>"What I have called you up for is to beg of you not to make this +an occasion for disputes or quarrels ashore. Hitherto I have been +proud of the good behaviour of my crew, and I should be sorry +indeed to hear that there was any row ashore between you and the +Phantom's men. They at least have nothing to boast of. They have +won the Cup, but we have won the honour. We have shown ourselves +the better yacht, and should have beaten them by something like a +mile, if it had not been for this accident. Therefore it is my +express wish and order that you do not show your natural +disappointment on shore. You can give the real reason of our +defeat, but do not say a word of blame to anyone, for we know not +who was the author of the blackguardly act.</p> +<p>"Of course, the matter cannot be kept altogether a secret, for +it will be my duty to lay it before the committee. I shall make no +protest. If they choose to institute an inquiry they must do so, +but I shall take no steps in the matter, and it is unlikely in the +extreme that we shall ever know who did it. I shall pay you all +winning money, for that you did not win was no fault of yours. One +thing I will wager, though I am not a betting man, and that is, +that the next time we meet the Phantom we shall beat her, by as +much as we should have done today, but for this accident."</p> +<p>The appearance of the Osprey as she sailed into the anchorage, +without topmast or bowsprit, excited great attention; and many of +the yachtsmen came on board to inquire how the disaster had +happened. To save going through the story a score of times, Frank +had the broken pieces of the bobstay bar brought up and laid on the +deck near the tiller, and in reply to inquiries simply pointed to +them, saying:</p> +<p>"I think that tells the tale for itself."</p> +<p>All were full of indignation at the dastardly outrage.</p> +<p>"What are you going to do, Major?"</p> +<p>"I am not going to do anything, except take it ashore and hand +it to the Sailing Committee. That it has been cut is certain. As to +who cut it, there is no shadow of evidence."</p> +<p>"If I were in Carthew's place," one of them said, "I should +decline to take the Cup under such circumstances, and would offer +to sail the race over again with you as soon as you had repaired +damages."</p> +<p>"I should decline the offer if he made it," he said, quietly. +"It is probable that we shall meet in a race again some day, and +then we can fight it out, but for the present it is done with. He +has won the Queen's Cup, and I must put up with my accidents."</p> +<p>The effect produced by the facts reported to the committee, and +their examination of the broken bar, was very great. Such a thing +had not been known before in the annals of yachting, and the +committee ordered a poster to be instantly printed and stuck up +offering a reward of 100 pounds for proof that would lead to the +conviction of the author of the outrage.</p> +<p>Frank returned on board at once, and sent off a boat, towing +behind it the broken bowsprit and topmast to Cowes, with +instructions to Messieurs White to have two fresh spars got ready, +by the following afternoon if possible.</p> +<p>He did not go ashore again until he landed, at half-past ten, at +the clubhouse. Every window was lit up, and dancing had begun an +hour before. Frank at once obtained a partner, in order to avoid +having to talk the unpleasant business over with yachting +friends.</p> +<p>Presently he sat down by the side of Lady Greendale.</p> +<p>"I am so sorry, Frank," she said. "It does seem hard when you +had set your mind on it."</p> +<p>"I had hoped to win," he said, "but it is not as bad as all that +after all. It would have been more mortifying to lose because the +Osprey was not fast enough, than to lose from an accident, when she +had already proved herself to be the best in the race. You know +that I never went in for being a racing yachtsman. I look upon +racing as being a secondary part of yachting. I can assure you, I +don't feel that I am greatly to be pitied. It might have been +better, and it might have been a great deal worse."</p> +<p>"Well, I am glad that you take it in that way," she said. "I can +assure you that I was greatly upset over it when I heard it."</p> +<p>He sat chatting with her for some time. Presently Bertha was +brought back by her partner to her mother's side.</p> +<p>"Thank you for your hail as you passed us, Miss Greendale. It +sounded hearty, and really cheered me up, for just at the moment I +was in an exceedingly bad temper, I can assure you. You see, my +forebodings came true, and luck was against me."</p> +<p>"Not luck," she said, indignantly. "You would have won but for +treachery."</p> +<p>"Treachery is rather a hard word," he said. "However, it is of +no use crying over spilt milk. I have lost, and shall live to fight +another day, I hope; and next time I shall win. Still, you know, +there is really nothing to grumble at. I have been fortunate +altogether this season, and as I bought the Osprey as a cruiser, I +have done a great deal better with her than I could have +expected."</p> +<p>At this moment another partner of Bertha's came up, and was +about to carry her off, when she said:</p> +<p>"I suppose the Osprey can sail still, Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. She is a lame duck, you know, but she can get about +all right."</p> +<p>"Well, why don't you ask mamma and me to take a sail with you +tomorrow afternoon?"</p> +<p>"I shall be very happy to do so," he said, "but I almost think +that you had better wait until she gets her spars. I don't think +that they will be finished before tomorrow evening. The men can get +to work early in the morning, and we can be here by two o'clock +next day."</p> +<p>"No, I think that we will come tomorrow, Major Mallett.</p> +<p>"It will be a novelty to sail in a cripple, won't it, mamma?</p> +<p>"Besides, you know, or you ought to know, that the day after +tomorrow is Sunday, and that at present our plans are arranged for +going up to town on Monday."</p> +<p>"That being so," Frank said with a smile, "by all means come +tomorrow. Will you come to lunch, or afterwards?"</p> +<p>"Afterwards, I think. We will be down at the club landing stage +at half-past two."</p> +<p>"Bertha is bent upon taking possession of you tomorrow," Lady +Greendale said, smiling, as the girl turned away; "and I shall be +glad for her to have a quiet two or three hours out of the racket. +A large party is very fatiguing, and I think that it has been too +much for her. Yesterday and today she has been quite unlike +herself; at one time sitting quiet and saying nothing, at other +times rattling away with Miss Haverley and Lady Olive, and +absolutely talking down both of them, which I should have thought +impossible. She seems to me to be altogether over-excited. I +thought it would have been a rest for her to get away for a week +from the fag in London, but I am sorry now that we came down +altogether. I am a little worried about it, Frank."</p> +<p>"Well, the season is drawing towards its end now, Lady +Greendale, and if you can get a short time at home no doubt it will +do you good. I did not think that Bertha was looking well when I +saw her yesterday."</p> +<p>Frank danced a couple more dances, and then went to Lady +Greendale and said:</p> +<p>"Will you make my excuses to Bertha? and tell her that, having +shown myself here, so that it might not be thought that I was out +of temper at my bad luck, I shall be off. Indeed, I do not feel +quite up to entering into the thing. You can understand, dear Lady +Greendale, that at present things are going rather hardly with +me."</p> +<p>She gave him a sympathetic look. "I can understand, Frank," she +said; "but here she comes. You can make your excuses yourself."</p> +<p>"I can quite understand that you don't care about staying," +Bertha said, when he repeated what he had said to her mother. +"Well, I will give you the next dance, or, what will be nicer, I +will sit it out with you. Ah, here is my partner.</p> +<p>"I am afraid I have made a mistake, Mr. Jennings, and have got +my card mixed up. Do you mind taking the thirteenth dance instead +of this? I shall be very much obliged if you will."</p> +<p>Her partner murmured his assent.</p> +<p>"Thank you," Frank said, as she took his arm. "Now, shall we go +out on the balcony, or on the lawn?"</p> +<p>"The lawn, I think. It is a lovely evening, and there is no fear +of catching cold.</p> +<p>"I am afraid that you are very disappointed," she went on, as +they went out. "I am disappointed, too. I told you I wanted the +best yacht to win, and it has not done so."</p> +<p>"Thank you," he replied, quietly. "I should have liked to have +won, just this once, but all along I felt that the chances were +against me, and that fortune would play me some trick or +other."</p> +<p>"It was not fortune. Fortune had nothing to do with it," she +said, indignantly. "You were beaten by a crime—by a mean, +miserable crime—by the same sort of crime by which you were beaten +before."</p> +<p>"I have no reason for supposing that there is any +connection."</p> +<p>"Frank," she broke in, suddenly, and he started as for the first +time for years she called him by his Christian name, "you are an +old friend of ours, and you promised me that you would always be my +friend. Do you think that it is right to be trying to throw dust +into my eyes? Don't you think, on the contrary, that as a friend +you should speak frankly to me?"</p> +<p>Frank was silent for a moment.</p> +<p>"On some subjects, yes, Bertha; on others, what has passed +between us makes it very difficult for a man to know what he ought +to do. But be assured that if I saw you make any fatal mistake, any +mistake at least that I believed to be fatal, I should not +hesitate, even if I knew that I should be misunderstood, and that I +should forfeit your liking, by so doing. This is just one of the +cases when I do not feel justified, as yet, in speaking. Carthew is +not my friend, and you know it. If I had had no personal feud—for +it has become that with him—I should be more at liberty to speak, +but as it is I would rather remain silent. I tell you this now, +that you may know, in case I ever do meddle in your affairs, how +painful it is for me to do so, and how unwillingly I do it. At any +rate, there is nothing whatever to connect the accident that took +place today with him. The event is one of a series of successes +that he has gained over me. It does not affect me much, for though +I should have liked to have won today, I don't feel about such +matters as I used to.</p> +<p>"You see, when a man has suffered one heavy defeat, he does not +care about how minor skirmishes may go."</p> +<p>They walked up and down in silence for some time, then she said +quietly:</p> +<p>"The music has stopped. I think, Frank, that I had better go in +again. So you will take us tomorrow?"</p> +<p>"Certainly," he said.</p> +<p>He took her in to Lady Greendale, and then went off to the +Osprey. He was feeling in higher spirits than he had done for some +time, as he walked up and down the deck for an hour before turning +in. It seemed to him that she might not after all accept Carthew, +and that he would not be obliged to bring trouble upon her by +telling the shameful story.</p> +<p>"It will be all the same, as far as I am concerned," he said to +himself, "but I am sure that I could stand her marrying anyone +else; which, of course, she will do before long, better than +Carthew. I hear whispers that he was hard hit at Ascot, though he +gives out that he won. Not that that matters much, but it is never +a good lookout for a girl to marry a man who gambles, even though +she be rich, and her friends take good care to settle her money +upon herself. She evidently suspects that he is at the bottom of +this trick, and she would hardly think so if she really cared for +him. But if she does think so, I fancy that the winning of the +Queen's Cup will cost him dearly.</p> +<p>"I wonder why she has apparently so set her mind on going out +with us tomorrow."</p> +<p>Carthew enjoyed his triumph that evening, loudly expressed his +indignation and regret at the scandalous affair to which he owed +his victory, frankly said that he could hardly have hoped to win +the Cup had it not been for that, and expressed his determination +to add another hundred pounds to the reward offered by the club for +the discovery of the author of the outrage. The men felt that it +was hard on a fellow to win the Cup by the breakdown of an opponent +in that way, and the ladies admired the sincere way in which he +expressed his regrets. He was a good dancer, a good talker, and a +handsome man; and as few of them knew Frank, they had no particular +interest in his misfortune.</p> +<p>He danced only once with Bertha, who said:</p> +<p>"As the hero of the occasion, Mr. Carthew, you must be generous +in your attentions and please everyone."</p> +<p>"I suppose I must obey you, Miss Greendale," he said, "but I had +hoped to have had an opportunity of saying something particular to +you tonight."</p> +<p>"Really?" she answered innocently. "Well, I shall be at home +tomorrow morning, and if you come up about eleven you are sure to +find me."</p> +<p>"Miss Greendale is at the other end of the garden, sir," the +servant said, as he enquired for her the next morning. "She asked +me to tell you if you called that she was there."</p> +<p>With considerable assurance of success, Carthew walked into the +garden. She must know what he wanted to say to her, and he had of +late felt sure that her answer would be favourable when the +question was put. She was sitting on the same bench on which two +days before she had heard George Lechmere's story.</p> +<p>"You know what I have come for, Miss Greendale," he began at +once. "I think that you know how I feel towards you, and how deeply +I love you. I have come to ask you to be my wife."</p> +<p>"Before I answer you, Mr. Carthew," she said, calmly, "I must +ask you to listen to a story. It was told me here two days ago by a +man named George Lechmere. Do you know him?"</p> +<p>"I seem to have heard his name, though I cannot say where," he +replied, surprised at the coolness with which she spoke.</p> +<p>"He is a farmer's son, I believe, and he was an interested +party, though not the chief actor of the story. The chief actor, I +suppose I should say actress, was Martha Bennett. You know +her?"</p> +<p>Carthew stepped back as if he had received a sudden blow. His +face paled, and he gave a short gasp.</p> +<p>"I see you know her," she went on. "She was a poor creature, I +fancy, and her story is one that has often been told before. She +threw away the love of an honest man, and trusted herself to a +villain. He betrayed the trust, took her away to America and then +cast her off, and she went home to die. Her destroyer did not +altogether escape punishment. He was attacked and pelted by her +father and his friends in the market place at Chippenham. You see, +it all happened in my neighbourhood, and the villain, not daring to +show his face in the county again, disposed of his estate."</p> +<p>"You don't believe this infamous lie?" Carthew said +hoarsely.</p> +<p>"How do you know that it is an infamous lie, Mr. Carthew? I have +mentioned no names. I have simply told you the story of a hapless +girl, whom you once knew. Your face is the best witness that I can +require of its truth. Thank God I heard it in time. Had it not been +for that I might have been fool enough to have given you the answer +you wanted, for I own that I liked you. I am sure now that I did +not love you, for had I done so, I should not have believed this +tale; or if I had believed it, it would have crushed me. But I +liked you. I found you pleasanter than other men, and I even +fancied that I loved you. Had I not known this story, I might have +married you, and been the most miserable woman alive, for a man who +could play the villain to a hapless girl, who could stoop to so +mean and dastardly an action as to cripple a rival yacht, is a +creature so mean, so detestable, that wretched indeed would be the +fate of the woman that married him.</p> +<p>"Do not contradict it, sir," she said, rising from her seat now +with her face ablaze with indignation. "I was watching you. I had +heard that story, and had heard another story of how the boat of an +antagonist of yours at Henley had been crippled before a race, and +I watched you from the time I came on board. I saw that you were +strangely confident; I saw how you were watching for something; I +saw the flash of triumph in your face when that something happened; +and I was absolutely certain that the same base manoeuvre that had +won you your heat at Henley had been repeated in your race for the +Queen's Cup.</p> +<p>"I don't think, sir, you will want any more specific answer to +your question."</p> +<p>"You will repent this," he panted, his face distorted by a +raging disappointment. "I do not contradict your statements. It +would be beneath me to do so; but some day you may have cause to +regret having made them."</p> +<p>"I may tell you," she said, as she turned, "that it is not my +intention to make public the knowledge that I gained of your +conduct yesterday. I have no proof save my own absolute conviction, +and the knowledge that I have of your past."</p> +<p>He did not look round, but walked at a rapid pace down the +garden. Half an hour later the Phantom's anchor was got up, and she +sailed for Southampton Water. Beyond giving the necessary order to +get under way, Carthew did not speak a word until she anchored off +the pier, then he went ashore at once and took the next train for +town, sending off a telegram before starting.</p> +<p>When he got home he asked the servant briefly if Mr. Conking had +come.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. He is waiting for you in the dining room."</p> +<p>"Well, Carthew, how have things gone off? I see by the papers +this morning that you won the Cup, and also that the Osprey's +bobstay burst at the right time, and that a great sensation had +been caused by the discovery that there had been foul play.</p> +<p>"Why, what is the matter with you? You look as black as a +thundercloud."</p> +<p>"And no wonder. I won the race, but I have lost the girl."</p> +<p>"The deuce you have. Why, I thought that you felt quite certain +of that."</p> +<p>"So I did; and it would have come off all right if some infernal +fellow had not turned up, and told her about an old affair of mine +that I thought buried and forgotten three or four years ago; and it +took me so aback that, as she said, my face was the best evidence +of the truth of the story. More than that, she declared that she +knew that I was at the bottom of the Osprey's business. However, +she has no evidence about that; but the other story did the +business for me, and the game is all up in that quarter. There +never was such bad luck. She as much as told me that, if I had +proposed to her before she had heard the story, she would have said +yes."</p> +<p>"No chance of her changing her mind?"</p> +<p>"Not a scrap."</p> +<p>"It is an awkward affair for you."</p> +<p>"Horribly awkward. Yes, I have only got fifteen thousand left, +and unless things go right at Goodwood I shall be cleaned right +out. I calculated that everything would be set right if I married +this girl. Things have gone badly of late."</p> +<p>"Yes, your luck has been something awful. It did seem that with +the pains that we took, and the way I cleared the ground for you by +bribing jockeys and so on, we ought to have made pots of money. Of +course, we did pull off some good things, but others we looked on +as safe, and went in for heavily, all turned out wrong."</p> +<p>"Well, there will be nothing for me but to get across the +Channel unless, as I say, things go right at Goodwood."</p> +<p>"I should not be nervous about it, for unless there is some dark +horse I feel sure that your Rosney has got the race in hand."</p> +<p>"Yes, I feel sure of that, too. We have kept him well back all +the season, and never let him even get a place. It ought to be a +certainty."</p> +<p>Then they sat some time smoking in silence.</p> +<p>"By gad, I have half a mind to carry her off," Carthew broke +out, suddenly. "It is the only way that I can see of getting things +straightened out. She acknowledged that she liked me before she +heard this accursed story, and if I had her to myself I have no +doubt that I could make her like me again in spite of it."</p> +<p>"It is a risky thing to carry a woman off in our days," Conkling +said, thoughtfully, "and a deuced difficult one to do. I don't see +how you are going to set about it, or what in the world you would +do with her, and where you would put her when you had got her. I +have done some pretty risky things for you in my time, Carthew, but +I should not care about trying that. We might both find ourselves +in for seven years."</p> +<p>"Well, you would have as much as that for getting at a horse, +and I don't know that you wouldn't for bribing a jockey. Still, I +see that it is an uncommonly difficult thing."</p> +<p>For five minutes nothing more was said; then Conkling suddenly +broke the silence.</p> +<p>"By Jove, I should say that the yacht would be just the +thing."</p> +<p>"That is a good idea, Jim; a first-rate idea if it could be +worked out. It would want a lot of scheming, but I don't see why it +should not be done. If I could once get her on board, I could +cruise about with her for any time, until she gave in."</p> +<p>"You would have to get a fresh crew, Carthew. I doubt whether +your fellows would stand it."</p> +<p>"No, I suppose some of them might kick. At any rate, I would not +trust them. No, I should have to find a fresh crew. Foreigners +would be best, but it would look uncommonly rum for the Phantom to +be cruising about with a foreign crew. Besides, I know men in +almost every port I should put into."</p> +<p>"Couldn't you alter her rig, or something of that sort, so that +she could not be recognised? It seems to me that if you were to +take her across to some foreign port, pay off the crew there and +send them home, then get her altered and ship a foreign crew, you +might cruise about as long as you liked, especially abroad, without +a soul being any the wiser; and the girl must sooner or later give +in, and if she would not you could make her."</p> +<p>"That is a big idea, Jim. Yes, if I once got my lady on board +you may be sure that she would have to say yes sooner or later. I +don't often forgive, and it would be a triumph to make her pay for +the dressing down she gave me this morning. Besides, I am really +fond of her, and I could forgive her for that outbreak, which I +suppose was natural enough, after we were married, and there is no +reason why we should not get on very well together.</p> +<p>"I tell you what, I will go down the first thing tomorrow to +Southampton, and will sail at once for Ostend. There I will pay her +off, alter her rig, and ship a fresh crew. I will draw my money +from the bank. If things go well, I shall be set up again. If they +go badly, there will be some long faces at Tattersall's on settling +day, but I shall be away, and the money will be enough if we have +to cruise for a couple of years, or double that, before she gives +in.</p> +<p>"I shall try mild measures for a good bit; be very respectful +and repentant and all that. If I find after a time that that does +not fetch her, I must try what threats will do. Anyhow, she won't +leave until she steps on shore to be married, or safer still, till +I can get a clergyman on board to marry us there. Would you like to +go with us?"</p> +<p>"If the thing bursts up, there is nothing I should like +better."</p> +<p>"You will have to help me carry her off, Jim, and the day that +she signs her name Bertha Carthew I will give you a couple of +thousand pounds."</p> +<p>"That is a bargain," the man said. "It is a good scheme +altogether, if we can hit upon some plan for carrying her +away."</p> +<p>"It is of no use to think of that, until we know where she will +be. I don't see at present how it is to be done, but I know that +there is always a way if one can think of it. You telegraph to me +every day Poste Restante, Ostend, or wherever I am stopping. I will +send you the name of the hotel I put up at directly I get there. +You had better send someone down at once to Ryde to let you know +what she is doing, and when she comes up to town; it is just on the +cards that they may not come for a bit, but may go for a cruise in +Mallett's yacht, as they did last autumn. Anyhow, let me know, and +if I telegraph for you to come over, cross by the next boat.</p> +<p>"Likely enough I may run over myself as soon as I get the +business there going all right; but of course I shall stay there if +I can. I should get it done in half the time if I were present to +push things on. Of course, you will run down and see how the horse +is getting on, and pick up any information that you can, and let me +know about it."</p> +<p>"I will put that into good hands, Carthew. It is better that I +should stay here and watch things at Tattersall's; then I can keep +you informed how things are looking every day, and be ready to +start as soon as I get your telegram. But, of course, you won't do +anything until after the race is run."</p> +<p>"No, I feel as safe as a man can as to Rosney, but even if he +wins I shall carry my idea out. I have had enough of the turf, and +burnt my fingers enough over it, and I shall be glad to settle down +as a country gentleman again. If I lose I shall make a private sale +of all my horses before I leave the course. That ought to bring me +in another seven or eight thousand pounds for our trip."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch10" id="Ch10">Chapter 10</a>.</h2> +<p>"There is the Phantom getting under way," the skipper said, as +his turn up and down the deck brought him close to Frank.</p> +<p>"So she is. I saw her owner go ashore less than an hour +ago."</p> +<p>"Yes; he came on board again five minutes ago. The men began to +bustle about directly he got on deck. I do hope they won't put in +again as long as we are here. The hands are as savage as bulls, and +though they remembered what you told them, and there were no rows +on shore last night, I shall be glad when we ain't in the same port +with the Phantom, for I am sure that if two or three men of each +crew were to drop in to the same pub, there would be a fight in no +time. And really I could not blame them. It is not in human nature +to lose a race like that without feeling very sore over it. I hope +she is off. Anyhow, as we are going to Cowes this evening, it will +be a day or two before the hands are likely to run against each +other, and that will give them time to cool down a bit.</p> +<p>"There is one thing. I bet the Phantom won't enter against us at +Cowes. If we were to give them a handsome beating there, it would +show everyone that they would have had no chance of winning the Cup +if it had not been for the accident."</p> +<p>"No, I don't suppose that we shall meet again this season, and +indeed I don't know that I shall do any more racing myself, except +that I shall feel it as a sort of duty to enter for the Squadron's +open race.</p> +<p>"I think, by the course she is laying, that the Phantom is off +to Southampton. Perhaps she is going to meet somebody there. +Anyhow, she is not likely to be back until we have started for +Cowes."</p> +<p>Frank sat for some time with the paper in his hand, but, +although he glanced at it occasionally, his mind took in nothing of +its contents. Again and again he watched the Phantom. Yes, she was +certainly going to Southampton Water.</p> +<p>From what Bertha had said to him the evening before, he had +received a strong hope that she would reject Carthew. Nothing was +more probable than that he should have gone ashore that morning, +fresh from his victory, to put the question to her, and his speedy +return and his order to make sail as soon as he got on deck +certainly pointed to the fact that she had refused him.</p> +<p>A load of care seemed to be lifted from Frank's mind. From the +first, when he had found that Carthew was a visitor at Lady +Greendale's, he had been uncomfortable. He knew the man's +persevering nature, and recognised his power of pleasing when he +desired to do so. He was satisfied that, when he himself was +refused, the reason Bertha gave him was, as far as she knew, the +true one; but he had since thought that possibly she might then, +although unsuspected by herself, have been to some extent under the +spell of Carthew's influence. When she had declined two +unexceptional offers, he had been almost convinced that Carthew, +when the time came, would receive a more favourable answer. But he +had watched them closely on the few occasions when he had seen them +together in society, and, certain as he had felt at other times, he +had come away somewhat puzzled, and said to himself:</p> +<p>"She is captivated by his manner, as any girl might be, but I +doubt whether she loves him."</p> +<p>This impression, however, had always died out in a short time, +and he had somehow come to accept the general opinion +unquestioningly, that she would accept Carthew when he proposed. He +had been prepared to face the alternative of either suffering her +to marry a scoundrel, or of taking a step more repugnant to him, +which would probably end by an entire breach of his friendship with +the Greendales, that of telling them this story. He was therefore +delighted to find that the difficulty had been solved by Bertha +herself without his intervention, and felt absolutely grateful for +the accident which had cost him the Queen's Cup, but had at the +same time opened Bertha's eyes to the man's true character. Soon +after two o'clock he went ashore in the gig, and at the half hour +Lady Greendale and Bertha came down.</p> +<p>"The Osprey looks like a bird shorn of its wings," he said, as +he handed them into the boat; "and though the men have made +everything as tidy as they could, the two missing spars quite spoil +her appearance."</p> +<p>"That does not matter in the least, Frank," Lady Greendale said. +"We know how she looks when she is at her best. We shall enjoy a +quiet sail in her just as much as if she were in apple-pie +order."</p> +<p>"You look fagged, Lady Greendale, though you are pretty well +accustomed to gaiety in town."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale did indeed look worn and worried. For the last +two or three days, Bertha's manner had puzzled her and caused her +some vague anxiety. That morning the girl had come in from the +garden and told her that she had just refused Mr. Carthew, and, +although she had never been pleased at the idea of Bertha's +marrying him, the refusal had come as a shock.</p> +<p>Personally she liked him. She believed him to be very well off, +but she had expected Bertha to do much better, and she by no means +approved of his fondness for the turf. She had been deeply +disappointed at the girl's refusal of Lord Chilson, on whom she had +quite set her mind. The second offer had also been a good one. +Still, she had reconciled herself to the thought of Bertha's +marrying Carthew. His connection with the turf had certainly +brought him into contact with a great many good men, he was to be +met everywhere, and she could hardly wonder that Bertha should have +been taken with his good looks and the brilliancy of his +conversation. The refusal, then, came to her not only as an +absolute surprise, but as a shock.</p> +<p>She considered that Bertha had certainly given him, as well as +everyone else, reason to suppose that she intended to accept him. +Many of her intimate friends had spoken to her as if the affair was +already a settled matter, and when it became known that Bertha had +refused him, she would be set down as a flirt, and it would +certainly injure her prospects of making the sort of match that she +desired. She had said something of all this to the girl, and had +only received the reply:</p> +<p>"I know what I am doing, mamma. I can understand that you +thought I was going to marry him. I thought so myself, but +something has happened that has opened my eyes, and I have every +reason to be thankful that it has. I dare say you think that I have +behaved very badly, and I am sorry; but I am sure that I am doing +right now."</p> +<p>"What have you discovered, Bertha? I don't understand you at +all."</p> +<p>"I don't suppose you do, mamma. I cannot tell you what it is. I +told him that I would not tell anybody."</p> +<p>"But you don't seem to mind, Bertha; that is what puzzles me. A +girl who has made up her mind to accept a man, and who finds out +something that seems to her so bad that she rejects him, would +naturally be distressed and upset. You seem to treat it as if it +were a matter of no importance."</p> +<p>"I don't quite understand it myself, mamma. I suppose that my +eyes have been opened altogether. At any rate, I feel that I have +had a very narrow escape. I was certainly very much worried when I +first learned about this, two days ago, and I was even distressed; +but I think that I have got over the worry, and I am sure that I +have quite got over the distress."</p> +<p>"Then you cannot have cared for him," Lady Greendale said, +emphatically.</p> +<p>"That is just the conclusion that I have arrived at myself, +mamma," Bertha said, calmly. "I certainly thought that I did, and +now I feel sure that I was mistaken altogether."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale could say nothing further.</p> +<p>"I had better send off a note to Frank, my dear," she said, +plaintively. "Of course you are not thinking of going out sailing +after this."</p> +<p>"Indeed, I am, mamma. Why shouldn't we? Of course I am not going +to say anything here of what has happened. If he chooses to talk +about it he can, but I don't suppose that he will. It is just the +end of the season, and we need not go back to town at all, and next +spring everyone will have forgotten all about it. You know what +people will say: 'I thought that Greendale girl was going to marry +Carthew. I suppose nothing has come of it. Did she refuse him I +wonder, or did he change his mind?' And there will be an end of it. +The end of the season wipes a sponge over everything. People start +afresh, and, as somebody says—Tennyson, isn't it? or +Longfellow?––they 'let the dead past bury its dead.'"</p> +<p>Lady Greendale lifted her hands in mild despair, put on her +things, and went down to the boat with Bertha.</p> +<p>"I have brought a book, mamma," the latter said as they went +down. "I shall tell Frank about this, though I shall tell no one +else. I always knew that he did not like Mr. Carthew. So you can +amuse yourself reading while we are talking."</p> +<p>"You are a curious girl, Bertha," her mother said, resignedly. +"I used to think that I understood you; now I feel that I don't +understand you at all."</p> +<p>"I don't know that I understand myself, mamma, but I know enough +of myself to see that I am not so wise as I thought I was, and +somebody says that 'When you first discover you are a fool it is +the first step towards being wise,' or something of the sort.</p> +<p>"There is Major Mallett standing at the landing, and there is +the gig. I think that she is the prettiest boat here."</p> +<p>The mainsail was hoisted by the time they reached the side of +the yacht, and the anchor hove short, so that in two or three +minutes they were under way.</p> +<p>"She looks very nice," Lady Greendale said. "I thought that she +would look much worse."</p> +<p>"You should have seen her yesterday, mamma, when we passed her, +with the jagged stumps of the topmast and bowsprit and all her +ropes in disorder, the sails hanging down in the water and the +wreckage alongside. I could have cried when I saw her. At any rate, +she looks very neat and trim now.</p> +<p>"Where is the Phantom, Major Mallett?"</p> +<p>"She got under way at eleven o'clock, and has gone up to +Southampton," he replied, quietly, but with a half-interrogatory +glance towards her.</p> +<p>She gave a little nod, and took a chair a short distance from +that in which Lady Greendale had seated herself.</p> +<p>"Has he gone for good?" Frank asked, as he sat down beside +her.</p> +<p>"Of course he has," she said. "You don't suppose, after what I +told you last night, that I was going to accept him."</p> +<p>"I hoped not," he said, gravely. "You cannot tell what a relief +it has been to me. Of course, dear, you will understand that so +long as you were to marry a man who would be likely to make you +happy I was content, but I could not bear to think of your marrying +a man I knew to be altogether unworthy of you."</p> +<p>"You know very well," she said, "that you never intended to let +me marry him. As I said to you last night, I feel very much +aggrieved, Major Mallett. You had said you would be my friend, and +yet you let this go on when you could have stopped it at once. You +let me get talked about with that man, and you would have gone on +letting me get still more talked about before you interfered. That +was not kind or friendly of you."</p> +<p>"But, Bertha," he remonstrated, "the fact that we had not been +friends, and that he had beaten me in a variety of matters, was no +reason in the world why I should interfere, still less why you +should not marry him. When I was stupid enough to tell you that +story, years ago, I stated that I had no grounds for saying that it +was he who played that trick upon my boat, and it would have been +most unfair on my part to have brought that story up again."</p> +<p>"Quite so, but there was the other story."</p> +<p>"What other story?" Frank asked in great surprise.</p> +<p>"The story that George Lechmere came and told me two days ago," +she said, gravely.</p> +<p>"George Lechmere! You don't mean to say—"</p> +<p>"I do mean to say so. He behaved like a real friend, and came to +tell me the story of Martha Bennett.</p> +<p>"He told me," she went on, as he was about to speak, "that you +had made up your mind to tell mamma about it, directly you heard +that I was engaged to Mr. Carthew. That would have been something, +but would hardly have been fair to me. If I had once been engaged +to him, it would have been very hard to break it off, and naturally +it would have been much greater pain to me then than it has been +now."</p> +<p>"I felt that. But you see, Bertha, until you did accept him, I +had no right to assume that you would do so. At least so I +understood it, and I did not feel that in my position I was called +upon to interfere until I learned that you were really in danger of +what I considered wrecking your life's happiness."</p> +<p>"I understand that," she said, gently, "and I know that you +acted for the best. But there are other things you have not told +me, Major Mallett—other things that George Lechmere has told me. +Did you think that it would have been of no interest to me to know +that you had forgiven the man who tried to take your life; and, +more than that, had restored his self respect, taken him as your +servant, treated him as a friend?"</p> +<p>The tears stood in her eyes now.</p> +<p>"Don't you think, Frank, that was a thing that I might have been +interested to know—a thing that would raise you immeasurably in +the eyes of a woman––that would show her vastly more of your real +character than she could know by meeting you from day to day as a +friend?"</p> +<p>"It was his secret and not mine, Bertha. It was known to but him +and me. Never was a man more repentant or more bitterly regretful +for a fault––that was in my eyes scarcely a fault at all—except +that he had too rashly assumed me to be the author of the ruin of +the girl he loved. The poor fellow had been half maddened, and was +scarce responsible for his actions. He had already suffered +terribly, and the least I could do was to endeavour to restore his +self respect by showing him that I had entirely forgiven him. Any +kindness that I have shown him he has repaid ten-fold, not only by +saving my life, but in becoming my most sincere and attached +friend. I promised him that I would tell no one, and I have never +done so, and no one to this day knows it, save his father and +mother.</p> +<p>"How then could I tell even you? You must see yourself that it +was impossible that I could tell you. Besides, the story was of no +interest save to him and me; and above all, as I said, it was his +secret and not mine."</p> +<p>"I see that now," she said. "Still, I am so sorry, so very +sorry, that I did not know it before.</p> +<p>"You see, Frank," she went on, after a pause; "we women have to +make or unmake our lives very much in the dark. No one helps us, +and if we have not a brother to do so, we are groping in the dark. +Look at me. Here was I, believing that Mr. Carthew, whom I met +everywhere in society, was, except that he kept race horses and bet +heavily, as good as other men. He was very pleasant, very good +looking, generally liked, and infinitely more amusing than most men +one meets. How was I to tell what he really was?</p> +<p>"On the other hand, there were you, my dear friend, who, I knew, +had shown yourself a very brave soldier, and whom also everyone +liked and spoke well of, but of whose real character I did not know +much, except on the side that was always presented to me; and now I +find you capable of what I consider a grand act of generosity."</p> +<p>"You overrate the matter altogether, Bertha. The man shot me by +mistake. The fellow he took me for richly deserved shooting. When +he found it was a mistake, the poor fellow was bitterly sorry for +it. Surely, there was nothing more to be said about it."</p> +<p>The girl sat silent for some time.</p> +<p>"Well, it is all cleared up now," she said at last. "There is no +reason why we should not be friends as of old."</p> +<p>"None whatever," he said. "There has been only—" and he stopped +short.</p> +<p>"Only what, Frank?"</p> +<p>"Nothing," he said. "We will be just as we were, Bertha. I will +try and be the good elder brother, and scold you and look after +you, and warn you, if it should be necessary, until you get under +other guidance."</p> +<p>"It will be some time," she said, quietly, "before that happens. +I have had a sharp lesson."</p> +<p>"And did you really care for him much, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"I don't think that I really cared for him at all," she said. +"That is not the lesson that I was thinking of."</p> +<p>He saw the colour mount into her cheeks as she twisted the +handkerchief she held into a knot. Then, turning to him, she +said:</p> +<p>"Frank, are you never going to give me a chance again?"</p> +<p>He could not misunderstand her.</p> +<p>"Do you mean—can you mean, Bertha?" he said, in a low tone. "Do +you mean that if I ask you the same question again you will give me +a different answer?"</p> +<p>"I did not know then," she said. "I had never thought of it. You +took me altogether by surprise, and what I said I thought was true. +Afterwards I knew that I had been mistaken. I hoped that you would +ask me again, but you did not, and I soon felt that you never +would. You tried hard to be as you were before, but you were not +the same, and I was not the same. Then I did not seem to care. +There were three men who wanted me. I did not care much which it +was, but I would not have anyone say that I had married for +position—I hated the idea of that—and so I would have taken the +third. He was bright and pleasant, and all that sort of thing, and +I thought that I could be happy with him, until George Lechmere +opened my eyes. Then, of course, that was over; but his story +showed me still more what a fool I had been, what a heart I had +thrown away, and I said, 'I will at least make an effort to undo +the past. I will not let my chance of happiness go away from me +merely from false pride. If he loves me still he will forgive me. +If not, at least I shall not, all through my life, feel that I +might have made it different could I have brought myself to speak a +word.'"</p> +<p>"I love you as much as ever," Frank said, taking her hand. "I +love you more for speaking as you have. I can hardly believe my +happiness. Can it be that you really love me, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"I think I have proved it, Frank. I do love you. I have known it +for some time, but it seemed all too late. It was a grief rather +than a pleasure. Every time you came it was a pain to me, for I +felt that I had lost you; and it was only when I learned, two days +ago, how you could forgive, and that at the same time I could free +myself from the chain I had allowed to be wound round me, and which +I don't think I could otherwise have broken, that I made up my mind +that it should not be my fault if things were not put right between +us.</p> +<p>"Now let us tell mother."</p> +<p>Her hand was still in his, and they went across the deck +together.</p> +<p>"Mamma," she said, "please put down that book. I have a piece of +news for you. Frank and I are going to be married."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale sat for a moment, speechless in astonishment. She +knew that Bertha had wished to tell him that she had refused +Carthew's offer, but that this would come of it she had never +dreamt. A year before she had approved of Bertha's rejection of +Frank, but since then much had happened. Bertha had shown that she +would not marry for position only, and that she would be likely to +take her own way entirely in the matter; and, although this was a +downfall to the hopes that she had once entertained, Lady Greendale +was herself very fond of Frank, and it was at any rate better than +having Bertha marry a man of whose real means she was ignorant, and +who, as everyone knew, bet heavily on the turf. These ideas flashed +rapidly through her mind, and holding out one hand to each, she +said:</p> +<p>"There is no one to whom I could more confidently entrust her +happiness, Frank. God bless you both."</p> +<p>Then she betook herself to her pocket handkerchief, for her +tears came easily, and on this occasion she herself could hardly +have said whether they were the result of pleasure in Bertha's +happiness, or regret at the downfall of the air castles she had +once built.</p> +<p>"I think, Bertha, our best plan will be to go below now," Frank +suggested, quietly.</p> +<p>"What for?" Bertha asked, shyly.</p> +<p>The thing had been done. She felt radiantly happy, but more +shocked at her own boldness than she had been when she perpetrated +it.</p> +<p>"Well, my dear, I thought that perhaps you would rather not kiss +me in sight of the whole crew, and certainly I shan't be able to +restrain myself much longer."</p> +<p>"Then, in that case," she said, demurely, "perhaps we had better +go below."</p> +<p>It was half an hour before they came on deck again.</p> +<p>"Well, my dears," Lady Greendale said, "the more I think of it +the better I am pleased. As far as I am concerned, nothing could be +nicer. I shall have Bertha within a short drive of me, and it won't +be like losing her.</p> +<p>"Do you know, Bertha, your father said to me once, 'I would give +anything if some day Frank Mallett and our Bertha were to take a +fancy to each other. There is nothing I should like more than to +have her settled near us, and there is no one I know more likely to +make her happy than he would be.' I am sure, dear, that you will be +glad to know that your engagement would have had his approval, as +it has mine."</p> +<p>Bertha bent down and kissed her mother, with tears standing in +her eyes.</p> +<p>"It will be a great pleasure to us both to have you so near us," +Frank said, earnestly. "You know that, having lost my own mother so +long ago, I have always looked upon you as more of a mother than +anyone else, and have always felt almost as much at home in your +house as in my own.</p> +<p>"Now, let us sit down and talk it over quietly. In the first +place, I propose that on Monday, when you leave Lord Haverley's, +you shall both come here for a time. The Solent will be very +pleasant for the next fortnight, and we can then take a fortnight's +cruise west, and, if you like, land at Plymouth, and go straight +home."</p> +<p>"I should be very glad," Lady Greendale said at once, rejoiced +at the thought that she would thus avoid the necessity of answering +any questions about Bertha; "and there will be no occasion at all +to speak of this at my cousin's. There might be all sorts of +questions asked, and expressions of surprise, and so on. It will be +quite time enough to write to our friends after we have been +comfortably settled at home for a time. We can talk over all that +afterwards."</p> +<p>"Yes, and I should think, Lady Greendale, that it would save the +trouble of two letters if, while mentioning that Bertha is engaged +to your neighbour, Major Mallett, you could add that the marriage +will come off in the course of a few weeks.</p> +<p>"Don't you think so, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not," she said, saucily. "It will be quite time to +talk about that a long time hence."</p> +<p>"Well, I will put off talking about it for a short time, but, +you see, I have had a year's waiting already."</p> +<p>Very pleasant was the three hours' cruise. No one gave a thought +of the missing topmast and bowsprit. There was a nice sailing +breeze, and, clipped as her wings were, the Osprey was still faster +than the majority of the yachts.</p> +<p>As soon as the two ladies had been put ashore, Frank sailed for +Cowes. It was too late when they got there for anything to be done +that evening, but Frank went ashore with the captain, and found +that the spars were all ready to receive the iron work and sheaves +from the old ones; and as these had been towed up to the yard to be +in readiness, Messieurs White promised that they would arrange for +a few hands to come to work early, and that the spars should be +brought off by half-past eight on Monday morning.</p> +<p>As soon as he had returned in the gig, after putting the ladies +ashore at Ryde, Frank had called George Lechmere to him.</p> +<p>"It is all right, George, thanks to your interview with Miss +Greendale. It was a bold step to take, but it was the best possible +thing, and succeeded splendidly, and everything is to be as I wish +it."</p> +<p>"I am glad, indeed, to hear it, Major, and I hoped that you +would have something of the sort to tell me. There was a look about +you both that I took to mean that things were going on well."</p> +<p>"Yes, George. At first, when she told me that you had told her +about that affair at Delhi, I felt that there was really no +occasion for you to have said anything about it; but it did me a +great deal of good. She made much more of it than there was any +occasion for; but, you know, when women are inclined to take a +pleasant view of a thing, they will magnify molehills into +mountains."</p> +<p>"I thought that it would do good, Major. I don't mean that it +would do you any good, but that it would do good generally. I had +to tell the other story, and that came naturally with it; and, at +any rate, she could not but see that there was a deal of difference +between the nature of the man who had been so good to me, and that +of that scoundrel."</p> +<p>"That is just the effect it did have. Well, don't say anything +about it forward, at present. The men shall be told later on."</p> +<p>By one o'clock on Monday the Osprey was back at Ryde, and at two +o'clock the dinghy went ashore with the mate and two of the hands, +who waited a quarter of an hour till a vehicle brought down the +ladies' luggage. Soon afterwards Frank went ashore in the gig, and +brought Lady Greendale and Bertha off.</p> +<p>As they went down to their cabin, Bertha, looking into the +saloon, saw George Lechmere preparing the tea tray to bring it up +on deck. She at once went to him.</p> +<p>"I did not thank you before," she said, holding out her hand; +"but I thank you now, and shall thank you all my life. You did me +the greatest service."</p> +<p>"I am glad, indeed, Miss Greendale, that it was so; for I know +that the Major would never have been a happy man if this had not +come about."</p> +<p>For the next fortnight the Osprey was cruising along the coast, +getting as far as Torquay, and returning to Cowes. Frank did not +enter her for any of the races. Lady Greendale, although a fair +sailor, grew nervous when the yacht heeled over far, and even +Bertha did not care for racing, the memory of the last race being +too fresh in her mind for her to wish to take part in another for +the present.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch11" id="Ch11">Chapter 11</a>.</h2> +<p>"That is an uncommonly pretty trading schooner, Bertha," Frank +Mallett said, as he rose from his chair to get a better look at a +craft that was passing along to the eastward. "I suppose she must +be in the fruit trade, and must just have arrived from the Levant. +I should not be surprised if she had been a yacht at one time. She +is not carrying much sail, but she is going along fast. I think +they would have done better if they had rigged her as a +fore-and-aft schooner instead of putting those heavy yards on the +foremast. That broad band of white round her spoils her appearance; +her jib boom is unusually long, and she must carry a tremendous +spread of canvas in light winds. I should think that she must be +full up to the hatches, for she is very low in the water for a +trader."</p> +<p>The Osprey was lying in the outside tier of yachts off Cowes. +The party that had been on board her for the regatta had broken up +a week before, and only Lady Greendale and Bertha remained on +board. The former had not been well for some days, and had had her +maid down from town as soon as the cabins were empty. It had been +proposed, indeed, that she and Bertha should return to town, but, +being unwilling to cut short the girl's pleasure, she said that she +should do better on board than in London; and, moreover, she did +not feel equal to travelling. She was attended by a doctor in +Cowes, and the Osprey only took short sails each day, generally +down to the Needles and back, or out to the Nab.</p> +<p>"Yes, she is a nice-looking boat," Bertha agreed, "and if her +sails were white and her ropes neat and trim, she would look like a +yacht, except for those big yards."</p> +<p>"Her skipper must be a lubber to have the ropes hanging about +like that. Of course, he may have had bad weather in crossing the +bay, but if he had any pride in the craft, he might at least have +got her into a good deal better trim while coming in from the +Needles. Still, all that could be remedied in an hour's work, and +certainly she is as pretty a trader as ever I saw. How did your +mother seem this afternoon, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"About the same, I think. I don't feel at all anxious about her, +because I have often seen her like this before. I think really, +Frank, that she is quite well enough to go up to town; but she +knows that I am enjoying myself so much that she does not like to +take me away. I have no doubt that she will find herself better by +Saturday, when, you know, we arranged some time back that we would +go up. You won't be long before you come, will you?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not. Directly you have landed I shall take the Osprey +to Gosport, and lay her up there. I need not stop to see that done. +I can trust Hawkins to see her stripped and everything taken on +shore; and, of course, the people at the yard are responsible for +hauling her up. I shall probably be in town the same evening; but, +if you like, and think that your mother is only stopping for you, +we will go across to Southampton at once."</p> +<p>"Oh, no, I am sure that she would not like that; and I don't +want to lose my last three days here. Of course, when we get home +at the end of next week, and you are settled down there, too, you +will be a great deal over at Greendale, but it won't be as it is +here."</p> +<p>"Not by a long way. However, we shall be able to look forward to +the spring, Bertha, when I shall have you all to myself on board, +and we shall go on a long cruise together; though I do think that +it is ridiculous that I should have to wait until then."</p> +<p>"Not at all ridiculous, sir. You say that you are perfectly +happy—and everyone says that an engagement is the happiest time in +one's life—and besides, it is partly your own fault; you have made +me so fond of the Osprey that I have quite made up my mind that +nothing could possibly be so nice as to spend our honeymoon on +board her, and to go where we like, and to do as we like, without +being bothered by meeting people one does not care for. And, +besides, if you should get tired of my company, we might ask Jack +Harley and Amy to come to us for a month or so."</p> +<p>"I don't think that it will be necessary for us to do that," he +laughed. "Starting as we shall in the middle of March, we shan't +find it too hot in the Mediterranean before we turn our head +homewards; and I think we shall find plenty to amuse us between +Gibraltar and Jaffa."</p> +<p>"No, three months won't be too much, Frank. Tomorrow is the +dinner at the clubhouse, isn't it?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I should be sorry to miss that, for having only been just +elected a member of the Squadron, I should like to put in an +appearance at the first set dinner."</p> +<p>"Of course, Frank. I certainly should not like you to miss +it."</p> +<p>The next evening Frank went ashore to dine at the club. An hour +and a half later a yacht's boat came off.</p> +<p>"I have a note for Miss Greendale," the man in the stern said, +as she came alongside; "I am to give it to her myself."</p> +<p>Bertha was summoned, and, much surprised, came on deck.</p> +<p>The man handed up the note to her. She took it into the +companion, where a light was burning; her name and that of the +yacht were in straggling handwriting that she scarcely recognised +as Frank's.</p> +<p>She tore it open.</p> +<p>"My Darling: I have had a nasty accident, having been knocked +down just as I landed. I am at present at Dr. Maddison's. I wish +you would come ashore at once. It is nothing very serious, but if +you did not see me you might think that it was. Don't agitate your +mother, but bring Anna with you. The boat that brings this note +will take you ashore."</p> +<p>Bertha gave a little gasp, and then summoning up her courage, +ran down into the cabin.</p> +<p>"Mamma, dear, you must spare me and Anna for half an hour. I +have just had a note from Frank. He has been knocked down and hurt. +He says that it is nothing very serious, and he only writes to me +to come ashore so that I can assure myself. I won't stop more than +a quarter of an hour. If I find that he is worse than I expect, I +will send Anna off to you with a message."</p> +<p>Scarcely listening to what her mother said in reply, she ran +into her cabin, told Anna to put on her hat and shawl to go ashore +with her, and in a minute descended to the boat with her maid. It +was a four-oared gig, and the helmsman had taken his place in the +stern behind them.</p> +<p>Bertha sat cold and still without speaking. She was sure that +Frank must be more seriously hurt than he had said, or he would +have had himself taken off to the yacht instead of to the +surgeon's. The shaky and almost illegible handwriting showed the +difficulty he must have had in holding the pencil.</p> +<p>The boat made its way through the fleet till it reached the +shallow water which they had to cross on their way to the shore. +Here, with the exception of a few small craft, the water was clear +of yachts.</p> +<p>Suddenly the long line of lights along the shore disappeared, +and something thick, heavy and soft fell over Bertha's head. An arm +was thrown round her, and Anna pressed tightly against her. In vain +she struggled. There was a faint, strange smell, and she lost +consciousness.</p> +<p>An hour passed without her return to the yacht, and Lady +Greendale began to fear that she had found Frank too ill to leave, +and had forgotten to send Anna back with the message. At last she +touched the bell.</p> +<p>"Will you tell the captain that I want to speak to him?"</p> +<p>"Captain," she said. "I am much alarmed about Major Mallett. +That boat that came off here an hour ago brought a note for my +daughter, saying that he had been hurt, and she went ashore with +her maid to see him. She said that she would be back in a short +time, and that if she found that he was badly hurt she would send +her maid back with a message to me. She has been gone for more than +an hour, and I wish you would take a boat and go ashore, find out +how the Major is, and bring me back word at once. He is at Dr. +Maddison's. You know the house."</p> +<p>The skipper hurried away with a serious face. A little more than +a minute after he had left the cabin Lady Greendale heard the +rattle of the blocks of the falls. The boat was little more than +half an hour away. Lady Greendale, in her anxiety, had told the +steward to let her know when it was coming alongside, and went up +on deck to get the news as quickly as possible.</p> +<p>"It is a rum affair altogether, my lady," Hawkins said, as he +stepped on deck. "I went to the doctor's, and he has seen nothing +whatever of the Major, and Miss Greendale and her maid have not +been to his house at all."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale stood for a moment speechless with surprise and +consternation.</p> +<p>"This is most extraordinary," she said at last. "What can it +mean? You are sure that there is no mistake, captain? It was to Dr. +Maddison's house she went."</p> +<p>"Yes, my lady, there ain't no mistake about that. I have been +there to fetch medicine for you two or three times. Besides, I saw +the doctor myself."</p> +<p>"Major Mallett must have been taken to some other doctor's," she +said, "and must have made a mistake and put in the name of Dr. +Maddison. His house is some little distance from the club. There +may be another doctor's nearer. What is to be done?"</p> +<p>"I am sure I do not know, my lady," the captain said, in +perplexity.</p> +<p>"Where can my daughter and her maid be?" Lady Greendale went on. +"They went ashore to go to Dr. Maddison's."</p> +<p>"Perhaps, my lady, they might have heard as they went ashore +that the Major was somewhere else, or some messenger might have +been waiting at the landing stage to take them there direct."</p> +<p>"That must be it, I suppose; but it is all very strange. I think +the best thing, captain, will be for you to go to the club. They +are sure to know there about the accident, and where he is. You +see, the landing stage is close to the club, and he might have been +just going in when he was knocked down—by a carriage, I +suppose."</p> +<p>"Like enough he is at the club still, my lady. At any rate, I +will go there in the first place and find out. There is sure to be +a crowd about the gates listening to the music––they have got a +band over from Newport—so that if they do not know anything at the +club, there are sure to be some people outside who saw the +accident, and will know where the Major was taken. Anyhow, I won't +come back without news."</p> +<p>Even to Lady Greendale, anxious and alarmed as she was, it did +not seem long before the steward came down with the news that the +boat was just alongside. This time she was too agitated to go up. +She heard someone come running down the companion, and a moment +later, to her astonishment, Frank Mallett himself came in. He +looked pale and excited.</p> +<p>"What is all this, Lady Greendale?" he exclaimed. "The skipper +tells me that a letter came here saying that I had been hurt and +taken to Dr. Maddison's, and that Bertha and her maid went off at +once, and have not returned, though it is more than two hours since +they went. I have not been hurt. I wrote no letter to Bertha, but +was at dinner at the club when the skipper came for me. What is it +all about?"</p> +<p>"I don't know, Frank. I cannot even think," Lady Greendale said +in an agitated voice. "What can it all mean and where can Bertha +be?" and she burst into tears.</p> +<p>"I don't know. I can't think," Frank said, slowly.</p> +<p>He stood silent for a minute or two, and then went on.</p> +<p>"I cannot suggest anything. I will go ashore at once. The +waterman at our landing stage must have noticed if two ladies got +out there. He could hardly have helped doing so, for it would be +curious, their coming ashore alone after dark. Then I will go to +the other landing places and ask there. There are always boys +hanging about to earn a few pence by taking care of boats. I will +be back as soon as I can."</p> +<p>The boat was still alongside, and the men stretched to their +oars. Th a very few minutes they were at the club landing stage. +The waterman here declared that no ladies whatever, unaccompanied +by gentlemen, had landed after dark.</p> +<p>"I must have seen them, sir," he said, "for you see I go down to +help out every party that arrives here. They must have gone to one +of the other landing places."</p> +<p>But at neither of these could he obtain any information. There +were several boys at each of them who had been there for hours, and +they were unanimous in declaring that no ladies had landed there +after dark at all. He then walked up and down between the watch +house and the club.</p> +<p>He had, when he landed, intended to go to the police office as +soon as he had inquired at the landing stages––the natural impulse +of an Englishman who has suffered loss or wrong—but the more he +thought it over the more inexpedient did such a course seem to him. +It was highly improbable—indeed, it seemed to him impossible––that +they could do more than he had in the matter. The passage of two +ladies through the crowded streets would scarcely have attracted +the attention of anyone, and any idea of violence being used was +out of the question. If they had landed, which he now regarded as +very improbable, they must have at least gone willingly to the +place where they believed they should find him, and unless every +house in Cowes was searched from top to bottom there was no chance +of finding them, carefully hidden away as they would be. He could +not see, therefore, that the police could at present be of any +utility whatever. It might be necessary finally to obtain the aid +of the police, but in that case it was Scotland Yard and not Cowes +that the matter must be laid before; and even this should be only a +last resort, for above all things it was necessary for Bertha's +sake that the matter should be kept a profound secret, and, once in +the hands of the police, it would be in all the papers the next +day. If the aid of detectives was to be called in, it would be far +better to put it into the hands of a private detective.</p> +<p>Having made up his mind upon this point, he returned to the +yacht.</p> +<p>"I am sorry to say that I have no news," he said to Lady +Greendale, who was lying on the couch, worn out with weeping. "I +have ascertained almost beyond doubt that they did not land at the +club stage or either of the other two landing places."</p> +<p>"What can it be?" she sobbed. "What can have become of +them?"</p> +<p>"I am afraid there is little doubt that they have been carried +off," he replied. "I can see no other possible solution of it."</p> +<p>"But who can have done such a thing?"</p> +<p>"Ah! that is another matter. I have been thinking it over and +over, and there is only one man that I know capable of such a +dastardly action. At present I won't mention his name, even to you; +but I will soon be on his track. Do not give way, Lady Greendale; +even he is not capable of injuring her, and no doubt she will be +restored to you safe and sound. But we shall need patience. Ah! +there is a boat coming alongside."</p> +<p>He ran up on deck. It proved, however, to be only a shore boat, +bringing off George Lechmere, who, having met a comrade in the +town, had asked leave to spend the evening with him. He was, of +course, ignorant of all that had happened since he had left, and +Frank told him.</p> +<p>"I have no doubt whatever that she has been carried off," he +said, "and there is only one man who could have done it."</p> +<p>"That villain, Carthew," George Lechmere exclaimed.</p> +<p>"Yes, he is the man I suspect, George. I heard this evening that +he had been hit tremendously hard on the turf at Goodwood. He would +think that if he could force Miss Greendale to marry him it would +retrieve his fortune, and would, moreover, satisfy his vindictive +spirit for the manner in which she had rejected him, and in +addition give him another triumph over me."</p> +<p>"That is it, sir. I have no doubt that that is it. But his yacht +is not here—at least I have not seen her."</p> +<p>"No, I am sure that she is not here; but I believe, for all +that, that Miss Greendale must have been taken on board a yacht. +They never would have dared to land her in Cowes. Of course, I made +inquiries as a matter of form at the landing places, but as she +knew the way to Dr. Maddison's, and as the streets were full of +people at the time she landed, they could never have attempted to +use violence, especially as she had her maid with her. On the other +hand, it would have been comparatively easy to manage it in the +case of a yacht. They had but to row alongside, to seize and gag +them before they had time to utter a cry, and then to carry them +below. The Phantom is not here—at any rate, was not here this +afternoon, but there is no reason why Carthew should not have +chartered a yacht for the purpose. Ask the skipper to come +aft."</p> +<p>"Captain," he said, when Hawkins came aft, "what men went ashore +this afternoon?"</p> +<p>"Harris and Williams and Marvel, sir. They went ashore in the +dinghy, and Harris went to the doctor's for that medicine."</p> +<p>"Ask them to come here."</p> +<p>"Did anyone speak to you, Harris," he went on, as the three men +came aft, "while you were ashore today?—I mean anyone that you did +not know."</p> +<p>"No, sir," the man said, promptly. "Leastwise, the only chap +that spoke to me was a gent as was standing on the steps by the +watch house as I went down to the boat, and he only says to me, 'I +noticed you go in to Dr. Maddison's, my man. There is nothing the +matter with my friend, Major Mallett, I hope.'</p> +<p>"'No, sir,' says I, 'he is all right. I was just getting a +bottle of medicine for an old lady on board.'</p> +<p>"That was all that passed between us."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Harris. That is just what I wanted to know."</p> +<p>After the men had gone forward again, he said to the +captain:</p> +<p>"I have a strong conviction, Hawkins, indeed I am almost +certain, that Miss Greendale has been carried off to one of the +yachts here, but whether it is a large one or a small one I have +not the slightest idea. The question is, what is to be done? It is +past eleven now, and it is impossible to go round the fleet and +make enquiries. Besides, the craft may have made off already. They +would have been sure to have placed her in the outside tier, so as +to get up anchor as soon as they had Miss Greendale on board."</p> +<p>"We might get out the boats, sir, and lie off and see if any +yachts set sail," the skipper suggested.</p> +<p>"That would be of no use, Hawkins. You could not stop them. Even +if you hailed to know what yacht it was, they might give you a +false name.</p> +<p>"One thing I have been thinking of that can be done. I wish, in +the first place, that you would ask all the men if anyone has +noticed among the yacht sailors in the streets one with the name of +the Phantom on his jersey. Some of them may have been paid off, for +she has not been raced since Ryde. In any case, I want two of the +men to go ashore, the first thing in the morning, and hang about +all day, if necessary, in hopes of finding one of the Phantom's +crew. If they do find one, bring him off at once, and tell him that +he will be well paid for his trouble.</p> +<p>"By the way, you may as well ask Harris what the gentleman was +like who spoke to him at the landing place."</p> +<p>He walked slowly backwards and forwards with George Lechmere, +without exchanging a word, until in five minutes Hawkins +returned.</p> +<p>"It was a clean-shaven man who spoke to Harris, sir; he judged +him to be about forty. He wore a sort of yachting dress, and he was +rather short and thin. About the other matter Rawlins says that he +noticed when he was ashore yesterday two of the Phantom's men +strolling about. Being a Cowes man himself, he knew them both, but +as they were not alone he just passed the time of day and went on +without stopping."</p> +<p>"Does he know where they live? I don't think it at all likely +they would be on leave now, or that he would find either of them at +home tomorrow morning; but it is possible that he might do so. At +any rate it is worth trying. It is curious that two of them should +be here when we have seen nothing of the Phantom since the race for +the cup, unless, of course, her owner has laid her up, which is +hardly likely. If she had been anywhere about here she would have +entered for the race yesterday."</p> +<p>"I will send Rawlins and one of the other Cowes men ashore at +six o'clock, Major. If they don't meet the men, they are safe to be +able to find out where they live."</p> +<p>"And tell them and the others, Hawkins, that on no account +whatever is a word to be said on shore as to the disappearance of +Miss Greendale. It is of great importance that no one should obtain +the slightest hint of what has taken place."</p> +<p>When the captain had again gone forward, Frank went down, and +with some difficulty persuaded Lady Greendale to go to bed.</p> +<p>"We can do nothing more tonight," he said. "You may well imagine +that if I saw the least chance of doing any good I should not be +standing here, but nothing can be done till morning."</p> +<p>Having seen her to her stateroom, he returned to the deck, where +he had told George Lechmere to wait for him.</p> +<p>"It is enough to drive one mad, George," he said, as he joined +him; "to think that somewhere among all those yachts Miss Greendale +may be held a prisoner."</p> +<p>"I can quite understand that, Major, by what I feel myself. I +have seen so much of Miss Greendale, and she has always been so +kind to me, knowing that you considered that I had saved your life, +and knowing about that other thing, that I feel as if I could do +anything for her. And I feel it all the more because it is the +scoundrel I owed such a deep debt to before. But I hardly think +that she can be on board one of the yachts here."</p> +<p>"I feel convinced that she is not, George. They could hardly +keep her gagged all this time, and at night a scream would be heard +though the skylights were closed."</p> +<p>"No, sir; if she was put on board here I feel sure that they +would have got up sail at once."</p> +<p>"That is just what I feel. Likely enough they had the mainsail +already up and the chain short, and directly the boat was up at the +davits they would have got up the anchor and been off. They may be +twenty miles away by this time; though whether east or west one has +no means of even guessing. The wind is nearly due north, and they +may have gone either way, or have made for Cherbourg or Havre. It +depends partly upon her size. If she is a small craft, they can't +get far beyond that range. If she is a large one, she may have gone +anywhere. The worst of it is that unless we can get some clue as to +her size we can do absolutely nothing. A good many yachts went off +today both east and west, and by the end of the week the whole +fleet will be scattered, and even if we do get the size of the +yacht, I don't see that we can do anything unless we can get her +name too.</p> +<p>"If we could do that, we could act at once. I should run up to +town, lay the case before the authorities at Scotland Yard, and get +them to telegraph to every port in the kingdom, that upon her +putting in there the vessel was at once to be searched for two +ladies who were believed to have been forcibly carried away in +her."</p> +<p>"And have those on board arrested, I suppose, Major?"</p> +<p>"Well, that would have to be thought over, George. Carthew could +not be brought to punishment without the whole affair being made +public. That is the thing above all others to be avoided."</p> +<p>"Yes, I see that, sir; and yet it seems hard that he should go +off unpunished again."</p> +<p>"He would not go unpunished, you may be sure," Frank said, +grimly; "for if the fellow ever showed his face in London again, I +would thrash him to within an inch of his life. However, sure as I +feel, it is possible that I am mistaken. Miss Greendale is known to +be an only daughter, and an heiress, and some other impecunious +scamp may have conceived the idea of making a bold stroke for her +fortune. It is not likely, but it is possible."</p> +<p>Until morning broke, the two men paced the deck together. +Scarcely a word was spoken. Frank was in vain endeavouring to think +what course had best be taken, if the search for the men of the +phantom turned out unavailing. George was brooding over the old +wrong he had suffered, and longing to avenge that and the present +one.</p> +<p>"Thank God, the night is over," Frank said at last; "and I have +thoroughly tired myself. I have thought until I am stupid. Now I +will lie down on one of the sofas, and perhaps I may forget it all +for a few hours."</p> +<p>Sleep, however, did not come to him, and at seven o'clock he was +on deck again.</p> +<p>"The men went ashore at six, sir," the skipper said. "I expect +they will be back again before long."</p> +<p>Ten minutes later the dinghy came out between two yachts +ahead.</p> +<p>"Rawlins is not on board," the skipper said, as they came close. +"I told him to send off the instant they got any news whatever. +That is Simpson in the stern."</p> +<p>"Well, Simpson, what news?" Frank asked as she rowed +alongside.</p> +<p>"Well, sir, we have found out as how all the Phantom's crew are +ashore. Some of the chaps told us that they came back a fortnight +ago, the crew having been paid off. Rawlins said that I'd better +come off and tell you that. He has gone off to look one of them up, +and bring him off in a shore boat. He knows where he lives, and I +expect we shall have him alongside in a few minutes."</p> +<p>"Do you think that is good news or bad, sir?" George Lechmere +asked.</p> +<p>"I think that it is bad rather than good," Frank said. "Before, +it seemed to me that, whatever the craft was in which she was +carried away, she would probably be transferred to the Phantom, +which might be lying in Portland or in Dover, or be cruising +outside the island, and if I had heard nothing of the Phantom I +should have searched for her. However, I suppose that the scoundrel +thought that he could not trust a crew of Cowes men to take part in +a business like this. But we shall know more when Rawlins comes +off."</p> +<p>In half an hour the shore boat came alongside with Rawlins and a +sailor with a Phantom jersey on.</p> +<p>"So you have all been paid off, my lad?" Frank said to the +sailor as he stepped on deck.</p> +<p>"Yes sir. It all came sudden like. We had expected that she +would be out for another month, at least. However, as each man got +a month's pay, we had nothing to grumble about; although it did +seem strange that even the skipper should not have had a hint of +what Mr. Carthew intended, till he called him into his cabin and +paid him his money."</p> +<p>"And where is she laid up?"</p> +<p>"Well, sir, she is at Ostend. I don't know whether she is going +to be hauled up there, or only dismantled and left to float in the +dock. The governor told the skipper that he thought he might go to +the Mediterranean in December, but that till then he should not be +able to use her. It seemed a rum thing leaving her out there +instead of having her hauled up at Southampton or Gosport, and +specially that he should not have kept two or three of us on board +in charge. But, of course, that was his affair. Mr. Carthew is +rather a difficult gentleman to please, and very changeable-like. +We had all made sure that we were going to race here after winning +the Cup at Ryde; and, indeed, after the race he said as much to the +skipper."</p> +<p>"Has he anyone with him?" Frank asked.</p> +<p>"Only one gentleman, sir. I don't know what his name was."</p> +<p>"What was he like?"</p> +<p>"He was a smallish man, and thin, and didn't wear no hair on his +face."</p> +<p>"Thank you. Here is a sovereign for your trouble.</p> +<p>"That is something, at any rate, George," he went on, as the man +was rowed away. "The whole proceeding is a very strange one, and +you see the description of the man with Carthew exactly answers to +that of the man who found out from the boat's crew that Dr. +Maddison was attending Lady Greendale; and now you see that it is +quite possible that the Phantom is somewhere near, or was somewhere +near yesterday afternoon. Carthew may have hired a foreign crew, +and sailed in her a couple of days after her own crew came over; or +he may have hired another craft either abroad or here. At any rate, +there is something to do. I will go up to town by the midday train, +and then down to Dover, and cross to Ostend tonight."</p> +<p>"Begging your pardon, Major, could not you telegraph to the +harbour master at Ostend, asking if the Phantom is there?"</p> +<p>"I might do that, George, but if I go over there I may pick up +some clue. I may find out what hotel he stopped at after the crew +had left, and if so, whether he crossed to England or left by a +train for France. There is no saying what information I may light +on. You stay on board here. You can be of no use to me on the +journey, and may be of use here. I will telegraph to you from +Ostend. Possibly I may want the yacht to sail at once to Dover to +meet me there, or you may have to go up to town to do something for +me.</p> +<p>"Now I must go down and tell Lady Greendale as much as is +necessary. It will, of course, be the best thing for her to go up +to town with me, but if she is not well enough for that, of course +she must stay on board."</p> +<p>Lady Greendale had just come into the saloon when he went +down.</p> +<p>"I think I have got a clue—a very faint one," he said. "I am +going up to town at once to follow it up. How are you feeling, Lady +Greendale?"</p> +<p>"I have a terrible headache, but that is nothing. Of course, I +will go up with you."</p> +<p>"But do you feel equal to it?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, quite," she said, feverishly. "What is your clue, +Frank?"</p> +<p>"Well, it concerns the yacht in which I believe Bertha has been +carried off. At any rate, I feel so certain as to who had a hand in +it, that I have no hesitation in telling you that it was +Carthew."</p> +<p>"Mr. Carthew! Impossible, Frank. He always seemed to me a +particularly pleasant and gentlemanly man."</p> +<p>"He might seem that, but I happen to know other things about +him. He is an unmitigated scoundrel. Of course, not a word must be +said about it, Lady Greendale. You see that for Bertha's sake we +must work quietly. It would never do for the matter to get into the +papers."</p> +<p>"It would be too dreadful, Frank. I do think that it would kill +me. I will trust it in your hands altogether. I have only one +comfort in this dreadful affair, and that is that Bertha has Anna +with her."</p> +<p>"That is certainly a great comfort; and it is something in the +man's favour that when he enticed her from the yacht with that +forged letter he suggested that she should bring her maid."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch12" id="Ch12">Chapter 12</a>.</h2> +<p>Frank Mallet and Lady Greendale crossed to Southampton by the +twelve o'clock boat, and arrived in London at three.</p> +<p>"I have been thinking," she said, as they went up, "that it will +be better for me to stop in town. I shall have less difficulty in +answering questions there than I should have at home. Everyone is +leaving now, and in another week there will be scarcely a soul in +London I know; and I shall keep down the front blinds, and no one +will dream of my being there. I shall only have to mention to +Bertha's own maid that my daughter has remained at Cowes, that I +have left Anna with her, and that she can wait upon me until she +returns. There will be another advantage in it—you can see me +whenever you are in town. I shall get your letters a post quicker +when you are away, and you can telegraph to me freely; whereas, if +you telegraphed to Chippenham, whoever received the message there +might mention its contents as curious to someone or other, and +then, of course, it would become a matter of common gossip."</p> +<p>Frank agreed that it would certainly be better, and more +bearable than having to answer questions about Bertha to every +visitor who called on her. He crossed that evening to Ostend, and +at ten o'clock next morning George Lechmere received the following +message:</p> +<p>"Make inquiries as to small brigantine that looked like +converted yacht: had very large yards on foremast. I saw her pass +Cowes on Tuesday afternoon. Let Hawkins go to Portsmouth and +Southampton. Find out yourself whether she anchored between Osborne +and Ryde. If not, inquire at Seaview whether she passed there going +east. Telegraph result tomorrow morning to my chambers. Shall cross +again tonight."</p> +<p>Lechmere had the gig at once lowered, and started, with four +hands at the oars, eastward, while the captain went ashore in the +dinghy to leave for Southampton by the next boat. The tide was +against Lechmere, who, keeping close in round the point, steered +the boat along at the foot of the slopes of Osborne, and kept +eastward until he reached the coast-guard station at the mouth of +Wootton creek.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, we noticed her," the boatswain in charge replied in +answer to his question. "We saw her, as you say, on Tuesday +afternoon, going east. We could not help noticing her, for she was +something out of the way. We should not have thought so much of it, +if she had not come back again just before dusk the next day, and +anchored a mile to the west. We kept a sharp lookout that night, +thinking that she might be trying to smuggle some contraband +ashore; but everything was quiet, and next morning she was gone. +The man who was on the watch said he thought that he made her out +with his night glass going east at about eleven o'clock; but it was +a dark night, and it might have been a schooner yacht or a +brig."</p> +<p>"You don't happen to know whether she stopped at Ryde the first +time she passed?"</p> +<p>"Yes; having been all talking about her, we watched to see if +she was going to anchor there or keep on to the east. She lowered a +boat as she passed, and two men landed. They threw her up into the +wind and waited until the boat came off again. The men did not come +back in her. They hoisted the boat up again and went east. She +stopped off Seaview; then she came back and sent the boat ashore, +and two men went off in her. Of course, I can't say whether they +were the same. It was as much as I could do to make out that there +were two of them, though our glass is a pretty good one. Is there +anything wrong about the craft?"</p> +<p>"Not that I know of; but there was a good deal of curiosity +about her among the yachts, she being an out-of-the-way sort of +craft; and I fancy there were some bets about her. There was an +idea that she was seen going west two days later, and the governor +asked me to take the boat and find out whether she had been noticed +here or at Ryde. Thank you very much for your information. I have +no doubt that it will be sufficient to decide any bets there may be +about her."</p> +<p>So saying, he took his seat in the gig again, and rowed back to +the Osprey. The skipper returned in the evening.</p> +<p>"No such craft has gone into Southampton or Portsmouth," he +said; "so I have had my journey for nothing."</p> +<p>"No, I don't think you have," George replied. "It is something +to know that she is not in either of the ports now, and has been to +neither of them."</p> +<p>George returned in time to send off a full account of what he +had learned from the coast-guardsman by the mail that would be +delivered in London that night. On his return to town the next +morning, Frank found the letter awaiting him; and at ten o'clock, +after wiring to Hawkins and the steward to stock the yacht at once +with provisions of all kinds for a long voyage, he went into the +city and called upon the secretary at Lloyd's.</p> +<p>After giving his name, he told him that he believed that a young +lady had been carried off forcibly in the craft, which he minutely +described, and that he was desirous of having a telegram sent to +every signal station between Hull and the Land's End, asking if +such a craft had passed.</p> +<p>"Of course," he added, "I am ready to defray the expense of the +telegrams and replies. She left the Solent late on Wednesday +evening, and on Thursday would have been between Beachy Head and +Dover, if she had gone that way, and yesterday up the Thames or +somewhere between Harwich and Yarmouth."</p> +<p>"Well, Major Mallett, if you will sit down and write the +telegram with the description that you have given, I will send it +off at once. Then, if you will call again in an hour's time, I have +no doubt all the answers will have come in."</p> +<p>"Your craft has gone west," he said when Frank returned. "All +the answers the other way are negative. Saint Catherine says: +'Craft answering description was seen well out at sea on Thursday +morning.' Portland noticed her in the afternoon, and she was off +the Start yesterday morning; the wind was light then; and the +Lizard reports seeing her this morning. When abreast of them, she +headed south, apparently making a departure, as she could be made +out keeping that course as long as seen. These are the four +telegrams, so I think that there can be little doubt that she has +made for the Mediterranean."</p> +<p>"Thank you very much indeed," Frank said. "Can you tell me if I +have any chance of getting similar information from the south?"</p> +<p>"You could get it from Finisterre if she passed within sight, +but by her holding on as far west as the Lizard, instead of taking +a departure from the Start, it is likely that she will take a more +westerly course, and then Cape St. Vincent is the first point where +she is likely to be noticed. If not there, she would probably be +observed at Tarifa, although, if she kept on the southern side of +the Straits, she might not be noticed. I should think that she +would do so; she would not be likely to put into Gibraltar, +although, from what you tell me, the owner would believe that no +suspicion whatever of being concerned in this affair would be +likely to rest upon him. But you must bear in mind that it is +probable that, as a measure of precaution, he has painted out the +white streak, sent down the yards, and converted her into a +fore-and-aft schooner; in which case she would attract no attention +whatever if she passed without making her number."</p> +<p>"I certainly think that they will convert her back into a +schooner yacht, as otherwise there will be a difficulty about +papers whenever she enters a port. There is one more thing I wish +to ask you. You see, she might not turn into the Mediterranean. She +might, for example, make for the West Indies, in which case she +would be almost certain to touch at Madeira or Palmas."</p> +<p>"Or possibly at Teneriffe, Major. Of course, we have an agent at +each of these places, and I will gladly request them, if a +brigantine or schooner looking like her puts in there, to find out +if possible where she is bound for, and to let you know at—shall I +say Gibraltar? I am afraid it is of no use trying to get the +Portuguese authorities to arrest the ship or to search her. You +see, to a certain extent it is an extradition case. Still, I will +ask them to get it done if possible, though I fear that it is quite +beyond their power."</p> +<p>"Thank you very much indeed. It would be an immense thing only +to find out that she has gone in that direction. Of course, she may +not put in at any of these places, as she is sure to have +provisioned for a long voyage, but at any rate I will wait at +Gibraltar until I get the letters, unless I can get some clue that +she has gone up the Mediterranean.</p> +<p>"Of course, if I don't hear of her at Cape Saint Vincent or +Tarifa, I shall try Ceuta and Tangier. If she goes up on the +southern side of the Straits, she may anchor off either, and send a +boat in to get fresh meat and fruit."</p> +<p>"The Royal mail and the mail down the African coast will start, +one tomorrow, the other on Monday, and I will send letters by them +to the islands. They are sure to get there before this craft that +you are in search of, and our agents will be on the lookout for +her. It may not be long before you hear from Madeira, but it may be +some time before you get the other letters, as the craft may be +anything between three weeks and five in getting there. Of course, +I shall mention when she sailed, and they will not write until all +chance of her having arrived is passed."</p> +<p>"Would you kindly give me the addresses of your three agents? I +will wait for the answer from Madeira, but I am afraid my patience +will never hold out until the others can come. It will be giving +the schooner a fearfully long start as it is, and as you may +suppose I shall be almost mad at having to wait and do +nothing."</p> +<p>The secretary wrote the three addresses, and, thanking him very +warmly for his kindness and courtesy, Frank went out and despatched +a telegram to the skipper, telling him to engage ten extra hands at +once, and to buy muskets and cutlasses for the whole crew.</p> +<p>"I shall come down by the twelve o'clock train from town. Be at +the steamboat pier to meet me. If all is ready, shall sail at +once."</p> +<p>Having despatched this, he drove at once to Lady Greendale's, +and told her that he had learnt that the craft in which Bertha had +been carried off had sailed for the south, probably the +Mediterranean, and that he should start that evening in +pursuit.</p> +<p>"It may be a long chase, Lady Greendale, but never fear but that +I will bring her back safely. It will be for you to decide whether +you will continue to remain here, or go down into the country after +a time; but, of course, there is no occasion for you to make up +your mind now. I must be off at once, for I have several things to +do before I catch the twelve o'clock train."</p> +<p>"God bless you, Frank!" she said. "You are looking terribly worn +and fagged."</p> +<p>"I shall be all right when I am once fairly off," he said. "I +have not had an hour's sleep for the last two nights, and not much +the night before. At first the whole thing seemed hopeless; now +that I am fairly on the track and know what I have to do, I shall +soon be all right again."</p> +<p>"I don't know what I should have done without you, Frank; and I +do believe that you will succeed."</p> +<p>"I have no doubt about it," he said; "so keep your courage up, +mother—for you know that you are almost that to me now."</p> +<p>He kissed her affectionately, and then hurried downstairs and +drove to his chambers.</p> +<p>Here he packed a portmanteau with Indian suits and +underclothing, took his pistol and rifle cases, drove to a +gunmaker's in the Strand for a stock of ammunition, called at his +bank and cashed a cheque for two thousand pounds, and then drove to +Waterloo.</p> +<p>Hawkins and George Lechmere were on the landing stage at +Cowes.</p> +<p>"How are things going on, Hawkins?" Frank asked, as he came +across the gangway.</p> +<p>"All right, sir. I have had my hands pretty full, sir, since I +got your second telegram. Lechmere saw to getting the arms. Of +course, he could not help me as to hiring the hands. I think I have +got ten first-class men. A few of the yachts have paid off already, +and I know something about all of those I have engaged. While I was +ashore, the mate looked after getting on board and stowing the +goods as they came alongside."</p> +<p>"Quite right, Hawkins. Did you think of ammunition, George?"</p> +<p>"Yes, Major; I was not likely to forget that. I got twenty-five +muskets and cutlasses. Luckily they kept them at Pascal Aikey's, +for the use of steam yachts going out to the east; and they had +ammunition too, so I got fifty rounds for each musket. It is not +likely that we shall want to use that much, but it is best to be on +the right side."</p> +<p>"I think, sir," Hawkins said, "as it is going to be a long +voyage, and as we have doubled our crew, that I had better get +another mate. Purvis is a very good man, but he is no navigator; +and we shall have to keep watches regularly. I met an old shipmate +of mine just now who would be just the man. He commanded the +Amphitrite for ten years, and I know that he is a good navigator. +He has been up in the Scotch waters since the spring, and was paid +off last week. I told him that it might be that I could give him a +berth as second mate, and he jumped at it."</p> +<p>"By all means, Hawkins; of course you will want an officer for +each watch. You can find him without loss of time, I hope."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. I have told him to hang about outside the gate here, +and I would give him an answer."</p> +<p>"Very well. When you have seen him you will find me at Aikey's. +I have to go there to get a lot of charts. I have only those for +British waters.</p> +<p>"George, do you see to getting these traps down to the boat. I +shall be there in a quarter of an hour. Is there anything else that +you can think of, or that you want yourself?"</p> +<p>"Nothing, sir."</p> +<p>"When you go on board, you may as well get your traps in one of +the spare cabins aft.</p> +<p>"You had better move, too, captain. You and one of the mates can +have the stern cabin. For the present the other mate can have +yours, and the steward can sleep in the saloon. That will make more +room for the extra hands forward."</p> +<p>"It will be a tight stow, sir," the captain said. "I have +ordered ten more hammocks and hooks, but I doubt whether there will +be room to sling them all."</p> +<p>"I am sure there won't, Hawkins. You had better put the hooks in +the saloon beams, and swing five or six of the hammocks there. We +can take the hooks out and stop up the holes when we don't need +them any longer. We may be having hot weather before we have done, +and I don't want the men crowded too closely forward."</p> +<p>Twenty minutes later Frank came down to the boat with the +skipper, carrying a large roll of charts, and a man with a handcart +containing a bundle of jerseys and caps, and fifty white duck +trousers. A large shore boat was alongside when they reached the +Osprey.</p> +<p>"Is this the last lot?" the captain asked the man in charge of +the pile of casks and boxes with which it was filled.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, this is the last batch."</p> +<p>"Get them on deck, Hawkins," Frank said, "and we can get them +down and stowed when we are under sail. Get the anchor short at +once, the sail covers off and the mainsail up.</p> +<p>"I don't want to lose a minute," he went on, turning to George +Lechmere. "I know that an hour or even a day will make no material +difference, but I am in a fever to be off."</p> +<p>"Have you found out which way they have gone, Major?"</p> +<p>"I have found out that they have sailed for the south, but +whether for the Mediterranean or for the West Indies or South +America I have no idea; but I have some hopes of finding out by the +time we get to Gibraltar."</p> +<p>"And they have got a three days' start of us?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I can hardly believe that it is not more. It seems to me a +fortnight since I went ashore to dine at the club. Three days is a +long start, and unless the change of rig has spoiled her, the +Phantom is as fast, or very nearly as fast, as we are. We can't +hope to catch her up, unless she stops for two or three days in a +port, and that she is certain not to do. No, I don't think that +there is any chance of our overtaking her until she has got to +whatever may be her destination. Of course, what Carthew counts +upon is that, in time, he will get Miss Greendale to consent to +marry him. That is one reason why I think that he will not go up +the Mediterranean. The further he takes her the more hopeless the +prospect will seem to her."</p> +<p>"But she will never give in, Major," George Lechmere said, +confidently.</p> +<p>"I have no fear of that—no fear whatever, and we may be quite +sure that as long as he thinks that he will be able to tire her out +he will show himself in his best light, and try to make everything +as pleasant for her as is possible under the circumstances. It is +only when he loses all hope of her consenting willingly that he +will show himself in his true light; and you know, George, he is +scoundrel enough for anything. However, I consider that she is +perfectly safe for a long time, and I hope to be alongside the +craft long before he becomes desperate."</p> +<p>Half an hour later, the anchor was on the rail and the Osprey +started on her voyage. The tide being in her favour, she passed the +Needles just as it was getting dark. The breeze fell very light, +and, although every stitch of canvas was put on, she was still some +miles east of Portland when morning broke. As the sun rose the wind +freshened a bit, and she moved faster through the water. The hands +were mustered and divided into two watches, and the jerseys and red +caps served out to the new hands.</p> +<p>"You had better give them the whole of the duck trousers, to fit +themselves from, Captain," Frank said. "There are assorted sizes, +you know, and when they have suited themselves you can take the +other ten pairs into store. You and the mates will want some when +we get into warmer climates."</p> +<p>"Are we bound for the Mediterranean?" Hawkins asked.</p> +<p>"To Gibraltar, to begin with. What we shall do afterwards will +depend upon what news I get there. We may have to go round the +world, for all I know."</p> +<p>"Well, sir, I hope not, for your sake, and the young lady's; but +as far as we are concerned, we would as lief go round the world as +anything else, though she is not a very big craft for such a +journey as that."</p> +<p>"How long will the water tanks hold out?"</p> +<p>"That is where the pinch will come in, sir. I reckon that at +ordinary times we might make shift to go on for three weeks without +filling up, but, you see, we have twenty hands instead of ten, and +that will make all the difference.. I did get ten good-sized casks +yesterday morning, and got them filled as well as the tanks. They +are stowed away forward, but they won't improve her speed. They +have brought her head down over two inches, but, of course, we +shall use the water in them first."</p> +<p>"You had better bring them amidships, captain, and stow them +round the saloon skylight. Appearances are of no consequence +whatever, and the great thing is to get her in her best sailing +trim. If bad weather comes on, we must put half in the bow and half +in the stern, where we can wedge them in tightly together. It would +not do to risk having them rolling about the decks.</p> +<p>"Well, then," he went on, seeing that the captain did not like +the thought of having weight at each end of the yacht, "if the +weather gets bad we will take the saloon skylight off, and lower +them down into it. I can eat my meals on deck or in my stateroom, +but the water we must keep. If we get a spell of head winds or +calms, we may be three weeks getting to Gib."</p> +<p>"That would be a very good plan, sir, if you can do without the +saloon, and don't mind its being littered up."</p> +<p>"Well, I hope we shan't get any bad weather until we get well +across the bay, Hawkins. I don't mind the discomfort, but it would +stop her speed. We want a wind that will just let us carry all our +canvas. We can travel a deal faster so than we can in heavy +weather, when we might be obliged to get down the greater part of +our canvas and perhaps to lie to.</p> +<p>"It looks like a strong crew, doesn't it?" he went on, as he +glanced forward.</p> +<p>"That it does, sir. A craft of this size can do well with more +when she is racing, but for a crew it is more than one wants, a +good deal; and people would stare if we went into an English port. +Still, I don't say that it is not an advantage to be strong-handed +if we get heavy weather, and it makes light work of getting up sail +or shifting it, and one wants to shift pretty often when he is +trying to get high speed out of a craft."</p> +<p>The wind continued fitful, and, in spite of having her racing +sails, the Osprey's run to the Start was a long one. It was not +until thirty-six hours after getting up anchor that they were +abreast of the lighthouse.</p> +<p>"I try to be patient, George," Mallett said, "but it is enough +to make a saint swear. We have lost eight or ten hours instead of +making a gain, although we had the advantage of coming through the +Needles passage, while they had to go round at the back of the +island to escape observation."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, but you know we have often found that sometimes one, +sometimes another, makes a gain in these shifty winds; perhaps +tomorrow we may be running along fast, and the Phantom be lying +without a breath of wind."</p> +<p>"That is so, George. I will try to bear it in mind. There, you +see, the skipper is taking the exact bearing of the lighthouse, and +we shall soon be heading south."</p> +<p>In five minutes the captain gave the order to the helmsman, and +the craft was then laid on her new course.</p> +<p>"The wind is northing a bit," the skipper said as, after giving +the helmsman instructions, he came up to Frank. "It has shifted two +points round in the last half hour, and you see we have got the +boom off a bit. If it goes round a point more we will get the +square-sail ready for hoisting. It will help her along rarely when +the head-sails cease to be of any good."</p> +<p>Half an hour later the wind had gone round far enough for the +square-sail to be used to advantage, and it was accordingly +hoisted. The captain then had the barrels brought aft, and ranged +along each side of the bulwark.</p> +<p>For eight-and-forty hours the Osprey maintained her speed, +leaving all the sailing vessels she overtook far behind her, and +keeping for hours abreast of a cargo steamer going in the same +direction.</p> +<p>"She is bound for Finisterre," the skipper said, "and we shall +pass it some thirty miles to the west, so our courses will +gradually draw apart; but we shall see her smoke anyhow until we +are pretty nigh abreast of the cape––that is, if the wind holds as +it is now. It is falling lighter this afternoon."</p> +<p>Two or three hours later the wind died away altogether, the +square-sail was got down, and the skipper then said:</p> +<p>"I will get the topsail down, too, sir. We can easily get it up +again, and I will put a smaller jib on her. I don't at all think by +the look of the sky that we are going to have a blow. The glass +would have altered more if we were, but one never can tell. I would +not risk the loss of a spar for anything."</p> +<p>"I should think that you might put a couple of reefs in the +mainsail, Hawkins."</p> +<p>"Well, perhaps it would be the best, sir; for a puff that one +thinks nothing of, one way or the other, when a craft has way; will +take her over wonderfully when it catches her becalmed."</p> +<p>Just as he had finished his dinner, the captain came down and +asked Frank to come on deck.</p> +<p>"There is a steamer bearing down on us. I can see both her side +lights, and as she is coming in from the west she may not notice +our starboard light. It is burning all right, but one never can see +these green lights. They are the deceivingest things at a distance. +I have just sent down for the man to bring up the riding light, and +as it is a first-rate one, if we put it on deck it will light up +the mainsail. I have told them to bring up the big horn. That ought +to waken them if anything will."</p> +<p>"How far is she off now, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"About a mile and a half, Major. There are no signs of her +altering her course, as she ought to have done by this time if she +had made us out. You see, her head light shows up fair and square +between her side lights, which shows that she is coming as near as +possible on to us. I think that I had better light a blue +light."</p> +<p>Frank nodded. The blue light at once blazed out.</p> +<p>"They ought to see that if they are not all asleep," Frank said, +as he looked up at the sails standing out white against the dark +sky.</p> +<p>"Set to work with that foghorn," the skipper said; and a man +began to work the bellows of a great foghorn, which uttered a roar +that might have been heard on a still night many miles away. Again +and again the roar broke out.</p> +<p>"That has fetched them," the captain said. "She is starboarding +her helm to go astern of us. There, we have lost her red light, so +it is all right. How I should have liked to have been behind the +lookout or the officer of the watch with a marlinespike or a +capstan bar. I will warrant that they would not have nodded when on +watch again for a long time to come.</p> +<p>"Here she comes; she is closer than I thought she was. She will +pass within fifty yards of the stern. It is lucky that we had that +big horn, Major Mallett, for if we had not woke them up when we did +she would have run us down to a certainty."</p> +<p>As the steamer came along, scarcely more than a length astern of +the yacht, a yell of execration broke from the sailors gathered +forward.</p> +<p>"That was a near shave, George," Frank Mallett said, when the +steamer had passed. "It brought me out in a cold sweat at the +thought that, if the Osprey were to be run down, there was an end +to all chance of rescuing Bertha from that scoundrel's clutches. I +don't know that I thought of myself at all. I am a good swimmer, +and I suppose she would have stopped to pick us up. It was the +Osprey I was thinking of. Even if every life on board had been +saved, I don't see how we could have followed up the search without +her."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch13" id="Ch13">Chapter 13</a>.</h2> +<p>Three hours later the breeze came. Frank was pacing up and down +the deck, when there was a slight creak above. He stopped and +looked up.</p> +<p>"Is that the breeze?" he asked the first mate, whose watch it +was.</p> +<p>"I think so, sir, though it may be just the heaving from a +steamer somewhere. I don't feel any wind; not a breath from any +quarter."</p> +<p>There was another and more decided sound above.</p> +<p>"There is no mistake this time," the mate said, as the boom +which had been hanging amidships slowly swung over to port. "It's +somewhere about the quarter that we expected it from, and coming as +gently as a lamb."</p> +<p>Five minutes later there was sufficient breeze to cause her to +heel over perceptibly as she moved quietly through the water.</p> +<p>"Hands aft to shake out the reefs," the mate called.</p> +<p>The order was repeated down the fo'castle hatch by one of the +two men on the lookout. The rest of the watch, who had been allowed +to go below, tumbled up.</p> +<p>The sailors hastened to untie the reef points. All were aware of +the nature of the chase in which they were embarked. The whole crew +were full of ardour. They felt it as a personal grievance that the +young lady to whom their employer was engaged had not only been +carried off, but carried off from the deck of the yacht. Moreover, +she was very popular with them, as she had often asked them +questions and chatted with them when at the helm or when she walked +forward. She knew them all by name, and had several times come off +from shore with a packet of tobacco for each man in her basket. She +had been quick in learning to steer, and her desire to know +everything about the yacht had pleased the sailors, who were all +delighted when they learned of her engagement to the owner. The new +hands, on learning the particulars, had naturally entered to some +extent into the feeling of the others, and the alacrity with which +every order was obeyed showed the interest felt in the chase.</p> +<p>As soon as the reef points were untied came the order:</p> +<p>"Slack away the reef tackle, and see that the caring will run +easy.</p> +<p>"Now up with the throat halliard. That will do.</p> +<p>"Now the gaff a little more. Belay there.</p> +<p>"Now get that topsail up from the sail locker. We won't shift +jibs just yet, until we see whether the breeze is going to +freshen."</p> +<p>It was not long before the increasing heel of the craft, and +rustle of water along her side, told that she was travelling +faster.</p> +<p>"The wind is freeing her a bit, sir. It has shifted a good half +point in the last ten minutes."</p> +<p>"That is a comfort," Frank said. "You may as well heave the log. +I should like to know how she is going before I turn in."</p> +<p>"Seven knots, sir," the mate reported. "That is pretty fair, +considering how close-hauled she is."</p> +<p>"Well, I will turn in now. Let me know if there is any +change."</p> +<p>At five o'clock Frank was on deck again. Purvis was in charge of +the watch now.</p> +<p>"Good morning, sir," he said, touching his hat as Frank came up. +"We are going to have a fine day, and the wind is likely to keep +steady."</p> +<p>"All right, Purvis. What speed were we going when you heaved the +log?"</p> +<p>"Seven and a half, sir. Perry tells me that she has been doing +just that ever since the wind sprang up. I reckon that we are +pretty well abreast of Finisterre now. We shall have the sun up in +a few minutes, and I expect that it will come up behind the +land.