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diff --git a/24907.txt b/24907.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bdc8e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24907.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11316 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady and the Pirate, by Emerson Hough + +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 Lady and the Pirate + Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive + +Author: Emerson Hough + +Illustrator: Harry A. Mathes + +Release Date: March 24, 2008 [EBook #24907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY AND THE PIRATE *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE LADY AND THE + PIRATE + + _Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate + and a Fair Captive_ + + + _By_ + + EMERSON HOUGH + + _Author of_ + THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE, 54-40 OR FIGHT + THE PURCHASE PRICE, JOHN RAWN, ETC. + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + HARRY A. MATHES + + + INDIANAPOLIS + THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + [Illustration: Thus the heartless jade stood, unable to + meet my eagle eye] + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1913 +EMERSON HOUGH + + +PRESS OF +BRAUNWORTH & CO. +BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS +BROOKLYN, N. Y. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF 1 + + II IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY 6 + + III IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE 14 + + IV IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE 23 + + V IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN 34 + + VI IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND 44 + + VII IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME 52 + + VIII IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE 60 + + IX IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE 75 + + X IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS 90 + + XI IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS 97 + + XII IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY 102 + + XIII IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY 110 + + XIV IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE 122 + + XV IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN 131 + + XVI IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN 143 + + XVII IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY 154 + + XVIII IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES 158 + + XIX IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI 166 + + XX IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE + ELSE 175 + + XXI IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT 184 + + XXII IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA 192 + + XXIII IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH 205 + + XXIV IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION 213 + + XXV IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN 224 + + XXVI IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES 244 + + XXVII IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN 258 + + XXVIII IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION 267 + + XXIX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK 285 + + XXX IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT 299 + + XXXI IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS 312 + + XXXII IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK 324 + + XXXIII IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS 333 + + XXXIV IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE 349 + + XXXV IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE + ONE BELOVED 357 + + XXXVI IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS 375 + + XXXVII IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT + BE SKIPPED 384 + + XXXVIII IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE 395 + + XXXIX IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS 400 + + XL IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING 414 + + XLI IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO + VERY MUCH HAPPINESS 426 + + + + +THE LADY AND THE PIRATE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN WHICH I AM A CAITIFF + + +I was sitting at one of my favorite spots engaged in looking through +my fly-book for some lure that might, perhaps, mend my luck in the +afternoon's fishing. At least, I had within the moment been so +engaged; although the truth is that the evening was so exceptionally +fine, and the spot always so extraordinarily attractive to me--this +particular angle of the stream, where the tall birches stand, being to +my mind the most beautiful bit on my whole estate--that I had +forgotten all about angling and was sitting with rod laid by upon the +bank, the fly-book scarce noted in my hand. Moreover, a peculiarly +fine specimen of Anopheles, (as I took it to be) was at that very +moment hovering over my hand, and I was anxious to confirm my judgment +as well as to enlarge my collection of mosquitoes. I had my other hand +in a pocket feeling for the little phial in which I purposed to +enclose Anopheles, if I could coax him to alight. Indeed, I say, I +was at that very moment as happy as a man need be; or, at least, as +happy as I ever expected to be. Imagine my surprise, therefore, at +that moment to hear a voice, apparently intended for me, exclaim, +"Halt! Caitiff!" + +I looked up, more annoyed than displeased or startled. It is not often +one sees so fine a specimen of Anopheles; and one could have sworn +that, but for my slight involuntary movement of the hand, he must have +settled; after which--_crede experto!_--he would have been the same as +in my phial, and doomed to the chloroform within the next hour. +Besides, no matter who one may be or how engaged, it is not wholly +seemly to be accosted as a caitiff, when one is on one's own land, +offending no man on earth, owing no debt and paying no tribute, +feudal, commercial, military or personal, to any man on earth. + +The situation seemed to me singular. Had the time been some centuries +earlier, the place somewhere in the old world, such speech might have +had better fitting. But the time was less than a year ago, the place +was in America. I was on my own lands, in this one of our middle +states. This was my own river; or at least, I owned the broad acres on +both sides of it for some miles. And I was a man of no slinking habit, +no repulsive mien, of that I was assured, but a successful American +of means; lately a professional man and now a man of leisure, and not +so far past thirty years of age. My fly-rod was the best that money +can buy, and the pages of the adjacent book were handsomely stocked by +the best makers of this country and each of the three divisions of +Great Britain; in each of which--as well as in Norway, Germany, or for +the matter of that, India, New Zealand, Alaska, Japan or other +lands--I had more than once wet a line. My garb was not of leather +jerkin, my buskins not of thonged straw, but on the contrary I was +turned out in good tweeds, well cut by my London tailor. To be called +offhand, and with no more reason than there was provocation, a +"caitiff," even by a voice somewhat treble and a trifle trembling, +left me every reason in the world to be surprised, annoyed and +grieved. For now Anopheles had flown away; and had I not been thus +startled, I should certainly have had him. Yet more, no fish would +rise in that pool the rest of that evening, for no trout in my little +stream thereabout ever had seen a boat or been frightened by the plash +of an oar since the time, three years back, when I had bought the +place. + +I looked up. Just at the bend, arrested now by hand anchorage to the +overhanging alders, lay a small boat, occupied by two boys, neither +of more than fourteen years, the younger seemingly not more than +twelve. It was the latter who was clinging with one hand to the +drooping bushes. His companion, apparently the leader in their present +enterprise, was half crouching in the bow of the boat and he, +evidently, was the one who had accosted me. + +A second glance gave me even more surprise, for it showed that the +boat, though not precisely long, low and rakish of build, evidently +was of piratical intent. At least she was piratical in decoration. On +each side of her bow there was painted--and the evening sun, shining +through my larches, showed the paint still fresh--in more or less +accurate design in black, the emblem of a skull and cross-bones. Above +her, supported by a short staff, perhaps cut from my own willows, flew +a black flag, and whatever may have been her stern-chaser equipment, +her broadside batteries, or her deck carronades--none of which I could +well make out, as her hull lay half concealed among the alders--her +bow-chaser was certainly in commission and manned for action. The +pirate captain, himself, was at the lanyard; and I perceived that he +now rested an extraordinarily large six-shooter in the fork of a short +staff, which was fixed in the bow. Along this, with a three-cornered +gray eye, he now sighted at the lower button of my waistcoat, and in a +fashion that gave me goose-flesh underneath the button, in spite of +all my mingled emotions. Had I not "halted," as ordered, to the extent +of sitting on quietly as I was, he no doubt would have pulled the +lanyard, with consequences such as I do not care to contemplate, and +mayhap to the effect that this somewhat singular story would never +have been written. + +"Halt, Sirrah!" began the pirate leader again, "or I will blow you out +of the water!" + +I sat for a moment regarding him, my chin in my hand. + +"No," said I at last; "I already am out of the water, my friend. But, +prithee, have a care of yonder lanyard, else, gadzooks! you may belike +blow me off the bank and into the water." + +This speech of mine seemed as much to disconcert the pirate chieftain +as had his me. He stood erect, shifting his Long Tom, to the great +ease of my waistcoat button. + +"Won't you heave to, and put off a small boat for a parley?" I +inquired. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN WHICH I HOLD A PARLEY + + +The two pirates turned to each other for consultation, irresolute, but +evidently impressed by the fact that their prize did not purpose to +hoist sail and make a run for it. + +"What ho! mates?" demanded the captain, in as gruff a voice as he +could compass: "Ye've heard his speech, and he has struck his flag." + +"Suppose the villain plays us false," rejoined the "mates" or rather, +the mate, in a voice so high or quavering that for a moment it was +difficult for me to repress a smile; although these three years past I +rarely had smiled at all. + +The captain turned to one side, so that now I could see both him and +his crew. The leader was as fine a specimen of boy as you could have +asked, sturdy of bare legs, brown of face, red of hair, ragged and +tumbled of garb. His crew was active though slightly less robust, a +fair-haired, light-skinned chap, blue-eyed, and somewhat better clad +than his companion. There was something winning about his face. At a +glance I knew his soul. He was a dreamer, an idealist, an artist, in +the bud. My heart leaped out to him instinctively in a great impulse +of sympathy and understanding. Indeed, suddenly, I felt the blood +tingle through my hair. I looked upon life as I had not these three +years. The imagination of Youth, the glamour of Adventure, lay here +before me; things I cruelly had missed these last few years, it seemed +to me. + +"How, now, shipmates?" I remarked mildly. "Wouldst doubt the faith of +one who himself hath flown the Jolly Rover? Cease your fears and come +aboard--that is to say, come ashore." + +"Git out, Jimmy," I heard the captain say in a low voice, after a +moment of indecision. "Keep him covered till I tie her up." + +Jimmy, the fair-haired pirate, hauled in on the alders and flung a +grappling iron aboard my bank, which presently he ascended. As he +stood free from the screening fringe of bushes, I saw that he was +slender, and not very tall, one not wholly suited by nature to his +stern calling. His once white jacket now was soiled, and one leg of +his knickers was loose, from his scramble up the bank. He was belted +beyond all earl-like need; wore indeed two belts, which supported two +long hunting knives and a Malay kris, such as we now get from the +Philippines; as well as a revolver large beyond all proportion to his +own size. A second revolver of like dimensions now trembled in his +hand, and even though its direction toward me was no more than +general, I resumed the goose-flesh underneath my waistcoat, for no man +could tell what might happen. In none of my works with dangerous big +game have I felt a similar uneasiness; no, nor even in the little +affair in China where the Boxers held us up, did I ever really +consider the issue more in doubt. It pleased me, however, to make no +movement of offense or defense; and luckily the revolver was not +discharged. + +When the two had topped the bank, and had approached me--taking cover +behind trees in a way which made me suspect Boy Scout training, +mingled with bandit literature--to a point where we could see each +other's features plainly, I moved over to one side of my bank, and +motioned them to approach. + +"Come alongside, brothers," said I, pushing my fly-rod to one side; +"make fast and come aboard. And tell me, what cheer?" + +They drew up to me, stern of mien, bold of bearing, dauntless of +purpose. At least, so I was convinced, each wished and imagined +himself to seem; and since they wished so to be seen thus, seized by +some sudden whim, I resolved to see them. How I envied them! Theirs +all the splendor of youth, of daring, of adventure, of romance; +things gone by from me, or for the most part, never known. + +Frowning sternly, they seated themselves reluctantly on the grassy +bank beside me, and gazed out in the dignity of an imagined manhood +across my river, which now was lighted bravely by the retiring sun. +Had I not felt with them, longed with them, they could never so +splendidly have maintained their pretense. But between us, there in +the evening on my stream with only the birds and the sun to see, it +was not pretense. Upon the contrary, all cloaks were off, all masks +removed, and we were face to face in the strong light of reality. As +clearly as though I always had known them, I saw into the hearts of +these; and what I saw made my own heart ache and yearn for something +it had ever missed. + +"What cheer, comrades?" I repeated at length. "Whither away, and upon +what errand?" + +Now a strange thing happened, which I do not explain, for that I can +not. In plain fact, these two were obviously runaway boys, not the +first, nor perhaps the last of runaway boys; and I was a man of means, +a retired man, supposedly somewhat of a hermit, although really +nothing of the sort; lately a lawyer, hard-headed and disillusioned, +always a man of calm reason, as I prided myself; subject to no +fancies, a student and a lover of science, a mocker at all +superstition and all weak-mindedness. (Pardon me, that I must say all +these things of myself.) Yet, let me be believed who say it, some +spell, whether of this presence of Youth, whether of the evening and +the sun, or whether of the inner and struggling soul of Man, so fell +upon us all then and there, that we were not man and boys, but bold +adventurers, all three of like kidney! This was not a modern land that +lay about us. Yonder was not the copse beyond the birches, where my +woodcock sometimes found cover. This was not my trout-stream. Those +yonder were not my elms and larches moving in the evening air. No, +before us lay the picture of the rolling deep, its long green swells +breaking high in white spindrift. The keen wind of other days sounded +in our ears, and yonder pressed the galleons of Spain! Youth, Youth +and Adventure, were ours. + +We smiled not at all, therefore, as, with some thoughtful effort, it +is true, we held to fitting manner of speech. "We seek for treasure," +piped the thin voice of him I had heard called Jimmy. "Let none dare +lift hand against us!" + +"And whither away, my hearties?" + +"Spang! to the Spanish Main." This also from the blue-eyed boy; who, +now, with some difficulty, managed to let down the hammer of his +six-shooter without damage to himself or others. + +"We didn't know but youse would try to stop us," exclaimed the +red-haired leader. "We come around the bend and seen you settin' +there; an' we was resolved--to--to----" + +"To sell our lives dearly!" supplemented Jimmy. "He who would seek to +stop us does so at his peril." And Jimmy made so fell a movement +toward his side-arms that I hastened to restrain him. + +"Yes," said I; "you are quite right, my hearties." + +"But, gee!" ventured the red-haired pirate, "what was you thinkin' +about?" + +"You ask me to tell truth, good Sire," I made reply, "and I shall do +no less. At the very moment you trained your bow-chaser on me, I was +thinking of two things." + +"Speak on, caitiff!" demanded Jimmy fiercely. + +"Nay, call me not so, good Sir," I rejoined, "for such, in good-sooth, +I am not, but honest faithful man. Ye have but now asked what I +pondered, and I fain would speak truth, an' it please ye, my +hearties." + +"What's he givin' us, Jimmy?" whispered the pirate captain dubiously, +aside. + +"Speak on!" again commanded he of the blue eyes. "But your life blood +dyes the deck if you seek to deceive Jean Lafitte, or Henry +L'Olonnois!" + +(So then, thought I, at last I knew their names.) + +In reply I reached to my belt and drew out quickly--so quickly that +they both flinched away--the long handled knife which, usually, I +carried with me for cutting down alders or other growth which +sometimes entangled my flies as I fished along the stream. "Listen," +said I, "I swear the pirates' oath. On the point of my blade," and I +touched it with my right forefinger, "I swear that I pondered on two +things when you surprised me." + +"Name them!" demanded Jimmy L'Olonnois fiercely. + +"First, then," I answered, "I was wondering what I could use as a cork +to my phial, when once I had yonder Anopheles in it----" + +"Who's he?" demanded Jean Lafitte. + +"Anopheles? A friend of mine," I replied; "a mosquito, in short." + +"Jimmy, he's crazy!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte uneasily. + +"Say on, caitiff!" commanded L'Olonnois, ignoring him; "what else?" + +"In the second place," said I--and again I placed my right forefinger +on the point of my blade, "I was thinking of Helena." + +"Is she your little girl," hesitatingly inquired Jimmy L'Olonnois, for +the instant forgetting his part. + +"No," said I sadly, "she is not my little girl." + +"Where is she?" vaguely. + +"Regarding the whereabouts of either Anopheles or Helena, at this +moment," said I still sadly, "I am indeed all at sea, as any good +pirate should be." + +I tried to jest, but fared ill at it. I felt my face flush at hearing +her name spoken aloud. And sadly true was it that, on that afternoon +and many another, I had found myself, time and again, adream with +Helena's face before me. I saw it now--a face I had not seen these +three years, since the time when first I had come hither with the +purpose of forgetting. + +Jimmy was back in his part again, and doing nobly. "Ha!" said he. "So, +fellow, pondering on a fair one, didst not hear the approach of our +good ship, the _Sea Rover_?" + +"In good sooth, I did not," I answered; "and as for these other +matters, I swear on my blade's point I have spoken the truth." + +Our conversation languished for the moment. Illusion lay in the +balance. The old melancholy impended above me ominously. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +IN WHICH I AM A CAPTIVE + + +"What ho! Jean Lafitte," said I at length, rousing myself from the old +habit of reverie, of which I had chiefest dread; "and you, Henri +L'Olonnois, scourges of the main, both of you, listen! I have a plan +to put before you, my hearties." + +"Say on, Sirrah!" rejoined the younger pirate, so promptly and so +gravely that again I had much to do to refrain from sudden mirth. + +"Why then, look ye," I continued. "The sun is sinking beneath the +wave, and the good ship rides steady at her anchor. Meantime men must +eat! and yonder castle amid the forest offers booty. What say ye if we +pass within the wood, and see what we may find of worth to souls bold +as ours?" + +"'Tis well!" answered L'Olonnois; and I could see assent in Lafitte's +eyes. In truth I could discover no great preparations for a long +voyage in the open hold of the _Sea Rover_, and doubted not that both +captain and crew by this time were hungry. Odd crumbs of crackers and +an empty sardine can might be all very well at the edge of the +village of Pausaukee (I judged they could have come no greater +distance, some twelve or fifteen miles); but they do not serve for so +long a journey as lies between Pausaukee and the Spanish Main. + +They rose as I did, and we passed beyond the clump of tall birches, +along the edge of my mowing meadow, and through the gate which closes +my woodland path--to me the loveliest of all wood-trails, so gentle +and so silent is it always, and so fringed, seasonably, with ferns and +flowers. Thus, presently, we saw the blue smoke rising above my lodge, +betokening to me that my Japanese factotum, Hiroshimi, now had my +dinner under way. + +To me, it was my customary abode, my home these three years; but they +beside me saw not the rambling expanse of my leisurely log mansion. +They noted not the overhanging gables, the lattices of native wood. To +them, yonder lay a castle in a foreign land. Here was moat and wall, +then a portcullis, and gratings warded these narrow portals against +fire of musketoon. My pet swallows' nest, demure above my door, to +them offered the aspect of a culverin's mouth; and, as now, I made my +customary approach-call, by which I heralded my return from any +excursion on the stream of an evening, I could swear these invaders +looked for naught less than a swarm of archers springing to the +walls, and the hoarse answer of my men-at-arms back of each guarded +portal. Such is the power of youthful dreaming, such the residuary +heritage of days of high emprise, when life was full of blood and wine +and love, and savored not so wholly of dull commonplace! + +But indeed, (or so I presume; for at the moment my own imagination +swept on with theirs) none manned the walls or rattled the chains of +gate and bridge. The saffron Hiroshimi opened the screen door before +us, showing no surprise or interest in my strange companions. Thus we +made easy conquest of our castle. As we entered, there lay before us, +lighted softly by the subdued twilight which filtered through the +surrounding grove, the interior of that home which in three years I +had learned much to love, lonely as it was. Here I now dwelt most of +the time, leaving behind me, as though shut off by a closed door, the +busy scenes of an active and successful life. (I presume I may fairly +speak thus of myself, since there is no one else to speak.) + +My pirate companions, suddenly grown shy, stood silent for a moment, +for the time rather at a loss to carry on the play which had been +easier in the open. I heard Jimmy draw a long breath. He was first to +remove his hat. But his companion was quicker to regain his poise, +although for a moment he forgot his pirate speech. "Gee!" said he. +"Ain't this great!" + +I doubt if any praise I ever heard in my life pleased me more than +this frank comment; no, not even the kind word and hand-clasp of old +Judge Henderson, what time I won my first cause at law. For this that +lay about me was what I had chosen for my life to-day. I had preferred +this to the career into which my father's restless ambition had +plunged me almost as soon as I had emerged from my college and my +law-school--a career which my own restless ambition had found +sufficient until that final break with Helena Emory, which occurred +soon after the time when my father died; when the news went out that +I, his