</p> +<p>"Lambert, go up to the cross-tree and keep a sharp lookout, as +the sun comes up, and see if you can make land."</p> +<p>"I can make out the land, sir," the sailor called down as soon +as he reached the cross-tree. "It stands well up. I should say that +you can see it from deck."</p> +<p>The mate and Frank walked further aft and looked out under the +boom. The land was plainly visible against the glow of the sky.</p> +<p>"There it is, sure enough," the mate said. "I looked over there +before you came up and could not make it out, but the sky has +brightened a lot in the last ten minutes. I should say that it is +about five-and-twenty miles away. It is a very bold coast, sir.</p> +<p>"That is Finisterre over the quarter; you see the land breaks +off suddenly there. We ought to have made out the light, but of +course it is not very bright at this distance, and there was a +slight mist on the water when I came up at eight bells."</p> +<p>"I suppose in another forty-eight hours we shall not be far from +the southern point of Portugal."</p> +<p>"We shall be there, or thereabouts, by that time if the wind +keeps the same strength and in the same quarter. That would make an +uncommonly good run of it, considering that we were lying +twenty-four hours becalmed. If it had not been for that, we should +have been only four days from the Start to Saint Vincent."</p> +<p>The mate's calculations turned out correct, and at seven in the +morning they anchored a mile off Cape Saint Vincent. The gig was +lowered, and Frank was rowed ashore, taking with him a signal book +in which questions were given in several languages, including +Spanish. He had purchased it at Cowes before starting.</p> +<p>The signal officer was very polite, and fortunately understood a +little English. So Frank managed, with the aid of the book, to make +him understand his questions. No craft at all answering to the +description had been noticed passing during the last five or six +days; certainly no yacht had passed. She might, of course, have +gone by after dark.</p> +<p>He showed Frank the record of the ships that had been sighted +going east, and of those that had made their numbers as they +passed. The Phantom was not among the latter, nor did the rig or +approximate tonnage, as guessed, of any of the others, at all +correspond with hers.</p> +<p>After thanking the officer, Frank returned to his boat, and half +an hour later the Osprey was again under weigh.</p> +<p>At Ceuta, Tarifa, and Tangier there was a similar want of +success. Such a craft might have passed, but if so she was either +too far away to be noted, or had passed during the night. From +Tangier he crossed to Gibraltar, and anchored among the shipping +there.</p> +<p>So far everything had gone to confirm his theory that the +Phantom would not go up the Mediterranean. Of course, she might +have passed the three places, as well as Saint Vincent, at night; +or have kept so nearly in the middle of the Strait as to pass +without being remarked. Still, the chances were against it, and he +regarded it as almost certain that she would have put into one or +other of the African ports, as she passed them, for water, fresh +meat and fruit.</p> +<p>It was six days after the Osprey passed Saint Vincent before she +anchored off Gib. She had made her number as she came in, and in a +short time the health officer came out in a boat. The visit was a +formal one; the white ensign on her taffrail was in itself +sufficient to show her character, and that she must have come +straight from England; and the questions asked were few and +brief.</p> +<p>"We are ten days out," Frank said. "We have touched at Tarifa, +Ceuta, and Tangier, but that is all. The crew are all in good +health. Here is the list of them if you wish to examine them."</p> +<p>"As a matter of formality it is better that it should be done," +the health officer said.</p> +<p>"I will order them to muster," Frank said, "and while they are +doing so, will you come below and take a glass of wine?</p> +<p>"Can you tell me if a craft about this size, a schooner or +brigantine, has put in here during the last fortnight? I don't know +whether she is still flying yacht colours, or has gone into trade, +but at any rate you could see at once that she had been a +yacht."</p> +<p>"Certainly no such craft has put in here, Major Mallett. Yours +is the first yacht that has come round this season, and as I board +every vessel that anchors here, I should certainly have noticed any +trader that had formerly been a yacht. The decks and fittings would +tell their story at once. Do you know her name?"</p> +<p>"I don't know much about her," Frank said, "but a craft of that +kind sailed from Cowes a day or two before I started, and, as I +believe, for the Mediterranean. Being about our own size, and +heavily sparred for a schooner, I was rather curious to know if I +had beaten her. We did not make her out as we came along."</p> +<p>"You must have passed her in the night, I should say, unless, as +is likely enough, she did not put in, but kept eastward."</p> +<p>As Frank had touched at Gibraltar three times before, the place +had no novelty for him. He, however, went ashore at once to make +arrangements for filling up again with water. The steward and +George Lechmere accompanied him into the town to purchase fresh +meat, fruit and vegetables.</p> +<p>Frank then made his way to the post office. He was scarcely +disappointed at finding that there was nothing for him as yet.</p> +<p>The next three days he spent in wandering restlessly over the +Rock. As long as the Osprey was under weigh, and doing her best, he +was able to curb his anxiety and impatience; but now that she was +at anchor he felt absolutely unable to remain quietly on board. +Several officers of his acquaintance came off to the Osprey, and he +was invited to dine at their mess dinner every night. He, however, +declined.</p> +<p>"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said to each, "I am at present +waiting with extreme anxiety for news of a most important nature, +and until I get it I am so restless and so confoundedly irritable +that I am not fit to associate with anyone. When I look in here +again I hope that it will be all right, and then I shall be +delighted to come to you, and have a chat over our Indian days; but +at present I really am not up to it."</p> +<p>His appearance was sufficient to testify that his plea was not a +fictitious excuse.</p> +<p>On the fourth day he found a letter awaiting him at the post +office. He tore it open, and read:</p> +<p>"Funchal, Madeira, August 30.</p> +<p>"Sir: At the request of Mr. Greenwood I beg to inform you that a +brigantine, precisely answering to the description given me, +anchored in the roads here on the 21st. She only remained a few +hours to take in water and stores. I was at the landing place when +the master came on shore. He said that they had had a wonderfully +fast voyage from England, having come from the Lizard under seven +days, and holding a leading wind all the way. She was flying the +Belgian flag, and I learned from the Portuguese official who +visited her that her papers were all in order, and that she had +been purchased at Ostend from an Englishman only three weeks +before, and had been named the Dragon. He did not remember what her +English name had been.</p> +<p>"Most unfortunately she had left a few hours before the mail +steamer came in, bringing me the letter from Lloyd's. I do not know +that I could, in any case, have stopped her; but I think that I +could have got the officials to have searched her, and if the +ladies had been on board, and had appealed to them for protection, +I think the vessel would certainly have been detained; or, at any +rate, the authorities would have insisted upon the ladies being set +on shore.</p> +<p>"Her papers had the Cape as her destination, though this may, of +course, have been only a blind. I regret much that I am unable to +give you further information, beyond the fact that there were two +male passengers on board. I shall be happy to reply to any +communication I may receive from you."</p> +<p>Frank hurried down to the landing place.</p> +<p>"Lay out, men," he said. "I want to be under way in a quarter of +an hour."</p> +<p>The men bent to their oars, and the gig flew through the water. +There was no one on shore, for Frank had given strict orders that +no one was to land, of a morning, until he returned from the post +office.</p> +<p>"Get under way at once," he called to the captain, as soon as he +came within hailing distance.</p> +<p>There was an instant stir on board. Some of the men ran to the +capstan, others began to unlace the sail covers, while some +gathered at the davits to hoist the boat up directly she came +alongside.</p> +<p>"I have news, lads," Frank said, in a loud voice, as he stepped +on board. "She has touched at Madeira."</p> +<p>There was a cheer from the men. It was something to know that a +clue had been obtained, and in a wonderfully short time the Osprey +was under way, and heading for the point of the bay.</p> +<p>"Then they did not stop them there, Major?" George Lechmere +asked, after Frank had stated the news.</p> +<p>"No, the mail did not arrive with the letter in time for Lloyd's +agent to act upon it. The Phantom had sailed some hours before. She +is still under her square yards, and her name has been changed to +the Dragon. She was there on the 21st, and the letter is dated the +30th."</p> +<p>"And today is the 6th," George said. "So he has fifteen days' +start of us, besides the distance to Madeira."</p> +<p>"Yes, she must be among the West Indies long before we can hope +to overtake her––there, or at some South American port."</p> +<p>"Then you have learnt for certain that she has gone that way, +Major?"</p> +<p>"It is not quite certain, but I have no doubt about it. Her +papers say that she is bound for the Cape, which is quite enough to +show me that she is not going there. I think it is the West Indies +rather than South America, for if she went to any Brazilian port, +or Monte Video, or Buenos Ayres, she would be much more likely to +attract attention than she would in the West Indies, where there +are scores of islands and places where she could cruise, or lie +hidden as long as she liked.</p> +<p>"Yes, I have no doubt that is her destination. It is a nasty +place to have to search, but sooner or later we ought to be able to +find her. Fortunately the negroes pretty nearly all speak English, +Spanish, or French, and we shall have no difficulty in getting +information wherever there is any information to be had."</p> +<p>Four days later the Osprey anchored off Funchal. The dinghy at +once put off with six water casks, and Frank was rowed ashore in +the gig, and had a talk with his correspondent. The latter, +however, could give him no more information than had been contained +in his letter, except that the white streak had been painted out, +and that the craft carried fourteen hands, all of whom were +foreigners. He could give no information as to whether she would be +likely to touch at either the Canaries or the Cape de Verde +Islands, but was inclined to think that she would not.</p> +<p>"They took a very large stock of water on board," he said, "and +a much larger amount of meat, vegetables and fruit than they would +have required had they intended to put in there, and meat is a good +deal dearer here than it would be at Saint Vincent, or even +Teneriffe. I should think from this that they had no intention of +putting in there, though they might touch at Saint Helena or +Ascension, if they are really on their way to the Cape.</p> +<p>"But after what you tell me, I should think that your idea that +they have made for the West. Indies is the correct one. I should +say that they were likely to lie up in some quiet and sheltered +spot there, for it is the hurricane season now, and no one would be +cruising about among the islands if he could help it. There are +scores of places where he could lie in shelter and no one be any +the wiser, except, perhaps, negro villagers on the shore."</p> +<p>"Yes, I should think that is what he would do," Frank agreed. +"How long does the hurricane season last?"</p> +<p>"The worst time is between the middle of September and the +middle of November, but you cannot depend upon settled weather +until the new year begins."</p> +<p>"Well, hurricane or no hurricane, I shall set out on the search +as soon as I get over there."</p> +<p>Two hours later the Osprey was again on her way. The breeze was +fresh and steady, and with her square sail set and her mizzen +furled she ran along at over nine knots an hour. One day succeeded +another, without there being the least occasion to make any shift +in the canvas, and it was not until they were within a day's sail +of Porto Rico that the wind dropped almost suddenly. Purvis at once +ran below.</p> +<p>"The glass has fallen a long way since I looked at it at +breakfast," he said, as he returned.</p> +<p>"Then we are in for a blow," the skipper said. "I am new to +these latitudes, but wherever you are you know what to do when +there is a sudden lull in the wind, and a heavy fall in the +glass.</p> +<p>"Now, lads, get her canvas off her."</p> +<p>"All down, captain!"</p> +<p>"Every stitch.</p> +<p>"Andrews, do you and two others get down into the sail locker +and bring up the storm jib, the small foresail, trysail, and storm +mizzen. If it is a tornado, we shan't want to show much sail to +it."</p> +<p>"If we are going to have a tornado, captain, I should recommend +that you get the mainsail loose from the hoops, put the cover on, +roll it up tightly to the gaff and lash it to the bulwarks on one +side, and get the boom off and lash it on the other side."</p> +<p>"That will be a very good plan. The lower we get the weight the +better."</p> +<p>When this was done, the topmast was also sent down and lashed by +the sail. The barrels, which were now all empty, were lowered down +into the saloon, while the trysail was fastened to the hoops ready +for hoisting, and all the reefs tied up. A triangular mizzen was +then hoisted, and a storm jib.</p> +<p>"We won't get up the foresail at present," the captain said. "I +have reefed it right down, sir, but I won't hoist it until we have +got the first blow over."</p> +<p>"You had better see that everything is well secured on deck, and +if I were you I would put the jib in stops. We can break it out +when we like; but from all accounts the first burst of these +tornadoes is terrible. I should leave the mizzen on her; that will +bring her head up to it, whichever way it comes, and she will lie +to under that and the jib."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; but it is likely enough that we shall have to sail. I +have been reading about the tornadoes. I picked up a book at Cowes +the day we sailed, when I saw that you were ordering the charts of +these seas, and have learnt what is the proper thing to do. The +wind is from the southeast at present, which means that the centre +of the hurricane lies to the southwest.</p> +<p>"If the wind comes more from the east, as long as we can sail we +are to head northwest or else lie to on the port tack. If it shifts +more to the south, we are to lie to on the starboard tack."</p> +<p>"That sounds all right, Hawkins. It is very easy to describe +what ought to be done, but it is not so easy to do it, when you are +in a gale that is almost strong enough to take her mast out of her. +I will tell you what I would do. I would break up a couple of those +casks, and nail the staves over the skylights, and then nail +tarpaulins over them. I have no fear whatever about her weathering +the gale, but I expect that for a bit we shall be more under water +than above it.</p> +<p>"I see Perry is getting the two anchors below; that will help to +ease her. At any rate she will be in good fighting trim. I think we +began none too soon. There is a thick mist over the sky, and it +looks as dark as pitch ahead."</p> +<p>"There is only one thing more, sir," and the captain +shouted:</p> +<p>"All hands get the boats on deck, and see that they are lashed +firmly.</p> +<p>"Will you see to getting in the davits out of the sockets, +Purvis, and getting them below?</p> +<p>"I ought to have done that before," he went on, apologetically, +"but I did not think of it. However, with such a strong crew it +won't take five minutes, and we have got that and something to +spare, I think."</p> +<p>"You have got the bowsprit reefed, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir; full reefed."</p> +<p>"There is only one thing more that I can suggest. I fancy that +these tornadoes begin with heavy lightning. Get those wire topmast +stays, and twist them tightly round the shrouds and lash them +there, leaving the ends to drop a fathom or two in the water. In +that way I don't think that we need be afraid of the lightning. If +it strikes us it will run down the wire shrouds, and then straight +into the water."</p> +<p>In five minutes all was in readiness; the boats securely lashed +on deck, the davits down below, and the lightning protectors tied +tightly to the wire shrouds.</p> +<p>"Now, captain, I think we have done all that we can do. What are +you doing now?"</p> +<p>"I am running a life line right round her, sir. It may save more +than one life if the seas make a sweep of her."</p> +<p>"You are right, captain. These eighteen-inch bulwarks are no +great protection."</p> +<p>Four sailors speedily lashed a three-inch rope four feet above +the deck, from the forestay round the shrouds and aft to the +mizzen, hove as tight as they could get it and then fastened. While +this was being done one of the mates cut up a piece of two-inch +rope into several foot lengths, and gave one to each of the men and +officers, including Frank and George Lechmere.</p> +<p>"If you tie the middle of that round your chest under the arms, +you will have the two ends ready to lash yourself to windward when +it gets bad. A couple of twists round anything will keep you safe, +however much water may come over her."</p> +<p>"Do you mean to stay on deck, sir?" the skipper asked. "You +won't be able to do any good, and the fewer hands there are on deck +the less there will be to be anxious about. I shall only keep four +hands forward after the first burst is over, and they will be +lashed to the shrouds. Purvis will be there with them. Perry and +Andrews will take the helm, and I shall stay with them.</p> +<p>"We have battened the fore hatch down. One of the men will be in +the after cabin, and if I want to hoist the trysail or make any +change I shall give three knocks, and that will be a signal for +them to send half a dozen hands up. They will come through the +saloon and up the companion. We shan't be able to open the fore +hatch."</p> +<p>"Very well, skipper. I will go down when the hands do. We are +going to have it soon."</p> +<p>It was now indeed so dark that he could scarcely see the face of +the man he was speaking to.</p> +<p>"I really think, captain, that I should send some of them down +below at once. If a flash of lightning were to strike the mast, it +would probably go down the shrouds harmlessly, but might do +frightful damage among the men, crowded as they are up here; or it +might blind some of them. Besides, the weight forward is no +trifle."</p> +<p>"I think that you are right, sir," and, raising his voice, the +captain shouted:</p> +<p>"All hands below except the four men told off. Go down by the +companion."</p> +<p>"Would you mind their stopping in the saloon, sir? It would make +her more lively than if they all went down into the fo'castle."</p> +<p>"Certainly not, captain;" and accordingly the men were ordered +to remain in the saloon.</p> +<p>"You can light your pipes there, my lads," Frank said, as they +went down, "and make yourselves as comfortable as you can."</p> +<p>The last man had scarcely disappeared when the captain said:</p> +<p>"Look there, Major Mallett," and looking up Frank saw a ball of +phosphorescent light, some eighteen inches in diameter, upon the +masthead.</p> +<p>"Plenty of electricity about," he said, cheerfully. "If they are +all as harmless as that it won't hurt us."</p> +<p>But as he ceased speaking there was a crash of thunder overhead +that made the whole vessel quiver, and at the same instant a flash +of lightning, so vivid, that for a minute or two Frank felt +absolutely blinded. Without a moment's intermission, flash followed +flash, while the crashes of thunder were incessant.</p> +<p>"I think that plan of yours has saved the ship, sir," the +captain said, when, after five minutes, the lightning ceased as +suddenly as it had begun. "I am sure that a score of those flashes +struck the mast, and yet no damage has been done to it, so far as I +could see by the last flash. Are you all right there, Purvis?"</p> +<p>"All right," the mate replied. "Scared a bit, I fancy. I know I +am myself, but none the worse for it."</p> +<p>"It is coming now, sir," the captain said. "Listen."</p> +<p>Frank could hear a low moaning noise, rapidly growing louder, +and then he saw a white line on the water coming along with +extraordinary velocity.</p> +<p>"Hard down with the helm, Perry," the captain said.</p> +<p>"Hard down it is, sir."</p> +<p>"Hold on all!" the captain shouted.</p> +<p>A few seconds later the gale struck them. The yacht shook as if +in a collision, and heeled over till the water was half up her +deck. Then the weight of her lead ballast told, and as the pressure +on the mizzen did its work, she gradually came up to the wind, +getting on to an almost even keel as she did so.</p> +<p>"Break out the jib and haul in the weather sheet," the captain +shouted.</p> +<p>Purvis was expecting this, and although he did not hear the +words above the howl of the storm, at once obeyed the order.</p> +<p>"There she is, sir, lying-to like a duck," the skipper shouted +in Frank's ear; "and none the worse for it. An ordinary craft would +have turned turtle, but I have seen her as far over when she has +been racing."</p> +<p>"Well, I will go below now, Hawkins," Frank shouted back. "It is +enough to blow the hair off one's head.</p> +<p>"Come down, George, with me. You can be of no use here."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch14" id="Ch14">Chapter 14</a>.</h2> +<p>For eight hours the Osprey struggled with the storm. The sea +swept over her decks, and the dinghy was smashed into fragments, +but the yacht rode with far greater ease than an ordinary vessel +would have done, as, save for her bare mast, the wind had no hold +upon her. There were no spars with weight of furled sails to catch +the wind and hold her down; she was in perfect trim, and her sharp +bows met the waves like a wedge, and suffered them to glide past +her with scarce a shock, while the added buoyancy gained by reefing +the bowsprit and getting the anchors below lifted her over seas +that, as they approached, seemed as if they would make a clean +sweep over her.</p> +<p>From time to time Frank went up for a few minutes, lashing +himself to the runner to windward. The three men at the helm were +all sitting up, lashed to cleats, and sheltering themselves as far +as they could by the bulwarks. Movement toward them was impossible. +Beyond a wave of the hand, no communication could be held.</p> +<p>Frank could not have ventured out had he not, before going down +below for the first time, stretched a rope across the deck in front +of the companion, so that before going out he obtained a firm grasp +of it, and was by its assistance able to reach the side safely. +Each time he went out four of the crew from below followed him and +relieved those lashed to the shrouds forward.</p> +<p>The skipper was carrying out the plan he had decided on, and the +foresail was hoisted a few feet, the Osprey by its aid gradually +edging her way out from the centre of the tornado. The hands as +they came down received a stiff glass of grog, and were told to +turn in at once. Two hours after the storm broke Purvis came down +for a few minutes.</p> +<p>"She is doing splendidly, sir," he said. "I would not have +believed if I had not seen it, that any craft of her size could +have gone through such a sea as this and shipped so little water. +We have had a few big 'uns come on board, but in general she goes +over them like a duck. It is hard work forward. You have got to +keep your back to it, for you can hardly get your breath if you +face it. If it was not for the lashings, it would blow you right +away.</p> +<p>"I have been at sea in gales that we thought were big ones, but +nothing like this. Of course, with our heavy ballast and bare +poles, she don't lie over much. It is the sea and not the wind that +affects her, and her low free board is all in her favour. But I +believe a ship with a high side and yards and top hamper would be +blown down on her beam ends and kept there."</p> +<p>"Do you think that it blows as hard as it did, Purvis?"</p> +<p>"There ain't much difference, sir; but I do think there ain't +quite so much weight in it. I expect we are working our way out of +it. We have been twice round the compass. It is lucky we had not +got down among the islands before we caught it. I would not give +much for our chances if we had been there, for these gales +gradually wear themselves out as they get farther from the +islands."</p> +<p>In six hours the weather had so far moderated that they were +able to hoist the reefed foresail, and two hours later the trysail +was set with all the reefs in. These were shaken out in a short +time, the wind dying away fast. Half the crew had turned into their +hammocks some time before, and the regular watch was now set. The +motion of the ship, however, was very violent, for there was a +heavy tumbling sea still on, the waves having no general direction, +but tossing in confused masses and coming on to the deck, now on +one side, now on the other.</p> +<p>At midnight Frank also turned in, in his clothes; but he was +soon up again, for the motion of the yacht was so violent that he +found it next to impossible to keep from being jerked out of his +berth. The first mate had had four hours off duty, and had just +come up again to relieve the captain.</p> +<p>"It is lucky, sir, that all our gear is nearly new," he said; +"for if it had not been, this rolling would have taken the mast out +of her. The strain on the shrouds each time that she gets chucked +over must be tremendous."</p> +<p>"It would have been better, for this sort of work, if we had had +ten feet taken off that stick before we started."</p> +<p>"Well, just for the present it would have been better, sir; but +even if we had had time I would not have done it. We should not +have much chance of overhauling the Phantom if we clipped our +wings."</p> +<p>In another two hours the sea had sensibly moderated. Frank again +went down, and this time was able to go to sleep. When he went on +deck the sun was some way up, the mainsail was set, and the reefs +had been shaken out.</p> +<p>"This is a change for the better, captain."</p> +<p>"It is indeed, sir. I think that we have reason to be proud of +the craft. She has gone through a tornado without having suffered +the slightest damage, except the loss of the dinghy. I shall be +getting the topmast up in another hour. You see, I have got her +number-two jib on her and shifted the mizzen, but she is still a +bit too lively to make it safe to get up the spar. Like as not, if +we did, it would snap off before we could get the stays taut."</p> +<p>"I am terribly anxious about the Phantom," Frank said, "and only +trust that she was in a snug harbour on the lee side of one of the +islands."</p> +<p>"I hope so, sir. I was thinking of her lots of times when the +gale was at its height. If she was, as you say, in a good port, she +would be right enough. Of course, if she was out she would run for +the nearest shelter."</p> +<p>"If she had no more wind than we had before it came on, she had +not much chance of doing that."</p> +<p>"That is true enough, sir; but, you see, the glass gave us +notice three hours before we caught it. Besides, they certainly +took native pilots on board as soon as they got out here, and these +must have got them into some safe place at the first sign of a +gale."</p> +<p>"Yes, they must certainly have had a pilot on board," Frank +agreed; "and there is every ground to hope that they were snugly at +anchor. They were three weeks ahead of us, and must know that it is +the hurricane season as well as we do. It is likely that the first +thing they did on their arrival was to search for some quiet spot, +where they could lie up safely till the bad season was over."</p> +<p>Late on the following afternoon land was seen ahead.</p> +<p>"There is Porto Rico, sir. It may not be quite our nearest point +to make, but there are no islands lying outside it; so that it was +safer to make for it than for places where the islands seemed to be +as thick as peas."</p> +<p>"Yes, and for the same reason it is likely that Carthew made for +it. Of course, naturally we should have both gone for either +Barbadoes or Antigua, or Barbuda, the most northern of the Leeward +Islands; but he would not do so if he intends to keep his Belgian +colours flying. And, indeed, it would seem curious that two English +gentlemen should be cruising about in a Belgian trader. You may +take it that he is certain to put into a port for water and +vegetables, just as we have to do. There seem to be at least half a +dozen on this side of the island. He may have gone into any of +them, but he would be most likely to choose a small place. However, +at one or other of them we are likely to get news; and the first +thing for us to do is to get a good black pilot, who can talk some +English as well as Spanish."</p> +<p>"It is likely we shall have to take three or four of them before +we have done. A man here might know the Virgin Islands, and perhaps +most of the Leeward Islands, but he might not know anything east, +west, or north of San Domingo. We should certainly want another +pilot for the Bahamas, and a third for Cuba and the islands round +it, which can be counted almost by the hundred. Then again, none of +these would know the islands fringing almost the whole of the coast +from Honduras to Trinidad. However, I hope we shall not have to +search them. There is an ample cruising ground and any number of +hiding places without having to go so far out of the world as that. +At any rate, at present he is not likely to have gone far, and I +think that he will either have sought some secluded shelter among +the Virgin Islands, or on the coast of San Domingo."</p> +<p>When within a few miles of Porto Rico they lay to for the night, +and the next morning coasted westward, and dropped anchor in the +port of San Juan de Porto Rico.</p> +<p>A quarter of an hour after dropping anchor the port officials +came on board. The inspection of the ship's papers was a short +formality, the white ensign and the general appearance of the craft +showing her at once to be an English yacht, and as she had only +touched at Madeira on her way from Gibraltar, and all on board were +in good health, she was at once given pratique.</p> +<p>"The first thing to do is to get an interpreter," Frank said, as +he was rowed to shore, accompanied by George Lechmere. "The +secretary of Lloyd's gave me a list of their agents all over the +world. It is a Spanish firm here, and it is probable that none of +them speaks English, but if so I have no doubt that by aid of this +signal book I shall be able to make them understand what I want. I +have a circular letter of introduction from Lloyd's secretary."</p> +<p>He had no difficulty in discovering the place of business of +Senor Juan Cordovo, and on sending in his card and the letter of +introduction, was at once shown into an inner office. He was +received with grave courtesy by the merchant, who, on learning that +he did not speak Spanish, touched a bell on his table. A clerk +entered, to whom he spoke a few words.</p> +<p>The young man then turned to Frank, and said:</p> +<p>"I speak English, sir. Senor Cordovo wishes me to assure you +that all he has is at your disposal, and that he will be happy to +assist you in any way that you may point out."</p> +<p>"Please assure Senor Cordovo of my high consideration and +gratitude for his offer. Will you inform him that I intend to +cruise for some time among the islands, and that I desire to obtain +the services of an interpreter, speaking English and Spanish; and +if he possesses some knowledge of French, so much the better."</p> +<p>The reply was translated to the merchant, who conversed with the +interpreter for two or three minutes. The latter then turned to +Frank.</p> +<p>"I have a brother, senor, who, like myself, speaks the three +languages. He is at present out of employment, and would, I am +sure, be very glad to engage himself to you as your +interpreter."</p> +<p>"That would be the very thing," Frank said. "Does he live in the +town?"</p> +<p>"Yes, senor. I could fetch him here in a few minutes if Senor +Cordovo will permit me to do so."</p> +<p>The merchant at once granted the clerk's request.</p> +<p>"Will you tell Senor Cordovo," Frank said, "that I do not wish +to occupy his valuable time, and that I will return here in a +quarter of an hour?"</p> +<p>The merchant, however, through the clerk, assured Frank that he +would not hear of his leaving, and producing a box of cigars, +begged him to seat himself until the arrival of the interpreter. He +then said something else to the clerk, and the latter asked Frank +if he wanted any supplies for the yacht, as his employer acted as +agent for shipping.</p> +<p>"Certainly," Frank said, glad to have the opportunity of +repaying the civility shown him. "I require fresh meat, fruit and +vegetables, sufficient for twenty-five persons. I shall also be +glad if he will arrange for boats to take off water. My barrels and +tanks are nearly empty, and I shall want a supply of about a +thousand gallons."</p> +<p>While the clerk was absent, Frank, with the assistance of the +signal book, kept up a somewhat disjointed conversation with the +Spaniard. The clerk was, however, away but a few minutes; and +returned with his brother, an intelligent-looking young fellow of +seventeen or eighteen. He did not speak English quite as well as +the clerk, but sufficiently well for all purposes. Frank asked him +his terms, which seemed to him ridiculously low, and a bargain was +forthwith arranged.</p> +<p>"Will you ask Senor Cordovo if any other English yacht has been +here during the past three weeks or a month? I have a friend on +board one, and I fancy that she is cruising out here also."</p> +<p>The merchant replied that no English yacht had touched at the +port for some months, and that such visits were extremely rare. He +assured him that the stores ordered would be alongside in the +course of the afternoon, and expressed his regret when Frank +declined his invitation to stay with him for a day or two at his +country house.</p> +<p>After renewed thanks, Frank took his departure with his new +interpreter, whose name was Pedro. George Lechmere was waiting at +the corner of the street.</p> +<p>"I have arranged everything satisfactorily, George. This young +man is coming with me as interpreter, and as he speaks both French +and Spanish we shall get on well in future.</p> +<p>"When will you be ready to come on board, Pedro?"</p> +<p>"In half an hour, senor."</p> +<p>"You will find my boat at the quay. Take your things down to it. +It is a white boat with a British flag at the stern. But I don't +want you to go off yet. I have two things I want you to do before +you go.</p> +<p>"In the first place, I want a pilot. I want one who knows the +Virgin Islands well, and also the coast of San Domingo."</p> +<p>"There will be no difficulty about that, senor."</p> +<p>"In the second place, I want to find out, from the boatmen at +the quays, whether a Belgian schooner of seventy or eighty tons has +touched here during the last month. She carries large yards on her +foremast, and is a very fast-looking craft. She was at one time an +English yacht. If she called here, I wish to know whether she +sailed east or west, and if possible to obtain an idea as to her +destination."</p> +<p>"There was such a vessel here, senor, for I noticed her myself. +She only remained a few hours, while her boats took off water and +vegetables. I happened to notice her, for having nothing to do I +was down at the quays, and the boatmen were talking about her, she +being a craft such as is seldom seen now. Some of the old men said +that she reminded them of the privateers in the great war. I went +down to the boats when they first came ashore. The men only spoke +French, and they paid me a dollar to go round with them to make +their purchases. They took them, and also the water, off in their +own boats; which surprised me, for they were very handsome boats, +much more handsome than I have seen in any ship that ever came +here. I said that it would cost them but a very small sum to send +the barrels off in the native boats, but they insisted upon taking +them themselves.</p> +<p>"I don't know which way they sailed, because I went home as soon +as they went away from the quay, but the boatmen will be able to +tell me."</p> +<p>He went away and talked with some of the negro boatmen, and soon +returned, saying that she sailed westward.</p> +<p>"At what time did she sail?"</p> +<p>"It was just getting dark, senor, for they said that they could +scarcely make her out, but she certainly went west."</p> +<p>"Well, all you have to do now, Pedro, is to hire a pilot. Get +the best man that you can find. I want one who knows every foot of +the Virgin Islands. We are going there first. It does not matter so +much about his knowing San Domingo, for as we shall probably come +back here, we can put him ashore and get another pilot specially +for San Domingo. Be sure you get the best man that you can find, +whatever his terms are. We will be back again here in half an +hour.</p> +<p>"That is satisfactory indeed, George," Frank went on, as they +turned away. "Of course, strongly as we believed that he might be +here, there was no absolute certainty about it, for he might have +gone to the South American ports, or even have headed for the Gulf +of Florida. You see he is not only here, but came to the very +island we thought that he would most likely make for. As for his +going west, no doubt that was merely a ruse. He did not get up +anchor until it was getting so dark that he would be able in the +course of half an hour to change his course, and make for the +Virgin Islands without fear of being observed. I don't suppose that +they have any idea whatever of being followed, but they take every +precaution in their power to cover up their traces. You noticed, of +course, their anxiety that no shore boat should go off to them.</p> +<p>"Well, George, we have succeeded so well thus far, that I feel +confident that we shall overhaul them before long. As far as one +can see on the chart, most of these Virgin Islands are mere rocks, +and the number we shall have to search will not be very great, and +if the pilot really knows his business, he ought to be able to take +us to every inlet where they would be likely to anchor."</p> +<p>Pedro was awaiting them when they returned to the boat, and was +accompanied by a big negro, who, by the grin on his good-natured +face, was evidently highly satisfied with the bargain that he had +made.</p> +<p>"This is the man, senor," Pedro said. "I met one of the port +officers I know, and he told me that he was considered to be the +best pilot in the island. He speaks a little English—most of the +pilots do, for several of the Virgin Islands belong to your +people—and, of course, when he goes down to the Windward +Islands—"</p> +<p>"The Windward Islands!" Frank repeated. "Why, they are not +anywhere near here."</p> +<p>"I should have said the Leeward Islands, senor. The English call +them so, but we and the Danes and the Dutch all call them the +Windward Islands."</p> +<p>"Oh, I understand.</p> +<p>"What is your name, my man?"</p> +<p>"Dominique, sar. Me talk English bery well. Me take you to any +port you want to go. Me know all de rocks and shoals. Bery plenty +dey is, but Dominique knows ebery one of dem."</p> +<p>"That is all right. You are just the man I want. Well, are you +ready to go on board at once?"</p> +<p>"Me ready in an hour, sar. Go home now, say goodbye to wife and +piccaninnies. Pedro just tell me that boat go off with water in +one, two hours. Dominique go off with him. Me like five dollars to +give wife to buy tings while me am away."</p> +<p>"All right, Dominique, here you are. Now don't you miss the +boat, or we shall quarrel at starting, and I shall send ashore at +once and engage someone else."</p> +<p>"Dominique come, sar, that for sure. Me good man; always keep +promise."</p> +<p>"Well, here is another couple of dollars, Dominique; that is a +present. You give that to the wife, and tell her to buy something +for the piccaninnies with it."</p> +<p>So saying, Frank, George Lechmere, and Pedro stepped on board +the boat; while the pilot walked off, his black face beaming with +satisfaction.</p> +<p>He came off duly with the last water boat, and while the +contents of the barrels were being transferred to the tanks—for +now that the long run was accomplished there was no longer any +necessity for carrying a greater supply than these could +hold—Frank had a talk with him.</p> +<p>"Now, Dominique, this is, you know, a yacht cruising about on +pleasure."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar, me know dat."</p> +<p>"At the same time," Frank went on, "we have an object in view. +Just at present we want to find that schooner or brigantine that +put in here nearly a month ago. She carried a heavy spread of +canvas on her yards, and lay very low in the water."</p> +<p>The pilot nodded.</p> +<p>"Me remember him, sar; could not make out de craft nohow. Some +people said she pirate, but dar ain't no pirates now."</p> +<p>"That is so, Dominique. Still there may be reasons sometimes for +wanting to overhaul a vessel, and I have such a reason. What it is, +is of no consequence. Pedro tells me that when she got under sail +she went west, but as it was just dark when she sailed, she may +very well have turned as soon as she was hidden from sight and have +gone east; and it seems to me likely that she would, in the first +place, have made for one of the Virgin Islands."</p> +<p>"It depends, sar, upon the trade that he wanted to do. Not much +trade dere, sar. The trade is done at Tortola, dat English island; +and at Saint Thomas or Santa Cruz, dem Danish islands; all de oders +do little trade."</p> +<p>"Yes, Dominique, but I don't think that she wants to trade at +all. What she wants to do is to lie up quietly, where she would not +be noticed."</p> +<p>"Plenty of places in the islands for dat, sar."</p> +<p>"Did they take a pilot here?"</p> +<p>Dominique shook his head.</p> +<p>"No, sar; several offers, but no take. If want to hide, they no +want pilot from here; they take up a fisherman among the islands, +to show dem good place. But plenty of places much better in San +Domingo or Cuba. Why dey stop Virgin Islands? Little places, many +got no water, no food, no noting but bare rock."</p> +<p>"I think that they would go in there, because, as the hurricane +season had begun when they got here, they would think it better to +run into the port."</p> +<p>"Hurricane not bad here, sar; bery bad down at what English call +Leeward Islands. Have dem sometimes here, not bery often; had one +four days ago, one ob de worse me remember. We not likely to have +another dis year."</p> +<p>"That is satisfactory, Dominique, We got caught in it the other +day, and I don't want to meet another. Well, you understand what I +want. To begin with, to search all the places a vessel that did not +want to attract notice would be likely to lie up in. We want to +question people as to whether she has been seen, and if we don't +find her, to hear whether, when last seen, she was sailing in the +direction of the Leeward Islands, or going west."</p> +<p>"Me find out, sar," the negro said, confidently. "Someone sure +to have seen her."</p> +<p>"Well, you had better come below. I have got a chart, and you +shall mark all the islands where there are any bays that she would +be likely to take shelter in, and we can then see the order in +which we had better take them."</p> +<p>This was a little beyond Dominique's English, but Pedro +explained it to him, and at Frank's request went below with them; +Frank telling Hawkins to weigh anchor as soon as the tanks were +filled and the stores were on board. He had, before he came off, +returned to Senor Cordovo and paid for all the things supplied.</p> +<p>Going through the islands, one by one, Dominique made a cross +against all that possessed harbours or inlets, that would each have +to be examined.</p> +<p>"Tortola is the least likely of the places for them to go," +Frank said, "as it is a British island."</p> +<p>"Not many people dar, sar. Most people in town. De rest of +island rock, all hills broken up, many good harbours."</p> +<p>"What is its size, Dominique?"</p> +<p>"Twelve miles long, sar. Two miles wide."</p> +<p>"Well, that is not a great deal to search, if we have to examine +every inch of the coast. How many people are there?"</p> +<p>"Two, three hundred white men. Dey live in de town most all. +Two, three thousand blacks."</p> +<p>"Well, we will begin with the others. I should think that in a +fortnight we ought to be able to do them all."</p> +<p>The next twelve days were occupied in a fruitless search. Every +fishing boat was overhauled and questioned, and Frank and Pedro +went ashore to every group of huts. The only fact that they +learned, was that a schooner answering to the description had been +seen some time before. The information respecting her was, however, +very vague; for some asserted that she was sailing one way, some +another; and Frank concluded that she had cruised about for some +days, before deciding where to lie up. It was at Tortola that they +first gained any useful information. Many vessels had, during the +last six weeks, entered one or other of the deep creeks, and one of +them had laid up for nearly a month in a narrow inlet with but one +or two negro huts on shore. It was undoubtedly the Phantom, or +rather the Dragon, for the negroes had noticed that name on her +stern. She had sailed on the day after the hurricane, and, as they +learned from shore villages at other points, had gone west.</p> +<p>"Well, it is a comfort to think that even if we had sailed +direct here from Porto Rico we should not have caught her," Frank +said to George Lechmere. "She had left here two days before we got +there. I suppose they have someone on board who has been in the +islands before, for certainly the harbours are the best in the +group. No doubt they got some fishermen to bring them into the +creek. Well, there is nothing to do but to turn her head west. It +is but forty-eight hours' sail to San Domingo, and I fancy that it +is likely that he will have stopped there. You see on the chart +that there are numberless bays, and there would be no fear of +questions being asked by the blacks. If we don't find him there we +must try Cuba; but San Domingo is by far the most likely place for +him to choose for his headquarters, and there are at least four +biggish rivers he could sail up, beside a score of smaller +ones.</p> +<p>"I should say that we had better try the south and west first. +The coast is a great deal more indented there than it is to the +north. There seem to be any number of creeks and bays. I should +think that he would be likely to make one of these his +headquarters, and spend his time cruising about."</p> +<p>Although Dominique professed a thorough knowledge of the coast +of San Domingo and Hayti, Frank could see that he was not so +absolutely certain as he was of the Virgin Islands, and he told him +to land at villages as he passed along, and bring fishermen off +acquainted with the waters in their locality.</p> +<p>"Dat am de safest way for sure, sar," Dominique said. "Dis chile +know de coast bery well, can pilot ship into town of San Domingo or +any oder port that ships go to, but he could not say for certain +where all de rocks and shoals are along places where de ships neber +go in."</p> +<p>Three days later the Osprey, after sailing along the northern +shore, arrived at Porto Rico and, passing through the Mona channel +between that island and San Domingo, dropped anchor in the port of +the capital. Dominique went ashore with Pedro, and spent some hours +in boarding coasting craft and questioning negroes whether they had +seen the brigantine. Several of them had noticed her. She had been +cruising off the coast, and had put in at the mouth of the Nieve, +and at Jaquemel on the south coast of Hayti. They heard of her, +too, in the deep bay at the west of the island between Capes Dame +Marie and La Move. Some had seen her sailing one way, some another; +she had evidently been, as Frank had expected, cruising about.</p> +<p>Pedro put down the dates of the times at which she had been +seen, but negroes are very vague as to time, and beyond the fact +that some had seen her about a week before, while in other cases it +was nearer a fortnight, he could ascertain nothing with certainty. +So far as he could learn, she had only put into three ports, +although the coasters he boarded came from some twenty different +localities.</p> +<p>"I fancy that it is as I expected," Frank said. "They have one +regular headquarters to which they return frequently. It may be +some very secluded spot. It may be up one of these small rivers +marked on the chart––there are a score of them between Cape la Move +and here. She does not seem to have been seen as far east as this. +Of course, she has not put in here, because there are some eight or +ten foreign ships here now. Every one of these twenty rivers has +plenty of water for vessels of her draught for some miles up. I +fancy our best chance will be to meet her cruising."</p> +<p>"The worst of that would be, Major," George Lechmere said, "that +she would know us, and if she sails as well as she used to do, we +should not catch her before night came on—if she had seven or +eight miles' start—especially if we both had the wind aft."</p> +<p>"That is just what I am afraid of. I have no doubt that we could +beat her easily working to windward in her present rig, but I am by +no means certain that she could not run away from us if we were +both free; and if she once recognised us there is no saying where +she might go to after she had shaken us off. Certainly she would +not stay in these waters.</p> +<p>"The question is, how can we disguise ourselves? If we took down +our mizzen and dirtied the rest of our sails, it would not be much +of a disguise. Nothing but a yacht carries anything like as big a +mainsail as ours, and our big jib and foresail, and the straight +bowsprit would tell the tale. Of course, we could fasten some +wooden battens along her side, and stretch canvas over them, and +paint it black, and so raise her side three feet, but even then the +narrowness of her hull, seen end on as it would be, in comparison +to the height of the mast and spread of canvas, would strike +Carthew at once."</p> +<p>"We could follow his example, sir, and make her into a brig. I +dare say we could get it done in a week."</p> +<p>"That might spoil her sailing, and as soon as he found that we +were in chase of him, he would at once suspect that something was +wrong. That would, of all things, be the worst, especially if he +found—which would be just as likely as not––that he had the legs +of us.</p> +<p>"I believe the most certain way of all would be to search for +her in the boats. If we were to paint the gig black, so that it +would not attract attention, give a coating of grey paint to the +oars, and hire a black crew, we could coast along and stop at every +village, and search every bay, and row far enough up each river to +find some village or hut where we could learn whether the Phantom +has been in the habit of going up there. It would take some time, +of course, but it might be a good deal of time saved in the long +run. We could do a great deal of sailing. The gig stands well up to +canvas when the crew are sitting in the bottom, and we could fit +her out with a native rig.</p> +<p>"From here to Cape La Move, following the indentations, must be +somewhere between five and six hundred miles, perhaps more than +that. The breeze is regular, and with a sail we ought to make from +forty to fifty miles a day—say forty—so that in three weeks we +should thoroughly have searched the coast, even allowing for +putting in three or four times a day to make inquiries. The yacht +must follow, keeping a few miles astern. At any rate she must not +pass us.</p> +<p>"At night when she anchors she must have two head lights, one at +the crosstrees and one at the topmast head. I shall be on the +lookout for her, and we will take some blue lights and some red +lights with us. Every night I will burn a blue light, say at nine +o'clock. A man in the crosstrees will make it out twenty miles +away, and that will tell them where I am, and that I don't want +them. If I burn a red light it will be a signal for the yacht to +come and pick me up."</p> +<p>"Then you will go in the boat yourself, Major?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I must be doing something. I shall take Pedro with me, and +perhaps Dominique. We can get another pilot here. Dominique is a +shrewd fellow, and can get more out of the negroes than Pedro can. +Certainly, that will be the best plan, and will avoid the necessity +of spoiling the yacht's speed, which may be of vital importance to +us at a critical moment.</p> +<p>"Call Dominique down. I will send him ashore at once with Pedro, +to get hold of a good pilot and four good negro boatmen, and a +native sail. I think that is all we want."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch15" id="Ch15">Chapter 15</a>.</h2> +<p>As soon as the dinghy, with Dominique and Pedro, had left the +side of the yacht; the captain, by Frank's orders, set four men to +work to paint the gig black, while others gave a coat of dull lead +colour to the varnished oars. The order was received with much +surprise by the men, who audibly expressed their regret at seeing +their brightly varnished boat and oars thus disfigured.</p> +<p>After about three hours on shore, the dinghy returned loaded +with fruit and vegetables, which Pedro had purchased, and a native +mast and sail. The former was at once cut so as to step in the gig. +The sail was hoisted, and was then taken in hand by one of the +crew, who was a fair sailmaker, to be altered so as to stand +flatter. Half an hour later the new pilot and four powerful negroes +came alongside in a shore boat.</p> +<p>It was now late in the afternoon, so the start was postponed +until the next morning. A few other arrangements were made as to +signalling, and it was settled that if Frank showed a red light, a +rocket should be sent up from the yacht, to show that the signal +had been observed, and that they were getting up sail. They were to +keep their lights up, so that Frank could make them out as they +came up, and put off to meet them.</p> +<p>George Lechmere saw to the preparations for victualling the gig. +Two large hampers of fresh provisions were placed on board, and two +four-and-a-half gallon kegs of water. A bundle of rugs was placed +in the stern sheets, and the boat's flagstaff was fixed in its +place in the stern. The yard of the sail was at night to be lashed +from the mast to the staff at a height of four feet above the +gunwale, and across this the sail was to be thrown to act as a +tent. A kettle, frying pan, plates, knives and forks were put in +forward, and a box of signal lights under the seat aft. Canisters +of tea, sugar, coffee, and all necessaries had been stowed away in +the hamper, together with a plentiful supply of tobacco; and a bag +of twenty-eight pounds of flour, wrapped up in tarpaulin, was +placed under one of the thwarts.</p> +<p>As soon as it was daylight, anchor was got up, and when the +yacht had sailed for seven or eight miles to the west, the gig was +lowered, and the four black boatmen took their places in her. Frank +took the rudder lines, and Dominique sat near him. The sail was +then hoisted, and as the wind was light, the boatmen got out their +oars and shot ahead of the Osprey, directing their course obliquely +towards the shore.</p> +<p>It was not necessary to land at the coast villages here, as it +was morally certain that the Phantom had not touched anywhere +within twenty or thirty miles of San Domingo, and she would hardly +have entered any of the narrow rivers at night. Nevertheless, they +did not pass any of these without rowing up them. When some native +huts were reached, Dominique closely questioned the negroes.</p> +<p>The pilot had, by this time, been informed of the cause of their +search for the Phantom, which had, until they left San Domingo, +been a profound mystery to him. Frank, however, being now fully +convinced both of the negro's trustworthiness, and of his readiness +to do all in his power to assist, thought it as well to confide in +him, and when they were together in the boat, informed him that the +brigantine they were searching for had carried off a young lady and +her maid from England.</p> +<p>"That man must be a rascal," the negro said, angrily. "What do +he want dat lady for, sar? He love her bery much?"</p> +<p>"No, Dominique, what he loves is her fortune. She is rich. He +has gambled away a fine property, and wants her money to set him on +his legs again."</p> +<p>"Bery bad fellow dat," the pilot said, shaking his head +earnestly. "Ought to be hung, dat chap. Dominique do all he can to +help you, sar. Do more now for you and dat young lady. We find him +for suah. You tink there will be any fighting, sar?"</p> +<p>"I think it likely that he will show fight when we come up with +him, but you see I have a very strong crew, and I have arms for +them all."</p> +<p>"Dat good. Me wonder often why you have so many men. Nothing for +half of dem to do. Now me understand. Well, sar, if there be any +fighting, you see me fight. You gib me cutlass; me fight like +debil."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Dominique," Frank said, warmly, though with some +difficulty repressing a smile. "I shall count on you if we have to +use force. As far as I am concerned, I own that I should prefer +that they did resist, for I should like nothing better than to +stand face to face with that villain, each of us armed with a +cutlass."</p> +<p>"If he know you here, he go up river, get plenty of black men +fight for him. Black fellow bery foolish. Give him little present +he fight."</p> +<p>"I had not thought of that, Dominique. Yes, if he has made some +creek his headquarters he might, as you say, get the people to take +his side by giving them presents; that is, if he knew that we were +here. However, at present he cannot dream that we are after him, +and if we can but come upon him unawares we shall make short work +of him."</p> +<p>No news whatever was obtained of the schooner until the headland +of La Catarina was passed, but at the large village of Azua they +learned that she had anchored for a night in the bay five days +before. She had been seen to sail out, and certainly had not turned +into the river Niova.</p> +<p>Touching at every village and exploring every inlet, Frank +continued his course until, after rounding the bold promontory of +La Beata, he reached the bay at the head of which stands +Jaquemel.</p> +<p>Every two or three days they had communicated with the Osprey +and slept on board her, leaving her at anchor with her sails down +until they had gone some ten miles in advance. She had at times +been obliged to keep at some distance from the shore, owing to the +dangers from rocks and shoals. The pilot on board would have taken +her through, but Frank was unwilling to encounter any risk, unless +absolutely necessary.</p> +<p>At Jaquemel he learnt that the schooner had put in there a +fortnight before, but neither there nor at any point after leaving +Azua had she been seen since that time. She had sailed west.</p> +<p>The next night, after looking in at Bainette, some twenty miles +beyond Jaquemel, Frank rejoined the Osprey.</p> +<p>The gig was hoisted up, and they sailed round the point of +Gravois, the coast intervening being so rocky and dangerous that, +although there was a passage through the shoals to the town of St. +Louis, Frank felt certain that the schooner would not be in there. +The coast from here to Cape Dame Marie was high and precipitous, +with no indentations where a ship could lie concealed, and the +voyage was continued in the yacht as far as this cape. They were +now at the entrance of the great bay of Hayti.</p> +<p>"I take it as pretty certain," Frank said, as he, George +Lechmere, the skipper, and Dominique bent over the chart; "that the +schooner is somewhere in this bay. She has certainly not made her +headquarters anywhere along the south coast. In the first place, +she has seldom been seen, and in the second we have examined it +thoroughly. Therefore I take it that she is somewhere here, unless, +of course, she has sailed for Cuba. But I don't see why she should +have done that. The coast there is a good deal more dangerous than +that of San Domingo. He could not want a better place for cruising +about than this bay. You see, it is about ninety miles across the +mouth, and over a hundred to Port au Prince, with indentations and +harbours all round, and with the island of Genarve, some forty +miles long, to run behind in the centre. He could get everything he +wants at Port au Prince, or at Petit Gouve, which looks a +good-sized place.</p> +<p>"I should say, in the first place, that we could not do better +than run down at night to the island of Genarve, and anchor close +under it. From there we shall see him if he comes out of Port au +Prince, or Petit Gouve, whichever side he may take; and by getting +on to an elevated spot have a view of pretty nearly the whole bay. +Looking at it at present, the two most likely spots for him to make +his headquarters are in that very sheltered inlet behind the point +of Halle on the north side, or in the equally sheltered bay and +inlet under the Bec de Marsouin on the south. From Genarve we ought +to be able to see him coming out of either of them. It is not above +five-and-twenty miles from the island to the Bec de Marsouin, and +forty to the point of Halle. We might not see him come out from +there, but we should soon make him out if he were coming down from +Port au Prince."</p> +<p>It was agreed that this was the best plan to adopt. It might +lead to their sighting the schooner in a day or two, while to row +round the bay and search every inlet in it would take them a +fortnight. From Genarve, too, a forty-mile sail in the gig would +take them into Port au Prince, which the brigantine might possibly +have made its headquarters. Accordingly, after waiting until +nightfall, they got up sail, and anchored at six in the morning in +a small bay in the island of Genarve. Here they would not be likely +to attract the notice of any ship passing up to Port au Prince, +unless, which was very unlikely, one came along close to the +shore.</p> +<p>As soon as the anchor was dropped, both boats rowed to shore. +Frank, George Lechmere, Pedro, and four sailors, with a basket of +provisions, started at once for the highest point in the island, +some four miles distant. Dominique went along the shore with two +sailors, to make inquiries at any villages they came to.</p> +<p>On reaching the top of the hill, Frank saw that, as he had +expected, it commanded an extensive view over the bay on each side +of the island, which was but some six miles across. A village could +be seen on the northern shore, some three miles distant; and to +this Pedro, with one of the sailors, was at once despatched. Both +parties rejoined Frank soon after midday. The schooner had been +noticed passing the island several times, but much more often on +the southern side than on the northern. The negroes on that side +were all agreed that she generally kept on the southern side of the +passage, and that more than once she had been seen coming from the +south shore, and passing the western point of the island on her way +north.</p> +<p>"That looks as if she came from Petit Gouve, or the bay of +Mitaquane, or that under the Bec de Marsouin," Frank said.</p> +<p>"Dat is it, sar," Dominique agreed. "If she want to go north +side of bay from Port au Prince, she would have gone either side of +island. I expect she lie under de Bec. Fine, safe place dat, no +town there, plenty of wood all round, and villages where she get +fruit and vegetables; sure to be little stream where she can get +water."</p> +<p>The watch was maintained until sunset, but, although a powerful +telescope had been brought up, no vessel at all corresponding to +the appearance of the brigantine was made out.</p> +<p>At six o'clock the next morning Frank was again at the lookout, +and scarcely had he turned his telescope to the south shore than he +saw the brigantine come out from behind the Bec de Marsouin and +head towards the west. The wind was blowing from that quarter, and +after a few minutes' deliberation, Frank told the men to follow +him, and dashed down the hill. In half an hour he reached the shore +opposite the yacht, and at his shout the dinghy, which was lying at +her stern, at once rowed ashore.</p> +<p>"Get up the anchor, captain, and make sail. I have seen her. She +has just come out from the Bec, and is making west. As the wind is +against her, it seems to me that he would never choose that +direction to cruise in unless he was starting for Cuba, and I dare +not let the opportunity slip. If he once gets clear away we may +have months of work before we find him again, and as the wind now +is, I am sure that we can overhaul him long before he can make +Cuba. Indeed, as we lie, we are nearer to that coast than he is, +and can certainly cut him off."</p> +<p>In five minutes the Osprey was under way, with all sail set. The +wind was nearly due west, and as Cuba lay to the north of that +point, she had an advantage that quite counter-balanced that gained +by the start the Phantom had obtained. In two hours the lookout at +the head of the mast shouted down that he could perceive the +brigantine's topsail.</p> +<p>"She is sailing in towards the land on that side," he said. "She +has evidently made a tack out, and is now on the starboard tack +again."</p> +<p>"It will be a long leg and a short one with her, sir," the +skipper said. "I think that if we were in her place we could just +manage to lay our course along the coast, but with those square +yards of hers, she cannot go as close to the wind as we can. As it +is, we can lay our course to cut her off."</p> +<p>"It would be rather a close pinch to do so before she gets to +the head of the bay," Frank said.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, and I don't suppose that we shall overhaul her before +that, but we certainly shan't be far behind her by the time she +gets there. I think that we shall cut her off if the wind holds as +it does now. At any rate, if she should get there first, we should +certainly lie between her and Cuba, and she will have either to run +back, or to round the cape, or to run east or south. I wish the +wind would freshen; but I fancy that it is more likely to die away. +Still, she is walking along well at present."</p> +<p>Even Frank, anxious as he was, could not but feel satisfied as +he looked at the water glancing past her side. She was heeling well +over, and the rustle of water at her bow could be heard where they +were standing near the tiller. Andrews, the best helmsman on board +the yacht, held the tiller rope, and Perry was standing beside +him.</p> +<p>From time to time Frank went up to the crosstrees.</p> +<p>"We are drawing in upon her fast," he said, "but she is +travelling well, too; much better than I should have thought she +would have done with that rig. I think she has got a better wind +than we have. She has only made one short tack in for the last two +hours."</p> +<p>The captain's prognostication as to the wind was verified, and +to Frank's intense annoyance it gradually died away, and headed +them so much that they could no longer lie their course.</p> +<p>"What shall we do, sir? Shall we hold across to the south shore +and work along by it, as the schooner is doing, or shall we go +about at once?"</p> +<p>"Go about at once, Hawkins. You see we can see her topsails from +the deck; and of course she can see ours. I don't suppose she has +paid any attention to us yet, and if we stand away on the other +tack we shall soon drop her altogether; while if we hold on she +will, when we reach that shore, be three or four miles behind us. +Of course, she will have a full view of us."</p> +<p>They sailed on the port tack for an hour and then came round +again. The brigantine could no longer be seen from the deck, and +could only just be made out from the crosstrees.</p> +<p>"I think on this tack," the skipper said, as he stood by the +compass after she had gone round, "we shall make the point, and I +think that we shall make it ahead of her."</p> +<p>"I think so too, Hawkins. What pace is she going now?"</p> +<p>"Not much more than four knots, sir."</p> +<p>"My only fear is that we shan't get near her before it is +dark."</p> +<p>"I think that we have plenty of time for that, sir. You see we +got up anchor at half-past six, and it is just twelve o'clock now. +Another five hours should take us up to her if the wind holds at +this."</p> +<p>By two o'clock the topsails of the brigantine could be again +made out from the deck. She was still working along shore, and was +on their port bow.</p> +<p>"Another three hours and we shall be alongside of her," the +skipper said; "and if I am not mistaken we shall come out ahead of +her."</p> +<p>"There is one advantage in the course we are taking, Hawkins. +Viewing us, as she will, pretty nearly end on till we get nearly +abreast of her, she won't be able to make out our rig clearly."</p> +<p>By four o'clock they were within five miles of the brigantine. +The wind then freshened, and laying her course as she did, while +the brigantine was obliged to make frequent tacks, the Osprey ran +down fast towards her.</p> +<p>"They must have their eyes on us by this time," the captain +said. "Though they cannot be sure that it is the Osprey, they can +see that she is a yawl of over a hundred tons, and as they cannot +doubt that we are chasing them, they won't be long in guessing who +we are. Shall we get the arms up, sir?"</p> +<p>"Yes, you may as well do so. The muskets can be loaded and laid +by the bulwarks, but they are not to be touched until I give the +order. No doubt they also are armed. I am anxious not to fire a +shot if it can be helped, and once alongside we are strong enough +to overpower them with our cutlasses only. With the five blacks we +are now double their strength, and even Carthew may see the +uselessness of offering any resistance."</p> +<p>They ran down until they were within a mile of the shore, not +being now more than a beam off the brigantine. Two female figures +had some time before been made out on her deck, but they had now +disappeared. It was evident that the Osprey was being closely +watched by those on board the brigantine. Presently two or three +men were seen to run aft.</p> +<p>"They are going to tack again, sir. If they do they will come +right out to us."</p> +<p>Frank made no reply, but stood with his glass fixed on the +brigantine. Suddenly he exclaimed:</p> +<p>"Round with her, Hawkins!"</p> +<p>"Up with your helm, Andrews. Hard up, man!" the skipper shouted, +as he himself ran to slack out the main sheet. Four men ran aft to +assist him.</p> +<p>"That will do," he said, as she fell off fast from the wind. +"Now, then, gather in the main sheet, ready for a jibe. Slack off +the starboard runner; a couple of hands aft and get the square sail +out of the locker.</p> +<p>"Mr. Purvis, get the yard across her, lower her down ready for +the sail, and see that the braces and guys are all right.</p> +<p>"Now in with the sheet, lads, handsomely. That will do, that is +it. Over she goes. Slack out the sheet steadily."</p> +<p>"She is round, too," Frank said, as the boom went off nearly +square. "We have gained, and she is not more than half a mile +away."</p> +<p>The manoeuvre had, in fact, brought the yachts nearer to each +other. Both had their booms over to starboard.</p> +<p>"Quick with that square sail," Frank shouted. "She is drawing +away from us fast."</p> +<p>Two minutes later the square sail was hoisted, and the foot +boomed out on the port side. Every eye was now fixed on the +brigantine, but to their disappointment they saw that she was +still, though very much more slowly, drawing ahead.</p> +<p>"That is just what I feared," Frank said, in a tone of deep +vexation. "With those big yards I was certain that she would leave +us when running ahead before the wind. However, there is no fear of +our leaving her. What are we doing now? Seven knots?"</p> +<p>"About that, sir, and she is doing a knot better."</p> +<p>"What do you think that she will do now, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"I don't see what she has got to do, sir. If she were to get +five miles ahead of us, and then haul her wind, she would know that +she could not go away from us, for we should be to windward; and we +are evidently a good bit faster than she is when we are both close +hauled. The only other thing that I can see for her to do is to run +straight on to Port au Prince. At the rate we are going now she +would be in soon after daylight tomorrow. We should be seven or +eight miles astern of her, and he might think that we should not +venture to board her there."</p> +<p>"I don't think that he would rely on that, Hawkins. Now that he +knows who we are, he will guess that we shall stick at nothing. +What I am afraid of is that he will lower a boat and row Miss +Greendale and her maid ashore. He might do it either there, or, +what would be much more likely, row ashore to some quiet place +during the night, take his friend and two or three of his men with +him, and leave the rest to sail her to Port au Prince."</p> +<p>"I don't think that the wind is going to hold," the skipper +said, looking astern. "I reckon that it will drop, as it generally +does, at sunset. It is not blowing so hard now as it did just +before we wore round."</p> +<p>In half an hour, indeed, it fell so light that the Osprey was +standing through the water only at three and a half knots an hour. +The light wind suited the Phantom, with her great sail spread. She +had now increased her lead to a mile and a half, and was evidently +leaving them fast.</p> +<p>"There is only one thing to be done, George. We must board them +in boats."</p> +<p>"I am ready, Major; but it will be a rather risky business."</p> +<p>Frank looked at him in surprise.</p> +<p>"I don't mean for us, sir," George said, with a smile, "but for +Miss Greendale. You may be sure that those fellows will fight hard, +and as we come up behind we shall get it hot. Now, sir, if anything +happens to you, you must remember that the Osprey will be as good +as useless towards helping her. You as her owner might be able to +justify what we are doing, but if you were gone there would be no +one to take the lead. Carthew would only have to sail into Port au +Prince and denounce us as pirates. I hear from the pilot that these +niggers have got some armed ships, and they might sink us as soon +as we came into the harbour, and then there would be an end to any +chance of Miss Greendale getting her liberty."</p> +<p>"That is true enough, George, but I think that it must be +risked. Now that he knows we are here, he has nothing to do but to +send her ashore under the charge of his friend and two or three of +the sailors, and take her up into the hills. Or he might go with +her himself, which is perhaps more likely. Then when we came up +with her at Port au Prince the skipper would simply deny that there +had ever been any ladies on board, and would swear that he had only +carried out two gentlemen passengers, as his papers would show, and +might declare that he had landed them at Porto Rico. Of course, +they are certain to fight now, for they can do so without risk, as +they can swear that they took us for a pirate.</p> +<p>"How many do you think that the gig will carry, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"Well, sir, you might put nine in her. You brought ten off at +Southampton; but if you remember, it put her very low in the water, +and we should run a good deal heavier than your party then."</p> +<p>"Yes, I think that we had better take only nine. If we overload +her she will row so heavily that we shall be a long time +overhauling them."</p> +<p>"I am not quite sure that we shall overhaul them anyhow, sir. +Look at those clouds coming over the hills. They are travelling +fast, and I should say that we are likely to have a squall. No +doubt they get them here pretty often with such high land all +round."</p> +<p>"Well, we must chance that, Hawkins. If one does come you must +pick us up as we come along. I agree with you; it does look as if +we should have a squall. It may not be anything very serious, but +anyhow, if it comes it will take her along a great deal faster than +we can row.</p> +<p>"Purvis, I suppose that the dinghy will carry seven?"</p> +<p>"Yes, she will do that easily."</p> +<p>"Very well, we can but try; that will give sixteen of us, which +is about their strength. You must remain on board. Purvis shall +command the dinghy; Lechmere will go with me. Pick out thirteen +hands. You and Perry can manage with seven and the five negroes, +but keep a sharp lookout for that squall. Remember that you will +have very short warning. We are only a mile from the shore, and as +it is coming down from the hills you may not see it on the water +until it is quite close to you."</p> +<p>The boats were lowered, and the men, armed with musket and +cutlass, took their places. Frank and George Lechmere each had a +cutlass and a revolver buckled to the waist.</p> +<p>"Now give way, lads," Frank said. "She is about two miles ahead +of us, and we ought to overtake her in half an hour."</p> +<p>It was now getting dusk, the light fading out suddenly as the +clouds spread over the sky. Frank's last orders to the skipper +before leaving were:</p> +<p>"Edge her in, Hawkins, until you are dead astern of the +brigantine. Then if the squall comes down before we reach her, we +shall be right in your track."</p> +<p>"I have put a lighted lantern into the stern sheets of each +boat, sir, and have thrown a bit of sail cloth over them, so that +if she leaves you behind, and you hold it up, there won't be any +fear of our missing you."</p> +<p>The men rowed hard, but the gig had to stop frequently to let +the dinghy come up. They gained, however, fast upon the brig, and +in half an hour were but a few hundred yards astern. Then came a +hail from the brigantine in French:</p> +<p>"Keep off or we will sink you!"</p> +<p>No reply was made. They were but two hundred yards away when +there were two bright flashes from the stern of the brigantine, and +a shower of bullets splashed round the boats. There were two or +three cries of pain, and George Lechmere felt Frank give a sudden +start.</p> +<p>"Are you hit, sir?"</p> +<p>"I have got a bullet in my left shoulder, George, but it is of +no consequence.</p> +<p>"Row on, lads," he shouted. "We shall be alongside before they +have time to load again.</p> +<p>"I never thought of their having guns, though," he went on, as +the men recovered from their surprise, and dashed on again with a +cheer. "By the sharp crack they must be brass. I suppose he picked +up a couple of small guns at Ostend, thinking that they might be +useful to him in these waters."</p> +<p>A splattering fire of musketry now broke out from the +brigantine. They had lessened their distance by half when they saw +the brigantine, without apparent cause, heel over. Farther and +farther she went until her lee rail was under water.</p> +<p>The firing instantly ceased, and there were loud shouts on +board; then, as she came up into the wind, the square yards were +let fall, and the crew ran up the ratlines to secure the sails. +Simultaneously the foresail came down, then her head payed off +again, and she darted away like an arrow from the boats.</p> +<p>These, however, had ceased rowing. Frank, as he saw the +brigantine bowing over, had shouted to Purvis to put the boat's +head to the wind, doing the same himself. A few seconds afterwards +the squall struck them with such force that some of the oars were +wrenched from the hands of the men, who were unprepared for the +attack.</p> +<p>"Steady, men, steady!" Frank shouted. "It won't last long. Keep +on rowing, so as to hold the boat where you are, till the yacht +comes along. It won't be many minutes before she is here."</p> +<p>In little over a quarter of an hour she was seen approaching, +and Frank saw that, in spite of the efforts of the men at the oars, +the boats had been blown some distance to leeward. However, as soon +as the lanterns were held up the Osprey altered her course, and the +captain, taking her still further to leeward, threw her head up to +the wind until they rowed alongside her.</p> +<p>Frank had by this time learned that one of the men in the bow +had been killed, and that three besides himself had been wounded. +Two were wounded on board the dinghy.</p> +<p>"So they have got some guns," the skipper said, as they climbed +on deck. "No one hurt, I hope?"</p> +<p>"There is one killed, I am sorry to say, and five wounded," +Frank replied; "but none of them seriously. I have got a bullet in +my shoulder, but that is of no great consequence. So you got +through it all right?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, it looked so nasty that I got the square-sail off her +and the topsail on deck before it struck us, and as we ran the +foresail down just as it came we were all right, and only just got +the water on deck. It was as well, though, that we were lying +becalmed. As it was, she jumped away directly she felt it. I was +just able to see the brigantine, and it seemed to me that she had a +narrow escape of turning turtle."</p> +<p>"Yes, they were too much occupied with us to be keeping a sharp +lookout at the sky, and if it had been a little stronger it would +have been a close case with her. Thank God that it was no worse. +Can you make her out still?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, I can see her plainly enough with my glasses."</p> +<p>In a quarter of an hour the strength of the squall was spent. +The wind then veered round to its former quarter, taking the Osprey +along at the rate of some five knots an hour.</p> +<p>The wounded were now attended to. George Lechmere found that the +ball had broken Frank's collarbone and gone out behind. Both he and +Frank had had sufficient experience to know what should be done, +and after bathing the wound, and with the assistance of two +sailors, who pulled the arm into its place, George applied some +splints to the broken bone to keep it firm, and then bandaged it +and the arm.</p> +<p>One of the sailors had a wound in the cheek, the ball in its +passage carrying off part of the ear. One of the men sitting in the +bow had a broken arm, but only one of the others was seriously +hurt. Frank went on deck again as soon as his shoulder was bandaged +and his left arm strapped tightly to his side.</p> +<p>"I suppose that she is still gaining on us, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"Yes, she is dropping us. I reckon she has gone fast, sir, fully +half a knot, though we have got all sail set."</p> +<p>"There is one comfort," Frank said. "The coast from here as far +as the Bec is so precipitous, that they won't have a chance of +putting the boat ashore until they get past that point, and by the +time they are there daylight will have broken."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch16" id="Ch16">Chapter 16</a>.</h2> +<p>The stars were bright, and with the aid of a night glass the +brigantine was kept in sight; the sailors relieving each other at +the masthead every half hour. Frank would have stayed on deck all +night, had not George Lechmere persuaded him to go below.</p> +<p>"Look here, Major," he said. "It is like enough that we may have +a stiff bit of fighting tomorrow. Now we know that those fellows +have guns, though they may be but two or three pounders, and it is +clear that it is not going to be altogether such a one-sided job as +we looked for. You have had a long day already, sir. You have got +an ugly wound, and if you don't lie down and keep yourself quiet, +you won't be fit to do your share in any fighting tomorrow; and I +reckon that you would like to be in the front of this skirmish. You +know in India wounds inflamed very soon if one did not keep quiet +with them, and I expect that it is just the same here.</p> +<p>"It is not as if you could do any good on deck. The men are just +as anxious to catch that brigantine as you are. They were hot +enough before, but now that one of their mates has been killed, and +five or six wounded, I believe that they would go round the world +rather than let her slip through their hands. I shall be up and +down all night, Major, and the captain and both mates will be up, +too, and I promise that we will let you know if there is anything +to tell you."</p> +<p>"Well, I will lie down, George, but I know that I shall get no +sleep. Still, perhaps, it will be better for me to keep my arm +quite quiet."</p> +<p>He was already without his coat, for that had been cut from the +neck down to the wrist, to enable George to get at the wound. He +kicked off his light canvas shoes, and George helped him to lie +down in his berth.</p> +<p>"You will be sure to let me know if she changes her course or +anything?"</p> +<p>"I promise you that I will come straight down, Major."</p> +<p>Three quarters of an hour later, George stole noiselessly down +and peeped into the stateroom. He had turned down the swinging lamp +before he went up, but there was enough light to enable him to see +that his master had fallen off to sleep. He took the news up to +Hawkins, who at once gave orders that no noise whatever was to be +made. The men still moved about the deck, but all went +barefooted.</p> +<p>"The wind keeps just the same," Hawkins said. "I can't make it +more than three and a half knots through the water. I would give a +year's pay if it would go round dead ahead of us; we should soon +pick her up then. As it is, she keeps crawling away. However, we +can make her out, on such a night as this, a good deal further than +she is likely to get before morning. Besides, we shall be having +the moon up soon, and as we are steering pretty nearly east, it +will show her up famously.</p> +<p>"Now I will give you the same advice that you gave the governor. +You had much better lie down for a bit. Purvis has gone down for a +sleep, Perry will go down when he comes up at twelve, and I shall +get an hour or two myself later on."</p> +<p>"I won't go down," George said, "but I will bring a couple of +blankets up and lie down aft. I promised the Major that I would let +him know if there was any change in the wind, or in the +brigantine's course, so wake me directly there is anything to tell +him. I have put his bell within reach. I have no doubt I shall hear +it through that open skylight if he rings; but if not, wake me at +once."</p> +<p>"All right. Trust us for that."</p> +<p>Twice during the night George got up and went below. The first +time Frank had not moved. The second he found that the tumbler of +lime juice and water, on the table at the side of the bunk, was +nearly half emptied; and that his master had again gone off to +sleep and was breathing quietly and regularly.</p> +<p>"He is going on all right," he said to Hawkins, when he went up. +"There is no fever yet, anyhow, for he has drunk only half that +glass of lime juice. If he had been feverish he would not have +stopped until he had got to the bottom of it."</p> +<p>When George next woke, the morning was breaking.</p> +<p>"Anything new?" he asked Purvis, who was now at the tiller.</p> +<p>"Nothing whatever. The governor has not rung his bell. The wind +is just as it was, neither better nor worse, and the brigantine is +eight miles ahead of us."</p> +<p>George went forward to have a look at her.</p> +<p>"I think I had better wake him," he said to himself. "He will +have had nine hours of it, and he won't like it if I don't let him +know that it is daylight. I will get two or three fresh limes +squeezed, and then go in to him."</p> +<p>This time Frank opened his eyes as he entered.</p> +<p>"Morning is breaking, Major, and everything is as it was. I hope +that you are feeling better for your sleep. Let me help you up. +Here is a tumbler of fresh lime juice."</p> +<p>"I feel right enough, George. I can scarcely believe that it is +morning. How I have slept—and I fancied that I should not have +gone off at all."</p> +<p>Drinking off the lime juice, Frank at once followed Lechmere on +deck, and after a word or two with Purvis hurried forward.</p> +<p>"She is a long way ahead," he said, with a tone of +disappointment.</p> +<p>"The mate reckoned it between seven and eight miles, Major."</p> +<p>"How far is she from the Bec?"</p> +<p>"I don't know, sir. I did not ask Purvis."</p> +<p>Frank went aft and repeated the question.</p> +<p>"I fancy that that is the Bec, the furthermost point that we can +see," Purvis said, "and I reckon that she is about halfway to +it."</p> +<p>"Keep her a point or two out, Purvis. The line of shore is +pretty straight beyond that, and I want of all things not to lose +sight of her for a moment. I would give a good deal to know what +she is going to do. I cannot think that she is going to try to go +round the southeast point of the island, for if she were she would +have laid her head that way before."</p> +<p>The Osprey edged out until they opened the line of coast beyond +the headland, and then kept her course again. There was a trifle +more wind as the sun rose higher, and the yacht went fully a knot +faster through the water. In less than two hours the brigantine was +abreast of the headland. Presently Frank exclaimed:</p> +<p>"She is hauling in her wind."</p> +<p>"That she is, sir," Hawkins, who had just come on deck, +exclaimed. "She surely cannot be going to run into the bay."</p> +<p>"She can be going to do nothing else," Frank said. "What on +earth does she mean by it? No doubt that scoundrel is going to land +with Miss Greendale, but why should he leave the Phantom at our +mercy, when he could have sent her on to Port au Prince?"</p> +<p>"I cannot think what he is doing, sir; but he must have some +game on, or he would never act like that."</p> +<p>"Of course, he may have arranged to go with the lady to some +place up in the hills; but why should he sacrifice the yacht?"</p> +<p>"It is a rum start anyhow, and I cannot make head or tail of it. +Of course you will capture her, sir?"</p> +<p>"I don't know, Hawkins. It is one thing to attack her when she +has Miss Greendale on board, but if she has gone ashore it would be +very like an act of piracy."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. But then, you see, they fired into our boat, and +killed one of our men, and wounded you and four or five +others."</p> +<p>"That is right enough, Hawkins, but we cannot deny that they did +it in self defence. Of course, we know that they must have +recognised us, and knew what our errand was, but her captain and +crew would be ready to swear that they didn't, and that they were +convinced by our actions that we were pirates. At any rate, you may +be sure that the blacks would retain both craft, and that we should +be held prisoners for some considerable time, while Miss Greendale +would be a captive in the hands of Carthew. I should attack the +brigantine if I knew her to be on board, and should be justified in +doing so, even if it cost a dozen lives to capture her; but I don't +think I should be justified in risking a single life in attacking +the brigantine if she were not on board. To do so would, in the +first place, be a distinct act of piracy; and in the second, if we +got possession of the brigantine we should have gained nothing by +it."</p> +<p>"We might burn her, sir."</p> +<p>"Yes, we might, and run the risk of being hung for it. We might +take her into Port au Prince, but we have no absolute evidence +against her. We could not swear that we had positive knowledge that +Miss Greendale was on board, and certain as I am that the female +figures I made out on the deck were she and her maid, they were +very much too far away to recognise them, and the skipper might +swear that they were two negresses to whom he was giving a +passage.</p> +<p>"Moreover, if I took the brigantine I should only cut off +Carthew's escape in that direction. His power over Miss Greendale +would be just as great, if he had her up among those mountains +among the blacks, as it was when he had her on board. I can see +that I have made a horrible mess of the whole business, and that is +the only thing that I can see. Yesterday I thought it was the best +thing to start on a direct chase, as it seemed absolutely certain +to me that we should overhaul and capture her. Now I see that it +was the worst thing I could have done, and that I ought to have +waited until I could take her in the bay."</p> +<p>"But you see, Major," said George Lechmere, who was standing by, +"if we had gone on searching with the boat, before we had made an +examination of the whole bay, there would be no knowing where she +had gone, and it might have been months before we could have got +fairly on her track again."</p> +<p>"No, we acted for the best; but things have turned out badly, +and I feel more hopelessly at sea, as to what we had better do +next, than I have done since the day I got to Ostend. At any rate, +there is nothing to be done until we have got a fair sight of the +brigantine."</p> +<p>It seemed, to all on board, that the Osprey had never sailed so +sluggishly as she did for the next hour and a half. As they +expected, no craft was to be seen on the waters of the bay as they +rounded the point, but Dominique and the other pilot had been +closely questioned, and both asserted that at the upper end of the +bay there was a branch that curved round "like dat, sar," the +latter said, half closing his little finger.</p> +<p>Progress up the bay was so slow that the boats were lowered, and +the yacht was towed to the mouth of the curved branch. Here they +were completely landlocked, and the breeze died away +altogether.</p> +<p>"How long is this bend, Jake?" Frank asked the second pilot in +French.</p> +<p>"Two miles, sir; perhaps two miles and a half."</p> +<p>"Deep water everywhere?"</p> +<p>"Plenty of water; can anchor close to shore. Country boats run +in here very often if bad weather comes on. Foreign ships never +come here. They always run on to the town."</p> +<p>"You told us that there were a few huts at the end."</p> +<p>"Yes, sir. There is a village there, two others near."</p> +<p>The crew had all armed themselves, and the muskets were again +placed ready for use.</p> +<p>"You had better go round, Hawkins," Frank said, "and tell them +that on no account is a shot to be fired unless I give orders. Tell +the men that I am just as anxious to fight as they are, and that if +they give us a shadow of excuse we will board them."</p> +<p>"I went round among the men half an hour ago, sir, and told them +how the land lay, and Lechmere has been doing the same. They all +want to fight, but I have made them see that it might be a very +awkward business for us all."</p> +<p>The men in the boats were told to take it easy, and it was the +best part of an hour before they saw, on turning the last bend, the +brigantine lying at anchor a little more than a quarter of a mile +away.</p> +<p>"She looks full of men," Frank exclaimed, as turned his glasses +upon her.</p> +<p>"Yes, sir," said the captain, who was using a powerful +telescope, "they are blacks. There must be fifty of them beside the +crew, and as far as I can see most of them are armed."</p> +<p>"That explains why he came in here, Hawkins. They have been +using this place for the last three weeks, and no doubt have made +good friends with the negroes. I dare say Carthew has spent his +money freely on them.</p> +<p>"Well, this settles it. We would attack them at sea without +hesitation, however many blacks there might be on board, but to do +so now would be the height of folly. Five of our men are certainly +not fit for fighting, so that their strength in whites is nearly +equal to ours. They have got those two little cannon, which would +probably reduce our number a bit before we got alongside, and with +fifty blacks to help them it is very doubtful whether we should be +able to take them by boarding. Certainly we could not do so without +very heavy loss.</p> +<p>"We will anchor about two hundred and fifty yards outside her. +As long as she lies quiet there we will leave her alone. If she +tries to make off we will board her at once. Anchor with the kedge; +that will hold her here. Have a buoy on the cable and have it ready +to slip at a moment's notice, and the sails all ready to +hoist."</p> +<p>"Easy rowing," the captain called to the men in the boats, "and +come alongside. We have plenty of way on her to take up a +berth."</p> +<p>In two or three minutes the anchor was dropped and the sails +lowered.</p> +<p>"Now I will row across to her," Frank said, "and tell them that +I don't want to attack them, but I am determined to search their +craft."</p> +<p>"No, Major," George Lechmere said, firmly. "We are not going to +let you throw away your life, and you have no right to do it—at +any rate not until after Miss Greendale is rescued. You may be sure +of one thing: that Carthew has left orders before going on shore +that you are to be shot if you come within range. He will know that +if you are killed there will be an end of the trouble. I will go +myself, sir."</p> +<p>Frank made no answer for a minute or two. Then he said:</p> +<p>"In that case you would be shot instead of me. If Carthew is on +shore, as I feel sure he is, the others won't know you from me. I +agree with you that I cannot afford to risk my life just now, and +yet we must search that brigantine."</p> +<p>"Me go, sar," Dominique, who was standing by, said suddenly. "Me +take two black fellows in dinghy. Dey no fire at us. Me go dere, +tell captain dat you no want to have to kill him and all his crew, +but dat you got to search dat craft. If he let search be made, den +no harm come of it. If he say no, den we take yacht alongside and +kill every man jack. Say dat white sailors all furious, because dey +fire at us yesterday, and want bad to have fight."</p> +<p>"Very well, Dominique. It can do no harm anyhow, and as I feel +sure that the lady has been taken ashore, I don't see why they +should refuse."</p> +<p>Accordingly, Dominique called to two of the negro boatmen to get +into the dinghy, and took his seat in the stern. When the boat was +halfway between the two vessels there was a hail in French:</p> +<p>"What do you want? If you come nearer we will fire."</p> +<p>"What want to fire for?" Dominique shouted back. "Me pilot, me +no capture ship, single handed. Me want to speak to captain."</p> +<p>It was evident the answer was understood, for no reply came for +a minute or two.</p> +<p>"Well, come along then."</p> +<p>The words could be heard perfectly on board the yacht.</p> +<p>"The skipper talks English, George. I thought that he would do +so. Carthew was sure to have shipped someone who could understand +him. I don't suppose his French is any better than mine."</p> +<p>The dinghy was rowed to within ten yards of the brigantine.</p> +<p>"Now, what message have you brought me from that pirate?"</p> +<p>"Him no pirate at all. You know dat bery well, massa captain. +Dat English yacht; anyone see dat with half an eye. De gentleman +there says you have a lady on board dat has been carried off."</p> +<p>"Then he is a liar!" the Belgian said. "There is no woman on +board at all!"</p> +<p>"Well, sar, dat am a matter ob opinion. English gentleman tink +dat you hab. You say no. Dat prove bery easy. De gentleman say he +wants to search ship. If as you say, she is no here, den ob course +no reason for you to say no to dat. If on de other hand you say no, +den he quite sure he right, and he come and search whether you like +it or no. Den der big fight. Bery strong crew on board dat yacht. +Plenty guns, men all bery savage, cause you kill one of der fellows +last night. Dey want to fight bad, and if dey come dey kill many. +What de use of dat, sar? Why say won't let search if lady not here? +Nothing to fight about. But if you not let us see she not here, den +we board de ship, and when we take her we burn her."</p> +<p>The Belgian stood for two or three minutes without answering. +They had seen that there were two or three and twenty men on board +the Osprey, and they were by no means sure that this was the entire +number. There were three blacks, and there might be a number of +them lying down behind the bulwarks or kept below. The issue of a +fight seemed to him doubtful. He was by no means sure that his men +would fight hard in a cause in which they had no personal interest; +and as for the blacks, they would not count for much in a +hand-to-hand fight with English sailors.</p> +<p>He had received no orders as to what to do in such a +contingency. Presently he turned to three of his men and said in +French:</p> +<p>"Go to that stern cabin, and see that there is nothing about +that would show that it has been occupied. They have asked to +search us. Let them come and find nothing. Things will go quietly. +If not, they say they will attack us and kill every man on board +and burn the ship, and as we do not know how many men they may have +on board, and as they can do us no harm by looking round, if there +is nothing for them to find, we had best let them do it. But mind, +the orders hold good. If the owner of that troublesome craft comes +alongside, you are to pour in a volley and kill him and the sailors +with him. That will make so many less to fight if it comes to +fighting. But the owner tells me that if he is once killed there +will be an end of it."</p> +<p>He then went to the side, and said to Dominique:</p> +<p>"There is nothing for you to find here. We are an honest trader, +and there is nothing worth a pirate's stealing. But in order to +show you that I am speaking the truth, I have no objection to two +hands coming on board and going through her. We have nothing to +hide."</p> +<p>Dominique rowed back to the yacht.</p> +<p>"Dey will let her be searched, sar."</p> +<p>"I thought they would," Frank said; "and of course that is a +sign that there is no one there."</p> +<p>"I will go, sir," the skipper said, "as we agreed. He would give +anything to get rid of you, and you might be met with a volley when +you came alongside. And now there ain't no use in running risks. If +they have been told what you are like, they cannot mistake me for +you. You are pretty near a foot taller, and you are better than ten +years younger, and I haven't any hair on my face. I will go through +her. I am sure the lady ain't there, or they would not let me. +Still, I will make sure. There are no hiding places in a yacht +where anyone could be stowed away, and of course she is, like us, +chock full of ballast up to the floor. I shan't be many minutes +about it, sir. Dominique may as well go with me. He can stay on +deck while I go below, and may pick up something from the black +fellows there."</p> +<p>"You may as well take him, Hawkins; but you may be very sure +that they won't give him a chance to speak to anyone."</p> +<p>The captain stepped into the boat and was rowed to the yacht. He +and Dominique stepped on to the deck and were lost sight of among +the blacks. In ten minutes they appeared at the gangway again, and +stepped into their boat. Another minute and she was alongside the +Osprey.</p> +<p>"Of course, you found nothing, Hawkins."</p> +<p>"Nothing whatever, sir. Anything the lady may have left behind +had been stowed away in lockers. I looked about to see if I could +sight a bit of ribbon or some other woman's fal-lal, but they had +gone ever it carefully. Two of the other state cabins had been +occupied. There were men's clothes hanging there. Of course, I +looked into every cupboard where as much as a child could have been +stowed away, and looked round the forecastle. Anyhow, there is no +woman there now.</p> +<p>"Dominique had to go round with me. The captain evidently did +not want to give him a chance of speaking to anyone. The mate and +two of the sailors posted themselves at the gangway, so that the +two blacks should not be able to talk to the niggers on board. And +now, sir, what is to be done next?"</p> +<p>"We will go below and talk it over, captain.</p> +<p>"You come down, too, George. Yes, and Dominique. He may be +useful.</p> +<p>"Now, Hawkins," he went on, when they had taken their seats at +the table, "of course, I have been thinking it over all the +morning, and I have come to the conclusion that our only chance now +is to fight them with their own weapons. As long as we lie here +there is no chance whatever of Miss Greendale being brought on +board again, so the chase now has got to be carried on on land. If +we go to work the right way, there is no reason why we should not +be able to trace her. I propose to take Lechmere and Dominique and +the four black boatmen. If we stain our faces a little, and put on +a pair of duck trousers, white shirts, red sashes, and these broad +straw hats I bought at San Domingo, we shall look just like the +half-caste planters we saw in the streets there. I should take +Pedro, too, but you will want him to translate anything you have to +say to Jake.</p> +<p>"I propose that as soon as it is dark tonight we muffle the oars +of the dinghy, and row away and land lower down, say a mile or so; +and then make off up into the hills before tomorrow morning. +Dominique will try to find out something by inquiring at some of +the huts of the blacks. They are not likely to know, but if he +offers them a handsome reward to obtain news for him, they will go +down to the villages and ferret out something. The people there +would not be likely to know where they have been taken, but they +would be able to point out the direction in which they went on +starting. Then we could follow that up, and inquire again.</p> +<p>"We might take a couple of the villagers with us. Belonging +here, they would have more chance of getting news from other blacks +than strangers would have."</p> +<p>"Don't you think, sir, that it would be as well to have four or +five men with you?" Hawkins said. "There is no doubt this fellow +that you are after is a desperate chap, and he may have got a +strong body of these blacks as a guard. He might suspect that, +after having pursued him all this way, you might try to follow him +on land. You could put the men in hiding somewhere every day while +you were making inquiries, and they would be mighty handy if it +came to fighting, which it seems to me it is pretty sure to do +before you see the lady off."</p> +<p>"Well, perhaps it would be best, Hawkins; and, as you say, by +keeping them hid all day I don't see that they could increase our +difficulties. But then, you see, you will want all your hands here; +for if the brigantine sails, whether by night or day, you are to +sail too, and to keep close to her wherever she goes. It is not +likely that Carthew and Miss Greendale will be on board, but he may +very well send orders down to the brigantine to get up the anchor. +He would know that we should stick to her, as Miss Greendale might +have been taken on board again at night. In that way he would get +rid of us from here, and would calculate that we should get tired +of following the brigantine in time, or that she would be able to +give us the slip, and would then make for some place where he could +join her again. So my orders to you will be to stick to her, but +not to interfere with her in any way, unless, by any chance, you +should discover that Miss Greendale is really on board. In that +case I authorise you to board and capture her. They won't have the +blacks on board, and as the wounded are going on all right, and +three of them, anyhow, will be able to lend a hand in a couple of +days, you will be a match for them; especially as they will soon +make up their minds that you don't mean to attack them, and you +will get a chance of running alongside and taking them by +surprise."</p> +<p>"Well, sir, I think that we can do that with four hands less +than we have now. You see, there are nineteen and the two mates and +myself. Say two of the wounded won't be able to lend a hand, that +makes us twenty, to say nothing of Jake and Pedro. So, even if you +took four hands, we should be pretty even in numbers; and if our +men could not each whip two Belgians, they had better give up the +sea."</p> +<p>"Yes, I have no doubt that they could do that, and were it not +for Carthew and his friend I would not hesitate to take eight men. +I don't know about the other, but you may be sure that Carthew will +fight hard. He is playing a desperate game. Still, I think that I +might take four, especially as I think the chance of Miss +Greendale's being brought on board, until he believes that we have +left these waters, is very small.</p> +<p>"Very well, then, that is settled. The five blacks, Lechmere and +myself, and four of the sailors, will make a strong party. Serve +muskets and cutlasses out to the blacks; and the same, with a brace +of pistols, to each of the hands that go with us. While we are away +let two of the men dress up in my white duck shirts and jackets, +and in white straw hats. Let them always keep aft, and sit about in +the deck chairs, and always go down below by the main companion. +That will make them think that I am still on board; while if there +is no one on the deck aft they will soon guess that we have +landed.</p> +<p>"You understand all that we have been saying, Dominique?"</p> +<p>"Me understand, sar, and tink him bery good plan. Me suah to +find out which way dat rascal hab gone. Plenty of black fellows +glad to earn two dollar to guide us. Dey no money here. Two dollars +big sum to them."</p> +<p>"All right, Dominique, but we won't stick at two dollars. If it +were necessary I would pay two hundred cheerfully for news."</p> +<p>"We find dem widout dat," the black said, confidently. "Not good +offer too much. If black man offered two dollars he bery glad. If +offered twenty he begin to say to himself, 'Dis bery good affair; +perhaps someone else give forty.'"</p> +<p>"There is something in that, Dominique. Anyhow I shall leave +that part of the business to you. As a rule, I shall keep in hiding +with the boatmen and sailors all day. I shall be no good for asking +questions, for I don't know much French, and the dialect the +negroes of these islands speak is beyond me altogether. I cannot +understand the boatmen at all."</p> +<p>"Black men here bad, sar; not like dem in de other islands. Here +dey tink themselves better than white men; bery ignorant fellows, +sar. Most of dem lost religion, and go back to fetish. Bery bad +dat. All sorts of bad things in dat affair. Kill children and women +to make fetish. Bad people, sar, and dey are worse here than at San +Domingo."</p> +<p>There was nothing to do all day, but to sit on deck and watch +the brigantine. Most of the blacks had been landed, and only three +or four sailors remained on watch on deck. Frank and George +Lechmere, in their broad straw hats, sat and smoked in the deck +chairs; the former's eyes wandering over the mountains as if in +search of something that might point out Bertha's hiding place. The +hills were for the most part covered with trees, with here and +there a little clearing and a patch of cultivated ground, with two +or three huts in the centre. With the glasses solitary huts could +be seen, half hidden by trees, here and there; and an occasional +little wreath of light smoke curling up showed that there were +others entirely hidden in the forest.</p> +<p>"Don't you think, Major," George Lechmere said after a long +pause, "that it would be a good thing to have the gig every night +at some point agreed on, such as the spot where we land? You see, +sir, there is no saying what may happen. We may have to make a +running fight of it, and it would be very handy to have the boat to +fall back upon."</p> +<p>"Yes, I think that a good idea, George. I will tell Hawkins to +send it ashore, say at ten o'clock every night. There is no chance +whatever of our being down before that. They are sure to have taken +her a long distance up the hills; and though, of course, one cannot +say at present, it is pretty certain that we shall have to attack +after dark.</p> +<p>"It is important that we should land where there is some sort of +a path. I noticed one or two such places as we came along. We may +as well get into the dinghy and row down and choose a spot now. Of +course, they will be watching from the brigantine, but when they +see the same number that went come back again, they will suppose +that we have only gone for a row, or perhaps to get a shot at +anything we come across. We may as well take a couple of guns with +us."</p> +<p>A mile down the inlet they came upon just the spot they were +searching for. The shore was level for a few yards from the water's +edge, and from here there was a well-marked path going up the slope +behind.</p> +<p>"We will fix upon this spot, George. It will be easy for the +boats to find it in the dark, from that big tree close to the +water's edge. Now we will paddle about for half an hour before we +go back."</p> +<p>An hour later they returned to the yacht, and George began at +once to make arrangements for the landing.