heir, was left with but a shrunken fortune, and with many debts +to pay; news which I, myself, had promulgated for reasons of my own. +After that, called foolish by all my friends, lamented by members of +my family, forgotten, as I fancy, by most who knew me, I had retired +to this lodge in the wilderness. Here, grown suddenly resentful of a +life hitherto wasted in money-getting alone, I had resolved to spend +the remainder of my days, as beseemed a student and a philosopher. +Having read Weininger and other philosophers, I was convinced that +woman was the lowest and most unworthy thing in the scale of created +things, a thing quite beneath the attention of a thinking man. + +I have said that I was scarce beyond thirty years of age. Even so, I +found myself already old; and like any true philosopher, I resolved to +make myself young. As hitherto I had had no boyhood, I determined to +achieve a boyhood for myself. Studying myself, I discovered that I had +rarely smiled; so I resolved to find somewhat to make me smile. The +great realm of knowledge, widest and sweetest of all empires for a +man, lay before me alluringly when I entered upon my business career; +and so interested was I in my business and my books that only by +chance had I met the woman who drove me out of both. A boy I had never +been; nay, nor even a youth. I had always been old. True, like others +of my station, I had owned my auto cars, my matched teams--owned them +now, indeed--but I had never owned a dog. So, when I came hither with +ample leisure, perhaps my chief ambition was a deliberate purpose to +encompass my deferred boyhood. Thus I had built this house of logs +which now--with a surprised and gratifying throb of my heart I learned +it--appealed to the souls of real boys. It was the castle where I +dreamed; and now it was the palace of their dreams also. I felt, at +least, that I had succeeded. My heart throbbed in a new way, very +foolish, yet for some reason suddenly enjoyable. + +My house was all of logs and had no decorations of paint or tapestry +within. Its only arras was of the skins of wild beasts--of the African +lion and leopard, the zebra, many antelopes. The walls were hung with +mounted heads--those of the moose, the elk, the bighorn, most of the +main trophies of my own land and to these, through my foreign hunting, +I had added heads of all the great trophies of Africa and Asia as +well. A splendid pair of elephant tusks stood in a corner. A fine head +of the sheep of Tibet, _ovus poli_--and I prize none of my trophies +more, unless it be the fine robe of the Chinese mountain tiger--looked +full front at us from above the fireplace. My rod racks, and those +which supported my guns and rifles, were here and there about the +room. The whole gave a jaunty atmosphere to my home. I had gone +soberly about the business of sport; and in these days, that can be +practised most successfully by a man with much leisure and unstinted +means. + +My books lay about everywhere, also, books which perhaps would not +have appealed to all. My copies of the Vedas, many works on the +Buddhist faith, and translations from Confucius, lay side by side +with that Bible which we Christians have almost forgot. Here, too, +stood my desk with its cases of preserved mosquitoes--for this year I +was studying mosquitoes as an amusement. I had collected all the +mosquito literature of the world, and my books, in French, German and +English, lay near my great microscope. I had passed many happy hours +here in the oblivion of mental concentration, always a delight with +me, now grown almost a necessity if I were to escape the worst of all +habits, that of introspection and self-pity. + +My piano and my violins also were in full sight; for the world of +music, as well as the world of sport and youth, I was deliberately +opening for myself, also in exchange for that closed world of affairs +which I had abandoned. Indeed, all manners of the impedimenta of a +well-to-do Japanese-cared-for bachelor were in evidence. To me, each +object was familiar and was cherished. I had never felt need to +apologize to any gentleman for my quarters or their contents--or to +any woman, for no woman had ever seen my home. I may admit that, +contrary to the belief of some, I was a rich man, far richer that I +had need or care to be; and since it was not due to my own ability +altogether nor in response to any real ambition of my own, I know I +will be pardoned for simply stating the truth. My one great ambition +in life was to forget; but if that might be best obtained in sport, in +study, or amid the gentle evidences of good living, so much the +better. Many men had called my father, stern and masterful man that he +was, a robber, a thief, a pirate--in great part, I suspect, in envy +that they themselves had not attained a like stature in similar +achievement. But no one had ever called his son a pirate--until now! +It made me oddly happy. + +I ought to have been happy here all these years, able to do precisely +what I liked; but sometimes I felt myself strangely alone in the +world. I was always silent and apparently cold--though really, let me +whisper--only shy. Sometimes, even here, I found myself a trifle sad. +It is difficult to be a boy when one starts at thirty; especially +difficult if one has always been rather old and staid. + +I tell all these things to explain that keen pleasure, that swift +exultation, that rush of the blood to my cheeks, which I felt when I +saw that my house and my way of life met the approval of real boys. +Pirates, too! + +Swift, therefore, fell once more the magic curtain of romance. I heard +a strange voice, my own voice, saying: "Enter then, my bold mates, and +let us explore this castle which we have conquered." Yes, illusion +floated in through the windows on the pale light of the evening. This +was a castle we had taken; and the detail that I chanced to own it was +neither here nor there. + +"Prisoner," began L'Olonnois sternly--he was usually spokesman, if not +always leader--"Prisoner, your life is spared for the time. Lead on! +Attempt to play us false, and your blood shall be spilled upon the +deck!" + +"It shall be so," I answered. "And if I do not give you the best meal +you have had to-day, then indeed let my life's blood stain the deck." + +So saying, I nodded to Hiroshimi to serve the dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN WHICH I AM A PIRATE + + +With my own hands I have trained that prize, Hiroshimi, to cook and to +serve; but only Providence could give Hiroshimi his super-humanly +disinterested calm. He fitted perfectly into the picture of our dream. +'Twas no ordinary log house in which we sat, indeed no house at all. +Beneath us rose and fell a stanch vessel, responsive to the long lift +of the southern seas. It was not a rustle of the leaves we heard +through the open windows, but the low ripple of waves along our +strakes came to our ears through the open ports. Hiroshimi did not +depart to the kitchen; but high aloft our lookout swept the sea for +sail that might offer us a prize. + +If any say that this manner of illusion may not exist between two boys +and a man, I answer that we did not thus classify it. By the new +pleasure in my soul, by the new blood in my cheek, I swear we were +three boys together, and all in quest of adventure. + +True, at times our speech smacked less of nautical and piratical +phrase, at times, indeed, halted. It is difficult for a +twelve-year-old pirate, exceeding hungry, to ask for a third helping +of grilled chicken in a voice at once stern and ingratiating. +Moreover, it is difficult for a discreet and law-abiding citizen, with +a full sense of duty, deliberately to aid and abet two youthful +runaways. But whenever illusion wavered, L'Olonnois saved the day by +resuming his stern scowl, even above a chicken-bone. His facility in +rolling speech I discovered to be, in part, attributable to a volume +which I saw protruding from his pocket. At my request he passed it to +me, and I saw its title; _The Pirate's Own Book_. I knew it well. +Indeed, I now arose, and passing to my bookshelves, drew down a +duplicate copy of that rare volume, recounting the deeds of the old +buccaneers. The eyes of L'Olonnois widened as I laid the two side by +side. + +"You've got it, too!" he exclaimed. + +I nodded. + +"That explains it," said Jean Lafitte. + +"Explains what?" + +"Why, how you--why now--how you could be a pirate, too, just as +natural as us." + +"I have read it many a time," said I. + +"Wasn't you never a pirate?" asked Jean Lafitte. + +"No," said I, smiling, "although many have said my father was. He was +very rich." + +"Well, you can talk just like us," said Jean Lafitte admiringly, "even +if you have lost all." + +"Of course," said I exultingly. "Why not? I think as you do. As much +as you I am disgusted with the dulness of life. I, too, wish to seek +my fortune. Well then, why not, John Saunders? Why not, James +Henderson?" + +Ah, now indeed illusion halted! Both boys, abashed, fell back in their +chairs. "How did you know our names?" asked the older of the two at +length. + +"Nay, fear not," said I. "I do but seek to prove my fitness to join +the jolly brotherhood, good mates." + +"Aw, honest!" rejoined Jimmy; "you got to tell us how you knew." + +"Well, then, let me go on. In your book, here, I saw your father's +name, Jimmy. I know your father. He is Judge Willard Henderson of the +Appellate Court in the city. I was admitted to the bar under him. He +has a summer place at the lake above here, as I know, although I have +never visited him there. I know your mother, too, Jimmy,--so well I +should not like to cause her even a moment's uneasiness about you." + +"Do you know my auntie, Helena Emory?" demanded Jimmy suddenly. I felt +the blood surge into my face. + +"Don't misunderstand me," I rejoined, "I only have some gift of the +second sight, as I shall now prove to you. For instance, Jean Lafitte, +I know your earlier name was John Saunders, although I never saw or +heard of you before." + +"Well, now, how'd you know that?" demanded the elder boy. + +"I did not promise to tell the secrets of my art," I smiled. I did not +tell him that I had seen the name of Saunders on the tag of a shirt +somewhat soiled. + +"Your father's name was John before you," I added at a venture. He +assented, half-frightened, although I had only guessed at this, +supposing John Saunders to be a somewhat continuous family name in a +family of auburn Highlanders. + +"He sells farm stuff at the hotel above," I ventured. And again my +guess was truth. + +"You take the wagon there, sometimes, with vegetables and milk and +eggs; and so you met Jimmy, here, and you went fishing together; and +he told you stories out of his book. I fear, John, that your father +licks you because you go fishing on Sunday. That was why you resolved +to run away. You led Jimmy into that with you. Yesterday you took a +boat from the lake near the hotel, and you painted her up and rigged +her for a pirate ship. You rowed across the lake to the marsh where +the little stream makes out--my trout-stream here. You followed that +stream down, with no more trouble than ducking under a wire fence +once in a while, until you came to my land, and until you saw me. You +were afraid I might tell on you; and besides, you were pirates now; +and so you took me prisoner. Marry, good Sirs, 'tis not the first time +a prisoner has joined a pirate band!" + +"That's wonderful!" gasped Jean T. Lafitte Saunders. "And you say you +have never been up to our lake!" + +"No," said I, "but I have a map, and I know my river heads in your +lake, and that very probably it runs out of the low marshy side. +Besides, being a boy myself, I know precisely what boys would do. Tell +me, do you think I would betray two of the brotherhood?" + +"You won't give us away?" The elder pirate's face was eager. + +"On the contrary, I'll see that you don't get into any trouble." + +"That's a good scout!" ejaculated he fervently, his freckled face +flushing. + +"We wasn't--that is, we hadn't--well, you see?" began Jimmy. "Maybe +we'd just have camped down here and gone back to-morrow. I was afraid +about taking the boat. Besides, I've only got about six dollars, +anyhow." He spread his wealth out upon the table before me frankly. + +"Have no fear," said I. "To-night I shall write a few letters that +will clear up every trouble back home, and allow us to continue our +journey to the Spanish Main." + +"Oh, will you?" cried Jimmy, much relieved. "That'll be a good scout," +he added. + +Suddenly I found myself smiling at him, I who had smiled so rarely +these years, whether in the Selkirks or the Himalayas, in Uganda or +here in my own little wilderness--because Helena had left me so sad. + +"But if I promise, you, also, must promise in turn." + +Used as I was, already, to the astounding changes in Jimmy from boy to +buccaneer and back again, I was now interested at the fell scowl which +he summoned to his features, as soon as he felt relieved as to the +domestic situation. "Speak, fellow!" he demanded; and folding his +arms, presented so threatening a front that I saw my man Hiroshimi +covertly lay hold upon a carving knife. + +"Why, then, my hearties," said I, "'tis thus. I'll sign on as +sea-lawyer and scrivener, as well as purser for the ship. Yes, I'll +sign articles and voyage with you for a week or a month, or two +months, or three. I'll provender the ship and pay all bills of libel +or demurrage in any port of call; and by my fateful gift of second +sight, which ye have seen well proven here to-night, not only will I +see ye safe for what ye already have done, but will keep ye safe +against any enemy we may meet, be he whom he may!" + +"'Tis well," said L'Olonnois. "Say on!" + +"And in return I ask a boon." + +"Name it, fellow!" + +"Already I have named it--that I, too, shall be accepted as one of the +brotherhood. Oh, listen"--I broke out impulsively--"I have never been +a pirate, and I have never been a boy. I have had everything in the +world I wanted and it made me awfully lonesome, because when you have +everything you have nothing. I have nothing to do but eat and sleep, +and hunt and fish, and read and write, and study and think, and play +my music, here. I do not want to do these things any more. Especially +I do not want to think. Boys do not think, and I want to be a boy. I +want to be a pirate with you. I want to seek my fortune with you." + +We sat silent, almost solemn for a moment, so sincere was my speech +and so startling to them. But thanks to L'Olonnois and his saving +book, illusion came to us once more in time. + +"Will ye be good brother and true pirate?" demanded L'Olonnois. "And +will ye take the oath of blood?" + +"That I will!" said I. + +"Brothers and good shipmates all"--broke in Jean Lafitte in a deep +voice--"what say ye? Shall we put him to the oath?" + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" responded the deep chorus of scores of full-chested +voices. Or, at least, so it seemed to us, though, mayhap, 'twas no +more than Jimmy who spoke. + +"Swear him, then!" commanded Jean Lafitte. "Swear him by the oath of +blood." + +"We--we haven't any blood!" whispered L'Olonnois, aside, somewhat +troubled. + +"That have we, mates," said I, "and the ceremony shall have full +solemnity." + +I took up my keen hunting knife and deliberately and slowly opened the +side of my thumb, more to the pain of Jimmy, I fancy, than to myself, +as I could see by the twitch of his features. + +"By this blood I swear!" said I: "and on the point of my blade I swear +to be a true pirate; to fight the fight of all; to divulge no plans of +the company; and to share with my brothers share and share alike of +all booty we may take." + +"'Tis well!" said L'Olonnois, much impressed and delighted, as also +was his mate, very evidently. + +"And now, my brothers," said I, "you, also, must swear to divulge no +secret of mine that you may learn, to tell nothing of my plans, or my +name, or the name of the port where I signed on the rolls." + +"We don't know your name," said Jimmy, "but neither of us will give +you away." + +Jean Lafitte was all for opening up his own thumb for blood, but I +stopped him. "This will do," said I, and stained his fingers and those +of L'Olonnois--who grew pale at sight of it to his evident disgust. + +So, thus, I became a pirate, and we three were brother rovers of the +deep. I fancied my associates would be loyal. I was thinking of a +certain cousin of the younger pirate. Not for worlds would I seek to +pursue her now; but there had arisen in my soul, already, a sort of +strange wonder whether some intent of fate had sent this youngster +here to remind me once more of her, whom I would forget. + +"Now," said I at last, "let us seek what fare the castle offers for +the night." I could see they were tired and sleepy, and so found for +them bath and clean pajamas--somewhat too large to be sure--and good +beds in the wing of my log house. And never, as I be a true pirate, +never have I seen so many and so various single-fire and revolving +short arms, in my life, as these two buccaneers disclosed when they +unbelted and laid aside their jackets! Even thus equipped, I found +them looking enviously at my walls, where hung weapons of many lands. +I sent them to bed happier by telling them that, in the morning, they +should select such as they chose for the equipment of our vessel. +"Gee!" said Jean Lafitte again. "Gee! _Gee!_" He was so happy that I, +too, was happy. It was L'Olonnois who changed that. + +"Methinks," said he, regarding me sternly, "that in yonder ivy-clad +halls might dwell some lady fair! Tell me, is it not so?" + +He stretched a thin arm out, in the sleeve of my smallest pajamas, and +pointed a slender finger at the interior of my castle of dreams. Alas, +after all it was empty! My old melancholy came back to me. + +"No, my brothers," said I, "no maid has ever passed yon door. No, nor +ever will." + +L'Olonnois bent his flaxen head in dignified and manly sympathy. "I +see," said he, "our brother in his youth has, perhaps, been deceived +by some fair one!" + +Upon which I left them for my own room. + +If two buccaneers in my castle slept well that night, a third did not. +Anopheles might go hang. I did not fancy my new microscope. I doubted +if my last violin were a real Strad. I did not like the last music my +dealers had sent out to me. My studies of Confucius and Buddha might +go hang, and my new book as well. For now, before me, came the face of +a certain pirate's aunt, and she was indeed a lady fair. And I knew +full well--as I had known all these years, although I had tried to +deceive myself into believing otherwise--that gladly as I had +exchanged the city for the wilderness, with equal gladness would I +exchange my leisure, all my wealth, all my belongings, for a moment's +touch of her hand, a half-hour of talk heart-to-heart with her, so +that, indeed, I might know the truth; so that, at least, I might have +it direct from her, bitter though the truth might be. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN WHICH WE SAIL FOR THE SPANISH MAIN + + +When, in the morning, I passed from my quarters toward the main room +which served me both as living-room and dining hall, I found that my +pirate guests were also early risers. I could hear them arguing over +some matter, which proved to be no more serious than the question of a +cold bath of mornings, Jimmy maintaining that everybody had a cold +bath every morning, whereas John insisted with equal heat that nobody +ever bathed ("washed," I think he called it), oftener than once a +week, to wit, on Saturdays only. They engaged in a pillow fight to +settle it, and as Jimmy had John fairly well smothered by his rapid +fire, I voted that the ayes appeared to have it when they referred the +point to me. + +As we are very remote and never visited in my wilderness home, it is +not infrequent that I take my morning meal very much indeed in mufti, +although Hiroshimi is always most exact himself. On this morning it +occurred to us all that pajamas made a garb more piratical and more +nautical than anything else obtainable, so we took breakfast--and I +think Hiroshimi never served me a breakfast more delicate and +tempting--clad as perhaps the Romans were, if they had pajamas in +those times. All went well until the keen eyes of Jimmy, wandering +about my place, noted a certain photograph which rested on the top of +my piano--where I was much comforted always to have it, especially of +an evening, when sometimes I played Mendelssohn's _Spring Song_, or +other music of the like. It was the picture of the woman who did not +know and very likely did not care where, or how, I lived--Helena +Emory, to my mind one of the most beautiful women of her day; and I +have seen the world's portraits of the world's beauties of all +recorded days in beauty. Toward this Jimmy ran excitedly--I, with +equal speed, endeavoring to divert him from his purpose. + +"But it's my Auntie Helen!" he protested, when I recovered it and +placed it in my pocket. + +"It is your Auntie fiddlesticks, Jimmy," said I hastily, hoping my +color was not heightened. "It is your grandmother! Finish your +breakfast." + +"I guess I ought to know--" he began. + +"What!" I rejoined. "Wouldst pit your wisdom against one who has the +second sight; have a care, shipmate." + +"It was!" he reiterated. "I know ain't anybody pretty as she is, so it +was." + +"Jimmy L'Olonnois," said I, "let us reason about this. I----" + +"Lemme see it, then. I can tell in a minute. Why don't you lemme see +it, then?" He was eager. + +"Shipmate," I replied to him, "the hand is sometimes quicker than the +eye, and the mind slower than the heart. For that reason I can not +agree to your request." + +"But what'd _he_ be doing with Miss Emory's picture, Jimmy?" argued +Lafitte. + +"That's what I'd like to know," I added. "It may be that, in your +haste, you have confused in your mind, Jimmy, some portrait with that +of the Princess Amelie Louise, of Furstenburg." (I had indeed +sometimes commented on the likeness of Helena Emory to that +light-hearted old-world beauty.) Jimmy did not know that a photograph +of the princess herself, also, stood upon the piano top, nor did he +fully grasp the truth of that old saying that the hand is quicker than +the eye. At least, he gazed somewhat confused at the portrait which I +now produced before his eyes. + +"Who was she?" he inquired. + +"A very charming young lady of rank, who eloped with a young man not +of rank. In short, although she did not marry a chauffeur, she did +marry an automobile agent. And surely, Jimmy, your Auntie +Helen--whoever she may be--would do no such thing as that and still +claim to be a cousin of a L'Olonnois?" + +"I don't know. You can't always tell what a girl's going to do," said +Jimmy sagely. "But I don't think Auntie Helen's going to marry a auto +man." + +"Why, Jimmy?" (I found pleasure and dread alike in this conversation.) + +"Because everybody says she's going to get married to Mr. Davidson, +and he's a commission man." + +Now, I am sure, my face did not flush. It may have paled. I tried to +be composed. I reached for the melon dish and remarked, "Yes? And who +is he? And really, who is your Auntie Helena, Jimmy, and what does she +look like?" I spoke with a fine air of carelessness. + +"She looks like the princess, you said," replied Jimmy. "And Mr. +Davidson's rich. He's got a house on our lake, this summer, and he +lives in New York and has offices in Chicago, and travels a good deal. +He has some sort of factory, too, and he's awful rich. I like him +pretty well. He knows how all the ball clubs stand, both leagues, +every day in the year. You ought to know him, because then you might +get to know my Auntie Helena. If they got married, like as not, I +could take you up to their house. I thought everybody knew Mr. +Davidson, and my Auntie Helena, too." + +Everybody did. Why should I not know Cal Davidson, one of the +decentest chaps in the world? Why not, since we belonged to half a +dozen of the same clubs in New York and other cities? Why not, since +this very summer I had put my private yacht (named oddly enough, the +_Belle Helene_) in commission for the first season in three years, and +chartered her for the summer around Mackinaw, and a cruise down the +Mississippi to the Gulf that fall? Why not, since I had still unbanked +the handsome check Davidson had insisted on my taking as charter money +for the last quarter? + +Davidson! Of all men I had counted him my friend. And now here was he, +reputed to be about to marry the girl who, as he knew, must have +known, ought to have known, was all the world to me! Even if she would +have none of me, and even though I had no shadow of claim on her--even +though we had parted not once but a dozen times, and at last in a +final parting--Davidson ought to have known, must have known! And my +own yacht! Why, no man may know what may go forward in a yachting +party. And, if perchance that fall he could persuade to accompany him +Helena and her chaperon (I made no doubt that would be her Aunt +Lucinda; for Helena's mother died when she was a child, and she was +somewhat alone, although in rather comfortable circumstances) what +could not so clever a man as Davidson, I repeat, one with so much of a +way with women, accomplish in a journey so long as that, with no other +man as his rival? It would be just like Cal Davidson to go ashore at +St. Louis long enough to find a chaplain, and then go on ahead for a +honeymoon around the world--on my boat, with my.... No, she was not +mine ... but then.... + +All my life I have tried to be fair, even with my own interests at +stake. I tried now to be fair; and I failed! I could see but one side +to this case. Davidson must be found at once, must be halted in +mid-career. + +It was about this time that Hiroshimi came in with the morning's mail +and telegrams, all of which at my place come in from the railway, ten +miles or so, by rural free delivery. I paid small attention to him, +most of my mail, these days, having to do with gasoline pumps or +patent hay rakes and lists from my gun and tackle dealers and such +like. + +Hiroshimi coughed. "Supposing Honorable like to see these yellow wire +envelopings." + +I glanced down and idly opened the telegram. It was from Cal Davidson +himself, and read: + + "Name best price outright sale bill Helen to me answer + Chicago." + +So then, the scoundrel actually was on his way down the lakes, headed +for the South, even thus early in the season! I knew, of course, that +Bill Helen meant _Belle Helene_. As though I would sell my boat to +him, of all men! It might almost as well have been a sale of Helena +herself outright, as this cursed telegram stated. I crumpled the sheet +in my hand. + +"If Honorable contemplates some answering of mail this morning, it +will be one ow-wore till the miserable pony mail carry all man comes," +ventured Hiroshimi. + +"Nothing this morning, Hiro," I managed to choke out, "and, Hiro, make +ready my bag, the small one, for a journey." + +"S-s-s-s!" hissed Hiroshimi, which was his way of saying, "Yes, sir, +very well, sir." Surprise he neither showed now nor at any time; and +since he never could tell at what hour I might conclude to start for +his country or Europe or Africa or some other land for a stay of weeks +or months, there was perhaps some warrant for his calm. He had less to +do when I was away; although I always suspected him of poaching my +trout with his infernal Japanese methods of angling. + +At this moment L'Olonnois saw, through the open door, a red squirrel +which scampered up a tree. At once he forgot all about his Auntie +Helen and scampered off in pursuit, followed presently by Lafitte. +This gave me time to decide upon a plan.... At last, I lifted my head +again.... Why not, then? + +When L'Olonnois returned from the chase of the squirrel, he was all +L'Olonnois and none Jimmy Henderson. The spell of his drama was upon +him once more. + +"What ho, mate," he began, scowling most vilely at me, "the sun is +high in the heavens, yet we linger here. Let us up anchor, hoist the +top-gallant mast and set sail for the enemy." + +Jimmy's nautical terms might have been open to criticism, but there +was no denying the bold and manly import of his speech. My own heart +jumped well enough with it now. + +"'Tis well, shipmate," said I. "Come, get ready your togs and your +weapons, and let us away. As you say, the good ship tugs at her anchor +chains this morning." + +I managed to better the wardrobe of both boys by certain ducks and +linens from my own store, albeit a world too large. Lafitte, none too +happy at being thus uncongenially clean, was delight itself when set +to selecting an armament from my collection. He chose three bright +and clean Japanese swords, special blades of the Samurai armorers, +forged long before Mutsuhito's grandfather was a boy--I had paid a +rare price for them in Japan. To these he added three basket-handled +cutlasses, which I had obtained in London, each almost old enough to +have belonged to the crew of Drake himself. A short-barreled magazine +pistol for each of us was his concession to the present unromantic +age. As for Jimmy, he insisted on a small bore rifle as well as a +shotgun. "We might see something," he remarked laconically. + +Thus equipped, I persuaded my associates to lay aside most of their +somewhat archaic artillery. Neither had taken any thought of other +supplies. Hiroshimi, however, now appeared, bearing, in addition to my +hand luggage, two hampers, a roll of blankets and a silk tent in its +canvas wrapper. + +"Honorable is embarked in those small-going boat that is made tied to +the bank?" inquired Hiroshimi. He had said nothing to me about my +guests, or asked how they came; but as I knew he would find out all +about it, anyhow, after his own fashion, I had not mentioned anything +to him, or told him what to do. I only nodded now, relying on his +efficiency. He now approached my young pirates, and rather against +their will, removed from them some of their burden of weapons, +slinging about himself bundles, baskets, bags and cutlery, until he +almost disappeared from view. He cast on me a reproachful gaze, +however, as he took from Lafitte's hand the bared blade of the old +Samurai sword, and noted the ancient inscription on blade and scabbard +as he sheathed it reverently. + +"What does it say, Hiro?" I asked of him. + +"Very old talk, Honorable," answered Hiroshimi. "It say, 'Oh, +Honorable Gentleman who carry me, I invite you to make high and noble +adventurings.'" + +"Let me carry it, Hiro," said I; and I tucked it under my own arm. + +"Good!" exclaimed L'Olonnois. "Then you are going with us? And did you +write the letters that you promised us?" + +"I always keep my word." + +"And it'll be all right back home about mother and the boat? I'll give +you my six dollars!" + +"There is no need. I told you, if you would make me one of the crew of +the _Sea Rover_ and let me seek my fortune with you, I would gladly +pay all the reckoning of our journey." + +"And how long will we be gone?" + +"Till after your school begins, I fear." + +"And how far are you going with us?" + +"Spang! to the Spanish Main!" I answered. + +So then we set forth down my woodland path. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN WHICH I ACQUIRE A FRIEND + + +We proceeded, therefore, through the wood, sweet in the dew of +morning, among many twittering birds, and so came, presently, to the +end of my path, where the little gate shuts it off from my mowing +meadow; at the upper end of which, it may be remembered, the good ship +_Sea Rover_ lay anchored. The grass stood waist-high and wet in the +dew as we turned along the meadow side, and L'Olonnois flinched a bit, +although Lafitte waded along carelessly. + +I observed that each boy had now thrust into his hat band a turkey +feather, picked up, en route, along my field's edge. Jimmy was not +sure of the correctness of this; and admitted that, sometimes, he had +read literature having to do with Indian fighting, as well as +piratical enterprises. I suggested that, to my mind, nothing quite +took the place of the regulation red kerchief bound about the head; +whereat, gravely, both L'Olonnois and Lafitte discarded their hats and +feathers, for the bandannas which I proffered them. Having bound these +about their foreheads, a great courage and confidence came to them. + +L'Olonnois drew his sword, and with some care placed the blade +between his teeth. "Hist!" exclaimed Lafitte, himself swept by his +friend's imagination, and preparing to place his cutlass in his mouth +also. "Let us approach the vessel with care, lest the enemy be about." +So saying, each pirate with a mouthful of cold steel, and a hand +shading his red-kerchiefed brow, stole through my clump of birches +toward the bend, where the boat had first surprised me; myself +following, somewhat put to it to refrain from laughter, although one +rarely laughs in the young hours of the day, and myself rarely, at +all. + +We were greeted by no hostile shot, and found our vessel quite as we +had left her, as I could see at a glance when we neared the bank; but, +none the less, something stirred in the bushes. A growl and a sudden +barking, greeted Hiroshimi as he approached the boat in advance. + +"You, Tige!" called out Lafitte. The dog--a dog none too beautiful, +and now just a bit forlorn--approached us, alternately wagging in +friendship and retreating in alarm. + +"Well, what do you think of that!" said Jimmy. "We left him back at +the lake--sent him home half a dozen times. How'd he get here, and +how'd he know where we was?" + +"He couldn't a-swum the lake," assented John. "And it was more'n ten +miles around; and how could he smell where we went, on the water? Come +here, Tige, you blame fool!" + +"Nay," said I, "he is no fool, this dog, but a creature of great +reason, else he never could have found you. And I'll be bound he is as +keen for adventure as any of us." + +"He is coming here last night two ow-wore after dinner," said the +omniscient Hiroshimi. "Also he bite me on leg. He, also, is +malefactor." + +"He has allotted to himself the duty of caring for the property of his +masters, Hiro," I said, "and hence is not really a malefactor. +Besides, since he would not leave the boat and follow our trail, he is +by this time hungry. Feed him, Hiro." + +But Hiroshimi was not eager to approach the piratical canine again; so +I, myself, fished something from a hamper and called the dog to me. He +ate gladly and most gratefully. + +Now, it is a strange thing to say, but it is the truth, I had never +before in my life fed a dog! I had won many knotty suits at law, had +solved many hard problems dealing with human nature--and had found +human nature for the most part rarely glad or grateful--but I have +never owned or even fed a dog. A strange new feeling came in my throat +now. Suddenly I swallowed some invisible intangible thing. + +"John," said I, "what breed of dog is this?" Indeed, it was hard to +tell offhand, although he had the keen head of a collie. + +"I guess he's just one o' them partial dogs," answered John, "mostly +shepherd, maybe; I dunno." + +"Very well, Partial shall be his name. And is he yours?" + +"He runs round on the farm. He goes with Jimmy an' me." + +"John, will you sell me Partial?" I asked this suddenly, realizing +that my voice might sound odd. + +"What'd ye want him fer?" he replied. "He'd be a nuisance." + +"I think not. See how faithful he has been, see how grateful he is; +and how wise. He reasoned where you were as well as I reasoned who you +were. He knows now that we are talking about him, and knows that I am +his friend--see him look at me; see him come over and stand by me. +John, do you think--do you believe a dog, this dog, would learn to +like me, ever? Would he understand me?" + +"Well," said John judicially, standing sword in hand, "I dunno. +Someways, maybe dogs and boys understands quicker. But you understand +us. Maybe he'd understand you." + +"Well reasoned, Jean Lafitte," said I, "perhaps your logic is better +than you know, at least, I hope so. And now I offer you yonder +magazine pistol as your own in fee, if you will sign over to me all +your right, title and interest, in Partial, here. Evidently he belongs +with us. He seems to care for us. And I experience some odd sort of +feeling, which I can not quite describe. Perhaps it is only that I +feel like a boy, and one that is going to own a dog. Is it a bargain?" + +"Sure! You c'n have him for nuthin'," said Lafitte. "He ain't worth +nothin'. Besides, I can't charge a brother of the flag anything; +anyhow, not you." I inferred that Jean Lafitte, also, was going to +grow up into one of those men like myself, cursed with a reticence and +shyness in some matters, and so winning a reputation of oddness or +coldness, against all the real and passionate protest of his own soul. + +"No, brother," I said to him: "I'll not offer you trade, but gift. Let +it be that if I can win the dog, and if he will take me as his master +and friend, he shall be mine. And you take the pistol, and have a care +of it." + +"That's all right!" said Lafitte shyly, yet delightedly, as I could +see. + +"Here, Partial!" I called to the dog; and being young and friendly, +and attached to neither in particular, and only in general worshiping +the creature Boy, he came to me! I fed him, stroked him, looked into +his eyes. And in a few moments he put his feet on my shoulders, and +licked at my ear, and began to talk to me in low eager whines, and +rubbed his muzzle against my cheek, and said all that a dog could say +in oath of feudal service, pledging loyalty of life and limb. At which +I felt very odd indeed; and began to see the world had many things in +it of which I had never known; but which, now, I was resolved to know. + +"Honorable is embarking those malefactor canine thing with so much +impediments in this small-going boat?" inquired Hiroshimi. + +"Yes," I answered. "At once. All four of us. Put the stuff aboard, +Hiro." + +So, somewhat crowded as the _Sea Rover_ was, with three boys and a +dog, not to mention our supplies and our armament, at last we were +afloat with crew and cargo aboard. Hiro was not surprised, and asked +no questions. With the salaam with which he announced dinner, he now +announced his own departure for his duties at my deserted house; and +as he walked he never turned around for curious gaze. Often, often +have I, in my readings in the Eastern philosophy, endeavored to +analyze and to emulate this Oriental calm, this dismissal from the +soul of things small, things unessential and things unavoidable. An +enviable character, my boy Hiroshimi. + +Now all was bustle and confusion aboard the good ship _Sea Rover_. +"Stand by the main braces!" roared Lafitte. + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" replied the crew, that is to say, Jimmy L'Olonnois. + +"Hard a lee!" + +"Hard a lee it is, Sir!" + +"Hoist the top-gallant mainsail an' clew all alow an' aloft!" + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" + +"Man the capstan! All hands to the starboard mizzen chains! Heave +away!" + +"Heave away!" rejoined our gallant crew, never for a moment in doubt +as to the captain's meaning. And, indeed, he gave a push with an oar +at the bank, which thrust us into the smart current of my little +river. + +We were afloat! We were off to seek our fortune! + + [Illustration: I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my hand] + +Ah, what a fine new world was this which lay before us! But for one +thing, this had no doubt been the happiest moment in my life. For, +always, the attaining of knowledge, the growth of a man's mind and +soul, had to me seemed the one ambition worth a man's while; and now, +as I might well be assured, I had learned more and grown more, +these last twelve hours or so, than I had in any twelve years of my +life before. Before me, indeed, had opened a vast and wonderful world. +That morning, as we swept around curve after curve of the swift +trout-stream that I loved so well, among my alders, through my bits of +wood, along my hills--with Lafitte and L'Olonnois standing, each +alert, silent, peering ahead under his flat hand to see what might lie +ahead (I astern with Partial's head on my knee), I felt rise in my +soul the same sweet grateful feeling that I had when the new world of +music opened to me, what time I first caught the real meaning of the +_Fruehlingslied_. My heart leaped anew in my bosom, for the time +forgetting its sadness. I saw that the world after all does hold faith +and loyalty and friendship and perpetual, self-renewing Youth.... I +also rose, cast my hat aside, and with one hand reaching down to touch +my friend's head, I, too, stood, shading my eyes with my edged hand, +peering ahead into this strange new world that lay ahead of me. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN WHICH I ACHIEVE A NAME + + +So winding is my trout river, and so extensive are my lands along it, +that it was not until nearly noon that our progress, sometimes halted +by shallows, again swift in the deeper reaches, brought the _Sea +Rover_ to the lower edge of my estate. Here, the river was deeper and +more silent, the waters were not quite so cold, but as we passed a +high hardwood bridge from which issued a cool spring of water, I +suggested a halt in our voyage, to which my companions, readily +enough, agreed. We, therefore, disembarked and prepared to have our +luncheon. + +It was obvious to me that Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois were not +on their first expedition out-of-doors, for they set about gathering +wood and water in workmanlike fashion. They did not yet fully classify +me, so, in boyish shyness, left me largely ignored, or waited till I +should demonstrate myself to them. It was, therefore, with delicacy +that I ventured any suggestions from the place where Partial and I sat +in the shade watching them. + +I have mentioned the fact that I had been a hunter and traveler, and +had met success in the field; yet the truth is, I began all that late +in life, and deliberately. To me, used to exact habit of thought in +all things, and accustomed to be governed by trained reason alone, it +was never enough to say that a thing was partly done, or well enough +done to pass: only the best possible way had any appeal to me. I +brought my reason to bear on every situation in life. Thus, I studied +an investment carefully, and before going into it, I knew what the +result would be. My investments, therefore, always have prospered, +because they were not based on guess or chance, as nine-tenths of all +the public's business ventures are. In the same way, I had gone +deliberately about the matter of winning the regard of the only woman +I ever saw who seemed to me much worth while. I argued and reasoned +with Helena Emory that she should marry me, proving to her by every +rule of logic that, not only was she the most lovable woman in all the +records of the world, but, also, that love such as mine never had +before been known in the world. Sometimes, as I logically proved the +fitness of our union, and grew warm at my own accuracy, she wavered, +relented, warmed: and then again, forgetting my argument, she would +relapse into womanlike frivolity once more.... I did not like to think +of this, as I sat in the shade with Partial. It cost me much in +self-respect, irritated me. + +But, having studied sport and outdoor living deliberately as I had +studied the law and business and Helena, I had rather a thorough +grounding, on life in the open, for I had read every authority +obtainable; whereas my young associates had read none. So cautiously, +now and then, I suggested little things to them, as that the fire need +not be so large, and would do better if confined between two green +side logs. I taught them how to boil the kettle quickly, how to make +tea, and also, more difficult, how to make coffee; how to cook bacon +just enough, and how to cook fish--for I had taken a few trout earlier +in the day--and how to make toast without charring it to cinders. +Again, I delighted them by telling them of little camping devices, and +quite won their hearts when I found among Hiroshimi's packages, a +small camp griddle with folding legs, of my own devising. It was quite +clean and new, but it performed as I felt quite sure it would. In +fact, reason will govern all things--except a woman. + +We ate _al fresco_, as true buccaneers of the main, and grew better +and better acquainted. It occurred to me that mayhap the nautical +education of my associates was, after all, somewhat superficial, so I +set about mending it by explaining something of the rigging of the +ship; and I gave them, by means of the _Sea Rover's_ bowline, some +lessons in sailorman splices and knots. The bow-line-in-a-bight, the +sheet-bend, the clinch-knot, the jam-knot, the fisherman's water-knot, +the stevedore's slip-knot, the dock-hand's round-turns and +half-hitches for cable makefast, the magnus-hitch, the fool's-knot, +the cat's-cradle, the sheep-shank, the dog-shank, and many others--all +of which I had learned in books and in practise--I did for them over +and over again; just as I could have done for them a half-dozen +different ways of throwing the diamond-hitch in a pack-train, or the +stirrup-hitch in a cow camp, or many other of the devices of men who +live in the open; for beginning late in life in these things, I had +studied them hard and faithfully. + +I could see--and I noted it with much gratification--that I was rising +in the estimation of my pirates. It pleased me not at all to show that +I knew more than they of these things, for I was older and my mind was +long my trained servant; but I had monstrous delight in seeing myself +accepted as one fit to associate with them. Once or twice, I saw the +two draw apart in some debate which I knew had to do with me. "Well, +now," Lafitte would begin; and L'Olonnois would demur. "No, I don't +just like that one," he would say. By nightfall--and I presume I do +not need to recall all the incidents of our afternoon, or of our +pitching camp by the riverside an hour before sundown--I learned what +was the subject of their argument. I had been admitted to the pirates' +band, but the question was over my name. + +We sat by our fireside, before our little tent, after a pleasant meal +which I know was well cooked because I cooked it myself--trout, a +young squirrel, and toast, and real coffee--and Partial was close at +my knee, having obviously adopted me. We were fifteen or twenty miles +from my house, nearly twice that from their homes, but the world, +itself, seemed very remote from us. We reveled in a new luxurious +world of rare deeds, rare dreams all our own. I was conjuring up some +new argument to put before Helena should I ever see her again--as of +course I never should--when Lafitte rolled over on the grass and +looked up at us. + +"We was just saying," he remarked, "that you didn't have no name." + +"That is true. I have not told you my name, nor have you asked it. Had +you been impolite, you might have learned it by prying about my +place." I spoke gravely and with approval. + +"No, we didn't know who you was." + +"Let it be so. Let me be a man of no name. A name is of no +consequence, and neither am I." + +"Sho, now, that ain't so. I never seen a better--now, I never seen--" +Jean Lafitte's reticence in friendship, again, was getting the better +of him. + +"So we said we'd call you Black Bart," added L'Olonnois. + +"That is a most excellent name," said I after some thought. "At +present, I can find no objection to it, except that I wear no beard at +all and would have a red or brown one if I did; and that Black Bart +was rather a pirate of the land than of the sea." + +"Was he?" queried L'Olonnois. "Wasn't he a pirate, too, never?" + +"There was a famous pirate chief known as Bluebeard or Blackbeard, and +it may be, sometimes, they called him Black Bart." + +"Wasn't he a awful desper't sort of pirate?" + +"He is said to have been." + +"It sounds like a awful desper't name," said Jimmy: "like as though +he'd fill up his ship with captured maidens, an' put all rivals to the +sword." + +"Such, indeed, shipmate," said I, "was his reputation." + +"Well," concluded L'Olonnois, "we couldn't think o' any better name'n +that, because we know that is just what you would do." + +(So, then, my reputation was advancing!) + +"Wasn't you never a pirate before, honest?" queried Lafitte at this +juncture. "Because, you seem like a real pirate to us. We been, lots +of times, over on the lake." + +"It may be because my father was always called a pirate," I replied. +"You see, in these days, there are not so many pirates who really +scuttle ships and cut throats." + +"But you would?" + +"Certainly. 