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch17" id="Ch17">Chapter 17</a>.</h2> +<p>"I Should keep watch and watch regularly, Hawkins. I do not say +that it is likely, but it is quite possible that they may make an +attempt to surprise us, cut all our throats, and then sink the +Osprey. He might attack with his boats, and with a lot of native +craft. At any rate, it is worth while keeping half the crew always +on deck. Be sure and light the cabin as usual. They would suspect +that I was away if they did not see the saloon skylights lit +up.</p> +<p>"There is no saying when I may be back. It may be three nights, +it may be six, or, for all that I know, it may be longer than that. +You may be sure that if I get a clue I shall follow it up wherever +it leads me."</p> +<p>The strictest silence was maintained among the men. The two men +at the oars were told to row very slowly, and above all things to +avoid splashing. The boat was exceedingly low in the water, much +too low for safety except in perfectly calm water; as, including +the two men at the oars, there were thirteen on board.</p> +<p>Frank had thought it, however, inadvisable to take the dinghy +also, for this was lying behind the stern, and it might have been +noticed had they pulled her up to the gangway. The gig had been +purposely left on the side hidden from the brigantine, and as they +rowed away pains were taken to keep the yacht in a line with her. +They held on this course, indeed, until they were close in to the +shore, and then kept in under its shelter until the curve hid them +altogether.</p> +<p>"Be very careful as you row back, lads, and go very slowly. A +ripple on this smooth water might very well be noticed by them, +even if they could not make out a boat."</p> +<p>"Ay, ay, sir, we will be careful."</p> +<p>They had brought a lantern with them, covered with canvas, +except for a few inches in front.</p> +<p>"Me take him, sar, and go first," Dominique said. "Den if we +meet anyone you all stop quiet, and me go on and talk with +them."</p> +<p>Frank followed Dominique, George keeping beside him where there +was room for two to walk abreast, at other times falling just +behind. Then came the sailors, and the four black boatmen were in +the rear. They had been told that, in case they were halted, and +heard Dominique in conversation, they were to pass quietly through +the others, and be ready to join him and help him if necessary. +With the exception of Dominique, Frank and George Lechmere, all +carried muskets. The pilot declined to take one.</p> +<p>"Me neber fired off gun in my life, sar. Me more afraid of gun +than of dose rascals. Dominique fight with um sword; dat plenty +good for him."</p> +<p>The path mounted the hill until they were, as Frank thought, +some three hundred feet above the water. Here the ground was +cultivated, and after walking for ten minutes they saw two or three +lights in front.</p> +<p>"You stop here, sar," Dominique said, handing the lantern to +Frank. "Me go on and see how best get round de village. Must not be +seen here. If native boat come in at night suah to go up to end ob +water, and land at village dere."</p> +<p>The negro soon returned, and said that the cultivated land +extended on both sides of the village, and there was no difficulty +in crossing it. The village was passed quietly, and when it was +once well behind them they came down upon the path again, which was +much larger and better marked than it had been before. After +following it for half a mile, they came upon a road, which led +obliquely up from the water, and ran somewhat inland.</p> +<p>"This is no doubt the road from the village at the head of the +arm of the bay. They have probably come along here, though they may +have turned more directly into the hills. That is the first point +to find out, Dominique."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar, next village we see me go in wid two ob de boatmen +and ask a few questions."</p> +<p>Following the path along for another few hundred yards, they saw +a road ahead of them. Here they halted, and two of the blacks +handed over their muskets and cutlasses to the care of the sailors. +Dominique also left his cutlass behind him, and as he went on gave +instructions to his two companions.</p> +<p>"Now look here," he said in negro French, "don't you say much. I +will do the talking, but just say a word or two if they ask +questions. Mind we three belong to the brigantine. I am the pilot. +The captain has given me a message to send to his friends who have +gone up into the hills. He asked me to take it, but I am not sure +about the way. I am ready to pay well for a guide. I expect that +they will say that the ladies came along, but that they do not know +how they went afterwards. Then we ask him to come as guide, and +promise to pay him very well."</p> +<p>By this time they were close to the hut, which, as Dominique +assured himself before knocking at the door, stood alone. There was +an old man and woman inside, and a boy of about seventeen. +Dominique took off his hat as he entered, and said in French:</p> +<p>"Excuse me for disturbing you so late. I am the pilot of a +vessel now in the bay, and have been sent by the captain to carry +an important message to a gentleman who landed with another and two +ladies and some armed men. He did not give me sufficient directions +to find him, and I thought that if they passed along here you might +be able to put me in the way."</p> +<p>"They came along here between eleven and twelve, I think. We saw +them," the old man said, "and we heard afterwards that the ladies +were being taken away because the ship was, they thought, going to +be attacked by a pirate that had followed them. The people from the +villages went to help fight, for the gentleman had bought many +things and had paid well for them, and each man was promised a +dollar if there was no fighting, and four dollars if they helped +beat off the pirate."</p> +<p>"Yes, that was so," Dominique said, "but it seems that it was a +mistake. Still we had cause for alarm, for the other vessel +followed us strangely. However, it is all explained now, and I have +been sent with this message, because the captain thought that if he +sent a white sailor they would not give him the information."</p> +<p>"Do you know, Sebastian?" the old man asked his son.</p> +<p>"Yes, they turned off to the right two miles further on."</p> +<p>"Look here, boy," Dominique said, "we were promised twenty +dollars if we took the message straight. Now, if you will go with +us and find out, we will give you five of them. As we are strangers +to the people here, they might not answer our questions; but if you +go and say that you have to carry the message, no doubt they will +tell you which way they have gone."</p> +<p>The lad jumped up.</p> +<p>"I will go with you," he said; "but perhaps when we get there +you will not give me the money."</p> +<p>"Look here," Dominique said, taking three dollars from his +pocket. "I will leave these with your father, and will hand you the +other two as soon as we get within sight of the place where they +are."</p> +<p>The lad was quite satisfied. Five dollars was more than he could +earn by two months' work. As soon as they went out, Dominique +whispered to one of the boatmen to go back and tell Frank what had +taken place, and to beg him to follow at some distance behind. +Whenever they took a fresh turning, one of the boatmen would always +be left until he came up.</p> +<p>Frank had some difficulty in understanding the boatman's French, +and it was rather by his gestures than his words that he gathered +his meaning. As soon as the message was given the negro hurried on +until he overtook Dominique.</p> +<p>"I am sorry now that we did not bring Pedro," Frank said. +"However, I think we made out what he had to say. Dominique has got +someone to go with him to do the questioning, as he arranged with +me; and he will leave one or other of the men every time he turns +off from the road he is following. That will be a very good +arrangement. So far we have been most fortunate. We know now that +we are following them, and it will be hard if we don't manage to +keep the clue now that we have once got hold of it."</p> +<p>When they came to the road that branched off to the right, the +other boatman was waiting. He pointed up the road and then ran on +silently ahead. No fresh turn was made for a long distance. Twice +they were stopped by one of the blacks, who managed to inform them +that Dominique and the guide were making inquiries at a hut +ahead.</p> +<p>The road had now become a mere track, and was continually +mounting. Other tracks had branched off, leading, Frank supposed, +to small hill villages. After going some ten miles, the lad told +Dominique that it was useless for him to go further, for that there +were no more huts near the track. Beyond the fact that the two +women were on horseback when they passed the last hut, nothing was +learned there.</p> +<p>"It is of no use to go further," the guide said. "There are no +houses near here to inquire at, and there are three or four more +paths that turn off from here. We must stop until morning, and then +I will go on alone and make inquiries of shepherds and cottagers; +but, you see, I thought that we should find them tonight. If I work +all day tomorrow, I shall expect three more dollars."</p> +<p>"You shall have them," Dominique said. "Here is my blanket. I +will share one with one of my boatmen."</p> +<p>The lad at once lay down and pulled the blanket over his head. +As soon as he did so, Dominique motioned to the two boatmen to do +the same, and then went back along the track until he met Frank's +party. As the hills were for the most part covered with trees +almost up to their summits, Frank and his party had only to turn a +short distance off from the path, on receiving Dominique's news +that the guide had stopped.</p> +<p>"It is half past one," Frank said, holding the lantern, which +the pilot had left with them, to his watch. "We shall get four +hours' sleep. You had better serve a tot of grog all round, George. +It will keep out the damp night air."</p> +<p>One of the blacks was carrying a basket, and each of the men had +brought a water bottle and pannikin.</p> +<p>"Put some water in it, lads," Frank said, "and it would be a +good thing to eat a bit of biscuit with it."</p> +<p>Dominique had told Frank that the guide had made some remark +about the two blacks dropping behind so often, and the latter took +out his handkerchief, tore it into eight pieces, and gave it to +him.</p> +<p>"Wherever you turn off, Dominique, drop one of these pieces on +the path. That will be quite sufficient."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar; but you see we don't know when we start up path +whether it be right path or no. We go up one, if find dat hit not +de one dey go, den come back again and try anoder. What we to +do?"</p> +<p>After thinking for some little time, Frank suggested that +Dominique's best way would be to tell the guide that he was +footsore, and that as several paths would have to be searched, he +and one of the men would sit down there. The other would accompany +the boy, and bring down word when the right path had been +discovered.</p> +<p>As soon as it became light Frank, without rousing the men, went +out into the path and moved cautiously up it. He had but just +started when he saw Dominique coming towards him.</p> +<p>"All right, sar. Boy gone on; he hunt about. When he find he +send Sam back to fetch me. De oder stay with him."</p> +<p>"Oh, you have sent both with him."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar, me thought it better. If only one man go, when he +come back, boy could talk to people. Perhaps talk too much, so sent +both men."</p> +<p>"That was the best plan, no doubt," Frank agreed. "I will join +the men, and remain there until you come for me."</p> +<p>"Dat best thing, sar. People might come along, better dey not +see you."</p> +<p>It was twelve o'clock before Dominique joined the waiting group +in the wood.</p> +<p>"They have been a long time finding the track, Dominique."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar, bery long time. Dey try four tracks, all wrong. Den +dey try 'nother. Sam say boy tell him try that last, because bad +track; lead ober hills, to place where Obi man live. Black fellow +no like to go there. Bad men there; steal children away, make +sacrifice to fetish. All people here believe that Obi man bery +strong. Dey send presents to him to make rain or to kill enemy, but +dey no like go near him demselves. Dere was a hut a little up dat +road. Party went by dere yesterday. No more houses on road. Sam say +boy wait dere till he bring me back to him; den go home. Not like +to go further; say can't miss way dat path. Leads straight to Obi +man's place. Fetish on road strike people dead dat go dar without +leab ob Obi man."</p> +<p>"That will suit us well altogether," Frank said. "How far is it +to where the guide is?"</p> +<p>"One and a half hours' walk."</p> +<p>"Then we will be off at once."</p> +<p>All were glad to be on the move again, and in spite of the heat +they proceeded at a rapid pace, until the boatman, Sam, said that +they were close to the spot where he had left his companions with +the guide. The rest then entered the wood, and Dominique went on +with the boatman.</p> +<p>Ten minutes later a young negro came down the path. They had no +doubt that it was the guide. Dominique arrived two or three minutes +later.</p> +<p>"I suppose that was the guide that went down," Frank said, as he +stepped out.</p> +<p>"Dat him, sar," he said. "Quite sure path go to Obi man's place. +It was miles away in centre of hills. I pretend want him to go on. +He said no go for thousand dollars. So me pay him his money, and he +go back. He tell me no use hunt for friends if Obi man hab not +giben dem leab to go and see him. Den the fetish change dem all +into snakes. If he gib leab and not know dat me and oder two men +were friends, den de fetish change us into snakes."</p> +<p>"Well, there is one comfort, Dominique, we shall be able to +march boldly along without being afraid of meeting anyone."</p> +<p>"Yes, sar. Sam be a little frightened, but not much. Not believe +much in San Domingo about fetish. Dey better dan dese Hayti people. +Still Sam not like it."</p> +<p>"I suppose you told him that he was a fool, Dominique?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sar. Me tell him, too, dat white man tink nothing ob Obi +man. Hang him by neck if he tries fetish against dem."</p> +<p>Having picked up Sam, they proceeded at a brisk pace along the +path, Frank leading the way with George Lechmere.</p> +<p>"You see," he said, "Carthew must have been uneasy in his mind +all along. I have no doubt that directly he put into the bay, and +decided to make this his headquarters, he set about preparing some +place where he could carry them off to, and where there would be +very little chance of their being traced. Down at the village by +the water he heard of this Obi man. He has evidently great power in +this part of the island. These fellows are all great rascals, and +Carthew may have either gone or sent to him, and made arrangements +that he and a party should if necessary be allowed to establish a +camp in the valley where this fellow lives; of course, promising +him a handsome present. He could have chosen no safer place. +Following hard as we have done on his track, we have obtained a +clue; but it is not probable that any of the natives whom Dominique +has questioned has the smallest idea that the party were going +towards this fetish man's place. In fact, the only man that could +know it was the negro at that last hut, and you may be sure that +were he questioned by any searching party he would not dare to give +any information that might excite the anger of this man.</p> +<p>"It is likely enough that this fellow has a gang of men with +him, bound to him partly by interest and partly by superstitious +fears. We shall probably have to reckon with these fellows in +addition to Carthew's own force. He seems to have taken ten or +twelve of the blacks from the village with him. They would have no +fear of going when he told them that he was under the special +protection of the fetish man. Then, you see, he has four of his own +sailors, his friend and himself; so that we have an equal number of +white men and five negroes against his ten or twelve and the +fetishman's gang.</p> +<p>"However, I hope that we shall have the advantage of a surprise. +If so, I think that we may feel pretty confident that we shall, at +any rate, in the first place, carry off Miss Greendale and her +maid. The danger won't be in the attack, but in the retreat. That +Obi fellow may raise the whole country against us. There is one +thing––the population is scanty up here, and it won't be until we +get down towards the lower ground that they will be able to muster +strongly enough to be really formidable; but we may have to fight +hard to get down to the boats. You see, it is a twenty miles' +march. We shan't be able to go very fast, for, although Miss +Greendale and her maid might keep up well for some distance, they +would be worn out long before we got to the shore, while the black +fellows would be able to travel by other paths, and to arouse the +villagers as they went, and make it very hot indeed for us."</p> +<p>"There is one thing—we shall have the advantage of darkness, +Major, and in the woods it would be difficult for them to know how +fast we were going. We might strike off into other paths, and, if +necessary, carry Miss Greendale and her maid. We could make a +couple of litters for them, and, with four to a litter, could +travel along at a good rate of speed."</p> +<p>In another three hours, they found that the path was descending +into a deep and narrow valley. On the way they passed many of the +fetish signs, so terrible to the negro's imagination. Pieces of +blue string, with feathers and rags attached to them, were +stretched across the path. Clumps of feathers hung suspended from +the trees. Flat stones, with berries, shells, and crooked pieces of +wood, were nailed against the trunks of the trees.</p> +<p>At first the four negro boatmen showed signs of terror on +approaching these mysterious symbols, and grew pale with fright +when Frank broke the strings that barred the path; but when they +saw that no evil resulted from the audacious act, and that no +avenging bolt fell upon his head, they mustered up courage, and in +time even grinned as the sailors made jeering remarks at the +mysterious emblems.</p> +<p>As soon as they began to descend into the valley, and it was +evident that they were nearing their destination, Frank halted.</p> +<p>"Now, Dominique, do you object to go down and find out all about +it? I am quite ready to go, but you are less likely to be noticed +than I am. There is no hurry, for we don't wish to move until +within an hour of sunset, or perhaps two hours. There is no fear of +our meeting with any interruption until we get back to the point +where we started this morning, and it would be as well, therefore, +to be back there just before dark."</p> +<p>"Me go, sar. Me strip. Dat best; not seen so easy among de +trees."</p> +<p>"Quite right, Dominique. What we want to find out is the exact +position of the camp and the hut, for no doubt they built a hut of +some sort, where Miss Greendale is; and see how we can best get as +close to it as possible. Then it would be as well to find out what +sort of village this Obi man has got, and how many men it probably +contains. But don't risk anything to do this. Our object is to +surprise Carthew's camp, and we must take our chance as to the +blacks. If you were seen, and an alarm given, Carthew might carry +Miss Greendale off again. So don't mind about the Obi village, +unless you are sure that you can obtain a view of it without risk +of being seen."</p> +<p>"Me manage dat, sar," the negro said, confidently. "Dey not on +de lookout. Me crawl up among de trees and see eberyting; no fear +whatsomeber."</p> +<p>Dominique stripped and started down the path, while the rest +retired into the shelter of the trees. An anxious two hours passed, +the party listening intently for any sound that might tell of +Dominique's being discovered. All, however, remained quiet, except +that they were once or twice startled by the loud beating of a +drum, and the deep blasts from the fetish horn. At the end of that +time there was a general exclamation of relief as Dominique stepped +in from among the trees.</p> +<p>"Well, Dominique, what have you found?" Frank exclaimed as he +started to his feet.</p> +<p>"Me found eberyting, sar. First come to village. Not bery big, +twenty or thirty men dere. Den a hundred yards furder tree huts +stand. Dey new huts, but not built last night, leaves all dead, +built eight or ten days ago. Me crawl on tomack among de trees, and +lay and watch. In de furder hut two white lady. Dey come in and +out, dey talk togeder, de oders not go near them. Next hut to them, +twenty, thirty yards away, two white men. Dey sit on log and smoke +cigar. In de next hut four white sailor. Den a little distance +away, twelve black fellows sit round fire and cook food. Plenty of +goats down in valley, good gardens and lots of bananas."</p> +<p>"How did the white ladies seem?"</p> +<p>"Not seem anyting particular, sar. Dey neber look in de +direction ob oders. Just talk togeder bery quiet. Me see dere lips +move, but hear no voice. Hear de voice of men quite plain."</p> +<p>"How close can we get without being seen?"</p> +<p>"About fifty yards, sar. Huts put near stream under big trees. +Trees not tick just dar; little way lower down banana trees run +down to edge ob stream. If can get round de village on dat side +widout being seen, can go through bananas, den dash across de +stream and run for de ladies. Can get dere before de oders. +Besides, if dey run dat way we shoot dem down."</p> +<p>"Thank God, that is all satisfactory," Frank said. "But it is +hard having to wait here another five hours before doing +anything."</p> +<p>"We are ready to go and pitch into them at once, sir," one of +the sailors said. "You have only to say the word."</p> +<p>"Thank you, lads, but we must wait till within an hour or two of +sunset. I expect that we shall have to fight our way back, and we +shall want darkness to help us. It would be folly to risk anything, +just as success seems certain after these months of searching. +Still, it is hard to have to wait.</p> +<p>"It is getting on to twelve o'clock. You had better get that +basket out and have your dinners."</p> +<p>The next four hours seemed to him interminable. The sailors and +negroes had gone to sleep as soon as they had finished their meal +and smoked a pipe. Frank moved about restlessly, sometimes smoking +in short, sharp puffs, sometimes letting his pipe go out every +minute and relighting it mechanically, and constantly consulting +his watch. At last he sat down on a fallen tree, and remained there +without making the slightest motion, until George Lechmere +said:</p> +<p>"I think it is time now, Major."</p> +<p>"Thank goodness for that, George. I made up my mind that I would +not look at my watch again until it was time.</p> +<p>"Now, lads, before we start listen to my final orders. If we are +discovered as we go past the village, we shall turn off at once and +make straight for the camp. Don't waste a shot on the blacks. They +are not likely to have time to gather to oppose us, but cut down +anyone that gets in your way. When we are through the village make +straight to the farthest hut. Don't fire a shot till we have got +between that and the next, and then go straight at Carthew and his +gang. If I should fall, Lechmere will take the command. If he, too, +should fall, you are to gather round the ladies and fight your way +down to the landing place. Take Dominique's advice as to paths and +so on. He and his men know a good deal better than you do—but +remember, the great duty is to take the ladies on board safe.</p> +<p>"The moment you get them there, tell the captain my orders are +that you are to man the two boats, row straight at the brigantine, +drive the crew overboard and sink her. Then you are to sail for +England with Miss Greendale. The brigantine must be sunk, for if +Carthew gets down there he will fill her with blacks and sail in +pursuit; and as there is not much difference in speed between the +two boats, she might overtake you if you carried away anything. You +must get rid of her before you sail.</p> +<p>"What have you got there, George?"</p> +<p>"Two stretchers, Major. Dominique and I have been making them +for the last two hours. We can leave them here, sir, by the side of +the path, and pick them up as we come along back."</p> +<p>A couple of minutes later the party started. They followed the +path down until nearly at the bottom of the hill. Here the trees +grew thinner, and Dominique, who was leading, turned to the right. +They made their way noiselessly through the wood, Dominique taking +them a much wider circuit round the village than he himself had +made, and bringing them out from the trees at the lower end of the +plantation of bananas.</p> +<p>Hitherto they had been walking in single file, but Frank now +passed along the order for them to close up.</p> +<p>"Keep together as well as you can," he said, when they were +assembled; "and mind how you pass between the trees. If you set +these big trees waving, it might be noticed at once."</p> +<p>Very cautiously they stole forward until they reached the edge +by the stream. Frank looked through the trees. Four white sailors +were lying on the ground, smoking, in front of their hut. Carthew +and his companion were stretched in two hammocks hung from the tree +under which their hut stood. Bertha and her maid had retired into +their bower.</p> +<p>"Now, lads," he said, as with his revolver in his right hand he +prepared for the rush. "Don't cheer, but run silently forward. The +moment they catch sight of us you can give a cheer.</p> +<p>"Now!" and he sprang forward into the stream, which was but +ankle deep.</p> +<p>The splash, as the whole party followed him, at once attracted +the attention of the sailors; who leaped to their feet with a +shout, and ran into their hut, while at the same moment Carthew and +his companion sprang from their hammocks, paused for a moment in +surprise at the men rushing towards them, and then also ran into +their hut, Carthew shouting to the blacks to take to their +arms.</p> +<p>"Go straight at them, George," Frank shouted, running himself +directly towards the nearest hut, just as Bertha, startled at the +noise, came to its entrance.</p> +<p>She stood for an instant in astonishment, then with a scream of +joy ran a step or two and fell forward into his arms.</p> +<p>"Thank God, I have found you at last," he said. "Wait here a +moment, darling. I will be back directly. Go into the hut until I +come."</p> +<p>But Bertha was too overpowered with surprise and delight to heed +his words, and Frank handed her to her maid, who had run out behind +her.</p> +<p>"Take her in," he said, as he carried her to the entrance of the +hut, "and stay there until I come again."</p> +<p>Then he ran after his party. A wild hubbub had burst forth. +Muskets and pistols were cracking. Carthew, as he ran out of the +hut, discharged his pistol at the sailors, but in his surprise and +excitement missed them; and before he had time to level another, +George Lechmere bounded upon him, and with a shout of "This is for +Martha Bennett," brought his cutlass down upon his head.</p> +<p>He fell like a log, and at the same moment one of the sailors +shot his companion. Then they dashed against the Belgian sailors, +who had been joined by the blacks.</p> +<p>"Give them a volley, lads!" George shouted.</p> +<p>The four sailors fired, as a moment later did the boatmen, and +then cutlass in hand rushed upon them.</p> +<p>Just as they reached them Frank arrived. There was but a +moment's resistance. Two of the sailors had fallen under the +volley, a third was cut down, and the fourth, as well as the +blacks, fled towards the village. Here the Obi drum was beating +fiercely.</p> +<p>"Load again, lads," Frank shouted. "Two of you come back with +me."</p> +<p>He ran with them back to the end hut, but Bertha had now +recovered from her first shock.</p> +<p>"Come, darling," he said, "there is not a moment to lose. We +must get out of this as soon as we can.</p> +<p>"Come along, Anna.</p> +<p>"Thompson, do you look after her. I will see to Miss +Greendale."</p> +<p>Just as they reached the others, a volley was fired from the +village by the blacks of Carthew's party, who were armed with +muskets. Then they, with thirty other negroes, rushed out with loud +shouts.</p> +<p>"Don't fire until they are close," Frank shouted. "Now let them +have it."</p> +<p>The volley poured into them, at but ten paces distance, had a +deadly effect. The blacks paused for a moment, and the rescuing +party, led by George Lechmere and Dominique, rushed at them. The +sailors' pistols cracked out, and then they charged, cutlass in +hand.</p> +<p>For a moment the blacks stood, but the fierce attack was too +much for them, and they again fled to the village.</p> +<p>"Stop, Dominique!" Frank shouted, for the big pilot, who had +already cut down three of his opponents, was hotly pursuing them. +"We must make for the path at once."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch18" id="Ch18">Chapter 18</a>.</h2> +<p>In a couple of minutes they had gained it.</p> +<p>"Anyone hurt?" Frank asked.</p> +<p>One of the boatmen had an arm broken by a bullet, and two of the +sailors had received spear wounds at the hands of the villagers. +They were not serious, however, and leaving George Lechmere to +cover the rear, they started up the path; Dominique, as usual, +leading the way, Frank following behind him with Bertha, who had +hitherto not spoken a word.</p> +<p>"Am I dreaming?" she asked now, in a tone of bewilderment. "Is +it really you, Frank?"</p> +<p>"You are not dreaming, dear, and it is certainly I—Frank +Mallett. Now tell me how you got on."</p> +<p>"As well as might be, Frank, but it was a terrible time. Please +do not talk about it yet. But how is it that you are here? It seems +a miracle.</p> +<p>"Oh, how ill you are looking! And your arm is in a sling, +too."</p> +<p>"That is nothing," he said; "merely a broken collarbone. As to +my looking ill, you must remember, I have had almost as anxious a +time as you."</p> +<p>"Then it was the Osprey, after all," she exclaimed, suddenly, +"that we saw the last day that we were out sailing. We were on +deck, and I was not noticing—I did not notice much then—when Anna +said to me, 'That looks like an English yacht, miss. I am sure Mr. +Carthew thinks she is chasing us.'</p> +<p>"Then I got up and looked round. I could not see for certain, +but it did look like a yacht, and I thought that it was about the +size of the Osprey. Those two men were standing with their backs to +us looking at it through their glasses, and Carthew happened to +turn round and saw me standing up, and at once said: 'You must go +below. I believe that is a pirate chasing us.'</p> +<p>"I said that it was nothing to me if it was. One pirate was just +as good as another. Then he said that if I would not go down he +should be obliged to use force, and called four men aft. So as it +was of no use resisting, we went down. Presently we felt that the +course had been changed. Late in the evening we heard them fire the +two guns, and then some musket shots. Later on the man came down +and told us that the pirates had tried to attack us in their boats, +and that they had beaten them off, and that there was no further +danger. But for all that I could see that he was troubled."</p> +<p>"That was when I was hit, dear. We had not reckoned on the two +guns, and with only the gig and dinghy, with one man killed and +five of us wounded, it was too stiff a business, though we should +have persevered, but that squall came down on us from the hills, +and the Phantom, moreover, left us standing still. We believed that +we should come up with the schooner in the morning."</p> +<p>"But how did you come here, Frank? How did you know where we had +been taken?"</p> +<p>"It is a long story, dear. We started in pursuit four days after +you had been carried off. I will tell you all about it when we get +safe again on board the yacht. I am afraid we shall have some +trouble yet. Now if you are quite recovered from your surprise, do +you feel equal to hurrying on? Every moment is of importance."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes," she said. "He will be after us."</p> +<p>"He won't," Frank said. "George Lechmere cut him down. Whether +he killed him or not I cannot say, but I don't fancy anyhow that he +will be able to take up the chase. It is that rascally Obi man I am +afraid of. He has great power over the people, and may raise the +whole country to attack us."</p> +<p>"I am ready to run as fast as you like, Frank."</p> +<p>"We may as well go at a trot for a bit."</p> +<p>Then raising his voice, he said:</p> +<p>"We will go at double, lads, now.</p> +<p>"Put your arm on my shoulder, Bertha, and we can fancy that we +are going to waltz."</p> +<p>"I feel so happy that I want to cry, Frank," she said as they +started.</p> +<p>"Don't do that until you get on board the Osprey."</p> +<p>As they passed the spot where they had halted, George Lechmere +told two of the blacks to pick up the stretchers and carry them +along. They were merely two light poles, with a wattle work formed +of giant creepers worked for some six feet in length between +them.</p> +<p>"What are those for?" Bertha asked, as she passed them.</p> +<p>"Those are to carry you and Anna along when you get exhausted. +It is twenty miles to the coast, you know."</p> +<p>"I feel as if I could walk any distance to get on board the +Osprey again."</p> +<p>"I have no doubt that you have the spirit, Bertha, but I +question whether you have the strength; especially after being over +three months without any exercise at all. I felt it myself +yesterday, although we did little more than ten miles."</p> +<p>"Oh, but then you have been wounded. And you do look so ill, +Frank."</p> +<p>"I dare say the wound had a little to do with it," he said; "but +of course the climate is trying too; though it is cooler up on the +hills than it is in that bay."</p> +<p>"Now, Frank, the first question of all is—How is my mother? +What did she do when I was missing? It must have been awful for +her."</p> +<p>"Of course, it was a terrible anxiety, Bertha, but she bore it +better than would be expected, especially as she had not been well +before."</p> +<p>"It troubled me more, Frank, than even my own affairs. As soon +as I had time to think at all, I could not imagine what she would +do, and the only comfort was that she had you to look after +her."</p> +<p>"No doubt it was a comfort, dear, that she had someone to lean +upon a little.</p> +<p>"Halt!" he broke off suddenly, as there was the sound of a stick +breaking among the trees close by. "Stand to your arms, men, and +gather closely.</p> +<p>"Bertha, do you and Anna take your place in the centre, and +please lie down."</p> +<p>"I cannot do that, Frank," she said, positively. "Here you are +all risking your lives for us, and now you want me to put myself +quite safe while you are all in danger."</p> +<p>"I want to be able to fight, Bertha, free of anxiety, and to be +able to devote my whole attention to the work. This I can't do if I +know that you are exposed to bullets."</p> +<p>"Well, I can't lie down anyhow, Frank; but Anna and I will +crouch down if you say that we must when they begin to fire."</p> +<p>They were silent for two or three minutes, and no sounds were +heard in the wood.</p> +<p>"We shall be attacked sooner or later," Frank said quietly to +the men. "We will take to the trees on our right if we are attacked +from the left, and to those on the left if they come at us from the +right. If we are attacked on both sides at once, take to the +right.</p> +<p>"George, do you and Harrison and Jones get behind trees, next to +the path. It will be your business to prevent anyone from passing +on that side. I, with the other two, will take post behind trees +facing the other way. The four boatmen with Dominique will shelter +themselves in the bushes between us, with Miss Greendale and her +maid in the middle. They will be the reserve, and if a rush is made +from either side, they will at once advance and beat it back.</p> +<p>"You understand, Dominique?"</p> +<p>"Me understand, sar. If those fellows come we charge at them. +These fellows no used to shoot, sar. Better give muskets to others. +We do best with our swords."</p> +<p>"That is the best plan.</p> +<p>"You take one of the muskets, George, and give one to Harrison. +The two men on my side had better have the others, as I can't use +one.</p> +<p>"You understand, lads. These will be spare arms. Keep them in +reserve if possible, so as to check the fellows when they make a +rush. Now do you all understand?</p> +<p>"You explain it to your men, Dominique.</p> +<p>"Now we will go on again, and at the double. It will be as much +as those fellows can do to keep up with us in this thick wood."</p> +<p>Ten minutes passed. Then there was a loud shout and the blowing +of a deep horn on their left, followed by a yell from the wood on +both sides.</p> +<p>"To the right," Frank shouted, and the party ran in among the +trees.</p> +<p>"Get in among that undergrowth with Anna," he said to +Bertha.</p> +<p>"Gather there, Dominique, with your men. We shall want you +directly. They are sure to make a rush at first.</p> +<p>"Now, lads, one of you take that tree; the other the one to the +right," and he placed himself behind one between them. On glancing +round he saw that George had already posted his two men, and had +taken up his station between them.</p> +<p>"All hands kneel down," he said. "These bushes will hide us from +their sight. If we stand up we may be hit by shots from +behind."</p> +<p>A moment later there was a general discharge of firearms round +them, and then some forty negroes rushed at them.</p> +<p>"On your feet now, men," Frank shouted. "Take steady aim and +bring down a man with each shot."</p> +<p>A cheer broke from the sailors. Four shots were fired from +Frank's side, and five from George Lechmere's, and with them came +the cracks of Frank's revolver, followed almost directly afterwards +by those of the pistols carried by the men, and George Lechmere's +revolver.</p> +<p>Scarce a shot missed. Ten of the negroes fell, and those +attacking from the right turned and bolted among the trees. The +negroes on the left, however, inspired by the roaring of the horns +and the shrieking yells of the Obi man, came on with greater +determination and dashed across the path.</p> +<p>"Now, Dominique, at them!" Frank shouted, as with the two +sailors he rushed across.</p> +<p>The numbers now were not very uneven. Of the twenty negroes on +that side, five had fallen under the musketry and pistol fire, and +two others were wounded; and as Frank's party and the blacks fell +upon them they hesitated. The struggle was not doubtful for a +moment. Six of the negroes were cut down, and the rest fled.</p> +<p>"Don't pursue them, men," Frank shouted; and the sailors at once +drew off, but Dominique and his black boatmen still pursued hotly, +overtaking and cutting down three more of their assailants.</p> +<p>"All is over for the present," Frank said, going to the spot +where Bertha and Anna were crouching. "Not one of us is hurt as far +as I know, and we have accounted for sixteen or seventeen of these +rascals."</p> +<p>Bertha got up. She was a little pale, but perfectly calm and +quiet.</p> +<p>"It is horrid, being hidden like that when you are all fighting, +Frank," she said, reproachfully.</p> +<p>"We were hidden, too, till they came at us," he said; "and very +lucky it was, for some of us would probably have been hit, bad +shots though they are."</p> +<p>"No, Frank, not before all these men," she remonstrated.</p> +<p>"What do I care for the men?" he laughed. "Do you think if they +had their sweethearts with them they would mind who was looking +on?</p> +<p>"There, I must be content with that for the present. We must +push on again."</p> +<p>Dominique had returned now with his men, and the party started +again at a trot, as soon as the firearms had all been reloaded.</p> +<p>"We shan't have any more trouble, shall we?" Bertha asked.</p> +<p>"Not for the present," he said. "We have fairly routed the +blacks who came here with you, and the villagers, and they +certainly won't attack us again until they are largely reinforced; +which they cannot be until we get down towards the sea, for there +are no villages of any size in the hills."</p> +<p>After keeping up the pace for a mile, Frank ordered the men to +drop into a walk again.</p> +<p>"Now, Frank, about my mother?" Bertha asked again as soon as she +had got her breath; and Frank related all that had taken place up +to the time that the Osprey sailed.</p> +<p>"Then she is all alone in town? It must be terrible for her, +waiting there without any news of me. It is a pity that she did not +go home. It would not have mattered about me, and it would have +been so much better for her among her old friends. They would all +have sympathised with her so much."</p> +<p>"I quite agreed with her, Bertha, and think still that it was +better that she should stay in London. I am sure the sympathy would +do her harm rather than good. As it is, now she will be kept up by +the belief that she is doing all in her power for you, by saving +you from the hideous amount of talk and chatter there would be if +this affair were known."</p> +<p>"Of course, it would be horrid, Frank, and perhaps you are +right, but it must be an awful trial."</p> +<p>"I have done all I could to set her mind at rest," Frank said. +"I wrote to her directly I arrived at Gibraltar, and again as soon +as I got the letter from Madeira saying that the brigantine had +touched there. I wrote from Madeira again with what news I could +pick up, and again from Porto Rico, from the Virgin Islands, and +from San Domingo. Of course, from there I was able to say that the +scent was getting hot, and that I had no doubt I should not be long +before I fell in with the brigantine. Then I sent another letter +from Jaquemel. That seems to me a long time ago, for we have done +so much since; but it is not more than ten days back. We will post +another letter the first time that we touch anywhere, on the off +chance of its going home by a mail steamer, and getting there +before us."</p> +<p>"It was wonderful your finding out that I had been carried off +in the Phantom. That was what troubled me most, except about +mother. I did not see how you could guess that the brigantine we +had both noticed the day before was the Phantom. I felt sure that +you would suspect who it was, but I could not see how you would +connect the two together."</p> +<p>"You see, I did not guess it at first," he replied. "I felt sure +that it was Carthew from the first minute when I found that you had +not landed, and it was just the luck of finding out that the +Phantom's crew had returned, and that they had been paid off at +Ostend, that put me on the track. Of course, directly I heard that +she had been altered and turned into a brigantine, I felt sure that +she was the craft that we had noticed; and as soon as I learned +through Lloyd's that she had sailed south from the Lizard, I felt +certain that she must have gone up the Mediterranean, or to the +West Indies. I felt sure it was the latter. However, it was a great +relief when I got a letter from Lloyd's agent at Madeira, telling +me that the brigantine had touched there, and I felt certain that I +should hear of you either here or at one of the South American +ports."</p> +<p>They kept on until they reached the hut at the point where the +path forked. It was found to be empty.</p> +<p>"Open the basket," Frank said. "We must have a meal before we go +further. We have come about half the distance.</p> +<p>"Now, Bertha, there is the bay, you see, and it is all downhill, +which is a comfort. Do you feel tired, dear?"</p> +<p>"Not tired," she said, "but my feet are aching a bit. You see, I +had thin deck shoes on when we were hurried ashore, and they are +not good for walking long distances in."</p> +<p>"Well, we will have a quarter of an hour's rest," he said. "It +is getting dark fast, and by the time we go on it will be night, +and will be a great deal cooler than it has been."</p> +<p>"I can go on at once if you like," she said.</p> +<p>"No, dear; there is no use in hurrying. We may as well stop half +an hour as a quarter. Don't you hear that?"</p> +<p>The girl listened.</p> +<p>"It is a horn, is it not?" she asked, after a pause.</p> +<p>"Yes, I can hear it in half a dozen directions," he said. "That +scoundrel of an Obi man is down there ahead of us, and that +unearthly row he and his followers are making will rouse up all the +villagers within hearing. We will try to give him the slip. I +intend to take the path we came by for four or five miles, and then +to strike off by one to the right, and hit the main road to Port au +Prince, a good bit to the east of where we quitted it. The country +is all cultivated there, and we will strike down towards the bay +and make our way through the fields, and if we have luck we may be +able to get down to the place where the gig will be waiting for us +without meeting any of them."</p> +<p>"Oh, I do hope there will be no more fighting, Frank! You may +not all get off as well as you did last time."</p> +<p>"We must take our chance of that, dear. At any rate the country +will be open, and we shall be able to keep in a solid body, and I +have no doubt that we shall be able to beat them off."</p> +<p>"Could we not go down to the shore, and get a boat somewhere, +and row to the yacht?"</p> +<p>"Yes, we might manage that, perhaps. That is a capital idea, +Bertha. There is a place called Nipes, twelve or fourteen miles +east of our inlet. It won't be very much further to go, for we have +been bearing eastward all the way here. Making sure that we shall +go straight for the yacht, they will gather in that direction +first, and won't think of giving the alarm so far east. There was a +path, if I remember right, that came up from that direction a +quarter of a mile further on. We will turn off by it."</p> +<p>As soon as the meal was over they started again. They found the +path Frank had spoken of, and followed it down until they came +among trees. Then Dominique lighted his lantern again.</p> +<p>For a time the two women kept on travelling, but after five +miles Bertha was compelled to stop and take off her shoes +altogether. For two miles further she refused the offers to carry +her, but at last was forced to own that she could go no +further.</p> +<p>The two litters were at once brought up, and the four sailors, +Dominique and the three uninjured boatmen, lifted them and went +along at a trot, George Lechmere leading the way with a lantern. +The weight of the girls, divided between four strong men, was a +mere trifle, and they now made much more rapid progress than they +had before, and in three quarters of an hour arrived at Nipes.</p> +<p>As they got to the little town, Bertha and Anna got out and +walked, so as to attract as little attention as possible among the +negroes in the streets. Dominique answered all questions, stating +that they were a party belonging to a ship in Marsouin Bay, that +they had been on a sporting expedition over the hills, and had lost +their way, and now wanted a boat to take them back.</p> +<p>As soon as they reached the strand half a dozen were offered to +them. Dominique chose the one that looked the fastest. He told the +boatman that the ladies were very tired, and they wanted to get +back as soon as possible, and he must, therefore, engage ten men to +row, as the wind was so slight as to be useless.</p> +<p>As he did not haggle about terms, the bargain was speedily +concluded, and in a few minutes they put off. The men, animated by +the handsome rate of pay they were to receive, rowed hard, and in a +little over two hours they entered the inlet at the end of which +the Osprey was lying. As they neared the end the boatmen were +surprised at seeing a large number of people with torches on the +rising ground, and something like panic seized them when they heard +the Obi horns sounding. They dropped their oars at once.</p> +<p>"Tell them to row on, Dominique," Frank said, "and to keep close +along the opposite side. Tell them that if they don't do so we will +shoot them. No; tell them that we will chuck them overboard and row +on ourselves."</p> +<p>"There is the place where we landed," Frank said presently to +Bertha (the men had resumed their rowing), "just under where you +see that clump of torches."</p> +<p>"Ah, there is our boat," he broke off suddenly, as it appeared +in the line of the reflection of the torches on the water.</p> +<p>It was half a mile away, lying a few hundred yards from shore. +He took out the dog whistle that he used when coming down to the +landing stage to summon the boat from the yacht, and blew it. There +was a stir in the boat, and a moment later it was speeding towards +them.</p> +<p>"Row on, Dominique. She will pick us up in no time."</p> +<p>And long before they reached the Osprey the gig was +alongside.</p> +<p>"Thank God that you are back, sir," they cried as they came +abreast. "We have been in terrible anxiety about you. Have you +succeeded, sir?"</p> +<p>"Don't cheer. I want to get back to the yacht before they know +that we are here. Yes, thank God, I have succeeded. Miss Greendale +and her maid are on board."</p> +<p>A low cheer, which even his order could not entirely suppress, +came from the three men in the boat. The mate was himself rowing +stroke.</p> +<p>"We did not dare bring any more hands, sir," he said. "There has +been such a hubbub on shore for the last hour and a half that we +thought it likely that they and the Phantom's people might be going +to attack us. We rowed to the landing at ten o'clock, as you +ordered us, but in a short time a party of men came along close to +the water, and as soon as they saw us they opened fire on us, and +we had to row off sharp. We have been lying off here since. We did +not see how you could get down through that lot, but we thought it +better to wait. I did think there was just a hope that you might +make your way down to the coast somewhere else and come on in a +shore boat.</p> +<p>"Well, here we are, sir."</p> +<p>As he spoke they came alongside the Osprey.</p> +<p>"Is it you, sir?" Hawkins asked eagerly.</p> +<p>"Look here, lads," Frank replied, standing up, "above all things +I don't want any cheering, or any noise whatever. I don't want them +to know that we have got on board. I know that you will all rejoice +with me, for I have brought off Miss Greendale, and none of our +party except one of the boatmen has been wounded in any way +seriously."</p> +<p>There was a murmur of deep satisfaction from the crew. As Bertha +stepped on deck the men crowded round with low exclamations of "God +bless you, miss! This is a good day indeed for us!"</p> +<p>Bertha, in reply to the greeting, shook hands all round.</p> +<p>"I see you have not put out the lights in the cabin yet, +Hawkins. I will just go down with Miss Greendale and see that she +is comfortable, and then I will come up again."</p> +<p>"Oh, Frank!" the girl exclaimed, bursting into tears as they +entered the saloon, "this is happiness indeed. I feel at home +already."</p> +<p>Frank remained with her for three or four minutes.</p> +<p>"Now, dear, take possession of your old cabin again. No doubt +Anna is there already. She had better share it with you.</p> +<p>"Now I must go up and finish with the Phantom at once. Do not be +afraid, I shall take them by surprise, and there will be very +little fighting."</p> +<p>And without waiting for remonstrance he hurried on deck.</p> +<p>"Are the men armed, Hawkins?"</p> +<p>"That they are, sir. We have been expecting an attack every +minute. There have been three or four shore boats going off to the +brigantine within the last quarter of an hour."</p> +<p>"I am going to be beforehand with them, Hawkins."</p> +<p>"They've got both those guns pointing this way, sir."</p> +<p>"I am not coming from this way to attack them, Hawkins. I am +going to put all hands in that native craft I came in, row off a +little distance from this side, then make a circuit, and come down +on the other side of them. I will leave George Lechmere here with +four men, with three muskets apiece, so that if they should start +before we get there they can keep them off until we arrive. If I +can get a few of the boatmen to enlist I will do so."</p> +<p>He spoke to Dominique, who went to the side and asked:</p> +<p>"If any of you are disposed to stop here to guard the craft for +a quarter of an hour, in case she is attacked, the gentleman here +will pay twenty dollars a man; but remember that you may have to +fight."</p> +<p>The whole crew rose. Twenty dollars was a fortune to them.</p> +<p>"Come on board, then," Dominique said.</p> +<p>"I don't know whether these fellows are to be trusted, George, +but I hope you won't be attacked. Keep these fifteen muskets for +yourselves. Put four apiece by the bulwarks and station yourselves +by them. Keep your eyes on these boatmen, put the oars of the boat +handy for them, and let them arm themselves with them. If you are +attacked an oar is not a bad weapon for repelling boarders."</p> +<p>"All right, Major. I will station two of them between each of +us."</p> +<p>By this time the captain had picked out the four men that were +to remain, and had the rest drawn up in readiness to get into the +boat.</p> +<p>"Get in quietly, lads," Frank said. "Ten of you man the oars. We +will put an end to the Phantom's wanderings tonight."</p> +<p>"That we will, sir," was the hearty rejoinder of the men.</p> +<p>Frank took the tiller, and they rowed straight away from the +Osprey for a hundred yards, when Frank steered towards the right +bank, where there were no torches, and where all was quiet. The +brigantine could be seen plainly, standing up against the glare of +the torches on the other side. They rowed three or four hundred +yards beyond her, then taking a turn approached her on the side +opposite to that facing the Osprey. Three native boats like their +own were lying beside her, and there was a crowd of men on her +deck.</p> +<p>Frank brought her round alongside of these boats. He had already +ordered that firearms were not to be used in the first place.</p> +<p>"I don't want to kill any of these blacks," he said. "They have +nothing to do with the affair, and they believe us to be pirates. I +expect that we shall get on board unnoticed. Then with a cheer go +at them with the flat of your cutlasses. You can use the edge on +the whites if they resist. But I expect that the blacks will all +jump overboard in a panic, and that then the whites, seeing that +they are outnumbered, will surrender."</p> +<p>No one, indeed, noticed them. There was a great hubbub and +confusion, and the captain was endeavouring to get them into +something like order; when suddenly there was a loud cheer, and +Frank's party fell upon them. Yells of terror rose as the sailors, +Dominique, and his blacks sprang among them, striking heavily with +the flat of their cutlasses, and the sailors using their fists +freely. Frank had brought with him a heavy belaying pin, and used +it with great effect.</p> +<p>The blacks in the panic fell over each other, and rushing to the +side jumped overboard, some into their boats, and some into the +water. The white sailors, carried away by the stampede, and +separated from each other, were unable to act. The captain, drawing +a brace of pistols from his belt, fired one shot, but before he +could fire another Frank hurled the iron belaying pin at him. It +struck him in the face, and he fell insensible. The Belgian +sailors, seeing themselves altogether outnumbered, and without a +leader, threw down their arms.</p> +<p>"Tie their hands and feet," Frank ordered, "and bundle them into +one of the native boats."</p> +<p>Two of these had pushed off and lay fifty yards away, and the +sea was dotted with the heads of swimmers making towards them. The +Belgian sailors were placed in the other boat.</p> +<p>"Put their captain in, too," Frank said. "He will come round +presently.</p> +<p>"Now four of you jump into our boat and cast her off.</p> +<p>"Captain, will you look about for the oil, and pour it over all +the beds, but don't set them on fire until I give the order.</p> +<p>"Now, lads, two of you run below, and get the cushions off the +starboard sofa.</p> +<p>"Purvis, get the skylight open on the port side, and wheel the +two guns round, and point them down into the cabin. I will train +them myself on the same spot just at the back of that seat. They +might come off and extinguish the fire, though I don't think they +will; but we will make sure by blowing a hole through her side +under the water line."</p> +<p>Five minutes were sufficient to make the preparations, and the +captain came up and reported that all was ready.</p> +<p>"I have heaped up all the bedding on the floor, sir, and poured +plenty of oil over it," he said.</p> +<p>"Very well, then, take two men aft, and begin there and work +your way forward, and finish with the fo'c'sle hammocks. You can +begin at once."</p> +<p>In a minute there was a glare of light through the stern cabin +skylight, while almost at the same moment a dense cloud of smoke +poured up the companion. Then the light shone up through the +bull's-eyes on deck of the other staterooms. Then the captain and +the two hands ran through the saloon forward. Frank went to the +fo'castle hatch, and stooping down saw the captain apply the fire +to a great heap of bedding.</p> +<p>"That will do, Hawkins," he said. "Come up at once with the men, +or you will be suffocated down there."</p> +<p>They ran up on deck, and a minute later a volume of flame burst +out through the hatch. Frank went to the guns, and lighting two +matches gave one to Hawkins.</p> +<p>"Now," he said, "both together."</p> +<p>The two reports were blended in one, and as the smoke cleared +away Frank could see, by the cabin lamp that was still burning, a +spurt of water shooting up from a ragged hole at the back of the +sofa. Fired at such a short distance, the bullets with which the +guns were crammed had struck like solid shot.</p> +<p>"Into the boats, men!" Frank shouted.</p> +<p>"Shall we take these chaps off with us, sir?" the captain said. +"They will be keepsakes."</p> +<p>"All right, Hawkins, in with them."</p> +<p>The tongue of fire leaping up from the forecastle, followed by +the discharge of the guns, had been the first intimation to those +on the Osprey of what had happened. Bertha and her maid ran up on +deck at the sound of the cannon.</p> +<p>"What is that?" the former asked, in alarm.</p> +<p>"It is all right, Miss Greendale," George Lechmere said, leaving +the side and coming up to her. "The Major has captured the +brigantine almost without fighting. There was only one pistol shot +fired. I did not hear a single clash of a sword, and the blacks on +board jumped straight into the water. I was just coming to call you +as you came up. The brigantine is well on fire, you see."</p> +<p>"But I thought I heard the cannon."</p> +<p>"Yes, the Major has fired them down the skylight, so as to make +sure of her. Do you see, miss, they are putting the guns in the +boat now. They will be back here in a few minutes."</p> +<p>By the time the boat came alongside, the flames from the after +skylight had lit the mainsail and were running up the rigging. A +minute later they burst out from the companion and the +skylight.</p> +<p>"Thank God that is all over, Frank," Bertha said, as they stood +together watching the sight.</p> +<p>The inlet was now lit up from side to side. On shore a state of +wild excitement prevailed. The boats had reached the shore, and the +negroes there had rushed down to hear what had taken place, and to +inquire after friends. Above the yells and shouts of the frenzied +negroes sounded the deep roar of the horns, and the angry beating +of the Obi drums. Numbers of torch bearers were among the crowd, +and although nearly half a mile away, the scene could be perfectly +made out from the yacht.</p> +<p>The boatmen had received their promised pay as soon as Frank had +reached the yacht, and had taken their places in their boat, but +Dominique told Frank that they would not go till the Osprey sailed, +as they were afraid of being pursued and attacked by the villagers' +boats if they did so.</p> +<h2><a name="Ch19" id="Ch19">Chapter 19</a>.</h2> +<p>As Frank stood gazing at the scene, George Lechmere touched him. +Frank, looking round, saw that he wished to speak to him +privately.</p> +<p>"What is it, George?" he asked, when he had stepped a few paces +from Bertha.</p> +<p>"Look there, Major," George said, handing him a field glass. "I +thought I had settled old scores with him, but the devil has looked +after his own."</p> +<p>"You don't mean to say, George, that it is Carthew again."</p> +<p>"It is he, sure enough, sir. I would have sworn that I had done +for him. If I had thought there had been the slightest doubt about +it, I would have put a pistol ball through his head."</p> +<p>Frank raised the glass to his eyes. Just where the torches were +thickest, he could make out a man's figure raised above the heads +of the rest. He was supported on a litter. His head was swathed +with bandages. He had raised himself into a sitting position, +supported by one arm, while he waved the other passionately. He was +evidently haranguing the crowd.</p> +<p>As Frank looked, he saw the figure sink down. Then there was a +deep roll of the drum, and a fantastic-looking figure, daubed as it +seemed with paint and wearing a huge mask, appeared in his place. +The drum and the horns were silent, and the shouting of the negroes +was at once hushed. This man, too, harangued the crowd, and when he +ceased there was a loud yell and a general movement among the +throng. At that moment, Hawkins came up.</p> +<p>"The chain is up and down, sir. Shall I make sail? The wind is +very light, but I think that it is enough to take her out."</p> +<p>"Yes, make sail, Hawkins, as quickly as you can. I am afraid +that those fellows are coming out to attack us, and I don't want to +kill any of the poor devils. There is a small boat coming out from +the shore towards that craft. The white sailors are on board, and +we shall have them on us, too."</p> +<p>"Up with the anchor," Hawkins shouted. "Make sail at once. Look +sharp, my hearties, work with a will, or we shall have those +niggers on us again."</p> +<p>Never was sail made on the Osprey more quickly, and by the time +that the anchor was apeak all the lower sails were set.</p> +<p>"Shall I tell the blacks to tow their boat behind us?" Hawkins +asked Frank, as the yacht began to steal through the water.</p> +<p>"No; let them tow alongside, Hawkins. I don't suppose the people +ashore know that we have a native boat with us. If they did, they +would be sure that it came from Nipes, and it might set up a feud +and cost them their lives, especially as that Obi scoundrel is +concerned in the affair."</p> +<p>Then he moved away to George Lechmere.</p> +<p>"Don't say a word about that fellow Carthew," he said. "Miss +Greendale thinks he is killed; and it is just as well that she +should continue to think that she is safe from him in the +future."</p> +<p>"So far as she is concerned, I think that is true; but I would +not answer for you, Major. You have ruined his plans, and burned +his yacht, and as long as he lives he will never forgive you."</p> +<p>"Well, it is of no use to worry about it now, George; but I +expect that we shall hear more about him someday."</p> +<p>"What are they doing, Frank?" Bertha asked, as he rejoined her. +"I think that they are getting into the boats again."</p> +<p>"Yes. I fancy they are going to try to take us, but they have no +more chance of doing so than they have of flying. The Obi man has +worked them up to a state of frenzy, but it will evaporate pretty +quickly when they get within range of our muskets."</p> +<p>"But we have got the cannon on board, have we not?"</p> +<p>"Yes; but we did not bring off any ammunition with us. It was +the men's idea to bring them as a trophy. However, I have plenty of +powder and can load them with bullets; but I certainly won't use +them if it can be possibly avoided. I have no grudge against the +poor fellows who have been told that we are desperate pirates, and +who are only doing what they believe to be a meritorious action in +trying to capture us."</p> +<p>In a few minutes six boats put out from the shore. The Osprey +was not going through the water more than two miles an hour, though +she had every stitch of canvas spread. Frank had the guns taken aft +and loaded. As the boats came within the circle of the light of the +burning yacht, it could be seen that they were crowded with men, +who encouraged themselves with defiant yells and shouts, which +excited the derision of the Osprey's crew. When they got within a +quarter of a mile they opened a fusillade of musketry, but the +balls dropped in the water some distance astern of the yacht. As +the boats came nearer, however, they began to drop round her.</p> +<p>"Sit down behind the bulwarks," Frank said. "They are not good +shots, but a stray ball might come on board, and there is no use +running risks."</p> +<p>By this time he had persuaded Bertha to go below. The boats +rowed on until some seventy or eighty yards off the Osprey. The +shouting had gradually died away, for the silence on board the +yacht oppressed them. There was something unnatural about it, and +their superstitious fear of the Obi man disappeared before their +dread of the unknown.</p> +<p>As if affected simultaneously by the disquietude of their +companions, the rowers all stopped work at the same moment. +Dominique had already received instructions, and at once hailed +them in French.</p> +<p>"If you value your lives, turn back. We have the guns of the +brigantine. They are crammed with bullets and are pointed at you. +The owner has but to give the word, and you will all be blown to +pieces. He is a good man, and wishes you no harm. We have come here +not to quarrel with you poor ignorant black fellows, but to rescue +two ladies the villain that ship belongs to had carried off. +Therefore, go away back to your wives and families while you are +able to, for if you come but one foot nearer not one of you will +live to return."</p> +<p>The news, that the Osprey had the cannon from the brigantine on +board, came like a thunderbolt upon the negroes. The prospect of a +fight with the men who had so easily captured the brigantine was +unpleasant enough, but that they were also to encounter cannon was +altogether too much for them, and a general shout of "Don't fire; +we go back!" rose from the boats.</p> +<p>For a minute or two they lay motionless, afraid even to dip an +oar in the water lest it should bring down a storm upon them, but +as the Osprey glided slowly away the rearmost boat began to turn +round, the others followed her example, and they were soon rowing +back even more rapidly than they had come.</p> +<p>"You can cast off that boat, Hawkins, as soon as we are out into +the bay," Frank said, and then went down below.</p> +<p>"Our troubles are all over at last, dear, and we can have a +quiet talk," he said. "As I expected, the negroes lost heart as +soon as they came near, and the threat of a round of grape from the +guns finally settled them. They are off for home, and we shall hear +no more of them. Now you had best be off to bed at once. You have +had a terrible day of it, and it is just two o'clock.</p> +<p>"Ah! that is right," he broke off, as the steward entered +carrying a tray with tea things. "I had forgotten all about that +necessity. You had better call Anna in; she must want a cup too, +poor girl."</p> +<p>"Yes, I should like a cup of tea," Bertha said, as she sat down +to the tray, "but I really don't feel so tired as you would +think."</p> +<p>"You will feel it all the more afterwards, I am afraid," Frank +replied. "The excitement has kept you up."</p> +<p>"Yes, we felt dreadfully tired, didn't we, Anna, before we gave +up? But the two hours' row in the boat, and all this excitement +here, have made me almost forget it. It seems to me now quite +impossible that it can be only about nine hours since you rushed +out so suddenly with your men. It seems to me quite far off; +further than many things do that happened a week ago. And please to +remember that your advice to go to bed is quite as seasonable in +your case as in mine."</p> +<p>When he had seen them leave the saloon, Frank went on deck for a +last look round.</p> +<p>"I don't think that there is a chance of anything happening +before morning, Hawkins, but you will, of course, keep a sharp +lookout and let me know."</p> +<p>"I will look out, sir. I have sent the four hands who were with +you down to their berths, as soon as the niggers turned back. +Lechmere has turned in, too."</p> +<p>"Is the wind freshening at all?"</p> +<p>"Not yet, sir. I don't suppose that we shall get more than we +have now till day begins to break. Still, we are crawling on and +shall be out in the bay in another quarter of an hour."</p> +<p>When Frank got up at sunrise he found that the yacht was just +rounding the point of the bay. He looked behind. No boat was in +view.</p> +<p>"Nothing moving, I see," he said as the first mate, who was in +charge, came up.</p> +<p>"We have not seen a thing on the water, sir."</p> +<p>"I hardly expected that there would be. It is probable that, as +soon as the boats got back, Carthew sent his skipper or mate off +with a couple of the men to Port au Prince, to lay a complaint for +piracy against me. But, even if they got horses, it would take them +a couple of days to get there; that is, if they are not much better +riders than the majority of sailors are. Then it is likely that +there would be some time lost in formalities, and even if there was +a Government steamer lying in the port, it would take her a long +time to get up steam. Moreover, I am by no means sure that even +Carthew would venture on such an impudent thing as that. It is +certain that we should get into a bad scrape for boarding and +burning a vessel in Haytian waters, but that is all the harm he +could do us. The British Consul would certainly be more likely to +believe the story of the owner of a Royal Squadron yacht, backed by +that of her captain, mates and crew, and by Miss Greendale and her +maid; than the tale of the owner of a vessel that could give no +satisfactory explanation for being here. Besides, he will know that +before a steamer could start in chase we should be certainly two, +or perhaps three, days away, and whether we should make for Jamaica +or Bermuda, or round the northwestern point of the bay, and then +for England, he could have no clue whatever."</p> +<p>"How shall I lay her course, sir? The wind has freshened +already, and we are slipping through the water at a good four knots +now."</p> +<p>"We will keep along this side, as far as the Point at any rate. +If Carthew has sent for a steamer, he is likely to have ordered a +man down to this headland to see which course we are taking. When +we have got so far that we cannot be made out from there, we will +sail north for Cape la Mole. I think it would be safe enough to lay +our course at once, but I do not wish to run the slightest risk +that can be avoided."</p> +<p>The wind continued to freshen, and to Frank's satisfaction they +were, when Bertha came on deck at eight o'clock, running along the +coast at seven knots an hour.</p> +<p>"Have you slept well?" he asked, as he took her hand.</p> +<p>"Yes. I thought when I lay down that it would be impossible for +me to sleep at all—it had been such a wonderful day, it was all so +strange, so sudden, and so happy—and just as I was thinking so, I +suppose I dropped off and slept till Anna woke me three quarters of +an hour ago, and told me what time it was.</p> +<p>"Frank, I did not say anything yesterday, not even a single word +of thanks, for all that you have done for me; but you know very +well that it was not because I did not feel it, but because if I +had said anything at all I should have broken down, and that was +the very thing that I knew I ought not to do. But you know, don't +you, that I shall have all my life to prove how thankful I am."</p> +<p>"I know, dear, and between us surely nothing need be said. I am +as thankful that I have been the means of saving you, as you can be +that I was almost miraculously enabled to follow your track so +successfully."</p> +<p>"Breakfast is ready, sir," the steward announced from the +companion.</p> +<p>"Coming, steward.</p> +<p>"I have told them, Bertha, to lay for three. I thought that it +would be pleasanter for you to have Anna with you at meals, as I +suppose she has taken them with you since you were carried +off."</p> +<p>"Thank you," she said, gratefully. "It won't be quite so nice +for you, I know, but perhaps it will be better."</p> +<p>"Well, Anna, you are looking very well," Frank said as he sat +down.</p> +<p>"You must officiate with the coffee, Bertha. I will see after +the eatables."</p> +<p>"Yes, Anna does look well," Bertha said. "She has borne up +capitally, ever since the first two days. We have had all our meals +together in our cabin."</p> +<p>"Miss Greendale has been a great deal braver than I have, sir," +Anna said, quietly. "She has been wonderfully brave, and though she +is very good to say that I have borne up well, I know very well +that I have not been as brave as I ought; and I could not help +breaking down and crying sometimes, for I did think that we should +never get home again."</p> +<p>"Except carrying you away, Carthew did not behave altogether so +badly, Bertha?"</p> +<p>"No. The first day that we got on board he told me that I was to +stay there until I consented to marry him. I told him that in that +case I should become a permanent resident on board, but that sooner +or later I should be rescued. He only said then, that he hoped that +I should change my mind in time. He admitted that his conduct had +been inexcusable, but that his love for me had driven him to it, +and that he had only won me as many a knight had won a bride before +now.</p> +<p>"At first I made sure that, when we put into a port, I should be +able somehow to make my condition known; but I realised for the +first time what it was going to be, when I saw us stand off the +Lizard and lay her head for the south. Up to that time I had +scarcely exchanged a word with him. I had said at once that unless +I had my meals in my own cabin with Anna, I would eat nothing at +all, and he said, quite courteously, I must confess, that I should +in all respects do as I pleased, consistent with safety.</p> +<p>"From that time he said 'Good morning,' gravely when I came up +on deck with Anna, and made a remark about the weather. I made no +reply, and did not speak until he came to me in the morning, and +said quietly, 'That is the Lizard astern of us, Miss Greendale. We +are bound for the West Indies, the finest cruising ground in the +world, full of quiet little bays where we can anchor for +weeks.'</p> +<p>"'It is monstrous,' I said desperately, for I own that for the +first time I was really frightened. 'Some day you will be punished +for this.'</p> +<p>"'I must risk that,' he said, quietly. 'Of course, at present +you are angry. It is natural that you should be so, but in time you +will forgive me, and will make allowance for the length to which my +affection for you has driven me. It may be six months, it may be +ten years, but however long it may be, I can promise you that, save +for this initial offence, you will have no cause to complain of me. +I am possessed of boundless patience, and can wait for an +indefinite time. In the end I feel sure that your heart will soften +towards me.'</p> +<p>"That was his tone all along. He was perfectly respectful, +perfectly polite. Sometimes for days not a word would be exchanged +between us; sometimes he would come up and talk, or rather, try to +talk, for it was seldom that he got any answer from me. As a rule I +sat in my deck chair with Anna beside me, and he sat on the other +side of the deck, or walked up and down, smoking or talking with +that man who was with him.</p> +<p>"So it went on till the afternoon when we saw you. As I told +you, he made us go down at once. I could see that he was furiously +angry and excited. The steward came to our cabin early in the +morning, and said that Mr. Carthew requested that we would dress +and come up at once. As I was anxious to know what was going on, I +did so; and he said when we came on deck, 'I am very sorry, Miss +Greendale, but I have to ask you to go on shore with us at +once.'</p> +<p>"I had no idea where we were, save that it was somewhere in the +island of San Domingo; but I was ready enough to go ashore, +thinking that I might see some white people that I could appeal +to.</p> +<p>"I did speak to some negroes as we landed, but he said, 'It is +of no use your speaking to them, Miss Greendale, for none of them +understands any language but his own.'</p> +<p>"I saw that they did not understand me, at any rate. I was +frightened when I saw that four of the sailors were going with us, +and that a dozen of the blacks, armed with muskets, also formed +round us. I said that I would not go afoot, but Carthew +answered:</p> +<p>"'It would pain me greatly were I obliged to take such a step; +but if you will not go, there is no course open to me but to have +you carried. I am sorry that it should be so, but for various +reasons it is imperative that you should take up your abode on +shore for the present.'</p> +<p>"Seeing that it was useless to resist, I started with him. A +short distance on, two blacks came up with the horses, which had +evidently been sent for. We mounted, and were taken up among the +hills to the place where you found us. Every mile that we went I +grew more frightened, for it seemed to me that it was infinitely +worse being in his power up in those hills, than on board his +yacht, where something might happen by which I might be released +from him. Those huts you saw had been built beforehand, so that he +had evidently been preparing to take us there if there should be +any reason for leaving the yacht. There was bedding and a couple of +chairs and a table in ours.</p> +<p>"In the morning, while still speaking politely, he made it +evident to me that he considered he could take a stronger tone than +before.</p> +<p>"'I assure you, Miss Greendale,' he said, 'that this poor hut is +but a temporary affair. I will shortly have a more comfortable one +erected for you. You see, your residence here is likely to be a +long one, unless you change your mind. Pray do not nourish any idea +that you can someday escape me. It is out of the question; and +certainly no white man is ever likely to come to this valley, nor +is any negro, except those who live in this village. Its head is an +Obi man, whose will is law to the negroes. Their belief in his +power is unlimited, and I believe that they imagine that he could +slay them with the look of his eye, or turn them into frogs or +toads by his magic power. I pray you to think the matter over +seriously. Why should you waste your life here You did not always +regard me as so hateful; and the love that I bear you is +unchangeable. Even could you, months or years hence, make your +escape, which I regard as impossible, what would your position be +if you returned to England? What story would you have to tell? It +might be a true one, but would it be believed?'</p> +<p>"'I have my maid, sir,' I said, passionately, 'who would confirm +my report of what I have suffered.'</p> +<p>"'No doubt she would,' he said quietly, 'but a maid's testimony +as to her mistress's doings does not go for very much. I +endeavoured to make the voyage, which I foresaw might be a long +one, pleasant to you by requesting you to bring her with you, and I +believe that ladies who elope not unfrequently take their maids +with them. But we need not discuss that. This valley will be your +home, Miss Greendale, until you consent to leave it as my wife. I +do not say that I shall always share your solitude here. I shall +cruise about, and may even for a time return to England, but that +will in no way alter your position. I have been in communication +with the Obi gentleman since I first put into the bay, and he has +arranged to take charge of your safety while I am away. He is not a +pleasant man to look at, and I have no doubt that he is an +unmitigated scoundrel—but his powers are unlimited. If he ordered +his followers to offer you and your maid as sacrifices to his +fetish, they would carry out his orders, not only willingly, but +joyfully. He is a gentleman who, like his class, has a keen eye to +the main chance, and will, I doubt not, take every precaution to +prevent a source of considerable income from escaping him.'</p> +<p>"'You understand,' he went on, in a different manner, 'I do not +wish to threaten you—very far from it. I have endeavoured from the +time that you set foot on board to make you as comfortable as +possible, and to abstain from thrusting myself upon you in the +slightest degree, and I shall always pursue the same course. But +please understand that nothing will shake my resolution. It will +pain me deeply to have to keep you in a place like this, but keep +you I must until you consent to be mine. You must see yourself the +hopelessness, as well as the folly, of holding out. On the one side +is a life wasted here, on the other you will be the wife of a man +who loves you above all things; who has risked everything by the +step that he has taken, and who, when you consent, will devote his +life to your happiness. You will be restored to your friends and to +your position, and nought will be known, except that we made a +runaway match, as many have done before us. Do not answer now. At +any rate I will remain here for a couple of months, and by the end +of that time you may see that the alternative is not so terrible a +one.'</p> +<p>"Then, without another word, he turned and walked away; and +nothing further passed between us until in the afternoon, when you +so suddenly arrived."</p> +<p>"Thank God, he behaved better than I should have given him +credit for," Frank said, when she had finished. "He must have felt +absolutely certain that there was no chance whatever of your +rescue, and that in time you would be forced to accept him, or he +would hardly have refrained from pushing his suit more urgently. +His calculations were well made, and if we had not noticed that +brigantine at Cowes, and I had not had the luck to come upon some +of his crew and pick up his track, he might have been +successful."</p> +<p>"You don't think that I should ever have consented to marry +him?" Bertha said, indignantly.</p> +<p>"I am sure that such a thought never entered your head, Bertha; +but you cannot tell what the effect of a hopeless captivity would +have had upon you. The fellow had judged you well, and he saw that +the attitude of respect he adopted would afford him a far better +chance of winning you, than roughness or threats would do. But he +might have resorted to them afterwards, and you were so wholly and +absolutely in his power, that you would almost have been driven to +accept the alternative and become his wife."</p> +<p>She shook her head decidedly.</p> +<p>"I would have killed him first," she said. "I suppose some girls +would say, 'I would have killed myself;' but I should not have +thought of that—at any rate not until I had failed to kill him. +Every woman has the same right to defend herself that a man has, +and I should have no more felt that I was to blame, if I had killed +him, than you would do when you killed a man who had done you no +individual harm, in battle."</p> +<p>"We only want mamma here," she said a little later, as she took +her seat in a deck chair, "to complete the illusion that we are +sailing along somewhere on the Devonshire coast. The hills are +higher and more wooded, but the general idea is the same. I suppose +I ought to feel it very shocking, cruising about with you, without +anyone but Anna with me; but somehow it does not feel so."</p> +<p>"No wonder, dear. You see, we have been looking forward to doing +exactly the same thing in the spring."</p> +<p>"I think we had better not talk about that now," she said, +flushing. "I intend to make believe, till we get to England, that +mamma is down below, and that I may be called at any moment. How +long shall we be before we are there?"</p> +<p>"I cannot say, Bertha. I shall have a talk with Hawkins, +presently, as to what course we had better take. It may be best to +sail to Bermuda. If we find a mail steamer about to start from +there, we might go home in it, and get there a fortnight earlier +than we should do in the yacht, perhaps more. However, that we can +talk over. I can see there may be difficulties, but undoubtedly the +sooner you are home the better. You see, we are well in November +now.</p> +<p>"What day is it?" he reflected.</p> +<p>"I have lost all count, Frank."</p> +<p>He consulted a pocketbook.</p> +<p>"Today is the twenty-first of November. I should think that if +we get favourable winds, we might make Bermuda in a week—ten days +at the outside; and if we could catch a steamer a day or two after +getting there, you might be able to spend your Christmas at +Greendale."</p> +<p>"That would be very nice. The difficulty would be, that I might +afterwards meet some of the people who were with us on the +steamer."</p> +<p>"It would not be likely," he said. "Still, we can talk it over. +At any rate, from the Bermudas we can send a letter to your mother, +and set her mind at rest."</p> +<p>The captain and Purvis, consulting the book of sailing +directions, came to the conclusion that the passage via the +Bermudas would be distinctly the best and shortest. The wind was +abeam and steady, and with all sail set the Osprey maintained a +speed of nine knots an hour until Bermuda was in sight. They were +still undecided as to whether they had better go home by the mail, +but it was settled for them by their finding, on entering the port, +that the steamer had touched there the day before and gone on the +same evening, and that it was not probable that any other steamer +would be sailing for England for another ten days.</p> +<p>They stopped only long enough to lay in a store of fresh +provisions and water, of which the supply was now beginning to run +very short. Indeed, had not the wind been so steady, all hands +would have been placed on half rations of water.</p> +<p>Bertha did not land. She was nervously afraid of meeting anyone +who might recognise her afterwards, and six hours after entering +the port the Osprey was again under way. The wind, as is usual at +Barbadoes, was blowing from the southwest; and it held with them +the whole way home, so that after a remarkably quick run they +dropped anchor off Southampton on the fifteenth of December. Frank +had already made all arrangements with the captain to lay up the +Osprey at once.</p> +<p>"I shall want her out again in the first week in April, so that +she will not be long in winter quarters."</p> +<p>On landing, Frank despatched a telegram to Lady Greendale:</p> +<p>"Returned all safe and well. Just starting for town. Shall be +with you about six o'clock."</p> +<p>The train was punctual, and five minutes before six Frank +arrived with Bertha at Lady Greendale's. He had already told Bertha +that he should not come in.</p> +<p>"It is much better that you should be alone with her for a time. +She will have innumerable questions to ask, and would, of course, +prefer to have you to herself. I will come round tomorrow morning +after breakfast."</p> +<p>Anna had been instructed very carefully, by her mistress, not to +say anything of what had happened, and in order that she might +avoid questions, George Lechmere had seen her into a cab for +Liverpool Street, as she wished to spend a week with some friends +at Chelmsford. Then she was to join Bertha at Greendale.</p> +<p>Frank went to his chambers, where George Lechmere had driven +with the luggage. The next morning he went early to Lady +Greendale's, so early that he found her and Bertha at +breakfast.</p> +<p>"My dear Frank," the former said, embracing him warmly, "how can +I ever thank you for all that you have done for us! Bertha has been +telling me all about how you rescued her. I hear that you were +wounded, too."</p> +<p>"The wound was of no great importance, and, as you see, I have +thrown aside my sling this morning. Yes, we went through some +exciting adventures, which will furnish us with a store of memories +all our lives.</p> +<p>"How have you been, Lady Greendale? I am glad to see that, at +any rate, you are looking well."</p> +<p>"I have had a terribly anxious time of it, as you may suppose; +but your letters were always so bright and hopeful that they helped +me wonderfully. The first fortnight was the worst. Your letter from +Gibraltar was a great relief, and of course the next, saying that +you had heard that the yacht really did touch at Madeira, showed +that you were on the right track. When you wrote from Madeira, I +sent to Wild's for the largest map of the West Indies that they +had, and thus when I got your letters, I was able to follow your +course and understand all about it. You are looking better than +when I saw you last."</p> +<p>"You should have seen him when I first met him, mamma. I hardly +knew him, he looked so thin and worn; but during the last three +weeks he has filled out again, and he seems to me to be looking +quite himself."</p> +<p>"And Bertha is looking well, too."</p> +<p>"So I ought to do, mamma. I don't think I ever looked very bad, +in spite of my troubles, and the splendid voyage we have had would +have set anyone up."</p> +<p>"It has been a wonderful comfort to me," Lady Greendale said, +"that I have met hardly anyone that I know. The last three weeks or +so I have met two or three people, but I only said that I was up in +town for a short time. Of course, they asked after you, and I said +that you were not with me, as you were spending a short time with +some people whom you knew. We intend to go down home tomorrow."</p> +<p>"The best thing that you can do, Lady Greendale. I shall be down +for Christmas, and the first week in April, you know, I am to carry +her off. So, you see, this excursion of ours has not altered any of +our plans."</p> +<h2><a name="Ch20" id="Ch20">Chapter 20</a>.</h2> +<p>Christmas passed off quietly. As soon as it was known that Lady +Greendale had returned, the neighbours called, and for the next few +months there was the usual round of dinner parties. To all remarks +as to the length of time that she had been away, Lady Greendale +merely replied that Bertha had been staying among friends, and that +as she herself had not been in very good health, she had preferred +staying in town, where she could always find a physician close at +hand if she needed one.</p> +<p>It was not until they had been back for more than a month, that +the engagement between Bertha and Major Mallett was announced by +Lady Greendale to her friends, and it was generally supposed that +it had but just taken place. The announcement gave great +satisfaction, for the general opinion had been that Bertha would +get engaged in London, and that Greendale would be virtually lost +to the county.</p> +<p>The marriage was to take place in April.</p> +<p>"There is no reason for a long delay," Lady Greendale explained. +"They have known each other ever since Bertha was a child. They +intend to spend their honeymoon on board Major Mallett's yacht, the +Osprey, and will go up the Mediterranean until the heat begins to +get too oppressive, when they talk about sailing round the islands, +or, at any rate, cruising for some time off the west of +Scotland."</p> +<p>About the same time, George Lechmere, in a rather mysterious +manner, told Frank that he wished for a few minutes' conversation +with him.</p> +<p>"What is it, George? Anything wrong with the cellar?"</p> +<p>"No, sir, it is not that. The fact is that Anna Parsons, Miss +Greendale's maid, you know, and I, have settled to get married, +too."</p> +<p>"Capital, George, I am heartily glad of it," Frank said, shaking +him warmly by the hand.</p> +<p>"I never thought that I should get to care for anyone again, but +you see we were thrown a good deal together on the voyage home, and +I don't know how it came about, but we had pretty well arranged it +before we got back, and now we have settled it altogether."</p> +<p>"I am not surprised to hear it, George. I rather fancied, from +what I saw on board, that something was likely to come of it. It is +the best thing by far for you."</p> +<p>"Well, sir, as I said, I never thought that I should care for +anyone else, but I am sure that I shall make a better husband, now, +than I should have done had I married five years ago."</p> +<p>"That I am sure you will. You have had a rough lesson, and it +has made a great impression, and I doubt whether your marriage +would have been a happy one had you married then, after what you +told me of your jealous temper. Now I am sure that neither Anna, +nor anyone else, could wish for a better husband than you will +make. Well now, what are you thinking of doing, for I suppose you +have thought it over well?"</p> +<p>"That is what we cannot quite settle, Major. I should like to +stay with you all my life, just as I am."</p> +<p>"I don't see that you could do that—at least, not in your +present condition. There is no farm vacant, and if there were one I +must give the late tenant's son the option of it. That has always +been the rule on the estate. However, we need not settle on that at +present. When are you going to get married? I should like it to be +at the same time as we are. I am sure that Miss Greendale would be +pleased. We both owe you a great deal, and, as you know, I regard +you as my closest friend."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Major, but I am sure that neither Anna nor I would +care to be married before a church full of grand people, and we +have agreed that we won't do it until after you come back from your +trip. Miss Bertha has promised Anna that she shall go with her as +her maid, and of course, Major, I shall want to go with you."</p> +<p>"Well, you might get married the week before, and still go with +us."</p> +<p>George shook his head.</p> +<p>"I think that it would be better the other way, Major. We will +go with you as we are, and get married after you come back."</p> +<p>The next day Frank had a long talk with Mr. Norton.</p> +<p>"Well, sir, your plan would suit me very well. Nothing could be +better," said the old steward. "In fact, I was going to tell you +that I was beginning to find that the outdoor work was getting too +much for me, and that though I should be very sorry to give it up +altogether, I must either arrange with you to have help, or else +find a successor. I am sure that the arrangement you propose would +suit me exactly.</p> +<p>"George Lechmere would be just the man for the work. We used to +think him the best judge of livestock in the county, and he is a +good all-round farmer. If he were to take the work of the home farm +off my hands, I could keep on very well with the rest of the estate +for another two or three years, and as he would act as my assistant +he would, by the end of that time, be quite capable of taking it +over altogether. I should then move into Chippenham. We have two +married daughters living, and now that we have no one at home, my +wife has been saying for some time that she would rather settle +there than go on living in the country, and there is really no more +occasion for me to go on working. So, as soon as Lechmere has got +the whole thing in hand, I shall be quite ready to hand it over to +him."</p> +<p>"Well, I am very glad that it is so, Norton. Of course, I should +never have made any change until you yourself were perfectly +willing to give it up, but as you are willing, I am certainly glad +to be able to put him into it. As you know, he saved my life, and +has done me many other great services, and I regard him as a friend +and want to keep him near me. Of course, he will go into the +farmhouse, and after you retire he can either move into yours, or +remain there, as he likes. Naturally, as long as you live, Norton, +I shall continue the rate of pay you have always had. You were over +thirty years with my father, and I should certainly make no +difference in that respect."</p> +<p>"Well, George, I have arranged your business," Frank said that +evening. "Norton is getting on in life now, and he begins to find +his work in winter a little too hard for him, so I have arranged +that you are to take the management of the home farm altogether off +his hands, and will, of course, establish yourself at the house. +You will be a sort of assistant to him in other matters, and get up +the work, and in the course of a couple of years, at the outside, +he will retire altogether, and you will be steward. If you like you +can work the home farm on your own account, but that will be for +your consideration. How do you think that you will like that?"</p> +<p>"I should like it above everything, Major, and I am grateful to +you, indeed."</p> +<p>"Well, I am glad that you like the arrangement, George. I had it +in my mind when I was talking to you two days ago, but until I saw +Norton, and found that he was willing to retire, I did not propose +it."</p> +<p>Towards the end of February, Lady Greendale and Bertha went up +to town for a fortnight, intimating to Frank that they would be so +busy with important business that his presence there would not be +desired. He, however, travelled with them to London, and then went +round to Southampton, where he had a consultation with the firm in +whose yard the yacht was laid up, and the head of the great +upholstering firm there, and arranged for material alterations in +the plans of the cabins, and their redecoration. Everything was to +be completed by the beginning of April. He had written to Hawkins +to meet him on board.</p> +<p>"You must have everything ready by the fifth," he said. "We +shall arrive late in the afternoon, or perhaps in the evening of +the fifth, and shall get under way next morning. I hope that you +have been able to get the same crew."</p> +<p>"There is no fear of their not all coming, sir, except Purvis. +He has been bad all the winter, and I doubt whether he will be able +to go with us."</p> +<p>"I am sorry to hear that. Tell him that I shall make him an +allowance of a pound a week for the season, and that I shall give +him a little pension, of ten shillings a week, as long as he lives. +I shall consider that all who went with me on that cruise to the +West Indies have a claim upon me."</p> +<p>The time for the wedding approached. There was some +consultation, between Frank and Lady Greendale, as to whether the +dinner to the tenants should be given on that occasion, or on their +return; and it was settled that it would be more convenient to +postpone it.</p> +<p>"I am sure they would rather have you and Bertha here, and it +would be much more convenient in every way. We have so much to +think about now, and there will be so many arrangements to be +made."</p> +<p>"I quite agree with you. I will put it all in the hands of +Rafters, of Chippenham. I think that it is only right to give it to +local people. We shall want two big marquees, one for your tenants +and mine and their wives and families, and the other for all the +labourers and farm servants."</p> +<p>"And there must be another for all the children," Bertha put +in.</p> +<p>"Very well, Bertha.</p> +<p>"Then, of course, we must have a military band and fireworks, +and we had better have a big platform put down for those who like +to dance, and a lot of shows and things for the elders and +children, and a conjurer with a big lucky basket, and things of +that sort. Of course, at present one cannot give even an +approximate date, but I will tell them that they shall have a +fortnight's notice."</p> +<p>"I wonder what has become of Carthew, Major?" George Lechmere +said, as he was having a last talk with Frank on the eve of the +wedding. "He will gnash his teeth when he sees it in the +papers."</p> +<p>"I have thought of him a good many times, George. He is an evil +scoundrel, and nothing would please me more than to hear that he +was dead. When I remember how many years he kept up his malice +against me, for having beaten him in a fight; I know how intense +must be his hatred of me, now that I have thwarted all his plans +and burned his yacht. It is not that I am afraid of him personally, +but there is no saying what form his vengeance will take, for that +he will sooner or later try to be revenged I feel absolutely +certain."</p> +<p>"I have often thought of it myself, sir. Perhaps he is out in +Hayti still."</p> +<p>"No chance of that, George. Miss Greendale said that he told her +that he had money sufficient to pay for a ten years' cruise. That +may have been a lie, but he must have had money sufficient to last +him for some time, anyhow, and you may be sure that he took it on +shore with him. He may have died from the effects of that wound you +gave him, but if he is alive I have no doubt that he is in England +somewhere. Of course, he would not show himself where he was known, +having been a heavy defaulter last year; but he may have let his +beard grow, and so disguised himself that he would not be easily +recognised. As to what he is doing, of course I have not the +slightest idea; but we may be quite sure that he is not up to any +good.</p> +<p>"Well, George, then it is quite settled that you and Anna are to +go off with the luggage directly the wedding is over. You will come +ashore with the gig and meet us at eight o'clock at the station, +with a carriage to take us down to the boat."</p> +<p>"I will be there, Major, and see that everything is ready for +you on board."</p> +<p>When packing up his things in the morning, George Lechmere put +aside a pistol and a dagger that he had taken from the sash of a +mutineer, whom he had killed in India.</p> +<p>"They are not the sort of things a man generally carries at a +wedding," he said, grimly, "but until I know something of what that +villain is doing, I mean to keep them handy for use. There is never +any saying what he may be up to, and I know well enough that the +Major, whatever he says, will never give the matter a thought."</p> +<p>He loaded the pistol and dropped it into his coat pocket. Then +he opened his waistcoat, cut a slit in the lining under his left +arm, and pushed the dagger down it until it was stopped by the +slender steel crosspiece at the handle.</p> +<p>"I will make a neater job of it afterwards," he said to himself. +"That will do for the present, and I can get at it in a +moment."</p> +<p>The wedding went off as such things generally do. The church was +crowded, the girls of the village school lined the path from the +gate to the church door, and strewed flowers as the bridal party +arrived; and as they drove off to Greendale tenants of both +estates, collected in the churchyard, cheered them heartily. There +was a large gathering at breakfast, but at last the toasts were all +drunk, and the awkward time of waiting over, and at three o'clock +Major Mallett and his wife drove off amidst the cheers of the crowd +assembled to see them start.</p> +<p>"Thank God that is all over," Frank said heartily as they passed +out through the lodge gates.</p> +<p>At half-past eight Captain Hawkins was standing at the landing +stage in a furious passion.</p> +<p>"Where can that fellow Jackson have got to?" he said, stamping +his foot. "I said that you were all to be back in a quarter of an +hour when we landed, and it is three quarters of an hour now. I +never knew him to do such a thing before, and I would not have had +such a thing happen this evening for any money. What will the Major +think when he finds only five men instead of six in the gig, on +such an occasion as this? We shall be having them down in a minute +or two. Jackson had better not show his face on board after this. +It is the most provoking thing I ever knew."</p> +<p>"It ain't his way, captain," one of the men said. "Jackson can +go on the spree like the rest of us, but I never knew him to do +such a thing all the years I have known him, when there was work to +be done; and I am sure he would not do so this evening. He may have +got knocked down or run over or something."</p> +<p>"I will take an oar if you like, captain," said a man in a +yachtsman's suit, who was loitering near. "I have nothing to do, +and may as well row off as do anything else. You can put me on +shore in the dinghy afterwards."</p> +<p>"All right, my lad, take number two athwart. It is too dark to +see faces, and the owner is not likely to notice that there is a +strange hand on board. I will give you half a crown gladly for the +job."</p> +<p>The man got into the boat and took his seat.</p> +<p>"Here they come," the captain went on. "We are only just in +time. Up-end your oars, lads. We ain't strong enough to cheer, but +we will give them a hearty 'God bless you!' as they come down."</p> +<p>George Lechmere came on first, and handed in a bundle of wraps, +parasols, and umbrellas. The captain stood at the top of the steps, +and as Frank and Bertha came up took off his hat.</p> +<p>"God bless you and your wife, sir," he said, and the men +re-echoed the words in a deep chorus.</p> +<p>"Thank you, captain.</p> +<p>"Thank you all, lads, for my wife and myself," Frank said, +heartily, and a minute later the boat pushed off.</p> +<p>The tide was running out strong, and they were halfway across it +towards the dark mass of yachts, when there was a sudden crash +forward.</p> +<p>"What is it?" Frank exclaimed.</p> +<p>"This fellow has stove in the boat, sir," the bow oar exclaimed, +and then came a series of hurried exclamations.</p> +<p>Frank had not caught the words, but the rush of water aft told +him that something serious had happened.</p> +<p>"Row, men, row!" he shouted.</p> +<p>"Steer to the nearest yacht, Hawkins."</p> +<p>"We shall never get there, sir. She will be full in half a +minute."</p> +<p>"Let each man stick to his oar," Frank said, standing up. "We +aft will hold on to the boat."</p> +<p>Then he raised his voice in a shout:</p> +<p>"Yachts, ahoy! Send boats; we are sinking!</p> +<p>"Don't be frightened, darling," he said to Bertha. "Keep hold of +the gunwale. I can keep you up easily enough until help comes, but +it is better to stick to the boat. We must have run against +something that has stove her in."</p> +<p>A moment later the water was up to the thwarts, the boat gave a +lurch, and then rolled over. Frank threw his arm round Bertha, and +as the boat capsized clung to it with his disengaged hand.</p> +<p>"Don't try to get hold of the keel," he said. "It would turn her +over again. Just let your hands rest on her, and take hold of the +edge of one of the planks.</p> +<p>"That is it, Hawkins. Do you get the other side and just keep +her floating as she is. We shall have help in a minute or two.</p> +<p>"Are you all right, George?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I am at her stern. Do you want assistance, sir?"</p> +<p>"No, we are all right, George."</p> +<p>A moment later a man came up beside the Major, and put his hand +heavily on his shoulder.</p> +<p>"You won last time, Mallett," he hissed in his ear. "It is my +turn now."</p> +<p>The man's weight was pressing him under water, and the boat gave +a lurch.</p> +<p>Frank loosed his hold of Bertha with the words, "Hold on, dear, +for a minute," and, turning, grappled with his enemy, at the same +moment grasping his right wrist as the arm was raised to strike him +with a knife.</p> +<p>In a moment both went below the water. They came up beyond the +stern, and Frank said:</p> +<p>"Take care of Bertha, George—Carthew—" and then went down +again.</p> +<p>Furiously they struggled. They were well matched in strength, +but Frank felt that his antagonist was careless of his own life, +for he had wound his legs round him, and, unable to wrench his arm +from his grasp, was doing his utmost to prevent their coming to the +surface.</p> +<p>Suddenly, when he felt that he could no longer retain his +breath, he felt arms thrown round them both, and a moment later +came to the surface. Then he heard an exclamation of "Thank God!" +An arm was raised, and two blows struck rapidly.</p> +<p>Carthew's grasp relaxed, the knife dropped from his hand, and, +as Frank shook himself free, he sank under the water.</p> +<p>"Are you all right, Major?" his rescuer said.</p> +<p>"Yes," he gasped.</p> +<p>"Put your hand on my shoulder. The boat is not a length +away."</p> +<p>A minute later Frank was beside Bertha again.</p> +<p>"Where have you been, Frank? I was frightened."</p> +<p>"One of the men grasped me," he said, "and I should have turned +the boat over if I had not let go. However, thanks to George +Lechmere, who came to my rescue, I have shaken him off.</p> +<p>"Ah! here is help."</p> +<p>Three or four boats from the yachts were indeed rowing up. The +four clinging to the gig were taken on board by one of them, while +the others picked up the men who were floating supported by their +oars.</p> +<p>"Don't say a word about it, George," Frank whispered.</p> +<p>The Osprey was lying but two or three hundred yards away, and +they were soon alongside.</p> +<p>"This is not the sort of welcome I thought to give you on board, +dear," he said, as he helped Bertha on deck, and went down the +companion with her.</p> +<p>Anna burst into exclamations of dismay at seeing the dripping +figures.</p> +<p>"We have had an accident, Anna," Frank said, cheerfully, "but I +don't think that we are any the worse for it. Please take your +mistress aft and get her into dry things at once.</p> +<p>"Steward, open one of those bottles of champagne, and give me +half a tumbler full."</p> +<p>He hurried after the others with it.</p> +<p>"Please drink this at once, Bertha," he said. "Yes, you shall +have some tea directly, but start with this. It will soon put you +in a glow. Oh! yes, I am going to have one, too; but a ducking is +no odds to me."</p> +<p>Then he ran up on deck.</p> +<p>"You have saved my life again, George, for that scoundrel would +have drowned us both."</p> +<p>"I saw the knife in his hand as you went down, and knew that you +wanted me more than Miss—I mean Mrs. Mallett did."</p> +<p>"How did you make him let go so quickly?"</p> +<p>"I had a sort of fear that, sooner or later, that villain would +be up to something; and had made up my mind that I would always +have a weapon handy. This morning I stuck that dagger of mine +inside the lining of my waistcoat, so that it might be handy. And +it was handy. You were not five yards from me when you went down, +and I dived for you, but could not find you at first, and had to +come up once for air. Of course, I could not use the dagger until I +found which was which, and then I put an end to it."</p> +<p>"Then you killed him, George?"</p> +<p>"I don't think that he will trouble you any more, sir; and if +ever a chap deserved his fate that villain did. Why, sir, do you +know how it all happened?"</p> +<p>"No, I did not catch what the man at the bow said. There was +such a confusion forward."</p> +<p>"He said that he had staved the boat in somehow. He must have +taken the place of one of the men on purpose to do it."</p> +<p>"Well, George, I can't say that I'm sorry."</p> +<p>"I am heartily glad, sir. I am no more sorry for killing him +than for shooting one of those murderous niggers. Less sorry, a +great deal. The man deserved hanging. He was intending to murder +you, and perhaps Mrs. Mallett, and I killed him as I should have +killed a mad dog that was attacking you."</p> +<p>"Well, say nothing about it at present, George. It would be a +great shock to my wife if she were to know it. Now you had better +go and change your things at once, as I am going to do. Are all the +men rescued?"</p> +<p>"Yes, sir, they are all five on board."</p> +<p>"Hawkins," Frank said, putting his hand in his pocket, "give the +men who came to help us a couple of sovereigns each, and tell our +men that I don't want them to talk about the affair. I will see you +about it again."</p> +<p>Frank was not long in getting into dry clothes, and a few +minutes later Bertha came in.</p> +<p>"Are you none the worse for it, dear?"</p> +<p>"Not a bit, Frank. That champagne has thoroughly warmed me. What +a sudden affair it all was. Is everyone safe?"</p> +<p>"Yes, they stuck to the oars, and all our crew were picked up. +It was a bad start, was it not? But it has never happened to me +before, and I hope that it will never happen to me again."</p> +<p>"Some people would be inclined to think this an unlucky +beginning," said Bertha, with a slight tone of interrogation.</p> +<p>"I am certainly not one of them," he laughed. "I had only one +superstition, and that is at an end. You know what it was, dear, +but the spell is broken. He had a long run of minor successes, but +I have won the only prize worth having, for which we have been +rivals."</p> +<p>Some days later the body of a sailor was washed ashore near +Selsey Bill. An inquest was held, and a verdict returned that the +man had been murdered by some person or persons unknown; but +although the police of Portsmouth, Southampton, Cowes, and Ryde +made vigilant inquiries, they were unable to ascertain that any +yacht sailor hailing from those ports had suddenly disappeared.</p> +<p>There was much discussion, in the forecastle of the Osprey, as +to the identity and motives of the man who had first got into +conversation with Jackson, and then asked him to take a drink, +which must have been hocussed, for Jackson remembered nothing +afterwards. It was evident that the fellow had done it in order to +take his place. He had staved in the boat, and, as they supposed, +afterwards swam to shore; but the crime seemed so singularly +motiveless that they finally put it down as the work of a +madman.</p> +<p>It was not until the day before the Osprey anchored again in +Cowes, three months later, that Bertha, on expressing some +apprehension of further trouble from Carthew, if he had survived +the wound George Lechmere gave him, learned the true account of the +sinking of the gig, as she went on board at Southampton on her +wedding day.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN'S CUP***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17436-h.txt or 17436-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/3/17436">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/4/3/17436</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17436.txt b/17436.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6859ca1 --- /dev/null +++ b/17436.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12437 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Queen's Cup, by G. A. Henty + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Queen's Cup + + +Author: G. A. Henty + + + +Release Date: December 31, 2005 [eBook #17436] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN'S CUP*** + + +E-text prepared by Martin Robb + + + +THE QUEEN'S CUP + +by + +G. A. Henty. + + + + + + + +Chapter 1. + +A large party were assembled in the drawing room of Greendale, Sir +John Greendale's picturesque old mansion house. It was early in +September. The men had returned from shooting, and the guests were +gathered in the drawing room; in the pleasant half hour of dusk +when the lamps have not yet been lighted, though it is already too +dark to read. The conversation was general, and from the latest +news from India had drifted into the subject of the Italian belief +in the Mal Occhio. + +"Do you believe in it, Captain Mallett?" asked Bertha, Sir John's +only child, a girl of sixteen; who was nestled in an easy chair +next to that in which the man she addressed was sitting. + +"I don't know, Bertha." + +He had known her from childhood, and she had not yet reached an age +when the formal "Miss Greendale" was incumbent upon her +acquaintances. + +"I do not believe in the Italian superstition to anything like the +extent they carry it. I don't think I should believe it at all if +it were not that one man has always been unlucky to me." + +"How unlucky, Captain Mallett?" + +"Well, I don't know that unlucky is the proper word, but he has +always stood between me and success; at least, he always did, for +it is some years since our paths have crossed." + +"Tell me about it." + +"Well, I have no objection, but there is not a great deal to tell. + +"I was at school with--I won't mention his name. We were about the +same age. He was a bully. I interfered with him, we had a fight, +and I scored my first and only success over him. It was a very +tough fight--by far the toughest I ever had. I was stronger than +he, but he was the more active. I fancied that it would not be very +difficult to thrash him, but found that I had made a great mistake. +It was a long fight, and it was only because I was in better +condition that I won at last. + +"Well, you know when boys fight at school, in most cases they +become better friends afterwards; but it was not so here. He +refused to shake hands with me, and muttered something about its +being his turn next time. Till then he had not been considered a +first-rate hand at anything; he was one of those fellows who +saunter through school, get up just enough lessons to rub along +comfortably, never take any prominent part in games, but have a +little set of their own, and hold themselves aloof from school in +general. + +"Once or twice when we had played cricket he had done so +excellently that it was a grievance that he would not play +regularly, and there was a sort of general idea that if he chose he +could do most things well. After that fight he changed altogether. +He took to cricket in downright earnest, and was soon acknowledged +to be the best bat and best bowler in the school. Before that it +had been regarded as certain that when the captain left I should be +elected, but when the time came he got a majority of votes. I +should not have minded that, for I recognised that he was a better +player than I, but I fancied that he had not done it fairly, for +many fellows whom I regarded as certain to support me turned round +at the last moment. + +"We were in the same form at school. He had been always near the +bottom; I stood fairly up in it, and was generally second or third. +He took to reading, and in six weeks after the fight won his way to +the top of the class and remained there; and not only so, but he +soon showed himself so far superior to the rest of us that he got +his remove to the form above. + +"Then there was a competition in Latin verses open to both forms. +Latin verse was the one thing in which I was strong. There is a +sort of knack, you know, in stringing them together. A fellow may +be a duffer generally and yet turn out Latin verse better than +fellows who are vastly superior to him on other points. It was +regarded as certain that I should gain that. No one had intended to +go in against me, but at the last moment he put his name down, and, +to the astonishment of everyone, won in a canter. + +"We left about the same time, and went up to Oxford together, but +to different Colleges. I rowed in my College Eight, he in his. We +were above them on the river, but they made a bump every night +until they got behind us, and then bumped us. He was stroke of his +boat, and everyone said that success was due to his rowing, and I +believe it was. I did not so much mind that, for my line was +chiefly sculling. I had won in my own College, and entered for +Henley, where it was generally thought that I had a fair chance of +winning the Diamonds. However, I heard a fortnight before the +entries closed that he was out on the river every morning sculling. +I knew what it was going to be, and was not surprised when his name +appeared next to mine in the entries. + +"We were drawn together, and he romped in six lengths ahead of me, +though curiously enough he was badly beaten in the final heat. He +stroked the University afterwards. Though I was tried I did not +even get a seat in the eight, contrary to general expectation, but +I know that it was his influence that kept me out of it. + +"We had only one more tussle, and again I was worsted. I went in +for the Newdigate--that is the English poetry prize, you know. I +had always been fond of stringing verses together, and the friends +to whom I showed my poem before sending it in all thought that I +had a very good chance. I felt hopeful myself, for I had not heard +that he was thinking of competing, and, indeed, did not remember +that he had ever written a line of verse when at school. However, +when the winner was declared, there was his name again. + +"I believe that it was the disgust I felt at his superiority to me +in everything that led me to ask my father to get me a commission +at once, for it seemed to me that I should never succeed in +anything if he were my rival. Since then our lives have been +altogether apart, although I have met him occasionally. Of course +we speak, for there has never been any quarrel between us since +that fight, but I know that he has never forgiven me, and I have a +sort of uneasy conviction that some day or other we shall come into +contact again. + +"I am sure that if we meet again he will do me a bad turn if +possible. I regard him as being in some sort of way my evil genius. +I own that it is foolish and absurd, but I cannot get over the +feeling." + +"Oh, it is absurd, Captain Mallett," the girl said. "He may have +beaten you in little things, but you won the Victoria Cross in the +Crimea, and everyone knows that you are one of the best shots in +the country, and that before you went away you were always in the +first flight with the hounds." + +"Ah, you are an enthusiast, Bertha. I don't say that I cannot hold +my own with most men at a good many things where not brains, but +brute strength and a quick eye are the only requisites, but I am +quite convinced that if that fellow had been in the Redan that day, +he would have got the Victoria Cross, and I should not. There is no +doubt about his pluck, and if it had only been to put me in the +shade he would have performed some brilliant action or other that +would have got it for him. He is a better rider than I am, at any +rate a more reckless one, and he is a better shot, too. He is +incomparably more clever." + +"I cannot believe it, Captain Mallett." + +"It is quite true, Bertha, and to add to it all, he is a remarkably +handsome fellow, a first-rate talker, and when he pleases can make +himself wonderfully popular." + +"He must be a perfect Crichton, Captain Mallett." + +"The worst of it is, Bertha, although I am ashamed of myself for +thinking so, I have never been able to divest myself of the idea +that he did not play fair. There were two or three queer things +that happened at school in which he was always suspected of having +had a hand, though it was never proved. I was always convinced that +he used cribs, and partly owed his place to them. I was jealous +enough to believe that the Latin verses he sent in were written for +him by Rigby, who was one of the monitors, and a great dab at +verses. Rigby was a great chum of his, for he was a mean fellow, +and my rival was always well supplied with money, and to do him +justice, liberal with it. + +"Then, just before we left school, he carried off the prize in +swimming. He was a good swimmer, but I was a better. I thought +myself for once certain to beat him, but an hour before the race I +got frightful cramps, a thing that I never had before or since, and +I could hardly make a fight at all. I thought at the time, and I +have thought since, that I must have taken something at breakfast +that disagreed with me horribly, and that he somehow put it in my +tea. + +"Then again in that matter of the Sculls at Henley. I never felt my +boat row so heavily as it did then. When it was taken out of the +water it was found that a piece of curved iron hoop was fixed to +the bottom by a nail that had been pushed through the thin skin. It +certainly was not there when it was on the rack, but it was there +when I rowed back to the boathouse, and it could only have got +there by being put on as the boat was being lowered into the water. +There were three or four men helping to lower her down--two of them +friends of mine, two of them fellows employed at the boathouse. +While it lay in the water, before I got in and took my place, +anyone stooping over it might unobserved have passed his hand under +it and have pushed the nail through. + +"I never said anything about it. I had been beaten; there was no +use making a row and a scandal over it, especially as I had not a +shadow of proof against anyone; but I was certain that he was not +so fast as I was, for during practice my time had been as nearly as +possible the same as that of the man who beat him with the greatest +ease, and I am convinced that for once I should have got the better +of him had it not been for foul play." + +"That was shameful, Captain Mallett," Bertha said, indignantly. "I +wonder you did not take some steps to expose him." + +"I had nothing to go upon, Bertha. It was a case of suspicion only, +and you have no idea what a horrible row there would have been if I +had said anything about it. Committees would have sat upon it, and +the thing would have got into the papers. Fellows would have taken +sides, and I should have been blackguarded by one party for hinting +that a well-known University man had been guilty of foul practices. + +"Altogether it would have been a horrible nuisance; it was much +better to keep quiet and say nothing about it." + +"I am sure I could not have done that, Captain." + +"No, but then you see women are much more impetuous than men. I am +certain that after you had once set the ball rolling, you would +have been sorry that you had not bided your time and waited for +another contest in which you might have turned the tables fairly +and squarely." + +"He must be hateful," the girl said. + +"He is not considered hateful, I can assure you. He conceived a +grudge against me, and has taken immense pains to pay me out, and I +only trust that our paths will never cross again. If so, I have no +doubt that I shall again get the worst of it. At any rate, you see +I was not without justification when I said that though I did not +believe in the Mal Occhio, I had reason for having some little +superstition about it." + +"I prophesy, Captain Mallett, that if ever you meet him in the +future you will turn the tables on him. Such a man as that can +never win in the long run." + +"Well, I hope that your prophecy will come true. At any rate I +shall try, and I hope that your good wishes will counterbalance his +power, and that you will be a sort of Mascotte." + +"How tiresome!" the girl broke off, as there was a movement among +the ladies. "It is time for us to go up to dress for dinner, and +though I shan't take half the time that some of them will do, I +suppose I must go." + +Captain Mallett had six months previously succeeded, at the death +of his father, to an estate five miles from that of Sir John +Greendale. His elder brother had been killed in the hunting field a +few months before, and Frank Mallett, who was fond of his +profession, and had never looked for anything beyond it save a +younger son's portion, had thus come in for a very fine estate. + +Two months after his father's death he most reluctantly sent in his +papers, considering it his duty to settle down on the estate; but +ten days later came the news of the outbreak of the Sepoys of +Barrackpoor, and he at once telegraphed to the War Office, asking +to be allowed to cancel his application for leave to sell out. + +So far the cloud was a very small one, but rumours of trouble had +been current for some little time, and the affair at least gave him +an excuse for delaying his retirement. + +Very rapidly the little cloud spread until it overshadowed India +from Calcutta to the Afghan frontier. His regiment stood some +distance down on the rota for Indian service, but as the news grew +worse regiment after regiment was hurried off, and it now stood +very near the head of the list. All leave had not yet been stopped, +but officers away were ordered to leave addresses, so that they +could be summoned to join at an hour's notice. + +When he had left home that morning for a day's shooting with Sir John, +he had ordered a horse to be kept saddled, so that if a telegram came +it could be brought to him without a moment's delay. He was burning to +be off. There had at first been keen disappointment in the regiment +that they were not likely to take part in the fierce struggle; but the +feeling had changed into one of eager expectation, when, as the contest +widened and it was evident that it would be necessary to make the +greatest efforts to save India, the prospect of their employment in the +work grew. + +For the last fortnight expectation had been at its height. Orders +had been received for the regiment to hold itself in readiness for +embarkation, men had been called back from furlough, the heavy +baggage had been packed; and all was ready for a start at +twenty-four hours' notice. Many of the officers obtained a few +days' leave to say goodbye to their friends or settle business +matters, and Frank Mallett was among them. + +"So I suppose you may go at any moment, Mallett?" said the host at +the dinner table that evening. + +"Yes, Sir John, my shooting today has been execrable; for I have +known that at any moment my fellow might ride up with the order for +me to return at once, and we are all in such a fever of impatience, +that I am surprised I brought down a bird at all." + +"You can hardly hope to be in time either for the siege of Delhi or +for the relief of Lucknow, Mallett." + +"One would think not, but there is no saying. You see, our news is +a month old; Havelock had been obliged to fall back on Cawnpore, +and a perfect army of rebels were in Delhi. Of course, the +reinforcements will soon be arriving, and I don't think it likely +that we shall get up there in time to share in those affairs; but +even if we are late both for Lucknow and Delhi, there will be +plenty for us to do. What with the Sepoy army and with the native +chiefs that have joined them, and the fighting men of Oude and one +thing and another, there cannot be less than 200,000 men in arms +against us; and even if we do take Delhi and relieve Lucknow, that +is only the beginning of the work. The scoundrels are fighting with +halters round their necks, and I have no fear of our missing our +share of the work of winning back India and punishing these +bloodthirsty scoundrels." + +"It is a terrible time," Sir John said; "and old as I am, I should +like to be out there to lend a hand in avenging this awful business +at Cawnpore, and the cold-blooded massacres at other places." + +"I think that there will be no lack of volunteers, Sir John. If +Government were to call for them I believe that 100,000 men could +be raised in a week." + +"Ay, in twenty-four hours; there is scarce a man in England but +would give five years of his life to take a share in the punishment +of the faithless monsters. There was no lack of national feeling in +the Crimean War; but it was as nothing to that which has been +excited by these massacres. Had it been a simple mutiny among the +troops we should all be well content to leave the matter in the +hands of our soldiers; but it is a personal matter to everyone; +rich and poor are alike moved by a burning desire to take part in +the work of vengeance. I should doubt if the country has ever been +so stirred from its earliest history." + +"Yes, I fancy we are all envying you, Mallett," one of the other +gentlemen said. "Partridge shooting is tame work in comparison with +that which is going on in India. It was lucky for you that that +first mutiny took place when it did, for had it been a week later +you would probably have been gazetted out before the news came." + +"Yes, that was a piece of luck, certainly, Ashurst. I don't know +how I should be feeling if I had been out of it and the regiment on +the point of starting for India." + +"I suppose you are likely to embark from Plymouth," said Sir John. + +"I should think so, but there is no saying. I hardly fancy that we +should go through France, as some of the regiments have done; there +would be no very great gain of time, especially if we start as far +west as Plymouth. Besides, I have not heard of any transports being +sent round to Marseilles lately. Of course, in any case we shall +have to land at Alexandria and cross the desert to Suez. I should +fancy, now that the advantages of that route have been shown, that +troops in future will always be taken that way. You see, it is only +five weeks to India instead of five months. The situation is bad +enough as it is, but it would have been infinitely worse if no +reinforcements could have got out from England in less than five +months." + +"Is there anything that I can do for you while you are away, +Mallett?" Sir John Greendale asked, as they lingered for a moment +after the other gentlemen had gone off to join the ladies. + +"Nothing that I know of, thank you. Norton will see that everything +goes on as usual. My father never interfered with him in the +general management of the estate, and had the greatest confidence +in him. I have known him since I was a child, and have always liked +him, so I can go away assured that things will go on as usual. If I +go down, the estate goes, as you know, to a distant cousin whom I +have never seen. + +"As to other matters, I have but little to arrange. I have made a +will, so that I shall have nothing to trouble me on that score. +Tranton came over with it this morning from Stroud, and I signed +it." + +"That is right, lad; we all hope most sincerely that there will be +no occasion for its provisions to be carried out, but it is always +best that a man should get these things off his mind. Are you going +to say goodbye to us tonight?" + +"I shall do it as a precautionary measure, Sir John, but I expect +that when I get the summons I shall have time to drive over here. +My horse will do the distance in five and twenty minutes, and +unless a telegram comes within an hour of the night mail passing +through Stroud, I shall be able to manage it. I saw everything +packed up before I left, and my man will see that everything, +except the portmanteau with the things I shall want on the voyage, +goes on with the regimental baggage." + +A quarter of an hour later Captain Mallett mounted his dog cart and +drove home. The next morning he received a letter from the +Adjutant, saying that he expected the order some time during the +next day. + +"We are to embark at Plymouth, and I had a telegram this morning +saying that the transport had arrived and had taken her coal on +board. Of course they will get the news at the War Office today, +and will probably wire at once. I think we shall most likely leave +here by a train early the next morning. I shall, of course, +telegraph as soon as the order comes, but as I know that you have +everything ready, you will be in plenty of time if you come on by +the night mail." + +At eleven o'clock a mounted messenger from Stroud brought on the +telegram: + +"We entrain at six tomorrow morning. Join immediately." + +This was but a formal notification, and he resolved to go on by the +night mail. He spent the day in driving round the estate and saying +goodbye to his tenants. He lunched at the house of one of the +leading farmers, where as a boy he had been always made heartily +welcome. Before mounting his dog cart, he stood for a few minutes +chatting with Martha, his host's pretty daughter. + +"You are not looking yourself, Martha," he said. "You must pick up +your roses again before I come back. I shall leave the army then, +and give a big dinner to my tenants, with a dance afterwards, and I +shall open the ball with you, and expect you to look your best. + +"Who is this?" he asked, as a young fellow came round the corner of +the house, and on seeing them, turned abruptly, and walked off. + +"It is George Lechmere, is it not?" + +A flash of colour came into the girl's face. + +"Ah, I see," he laughed; "he thought I was flirting with you, and +has gone off jealous. Well, you will have no difficulty in making +your peace with him tomorrow. + +"Goodbye, child, I must be going. I have a long round to make." + +He jumped into the dog cart and drove away, while the girl went +quietly back into the house. + +Her father looked up at the clock. + +"Two o'clock," he said; "I must be going. I expected George +Lechmere over here. He was coming to talk with me about his +father's twelve-acre meadow. I want it badly this winter, for I +have had more land under the plough than usual this year. I must +either get some pasture or sell off some of my stock." + +"George Lechmere came, father," Martha said, with an angry toss of +her head, "but when he saw me talking to Captain Mallett he turned +and went off; just as if I was not to open my lips to any man but +himself." + +The farmer would have spoken, but his wife shook her head at him. +George Lechmere had been at one time engaged to Martha, but his +jealousy had caused so many quarrels that the engagement had been +broken off. He still came often to the house, however, and her +parents hoped that it would be renewed; for the young fellow's +character stood high. He was his father's right hand, and would +naturally succeed him to the farm. His parents, too, had heartily +approved of the match. So far, however, the prospect of the young +people coming together was not encouraging. Martha was somewhat +given to flirtation. George was as jealous as ever, and was unable +to conceal his feelings, which, as he had now no right to criticise +her conduct, so angered the girl that she not unfrequently gave +encouragement to others solely to show her indifference to his +opinions. + +George Lechmere had indeed gone away with anger in his heart. He +knew that Captain Mallett was on the point of leaving with his +regiment for India, and yet to see him chatting familiarly with +Martha excited in him a passionate feeling of grievance against +her. + +"It matters nought who it is," he muttered to himself. "She is ever +ready to carry on with anyone, while she can hardly give me a civil +word when I call. I know that if we were to marry it would be just +the same thing, and that I am a fool to stop here and let it vex +me. It would be better for me to get right out of it. John is old +enough to take my place on the farm. Some of these days I will take +the Queen's shilling. If I were once away I should not be always +thinking of her. I know I am a fool to let a girl trouble me so, +but I can't help it. If I stay here I know that I shall do mischief +either to her or to someone else. I felt like doing it last month +when she was over at that business at Squire Carthew's--he is just +such another one as Captain Mallett, only he is a bad landlord, +while ours is a good one. What made him think of asking all his own +tenantry, and a good many of us round, and getting up a cricket +match and a dance on the grass is more than I can say. He never did +such a thing before in all the ten years since he became master +there. They all noticed how he carried on with Martha, and how she +seemed to like it. It was the talk of everyone there. If I had not +gone away I should have made a fool of myself, though I have no +right to interfere with her, and her father and mother were there +and seemed in no way put out. + +"I will go away and have a look at that lot of young cattle I +bought the other day. I don't know that I ever saw a more likely +lot." + +It was dark when George returned. On his way home he took a path +that passed near the house whence he had turned away so angrily a +few hours before. It was not the nearest way, but somehow he always +took it, even at hours when there was no chance of his getting the +most distant sight of Martha. + +Presently he stopped suddenly, for from behind the wall that +bounded the kitchen garden of the farm he heard voices. A man was +speaking. + +"You must make your choice at once, darling, for as I have told you +I am off tomorrow. We will be married as soon as we get there, and +you know you cannot stop here." + +"I know I can't," Martha's voice replied, "but how can I leave?" + +"They will forgive you when you come back a lady," he said. "It +will be a year at least before I return, and--" + +George could restrain himself no longer. A furious exclamation +broke from his lips, and he made a desperate attempt to climb the +wall, which was, however, too high. When, after two or three +unsuccessful attempts, he paused for a moment, all was silent in +the garden. + +"I will tackle her tomorrow," he said grimly, "and him, too. But I +dare not go in now. Bennett has always been a good friend to me, +and so has his wife, and it would half kill them were they to know +what I have heard; but as for her and that villain--" + +George's mouth closed in grim determination, and he strolled on +home through the darkness. Whatever his resolutions may have been, +he found no opportunity of carrying them out, for the next morning +he heard that Martha Bennett had disappeared. How or why, no one +knew. She had been missing since tea time on the previous +afternoon. She had taken nothing with her, and the farmer and his +two sons were searching all the neighbourhood for some sign of her. + +The police of Stroud came over in the afternoon, and took up the +investigation. The general opinion was that she must have been +murdered, and every pond was dragged, every ditch examined, for a +distance round the farm. In the meantime George Lechmere held his +tongue. + +"It is better," he said to himself, "that her parents and friends +should think her dead than know the truth." + +He seldom spoke to anyone, but went doggedly about his work. His +father and mother, knowing how passionately he had been attached to +Martha, were not surprised at his strange demeanour, though they +wondered that he took no part in the search for her. + +They had their trouble, too, for although they never breathed a +word of their thoughts even to each other, there was, deep down in +their hearts, a fear that George knew something of the girl's +disappearance. His intense jealousy had been a source of grief and +trouble to them. Previous to his engagement to Martha he had been +everything they could have wished him. He had been the best of +sons, the steadiest of workers, and a general favourite from his +willingness to oblige, his cheerfulness and good temper. + +His jealousy, as a child, had been a source of trouble. Any gift, +any little treat, for his younger brothers, in which he had not +fully shared, had been the occasion for a violent outburst of +temper, never exhibited by him at any other time, and this feeling +had again shown itself as soon as he had singled out Martha as the +object of his attentions. + +They had remarked a strangeness in his manner when he had returned +home that night, and, remembering the past, each entertained a +secret dread that there had been some more violent quarrel than +usual between him and Martha, and that in his mad passion he had +killed her. + +It was, then, with a feeling almost of relief that a month after +her disappearance he briefly announced his intention of leaving the +farm and enlisting in the army. His mother looked in dumb misery at +her husband, who only said gravely: + +"Well, lad, you are old enough to make your own choice. Things have +changed for you of late, and maybe it is as well that you should +make a change, too. You have been a good son, and I shall miss you +sorely; but John is taking after you, and presently he will make up +for your loss." + +"I am sorry to go, father, but I feel that I cannot stay here." + +"If you feel that it is best that you should go, George, I shall +say no word to hinder you," and then his wife was sure that the +fear she felt was shared by her husband. + +The next morning George came down in his Sunday clothes, carrying a +bundle. Few words were spoken at breakfast; when it was over he got +up and said: + +"Well, goodbye, father and mother, and you boys. I never thought to +leave you like this, but things have gone against me, and I feel I +shall be best away. + +"John, I look to you to fill my place. + +"Good-bye all," and with a silent shake of the hand he took up his +bundle and stick and went out, leaving his brothers, who had not +been told of his intentions, speechless with astonishment. + + + +Chapter 2. + +Frank Mallet, after he had visited all his tenants, drove to Sir +John Greendale's. + +"We have got the route," he said, as he entered; "and I leave this +evening. I had a note from the Adjutant this morning saying that +will be soon enough, so you see I have time to come over and say +goodbye comfortably." + +"I do not think goodbyes are ever comfortable," Lady Greendale +said. "One may get through some more comfortably than others, but +that is all that can be said for the best of them." + +"I call them hateful," Bertha put in. "Downright hateful, Captain +Mallett--especially when anyone is going away to fight." + +"They are not pleasant, I admit," Frank Mallett agreed; "and I +ought to have said as comfortably as may be. I think perhaps those +who go feel it less than those who stay. They are excited about +their going; they have lots to think about and to do; and the idea +that they may not come back again scarcely occurs to them at the +time, although they would admit its possibility or even its +probability if questioned. + +"However, I fancy the worst of the fighting will be over by the +time we get there. It seems almost certain that it will be so, if +Delhi is captured and Lucknow relieved. The Sepoys thought that +they had the game entirely in their hands, and that they would +sweep us right out of India almost without resistance. They have +failed, and when they see that every day their chances of success +diminish, their resistance will grow fainter. + +"I expect that we shall have many long marches, a great many +skirmishes, and perhaps two or three hard fights; but I have not a +shadow of fear of a single reverse. We are going out at the best +time of year, and with cool weather and hard exercise there will be +little danger of fevers; therefore the chances are very strongly in +favour of my returning safe and sound. It may take a couple of +years to stamp it all out, but at the end of that time I hope to +return here for good. + +"I shall find you a good deal more altered, Miss Greendale, than +you will find me. You will have become a dignified young lady. I +shall be only a little older and a little browner. You see, I have +never been stationed in India since I joined, for the regiment had +only just come home, and I am looking forward with pleasurable +anticipation to seeing it. Ordinary life there in a hot cantonment +must be pretty dull, though, from what I hear, people enjoy it much +more than you would think possible. But at a time like the present +it will be full of interest and excitement." + +"You will write to us sometimes, I hope," Sir John said, when +Mallett rose to leave. + +"I won't promise to write often, Sir John. I expect that we shall +be generally on the move, perhaps without tents of any kind, and to +write on one's knee, seated round a bivouac fire, with a dozen +fellows all laughing and talking round, would be a hopeless task; +but if at any time we are halted at a place where writing is +possible, I will certainly do so. I have but few friends in +England--at any rate, only men, who never think of expecting a +letter. And as you are among my very oldest and dearest friends, it +will be a pleasure for me to let you know how I am getting on, and +to be sure that you will feel an interest in my doings." + +There was a warm goodbye, and all went to the door for a few last +words. Frank's portmanteau was already in the dog cart, for he had +arranged to drive straight from Greendale to Chippenham, where he +would dine at an hotel and then go on by the mail to Exeter. + +It was three o'clock when he drove into the barracks there. Early +as the hour was, the troops were already up and busy. Wagons were +being loaded, the long lines of windows were all lighted up, and in +every room men could be seen moving about. He drove across the +barrack yard to his own quarters, left his portmanteau there, and +then walked to the mess room. As he had expected, he found several +officers there. + +"Ah, Mallett, there you are. You are the last in; the others all +turned up by the evening train, but we thought that as you were +comparatively near you would come on by the mail." + +"I thought I should find some of you fellows keeping it up." + +"Well, there was nothing else to do. There won't be much chance of +going to sleep. We all dined in the town, for of course the mess +plate and kit have been packed up. We are not taking much with us +now, just enough to make shift with. The rest will be sent round to +Calcutta, to be stored there till we settle down. The men had a +dinner given to them by the town, and as they all got leave out +till twelve o'clock, and the loading of the wagons began at two, +there has been a row going on all night. Most of us played pool +till an hour ago, then we gradually dropped off for an hour's +snooze." + +"There will be a chance of getting breakfast, I hope?" + +"Yes, there is to be a rough and tumble breakfast at a quarter to +five. We fall in at a quarter past. We got through the inspection +of kits yesterday. The mess sergeant and a party will pack up the +breakfast things, and the pots and pans will come on by the next +train. There is one at eight. It will be in plenty of time, as I +don't suppose the transport will be off until the afternoon, +perhaps not till night. There are always delays at the last moment. + +"However, it will be something to be on board ship. That is the +first step towards getting at those black scoundrels. We are all +afraid that we shall be late for Delhi; still there is plenty of +other work to be done." + +"Any ladies with us?" + +"No, there was a general agreement among the married officers that +they had best be left behind. So for once the regiment goes without +women." + +"There is a levity about your tone that I do not approve of, +Armstrong," Frank Mallett said, reprovingly. "There were no women +when we went out to the Crimea, at the time when you were a good +little boy doing Latin exercises." + +"Well, altogether it is a good thing, Mallett, and we shall be much +more comfortable without them." + +"Speak for yourself, Armstrong. Lads of your age who can talk +nothing but barrack slang, and are eminently uncomfortable when +they have to chat for five minutes to a lady, are naturally glad +when they are free from the restraint of having to talk like +reasonable beings; but it is not so with older and wiser men. How +about Marshall?" + +"He has been away on leave for the last ten days. He has not come +back here. There have been two fellows inquiring after him +diligently for the last week. There was no mistaking their errand, +even if we did not know how he stood. I expect he is on board the +transport. I fancy the Colonel gave him a hint to join there. No +doubt the Jews will be on the lookout for him at Plymouth, as well +as here; but he will manage to smuggle himself on board somehow, +even if he has to wrap up as an old woman." + +"He deserves all the trouble that has fallen upon him," Frank +Mallett said, angrily. "I have no patience with a young fool who +bets on race horses when he knows very well that if they lose there +is nothing for him to do but to go to the Jews for money. However, +he has had a sharp lesson, and as it is likely enough that the +regiment won't be back in England for years, he will have a chance +of getting straight again. This affair has been a godsend for him, +for had he remained in England there would have been nothing for +him to do but to sell out." + +So they chatted until the mess waiters laid the table for +breakfast, when the other officers came pouring in. The meal was +eaten hastily, for the assembly was sounding in the barrack yard. +As soon as breakfast was finished, the officers went out and took +their places with their companies. + +There was a brief inspection, then the drums and fifes set up "The +Girl I Left Behind Me," and the regiment marched off to the +station, the streets being already full of people who had got up to +see the last of them, and to wish them Godspeed in the work of +death they were going to perform. + +The baggage was already in the train that was waiting for them in +the station, and in a few minutes it steamed away; the soldiers +hanging far out of every window to wave a last goodbye to the +weeping women who thronged the platform. Two hours later they +reached Plymouth, marched through the town to the dockyard, and +went straight on board the transport. + +There was the usual confusion until the cabins had been allotted, +portmanteaus stowed away, and the general baggage lowered into the +hold. A tedious wait of three or four hours followed, no one +exactly knew why, and then the paddle wheels began to revolve. The +men burst into a loud cheer, and a few minutes later they passed +Drake's Island and headed down the sound. + +They had, as expected, found young Marshall on board. He kept below +until they started, although told that there was little chance of +the bailiffs being permitted to enter the dockyard. As he had the +grace to feel thoroughly ashamed of his position, little was said +to him; but the manner of the senior officers was sufficient to +make him feel their strong disapproval of the position in which he +had placed himself by his folly. + +"I have taken a solemn oath never to bet again," he said that +evening to Captain Mallett, who was a general favourite with the +younger officers; "and I mean to keep it." + +"How much do you owe, young 'un?" + +"Four hundred and fifty. What with allowances and so on, I ought to +be able to pay it off in three or four years." + +"Yes, and if you keep your word, Marshall, some of us may be +inclined to help you. I will for one. I would have done so before, +but to give money to a fool is worse than throwing it into the sea. +As soon as you show us by deeds, not words, that you really mean to +keep straight, you will find that you are not without friends." + +"Thank you awfully, Mallett, but I don't want to be helped. I will +clear it off myself if I live." + +"You will find it hard work to do that, Marshall, even in India. Of +course, the pay and allowances make it easy for even a subaltern to +live on his income there, but when it comes to laying by much, that +is a difficult matter. However, so long as the actual campaign +lasts, the necessary expenses will be very small. We shall live +principally on our rations, and you can put by a good bit. There +may be a certain amount of prize money, for, although there is +nothing to be got from the mutineers themselves, some of the native +princes who have joined them will no doubt have to pay heavily for +their share in the business." + +"Well, you won't give me up, will you, Mallett?" + +"Certainly not. I was as hard as anyone on you before, for I have +no patience with such insane folly, but if you keep straight no one +will be more inclined to make things easy for you." + +The voyage to Alexandria was unmarked by any incident. Drill went +on regularly, and life differed to no great extent from that in +barracks. All were glad when the halfway stage of the journey was +reached, but still more so when they embarked in another transport +at Suez. + +Here they learned, according to news that had arrived on the +previous day, that at the end of August Delhi was still holding +out; and that, although reinforcements had reached the British, +vastly greater numbers of men had entered the city, and that +constant sorties were made against the British position on the +Ridge. + +Excitement therefore was at its highest, when on the 20th of +October a pilot came on board at the mouth of the Hooghly, and they +learned that the assault had been made on the 14th of September; +and that, after desperate fighting extending over a week, the city +had been captured, the puppet Emperor made prisoner, and the rebels +driven with tremendous loss across the bridge of boats over the +Jumma. + +The satisfaction with which the news was received, in spite of the +disappointment that they had arrived too late to share in the +victory, was damped by the news of the heavy losses sustained in +the assault; and especially that of that most gallant soldier, +General Nicholson. + +Nor were their hopes that they might take part in the relief of +Lucknow realised, for they learned that on the 25th of September +the place had been relieved by Havelock and Outram. Here, however, +there was still a prospect that they might take a share in the +serious fighting; as the losses of the relieving column had been so +heavy, and the force of mutineers so large, that it had been found +impracticable to carry off the garrison as intended, and the +relieving forces were now themselves besieged. There was, however, +no fear felt for their safety. If the scanty original garrison had +defied all the efforts of the mutineers, no one doubted that, now +that their force was trebled, they would succeed in defending +themselves until an army sufficiently strong to bring them off +could be assembled. + +Not a day was lost at Calcutta. General Sir Colin Campbell, who was +now in supreme command, was collecting a force at Cawnpore. There +he had already been joined by a column which had been despatched +from Delhi as soon as the capital fell, and by a strong naval +brigade with heavy guns from the ships of war. + +All arrangements had been made for pushing up reinforcements as +fast as they arrived, and the troops were marched from the side of +the ship to a spot where a flotilla of boats was in readiness. The +men only took what they could carry; all other baggage was to be +sent after them by water, and to lie, until further instructions, +at Allahabad. As soon, therefore, as the troops had been packed +away in the boats, they were taken in tow by two steamers, and at +once taken up the river. Officers and men were alike in the highest +spirits at finding themselves in so short a time after their +arrival already on the way to the front, and their excitement was +added to by the fact that it was still doubtful whether they would +arrive in time to join the column. Cramped as the men were in the +crowded boats, there was no murmuring as day after day, and night +after night, they continued their course up the river. + +At Patna they learned that the Commander in Chief was still at +Cawnpore, and the same welcome news was obtained at Allahabad; but +at the latter place they learned that the news of his having gone +forward was hourly expected. + +They reached Cawnpore on the morning of the 11th, and learned that +the column had left on the 9th, but was halting at Buntara. Not a +moment was lost. Each man received six days' provisions from the +commissariat stores, and two hours after landing the regiment was +on the march and arrived late at night at Buntara, being received +with hearty cheers by the troops assembled there. + +They learned that they were to go forward on the following morning. +Weary, but in high spirits at finding that they had arrived in +time, the regiment lighted its fires and bivouacked. + +"This has been a close shave indeed, Mallett," one of the other +captains said, as a party of them sat round a fire. "We won by a +short head." + +"Short indeed, Ackers. It has been a race all the way from England, +and it is marvellous indeed that we should arrive just in time to +take part in the relief of Lucknow. A day later and we should have +missed it." + +"We should not have done that, Mallett, for the men would have +marched all night, and, if necessary, all day tomorrow, to catch +up. Still, it is a wonderful fluke that after all we should be in +time." + +"There is no doubt that it will be a tough business," one of the +majors said. "Havelock found it so, and I expect that the lesson he +taught them hasn't been lost, and that we shall have to meet +greater difficulties than even he had." + +"Yes, but look at our force. Sixteen guns of Horse Artillery, a +heavy field battery, and the Naval Brigade with eight guns; the 9th +Lancers, the Punjaub Cavalry, and Hodson's Horse; four British +regiments of infantry and two of Punjaubies, besides a column 1,500 +strong which is expected to join us tomorrow or next day. + +"I hope in any case, Major, that we shan't follow the line Havelock +took through the narrow streets, for there we cannot use our +strength; but will manage to approach the Residency from some other +direction. We know that it stands near the river, and at the very +edge of the town, so there ought to be some other way of getting at +it. I consider that we are a match for any number of these +scoundrels if we do but get a fair ground for fighting, which we +certainly should not do in the streets of the town." + +"I don't care how it is, so that we do get at them," another +officer said. "We have heard such frightful details of their +atrocities as we came up that one is burning to get at close +quarters with them. I suppose we shall go to the Alumbagh first, +and relieve the force that has so long been shut up there. I only +hope that we shan't be chosen to take their place." + +There was a general exclamation of disgust at the suggestion. + +"Well, someone must stay, you know," he went on in deprecation of +the epithets hurled at him; "and why not our regiment as well as +any other?" + +"Because I cannot believe that after luck has favoured us so long +she will play us such a trick now," Frank Mallett said. "Besides, +the other regiments have done something in the way of fighting +already while we have not fired a shot; and I think that Sir Colin +would be more likely to choose the 75th, or, in fact, any of the +other regiments than us. Still if the worst comes to the worst we +must not grumble. Other regiments have had weary times of waiting, +and it may be our turn now. Your suggestion has come as a damper to +our spirits, and, as I don't mind acknowledging that I am dog tired +with the march, after not having used my legs for the last seven or +eight weeks, I shall try to forget it by going off to sleep." + +Making a pillow of his cloak, he lay down on the spot where he was +sitting, his example being speedily followed by the rest of the +officers. + +The next morning the troops were on the march early, but they were +not to reach the Alumbagh without opposition, for on passing a +little fort to the right they were suddenly attacked by a small +body of rebels posted round it. + +But little time was lost. Hodson's Horse, who were nearest to them, +at once made a brilliant charge, scattering them in all directions. +A short pause was made while the fort was dismantled, and then the +column proceeded without further interruption to the Alumbagh. + +There was some disappointment at its appearance. Instead of +finding, as they had expected, a palace, there was nothing but a +large garden enclosed by a lofty wall, and having a small mosque at +one end. It had evidently been a place of retirement when the Kings +of Oude desired to get away from the bustle and ceremony of the +great town. + +The Commander in Chief was thoroughly acquainted with the situation +in the city, by information that he had received from a civilian +named Kavanagh; who had at immense risk made his way out from the +Residency, and was able to furnish plans of all the principal +buildings and the route which, in the opinion of Brigadier General +Inglis, was the most favourable for the attack. + +In the evening the reinforcements arrived, bringing up the total +force to 5,000. When the orders were issued, the officers of the +----th found to their intense satisfaction that, as Captain Mallett +had thought likely, the 75th was selected to remain in charge of +the baggage at the Alumbagh. + +The force moved off, early on the morning of the 14th, but, after +marching a short distance along the direct road followed by +Havelock, struck off to the right, and, keeping well away from the +city, came down upon the summer palace of the Kings of Oude, called +the Dilkoosha. It stood on an eminence commanding a view of the +whole of the eastern suburbs of the town, and was surrounded by a +large park. + +As soon as the head of the column approached this, a heavy musketry +fire broke out, and it was at once evident that their movements had +been watched and the object of their march divined. The head of the +column was halted for a few minutes until reinforcements came up. +Then they formed into line, the artillery opened on their flanks, +and with a cheer the troops advanced to the attack. + +"The beggars cannot shoot a bit," Frank Mallett said to his +subaltern, Armstrong. "I expect they are Sepoys, for the Oude +tribesmen are said to be good marksmen." + +Keeping up a rolling fire at the loopholes in the walls, the +infantry pressed forward. The fire of the enemy slackened as they +approached, and they soon forced their way in, some helping their +comrades over the wall, others breaking down a gate and so pouring +in. A halt was made until the greater portion of the troops came +up, and then the advance was continued. + +The defenders of the wall had been considerably reinforced by +troops stationed round the Palace itself, but they were unable to +withstand the British advance, and soon began to retreat towards +the city; stopping occasionally where a wall or building offered +facilities for defence, but never waiting long enough for the +British to get at them. In two hours all had been driven down the +hill to the Martiniere College. Here again they made a stand, but +were speedily driven out, and chased through the garden and park of +the college, and thence across the canal into the streets of the +town. Here the pursuit ceased, the ----th being told off to hold +the Martiniere as an advanced position. Sir Colin established his +headquarters at the Dilkoosha, the rest of the troops bivouacking +around it or on the slope of the hill between it and the college. + +After seeing that the men were comfortable, and getting some food, +most of the officers gathered on the flat roof of the college, +whence a fine view was obtainable over the town. The Residency had +been already pointed out to them, and the British flag could be +seen floating above it. Several very large buildings, surrounded +for the most part with walled gardens, rose above the low roofs of +the native houses in the intervening space. + +"The way is pretty open. A good deal of the ground seems to be +occupied with gardens, and most of the houses are so small that +they could not hold many men." + +"I agree with you, Mallett. It is evident that we shall be passing +through an open suburb rather than the town itself. Those big +buildings, if held in force, will give us a good deal of trouble. +They are regular fortresses." + +"I don't think that any of them are built of stone. They all seem +to be whitewashed." + +"That is so," the Major agreed, as he examined them through his +field glass. "I suppose stone is scarce in this neighbourhood, but +it is probable that the walls are of brickwork, and very thick. +They will have to be regularly breached before we can carry them. + +"It makes one sad to think that that flag, which has waved over the +Residency for the last five months, defying all the efforts of +enormously superior numbers, is to come down, and that these +scoundrels will be able to exult in the possession of the place +that has defied all their efforts to take it. Still one feels that +Sir Cohn's decision is a necessary one. It would never do to have +six or seven thousand men shut up there, when there is urgent work +to be done in a score of other places. Besides, it would need a +vast magazine of provisions to maintain them. Our force, even when +joined by the garrison, would be wholly inadequate for so +tremendous a task as reducing to submission a city containing at +least half-a-million inhabitants, together with thirty or forty +thousand mutineers and a host of Oude's best men, with the +advantage of the possession of a score or two of buildings, all of +which are positive fortresses." + +"No, there is nothing for it but to fall back again till we have a +force sufficient to capture the whole city, and utterly defeat its +defenders. With us away, this place will become the focus of the +mutiny. Half the fugitives from Delhi will find their way here, and +at least we shall be able to crush them at one blow, instead of +having to scour the country for them for months. The more of them +gather here the better; and then, when we do capture the place, +there will be an end of the mutiny, though, of course, there will +still be the work of hunting down scattered bands." + +"We may look forward to very much harder work tomorrow than we have +had today," Captain Johnson said. "With these glasses I can make +out that the place is crowded with men. Of course, today we took +them somewhat by surprise, as they would naturally expect us to +follow Havelock's line. But now that they know what our real +intentions are, they will be able to mass their whole force to +oppose us." + +"So much the better," Frank Mallett said. "There is no mistaking +the feeling of the troops. They are burning to avenge Cawnpore, and +little mercy will be shown the rebels who fall into their hands." + +"I should advise any of you gentlemen who want to write home," the +Colonel said, gravely, "to do so this evening. There is no doubt +that we shall take those places, but I think that there is also no +doubt that our death roll will be heavy. You must not judge by +their fighting today of the stand that they are likely to make +tomorrow. They know well enough that they will get no quarter after +what has taken place, and will fight desperately to the end." + +Most of the officers took his advice. Captain Mallett sat down on +the parapet, took out a notebook, and wrote in pencil: + +"Dear Sir John: + +"Although it is but four days since I posted you a long letter from +Cawnpore that I had written on our way up the river, I think it as +well to write a few lines in pencil. You will not get them unless I +go down tomorrow, as I shall of course tear them up if I get +through all right. I am writing now within sight of the Residency. +We had a bit of a fight today, but the rebels did not make any +serious stand. Tomorrow it will be different, for we shall have to +fight our way through the town, and there is no doubt that the +resistance will be very obstinate. I have nothing to add to what I +wrote to you last. What I should like you to know is that I thought +of you all this evening, and that I send you and Lady Greendale and +Bertha my best wishes for your long life and happiness. + +"Yours most sincerely, + +"Frank Mallett." + +He tore the page from his notebook, put it in an envelope and +directed it, then placed it in an inner pocket of his uniform. + +"So you are not writing, Marshall," he said, as he went across to +the young ensign who was sitting on the angle of the parapet. + +"I have no one particular to write to, Captain Mallett, and the +only persons who will feel any severe sorrow if I fall tomorrow are +my creditors." + +"We should all be sorry, Marshall, very sorry. Ever since we sailed +from Plymouth your conduct has shown that you have determined to +retrieve your previous folly. The Colonel himself spoke to me about +it the other day, and remarked that he had every hope that you +would turn out a steady and useful officer. We have all noticed +that beyond the regular allowance of wine you have drunk nothing, +and that you did not touch a card throughout the voyage." + +"I have not spent a penny since I went on board at Plymouth," the +lad said. "I got the paymaster to give me an order on London for +the amount of pay due to me the day we got to Cawnpore, and posted +it to Morrison; so he has got some fifteen pounds out of the fire. +Of course it is not much, but at any rate it will show him I mean +to pay up honestly." + +"Well done, lad. You are quite right to give up cards, and to cut +yourself off liquors beyond the Queen's allowance; but don't stint +yourself in necessaries. For instance, fruit is necessary here, and +of course when we once get into settled quarters, you must keep a +horse of some sort, as everyone else will do so. How much did you +really have from Morrison in cash?" + +"Three hundred; for which I gave him bills for four fifty and a +lien on my commission." + +"All right, lad, I will write to my solicitor in London, and get +him to see Morrison, and ask him to meet you fairly in the matter. +He will know that it will be years before you are likely to be in +England again, and that if you are killed he will lose altogether; +so under these circumstances I have no doubt that he will be glad +enough to make a considerable abatement, perhaps to content himself +with the sum that you really had from him." + +"I am afraid that my letter, with the enclosure, assuring him that +I will in time pay the amount due, will harden his heart," Marshall +laughed. "I am much obliged all the same, but I don't think that it +will be of any use." + +However, on leaving him, Mallett went downstairs, borrowed some ink +from the quartermaster, and wrote to his solicitor, enclosing a +cheque for 300 pounds, with instructions to see the money lender. + +"You will find that he will be glad enough to hand over young +Marshall's bills for four fifty for that amount," he said. "He has +already had fifteen pounds, which is a fair interest for the three +hundred for the time the lad has had it. He will know well enough +that if Marshall dies he will lose every penny, and that at any +rate he will have to wait many years before he can get it. I have +no doubt that he would jump at an offer of a couple of hundred, but +it is just as well that the young fellow should feel the obligation +for some time, and as the man did lend him the money it would be +unfair that he should be an absolute loser." + + + +Chapter 3. + +The next morning three days' rations were served out to the troops, +and the advance begun; the movement being directed against the +Secunderbagh, a large garden surrounded by a very high and strong +wall loopholed for musketry. To reach it a village, fortified and +strongly held, had first to be carried. The attack was led by +Brigadier Hope's brigade, of which the regiment formed part. As +they approached the village, so heavy a musketry fire was opened +upon them that the order to advance was changed and the leading +regiment moved forward in skirmishing order. The horse artillery +and heavy field guns were brought up, and poured a tremendous fire +into the village, driving the defenders from their post on the +walls. + +As soon as this was accomplished, the infantry rushed forward and +stormed the village, the enemy opposing a stout resistance, +occupying the houses and fighting to the last. The main body of +them, however, fled to the Secunderbagh. The 4th Sikhs had been +ordered to lead the attack, while the British infantry of the +brigade were to cover the operation. The men were, however, too +excited and too eager to get at the enemy to remain inactive, and +on leaving the village dashed forward side by side with the Sikhs +and attacked the wall. There was a small breach in this, and many +of the men rushed through it before the enemy, taken by surprise, +could offer a serious resistance. The entrance was, however, so +narrow that very few men could pass in, and while a furious fight +was raging inside, the rest of the troops tried in vain to find +some means of entering. + +There were two barred windows, one on each side of the gate, and +some of the troopers creeping under these raised their shakos on +their bayonets. The defenders fired a heavy volley into them, and +the soldiers, leaping to their feet, sprang at the bars and pulled +them down by main force, before the defenders had time to reload. +Then they leaped down inside, others followed them, the gates were +opened, and the main body of troops poured in. + +The garden was held by 2,000 mutineers. With shouts of "Remember +Cawnpore," the troops flung themselves upon them; and although the +mutineers fought desperately, and the struggle was continued for a +considerable time, every man was at last shot or bayoneted. + +In the meantime a serious struggle was going on close by. Nearly +facing the Secunderbagh stood the large Mosque of Shah Nujeeff. It +had a domed roof, with a loopholed parapet and four minarets, which +were filled with riflemen. It stood in a large garden surrounded by +a high wall, also loopholed, the entrance being blocked up with +solid masonry. The fire from this building had seriously galled +Hope's division, while engaged in forcing its way into the +Secunderbagh, and Captain Peel, with the Naval Brigade, brought up +the heavy guns against it. He took up his position within a few +yards of the wall and opened a heavy fire, assisted by that of a +mortar battery and a field battery of Bengal Artillery; the +Highlanders covering the sailors and artillerymen as they worked +their guns, by a tremendous fire upon the enemy's loopholes. So +massive were the walls that it was several hours before even the +sixty-eight pounders of the Naval Brigade succeeded in effecting a +breach. + +As soon as this was done the impatient infantry were ordered to the +assault, and rushing in, overpowered all resistance, and slew all +within the enclosure, save a few who effected their escape by +leaping from the wall at the rear. + +It was now late in the afternoon, and operations ceased for the +day. The buildings on which the enemy had chiefly relied for their +defence had been captured, and the difficulties still to be +encountered were comparatively small. The next day an attack was +made upon a strong building known as the Mess House. This was first +breached by the artillery, and then carried by assault by the 53rd +and 90th regiments, and a detachment of Sikhs; the latter, single +handed, storming another building called the Observatory, in the +rear of the Mess House. + +At the same time the garrison of the Residency had, in accordance +with the plan brought out by Kavanagh, begun operations on their +side. The capture of the Secunderbagh and Mosque had been signalled +to them, and while the attack on the Mess House was being carried +out they had blown down the outer wall of their defences, shelled +the ground beyond, and then advanced, carrying two large buildings +facing them at the point of the bayonet. + +All day the fighting continued, the British gaining ground on +either side. The next day the houses still intervening between them +were captured, and in the afternoon the defenders of the Residency +and the relieving force joined hands. The total loss of the latter +was 122 officers and men killed and 345 wounded. + +Frank Mallett's letter to Sir John Greendale was not sent off. He +received a bullet through the left arm as the troops advanced +against the Secunderbagh, but, using his sash as a sling, led on +his company against the defenders crowded in the garden, and took +part in the desperate fighting. Three of his brother officers were +killed during the three days' fighting, and five others wounded. + +"Well, Marshall," he said on the evening of the day when the way +was open to the Residency; "you have not cheated your creditor, I +see." + +"No, Captain Mallett. I thought of him when those fellows in the +mosque were keeping such a heavy fire upon us as we were waiting to +get into the Secunderbagh. It seemed to me that his chance of ever +getting his money was not worth much. How the bullets did whizz +about! I felt sure that we should be all mown down before we could +get under the shelter of the wall. + +"I don't think I shall ever feel afraid in battle again. One gets +to see that musketry fire is not so very dangerous after all. If it +were, very few of us would have got through the three days' +fighting alive, whereas the casualties only amount to one-tenth of +the force engaged. I am very sorry you are wounded." + +"Oh, my wound is a mere trifle. I scarcely felt it until the +sergeant next to me said, 'You are wounded in the arm, Captain +Mallett.' The doctor says that it narrowly missed the bone, but in +this case a miss is as good as a mile. I am very sorry about +Hatchard and Rivers and Miles. They were all good fellows, and when +this excitement is over we shall miss them sadly. It will give you +your step." + +"Yes, I won't say that it is lucky, for one cannot forget how it +has been gained. Still it is a good lift for me, for there are two +or three down for purchase below me, and otherwise I should have +had to wait a long time. It puts you one higher on the list, +Captain Mallett." + +"I am going to clear out altogether as soon as the fighting is all +over, so whether I am fourth or fifth on the list makes no +difference whatever to me." + +"Still it is a great satisfaction to have been through this and to +have taken one's share in the work of revenge. It was a horrible +business in the Secunderbagh, though one did not think of it at the +time. The villains richly deserved what they got, but I own that I +should not care to go into the place again. They must have suffered +tremendously altogether. The Colonel said this afternoon that he +found their loss had been put down as at least six or seven +thousand." + +The regiment took its full share in the work that followed the +relief of Lucknow, portions being attached to each of the flying +columns which scoured Oude, defeated Kunwer Singh, and drove the +rebels before them wherever they encountered them. + +In the beginning of February the vacancies in the ranks were filled +up by a draft from England. The work had been fatiguing in the +extreme, but the men were as a rule in splendid health, the +constant excitement preventing their suffering from the effect of +heat or attacks of fever. + +Two companies which had been away from the headquarters of the +regiment for six weeks, found on their return a number of letters +awaiting them, the first they had received since leaving England. +Captain Mallett, who commanded this detachment, found one from Sir +John Greendale, written after the receipt of his letter from +Cawnpore. + +"My Dear Mallett: + +"We were all delighted to get your letter. Long before we received +it we had the news of the desperate fighting at Lucknow, which was, +of course, telegraphed down to the coast and got here before your +letter. You may imagine that we looked anxiously through the list +of killed and wounded, and were glad indeed that your name in the +latter had the word 'slightly' after it. + +"Things are going on here much as usual. There was a terrible +sensation on the very morning after you left, at the disappearance +of Martha Bennett, the daughter of one of your tenants. She left +the house just at dusk the evening before, and has not been heard +of since. As she took nothing with her, it is improbable in the +extreme that she can have fled, and there can be little doubt that +the poor girl was murdered, possibly by some passing tramps. +However, though the strictest search was made throughout the +neighbourhood, her body has never been discovered. + +"We lost another neighbour just about the time you left--Percy +Carthew. He went for a year's big game shooting in North America. +We don't miss him much, as he lived in London, and was not often +down at his place. I don't remember his being there since you came +back from the Crimea. Anyhow, I do not think that I ever saw you +and him together, either in a hunting field or at a dinner party; +which, of course, you would have been had you both been down here +at the same time. If I remember right, you were at the same +school." + +And then followed some gossip about mutual friends, and the letter +concluded: + +"The general excitement is calming down a little now that Delhi is +taken and the garrison of Lucknow brought off. Of course there will +be a great deal more fighting before the whole thing is over, but +there is no longer any fear for the safety of India. The Sikhs have +come out splendidly. Who would have thought it after the tremendous +thrashing we gave them a few years back? + +"Take care of yourself, lad. You have the Victoria Cross and can do +very well without a bar, so give someone else the chance. My wife +and Bertha send their love." + +Two or three of his other letters were from friends in regiments at +home bewailing their hard fortune at being out of the fighting. The +last he opened bore the latest postmark. It was from his solicitor, +and enclosed Marshall's cancelled bill. + +"Of course, as you requested me to give 300 pounds for the +enclosed, I did so, but by the way in which Morrison jumped at the +offer I believe that he would have been glad to have taken half +that sum." + +Mallett had gone into his tent to open his letters in quiet. He +presently went to the entrance, and catching sight of Marshall +called him up. + +"I have managed that affair for you, Marshall," he said; "and have +arranged it in a way that I am sure will be satisfactory to us +both. You must look upon me now as your creditor instead of +Morrison, and you won't find me a hard one. Here is your cancelled +bill for four hundred and fifty. I got it for three hundred, so +that a third of your debt is wiped off at once. As to the rest, you +can pay me as you intended to pay him, but I don't want you to +stint yourself unnecessarily. Pay me ten or fifteen pounds at a +time at your convenience, and don't let us say anything more about +it." + +"But I may be killed," Marshall said, in a voice struggling with +emotion. + +"If you are, lad, there is an end of the business. As you know, I +am very well off, and the loss would not affect me in any way. Very +likely you will light upon some rich booty in one of these affairs +with a rebel Rajah, and will be able to pay it all off at once." + +"I will if I can, Mallett, though I think that it will be much more +satisfactory to do it out of my savings, except that I shall have +the pleasure of knowing that if I were wiped out afterwards you +would not be a loser." + +A few days later Frank Mallett was sent with his company to rout +out a party of rebels reported to be in possession of a large +village twenty miles away. Armstrong was laid up by a slight attack +of fever, and he asked that Marshall should be appointed in his +place on this occasion. + +"One wants two subalterns, Colonel," he said, "for a business like +this. I may have to detach a party to the back of the village to +cut off the rebels' retreat, and it may be necessary to assault in +two places." + +"Certainly. Take Marshall if you wish it, Captain Mallett. The +young fellow has been behaving excellently, and has gone far to +retrieve his character. Captain Johnson has reported to me that he +is exemplary in his duties, and has shown much gallantry under +fire, especially in that affair near Neemuch, in which he rushed +forward and carried off a wounded man who would otherwise have +certainly been killed. I reported the case to the Brigadier, who +said that at any other time the young fellow would probably have +been recommended for a V.C., but that there were so many cases of +individual gallantry that there was no chance of his getting that; +but Marshall was specially mentioned in orders four days ago, and +this will, of course, count in his favour. + +"Take him with you by all means; your ensign only joined with the +last draft, and you will certainly want someone with you of greater +experience than he has." + +Marshall was delighted when he heard that he was to accompany +Captain Mallett. In addition to his own company, a hundred men of +the Punjaub infantry and fifty Sikh horse were under Captain +Mallett's command, the native troops being added at the last +moment, as a report of another body of mutineers marching in the +same direction had just come in. + +Frank spent a quarter of an hour in inspecting some maps of the +country, and had a talk with the native who was to act as guide. +When the little force was drawn up, he marched off in quite another +direction from that in which the village lay. Being in command, he +was mounted for the first time during the campaign. The lieutenant +in command of the Sikhs presently rode up to him. + +"I beg your pardon, Captain Mallett, but I cannot but think that +your guide is taking you in the wrong direction. I looked at the +map before starting, and find that Dousi lies almost due north. We +are marching west." + +"You are quite right, Mr. Hammond, but, you see, I don't want any +of the natives about the camp to guess where we are going. None of +these Oude fellows bears us any goodwill, and one of them might +hurry off, and carry information as to the line we were following. + +"We will march four miles along this road, and then strike off by +another leading north. We must surprise them if we can. We don't +really know much about their force, and even if we did, they may be +joined by some other body before we get there--there are numerous +bands of them all over the country. And in the next place, if they +knew that we were coming, they might bolt before we got there. + +"Besides, some of these villages are very strong, and we might +suffer a good deal before we could carry it if they had notice of +our coming. However, you were quite right to point out to me that +we were not going in what seemed the right direction." + +The column started at four o'clock in the afternoon. It had been +intended that it should move off at daybreak on the following +morning, but Frank had suggested to the Colonel that it would be +advantageous to march half the distance that night. + +"Of course, we could do the twenty miles tomorrow, Colonel," he +said, "but the men would hardly be in the best fighting trim when +they got there. Moreover, by starting in the afternoon, the natives +here would imagine that we were going to pounce upon some fugitives +at a village not far away." + +The permission was readily granted, and accordingly, after marching +until nine o'clock in the evening, the column halted in a grove of +trees to which their guide led them, half a mile from the road. +Each man carried four days' cooked provisions in his haversack. +There was therefore no occasion for fires to be lighted, and after +seeing that sentries were placed round the edge of the grove, Frank +Mallett joined the officers who were gathered in the centre. + +"What time shall we march tomorrow?" the officer in command of the +native infantry asked. + +"Not until the heat of the day is over. We have come about twelve +miles, and have as much more to do; and if we start at the same +hour as we did today we shall get there about nine. I shall halt +half a mile away, reconnoitre the place at night, and if the ground +is open enough to move without making a noise, we will post the +troops in the positions they are to occupy, and attack as soon as +day breaks. + +"In that way we shall get the benefit of surprise, and at the same +time have daylight to prevent their escaping. Besides, if we +attacked at night a good many of the villagers, and perhaps women, +might be killed in the confusion. + +"Tomorrow morning we will cut down some young saplings and make a +dozen scaling ladders. We have brought a bag of gunpowder to blow +open the gate, and if the main body enter there while two parties +scale the walls at other points we shall get them in a trap." + +At about nine o'clock the next evening the guide said that they +were now within half a mile of the village, and they accordingly +halted. The men were ordered to keep silence, and to lie down and +sleep as soon as they had eaten their supper; while Mallett, +accompanied by the two officers of the native troops and the guide, +made his way towards the village. + +It was found to be larger than had been anticipated. On three sides +cultivated fields extended to the foot of the strong wall that +surrounded it, while on the fourth there was rough broken ground +covered with scrub and brushes. + +"How far does this extend?" Captain Mallett asked the guide. + +"About half a mile, and then joins a big jungle, sahib." + +"This is the side they will try to escape by; therefore, Mr. +Herbert, you will lead your men round here with four scaling +ladders. You will post them along at the foot of the wall, and when +you hear the explosion of the powder bag or an outburst of musketry +firing, you will scale the wall and advance to meet me, keeping as +wide a front as possible, so as to prevent fugitives from passing +you and getting out here. The cavalry will cut off those who make +across the open country. I would give a good deal to know how many +of these fellows are inside. Four hundred was the number first +reported. They may, of course, have already moved away, and on the +other hand they may have been joined by others. They were said to +have some guns with them, but these will be of little use in the +streets of the village, and we shall probably capture them before +they have time to fire a single round." + +At three o'clock the troops stood to their arms, and moved +noiselessly off towards the positions assigned to them. Captain +Mallett led his own company to within four hundred yards of the +wall, and then sent Marshall forward with two men to fix the powder +bag and fuse to the gate. When they had done this they were to +remain quietly there until warned that the company was about to +advance; then they were to light the fuse, which was cut to burn +two minutes, to retire round the angle of the wall, and join the +company as it came up. The troops lay down, for the ground was +level, and there was no spot behind which they could conceal +themselves, and impatiently watched the sky until the first gleam +of light appeared. Another ten minutes elapsed. The dawn was +spreading fast, and a man was sent forward to Lieutenant Marshall +to say that the company was getting in motion. + +As soon as the messenger was seen to reach the gates, Mallett gave +the word. The men sprang to their feet. + +"Don't double, men. We shall be there in time, and it is no use +getting out of breath and spoiling your shooting." + +They were within a hundred yards of the gate, when they heard a +shout from the village, and as they pressed on, shot after shot +rang out from the wall. A moment later there was a heavy explosion, +and as the smoke cleared off, the gate was seen to be destroyed. + +A few seconds later, the troops burst through the opening. Infantry +bugles were sounding in the village, and there was a loud din of +shouting, cries of alarm and orders. From every house the mutineers +rushed, musket in hand, but were shot down or bayoneted by the +troops. As the latter approached a large open space in the middle +of the village a strong body of Sepoys advanced in good order to +meet them, led by their native officers. + +"Steady, men, steady," Captain Mallett shouted. "Form across the +street." + +Quickly the men fell in, though several dropped as a volley flashed +out from the Sepoy line. + +"One volley and then charge," Mallett shouted. Some of the guns +were already empty, but the rest poured in their fire, when the +word was given, as regularly as if on parade. + +"Level bayonets--charge!" And with a loud cheer the soldiers sprang +forward. The Sepoys, well commanded though they were, wavered and +broke; but the British were upon them before they could fly, and +with shouts of "Cawnpore," used their bayonets with deadly effect, +driving the enemy before them. + +As they came into the open, and the fugitives cleared away on +either side, they saw a long line of men drawn up. A moment later a +flash of fire ran along it. + +"Shoulder to shoulder, men," Captain Mallett shouted. "Give them +the bayonet." + +With a hoarse roar of rage, for many of their comrades had fallen, +the company rushed forward and burst through the line of mutineers +as if it had been a sheet of paper. Then they divided, and Captain +Mallett with half the company turned to the right. Marshall took +the other wing to the left. + +Encouraged by the smallness of the number of their assailants, the +mutineers, cheered on by their officers, resisted stoutly. A +scattering fire opened upon the British from the houses round, and +the shouts of the mutineers rose louder and louder, when a heavy +volley was suddenly poured into them, and the Punjaubies rushed out +from the street facing that by which the British had entered. They +bore to the right, and fell upon the body with which Marshall was +engaged. + +The Sepoys, taken wholly by surprise, at once lost heart. Cheering +loudly, the British attacked them with increased ardour, while the +Punjaubies flung themselves into their midst. In an instant, that +flank of the Sepoys was scattered in headlong flight, hotly pursued +by their foes. There was no firing, for the muskets were all empty; +but the bayonet did its work, and the open space and the streets +leading from it were thickly strewn with dead. + +The Sepoys attacked by Captain Mallett's party, on the other hand, +though shaken for a moment, stood firm; led by two or three native +officers, who, fighting with the greatest bravery, exhorted their +men to continue their resistance. + +"Would you rather be hung than fight?" they shouted. "They are but +a handful; we are five to one against them. Forward, men, and +exterminate these Feringhees before the others can come back to +their assistance." + +The Sepoys were now the assailants, and with furious shouts pressed +round the little body of British troops. + +"Steady, men, steady," Captain Mallett shouted, as he drove his +sword through the body of one of the rebel leaders who rushed at +him. "Keep together, back to back. We shall have help here in a +minute." + +It was longer than that, however, before relief came. For three or +four minutes a desperate struggle went on, then Marshall's voice +was heard shouting: + +"This way, men, this way!" + +A moment later there was a surging movement in the ranks of the +insurgents, and with a dozen men Marshall burst through them, and +joined the party. These at once fell furiously upon the mutineers, +and the latter were already giving way when some fifty of the +Punjaubies, led by their officers, fell upon them. + +The effect was decisive. The Sepoys scattered at once, and fled in +all directions, pursued by the furious soldiers and the Punjaubies. +Reaching the walls, the fugitives leapt recklessly down. Forty or +fifty of them were cut down by the cavalry, but the greater portion +reached the broken ground in safety. Here the cavalry could not +follow them, for the ground was covered with rocks and boulders +concealed by the bushes. In the village itself three hundred and +fifty lay dead. + +"Thanks, Marshall," Frank Mallett said, when the fight in the +village was over. "You arrived just in time, for it was going very +hard with us. Altogether it was more than we bargained for, for +they were certainly over a thousand strong. They must have been +joined by a very strong party yesterday." + +"I ought not to have gone so far," Marshall replied, "but I had no +idea that all the Punjaubies had come to our side of the fight. The +men were so eager that I had the greatest difficulty in getting +them off the pursuit. Fortunately I met Herbert, and learned that +all his men were with us. Then I gathered a dozen of our fellows, +and rushed off, telling him to follow as soon as he could get some +of his men together. + +"You can imagine what agony I felt when, as I entered the open +space, I saw a surging mass of Sepoys, and no sign of any of you; +and how I cursed my own folly, and what delight I felt, as on +cutting our way through we found that you were still on your feet." + +"Yes, it was a close shave, Marshall; another two or three minutes +and it would have been all over. The men fought like lions, as you +can see by the piled-up dead there. Half of them were down, and +twenty men cannot hold out long against four or five hundred. + +"We owe our lives to you beyond all question. I don't see that you +were in the least to blame in the matter, for naturally you would +suppose that some of the Punjaubies would have joined us. Besides, +it was of course essential that you should not give the Sepoys time +to rally, but should follow them up hotly. + +"Where is Anstruther?" + +"I don't know. I have not seen him since we entered the square." + +"Have any of you seen Mr. Anstruther?" Captain Mallett asked, +turning to some soldiers standing near. + +"He is lying over there, sir," one of the men said. "He was just in +front of me when the Pandies fired that volley at us as we came out +of the streets, and he pitched forward and fell like a stone. I +think that he was shot through the head, sir." + +They went across to the spot. The ensign lay there shot through the +brain. Four or five soldiers lay round him; one of them was dead, +the others more or less seriously wounded. + +"Sound the assembly," Captain Mallett said, as he turned away +sadly, to a bugler. "Let us see what our losses are." + + + +Chapter 4. + +The bugle sounded, and in a short time the infantry fell in. They +had been engaged in searching the houses for mutineers. The +Punjaubies had lost but five killed and thirteen wounded, while of +the whites an officer and eighteen men were killed and sixteen +wounded; nine of the former having fallen in the bayonet struggle +with the Sepoys. Nine guns were captured, none of which had been +fired, the attack having been so sudden that the Sepoys had only +had time to fall in before their assailants were upon them. + +"It is a creditable victory," Mallett said, "considering that we +had to face more than double the number that we expected. Our +casualties are heavy, but they are nothing to those of the +mutineers. + +"Sergeant, take a file of men and go round and count the number of +the enemy who have fallen. + +"Ah, here comes a Sowar, and we shall hear what the cavalry have +been doing outside." + +The trooper handed him a paper: "Fifty-three of the enemy killed, +the rest escaped into the jungle. On our side two wounded; one +seriously, one slightly." + +"That is as well as we could expect, Marshall. Of course, most of +them got over the wall at the back. You see, all our plans were +disarranged by finding them in such unexpected strength. Had we +been able to thrash them by ourselves, the Punjaubies would have +cut off the retreat in that direction. As it was, that part of the +business is a failure." + +The Sergeant presently returned. + +"There are 340 in the streets, sir," he reported; "and I reckon +there are another 20 or 30 killed in the houses, but I have not +searched them yet." + +"That is sufficiently close; upwards of 400 is good enough. + +"Now, Mr. Marshall, set the men to work making stretchers to carry +the wounded. + +"Mr. Herbert, will you tell off a party of your men to dig a large +grave outside the village for the killed, and a small one apart for +Mr. Anstruther? Poor fellow, I am sorry indeed at his loss; he +would have made a fine officer. + +"Sergeant Hugging, take a party and search the village for +provisions. We have got bread, but lay hands on any fowls or goats +that you can find, and there may be some sheep." + +While this party was away, another tore down the woodwork of an +empty house, and fires were soon burning, an abundance of fowl and +goats having been obtained. The cavalry had by this time come in. + +While the meal was being cooked the British and Punjaub dead were +carried out to the spot where the grave had been dug. The troops +had a hearty meal, and then marched out from the village. They were +drawn up round the graves, and the bodies were laid reverently in +them. Captain Mallett said a few words over them; the earth was +then shovelled in and levelled, and the troops marched to a wood a +mile distant, where they halted until the heat of the day was over. +They returned by the direct road to the camp, which they reached at +midnight. + +All concerned gained great credit for the heavy blow that had been +inflicted on the mutineers, and the affair was highly spoken of in +the Brigadier's report to the Commander in Chief. Shortly +afterwards Mallett's name appeared in general orders as promoted to +a brevet Majority, pending a confirmation by the home authorities. + +Two days after the return of the little column, the brigade marched +and joined the force collected at Cawnpore for the final operation +against Lucknow, and on the 3rd of March reached the Commander in +Chief at the Dil Koosha, which had been captured with the same ease +as on the occasion of the former advance. + +They found that while the main body had gathered there, 6,000 men +under Sir James Outram had crossed the Goomtee from the Alum Bagh, +and, after defeating two serious attacks by the enemy, had taken up +a position at Chinhut. On the 9th, Sir Colin Campbell captured the +Martiniere with trifling loss. On the 11th General Outram pushed +his advance as far as the iron bridge, and established batteries +commanding the passage of the stone bridge also. On the 12th the +Imambarra was breached and stormed, and the troops pressed so hotly +on the flying enemy that they entered the Kaiser Bagh, the +strongest fortified palace in the city, and drove the enemy from +it. + +The ----th was engaged in this action, and Major Mallett was leading +his company to the assault on the Imambarra when a shot brought him +to the ground. When he recovered his senses he found himself in a +chamber that had been hastily converted into a hospital, with the +regimental doctor leaning over him. + +"What has happened?" he asked. + +"You have been hit, Mallett, and have had a very close shave of it, +indeed; but as it is, you will soon be about again." + +"Where was I hit? I don't feel any pain." + +"You were hit in the neck, about half an inch above the collarbone, +and the ball has gone through the muscles of the neck; and beyond +the fact that you won't be able to turn your head for some time, +you will be none the worse for it. An inch further to the right, or +an inch lower or higher, and it would have been fatal. It was not +one of the enemy who did you this service, for the ball went up +from behind, and came out in front; it is evidently a random shot +from one of our own fellows." + +"I am always more afraid of a shot from behind than I am of one in +front when I am leading the company, doctor. The men get so excited +that they blaze away anyhow, and in the smoke are just as likely to +hit an officer two or three paces ahead of them as an enemy. How +long have I been insensible?" + +"You were brought in here half an hour ago, and I don't suppose +that you had lain many minutes on the ground before you were picked +up." + +"Have we taken the Imambarra?" + +"Yes, and what is better still, our fellows rushed into the Kaiser +Bagh at the heels of the enemy. We got the news ten minutes ago." + +"That is good indeed. We anticipated desperate fighting before we +took that." + +"Yes, it was an unlucky shot, Mallett, that knocked you out of your +share in the loot. We have always heard that the place was full of +treasure and jewels." + +"If there is no one else who wants your attention, doctor, I advise +you to join the regiment there for an hour or two. As for me, I +care nothing about the loot. There are plenty of fellows who will +benefit by it more than I should, and I give up my share +willingly." + +The doctor shook his head. + +"I am afraid I cannot do that; but, between ourselves, I have let +Ferguson slip away, and he is to divide what he gets with me." + +"Have we any wounded?" + +"I don't know yet. The whole thing was done so suddenly that the +loss cannot have been heavy. I was in the rear of the brigade when +you were brought in, and as the case at first looked bad, I got +some of the stretcher men with me to burst open the door of this +house and established a dozen temporary beds here. As you see, +there are only four others tenanted, and they are all hopeless +cases. No doubt the rest have all been carried off to the rear, as +only the men who helped me would have known of this place. + +"Now that you have come round, I will send a couple of hospital +orderlies in here and be off myself to the hospital in the rear. I +will look in again this evening." + +In a short time the doctor returned with an orderly. + +"I cannot find another now," he said, "but one will be enough. Here +is a flask of brandy, and he will find you water somewhere. There +is nothing to be done for any of you at present, except to give you +drink when you want it." + +Two hours later Marshall came in. + +"Thank God you are not dangerously hurt, Mallett," he said. "I only +heard that you were down three-quarters of an hour ago, when I ran +against Armstrong in the Kaiser Bagh. He told me that he had seen +you fall at the beginning of the fight, and I got leave from the +Colonel to look for you. At the hospital, no one seemed to know +anything about you, but I luckily came across Jefferies, who told +me where to find you, and that your wound was not serious, so I +hurried back here. He said that you would be taken to the hospital +this evening." + +"Yes, I am in luck again. Like the last it is only a flesh wound, +though it is rather worse, for I expect that I shall have to go +about with a stiff neck for some weeks to come, and it is +disgusting being laid up in the middle of an affair like this. Have +we lost many fellows?" + +"No. Scobell is the only officer killed. Hunter, Groves and +Parkinson are wounded--Parkinson, they say, seriously. We have +twenty-two rank and file killed, and twenty or thirty wounded. I +have not seen the returns." + +"And how about the loot, Marshall?" Mallett said, with a smile. +"Was that all humbug?" + +"It is stupendous. We were among the first at the Kaiser Bagh, and +I don't believe that there is a man who has not got his pockets +stuffed with gold coins. There were chests and chests full. They +did not bother about the jewels--I think they took them for +coloured glass. I kept my eyes open, and picked up enough to pay my +debt to you five times over." + +"I am heartily glad of that, Marshall. Don't let it slip through +your fingers again." + +"That you may be sure I won't. I shall send them all home to our +agent to sell, and have the money put by for purchasing my next +step. I have had my lesson, and it will last me for life. + +"Well, I must be going now, old man. The Colonel did not like +letting me go, as of course the men want looking after, and the +Pandies may make an effort to drive us out of the Kaiser Bagh +again; so goodbye. If I can get away this evening I will come to +see you at the hospital." + +A week later Frank Mallett was sitting in a chair by his bedside. +The fighting was all over, and a strange quiet had succeeded the +long roar of battle. His neck was strapped up with bandages, and +save that he was unable to move his head in the slightest degree, +he felt well enough to take his place with the regiment again. Many +of his fellow officers dropped in from time to time for a short +chat, but the duty was heavy. All open resistance had ceased, but +the troops were engaged in searching the houses, and turning out +all rough characters who had made Lucknow their centre, and had no +visible means of subsistence. Large gangs of the lower class +population were set to work to bury the dead, which would otherwise +have rendered the city uninhabitable. Strong guards were posted at +night, alike to prevent soldiers from wandering in search of loot +and to prevent fanatics from making sudden attacks. + +"There is a wounded man in the hospital across the road who wants +to see you, Mallett," the surgeon said one morning. "He belongs to +your company, but as he only came out with the last draft, and was +transferred only on the day that the fighting began, I don't +suppose you know him. He said I was to tell you his name was George +Lechmere, though he enlisted as John Hilton." + +"I seem to know the name, doctor, though I don't remember at +present where I came across him. I suppose I can go in to see him?" + +"Oh, yes, there is no objection whatever. Your wound is doing as +well as can be; though, of course, you are still weak from loss of +blood. I shall send you up this afternoon to the hospital just +established in the park of the Dil Koosha. We shall get you all out +as soon as we can, for the stench of this town at present is +dreadful, and wounds cannot be expected to do well in such a +poisoned atmosphere." + +"Is this man badly hit, doctor?" + +"Very dangerously. I have scarcely a hope of saving him, and think +it probable that he may not live another twenty-four hours. Of +course, he may take a change for the better. I will take you to +him. I have finished here now." + +"It must have been a bad time for you, doctor," Mallett said, as +they went across. + +"Tremendously hard, but most interesting. I had not had more than +two hours' sleep at a time since the fighting began, till last +night, and then I could not keep up any longer. Of course, it has +been the same with us all, and the heat has made it very trying. I +am particularly anxious to get the wounded well out of the place, +for now that the excitement is over I expect an outbreak of fever +or dysentery. + +"There, that is your man in the corner bed over there." + +Mallett went over to the bedside, and looked at the wounded man. +His face was drawn and pinched, his eyes sunken in his head, his +face deadly pale, and his hair matted with perspiration. + +"Do you know me, Captain Mallett?" + +"No, lad, I cannot say that I do, though when the doctor told me +your name it seemed familiar to me. Very likely I should have +recognised you if I had met you a week since, but, you see, we are +both altered a good deal from the effect of our wounds." + +"I am the son of Farmer Lechmere, your tenant." + +"Good heavens! man. You don't mean to say you are Lechmere's eldest +son, George! What in the world brought you to this?" + +"You did," the man said, sternly. "Your villainy brought me here." + +Frank Mallett gave a start of astonishment that cost him so violent +a twinge in his wound that he almost cried out with sudden pain. + +"What wild idea have you got into your head, my poor fellow?" he +said soothingly. "I am conscious of having done no wrong to you or +yours. I saw your father and mother on the afternoon before I came +away. They made no complaint of anything." + +"No, they were contented enough. Do you know, Captain Mallett, that +I loved Martha Bennett?" + +"No. I have been so little at home of recent years that I know very +little of the private affairs of my tenants, but I remember her, of +course, and I was grieved to learn by a letter from Sir John +Greendale the other day that in some strange way she was missing." + +"Who knew that better than yourself?" the man said, raising himself +on his elbow, and fixing a look of such deadly hatred upon Mallett, +that the latter involuntarily drew back a step. + +"I saw you laughing and talking to her in front of her father's +house. I heard you with her in their garden the evening before you +left and she disappeared, and it was my voice you heard in the +lane. Had I known that you were going that night, I would have +followed you and killed you, and saved her. The next morning you +were both gone. I waited a time and then went to the depot of your +regiment and enlisted. I had failed to save her, but at least I +could avenge her. That bullet was mine, and had you not stumbled +over a Pandy's body, I suppose, just as I pulled my trigger, you +would have been a dead man. + +"I did not know that I had failed, and, rushing forward with my +company, was in the thickest of the fight. I wanted to be killed, +but no shot struck me, and at last, when chasing a Pandy along a +passage in the Kaiser Bagh, he turned and levelled his piece at me. +Mine was loaded, and I could have shot him down as he turned, but I +stood and let him have his shot. When I found myself here I was +sorry that he had not finished me at once, but when I heard that +you were alive, and likely to recover, I thanked him in my heart +that he had left me a few more days of life, that I could let you +know that it was I who had fired, and that Martha's wrong had not +been wholly unavenged." + +He sank back exhausted on to the pillow. Frank Mallett had made no +attempt to interrupt him: the sudden agony of his wound and his +astonishment at this strange accusation had given him so grave a +shock that he leaned against the wall behind him in silent wonder. + +"Hello! Mallett, what the deuce is the matter with you?" the +surgeon exclaimed, as, looking up from a patient over whom he was +bending a short distance away, his eyes fell on the officer's face. +"You look as if you were going to faint, man. + +"Here, orderly, some brandy and water, quickly!" + +Frank drank some of the brandy and water and sat down for a few +minutes. Then, when he saw the surgeon at the other end of the +room, he got up and went across to Lechmere's bed. + +"There is some terrible mistake, Lechmere," he said, quietly. "I +swear to you on my honour as a gentleman that you are altogether +wrong. From the moment that I got into my dog cart at Bennett's I +never saw Martha again. I know nothing whatever of this talk in the +garden. Did you think you saw me as well as heard me?" + +"No, you were on one side of that high wall and I on the other, but +I heard enough to know who it was. You told her that you had to go +abroad at once, but that if she would come out there you would put +her in charge of someone until you could marry her. You told her +that she could not stay where she was long, and I knew what that +meant. I suppose she is at Calcutta still waiting, for of course +she could not have come out with you. I suppose that she is +breaking her heart there now--if she is not dead, as I hope she +is." + +"Did you hear the word Calcutta or India mentioned, Lechmere?" + +"No, I did not, but I heard quite enough. Everyone knew that you +were going in a day or two, and that was enough for me after what I +had seen in the afternoon." + +"You saw nothing in the afternoon," Captain Mallett said, angrily. +"The girl's father and mother were at home. We were all chatting +together until we came out. She came to the trap with me while they +stood at the open window. It was not more than a minute before I +drove off. I have not spoken to the girl half a dozen times since +she was a little child. + +"Why, man, if everyone took such insane fancies in his head as you +do, no man would dare to speak to a woman at all. + +"However," he went on in an altered voice, "this is not a time for +anger. You are very ill, Lechmere, but the doctor has not given you +up, and I trust that you will yet get round and will be able to +prove to your own satisfaction that, whatever has happened to this +poor girl, I, at least, am wholly innocent of it. But should you +not get over this hurt, I should not like you to go to your grave +believing that I had done you this great wrong. I speak to you as +to a dying man, and having no interest in deceiving you, and I +swear to you before Heaven that I know absolutely nothing of this. +I, too, may fall from a rebel shot before long, and I thank God +that I can meet you before Him as an innocent man in this matter. + +"I must be going, for I see the doctor coming to fetch me. Goodbye, +lad, we may not meet again, though I trust we shall; but if not, I +give you my full forgiveness for that shot you fired at me. It was +the result of a strange mistake, but had I acted as you believed, I +should have well deserved the death you intended for me." + +"Confound it, Mallett, there seems no end of mischief from your +visit here. In the first place, you were nearly knocked over +yourself, and now there is this man lying insensible. So for +goodness' sake get off to your room again, and lie down and keep +yourself quiet for the rest of the day. I shall have you +demoralising the whole ward if you stay here." + +Captain Mallett walked back with a much feebler and less steady +step than that with which he had entered the hospital. He had some +doubts whether the man who had made this strange accusation and had +so nearly taken his life was really sane, and whether he had not +altogether imagined the conversation which he declared he had heard +in the garden. He remembered now the sudden way in which George +Lechmere had turned round and gone away when he saw him saying +goodbye to Martha, and how she had shrugged her shoulders in +contempt. + +The man must either be mad, or of a frightfully jealous +disposition, to conjure up harm out of such an incident: and one +who would do so might well, when his brain was on fire, conjure up +this imaginary conversation. Still, he might have heard some man +talking to her. From what Sir John had said, she did leave the +house and go into the garden about that hour, and she certainly +never returned. + +He remembered all about George Lechmere now. He had the reputation +of being the best judge of cattle in the neighbourhood, and a +thoroughly steady fellow, but he could see no resemblance in the +shrunk and wasted face to that he remembered. + +That evening both the officers and men in the hospital were carried +away to the new one outside the town. When the doctor came in +before they were moved, he told Mallett that the man he had seen +had recovered from his swoon. + +"He was very nearly gone," he said, "but we managed to get him +round, and it seems to me that he has been better since. I don't +know what he said to you or you to him, and I don't want to know; +but he seems to have got something off his mind. He is less +feverish than he was, and I have really some faint hopes of pulling +him through, especially as he will now be in a more healthful +atmosphere." + +It was a comfort indeed to all the wounded when late that evening +they lay on beds in the hospital marquees. The air seemed +deliciously cool and fresh, and there was a feeling of quiet and +restfulness that was impossible in the town, with the constant +movement of troops, the sound of falling masonry, the dust and +fetid odour of decay. + +A week later the surgeon told Mallett that he had now hopes that +the soldier he was interested in would recover. + +"The chances were a hundred to one against him," he said, "but the +one chance has come off." + +"Will he be fit for service again, doctor?" + +"Yes, I don't see why he should not be, though it will be a long +time before he can carry his kit and arms on a long day's march. It +is hot enough now, but we have not got to the worst by a long way, +and as there is still a vast amount of work to be done, I expect +that the regiment will be off again before long." + +"Well, at any rate, I shall be able to go with you, doctor." + +"I don't quite say that, Mallett," the doctor said, doubtfully. "In +another fortnight your wound will be healed so that you will be +capable of ordinary duty, but certainly not long marches. If you do +go you will have to ride. There must be no more marching with your +company for some time." + +A week later orders were issued, under which the regiment was +appointed to form part of the force which, under the command of +General Walpole, was to undertake a campaign against Rohilcund, a +district in which the great majority of the rebels who had escaped +from Lucknow had now established themselves. Unfortunately, the +extent of the city and the necessity for the employment of a large +proportion of the British force in the actual assault, had +prevented anything like a complete investment of the town, and the +consequence had been that after the fall of the Kaiser Bagh, by far +the greater portion of the rebel force in the city had been able to +march away without molestation. + +Before leaving, Mallett had an interview with George Lechmere, who +was now out of danger. + +"I should have known you now, Lechmere," he said, as he came to his +bedside. "Of course you are still greatly changed, but you are +getting back your old expression, and I hope that in the course of +two or three months you will be able to take your place in the +ranks again." + +"I don't know, sir. I ain't fit to stay with the regiment, and have +thought of being invalided home and then buying my discharge. I +know you have said nothing as to how you got that wound, not even +to the doctor; for if you had done so there is not a man in +hospital who would have spoken to me. But how could I join the +regiment again? knowing that if there was any suspicion of what I +had done, every man would draw away from me, and that there would +be nothing for me to do but to put a bullet in my head." + +"But no one ever will know it. It was a mad act, and I believe you +were partly mad at the time." + +"I think so myself now that I look back. I think now that I must +have been mad all along. It never once entered my mind to doubt +that it was you, and now I see plainly enough that except what the +man said about going away--and anyone might have said that--there +was not a shadow of ground or suspicion against you. But even if I +had never had that suspicion I should have left home. + +"Why, sir, I know that my own father and mother suspected that I +killed her. I resented it at the time. I felt hard and bitter +against it, but as I have been lying here I have come to see that I +brought their suspicions upon myself by my own conduct, and that +they had a thousand times better ground for suspecting me than I +had for suspecting you. + +"All that happened was my fault. Martha cared for me once, but it +was my cursed jealousy that drove her from me. She was gay and +light hearted, and it was natural for her to take her pleasure, +which was harmless enough if I had not made a grievance of it. If I +had not driven her from me she would have been my wife long before +harm came to her; but it was as well that it was not so, for as I +was then I know I should have made her life a hell. + +"I did it all and I have been punished for it. Even at the end she +might never have gone off if I had not shouted out and tried to +climb the wall. She must have recognised my voice, and, knowing +that I had her secret, feared that I might kill her and him too, +and so she went. She would not have gone as she did, without even a +bonnet or a shawl, if it had not been for that." + +"Then you don't think, as most people there do, that she was +murdered?" + +"Not a bit, sir. I never thought so for a moment. She went straight +away with that man. I think now I know who it was." + +"Never mind about that, Lechmere. You know what the Bible says, +'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,' and whoever it may be, leave +him safely in God's hands." + +"Yes, sir, I shall try to act up to that. I was fool enough to +think that I could avenge her, and a nice business I made of it." + +"Well, I think it is nonsense of you to think of leaving the +regiment. There is work to be done here. There is the work of +punishing men who have committed the most atrocious crimes. There +is the work of winning back India for England. Every Englishman out +here, who can carry a weapon, ought to remain at his post until the +work is done. + +"As to this wound of mine, that is a matter between us only. As I +have told you, I have altogether forgiven you, and am not even +disposed greatly to blame you, thinking, as you did, that I was +responsible for that poor girl's flight. I shall never mention it +to a soul. I have already put it out of my mind, therefore it is as +if it had never been done, and there is no reason whatever why you +should shrink from companionship with your comrades. I shall think +much better of you for doing your duty like a man, than if you went +home again and shrank from it." + +"You are too