'Tis in my blood, my bold shipmate." + +"We knew it," concluded L'Olonnois calmly. "So, after now, we'll call +you Black Bart. You can let your whiskers grow, you know." + +"True," said I. "Well, we will at least take the whiskers under +advisement, as the court would say." + +"We must be an awful long ways from home," ventured L'Olonnois, after +a time. + +"Hundreds of miles our good ship has ploughed the deep, and as yet has +raised no sail above the horizon," I admitted. + +"Do you--now--do you--well, anyhow, do you have any idea of where we +are going?" demanded Lafitte, shamefacedly. + +"Not in the slightest." + +"But now--well--now then----" + +In answer I drew from my pocket a map and a compass; the latter mostly +for effect, since I knew very well the bed of our river must shape +our course for many a mile. On the map I pointed out how, presently, +our river would run into a lake, into which, also, ran another river; +and would emerge on the other side much larger. I showed them that +down that other river, as, indeed, down mine, logs used to float from +the pine forests--many of my father's logs, of ownership said to have +been piratical--and I showed how, presently, this stream would carry +us into one of the ancient waterways down which millions of wealth in +timber have come; and explained about the wild crews of river runners +who once ran the rafts down that great highway, and into the greater +highway of the Mississippi; whence men might in due time arrive upon +the Spanish Main. + +"Is there any way a fellow can get across from Lake Michigan into the +Mississippi River?" demanded Lafitte, who was of a practical turn of +mind: and on the map I showed him all the old trails of the fur +traders, explorers and adventurers, French and English, who had +discovered our America long ago; whereat their eyes kindled and their +tongues went dumb. + +At last, I told them we must to our hammocks; and soon our bloody band +was deep in sleep. At least, so much might have been said for Lafitte +and L'Olonnois. Alone of the band of sea rovers myself, Black Bart, +sat musing by the fire, the head of my friend, Partial, in my lap. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN WHICH WE HAVE AN ADVENTURE + + +Our band of hardy adventurers arose with the sun on the morning +following our first night in bivouac, and by noon of that day, thanks, +perhaps, in some measure to my own work at the oars, and a sail which +we rigged from a corner of the tent, we had passed into and through +the lake which our map had showed us. Now we were below the edge of +the pine woods, and our stream ran more sluggishly, between banks of +cattails or of waving marsh grasses. We put out a trolling line, and +took a bass or so; and once Lafitte, firing chance-medley into a +passing flock of plover, knocked down a half-dozen, so that we bade +fair to have enough for dinner that night. It was all a new world for +us. No one might tell what lay around the next bend of our widening +waterway. We were explorers. A virgin world lay before us. The nature +of the country along the stream kept the settlements back a distance; +so that to us, now, in reality, retracing one of the ancient +fur-trading routes, we might almost have been the first to break these +silences. + +Toward nightfall we came into a more rolling and more park-like +region; our prow was now heading to the westward, for the general +course of the great river beyond. I had no notion to visit the city of +Chicago, and our route lay far above that which must be taken by any +large craft bound for the Mississippi route to the Gulf. + +Farms now came down to the water's edge in places, villages offered +mill-pond dams--around which, in scowling reticence, we portaged the +_Sea Rover_, unmindful alike of queries and of jeers. I found time to +post additional letters now. Indeed, I was preparing for a long and +determined enterprise. It was the _Sea Rover_ against the _Belle +Helene_; and, did the skipper of the latter loll along in flanneled +ease and luxury, not so with the hardy band of cutthroats who manned +our smaller and more mobile craft, men used to hardships, content to +drink spring water instead of sparkling wines, and to eat the product +of their own weapons. + +We were I do not know how far from our first encampment, perhaps +thirty miles or more, when toward five o'clock of the evening we +concluded to land at a wooded grassy bank which offered a good camping +place. We made all fast, and in a few moments had our tent up and a +little fire going, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, at this, happy as any two +pirates I ever have seen; and were on the point of spreading our +canvas table cover upon the grass, when we heard a gruff voice hail +us. + +"Heh! What're you doin' there?" + +We turned, expecting to meet some irate farmer on whose land perhaps +we innocently were trespassing; but the figure which now emerged from +the screening bushes was rougher, bolder, and in some indescribable +way wilder, than that of a farmer. I could not, at first, assign the +fellow a place, for I knew this was an old and well settled country, +and not supposed to be overrun with tramps or campers. He was a stout +man nearly of middle age, dirty and ill clad, his coarse shirt open at +the neck, his legs clad in old overalls, his hat and shoes very much +the worse for wear. His face was covered with a rough beard, and so +brown and so begrimed that, at once, I guessed this must be some +dweller in the open. Yet he seemed no tramp; and even if he were, he +had no right to hail us in this fashion. + +I only looked at him, and made no answer, feeling none due. He came +out into the open, followed by a nondescript dog, which had the lack +of decency--and also of discretion--to attack my dog Partial with no +parley or preliminary. I wot not of what stock Partial came, but +somewhere in his ancestry must have been stark fighting strain. Mutely +and sternly, as became a gentleman, he joined issue; and so well had +he learned the art of war that in the space of a few moments, in spite +of the loud outcry of the owner of the invading cur, he had him on his +back in a throat grip which was the end of the battle and bade fair +soon to be the end of the enemy. + +The man who had accosted us caught up a club and made toward Partial +with intent to kill him. Then, indeed, we all sprang into action. In +two strides I was before him. + +"Drop that!" I said to him quickly, but I hope not angrily. "Call him +off, Jack!" I cried to Lafitte at the same time. + +The sound of conflict ceased as Partial was persuaded to release his +fallen foe, and the latter disappeared, with more wisdom as to +attacking a band of pirates. His owner, however, was not so easily +daunted. He still advanced toward Partial, and as I still intervened, +he made a vicious side blow at me with his club. + +It all happened, almost, in the twinkling of an eye. Here, then, was +an adventure, and before the end of our second day! + +There was not time to learn or to ask the reason for this man's +animosity toward us, and, indeed, no thought of that came to my mind. +A man may lay tongue to one--within certain bounds--and one will only +walk away from him; but the touch of another man's hand or weapon is +quite another matter. That arouses the unthinking blood, and follows +then, no matter the issue, the _gaudium certaminis_, with no care as +to odds or evens. Wherefore, even as the club whizzed by to my side +step, I came back from the other foot and smote the hostile stranger +on the side of the neck so stiffly that he faltered and almost +dropped. Then seeing that I was so much lighter than himself and +perhaps valuing himself against me purely on a basis of avoirdupois, +pound for pound, he gathered and came at me, roaring out blasphemy and +obscenity which I had rather Lafitte and L'Olonnois had not heard. + +I had not often fought in fact, but knew that, sometimes, a gentleman +must fight. What astonished me now was the fact that fighting +contained no manner of repugnance to me. With a certain joy I met my +foe, circled with him, exchanged blows with him--unequally it is true, +for I was cool as though trying a cause at law, and he was very angry: +so that he got most of my leads, and I but few of his, albeit jarring +me enough to make my ears sing and my eyes blur somewhat, although of +pain I was no more conscious than a fighting dog. The turf was soft +underfoot, and the space wide, so that we fought very happily and +comfortably over perhaps a hundred feet of country, first one and then +the other coming in; until at last I had him so well blown that he +stood, and I knew we must now end it toe to toe. I bethought me of a +trick of my old boxing teacher, and stood before him with arms curved +wide apart, inviting him to come into what seemed an opening. He +rushed, and my left fist caught him on the neck. He straightened to +finish me, but I stooped and brought my right in a round-arm blow, +full and hard into the small of his back and at one side. It sickened +him, and before he could rally, I stepped behind him, and having no +ethics save the necessity of subduing him, I caught up his arm by the +wrist, and slipping under it with my shoulder, pulled it down till he +howled: a trick, only one of very many, which Hiroshimi patiently had +taught me. + +That very naturally ended our contest, and it was near to ending our +war-like neighbor as well. During this warfare, which was short or +long, I knew not, my associates, stunned and perhaps fearful, had sat +silent; at least, I neither heard nor saw them. But now, all at once, +over my shoulder I saw both Lafitte and L'Olonnois running in to my +assistance. Each held in hand a bared blade of the samurai, and had I +not shouted out to them to refrain, I have small doubt that in the +most piratical and unsamuraic fashion they mayhap would have +disemboweled my captive; for the old swords were keen as razors, and +my friends were as red of eyesight as myself. + +"No! No!" I called to them, even as our victim writhed and roared in +terror. "Drop your weapons--that isn't fair." They obeyed, +shamefacedly and with regret, as I am convinced: for illusion with +them, at times, indeed overleaped the centuries, and they were back in +a time of blood: even as I was in a stone-age wrath for my own part. + +"Come here, Jack," I ordered, "and you, too, Jimmy. Do you see how I +have him?" + +They agreed. "It's a peach," said Lafitte. "Make him holler!" + +"No," I replied, easing off the strain on the wrenched arm, "he has +already 'hollered.'" + +"Yes, sure, 'nuff, 'nuff!----ye!" cried our captive, who, now, was in +mortal terror and much contrition, seeing both flesh and blood and +cold steel had all the best of him. "Lemme go!" + +"Certainly," I assented; "we did not ask you to come, and do not want +you to stay. But, first, I must use you in a few demonstrations to my +young friends. Jack,"--and I motioned to him with my head--"get behind +him." + +Eagerly, his three-cornered gray eyes narrowed, Lafitte skipped back +of my man, and with no word from me he fastened on the other wrist so +suddenly the man had no warning, and with a strong heave of all his +body he doubled that arm up also. Much roaring now, and many +protestations, for when our prisoner began with abuse, we could change +it into supplication by raising his bent arms no more than one inch or +two. + +"Now, Jimmy," said I, "go in front of him, and put a thumb in the +corner of his jaw, on each side. Press up until he begs our pardon." +And, faith, my blue-eyed pirate, so far from shuddering at the task, +at last managed to find those certain nerve centers known to all +efficient policemen; and very promptly, the man made signs he would +like to beg the boy's pardon and did so. + +"Now, give me that arm, Jack," I resumed calmly, since our subject had +no more fight left in him than a sack of meal. "So. Now go around and +put your thumbs in his eyes--no, not really in his eyes, but in the +middle of the bone above his eyes. So. Now, ask this boy's pardon, or +I'll twist your arms off." And he asked it. + +"You couldn't do it if you'd fight fair!" he bellowed. + +"Could I not?" I asked. And cast him free. "Come on again, then." + +"I'm afraid of them kids," said he. "They'd stick me." + +"No, they would not," said I; but still he would not come on. Then I +made a quick catch at his wrist, edgewise, and rolled my thumb along +it at a certain place where the nerves lie close to the edge of the +bone, as any policeman knows; and he would follow me, then. So I led +him to our little camp-fire. + +"Now," said I to him, "be seated," and he sat. I asked him if he would +shake hands with me and my boys and make up. He was very sullen, but, +at last, did so, not cheerfully, I fear, for he was not of good blood. + +"Tell me," I demanded then, seeing that the triumph of calm reason had +been sufficient in his case, "why did you come here, and why do you +try to drive us off, who are only on a peaceful journey as pirates, +seeking our fortune?" + +"Pirates!" he exclaimed. "Just what I thought. What's the use my +leasin' the pearl fer a mile along here if anybody can come and camp, +and go to work, right alongside o' me? If old farmer Snider, that owns +this land, hadn't gone to town I'd have the law on ye. Me payin' my +money in and gettin' no protection. Fishin's rotten, too!" + +I now perceived that we had encountered one of those half-nomad +characters, a fresh-water pearl fisherman, such as those who, for some +years, with varying fortune, have combed the sand-bars of our inland +river for the fresh-water mussels which sometimes, like oysters, +secrete valuable pearls or nacreous bits known as slugs. This +explained much to me. + +"I know the law," said I. "Farmer Snider can not lease the highway of +yonder river where the _Sea Rover_ passes. But I know also the law of +the wilderness. One trapper does not intrude on another who has first +located his country. We will pass on to-morrow. Meantime, if you don't +mind, we will go with you to your camp and see how you do your work. +Please forget that we have had any trouble. Had you but spoken thus at +first, and not borne war against these bold pirates, all would have +been well." + +He looked at me oddly, evidently thinking my mind touched. + +"Come!" I said, wiping the blood from my face, and passing him also a +basin of water, "you fought well and the wonder is you did not kill me +with one of those swings or swipes of yours. They were crooked and +awkward, but they came hard." + +He grinned and saved his face further by saying: "Well, you was three +to one ag'in me." I smiled and let it stand so: and after a while, he +arose stiffly and we all passed back into the wood. + +We found that we were upon a little island, between two shallow arms +of the stream. The camp of the pearl fisher lay at the lower end; and +never have I seen or smelled so foul a place for human habitation. The +one large tent served as shelter, and a rude awning sheltered the +ruder table in the open air. But directly about the tent, and all +around it in every direction, lay heaps of clam shells, most of them +opened, some not yet ready for opening. I had smelled the same +odor--and had not learned to like it--in far-off Ceylon, at the great +pearl fisheries of the Orient. The "clammer" seemed immune. + +Presently, he introduced to us a woman, very old, extraordinarily +forbidding of visage, and unspeakably profane of speech, who emerged +from the tent; his mother, he said. It seemed that they made their +living in this way, clamming, as they called it, all the way from +Arkansas to the upper waters of the Mississippi. They had made this +side expedition up a tributary, in search of country not so thoroughly +exploited; without much success in their venture, it seemed. The old +lady, her head wrapped in a dirty shawl, sat down on an empty box, and +stroked a large and dirty Angora cat, another member of the family, +the while she bitterly and profanely complained. It was now dusk, and +she did not notice anything out of the way in her son's rather swollen +nose and lips. + +I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois that we were now come into the +neighborhood of possible treasure, and the sight of a few pearls, none +of very great worth, which the old crone produced from a cracker box, +was enough to set off Jimmy L'Olonnois, who was all for raiding the +place. + +"What!" he hissed to me in an aside. "Did we not spare his life? Then +the treasure should be ours!" + +"Wait, brother," said I. "We shall see what we shall see." And I +quieted Lafitte also, who was war-like at the very sound of the word +pearl. "Them's what they take from the Spanish ships," said he. +"Pearls is fitten for ladies fair. An' here is pearls." + +"Wait, brother," I demanded of him. For I was revolving something in +my mind. I presently accosted the clammers. + +"Listen," said I, "you say business is bad." + +"It certainly and shorely is," assented the old dame, fishing a black +pipe out of her pocket, and proceeding to feed it from another pocket, +to the discomfort of the soiled Angora cat. + +"Well, now, let me make you a proposition," said I, taking a glance at +the heap of fresh shell which lay beyond the racks of trolling lines +and their twisted wire hooks, by means of which dragging apparatus the +mussels are taken--shutting hard on the wire when it touches them as +they lie feeding with open mouths--"you've quite a lot of shell +there, now." + +"Yes, but what's in it? Button factories all shut down with a strike, +and no market: and as for pearls, they ain't none. Blame me for +carryin' a grouch?" + +"Not in the least. But what will you take for your shells, and agree +to open them for us, at wages of five dollars a day?" + +"Both of us?" he demanded shrewdly. I smiled and nodded. "It's more +than you average, twice over," said I, "and you say the stream is no +good. Now I, too, am a student of the great law of averages, because I +am or was a director in a great life insurance company. You say the +luck is bad. Like other adventurers, I say that under the law of +averages, it is time for the luck to change." + +"The luck's with you," growled the clammer, "it's ag'in me." +Unconsciously, he put a finger to his swollen nose. "What'll you +gimme?" he demanded. + +"One hundred dollars bonus and ten dollars a day," said I promptly; +and he seemed to know I would not better that. + +"Who are ye?" he queried: "a buyer?" + +"No, a pirate." + +"I believe ye. I never saw such a outfit." + +"Will you trade?" I asked; "and how long will it take to open the +lot?" + +"Nigh all day, even if we set up all night and roasted." He nodded to +a wide grating; and the ashes underneath showed that in this way the +poor clams, like the Incas of old, were sometimes forced to give up +their treasures by the persuasion of a fire under them. + +"Very well," I said. "We'll call it a day. That's a hundred and ten +dollars for you by this time to-morrow. I invoke the aid of capital +and of chance, both, against you. You will very likely lose: but if +so, it would not be the first time the producer of wealth has lost it. +But I make the wager fair, as my reason tells me I should." + +"Ye're a crazy bunch, and I think ye're out of the state asylum over +yonder," broke in the old woman, "but what the hell do we care whether +ye're crazy or not? Ye look like ye had the money. Jake, we'll take +him up." + +"All right," said Jake. "We'll go ye." + +"To-morrow morning, then," said I; and our party rose to return to our +camp, where Partial greeted us with warmth; he having assigned to +himself the duty of guard. And so, as Pepys would say, to bed; +although Lafitte and L'Olonnois scarce could sleep. + +"Let him attempt to make a run for it, after we have hove him to, and +we will board him and give no quarter!" This was almost the last of +the direful speech I heard from L'Olonnois, as at last I turned myself +to a night of deep and peaceful slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE + + +"You must be awful rich, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois to me as we sat +on the grass, at breakfast, the following morning. + +"No, Jimmy," I replied, putting down my coffee cup, "on the contrary, +I am very poor." + +"But you have all sorts of things, back there where you live; and last +night you said you would pay that man a hundred dollars, just to open +a lot of clam shells. Now, a hundred dollars is a awful sight of +money." + +"That depends, Jimmy," I said. + +"'N' we'd ought to _take_ them pearls," broke in Lafitte. "Didn't we +lick him?" + +"We did, yes; twice." And in my assent I felt, again, a fierce +satisfaction in the first conquest of our invader, that of body to +body, eye to eye; rather than in the one where I brought intellect to +aid in war. "But there are two ways of being a pirate. Let us see if +we can not win treasure by taking a chance in logic, and so be modern +pirates." + +They did not understand me, and went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed +his catechism. "Who owns the place where you live, Black Bart?" + +"I do." + +"But how much?" + +"Some five or six miles." + +"Gee! That must be over a hundred acres. I didn't know anybody owned +that much land. Where'd you get it?" + +"In part from my father." + +"What business was he in?" + +"He was a pirate, Jimmy, or at least, they said he was. But my mother +was not.--I will tell you," I added suddenly: "my father owned a great +deal of timber land long ago, and iron, and oil, and copper, when +nobody cared much for them. They say, now, he stole some of them, I +don't know. In those days people weren't so particular. The more he +got, the more he wanted. He never was a boy like you and me. He +educated me as a lawyer, so that I could take care of his business and +his property, and he trained me in the pirate business the best he +could, and I made money too, all I wanted. You see, my father could +never get enough, but I did; perhaps, because my mother wasn't a +pirate, you see. So, when I got enough, my father and mother both died, +and when I began to see that, maybe, my father had taken a little more +than our share, I began trying to do something for people ... but I +can't talk about that, of course." + +"Well, why not?" demanded Lafitte. "Go on." + +"A fellow doesn't like to." + +"But what did you do?" + +"Very little. I found I could not do very much. I gave some buildings +to schools, that sort of thing. No one thanked me much. A good many +called me a Socialist." + +"What's that--a Socialist?" + +"I can't tell you. Nobody knows. But really, I suppose, a Socialist is +a man born before the world got used to steam and electricity. Those +things made a lot of changes, you see, and in the confusion some +people didn't get quite as square a deal as they deserved; or at +least, they didn't think they had. It takes time, really, as I +suppose, to settle down after any great change. It's like moving a +house." + +"I see," said Jimmy sagely. "But, Black Bart, you always seemed to me +like as if, now, well, like you was studyin' or something, somehow. +Ain't you never had no good times before?" + +"No. This is about the first really good time I ever had in all my +life. You see, you can't really understand things that you look at +from a long way off--you've got to get right in with folks to know +what folks are. Don't you think so?" + +"I know it!" answered Jimmy, with conviction. And I recalled, though +he did not, the fact that he bathed daily, Lafitte weekly, yet no +gulf was fixed between their portions of the general humanity. + +"It must be nice to be rich," ventured Lafitte presently. "I'm going +to be, some day." + +"Is that why you go a-pirating?" I smiled. + +"Maybe. But mostly, because I like it." + +"It's a sort of game," said L'Olonnois. + +"All life is a sort of game, my hearties," said I. "What you two just +have said covers most of the noble trade of piracy and nearly all of +the pretty game of life. You are wise as I am, wise as any man, +indeed." + +"What I like about you, Black Bart," resumed L'Olonnois, naively, "is, +you seem always fair." + +I flushed at this, suddenly, and pushed back my plate. "Jimmy," said I +at last, "I would rather have heard that, from you, than to hear I had +made a million dollars from pearls or anything else. For that has +always been my great hope and wish--that some day I could teach myself +always to be fair--not to deceive anybody, most of all not myself; in +short, to be fair. Brother, I thank you, if you really believe I have +succeeded to some extent." + +"Why ain't you always jolly, like you was havin' a good time, then?" +demanded my blue-eyed inquisitor. "Honor bright!" + +"Must it be honor bright?