good, sir, altogether too good." + +"Nonsense, man. Besides, you have to remember that you have not +gone unpunished. Had it not been for your feeling, after you had, +as you believed, killed me, you never would have stood and let that +Sepoy shoot you; so that all the pain that you have been going +through, and may still have to go through before you are quite +cured, is a punishment that you have yourself accepted. After a man +has once been punished for a crime there is an end of it, and you +need grieve no further over it; but it will be a lesson that I hope +and believe you will never forget. + +"Hackett, who has been my soldier servant for the last five years, +was killed in the fight in the Kaiser Bagh. If you like, when you +rejoin, I shall apply for you in his stead. It will make your work +a good deal easier for you, and I should like to have the son of +one of my old tenants about me." + +The man burst into tears. + +"There, don't let's say anything more about it," Mallett went on, +taking the thin hand of the soldier in his. "We will consider it +settled, and I shall look out for you in a couple of months, so get +well as quick as you can, and don't worry yourself by thinking of +the past. I must be off now, for I have to take down a party of +convalescents to rejoin this evening. + +"Goodbye, lad," and without waiting for any reply, he turned and +left the marquee. + + + +Chapter 5. + +"It is little more than two years and a half since I left, +Lechmere, but it seems almost a lifetime." + +"It does seem a time, Major. We must have marched thousands of +miles, and I could not say how many times we have been engaged. +There has not been a week that we have not had a fight, and +sometimes two or three of them." + +"Well, thank God, we are back again. Still I am glad to have been +through it." + +"So am I, sir. It will be something to look back on, and it is +curious to think that while we have been seeing and doing so much, +father and my brother Bob have just been going about over the farm, +and seeing to the cattle, and looking after the animals day in and +day out, without ever going away save to market two or three times +a month at Chippenham." + +"And you have quite made up your mind to stay with me, Lechmere?" + +"Quite, sir. Short of your turning me out, there is nothing that +would get me away from you. No one could be happier than I have +been, ever since I rejoined after that wound. It has not been like +master and servant, sir. You have just treated me as if you had +been the squire and I had been your tenant's son, and that nothing +had ever come between us. You have made a man of me again, and I +only wish that I had more opportunities of showing you how I feel +it." + +"You have had opportunities enough, and you have made the most of +them. You were by my side when I entered that house where there +were a score of desperate rebels, and it would have gone hard with +us if aid had not come up. You stood over me when I was knocked +down by that charge of rebel cavalry, and got half a dozen wounds +before the Hussars swept down and drove them back." + +"I was well paid for that, sir," the man said with a smile. + +"Yes, you got the Victoria Cross, and no man ever won it more +fairly. But, after all, it was not so much by such things as these +that you showed your feelings, Lechmere, as by your constant and +faithful service, and by the care with which you looked after me. +Still, as I told you before, I don't like standing in your way. In +the natural course of things you would have had your father's farm, +and there is now no reason why you should not go back there." + +"No, sir. Since we heard that that poor girl came back home and +died, there is no reason why I should not go back to the old place, +but I don't like to. Two years of such a life as we have been +leading does not fit one for farm work. Brother Bob stopped and +took my place while I went soldiering, and even if I were willing +to go back to it, which I am not, it would not be fair to him for +me to step in just as if nothing had happened. But, anyhow, I shall +be glad to be back again at the old place and see them all. Father +and mother will know now that they suspected me wrongly. But they +were not to blame. Mad as I was then, I might have done it if I had +had the chance." + +"Well, Lechmere, you know well that I shall be always glad to have +you with me as long as you are willing to stay. Perhaps the time +will come when you may wish to make a home for yourself, and you +may be sure that the first farm on the estate that falls vacant +shall be yours, or, as that does not very often happen, I will see +that you get a good one somewhere in the neighbourhood." + +The man shook his head, and without answering went on unpacking his +master's portmanteau. They were at the Hummums Hotel, in Covent +Garden, and had arrived half an hour before by the evening train, +having come overland from Marseilles. + +Two years' soldiering had greatly altered George Lechmere. He had +lost the heavy step caused by tramping over ploughed fields, and +was a well set-up, alert and smart-looking soldier; and although +now in civilian clothes--for his master had bought him out of the +service when he sent in his own papers--no one could avoid seeing +that he had served, for in addition to the military carriage there +was the evidence of two deep scars on his face, the handiwork of +the mutineers' sabres on the day when he had stood over his master +surrounded by rebel horse. His complexion was deeply bronzed by the +sun, and there was that steady but watchful expression in his eyes +that is characteristic of men who have gone through long and +dangerous service. + +"I shall stay two or three days in town," Major Mallett said. "I +must get an entire refit before I go down. You had better come +round with me to the tailor's tomorrow, the first thing after +breakfast. You will want three or four suits, too." + +"Yes, sir. And besides, they would like to know down there when you +are coming home. They are sure to want to give you a welcome." + +"And you, too, Lechmere. I am sure that all your old friends will +give you as hearty a welcome as they will give me. Indeed, it ought +to be a good deal heartier, for you have been living among them all +your life, while I have been away for the most part ever since I +was a boy." + +Four days later they went down to Chippenham. Mr. Norton, the +steward, was on the platform when the train came in. + +"Welcome home again, sir," he said warmly, as Frank stepped from +the carriage. "We were all glad, indeed, when we heard that you +were back safe, and were coming down among us." + +"I am glad enough to be back again, Norton," Frank Mallett said; as +he shook the man's hand. "We had warm work of it for a bit, but at +the end, when the excitement was over, one got pretty tired of it. + +"This is George Lechmere, Norton," the Major said, as he went along +with the agent to where George was standing with the pile of +luggage. "You have heard how gallantly he behaved, and how he saved +my life at the risk of his own." + +"How are you, George?" the agent said, as he shook hands with him. +"I should hardly have known you. Indeed, I am sure I should not +have done so if I had met you in the street. You seem to have grown +taller and altogether different." + +"I have lost flesh a bit, Mr. Norton, and I have learnt to stand +upright, and I shall be some time before I get rid of this paint +the sun has given me." + +"Yes, you are as brown as a berry, George. We saw in the gazette +about your getting the Victoria Cross in saving the squire's life. +I can tell you every man on the estate felt proud of you. + +"Are you ready to be off, sir?" + +"Yes. I suppose you have got the dog cart outside, as I asked you?" + +"Well, no, sir," the agent said, in a tone of some embarrassment. +"You see the tenants had made up their minds that you ought to come +in a different sort of style, and so without asking me about it +they ordered an open carriage to be here to meet you. I knew +nothing about it until last night. The dog cart is here and will +take up your luggage." + +"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped," Mallett laughed. "Of course, +they meant it kindly." + +"I will see the luggage got in the dog cart, and come over with +it," Lechmere said. + +"You can see it into the dog cart, George, but you must come with +me. I have got to put up with it, and you must, too." + +He stood chatting with Mr. Norton on the platform till George +returned, and said that the luggage was all packed, and that the +dog cart had gone on ahead. There was an amused look on his face, +which was explained when, on going out, Mallett found an open +carriage with four horses, with postilions in new purple silk +jackets and orange caps, and large rosettes of the same colour at +the horses' heads. + +"Bless me," said the Major, in a tone of dismay. "I shall feel as +if I were a candidate for the county." + +"They are the family colours, you see, sir." + +"Yes, I know, Norton, and the Conservative colours, too. Well, it +cannot be helped, and it does not make much difference after all. + +"There will be no fuss when I get there I hope, Norton," he went +on, as he took his place, and Lechmere climbed up into the seat +behind. + +"Well, sir," the agent said, apologetically, "there is an arch or +two. You see, the tenants wanted to do the thing properly, and the +school children will be on the lawn, and there are going to be some +bonfires in the evening, and they have got a big box of fireworks +down from London. Why, sir, it would be strange if they did not +give you a welcome after going through all that, and being wounded +three times and getting so much credit. Why, it wouldn't be +English, sir." + +"I suppose it's all right," Mallett said, resignedly; "and, indeed, +Norton, one cannot help being pleased at seeing one's tenants glad +to have one home again." + +In half-an-hour's drive they arrived at the boundary of the estate. +Here an arch had been erected, and a score of the tenants and +tenants' sons, assembled on horseback, gave a loud cheer as the +carriage drove up, and as it died away one shouted: + +"Why, that is George Lechmere behind. Give him a cheer, too!" and +again a hearty shout went up. + +The carriage stopped, and Major Mallett said a few words, thanking +them heartily for the welcome they had given him, and assuring them +what pleasure it was to him to be back again. + +"I thank you, also," he concluded, "for the cheer that you have +given to my faithful comrade and friend, George Lechmere. As you +all know, he saved my life at the risk of his own, and has received +the greatest honour a soldier can gain--the Victoria Cross. You +have a good right to be proud of him, as one of yourselves, and to +give him a hearty welcome." + +The carriage then drove on again, the farmers riding close behind +as an escort. At the entrance of the drive up to the house another +and larger arch had been erected. Here the rest of the tenants and +the women were collected, and there was another hearty greeting, +and another speech from Mallett. + +Then they drove up to the house, where a number of the gentry had +assembled to welcome him. After shaking hands and chatting with +these for a short time, Frank went round among the tenants, saying +a few words to each. When he had done this he invited them all to a +dinner on the lawn that day week, and then went into the house, +where the steward had prepared a meal. + +Among the familiar faces, Frank missed those he would most gladly +have seen. He had a year before received a letter from Lady +Greendale, telling him of Sir John's sudden death, and had learned +from the steward during the drive that she and her daughter were in +London. + +"They went there a month ago," he said. "A year had passed after +Sir John's death, and people say that it is not likely that they +will be much at home again for some time. Lady Greendale has high +connections in London, as you know, sir." + +"Yes, she was a daughter of Lord Huntinglen, Norton." + +"Yes, sir. They always went up to town for the season; and they say +Lady Greendale liked London better than the country; and now that +Miss Bertha is out--for she was presented at Court a fortnight +ago--people think they won't be much down at Greendale for the +present." + +"Has Miss Greendale grown up pretty? I thought she would, but, of +course, when I went away she was only a girl, not fully developed." + +"She is a beautiful young lady, sir. Everyone says she is quite the +belle of the county. Folks reckon she will make a great match. She +is very well liked, too; pleasant and nice without a bit of pride +about her, and very high spirited; and, I should say, full of fun, +though of course the place has been pretty well shut up for the +last year. For four months after Sir John's death they went away +travelling, and were only at home for a few weeks before they went +up to London the other day, in time for the first Drawing Room." + +"I suppose we shall not see much of you for a time, Mallett?" one +of his friends said, as they sat at luncheon. + +"No, I don't suppose I shall be able to settle down for a bit. +After the life I have led, I am afraid that I shall find the time +hang heavily on my hands, alone here." + +"You must bring home a wife, Major Mallett," one of the ladies +said. + +"That is looking quite into the dim future, Mrs. Herbert," he +laughed. "You see, since I first went on active service I have been +removed altogether from feminine attractions. Of course I have been +thinking it over, but for the present my inclination turns towards +yachting. I have always been fond of the water, and had a strong +wish to go to sea when I was a boy, but that aspiration was not +encouraged. However, I can follow my bent now. Norton has been +piling up money for me in my absence, and I can afford myself the +luxury of a big yacht. Of course I shall be in no hurry about it. I +shall either build or buy a biggish craft, for racing in summer, +and cruising in winter." + +"That means that you won't be here at all, Major Mallett." + +"Oh, no, it does not mean that, I can assure you. I shall run down +for a month three or four times a year; say for shooting in +September or October, and for hunting a month or two later on; +besides, I have to renew my acquaintance with my tenants and see +that everything is going on comfortably. I expect that I shall +spend four or five months every year on the estate." + +"Till you settle down for good?" + +"Yes, till I settle down for good," he laughed. "I suppose it will +have to be someday." + +"Then you don't think of passing much time in London, Mallett?" + +"No, indeed. Fortunately my father sold his town house three years +ago. He did not care about going up, and of course it was of no use +to me. I have never had any opportunities for society, and my +present idea is that it would bore me horribly. But I'll dare say +that I shall be there for a month or so in the season. + +"Of course, there is my club to go to, and plenty of men one knows; +but even if I had a longing for society, I know no one in what are +termed fashionable circles, and so should be outside what is called +the world." + +"Oh, you would soon get over that, Major Mallett. Why, Lady +Greendale would introduce you everywhere." + +"It is not likely I shall trouble her to do that," Mallett +answered. + +Frank had told George Lechmere that, as soon as they arrived, he +would be at liberty to go off at once to his father and mother. + +"Stay as long as you like," he said. "I shall get on very well +without you for a few days." + +"I shall come up again tonight, sir, and get your things brushed +and your bath ready in the morning. I should not be comfortable if +I did not do that. Then after breakfast, if you do not want me, I +can go to the farm for a few hours. Of course I shall have lots to +tell the old people about India. But for that I don't know what I +should do to pass the time away, with no work on hand." + +"Oh, you will have your old friends to look up, George. After being +over two years on service, you have a right to a month's leave. As +you have got your six months' batta in hand, besides your savings, +you have enough cash to go on with; but when you want money, you +know that you have only to speak to me." + +"I have a good bit, sir. I have scarcely spent a penny since I +joined, and in the two years have laid by a nice little sum. +Besides, we all picked up a bit. Most of those native chiefs and +their followers had money or jewels about them, and all of us got +something; some good prizes. So one way or another I have made as +much or more in the two years' soldiering as I should have done in +two years' farming; but if I had not above a few shillings in my +pocket, I should do well here, for I have no occasion to spend any +money with all my friends wanting me to go round to see them and +tell them of our doings." + +"Found everything going on satisfactorily at home, George?" + +"Yes, sir, all well. Bob has turned out a great help to my father. +I was sure he would do well when he got the chance. Of course, so +long as I was there he had not much responsibility, but I could see +then that he would make a good farmer. Things have been going on +just as well as when I was at home." + +"Are you going over there now?" + +"Not until after breakfast, sir, anyhow. I told them that I might +look in some time in the morning, but that I could not say whether +you might want me for anything." + +"No, I shan't want you at all, George. I told you so yesterday. +However, after breakfast I will walk over to the farm with you. I +only had time for a word with your father yesterday, but I told him +that I would come over to see them sometime today." + +Accordingly, after an hour's talk with his agent, Frank Mallett +walked over to the farm with George. The latter's father and mother +were both in the house, an unusual thing at that time of day with +the former, but he had said at breakfast to his son: + +"You must look after things by yourself today, lad. The Squire said +yesterday that he would come over sometime, and I would not be out +when he came, not for a twenty pound note." + +He and his wife came to the door when they saw Frank coming across +the field towards the house. + +"Well, Lechmere," the latter said, when he came up. "I am glad to +see you and your dame looking so well and hearty. I had not time to +say more than a word to you yesterday, and I wanted to have a +comfortable talk with you both. I wrote you a line telling you how +gallantly George had behaved, and how he had saved my life; but I +had to write the day afterwards, and my head was still ringing from +the sabre cut that had for a time knocked all the sense out of me, +and therefore I had to cut it very short. How gallantly he defended +my life against a dozen of the enemy's cavalry was shown by the +fact that he received the Victoria Cross, and I can tell you that +such an immense number of brave deeds were performed during the +Mutiny that George's must be considered an extraordinary act of +bravery to have obtained for him that honour." + +By this time they had entered the farmhouse parlour. George had not +followed them in, but on inquiring where he was likely to find Bob, +had gone off to join him. + +"I was proud to hear it at the time, Squire; and when it was in the +papers that our George had got the Victoria Cross, and all our +neighbours came in to congratulate us, we felt prouder still. Up to +the time when we got your letter, we did not know for sure where he +was. He had said he meant to enlist, and from the humour that he +was in when he went away we guessed it to be in some regiment where +he could get to the wars. We felt the more glad, as you may guess, +from the fact that both the Missus and I had wronged him in our +thoughts. We learnt that before we got the news, and it was not +until we knew that we had been wrong that either of us opened our +lips about it, though each of us knew what the other thought." + +"I know what you mean, Lechmere. He told me all about it." + +"Well, Squire, you may be sure, when we knew that we had wronged +him, how the wife and I fretted that we did not know where to write +to, nor how to set about finding out where he was, and so you can +guess how pleased we were when we heard from you that he was with +your regiment, and that he had saved your life at the risk of his +own. + +"We did not know then, Squire, that if he had had twenty lives he +would have done right to have risked them all for you. He told us +the whole story yesterday--just to mother, me and Bob. I can't tell +you yet, Squire, what we thought of it. I do not know that I shall +ever be able to tell you, and we shall never cease to thank the +good Lord for saving George from being a murderer in his madness--a +murderer of our own Squire--and to bless you, Major, that you +should not only have forgiven him and kept his crime from everyone, +but should have taken him in hand, as he says, as if it had never +happened." + +"There was no occasion for him to have said anything about it, +Lechmere. He was undoubtedly more or less mad at the time. Upon the +whole, I think that the affair has made him a better man. Up to the +time when he saved my life, he did his duty as a soldier well, and +was a most devoted servant to me, but the weight of this business +pressed heavily upon him, and in spite of all I could say he held +himself aloof as much as possible from his comrades; but after that +he changed altogether. He felt, as he told me, that God would not +have given him this opportunity of saving the life that he had so +nearly taken had He not forgiven him, and his spirits rose, and +while before he certainly was not popular among his comrades--a +reserved man never is--he became a general favourite. + +"The officers, of course, showed a good deal of interest in him +after what he had done. He could have been a sergeant in the course +of a month, but he refused corporal's stripes when they were +offered to him on the day after the battle, saying that he +preferred remaining with me, though the Colonel told him that, +after what he had done, he would stand a good chance of promotion, +after two or three years' service, as a sergeant. He told me that +he knew his jealous disposition had been a sort of trouble to you; +but I am sure that he will never worry you in that way again. I +believe that he is now thoroughly master of himself, and that even +the man who wrought that foul wrong need not fear him." + +"You heard, sir, that the poor girl came home and died?" + +"Yes. He told me when he heard the news from you." + +"She never said who did it, sir, but from other things that came +out there is no doubt who it was." + +"He told me, Lechmere, but I stopped him short. I did not wish to +know. I had my suspicions, but I did not want to have them +confirmed. The fellow I suspect is no friend of mine, and I don't +want to know anything about him. If I were certain of it, I could +not meet him without telling him my opinion of him." + +"You are not likely to meet him here, Squire. A year ago he +happened to be over at Chippenham one market day. There were a +dozen of us there, and I can tell you we gave him such a reception +that he mounted his horse and rode straight on again. If he hadn't, +I believe that we should have horsewhipped him through the town. +Three months afterwards his estate was put up for sale, and he has +never been down in this part of the country since; not that he was +ever here much before. London suited him better. You see, his +mother was, as I have heard, the daughter of a banker, and an only +child; and even if he hadn't had the estate he would have been a +rich man. Anyhow, I am heartily glad that he has left the county." + +"I, too, am glad that he has gone, Lechmere. I have not met him for +years, but if we had both been down here we must have run against +each other sometimes, and after some matters that had passed +between us years ago we could scarcely have met on friendly terms. +However, as there is nothing beyond mere suspicion against him, he +may in this case be innocent. You see, I was suspected unjustly +myself, and the same thing may be the case with him." + +"That is so, Squire; though I don't think that there is any mistake +this time. In fact, I believe she told her mother, though she kept +it from her father for fear he would break the law. At any rate, it +is a good thing he has gone; for he was a hard landlord, and there +was not a good word for him among his tenants." + +"That makes the probability of a mistake all the more likely," +Frank said. "If I, who as a landlord, as far as I know, have given +no grounds for dislike to my tenants, was suspected unjustly; this +would be still more likely to be the case with one who was +generally unpopular. + +"And now, how has the farm been going on since I was away?" + +"Just about as usual, Squire. Bob is not such a good judge of +horses and cattle as George was, but in other respects I think he +knows more. George did not care for reading, and Bob is always at +the papers and getting up the last things these scientific chaps +have found out; so matters are pretty well squared. Altogether, I +have no call to grumble, and I ain't likely, Squire, to have to ask +for time on rent day. We were worried sorely about George as long +as that matter hung over him; but since that was cleared up, and we +heard of his having saved your life, we have been happy again. We +got a big shock yesterday, however, when we heard what had happened +out there." + +"Well, that is all past and over long ago, and we have none of us +any cause to regret it. It has done George a great deal of good, +and as for me, I might not be here now talking to you if it had not +taken place, for it was the memory of that which led George to the +desperate action which saved my life. Besides, you see, it has +gained for me an attached and faithful friend, for it is as a +friend rather than as a servant that I regard your son." + +"He will always be that, I am sure, Squire. He told us that you had +offered to set him up on a farm, but he is quite right to say no. I +don't say that if it had been with somebody else, his mother and I +might not have felt rather sore that our eldest boy should have +taken to service; but, of course, it is different with you, Squire. +It is only natural that a Lechmere should serve a Mallett, seeing +that our fathers have been your fathers' tenants for hundreds of +years, so that even if all this had not happened we should not have +minded. As it is, we are proud that he is with you; and it seems +natural that, after wandering about the world and fighting with +those black villains out there, he should never be content to go on +as he was before, or to settle down to farming." + +"It is like man like master, in this case," Mallett laughed. "After +I have once been over the estate, and seen all the tenants, and +learned that everyone is satisfied and everything going on well, I +shall very soon begin to feel restless, and shall be running off +somewhere. You see, I have never been broken in to a country life. +I have no idea of becoming an absentee; but I think a month or two +together will be as much as I can stand, at any rate as long as I +am a bachelor." + +"That is just what I was saying, Squire," the farmer's wife said, +speaking for the first time--for during the first portion of the +conversation she had been crying quietly, and had since been +busying herself in placing decanters and glasses and a huge +homemade cake on the table. "We all hope that you will soon bring a +mistress home. I said only this morning that you would never be +settling down until you did. + +"And now, will you take a glass of wine and a slice of cake, +Squire?" + +"Thank you, Mrs. Lechmere, I will; especially a piece of your cake. +Many and many a slice of it have I had here when a boy, and +famously good it always was." + +Major Mallett ate two big slices of cake, drank a glass of wine, +and refusing the offer of a second glass, got up to go, saying: + +"No, Mrs. Lechmere; I must not treat myself to another glass now. I +am going round to four or five other houses before I return to +lunch, and I know that the tray will be put on the table +everywhere. I can say that I have eaten so much cake here that I +cannot eat more. But I know I shall have to drink a glass of wine +at each place, and I can assure you that I am not accustomed to +tipple in the morning. + +"Ah, here come your two sons across the fields. I will meet them at +the gate. If I were to begin a regular talk with Bob today, the +morning would be gone." + +"George has changed wonderfully," Mrs. Lechmere said, as they +accompanied him to the gate. "It ain't his face so much, though he +is well nigh as brown as that cake, but it is his figure. I should +not have known him if he had not come along with Bob. He walks +altogether different." + +"It is the drilling, Mrs. Lechmere. Yes, it is wonderful how much +drill does for a man; and there is a good deal in the cut of the +clothes. You see, there is not much difference in the material, but +George's were made at a good tailor's in London, and I suppose +Bob's were made down here." + +Mallett stayed for a few minutes chatting at the gate with Bob, and +then, saying that he would certainly come in again before he went +up to town, started on a round of calls. + + + +Chapter 6. + +"And so you have bought a yacht, Major Mallett?" + +"Yes; at least she is scarcely a yacht yet. I was going to have one +built, but I heard of one that had been ordered by Lord Haverstock, +who, they say, has been so hard hit at the Derby that he had to +tell Wanhill, the builder, that he could not take her. As the +season was getting rather late, the man was glad to sell her a +bargain, especially as he had already got a thousand pounds towards +her; so I got her for twelve hundred less that Haverstock was to +have paid. It suited me admirably, for he has engaged to finish her +in six weeks. She is just about the size I wanted, 120 tons, and +looks as if she would turn out fast, and a good sea boat. Of +course, I shall race a bit with her next year, though I have bought +her more for cruising. + +"I hope that you and Lady Greendale will favour me with your +company, on her first cruise after the season ends. I know it is of +no use asking before that." + +"I should like it immensely, Major Mallett. It would be delightful. +How many can you carry?" + +"Eight comfortably. The ladies' cabin has four berths, but will be +only really comfortable for three; and there are four other state +cabins--that is, three besides my own, but one of them has two +berths. Of course, I could put up three or four others in the +saloon for a couple of days, but for a cruise of three weeks or a +month it would be too many for comfort. We could not seat that +number at table without crowding, and I doubt whether the cooking +arrangements would be altogether satisfactory. + +"Of course, we shall want two more ladies. I will leave the +selection of those to you and Lady Greendale, for, except +yourselves, I know no ladies; though, of course, I could get plenty +of men." + +"That will be delightful," Bertha said; "but I dare say that by the +time the season is over you will know plenty of ladies that you can +ask. You see, you have met so many people here now that, as you +have just been grumbling discontentedly, you are out nearly every +night." + +"Yes," he laughed. "At present, you see, I am regarded rather as an +Indian lion; but I shall bid goodbye to London as soon as the yacht +is afloat." + +"What is her name to be?" + +"I have not given it a thought, yet. I only bought her two days +ago. It seems to me that it is almost as hard to fix on a name for +a yacht as for a race horse." + +"Oh! there are so many pretty names that would do for a yacht." + +"Yes; but you would be surprised if you knew how many yachts there +are of every likely name." + +"It ought to be a water bird," the girl said. + +"Those are just the names that are most taken." + +"Yes; but there are lots of sea birds and water birds, only I +cannot think of them." + +"Well, you look them out," he laughed. "Here is a Hunt's Yachting +List that I bought on my way here. I will leave it with you, and +any name that you fix on she shall have. Only, please choose one +that only two or three boats, and those not about the same size, +have got. It leads to confusion if there are two craft going about +of the same name and of about the same size. But I warn you, that +it will involve your having to go down to Poole to christen her." + +"Do they christen yachts, Major Mallett?" + +"I really don't know anything about it," he replied; "but if it is +right and proper for ships it must be for yachts; and I should +regard the ceremony as being likely to bring good luck to her. When +the time comes, I will fix the day to suit your arrangements." + +"I will try to come down, Major Mallett, if mamma will agree; but +it is a long way to Poole, and somehow one never seems to find an +hour to do anything; so I really cannot promise." + +"Well, if you cannot manage it, Miss Greendale, I will have her +launched without being named and bring her round to Southampton, +and then you could go down and christen her there. That would only +be a short railway run of a couple of hours after breakfast, and, +say, two hours for luncheon there, and to have a look at her, and +you could be home by four o'clock in the afternoon." + +"That seems more practicable." + +Captain Mallett had been three weeks in town. He had called upon +Lady Greendale on the day after he had come up, and been received +with the greatest cordiality by her and Bertha. The latter, in the +two years and a half that he had been away, had grown from a +somewhat gawky girl, whose charm lay solely in her expressive eyes +and pleasant smile, into a very pretty woman. She was slightly over +middle height, and carried herself exceptionally well. Her face was +a bright and sunny one, but her eyes were unchanged, and there was +an earnestness in their expression which, with a certain resolute +curve in the lips, gave character to the laughing brightness of her +face. Society had received her warmly, and consequently she was +pleased with society. Both for her own sake and as an heiress she +was made a deal of, and, though she had been but two months in +town, she had already taken her place as one of the recognised +belles of the season. + +Lady Greendale had a dinner party on the day when Major Mallett +called, and was discussing with Bertha whom they could invite to +fill up at such short notice a vacancy which had occurred. + +"You come at the right moment, Frank," she said, after they had +chatted for some time. "We were lamenting just now that we had +received this morning a note from a gentleman who was coming to +dine with us today, saying that he could not come; but now I regard +it as most fortunate, for of course we want you to come to us at +once. I suppose you have not made any engagements yet. We shall be +sixteen with you, and I think they are all nice people." + +"I shall be very happy to come," he said. "I have certainly no +engagements. I looked in at the club last night. It was my first +appearance there, for my name only came up for election four months +ago, and I should have felt very uncomfortable if I had not +happened to meet two or three old friends. One of them asked me to +dinner for tomorrow. For today I am altogether free." + +In the course of the evening Major Mallett received three or four +invitations to dances and balls, and, being thus started in +society, was soon out every evening. For the first week he enjoyed +the novelty of the scene, but very speedily tired of it. At dinners +the ladies he took down always wanted him to talk about India; but +even this was, in his opinion, preferable to the crush and heat of +the dances. + +"How men can go on with such a life as this," he said to a friend +at the club, "beats me altogether, Colonel. Two or three times in +the year one might like to go out to these crowded balls, just to +see the dresses and the girls, but to go out night after night is +to my mind worse than hunting the rebels through the jungle. It is +just as hot and not a hundredth part so exciting. I have only had +three weeks of it, and I am positively sick of it already." + +"Then why on earth do you accept, Mallett? I took good care not to +get into it. What can a man want better than this? A well-cooked +dinner, eaten with a chum, and then a quiet rubber; and perhaps +once a fortnight or so I go out to a dinner party, which I like +well enough as a change. I always get plenty of shooting in winter, +and am generally away for three months, but I am always heartily +glad to get back again." + +"I am afraid I should get as tired of the club as I am of society, +Colonel." + +"You have plenty of time, lad. I am twenty years your senior. Well, +there is plenty before you besides society and club life. Of +course, you will marry and settle down, and become a county +magistrate and all that sort of thing. Thank goodness, what money +came to me came in the shape of consols, and not in that of land. A +country life would be exile to me; but, you see, you have left the +army much younger than I did. I suppose you are not thirty yet? The +Crimea and India ran you fast up the tree." + +"No, I am only twenty-eight. You know I was only a brevet Major, +and had two more steps to get before I had a regimental majority." + +"That makes all the difference, Mallett; and it is absurd, a young +fellow of your age crying out against society." + +"I don't cry out against it," Mallett laughed. "I simply say that +it is out of my line, and I have never been broken into it. I was +talking of buying a yacht, or rather of building one." + +"What size do you want? I know of one to be had cheap, if you are +thinking of a good big craft." + +And thus it was that Mallett came to hear of the yawl at Poole. + +"I have fixed on the Osprey, Major Mallett," Bertha Greendale said, +when he took her down to dinner two days after he had last seen +her. "What do you say to that? There are two or three yachts of the +same name, but none of them is over thirty tons." + +"I think the Osprey is a pretty name, Miss Greendale. I should have +accepted the Crocodile if you had suggested it. The name that you +have chosen will suit admirably; so henceforth she shall be the +Osprey, pending your formally christening her by that name. I +might, of course, be hypercritical and point out that, although a +fishing eagle, the Osprey can scarcely be called a water bird, +inasmuch that it is no swimmer." + +"But it is hypercritical even to suggest such a thing," she said, +pouting. "The Osprey has to do with the sea. It is strong and swift +on the wing, and the sails of the yacht are wings, are they not? +Then it is strong and bold, and I am sure your boat will not be +afraid to meet a storm. Altogether, I think it is an excellent +name." + +"I think it a very good name, too." + +"You ought to have one for your figurehead." + +"Yachts don't have figureheads, else I would certainly have it. At +any rate, I will choose an eagle for my racing flag." + +"I have never been on board a yacht yet," the girl said. "I think I +only know one man who has one, at least a large one; that is Mr. +Carthew. Of course you know him; he had a new one this spring--the +Phantom. He has won several times this season." + +"I saw he had," Frank said, quietly. "Yes, I used to know him, but +it's seven or eight years since we met." + +"And you don't like him," she said, quickly. + +"What makes you think that, Miss Greendale?" + +"Oh, I can tell by the tone of your voice." + +"I don't think it expressed anything but indifference, as it is +such a long time since I met him. But I never fancied him much. I +suppose we were not the same sort of men; and then, too, perhaps I +am rather prejudiced from the fact that I know that he was +considered rather a hard landlord." + +"I never heard that," she said. + +"No, I dare say you would not hear it, but I fancy it was so. +However, he sold his estate, at least so I heard." + +"Yes, he told me that he did not care for country life. I have seen +him several times since we came up to town. He keeps race horses, +you know. His horse was second in the Derby this spring. That takes +him a good deal away, else one would meet him more often, for he +knows a great many people we do." + +"Yes, I know that he races, and is, I believe, rather lucky on the +turf." + +"You have no inclination that way, Major Mallett?" + +"Not a shadow," he said, earnestly. "It is the very last vice I +should take to. I have seen many cases, in the service, of young +fellows being ruined by betting on the turf. We had one case in my +own regiment, in which a man was saved by the skin of his teeth. +Happily he had strength of mind and manliness enough to cut it +altogether, and is a very promising young officer now, but it was +only the fact of our embarking when we did for India that saved him +from ruin. + +"The man who bets more than he can afford to lose is simply a +gambler, whether he does so on racehorses or on cards. I have seen +enough of it to hate gambling with all my heart. It has driven more +men out of the service than drink has, and the one passion is +almost as incurable as the other." + +Bertha laughed. "I think that is the first time I have ever heard +you express any very strong opinion, Major Mallett. It is quite +refreshing to listen to a thorough-going denunciation of anything +here in London. In the country, of course, it is different. All +sorts of things are heartily abused there; especially, perhaps, the +weather, free trade, poaching, and people in whose covers foxes are +scarce. But here, in London, no one seems to care much about +anything." + +"People in your set have no time to do so." + +"That is very unkind. They think about amusement." + +"They may think about it, but it is all in a very languid fashion. +Now, in a country town, when there is a ball or a dance in the +neighbourhood, it is quite an excitement; and, at any rate, +everyone enters into it heartily. People evidently enjoy the +dancing for dancing's sake, and they all look as if they were +thoroughly enjoying themselves. Whereas here, people dance as if it +was rather a painful duty than otherwise, and there is a general +expression of a longing for the whole thing to be over." + +"I enjoy the dancing," Bertha said, sturdily. "At least, when I get +a really good partner." + +"Yes, but then you have only been three months at it. You have not +got broken into the business yet." + +"Nor have you, Major Mallett." + +"No, but while you are an actor in the piece, I am but a spectator, +and lookers-on, you know, see most of the game." + +"What nonsense! Don't pretend you are getting to be a blase man. I +know that you are only about ten years older than I am--not more +than nine, I think--and you dance very well, and no doubt you know +it." + +"I like dancing, I can assure you, where there is room to dance; +but I don't call it dancing when you have an area of only a foot +square to dance in, and are hustled and bumped more than you would +be in a crowded Lord Mayor's show. My training has not suited me +for it, and I would rather stand and look on, listen to scraps of +conversation, watch the faces of the dancers and of those standing +round. It is a study, and I think it shows one of the worst sides +of nature. It is quite shocking to see and hear the envy, +uncharitableness, the boredom, and the desperate efforts to look +cheerful under difficulties, especially among the girls that do not +get partners." + +"For shame! I am disappointed in you," Bertha said, half in jest, +half in earnest. "You are not at all the person I thought you were. +Whatever I may have fancied about you, I never imagined you a cynic +or a grumbler." + +"I suppose it brings out the worst side of my nature, too," he laughed. +"When you come down on board the Osprey, Miss Greendale, you will see +the other side. I fancy one falls into the tone of one's surroundings. +Here I have caught the tone of the bored man of society, there you +will see that I shall be a breezy sailor--cheerful in storm or in calm, +ready to take my glass and to toast my lass and all the rest of it in +true nautical fashion." + +"I hope so," she said, gravely. "I shall certainly need something +of the sort to correct the very unfavourable impression you have +just been giving me. Now let us change the subject. You have not +told me yet whether you had any flirtations in India." + +"Flirtations!" he repeated. "For once, the small section of +womankind that I encountered were above and beyond flirtations. + +"I don't think," he went on seriously, "that you in England can +quite realise what it was, or that a woman in London society can +imagine that there can exist a state of things in which dress and +appearance are matters which have altogether ceased to engross the +female mind. The white women I saw there were worn and haggard. No +matter what their age, they bore on their faces the impress of +terrible hardship, terrible danger, and terrible grief and anxiety. +Few but had lost someone dear to them, many all whom they cared +for. A few had made some pitiful attempt at neatness, but most had +lost all thought of self, all care whatever for personal +appearance. There was an anxious look in their eyes that was +painful to witness." + +"I spoke without thinking," the girl said, gravely. "It must have +been awful--awful, as you say. It is impossible for us really to +imagine quite what it was, or to picture up such scenes as you must +have witnessed. I can understand that all this must seem frivolous +and contemptible to you." + +"No, I don't go so far as that," he smiled. "It is good that there +should be butterflies as well as bees; and, at any rate, the women +of India, who had the reputation of being as frivolous and +pleasure-loving as the rest of their sex, came out nobly and showed +a degree of patience under suffering and of heroic courage +unsurpassable in history. + +"I am afraid," he said, as the hostess gave the signal for the +ladies to rise, "you will long look back upon this dinner as one of +unprecedented dullness." + +"Not dullness," she smiled. "Exceptional certainly, but as +something so different from the usual thing, when one talks of +nothing but the opera, the theatres and exhibitions, as to deserve +to be put down in one's diary by a mark. I won't flatter you by +telling you whether a red or a black one." + +"Who are the party going to be, Mallett?" his friend Colonel Severn +said, as they stood together on the deck of the Osprey early in +August. "You guaranteed that it would be a pleasant one when you +persuaded me to leave London, for the first time since I retired, +before shooting began." + +"Well, to begin with, there is Lady Greendale, an eminently +pleasant woman. She comes as general chaperon, and I shall consider +her under your especial care. You will not find it hard work, for +she is an eminently sympathetic woman, ready to chat if you are +disposed to talk, to interest herself in other ways if you are not. +She has plenty of common sense, is tolerant of tobacco, and a +thorough woman of the world, though her headquarters have for years +been in the country. With her is her daughter." + +"Well, what about her? I have heard of her as having made quite a +sensation this season, and between ourselves I had some idea that +this party was specially planned on her account." + +"To some extent perhaps it was," Frank Mallett laughed. "Bertha +Greendale is an old chum of mine. I knew her in very short frocks, +for they were near neighbours of ours in the country; and her +father, Sir John, was always one of my kindest friends. She was a +slip of a girl when I went out to India, and though I thought that +she would turn out pretty, I certainly did not expect she would be +anything like as good looking as she is. She was always a nice +girl, and success so far has not spoiled her. + +"Then there is a Miss Sinclair, a great friend of Bertha's; and +Jack Hawley of the Guards. I knew him out in the Crimea. The other +two are Wilson, who is a clever young barrister, and a particularly +pleasant fellow; and his wife, who is a sister of Miss Sinclair; so +I think there are the elements of a pleasant party. All the ladies +are broken into smoke, for Sir John smoked, and so does Wilson; so +that you won't be expected to go forward, as they do on the P and +O, whenever you want to enjoy your favourite pipe." + +"That is a comfort, anyhow, Mallett. If there is one thing in the +world I hate, it is having to go and hunt about for some place to +smoke in; and I never accept an invitation to any shooting party +unless I know beforehand that smoking is allowed. At what time do +you expect the others?" + +"They will be down at half-past twelve; they are all coming by the +same train, and it was because I knew that you would want to be in +a smoking carriage that I told you to come down by the earlier one. +And, besides, I thought it well to get you here first. You are the +only stranger, as it were. The others are all intimate with each +other, and it was as well to post you as to their various +relationships." + +"One thing, Mallett. I hope Lady Greendale is not in any way a +marrying woman. I am not like Mr. Pickwick, afraid of widows, and +have perfect confidence in my power to resist temptation; but at +the same time it makes all the difference in the world to one's +comfort. I am not ass enough to suppose that Lady Greendale would +even dream for a moment of setting her cap at a Colonel on half +pay, but if a woman is in the marrying line she always expects a +certain amount of what you may call delicate attention. It is her +daily bread, for she considers that unless every man she comes +across evinces a certain amount of admiration, it is a sign that +her charms are on the wane, and her chances growing more and more +remote." + +Mallett laughed. "You can set your mind at ease, for nothing is +further from the thoughts of Lady Greendale than re-marriage. She +was very happy with her husband." + +"The more reason for her marrying again," the Colonel said. "A +woman who has been happy with her husband is apt to get the idea +into her head that every man will make a good husband; and a +confoundedly mistaken idea it is. She is much more likely to marry +again than the woman who has had a hard time of it." + +"Well, you may be right there, Colonel, but putting aside my +conviction that Lady Greendale has no idea of marrying again, is +the fact that at present all her thoughts are occupied by her +daughter. She is not at all what you would call a managing mother, +but I am sure that she has set her heart on Bertha's making a good +match, and that the fear that she will succumb to some penniless +younger son or other unsuitable partner is at present the dominant +feeling in her mind. I don't think she would have agreed to Jack +Hawley being of the party, had not Bertha entertained a conviction +that he was rather gone on Miss Sinclair, who by the way has, like +her sister, money enough to disregard the fact that Jack is hardly +in that respect well endowed. + +"However, it is time for me to be off; I see the skipper is getting +the gig lowered. I suppose you will be content to sit here and +smoke your pipe until we come back; and, indeed, seven is as many +as the gig will carry with any degree of comfort. The cutter will +go ashore to fetch off the luggage, which will probably be of +somewhat portentous dimensions." + +Two minutes later Mallett took his place in the gig, and was rowed +to the shore. He was delighted, with his new purchase. She was an +excellent sea boat, and, as he had learned from a short spin with +another craft, decidedly fast. He had not, however, entered her for +any race. + +"There is no hurry," he said to his skipper, when the latter +suggested that they should try her at Cowes. "I should like to win +my first race, and in the first place we don't know that she is in +her best trim. In the next place we must get the crew accustomed to +each other and to the craft. I bought her as a cruiser rather than +a racer, and don't want to have her full of men, as are most of the +racers. It is a heavy expense, and fewer hands accustomed to work +well together do just as much work, and more smartly than a crowd. +We found, when we sailed round the islands with the Royal Victoria +race, that, considering we went under reduced canvas, we held our +own very fairly; and I have no doubt that when we get all our light +canvas up, the Osprey will give a good account of herself. Our gear +is scarcely stretched yet. + +"No; I will wait until next season, and then we will make a bold +bid for a Queen's Cup." + +Frank Mallett reached the platform at Southampton a few minutes +before the train came in. The party were on the lookout for him, +and alighted in the highest spirits. + +"Now, ladies," he said, "the first thing is to point out the +luggage. My man here will get it all together, and stand guard over +it till two others arrive to get it on board. They will be here in +a few minutes. In fact, they ought to be here now." + +He looked on with something like dismay while the boxes were picked +out and piled together. + +"My dear Lady Greendale," he said, "I am afraid you must all have +very vague ideas as to the amount of accommodation in a 120-ton +yacht. She is not a Cunarder or a P and O. Why, two or three of +those trunks would absolutely fill one of her cabins." + +"You did not expect, Major Mallett," Bertha said demurely, "that we +were coming for a month's cruise with only handbags; especially +after telling us that very likely we might not get a chance of +getting any washing done all that time." + +"Well, I dare say we shall stow them away somewhere. Now, as you +have got them all together, we will go down to the boat. + +"Now, lads, you had better get a hand cart, and get these things on +board as soon as you can." + +"Which is the Osprey?" Amy Sinclair asked Bertha, as they took +their places in the boat. + +Bertha looked with a rather puzzled face at the fleet of yachts. + +"That is," she said, confidently, after a moment's hesitation, +pointing to one towards which the boat was at the moment heading. + +Frank Mallett laughed. + +"Really I should have thought, Miss Greendale, that, although +making every allowance for feminine vagueness as to boats, you +would have known the yacht you christened a month ago; or, at any +rate, would not have mistaken a schooner for a yawl, after the +patient explanation I gave you on your last visit as to the +different rigs. That is the Osprey, a hundred yards lower down." + +"Oh, yes, I remember now, that when there is a little mast standing +on the stern it is a yawl. These things seem very simple to you, +Major Mallett, but they are very puzzling to women, who know +nothing about them. Now, I venture to say, that if I were to show +you six different materials for frocks, and were to tell you all +their names, you would know nothing about them when I showed them +to you a month afterwards. + +"I suppose the gentleman on board is Colonel Severn." + +"Yes, he came down by the train before yours. I thought it better +that he should do so, as in the first place, he did not know any of +you, and in the next, as you see, we are pretty closely packed as +it is." + +"What is that flag at the masthead?" Lady Greendale asked. "Bertha +said that your flag was going to have an eagle on it." + +"That is on my racing flag. Let me impress upon you, ladies, that a +racing flag is a square flag, and that that is not a flag at all, +but a burgee. Every club has its burgee; as you see, that is a +white cross on a blue ground with a crown in the centre, and is the +burgee of the Royal Thames, of which I was elected a member last +month. + +"Here we are. Properly, I ought to be on board first, but I am too +wedged in. You and Wilson had better go up first; that will give +more room for the ladies to move." + +"You have got new steps," Bertha said. "When I came down with Mrs. +Wilson to christen the boat we had to climb up nasty steep steps +against the side. This is a great deal more comfortable. I was +thinking that mamma would have a difficulty in getting up those +other things, if it were at all rough." + +"Yes, I have had them specially made for the present occasion. +Large cruisers always have them, and, at any rate, they are more +comfortable for any-sized boats. But they take up rather more room +to stow away, and they are really not so handy in a sea, for the +boats cannot get so close alongside. Still, no doubt they are more +comfortable for ladies. Now it is your turn." + +The cruise of the Osprey was in all respects a success. The party +was well chosen and pleasant. Colonel Severn and Lady Greendale got +on well together. He liked her because she had no objection +whatever to his perpetual enjoyment of his pipe. She liked him +because he was altogether different from anyone that she had met +before; his Indian stories amused her, his views of life were +original, and his grumbling at modern ways and modern innovations +in no way concealed the fact that in spite of it all he evidently +enjoyed life thoroughly. + +The Osprey had fine weather as she ran along the south coast, +anchoring under Portland for a day, while the party examined the +works of the breakwater and paid a visit to the quarries, where the +convicts were at work. She put into Torquay, Dartmouth and +Plymouth, spending a day in the two former ports and two at the +last named. They looked into Fowey, and stopped two days at +Falmouth, and then, rounding the Land's End, made for Kingstown. +From here they started for the Clyde; but meeting with very heavy +weather, went into Belfast Lough. + +The Osprey proved to be a fine sea boat, and behaved so well that +even Lady Greendale declared she would not be afraid to trust +herself on board her in any weather. They sailed up the Clyde as +far as Greenock, and then returning, cruised for a fortnight among +the islands on the west coast. They had enjoyed their stay at +Kingstown so much that they put in there again on their return +voyage, shaped their course for Plymouth, and then, without looking +into any other port, returned to Southampton. + +Jack Hawley and Miss Sinclair had become engaged during the voyage, +and the Colonel and Lady Greendale had become so confidential that +Frank laughingly asked him if he had changed his views on the +subject of matrimony, a suggestion which he indignantly repudiated. + +"I should have thought that you knew me better," he said, +reproachfully. "I admit that Lady Greendale is a very charming +woman, but you don't think that she can imagine for a moment that I +have ever entertained any idea of such a thing? You said that I was +to amuse her if I could. I have tried my best to keep the old lady +as much to myself as possible, so as to enable all you young people +to carry out your flirtations to your heart's content. By gad, sir, +it would be a nice return for following out your instructions to +find myself in such a hole as that." + +Frank had some difficulty in persuading the Colonel that his remark +was not meant as a serious one, and that there was no fear whatever +that Lady Greendale had ever had the slightest reason to suppose +that his intentions were not of a most Platonic nature. + +"I am heartily glad," the Colonel said, when he was quite pacified, +"that Hawley's affair has come off all right. Even if she had not +been an heiress I should have said that he was a lucky fellow, for +she is an extremely nice and pleasant young woman, without any +nonsense about her; still there is no doubt that her fortune will +come in very handy for Hawley. As to the girl herself, I think she +has made a very good choice. She has plenty of money for both, and +as he has managed to keep up on his younger son's portion, he can +have no extravagant tastes, and will make her a very good husband. +There is no other engagement to be announced, I suppose?" + +"As I am the only other unmarried man on board, Colonel, your +question is somewhat pointed. No; I hope there may be one of these +days, but I don't think that it would be fair to ask her here, +where I am her host, and she is under the glamour of the sea. I +doubt whether she has the slightest idea of what I want. That is +the worst of being very old friends; the relations get so fixed +that a woman does not recognise that they can ever be changed. +However, I shall try my luck one of these days. I don't think that +I shall meet with any serious opposition on her mother's part, if +Bertha likes me, but I know that Lady Greendale has very much more +ambitious views for her, and has quite set her mind upon her making +a good match. No doubt she has a right to expect that she will do +so. However, I think she is too fond of Bertha to thwart her, +however disappointed she might feel. At present I don't think that +she has any more suspicion than Bertha herself of my intentions." + +During the voyage Bertha and Amy Sinclair had become quite adroit +helmswomen, and one or other was constantly at the tiller when the +wind was light. Bertha had learned the names of all the crew, and +often went forward to ask questions of the men tending the head +sails, becoming a prime favourite with all hands. On arriving at +Southampton the rest of the party went up at once to town, while +Frank remained behind for a day or two, going round in the yacht to +Gosport, where she was to be laid up for the winter. + + + +Chapter 7. + +"I am so sorry," Bertha Greendale said, "so awfully sorry. I had no +idea that you thought of me like that. We were such friends so long +ago, and it has been so pleasant since you came home last year, and +I like you as if you were a big brother; but I have never thought +of you in any other light, and now it seems dreadful to me to give +you pain; but I feel sure that I should never come to love you in +that way." + +And she burst into tears. + +"Do not think anything more about it, dear," Frank Mallett said, +gently. "I have felt sometimes when we have been together, that you +were so kindly and frank and pleasant with me that you could feel +as I wanted you to. I ought to have known it always. But I suppose +in such cases a man deceives himself and shuts his eyes to facts. +You have certainly nothing to blame yourself about. Of course, it +is a hard blow, but no doubt I shall get over it as other fellows +do. At any rate, I know that we shall always be dear friends, and +you need not fear that I shall mope over my misfortune. I shall run +up to town for a bit, and as you are going up for the season next +week, I shall no doubt often meet you. Don't fret about me. I have +been hit pretty hard several times, though not in the same way, and +I have always gone through it, and no doubt I shall do so now. + +"Goodbye," and when Bertha looked up, he had left the room. + +"Oh, mamma," she said, when she went into the room where her mother +was sitting, "I am so sorry, so dreadfully sorry. Frank Mallett has +asked me to be his wife. I have never thought of such a thing and +of course I had to say no." + +"I have thought such a thing likely for some time, Bertha, but I +thought it best to hold my tongue about it. In such matters the +interference of a mother often does more harm than good. I felt +sure, by your manner with him, that you had no idea of it; and I +must say that much as I like Frank Mallett, I should have been +sorry. I have great hopes of your making a really first-class +match." + +"I could not make a better match," Bertha said, indignantly. "No +one could be kinder or nicer than Major Mallett, and we know how +brave he is and how he has distinguished himself, and he has a good +estate and everything that anyone could wish; only unfortunately I +do not love him--at least not in that way. He has never shown me +what I should consider any particular attention, and never talked +to me in the way men do when they are making love to a girl. +Nothing could be nicer, and it was all the nicer because I never +thought of this. I suppose it is because he is so different from +some of the men I met in town last season, who always seemed to be +trying to get round me. No, I know it is not a nice expression, +mamma, but you know what I mean." + +"I know, my dear," her mother smiled. "Of course you are a very +good match, and though I do not want to flatter you, you were one +of the belles of the season. Though some of the men you speak of +were by no means desirable--younger sons and barristers and that +sort of thing--still, there were two or three whom any girl might +have been pleased to see at her feet, and who, I am sure from what +I saw, only needed but little encouragement from you to be there. I +was a little vexed, dear, you see, that you did not give any of +them that encouragement; but I understand, of course, that the +novelty of your first season carried you away altogether; and that +you liked the dancing and the fetes and the opera for themselves, +and not because they brought you in contact with men of excellent +class. So far as I could see, it was a matter of indifference to +you whether the man was a peer with a splendid rent roll, or a +younger son without a farthing, so that he was a good dancer and a +pleasant companion; but of course after a season or two you will +grow wiser." + +"I do hope not, mamma," Bertha said, indignantly. "I don't mean to +say that it might not be better to marry, as you say, a peer with a +good rent roll than a younger son without a penny, other things +being equal; that is to say, if one liked them equally; but I hope +that I shall never come to like anyone a bit more for being a +peer." + +Lady Greendale smiled, indulgently. + +"It is a natural sentiment, my dear, for a girl of your age and +inexperience; but in time you will come to see things in a +different light." + +Then she changed the subject. "What is Frank going to do? It is +fortunate that we are going up to town next week." + +"He is going up to town himself tomorrow, and I am sure that you +will never hear from him, or from anyone else, what has happened. +We shall meet in town as usual, and I am sure that he will be just +the same as he was before, and that I shall be a great deal more +uncomfortable than he will. It is a very silly affair altogether, I +think; and I would give anything if it had not happened." + +Lady Greendale did not echo the sentiment. She liked Frank Mallett +immensely. He had always been a great favourite of hers, but since +she had guessed what Bertha herself had not dreamed of, she had +been uncomfortable. It threatened to disturb all the plans she had +formed, and she was well contented to learn that she had refused +him. Lady Greendale was a thoroughly kind-hearted woman, but she +could not forget that she herself might have made, in a worldly +sense, a better match than she had; and her ambition had, since +Bertha was a child, and still more since she had shown promise of +exceptional good looks, been centred on her making a really good +match. + +Frank went up to town next day, and the Greendales followed him a +week later. They did not often meet him in society, as Frank seldom +went out; but he called occasionally in the old friendly and +unceremonious way. It would have required an acute observer to see +any difference in his manner to Bertha, but Lady Greendale noticed +it, and the girl herself felt that, although he was no less kind +and friendly, there was some impalpable change in his manner, +something that she felt, though she could not define it, even to +herself. + +"Have you had a tiff with Major Mallett, Bertha?" Mrs. Wilson asked +one day, when she was alone with her in the drawing room. + +Frank had just left, after spending an hour there. + +"A tiff, Carrie? No! What put such an idea into your head?" + +"My eyes, assisted perhaps by my ears. My dear, do you think that +after being with you on the yacht last autumn, I should not notice +any change in your manner to each other? I had expected before now +to have heard an interesting piece of news; and now I see that +things have gone wrong somehow." + +"We are just as good friends as we always were," Bertha said, +shortly; "every bit." + +"You don't mean to say that you have refused him, Bertha?" + +"I don't mean to say anything of the sort. I simply say that Major +Mallett and I have always been great friends, and we are so now. +There is no one that I have a higher regard for." + +"Well, Bertha, I do not want to know your secrets, if you do not +wish to tell me. All that I can say is that, if you have refused +him, you have done a very foolish thing. I don't know any man that +a woman might be happier with. When we were out last year with you, +Amy and I agreed that it was certain to come off, and thought how +well suited you were to each other. Of course, in worldly respects, +you might do better; just at present you have the ball at your +feet; but choose where you may you will not find a finer fellow +than he is. Yes, I told Harry that it was lucky that I had not made +that trip on board the Osprey before I was irrevocably captured, +for I should certainly have lost my heart to Major Mallett. Well, I +am sorry, Bertha, more sorry than I can say; and I am sure that Amy +will be, too." + +"I said nothing whatever, Carrie, that would justify this little +explosion, which I certainly don't intend to answer. I should +really feel very vexed, if I were not perfectly sure that you would +never tell anyone else of this notion that you have got in your +head." + +"You may be quite sure of that, Bertha. At least when I say no one +else, of course I do not include Harry; but you know him well +enough to be certain that it will not go further. I am sure he will +be as disappointed as I am. In fact, he will have a small triumph +over me, for after the usual manner of men he saw nothing on board +the yacht, and has always maintained that it was pure fancy on my +part. However, I won't tell anyone else, not even Amy. She can find +it out for herself, which you may be sure she will do when she +comes back from the continent, if indeed her own happiness with +Jack has not blinded her to all sub-lunary matters. + +"Well, goodbye, dear. You will forgive my saying that I am +disappointed in you, terribly disappointed in you." + +"I must try to put up with that, Carrie. I am not aware that you +consulted me before you made your own matrimonial arrangements, and +perhaps I may be able to manage my own.'' + +"Well, don't be cross, Bertha. Remember that I am not advising or +counselling. I am simply regretting, which perhaps you may do +yourself, some day or other." + +And with this parting shot she left. + +The weeks went on, and when May came and Frank told her that the +Osprey was fitted out, and that he would join her in a day or two, +Bertha heard the news with satisfaction. The season was a gay one, +and she was enjoying herself greatly; the one little drop of +bitterness in her cup being that she could no longer enjoy his +visits as she formerly did. He had been the one man with whom she +was able to talk and laugh quite freely, who was really an old +friend, a link not only between her and the past, but between her +and her country life. + +And now, she thought pettishly, he had spoiled all this, and what +annoyed her almost as much was that the change was more in herself +than in him. She no longer gave him commissions to execute for her, +nor made him her general confidant. She knew that he would be as +ready as before to laugh and to sympathise, that he would still +gladly execute her commissions, and she felt that he tried hard to +make her forget that he had aspired to be something nearer to her +than a brotherly friend. She felt that after what he had said they +could never stand in quite the same relation as before. + +Accustomed as Frank was to read her thoughts, he was not deceived +by the expression of regret that she should now see but little of +him, as he saw the news was really pleasant to her. She was not +aware that it was a conversation that he had had the evening before +with Colonel Severn, which had decided him to go down to the Osprey +a fortnight earlier than he had intended. + +"You are getting to be almost as regular an attendant here, +Mallett, as I am. I think you are altogether too young to take +regularly to club life. It is all very well for an old fogey like +me, but I don't think it a good thing for a young fellow like you +to take so early to a bachelor life." + +"I don't want to do anything of the sort, Colonel. But I can't +stand these crushes in hot rooms; I cannot for the life of me see +where the pleasure comes in. I begin to think that I was an ass to +leave the army." + +"Not at all, lad, not at all. When a man has got a good estate it +is much better for him to settle down upon it, and to marry and +have children, and all that sort of thing, than it is to remain in +the army in times of peace. I had Wilson and Hawley dining with me +here yesterday. We had a great chat over the pleasant time we had +last year on board your yacht. I don't know when I enjoyed myself +so much as I did then. Lady Greendale is a remarkably clever woman, +and her daughter is as nice a girl as I have come across for a long +time, and without a scrap of nonsense about her. I wonder that she +has not become engaged by this time. General Matthews, who, as you +know, goes in a good deal for that sort of thing for the sake of +his daughters, told me recently that he fancied from what he had +heard that Miss Greendale's engagement was likely to be a settled +thing before the season was over. He said there were three men +making the running--Lord Chilson, the eldest son of the Earl of +Sommerlay; George Delamore--his father is in the Cabinet, you know, +and he is member for Ponberry; and a man named Carthew, who keeps +race horses, and was a neighbour of hers down in the country. He +is, I hear, a good-looking fellow, and just the sort of man a girl +is likely to fancy. Matthews thought that the chances were in his +favour. As you are a neighbour of theirs, too, I suppose you will +know him?" + +"I knew him at one time, Colonel, but I have not seen him now for a +good many years, beyond meeting him two or three times at dinners +and so on last season. He was away when I was at home before going +out to India, and he had sold his estate before I came back." + +"They say he has been very lucky on the turf, and has made a pot of +money." + +"So I have heard," Frank said; "but, you see, one generally hears +of men's good luck, and not of their bad. Besides, many men do most +of their real betting through commissioners, especially if they own +horses themselves. He is a fellow I don't much care for, and I hope +that whomever Miss Greendale may marry, he will not be the man." + +"I thought, when you first asked me down last year, that you had +got up the party specially for her, Mallett, and that you were +going in for the prize yourself. But of course I soon saw that I +was mistaken, as you were altogether too good chums for that to +come about. I have often noticed that men and girls who are thrown +a lot together are often capital friends, but, although just the +pair you would think would come together, that they hardly ever do +so. I have noticed it over and over again. Well, she is an +uncommonly nice girl, whoever gets her." + +Frank did not return to town until the end of June. + +"I have to congratulate you upon the Osprey's victory," Bertha +said, the first time he called to see them. "You may imagine with +what interest I read the accounts of the yacht races. I saw you won +two on the Thames, and were first once and second once at +Southampton." + +"Yes, the Osprey has shown herself to be, as I thought, an +uncommonly fast boat. We should have had two firsts at Southampton, +if the pilot had not cut matters too fine and run us aground just +opposite Netley; we were a quarter of an hour before we were off +again. We picked up a lot of our lost ground and got a second, but +were beaten eight minutes by the winner." + +"Have you entered for the Queen's Cup at Ryde?" + +"I have not entered yet, but I am going to do so," he said. + +"Mamma and I will be down there. Lord Haverley--he is first cousin +to mamma, you know--has taken a house there for the month, and he +is going to have a large party, and we are going down for Ryde +week." + +"Yes, and there will be the Victoria Yacht Club ball, and all sorts +of gaieties. I have not entered yet, but I am going to do so. The +entries do not close till next Saturday." + +"You will call and see us, of course, Frank?" Lady Greendale said. +"Haverley has a big schooner yacht, and I dare say we shall be a +good deal on the water." + +"I shall certainly do myself the pleasure of calling, Lady +Greendale." + +"I warn you, Frank, that Bertha and I will be very disappointed if +the Osprey does not win the cup. We regard ourselves as being, to +some extent, her proprietors; and it will be a grievous blow to us +if you don't win." + +"I do not feel by any means sure about it," he said. "I fancy there +will be several boats that have not raced yet this season, and as +two of them are new ones, there is no saying what they may turn +out." + +Frank only stayed two days in town. He learned from Jack Hawley +that it was reported that Lord Chilson and George Delamore had both +been refused by Bertha Greendale. + +"Chilson went away suddenly," he said. "As to Delamore, of course +as he is a Member he had to stop through the Session, but from what +I hear, and as you know I have some good sources of information, I +am pretty sure that he has got his conge too. I fancy Carthew is +the favourite. As a rule I don't like these men who go in for +racing, but he is a deuced-nice fellow. I have seen a good deal of +him. He put me up to a good thing for the Derby ten days ago. He +gives uncommonly good supper parties, and has asked me several +times, but I have not gone to them, for I believe there is a good +deal of play afterwards, and I cannot stand unlimited loo." + +"Is he lucky himself?" Frank asked. + +"No, quite the other way, I hear. I know a man who has been to +three or four of his suppers, and he told me that Carthew had lost +every time, once or twice pretty heavily." + +"Carthew's horse ran second, didn't it, for the Derby?" + +"Yes, the betting was twenty to one against him at starting." + +"I wonder he did not give that tip as well as the other." + +"Well, he did say that he thought it might run into a place, but +that he was sure that he had no chance with the favourite. As it +turned out, he was nearer winning than he expected; for the +favourite went down the day before the race, from 5 to 4 on, to 10 +to 1 against. There was a report about that he had gone wrong in +some way. Some fellows said that there had been an attempt to get +at him, others that he had got a nail in his foot. The general +feeling had been that he would win in a canter, but as it was he +only beat Carthew's horse by a short head." + +"Had Carthew backed his horse to win?" + +"He told me that he had only backed it for a hundred, but had put +five hundred on it for a place, and as he got six to one against it +he came uncommonly well out of it." + +"And do you think it likely that Miss Greendale will accept him?" + +"Ah! that I cannot say. He has certainly been making very strong +running, and if I were a betting man I should not mind laying two +to one on the event coming off." + +Frank joined the Osprey, which was lying off Portsmouth Harbour, on +the following day. + +"I am back earlier than I expected, George," he said, as Lechmere +met him at the station. "I have got tired of London, and want to be +on board again." + +"Nothing gone wrong in town, I hope, Major?" George said next day, +as he was removing the breakfast things. "You will excuse my +asking, but you don't seem to me to be yourself since you came on +board." + +"Well, yes, George. I am upset, I confess. I am sure you will be +sorry, too, when I tell you that it is more than probable that Miss +Greendale is going to marry Mr. Carthew." + +George put the dish he was holding down on the table with a crash, +and stood gazing at Frank in blank dismay. + +"Why, sir, I thought," he said, slowly, "that it was going to be +you and Miss Greendale. I had always thought so. Excuse me, sir, I +don't mean any offence, but that is what we have all thought ever +since she came down to christen the yacht." + +"There is no offence, George. Yes, I don't mind telling you that I +had hoped so myself, but it was not to be. You see, Miss Greendale +has known me since she was a child, and she has never thought of me +in any other way than as a sort of cousin--someone she liked very +much, but had never thought of for a moment as one she could marry. +That is all past and gone, but I should be sorry, most sorry, for +her to marry Carthew, knowing what I do of him." + +"But it must not be, sir," George said, vehemently. "You can never +let that sweet young lady marry that black-hearted villain." + +"Unfortunately I cannot prevent it, George." + +"Why, sir, you would only have to tell her about Martha, and I am +sure it would do for his business. Miss Greendale can know nothing +about it. So far as I can remember, she was not more than sixteen +at the time. I don't suppose Lady Greendale ever heard of it. She +knew, of course, of Martha's being missing, because it made quite a +stir, but I don't suppose that she heard of her coming back. She +was only at home three weeks before she died. There were not many +that ever saw her, and father told me that he and the others made +it so hot for Carthew one day at Chippenham market that he never +came down again, and sold the place soon after. I don't suppose the +gentry ever heard anything about it. If they had, Lady Greendale +would surely never let her daughter marry him." + +"No, I feel sure she would not; but still, George, I don't see that +I can possibly interfere in the matter. The story is three years +old now, and even if it had only happened yesterday, I, after what +has occurred between us, could not come forward as his accuser. It +would have the appearance of spite on my side; and besides, I have +no proof whatever. He would, of course, deny the whole thing. I do +not mean that he would deny that she said so--he could not do +that--but he might declare that she had spoken falsely, and might +even say that it was an attempt to put another's sin on his +shoulders. Moreover, as I told you, I have other reasons for +disliking the man, and, on the face of it, it would seem that I had +raked up this old story against him, not only from jealousy, but +from personal malice. + +"No, it is out of the question that I should interfere. I would +give everything that I am worth to be able to do so, but it is +impossible. If I had full and unquestionable proofs I would go to +Lady Greendale and lay the matter before her. But I have no such +proofs. There is nothing whatever except that poor girl's word +against his." + +George's lips closed, and an expression of grim determination came +over his face. + +"I dare say you are right, Major," he said, after a pause; "but it +seems to me hard that Miss Greendale should be sacrificed to a man +like that." + +Frank did not reply. He had already thought the matter over and +over again, and had reached the opinion that he could not +interfere. If he had not himself proposed to her, and been refused, +he might have moved. Up to that time he had stood in the position +of an old friend of the family, and as such could well have spoken +to Lady Greendale on a matter that so vitally concerned Bertha's +happiness. Now his taking that step would have the appearance of +being the interference of a disappointed rival, rather than of a +disinterested friend. He went up on deck, sat there for a time, and +at last arrived at a conclusion. + +"It is my duty. There can be no doubt about that," he said to +himself. "If Bertha really loves Carthew, she will believe his +denial rather than my accusation, unsupported as it is by a scrap +of real evidence. In that case, she will put down my story as a +piece of malice and meanness. But, after all, that will matter +little. I had better far lose her liking and esteem than my own +self respect. I will tell Lady Greendale about this. The +responsibility will be off my hands then. She may not view the +matter as an absolute bar to Carthew's marrying Bertha--that is her +business and Bertha's--but at any rate I shall have done my duty. I +will wait, however, until Bertha has accepted him. + +"I have made up my mind, George," he said, later on. "If I hear +that Miss Greendale has accepted Carthew, I shall go to her mother +and tell her the story. I have little hope that it will do much +good. It is very hard to make a girl believe anything against the +man she loves, until it can be proved beyond doubt, and as Carthew +will of course indignantly deny that he had anything to do with it, +I expect that it will have no effect whatever, beyond making her +dislike me cordially. Still, that cannot be helped. It is clearly +my duty not only as her friend, but as the friend of her father and +mother. But I wish that the task did not fall upon me." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Major," George said, quietly. "I +can see, sir, that, as you say, it would be better if anyone else +could do it, but Lady Greendale has known you for so many years +that she must surely know that you would never have told her unless +you believed the story to be true." + +"No doubt she will, George. I hope Miss Greendale will, too; but +even if she does not see it in that light I cannot help it. Well, I +will go ashore to the clubhouse and find out whether they have +heard anything about the entries for the cup." + +When he returned he said to the captain: + +"I hear that the Phantom has entered, Hawkins. I am told that she +has just come off the slips, and that she has had a new suit of +racing canvas made by Lapthorne." + +"Well, sir, I think that we ought to have a good chance with her. +She has shown herself a very fast boat the few times she has been +raced, but so have we, and taking the line through boats that we +have both sailed against, I think that we ought to be able to beat +her." + +"I have rather a fancy that we shan't do so, Hawkins. We will do +our best, but I have met Mr. Carthew a good many times, for we were +at school and college together, and somehow or other he has always +managed to beat me." + +"Ah! well, we will turn the tables on him this time, sir." + +"I hope so, but it has gone so often the other way that I have got +to be a little superstitious about it. I would give a good deal to +beat him. I should like to win the Queen's Cup, as you know; but +even if I didn't win it I should be quite satisfied if I but beat +him." + + + +Chapter 8. + +It was the week of the Ryde Regatta. At that time Ryde disputed +with Cowes the glory of being the headquarters of yachting, and the +scene was a gay one. Every house in the neighbourhood was crowded +with guests, many had been let for the week at fabulous rates, the +town was bright with flags, and a great fleet of yachts was moored +off the town, extending from the pier westward as far as the hulks. +The lawn of the Victoria Yacht Club was gay with ladies, a military +band was playing, boats rowed backwards and forwards between the +yachts and the clubhouses. + +It was the first day of the Regatta, and the Queen's Cup was not to +be sailed for until the third. On the previous morning Frank had +received a note from Lady Greendale, saying that they had arrived +with Lord Haverley's party the day before, and enclosing an +invitation from him to dinner that day. He went up to call as soon +as he received it, but excused himself from dining on the ground of +a previous engagement, as he felt sure that Carthew would be one of +the party. + +"I suppose, Lady Greendale, it is no use asking you and Bertha to +sail in the Osprey on Friday?" + +"I should not think of going, Frank. A racing yacht is no place for +an old lady. As for Bertha, she is already engaged. Mr. Carthew +asked her a fortnight since to sail on the Phantom. Lady Olive +Marston and her cousin, Miss Haverley, are also going. I know that +it is not very usual for ladies to go on racing yachts, but they +are all accustomed to yachting, and Mr. Carthew declares that they +won't be in the way in the least." + +"I don't see why they should be," Frank said, after a short pause. +"Of course, in a small boat it would be different, but in a craft +like the Phantom there is plenty of room for two or three ladies +without their getting in the way of the crew. + +"Well, I must be going," he broke off somewhat hastily, for he saw +a group coming down the garden path towards the house. + +It consisted of Bertha and two other ladies, Carthew and another +man. + +"What other evening would suit you, Frank?" Lady Greendale asked as +he rose. + +"I am afraid I am engaged all through the week, Lady Greendale." + +"I am sorry," she said, quietly, "but perhaps it is for the best, +Frank." + +The door closed behind him just as the party from the garden +entered through the French windows. + +The next morning George Lechmere went ashore with the steward, when +the latter landed to do his marketing. The street up the hill was +crowded, and numbers of yachts' sailors were ashore. Stewards with +the flat rush baskets, universally used by them, were going from +shop to shop; groups of sailors were chatting over the events of +the day; and carriages were standing before the fishmongers', +poulterers', and fruit and flower shops, while the owners were +laying in supplies for their guests. People had driven in from all +parts of the island to see the races, and light country carts with +eggs, butter, fowls, and fruit were making their way down the steep +hill. + +George had learnt from a casual remark of Frank's where the house +taken by Lord Haverley was situated, and going up the hill turned +to the right and kept on until he came to a large house embowered +in trees. Breakfast was just over when a servant told Bertha that a +gentleman who said his name was George Lechmere wished to speak to +her. She went out to him in the hall. + +"Well, George," she said, holding out her hand to him frankly, for +he was a great favourite of hers; "I suppose you have brought me up +a message from Major Mallett?" + +"No, Miss Greendale, the Major does not know that I have come to +you. It is on my own account that I am here. Could you spare me a +quarter of an hour?" + +"Certainly, George," she said, in some surprise. "I will come out +into the garden. We are likely to have it to ourselves at this +hour." + +She fetched her hat, and they went out into the garden together. +George did not attempt to speak until they reached the other end, +where there was a seat in a shady corner. + +"Sit down, George," she said. + +"Thank you, Miss Greendale, I would rather stand," and he took his +place in front of her. + +"I have a story to tell you," he said. "It is very painful for me +to have to tell it, and it will be painful for you to hear it; but +I am sure that you ought to know." + +Bertha did not say anything, but looked at him with eyes wide open +with surprise. + +"I am sure, Miss Greendale," George went on, "that the Major never +told you that the bad wound he received at Delhi that all but +killed him, was my doing--that he was wounded by a ball from my +musket." + +"No, George, he certainly never said so. I suppose he was in front +of you, and your musket went off accidentally?" + +"No, Miss Greendale, I took deliberate aim at him, and it was only +the mercy of God that saved his life." + +Bertha was too surprised and shocked to speak, and he went on: + +"He himself thought that he had been hit by a Sepoy bullet, and it +was only when I sent for him, believing that I had received my +death wound, that he knew that it was I who had hit him." + +"But for what?" she asked. "What made you do this terrible thing? I +thought he was liked by his men." + +"There was no one liked better, Miss Greendale; he was the most +popular officer in the regiment, and if the soldiers had known it, +and I had escaped being hung for it, I should have been shot the +first time I went into action afterwards. It had nothing to do with +the army. I enlisted in his company on purpose to shoot him." + +Bertha could hardly believe her ears. She looked at the man +earnestly. Surely he could not have been drinking at that time of +the morning, and she would have doubted his sanity had it not been +for the calm and earnest look in his face. He went on: + +"I came here to tell you why I shot at him." + +"I don't want to hear," she said, hurriedly. "It is no business of +mine. I know that whatever it was Major Mallett must have forgiven +you. Besides, you saved his life afterwards." + +"Excuse me, Miss Greendale, but it is a matter that concerns you, +and I pray you to listen to me. You have heard of Martha Bennett, +the poor girl who disappeared four years ago, and who was thought +to have been murdered." + +"Yes, I remember the talk about it. It was never known who had done +it." + +"She was not murdered," he said. "She returned some months +afterwards, but only to die. It was about the time that Sir John +was ill, and naturally you would have heard nothing of it. + +"Well, Miss Greendale, I was at one time engaged to Martha. I was +of a jealous, passionate disposition, and I did not make enough +allowance for her being young and naturally fond of admiration. I +quarrelled with her and the engagement was broken off, but I still +loved her with all my heart and soul." + +Then he went on to tell of how maddened he had been when he had +seen her talking to Major Mallett, and of the conversation he had +overheard in her father's garden, on the evening before she was +missing. + +"I jumped at the conclusion at once, Miss Greendale, that it was +Captain Mallett, as he was then. He had been round saying goodbye +to the tenants that afternoon, and I knew that he was going abroad. +What could I suppose but that he had ruined my poor girl, and had +persuaded her to go out to join him in India? I waited for a time, +while they searched for the body I knew they would never find. My +own father and mother, in their hearts, thought that I had murdered +her in a fit of jealous rage. At last I made up my mind to enlist +in his regiment, to follow him to India, kill him, find her, and +bring her home." + +"How dreadful!" the girl murmured. + +"It was dreadful, Miss Greendale. I believe now that I must have +been mad at the time. However, I did it, but at the end failed. +Mercifully I was saved from being a murderer. As I told you, I was +badly wounded. I thought I was going to die, and the doctor thought +so, too. So I sent for Captain Mallett that I might have the +satisfaction of letting him know that it was I who fired the shot, +and that it was in revenge for the wrong that he had done Martha. + +"When I told him I saw by his face, even before he spoke, that I +had been wrong. He knew nothing whatever of it. Well, miss, he +forgave me--forgave me wholly. He told me that he should never +mention it to a soul, and as he has never mentioned it even to you, +you may see how well he has kept his word. I wanted to leave the +regiment. I felt that I could never mix with my comrades, knowing +as I did that I had tried to murder their favourite officer. But +the Major would not hear of it. He insisted that I should stay, +and, even more, he promised that as soon as I was out of hospital I +should be his servant, saying that as the son of an old tenant, he +would rather have me than anyone else. You can well imagine, then, +Miss Greendale, how willingly I would have given my life for him, +and that when the chance came I gladly faced odds to save him. + +"Before that I had come to learn who the man was. It was a letter +from my father that first gave me the clue; he mentioned that +another gentleman had left the neighbourhood and gone abroad, just +at the time that Major Mallett did. He was a man who had once made +me madly jealous by his attentions to Martha at a fete given to his +tenants. + +"The Major had the same thought, and he told me that he knew the +man was a bad fellow, though he did not say why he thought so. Then +I heard that Martha had returned to die, and I learned that she had +told her mother the name of her destroyer, who deserted her three +months after he had taken her away. When he came back from abroad +her father and mine and some others met him at Chippenham market. +They attacked him, and I believe would have killed him, had he not +ridden off. The next day he went up to London, and a fortnight +later his estate was in the market, and he never came into that +part of the country again. + +"I have told you all this, Miss Greendale, because I have heard +that you know the man, and I thought you ought to know what sort of +a man he is. His name is Carthew." + +Bertha had grown paler and paler as the story went on, and when he +ended, she sat still and silent for two or three minutes. Then she +said in a low tone: + +"Thank you, George. You have done right in telling me this story; +it is one that I ought to know. I wonder--" and she stopped. + +"You wonder that the Major did not tell you, Miss Greendale. I +asked him, myself. When you think it over, you will understand why +he could not tell you; for he had no actual proof, save the dying +girl's words and what I had seen and heard; and his motive in +telling it might have been misunderstood. But he told me that, even +at the risk of that, he should feel it his duty, if you became +engaged to that villain, to tell the story to Lady Greendale. + +"But if he found it hard to speak, there seemed to me no reason why +I shouldn't. Except my father and mother and he, no one knows that +I was well nigh a murderer. And though he has so generously +forgiven me, and I have in a small way tried to show my gratitude +to him, it was still painful to me to have to tell the story to +anyone else. But I felt that I ought to do it--not for his sake, +because he has told me that what I had looked for and what he had +so hoped for is not to be--but because I thought that you ought not +to be allowed to sacrifice your life to such a man; and partly, +too, because I wished to spare my dear master the pain of telling +the story, and of perhaps being misunderstood." + +"Thank you, George," she said, quietly. "You have done quite right +in telling--" + +At this moment some voices were heard at the other end of the +garden. + +"I will be going at once," George said, seizing the opportunity of +getting away; and turning, he walked down the garden and left the +house. + +"Who is your friend, Bertha?" Miss Haverley said, laughingly, as +she met Bertha coming slowly down the garden. + +"Why--is anything the matter?" she exclaimed, as she caught sight +of her face. + +"I have become suddenly faint, Hannah," Bertha replied. "I suppose +it was the heat yesterday; and it is very warm this morning, too. I +am better now, and it will soon pass over. I will go indoors for +half an hour, and then I shall be quite right again. + +"My friend is no one particular. He is Major Mallett's factotum. He +only brought me up a message, but as I know all the men on the +Osprey, and have not been on board this season, of course there was +a good deal to ask about." + +"Well, you must get well as soon as you can," Miss Haverley said. +"You know we shall leave in half an hour for the yacht, so as to +get under way in time for the start." + +At the appointed time, Bertha joined the party below. Her eyes +looked heavy and her cheeks were flushed, but she assured Miss +Haverley that she felt quite herself now, and that she was sure +that the sea air would set her up altogether. The schooner was +under way a quarter of an hour before the gun was fired, and sailed +east, as the course was twice round the Nab and back. + +Yachts were flitting about in all directions, for a light air had +only sprung up during the last half hour. + +"There is the Phantom," Lord Haverley said. "She has been cruising +about the last two days to get her sails stretched, and they look +uncommonly well. Carthew told me yesterday that she would be across +early this morning, and that he should go round with the race to +see how she did. I think you young ladies will have a very good +chance of being able to boast that you have sailed in the yacht +that won the Queen's Cup. I fancy it lies between her and the +Osprey. Mallett is getting up sail, too, I see, but as the Phantom +is going with the race, I don't suppose he will. She is a fine +craft, though I own I like the cutter rig better. The Phantom will +have to allow her time, but not a great deal, for the yawl is the +heaviest tonnage. + +"There is the starting gun. They are all close together at the +line. + +"That is a pretty sight, Lady Greendale. Talk about the start of +race horses, it is no more to be compared with it than light to +dark." + +After cruising about for three or four hours, their schooner +dropped anchor near the Osprey, which had come in half an hour +before. + +"Have you ever been on board the Osprey, Lord Haverley?" Bertha +asked. + +"No, my dear, I don't know that I have ever before been in any port +with your friend Major Mallett." + +"Well, what do you say to our going on board for a few minutes, on +our way to shore? Mamma and I are very fond of her, and I am her +godmother, having christened her." + +"Godmother and curate coupled in one, eh, Bertha? We will go by all +means; that is to say, we cannot invade him in a body, but those of +us who know Mallett can go on board, and the gig can come back and +take the rest ashore and then come to fetch us." + +Accordingly, Lord Haverley and his daughter, Lady Greendale and +Bertha, and two others of the party were rowed to the Osprey. Frank +saw them coming and met them at the gangway. + +"We are taking you by storm, Major," Lord Haverley said, "but Lady +Greendale and her daughter claim an almost proprietary interest in +the Osprey, because the latter is her godmother. Indeed, we are all +naturally interested in her, too, as being one of our cracks. She +is a very smart-looking craft, though I think it is a pity that she +is not cutter rigged." + +"She would look prettier, no doubt," Frank said; "but, you see, +though she was built as a racer, and I like a race occasionally, +that was not my primary object. I wanted her for cruising, and +there is no doubt that a yawl is more handy, and you can work her +with fewer hands than you can a cutter of the same size." + +They went round the vessel, and then returning on deck, sat down +and chatted while waiting for the boat's return. + +"I sincerely hope that you will win, Frank, on Friday," Lady +Greendale said. "Our sympathies are rather divided, but I hope the +Osprey will win." + +"Thank you, Lady Greendale, but I am by no means sanguine about it. + +"I fancy, Miss Haverley, that you and Miss Greendale will see the +winning flag flying overhead when the race is over." + +"Why do you think so, Major?" Lord Haverley asked. "The general +opinion is that your record is better than that of the Phantom. She +has done well in the two or three races she has sailed, but she +certainly did not beat the Lesbia or the Mermaid by as much as you +did." + +"That may be," Frank agreed, "but I regard Carthew as having been +born under a lucky star; and though my own opinion is that if the +Phantom were in other hands we should beat her, I fancy his luck +will pull her through." + +Haverley laughed. "I should not have given you credit for being +superstitious, Major." + +"I don't think that I have many superstitions, but I own to +something like it in this case." + +Bertha looked earnestly at him. Just before the gig returned from +the shore, she and Frank were standing together. + +"I am sorry that I shall not have your good wishes tomorrow," he +said. + +"I have not said that anyone will have my good wishes," she +replied. "I shall be on board the Phantom because I was invited +there before you asked me, but my hope is that the best yacht will +win. I want to speak to you for a minute or two. When can I see +you?" + +"I can come up tomorrow morning early," he replied. "What time will +best suit you?" + +"Ten o'clock; please ask for mamma." + +The next morning, Lady Greendale and Bertha came together into the +sitting room into which Frank had been shown on calling at Lord +Haverley's. + +"You are early, Frank." + +"Yes, Lady Greendale. I am going for a run round the island. It +makes me fidgety to sit all day with nothing to do, and I am always +contented when I am under sail. As I shan't have time to come in +tomorrow morning, for you know we start at nine, I thought that I +would drop in this morning, even if the hour was an early one." + +After chatting for a few minutes, Lady Greendale made some excuse +to leave the room. + +"She knew that you were coming, and that I wanted to speak to you," +said Bertha. + +"Well, what is it--anything of importance?" he asked with a smile. + +She hesitated and then went on. + +"Some words you spoke yesterday recalled to me something you said +nearly four years ago. Do you remember when we sat next to each +other in the twilight, the day before you went to India? We were +talking about superstitions then, and you told me that you had only +one, and said what it was--you remember?" + +"I remember," he said, gravely. + +"About someone who had beaten you always, and who you thought +always would beat you, if you came in contact again. You would not +tell me his name. Was it Mr. Carthew?" + +"I would not answer the question then, Bertha, and you surely +cannot expect me to answer it now." + +"I do expect you to answer it." + +"Then I must most emphatically decline to do so," he said. "What! +do you think that if it were he, I would be so base as to discredit +him now? For you must remember that I said that only one of my +defeats was due to foul play, that most of the others were simply +due to the fact that he was a better man than I was. The matter has +long since been forgotten, and, whoever it is, I would not +prejudice him in the opinion of anyone by raising up that old +story. I have no shadow of proof that it was he who damaged my +boat. It might have been the act of some boatman about the place +who had laid his money against my winning." + +"That is enough," she said quietly. "I did not think that you would +tell me whether it was Mr. Carthew, but I was sure that if it were +not he you would not hesitate to say so. Thank you, that is all I +wanted to see you for. What you said yesterday brought that talk we +had so vividly into my mind that I could not resist asking you. It +explained what seemed to me at the time to be strange; how it was +that you, who are generally so cordial in your manner, were so cold +to him when you first met him at our house. I thought that there +might be something more serious--" and she looked him full in the +face. + +"Perhaps I am a prejudiced beggar," he said, with an attempt to +smile, and then added somewhat bitterly; "You see things since have +not been calculated to make me specially generous in his case." + +She did not reply, and after a moment's pause he said, "Well, as +Lady Greendale seems to be busy, I will be going." + +"You will come to the ball tomorrow evening, won't you?" she asked. + +"I suppose I shall have to," he said. "If I win, though mind I feel +sure that I shan't, it will seem odd if I don't come. If I lose, it +will look as if I sulked." + +"You must come," she said, "and you must have a dance with me. You +have not been keeping your word, Major Mallett. You said that you +would always be the same to me, and you are not. You have never +once asked me to dance with you, and you are changed altogether." + +"I try to be--I try hard, Bertha; but just at present it is beyond +me. I cannot stand by and see you going--" and he stopped abruptly. + +"Well, never mind, Bertha. It will all come right in time, but at +any rate I cannot stand it at present. Goodbye." + +And without giving her time to reply, he hastily left the room. + +Bertha stood silent for a minute or two, then quietly followed him +out of the room. + +The next day Ryde was astir early. It was the Queen's Cup day. +Eight yachts were entered: three schooners--the Rhodope, the +Isobel, and the Mayflower; four cutters--the Pearl, the Chrysalis, +the Alacrity, and the Phantom; and the Osprey, which was the only +yawl. It was half-past eight, and all were under way under mainsail +and jib. + +The Solent was alive with yachts. They were pouring out from +Southampton water, they were coming up from Cowes, and some were +making their way across from Portsmouth. The day was a fine one for +sailing. + +"Have you got the same extra hands as last time?" Frank asked the +skipper. + +"All the same, sir. They all know their work well, and of course if +there is anything to be done aloft, our own men go up. I don't +think any of them will beat us in smartness." + +As the time approached for the start, the racers began to gather in +the neighbourhood of the starting line; and as the five-minutes gun +fired, the topsail went up, and they began to sail backwards and +forwards near it. + +As the Phantom crossed under the lee of the Osprey, the three +ladies waved their handkerchiefs to Frank, who took off his cap. + +"May the best yacht win," Bertha called out, as the vessels flew +quickly apart. + +"We could not want a better day, George," Frank said. "We can carry +everything comfortably, and there is not enough wind to kick up +much of a sea. As far as we are concerned, I would rather that the +wind had been either north or south, so that we could have laid our +course all round; as it is, we shall have the wind almost dead aft +till we are round the Nab, then we shall be close-hauled, with +perhaps an occasional tack along the back of the island, then free +again back. There is no doubt that the cutters have a pull +close-hauled. I fancy with this wind the schooners will be out of +it; though if it had been a reach the whole way, they would have +had a good chance. + +"Four minutes are gone." + +He was holding his watch in his hand, and after a short pause +called out, "Five seconds gone." + +The Osprey had a good position at present; though, with the wind +aft, this was of comparatively little consequence. She was nearly +in a line with the mark boat nearest to the shore, and some hundred +and fifty yards from it. + +"Haul in the main sheet," Hawkins said quietly, and the men +stationed there hauled on the rope until he said, "That will do, we +must not go too fast." + +He went on, turning to Frank (who had just called out, "Twenty +seconds gone"): + +"I think that we shall about do." + +The latter nodded. + +"A bit more, lads," the skipper said ten seconds later. "That will +do." + +"Fifteen seconds more," Frank said presently. + +"Slack away the sheet, slack it away handsomely. Up foresail, that +is it," shouted the skipper. + +As the boom ran out, and the foresail went up, the Osprey glided on +with accelerated speed, and the end of the bowsprit was but a few +yards from the starting line when the gun fired. + +"Bravo, good start," Frank said, as he looked round for the first +time. + +The eight yachts were all within a length of each other, and a +cheer broke from the boats around as they sped on their way. For a +time there was but little difference between them, and then the +cutters began to show a little in front. Their long booms gave them +an advantage over the schooners and the yawl when before the wind; +the spinnaker was not then invented, and the wind was not +sufficiently dead aft to enable the schooners to carry their +mainsail and foresails, wing and wing; or for the yawl's mizzen to +help her. + +As they passed Sea View the cutters were a length ahead, the +Phantom having a slight advantage over her sisters. They gained no +further, for the schooners fell into their wake as soon as they +were able to do so, thus robbing them of some of their wind. The +Osprey, having the inside station, kept straight on, and came up +with the cutters as they were abreast of the end of the island. All +were travelling very fast through the water. + +"We shall be first round the Nab, sir," Hawkins said in delight. +"The schooners are smothering the cutters, but they are not hurting +us." + +"Give her plenty of room when we get there," Frank said. + +The skipper nodded. "I won't risk a foul, sir, you may be sure." + +The three ladies on board the Phantom were seated on footstools +under the weather bulwark--although as yet the yachts were +travelling on an almost even keel. Miss Haverley and Lady Olive +uttered exclamations of satisfaction as the Phantom slowly drew +ahead of the others, and were loud in their disgust as they saw the +effect of the schooner's sail behind them on their own speed. + +"I don't call it fair," the former said; "if a vessel cannot sail +well herself, that she should be allowed to damage the chances of +others. Do you, Bertha?" + +"I don't know. I suppose it is equally fair for all, and that we +should do the same if a boat had got ahead of us. Still, it is very +tiresome, but it is just as bad for the other cutters." + +"Look at the Osprey," Lady Olive said soon afterwards. "She is +coming up fast; you see, she has nothing behind her. I do believe +that she is going to pass us." + +"It won't make much difference," Carthew, who was standing close to +her, said confidently. "The race won't really begin until we are +round the Nab, and after that we shan't hamper each other. I am +quite content with the way that we are going." + +The Osprey rounded the lightship two lengths ahead, the Phantom +came next, three lengths before the Chrysalis, and the others +followed in quick succession. The sheets were hauled in, and the +yachts were able to lie close-hauled for Ventnor. The three leading +boats maintained their respective places, but drew out from each +other, and when they passed Ventnor the Osprey was some five +lengths ahead of the Phantom. + +"Don't be downcast, ladies," Carthew said, gaily. "We have a long +way to go yet, and once round the point we shall have to turn till +we pass the Needles." + +The sea was now getting