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I will tell you. It is because of the first chapter of Genesis, +Jimmy." + +"What's that?" + +"Fie! Fie! Jimmy, haven't you read that?" He shook his head. + +"I've read a little about the fights," he said, "when Saul 'n' David +'n' a lot of 'em slew them tens of thousands. But Genesis was dry." + +"Do you remember any place where it says 'Male and female created He +them'?" + +"Oh, yes; but what of it? That's dry." + +"Is it, though?" I exclaimed. "And you with an Auntie Helena, and a +brother Black Bart. Jimmy L'Olonnois, little do you know what you +say!" + +"Well, now," interrupted the ruthless soul of Jean Lafitte, "how about +them pearls?" + +"That's so," assented Jimmy. "Pearls is booty." + +"Very well, then, shipmates," I assented, "as soon as we have washed +the dishes, we will see what can be done with the enemy yonder." + +We found our two clammers, the young man and his crone of a mother, up +betimes and hard at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The +man's face was still puffed and discolored, where my fists had +punished him, and his disposition had not improved overnight. His +hag-like dam also regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could +note, and I saw her glance from me to her son, making mental +comparisons; and guessed she had heard explanations regarding black +eyes which did not wholly satisfy her. + +They had already roasted open and examined quite a heap of shells by +the time we arrived, and I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found +anything. The man answered surlily that they had not; but something +made me feel suspicious, since they had made so early a start. I saw +him now and then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several times +noted that as he did so, his middle finger projected down below the +others, as though he were touching for something inside his pocket, +which lay in front, the overalls being made for a carpenter, with a +narrow pocket devised for carrying a folded foot-rule. But I could see +nothing suggested in the pocket. + +"That's too bad," I said pleasantly. "It looks as though I were going +to lose my hundred, doesn't it? Still, the day is long." + +I busied myself in watching the deft work of the two as they opened +the shells started by the heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and +feeling in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden secretion of the +nacre. Nothing was found while I was watching, and as I did not much +like the odor, I drew to one side. I found L'Olonnois and Lafitte +standing apart, in full character, arms folded and scowling heavily. + +"If yonder villain plays us false," said Lafitte between his clenched +teeth, "he shall feel the vengeance of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn't +put it a blame bit a-past him, neither," he added, slightly out of +drawing for the time. + +"You are well named, Lafitte," I smiled. "You are a good business man. +But the day is long." + +It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it wandering about with +Partial, hunting for squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing +up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of my favorite authors, +the wise stoic, Epictetus, tarrying over one of my favorite passages: + +"Remember that you are an actor of just such a part as is assigned you +by the Poet of the play; of a short part, if the part be short, of a +long part if the part be long. Should He wish you to act the part of a +beggar, ('or of a pirate,' I interpolated, aloud to myself, and +smiling) take care to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it +be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private man. For this is +in your power--to act well the part assigned to you; but to choose +that part is the function of another." + +I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man, or a poor man? Was I a +ruler, or a private man, or a lame man?... I asked myself many +questions, concluding that all my life I had, like most of us all, +been more or less a lame man and a private man after all, and much +like my fellow.... It was a great day for me; since each day I seek to +learn something. And here now was I, blessed by the printed wisdom of +age and philosophy, and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy of +unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms out on the grass, and looked +up at the leaves. I felt myself a part of the eternal changeless +scheme, and was well content. It has always been impossible for me to +care for the little things of life--such as the amassing of +money--when I am alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom of +my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and the author of the Book of +Genesis. + +I arose at last with less of melancholy and more of resolve than I had +known for years. The world swam true on its axis all around me; and I, +who all my life had been in some way out of balance in the world, now +walked with a strange feeling of poise and certainty.... No, I said to +myself, I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime since the Poet +of the play had assigned me the double role of pirate and boy, I was +resolved to act both "naturally and nobly." + +I could not have called either of my associates less than natural and +noble in his part, viewed as I found them when at length I sought them +to partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart, gloom and stern +dignity themselves, offering no speech to the laboring clammers, who, +by this time, were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in equal +parts. + +"I think he's holdin' out on us!" hissed Jean Lafitte, as I +approached. "Time and again I seen the varlet make false moves. Let +him have a care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!" + +For my own part, I cared little for anything beyond the sport in my +pearl venture, but no man likes to be "done," so I joined the guard +over the pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success on +the part of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily, +exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were +animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the +miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on +from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a +fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly +natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on +quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have +made monotonous routine? + +They showed me a few pieces they had saved, splinters and slugs of +nacre, misshapen and of no luster, and sneered at the net results, +worth, at most, not so much as the day's wages I was paying either. I +cared nothing for the results, and smiled and nodded as I took them. + +Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when, such had been the zeal +of the clammers, the heap of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect, +straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as they looked at me. + +"Well," said the old hag, "I reckon ye're satisfied now that we know +this business better'n you do. He told ye there wasn't no pearl in +this river." + +"No;" added her hopeful son, "an' come to think of it, how'd I ever +know you had a hundred dollars? I ain't seen it yet. But we've done, +so let's see it now." + +I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several bills of that +yellow-backed denomination, and selected one for him. He took it at +first suspiciously, then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my wallet. +"I forgot," said I, and took out two bills of five dollars each, which +I handed to him. + +"By golly!" said he, "so'd I forgot!" + +"Why did you forget about your wages?" I asked, and looked at him +keenly. He turned his eyes aside. + +"This fresh-water pearl fishing," said I, "has many points of +likeness to the ocean pearl fishing in Ceylon." + +"You been there?" he queried. "And why is it like them?" + +"In several ways. It is, in the first place, all a gamble. The pearl +merchants buy the oysters as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a +chance, based on the law of average product. They rot the oysters as +you do the mussels. The smell is the same: and many other things are +the same. For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the diver from +stealing pearls, just as it is hard to keep the Kafirs from stealing +the diamonds they find in the mines." + +I still was looking at him closely, and now I said to him mildly, and +in a low tone of voice, "It would be of no use--I should only beat you +again; and I would rather spare your mother. You see," I added in a +louder tone of voice, "the natives put pearls in their hair, between +their toes, in their mouths--although they do not chew tobacco as you +do. One who merely put one in the pocket of his overalls--if he wore +overalls--would be called very clumsy, indeed, especially if he had +been seen to do it." + +Involuntarily, he clapped a hand on his pocket. What would have been +his next act I do not know, for at that moment I heard a voice call +out sharply, "Halt! villain. Throw up your hands, or by heavens you +die!" Turning swiftly, I saw Lafitte, his pistol barrel rested in very +serviceable fashion in the crotch of a staff, the same as when he +first accosted me on my stream, glancing along the barrel with an +ominous gray eye again gone three-cornered. + +Before I could even cry out to him his warning was effective. I saw my +clam fisher go white and put his hands over his head, the while his +dam ran screaming toward the tent--Jimmy L'Olonnois at her heels, +sword in hand, and warning her not to get a gun, else her life's blood +would dye the strand. + +Here, now, was a pretty pickle for a sworn servant of the law to aid +in making! A wrong move might mean murder done by these imaginative +youths, and I no less than accessory, to boot; for, surely, I had +given them aid and violent counsel in this drama which we all were +playing so naturally, if not so nobly. I hastened over to Lafitte and +called loudly to L'Olonnois, and commanded Partial to drop the renewed +encounter with the clammers' dog, which now, also, swiftly threatened +us. So, in a moment or two, I restored peace. + +I held out my hand to the clammer. "I didn't know you seen me," said +he simply; and placed in my hand three pearls, either of them worth +more than all I had paid him, and one of them the largest and best I +had ever seen--it is the pearl famous as the "_Belle Helene_," the +finest ever taken in fresh waters in America, so it is said by +Tiffany's. + +I looked at him quietly, and handed him back all but the one pearl. "I +am sorry you were not a better sport," said I, "very sorry. Didn't I +play fair with you?" + +"No," said he. "Some folks have all the luck. You come along here, +rich, with all sorts of things, you and them d----d kids, and you'd +rob a man like me out of what little he can make." + +I was opening my wallet again. "I am sorry to hear you say that," said +I, handing him two bills of a hundred dollars each. "Sorry, because it +has cost you twenty-eight hundred dollars." + +"My God, man, what do you mean?" he gasped, even his fingers slow to +take both money and contempt. + +"That the pearl is worth to me that much, since I have purpose for it. +I have more money than I want, and fewer pearls like this than I want. +It would have given me the keenest sort of pleasure to give you and +your mother a few thousand dollars, two or three, to set you up with a +little launch and an outfit enough to give you a good start--and, +perhaps, a good partner. As it is, you are lucky my pirate brother has +not blown a hole through you, and that my other brother has not shed +the blood of your parent, if she have any. You had a good chance, and +like many another man who isn't good enough to deserve success, you +lost it. Do you know why you failed?" + +"It's the luck," said he. "I never had none." + +"No," said I, "it is not that. So far as luck goes, you are lucky you +are alive. Little do you know our desperate band. Little do you know +you have escaped the wrath of Lafitte, of L'Olonnois, of Black Bart. +Luck! No, that is not why you failed." + +"What then?" he demanded, still covetous, albeit rueful, too, at what +he vaguely knew was lost opportunity. + +"It was because you did not play the part of a clammer naturally and +nobly," I replied. "My friend, I counsel you to read Epictetus--and +while you are at that," I added, "I suggest you read also that other +classic, the one known as _The Pirate's Own Book_." + +So saying, since he stood stupefied, and really not seeing my hand, +which I reached out to him in farewell, I called to Partial, and +followed by the two stern and relentless figures, made our way back to +the spot where the good ship _Sea Rover_ lay straining at her hawser. + +"What ho! messmates!" I cried. "Fortune has been kind to our bold +band this day. We have taken large booty. Let us up anchor and set +sail. Before yon sun has sunk into the deep we shall be far away, and +our swift craft is able to shake off all pursuit." + +"Whither away, Black Bart,--Captain, I mean!" said Jean Lafitte (and I +blushed at this title and this hard-won rank, as one of the proudest +of my swiftly-following accomplishments in happiness). + +"Spang! to the Spanish Main," was my reply. + +A moment later, the waves were rippling merrily along the sides of the +_Sea Rover_ as she headed out boldly into the high seas. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN WHICH I SHOW MY TRUE COLORS + + +There were many lesser adventures in which Lafitte, L'Olonnois and I +shared on our voyage through the long waterways leading down to the +great river, but of these I make small mention, for, in truth, one +boasts little of one's deeds in piracy after the fact, or of inciting +piracy and making accessories before the fact, the more especially if +such accessories be small but bloodthirsty boys. These latter, let me +plead in extenuation of my own sins, already were pirates, and set +upon rapine. For my own part, seeing their resolution to take green +corn and other vegetables, aye, even fowls, as part of the natural +returns of their stern calling, I made no remonstrances, not the first +leader unable to restrain his ruthless band, but I eased my own +conscience by leaving--quite unknown to them,--sundry silver coins in +cleft sticks, prominently displayed, in the hope that irate farmers +might find them when, after our departure, they visited the scenes of +our marauding. And to such an extent did this marauding obtain that, +by the time we had reached the Mississippi River, I was almost wholly +barren of further silver coins. + +Many things I learned as we voyaged; as that my dog Partial would, +when asked, roll over and over upon the ground, or sit up and +bark--things taught him by no man known in his history, so far as +Lafitte could recall it. And things I learned regarding birds and +small animals of which my law books had told me nothing. As to +mosquitoes, I learned that, whereas they do not hurt a young pirate, +they do an old one; and I half resolved to discontinue my book +regarding them. Perhaps it was not of first importance. + +But two things grew on me in conviction. First, I loved Helena Emory +more and more each day of my life; and second, that I must see her at +the first moment possible--in spite of all my resolutions to put her +out of my life forever! And, these two things being assured, when we +saw the rolling yellowish flood of the Father of the Waters at last +sweeping before us, I realized that, bound as I was in honor to hold +on with my faithful band, our craft, the _Sea Rover_--sixteen feet +long she was, and well equipped with Long Toms and deck +cannonades--would have no chance to overtake the _Belle Helene_, +fastest yacht on the Great Lakes, who might, so far as I could tell, +at that very moment be cleaving through the Chicago canal, to enter +the great river hundreds of miles ahead of us. + +Wherefore, leaving my bold mates in bivouac one day, I made journey +to the nearest town. There, I sent certain messages to anxious +parents, and left for them our probable itinerary as tourists +traveling by private conveyance. I could not set our future dates and +ports more closely together; for, before I left town, I had purchased +a sturdy power boat of our own, capable of doing her ten or twelve +miles under her own petrol. I was in no mind to fall farther and +farther back of the _Belle Helene_ each day; and I counted upon our +piratical energy to keep us going more hours a day than Cal +Davidson--curses on him!--would be apt to travel. + +I gave orders for immediate fitting of my new craft, and delivery on +the spot; and within the hour, although regarded with much suspicion +by the town marshal and many leading citizens, I set out for our +bivouac, with the aid of the late owner of the boat, to whom I gave +assurance that no evil should befall him. When we chugged along the +shore, and slackened opposite our camp, I heard the stern voice of +Lafitte hail us: "Ship ahoy!" (Perhaps he saw me at the stern sheets.) + +"Aye! Aye! mate!" I answered, through my cupped hands. "Bear a hand +with our landing line." Whereat my hardy band came running and made us +fast. + +"What has gone wrong, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois, uncertain of +my status. "Hast met mishap and struck colors?" + +"By no means!" I rejoined. "This is a prize, our first capture. And +since she has struck her colors, let us mount our own at her foremast +and ship our band to a bigger and faster craft." + +The late owner, who bore the name of Robinson, looked on much +perplexed, and, I think, in some apprehension, for he must have +thought us dangerous, whether sane or mad. + +"Who'll run her?" he at length demanded of me, looking from me to my +two associates. Then forth and stood Jean Lafitte; and answered a +question I confess I had not yet myself asked: "Ho! I guess a fellow +who can run a gasoline pump in a creamery can handle one of them +things. So think not, fellow, to escape us!" + +I reassured Robinson, who was apparently ready to make a run for it; +and I explained to Lafitte and L'Olonnois my plan. + +"We'll by no means discard our brig, the original _Sea Rover_," said +I, "and we'll tow her along as our tender. But we'll christen the +prize the _Sea Rover_ instead, and hoist our flag over her--and paint +on her name at the first point of call we make. Now, let us hasten, +for two thousand miles of sea lie before us, and Robinson is also five +miles from home." + +But Robinson became more and more alarmed each moment. He had my +money, I his bill of sale, but ride back to town with us he would not. +Instead, he washed his hands of us and started back afoot--to get the +town marshal, I was well convinced. It mattered little to us; for once +more did sturdy Jean Lafitte more than make good his boast. With one +look at the gasoline tank to assure himself that all was well, he made +fast the painter of the old _Sea Rover_, and even as L'Olonnois with +grim determination planted the Jolly Rover above our bows, and as I +tossed aboard the cargo of our former craft, Lafitte cranked her up +with master hand, threw in the gear, and with a steady eye headed her +for midstream, where town marshals may not come. + +I looked at my mates in admiration. They could do things I could not +do, and they faced the future with no trace of hesitation. I caught +from them a part of this resolution I so long had lacked. I added this +to my determination to see Helena Emory once more and soon as wind and +wave would allow. So that, believe me, the blood rose quickly in my +veins as I saw now we had faster travel ahead of us. + +"Square away the main braces, my hearties!" I called. "Break out the +spinnaker and set the jibs. It's a wet sheet and a flowing sea, and +let any stop us at their peril!" + +"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response of Jean Lafitte in a voice almost +bass, and "Aye! Aye! Sir," piped the blue-eyed Lieutenant L'Olonnois. +The stanch craft leaped ahead, wallowing in cross seas till we reached +the mid-current of the Mississippi's heavy flood, then riding and +rising gamely as she met wave after wave that came up-stream with the +head wind. The eyes of Lafitte gleamed. L'Olonnois, hand over eyes, +stood in our bows. "Four bells, and all's well!" he intoned in a +vigorous voice. + +It was my own heart made answer, in the sweetest challenge it ever had +given to the world: "All's well!" And far ahead I, too, peered across +the wave, seeking to make out the hull of fleeing craft that bore +treasure I was resolved should yet be mine. + +"More sail, Officer!" I called to Jean Lafitte. He grinned in answer. + +"You're in a hurry, Black Bart. What makes you?" And even L'Olonnois +turned a searching gaze upon me. + +"Then I'll show you my true colors," said I. "I am more careless of +taking treasure than of capturing a certain maiden who flees before us +yonder on a swift craft, speedier than our own. Lay me alongside of +her, this week, next month, this winter, and my share of the other +booty shall be yours!" + +"Black Bart," said Lafitte, "I knew something was sort of botherin' +you. So, it's you for the fair captive, huh?