a good deal rougher. The wind was against +tide, and the yachts began to throw the spray over the bows. Bertha +was struck with the confidence with which Carthew had spoken, and +watched him closely. + +"We shall get it a good deal worse off St. Catherine's Head," he +went on. "There is a race there even in the calmest weather, and I +should advise you to get your wraps ready, for the spray will be +flying all over her when we get into it." + +They were now working tack and tack, but the Osprey was still +improving her position, and as they neared St. Catherine's Head she +was a good quarter of a mile to the good. Still Carthew maintained +his good temper, but Bertha could see that it was with an effort. +He seemed to pay but little attention to the sailing of the +Phantom, but kept his eyes intently fixed upon the Osprey. + +"I should not be surprised at some of us carrying away a spar +before long," he said. "The wind is freshening, and we shall have +to shift topsails and jibs, I fancy." + +They were now lying far over, and the water was two or three planks +up the lee deck. Each time the cutter went about, the ladies +carried their footstools up to windward, when the vessel was for a +moment on an even keel. When there they were obliged to sit with +one hand over the rail, to prevent themselves from sliding down to +leeward as the vessel heeled. + +"There goes the Chrysalis's topmast," the skipper exclaimed +suddenly. "That does for her chance. I think I had better get the +jib header ready for hoisting, Mr. Carthew; the spar is bending +like a whip." + +"Yes, I think you had better get it up at once, captain. It is no +use running any risk." + +As the Phantom's big topsail came down, the Osprey's was seen to +flutter and then to descend. + +"He has only been waiting for us," the captain said. + +Carthew made no reply. He was still intently watching the craft +ahead. + +"It is just as well for him," the captain went on. "He will be in +the race directly." + +Bertha was still watching Carthew's face. Cheerful as his tones +were, there was an expression of anxiety in it. Three minutes +later, he gave an exclamation as of relief, and a shout rose from +the men forward. + +Following the direction of his eyes, she saw the bowsprit of the +Osprey swing to leeward, and a moment later her topmast fall over +her side. + +"What did I tell you?" Carthew said, exultingly. "A race is never +lost till it is won." + +"Oh! I am sorry," Bertha said. "I do think it is hard to lose a +race by an accident." + +"Every yacht has to abide by its own accidents, Miss Greendale; and +carrying away a spar is one of the accidents one counts on. If it +were not for that risk, yachts would always carry on too long. It +is a matter of judgment and of attention to gear. The loss of a +spar is in nine times out of ten the result either of rashness or +of inattention. + +"However, I am sorry myself; that is to say, I would prefer winning +the cup by arriving first at the flag boat. However, I am certainly +not disposed to grumble at Fortune just at present." + +"I should think not, Mr. Carthew," Lady Olive said. "I am sure I +congratulate you very heartily. Of course, I have seen scores of +races, and whenever there is any wind someone is always sure to +lose a spar, and sometimes two or three will do so. I don't think +you need fear any of the boats behind." + +"No, yet I don't feel quite safe. I have no fear of any of the +cutters, but once round the Needles, it will be a broad reach, and +you will see that the schooners will come up fast, and I have to +allow them a good bit of time. However, I think we are pretty +safe." + + + +Chapter 9. + +The Phantom presently came along close to the Osprey, and Carthew +shouted: + +"Is there anything that I can do for you?" + +"No, thank you," Frank replied. + +Then Bertha called out: + +"I am so sorry." + +Frank waved his hand in reply. The men were all busy trying to get +the wreckage alongside. The cross-trees had been carried away by +the fall of the topmast, and her deck forward was littered with +gear. The difficulty was greatly increased by the heavy sea in the +race. + +"As soon as you have got everything on board, Hawkins, we will put +a couple of reefs in the mainsail. She will go well enough under +that and the foresail. If the mizzen is too much for her, we can +take it off." + +It was nearly half an hour before all was clear, and the last of +the yachts in the race had passed them before the leeward sheet of +the foresail was hauled aft, and the Phantom resumed her course. As +soon as she did so, the captain came aft with part of the copper +bar of the bobstay. + +"There has been foul play, sir," he said. "I thought there must +have been, for I could not imagine that this bar would have broken +unless there had been a flaw in the metal or it had been tampered +with. I unshackled it myself, for I thought it was better that the +men should not see it until I had told you about it." + +"Quite right, Hawkins. Yes, there is no doubt that there has been +foul play. The bar has been sawn three-quarters of the way through +with a fine saw, and, of course, it went as soon as she began to +dip her bowsprit well into it in the race. You see, whoever has +done it has poured some acid into it, and darkened the copper, +partly perhaps to prevent the colour of the freshly-cut metal from +being noticed, and partly to give it the appearance, after it was +broken, of being an old cut." + +"It cannot have been that, sir, for we were out in quite as rough a +sea as this last week, and the bowsprit would have gone then if +this cut had been there. Besides, we should have been sure to have +noticed it when we went round her to polish up her sides." + +"I don't know about that, Hawkins. You see, the cut is from below, +and it is only two or three inches above the waterline. It might +very well have been there without being noticed. Still, I agree +with you, it could not have been there last week, or it must have +gone when she put her nose into it then. In point of fact, I have +no doubt that it was done last night or the night before. It could +easily have been managed. Of course, everyone was below, both here +and in the yachts lying round us, and a man might very well have +come out in a small boat between one and two o'clock in the +morning, and done this without being noticed." + +"He might have done that, sir, but we should have heard the grating +down in the forecastle." + +"I don't know, Hawkins. A fine steel saw, such as burglars use, +will work its way through an iron bar almost noiselessly, and I +should say that it would go through copper almost as easily as it +would through hard wood. It is as well to say nothing to the crew +about it, but I think it my duty to lay the matter before the club +committee, and they can do as they like about it. Mind, I don't say +for a moment that it was done by anyone on board the Phantom. It +may have been someone on shore who had laid a bet of a few pounds +against us, and wanted to make sure of winning his money. Besides, +the Phantom might very well have hoped to have beaten us fairly, +for she was just as much fancied as we were. Take it below, and lay +it in my cabin, and when we get in unshackle the other bit of the +bar, and put it with this." + +It was impossible, however, when the bowsprit and bobstay were +brought on board, that the crew should have failed to notice the +break in the bar, and the news that there had been foul play had at +once been passed round. Seeing the angry faces of the men, and the +animated talk forward, Frank told the captain to call all hands +aft. + +"Look here, my men," he said. "I see that you are all aware of what +has taken place. It is most disgraceful and unfortunate, and I need +hardly say that I am as much vexed as yourselves at losing the Cup, +which, but for that, we must have carried off. However, it is one +of those cases in which there is nothing to be done, and we should +only make things worse by making a fuss about it. We have no ground +whatever for believing that it was the work of one of the Phantom's +crew, and it is far more likely that it was the work of some +longshore loafer who had laid more than he could afford against us. +It has partly been our own fault, but we shall know better in +future, and your captain will take good care that there shall be an +anchor watch set for two or three nights before we sail another +race. + +"What I have called you up for is to beg of you not to make this an +occasion for disputes or quarrels ashore. Hitherto I have been +proud of the good behaviour of my crew, and I should be sorry +indeed to hear that there was any row ashore between you and the +Phantom's men. They at least have nothing to boast of. They have +won the Cup, but we have won the honour. We have shown ourselves +the better yacht, and should have beaten them by something like a +mile, if it had not been for this accident. Therefore it is my +express wish and order that you do not show your natural +disappointment on shore. You can give the real reason of our +defeat, but do not say a word of blame to anyone, for we know not +who was the author of the blackguardly act. + +"Of course, the matter cannot be kept altogether a secret, for it +will be my duty to lay it before the committee. I shall make no +protest. If they choose to institute an inquiry they must do so, +but I shall take no steps in the matter, and it is unlikely in the +extreme that we shall ever know who did it. I shall pay you all +winning money, for that you did not win was no fault of yours. One +thing I will wager, though I am not a betting man, and that is, +that the next time we meet the Phantom we shall beat her, by as +much as we should have done today, but for this accident." + +The appearance of the Osprey as she sailed into the anchorage, +without topmast or bowsprit, excited great attention; and many of +the yachtsmen came on board to inquire how the disaster had +happened. To save going through the story a score of times, Frank +had the broken pieces of the bobstay bar brought up and laid on the +deck near the tiller, and in reply to inquiries simply pointed to +them, saying: + +"I think that tells the tale for itself." + +All were full of indignation at the dastardly outrage. + +"What are you going to do, Major?" + +"I am not going to do anything, except take it ashore and hand it +to the Sailing Committee. That it has been cut is certain. As to +who cut it, there is no shadow of evidence." + +"If I were in Carthew's place," one of them said, "I should decline +to take the Cup under such circumstances, and would offer to sail +the race over again with you as soon as you had repaired damages." + +"I should decline the offer if he made it," he said, quietly. "It +is probable that we shall meet in a race again some day, and then +we can fight it out, but for the present it is done with. He has +won the Queen's Cup, and I must put up with my accidents." + +The effect produced by the facts reported to the committee, and +their examination of the broken bar, was very great. Such a thing +had not been known before in the annals of yachting, and the +committee ordered a poster to be instantly printed and stuck up +offering a reward of 100 pounds for proof that would lead to the +conviction of the author of the outrage. + +Frank returned on board at once, and sent off a boat, towing behind +it the broken bowsprit and topmast to Cowes, with instructions to +Messieurs White to have two fresh spars got ready, by the following +afternoon if possible. + +He did not go ashore again until he landed, at half-past ten, at +the clubhouse. Every window was lit up, and dancing had begun an +hour before. Frank at once obtained a partner, in order to avoid +having to talk the unpleasant business over with yachting friends. + +Presently he sat down by the side of Lady Greendale. + +"I am so sorry, Frank," she said. "It does seem hard when you had +set your mind on it." + +"I had hoped to win," he said, "but it is not as bad as all that +after all. It would have been more mortifying to lose because the +Osprey was not fast enough, than to lose from an accident, when she +had already proved herself to be the best in the race. You know +that I never went in for being a racing yachtsman. I look upon +racing as being a secondary part of yachting. I can assure you, I +don't feel that I am greatly to be pitied. It might have been +better, and it might have been a great deal worse." + +"Well, I am glad that you take it in that way," she said. "I can +assure you that I was greatly upset over it when I heard it." + +He sat chatting with her for some time. Presently Bertha was +brought back by her partner to her mother's side. + +"Thank you for your hail as you passed us, Miss Greendale. It +sounded hearty, and really cheered me up, for just at the moment I +was in an exceedingly bad temper, I can assure you. You see, my +forebodings came true, and luck was against me." + +"Not luck," she said, indignantly. "You would have won but for +treachery." + +"Treachery is rather a hard word," he said. "However, it is of no +use crying over spilt milk. I have lost, and shall live to fight +another day, I hope; and next time I shall win. Still, you know, +there is really nothing to grumble at. I have been fortunate +altogether this season, and as I bought the Osprey as a cruiser, I +have done a great deal better with her than I could have expected." + +At this moment another partner of Bertha's came up, and was about +to carry her off, when she said: + +"I suppose the Osprey can sail still, Major Mallett?" + +"Oh, yes. She is a lame duck, you know, but she can get about all +right." + +"Well, why don't you ask mamma and me to take a sail with you +tomorrow afternoon?" + +"I shall be very happy to do so," he said, "but I almost think that +you had better wait until she gets her spars. I don't think that +they will be finished before tomorrow evening. The men can get to +work early in the morning, and we can be here by two o'clock next +day." + +"No, I think that we will come tomorrow, Major Mallett. + +"It will be a novelty to sail in a cripple, won't it, mamma? + +"Besides, you know, or you ought to know, that the day after +tomorrow is Sunday, and that at present our plans are arranged for +going up to town on Monday." + +"That being so," Frank said with a smile, "by all means come +tomorrow. Will you come to lunch, or afterwards?" + +"Afterwards, I think. We will be down at the club landing stage at +half-past two." + +"Bertha is bent upon taking possession of you tomorrow," Lady +Greendale said, smiling, as the girl turned away; "and I shall be +glad for her to have a quiet two or three hours out of the racket. +A large party is very fatiguing, and I think that it has been too +much for her. Yesterday and today she has been quite unlike +herself; at one time sitting quiet and saying nothing, at other +times rattling away with Miss Haverley and Lady Olive, and +absolutely talking down both of them, which I should have thought +impossible. She seems to me to be altogether over-excited. I +thought it would have been a rest for her to get away for a week +from the fag in London, but I am sorry now that we came down +altogether. I am a little worried about it, Frank." + +"Well, the season is drawing towards its end now, Lady Greendale, +and if you can get a short time at home no doubt it will do you +good. I did not think that Bertha was looking well when I saw her +yesterday." + +Frank danced a couple more dances, and then went to Lady Greendale +and said: + +"Will you make my excuses to Bertha? and tell her that, having +shown myself here, so that it might not be thought that I was out +of temper at my bad luck, I shall be off. Indeed, I do not feel +quite up to entering into the thing. You can understand, dear Lady +Greendale, that at present things are going rather hardly with me." + +She gave him a sympathetic look. "I can understand, Frank," she +said; "but here she comes. You can make your excuses yourself." + +"I can quite understand that you don't care about staying," Bertha +said, when he repeated what he had said to her mother. "Well, I +will give you the next dance, or, what will be nicer, I will sit it +out with you. Ah, here is my partner. + +"I am afraid I have made a mistake, Mr. Jennings, and have got my +card mixed up. Do you mind taking the thirteenth dance instead of +this? I shall be very much obliged if you will." + +Her partner murmured his assent. + +"Thank you," Frank said, as she took his arm. "Now, shall we go out +on the balcony, or on the lawn?" + +"The lawn, I think. It is a lovely evening, and there is no fear of +catching cold. + +"I am afraid that you are very disappointed," she went on, as they +went out. "I am disappointed, too. I told you I wanted the best +yacht to win, and it has not done so." + +"Thank you," he replied, quietly. "I should have liked to have won, +just this once, but all along I felt that the chances were against +me, and that fortune would play me some trick or other." + +"It was not fortune. Fortune had nothing to do with it," she said, +indignantly. "You were beaten by a crime--by a mean, miserable +crime--by the same sort of crime by which you were beaten before." + +"I have no reason for supposing that there is any connection." + +"Frank," she broke in, suddenly, and he started as for the first +time for years she called him by his Christian name, "you are an +old friend of ours, and you promised me that you would always be my +friend. Do you think that it is right to be trying to throw dust +into my eyes? Don't you think, on the contrary, that as a friend +you should speak frankly to me?" + +Frank was silent for a moment. + +"On some subjects, yes, Bertha; on others, what has passed between +us makes it very difficult for a man to know what he ought to do. +But be assured that if I saw you make any fatal mistake, any +mistake at least that I believed to be fatal, I should not +hesitate, even if I knew that I should be misunderstood, and that I +should forfeit your liking, by so doing. This is just one of the +cases when I do not feel justified, as yet, in speaking. Carthew is +not my friend, and you know it. If I had had no personal feud--for +it has become that with him--I should be more at liberty to speak, +but as it is I would rather remain silent. I tell you this now, +that you may know, in case I ever do meddle in your affairs, how +painful it is for me to do so, and how unwillingly I do it. At any +rate, there is nothing whatever to connect the accident that took +place today with him. The event is one of a series of successes +that he has gained over me. It does not affect me much, for though +I should have liked to have won today, I don't feel about such +matters as I used to. + +"You see, when a man has suffered one heavy defeat, he does not +care about how minor skirmishes may go." + +They walked up and down in silence for some time, then she said +quietly: + +"The music has stopped. I think, Frank, that I had better go in +again. So you will take us tomorrow?" + +"Certainly," he said. + +He took her in to Lady Greendale, and then went off to the Osprey. +He was feeling in higher spirits than he had done for some time, as +he walked up and down the deck for an hour before turning in. It +seemed to him that she might not after all accept Carthew, and that +he would not be obliged to bring trouble upon her by telling the +shameful story. + +"It will be all the same, as far as I am concerned," he said to +himself, "but I am sure that I could stand her marrying anyone +else; which, of course, she will do before long, better than +Carthew. I hear whispers that he was hard hit at Ascot, though he +gives out that he won. Not that that matters much, but it is never +a good lookout for a girl to marry a man who gambles, even though +she be rich, and her friends take good care to settle her money +upon herself. She evidently suspects that he is at the bottom of +this trick, and she would hardly think so if she really cared for +him. But if she does think so, I fancy that the winning of the +Queen's Cup will cost him dearly. + +"I wonder why she has apparently so set her mind on going out with +us tomorrow." + +Carthew enjoyed his triumph that evening, loudly expressed his +indignation and regret at the scandalous affair to which he owed +his victory, frankly said that he could hardly have hoped to win +the Cup had it not been for that, and expressed his determination +to add another hundred pounds to the reward offered by the club for +the discovery of the author of the outrage. The men felt that it +was hard on a fellow to win the Cup by the breakdown of an opponent +in that way, and the ladies admired the sincere way in which he +expressed his regrets. He was a good dancer, a good talker, and a +handsome man; and as few of them knew Frank, they had no particular +interest in his misfortune. + +He danced only once with Bertha, who said: + +"As the hero of the occasion, Mr. Carthew, you must be generous in +your attentions and please everyone." + +"I suppose I must obey you, Miss Greendale," he said, "but I had +hoped to have had an opportunity of saying something particular to +you tonight." + +"Really?" she answered innocently. "Well, I shall be at home +tomorrow morning, and if you come up about eleven you are sure to +find me." + +"Miss Greendale is at the other end of the garden, sir," the +servant said, as he enquired for her the next morning. "She asked +me to tell you if you called that she was there." + +With considerable assurance of success, Carthew walked into the +garden. She must know what he wanted to say to her, and he had of +late felt sure that her answer would be favourable when the +question was put. She was sitting on the same bench on which two +days before she had heard George Lechmere's story. + +"You know what I have come for, Miss Greendale," he began at once. +"I think that you know how I feel towards you, and how deeply I +love you. I have come to ask you to be my wife." + +"Before I answer you, Mr. Carthew," she said, calmly, "I must ask +you to listen to a story. It was told me here two days ago by a man +named George Lechmere. Do you know him?" + +"I seem to have heard his name, though I cannot say where," he +replied, surprised at the coolness with which she spoke. + +"He is a farmer's son, I believe, and he was an interested party, +though not the chief actor of the story. The chief actor, I suppose +I should say actress, was Martha Bennett. You know her?" + +Carthew stepped back as if he had received a sudden blow. His face +paled, and he gave a short gasp. + +"I see you know her," she went on. "She was a poor creature, I +fancy, and her story is one that has often been told before. She +threw away the love of an honest man, and trusted herself to a +villain. He betrayed the trust, took her away to America and then +cast her off, and she went home to die. Her destroyer did not +altogether escape punishment. He was attacked and pelted by her +father and his friends in the market place at Chippenham. You see, +it all happened in my neighbourhood, and the villain, not daring to +show his face in the county again, disposed of his estate." + +"You don't believe this infamous lie?" Carthew said hoarsely. + +"How do you know that it is an infamous lie, Mr. Carthew? I have +mentioned no names. I have simply told you the story of a hapless +girl, whom you once knew. Your face is the best witness that I can +require of its truth. Thank God I heard it in time. Had it not been +for that I might have been fool enough to have given you the answer +you wanted, for I own that I liked you. I am sure now that I did +not love you, for had I done so, I should not have believed this +tale; or if I had believed it, it would have crushed me. But I +liked you. I found you pleasanter than other men, and I even +fancied that I loved you. Had I not known this story, I might have +married you, and been the most miserable woman alive, for a man who +could play the villain to a hapless girl, who could stoop to so +mean and dastardly an action as to cripple a rival yacht, is a +creature so mean, so detestable, that wretched indeed would be the +fate of the woman that married him. + +"Do not contradict it, sir," she said, rising from her seat now +with her face ablaze with indignation. "I was watching you. I had +heard that story, and had heard another story of how the boat of an +antagonist of yours at Henley had been crippled before a race, and +I watched you from the time I came on board. I saw that you were +strangely confident; I saw how you were watching for something; I +saw the flash of triumph in your face when that something happened; +and I was absolutely certain that the same base manoeuvre that had +won you your heat at Henley had been repeated in your race for the +Queen's Cup. + +"I don't think, sir, you will want any more specific answer to your +question." + +"You will repent this," he panted, his face distorted by a raging +disappointment. "I do not contradict your statements. It would be +beneath me to do so; but some day you may have cause to regret +having made them." + +"I may tell you," she said, as she turned, "that it is not my +intention to make public the knowledge that I gained of your +conduct yesterday. I have no proof save my own absolute conviction, +and the knowledge that I have of your past." + +He did not look round, but walked at a rapid pace down the garden. +Half an hour later the Phantom's anchor was got up, and she sailed +for Southampton Water. Beyond giving the necessary order to get +under way, Carthew did not speak a word until she anchored off the +pier, then he went ashore at once and took the next train for town, +sending off a telegram before starting. + +When he got home he asked the servant briefly if Mr. Conking had +come. + +"Yes, sir. He is waiting for you in the dining room." + +"Well, Carthew, how have things gone off? I see by the papers this +morning that you won the Cup, and also that the Osprey's bobstay +burst at the right time, and that a great sensation had been caused +by the discovery that there had been foul play. + +"Why, what is the matter with you? You look as black as a +thundercloud." + +"And no wonder. I won the race, but I have lost the girl." + +"The deuce you have. Why, I thought that you felt quite certain of +that." + +"So I did; and it would have come off all right if some infernal +fellow had not turned up, and told her about an old affair of mine +that I thought buried and forgotten three or four years ago; and it +took me so aback that, as she said, my face was the best evidence +of the truth of the story. More than that, she declared that she +knew that I was at the bottom of the Osprey's business. However, +she has no evidence about that; but the other story did the +business for me, and the game is all up in that quarter. There +never was such bad luck. She as much as told me that, if I had +proposed to her before she had heard the story, she would have said +yes." + +"No chance of her changing her mind?" + +"Not a scrap." + +"It is an awkward affair for you." + +"Horribly awkward. Yes, I have only got fifteen thousand left, and +unless things go right at Goodwood I shall be cleaned right out. I +calculated that everything would be set right if I married this +girl. Things have gone badly of late." + +"Yes, your luck has been something awful. It did seem that with the +pains that we took, and the way I cleared the ground for you by +bribing jockeys and so on, we ought to have made pots of money. Of +course, we did pull off some good things, but others we looked on +as safe, and went in for heavily, all turned out wrong." + +"Well, there will be nothing for me but to get across the Channel +unless, as I say, things go right at Goodwood." + +"I should not be nervous about it, for unless there is some dark +horse I feel sure that your Rosney has got the race in hand." + +"Yes, I feel sure of that, too. We have kept him well back all the +season, and never let him even get a place. It ought to be a +certainty." + +Then they sat some time smoking in silence. + +"By gad, I have half a mind to carry her off," Carthew broke out, +suddenly. "It is the only way that I can see of getting things +straightened out. She acknowledged that she liked me before she +heard this accursed story, and if I had her to myself I have no +doubt that I could make her like me again in spite of it." + +"It is a risky thing to carry a woman off in our days," Conkling +said, thoughtfully, "and a deuced difficult one to do. I don't see +how you are going to set about it, or what in the world you would +do with her, and where you would put her when you had got her. I +have done some pretty risky things for you in my time, Carthew, but +I should not care about trying that. We might both find ourselves +in for seven years." + +"Well, you would have as much as that for getting at a horse, and I +don't know that you wouldn't for bribing a jockey. Still, I see +that it is an uncommonly difficult thing." + +For five minutes nothing more was said; then Conkling suddenly +broke the silence. + +"By Jove, I should say that the yacht would be just the thing." + +"That is a good idea, Jim; a first-rate idea if it could be worked +out. It would want a lot of scheming, but I don't see why it should +not be done. If I could once get her on board, I could cruise about +with her for any time, until she gave in." + +"You would have to get a fresh crew, Carthew. I doubt whether your +fellows would stand it." + +"No, I suppose some of them might kick. At any rate, I would not +trust them. No, I should have to find a fresh crew. Foreigners +would be best, but it would look uncommonly rum for the Phantom to +be cruising about with a foreign crew. Besides, I know men in +almost every port I should put into." + +"Couldn't you alter her rig, or something of that sort, so that she +could not be recognised? It seems to me that if you were to take +her across to some foreign port, pay off the crew there and send +them home, then get her altered and ship a foreign crew, you might +cruise about as long as you liked, especially abroad, without a +soul being any the wiser; and the girl must sooner or later give +in, and if she would not you could make her." + +"That is a big idea, Jim. Yes, if I once got my lady on board you +may be sure that she would have to say yes sooner or later. I don't +often forgive, and it would be a triumph to make her pay for the +dressing down she gave me this morning. Besides, I am really fond +of her, and I could forgive her for that outbreak, which I suppose +was natural enough, after we were married, and there is no reason +why we should not get on very well together. + +"I tell you what, I will go down the first thing tomorrow to +Southampton, and will sail at once for Ostend. There I will pay her +off, alter her rig, and ship a fresh crew. I will draw my money +from the bank. If things go well, I shall be set up again. If they +go badly, there will be some long faces at Tattersall's on settling +day, but I shall be away, and the money will be enough if we have +to cruise for a couple of years, or double that, before she gives +in. + +"I shall try mild measures for a good bit; be very respectful and +repentant and all that. If I find after a time that that does not +fetch her, I must try what threats will do. Anyhow, she won't leave +until she steps on shore to be married, or safer still, till I can +get a clergyman on board to marry us there. Would you like to go +with us?" + +"If the thing bursts up, there is nothing I should like better." + +"You will have to help me carry her off, Jim, and the day that she +signs her name Bertha Carthew I will give you a couple of thousand +pounds." + +"That is a bargain," the man said. "It is a good scheme altogether, +if we can hit upon some plan for carrying her away." + +"It is of no use to think of that, until we know where she will be. +I don't see at present how it is to be done, but I know that there +is always a way if one can think of it. You telegraph to me every +day Poste Restante, Ostend, or wherever I am stopping. I will send +you the name of the hotel I put up at directly I get there. You had +better send someone down at once to Ryde to let you know what she +is doing, and when she comes up to town; it is just on the cards +that they may not come for a bit, but may go for a cruise in +Mallett's yacht, as they did last autumn. Anyhow, let me know, and +if I telegraph for you to come over, cross by the next boat. + +"Likely enough I may run over myself as soon as I get the business +there going all right; but of course I shall stay there if I can. I +should get it done in half the time if I were present to push +things on. Of course, you will run down and see how the horse is +getting on, and pick up any information that you can, and let me +know about it." + +"I will put that into good hands, Carthew. It is better that I +should stay here and watch things at Tattersall's; then I can keep +you informed how things are looking every day, and be ready to +start as soon as I get your telegram. But, of course, you won't do +anything until after the race is run." + +"No, I feel as safe as a man can as to Rosney, but even if he wins +I shall carry my idea out. I have had enough of the turf, and burnt +my fingers enough over it, and I shall be glad to settle down as a +country gentleman again. If I lose I shall make a private sale of +all my horses before I leave the course. That ought to bring me in +another seven or eight thousand pounds for our trip." + + + +Chapter 10. + +"There is the Phantom getting under way," the skipper said, as his +turn up and down the deck brought him close to Frank. + +"So she is. I saw her owner go ashore less than an hour ago." + +"Yes; he came on board again five minutes ago. The men began to +bustle about directly he got on deck. I do hope they won't put in +again as long as we are here. The hands are as savage as bulls, and +though they remembered what you told them, and there were no rows +on shore last night, I shall be glad when we ain't in the same port +with the Phantom, for I am sure that if two or three men of each +crew were to drop in to the same pub, there would be a fight in no +time. And really I could not blame them. It is not in human nature +to lose a race like that without feeling very sore over it. I hope +she is off. Anyhow, as we are going to Cowes this evening, it will +be a day or two before the hands are likely to run against each +other, and that will give them time to cool down a bit. + +"There is one thing. I bet the Phantom won't enter against us at +Cowes. If we were to give them a handsome beating there, it would +show everyone that they would have had no chance of winning the Cup +if it had not been for the accident." + +"No, I don't suppose that we shall meet again this season, and +indeed I don't know that I shall do any more racing myself, except +that I shall feel it as a sort of duty to enter for the Squadron's +open race. + +"I think, by the course she is laying, that the Phantom is off to +Southampton. Perhaps she is going to meet somebody there. Anyhow, +she is not likely to be back until we have started for Cowes." + +Frank sat for some time with the paper in his hand, but, although +he glanced at it occasionally, his mind took in nothing of its +contents. Again and again he watched the Phantom. Yes, she was +certainly going to Southampton Water. + +From what Bertha had said to him the evening before, he had +received a strong hope that she would reject Carthew. Nothing was +more probable than that he should have gone ashore that morning, +fresh from his victory, to put the question to her, and his speedy +return and his order to make sail as soon as he got on deck +certainly pointed to the fact that she had refused him. + +A load of care seemed to be lifted from Frank's mind. From the +first, when he had found that Carthew was a visitor at Lady +Greendale's, he had been uncomfortable. He knew the man's +persevering nature, and recognised his power of pleasing when he +desired to do so. He was satisfied that, when he himself was +refused, the reason Bertha gave him was, as far as she knew, the +true one; but he had since thought that possibly she might then, +although unsuspected by herself, have been to some extent under the +spell of Carthew's influence. When she had declined two +unexceptional offers, he had been almost convinced that Carthew, +when the time came, would receive a more favourable answer. But he +had watched them closely on the few occasions when he had seen them +together in society, and, certain as he had felt at other times, he +had come away somewhat puzzled, and said to himself: + +"She is captivated by his manner, as any girl might be, but I doubt +whether she loves him." + +This impression, however, had always died out in a short time, and +he had somehow come to accept the general opinion unquestioningly, +that she would accept Carthew when he proposed. He had been +prepared to face the alternative of either suffering her to marry a +scoundrel, or of taking a step more repugnant to him, which would +probably end by an entire breach of his friendship with the +Greendales, that of telling them this story. He was therefore +delighted to find that the difficulty had been solved by Bertha +herself without his intervention, and felt absolutely grateful for +the accident which had cost him the Queen's Cup, but had at the +same time opened Bertha's eyes to the man's true character. Soon +after two o'clock he went ashore in the gig, and at the half hour +Lady Greendale and Bertha came down. + +"The Osprey looks like a bird shorn of its wings," he said, as he +handed them into the boat; "and though the men have made everything +as tidy as they could, the two missing spars quite spoil her +appearance." + +"That does not matter in the least, Frank," Lady Greendale said. +"We know how she looks when she is at her best. We shall enjoy a +quiet sail in her just as much as if she were in apple-pie order." + +"You look fagged, Lady Greendale, though you are pretty well +accustomed to gaiety in town." + +Lady Greendale did indeed look worn and worried. For the last two +or three days, Bertha's manner had puzzled her and caused her some +vague anxiety. That morning the girl had come in from the garden +and told her that she had just refused Mr. Carthew, and, although +she had never been pleased at the idea of Bertha's marrying him, +the refusal had come as a shock. + +Personally she liked him. She believed him to be very well off, but +she had expected Bertha to do much better, and she by no means +approved of his fondness for the turf. She had been deeply +disappointed at the girl's refusal of Lord Chilson, on whom she had +quite set her mind. The second offer had also been a good one. +Still, she had reconciled herself to the thought of Bertha's +marrying Carthew. His connection with the turf had certainly +brought him into contact with a great many good men, he was to be +met everywhere, and she could hardly wonder that Bertha should have +been taken with his good looks and the brilliancy of his +conversation. The refusal, then, came to her not only as an +absolute surprise, but as a shock. + +She considered that Bertha had certainly given him, as well as +everyone else, reason to suppose that she intended to accept him. +Many of her intimate friends had spoken to her as if the affair was +already a settled matter, and when it became known that Bertha had +refused him, she would be set down as a flirt, and it would +certainly injure her prospects of making the sort of match that she +desired. She had said something of all this to the girl, and had +only received the reply: + +"I know what I am doing, mamma. I can understand that you thought I +was going to marry him. I thought so myself, but something has +happened that has opened my eyes, and I have every reason to be +thankful that it has. I dare say you think that I have behaved very +badly, and I am sorry; but I am sure that I am doing right now." + +"What have you discovered, Bertha? I don't understand you at all." + +"I don't suppose you do, mamma. I cannot tell you what it is. I +told him that I would not tell anybody." + +"But you don't seem to mind, Bertha; that is what puzzles me. A +girl who has made up her mind to accept a man, and who finds out +something that seems to her so bad that she rejects him, would +naturally be distressed and upset. You seem to treat it as if it +were a matter of no importance." + +"I don't quite understand it myself, mamma. I suppose that my eyes +have been opened altogether. At any rate, I feel that I have had a +very narrow escape. I was certainly very much worried when I first +learned about this, two days ago, and I was even distressed; but I +think that I have got over the worry, and I am sure that I have +quite got over the distress." + +"Then you cannot have cared for him," Lady Greendale said, +emphatically. + +"That is just the conclusion that I have arrived at myself, mamma," +Bertha said, calmly. "I certainly thought that I did, and now I +feel sure that I was mistaken altogether." + +Lady Greendale could say nothing further. + +"I had better send off a note to Frank, my dear," she said, +plaintively. "Of course you are not thinking of going out sailing +after this." + +"Indeed, I am, mamma. Why shouldn't we? Of course I am not going to +say anything here of what has happened. If he chooses to talk about +it he can, but I don't suppose that he will. It is just the end of +the season, and we need not go back to town at all, and next spring +everyone will have forgotten all about it. You know what people +will say: 'I thought that Greendale girl was going to marry Carthew. +I suppose nothing has come of it. Did she refuse him I wonder, or +did he change his mind?' And there will be an end of it. The end +of the season wipes a sponge over everything. People start afresh, +and, as somebody says--Tennyson, isn't it? or Longfellow?--they +'let the dead past bury its dead.'" + +Lady Greendale lifted her hands in mild despair, put on her things, +and went down to the boat with Bertha. + +"I have brought a book, mamma," the latter said as they went down. +"I shall tell Frank about this, though I shall tell no one else. I +always knew that he did not like Mr. Carthew. So you can amuse +yourself reading while we are talking." + +"You are a curious girl, Bertha," her mother said, resignedly. "I +used to think that I understood you; now I feel that I don't +understand you at all." + +"I don't know that I understand myself, mamma, but I know enough of +myself to see that I am not so wise as I thought I was, and +somebody says that 'When you first discover you are a fool it is +the first step towards being wise,' or something of the sort. + +"There is Major Mallett standing at the landing, and there is the +gig. I think that she is the prettiest boat here." + +The mainsail was hoisted by the time they reached the side of the +yacht, and the anchor hove short, so that in two or three minutes +they were under way. + +"She looks very nice," Lady Greendale said. "I thought that she +would look much worse." + +"You should have seen her yesterday, mamma, when we passed her, +with the jagged stumps of the topmast and bowsprit and all her +ropes in disorder, the sails hanging down in the water and the +wreckage alongside. I could have cried when I saw her. At any rate, +she looks very neat and trim now. + +"Where is the Phantom, Major Mallett?" + +"She got under way at eleven o'clock, and has gone up to +Southampton," he replied, quietly, but with a half-interrogatory +glance towards her. + +She gave a little nod, and took a chair a short distance from that +in which Lady Greendale had seated herself. + +"Has he gone for good?" Frank asked, as he sat down beside her. + +"Of course he has," she said. "You don't suppose, after what I told +you last night, that I was going to accept him." + +"I hoped not," he said, gravely. "You cannot tell what a relief it +has been to me. Of course, dear, you will understand that so long +as you were to marry a man who would be likely to make you happy I +was content, but I could not bear to think of your marrying a man I +knew to be altogether unworthy of you." + +"You know very well," she said, "that you never intended to let me +marry him. As I said to you last night, I feel very much aggrieved, +Major Mallett. You had said you would be my friend, and yet you let +this go on when you could have stopped it at once. You let me get +talked about with that man, and you would have gone on letting me +get still more talked about before you interfered. That was not +kind or friendly of you." + +"But, Bertha," he remonstrated, "the fact that we had not been +friends, and that he had beaten me in a variety of matters, was no +reason in the world why I should interfere, still less why you +should not marry him. When I was stupid enough to tell you that +story, years ago, I stated that I had no grounds for saying that it +was he who played that trick upon my boat, and it would have been +most unfair on my part to have brought that story up again." + +"Quite so, but there was the other story." + +"What other story?" Frank asked in great surprise. + +"The story that George Lechmere came and told me two days ago," she +said, gravely. + +"George Lechmere! You don't mean to say--" + +"I do mean to say so. He behaved like a real friend, and came to +tell me the story of Martha Bennett. + +"He told me," she went on, as he was about to speak, "that you had +made up your mind to tell mamma about it, directly you heard that I +was engaged to Mr. Carthew. That would have been something, but +would hardly have been fair to me. If I had once been engaged to +him, it would have been very hard to break it off, and naturally it +would have been much greater pain to me then than it has been now." + +"I felt that. But you see, Bertha, until you did accept him, I had +no right to assume that you would do so. At least so I understood +it, and I did not feel that in my position I was called upon to +interfere until I learned that you were really in danger of what I +considered wrecking your life's happiness." + +"I understand that," she said, gently, "and I know that you acted +for the best. But there are other things you have not told me, +Major Mallett--other things that George Lechmere has told me. Did +you think that it would have been of no interest to me to know that +you had forgiven the man who tried to take your life; and, more +than that, had restored his self respect, taken him as your +servant, treated him as a friend?" + +The tears stood in her eyes now. + +"Don't you think, Frank, that was a thing that I might have been +interested to know--a thing that would raise you immeasurably in +the eyes of a woman--that would show her vastly more of your real +character than she could know by meeting you from day to day as a +friend?" + +"It was his secret and not mine, Bertha. It was known to but him +and me. Never was a man more repentant or more bitterly regretful +for a fault--that was in my eyes scarcely a fault at all--except +that he had too rashly assumed me to be the author of the ruin of +the girl he loved. The poor fellow had been half maddened, and was +scarce responsible for his actions. He had already suffered +terribly, and the least I could do was to endeavour to restore his +self respect by showing him that I had entirely forgiven him. Any +kindness that I have shown him he has repaid ten-fold, not only by +saving my life, but in becoming my most sincere and attached +friend. I promised him that I would tell no one, and I have never +done so, and no one to this day knows it, save his father and +mother. + +"How then could I tell even you? You must see yourself that it was +impossible that I could tell you. Besides, the story was of no +interest save to him and me; and above all, as I said, it was his +secret and not mine." + +"I see that now," she said. "Still, I am so sorry, so very sorry, +that I did not know it before. + +"You see, Frank," she went on, after a pause; "we women have to +make or unmake our lives very much in the dark. No one helps us, +and if we have not a brother to do so, we are groping in the dark. +Look at me. Here was I, believing that Mr. Carthew, whom I met +everywhere in society, was, except that he kept race horses and bet +heavily, as good as other men. He was very pleasant, very good +looking, generally liked, and infinitely more amusing than most men +one meets. How was I to tell what he really was? + +"On the other hand, there were you, my dear friend, who, I knew, +had shown yourself a very brave soldier, and whom also everyone +liked and spoke well of, but of whose real character I did not know +much, except on the side that was always presented to me; and now I +find you capable of what I consider a grand act of generosity." + +"You overrate the matter altogether, Bertha. The man shot me by +mistake. The fellow he took me for richly deserved shooting. When +he found it was a mistake, the poor fellow was bitterly sorry for +it. Surely, there was nothing more to be said about it." + +The girl sat silent for some time. + +"Well, it is all cleared up now," she said at last. "There is no +reason why we should not be friends as of old." + +"None whatever," he said. "There has been only--" and he stopped +short. + +"Only what, Frank?" + +"Nothing," he said. "We will be just as we were, Bertha. I will try +and be the good elder brother, and scold you and look after you, +and warn you, if it should be necessary, until you get under other +guidance." + +"It will be some time," she said, quietly, "before that happens. I +have had a sharp lesson." + +"And did you really care for him much, Bertha?" + +"I don't think that I really cared for him at all," she said. "That +is not the lesson that I was thinking of." + +He saw the colour mount into her cheeks as she twisted the +handkerchief she held into a knot. Then, turning to him, she said: + +"Frank, are you never going to give me a chance again?" + +He could not misunderstand her. + +"Do you mean--can you mean, Bertha?" he said, in a low tone. "Do +you mean that if I ask you the same question again you will give me +a different answer?" + +"I did not know then," she said. "I had never thought of it. You +took me altogether by surprise, and what I said I thought was true. +Afterwards I knew that I had been mistaken. I hoped that you would +ask me again, but you did not, and I soon felt that you never +would. You tried hard to be as you were before, but you were not +the same, and I was not the same. Then I did not seem to care. +There were three men who wanted me. I did not care much which it +was, but I would not have anyone say that I had married for +position--I hated the idea of that--and so I would have taken the +third. He was bright and pleasant, and all that sort of thing, and +I thought that I could be happy with him, until George Lechmere +opened my eyes. Then, of course, that was over; but his story +showed me still more what a fool I had been, what a heart I had +thrown away, and I said, 'I will at least make an effort to undo +the past. I will not let my chance of happiness go away from me +merely from false pride. If he loves me still he will forgive me. +If not, at least I shall not, all through my life, feel that I +might have made it different could I have brought myself to speak a +word.'" + +"I love you as much as ever," Frank said, taking her hand. "I love +you more for speaking as you have. I can hardly believe my +happiness. Can it be that you really love me, Bertha?" + +"I think I have proved it, Frank. I do love you. I have known it +for some time, but it seemed all too late. It was a grief rather +than a pleasure. Every time you came it was a pain to me, for I +felt that I had lost you; and it was only when I learned, two days +ago, how you could forgive, and that at the same time I could free +myself from the chain I had allowed to be wound round me, and which +I don't think I could otherwise have broken, that I made up my mind +that it should not be my fault if things were not put right between +us. + +"Now let us tell mother." + +Her hand was still in his, and they went across the deck together. + +"Mamma," she said, "please put down that book. I have a piece of +news for you. Frank and I are going to be married." + +Lady Greendale sat for a moment, speechless in astonishment. She +knew that Bertha had wished to tell him that she had refused +Carthew's offer, but that this would come of it she had never +dreamt. A year before she had approved of Bertha's rejection of +Frank, but since then much had happened. Bertha had shown that she +would not marry for position only, and that she would be likely to +take her own way entirely in the matter; and, although this was a +downfall to the hopes that she had once entertained, Lady Greendale +was herself very fond of Frank, and it was at any rate better than +having Bertha marry a man of whose real means she was ignorant, and +who, as everyone knew, bet heavily on the turf. These ideas flashed +rapidly through her mind, and holding out one hand to each, she +said: + +"There is no one to whom I could more confidently entrust her +happiness, Frank. God bless you both." + +Then she betook herself to her pocket handkerchief, for her tears +came easily, and on this occasion she herself could hardly have +said whether they were the result of pleasure in Bertha's +happiness, or regret at the downfall of the air castles she had +once built. + +"I think, Bertha, our best plan will be to go below now," Frank +suggested, quietly. + +"What for?" Bertha asked, shyly. + +The thing had been done. She felt radiantly happy, but more shocked +at her own boldness than she had been when she perpetrated it. + +"Well, my dear, I thought that perhaps you would rather not kiss me +in sight of the whole crew, and certainly I shan't be able to +restrain myself much longer." + +"Then, in that case," she said, demurely, "perhaps we had better go +below." + +It was half an hour before they came on deck again. + +"Well, my dears," Lady Greendale said, "the more I think of it the +better I am pleased. As far as I am concerned, nothing could be +nicer. I shall have Bertha within a short drive of me, and it won't +be like losing her. + +"Do you know, Bertha, your father said to me once, 'I would give +anything if some day Frank Mallett and our Bertha were to take a +fancy to each other. There is nothing I should like more than to +have her settled near us, and there is no one I know more likely to +make her happy than he would be.' I am sure, dear, that you will be +glad to know that your engagement would have had his approval, as +it has mine." + +Bertha bent down and kissed her mother, with tears standing in her +eyes. + +"It will be a great pleasure to us both to have you so near us," +Frank said, earnestly. "You know that, having lost my own mother so +long ago, I have always looked upon you as more of a mother than +anyone else, and have always felt almost as much at home in your +house as in my own. + +"Now, let us sit down and talk it over quietly. In the first place, +I propose that on Monday, when you leave Lord Haverley's, you shall +both come here for a time. The Solent will be very pleasant for the +next fortnight, and we can then take a fortnight's cruise west, +and, if you like, land at Plymouth, and go straight home." + +"I should be very glad," Lady Greendale said at once, rejoiced at +the thought that she would thus avoid the necessity of answering +any questions about Bertha; "and there will be no occasion at all +to speak of this at my cousin's. There might be all sorts of +questions asked, and expressions of surprise, and so on. It will be +quite time enough to write to our friends after we have been +comfortably settled at home for a time. We can talk over all that +afterwards." + +"Yes, and I should think, Lady Greendale, that it would save the +trouble of two letters if, while mentioning that Bertha is engaged +to your neighbour, Major Mallett, you could add that the marriage +will come off in the course of a few weeks. + +"Don't you think so, Bertha?" + +"Certainly not," she said, saucily. "It will be quite time to talk +about that a long time hence." + +"Well, I will put off talking about it for a short time, but, you +see, I have had a year's waiting already." + +Very pleasant was the three hours' cruise. No one gave a thought of +the missing topmast and bowsprit. There was a nice sailing breeze, +and, clipped as her wings were, the Osprey was still faster than +the majority of the yachts. + +As soon as the two ladies had been put ashore, Frank sailed for +Cowes. It was too late when they got there for anything to be done +that evening, but Frank went ashore with the captain, and found +that the spars were all ready to receive the iron work and sheaves +from the old ones; and as these had been towed up to the yard to be +in readiness, Messieurs White promised that they would arrange for +a few hands to come to work early, and that the spars should be +brought off by half-past eight on Monday morning. + +As soon as he had returned in the gig, after putting the ladies +ashore at Ryde, Frank had called George Lechmere to him. + +"It is all right, George, thanks to your interview with Miss +Greendale. It was a bold step to take, but it was the best possible +thing, and succeeded splendidly, and everything is to be as I wish +it." + +"I am glad, indeed, to hear it, Major, and I hoped that you would +have something of the sort to tell me. There was a look about you +both that I took to mean that things were going on well." + +"Yes, George. At first, when she told me that you had told her +about that affair at Delhi, I felt that there was really no +occasion for you to have said anything about it; but it did me a +great deal of good. She made much more of it than there was any +occasion for; but, you know, when women are inclined to take a +pleasant view of a thing, they will magnify molehills into +mountains." + +"I thought that it would do good, Major. I don't mean that it would +do you any good, but that it would do good generally. I had to tell +the other story, and that came naturally with it; and, at any rate, +she could not but see that there was a deal of difference between +the nature of the man who had been so good to me, and that of that +scoundrel." + +"That is just the effect it did have. Well, don't say anything +about it forward, at present. The men shall be told later on." + +By one o'clock on Monday the Osprey was back at Ryde, and at two +o'clock the dinghy went ashore with the mate and two of the hands, +who waited a quarter of an hour till a vehicle brought down the +ladies' luggage. Soon afterwards Frank went ashore in the gig, and +brought Lady Greendale and Bertha off. + +As they went down to their cabin, Bertha, looking into the saloon, +saw George Lechmere preparing the tea tray to bring it up on deck. +She at once went to him. + +"I did not thank you before," she said, holding out her hand; "but +I thank you now, and shall thank you all my life. You did me the +greatest service." + +"I am glad, indeed, Miss Greendale, that it was so; for I know that +the Major would never have been a happy man if this had not come +about." + +For the next fortnight the Osprey was cruising along the coast, +getting as far as Torquay, and returning to Cowes. Frank did not +enter her for any of the races. Lady Greendale, although a fair +sailor, grew nervous when the yacht heeled over far, and even +Bertha did not care for racing, the memory of the last race being +too fresh in her mind for her to wish to take part in another for +the present. + + + +Chapter 11. + +"That is an uncommonly pretty trading schooner, Bertha," Frank +Mallett said, as he rose from his chair to get a better look at a +craft that was passing along to the eastward. "I suppose she must +be in the fruit trade, and must just have arrived from the Levant. +I should not be surprised if she had been a yacht at one time. She +is not carrying much sail, but she is going along fast. I think +they would have done better if they had rigged her as a +fore-and-aft schooner instead of putting those heavy yards on the +foremast. That broad band of white round her spoils her appearance; +her jib boom is unusually long, and she must carry a tremendous +spread of canvas in light winds. I should think that she must be +full up to the hatches, for she is very low in the water for a +trader." + +The Osprey was lying in the outside tier of yachts off Cowes. The +party that had been on board her for the regatta had broken up a +week before, and only Lady Greendale and Bertha remained on board. +The former had not been well for some days, and had had her maid +down from town as soon as the cabins were empty. It had been +proposed, indeed, that she and Bertha should return to town, but, +being unwilling to cut short the girl's pleasure, she said that she +should do better on board than in London; and, moreover, she did +not feel equal to travelling. She was attended by a doctor in +Cowes, and the Osprey only took short sails each day, generally +down to the Needles and back, or out to the Nab. + +"Yes, she is a nice-looking boat," Bertha agreed, "and if her sails +were white and her ropes neat and trim, she would look like a +yacht, except for those big yards." + +"Her skipper must be a lubber to have the ropes hanging about like +that. Of course, he may have had bad weather in crossing the bay, +but if he had any pride in the craft, he might at least have got +her into a good deal better trim while coming in from the Needles. +Still, all that could be remedied in an hour's work, and certainly +she is as pretty a trader as ever I saw. How did your mother seem +this afternoon, Bertha?" + +"About the same, I think. I don't feel at all anxious about her, +because I have often seen her like this before. I think really, +Frank, that she is quite well enough to go up to town; but she +knows that I am enjoying myself so much that she does not like to +take me away. I have no doubt that she will find herself better by +Saturday, when, you know, we arranged some time back that we would +go up. You won't be long before you come, will you?" + +"Certainly not. Directly you have landed I shall take the Osprey to +Gosport, and lay her up there. I need not stop to see that done. I +can trust Hawkins to see her stripped and everything taken on +shore; and, of course, the people at the yard are responsible for +hauling her up. I shall probably be in town the same evening; but, +if you like, and think that your mother is only stopping for you, +we will go across to Southampton at once." + +"Oh, no, I am sure that she would not like that; and I don't want +to lose my last three days here. Of course, when we get home at the +end of next week, and you are settled down there, too, you will be +a great deal over at Greendale, but it won't be as it is here." + +"Not by a long way. However, we shall be able to look forward to +the spring, Bertha, when I shall have you all to myself on board, +and we shall go on a long cruise together; though I do think that +it is ridiculous that I should have to wait until then." + +"Not at all ridiculous, sir. You say that you are perfectly +happy--and everyone says that an engagement is the happiest time in +one's life--and besides, it is partly your own fault; you have made +me so fond of the Osprey that I have quite made up my mind that +nothing could possibly be so nice as to spend our honeymoon on +board her, and to go where we like, and to do as we like, without +being bothered by meeting people one does not care for. And, +besides, if you should get tired of my company, we might ask Jack +Harley and Amy to come to us for a month or so." + +"I don't think that it will be necessary for us to do that," he +laughed. "Starting as we shall in the middle of March, we shan't +find it too hot in the Mediterranean before we turn our head +homewards; and I think we shall find plenty to amuse us between +Gibraltar and Jaffa." + +"No, three months won't be too much, Frank. Tomorrow is the dinner +at the clubhouse, isn't it?" + +"Yes. I should be sorry to miss that, for having only been just +elected a member of the Squadron, I should like to put in an +appearance at the first set dinner." + +"Of course, Frank. I certainly should not like you to miss it." + +The next evening Frank went ashore to dine at the club. An hour and +a half later a yacht's boat came off. + +"I have a note for Miss Greendale," the man in the stern said, as +she came alongside; "I am to give it to her myself." + +Bertha was summoned, and, much surprised, came on deck. + +The man handed up the note to her. She took it into the companion, +where a light was burning; her name and that of the yacht were in +straggling handwriting that she scarcely recognised as Frank's. + +She tore it open. + +"My Darling: I have had a nasty accident, having been knocked down +just as I landed. I am at present at Dr. Maddison's. I wish you +would come ashore at once. It is nothing very serious, but if you +did not see me you might think that it was. Don't agitate your +mother, but bring Anna with you. The boat that brings this note +will take you ashore." + +Bertha gave a little gasp, and then summoning up her courage, ran +down into the cabin. + +"Mamma, dear, you must spare me and Anna for half an hour. I have +just had a note from Frank. He has been knocked down and hurt. He +says that it is nothing very serious, and he only writes to me to +come ashore so that I can assure myself. I won't stop more than a +quarter of an hour. If I find that he is worse than I expect, I +will send Anna off to you with a message." + +Scarcely listening to what her mother said in reply, she ran into +her cabin, told Anna to put on her hat and shawl to go ashore with +her, and in a minute descended to the boat with her maid. It was a +four-oared gig, and the helmsman had taken his place in the stern +behind them. + +Bertha sat cold and still without speaking. She was sure that Frank +must be more seriously hurt than he had said, or he would have had +himself taken off to the yacht instead of to the surgeon's. The +shaky and almost illegible handwriting showed the difficulty he +must have had in holding the pencil. + +The boat made its way through the fleet till it reached the shallow +water which they had to cross on their way to the shore. Here, with +the exception of a few small craft, the water was clear of yachts. + +Suddenly the long line of lights along the shore disappeared, and +something thick, heavy and soft fell over Bertha's head. An arm was +thrown round her, and Anna pressed tightly against her. In vain she +struggled. There was a faint, strange smell, and she lost +consciousness. + +An hour passed without her return to the yacht, and Lady Greendale +began to fear that she had found Frank too ill to leave, and had +forgotten to send Anna back with the message. At last she touched +the bell. + +"Will you tell the captain that I want to speak to him?" + +"Captain," she said. "I am much alarmed about Major Mallett. That +boat that came off here an hour ago brought a note for my daughter, +saying that he had been hurt, and she went ashore with her maid to +see him. She said that she would be back in a short time, and that +if she found that he was badly hurt she would send her maid back +with a message to me. She has been gone for more than an hour, and +I wish you would take a boat and go ashore, find out how the Major +is, and bring me back word at once. He is at Dr. Maddison's. You +know the house." + +The skipper hurried away with a serious face. A little more than a +minute after he had left the cabin Lady Greendale heard the rattle +of the blocks of the falls. The boat was little more than half an +hour away. Lady Greendale, in her anxiety, had told the steward to +let her know when it was coming alongside, and went up on deck to +get the news as quickly as possible. + +"It is a rum affair altogether, my lady," Hawkins said, as he +stepped on deck. "I went to the doctor's, and he has seen nothing +whatever of the Major, and Miss Greendale and her maid have not +been to his house at all." + +Lady Greendale stood for a moment speechless with surprise and +consternation. + +"This is most extraordinary," she said at last. "What can it mean? +You are sure that there is no mistake, captain? It was to Dr. +Maddison's house she went." + +"Yes, my lady, there ain't no mistake about that. I have been there +to fetch medicine for you two or three times. Besides, I saw the +doctor myself." + +"Major Mallett must have been taken to some other doctor's," she +said, "and must have made a mistake and put in the name of Dr. +Maddison. His house is some little distance from the club. There +may be another doctor's nearer. What is to be done?" + +"I am sure I do not know, my lady," the captain said, in +perplexity. + +"Where can my daughter and her maid be?" Lady Greendale went on. +"They went ashore to go to Dr. Maddison's." + +"Perhaps, my lady, they might have heard as they went ashore that +the Major was somewhere else, or some messenger might have been +waiting at the landing stage to take them there direct." + +"That must be it, I suppose; but it is all very strange. I think +the best thing, captain, will be for you to go to the club. They +are sure to know there about the accident, and where he is. You +see, the landing stage is close to the club, and he might have been +just going in when he was knocked down--by a carriage, I suppose." + +"Like enough he is at the club still, my lady. At any rate, I will +go there in the first place and find out. There is sure to be a +crowd about the gates listening to the music--they have got a band +over from Newport--so that if they do not know anything at the +club, there are sure to be some people outside who saw the +accident, and will know where the Major was taken. Anyhow, I won't +come back without news." + +Even to Lady Greendale, anxious and alarmed as she was, it did not +seem long before the steward came down with the news that the boat +was just alongside. This time she was too agitated to go up. She +heard someone come running down the companion, and a moment later, +to her astonishment, Frank Mallett himself came in. He looked pale +and excited. + +"What is all this, Lady Greendale?" he exclaimed. "The skipper +tells me that a letter came here saying that I had been hurt and +taken to Dr. Maddison's, and that Bertha and her maid went off at +once, and have not returned, though it is more than two hours since +they went. I have not been hurt. I wrote no letter to Bertha, but +was at dinner at the club when the skipper came for me. What is it +all about?" + +"I don't know, Frank. I cannot even think," Lady Greendale said in +an agitated voice. "What can it all mean and where can Bertha be?" +and she burst into tears. + +"I don't know. I can't think," Frank said, slowly. + +He stood silent for a minute or two, and then went on. + +"I cannot suggest anything. I will go ashore at once. The waterman +at our landing stage must have noticed if two ladies got out there. +He could hardly have helped doing so, for it would be curious, +their coming ashore alone after dark. Then I will go to the other +landing places and ask there. There are always boys hanging about +to earn a few pence by taking care of boats. I will be back as soon +as I can." + +The boat was still alongside, and the men stretched to their oars. +Th a very few minutes they were at the club landing stage. The +waterman here declared that no ladies whatever, unaccompanied by +gentlemen, had landed after dark. + +"I must have seen them, sir," he said, "for you see I go down to +help out every party that arrives here. They must have gone to one +of the other landing places." + +But at neither of these could he obtain any information. There were +several boys at each of them who had been there for hours, and they +were unanimous in declaring that no ladies had landed there after +dark at all. He then walked up and down between the watch house and +the club. + +He had, when he landed, intended to go to the police office as soon +as he had inquired at the landing stages--the natural impulse of an +Englishman who has suffered loss or wrong--but the more he thought +it over the more inexpedient did such a course seem to him. It was +highly improbable--indeed, it seemed to him impossible--that they +could do more than he had in the matter. The passage of two ladies +through the crowded streets would scarcely have attracted the +attention of anyone, and any idea of violence being used was out of +the question. If they had landed, which he now regarded as very +improbable, they must have at least gone willingly to the place +where they believed they should find him, and unless every house in +Cowes was searched from top to bottom there was no chance of +finding them, carefully hidden away as they would be. He could not +see, therefore, that the police could at present be of any utility +whatever. It might be necessary finally to obtain the aid of the +police, but in that case it was Scotland Yard and not Cowes that +the matter must be laid before; and even this should be only a last +resort, for above all things it was necessary for Bertha's sake +that the matter should be kept a profound secret, and, once in the +hands of the police, it would be in all the papers the next day. If +the aid of detectives was to be called in, it would be far better +to put it into the hands of a private detective. + +Having made up his mind upon this point, he returned to the yacht. + +"I am sorry to say that I have no news," he said to Lady Greendale, +who was lying on the couch, worn out with weeping. "I have +ascertained almost beyond doubt that they did not land at the club +stage or either of the other two landing places." + +"What can it be?" she sobbed. "What can have become of them?" + +"I am afraid there is little doubt that they have been carried +off," he replied. "I can see no other possible solution of it." + +"But who can have done such a thing?" + +"Ah! that is another matter. I have been thinking it over and over, +and there is only one man that I know capable of such a dastardly +action. At present I won't mention his name, even to you; but I +will soon be on his track. Do not give way, Lady Greendale; even he +is not capable of injuring her, and no doubt she will be restored +to you safe and sound. But we shall need patience. Ah! there is a +boat coming alongside." + +He ran up on deck. It proved, however, to be only a shore boat, +bringing off George Lechmere, who, having met a comrade in the +town, had asked leave to spend the evening with him. He was, of +course, ignorant of all that had happened since he had left, and +Frank told him. + +"I have no doubt whatever that she has been carried off," he said, +"and there is only one man who could have done it." + +"That villain, Carthew," George Lechmere exclaimed. + +"Yes, he is the man I suspect, George. I heard this evening that he +had been hit tremendously hard on the turf at Goodwood. He would +think that if he could force Miss Greendale to marry him it would +retrieve his fortune, and would, moreover, satisfy his vindictive +spirit for the manner in which she had rejected him, and in +addition give him another triumph over me." + +"That is it, sir. I have no doubt that that is it. But his yacht is +not here--at least I have not seen her." + +"No, I am sure that she is not here; but I believe, for all that, +that Miss Greendale must have been taken on board a yacht. They +never would have dared to land her in Cowes. Of course, I made +inquiries as a matter of form at the landing places, but as she +knew the way to Dr. Maddison's, and as the streets were full of +people at the time she landed, they could never have attempted to +use violence, especially as she had her maid with her. On the other +hand, it would have been comparatively easy to manage it in the +case of a yacht. They had but to row alongside, to seize and gag +them before they had time to utter a cry, and then to carry them +below. The Phantom is not here--at any rate, was not here this +afternoon, but there is no reason why Carthew should not have +chartered a yacht for the purpose. Ask the skipper to come aft." + +"Captain," he said, when Hawkins came aft, "what men went ashore +this afternoon?" + +"Harris and Williams and Marvel, sir. They went ashore in the +dinghy, and Harris went to the doctor's for that medicine." + +"Ask them to come here." + +"Did anyone speak to you, Harris," he went on, as the three men +came aft, "while you were ashore today?--I mean anyone that you did +not know." + +"No, sir," the man said, promptly. "Leastwise, the only chap that +spoke to me was a gent as was standing on the steps by the watch +house as I went down to the boat, and he only says to me, 'I +noticed you go in to Dr. Maddison's, my man. There is nothing the +matter with my friend, Major Mallett, I hope.' + +"'No, sir,' says I, 'he is all right. I was just getting a bottle +of medicine for an old lady on board.' + +"That was all that passed between us." + +"Thank you, Harris. That is just what I wanted to know." + +After the men had gone forward again, he said to the captain: + +"I have a strong conviction, Hawkins, indeed I am almost certain, +that Miss Greendale has been carried off to one of the yachts here, +but whether it is a large one or a small one I have not the +slightest idea. The question is, what is to be done? It is past +eleven now, and it is impossible to go round the fleet and make +enquiries. Besides, the craft may have made off already. They would +have been sure to have placed her in the outside tier, so as to get +up anchor as soon as they had Miss Greendale on board." + +"We might get out the boats, sir, and lie off and see if any yachts +set sail," the skipper suggested. + +"That would be of no use, Hawkins. You could not stop them. Even if +you hailed to know what yacht it was, they might give you a false +name. + +"One thing I have been thinking of that can be done. I wish, in the +first place, that you would ask all the men if anyone has noticed +among the yacht sailors in the streets one with the name of the +Phantom on his jersey. Some of them may have been paid off, for she +has not been raced since Ryde. In any case, I want two of the men +to go ashore, the first thing in the morning, and hang about all +day, if necessary, in hopes of finding one of the Phantom's crew. +If they do find one, bring him off at once, and tell him that he +will be well paid for his trouble. + +"By the way, you may as well ask Harris what the gentleman was like +who spoke to him at the landing place." + +He walked slowly backwards and forwards with George Lechmere, +without exchanging a word, until in five minutes Hawkins returned. + +"It was a clean-shaven man who spoke to Harris, sir; he judged him +to be about forty. He wore a sort of yachting dress, and he was +rather short and thin. About the other matter Rawlins says that he +noticed when he was ashore yesterday two of the Phantom's men +strolling about. Being a Cowes man himself, he knew them both, but +as they were not alone he just passed the time of day and went on +without stopping." + +"Does he know where they live? I don't think it at all likely they +would be on leave now, or that he would find either of them at home +tomorrow morning; but it is possible that he might do so. At any +rate it is worth trying. It is curious that two of them should be +here when we have seen nothing of the Phantom since the race for +the cup, unless, of course, her owner has laid her up, which is +hardly likely. If she had been anywhere about here she would have +entered for the race yesterday." + +"I will send Rawlins and one of the other Cowes men ashore at six +o'clock, Major. If they don't meet the men, they are safe to be +able to find out where they live." + +"And tell them and the others, Hawkins, that on no account whatever +is a word to be said on shore as to the disappearance of Miss +Greendale. It is of great importance that no one should obtain the +slightest hint of what has taken place." + +When the captain had again gone forward, Frank went down, and with +some difficulty persuaded Lady Greendale to go to bed. + +"We can do nothing more tonight," he said. "You may well imagine +that if I saw the least chance of doing any good I should not be +standing here, but nothing can be done till morning." + +Having seen her to her stateroom, he returned to the deck, where he +had told George Lechmere to wait for him. + +"It is enough to drive one mad, George," he said, as he joined him; +"to think that somewhere among all those yachts Miss Greendale may +be held a prisoner." + +"I can quite understand that, Major, by what I feel myself. I have +seen so much of Miss Greendale, and she has always been so kind to +me, knowing that you considered that I had saved your life, and +knowing about that other thing, that I feel as if I could do +anything for her. And I feel it all the more because it is the +scoundrel I owed such a deep debt to before. But I hardly think +that she can be on board one of the yachts here." + +"I feel convinced that she is not, George. They could hardly keep +her gagged all this time, and at night a scream would be heard +though the skylights were closed." + +"No, sir; if she was put on board here I feel sure that they would +have got up sail at once." + +"That is just what I feel. Likely enough they had the mainsail +already up and the chain short, and directly the boat was up at the +davits they would have got up the anchor and been off. They may be +twenty miles away by this time; though whether east or west one has +no means of even guessing. The wind is nearly due north, and they +may have gone either way, or have made for Cherbourg or Havre. It +depends partly upon her size. If she is a small craft, they can't +get far beyond that range. If she is a large one, she may have gone +anywhere. The worst of it is that unless we can get some clue as to +her size we can do absolutely nothing. A good many yachts went off +today both east and west, and by the end of the week the whole +fleet will be scattered, and even if we do get the size of the +yacht, I don't see that we can do anything unless we can get her +name too. + +"If we could do that, we could act at once. I should run up to +town, lay the case before the authorities at Scotland Yard, and get +them to telegraph to every port in the kingdom, that upon her +putting in there the vessel was at once to be searched for two +ladies who were believed to have been forcibly carried away in +her." + +"And have those on board arrested, I suppose, Major?" + +"Well, that would have to be thought over, George. Carthew could +not be brought to punishment without the whole affair being made +public. That is the thing above all others to be avoided." + +"Yes, I see that, sir; and yet it seems hard that he should go off +unpunished again." + +"He would not go unpunished, you may be sure," Frank said, grimly; +"for if the fellow ever showed his face in London again, I would +thrash him to within an inch of his life. However, sure as I feel, +it is possible that I am mistaken. Miss Greendale is known to be an +only daughter, and an heiress, and some other impecunious scamp may +have conceived the idea of making a bold stroke for her fortune. It +is not likely, but it is possible." + +Until morning broke, the two men paced the deck together. Scarcely +a word was spoken. Frank was in vain endeavouring to think what +course had best be taken, if the search for the men of the phantom +turned out unavailing. George was brooding over the old wrong he +had suffered, and longing to avenge that and the present one. + +"Thank God, the night is over," Frank said at last; "and I have +thoroughly tired myself. I have thought until I am stupid. Now I +will lie down on one of the sofas, and perhaps I may forget it all +for a few hours." + +Sleep, however, did not come to him, and at seven o'clock he was on +deck again. + +"The men went ashore at six, sir," the skipper said. "I expect they +will be back again before long." + +Ten minutes later the dinghy came out between two yachts ahead. + +"Rawlins is not on board," the skipper said, as they came close. "I +told him to send off the instant they got any news whatever. That +is Simpson in the stern." + +"Well, Simpson, what news?" Frank asked as she rowed alongside. + +"Well, sir, we have found out as how all the Phantom's crew are +ashore. Some of the chaps told us that they came back a fortnight +ago, the crew having been paid off. Rawlins said that I'd better +come off and tell you that. He has gone off to look one of them up, +and bring him off in a shore boat. He knows where he lives, and I +expect we shall have him alongside in a few minutes." + +"Do you think that is good news or bad, sir?" George Lechmere +asked. + +"I think that it is bad rather than good," Frank said. "Before, it +seemed to me that, whatever the craft was in which she was carried +away, she would probably be transferred to the Phantom, which might +be lying in Portland or in Dover, or be cruising outside the +island, and if I had heard nothing of the Phantom I should have +searched for her. However, I suppose that the scoundrel thought +that he could not trust a crew of Cowes men to take part in a +business like this. But we shall know more when Rawlins comes off." + +In half an hour the shore boat came alongside with Rawlins and a +sailor with a Phantom jersey on. + +"So you have all been paid off, my lad?" Frank said to the sailor +as he stepped on deck. + +"Yes sir. It all came sudden like. We had expected that she would +be out for another month, at least. However, as each man got a +month's pay, we had nothing to grumble about; although it did seem +strange that even the skipper should not have had a hint of what +Mr. Carthew intended, till he called him into his cabin and paid +him his money." + +"And where is she laid up?" + +"Well, sir, she is at Ostend. I don't know whether she is going to +be hauled up there, or only dismantled and left to float in the +dock. The governor told the skipper that he thought he might go to +the Mediterranean in December, but that till then he should not be +able to use her. It seemed a rum thing leaving her out there +instead of having her hauled up at Southampton or Gosport, and +specially that he should not have kept two or three of us on board +in charge. But, of course, that was his affair. Mr. Carthew is +rather a difficult gentleman to please, and very changeable-like. +We had all made sure that we were going to race here after winning +the Cup at Ryde; and, indeed, after the race he said as much to the +skipper." + +"Has he anyone with him?" Frank asked. + +"Only one gentleman, sir. I don't know what his name was." + +"What was he like?" + +"He was a smallish man, and thin, and didn't wear no hair on his +face." + +"Thank you. Here is a sovereign for your trouble. + +"That is something, at any rate, George," he went on, as the man +was rowed away. "The whole proceeding is a very strange one, and +you see the description of the man with Carthew exactly answers to +that of the man who found out from the boat's crew that Dr. +Maddison was attending Lady Greendale; and now you see that it is +quite possible that the Phantom is somewhere near, or was somewhere +near yesterday afternoon. Carthew may have hired a foreign crew, +and sailed in her a couple of days after her own crew came over; or +he may have hired another craft either abroad or here. At any rate, +there is something to do. I will go up to town by the midday train, +and then down to Dover, and cross to Ostend tonight." + +"Begging your pardon, Major, could not you telegraph to the harbour +master at Ostend, asking if the Phantom is there?" + +"I might do that, George, but if I go over there I may pick up some +clue. I may find out what hotel he stopped at after the crew had +left, and if so, whether he crossed to England or left by a train +for France. There is no saying what information I may light on. You +stay on board here. You can be of no use to me on the journey, and +may be of use here. I will telegraph to you from Ostend. Possibly I +may want the yacht to sail at once to Dover to meet me there, or +you may have to go up to town to do something for me. + +"Now I must go down and tell Lady Greendale as much as is +necessary. It will, of course, be the best thing for her to go up +to town with me, but if she is not well enough for that, of course +she must stay on board." + +Lady Greendale had just come into the saloon when he went down. + +"I think I have got a clue--a very faint one," he said. "I am going +up to town at once to follow it up. How are you feeling, Lady +Greendale?" + +"I have a terrible headache, but that is nothing. Of course, I will +go up with you." + +"But do you feel equal to it?" + +"Oh, yes, quite," she said, feverishly. "What is your clue, Frank?" + +"Well, it concerns the yacht in which I believe Bertha has been +carried off. At any rate, I feel so certain as to who had a hand in +it, that I have no hesitation in telling you that it was Carthew." + +"Mr. Carthew! Impossible, Frank. He always seemed to me a +particularly pleasant and gentlemanly man." + +"He might seem that, but I happen to know other things about him. +He is an unmitigated scoundrel. Of course, not a word must be said +about it, Lady Greendale. You see that for Bertha's sake we must +work quietly. It would never do for the matter to get into the +papers." + +"It would be too dreadful, Frank. I do think that it would kill me. +I will trust it in your hands altogether. I have only one comfort +in this dreadful affair, and that is that Bertha has Anna with +her." + +"That is certainly a great comfort; and it is something in the +man's favour that when he enticed her from the yacht with that +forged letter he suggested that she should bring her maid." + + + +Chapter 12. + +Frank Mallet and Lady Greendale crossed to Southampton by the +twelve o'clock boat, and arrived in London at three. + +"I have been thinking," she said, as they went up, "that it will be +better for me to stop in town. I shall have less difficulty in +answering questions there than I should have at home. Everyone is +leaving now, and in another week there will be scarcely a soul in +London I know; and I shall keep down the front blinds, and no one +will dream of my being there. I shall only have to mention to +Bertha's own maid that my daughter has remained at Cowes, that I +have left Anna with her, and that she can wait upon me until she +returns. There will be another advantage in it--you can see me +whenever you are in town. I shall get your letters a post quicker +when you are away, and you can telegraph to me freely; whereas, if +you telegraphed to Chippenham, whoever received the message there +might mention its contents as curious to someone or other, and +then, of course, it would become a matter of common gossip." + +Frank agreed that it would certainly be better, and more bearable +than having to answer questions about Bertha to every visitor who +called on her. He crossed that evening to Ostend, and at ten +o'clock next morning George Lechmere received the following +message: + +"Make inquiries as to small brigantine that looked like converted +yacht: had very large yards on foremast. I saw her pass Cowes on +Tuesday afternoon. Let Hawkins go to Portsmouth and Southampton. +Find out yourself whether she anchored between Osborne and Ryde. If +not, inquire at Seaview whether she passed there going east. +Telegraph result tomorrow morning to my chambers. Shall cross again +tonight." + +Lechmere had the gig at once lowered, and started, with four hands +at the oars, eastward, while the captain went ashore in the dinghy +to leave for Southampton by the next boat. The tide was against +Lechmere, who, keeping close in round the point, steered the boat +along at the foot of the slopes of Osborne, and kept eastward until +he reached the coast-guard station at the mouth of Wootton creek. + +"Oh, yes, we noticed her," the boatswain in charge replied in +answer to his question. "We saw her, as you say, on Tuesday +afternoon, going east. We could not help noticing her, for she was +something out of the way. We should not have thought so much of it, +if she had not come back again just before dusk the next day, and +anchored a mile to the west. We kept a sharp lookout that night, +thinking that she might be trying to smuggle some contraband +ashore; but everything was quiet, and next morning she was gone. +The man who was on the watch said he thought that he made her out +with his night glass going east at about eleven o'clock; but it was +a dark night, and it might have been a schooner yacht or a brig." + +"You don't happen to know whether she stopped at Ryde the first +time she passed?" + +"Yes; having been all talking about her, we watched to see if she +was going to anchor there or keep on to the east. She lowered a +boat as she passed, and two men landed. They threw her up into the +wind and waited until the boat came off again. The men did not come +back in her. They hoisted the boat up again and went east. She +stopped off Seaview; then she came back and sent the boat ashore, +and two men went off in her. Of course, I can't say whether they +were the same. It was as much as I could do to make out that there +were two of them, though our glass is a pretty good one. Is there +anything wrong about the craft?" + +"Not that I know of; but there was a good deal of curiosity about +her among the yachts, she being an out-of-the-way sort of craft; +and I fancy there were some bets about her. There was an idea that +she was seen going west two days later, and the governor asked me +to take the boat and find out whether she had been noticed here or +at Ryde. Thank you very much for your information. I have no doubt +that it will be sufficient to decide any bets there may be about +her." + +So saying, he took his seat in the gig again, and rowed back to the +Osprey. The skipper returned in the evening. + +"No such craft has gone into Southampton or Portsmouth," he said; +"so I have had my journey for nothing." + +"No, I don't think you have," George replied. "It is something to +know that she is not in either of the ports now, and has been to +neither of them." + +George returned in time to send off a full account of what he had +learned from the coast-guardsman by the mail that would be +delivered in London that night. On his return to town the next +morning, Frank found the letter awaiting him; and at ten o'clock, +after wiring to Hawkins and the steward to stock the yacht at once +with provisions of all kinds for a long voyage, he went into the +city and called upon the secretary at Lloyd's. + +After giving his name, he told him that he believed that a young +lady had been carried off forcibly in the craft, which he minutely +described, and that he was desirous of having a telegram sent to +every signal station between Hull and the Land's End, asking if +such a craft had passed. + +"Of course," he added, "I am ready to defray the expense of the +telegrams and replies. She left the Solent late on Wednesday +evening, and on Thursday would have been between Beachy Head and +Dover, if she had gone that way, and yesterday up the Thames or +somewhere between Harwich and Yarmouth." + +"Well, Major Mallett, if you will sit down and write the telegram +with the description that you have given, I will send it off at +once. Then, if you will call again in an hour's time, I have no +doubt all the answers will have come in." + +"Your craft has gone west," he said when Frank returned. "All the +answers the other way are negative. Saint Catherine says: 'Craft +answering description was seen well out at sea on Thursday +morning.' Portland noticed her in the afternoon, and she was off +the Start yesterday morning; the wind was light then; and the +Lizard reports seeing her this morning. When abreast of them, she +headed south, apparently making a departure, as she could be made +out keeping that course as long as seen. These are the four +telegrams, so I think that there can be little doubt that she has +made for the Mediterranean." + +"Thank you very much indeed," Frank said. "Can you tell me if I +have any chance of getting similar information from the south?" + +"You could get it from Finisterre if she passed within sight, but +by her holding on as far west as the Lizard, instead of taking a +departure from the Start, it is likely that she will take a more +westerly course, and then Cape St. Vincent is the first point where +she is likely to be noticed. If not there, she would probably be +observed at Tarifa, although, if she kept on the southern side of +the Straits, she might not be noticed. I should think that she +would do so; she would not be likely to put into Gibraltar, +although, from what you tell me, the owner would believe that no +suspicion whatever of being concerned in this affair would be +likely to rest upon him. But you must bear in mind that it is +probable that, as a measure of precaution, he has painted out the +white streak, sent down the yards, and converted her into a +fore-and-aft schooner; in which case she would attract no attention +whatever if she passed without making her number." + +"I certainly think that they will convert her back into a schooner +yacht, as otherwise there will be a difficulty about papers +whenever she enters a port. There is one more thing I wish to ask +you. You see, she might not turn into the Mediterranean. She might, +for example, make for the West Indies, in which case she would be +almost certain to touch at Madeira or Palmas." + +"Or possibly at Teneriffe, Major. Of course, we have an agent at +each of these places, and I will gladly request them, if a +brigantine or schooner looking like her puts in there, to find out +if possible where she is bound for, and to let you know at--shall I +say Gibraltar? I am afraid it is of no use trying to get the +Portuguese authorities to arrest the ship or to search her. You +see, to a certain extent it is an extradition case. Still, I will +ask them to get it done if possible, though I fear that it is quite +beyond their power." + +"Thank you very much indeed. It would be an immense thing only to +find out that she has gone in that direction. Of course, she may +not put in at any of these places, as she is sure to have +provisioned for a long voyage, but at any rate I will wait at +Gibraltar until I get the letters, unless I can get some clue that +she has gone up the Mediterranean. + +"Of course, if I don't hear of her at Cape Saint Vincent or Tarifa, +I shall try Ceuta and Tangier. If she goes up on the southern side +of the Straits, she may anchor off either, and send a boat in to +get fresh meat and fruit." + +"The Royal mail and the mail down the African coast will start, one +tomorrow, the other on Monday, and I will send letters by them to +the islands. They are sure to get there before this craft that you +are in search of, and our agents will be on the lookout for her. It +may not be long before you hear from Madeira, but it may be some +time before you get the other letters, as the craft may be anything +between three weeks and five in getting there. Of course, I shall +mention when she sailed, and they will not write until all chance +of her having arrived is passed." + +"Would you kindly give me the addresses of your three agents? I +will wait for the answer from Madeira, but I am afraid my patience +will never hold out until the others can come. It will be giving +the schooner a fearfully long start as it is, and as you may +suppose I shall be almost mad at having to wait and do nothing." + +The secretary wrote the three addresses, and, thanking him very +warmly for his kindness and courtesy, Frank went out and despatched +a telegram to the skipper, telling him to engage ten extra hands at +once, and to buy muskets and cutlasses for the whole crew. + +"I shall come down by the twelve o'clock train from town. Be at the +steamboat pier to meet me. If all is ready, shall sail at once." + +Having despatched this, he drove at once to Lady Greendale's, and +told her that he had learnt that the craft in which Bertha had been +carried off had sailed for the south, probably the Mediterranean, +and that he should start that evening in pursuit. + +"It may be a long chase, Lady Greendale, but never fear but that I +will bring her back safely. It will be for you to decide whether +you will continue to remain here, or go down into the country after +a time; but, of course, there is no occasion for you to make up +your mind now. I must be off at once, for I have several things to +do before I catch the twelve o'clock train." + +"God bless you, Frank!" she said. "You are looking terribly worn +and fagged." + +"I shall be all right when I am once fairly off," he said. "I have +not had an hour's sleep for the last two nights, and not much the +night before. At first the whole thing seemed hopeless; now that I +am fairly on the track and know what I have to do, I shall soon be +all right again." + +"I don't know what I should have done without you, Frank; and I do +believe that you will succeed." + +"I have no doubt about it," he said; "so keep your courage up, +mother--for you know that you are almost that to me now." + +He kissed her affectionately, and then hurried downstairs and drove +to his chambers. + +Here he packed a portmanteau with Indian suits and underclothing, +took his pistol and rifle cases, drove to a gunmaker's in the +Strand for a stock of ammunition, called at his bank and cashed a +cheque for two thousand pounds, and then drove to Waterloo. + +Hawkins and George Lechmere were on the landing stage at Cowes. + +"How are things going on, Hawkins?" Frank asked, as he came across +the gangway. + +"All right, sir. I have had my hands pretty full, sir, since I got +your second telegram. Lechmere saw to getting the arms. Of course, +he could not help me as to hiring the hands. I think I have got ten +first-class men. A few of the yachts have paid off already, and I +know something about all of those I have engaged. While I was +ashore, the mate looked after getting on board and stowing the +goods as they came alongside." + +"Quite right, Hawkins. Did you think of ammunition, George?" + +"Yes, Major; I was not likely to forget that. I got twenty-five +muskets and cutlasses. Luckily they kept them at Pascal Aikey's, +for the use of steam yachts going out to the east; and they had +ammunition too, so I got fifty rounds for each musket. It is not +likely that we shall want to use that much, but it is best to be on +the right side." + +"I think, sir," Hawkins said, "as it is going to be a long voyage, +and as we have doubled our crew, that I had better get another +mate. Purvis is a very good man, but he is no navigator; and we +shall have to keep watches regularly. I met an old shipmate of mine +just now who would be just the man. He commanded the Amphitrite for +ten years, and I know that he is a good navigator. He has been up +in the Scotch waters since the spring, and was paid off last week. +I told him that it might be that I could give him a berth as second +mate, and he jumped at it." + +"By all means, Hawkins; of course you will want an officer for each +watch. You can find him without loss of time, I hope." + +"Yes, sir. I have told him to hang about outside the gate here, and +I would give him an answer." + +"Very well. When you have seen him you will find me at Aikey's. I +have to go there to get a lot of charts. I have only those for +British waters. + +"George, do you see to getting these traps down to the boat. I +shall be there in a quarter of an hour. Is there anything else that +you can think of, or that you want yourself?" + +"Nothing, sir." + +"When you go on board, you may as well get your traps in one of the +spare cabins aft. + +"You had better move, too, captain. You and one of the mates can +have the stern cabin. For the present the other mate can have +yours, and the steward can sleep in the saloon. That will make more +room for the extra hands forward." + +"It will be a tight stow, sir," the captain said. "I have ordered +ten more hammocks and hooks, but I doubt whether there will be room +to sling them all." + +"I am sure there won't, Hawkins. You had better put the hooks in +the saloon beams, and swing five or six of the hammocks there. We +can take the hooks out and stop up the holes when we don't need +them any longer. We may be having hot weather before we have done, +and I don't want the men crowded too closely forward." + +Twenty minutes later Frank came down to the boat with the skipper, +carrying a large roll of charts, and a man with a handcart +containing a bundle of jerseys and caps, and fifty white duck +trousers. A large shore boat was alongside when they reached the +Osprey. + +"Is this the last lot?" the captain asked the man in charge of the +pile of casks and boxes with which it was filled. + +"Yes, sir, this is the last batch." + +"Get them on deck, Hawkins," Frank said, "and we can get them down +and stowed when we are under sail. Get the anchor short at once, +the sail covers off and the mainsail up. + +"I don't want to lose a minute," he went on, turning to George +Lechmere. "I know that an hour or even a day will make no material +difference, but I am in a fever to be off." + +"Have you found out which way they have gone, Major?" + +"I have found out that they have sailed for the south, but whether +for the Mediterranean or for the West Indies or South America I +have no idea; but I have some hopes of finding out by the time we +get to Gibraltar." + +"And they have got a three days' start of us?" + +"Yes, I can hardly believe that it is not more. It seems to me a +fortnight since I went ashore to dine at the club. Three days is a +long start, and unless the change of rig has spoiled her, the +Phantom is as fast, or very nearly as fast, as we are. We can't +hope to catch her up, unless she stops for two or three days in a +port, and that she is certain not to do. No, I don't think that +there is any chance of our overtaking her until she has got to +whatever may be her destination. Of course, what Carthew counts +upon is that, in time, he will get Miss Greendale to consent to +marry him. That is one reason why I think that he will not go up +the Mediterranean. The further he takes her the more hopeless the +prospect will seem to her." + +"But she will never give in, Major," George Lechmere said, +confidently. + +"I have no fear of that--no fear whatever, and we may be quite sure +that as long as he thinks that he will be able to tire her out he +will show himself in his best light, and try to make everything as +pleasant for her as is possible under the circumstances. It is only +when he loses all hope of her consenting willingly that he will +show himself in his true light; and you know, George, he is +scoundrel enough for anything. However, I consider that she is +perfectly safe for a long time, and I hope to be alongside the +craft long before he becomes desperate." + +Half an hour later, the anchor was on the rail and the Osprey +started on her voyage. The tide being in her favour, she passed the +Needles just as it was getting dark. The breeze fell very light, +and, although every stitch of canvas was put on, she was still some +miles east of Portland when morning broke. As the sun rose the wind +freshened a bit, and she moved faster through the water. The hands +were mustered and divided into two watches, and the jerseys and red +caps served out to the new hands. + +"You had better give them the whole of the duck trousers, to fit +themselves from, Captain," Frank said. "There are assorted sizes, +you know, and when they have suited themselves you can take the +other ten pairs into store. You and the mates will want some when +we get into warmer climates." + +"Are we bound for the Mediterranean?" Hawkins asked. + +"To Gibraltar, to begin with. What we shall do afterwards will +depend upon what news I get there. We may have to go round the +world, for all I know." + +"Well, sir, I hope not, for your sake, and the young lady's; but as +far as we are concerned, we would as lief go round the world as +anything else, though she is not a very big craft for such a +journey as that." + +"How long will the water tanks hold out?" + +"That is where the pinch will come in, sir. I reckon that at +ordinary times we might make shift to go on for three weeks without +filling up, but, you see, we have twenty hands instead of ten, and +that will make all the difference.. I did get ten good-sized casks +yesterday morning, and got them filled as well as the tanks. They +are stowed away forward, but they won't improve her speed. They +have brought her head down over two inches, but, of course, we +shall use the water in them first." + +"You had better bring them amidships, captain, and stow them round +the saloon skylight. Appearances are of no consequence whatever, +and the great thing is to get her in her best sailing trim. If bad +weather comes on, we must put half in the bow and half in the +stern, where we can wedge them in tightly together. It would not do +to risk having them rolling about the decks. + +"Well, then," he went on, seeing that the captain did not like the +thought of having weight at each end of the yacht, "if the weather +gets bad we will take the saloon skylight off, and lower them down +into it. I can eat my meals on deck or in my stateroom, but the +water we must keep. If we get a spell of head winds or calms, we +may be three weeks getting to Gib." + +"That would be a very good plan, sir, if you can do without the +saloon, and don't mind its being littered up." + +"Well, I hope we shan't get any bad weather until we get well +across the bay, Hawkins. I don't mind the discomfort, but it would +stop her speed. We want a wind that will just let us carry all our +canvas. We can travel a deal faster so than we can in heavy +weather, when we might be obliged to get down the greater part of +our canvas and perhaps to lie to. + +"It looks like a strong crew, doesn't it?" he went on, as he +glanced forward. + +"That it does, sir. A craft of this size can do well with more when +she is racing, but for a crew it is more than one wants, a good +deal; and people would stare if we went into an English port. +Still, I don't say that it is not an advantage to be strong-handed +if we get heavy weather, and it makes light work of getting up sail +or shifting it, and one wants to shift pretty often when he is +trying to get high speed out of a craft." + +The wind continued fitful, and, in spite of having her racing +sails, the Osprey's run to the Start was a long one. It was not +until thirty-six hours after getting up anchor that they were +abreast of the lighthouse. + +"I try to be patient, George," Mallett said, "but it is enough to +make a saint swear. We have lost eight or ten hours instead of +making a gain, although we had the advantage of coming through the +Needles passage, while they had to go round at the back of the +island to escape observation." + +"Yes, sir, but you know we have often found that sometimes one, +sometimes another, makes a gain in these shifty winds; perhaps +tomorrow we may be running along fast, and the Phantom be lying +without a breath of wind." + +"That is so, George. I will try to bear it in mind. There, you see, +the skipper is taking the exact bearing of the lighthouse, and we +shall soon be heading south." + +In five minutes the captain gave the order to the helmsman, and the +craft was then laid on her new course. + +"The wind is northing a bit," the skipper said as, after giving the +helmsman instructions, he came up to Frank. "It has shifted two +points round in the last half hour, and you see we have got the +boom off a bit. If it goes round a point more we will get the +square-sail ready for hoisting. It will help her along rarely when +the head-sails cease to be of any good." + +Half an hour later the wind had gone round far enough for the +square-sail to be used to advantage, and it was accordingly +hoisted. The captain then had the barrels brought aft, and ranged +along each side of the bulwark. + +For eight-and-forty hours the Osprey maintained her speed, leaving +all the sailing vessels she overtook far behind her, and keeping +for hours abreast of a cargo steamer going in the same direction. + +"She is bound for Finisterre," the skipper said, "and we shall pass +it some thirty miles to the west, so our courses will gradually +draw apart; but we shall see her smoke anyhow until we are pretty +nigh abreast of the cape--that is, if the wind holds as it is now. +It is falling lighter this afternoon." + +Two or three hours later the wind died away altogether, the +square-sail was got down, and the skipper then said: + +"I will get the topsail down, too, sir. We can easily get it up +again, and I will put a smaller jib on her. I don't at all think by +the look of the sky that we are going to have a blow. The glass +would have altered more if we were, but one never can tell. I would +not risk the loss of a spar for anything." + +"I should think that you might put a couple of reefs in the +mainsail, Hawkins." + +"Well, perhaps it would be the best, sir; for a puff that one +thinks nothing of, one way or the other, when a craft has way; will +take her over wonderfully when it catches her becalmed." + +Just as he had finished his dinner, the captain came down and asked +Frank to come on deck. + +"There is a steamer bearing down on us. I can see both her side +lights, and as she is coming in from the west she may not notice +our starboard light. It is burning all right, but one never can see +these green lights. They are the deceivingest things at a distance. +I have just sent down for the man to bring up the riding light, and +as it is a first-rate one, if we put it on deck it will light up +the mainsail. I have told them to bring up the big horn. That ought +to waken them if anything will." + +"How far is she off now, Hawkins?" + +"About a mile and a half, Major. There are no signs of her altering +her course, as she ought to have done by this time if she had made +us out. You see, her head light shows up fair and square between +her side lights, which shows that she is coming as near as possible +on to us. I think that I had better light a