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN WHICH MY PLOT THICKENS + + +We sped on now steadily, day by delightful day, and ever arose in my +soul new wonders at the joy of life itself, things that had escaped me +in my plodding business life. Now and again, I took from my pocket the +little volume which always went with me on the stream when I angled, +and which I confess sometimes charmed me away from the stream to some +shaded nook where I might read old Omar undisturbed--as now I might, +with L'Olonnois at the masthead and Lafitte at the wheel. And always +these wise, reckless, joyous pages of the old philosopher spelled to +me "Haste! Haste!" + + "Whether at Naishapur or Babylon, + Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, + The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop. + The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one." + + "Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring + Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: + The Bird of Time has but a little way + To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing!" + +What truth, what absolute truth of the red-hot spur lay in those +words, lesson direst to me! What had my life been, plodding in books +to learn to keep by forms of law the booty my father had stolen? Away +with it, then, for now the Bird of Time was on the wing! Let me forget +the wasted years, spent in adding dollar to dollar; for what could the +highest pile of dollars mean to a man who had missed what Lafitte and +L'Olonnois and Omar had in their teaching? The booty of the world, the +pearls of price, the casks of the Wine of Life, are his only who takes +them. They can not be bought, can not be given. "Oh, haste! Jean +Lafitte, for my new knowledge indeed eats at my soul. Hasten, for the +Bird of Life is on the wing, L'Olonnois." So I spoke to them; and +they, feeling it all a part of the play, gravely answered in kind, to +what end that any who sought to stay Black Bart and his crew did so at +peril of their blood. + +We came, I knew not after how many days forgotten in detail--after +passing, each avoided as a pestilence, many cities prosperous in +commerce--alongside the river port of the city of St. Louis, crowded +with motley and misfit shipping of one sort or other, where our craft +might moor without fear of exciting any suspicion, in spite of our +ominous name; for I had the precaution to lower our flag of the skull +and cross-bones. + +I sought out the man most apt to know of any considerable vessels +docking there, and made inquiry for any power yacht one hundred and +twenty-five feet long, white and black ventilators, white hull with +blue line, flying the burgee _Belle Helene_, or some such name. None +could advise me for a time, and I looked in vain, as I had in every +dock in six hundred miles, for the trim hull of my yacht. At last one +old mariner, in rubber boots, himself skipper of a house-boat +south-bound for a winter's trapping, admitted that he had seen such a +craft three days before! + +"Did she dock?" I demanded. + +"Sure she did, and lay over night. I remember it well enough, for I +saw her tie up; and that evening her owner went ashore and up-town, +and with him his bride, I reckon--handsomest girl in all the town. +They must have been married, for he was lookin' like he owned her. +That was lemme see, two days ago or maybe four. They came aboard her +next morning, all three--there was a old party along, girl's mother +likely--around eleven o'clock, and in a little while cast off and went +on down-river. As fine a boat as ever made the river run--still as a +mouse she was, but quick as a cat, and around Ste. Genevieve, I +reckon, before I got back to my own scow after helping them off here. +No wonder her owner was proud. He stood on the quarter-deck like a +lord. Why shouldn't he, ownin' a boat an' a girl like that?" + +"He doesn't own either!" I retorted hotly. + +"Why, how do you know he don't?" demanded my sea-going man. + +"Who should know, if not myself?" + +"Sho! You talk like you owned her!" + +"I do own her!" + +"It looks like it. Which do you mean--her the yacht, or her the girl?" + +"Both--no! That is, well at least I own the boat." + +"That may all be, or it all mayn't," he replied, openly scoffing; "at +least so far's the boat goes. Anybody kin buy anything that has the +price. But as to the girl, you'd have to prove it, if I was him. And +if he didn't look like he owned her, or was goin' to, I'll eat your +own gas tank there, an' them two kids in it fer good measure." + +Of course I could not argue or explain, and therefore turned away. But +all the answer of my soul came from the lips of L'Olonnois, who, +propped up against the cockpit combing, was reading aloud to Lafitte +from _The Pirate's Own Book_ as I approached. "Hah! my good man!" +exclaimed the pirate chieftain as he looked at his blade, "unhand the +maid, or by Heaven! your life's blood shall dye the deck where you +stand!" + +"Ah, ha! Cal Davidson," said I to myself through my set teeth; "little +do you think that you are discovered in your sins, and little do you +know that the avenger is on your track. But have a care, for Black +Bart and his band pursues you!" + +And, seeing that we had now laid in abundance of ship's stores, +including four drums of gasoline; and since the trail of Cal Davidson +was, at least, no wider than the banks of the river down which he had +fled, it looked ill enough for the chances of that robber when the +stanch _Sea Rover_, her flag again aloft and promising no quarter, +chugged out into midstream and took up a pursuit which was to know no +faltering until at last I had learned the truth about the fair captive +of the _Belle Helene_. For indeed, indeed, Omar, and you, too, stout +Lafitte and hardy L'Olonnois, the Bird of Life was on the wing. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN WHICH WE CLOSE WITH THE ENEMY + + +Cal Davidson took on five drums of petrol at Cairo, and a like amount +of champagne at Memphis, and no man may tell what other supplies at +this or that other point along the river. He evidently suspected no +pursuit, or, if he did, was a swaggering varlet enough, for, according +to all accounts which we could get, he loitered and lingered along, +altogether at his leisure, with due attention to social matters at +every port; for if he had not a wife at every port, at least, he had +an acquaintance of business or social sort, so that, one might be +sure, there were few dull moments for him and his party, whether +afloat or ashore. He must have attended a dinner-party and two +theaters at Memphis, and have sailed only after making three thousand +dollars out of a combination in champagne present and cotton future, +whose disgusting details I did not seek to learn. Trust Davidson to +make money, and to make the most of life also as he went along. He +always had the best of everything; and surely now he had, for the +leisurely, ease-seeking _Belle Helene_, not actuated by any vast +motive beyond that of the bee and the honey flower, slipped on down +and ahead with perfect ease, while we, grimy, slow, determined, plowed +on in her wake losing miles each hour the graceful _Belle Helene_ +chose to show us her light disdainful heels, serenely indifferent +because wholly ignorant of our existence. + +But we held to the chase as true pirates, not loitering at any port, +and--since now I, also, had learned something of the intricacies of +our engine, and could take a trick while the others slept--running +twice the hours daily the haughty yacht would deign to log. I knew +that Cal Davidson would stop to shoot and to visit, and knew that he +could, by no human means, be induced to pass any telegraph point where +the daily standing of the baseball clubs could be learned--he counted +that day lost in which he did not learn the scores. As for myself, I +have never been able to understand how any grown man or any one +ungrown can take any interest whatever in the deeds of hired +ball-playing Hessians, who have back of them neither patriotism nor +even a municipal pride. But, for once, I was joyed that the organized +business sense of a few men had put an otherwise able citizen under +tribute, because now, though the _Belle Helene_ must pause at least +daily, the _Sea Rover_ need do no such thing. + +Nor did we. We were hot on the trail of the enemy as he flew south +along the Chickasha Bluffs, hot as he left Memphis behind, and taking +the widening waters which now wandered through low forest lands, +reached out for the next city of size, historic Vicksburg on her +seventy hills. And hot and eager, more than ever, were we when, +chugging around the head of that vast arm of the river, where it +curves like a boy of some southern sea, with its heights rising beyond +and afar, we saw what caused me to exclaim aloud, "At last! There she +lies, my hearties!" + +I pointed on ahead. To my eyes, who had designed her, every line of +that long, graceful, white hull was familiar. The jaunty rake of her +air-shafts, like stacks of a liner, the sweep of her clean freeboard +up to her shining rail, the ease of her bows, the graceful boldness of +her overhang--all were familiar enough to me. She was my boat, and +once I was wont to enjoy her. And on board her now was the woman who +had taken away from me all desire to keep a yacht in commission, to +keep open a house in town, or an office, or to frequent my clubs, or +to meet my friends. Was she there, this woman; and was she still?--but +I dared not ask that question. + +"Full speed ahead, Jean!" I called. "That's the _Belle Helene_! Yonder +lies the enemy!" + +And then the inevitable happened. Perhaps it was too much gas, +perhaps too much lubricant, perhaps a spark plug was carrying too much +carbon. At any rate, the engine of the _Sea Rover_ chose that time to +chug and cease to revolve! + +It was more than a mile to the foot of that vast curve; and even as I +leaped at the grimy oily motor, I saw a white dingey with blue trim +make out from the wharf and leisurely pull alongside the landing stair +of the yacht. It held two figures only, that of the deck-hand who +rowed, and that of the large white-flanneled man who now disembarked +from the dingey and went aboard the yacht. He was waving a paper over +his head, so that I inferred the Giants must have won that day. And +then, as we tugged and hurried with our arbitrary motor, I saw the +_Belle Helene_, with a slight smiling salute to friends ashore, swing +daintily about and head out and down the river! The faint and +infallible rhythm of her perfect enginery came throbbing to us across +the water ... I stood up. I hailed, I waved, I shouted, and I fear +even cursed. Perhaps they thought some drunken fisherman was +disporting himself; but certainly, a few moments later, we were +rocking on the roll of the river, and the yacht was out of sight and +sound around the next great bend. + +"It shall go hard but we overhaul yon varlet yet," said L'Olonnois +grimly. + +"Aye," assented Lafitte; "we've busted a plug, an' he has showed us a +clean pair of heels, but it's a long chase if the _Sea Rover_ does not +overhaul him. We'll have to overhaul our engine first, though," he +added thoughtfully. + +But the overhauling of our engine meant a voyage under sweeps to a +precarious landing among divers packets, house-boats and launches, on +Vicksburg waterside, and a later visit to a specialist in diseases of +the carburetor; so that, when at last the _Sea Rover_ was ready for +the sea again, her chase might have been a hundred miles ahead an she +liked. + +"Gee!" exclaimed Jean Lafitte, as we were about to cast off. "Looky +here, de Cubs licked de G'ints five to one to-day." He pointed to +figures in a newspaper which he had obtained. So then it might have +been excitement of rage, and not of joy, which had animated Cal +Davidson when he went aboard. + +"Never mind then," said I, "for that gives us a day's start." + +"How do you mean?" demanded Jean. + +"It means that yonder varlet will not leave Natchez to-morrow until +late evening, after the wires are in from the northern ball games," I +replied. "Of course he'll stop there next." I felt now that the Lord +had, by implanting this insane lust of petty baseball news in his +soul, delivered my enemy into my hand. + +Now I wist not how or at what dignified speed the _Belle Helene_ swept +on down that mighty river through the rich southern lands; nor do I +scarce half remember the painstaking persistent run we made with the +grimy _Sea Rover_ in pursuit, hour after hour, night or day. We had no +licensed pilot or licensed engineer, we bore no lights as prescribed +by law, and heeded no channels as prescribed by government engineers. +Pirates, indeed, we might have been as we plowed on down in the wake +of our quarry, along the ancient highway famous in fast packet days. +We cared nothing for law, order, custom, conventions, precedents--the +very things which had enslaved me all my life I now cast aside. +Through bend after bend, along willow-lined flats and bluffs crowned +with stately, moss-draped live-oaks, we swept on and on; and always I +strained my eyes to see, my ears to hear, on ahead some sign of the +_Belle Helene_; always strained my heart for some sign from her. Why, +even I looked in the water for some bottle bearing a memory from yon +captive maid to me. Captive? Why, certainly she must be captive; and +certainly she must know that I, Black Bart the Avenger, was upon the +trail. + +We made the pleasant city of Natchez in the evening of the sweetest +day on which, as I thought, the sun had ever set. Her lofty hills--for +here the great eastern fence of hills which bound the Vermont Delta on +the eastward sweep in to close the foot of the Delta's V, and run +sheer to the river's brink--rose upon our left. The low tree-covered +lands on the Louisiana side lay at our right, and over them hung, +center of a most radiant evening curtain, painted in a thousand colors +by the mighty brush of nature, the round red orb of day, now sinking +to his rest. + +I did not begrudge the sun his rest that day. For now, just at the +edge of this beautiful picture there hung, at the dry point where the +old keel boats used to land at old Natchez, under the hill where the +pirates of those days sought relaxation from labors in the joys of +combat or of wine, I caught sight of the long, low, graceful hull of +the _Belle Helene_! + +"Avast! Jean Lafitte," I cried. "Shorten all sail, and bear across, +west-by-west." + +"Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response from my bold crew. + +"Why don't we run in and board her?" demanded L'Olonnois. However, +seeing that I had laid hold of the steering line where I sat, and was +heading the _Sea Rover_ across the Louisiana side, away from the +city's water-front, he subsided. + +"We'll cast anchor yonder where the holding ground is good," I +explained. "To-night we'll send off the long boat with a boarding +party. And marry!" I added, "it shall go hard, but we'll hold yon +varlet to his accounting!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +IN WHICH WE BOARD THE ENEMY + + +Slowly the vast painting of the sky softened and faded until, at +length, its edges blended with the shadows of the forest. There came +into relief against the sky-line the etched outlines of the trees +crowning the bluff on the eastern side of the great river. The +oncoming darkness promised safety for a craft unimportant as ours as +we now lay in the shadows of the western shore. Meantime, as well as +the failing light allowed, we let nothing on board the _Belle Helene_ +go unobserved. + +The yacht lay--with an audacity of carelessness which I did not like +to note--hardly inside the edge of the regular shipping channel, but +swung securely and gracefully at her cable, held by an anchor which I +had devised myself, heavy enough for twice her tonnage. On the deck I +could see an occasional figure, but though I plied my binoculars +carefully, not the figure which I sought. A man leaned against the +rail, idly, smoking, but this I made out to be the engineer, Williams, +come up to get the evening air. Billy, the deck-hand, John, my Chinese +cook, and Peterson, the boat-master, were at the time out of sight, +as well as Cal Davidson, who had her under charter. + +We lay thus, separated by some distance of the river's flood, each +craft at anchor, only one observed by the other. But to my impatient +gaze matters seemed strangely slow on board the _Belle Helene_. I was +relieved when at last the rather portly but well groomed figure of my +friend Davidson appeared on deck. He made his way aft along the rail, +and I could see him bend over and call down the companionway of the +after staterooms. Then, an instant later, he was joined on the after +deck by two ladies. The sight of one of these caused my heart to +bound. + +They stood for a moment, no more than dimly outlined, but I could see +them well enough. The older lady, with the scarf about her head, was +Aunt Lucinda. The slighter figure in white and wearing no head +covering, was she, Helena Emory! It was Helena! It was Helena! + +She turned toward Davidson. I could hear across the water the sound of +laughter. A sudden feeling of anger came into my soul. I shifted my +position in the _Sea Rover_, and stepped on Partial's tail, causing +him to give a sharp bark and to come and lick my hand in swift +repentance. I feared for the time that his sound might attract +attention to our boat, which, if examined closely, might seem a +trifle suspicious. True pirates, and oblivious of all law, we had not +yet hoisted our riding lights, though for all I know our black flag +still was flying. + +The three figures passed forward along the deck slowly and disappeared +down the front companion-stair which led to the cozy dining-room. I +could see them all sitting there, about my own table, using the very +silver and linen which I had had made for the _Belle Helene_, attended +by John, my Chinese cook and factotum, whom I had especially imported, +selected from among a thousand other Chinese by myself at Hankow. I +knew that Davidson would have champagne and a dozen other wines in +abundance, everything the market offered. A pleasant party, this of +three, which was seating itself at my table over yonder, while I, in a +grimy, dingy, little tub lay looking at them, helpless in the gloom! +Ah, villain, shrewd enough you were when you planned this trip for +Aunt Lucinda's health! Well enough you knew that of all places in the +world none equals a well equipped private yacht for the courting of a +maid. Why, if it be propinquity that does it, what chance had any man +on earth against this man, enjoying the privilege of propinquity of +propinquities, and adding thereto the weapons of every courtesy, every +little pleasure a man may show a maid? Trust Cal Davidson for all +that! I well-nigh gnashed my teeth in anger. + +I scarce know how the time passed, until at last I saw them, in the +illumination of the deck lights, at length come on deck again. They +stood looking out over the river, or toward the lights of +Natchez-under-the-Hill, and at length idly walked aft once more. The +two ladies seated themselves on deck chairs under the awning of the +rear deck. I could not see them now, but heard the tinkle and throb of +a guitar come across the water, touched lightly with long pauses, as +under some suspended melody not yet offered in fulness. Now and again +I could hear a word or so, the rather deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, the +bass tones of Davidson, but strain my ears as I might, I could not +hear the sound of that other voice, low and sweet, an excellent thing +in woman. + +At length the little party seemed to be breaking up. I saw Davidson, +half in shadow, outlined by the deck lights as he rose, and passed +forward. Then I heard the falls run, and a soft splash as the dingey +was launched overside. Cal Davidson was going ashore. He could no +longer resist his anxiety over the baseball score! A moment later I +heard the dip of the oars. Some one turned on the search-light, so +that a wide shaft of light swung along the foot of Natchez Hill, +toward which the dingey was headed. The shadows on the deck of the +_Belle Helene_ seemed darker now, by contrast, but I believed that +Williams, the engineer, now had left the rail on which he was leaning +over his folded arms. + +I turned now to my wondering companions, who, seeing me so much +interested, had remained for a long time practically silent. Fall now, +curtain of romance, for we be but three pirates here! Up anchor, then, +and back across the stream toward our quarry quickly, my bold mates, +for now there lies at hand a dangerous work of the boarding party! + +Thus I might have spoken aloud; for, at least, I hardly needed to do +more than motion to Jean Lafitte, and as we resumed our softly +chugging progress, having broken out our shallow anchorage, he steered +the boat to the motion of my hand. We passed close alongside the +_Belle Helene_ and I examined her keenly as we did so. Then, +apparently unnoticed, we dropped down-stream a bit, and found another +anchorage. + +"Clear away the long boat for the boarding party," I now whispered +hoarsely. I spoke to companions now in full character. Belted and +armed, Lafitte and L'Olonnois rose ready for any bold emprise, each +with red kerchief pulled about his brow. And now, to my interest, I +observed that each had resumed the black mask which they had worn +earlier in our long voyage, sign of the desperate character of each +wearer. + +"Whither away, Black Bart?" demanded L'Olonnois fiercely. "Lead, and +we follow." + +"You had better put on a mask, Black Bart," added Jean Lafitte, and +handed me a spare one of his own manufacture. I hesitated, but then, +seeing that part of my success lay in our all remaining somewhat +piratical of character, I hastily slipped it above my eyes, and pulled +down my hat brim. "She will not know me now," said I to myself. And +truly enough we seemed desperate folk, fierce as any who ever lay in +keel boat off the foot of Natchez bluff, even in the bloodiest times +of Mike Fink the Keel-boatman or of Murrell the southern bandit king. + +Partial, without invitation, climbed into the skiff with us. "Cast +off," I ordered. "Oars!" And my young men--whom by this time I had +trained in many ways nautical--obeyed in good seaman fashion. A moment +later we lay almost under the rail of the _Belle Helene_. No one +hailed us. We seemed taken only for some passing skiff. + +"Listen!" I whispered, "there is risk in what we are going to do." + +I looked at my blue-eyed pirate, L'Olonnois, who sat closer to me. On +his face was simple and complete happiness. At last, his adventure +had come to him and he was meeting it like a man. + +"What is it, Black Bart?" I heard Jean Lafitte whisper hoarsely. + +"We are to board and take yonder ship," I replied softly. "If we are +to succeed, you must do precisely as I tell you. Leave the main risk +to me, that of the law. I'll take possession on the ground that she is +my boat, that her charter money is not paid, and that yonder varlet is +making away with her out of the country. She holds much treasure, let +me assure you of that, my men--the greatest treasure that ever came +down this river. + +"Now, listen. You, Lafitte, as soon as we get aboard, are to run and +close the hatch of the engine-room. That will pen Williams, the +engineer, below, where he can make no resistance. As soon as that is +done, run to those doors forward which lead down to the dining-room +companionway and shut those doors and latch them. That will take care +of John, the cook. The deck-hand is away with the varlet. That leaves +only the shipmaster and the women captives. + +"While you are busy in this way, Lafitte, I will hunt for Peterson, +the master, who very likely is sitting quiet on the forward deck +somewhere. The main danger lies with him. While I attend to him, you, +L'Olonnois, run aft. You will find there two ladies, one very old and +ugly, the other very young and very beautiful. See that they do not +escape, and hold them there until I come aft to meet you. + +"All this must go through as we have planned. Once the maiden is in +our power, and the ship our own, we will head down-stream for the open +sea. Are you with me, my bold mates?" + +"Lead on, Black Bart!" I heard L'Olonnois hiss; and I saw Jean Lafitte +tighten his belt. + +"All ready, then," said I. "I'll go forward and make fast the painter +when we reach the landing stair. Follow me quickly. Leave Partial in +the boat. Gently now." + +Swiftly but silently, we swept in under the lee of the _Belle Helene_. +The landing ladder had not been drawn up after Davidson's departure, +so that the boarding party had easy work ahead. + +I sprang upon the deck, my footfalls deadened by the rubber matting +which lay along all the decks. I turned. Above the rail behind me rose +the face of Lafitte, masked. The long blade of a Malay kris was in his +teeth. In one hand he held a pistol, using the other as he climbed. He +scraped out of his belt as he came aboard I know not how many pistols +which fell into the water, but still, God wot! had abundant remaining. +Nor did L'Olonnois, close behind him, his Samurai sword between his +teeth, present a spectacle less awesome. I breathed a sudden prayer +that these might meet with no resistance, else I could only fear the +direst consequences! + +I made a quick motion with my hand, even as I sprang forward in search +of Peterson. The dull thud of the engine-room hatch, an instant later, +assured me that Lafitte had performed the most important part of the +work assigned to him. Forsooth, ere long, he had done all his work as +laid out for him. It chanced that, as he sprang to the doors of the +forward saloon, he met John, the Chinaman. Reaching for him with one +hand, he closed the doors with the other, with such promptness and +precision that the cue of John was caught in the door and he was +imprisoned