blue light." + +Frank nodded. The blue light at once blazed out. + +"They ought to see that if they are not all asleep," Frank said, as +he looked up at the sails standing out white against the dark sky. + +"Set to work with that foghorn," the skipper said; and a man began +to work the bellows of a great foghorn, which uttered a roar that +might have been heard on a still night many miles away. Again and +again the roar broke out. + +"That has fetched them," the captain said. "She is starboarding her +helm to go astern of us. There, we have lost her red light, so it +is all right. How I should have liked to have been behind the +lookout or the officer of the watch with a marlinespike or a +capstan bar. I will warrant that they would not have nodded when on +watch again for a long time to come. + +"Here she comes; she is closer than I thought she was. She will +pass within fifty yards of the stern. It is lucky that we had that +big horn, Major Mallett, for if we had not woke them up when we did +she would have run us down to a certainty." + +As the steamer came along, scarcely more than a length astern of +the yacht, a yell of execration broke from the sailors gathered +forward. + +"That was a near shave, George," Frank Mallett said, when the +steamer had passed. "It brought me out in a cold sweat at the +thought that, if the Osprey were to be run down, there was an end +to all chance of rescuing Bertha from that scoundrel's clutches. I +don't know that I thought of myself at all. I am a good swimmer, +and I suppose she would have stopped to pick us up. It was the +Osprey I was thinking of. Even if every life on board had been +saved, I don't see how we could have followed up the search without +her." + + + +Chapter 13. + +Three hours later the breeze came. Frank was pacing up and down the +deck, when there was a slight creak above. He stopped and looked +up. + +"Is that the breeze?" he asked the first mate, whose watch it was. + +"I think so, sir, though it may be just the heaving from a steamer +somewhere. I don't feel any wind; not a breath from any quarter." + +There was another and more decided sound above. + +"There is no mistake this time," the mate said, as the boom which +had been hanging amidships slowly swung over to port. "It's +somewhere about the quarter that we expected it from, and coming as +gently as a lamb." + +Five minutes later there was sufficient breeze to cause her to heel +over perceptibly as she moved quietly through the water. + +"Hands aft to shake out the reefs," the mate called. + +The order was repeated down the fo'castle hatch by one of the two +men on the lookout. The rest of the watch, who had been allowed to +go below, tumbled up. + +The sailors hastened to untie the reef points. All were aware of +the nature of the chase in which they were embarked. The whole crew +were full of ardour. They felt it as a personal grievance that the +young lady to whom their employer was engaged had not only been +carried off, but carried off from the deck of the yacht. Moreover, +she was very popular with them, as she had often asked them +questions and chatted with them when at the helm or when she walked +forward. She knew them all by name, and had several times come off +from shore with a packet of tobacco for each man in her basket. She +had been quick in learning to steer, and her desire to know +everything about the yacht had pleased the sailors, who were all +delighted when they learned of her engagement to the owner. The new +hands, on learning the particulars, had naturally entered to some +extent into the feeling of the others, and the alacrity with which +every order was obeyed showed the interest felt in the chase. + +As soon as the reef points were untied came the order: + +"Slack away the reef tackle, and see that the caring will run easy. + +"Now up with the throat halliard. That will do. + +"Now the gaff a little more. Belay there. + +"Now get that topsail up from the sail locker. We won't shift jibs +just yet, until we see whether the breeze is going to freshen." + +It was not long before the increasing heel of the craft, and rustle +of water along her side, told that she was travelling faster. + +"The wind is freeing her a bit, sir. It has shifted a good half +point in the last ten minutes." + +"That is a comfort," Frank said. "You may as well heave the log. I +should like to know how she is going before I turn in." + +"Seven knots, sir," the mate reported. "That is pretty fair, +considering how close-hauled she is." + +"Well, I will turn in now. Let me know if there is any change." + +At five o'clock Frank was on deck again. Purvis was in charge of +the watch now. + +"Good morning, sir," he said, touching his hat as Frank came up. +"We are going to have a fine day, and the wind is likely to keep +steady." + +"All right, Purvis. What speed were we going when you heaved the +log?" + +"Seven and a half, sir. Perry tells me that she has been doing just +that ever since the wind sprang up. I reckon that we are pretty +well abreast of Finisterre now. We shall have the sun up in a few +minutes, and I expect that it will come up behind the land. + +"Lambert, go up to the cross-tree and keep a sharp lookout, as the +sun comes up, and see if you can make land." + +"I can make out the land, sir," the sailor called down as soon as +he reached the cross-tree. "It stands well up. I should say that +you can see it from deck." + +The mate and Frank walked further aft and looked out under the +boom. The land was plainly visible against the glow of the sky. + +"There it is, sure enough," the mate said. "I looked over there +before you came up and could not make it out, but the sky has +brightened a lot in the last ten minutes. I should say that it is +about five-and-twenty miles away. It is a very bold coast, sir. + +"That is Finisterre over the quarter; you see the land breaks off +suddenly there. We ought to have made out the light, but of course +it is not very bright at this distance, and there was a slight mist +on the water when I came up at eight bells." + +"I suppose in another forty-eight hours we shall not be far from +the southern point of Portugal." + +"We shall be there, or thereabouts, by that time if the wind keeps +the same strength and in the same quarter. That would make an +uncommonly good run of it, considering that we were lying +twenty-four hours becalmed. If it had not been for that, we should +have been only four days from the Start to Saint Vincent." + +The mate's calculations turned out correct, and at seven in the +morning they anchored a mile off Cape Saint Vincent. The gig was +lowered, and Frank was rowed ashore, taking with him a signal book +in which questions were given in several languages, including +Spanish. He had purchased it at Cowes before starting. + +The signal officer was very polite, and fortunately understood a +little English. So Frank managed, with the aid of the book, to make +him understand his questions. No craft at all answering to the +description had been noticed passing during the last five or six +days; certainly no yacht had passed. She might, of course, have +gone by after dark. + +He showed Frank the record of the ships that had been sighted going +east, and of those that had made their numbers as they passed. The +Phantom was not among the latter, nor did the rig or approximate +tonnage, as guessed, of any of the others, at all correspond with +hers. + +After thanking the officer, Frank returned to his boat, and half an +hour later the Osprey was again under weigh. + +At Ceuta, Tarifa, and Tangier there was a similar want of success. +Such a craft might have passed, but if so she was either too far +away to be noted, or had passed during the night. From Tangier he +crossed to Gibraltar, and anchored among the shipping there. + +So far everything had gone to confirm his theory that the Phantom +would not go up the Mediterranean. Of course, she might have passed +the three places, as well as Saint Vincent, at night; or have kept +so nearly in the middle of the Strait as to pass without being +remarked. Still, the chances were against it, and he regarded it as +almost certain that she would have put into one or other of the +African ports, as she passed them, for water, fresh meat and fruit. + +It was six days after the Osprey passed Saint Vincent before she +anchored off Gib. She had made her number as she came in, and in a +short time the health officer came out in a boat. The visit was a +formal one; the white ensign on her taffrail was in itself +sufficient to show her character, and that she must have come +straight from England; and the questions asked were few and brief. + +"We are ten days out," Frank said. "We have touched at Tarifa, +Ceuta, and Tangier, but that is all. The crew are all in good +health. Here is the list of them if you wish to examine them." + +"As a matter of formality it is better that it should be done," the +health officer said. + +"I will order them to muster," Frank said, "and while they are +doing so, will you come below and take a glass of wine? + +"Can you tell me if a craft about this size, a schooner or +brigantine, has put in here during the last fortnight? I don't know +whether she is still flying yacht colours, or has gone into trade, +but at any rate you could see at once that she had been a yacht." + +"Certainly no such craft has put in here, Major Mallett. Yours is +the first yacht that has come round this season, and as I board +every vessel that anchors here, I should certainly have noticed any +trader that had formerly been a yacht. The decks and fittings would +tell their story at once. Do you know her name?" + +"I don't know much about her," Frank said, "but a craft of that +kind sailed from Cowes a day or two before I started, and, as I +believe, for the Mediterranean. Being about our own size, and +heavily sparred for a schooner, I was rather curious to know if I +had beaten her. We did not make her out as we came along." + +"You must have passed her in the night, I should say, unless, as is +likely enough, she did not put in, but kept eastward." + +As Frank had touched at Gibraltar three times before, the place had +no novelty for him. He, however, went ashore at once to make +arrangements for filling up again with water. The steward and +George Lechmere accompanied him into the town to purchase fresh +meat, fruit and vegetables. + +Frank then made his way to the post office. He was scarcely +disappointed at finding that there was nothing for him as yet. + +The next three days he spent in wandering restlessly over the Rock. +As long as the Osprey was under weigh, and doing her best, he was +able to curb his anxiety and impatience; but now that she was at +anchor he felt absolutely unable to remain quietly on board. +Several officers of his acquaintance came off to the Osprey, and he +was invited to dine at their mess dinner every night. He, however, +declined. + +"The fact is, my dear fellow," he said to each, "I am at present +waiting with extreme anxiety for news of a most important nature, +and until I get it I am so restless and so confoundedly irritable +that I am not fit to associate with anyone. When I look in here +again I hope that it will be all right, and then I shall be +delighted to come to you, and have a chat over our Indian days; but +at present I really am not up to it." + +His appearance was sufficient to testify that his plea was not a +fictitious excuse. + +On the fourth day he found a letter awaiting him at the post +office. He tore it open, and read: + +"Funchal, Madeira, August 30. + +"Sir: At the request of Mr. Greenwood I beg to inform you that a +brigantine, precisely answering to the description given me, +anchored in the roads here on the 21st. She only remained a few +hours to take in water and stores. I was at the landing place when +the master came on shore. He said that they had had a wonderfully +fast voyage from England, having come from the Lizard under seven +days, and holding a leading wind all the way. She was flying the +Belgian flag, and I learned from the Portuguese official who +visited her that her papers were all in order, and that she had +been purchased at Ostend from an Englishman only three weeks +before, and had been named the Dragon. He did not remember what her +English name had been. + +"Most unfortunately she had left a few hours before the mail +steamer came in, bringing me the letter from Lloyd's. I do not know +that I could, in any case, have stopped her; but I think that I +could have got the officials to have searched her, and if the +ladies had been on board, and had appealed to them for protection, +I think the vessel would certainly have been detained; or, at any +rate, the authorities would have insisted upon the ladies being set +on shore. + +"Her papers had the Cape as her destination, though this may, of +course, have been only a blind. I regret much that I am unable to +give you further information, beyond the fact that there were two +male passengers on board. I shall be happy to reply to any +communication I may receive from you." + +Frank hurried down to the landing place. + +"Lay out, men," he said. "I want to be under way in a quarter of an +hour." + +The men bent to their oars, and the gig flew through the water. +There was no one on shore, for Frank had given strict orders that +no one was to land, of a morning, until he returned from the post +office. + +"Get under way at once," he called to the captain, as soon as he +came within hailing distance. + +There was an instant stir on board. Some of the men ran to the +capstan, others began to unlace the sail covers, while some +gathered at the davits to hoist the boat up directly she came +alongside. + +"I have news, lads," Frank said, in a loud voice, as he stepped on +board. "She has touched at Madeira." + +There was a cheer from the men. It was something to know that a +clue had been obtained, and in a wonderfully short time the Osprey +was under way, and heading for the point of the bay. + +"Then they did not stop them there, Major?" George Lechmere asked, +after Frank had stated the news. + +"No, the mail did not arrive with the letter in time for Lloyd's +agent to act upon it. The Phantom had sailed some hours before. She +is still under her square yards, and her name has been changed to +the Dragon. She was there on the 21st, and the letter is dated the +30th." + +"And today is the 6th," George said. "So he has fifteen days' start +of us, besides the distance to Madeira." + +"Yes, she must be among the West Indies long before we can hope to +overtake her--there, or at some South American port." + +"Then you have learnt for certain that she has gone that way, +Major?" + +"It is not quite certain, but I have no doubt about it. Her papers +say that she is bound for the Cape, which is quite enough to show +me that she is not going there. I think it is the West Indies +rather than South America, for if she went to any Brazilian port, +or Monte Video, or Buenos Ayres, she would be much more likely to +attract attention than she would in the West Indies, where there +are scores of islands and places where she could cruise, or lie +hidden as long as she liked. + +"Yes, I have no doubt that is her destination. It is a nasty place +to have to search, but sooner or later we ought to be able to find +her. Fortunately the negroes pretty nearly all speak English, +Spanish, or French, and we shall have no difficulty in getting +information wherever there is any information to be had." + +Four days later the Osprey anchored off Funchal. The dinghy at once +put off with six water casks, and Frank was rowed ashore in the +gig, and had a talk with his correspondent. The latter, however, +could give him no more information than had been contained in his +letter, except that the white streak had been painted out, and that +the craft carried fourteen hands, all of whom were foreigners. He +could give no information as to whether she would be likely to +touch at either the Canaries or the Cape de Verde Islands, but was +inclined to think that she would not. + +"They took a very large stock of water on board," he said, "and a +much larger amount of meat, vegetables and fruit than they would +have required had they intended to put in there, and meat is a good +deal dearer here than it would be at Saint Vincent, or even +Teneriffe. I should think from this that they had no intention of +putting in there, though they might touch at Saint Helena or +Ascension, if they are really on their way to the Cape. + +"But after what you tell me, I should think that your idea that +they have made for the West. Indies is the correct one. I should +say that they were likely to lie up in some quiet and sheltered +spot there, for it is the hurricane season now, and no one would be +cruising about among the islands if he could help it. There are +scores of places where he could lie in shelter and no one be any +the wiser, except, perhaps, negro villagers on the shore." + +"Yes, I should think that is what he would do," Frank agreed. "How +long does the hurricane season last?" + +"The worst time is between the middle of September and the middle +of November, but you cannot depend upon settled weather until the +new year begins." + +"Well, hurricane or no hurricane, I shall set out on the search as +soon as I get over there." + +Two hours later the Osprey was again on her way. The breeze was +fresh and steady, and with her square sail set and her mizzen +furled she ran along at over nine knots an hour. One day succeeded +another, without there being the least occasion to make any shift +in the canvas, and it was not until they were within a day's sail +of Porto Rico that the wind dropped almost suddenly. Purvis at once +ran below. + +"The glass has fallen a long way since I looked at it at +breakfast," he said, as he returned. + +"Then we are in for a blow," the skipper said. "I am new to these +latitudes, but wherever you are you know what to do when there is a +sudden lull in the wind, and a heavy fall in the glass. + +"Now, lads, get her canvas off her." + +"All down, captain!" + +"Every stitch. + +"Andrews, do you and two others get down into the sail locker and +bring up the storm jib, the small foresail, trysail, and storm +mizzen. If it is a tornado, we shan't want to show much sail to +it." + +"If we are going to have a tornado, captain, I should recommend +that you get the mainsail loose from the hoops, put the cover on, +roll it up tightly to the gaff and lash it to the bulwarks on one +side, and get the boom off and lash it on the other side." + +"That will be a very good plan. The lower we get the weight the +better." + +When this was done, the topmast was also sent down and lashed by +the sail. The barrels, which were now all empty, were lowered down +into the saloon, while the trysail was fastened to the hoops ready +for hoisting, and all the reefs tied up. A triangular mizzen was +then hoisted, and a storm jib. + +"We won't get up the foresail at present," the captain said. "I +have reefed it right down, sir, but I won't hoist it until we have +got the first blow over." + +"You had better see that everything is well secured on deck, and if +I were you I would put the jib in stops. We can break it out when +we like; but from all accounts the first burst of these tornadoes +is terrible. I should leave the mizzen on her; that will bring her +head up to it, whichever way it comes, and she will lie to under +that and the jib." + +"Yes, sir; but it is likely enough that we shall have to sail. I +have been reading about the tornadoes. I picked up a book at Cowes +the day we sailed, when I saw that you were ordering the charts of +these seas, and have learnt what is the proper thing to do. The +wind is from the southeast at present, which means that the centre +of the hurricane lies to the southwest. + +"If the wind comes more from the east, as long as we can sail we +are to head northwest or else lie to on the port tack. If it shifts +more to the south, we are to lie to on the starboard tack." + +"That sounds all right, Hawkins. It is very easy to describe what +ought to be done, but it is not so easy to do it, when you are in a +gale that is almost strong enough to take her mast out of her. I +will tell you what I would do. I would break up a couple of those +casks, and nail the staves over the skylights, and then nail +tarpaulins over them. I have no fear whatever about her weathering +the gale, but I expect that for a bit we shall be more under water +than above it. + +"I see Perry is getting the two anchors below; that will help to +ease her. At any rate she will be in good fighting trim. I think we +began none too soon. There is a thick mist over the sky, and it +looks as dark as pitch ahead." + +"There is only one thing more, sir," and the captain shouted: + +"All hands get the boats on deck, and see that they are lashed +firmly. + +"Will you see to getting in the davits out of the sockets, Purvis, +and getting them below? + +"I ought to have done that before," he went on, apologetically, +"but I did not think of it. However, with such a strong crew it +won't take five minutes, and we have got that and something to +spare, I think." + +"You have got the bowsprit reefed, Hawkins?" + +"Yes, sir; full reefed." + +"There is only one thing more that I can suggest. I fancy that +these tornadoes begin with heavy lightning. Get those wire topmast +stays, and twist them tightly round the shrouds and lash them +there, leaving the ends to drop a fathom or two in the water. In +that way I don't think that we need be afraid of the lightning. If +it strikes us it will run down the wire shrouds, and then straight +into the water." + +In five minutes all was in readiness; the boats securely lashed on +deck, the davits down below, and the lightning protectors tied +tightly to the wire shrouds. + +"Now, captain, I think we have done all that we can do. What are +you doing now?" + +"I am running a life line right round her, sir. It may save more +than one life if the seas make a sweep of her." + +"You are right, captain. These eighteen-inch bulwarks are no great +protection." + +Four sailors speedily lashed a three-inch rope four feet above the +deck, from the forestay round the shrouds and aft to the mizzen, +hove as tight as they could get it and then fastened. While this +was being done one of the mates cut up a piece of two-inch rope +into several foot lengths, and gave one to each of the men and +officers, including Frank and George Lechmere. + +"If you tie the middle of that round your chest under the arms, you +will have the two ends ready to lash yourself to windward when it +gets bad. A couple of twists round anything will keep you safe, +however much water may come over her." + +"Do you mean to stay on deck, sir?" the skipper asked. "You won't +be able to do any good, and the fewer hands there are on deck the +less there will be to be anxious about. I shall only keep four +hands forward after the first burst is over, and they will be +lashed to the shrouds. Purvis will be there with them. Perry and +Andrews will take the helm, and I shall stay with them. + +"We have battened the fore hatch down. One of the men will be in +the after cabin, and if I want to hoist the trysail or make any +change I shall give three knocks, and that will be a signal for +them to send half a dozen hands up. They will come through the +saloon and up the companion. We shan't be able to open the fore +hatch." + +"Very well, skipper. I will go down when the hands do. We are going +to have it soon." + +It was now indeed so dark that he could scarcely see the face of +the man he was speaking to. + +"I really think, captain, that I should send some of them down +below at once. If a flash of lightning were to strike the mast, it +would probably go down the shrouds harmlessly, but might do +frightful damage among the men, crowded as they are up here; or it +might blind some of them. Besides, the weight forward is no +trifle." + +"I think that you are right, sir," and, raising his voice, the +captain shouted: + +"All hands below except the four men told off. Go down by the +companion." + +"Would you mind their stopping in the saloon, sir? It would make +her more lively than if they all went down into the fo'castle." + +"Certainly not, captain;" and accordingly the men were ordered to +remain in the saloon. + +"You can light your pipes there, my lads," Frank said, as they went +down, "and make yourselves as comfortable as you can." + +The last man had scarcely disappeared when the captain said: + +"Look there, Major Mallett," and looking up Frank saw a ball of +phosphorescent light, some eighteen inches in diameter, upon the +masthead. + +"Plenty of electricity about," he said, cheerfully. "If they are +all as harmless as that it won't hurt us." + +But as he ceased speaking there was a crash of thunder overhead +that made the whole vessel quiver, and at the same instant a flash +of lightning, so vivid, that for a minute or two Frank felt +absolutely blinded. Without a moment's intermission, flash followed +flash, while the crashes of thunder were incessant. + +"I think that plan of yours has saved the ship, sir," the captain +said, when, after five minutes, the lightning ceased as suddenly as +it had begun. "I am sure that a score of those flashes struck the +mast, and yet no damage has been done to it, so far as I could see +by the last flash. Are you all right there, Purvis?" + +"All right," the mate replied. "Scared a bit, I fancy. I know I am +myself, but none the worse for it." + +"It is coming now, sir," the captain said. "Listen." + +Frank could hear a low moaning noise, rapidly growing louder, and +then he saw a white line on the water coming along with +extraordinary velocity. + +"Hard down with the helm, Perry," the captain said. + +"Hard down it is, sir." + +"Hold on all!" the captain shouted. + +A few seconds later the gale struck them. The yacht shook as if in +a collision, and heeled over till the water was half up her deck. +Then the weight of her lead ballast told, and as the pressure on +the mizzen did its work, she gradually came up to the wind, getting +on to an almost even keel as she did so. + +"Break out the jib and haul in the weather sheet," the captain +shouted. + +Purvis was expecting this, and although he did not hear the words +above the howl of the storm, at once obeyed the order. + +"There she is, sir, lying-to like a duck," the skipper shouted in +Frank's ear; "and none the worse for it. An ordinary craft would +have turned turtle, but I have seen her as far over when she has +been racing." + +"Well, I will go below now, Hawkins," Frank shouted back. "It is +enough to blow the hair off one's head. + +"Come down, George, with me. You can be of no use here." + + + +Chapter 14. + +For eight hours the Osprey struggled with the storm. The sea swept +over her decks, and the dinghy was smashed into fragments, but the +yacht rode with far greater ease than an ordinary vessel would have +done, as, save for her bare mast, the wind had no hold upon her. +There were no spars with weight of furled sails to catch the wind +and hold her down; she was in perfect trim, and her sharp bows met +the waves like a wedge, and suffered them to glide past her with +scarce a shock, while the added buoyancy gained by reefing the +bowsprit and getting the anchors below lifted her over seas that, +as they approached, seemed as if they would make a clean sweep over +her. + +From time to time Frank went up for a few minutes, lashing himself +to the runner to windward. The three men at the helm were all +sitting up, lashed to cleats, and sheltering themselves as far as +they could by the bulwarks. Movement toward them was impossible. +Beyond a wave of the hand, no communication could be held. + +Frank could not have ventured out had he not, before going down +below for the first time, stretched a rope across the deck in front +of the companion, so that before going out he obtained a firm grasp +of it, and was by its assistance able to reach the side safely. +Each time he went out four of the crew from below followed him and +relieved those lashed to the shrouds forward. + +The skipper was carrying out the plan he had decided on, and the +foresail was hoisted a few feet, the Osprey by its aid gradually +edging her way out from the centre of the tornado. The hands as +they came down received a stiff glass of grog, and were told to +turn in at once. Two hours after the storm broke Purvis came down +for a few minutes. + +"She is doing splendidly, sir," he said. "I would not have believed +if I had not seen it, that any craft of her size could have gone +through such a sea as this and shipped so little water. We have had +a few big 'uns come on board, but in general she goes over them +like a duck. It is hard work forward. You have got to keep your +back to it, for you can hardly get your breath if you face it. If +it was not for the lashings, it would blow you right away. + +"I have been at sea in gales that we thought were big ones, but +nothing like this. Of course, with our heavy ballast and bare +poles, she don't lie over much. It is the sea and not the wind that +affects her, and her low free board is all in her favour. But I +believe a ship with a high side and yards and top hamper would be +blown down on her beam ends and kept there." + +"Do you think that it blows as hard as it did, Purvis?" + +"There ain't much difference, sir; but I do think there ain't quite +so much weight in it. I expect we are working our way out of it. We +have been twice round the compass. It is lucky we had not got down +among the islands before we caught it. I would not give much for +our chances if we had been there, for these gales gradually wear +themselves out as they get farther from the islands." + +In six hours the weather had so far moderated that they were able +to hoist the reefed foresail, and two hours later the trysail was +set with all the reefs in. These were shaken out in a short time, +the wind dying away fast. Half the crew had turned into their +hammocks some time before, and the regular watch was now set. The +motion of the ship, however, was very violent, for there was a +heavy tumbling sea still on, the waves having no general direction, +but tossing in confused masses and coming on to the deck, now on +one side, now on the other. + +At midnight Frank also turned in, in his clothes; but he was soon +up again, for the motion of the yacht was so violent that he found +it next to impossible to keep from being jerked out of his berth. +The first mate had had four hours off duty, and had just come up +again to relieve the captain. + +"It is lucky, sir, that all our gear is nearly new," he said; "for +if it had not been, this rolling would have taken the mast out of +her. The strain on the shrouds each time that she gets chucked over +must be tremendous." + +"It would have been better, for this sort of work, if we had had +ten feet taken off that stick before we started." + +"Well, just for the present it would have been better, sir; but +even if we had had time I would not have done it. We should not +have much chance of overhauling the Phantom if we clipped our +wings." + +In another two hours the sea had sensibly moderated. Frank again +went down, and this time was able to go to sleep. When he went on +deck the sun was some way up, the mainsail was set, and the reefs +had been shaken out. + +"This is a change for the better, captain." + +"It is indeed, sir. I think that we have reason to be proud of the +craft. She has gone through a tornado without having suffered the +slightest damage, except the loss of the dinghy. I shall be getting +the topmast up in another hour. You see, I have got her number-two +jib on her and shifted the mizzen, but she is still a bit too +lively to make it safe to get up the spar. Like as not, if we did, +it would snap off before we could get the stays taut." + +"I am terribly anxious about the Phantom," Frank said, "and only +trust that she was in a snug harbour on the lee side of one of the +islands." + +"I hope so, sir. I was thinking of her lots of times when the gale +was at its height. If she was, as you say, in a good port, she +would be right enough. Of course, if she was out she would run for +the nearest shelter." + +"If she had no more wind than we had before it came on, she had not +much chance of doing that." + +"That is true enough, sir; but, you see, the glass gave us notice +three hours before we caught it. Besides, they certainly took +native pilots on board as soon as they got out here, and these must +have got them into some safe place at the first sign of a gale." + +"Yes, they must certainly have had a pilot on board," Frank agreed; +"and there is every ground to hope that they were snugly at anchor. +They were three weeks ahead of us, and must know that it is the +hurricane season as well as we do. It is likely that the first +thing they did on their arrival was to search for some quiet spot, +where they could lie up safely till the bad season was over." + +Late on the following afternoon land was seen ahead. + +"There is Porto Rico, sir. It may not be quite our nearest point to +make, but there are no islands lying outside it; so that it was +safer to make for it than for places where the islands seemed to be +as thick as peas." + +"Yes, and for the same reason it is likely that Carthew made for +it. Of course, naturally we should have both gone for either +Barbadoes or Antigua, or Barbuda, the most northern of the Leeward +Islands; but he would not do so if he intends to keep his Belgian +colours flying. And, indeed, it would seem curious that two English +gentlemen should be cruising about in a Belgian trader. You may +take it that he is certain to put into a port for water and +vegetables, just as we have to do. There seem to be at least half a +dozen on this side of the island. He may have gone into any of +them, but he would be most likely to choose a small place. However, +at one or other of them we are likely to get news; and the first +thing for us to do is to get a good black pilot, who can talk some +English as well as Spanish." + +"It is likely we shall have to take three or four of them before we +have done. A man here might know the Virgin Islands, and perhaps +most of the Leeward Islands, but he might not know anything east, +west, or north of San Domingo. We should certainly want another +pilot for the Bahamas, and a third for Cuba and the islands round +it, which can be counted almost by the hundred. Then again, none of +these would know the islands fringing almost the whole of the coast +from Honduras to Trinidad. However, I hope we shall not have to +search them. There is an ample cruising ground and any number of +hiding places without having to go so far out of the world as that. +At any rate, at present he is not likely to have gone far, and I +think that he will either have sought some secluded shelter among +the Virgin Islands, or on the coast of San Domingo." + +When within a few miles of Porto Rico they lay to for the night, +and the next morning coasted westward, and dropped anchor in the +port of San Juan de Porto Rico. + +A quarter of an hour after dropping anchor the port officials came +on board. The inspection of the ship's papers was a short +formality, the white ensign and the general appearance of the craft +showing her at once to be an English yacht, and as she had only +touched at Madeira on her way from Gibraltar, and all on board were +in good health, she was at once given pratique. + +"The first thing to do is to get an interpreter," Frank said, as he +was rowed to shore, accompanied by George Lechmere. "The secretary +of Lloyd's gave me a list of their agents all over the world. It is +a Spanish firm here, and it is probable that none of them speaks +English, but if so I have no doubt that by aid of this signal book +I shall be able to make them understand what I want. I have a +circular letter of introduction from Lloyd's secretary." + +He had no difficulty in discovering the place of business of Senor +Juan Cordovo, and on sending in his card and the letter of +introduction, was at once shown into an inner office. He was +received with grave courtesy by the merchant, who, on learning that +he did not speak Spanish, touched a bell on his table. A clerk +entered, to whom he spoke a few words. + +The young man then turned to Frank, and said: + +"I speak English, sir. Senor Cordovo wishes me to assure you that +all he has is at your disposal, and that he will be happy to assist +you in any way that you may point out." + +"Please assure Senor Cordovo of my high consideration and gratitude +for his offer. Will you inform him that I intend to cruise for some +time among the islands, and that I desire to obtain the services of +an interpreter, speaking English and Spanish; and if he possesses +some knowledge of French, so much the better." + +The reply was translated to the merchant, who conversed with the +interpreter for two or three minutes. The latter then turned to +Frank. + +"I have a brother, senor, who, like myself, speaks the three +languages. He is at present out of employment, and would, I am +sure, be very glad to engage himself to you as your interpreter." + +"That would be the very thing," Frank said. "Does he live in the +town?" + +"Yes, senor. I could fetch him here in a few minutes if Senor +Cordovo will permit me to do so." + +The merchant at once granted the clerk's request. + +"Will you tell Senor Cordovo," Frank said, "that I do not wish to +occupy his valuable time, and that I will return here in a quarter +of an hour?" + +The merchant, however, through the clerk, assured Frank that he +would not hear of his leaving, and producing a box of cigars, +begged him to seat himself until the arrival of the interpreter. He +then said something else to the clerk, and the latter asked Frank +if he wanted any supplies for the yacht, as his employer acted as +agent for shipping. + +"Certainly," Frank said, glad to have the opportunity of repaying +the civility shown him. "I require fresh meat, fruit and +vegetables, sufficient for twenty-five persons. I shall also be +glad if he will arrange for boats to take off water. My barrels and +tanks are nearly empty, and I shall want a supply of about a +thousand gallons." + +While the clerk was absent, Frank, with the assistance of the +signal book, kept up a somewhat disjointed conversation with the +Spaniard. The clerk was, however, away but a few minutes; and +returned with his brother, an intelligent-looking young fellow of +seventeen or eighteen. He did not speak English quite as well as +the clerk, but sufficiently well for all purposes. Frank asked him +his terms, which seemed to him ridiculously low, and a bargain was +forthwith arranged. + +"Will you ask Senor Cordovo if any other English yacht has been +here during the past three weeks or a month? I have a friend on +board one, and I fancy that she is cruising out here also." + +The merchant replied that no English yacht had touched at the port +for some months, and that such visits were extremely rare. He +assured him that the stores ordered would be alongside in the +course of the afternoon, and expressed his regret when Frank +declined his invitation to stay with him for a day or two at his +country house. + +After renewed thanks, Frank took his departure with his new +interpreter, whose name was Pedro. George Lechmere was waiting at +the corner of the street. + +"I have arranged everything satisfactorily, George. This young man +is coming with me as interpreter, and as he speaks both French and +Spanish we shall get on well in future. + +"When will you be ready to come on board, Pedro?" + +"In half an hour, senor." + +"You will find my boat at the quay. Take your things down to it. It +is a white boat with a British flag at the stern. But I don't want +you to go off yet. I have two things I want you to do before you +go. + +"In the first place, I want a pilot. I want one who knows the +Virgin Islands well, and also the coast of San Domingo." + +"There will be no difficulty about that, senor." + +"In the second place, I want to find out, from the boatmen at the +quays, whether a Belgian schooner of seventy or eighty tons has +touched here during the last month. She carries large yards on her +foremast, and is a very fast-looking craft. She was at one time an +English yacht. If she called here, I wish to know whether she +sailed east or west, and if possible to obtain an idea as to her +destination." + +"There was such a vessel here, senor, for I noticed her myself. She +only remained a few hours, while her boats took off water and +vegetables. I happened to notice her, for having nothing to do I +was down at the quays, and the boatmen were talking about her, she +being a craft such as is seldom seen now. Some of the old men said +that she reminded them of the privateers in the great war. I went +down to the boats when they first came ashore. The men only spoke +French, and they paid me a dollar to go round with them to make +their purchases. They took them, and also the water, off in their +own boats; which surprised me, for they were very handsome boats, +much more handsome than I have seen in any ship that ever came +here. I said that it would cost them but a very small sum to send +the barrels off in the native boats, but they insisted upon taking +them themselves. + +"I don't know which way they sailed, because I went home as soon as +they went away from the quay, but the boatmen will be able to tell +me." + +He went away and talked with some of the negro boatmen, and soon +returned, saying that she sailed westward. + +"At what time did she sail?" + +"It was just getting dark, senor, for they said that they could +scarcely make her out, but she certainly went west." + +"Well, all you have to do now, Pedro, is to hire a pilot. Get the +best man that you can find. I want one who knows every foot of the +Virgin Islands. We are going there first. It does not matter so +much about his knowing San Domingo, for as we shall probably come +back here, we can put him ashore and get another pilot specially +for San Domingo. Be sure you get the best man that you can find, +whatever his terms are. We will be back again here in half an hour. + +"That is satisfactory indeed, George," Frank went on, as they +turned away. "Of course, strongly as we believed that he might be +here, there was no absolute certainty about it, for he might have +gone to the South American ports, or even have headed for the Gulf +of Florida. You see he is not only here, but came to the very +island we thought that he would most likely make for. As for his +going west, no doubt that was merely a ruse. He did not get up +anchor until it was getting so dark that he would be able in the +course of half an hour to change his course, and make for the +Virgin Islands without fear of being observed. I don't suppose that +they have any idea whatever of being followed, but they take every +precaution in their power to cover up their traces. You noticed, of +course, their anxiety that no shore boat should go off to them. + +"Well, George, we have succeeded so well thus far, that I feel +confident that we shall overhaul them before long. As far as one +can see on the chart, most of these Virgin Islands are mere rocks, +and the number we shall have to search will not be very great, and +if the pilot really knows his business, he ought to be able to take +us to every inlet where they would be likely to anchor." + +Pedro was awaiting them when they returned to the boat, and was +accompanied by a big negro, who, by the grin on his good-natured +face, was evidently highly satisfied with the bargain that he had +made. + +"This is the man, senor," Pedro said. "I met one of the port +officers I know, and he told me that he was considered to be the +best pilot in the island. He speaks a little English--most of the +pilots do, for several of the Virgin Islands belong to your +people--and, of course, when he goes down to the Windward +Islands--" + +"The Windward Islands!" Frank repeated. "Why, they are not anywhere +near here." + +"I should have said the Leeward Islands, senor. The English call +them so, but we and the Danes and the Dutch all call them the +Windward Islands." + +"Oh, I understand. + +"What is your name, my man?" + +"Dominique, sar. Me talk English bery well. Me take you to any port +you want to go. Me know all de rocks and shoals. Bery plenty dey +is, but Dominique knows ebery one of dem." + +"That is all right. You are just the man I want. Well, are you +ready to go on board at once?" + +"Me ready in an hour, sar. Go home now, say goodbye to wife and +piccaninnies. Pedro just tell me that boat go off with water in +one, two hours. Dominique go off with him. Me like five dollars to +give wife to buy tings while me am away." + +"All right, Dominique, here you are. Now don't you miss the boat, +or we shall quarrel at starting, and I shall send ashore at once +and engage someone else." + +"Dominique come, sar, that for sure. Me good man; always keep +promise." + +"Well, here is another couple of dollars, Dominique; that is a +present. You give that to the wife, and tell her to buy something +for the piccaninnies with it." + +So saying, Frank, George Lechmere, and Pedro stepped on board the +boat; while the pilot walked off, his black face beaming with +satisfaction. + +He came off duly with the last water boat, and while the contents +of the barrels were being transferred to the tanks--for now that +the long run was accomplished there was no longer any necessity for +carrying a greater supply than these could hold--Frank had a talk +with him. + +"Now, Dominique, this is, you know, a yacht cruising about on +pleasure." + +"Yes, sar, me know dat." + +"At the same time," Frank went on, "we have an object in view. Just +at present we want to find that schooner or brigantine that put in +here nearly a month ago. She carried a heavy spread of canvas on +her yards, and lay very low in the water." + +The pilot nodded. + +"Me remember him, sar; could not make out de craft nohow. Some +people said she pirate, but dar ain't no pirates now." + +"That is so, Dominique. Still there may be reasons sometimes for +wanting to overhaul a vessel, and I have such a reason. What it is, +is of no consequence. Pedro tells me that when she got under sail +she went west, but as it was just dark when she sailed, she may +very well have turned as soon as she was hidden from sight and have +gone east; and it seems to me likely that she would, in the first +place, have made for one of the Virgin Islands." + +"It depends, sar, upon the trade that he wanted to do. Not much +trade dere, sar. The trade is done at Tortola, dat English island; +and at Saint Thomas or Santa Cruz, dem Danish islands; all de oders +do little trade." + +"Yes, Dominique, but I don't think that she wants to trade at all. +What she wants to do is to lie up quietly, where she would not be +noticed." + +"Plenty of places in the islands for dat, sar." + +"Did they take a pilot here?" + +Dominique shook his head. + +"No, sar; several offers, but no take. If want to hide, they no +want pilot from here; they take up a fisherman among the islands, +to show dem good place. But plenty of places much better in San +Domingo or Cuba. Why dey stop Virgin Islands? Little places, many +got no water, no food, no noting but bare rock." + +"I think that they would go in there, because, as the hurricane +season had begun when they got here, they would think it better to +run into the port." + +"Hurricane not bad here, sar; bery bad down at what English call +Leeward Islands. Have dem sometimes here, not bery often; had one +four days ago, one ob de worse me remember. We not likely to have +another dis year." + +"That is satisfactory, Dominique, We got caught in it the other +day, and I don't want to meet another. Well, you understand what I +want. To begin with, to search all the places a vessel that did not +want to attract notice would be likely to lie up in. We want to +question people as to whether she has been seen, and if we don't +find her, to hear whether, when last seen, she was sailing in the +direction of the Leeward Islands, or going west." + +"Me find out, sar," the negro said, confidently. "Someone sure to +have seen her." + +"Well, you had better come below. I have got a chart, and you shall +mark all the islands where there are any bays that she would be +likely to take shelter in, and we can then see the order in which +we had better take them." + +This was a little beyond Dominique's English, but Pedro explained +it to him, and at Frank's request went below with them; Frank +telling Hawkins to weigh anchor as soon as the tanks were filled +and the stores were on board. He had, before he came off, returned +to Senor Cordovo and paid for all the things supplied. + +Going through the islands, one by one, Dominique made a cross +against all that possessed harbours or inlets, that would each have +to be examined. + +"Tortola is the least likely of the places for them to go," Frank +said, "as it is a British island." + +"Not many people dar, sar. Most people in town. De rest of island +rock, all hills broken up, many good harbours." + +"What is its size, Dominique?" + +"Twelve miles long, sar. Two miles wide." + +"Well, that is not a great deal to search, if we have to examine +every inch of the coast. How many people are there?" + +"Two, three hundred white men. Dey live in de town most all. Two, +three thousand blacks." + +"Well, we will begin with the others. I should think that in a +fortnight we ought to be able to do them all." + +The next twelve days were occupied in a fruitless search. Every +fishing boat was overhauled and questioned, and Frank and Pedro +went ashore to every group of huts. The only fact that they +learned, was that a schooner answering to the description had been +seen some time before. The information respecting her was, however, +very vague; for some asserted that she was sailing one way, some +another; and Frank concluded that she had cruised about for some +days, before deciding where to lie up. It was at Tortola that they +first gained any useful information. Many vessels had, during the +last six weeks, entered one or other of the deep creeks, and one of +them had laid up for nearly a month in a narrow inlet with but one +or two negro huts on shore. It was undoubtedly the Phantom, or +rather the Dragon, for the negroes had noticed that name on her +stern. She had sailed on the day after the hurricane, and, as they +learned from shore villages at other points, had gone west. + +"Well, it is a comfort to think that even if we had sailed direct +here from Porto Rico we should not have caught her," Frank said to +George Lechmere. "She had left here two days before we got there. I +suppose they have someone on board who has been in the islands +before, for certainly the harbours are the best in the group. No +doubt they got some fishermen to bring them into the creek. Well, +there is nothing to do but to turn her head west. It is but +forty-eight hours' sail to San Domingo, and I fancy that it is +likely that he will have stopped there. You see on the chart that +there are numberless bays, and there would be no fear of questions +being asked by the blacks. If we don't find him there we must try +Cuba; but San Domingo is by far the most likely place for him to +choose for his headquarters, and there are at least four biggish +rivers he could sail up, beside a score of smaller ones. + +"I should say that we had better try the south and west first. The +coast is a great deal more indented there than it is to the north. +There seem to be any number of creeks and bays. I should think that +he would be likely to make one of these his headquarters, and spend +his time cruising about." + +Although Dominique professed a thorough knowledge of the coast of +San Domingo and Hayti, Frank could see that he was not so +absolutely certain as he was of the Virgin Islands, and he told him +to land at villages as he passed along, and bring fishermen off +acquainted with the waters in their locality. + +"Dat am de safest way for sure, sar," Dominique said. "Dis chile +know de coast bery well, can pilot ship into town of San Domingo or +any oder port that ships go to, but he could not say for certain +where all de rocks and shoals are along places where de ships neber +go in." + +Three days later the Osprey, after sailing along the northern +shore, arrived at Porto Rico and, passing through the Mona channel +between that island and San Domingo, dropped anchor in the port of +the capital. Dominique went ashore with Pedro, and spent some hours +in boarding coasting craft and questioning negroes whether they had +seen the brigantine. Several of them had noticed her. She had been +cruising off the coast, and had put in at the mouth of the Nieve, +and at Jaquemel on the south coast of Hayti. They heard of her, +too, in the deep bay at the west of the island between Capes Dame +Marie and La Move. Some had seen her sailing one way, some another; +she had evidently been, as Frank had expected, cruising about. + +Pedro put down the dates of the times at which she had been seen, +but negroes are very vague as to time, and beyond the fact that +some had seen her about a week before, while in other cases it was +nearer a fortnight, he could ascertain nothing with certainty. So +far as he could learn, she had only put into three ports, although +the coasters he boarded came from some twenty different localities. + +"I fancy that it is as I expected," Frank said. "They have one +regular headquarters to which they return frequently. It may be +some very secluded spot. It may be up one of these small rivers +marked on the chart--there are a score of them between Cape la Move +and here. She does not seem to have been seen as far east as this. +Of course, she has not put in here, because there are some eight or +ten foreign ships here now. Every one of these twenty rivers has +plenty of water for vessels of her draught for some miles up. I +fancy our best chance will be to meet her cruising." + +"The worst of that would be, Major," George Lechmere said, "that +she would know us, and if she sails as well as she used to do, we +should not catch her before night came on--if she had seven or +eight miles' start--especially if we both had the wind aft." + +"That is just what I am afraid of. I have no doubt that we could +beat her easily working to windward in her present rig, but I am by +no means certain that she could not run away from us if we were +both free; and if she once recognised us there is no saying where +she might go to after she had shaken us off. Certainly she would +not stay in these waters. + +"The question is, how can we disguise ourselves? If we took down +our mizzen and dirtied the rest of our sails, it would not be much +of a disguise. Nothing but a yacht carries anything like as big a +mainsail as ours, and our big jib and foresail, and the straight +bowsprit would tell the tale. Of course, we could fasten some +wooden battens along her side, and stretch canvas over them, and +paint it black, and so raise her side three feet, but even then the +narrowness of her hull, seen end on as it would be, in comparison +to the height of the mast and spread of canvas, would strike +Carthew at once." + +"We could follow his example, sir, and make her into a brig. I dare +say we could get it done in a week." + +"That might spoil her sailing, and as soon as he found that we were +in chase of him, he would at once suspect that something was wrong. +That would, of all things, be the worst, especially if he +found--which would be just as likely as not--that he had the legs +of us. + +"I believe the most certain way of all would be to search for her +in the boats. If we were to paint the gig black, so that it would +not attract attention, give a coating of grey paint to the oars, +and hire a black crew, we could coast along and stop at every +village, and search every bay, and row far enough up each river to +find some village or hut where we could learn whether the Phantom +has been in the habit of going up there. It would take some time, +of course, but it might be a good deal of time saved in the long +run. We could do a great deal of sailing. The gig stands well up to +canvas when the crew are sitting in the bottom, and we could fit +her out with a native rig. + +"From here to Cape La Move, following the indentations, must be +somewhere between five and six hundred miles, perhaps more than +that. The breeze is regular, and with a sail we ought to make from +forty to fifty miles a day--say forty--so that in three weeks we +should thoroughly have searched the coast, even allowing for +putting in three or four times a day to make inquiries. The yacht +must follow, keeping a few miles astern. At any rate she must not +pass us. + +"At night when she anchors she must have two head lights, one at +the crosstrees and one at the topmast head. I shall be on the +lookout for her, and we will take some blue lights and some red +lights with us. Every night I will burn a blue light, say at nine +o'clock. A man in the crosstrees will make it out twenty miles +away, and that will tell them where I am, and that I don't want +them. If I burn a red light it will be a signal for the yacht to +come and pick me up." + +"Then you will go in the boat yourself, Major?" + +"Yes, I must be doing something. I shall take Pedro with me, and +perhaps Dominique. We can get another pilot here. Dominique is a +shrewd fellow, and can get more out of the negroes than Pedro can. +Certainly, that will be the best plan, and will avoid the necessity +of spoiling the yacht's speed, which may be of vital importance to +us at a critical moment. + +"Call Dominique down. I will send him ashore at once with Pedro, to +get hold of a good pilot and four good negro boatmen, and a native +sail. I think that is all we want." + + + +Chapter 15. + +As soon as the dinghy, with Dominique and Pedro, had left the side +of the yacht; the captain, by Frank's orders, set four men to work +to paint the gig black, while others gave a coat of dull lead +colour to the varnished oars. The order was received with much +surprise by the men, who audibly expressed their regret at seeing +their brightly varnished boat and oars thus disfigured. + +After about three hours on shore, the dinghy returned loaded with +fruit and vegetables, which Pedro had purchased, and a native mast +and sail. The former was at once cut so as to step in the gig. The +sail was hoisted, and was then taken in hand by one of the crew, +who was a fair sailmaker, to be altered so as to stand flatter. +Half an hour later the new pilot and four powerful negroes came +alongside in a shore boat. + +It was now late in the afternoon, so the start was postponed until +the next morning. A few other arrangements were made as to +signalling, and it was settled that if Frank showed a red light, a +rocket should be sent up from the yacht, to show that the signal +had been observed, and that they were getting up sail. They were to +keep their lights up, so that Frank could make them out as they +came up, and put off to meet them. + +George Lechmere saw to the preparations for victualling the gig. +Two large hampers of fresh provisions were placed on board, and two +four-and-a-half gallon kegs of water. A bundle of rugs was placed +in the stern sheets, and the boat's flagstaff was fixed in its +place in the stern. The yard of the sail was at night to be lashed +from the mast to the staff at a height of four feet above the +gunwale, and across this the sail was to be thrown to act as a +tent. A kettle, frying pan, plates, knives and forks were put in +forward, and a box of signal lights under the seat aft. Canisters +of tea, sugar, coffee, and all necessaries had been stowed away in +the hamper, together with a plentiful supply of tobacco; and a bag +of twenty-eight pounds of flour, wrapped up in tarpaulin, was +placed under one of the thwarts. + +As soon as it was daylight, anchor was got up, and when the yacht +had sailed for seven or eight miles to the west, the gig was +lowered, and the four black boatmen took their places in her. Frank +took the rudder lines, and Dominique sat near him. The sail was +then hoisted, and as the wind was light, the boatmen got out their +oars and shot ahead of the Osprey, directing their course obliquely +towards the shore. + +It was not necessary to land at the coast villages here, as it was +morally certain that the Phantom had not touched anywhere within +twenty or thirty miles of San Domingo, and she would hardly have +entered any of the narrow rivers at night. Nevertheless, they did +not pass any of these without rowing up them. When some native huts +were reached, Dominique closely questioned the negroes. + +The pilot had, by this time, been informed of the cause of their +search for the Phantom, which had, until they left San Domingo, +been a profound mystery to him. Frank, however, being now fully +convinced both of the negro's trustworthiness, and of his readiness +to do all in his power to assist, thought it as well to confide in +him, and when they were together in the boat, informed him that the +brigantine they were searching for had carried off a young lady and +her maid from England. + +"That man must be a rascal," the negro said, angrily. "What do he +want dat lady for, sar? He love her bery much?" + +"No, Dominique, what he loves is her fortune. She is rich. He has +gambled away a fine property, and wants her money to set him on his +legs again." + +"Bery bad fellow dat," the pilot said, shaking his head earnestly. +"Ought to be hung, dat chap. Dominique do all he can to help you, +sar. Do more now for you and dat young lady. We find him for suah. +You tink there will be any fighting, sar?" + +"I think it likely that he will show fight when we come up with +him, but you see I have a very strong crew, and I have arms for +them all." + +"Dat good. Me wonder often why you have so many men. Nothing for +half of dem to do. Now me understand. Well, sar, if there be any +fighting, you see me fight. You gib me cutlass; me fight like +debil." + +"Thank you, Dominique," Frank said, warmly, though with some +difficulty repressing a smile. "I shall count on you if we have to +use force. As far as I am concerned, I own that I should prefer +that they did resist, for I should like nothing better than to +stand face to face with that villain, each of us armed with a +cutlass." + +"If he know you here, he go up river, get plenty of black men fight +for him. Black fellow bery foolish. Give him little present he +fight." + +"I had not thought of that, Dominique. Yes, if he has made some +creek his headquarters he might, as you say, get the people to take +his side by giving them presents; that is, if he knew that we were +here. However, at present he cannot dream that we are after him, +and if we can but come upon him unawares we shall make short work +of him." + +No news whatever was obtained of the schooner until the headland of +La Catarina was passed, but at the large village of Azua they +learned that she had anchored for a night in the bay five days +before. She had been seen to sail out, and certainly had not turned +into the river Niova. + +Touching at every village and exploring every inlet, Frank +continued his course until, after rounding the bold promontory of +La Beata, he reached the bay at the head of which stands Jaquemel. + +Every two or three days they had communicated with the Osprey and +slept on board her, leaving her at anchor with her sails down until +they had gone some ten miles in advance. She had at times been +obliged to keep at some distance from the shore, owing to the +dangers from rocks and shoals. The pilot on board would have taken +her through, but Frank was unwilling to encounter any risk, unless +absolutely necessary. + +At Jaquemel he learnt that the schooner had put in there a +fortnight before, but neither there nor at any point after leaving +Azua had she been seen since that time. She had sailed west. + +The next night, after looking in at Bainette, some twenty miles +beyond Jaquemel, Frank rejoined the Osprey. + +The gig was hoisted up, and they sailed round the point of Gravois, +the coast intervening being so rocky and dangerous that, although +there was a passage through the shoals to the town of St. Louis, +Frank felt certain that the schooner would not be in there. The +coast from here to Cape Dame Marie was high and precipitous, with +no indentations where a ship could lie concealed, and the voyage +was continued in the yacht as far as this cape. They were now at +the entrance of the great bay of Hayti. + +"I take it as pretty certain," Frank said, as he, George Lechmere, +the skipper, and Dominique bent over the chart; "that the schooner +is somewhere in this bay. She has certainly not made her +headquarters anywhere along the south coast. In the first place, +she has seldom been seen, and in the second we have examined it +thoroughly. Therefore I take it that she is somewhere here, unless, +of course, she has sailed for Cuba. But I don't see why she should +have done that. The coast there is a good deal more dangerous than +that of San Domingo. He could not want a better place for cruising +about than this bay. You see, it is about ninety miles across the +mouth, and over a hundred to Port au Prince, with indentations and +harbours all round, and with the island of Genarve, some forty +miles long, to run behind in the centre. He could get everything he +wants at Port au Prince, or at Petit Gouve, which looks a +good-sized place. + +"I should say, in the first place, that we could not do better than +run down at night to the island of Genarve, and anchor close under +it. From there we shall see him if he comes out of Port au Prince, +or Petit Gouve, whichever side he may take; and by getting on to an +elevated spot have a view of pretty nearly the whole bay. Looking +at it at present, the two most likely spots for him to make his +headquarters are in that very sheltered inlet behind the point of +Halle on the north side, or in the equally sheltered bay and inlet +under the Bec de Marsouin on the south. From Genarve we ought to be +able to see him coming out of either of them. It is not above +five-and-twenty miles from the island to the Bec de Marsouin, and +forty to the point of Halle. We might not see him come out from +there, but we should soon make him out if he were coming down from +Port au Prince." + +It was agreed that this was the best plan to adopt. It might lead +to their sighting the schooner in a day or two, while to row round +the bay and search every inlet in it would take them a fortnight. +From Genarve, too, a forty-mile sail in the gig would take them +into Port au Prince, which the brigantine might possibly have made +its headquarters. Accordingly, after waiting until nightfall, they +got up sail, and anchored at six in the morning in a small bay in +the island of Genarve. Here they would not be likely to attract the +notice of any ship passing up to Port au Prince, unless, which was +very unlikely, one came along close to the shore. + +As soon as the anchor was dropped, both boats rowed to shore. +Frank, George Lechmere, Pedro, and four sailors, with a basket of +provisions, started at once for the highest point in the island, +some four miles distant. Dominique went along the shore with two +sailors, to make inquiries at any villages they came to. + +On reaching the top of the hill, Frank saw that, as he had +expected, it commanded an extensive view over the bay on each side +of the island, which was but some six miles across. A village could +be seen on the northern shore, some three miles distant; and to +this Pedro, with one of the sailors, was at once despatched. Both +parties rejoined Frank soon after midday. The schooner had been +noticed passing the island several times, but much more often on +the southern side than on the northern. The negroes on that side +were all agreed that she generally kept on the southern side of the +passage, and that more than once she had been seen coming from the +south shore, and passing the western point of the island on her way +north. + +"That looks as if she came from Petit Gouve, or the bay of +Mitaquane, or that under the Bec de Marsouin," Frank said. + +"Dat is it, sar," Dominique agreed. "If she want to go north side +of bay from Port au Prince, she would have gone either side of +island. I expect she lie under de Bec. Fine, safe place dat, no +town there, plenty of wood all round, and villages where she get +fruit and vegetables; sure to be little stream where she can get +water." + +The watch was maintained until sunset, but, although a powerful +telescope had been brought up, no vessel at all corresponding to +the appearance of the brigantine was made out. + +At six o'clock the next morning Frank was again at the lookout, and +scarcely had he turned his telescope to the south shore than he saw +the brigantine come out from behind the Bec de Marsouin and head +towards the west. The wind was blowing from that quarter, and after +a few minutes' deliberation, Frank told the men to follow him, and +dashed down the hill. In half an hour he reached the shore opposite +the yacht, and at his shout the dinghy, which was lying at her +stern, at once rowed ashore. + +"Get up the anchor, captain, and make sail. I have seen her. She +has just come out from the Bec, and is making west. As the wind is +against her, it seems to me that he would never choose that +direction to cruise in unless he was starting for Cuba, and I dare +not let the opportunity slip. If he once gets clear away we may +have months of work before we find him again, and as the wind now +is, I am sure that we can overhaul him long before he can make +Cuba. Indeed, as we lie, we are nearer to that coast than he is, +and can certainly cut him off." + +In five minutes the Osprey was under way, with all sail set. The +wind was nearly due west, and as Cuba lay to the north of that +point, she had an advantage that quite counter-balanced that gained +by the start the Phantom had obtained. In two hours the lookout at +the head of the mast shouted down that he could perceive the +brigantine's topsail. + +"She is sailing in towards the land on that side," he said. "She +has evidently made a tack out, and is now on the starboard tack +again." + +"It will be a long leg and a short one with her, sir," the skipper +said. "I think that if we were in her place we could just manage to +lay our course along the coast, but with those square yards of +hers, she cannot go as close to the wind as we can. As it is, we +can lay our course to cut her off." + +"It would be rather a close pinch to do so before she gets to the +head of the bay," Frank said. + +"Yes, sir, and I don't suppose that we shall overhaul her before +that, but we certainly shan't be far behind her by the time she +gets there. I think that we shall cut her off if the wind holds as +it does now. At any rate, if she should get there first, we should +certainly lie between her and Cuba, and she will have either to run +back, or to round the cape, or to run east or south. I wish the +wind would freshen; but I fancy that it is more likely to die away. +Still, she is walking along well at present." + +Even Frank, anxious as he was, could not but feel satisfied as he +looked at the water glancing past her side. She was heeling well +over, and the rustle of water at her bow could be heard where they +were standing near the tiller. Andrews, the best helmsman on board +the yacht, held the tiller rope, and Perry was standing beside him. + +From time to time Frank went up to the crosstrees. + +"We are drawing in upon her fast," he said, "but she is travelling +well, too; much better than I should have thought she would have +done with that rig. I think she has got a better wind than we have. +She has only made one short tack in for the last two hours." + +The captain's prognostication as to the wind was verified, and to +Frank's intense annoyance it gradually died away, and headed them +so much that they could no longer lie their course. + +"What shall we do, sir? Shall we hold across to the south shore and +work along by it, as the schooner is doing, or shall we go about at +once?" + +"Go about at once, Hawkins. You see we can see her topsails from +the deck; and of course she can see ours. I don't suppose she has +paid any attention to us yet, and if we stand away on the other +tack we shall soon drop her altogether; while if we hold on she +will, when we reach that shore, be three or four miles behind us. +Of course, she will have a full view of us." + +They sailed on the port tack for an hour and then came round again. +The brigantine could no longer be seen from the deck, and could +only just be made out from the crosstrees. + +"I think on this tack," the skipper said, as he stood by the +compass after she had gone round, "we shall make the point, and I +think that we shall make it ahead of her." + +"I think so too, Hawkins. What pace is she going now?" + +"Not much more than four knots, sir." + +"My only fear is that we shan't get near her before it is dark." + +"I think that we have plenty of time for that, sir. You see we got +up anchor at half-past six, and it is just twelve o'clock now. +Another five hours should take us up to her if the wind holds at +this." + +By two o'clock the topsails of the brigantine could be again made +out from the deck. She was still working along shore, and was on +their port bow. + +"Another three hours and we shall be alongside of her," the skipper +said; "and if I am not mistaken we shall come out ahead of her." + +"There is one advantage in the course we are taking, Hawkins. +Viewing us, as she will, pretty nearly end on till we get nearly +abreast of her, she won't be able to make out our rig clearly." + +By four o'clock they were within five miles of the brigantine. The +wind then freshened, and laying her course as she did, while the +brigantine was obliged to make frequent tacks, the Osprey ran down +fast towards her. + +"They must have their eyes on us by this time," the captain said. +"Though they cannot be sure that it is the Osprey, they can see +that she is a yawl of over a hundred tons, and as they cannot doubt +that we are chasing them, they won't be long in guessing who we +are. Shall we get the arms up, sir?" + +"Yes, you may as well do so. The muskets can be loaded and laid by +the bulwarks, but they are not to be touched until I give the +order. No doubt they also are armed. I am anxious not to fire a +shot if it can be helped, and once alongside we are strong enough +to overpower them with our cutlasses only. With the five blacks we +are now double their strength, and even Carthew may see the +uselessness of offering any resistance." + +They ran down until they were within a mile of the shore, not being +now more than a beam off the brigantine. Two female figures had +some time before been made out on her deck, but they had now +disappeared. It was evident that the Osprey was being closely +watched by those on board the brigantine. Presently two or three +men were seen to run aft. + +"They are going to tack again, sir. If they do they will come right +out to us." + +Frank made no reply, but stood with his glass fixed on the +brigantine. Suddenly he exclaimed: + +"Round with her, Hawkins!" + +"Up with your helm, Andrews. Hard up, man!" the skipper shouted, as +he himself ran to slack out the main sheet. Four men ran aft to +assist him. + +"That will do," he said, as she fell off fast from the wind. "Now, +then, gather in the main sheet, ready for a jibe. Slack off the +starboard runner; a couple of hands aft and get the square sail out +of the locker. + +"Mr. Purvis, get the yard across her, lower her down ready for the +sail, and see that the braces and guys are all right. + +"Now in with the sheet, lads, handsomely. That will do, that is it. +Over she goes. Slack out the sheet steadily." + +"She is round, too," Frank said, as the boom went off nearly +square. "We have gained, and she is not more than half a mile +away." + +The manoeuvre had, in fact, brought the yachts nearer to each +other. Both had their booms over to starboard. + +"Quick with that square sail," Frank shouted. "She is drawing away +from us fast." + +Two minutes later the square sail was hoisted, and the foot boomed +out on the port side. Every eye was now fixed on the brigantine, +but to their disappointment they saw that she was still, though +very much more slowly, drawing ahead. + +"That is just what I feared," Frank said, in a tone of deep +vexation. "With those big yards I was certain that she would leave +us when running ahead before the wind. However, there is no fear of +our leaving her. What are we doing now? Seven knots?" + +"About that, sir, and she is doing a knot better." + +"What do you think that she will do now, Hawkins?" + +"I don't see what she has got to do, sir. If she were to get five +miles ahead of us, and then haul her wind, she would know that she +could not go away from us, for we should be to windward; and we are +evidently a good bit faster than she is when we are both close +hauled. The only other thing that I can see for her to do is to run +straight on to Port au Prince. At the rate we are going now she +would be in soon after daylight tomorrow. We should be seven or +eight miles astern of her, and he might think that we should not +venture to board her there." + +"I don't think that he would rely on that, Hawkins. Now that he +knows who we are, he will guess that we shall stick at nothing. +What I am afraid of is that he will lower a boat and row Miss +Greendale and her maid ashore. He might do it either there, or, +what would be much more likely, row ashore to some quiet place +during the night, take his friend and two or three of his men with +him, and leave the rest to sail her to Port au Prince." + +"I don't think that the wind is going to hold," the skipper said, +looking astern. "I reckon that it will drop, as it generally does, +at sunset. It is not blowing so hard now as it did just before we +wore round." + +In half an hour, indeed, it fell so light that the Osprey was +standing through the water only at three and a half knots an hour. +The light wind suited the Phantom, with her great sail spread. She +had now increased her lead to a mile and a half, and was evidently +leaving them fast. + +"There is only one thing to be done, George. We must board them in +boats." + +"I am ready, Major; but it will be a rather risky business." + +Frank looked at him in surprise. + +"I don't mean for us, sir," George said, with a smile, "but for +Miss Greendale. You may be sure that those fellows will fight hard, +and as we come up behind we shall get it hot. Now, sir, if anything +happens to you, you must remember that the Osprey will be as good +as useless towards helping her. You as her owner might be able to +justify what we are doing, but if you were gone there would be no +one to take the lead. Carthew would only have to sail into Port au +Prince and denounce us as pirates. I hear from the pilot that these +niggers have got some armed ships, and they might sink us as soon +as we came into the harbour, and then there would be an end to any +chance of Miss Greendale getting her liberty." + +"That is true enough, George, but I think that it must be risked. +Now that he knows we are here, he has nothing to do but to send her +ashore under the charge of his friend and two or three of the +sailors, and take her up into the hills. Or he might go with her +himself, which is perhaps more likely. Then when we came up with +her at Port au Prince the skipper would simply deny that there had +ever been any ladies on board, and would swear that he had only +carried out two gentlemen passengers, as his papers would show, and +might declare that he had landed them at Porto Rico. Of course, +they are certain to fight now, for they can do so without risk, as +they can swear that they took us for a pirate. + +"How many do you think that the gig will carry, Hawkins?" + +"Well, sir, you might put nine in her. You brought ten off at +Southampton; but if you remember, it put her very low in the water, +and we should run a good deal heavier than your party then." + +"Yes, I think that we had better take only nine. If we overload her +she will row so heavily that we shall be a long time overhauling +them." + +"I am not quite sure that we shall overhaul them anyhow, sir. Look +at those clouds coming over the hills. They are travelling fast, +and I should say that we are likely to have a squall. No doubt they +get them here pretty often with such high land all round." + +"Well, we must chance that, Hawkins. If one does come you must pick +us up as we come along. I agree with you; it does look as if we +should have a squall. It may not be anything very serious, but +anyhow, if it comes it will take her along a great deal faster than +we can row. + +"Purvis, I suppose that the dinghy will carry seven?" + +"Yes, she will do that easily." + +"Very well, we can but try; that will give sixteen of us, which is +about their strength. You must remain on board. Purvis shall +command the dinghy; Lechmere will go with me. Pick out thirteen +hands. You and Perry can manage with seven and the five negroes, +but keep a sharp lookout for that squall. Remember that you will +have very short warning. We are only a mile from the shore, and as +it is coming down from the hills you may not see it on the water +until it is quite close to you." + +The boats were lowered, and the men, armed with musket and cutlass, +took their places. Frank and George Lechmere each had a cutlass and +a revolver buckled to the waist. + +"Now give way, lads," Frank said. "She is about two miles ahead of +us, and we ought to overtake her in half an hour." + +It was now getting dusk, the light fading out suddenly as the +clouds spread over the sky. Frank's last orders to the skipper +before leaving were: + +"Edge her in, Hawkins, until you are dead astern of the brigantine. +Then if the squall comes down before we reach her, we shall be +right in your track." + +"I have put a lighted lantern into the stern sheets of each boat, +sir, and have thrown a bit of sail cloth over them, so that if she +leaves you behind, and you hold it up, there won't be any fear of +our missing you." + +The men rowed hard, but the gig had to stop frequently to let the +dinghy come up. They gained, however, fast upon the brig, and in +half an hour were but a few hundred yards astern. Then came a hail +from the brigantine in French: + +"Keep off or we will sink you!" + +No reply was made. They were but two hundred yards away when there +were two bright flashes from the stern of the brigantine, and a +shower of bullets splashed round the boats. There were two or three +cries of pain, and George Lechmere felt Frank give a sudden start. + +"Are you hit, sir?" + +"I have got a bullet in my left shoulder, George, but it is of no +consequence. + +"Row on, lads," he shouted. "We shall be alongside before they have +time to load again. + +"I never thought of their having guns, though," he went on, as the +men recovered from their surprise, and dashed on again with a +cheer. "By the sharp crack they must be brass. I suppose he picked +up a couple of small guns at Ostend, thinking that they might be +useful to him in these waters." + +A splattering fire of musketry now broke out from the brigantine. +They had lessened their distance by half when they saw the +brigantine, without apparent cause, heel over. Farther and farther +she went until her lee rail was under water. + +The firing instantly ceased, and there were loud shouts on board; then, +as she came up into the wind, the square yards were let fall, and the +crew ran up the ratlines to secure the sails. Simultaneously the +foresail came down, then her head payed off again, and she darted +away like an arrow from the boats. + +These, however, had ceased rowing. Frank, as he saw the brigantine +bowing over, had shouted to Purvis to put the boat's head to the +wind, doing the same himself. A few seconds afterwards the squall +struck them with such force that some of the oars were wrenched +from the hands of the men, who were unprepared for the attack. + +"Steady, men, steady!" Frank shouted. "It won't last long. Keep on +rowing, so as to hold the boat where you are, till the yacht comes +along. It won't be many minutes before she is here." + +In little over a quarter of an hour she was seen approaching, and +Frank saw that, in spite of the efforts of the men at the oars, the +boats had been blown some distance to leeward. However, as soon as +the lanterns were held up the Osprey altered her course, and the +captain, taking her still further to leeward, threw her head up to +the wind until they rowed alongside her. + +Frank had by this time learned that one of the men in the bow had +been killed, and that three besides himself had been wounded. Two +were wounded on board the dinghy. + +"So they have got some guns," the skipper said, as they climbed on +deck. "No one hurt, I hope?" + +"There is one killed, I am sorry to say, and five wounded," Frank +replied; "but none of them seriously. I have got a bullet in my +shoulder, but that is of no great consequence. So you got through +it all right?" + +"Yes, sir, it looked so nasty that I got the square-sail off her +and the topsail on deck before it struck us, and as we ran the +foresail down just as it came we were all right, and only just got +the water on deck. It was as well, though, that we were lying +becalmed. As it was, she jumped away directly she felt it. I was +just able to see the brigantine, and it seemed to me that she had a +narrow escape of turning turtle." + +"Yes, they were too much occupied with us to be keeping a sharp +lookout at the sky, and if it had been a little stronger it would +have been a close case with her. Thank God that it was no worse. +Can you make her out still?" + +"Yes, sir, I can see her plainly enough with my glasses." + +In a quarter of an hour the strength of the squall was spent. The +wind then veered round to its former quarter, taking the Osprey +along at the rate of some five knots an hour. + +The wounded were now attended to. George Lechmere found that the +ball had broken Frank's collarbone and gone out behind. Both he and +Frank had had sufficient experience to know what should be done, +and after bathing the wound, and with the assistance of two +sailors, who pulled the arm into its place, George applied some +splints to the broken bone to keep it firm, and then bandaged it +and the arm. + +One of the sailors had a wound in the cheek, the ball in its +passage carrying off part of the ear. One of the men sitting in the +bow had a broken arm, but only one of the others was seriously +hurt. Frank went on deck again as soon as his shoulder was bandaged +and his left arm strapped tightly to his side. + +"I suppose that she is still gaining on us, Hawkins?" + +"Yes, she is dropping us. I reckon she has gone fast, sir, fully +half a knot, though we have got all sail set." + +"There is one comfort," Frank said. "The coast from here as far as +the Bec is so precipitous, that they won't have a chance of putting +the boat ashore until they get past that point, and by the time +they are there daylight will have broken." + + + +Chapter 16. + +The stars were bright, and with the aid of a night glass the +brigantine was kept in sight; the sailors relieving each other at +the masthead every half hour. Frank would have stayed on deck all +night, had not George Lechmere persuaded him to go below. + +"Look here, Major," he said. "It is like enough that we may have a +stiff bit of fighting tomorrow. Now we know that those fellows have +guns, though they may be but two or three pounders, and it is clear +that it is not going to be altogether such a one-sided job as we +looked for. You have had a long day already, sir. You have got an +ugly wound, and if you don't lie down and keep yourself quiet, you +won't be fit to do your share in any fighting tomorrow; and I +reckon that you would like to be in the front of this skirmish. You +know in India wounds inflamed very soon if one did not keep quiet +with them, and I expect that it is just the same here. + +"It is not as if you could do any good on deck. The men are just as +anxious to catch that brigantine as you are. They were hot enough +before, but now that one of their mates has been killed, and five +or six wounded, I believe that they would go round the world rather +than let her slip through their hands. I shall be up and down all +night, Major, and the captain and both mates will be up, too, and I +promise that we will let you know if there is anything to tell +you." + +"Well, I will lie down, George, but I know that I shall get no +sleep. Still, perhaps, it will be better for me to keep my arm +quite quiet." + +He was already without his coat, for that had been cut from the +neck down to the wrist, to enable George to get at the wound. He +kicked off his light canvas shoes, and George helped him to lie +down in his berth. + +"You will be sure to let me know if she changes her course or +anything?" + +"I promise you that I will come straight down, Major." + +Three quarters of an hour later, George stole noiselessly down and +peeped into the stateroom. He had turned down the swinging lamp +before he went up, but there was enough light to enable him to see +that his master had fallen off to sleep. He took the news up to +Hawkins, who at once gave orders that no noise whatever was to be +made. The men still moved about the deck, but all went barefooted. + +"The wind keeps just the same," Hawkins said. "I can't make it more +than three and a half knots through the water. I would give a +year's pay if it would go round dead ahead of us; we should soon +pick her up then. As it is, she keeps crawling away. However, we +can make her out, on such a night as this, a good deal further than +she is likely to get before morning. Besides, we shall be having +the moon up soon, and as we are steering pretty nearly east, it +will show her up famously. + +"Now I will give you the same advice that you gave the governor. +You had much better lie down for a bit. Purvis has gone down for a +sleep, Perry will go down when he comes up at twelve, and I shall +get an hour or two myself later on." + +"I won't go down," George said, "but I will bring a couple of +blankets up and lie down aft. I promised the Major that I would let +him know if there was any change in the wind, or in the +brigantine's course, so wake me directly there is anything to tell +him. I have put his bell within reach. I have no doubt I shall hear +it through that open skylight if he rings; but if not, wake me at +once." + +"All right. Trust us for that." + +Twice during the night George got up and went below. The first time +Frank had not moved. The second he found that the tumbler of lime +juice and water, on the table at the side of the bunk, was nearly +half emptied; and that his master had again gone off to sleep and +was breathing quietly and regularly. + +"He is going on all right," he said to Hawkins, when he went up. +"There is no fever yet, anyhow, for he has drunk only half that +glass of lime juice. If he had been feverish he would not have +stopped until he had got to the bottom of it." + +When George next woke, the morning was breaking. + +"Anything new?" he asked Purvis, who was now at the tiller. + +"Nothing whatever. The governor has not rung his bell. The wind is +just as it was, neither better nor worse, and the brigantine is +eight miles ahead of us." + +George went forward to have a look at her. + +"I think I had better wake him," he said to himself. "He will have +had nine hours of it, and he won't like it if I don't let him know +that it is daylight. I will get two or three fresh limes squeezed, +and then go in to him." + +This time Frank opened his eyes as he entered. + +"Morning is breaking, Major, and everything is as it was. I hope +that you are feeling better for your sleep. Let me help you up. +Here is a tumbler of fresh lime juice." + +"I feel right enough, George. I can scarcely believe that it is +morning. How I have slept--and I fancied that I should not have +gone off at all." + +Drinking off the lime juice, Frank at once followed Lechmere on +deck, and after a word or two with Purvis hurried forward. + +"She is a long way ahead," he said, with a tone of disappointment. + +"The mate reckoned it between seven and eight miles, Major." + +"How far is she from the Bec?" + +"I don't know, sir. I did not ask Purvis." + +Frank went aft and repeated the question. + +"I fancy that that is the Bec, the furthermost point that we can +see," Purvis said, "and I reckon that she is about halfway to it." + +"Keep her a point or two out, Purvis. The line of shore is pretty +straight beyond that, and I want of all things not to lose sight of +her for a moment. I would give a good deal to know what she is +going to do. I cannot think that she is going to try to go round +the southeast point of the island, for if she were she would have +laid her head that way before." + +The Osprey edged out until they opened the line of coast beyond the +headland, and then kept her course again. There was a trifle more +wind as the sun rose higher, and the yacht went fully a knot faster +through the water. In less than two hours the brigantine was +abreast of the headland. Presently Frank exclaimed: + +"She is hauling in her wind." + +"That she is, sir," Hawkins, who had just come on deck, exclaimed. +"She surely cannot be going to run into the bay." + +"She can be going to do nothing else," Frank said. "What on earth +does she mean by it? No doubt that scoundrel is going to land with +Miss Greendale, but why should he leave the Phantom at our mercy, +when he could have sent her on to Port au Prince?" + +"I cannot think what he is doing, sir; but he must have some game +on, or he would never act like that." + +"Of course, he may have arranged to go with the lady to some place +up in the hills; but why should he sacrifice the yacht?" + +"It is a rum start anyhow, and I cannot make head or tail of it. Of +course you will capture her, sir?" + +"I don't know, Hawkins. It is one thing to attack her when she has +Miss Greendale on board, but if she has gone ashore it would be +very like an act of piracy." + +"Yes, sir. But then, you see, they fired into our boat, and killed +one of our men, and wounded you and four or five others." + +"That is right enough, Hawkins, but we cannot deny that they did it +in self defence. Of course, we know that they must have recognised +us, and knew what our errand was, but her captain and crew would be +ready to swear that they didn't, and that they were convinced by +our actions that we were pirates. At any rate, you may be sure that +the blacks would retain both craft, and that we should be held +prisoners for some considerable time, while Miss Greendale would be +a captive in the hands of Carthew. I should attack the brigantine +if I knew her to be on board, and should be justified in doing so, +even if it cost a dozen lives to capture her; but I don't think I +should be justified in risking a single life in attacking the +brigantine if she were not on board. To do so would, in the first +place, be a distinct act of piracy; and in the second, if we got +possession of the brigantine we should have gained nothing by it." + +"We might burn her, sir." + +"Yes, we might, and run the risk of being hung for it. We might +take her into Port au Prince, but we have no absolute evidence +against her. We could not swear that we had positive knowledge that +Miss Greendale was on board, and certain as I am that the female +figures I made out on the deck were she and her maid, they were +very much too far away to recognise them, and the skipper might +swear that they were two negresses to whom he was giving a passage. + +"Moreover, if I took the brigantine I should only cut off Carthew's +escape in that direction. His power over Miss Greendale would be +just as great, if he had her up among those mountains among the +blacks, as it was when he had her on board. I can see that I have +made a horrible mess of the whole business, and that is the only +thing that I can see. Yesterday I thought it was the best thing to +start on a direct chase, as it seemed absolutely certain to me that +we should overhaul and capture her. Now I see that it was the worst +thing I could have done, and that I ought to have waited until I +could take her in the bay." + +"But you see, Major," said George Lechmere, who was standing by, +"if we had gone on searching with the boat, before we had made an +examination of the whole bay, there would be no knowing where she +had gone, and it might have been months before we could have got +fairly on her track again." + +"No, we acted for the best; but things have turned out badly, and I +feel more hopelessly at sea, as to what we had better do next, than +I have done since the day I got to Ostend. At any rate, there is +nothing to be done until we have got a fair sight of the +brigantine." + +It seemed, to all on board, that the Osprey had never sailed so +sluggishly as she did for the next hour and a half. As they +expected, no craft was to be seen on the waters of the bay as they +rounded the point, but Dominique and the other pilot had been +closely questioned, and both asserted that at the upper end of the +bay there was a branch that curved round "like dat, sar," the +latter said, half closing his little finger. + +Progress up the bay was so slow that the boats were lowered, and +the yacht was towed to the mouth of the curved branch. Here they +were completely landlocked, and the breeze died away altogether. + +"How long is this bend, Jake?" Frank asked the second pilot in +French. + +"Two miles, sir; perhaps two miles and a half." + +"Deep water everywhere?" + +"Plenty of water; can anchor close to shore. Country boats run in +here very often if bad weather comes on. Foreign ships never come +here. They always run on to the town." + +"You told us that there were a few huts at the end." + +"Yes, sir. There is a village there, two others near." + +The crew had all armed themselves, and the muskets were again +placed ready for use. + +"You had better go round, Hawkins," Frank said, "and tell them that +on no account is a shot to be fired unless I give orders. Tell the +men that I am just as anxious to fight as they are, and that if +they give us a shadow of excuse we will board them." + +"I went round among the men half an hour ago, sir, and told them +how the land lay, and Lechmere has been doing the same. They all +want to fight, but I have made them see that it might be a very +awkward business for us all." + +The men in the boats were told to take it easy, and it was the best +part of an hour before they saw, on turning the last bend, the +brigantine lying at anchor a little more than a quarter of a mile +away. + +"She looks full of men," Frank exclaimed, as turned his glasses +upon her. + +"Yes, sir," said the captain, who was using a powerful telescope, +"they are blacks. There must be fifty of them beside the crew, and +as far as I can see most of them are armed." + +"That explains why he came in here, Hawkins. They have been using +this place for the last three weeks, and no doubt have made good +friends with the negroes. I dare say Carthew has spent his money +freely on them. + +"Well, this settles it. We would attack them at sea without +hesitation, however many blacks there might be on board, but to do +so now would be the height of folly. Five of our men are certainly +not fit for fighting, so that their strength in whites is nearly +equal to ours. They have got those two little cannon, which would +probably reduce our number a bit before we got alongside, and with +fifty blacks to help them it is very doubtful whether we should be +able to take them by boarding. Certainly we could not do so without +very heavy loss. + +"We will anchor about two hundred and fifty yards outside her. As +long as she lies quiet there we will leave her alone. If she tries +to make off we will board her at once. Anchor with the kedge; that +will hold her here. Have a buoy on the cable and have it ready to +slip at a moment's notice, and the sails all ready to hoist." + +"Easy rowing," the captain called to the men in the boats, "and +come alongside. We have plenty of way on her to take up a berth." + +In two or three minutes the anchor was dropped and the sails +lowered. + +"Now I will row across to her," Frank said, "and tell them that I +don't want to attack them, but I am determined to search their +craft." + +"No, Major," George Lechmere said, firmly. "We are not going to let +you throw away your life, and you have no right to do it--at any +rate not until after Miss Greendale is rescued. You may be sure of +one thing: that Carthew has left orders before going on shore that +you are to be shot if you come within range. He will know that if +you are killed there will be an end of the trouble. I will go +myself, sir." + +Frank made no answer for a minute or two. Then he said: + +"In that case you would be shot instead of me. If Carthew is on +shore, as I feel sure he is, the others won't know you from me. I +agree with you that I cannot afford to risk my life just now, and +yet we must search that brigantine." + +"Me go, sar," Dominique, who was standing by, said suddenly. "Me +take two black fellows in dinghy. Dey no fire at us. Me go dere, +tell captain dat you no want to have to kill him and all his crew, +but dat you got to search dat craft. If he let search be made, den +no harm come of it. If he say no, den we take yacht alongside and +kill every man jack. Say dat white sailors all furious, because dey +fire at us yesterday, and want bad to have fight." + +"Very well, Dominique. It can do no harm anyhow, and as I feel sure +that the lady has been taken ashore, I don't see why they should +refuse." + +Accordingly, Dominique called to two of the negro boatmen to get +into the dinghy, and took his seat in the stern. When the boat was +halfway between the two vessels there was a hail in French: + +"What do you want? If you come nearer we will fire." + +"What want to fire for?" Dominique shouted back. "Me pilot, me no +capture ship, single handed. Me want to speak to captain." + +It was evident the answer was understood, for no reply came for a +minute or two. + +"Well, come along then." + +The words could be heard perfectly on board the yacht. + +"The skipper talks English, George. I thought that he would do so. +Carthew was sure to have shipped someone who could understand him. +I don't suppose his French is any better than mine." + +The dinghy was rowed to within ten yards of the brigantine. + +"Now, what message have you brought me from that pirate?" + +"Him no pirate at all. You know dat bery well, massa captain. Dat +English yacht; anyone see dat with half an eye. De gentleman there +says you have a lady on board dat has been carried off." + +"Then he is a liar!" the Belgian said. "There is no woman on board +at all!" + +"Well, sar, dat am a matter ob opinion. English gentleman tink dat +you hab. You say no. Dat prove bery easy. De gentleman say he wants +to search ship. If as you say, she is no here, den ob course no +reason for you to say no to dat. If on de other hand you say no, +den he quite sure he right, and he come and search whether you like +it or no. Den der big fight. Bery strong crew on board dat yacht. +Plenty guns, men all bery savage, cause you kill one of der fellows +last night. Dey want to fight bad, and if dey come dey kill many. +What de use of dat, sar? Why say won't let search if lady not here? +Nothing to fight about. But if you not let us see she not here, den +we board de ship, and when we take her we burn her." + +The Belgian stood for two or three minutes without answering. They +had seen that there were two or three and twenty men on board the +Osprey, and they were by no means sure that this was the entire +number. There were three blacks, and there might be a number of +them lying down behind the bulwarks or kept below. The issue of a +fight seemed to him doubtful. He was by no means sure that his men +would fight hard in a cause in which they had no personal interest; +and as for the blacks, they would not count for much in a +hand-to-hand fight with English sailors. + +He had received no orders as to what to do in such a contingency. +Presently he turned to three of his men and said in French: + +"Go to that stern cabin, and see that there is nothing about that +would show that it has been occupied. They have asked to search us. +Let them come and find nothing. Things will go quietly. If not, +they say they will attack us and kill every man on board and burn +the ship, and as we do not know how many men they may have on +board, and as they can do us no harm by looking round, if there is +nothing for them to find, we had best let them do it. But mind, the +orders hold good. If the owner of that troublesome craft comes +alongside, you are to pour in a volley and kill him and the sailors +with him. That will make so many less to fight if it comes to +fighting. But the owner tells me that if he is once killed there +will be an end of it." + +He then went to the side, and said to Dominique: + +"There is nothing for you to find here. We are an honest trader, +and there is nothing worth a pirate's stealing. But in order to +show you that I am speaking the truth, I have no objection to two +hands coming on board and going through her. We have nothing to +hide." + +Dominique rowed back to the yacht. + +"Dey will let her be searched, sar." + +"I thought they would," Frank said; "and of course that is a sign +that there is no one there." + +"I will go, sir," the skipper said, "as we agreed. He would give +anything to get rid of you, and you might be met with a volley when +you came alongside. And now there ain't no use in running risks. If +they have been told what you are like, they cannot mistake me for +you. You are pretty near a foot taller, and you are better than ten +years younger, and I haven't any hair on my face. I will go through +her. I am sure the lady ain't there, or they would not let me. +Still, I will make sure. There are no hiding places in a yacht +where anyone could be stowed away, and of course she is, like us, +chock full of ballast up to the floor. I shan't be many minutes +about it, sir. Dominique may as well go with me. He can stay on +deck while I go below, and may pick up something from the black +fellows there." + +"You may as well take him, Hawkins; but you may be very sure that +they won't give him a chance to speak to anyone." + +The captain stepped into the boat and was rowed to the yacht. He +and Dominique stepped on to the deck and were lost sight of among +the blacks. In ten minutes they appeared at the gangway again, and +stepped into their boat. Another minute and she was alongside the +Osprey. + +"Of course, you found nothing, Hawkins." + +"Nothing whatever, sir. Anything the lady may have left behind had +been stowed away in lockers. I looked about to see if I could sight +a bit of ribbon or some other woman's fal-lal, but they had gone +ever it carefully. Two of the other state cabins had been occupied. +There were men's clothes hanging there. Of course, I looked into +every cupboard where as much as a child could have been stowed +away, and looked round the forecastle. Anyhow, there is no woman +there now. + +"Dominique had to go round with me. The captain evidently did not +want to give him a chance of speaking to anyone. The mate and two +of the sailors posted themselves at the gangway, so that the two +blacks should not be able to talk to the niggers on board. And now, +sir, what is to be done next?" + +"We will go below and talk it over, captain. + +"You come down, too, George. Yes, and Dominique. He may be useful. + +"Now, Hawkins," he went on, when they had taken their seats at the +table, "of course, I have been thinking it over all the morning, +and I have come to the conclusion that our only chance now is to +fight them with their own weapons. As long as we lie here there is +no chance whatever of Miss Greendale being brought on board again, +so the chase now has got to be carried on on land. If we go to work +the right way, there is no reason why we should not be able to +trace her. I propose to take Lechmere and Dominique and the four +black boatmen. If we stain our faces a little, and put on a pair of +duck trousers, white shirts, red sashes, and these broad straw hats +I bought at San Domingo, we shall look just like the half-caste +planters we saw in the streets there. I should take Pedro, too, but +you will want him to translate anything you have to say to Jake. + +"I propose that as soon as it is dark tonight we muffle the oars of +the dinghy, and row away and land lower down, say a mile or so; and +then make off up into the hills before tomorrow morning. Dominique +will try to find out something by inquiring at some of the huts of +the blacks. They are not likely to know, but if he offers them a +handsome reward to obtain news for him, they will go down to the +villages and ferret out something. The people there would not be +likely to know where they have been taken, but they would be able +to point out the direction in which they went on starting. Then we +could follow that up, and inquire again. + +"We might take a couple of the villagers with us. Belonging here, +they would have more chance of getting news from other blacks than +strangers would have." + +"Don't you think, sir, that it would be as well to have four or +five men with you?" Hawkins said. "There is no doubt this fellow +that you are after is a desperate chap, and he may have got a +strong body of these blacks as a guard. He might suspect that, +after having pursued him all this way, you might try to follow him +on land. You could put the men in hiding somewhere every day while +you were making inquiries, and they would be mighty handy if it +came to fighting, which it seems to me it is pretty sure to do +before you see the lady off." + +"Well, perhaps it would be best, Hawkins; and, as you say, by +keeping them hid all day I don't see that they could increase our +difficulties. But then, you see, you will want all your hands here; +for if the brigantine sails, whether by night or day, you are to +sail too, and to keep close to her wherever she goes. It is not +likely that Carthew and Miss Greendale will be on board, but he may +very well send orders down to the brigantine to get up the anchor. +He would know that we should stick to her, as Miss Greendale might +have been taken on board again at night. In that way he would get +rid of us from here, and would calculate that we should get tired +of following the brigantine in time, or that she would be able to +give us the slip, and would then make for some place where he could +join her again. So my orders to you will be to stick to her, but +not to interfere with her in any way, unless, by any chance, you +should discover that Miss Greendale is really on board. In that +case I authorise you to board and capture her. They won't have the +blacks on board, and as the wounded are going on all right, and +three of them, anyhow, will be able to lend a hand in a couple of +days, you will be a match for them; especially as they will soon +make up their minds that you don't mean to attack them, and you +will get a chance of running alongside and taking them by +surprise." + +"Well, sir, I think that we can do that with four hands less than +we have now. You see, there are nineteen and the two mates and +myself. Say two of the wounded won't be able to lend a hand, that +makes us twenty, to say nothing of Jake and Pedro. So, even if you +took four hands, we should be pretty even in numbers; and if our +men could not each whip two Belgians, they had better give up the +sea." + +"Yes, I have no doubt that they could do that, and were it not for +Carthew and his friend I would not hesitate to take eight men. I +don't know about the other, but you may be sure that Carthew will +fight hard. He is playing a desperate game. Still, I think that I +might take four, especially as I think the chance of Miss +Greendale's being brought on board, until he believes that we have +left these waters, is very small. + +"Very well, then, that is settled. The five blacks, Lechmere and +myself, and four of the sailors, will make a strong party. Serve +muskets and cutlasses out to the blacks; and the same, with a brace +of pistols, to each of the hands that go with us. While we are away +let two of the men dress up in my white duck shirts and jackets, +and in white straw hats. Let them always keep aft, and sit about in +the deck chairs, and always go down below by the main companion. +That will make them think that I am still on board; while if there +is no one on the deck aft they will soon guess that we have landed. + +"You understand all that we have been saying, Dominique?" + +"Me understand, sar, and tink him bery good plan. Me suah to find +out which way dat rascal hab gone. Plenty of black fellows glad to +earn two dollar to guide us. Dey no money here. Two dollars big sum +to them." + +"All right, Dominique, but we won't stick at two dollars. If it +were necessary I would pay two hundred cheerfully for news." + +"We find dem widout dat," the black said, confidently. "Not good +offer too much. If black man offered two dollars he bery glad. If +offered twenty he begin to say to himself, 'Dis bery good affair; +perhaps someone else give forty.'" + +"There is something in that, Dominique. Anyhow I shall leave that +part of the business to you. As a rule, I shall keep in hiding with +the boatmen and sailors all day. I shall be no good for asking +questions, for I don't know much French, and the dialect the +negroes of these islands speak is beyond me altogether. I cannot +understand the boatmen at all." + +"Black men here bad, sar; not like dem in de other islands. Here +dey tink themselves better than white men; bery ignorant fellows, +sar. Most of dem lost religion, and go back to fetish. Bery bad +dat. All sorts of bad things in dat affair. Kill children and women +to make fetish. Bad people, sar, and dey are worse here than at San +Domingo." + +There was nothing to do all day, but to sit on deck and watch the +brigantine. Most of the blacks had been landed, and only three or +four sailors remained on watch on deck. Frank and George Lechmere, +in their broad straw hats, sat and smoked in the deck chairs; the +former's eyes wandering over the mountains as if in search of +something that might point out Bertha's hiding place. The hills +were for the most part covered with trees, with here and there a +little clearing and a patch of cultivated ground, with two or three +huts in the centre. With the glasses solitary huts could be seen, +half hidden by trees, here and there; and an occasional little +wreath of light smoke curling up showed that there were others +entirely hidden in the forest. + +"Don't you think, Major," George Lechmere said after a long pause, +"that it would be a good thing to have the gig every night at some +point agreed on, such as the spot where we land? You see, sir, +there is no saying what may happen. We may have to make a running +fight of it, and it would be very handy to have the boat to fall +back upon." + +"Yes, I think that a good idea, George. I will tell Hawkins to send +it ashore, say at ten o'clock every night. There is no chance +whatever of our being down before that. They are sure to have taken +her a long distance up the hills; and though, of course, one cannot +say at present, it is pretty certain that we shall have to attack +after dark. + +"It is important that we should land where there is some sort of a +path. I noticed one or two such places as we came along. We may as +well get into the dinghy and row down and choose a spot now. Of +course, they will be watching from the brigantine, but when they +see the same number that went come back again, they will suppose +that we have only gone for a row, or perhaps to get a shot at +anything we come across. We may as well take a couple of guns with +us." + +A mile down the inlet they came upon just the spot they were +searching for. The shore was level for a few yards from the water's +edge, and from here there was a well-marked path going up the slope +behind. + +"We will fix upon this spot, George. It will be easy for the boats +to find it in the dark, from that big tree close to the water's +edge. Now we will paddle about for half an hour before we go back." + +An hour later they returned to the yacht, and George began at once +to make arrangements for the landing. + + + +Chapter 17. + +"I Should keep watch and watch regularly, Hawkins. I do not say +that it is likely, but it is quite possible that they may make an +attempt to surprise us, cut all our throats, and then sink the +Osprey. He might attack with his boats, and with a lot of native +craft. At any rate, it is worth while keeping half the crew always +on deck. Be sure and light the cabin as usual. They would suspect +that I was away if they did not see the saloon skylights lit up. + +"There is no saying when I may be back. It may be three nights, it +may be six, or, for all that I know, it may be longer than that. +You may be sure that if I get a clue I shall follow it up wherever +it leads me." + +The strictest silence was maintained among the men. The two men at +the oars were told to row very slowly, and above all things to +avoid splashing. The boat was exceedingly low in the water, much +too low for safety except in perfectly calm water; as, including +the two men at the oars, there were thirteen on board. + +Frank had thought it, however, inadvisable to take the dinghy also, +for this was lying behind the stern, and it might have been noticed +had they pulled her up to the gangway. The gig had been purposely +left on the side hidden from the brigantine, and as they rowed away +pains were taken to keep the yacht in a line with her. They held on +this course, indeed, until they were close in to the shore, and +then kept in under its shelter until the curve hid them altogether. + +"Be very careful as you row back, lads, and go very slowly. A +ripple on this smooth water might very well be noticed by them, +even if they could not make out a boat." + +"Ay, ay, sir, we will be careful." + +They had brought a lantern with them, covered with canvas, except +for a few inches in front. + +"Me take him, sar, and go first," Dominique said. "Den if we meet +anyone you all stop quiet, and me go on and talk with them." + +Frank followed Dominique, George keeping beside him where there was +room for two to walk abreast, at other times falling just behind. +Then came the sailors, and the four black boatmen were in the rear. +They had been told that, in case they were halted, and heard +Dominique in conversation, they were to pass quietly through the +others, and be ready to join him and help him if necessary. With +the exception of Dominique, Frank and George Lechmere, all carried +muskets. The pilot declined to take one. + +"Me neber fired off gun in my life, sar. Me more afraid of gun than +of dose rascals. Dominique fight with um sword; dat plenty good for +him." + +The path mounted the hill until they were, as Frank thought, some +three hundred feet above the water. Here the ground was cultivated, +and after walking for ten minutes they saw two or three lights in +front. + +"You stop here, sar," Dominique said, handing the lantern to Frank. +"Me go on and see how best get round de village. Must not be seen +here. If native boat come in at night suah to go up to end ob +water, and land at village dere." + +The negro soon returned, and said that the cultivated land extended +on both sides of the village, and there was no difficulty in +crossing it. The village was passed quietly, and when it was once +well behind them they came down upon the path again, which was much +larger and better marked than it had been before. After following +it for half a mile, they came upon a road, which led obliquely up +from the water, and ran somewhat inland. + +"This is no doubt the road from the village at the head of the arm +of the bay. They have probably come along here, though they may +have turned more directly into the hills. That is the first point +to find out, Dominique." + +"Yes, sar, next village we see me go in wid two ob de boatmen and +ask a few questions." + +Following the path along for another few hundred yards, they saw a +road ahead of them. Here they halted, and two of the blacks handed +over their muskets and cutlasses to the care of the sailors. +Dominique also left his cutlass behind him, and as he went on gave +instructions to his two companions. + +"Now look here," he said in negro French, "don't you say much. I +will do the talking, but just say a word or two if they ask +questions. Mind we three belong to the brigantine. I am the pilot. +The captain has given me a message to send to his friends who have +gone up into the hills. He asked me to take it, but I am not sure +about the way. I am ready to pay well for a guide. I expect that +they will say that the ladies came along, but that they do not know +how they went afterwards. Then we ask him to come as guide, and +promise to pay him very well." + +By this time they were close to the hut, which, as Dominique +assured himself before knocking at the door, stood alone. There was +an old man and woman inside, and a boy of about seventeen. +Dominique took off his hat as he entered, and said in French: + +"Excuse me for disturbing you so late. I am the pilot of a vessel +now in the bay, and have been sent by the captain to carry an +important message to a gentleman who landed with another and two +ladies and some armed men. He did not give me sufficient directions +to find him, and I thought that if they passed along here you might +be able to put me in the way." + +"They came along here between eleven and twelve, I think. We saw +them," the old man said, "and we heard afterwards that the ladies +were being taken away because the ship was, they thought, going to +be attacked by a pirate that had followed them. The people from the +villages went to help fight, for the gentleman had bought many +things and had paid well for them, and each man was promised a +dollar if there was no fighting, and four dollars if they helped +beat off the pirate." + +"Yes, that was so," Dominique said, "but it seems that it was a +mistake. Still we had cause for alarm, for the other vessel +followed us strangely. However, it is all explained now, and I have +been sent with this message, because the captain thought that if he +sent a white sailor they would not give him the information." + +"Do you know, Sebastian?" the old man asked his son. + +"Yes, they turned off to the right two miles further on." + +"Look here, boy," Dominique said, "we were promised twenty dollars +if we took the message straight. Now, if you will go with us and +find out, we will give you five of them. As we are strangers to the +people here, they might not answer our questions; but if you go and +say that you have to carry the message, no doubt they will tell you +which way they have gone." + +The lad jumped up. + +"I will go with you," he said; "but perhaps when we get there you +will not give me the money." + +"Look here," Dominique said, taking three dollars from his pocket. +"I will leave these with your father, and will hand you the other +two as soon as we get within sight of the place where they are." + +The lad was quite satisfied. Five dollars was more than he could +earn by two months' work. As soon as they went out, Dominique +whispered to one of the boatmen to go back and tell Frank what had +taken place, and to beg him to follow at some distance behind. +Whenever they took a fresh turning, one of the boatmen would always +be left until he came up. + +Frank had some difficulty in understanding the boatman's French, +and it was rather by his gestures than his words that he gathered +his meaning. As soon as the message was given the negro hurried on +until he overtook Dominique. + +"I am sorry now that we did not bring Pedro," Frank said. "However, +I think we made out what he had to say. Dominique has got someone +to go with him to do the questioning, as he arranged with me; and +he will leave one or other of the men every time he turns off from +the road he is following. That will be a very good arrangement. So +far we have been most fortunate. We know now that we are following +them, and it will be hard if we don't manage to keep the clue now +that we have once got hold of it." + +When they came to the road that branched off to the right, the +other boatman was waiting. He pointed up the road and then ran on +silently ahead. No fresh turn was made for a long distance. Twice +they were stopped by one of the blacks, who managed to inform them +that Dominique and the guide were making inquiries at a hut ahead. + +The road had now become a mere track, and was continually mounting. +Other tracks had branched off, leading, Frank supposed, to small +hill villages. After going some ten miles, the lad told Dominique +that it was useless for him to go further, for that there were no +more huts near the track. Beyond the fact that the two women were +on horseback when they passed the last hut, nothing was learned +there. + +"It is of no use to go further," the guide said. "There are no +houses near here to inquire at, and there are three or four more +paths that turn off from here. We must stop until morning, and then +I will go on alone and make inquiries of shepherds and cottagers; +but, you see, I thought that we should find them tonight. If I work +all day tomorrow, I shall expect three more dollars." + +"You shall have them," Dominique said. "Here is my blanket. I will +share one with one of my boatmen." + +The lad at once lay down and pulled the blanket over his head. As +soon as he did so, Dominique motioned to the two boatmen to do the +same, and then went back along the track until he met Frank's +party. As the hills were for the most part covered with trees +almost up to their summits, Frank and his party had only to turn a +short distance off from the path, on receiving Dominique's news +that the guide had stopped. + +"It is half past one," Frank said, holding the lantern, which the +pilot had left with them, to his watch. "We shall get four hours' +sleep. You had better serve a tot of grog all round, George. It +will keep out the damp night air." + +One of the blacks was carrying a basket, and each of the men had +brought a water bottle and pannikin. + +"Put some water in it, lads," Frank said, "and it would be a good +thing to eat a bit of biscuit with it." + +Dominique had told Frank that the guide had made some remark about +the two blacks dropping behind so often, and the latter took out +his handkerchief, tore it into eight pieces, and gave it to him. + +"Wherever you turn off, Dominique, drop one of these pieces on the +path. That will be quite sufficient." + +"Yes, sar; but you see we don't know when we start up path whether +it be right path or no. We go up one, if find dat hit not de one +dey go, den come back again and try anoder. What we to do?" + +After thinking for some little time, Frank suggested that +Dominique's best way would be to tell the guide that he was +footsore, and that as several paths would have to be searched, he +and one of the men would sit down there. The other would accompany +the boy, and bring down word when the right path had been +discovered. + +As soon as it became light Frank, without rousing the men, went out +into the path and moved cautiously up it. He had but just started +when he saw Dominique coming towards him. + +"All right, sar. Boy gone on; he hunt about. When he find he send +Sam back to fetch me. De oder stay with him." + +"Oh, you have sent both with him." + +"Yes, sar, me thought it better. If only one man go, when he come +back, boy could talk to people. Perhaps talk too much, so sent both +men." + +"That was the best plan, no doubt," Frank agreed. "I will join the +men, and remain there until you come for me." + +"Dat best thing, sar. People might come along, better dey not see +you." + +It was twelve o'clock before Dominique joined the waiting group in +the wood. + +"They have been a long time finding the track, Dominique." + +"Yes, sar, bery long time. Dey try four tracks, all wrong. Den dey +try 'nother. Sam say boy tell him try that last, because bad track; +lead ober hills, to place where Obi man live. Black fellow no like +to go there. Bad men there; steal children away, make sacrifice to +fetish. All people here believe that Obi man bery strong. Dey send +presents to him to make rain or to kill enemy, but dey no like go +near him demselves. Dere was a hut a little up dat road. Party went +by dere yesterday. No more houses on road. Sam say boy wait dere +till he bring me back to him; den go home. Not like to go further; +say can't miss way dat path. Leads straight to Obi man's place. +Fetish on road strike people dead dat go dar without leab ob Obi +man." + +"That will suit us well altogether," Frank said. "How far is it to +where the guide is?" + +"One and a half hours' walk." + +"Then we will be off at once." + +All were glad to be on the move again, and in spite of the heat +they proceeded at a rapid pace, until the boatman, Sam, said that +they were close to the spot where he had left his companions with +the guide. The rest then entered the wood, and Dominique went on +with the boatman. + +Ten minutes later a young negro came down the path. They had no +doubt that it was the guide. Dominique arrived two or three minutes +later. + +"I suppose that was the guide that went down," Frank said, as he +stepped out. + +"Dat him, sar," he said. "Quite sure path go to Obi man's place. It +was miles away in centre of hills. I pretend want him to go on. He +said no go for thousand dollars. So me pay him his money, and he go +back. He tell me no use hunt for friends if Obi man hab not giben +dem leab to go and see him. Den the fetish change dem all into +snakes. If he gib leab and not know dat me and oder two men were +friends, den de fetish change us into snakes." + +"Well, there is one comfort, Dominique, we shall be able to march +boldly along without being afraid of meeting anyone." + +"Yes, sar. Sam be a little frightened, but not much. Not believe +much in San Domingo about fetish. Dey better dan dese Hayti people. +Still Sam not like it." + +"I suppose you told him that he was a fool, Dominique?" + +"Yes, sar. Me tell him, too, dat white man tink nothing ob Obi man. +Hang him by neck if he tries fetish against dem." + +Having picked up Sam, they proceeded at a brisk pace along the +path, Frank leading the way with George Lechmere. + +"You see," he said, "Carthew must have been uneasy in his mind all +along. I have no doubt that directly he put into the bay, and +decided to make this his headquarters, he set about preparing some +place where he could carry them off to, and where there would be +very little chance of their being traced. Down at the village by +the water he heard of this Obi man. He has evidently great power in +this part of the island. These fellows are all great rascals, and +Carthew may have either gone or sent to him, and made arrangements +that he and a party should if necessary be allowed to establish a +camp in the valley where this fellow lives; of course, promising +him a handsome present. He could have chosen no safer place. +Following hard as we have done on his track, we have obtained a +clue; but it is not probable that any of the natives whom Dominique +has questioned has the smallest idea that the party were going +towards this fetish man's place. In fact, the only man that could +know it was the negro at that last hut, and you may be sure that +were he questioned by any searching party he would not dare to give +any information that might excite the anger of this man. + +"It is likely enough that this fellow has a gang of men with him, +bound to him partly by interest and partly by superstitious fears. +We shall probably have to reckon with these fellows in addition to +Carthew's own force. He seems to have taken ten or twelve of the +blacks from the village with him. They would have no fear of going +when he told them that he was under the special protection of the +fetish man. Then, you see, he has four of his own sailors, his +friend and himself; so that we have an equal number of white men +and five negroes against his ten or twelve and the fetishman's +gang. + +"However, I hope that we shall have the advantage of a surprise. If +so, I think that we may feel pretty confident that we shall, at any +rate, in the first place, carry off Miss Greendale and her maid. +The danger won't be in the attack, but in the retreat. That Obi +fellow may raise the whole country against us. There is one +thing--the population is scanty up here, and it won't be until we +get down towards the lower ground that they will be able to muster +strongly enough to be really formidable; but we may have to fight +hard to get down to the boats. You see, it is a twenty miles' +march. We shan't be able to go very fast, for, although Miss +Greendale and her maid might keep up well for some distance, they +would be worn out long before we got to the shore, while the black +fellows would be able to travel by other paths, and to arouse the +villagers as they went, and make it very hot indeed for us." + +"There is one thing--we shall have the advantage of darkness, +Major, and in the woods it would be difficult for them to know how +fast we were going. We might strike off into other paths, and, if +necessary, carry Miss Greendale and her maid. We could make a +couple of litters for them, and, with four to a litter, could +travel along at a good rate of speed." + +In another three hours, they found that the path was descending +into a deep and narrow valley. On the way they passed many of the +fetish signs, so terrible to the negro's imagination. Pieces of +blue string, with feathers and rags attached to them, were +stretched across the path. Clumps of feathers hung suspended from +the trees. Flat stones, with berries, shells, and crooked pieces of +wood, were nailed against the trunks of the trees. + +At first the four negro boatmen showed signs of terror on +approaching these mysterious symbols, and grew pale with fright +when Frank broke the strings that barred the path; but when they +saw that no evil resulted from the audacious act, and that no +avenging bolt fell upon his head, they mustered up courage, and in +time even grinned as the sailors made jeering remarks at the +mysterious emblems. + +As soon as they began to descend into the valley, and it was +evident that they were nearing their destination, Frank halted. + +"Now, Dominique, do you object to go down and find out all about +it? I am quite ready to go, but you are less likely to be noticed +than I am. There is no hurry, for we don't wish to move until +within an hour of sunset, or perhaps two hours. There is no fear of +our meeting with any interruption until we get back to the point +where we started this morning, and it would be as well, therefore, +to be back there just before dark." + +"Me go, sar. Me strip. Dat best; not seen so easy among de trees." + +"Quite right, Dominique. What we want to find out is the exact +position of the camp and the hut, for no doubt they built a hut of +some sort, where Miss Greendale is; and see how we can best get as +close to it as possible. Then it would be as well to find out what +sort of village this Obi man has got, and how many men it probably +contains. But don't risk anything to do this. Our object is to +surprise Carthew's camp, and we must take our chance as to the +blacks. If you were seen, and an alarm given, Carthew might carry +Miss Greendale off again. So don't mind about the Obi village, +unless you are sure that you can obtain a view of it without risk +of being seen." + +"Me manage dat, sar," the negro said, confidently. "Dey not on de +lookout. Me crawl up among de trees and see eberyting; no fear +whatsomeber." + +Dominique stripped and started down the path, while the rest +retired into the shelter of the trees. An anxious two hours passed, +the party listening intently for any sound that might tell of +Dominique's being discovered. All, however, remained quiet, except +that they were once or twice startled by the loud beating of a +drum, and the deep blasts from the fetish horn. At the end of that +time there was a general exclamation of relief as Dominique stepped +in from among the trees. + +"Well, Dominique, what have you found?" Frank exclaimed as he +started to his feet. + +"Me found eberyting, sar. First come to village. Not bery big, +twenty or thirty men dere. Den a hundred yards furder tree huts +stand. Dey new huts, but not built last night, leaves all dead, +built eight or ten days ago. Me crawl on tomack among de trees, and +lay and watch. In de furder hut two white lady. Dey come in and +out, dey talk togeder, de oders not go near them. Next hut to them, +twenty, thirty yards away, two white men. Dey sit on log and smoke +cigar. In de next hut four white sailor. Den a little distance +away, twelve black fellows sit round fire and cook food. Plenty of +goats down in valley, good gardens and lots of bananas." + +"How did the white ladies seem?" + +"Not seem anyting particular, sar. Dey neber look in de direction +ob oders. Just talk togeder bery quiet. Me see dere lips move, but +hear no voice. Hear de voice of men quite plain." + +"How close can we get without being seen?" + +"About fifty yards, sar. Huts put near stream under big trees. +Trees not tick just dar; little way lower down banana trees run +down to edge ob stream. If can get round de village on dat side +widout being seen, can go through bananas, den dash across de +stream and run for de ladies. Can get dere before de oders. +Besides, if dey run dat way we shoot dem down." + +"Thank God, that is all satisfactory," Frank said. "But it is hard +having to wait here another five hours before doing anything." + +"We are ready to go and pitch into them at once, sir," one of the +sailors said. "You have only to say the word." + +"Thank you, lads, but we must wait till within an hour or two of +sunset. I expect that we shall have to fight our way back, and we +shall want darkness to help us. It would be folly to risk anything, +just as success seems certain after these months of searching. +Still, it is hard to have to wait. + +"It is getting on to twelve o'clock. You had better get that basket +out and have your dinners." + +The next four hours seemed to him interminable. The sailors and +negroes had gone to sleep as soon as they had finished their meal +and smoked a pipe. Frank moved about restlessly, sometimes smoking +in short, sharp puffs, sometimes letting his pipe go out every +minute and relighting it mechanically, and constantly consulting +his watch. At last he sat down on a fallen tree, and remained there +without making the slightest motion, until George Lechmere said: + +"I think it is time now, Major." + +"Thank goodness for that, George. I made up my mind that I would +not look at my watch again until it was time. + +"Now, lads, before we start listen to my final orders. If we are +discovered as we go past the village, we shall turn off at once and +make straight for the camp. Don't waste a shot on the blacks. They +are not likely to have time to gather to oppose us, but cut down +anyone that gets in your way. When we are through the village make +straight to the farthest hut. Don't fire a shot till we have got +between that and the next, and then go straight at Carthew and his +gang. If I should fall, Lechmere will take the command. If he, too, +should fall, you are to gather round the ladies and fight your way +down to the landing place. Take Dominique's advice as to paths and +so on. He and his men know a good deal better than you do--but +remember, the great duty is to take the ladies on board safe. + +"The moment you get them there, tell the captain my orders are that +you are to man the two boats, row straight at the brigantine, drive +the crew overboard and sink her. Then you are to sail for England +with Miss Greendale. The brigantine must be sunk, for if Carthew +gets down there he will fill her with blacks and sail in pursuit; +and as there is not much difference in speed between the two boats, +she might overtake you if you carried away anything. You must get +rid of her before you sail. + +"What have you got there, George?" + +"Two stretchers, Major. Dominique and I have been making them for +the last two hours. We can leave them here, sir, by the side of the +path, and pick them up as we come along back." + +A couple of minutes later the party started. They followed the path +down until nearly at the bottom of the hill. Here the trees grew +thinner, and Dominique, who was leading, turned to the right. They +made their way noiselessly through the wood, Dominique taking them +a much wider circuit round the village than he himself had made, +and bringing them out from the trees at the lower end of the +plantation of bananas. + +Hitherto they had been walking in single file, but Frank now passed +along the order for them to close up. + +"Keep together as well as you can," he said, when they were +assembled; "and mind how you pass between the trees. If you set +these big trees waving, it might be noticed at once." + +Very cautiously they stole forward until they reached the edge by +the stream. Frank looked through the trees. Four white sailors were +lying on the ground, smoking, in front of their hut. Carthew and +his companion were stretched in two hammocks hung from the tree +under which their hut stood. Bertha and her maid had retired into +their bower. + +"Now, lads," he said, as with his revolver in his right hand he +prepared for the rush. "Don't cheer, but run silently forward. The +moment they catch sight of us you can give a cheer. + +"Now!" and he sprang forward into the stream, which was but ankle +deep. + +The splash, as the whole party followed him, at once attracted the +attention of the sailors; who leaped to their feet with a shout, +and ran into their hut, while at the same moment Carthew and his +companion sprang from their hammocks, paused for a moment in +surprise at the men rushing towards them, and then also ran into +their hut, Carthew shouting to the blacks to take to their arms. + +"Go straight at them, George," Frank shouted, running himself +directly towards the nearest hut, just as Bertha, startled at the +noise, came to its entrance. + +She stood for an instant in astonishment, then with a scream of joy +ran a step or two and fell forward into his arms. + +"Thank God, I have found you at last," he said. "Wait here a +moment, darling. I will be back directly. Go into the hut until I +come." + +But Bertha was too overpowered with surprise and delight to heed +his words, and Frank handed her to her maid, who had run out behind +her. + +"Take her in," he said, as he carried her to the entrance of the +hut, "and stay there until I come again." + +Then he ran after his party. A wild hubbub had burst forth. Muskets +and pistols were cracking. Carthew, as he ran out of the hut, +discharged his pistol at the sailors, but in his surprise and +excitement missed them; and before he had time to level another, +George Lechmere bounded upon him, and with a shout of "This is for +Martha Bennett," brought his cutlass down upon his head. + +He fell like a log, and at the same moment one of the sailors shot +his companion. Then they dashed against the Belgian sailors, who +had been joined by the blacks. + +"Give them a volley, lads!" George shouted. + +The four sailors fired, as a moment later did the boatmen, and then +cutlass in hand rushed upon them. + +Just as they reached them Frank arrived. There was but a moment's +resistance. Two of the sailors had fallen under the volley, a third +was cut down, and the fourth, as well as the blacks, fled towards +the village. Here the Obi drum was beating fiercely. + +"Load again, lads," Frank shouted. "Two of you come back with me." + +He ran with them back to the end hut, but Bertha had now recovered +from her first shock. + +"Come, darling," he said, "there is not a moment to lose. We must +get out of this as soon as we can. + +"Come along, Anna. + +"Thompson, do you look after her. I will see to Miss Greendale." + +Just as they reached the others, a volley was fired from the +village by the blacks of Carthew's party, who were armed with +muskets. Then they, with thirty other negroes, rushed out with loud +shouts. + +"Don't fire until they are close," Frank shouted. "Now let them +have it." + +The volley poured into them, at but ten paces distance, had a +deadly effect. The blacks paused for a moment, and the rescuing +party, led by George Lechmere and Dominique, rushed at them. The +sailors' pistols cracked out, and then they charged, cutlass in +hand. + +For a moment the blacks stood, but the fierce attack was too much +for them, and they again fled to the village. + +"Stop, Dominique!" Frank shouted, for the big pilot, who had +already cut down three of his opponents, was hotly pursuing them. +"We must make for the path at once." + + + +Chapter 18. + +In a couple of minutes they had gained it. + +"Anyone hurt?" Frank asked. + +One of the boatmen had an arm broken by a bullet, and two of the +sailors had received spear wounds at the hands of the villagers. +They were not serious, however, and leaving George Lechmere to +cover the rear, they started up the path; Dominique, as usual, +leading the way, Frank following behind him with Bertha, who had +hitherto not spoken a word. + +"Am I dreaming?" she asked now, in a tone of bewilderment. "Is it +really you, Frank?" + +"You are not dreaming, dear, and it is certainly I--Frank Mallett. +Now tell me how you got on." + +"As well as might be, Frank, but it was a terrible time. Please do +not talk about it yet. But how is it that you are here? It seems a +miracle. + +"Oh, how ill you are looking! And your arm is in a sling, too." + +"That is nothing," he said; "merely a broken collarbone. As to my +looking ill, you must remember, I have had almost as anxious a time +as you." + +"Then it was the Osprey, after all," she exclaimed, suddenly, "that +we saw the last day that we were out sailing. We were on deck, and +I was not noticing--I did not notice much then--when Anna said to +me, 'That looks like an English yacht, miss. I am sure Mr. Carthew +thinks she is chasing us.' + +"Then I got up and looked round. I could not see for certain, but +it did look like a yacht, and I thought that it was about the size +of the Osprey. Those two men were standing with their backs to us +looking at it through their glasses, and Carthew happened to turn +round and saw me standing up, and at once said: 'You must go below. +I believe that is a pirate chasing us.' + +"I said that it was nothing to me if it was. One pirate was just as +good as another. Then he said that if I would not go down he should +be obliged to use force, and called four men aft. So as it was of +no use resisting, we went down. Presently we felt that the course +had been changed. Late in the evening we heard them fire the two +guns, and then some musket shots. Later on the man came down and +told us that the pirates had tried to attack us in their boats, and +that they had beaten them off, and that there was no further +danger. But for all that I could see that he was troubled." + +"That was when I was hit, dear. We had not reckoned on the two +guns, and with only the gig and dinghy, with one man killed and +five of us wounded, it was too stiff a business, though we should +have persevered, but that squall came down on us from the hills, +and the Phantom, moreover, left us standing still. We believed that +we should come up with the schooner in the morning." + +"But how did you come here, Frank? How did you know where we had +been taken?" + +"It is a long story, dear. We started in pursuit four days after +you had been carried off. I will tell you all about it when we get +safe again on board the yacht. I am afraid we shall have some +trouble yet. Now if you are quite recovered from your surprise, do +you feel equal to hurrying on? Every moment is of importance." + +"Oh, yes," she said. "He will be after us." + +"He won't," Frank said. "George Lechmere cut him down. Whether he +killed him or not I cannot say, but I don't fancy anyhow that he +will be able to take up the chase. It is that rascally Obi man I am +afraid of. He has great power over the people, and may raise the +whole country to attack us." + +"I am ready to run as fast as you like, Frank." + +"We may as well go at a trot for a bit." + +Then raising his voice, he said: + +"We will go at double, lads, now. + +"Put your arm on my shoulder, Bertha, and we can fancy that we are +going to waltz." + +"I feel so happy that I want to cry, Frank," she said as they +started. + +"Don't do that until you get on board the Osprey." + +As they passed the spot where they had halted, George Lechmere told +two of the blacks to pick up the stretchers and carry them along. +They were merely two light poles, with a wattle work formed of +giant creepers worked for some six feet in length between them. + +"What are those for?" Bertha asked, as she passed them. + +"Those are to carry you and Anna along when you get exhausted. It +is twenty miles to the coast, you know." + +"I feel as if I could walk any distance to get on board the Osprey +again." + +"I have no doubt that you have the spirit, Bertha, but I question +whether you have the strength; especially after being over three +months without any exercise at all. I felt it myself yesterday, +although we did little more than ten miles." + +"Oh, but then you have been wounded. And you do look so ill, +Frank." + +"I dare say the wound had a little to do with it," he said; "but of +course the climate is trying too; though it is cooler up on the +hills than it is in that bay." + +"Now, Frank, the first question of all is--How is my mother? What +did she do when I was missing? It must have been awful for her." + +"Of course, it was a terrible anxiety, Bertha, but she bore it +better than would be expected, especially as she had not been well +before." + +"It troubled me more, Frank, than even my own affairs. As soon as I +had time to think at all, I could not imagine what she would do, +and the only comfort was that she had you to look after her." + +"No doubt it was a comfort, dear, that she had someone to lean upon +a little. + +"Halt!" he broke off suddenly, as there was the sound of a stick +breaking among the trees close by. "Stand to your arms, men, and +gather closely. + +"Bertha, do you and Anna take your place in the centre, and please +lie down." + +"I cannot do that, Frank," she said, positively. "Here you are all +risking your lives for us, and now you want me to put myself quite +safe while you are all in danger." + +"I want to be able to fight, Bertha, free of anxiety, and to be +able to devote my whole attention to the work. This I can't do if I +know that you are exposed to bullets." + +"Well, I can't lie down anyhow, Frank; but Anna and I will crouch +down if you say that we must when they begin to fire." + +They were silent for two or three minutes, and no sounds were heard +in the wood. + +"We shall be attacked sooner or later," Frank said quietly to the +men. "We will take to the trees on our right if we are attacked +from the left, and to those on the left if they come at us from the +right. If we are attacked on both sides at once, take to the right. + +"George, do you and Harrison and Jones get behind trees, next to +the path. It will be your business to prevent anyone from passing +on that side. I, with the other two, will take post behind trees +facing the other way. The four boatmen with Dominique will shelter +themselves in the bushes between us, with Miss Greendale and her +maid in the middle. They will be the reserve, and if a rush is made +from either side, they will at once advance and beat it back. + +"You understand, Dominique?" + +"Me understand, sar. If those fellows come we charge at them. These +fellows no used to shoot, sar. Better give muskets to others. We do +best with our swords." + +"That is the best plan. + +"You take one of the muskets, George, and give one to Harrison. The +two men on my side had better have the others, as I can't use one. + +"You understand, lads. These will be spare arms. Keep them in +reserve if possible, so as to check the fellows when they make a +rush. Now do you all understand? + +"You explain it to your men, Dominique. + +"Now we will go on again, and at the double. It will be as much as +those fellows can do to keep up with us in this thick wood." + +Ten minutes passed. Then there was a loud shout and the blowing of +a deep horn on their left, followed by a yell from the wood on both +sides. + +"To the right," Frank shouted, and the party ran in among the +trees. + +"Get in among that undergrowth with Anna," he said to Bertha. + +"Gather there, Dominique, with your men. We shall want you +directly. They are sure to make a rush at first. + +"Now, lads, one of you take that tree; the other the one to the +right," and he placed himself behind one between them. On glancing +round he saw that George had already posted his two men, and had +taken up his station between them. + +"All hands kneel down," he said. "These bushes will hide us from +their sight. If we stand up we may be hit by shots from behind." + +A moment later there was a general discharge of firearms round +them, and then some forty negroes rushed at them. + +"On your feet now, men," Frank shouted. "Take steady aim and bring +down a man with each shot." + +A cheer broke from the sailors. Four shots were fired from Frank's +side, and five from George Lechmere's, and with them came the +cracks of Frank's revolver, followed almost directly afterwards by +those of the pistols carried by the men, and George Lechmere's +revolver. + +Scarce a shot missed. Ten of the negroes fell, and those attacking +from the right turned and bolted among the trees. The negroes on +the left, however, inspired by the roaring of the horns and the +shrieking yells of the Obi man, came on with greater determination +and dashed across the path. + +"Now, Dominique, at them!" Frank shouted, as with the two sailors +he rushed across. + +The numbers now were not very uneven. Of the twenty negroes on that +side, five had fallen under the musketry and pistol fire, and two +others were wounded; and as Frank's party and the blacks fell upon +them they hesitated. The struggle was not doubtful for a moment. +Six of the negroes were cut down, and the rest fled. + +"Don't pursue them, men," Frank shouted; and the sailors at once +drew off, but Dominique and his black boatmen still pursued hotly, +overtaking and cutting down three more of their assailants. + +"All is over for the present," Frank said, going to the spot where +Bertha and Anna were crouching. "Not one of us is hurt as far as I +know, and we have accounted for sixteen or seventeen of these +rascals." + +Bertha got up. She was a little pale, but perfectly calm and quiet. + +"It is horrid, being hidden like that when you are all fighting, +Frank," she said, reproachfully. + +"We were hidden, too, till they came at us," he said; "and very +lucky it was, for some of us would probably have been hit, bad +shots though they are." + +"No, Frank, not before all these men," she remonstrated. + +"What do I care for the men?" he laughed. "Do you think if they had +their sweethearts with them they would mind who was looking on? + +"There, I must be content with that for the present. We must push +on again." + +Dominique had returned now with his men, and the party started +again at a trot, as soon as the firearms had all been reloaded. + +"We shan't have any more trouble, shall we?" Bertha asked. + +"Not for the present," he said. "We have fairly routed the blacks +who came here with you, and the villagers, and they certainly won't +attack us again until they are largely reinforced; which they +cannot be until we get down towards the sea, for there are no +villages of any size in the hills." + +After keeping up the pace for a mile, Frank ordered the men to drop +into a walk again. + +"Now, Frank, about my mother?" Bertha asked again as soon as she +had got her breath; and Frank related all that had taken place up +to the time that the Osprey sailed. + +"Then she is all alone in town? It must be terrible for her, +waiting there without any news of me. It is a pity that she did not +go home. It would not have mattered about me, and it would have +been so much better for her among her old friends. They would all +have sympathised with her so much." + +"I quite agreed with her, Bertha, and think still that it was +better that she should stay in London. I am sure the sympathy would +do her harm rather than good. As it is, now she will be kept up by +the belief that she is doing all in her power for you, by saving +you from the hideous amount of talk and chatter there would be if +this affair were known." + +"Of course, it would be horrid, Frank, and perhaps you are right, +but it must be an awful trial." + +"I have done all I could to set her mind at rest," Frank said. "I +wrote to her directly I arrived at Gibraltar, and again as soon as +I got the letter from Madeira saying that the brigantine had +touched there. I wrote from Madeira again with what news I could +pick up, and again from Porto Rico, from the Virgin Islands, and +from San Domingo. Of course, from there I was able to say that the +scent was getting hot, and that I had no doubt I should not be long +before I fell in with the brigantine. Then I sent another letter +from Jaquemel. That seems to me a long time ago, for we have done +so much since; but it is not more than ten days back. We will post +another letter the first time that we touch anywhere, on the off +chance of its going home by a mail steamer, and getting there +before us." + +"It was wonderful your finding out that I had been carried off in +the Phantom. That was what troubled me most, except about mother. I +did not see how you could guess that the brigantine we had both +noticed the day before was the Phantom. I felt sure that you would +suspect who it was, but I could not see how you would connect the +two together." + +"You see, I did not guess it at first," he replied. "I felt sure +that it was Carthew from the first minute when I found that you had +not landed, and it was just the luck of finding out that the +Phantom's crew had returned, and that they had been paid off at +Ostend, that put me on the track. Of course, directly I heard that +she had been altered and turned into a brigantine, I felt sure that +she was the craft that we had noticed; and as soon as I learned +through Lloyd's that she had sailed south from the Lizard, I felt +certain that she must have gone up the Mediterranean, or to the +West Indies. I felt sure it was the latter. However, it was a great +relief when I got a letter from Lloyd's agent at Madeira, telling +me that the brigantine had touched there, and I felt certain that I +should hear of you either here or at one of the South American +ports." + +They kept on until they reached the hut at the point where the path +forked. It was found to be empty. + +"Open the basket," Frank said. "We must have a meal before we go +further. We have come about half the distance. + +"Now, Bertha, there is the bay, you see, and it is all downhill, +which is a comfort. Do you feel tired, dear?" + +"Not tired," she said, "but my feet are aching a bit. You see, I +had thin deck shoes on when we were hurried ashore, and they are +not good for walking long distances in." + +"Well, we will have a quarter of an hour's rest," he said. "It is +getting dark fast, and by the time we go on it will be night, and +will be a great deal cooler than it has been." + +"I can go on at once if you like," she said. + +"No, dear; there is no use in hurrying. We may as well stop half an +hour as a quarter. Don't you hear that?" + +The girl listened. + +"It is a horn, is it not?" she asked, after a pause. + +"Yes, I can hear it in half a dozen directions," he said. "That +scoundrel of an Obi man is down there ahead of us, and that +unearthly row he and his followers are making will rouse up all the +villagers within hearing. We will try to give him the slip. I +intend to take the path we came by for four or five miles, and then +to strike off by one to the right, and hit the main road to Port au +Prince, a good bit to the east of where we quitted it. The country +is all cultivated there, and we will strike down towards the bay +and make our way through the fields, and if we have luck we may be +able to get down to the place where the gig will be waiting for us +without meeting any of them." + +"Oh, I do hope there will be no more fighting, Frank! You may not +all get off as well as you did last time." + +"We must take our chance of that, dear. At any rate the country +will be open, and we shall be able to keep in a solid body, and I +have no doubt that we shall be able to beat them off." + +"Could we not go down to the shore, and get a boat somewhere, and +row to the yacht?" + +"Yes, we might manage that, perhaps. That is a capital idea, +Bertha. There is a place called Nipes, twelve or fourteen miles +east of our inlet. It won't be very much further to go, for we have +been bearing eastward all the way here. Making sure that we shall +go straight for the yacht, they will gather in that direction +first, and won't think of giving the alarm so far east. There was a +path, if I remember right, that came up from that direction a +quarter of a mile further on. We will turn off by it." + +As soon as the meal was over they started again. They found the +path Frank had spoken of, and followed it down until they came +among trees. Then Dominique lighted his lantern again. + +For a time the two women kept on travelling, but after five miles +Bertha was compelled to stop and take off her shoes altogether. For +two miles further she refused the offers to carry her, but at last +was forced to own that she could go no further. + +The two litters were at once brought up, and the four sailors, +Dominique and the three uninjured boatmen, lifted them and went +along at a trot, George Lechmere leading the way with a lantern. +The weight of the girls, divided between four strong men, was a +mere trifle, and they now made much more rapid progress than they +had before, and in three quarters of an hour arrived at Nipes. + +As they got to the little town, Bertha and Anna got out and walked, +so as to attract as little attention as possible among the negroes +in the streets. Dominique answered all questions, stating that they +were a party belonging to a ship in Marsouin Bay, that they had +been on a sporting expedition over the hills, and had lost their +way, and now wanted a boat to take them back. + +As soon as they reached the strand half a dozen were offered to +them. Dominique chose the one that looked the fastest. He told the +boatman that the ladies were very tired, and they wanted to get +back as soon as possible, and he must, therefore, engage ten men to +row, as the wind was so slight as to be useless. + +As he did not haggle about terms, the bargain was speedily +concluded, and in a few minutes they put off. The men, animated by +the handsome rate of pay they were to receive, rowed hard, and in a +little over two hours they entered the inlet at the end of which +the Osprey was lying. As they neared the end the boatmen were +surprised at seeing a large number of people with torches on the +rising ground, and something like panic seized them when they heard +the Obi horns sounding. They dropped their oars at once. + +"Tell them to row on, Dominique," Frank said, "and to keep close +along the opposite side. Tell them that if they don't do so we will +shoot them. No; tell them that we will chuck them overboard and row +on ourselves." + +"There is the place where we landed," Frank said presently to +Bertha (the men had resumed their rowing), "just under where you +see that clump of torches." + +"Ah, there is our boat," he broke off suddenly, as it appeared in +the line of the reflection of the torches on the water. + +It was half a mile away, lying a few hundred yards from shore. He +took out the dog whistle that he used when coming down to the +landing stage to summon the boat from the yacht, and blew it. There +was a stir in the boat, and a moment later it was speeding towards +them. + +"Row on, Dominique. She will pick us up in no time." + +And long before they reached the Osprey the gig was alongside. + +"Thank God that you are back, sir," they cried as they came +abreast. "We have been in terrible anxiety about you. Have you +succeeded, sir?" + +"Don't cheer. I want to get back to the yacht before they know that +we are here. Yes, thank God, I have succeeded. Miss Greendale and +her maid are on board." + +A low cheer, which even his order could not entirely suppress, came +from the three men in the boat. The mate was himself rowing stroke. + +"We did not dare bring any more hands, sir," he said. "There has +been such a hubbub on shore for the last hour and a half that we +thought it likely that they and the Phantom's people might be going +to attack us. We rowed to the landing at ten o'clock, as you +ordered us, but in a short time a party of men came along close to +the water, and as soon as they saw us they opened fire on us, and +we had to row off sharp. We have been lying off here since. We did +not see how you could get down through that lot, but we thought it +better to wait. I did think there was just a hope that you might +make your way down to the coast somewhere else and come on in a +shore boat. + +"Well, here we are, sir." + +As he spoke they came alongside the Osprey. + +"Is it you, sir?" Hawkins asked eagerly. + +"Look here, lads," Frank replied, standing up, "above all things I +don't want any cheering, or any noise whatever. I don't want them +to know that we have got on board. I know that you will all rejoice +with me, for I have brought off Miss Greendale, and none of our +party except one of the boatmen has been wounded in any way +seriously." + +There was a murmur of deep satisfaction from the crew. As Bertha +stepped on deck the men crowded round with low exclamations of "God +bless you, miss! This is a good day indeed for us!" + +Bertha, in reply to the greeting, shook hands all round. + +"I see you have not put out the lights in the cabin yet, Hawkins. I +will just go down with Miss Greendale and see that she is +comfortable, and then I will come up again." + +"Oh, Frank!" the girl exclaimed, bursting into tears as they +entered the saloon, "this is happiness indeed. I feel at home +already." + +Frank remained with her for three or four minutes. + +"Now, dear, take possession of your old cabin again. No doubt Anna +is there already. She had better share it with you. + +"Now I must go up and finish with the Phantom at once. Do not be +afraid, I shall take them by surprise, and there will be very +little fighting." + +And without waiting for remonstrance he hurried on deck. + +"Are the men armed, Hawkins?" + +"That they are, sir. We have been expecting an attack every minute. +There have been three or four shore boats going off to the +brigantine within the last quarter of an hour." + +"I am going to be beforehand with them, Hawkins." + +"They've got both those guns pointing this way, sir." + +"I am not coming from this way to attack them, Hawkins. I am going +to put all hands in that native craft I came in, row off a little +distance from this side, then make a circuit, and come down on the +other side of them. I will leave George Lechmere here with four +men, with three muskets apiece, so that if they should start before +we get there they can keep them off until we arrive. If I can get a +few of the boatmen to enlist I will do so." + +He spoke to Dominique, who went to the side and asked: + +"If any of you are disposed to stop here to guard the craft for a +quarter of an hour, in case she is attacked, the gentleman here +will pay twenty dollars a man; but remember that you may have to +fight." + +The whole crew rose. Twenty dollars was a fortune to them. + +"Come on board, then," Dominique said. + +"I don't know whether these fellows are to be trusted, George, but +I hope you won't be attacked. Keep these fifteen muskets for +yourselves. Put four apiece by the bulwarks and station yourselves +by them. Keep your eyes on these boatmen, put the oars of the boat +handy for them, and let them arm themselves with them. If you are +attacked an oar is not a bad weapon for repelling boarders." + +"All right, Major. I will station two of them between each of us." + +By this time the captain had picked out the four men that were to +remain, and had the rest drawn up in readiness to get into the +boat. + +"Get in quietly, lads," Frank said. "Ten of you man the oars. We +will put an end to the Phantom's wanderings tonight." + +"That we will, sir," was the hearty rejoinder of the men. + +Frank took the tiller, and they rowed straight away from the Osprey +for a hundred yards, when Frank steered towards the right bank, +where there were no torches, and where all was quiet. The +brigantine could be seen plainly, standing up against the glare of +the torches on the other side. They rowed three or four hundred +yards beyond her, then taking a turn approached her on the side +opposite to that facing the Osprey. Three native boats like their +own were lying beside her, and there was a crowd of men on her +deck. + +Frank brought her round alongside of these boats. He had already +ordered that firearms were not to be used in the first place. + +"I don't want to kill any of these blacks," he said. "They have +nothing to do with the affair, and they believe us to be pirates. I +expect that we shall get on board unnoticed. Then with a cheer go +at them with the flat of your cutlasses. You can use the edge on +the whites if they resist. But I expect that the blacks will all +jump overboard in a panic, and that then the whites, seeing that +they are outnumbered, will surrender." + +No one, indeed, noticed them. There was a great hubbub and +confusion, and the captain was endeavouring to get them into +something like order; when suddenly there was a loud cheer, and +Frank's party fell upon them. Yells of terror rose as the sailors, +Dominique, and his blacks sprang among them, striking heavily with +the flat of their cutlasses, and the sailors using their fists +freely. Frank had brought with him a heavy belaying pin, and used +it with great effect. + +The blacks in the panic fell over each other, and rushing to the +side jumped overboard, some into their boats, and some into the +water. The white sailors, carried away by the stampede, and +separated from each other, were unable to act. The captain, drawing +a brace of pistols from his belt, fired one shot, but before he +could fire another Frank hurled the iron belaying pin at him. It +struck him in the face, and he fell insensible. The Belgian +sailors, seeing themselves altogether outnumbered, and without a +leader, threw down their arms. + +"Tie their hands and feet," Frank ordered, "and bundle them into +one of the native boats." + +Two of these had pushed off and lay fifty yards away, and the sea +was dotted with the heads of swimmers making towards them. The +Belgian sailors were placed in the other boat. + +"Put their captain in, too," Frank said. "He will come round +presently. + +"Now four of you jump into our boat and cast her off. + +"Captain, will you look about for the oil, and pour it over all the +beds, but don't set them on fire until I give the order. + +"Now, lads, two of you run below, and get the cushions off the +starboard sofa. + +"Purvis, get the skylight open on the port side, and wheel the two +guns round, and point them down into the cabin. I will train them +myself on the same spot just at the back of that seat. They might +come off and extinguish the fire, though I don't think they will; +but we will make sure by blowing a hole through her side under the +water line." + +Five minutes were sufficient to make the preparations, and the +captain came up and reported that all was ready. + +"I have heaped up all the bedding on the floor, sir, and poured +plenty of oil over it," he said. + +"Very well, then, take two men aft, and begin there and work your +way forward, and finish with the fo'c'sle hammocks. You can begin +at once." + +In a minute there was a glare of light through the stern cabin +skylight, while almost at the same moment a dense cloud of smoke +poured up the companion. Then the light shone up through the +bull's-eyes on deck of the other staterooms. Then the captain and +the two hands ran through the saloon forward. Frank went to the +fo'castle hatch, and stooping down saw the captain apply the fire +to a great heap of bedding. + +"That will do, Hawkins," he said. "Come up at once with the men, or +you will be suffocated down there." + +They ran up on deck, and a minute later a volume of flame burst out +through the hatch. Frank went to the guns, and lighting two matches +gave one to Hawkins. + +"Now," he said, "both together." + +The two reports were blended in one, and as the smoke cleared away +Frank could see, by the cabin lamp that was still burning, a spurt +of water shooting up from a ragged hole at the back of the sofa. +Fired at such a short distance, the bullets with which the guns +were crammed had struck like solid shot. + +"Into the boats, men!" Frank shouted. + +"Shall we take these chaps off with us, sir?" the captain said. +"They will be keepsakes." + +"All right, Hawkins, in with them." + +The tongue of fire leaping up from the forecastle, followed by the +discharge of the guns, had been the first intimation to those on +the Osprey of what had happened. Bertha and her maid ran up on deck +at the sound of the cannon. + +"What is that?" the former asked, in alarm. + +"It is all right, Miss Greendale," George Lechmere said, leaving +the side and coming up to her. "The Major has captured the +brigantine almost without fighting. There was only one pistol shot +fired. I did not hear a single clash of a sword, and the blacks on +board jumped straight into the water. I was just coming to call you +as you came up. The brigantine is well on fire, you see." + +"But I thought I heard the cannon." + +"Yes, the Major has fired them down the skylight, so as to make +sure of her. Do you see, miss, they are putting the guns in the +boat now. They will be back here in a few minutes." + +By the time the boat came alongside, the flames from the after +skylight had lit the mainsail and were running up the rigging. A +minute later they burst out from the companion and the skylight. + +"Thank God that is all over, Frank," Bertha said, as they stood +together watching the sight. + +The inlet was now lit up from side to side. On shore a state of +wild excitement prevailed. The boats had reached the shore, and the +negroes there had rushed down to hear what had taken place, and to +inquire after friends. Above the yells and shouts of the frenzied +negroes sounded the deep roar of the horns, and the angry beating +of the Obi drums. Numbers of torch bearers were among the crowd, +and although nearly half a mile away, the scene could be perfectly +made out from the yacht. + +The boatmen had received their promised pay as soon as Frank had +reached the yacht, and had taken their places in their boat, but +Dominique told Frank that they would not go till the Osprey sailed, +as they were afraid of being pursued and attacked by the villagers' +boats if they did so. + + + +Chapter 19. + +As Frank stood gazing at the scene, George Lechmere touched him. +Frank, looking round, saw that he wished to speak to him privately. + +"What is it, George?" he asked, when he had stepped a few paces +from Bertha. + +"Look there, Major," George said, handing him a field glass. "I +thought I had settled old scores with him, but the devil has looked +after his own." + +"You don't mean to say, George, that it is Carthew again." + +"It is he, sure enough, sir. I would have sworn that I had done for +him. If I had thought there had been the slightest doubt about it, +I would have put a pistol ball through his head." + +Frank raised the glass to his eyes. Just where the torches were +thickest, he could make out a man's figure raised above the heads +of the rest. He was supported on a litter. His head was swathed +with bandages. He had raised himself into a sitting position, +supported by one arm, while he waved the other passionately. He was +evidently haranguing the crowd. + +As Frank looked, he saw the figure sink down. Then there was a deep +roll of the drum, and a fantastic-looking figure, daubed as it +seemed with paint and wearing a huge mask, appeared in his place. +The drum and the horns were silent, and the shouting of the negroes +was at once hushed. This man, too, harangued the crowd, and when he +ceased there was a loud yell and a general movement among the +throng. At that moment, Hawkins came up. + +"The chain is up and down, sir. Shall I make sail? The wind is very +light, but I think that it is enough to take her out." + +"Yes, make sail, Hawkins, as quickly as you can. I am afraid that +those fellows are coming out to attack us, and I don't want to kill +any of the poor devils. There is a small boat coming out from the +shore towards that craft. The white sailors are on board, and we +shall have them on us, too." + +"Up with the anchor," Hawkins shouted. "Make sail at once. Look +sharp, my hearties, work with a will, or we shall have those +niggers on us again." + +Never was sail made on the Osprey more quickly, and by the time +that the anchor was apeak all the lower sails were set. + +"Shall I tell the blacks to tow their boat behind us?" Hawkins +asked Frank, as the yacht began to steal through the water. + +"No; let them tow alongside, Hawkins. I don't suppose the people +ashore know that we have a native boat with us. If they did, they +would be sure that it came from Nipes, and it might set up a feud +and cost them their lives, especially as that Obi scoundrel is +concerned in the affair." + +Then he moved away to George Lechmere. + +"Don't say a word about that fellow Carthew," he said. "Miss +Greendale thinks he is killed; and it is just as well that she +should continue to think that she is safe from him in the future." + +"So far as she is concerned, I think that is true; but I would not +answer for you, Major. You have ruined his plans, and burned his +yacht, and as long as he lives he will never forgive you." + +"Well, it is of no use to worry about it now, George; but I expect +that we shall hear more about him someday." + +"What are they doing, Frank?" Bertha asked, as he rejoined her. "I +think that they are getting into the boats again." + +"Yes. I fancy they are going to try to take us, but they have no +more chance of doing so than they have of flying. The Obi man has +worked them up to a state of frenzy, but it will evaporate pretty +quickly when they get within range of our muskets." + +"But we have got the cannon on board, have we not?" + +"Yes; but we did not bring off any ammunition with us. It was the +men's idea to bring them as a trophy. However, I have plenty of +powder and can load them with bullets; but I certainly won't use +them if it can be possibly avoided. I have no grudge against the +poor fellows who have been told that we are desperate pirates, and +who are only doing what they believe to be a meritorious action in +trying to capture us." + +In a few minutes six boats put out from the shore. The Osprey was +not going through the water more than two miles an hour, though she +had every stitch of canvas spread. Frank had the guns taken aft and +loaded. As the boats came within the circle of the light of the +burning yacht, it could be seen that they were crowded with men, +who encouraged themselves with defiant yells and shouts, which +excited the derision of the Osprey's crew. When they got within a +quarter of a mile they opened a fusillade of musketry, but the +balls dropped in the water some distance astern of the yacht. As +the boats came nearer, however, they began to drop round her. + +"Sit down behind the bulwarks," Frank said. "They are not good +shots, but a stray ball might come on board, and there is no use +running risks." + +By this time he had persuaded Bertha to go below. The boats rowed +on until some seventy or eighty yards off the Osprey. The shouting +had gradually died away, for the silence on board the yacht +oppressed them. There was something unnatural about it, and their +superstitious fear of the Obi man disappeared before their dread of +the unknown. + +As if affected simultaneously by the disquietude of their +companions, the rowers all stopped work at the same moment. +Dominique had already received instructions, and at once hailed +them in French. + +"If you value your lives, turn back. We have the guns of the +brigantine. They are crammed with bullets and are pointed at you. +The owner has but to give the word, and you will all be blown to +pieces. He is a good man, and wishes you no harm. We have come here +not to quarrel with you poor ignorant black fellows, but to rescue +two ladies the villain that ship belongs to had carried off. +Therefore, go away back to your wives and families while you are +able to, for if you come but one foot nearer not one of you will +live to return." + +The news, that the Osprey had the cannon from the brigantine on +board, came like a thunderbolt upon the negroes. The prospect of a +fight with the men who had so easily captured the brigantine was +unpleasant enough, but that they were also to encounter cannon was +altogether too much for them, and a general shout of "Don't fire; +we go back!" rose from the boats. + +For a minute or two they lay motionless, afraid even to dip an oar +in the water lest it should bring down a storm upon them, but as +the Osprey glided slowly away the rearmost boat began to turn +round, the others followed her example, and they were soon rowing +back even more rapidly than they had come. + +"You can cast off that boat, Hawkins, as soon as we are out into +the bay," Frank said, and then went down below. + +"Our troubles are all over at last, dear, and we can have a quiet +talk," he said. "As I expected, the negroes lost heart as soon as +they came near, and the threat of a round of grape from the guns +finally settled them. They are off for home, and we shall hear no +more of them. Now you had best be off to bed at once. You have had +a terrible day of it, and it is just two o'clock. + +"Ah! that is right," he broke off, as the steward entered carrying +a tray with tea things. "I had forgotten all about that necessity. +You had better call Anna in; she must want a cup too, poor girl." + +"Yes, I should like a cup of tea," Bertha said, as she sat down to +the tray, "but I really don't feel so tired as you would think." + +"You will feel it all the more afterwards, I am afraid," Frank +replied. "The excitement has kept you up." + +"Yes, we felt dreadfully tired, didn't we, Anna, before we gave up? +But the two hours' row in the boat, and all this excitement here, +have made me almost forget it. It seems to me now quite impossible +that it can be only about nine hours since you rushed out so +suddenly with your men. It seems to me quite far off; further than +many things do that happened a week ago. And please to remember +that your advice to go to bed is quite as seasonable in your case +as in mine." + +When he had seen them leave the saloon, Frank went on deck for a +last look round. + +"I don't think that there is a chance of anything happening before +morning, Hawkins, but you will, of course, keep a sharp lookout and +let me know." + +"I will look out, sir. I have sent the four hands who were with you +down to their berths, as soon as the niggers turned back. Lechmere +has turned in, too." + +"Is the wind freshening at all?" + +"Not yet, sir. I don't suppose that we shall get more than we have +now till day begins to break. Still, we are crawling on and shall +be out in the bay in another quarter of an hour." + +When Frank got up at sunrise he found that the yacht was just +rounding the point of the bay. He looked behind. No boat was in +view. + +"Nothing moving, I see," he said as the first mate, who was in +charge, came up. + +"We have not seen a thing on the water, sir." + +"I hardly expected that there would be. It is probable that, as +soon as the boats got back, Carthew sent his skipper or mate off +with a couple of the men to Port au Prince, to lay a complaint for +piracy against me. But, even if they got horses, it would take them +a couple of days to get there; that is, if they are not much better +riders than the majority of sailors are. Then it is likely that +there would be some time lost in formalities, and even if there was +a Government steamer lying in the port, it would take her a long +time to get up steam. Moreover, I am by no means sure that even +Carthew would venture on such an impudent thing as that. It is +certain that we should get into a bad scrape for boarding and +burning a vessel in Haytian waters, but that is all the harm he +could do us. The British Consul would certainly be more likely to +believe the story of the owner of a Royal Squadron yacht, backed by +that of her captain, mates and crew, and by Miss Greendale and her +maid; than the tale of the owner of a vessel that could give no +satisfactory explanation for being here. Besides, he will know that +before a steamer could start in chase we should be certainly two, +or perhaps three, days away, and whether we should make for Jamaica +or Bermuda, or round the northwestern point of the bay, and then +for England, he could have no clue whatever." + +"How shall I lay her course, sir? The wind has freshened already, +and we are slipping through the water at a good four knots now." + +"We will keep along this side, as far as the Point at any rate. If +Carthew has sent for a steamer, he is likely to have ordered a man +down to this headland to see which course we are taking. When we +have got so far that we cannot be made out from there, we will sail +north for Cape la Mole. I think it would be safe enough to lay our +course at once, but I do not wish to run the slightest risk that +can be avoided." + +The wind continued to freshen, and to Frank's satisfaction they +were, when Bertha came on deck at eight o'clock, running along the +coast at seven knots an hour. + +"Have you slept well?" he asked, as he took her hand. + +"Yes. I thought when I lay down that it would be impossible for me +to sleep at all--it had been such a wonderful day, it was all so +strange, so sudden, and so happy--and just as I was thinking so, I +suppose I dropped off and slept till Anna woke me three quarters of +an hour ago, and told me what time it was. + +"Frank, I did not say anything yesterday, not even a single word of +thanks, for all that you have done for me; but you know very well +that it was not because I did not feel it, but because if I had +said anything at all I should have broken down, and that was the +very thing that I knew I ought not to do. But you know, don't you, +that I shall have all my life to prove how thankful I am." + +"I know, dear, and between us surely nothing need be said. I am as +thankful that I have been the means of saving you, as you can be +that I was almost miraculously enabled to follow your track so +successfully." + +"Breakfast is ready, sir," the steward announced from the +companion. + +"Coming, steward. + +"I have told them, Bertha, to lay for three. I thought that it +would be pleasanter for you to have Anna with you at meals, as I +suppose she has taken them with you since you were carried off." + +"Thank you," she said, gratefully. "It won't be quite so nice for +you, I know, but perhaps it will be better." + +"Well, Anna, you are looking very well," Frank said as he sat down. + +"You must officiate with the coffee, Bertha. I will see after the +eatables." + +"Yes, Anna does look well," Bertha said. "She has borne up +capitally, ever since the first two days. We have had all our meals +together in our cabin." + +"Miss Greendale has been a great deal braver than I have, sir," +Anna said, quietly. "She has been wonderfully brave, and though she +is very good to say that I have borne up well, I know very well +that I have not been as brave as I ought; and I could not help +breaking down and crying sometimes, for I did think that we should +never get home again." + +"Except carrying you away, Carthew did not behave altogether so +badly, Bertha?" + +"No. The first day that we got on board he told me that I was to +stay there until I consented to marry him. I told him that in that +case I should become a permanent resident on board, but that sooner +or later I should be rescued. He only said then, that he hoped that +I should change my mind in time. He admitted that his conduct had +been inexcusable, but that his love for me had driven him to it, +and that he had only won me as many a knight had won a bride before +now. + +"At first I made sure that, when we put into a port, I should be +able somehow to make my condition known; but I realised for the +first time what it was going to be, when I saw us stand off the +Lizard and lay her head for the south. Up to that time I had +scarcely exchanged a word with him. I had said at once that unless +I had my meals in my own cabin with Anna, I would eat nothing at +all, and he said, quite courteously, I must confess, that I should +in all respects do as I pleased, consistent with safety. + +"From that time he said 'Good morning,' gravely when I came up on +deck with Anna, and made a remark about the weather. I made no +reply, and did not speak until he came to me in the morning, and +said quietly, 'That is the Lizard astern of us, Miss Greendale. We +are bound for the West Indies, the finest cruising ground in the +world, full of quiet little bays where we can anchor for weeks.' + +"'It is monstrous,' I said desperately, for I own that for the +first time I was really frightened. 'Some day you will be punished +for this.' + +"'I must risk that,' he said, quietly. 'Of course, at present you +are angry. It is natural that you should be so, but in time you +will forgive me, and will make allowance for the length to which my +affection for you has driven me. It may be six months, it may be +ten years, but however long it may be, I can promise you that, save +for this initial offence, you will have no cause to complain of me. +I am possessed of boundless patience, and can wait for an +indefinite time. In the end I feel sure that your heart will soften +towards me.' + +"That was his tone all along. He was perfectly respectful, +perfectly polite. Sometimes for days not a word would be exchanged +between us; sometimes he would come up and talk, or rather, try to +talk, for it was seldom that he got any answer from me. As a rule I +sat in my deck chair with Anna beside me, and he sat on the other +side of the deck, or walked up and down, smoking or talking with +that man who was with him. + +"So it went on till the afternoon when we saw you. As I told you, +he made us go down at once. I could see that he was furiously angry +and excited. The steward came to our cabin early in the morning, +and said that Mr. Carthew requested that we would dress and come up +at once. As I was anxious to know what was going on, I did so; and +he said when we came on deck, 'I am very sorry, Miss Greendale, but +I have to ask you to go on shore with us at once.' + +"I had no idea where we were, save that it was somewhere in the +island of San Domingo; but I was ready enough to go ashore, +thinking that I might see some white people that I could appeal to. + +"I did speak to some negroes as we landed, but he said, 'It is of +no use your speaking to them, Miss Greendale, for none of them +understands any language but his own.' + +"I saw that they did not understand me, at any rate. I was +frightened when I saw that four of the sailors were going with us, +and that a dozen of the blacks, armed with muskets, also formed +round us. I said that I would not go afoot, but Carthew answered: + +"'It would pain me greatly were I obliged to take such a step; but +if you will not go, there is no course open to me but to have you +carried. I am sorry that it should be so, but for various reasons +it is imperative that you should take up your abode on shore for +the present.' + +"Seeing that it was useless to resist, I started with him. A short +distance on, two blacks came up with the horses, which had +evidently been sent for. We mounted, and were taken up among the +hills to the place where you found us. Every mile that we went I +grew more frightened, for it seemed to me that it was infinitely +worse being in his power up in those hills, than on board his +yacht, where something might happen by which I might be released +from him. Those huts you saw had been built beforehand, so that he +had evidently been preparing to take us there if there should be +any reason for leaving the yacht. There was bedding and a couple of +chairs and a table in ours. + +"In the morning, while still speaking politely, he made it evident +to me that he considered he could take a stronger tone than before. + +"'I assure you, Miss Greendale,' he said, 'that this poor hut is +but a temporary affair. I will shortly have a more comfortable one +erected for you. You see, your residence here is likely to be a +long one, unless you change your mind. Pray do not nourish any idea +that you can someday escape me. It is out of the question; and +certainly no white man is ever likely to come to this valley, nor +is any negro, except those who live in this village. Its head is an +Obi man, whose will is law to the negroes. Their belief in his +power is unlimited, and I believe that they imagine that he could +slay them with the look of his eye, or turn them into frogs or +toads by his magic power. I pray you to think the matter over +seriously. Why should you waste your life here You did not always +regard me as so hateful; and the love that I bear you is +unchangeable. Even could you, months or years hence, make your +escape, which I regard as impossible, what would your position be +if you returned to England? What story would you have to tell? It +might be a true one, but would it be believed?' + +"'I have my maid, sir,' I said, passionately, 'who would confirm my +report of what I have suffered.' + +"'No doubt she would,' he said quietly, 'but a maid's testimony as +to her mistress's doings does not go for very much. I endeavoured +to make the voyage, which I foresaw might be a long one, pleasant +to you by requesting you to bring her with you, and I believe that +ladies who elope not unfrequently take their maids with them. But +we need not discuss that. This valley will be your home, Miss +Greendale, until you consent to leave it as my wife. I do not say +that I shall always share your solitude here. I shall cruise about, +and may even for a time return to England, but that will in no way +alter your position. I have been in communication with the Obi +gentleman since I first put into the bay, and he has arranged to +take charge of your safety while I am away. He is not a pleasant +man to look at, and I have no doubt that he is an unmitigated +scoundrel--but his powers are unlimited. If he ordered his +followers to offer you and your maid as sacrifices to his fetish, +they would carry out his orders, not only willingly, but joyfully. +He is a gentleman who, like his class, has a keen eye to the main +chance, and will, I doubt not, take every precaution to prevent a +source of considerable income from escaping him.' + +"'You understand,' he went on, in a different manner, 'I do not +wish to threaten you--very far from it. I have endeavoured from the +time that you set foot on board to make you as comfortable as +possible, and to abstain from thrusting myself upon you in the +slightest degree, and I shall always pursue the same course. But +please understand that nothing will shake my resolution. It will +pain me deeply to have to keep you in a place like this, but keep +you I must until you consent to be mine. You must see yourself the +hopelessness, as well as the folly, of holding out. On the one side +is a life wasted here, on the other you will be the wife of a man +who loves you above all things; who has risked everything by the +step that he has taken, and who, when you consent, will devote his +life to your happiness. You will be restored to your friends and to +your position, and nought will be known, except that we made a +runaway match, as many have done before us. Do not answer now. At +any rate I will remain here for a couple of months, and by the end +of that time you may see that the alternative is not so terrible a +one.' + +"Then, without another word, he turned and walked away; and nothing +further passed between us until in the afternoon, when you so +suddenly arrived." + +"Thank God, he behaved better than I should have given him credit +for," Frank said, when she had finished. "He must have felt +absolutely certain that there was no chance whatever of your +rescue, and that in time you would be forced to accept him, or he +would hardly have refrained from pushing his suit more urgently. +His calculations were well made, and if we had not noticed that +brigantine at Cowes, and I had not had the luck to come upon some +of his crew and pick up his track, he might have been successful." + +"You don't think that I should ever have consented to marry him?" +Bertha said, indignantly. + +"I am sure that such a thought never entered your head, Bertha; but +you cannot tell what the effect of a hopeless captivity would have +had upon you. The fellow had judged you well, and he saw that the +attitude of respect he adopted would afford him a far better chance +of winning you, than roughness or threats would do. But he might +have resorted to them afterwards, and you were so wholly and +absolutely in his power, that you would almost have been driven to +accept the alternative and become his wife." + +She shook her head decidedly. + +"I would have killed him first," she said. "I suppose some girls +would say, 'I would have killed myself;' but I should not have +thought of that--at any rate not until I had failed to kill him. +Every woman has the same right to defend herself that a man has, +and I should have no more felt that I was to blame, if I had killed +him, than you would do when you killed a man who had done you no +individual harm, in battle." + +"We only want mamma here," she said a little later, as she took her +seat in a deck chair, "to complete the illusion that we are sailing +along somewhere on the Devonshire coast. The hills are higher and +more wooded, but the general idea is the same. I suppose I ought to +feel it very shocking, cruising about with you, without anyone but +Anna with me; but somehow it does not feel so." + +"No wonder, dear. You see, we have been looking forward to doing +exactly the same thing in the spring." + +"I think we had better not talk about that now," she said, +flushing. "I intend to make believe, till we get to England, that +mamma is down below, and that I may be called at any moment. How +long shall we be before we are there?" + +"I cannot say, Bertha. I shall have a talk with Hawkins, presently, +as to what course we had better take. It may be best to sail to +Bermuda. If we find a mail steamer about to start from there, we +might go home in it, and get there a fortnight earlier than we +should do in the yacht, perhaps more. However, that we can talk +over. I can see there may be difficulties, but undoubtedly the +sooner you are home the better. You see, we are well in November +now. + +"What day is it?" he reflected. + +"I have lost all count, Frank." + +He consulted a pocketbook. + +"Today is the twenty-first of November. I should think that if we +get favourable winds, we might make Bermuda in a week--ten days at +the outside; and if we could catch a steamer a day or two after +getting there, you might be able to spend your Christmas at +Greendale." + +"That would be very nice. The difficulty would be, that I might +afterwards meet some of the people who were with us on the +steamer." + +"It would not be likely," he said. "Still, we can talk it over. At +any rate, from the Bermudas we can send a letter to your mother, +and set her mind at rest." + +The captain and Purvis, consulting the book of sailing directions, +came to the conclusion that the passage via the Bermudas would be +distinctly the best and shortest. The wind was abeam and steady, +and with all sail set the Osprey maintained a speed of nine knots +an hour until Bermuda was in sight. They were still undecided as to +whether they had better go home by the mail, but it was settled for +them by their finding, on entering the port, that the steamer had +touched there the day before and gone on the same evening, and that +it was not probable that any other steamer would be sailing for +England for another ten days. + +They stopped only long enough to lay in a store of fresh provisions +and water, of which the supply was now beginning to run very short. +Indeed, had not the wind been so steady, all hands would have been +placed on half rations of water. + +Bertha did not land. She was nervously afraid of meeting anyone who +might recognise her afterwards, and six hours after entering the +port the Osprey was again under way. The wind, as is usual at +Barbadoes, was blowing from the southwest; and it held with them +the whole way home, so that after a remarkably quick run they +dropped anchor off Southampton on the fifteenth of December. Frank +had already made all arrangements with the captain to lay up the +Osprey at once. + +"I shall want her out again in the first week in April, so that she +will not be long in winter quarters." + +On landing, Frank despatched a telegram to Lady Greendale: + +"Returned all safe and well. Just starting for town. Shall be with +you about six o'clock." + +The train was punctual, and five minutes before six Frank arrived +with Bertha at Lady Greendale's. He had already told Bertha that he +should not come in. + +"It is much better that you should be alone with her for a time. +She will have innumerable questions to ask, and would, of course, +prefer to have you to herself. I will come round tomorrow morning +after breakfast." + +Anna had been instructed very carefully, by her mistress, not to +say anything of what had happened, and in order that she might +avoid questions, George Lechmere had seen her into a cab for +Liverpool Street, as she wished to spend a week with some friends +at Chelmsford. Then she was to join Bertha at Greendale. + +Frank went to his chambers, where George Lechmere had driven with +the luggage. The next morning he went early to Lady Greendale's, so +early that he found her and Bertha at breakfast. + +"My dear Frank," the former said, embracing him warmly, "how can I +ever thank you for all that you have done for us! Bertha has been +telling me all about how you rescued her. I hear that you were +wounded, too." + +"The wound was of no great importance, and, as you see, I have +thrown aside my sling this morning. Yes, we went through some +exciting adventures, which will furnish us with a store of memories +all our lives. + +"How have you been, Lady Greendale? I am glad to see that, at any +rate, you are looking well." + +"I have had a terribly anxious time of it, as you may suppose; but +your letters were always so bright and hopeful that they helped me +wonderfully. The first fortnight was the worst. Your letter from +Gibraltar was a great relief, and of course the next, saying that +you had heard that the yacht really did touch at Madeira, showed +that you were on the right track. When you wrote from Madeira, I +sent to Wild's for the largest map of the West Indies that they +had, and thus when I got your letters, I was able to follow your +course and understand all about it. You are looking better than +when I saw you last." + +"You should have seen him when I first met him, mamma. I hardly +knew him, he looked so thin and worn; but during the last three +weeks he has filled out again, and he seems to me to be looking +quite himself." + +"And Bertha is looking well, too." + +"So I ought to do, mamma. I don't think I ever looked very bad, in +spite of my troubles, and the splendid voyage we have had would +have set anyone up." + +"It has been a wonderful comfort to me," Lady Greendale said, "that +I have met hardly anyone that I know. The last three weeks or so I +have met two or three people, but I only said that I was up in town +for a short time. Of course, they asked after you, and I said that +you were not with me, as you were spending a short time with some +people whom you knew. We intend to go down home tomorrow." + +"The best thing that you can do, Lady Greendale. I shall be down +for Christmas, and the first week in April, you know, I am to carry +her off. So, you see, this excursion of ours has not altered any of +our plans." + + + +Chapter 20. + +Christmas passed off quietly. As soon as it was known that Lady +Greendale had returned, the neighbours called, and for the next few +months there was the usual round of dinner parties. To all remarks +as to the length of time that she had been away, Lady Greendale +merely replied that Bertha had been staying among friends, and that +as she herself had not been in very good health, she had preferred +staying in town, where she could always find a physician close at +hand if she needed one. + +It was not until they had been back for more than a month, that the +engagement between Bertha and Major Mallett was announced by Lady +Greendale to her friends, and it was generally supposed that it had +but just taken place. The announcement gave great satisfaction, for +the general opinion had been that Bertha would get engaged in +London, and that Greendale would be virtually lost to the county. + +The marriage was to take place in April. + +"There is no reason for a long delay," Lady Greendale explained. +"They have known each other ever since Bertha was a child. They +intend to spend their honeymoon on board Major Mallett's yacht, the +Osprey, and will go up the Mediterranean until the heat begins to +get too oppressive, when they talk about sailing round the islands, +or, at any rate, cruising for some time off the west of Scotland." + +About the same time, George Lechmere, in a rather mysterious +manner, told Frank that he wished for a few minutes' conversation +with him. + +"What is it, George? Anything wrong with the cellar?" + +"No, sir, it is not that. The fact is that Anna Parsons, Miss +Greendale's maid, you know, and I, have settled to get married, +too." + +"Capital, George, I am heartily glad of it," Frank said, shaking +him warmly by the hand. + +"I never thought that I should get to care for anyone again, but +you see we were thrown a good deal together on the voyage home, and +I don't know how it came about, but we had pretty well arranged it +before we got back, and now we have settled it altogether." + +"I am not surprised to hear it, George. I rather fancied, from what +I saw on board, that something was likely to come of it. It is the +best thing by far for you." + +"Well, sir, as I said, I never thought that I should care for +anyone else, but I am sure that I shall make a better husband, now, +than I should have done had I married five years ago." + +"That I am sure you will. You have had a rough lesson, and it has +made a great impression, and I doubt whether your marriage would +have been a happy one had you married then, after what you told me +of your jealous temper. Now I am sure that neither Anna, nor anyone +else, could wish for a better husband than you will make. Well now, +what are you thinking of doing, for I suppose you have thought it +over well?" + +"That is what we cannot quite settle, Major. I should like to stay +with you all my life, just as I am." + +"I don't see that you could do that--at least, not in your present +condition. There is no farm vacant, and if there were one I must +give the late tenant's son the option of it. That has always been +the rule on the estate. However, we need not settle on that at +present. When are you going to get married? I should like it to be +at the same time as we are. I am sure that Miss Greendale would be +pleased. We both owe you a great deal, and, as you know, I regard +you as my closest friend." + +"Thank you, Major, but I am sure that neither Anna nor I would care +to be married before a church full of grand people, and we have +agreed that we won't do it until after you come back from your +trip. Miss Bertha has promised Anna that she shall go with her as +her maid, and of course, Major, I shall want to go with you." + +"Well, you might get married the week before, and still go with +us." + +George shook his head. + +"I think that it would be better the other way, Major. We will go +with you as we are, and get married after you come back." + +The next day Frank had a long talk with Mr. Norton. + +"Well, sir, your plan would suit me very well. Nothing could be +better," said the old steward. "In fact, I was going to tell you +that I was beginning to find that the outdoor work was getting too +much for me, and that though I should be very sorry to give it up +altogether, I must either arrange with you to have help, or else +find a successor. I am sure that the arrangement you propose would +suit me exactly. + +"George Lechmere would be just the man for the work. We used to +think him the best judge of livestock in the county, and he is a +good all-round farmer. If he were to take the work of the home farm +off my hands, I could keep on very well with the rest of the estate +for another two or three years, and as he would act as my assistant +he would, by the end of that time, be quite capable of taking it +over altogether. I should then move into Chippenham. We have two +married daughters living, and now that we have no one at home, my +wife has been saying for some time that she would rather settle +there than go on living in the country, and there is really no more +occasion for me to go on working. So, as soon as Lechmere has got +the whole thing in hand, I shall be quite ready to hand it over to +him." + +"Well, I am very glad that it is so, Norton. Of course, I should +never have made any change until you yourself were perfectly +willing to give it up, but as you are willing, I am certainly glad +to be able to put him into it. As you know, he saved my life, and +has done me many other great services, and I regard him as a friend +and want to keep him near me. Of course, he will go into the +farmhouse, and after you retire he can either move into yours, or +remain there, as he likes. Naturally, as long as you live, Norton, +I shall continue the rate of pay you have always had. You were over +thirty years with my father, and I should certainly make no +difference in that respect." + +"Well, George, I have arranged your business," Frank said that +evening. "Norton is getting on in life now, and he begins to find +his work in winter a little too hard for him, so I have arranged +that you are to take the management of the home farm altogether off +his hands, and will, of course, establish yourself at the house. +You will be a sort of assistant to him in other matters, and get up +the work, and in the course of a couple of years, at the outside, +he will retire altogether, and you will be steward. If you like you +can work the home farm on your own account, but that will be for +your consideration. How do you think that you will like that?" + +"I should like it above everything, Major, and I am grateful to +you, indeed." + +"Well, I am glad that you like the arrangement, George. I had it in +my mind when I was talking to you two days ago, but until I saw +Norton, and found that he was willing to retire, I did not propose +it." + +Towards the end of February, Lady Greendale and Bertha went up to +town for a fortnight, intimating to Frank that they would be so +busy with important business that his presence there would not be +desired. He, however, travelled with them to London, and then went +round to Southampton, where he had a consultation with the firm in +whose yard the yacht was laid up, and the head of the great +upholstering firm there, and arranged for material alterations in +the plans of the cabins, and their redecoration. Everything was to +be completed by the beginning of April. He had written to Hawkins +to meet him on board. + +"You must have everything ready by the fifth," he said. "We shall +arrive late in the afternoon, or perhaps in the evening of the +fifth, and shall get under way next morning. I hope that you have +been able to get the same crew." + +"There is no fear of their not all coming, sir, except Purvis. He +has been bad all the winter, and I doubt whether he will be able to +go with us." + +"I am sorry to hear that. Tell him that I shall make him an +allowance of a pound a week for the season, and that I shall give +him a little pension, of ten shillings a week, as long as he lives. +I shall consider that all who went with me on that cruise to the +West Indies have a claim upon me." + +The time for the wedding approached. There was some consultation, +between Frank and Lady Greendale, as to whether the dinner to the +tenants should be given on that occasion, or on their return; and +it was settled that it would be more convenient to postpone it. + +"I am sure they would rather have you and Bertha here, and it would +be much more convenient in every way. We have so much to think +about now, and there will be so many arrangements to be made." + +"I quite agree with you. I will put it all in the hands of Rafters, +of Chippenham. I think that it is only right to give it to local +people. We shall want two big marquees, one for your tenants and +mine and their wives and families, and the other for all the +labourers and farm servants." + +"And there must be another for all the children," Bertha put in. + +"Very well, Bertha. + +"Then, of course, we must have a military band and fireworks, and +we had better have a big platform put down for those who like to +dance, and a lot of shows and things for the elders and children, +and a conjurer with a big lucky basket, and things of that sort. Of +course, at present one cannot give even an approximate date, but I +will tell them that they shall have a fortnight's notice." + +"I wonder what has become of Carthew, Major?" George Lechmere said, +as he was having a last talk with Frank on the eve of the wedding. +"He will gnash his teeth when he sees it in the papers." + +"I have thought of him a good many times, George. He is an evil +scoundrel, and nothing would please me more than to hear that he +was dead. When I remember how many years he kept up his malice +against me, for having beaten him in a fight; I know how intense +must be his hatred of me, now that I have thwarted all his plans +and burned his yacht. It is not that I am afraid of him personally, +but there is no saying what form his vengeance will take, for that +he will sooner or later try to be revenged I feel absolutely +certain." + +"I have often thought of it myself, sir. Perhaps he is out in Hayti +still." + +"No chance of that, George. Miss Greendale said that he told her +that he had money sufficient to pay for a ten years' cruise. That +may have been a lie, but he must have had money sufficient to last +him for some time, anyhow, and you may be sure that he took it on +shore with him. He may have died from the effects of that wound you +gave him, but if he is alive I have no doubt that he is in England +somewhere. Of course, he would not show himself where he was known, +having been a heavy defaulter last year; but he may have let his +beard grow, and so disguised himself that he would not be easily +recognised. As to what he is doing, of course I have not the +slightest idea; but we may be quite sure that he is not up to any +good. + +"Well, George, then it is quite settled that you and Anna are to go +off with the luggage directly the wedding is over. You will come +ashore with the gig and meet us at eight o'clock at the station, +with a carriage to take us down to the boat." + +"I will be there, Major, and see that everything is ready for you +on board." + +When packing up his things in the morning, George Lechmere put +aside a pistol and a dagger that he had taken from the sash of a +mutineer, whom he had killed in India. + +"They are not the sort of things a man generally carries at a +wedding," he said, grimly, "but until I know something of what that +villain is doing, I mean to keep them handy for use. There is never +any saying what he may be up to, and I know well enough that the +Major, whatever he says, will never give the matter a thought." + +He loaded the pistol and dropped it into his coat pocket. Then he +opened his waistcoat, cut a slit in the lining under his left arm, +and pushed the dagger down it until it was stopped by the slender +steel crosspiece at the handle. + +"I will make a neater job of it afterwards," he said to himself. +"That will do for the present, and I can get at it in a moment." + +The wedding went off as such things generally do. The church was +crowded, the girls of the village school lined the path from the +gate to the church door, and strewed flowers as the bridal party +arrived; and as they drove off to Greendale tenants of both +estates, collected in the churchyard, cheered them heartily. There +was a large gathering at breakfast, but at last the toasts were all +drunk, and the awkward time of waiting over, and at three o'clock +Major Mallett and his wife drove off amidst the cheers of the crowd +assembled to see them start. + +"Thank God that is all over," Frank said heartily as they passed +out through the lodge gates. + +At half-past eight Captain Hawkins was standing at the landing +stage in a furious passion. + +"Where can that fellow Jackson have got to?" he said, stamping his +foot. "I said that you were all to be back in a quarter of an hour +when we landed, and it is three quarters of an hour now. I never +knew him to do such a thing before, and I would not have had such a +thing happen this evening for any money. What will the Major think +when he finds only five men instead of six in the gig, on such an +occasion as this? We shall be having them down in a minute or two. +Jackson had better not show his face on board after this. It is the +most provoking thing I ever knew." + +"It ain't his way, captain," one of the men said. "Jackson can go +on the spree like the rest of us, but I never knew him to do such a +thing all the years I have known him, when there was work to be +done; and I am sure he would not do so this evening. He may have +got knocked down or run over or something." + +"I will take an oar if you like, captain," said a man in a +yachtsman's suit, who was loitering near. "I have nothing to do, +and may as well row off as do anything else. You can put me on +shore in the dinghy afterwards." + +"All right, my lad, take number two athwart. It is too dark to see +faces, and the owner is not likely to notice that there is a +strange hand on board. I will give you half a crown gladly for the +job." + +The man got into the boat and took his seat. + +"Here they come," the captain went on. "We are only just in time. +Up-end your oars, lads. We ain't strong enough to cheer, but we +will give them a hearty 'God bless you!' as they come down." + +George Lechmere came on first, and handed in a bundle of wraps, +parasols, and umbrellas. The captain stood at the top of the steps, +and as Frank and Bertha came up took off his hat. + +"God bless you and your wife, sir," he said, and the men re-echoed +the words in a deep chorus. + +"Thank you, captain. + +"Thank you all, lads, for my wife and myself," Frank said, +heartily, and a minute later the boat pushed off. + +The tide was running out strong, and they were halfway across it +towards the dark mass of yachts, when there was a sudden crash +forward. + +"What is it?" Frank exclaimed. + +"This fellow has stove in the boat, sir," the bow oar exclaimed, +and then came a series of hurried exclamations. + +Frank had not caught the words, but the rush of water aft told him +that something serious had happened. + +"Row, men, row!" he shouted. + +"Steer to the nearest yacht, Hawkins." + +"We shall never get there, sir. She will be full in half a minute." + +"Let each man stick to his oar," Frank said, standing up. "We aft +will hold on to the boat." + +Then he raised his voice in a shout: + +"Yachts, ahoy! Send boats; we are sinking! + +"Don't be frightened, darling," he said to Bertha. "Keep hold of +the gunwale. I can keep you up easily enough until help comes, but +it is better to stick to the boat. We must have run against +something that has stove her in." + +A moment later the water was up to the thwarts, the boat gave a +lurch, and then rolled over. Frank threw his arm round Bertha, and +as the boat capsized clung to it with his disengaged hand. + +"Don't try to get hold of the keel," he said. "It would turn her +over again. Just let your hands rest on her, and take hold of the +edge of one of the planks. + +"That is it, Hawkins. Do you get the other side and just keep her +floating as she is. We shall have help in a minute or two. + +"Are you all right, George?" + +"Yes, I am at her stern. Do you want assistance, sir?" + +"No, we are all right, George." + +A moment later a man came up beside the Major, and put his hand +heavily on his shoulder. + +"You won last time, Mallett," he hissed in his ear. "It is my turn +now." + +The man's weight was pressing him under water, and the boat gave a +lurch. + +Frank loosed his hold of Bertha with the words, "Hold on, dear, for +a minute," and, turning, grappled with his enemy, at the same +moment grasping his right wrist as the arm was raised to strike him +with a knife. + +In a moment both went below the water. They came up beyond the +stern, and Frank said: + +"Take care of Bertha, George--Carthew--" and then went down again. + +Furiously they struggled. They were well matched in strength, but +Frank felt that his antagonist was careless of his own life, for he +had wound his legs round him, and, unable to wrench his arm from +his grasp, was doing his utmost to prevent their coming to the +surface. + +Suddenly, when he felt that he could no longer retain his breath, +he felt arms thrown round them both, and a moment later came to the +surface. Then he heard an exclamation of "Thank God!" An arm was +raised, and two blows struck rapidly. + +Carthew's grasp relaxed, the knife dropped from his hand, and, as +Frank shook himself free, he sank under the water. + +"Are you all right, Major?" his rescuer said. + +"Yes," he gasped. + +"Put your hand on my shoulder. The boat is not a length away." + +A minute later Frank was beside Bertha again. + +"Where have you been, Frank? I was frightened." + +"One of the men grasped me," he said, "and I should have turned the +boat over if I had not let go. However, thanks to George Lechmere, +who came to my rescue, I have shaken him off. + +"Ah! here is help." + +Three or four boats from the yachts were indeed rowing up. The four +clinging to the gig were taken on board by one of them, while the +others picked up the men who were floating supported by their oars. + +"Don't say a word about it, George," Frank whispered. + +The Osprey was lying but two or three hundred yards away, and they +were soon alongside. + +"This is not the sort of welcome I thought to give you on board, +dear," he said, as he helped Bertha on deck, and went down the +companion with her. + +Anna burst into exclamations of dismay at seeing the dripping +figures. + +"We have had an accident, Anna," Frank said, cheerfully, "but I +don't think that we are any the worse for it. Please take your +mistress aft and get her into dry things at once. + +"Steward, open one of those bottles of champagne, and give me half +a tumbler full." + +He hurried after the others with it. + +"Please drink this at once, Bertha," he said. "Yes, you shall have +some tea directly, but start with this. It will soon put you in a +glow. Oh! yes, I am going to have one, too; but a ducking is no +odds to me." + +Then he ran up on deck. + +"You have saved my life again, George, for that scoundrel would +have drowned us both." + +"I saw the knife in his hand as you went down, and knew that you +wanted me more than Miss--I mean Mrs. Mallett did." + +"How did you make him let go so quickly?" + +"I had a sort of fear that, sooner or later, that villain would be +up to something; and had made up my mind that I would always have a +weapon handy. This morning I stuck that dagger of mine inside the +lining of my waistcoat, so that it might be handy. And it was +handy. You were not five yards from me when you went down, and I +dived for you, but could not find you at first, and had to come up +once for air. Of course, I could not use the dagger until I found +which was which, and then I put an end to it." + +"Then you killed him, George?" + +"I don't think that he will trouble you any more, sir; and if ever +a chap deserved his fate that villain did. Why, sir, do you know +how it all happened?" + +"No, I did not catch what the man at the bow said. There was such a +confusion forward." + +"He said that he had staved the boat in somehow. He must have taken +the place of one of the men on purpose to do it." + +"Well, George, I can't say that I'm sorry." + +"I am heartily glad, sir. I am no more sorry for killing him than +for shooting one of those murderous niggers. Less sorry, a great +deal. The man deserved hanging. He was intending to murder you, and +perhaps Mrs. Mallett, and I killed him as I should have killed a +mad dog that was attacking you." + +"Well, say nothing about it at present, George. It would be a great +shock to my wife if she were to know it. Now you had better go and +change your things at once, as I am going to do. Are all the men +rescued?" + +"Yes, sir, they are all five on board." + +"Hawkins," Frank said, putting his hand in his pocket, "give the +men who came to help us a couple of sovereigns each, and tell our +men that I don't want them to talk about the affair. I will see you +about it again." + +Frank was not long in getting into dry clothes, and a few minutes +later Bertha came in. + +"Are you none the worse for it, dear?" + +"Not a bit, Frank. That champagne has thoroughly warmed me. What a +sudden affair it all was. Is everyone safe?" + +"Yes, they stuck to the oars, and all our crew were picked up. It +was a bad start, was it not? But it has never happened to me +before, and I hope that it will never happen to me again." + +"Some people would be inclined to think this an unlucky beginning," +said Bertha, with a slight tone of interrogation. + +"I am certainly not one of them," he laughed. "I had only one +superstition, and that is at an end. You know what it was, dear, +but the spell is broken. He had a long run of minor successes, but +I have won the only prize worth having, for which we have been +rivals." + +Some days later the body of a sailor was washed ashore near Selsey +Bill. An inquest was held, and a verdict returned that the man had +been murdered by some person or persons unknown; but although the +police of Portsmouth, Southampton, Cowes, and Ryde made vigilant +inquiries, they were unable to ascertain that any yacht sailor +hailing from those ports had suddenly disappeared. + +There was much discussion, in the forecastle of the Osprey, as to +the identity and motives of the man who had first got into +conversation with Jackson, and then asked him to take a drink, +which must have been hocussed, for Jackson remembered nothing +afterwards. It was evident that the fellow had done it in order to +take his place. He had staved in the boat, and, as they supposed, +afterwards swam to shore; but the crime seemed so singularly +motiveless that they finally put it down as the work of a madman. + +It was not until the day before the Osprey anchored again in Cowes, +three months later, that Bertha, on expressing some apprehension of +further trouble from Carthew, if he had survived the wound George +Lechmere gave him, learned the true account of the sinking of the +gig, as she went on board at Southampton on her wedding day. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN'S CUP*** + + +******* This file should be named 17436.txt or 17436.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/3/17436 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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