below, where he howled in much grief and perturbation, +unable to escape without the sacrifice of his cue. + +Meantime, I found Peterson, my old skipper, much as I had expected. He +was a middle-aged, placid, well-poised man, a pessimist in speech, but +a bold man in soul. He was fond of an evening pipe, and he sat now +smoking and looking down the illuminated lane made by our +search-light. He turned toward me, a sudden curiosity upon his face as +he saw that I was a stranger on the boat, though not a stranger to +himself. + +"Sir--Mr. Harry--" he began, half rising. + +I reached out my left hand and caught him by the shoulder. In my +right hand I held a pistol, and this, somewhat gaily, I waved before +Peterson's face. "Halt," said I, "or I will blow you out of the +water"--a phrase which I had found sufficient in earlier +circumstances. + +The old man smiled pleasantly and in mock fashion put up both his +hands. Had it been anyone else, he probably would have knocked me +down. "All right, Mr. Harry," said he, "you will have your joke. But +tell me, what's up? We weren't expecting you here. Mr. Davidson's gone +ashore." + +"Just a lark, Peterson," said I. I had slipped down the mask so that +he could see me plainly. "By George, sir!" said he, "I am glad to see +you, back on the old boat again. Where have you been?" + +"Just come on board, Peterson," said I. "I am going to run her now +myself. + +"Money not paid over, Peterson," said I. It stretched my conscience a +bit, although the truth was I had Davidson's uncashed check in my +pocket at the time. + +"We've all had our pay regular," he rejoined. "Why, what's wrong?" + +"But I haven't had mine, Peterson," said I. "When the charter money +isn't paid and an owner has reason to suppose that his boat is going +to be run out of the country, he has to act promptly, you understand. +So I have taken my own way. The _Belle Helene_ is in my charge now, +and you will report to me for orders." + +"What's that squalling?" demanded Peterson, who was a trifle hard of +hearing. + +"Something seems wrong with John, the cook," I answered. "I only hope +he has not made any resistance to my men, who, I promise you, are the +most desperate lot that ever cut a throat. For instance, they have +locked Williams down in the engine-room. Go over there, Peterson, and +quiet him. But tell him that, if he shows a head above the hatch, he +is apt to have his brains blown out. Keep quiet now, all of you, until +I get this thing in hand." + +"But the boat's under charter to Mr. Davidson," demurred Peterson. + +"Charter or no charter, Peterson," said I, "I'm in command here, and +it's no time to argue." + +At this time we heard cries of a feminine sort from the after deck, so +I knew that L'Olonnois, as well, had performed the duty assigned to +him. + +"Stay here, Peterson," said I. "It's all right, and I'll take care of +you in every regard. Wait a moment." + + [Illustration: "Who are you?" she demanded] + +I hurried aft. L'Olonnois stood in the shadow, his back against the +saloon door, facing his two prisoners. I also faced them now. The deck +lights gave ample illumination, so that I could see her--Helena--face +to face and fairly. She turned to me; but now I had pulled up my mask +again, and she could have no more than a suspicion as to my identity. + +"Who are you?" she demanded. "What right have you here?" + +For half a moment I paused. Then I felt a sense of relief as I heard +at my elbow the piping voice of L'Olonnois in reply. + +"Lady," said he, standing with folded arms, his bared blade gripped in +his good right hand and showing at a short up-cast angle, "it ill +beseems a gentleman to give pain to one so fair, but prithee have a +care, for, by heavens! resistance is useless here." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH IS ABOUNDING TROUBLE + + +I looked at Helena Emory, glad that she did not at first sight +recognize the intruder who had elicited her wrath,--for she seemed +almost more angry than perturbed, such being her nature. I thought she +had never been half so beautiful as now, never more alive, more +vibrantly and dynamically feminine than now. She had not even a scarf +about her head, so that all its Greek clarity of line, all its +tight-curling dark hair--almost breaking into four ringlets, two at +each white temple--were distinct to me as I looked at her, even in the +half light. Her face, with its wondrous dark eyes, was full toward me, +meeting this danger for such as it might be; so that, again, I saw the +sweet full oval of her brow and cheek and chin, with just these two +dark incipient curls above. I could not see the twin dark tendrils at +the white nape of her neck, but I knew they were there, as beautiful +as ever. Her mouth was always the sweetest God ever gave any +woman--and I repeat, I have seen and studied all the great portraits, +and found none so wholly good as that of Helena, done by Sargent in +his happiest vein. Now the red bow of her lips parted, as she stood, +one slender hand across her bosom, panting, but not in the least +afraid, or, at least, meeting her fear boldly, as one high-born +should. + +She was all in white, with not the slightest jewel or ornament of any +kind. I saw that even the buckle at her waist was covered in white. +Her boots and her hair were dark; for Helena knew the real art of +dressing. She stood fairly between me and the deck light, so that all +her white figure was frank in its gentle curves; erect now, and +bravely drawn to all her five feet five, so that she might meet my +gaze--albeit through a mask--as fully as a lady should when she has +met affront. + +I always loved Helena, always, from the first time I met her. I had +bidden adieu to life when, after many efforts to have her see me as I +saw her, I turned away to the long hard endeavor to forget her. But +now I saw my attempts had all been in vain. If absence had made my +heart more fond, the presence of her made it more poignantly, more +imperiously, fonder than before. My whole body, my whole soul, +unified, arose. I stretched out my arms, craving, demanding. "Helena!" +I cried. + +My voice was hoarse. Perhaps she did not know me, even yet. Her answer +was a long clear call for help. + +"Ahoy!" she sang. "On shore, there--Help!" + +Her call was a signal for present trouble. Partial, my dog, abandoned +in the long boat, began barking furiously. There came an answering +hail which assured me that yon varlet, Davidson, had heard. I was +conscious of the sound of a scuffle somewhere forward. Below, at my +side, Aunt Lucinda gave voice to a long shrill wail of terror. John, +my Chinaman, his cue still held fast in the jammed edges of the door, +chimed in dismally. Midships I heard a muffled knocking at Williams', +the engineer's, hatch. + +I forgot I was standing masked, with a naked weapon in my hand. I +dropped my mask, dropped my weapon, and turned quickly toward Helena. + +"Be silent!" I commanded her. + +She stood for one instant, her hands at her cheeks. Then, "Ahoy!" rang +out her voice once more in sheer disobedience, and "You!" she said to +me, furious. + +"Yes, I," was my answer, and my own fury was now as cold as hers. "Go +below," I ordered her. "I am in command of this boat. Quick!" + +I had never spoken thus to her in all my life, but almost to my +surprise she changed now. As though half in doubt, she turned toward +the stair leading down to the ladies' cabin where Aunt Lucinda was +shrieking in terror. + +"Guard the door," I called to L'Olonnois as I turned away. I heard it +slam shut and the click of the lock told me my prisoners were safe, so +I hastened forward. + +"Good Lord, Mr. Harry!" cried my skipper, Peterson, when he saw me. +"Come here, take this little devil--away--I'm afraid he'll knife me." + +I hurried to him for he struggled in the dark with Jean Lafitte. + +"To the rescue, Black Bart!" called Jean Lafitte. "Catch his other +arm. I've got this one, and if he moves, by Heaven I'll run him +through." + +"Run me through, you varmint--what do you mean?" roared Peterson. +"Ain't it enough you pull a gun on me and try to poke out my eye, and +twist off my arm, without sticking me with that bread-slicer you got? +Mr. Harry--for Heaven's sake----" + +"There now, Jean Lafitte," I said, "enough. He has begged for +quarter." + +"No, I ha'int," asserted Peterson venomously. "I'll spank the life +outen him if I ever get the chance--" I raised a hand. + +"Enough of all this noise," I said. "I am in charge now, Peterson. Go +to the wheel. Break out the anchor and get under way. At once, man! I +have no time to argue." + +Peterson had never in his life heard me speak in this way before, but +now, for what reason I do not know--perhaps from force of habit, +perhaps because he knew I was owner of the boat, perhaps in awe of the +naked kris of Jean Lafitte, still presented menacingly at his +abdomen--the old skipper obeyed. + +I heard the faint jangle of bells in the engine-room below. Obviously, +Williams, the engineer, was responsive to his sense of duty and +routine. The power came pulsing through the veins of the _Belle +Helene_ and I heard her screws revolve. I, myself, threw in the donkey +winch as she forged ahead, and so broke out the anchor. It still +swung, clogging her bows as she turned in the current. The bells again +jangled as she got more speed and as the anchor came home. Our +search-light swept a wide arc along the foot of Natchez Hill, as our +bows circled about and headed down the great river. And now we picked +in full view, hardly sixty fathoms distant, the dingey, pulled +furiously toward us. My friend, the varlet Cal Davidson, half stood in +the stern of the stubby craft and waved at us an excited hand. + +"Ahoy there, Peterson!" he cried. "Stop! Hold on there! Wait! Where +are you going there!" + +Peterson turned toward me an inquiring gaze, but I only pointed a hand +down-stream, and he obeyed me! I reached my hand to the cord and gave +Peterson, Davidson, Natchez and all the world, the salute of a long +and vibrant whistle of defiance. It came back to us in echoes from the +giant bluffs, swept across the lowlands on the opposite side. + +"Full speed ahead, Peterson," said I quietly. + +"Where are we going, Mr. Harry?" he demanded anxiously. + +"I don't know," said I. "It all depends--maybe around the world. I +don't know and I don't care." + +"I'm scared about this--it don't look right. What's come into you, Mr. +Harry?" asked the old man solicitously. + +"Nothing, Peterson," said I, "except that the bird of time is on the +wing. I am a pirate, Peterson----" + +"I never knew you so far gone in drink before, Mr. Harry," said he, as +he threw over the wheel to pick up the first starboard channel light. + +"Yes, I have been drinking, Peterson," said I. "I have been drinking +the wine of life. It oozes drop by drop, and is all, too soon, gone if +we delay. Full speed ahead, Peterson. I am in command." + +"Jean!" I called to my able lieutenant. "Reach over into the long boat +and bring Partial on board. He is my friend. And bring also our flag. +Run it aloft above our prize." + +"Aye, aye, Sir," came the reply of Jean Lafitte. And a few moments +later our long boat was riding astern more easily. Jean Lafitte on his +return busied himself with our burgee. And at that moment, Partial, +overjoyed at also having a hand in these affairs, barked joyously at +his discovery of the neglected end of the cook's cue projecting +through the hinges of the door. On this he laid hold cheerfully, +worrying it until poor John shrieked anew in terror; and until I freed +him; and ordered tea. + +I next went over to the hatches of the engine-room, and having opened +them, bent over to speak to Williams, the engineer. + +"It's all right, Williams," said I. "I am going to take her over now +and run her perhaps to the Gulf. We hadn't time to tell you at first. +There has been a legal difficulty. Peterson is on deck, of course." + +"All right, Mr. Harry," said Williams, who recognized me as he leaned +out from his levers to look up through the open hatch. "At first I +didn't know what in hell was up. It sounded like a mutiny----" + +"It was a mutiny, Williams," said I, "and I am the head mutineer. But +you're sure of your pay, so let her go." + +He did let her go, smoothly and brilliantly, so that before long she +was at her top speed, around fifteen knots an hour. I was familiar +with every detail of the _Belle Helene_, and now I looked in both the +generating plant and the storage batteries, so that four thousand +candle-power of electric light blazed over her from bow to fantail. +The steady purr of the _Belle Helene's_ double sixties--engines I had +had made under my own care--came to me with a soothing rhythm where I +stood near by the wheel. Her search-light made a vast illumination far +ahead. Brilliant enough must have seemed the passing spectacle of our +stanch little ship to any observer, as we now swept on down the tawny +flood of the great river. Who would deny me the feeling of exultation +which came to me? Was I not captor and captain of my own ship? + +I turned to meet L'Olonnois, my blue-eyed pirate. He stood at my side +as one glorified. The full swing of romance had him, the full illusion +of this,--imagination's most ardent desire--now gripped him fully. He +was no boy, but a human being possessed of all his dreams. His second +self, once oppressed, now free, stood before me wholly satisfied. I +needed not to ask whether he had been faithful to his trust. + +"I locked the door on 'em, Black Bart," said he, "and bade them cease +a idle remonstrancing. 'Little do you know,' say I to them, 'that +Black Bart the Avenger is now on the trail. Let any oppose him at +their peril,' says I to them. She give me candy, the fair captive did, +but I spurned her bribe. 'Beware,' says I to her. 'Little do you know +what lies before you.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN WHICH IS CONVERSATION WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN + + +Jean Lafitte, who had so well executed the work assigned him in the +boarding party's plans, proved himself neither inefficient nor +unobservant. He approached me now, with a salute, which probably he +copied from Peterson. + +"How now, good leftenant?" said I. + +"If you please, Black Bart," he began, "how are we headed, and what +are our plans?" + +"Our course on this river, Jean Lafitte, will box the compass, indeed +box an entire box of compasses, for no river is more winding. Yet in +time we shall reach its end, no doubt, since others have." + +"And what about our good ship, the _Sea Rover_, that we have left +behind?" + +"By Jove! Jean Lafitte," I exclaimed, "that is, indeed, a true word. +What, indeed? We left her riding at anchor just off the channel edge, +and so far as I recall, she had not her lights up, in accordance with +the law." + +"Shall we put about and take her in tow, Black Bart?" + +"By no means. That is the very last of my intentions." + +"What'll become of her, then?" + +"That is no concern of mine." + +"But nobody'll know whose she is, and nobody can tell what may happen +to her----" + +"Quite true. She may be stolen, or sunk. Why not?" + +"But she cost a lot of money." + +"On the contrary, she cost only twelve hundred dollars." + +"Twelve hundred dollars!" Jean drew a long deep breath. "I didn't know +anybody had that much money in the world. Besides, look what you spent +for them pearls. Ain't you poor, then, Black Bart?" + +"On the contrary, I have that much more money left, very likely. And I +do not, to say truth, care a jot, a rap or a stiver, what becomes of +the derelict _Sea Rover_ now. Have we not taken a better ship for our +own?" + +"Yes, but suppose yon varlet boards the _Sea Rover_, an' chases us the +way we done him?" + +"Again, by Jove! Jean Lafitte; an idea. But suppose he does? Much good +it will do him. For, look you, good leftenant, the _Belle Helene_ will +not stop to send any man ashore for baseball scores. Such was not the +practise of the old buccaneers, nor shall it be ours; whereas, no +matter what the haste, yon varlet could in nowise refrain from that +same folly which hath lost him his ship to us. Each hour will only +widen the gap between us. Let him take our tub if he likes, and do as +he likes, for 'twill be a long day before he picks up our masts over +his horizon, Jean Lafitte." + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" rejoined my lieutenant, and withdrew. I could see he +was not overjoyed at the abandonment of our earlier ship that had +brought us so far in safety. All this luxury of the _Belle Helene_ had +the effect of oppressing a pirate who so short a time ago had started +out on the high seas in a sixteen foot yawl, and who had seen that +yawl, in a manner of speaking, grown into a schooner, the schooner +comparatively grown into a full-fledged four-decker, richly fitted as +any ship of the royal navy. + +But these, all, were lesser things to me, for on my soul was a more +insistent concern. I turned now, seeing that Peterson, wholly +reconciled to the new order of affairs, was speeding the boat onward +as though I never had left her; so that I knew she was safe in his +hands, although I set Lafitte to watch him. Followed by my faithful +friend Partial, who expressed every evidence of having enjoyed a most +interesting evening, I presently made my way aft. + +As I approached the door of the after-cabin suite, occupied by the +ladies, I made my presence known at first discreetly, then more +pointedly, and, at length, by a knocking on the door. + +"Below, there!" I called, boldly as I could; for eager as I was to +see Helena Emory, there were certain things about the interview which +might be difficult. Lovers who have parted, finally, approach each +other, even by accident, thereafter, with a certain reluctance. +(Lovers, did I say? Nay, never had she said she loved me. She had only +said she wished she did, wished she could.) + +No answer came at first. Then, "Who is it?" in the voice of Aunt +Lucinda. + +"It is I, Mr. Henry--" but I paused: "--It is I, Black Bart the +Avenger," I concluded. "May I come in?" + +Silently the door opened, and I entered the little reception-room +which lay between the two staterooms of this cabin. Before me stood +Helena! And now I was close to her, I could see the little curls at +her temples, could see the double curves of her lips, the color in her +cheek. Ah! she was the same, the same! I loved her--I loved her not +the same, but more and more, more! + +She held her peace; and all I could do was to stand and stare and then +hold out my hand. She took it formally, though her color heightened. I +saluted Aunt Lucinda also, who glared at me. "How do you do?" I said +to them both, with much originality and daring. + +"Black Bart!" snorted Aunt Lucinda. "Black Bart! It might be, from +these goings on. What does it all mean?" + +"It means, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, "that I have taken charge of +the boat myself." + +"But how?" demanded Helena. "We did not hear you were coming. And I +don't understand. Why, that rascally little nephew of mine, in the +mask, frightened auntie nearly to death. And he said the most +extraordinary _things_! + +"Where is Mr. Davidson?" she added. "He didn't tell us a word of +this." + +"He didn't know a word of it himself," I answered. "Let me tell you, +no self-respecting pirate--and as you see, I am a pirate--is in the +habit of telling his plans in advance." + +"A pirate!" + +I bowed politely. "At your service. Black Bart--my visiting cards are +mislaid, but I intend ordering some new ones. The ship's cook, John, +will soon be here with tea. These events may have been wearying. +Meantime, allow me to present my friend Partial." + +Partial certainly understood human speech. He now approached Helena +slowly and stood looking up into her face in adoration. Then, without +any command, he lay down deliberately and rolled over; sat up, barked; +and so, having done all his repertory for her whom he now--as had his +master before him--loved at first sight, he stood again and +worshiped. + +"Nice doggie!" said Helena courteously. + +"Have a care, Helena!" said I. "Love my dog, love me! And all the +world loves Partial." + +The color heightened in her cheeks. I had never spoken so boldly to +her before, but had rather dealt in argument than in assertion; which +I, later, was to learn is no way to make love to any woman. + +"When do we get back to Natchez?" she demanded. + +"We do not get back to Natchez." + +"Oh? Then I suppose Mr. Davidson picks us up at Baton Rouge?" + +"Yon varlet," said I, "does not pick us up at Baton Rouge." + +"New Orleans?" + +"Or at New Orleans--unless he is luckier than I ever knew even Cal to +be." + +"Whatever do you mean?" inquired Aunt Lucinda in tones ominously deep. + +"That the _Belle Helene_ is much faster than the tug we left behind at +Natchez, even did he find it. He will have hard work to catch us." + +"To _catch us_?" + +"Yes, Helena, to catch us. Of course he'll follow in some way. I have, +all the way from above Dubuque. Why should not he?" + +The ladies looked from me to each other, doubting my sanity, perhaps. + +"I don't just understand all this," began Helena. "But since we travel +only as we like, and only with guests whom we invite or who are +invited by the boat's owner, I shall ask you to put us ashore." + +"On a sand-bar, Helena? Among the alligators?" + +"Of course I mean at the nearest town." + +"There is none where we are going, my dear Miss Emory. Little do you +know what lies before you! Black Bart heads for the open sea. Let yon +varlet follow at his peril. Believe me, 'twill cost him a very +considerable amount of gasoline." + +"What right have you on this boat?" she demanded fiercely. + +"The right of any pirate." + +"Why do you intrude--how dare you--at least, I don't understand----" + +"I have taken this ship, Helena," said I, "because it carries +treasure--more than you know of, more than I dreamed. My father was a +pirate, I am well assured by the public prints. So am I. 'Tis in the +blood. But do not anger me. Rather, have a cup of tea." John, my cook, +was now at the door with the tray. + +"Thank you," rejoined Helena icily. "It would hardly be courteous to +Mr. Davidson--to use his servants and his table in this way in his +absence. Besides----" + +"Besides, I recalled that your Aunt Lucinda's neuralgia is always +benefited by a glass or so of ninety-three at about ten thirty of the +evening. John!" + +"Lessah!" + +"Go to the left-hand locker in B; and bring me a bottle of the +ninety-three. I think you will find that better than this absurd +German champagne which I see yon varlet has been offering you, my dear +Mrs. Daniver. But--excuse me----" + +Helena looked up, innocently. + +"--A moment before there were six empty bottles on the table there. +And I saw you writing. How many have you thrown overboard through the +port-hole?" + +"I didn't know you were so observant," replied Helena demurely. "But +only three." + +"It is not enough," said I. "Go on, and write your other messages for +succor. Use each bottle, and we shall have more emptied for you, if +you like. You shall have oil bottles, vinegar bottles, water bottles, +wine bottles, all you like. Yon varlet might run across one, floating, +it is true. I hope he will. Methinks 'twould bid him speed. But all in +vain would be your appeal, for swift must be the craft that can come +up with Black Bart now. And desperate, indeed, must be the man would +dispute his right to tread these decks." + +"I hope you are enjoying yourself," said Helena scornfully. "Don't be +silly." + +"Will you have tea, Helena?" I asked. + +"Poor, dear Mr. Davidson!" sniffed Aunt Lucinda, taking a glance out +the port into the black night. "I wonder where he is, and what he will +say." + +"I can tell you what he will say, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I; "but +I would rather not." + +"Well, I'll tell you what _I_ say," snorted Aunt Lucinda. "I think +this joke has gone far enough." + +"It is no joke, madam. I was never so desperately in earnest in all my +life." + +"Then put us ashore at Baton Rouge." + +"I can not. I shall not." + +"What do you mean? Do you know what this looks like, the way you are +acting, running off with Mr. Davidson's yacht, and this----" + +"Yes, madam?" + +"Why, it's robbery, and it's, it's, why it's abduction, too. You ought +to know the law." + +"I do know the law. It is piracy. Have we not told you that resistance +would be worse than useless? Haven't I told you I've captured this +ship? Little do you know the fate that lies before you, madam, at the +hands of my ruthless men if I should prove unable to restrain them! +And have a care not to offend Black Bart the Avenger, himself! If you +do, Aunt Lucinda, he may cut off your evening champagne." + +I heard a sudden suppressed sound, wondrous like a giggle; but when I +turned, Helena was sitting there as sober as Portia, albeit I thought +her eyes suspiciously bright. + +"Well," said she, at length, "we can't sit here all night and talk +about it, and I've used up all my note-paper and bottles. I'll tell +you what I suggest, since you have seen fit to intrude on two women in +this way. We will hold a parley." + +"When?" + +"To-morrow." + +"At what hour?" + +"After breakfast." + +"Why not at breakfast?" + +"Because we shall eat alone, here,--auntie and I--in our cabin." + +"Very well then, if it seems you are so bitter against the new +commander of the ship that you will not sit at the captain's table--as +we did the second time we went to Europe together, we three--don't you +remember, Helena?" + +"Never--at your table, sir!" said Helena Emory, her voice like a stab. +And when I bethought me what that had meant before now, what it would +mean all my life, if this woman might never sit at board of mine, +never eat the fruit of my bow and spear, never share with me the bread +of life, for one instant I felt the cold thrust of fate's steel once +more in my bowels. But the next instant a new manner of feeling took +its place, an emotion I never had felt toward her before--anger, rage! + +"It is well," said I, pulling together the best I could. "And now, by +my halidom! or by George! or by anything! you shall be taken at your +word. You breakfast here. Be glad if it is more than bread and +water--until you learn a better way of speech with me." + +Again I saw that same sudden change on her face, surprise, almost +fright; and I swear she shrank from me as though in terror, her hand +plucking at Aunt Lucinda's sleeve; whereas, all Aunt Lucinda could do +was to pluck at her niece's sleeve in turn. + +"As to the parley, then," said I, pulling, by mistake, my mask from my +pocket instead of my kerchief, "we shall hold it, to-morrow, at what +time and in what place I please. It ill beseems a gentleman to pain +one so fair, as we may again remark; but by heaven! Helena, no +resistance!" + +"Wait! What do you really mean?" She raised a hand. "I've told you I +just can't understand all this. I always thought you were +a--a--gentleman." + +"A much misused word," was my answer. "You never understood me at +all. I am not a gentleman. I'm a poor, miserable, unhappy, drifting, +aimless and useless failure--at least, I was, until I resolved upon +this way to recoup my fortunes, and went in for pirating. What chance +has a man who has lost his fortune in the game to-day--what chance +with a woman? You ask me, who am I? I am a pirate. You ask what I +intend to do? What pirate can answer that? It all depends." + +"On what?" + +"On you!" I answered furiously. "What right had you to ruin me, to +throw me over----" + +She turned a frightened glance to Aunt Lucinda, whom I had entirely +forgotten. It was my turn to blush. To hide my confusion I drew on my +mask as I bowed. + +I met John coming down with the ninety-three. As he returned on deck a +moment later, I pushed shut the doors and sprung the outside latches; +so that those within now were prisoners, indeed. And then I stood +looking up at the stars, slowly beginning to see why God made the +world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +IN WHICH IS FURTHER PARLEY WITH THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN + + +Cal Davidson's taste in neckwear was a trifle vivid as compared with +my own, yet I rather liked his shirts, and I found a morning waistcoat +of his which I could classify as possible; beside which I obtained +from John the cook a suit of flannels I had given him four years ago, +and which he was saving against the day of his funeral and shipment +back to China. So that, on the whole, I did rather well, and I was not +ill content with life as I sat, with the _Pirate's Own Book_ in my +lap, and Partial's head on my knee, looking out over the passing +panorama of the river. The banks now were low, the swamps, at times, +showing their fan-topped cypresses close to where we passed; and all +the live oaks carried their funereal Spanish moss, gray and ghostlike. + +We sometimes passed river craft, going up or down, nondescript, dingy +and slow, for the most part. Sometimes we were hailed gaily by +monkey-like deck-hands, sometimes saluted by the pilot of a larger +boat. At times we swept by busy plantation landings where the levees +screened the white-pillared mansion houses so that we could only see +the upper galleries. And now at these landings, we began to see the +freight, made up as much of barrels as of bales. We were passing from +cotton to cane. But though it still was early in the fall, the weather +was not oppressive, and the breeze on the deck was cool. I had very +much enjoyed my breakfast, and so had my shipmates L'Olonnois and +Lafitte, to whom each moment now was a taste of paradise revealed. I +envied them, for theirs, now, was that rare, fleeting and most +delectable of all human states, the full realization of every +cherished earthly dream. It made me quite happy that they were thus +happy; and as to the right or wrong of it, I put that all aside for +later explanation to them. + +I looked up to see Peterson, who touched his cap. + +"Yes, Peterson?" + +"We're on our last drum of gasoline, Mr. Harry," said he. "Where'll we +put in--Baton Rouge?" + +"No, we can't do that, Peterson," I answered. "Can't we make it to New +Orleans?" + +"Hardly. But they carry gas at most of these landings now--so many +power boats and autos nowadays, you see." + +"Very well. We'll pass Bayou Sara and Baton Rouge, and then you can +run in at any landing you like, say twenty miles or so below. Can you +make it that far?" + +"Oh, yes, but you see, at Baton Rouge----" + +"You may lay to long enough to mail these letters," said I, frowning; +"but the custom of getting the baseball scores is now suspended. And +send John here." + +The old man touched his cap again, a trifle puzzled. I wondered if he +recognized Davidson's waistcoat--he asked no more questions. + +"John," said I to my Chinaman, "carry this to the ladies;" and handed +him a card on which I had inscribed: "Black Bart's compliments; and he +desires the attendance of the ladies on deck for a parley. At once." + +John came back in a few moments and stood on one foot. "She say, she +say, Misal Hally, she say no come." + +"Letter have got, John?" + +"Lessah have got." + +"Take it back. Say, at once." + +"Lessah. At wullunce." + +"Lessah," he added two moments later. "Catchee lettah, them lady, and +she say, she say, go to hellee!" + +"What! What's that, John? She said nothing of the sort!" + +"Lessah, said them. No catchee word, that what she mean. Lady, one +time she say, she say, go topside when have got plenty leady for +come." + +"Go back to your work, John," said I. And I waited with much dignity, +for perhaps ten minutes or so, before I heard any signs of life from +the after suite. Then I heard the door pushed back, and saw a head +come out, a head with dark tendrils of hair at the white neck's nape, +and two curls at the temple, and as clean and thoroughbred a sweep of +jaw and chin as the bows of the _Belle Helene_ herself. She did not +look at me, but studiously gazed across the river, pretended to yawn, +idly looked back to see if she were followed; as she knew she was not +to be. + +At length, she turned as she stepped out on the deck. She was fresh as +the dew itself, and like a rose. All color of rose was the soft skirt +she wore, and the little bolero above, blue, with gold buttons, +covered a soft rose-colored waist, light and subtle as a spider's web, +stretched from one grass stalk to another of a dewy morning. She was +round and slender, and her neck was tall and round, and in the close +fashion of dress which women of late have devised, to remind man once +more of the ancient Garden, she seemed to me Eve herself, sweet, +virginal, as yet in a garden dew-sweet in the morning of the world. + +She turned, I say, and by mere chance and in great surprise, +discovered me, now cap in hand, and bowing. + +"Oh," she remarked; very much surprised. + +"Good morning, Eve," said I. "Have you used Somebody's Soap; or what +is it that you have used? It is excellent." + +A faint color came to her cheek, the corners of her bowed lips +twitched. "For a pirate, or a person of no culture, you do pretty +well. As though a girl could sleep after all this hullabaloo." + +"You have slept very well," said I. "You never looked better in all +your life, Helena. And that is saying the whole litany." + +"You are absurd," said she. "You must not begin it all again. We +settled it once." + +"We settled it twenty times, or to be exact, thirteen times, Helena. +The only trouble is, it would not stay settled. Tell me, is there any +one else yet, Helena?" + +"It is not any question for you to ask, or for me to answer." She was +cold at once. "I've not tried to hear of you or your plans, and I +suppose the same is true of you. It is long since I have had a +heartache over you--a headache is all you can give me now, or ever +could. That is why I can not in the least understand why you are here +now. Auntie is almost crazy, she is so frightened. She thinks you are +entirely crazy, and believes you have murdered Mr. Davidson." + +"I have not yet done so, although it is true I am wearing his shoes; +or at least his waistcoat. How do you like it?" + +"I like the one with pink stripes better," she replied demurely. + +"So then--so then!" I began; but choked in anger at her familiarity +with Cal Davidson's waistcoats. And my anger grew when I saw her +smile. + +"Tell me, are you engaged to him, Helena?" I demanded. "But I can see; +you are." She drew herself up as she stood, her hands behind her back. + +"A fine question to ask, isn't it? Especially in view of what we both +know." + +"But you haven't told me." + +"And am not going to." + +"Why not?" + +"Because it is the right of a middle-aged woman like myself----" + +"--Twenty-four," said I. + +"--To do as she likes in such matters. And she doesn't need make any +confidences with a man she hasn't seen for years. And for whom she +never--she _never_----" + +"Helena," said I, and I felt pale, whether or not I looked it, "be +careful. That hurts." + +"Oh, is it so?" she blazed. "I am glad if it does hurt." + +I bowed to her. "I am glad if it gives you pleasure to see me hurt. I +am. _Habeo!_" + +"But it was not so as to me," I added presently. "Yes, I said good-by +to you, that last time, and I meant it. I had tried for years, I +believe, with every argument in my power, to explain to you that I +loved you, to explain that in every human likelihood we would make a +good match of it, that we--we--well, that we'd hit it off fine +together, very likely. And then, I was well enough off--at first, at +least----" + +"Oh, don't!" she protested. "It is like opening a grave. We buried it +all, Harry. It's over. Can't you spare a girl, a middle-aged girl of +twenty-four, this resurrection? We ended it. Why, Harry, we have to +make out some sort of life for ourselves, don't we? We can't just sit +down and--and----" + +"No," said I. "I tried it. I got me a little place, far up in the +wilderness with what remained of my shattered fortunes--a few acres. +And I sat down there and tried that 'and--and' business. It didn't +seem to work. But we don't get on much in our parley, do we?" + +"No. The most charitable thing I can think of is that you are crazy. +Aunt Lucinda must be right. But what do you intend to do with us? We +can't get off the boat, and we can't get any answer to our signals for +help." + +"So you have signaled?" + +"Of course. Waved things, you know." + +"Delightful! The passing steamers no doubt thought you a dissipated +lot of northern joy-riders, bound south on some rich man's yacht." + +"Instead of two troubled women on a stolen boat." + +"Are you engaged to Cal Davidson, Helena?" + +"What earthly difference?" + +"True, none at all. As you say, I have stolen his boat, stolen his +wine, stolen his fried potatoes, stolen his waistcoats. But, bear +witness, I drew the line at his neckties. Nowhere else, however!" And +as I added this I looked at her narrowly. + +"Will you put us ashore?" she asked, her color rising. + +"No." + +"We're coming to a town." + +"Baton Rouge. The capital of Louisiana. A quaint and delightful city +of some sixty thousand inhabitants. The surrounding country is largely +devoted to the sugar industry. But we do not stop. Tell me, are you +engaged?" + +But, suddenly, I saw her face, and on it was something of outraged +dignity. I bent toward her eagerly. "Forgive me! I never wanted to +give you pain, Helena. Forget my improper question." + +"Indeed!" + +"I've been fair with you. And that's hard for a man. Always, +always,--let me tell you something women don't understand--there's the +fight in a man's soul to be both a gentleman and a brute, because a +woman won't love him till he's a brute, and he hates himself when he +isn't a gentleman. It's hard, sometimes, to be both. But I tried. I've +been a gentleman--was once, at least. I told you the truth. When they +investigated my father, and found that, acting under the standard of +his day, he hadn't run plumb with the standards of to-day, I came and +told you of it. I released you then, although you never had promised +me, because I knew you mightn't want an alliance with--well, with a +front page family, you know. It blew over, yes; but I was fair with +you. You knew I had lost my money, and then you----" + +"I remained 'released'." + +"Yes, it is true." + +"And am free, have been, to do as I liked." + +"Yes, true." + +"And what earthly right has a man to try both roles with a woman--that +of discarded and accepted? You chose the first; and I never gave you +the last. It is horrible, this sort of talk. It is abominable. For +three years we have not met or spoken. I've not had a heartache since +I told you. Don't give me a headache now. And it would make my head +ache, to follow these crazy notions. Put us ashore!" + +"Not till I know the truth," said I. + +"About what?" + +"Well, for instance, about the waistcoat with pink stripes." + +"You are silly." + +"Yes. How do you like my suit?" + +"I never saw Mr. Davidson wear that one," said she. + +"For good reasons. It is my own, and four years old. You see, a poor +man has to economize. And you know, since I lost my fortune, I've been +living almost from hand to mouth. Honestly, Helena, many is the time +when I've gone out fishing, trying to catch me a fish for my supper!" + +"So does a poor girl have to economize," said she. + +"You are most sparing of the truth this morning, Helena, my dear," I +said. + +"How dare you!" she blazed now at the tender phrase. "Fine, isn't it, +when I can't get away? If I could, I'd go where I'd never see or hear +of you again. I thought I had." + +"But you have not. You shall hear and see me daily till I know from +your own lips the truth about you and--and every and any other man on +earth who--well, who wears waistcoats with pink stripes." + +"We'll have a long ride then," said she calmly, and rose. + +I rose also and bowed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY + + +We ran by the river-front of Baton Rouge, and lay to on the opposite +side while our dingey ran in with mail. I sent Peterson and Lafitte +ashore for the purpose, and meantime paced the deck in several frames +of mind. I was arrested in this at length by L'Olonnois, who was +standing forward, glasses in hand. + +"Here they come," said he, "and a humpin' it up, too. Look, Jean +Lafitte is standin' up, wavin' at us. Something's up, sure. Mayhap, we +are pursued by the enemy. Methinks 'tis hue and cry, good Sir." + +"It jolly well does look like it, mate," said I, taking his glasses. +"Something's up." + +I could see the stubby dingey forced half out the water by Peterson's +oars, though she made little speed enough. And I saw men hurrying on +the wharf, as though about to put out a boat. + +"What's wrong, Peterson?" I shouted as he came in range at last. + +"Hurry up!" It was Lafitte who answered. "Clear the decks for action. +Yon varlet has wired on ahead to have us stopped! They're after us!" +So came his call through cupped hands. + +I ran to the falls and lowered away the blocks to hoist them aboard, +even as I ordered speed and began to break out the anchor. We hardly +were under way before a small power boat, bearing a bluecoated man, +puffed alongside. + +"What boat is this?" he called. "_Belle Helene_, of Mackinaw?" + +In answer--without order from me,--my bloodthirsty mate, L'Olonnois, +brought out the black burgee of the Jolly Rover, bearing a skull and +cross-bones. "Have a look at that!" he piped. "Shall we clear the +stern-chaser, Black Bart?" + +"Hold on there, wait! I've got papers for you," called the officer, +still hanging at our rail, for I had not yet ordered full speed. + +"He hollered to me he was going to arrest us, Mr. Harry," explained +Peterson, much out of breath. "What's it all about? What papers does +he mean?" + +"The morning papers, very likely, Peterson," said I. "The baseball +scores." + +"Will you halt, now?" called the officer. + +"No," I answered, through the megaphone. "You have no authority to +halt us. What's your paper, and who is it for?" + +"Wire from Calvin Davidson, Natchez, charging John Doe with running +off with his boat." + +"This is not his boat," I answered, "but my own, and I am not John +Doe. We are on our way to the coast, and not under any jurisdiction +of yours." + +He stood up and drew a paper from his pocket, and began to read. In +reply I pulled the whistle cord and drowned his voice; while at the +same time I gave the engineer orders for full speed. Shaking his fist, +he fell astern. + +None the less, I was a bit thoughtful. After all, the Mississippi +River, wide as it was, ran within certain well defined banks from +which was no escaping. We were three hundred miles or more from the +high seas, and passing between points of continuous telegraphic +communication; so that a hue and cry down the river might indeed mean +trouble for us. Moreover, even as I turned to pick up the course--for +I had myself taken the wheel--I saw the figure of Aunt Lucinda on the +after deck. She was on the point of heaving overboard a bottle--I +heard it splash, saw it bob astern. "Now, the devil will be to pay," +thought I. But, on second thought, I slowed down, so that distinctly I +saw the officer, also slowing down, stoop over and take the bottle +aboard his launch. + +"Ahoy, the launch!" I hailed. He put a hand at his ear as I megaphoned +him. "Take this message for Mr. Calvin Davidson," I hailed. He nodded +that he heard. "--That to-night John Doe will wear his waistcoat, the +one with the pink stripes. Do you get me?" + +Apparently he did not get me, for he sat down suddenly and mopped his +face. We left him so. And for aught I could know, he took back ashore +material for a newspaper story, which bade fair to be better for the +newspapers than for us on board the _Belle Helene_; for, up and down +the river, the wires might carry the news that a crazy man had been +guilty of piracy, highway robbery, abduction, I know not how many +other crimes; and to arrest him on his mad career they might enlist +all the authorities, municipal, county, state and even national. "John +Doe," said I to myself, "if I really were you, methinks I should make +haste." None the less I smiled; for, if I were John Doe only, then +Calvin Davidson had no idea who had stolen his chartered yacht, and +who was about to disport in his most cherished waistcoat! The +situation pleased me very much. "L'Olonnois," said I, "come hither, my +hearty." + +"Aye, aye, Sir," replied that worthy. "What is it, Black Bart?" + +"Nothing, except I was just going to say that I enjoy it very much, +this being a pirate." + +"So do I," said he. "An' let any pursue us at their peril!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN WHICH IS DISCUSSION OF TWO AUNTIES + + +L'Olonnois was still all for training the stern-chaser Long Tom (the +_Belle Helene's_ brass yacht cannon) on the enemy, and came to me +presently breathing defiance. "'F I only had any chain shot in the +locker," said he, "beshrew me, but I would pay him well for this! He's +got my Auntie Helen's auntie scared silly." + +"And how about your Auntie Helena herself?" I asked of him. Thus far, +he had been guilty of no nepotism whatever, and had treated his auntie +as any other captive maiden, perchance fallen into his ruthless hands. + +"Well, she ain't so scared as she is mad, near's I can see," was his +reply. "She sat there when I first drove 'em down-stairs, lookin' at +me, an' she says, 'Jimmy,' says she, 'what's all this foolishness?' +An' she reaches out her hand, an' she offers me candy--she makes awful +nice fudges, too. She knew that wasn't fair! But I says to her. +'Woman, cease all blandishments, for now you are in our power!' An' I +liked that, fer I been in her power long enough. Then she set down, +an' near's I can tell, she got to thinking things over. I know +her--she'll try to get away." + +"She has tried to do so, my good leftenant, is trying now. She and +her Auntie Lucinda have thrown over I know not how many bottles +carrying messages. It were only by mere chance yon varlet could escape +coming over some of them. Add this to the fact that yon varlet has got +the king's navy after us, and marry! methinks we have full work cut +out for us. Not that stout heart should falter, good leftenant, eh?" + +"We follow Black Bart the Avenger," said L'Olonnois, folding his arms +and frowning heavily. "But say," he added, "what seems funny to me is, +you and my Auntie Helen must of known each other before now." + +"Not at all, not at all--that is, but casually, and long years since. +It had long since escaped my mind." I felt myself flushing sadly. + +"I'll tell her that--I knew she was mistaken. I was sure she was." + +"No! No! Jimmy, you'll tell her nothing of the kind. I only meant----" + +"Well, she remembers you, I'm almost sure, an' so does Aunt Lucinda. +Aunt Lucinda, why I've heard her back home tell Auntie Helena about as +good fish in the sea, an' she mustn't bother over a man that's poor. +Was it you, Black Bart? And are you poor?" + +"As I stand before you now, Jimmy L'Olonnois, I'm the poorest beggar +in the world," said I. "I have risked my all on one hazard. If I win, +I shall be rich beyond compare. If I fail, I shall be poor indeed." + +"She knows that. She knows you're poor, all right. I heard Aunt +Lucinda tell her often. She said you was rich once, an' lost it all, +speculatin' in a mine or something; an' what was the use marryin' a +man who hadn't anything? I don't know, but I think that was why Aunt +Lucinda worked up this trip with Mr. Davidson. He's got money to +burn--look at this yacht, an' everything--an' I know him and Auntie +Lucinda, anyhow, have got it doped out that him an' Auntie Helen's +goin' to get married--even if they ain't now, so far's I know. Anyhow, +our takin' the ship has broke up something. But say, now, Black +Bart----" + +"Well, my good leftenant----" + +"_I_ got a idea!" + +"Indeed?" + +"Yep. Looka here, now--why don't _you_ just do like the pirate book +says?" + +"How is that?" + +"Marry the captive maid your own self?" + +I felt my color rise yet more. + +"Why, now, that happened right along in them days--pirate chief, he +takes a beautiful maiden captive, an' after makin' all his prisoners +walk the plank but just her, he offers his hand an' fortune. An' lots +of times, somehow, the beautiful maiden she married the ruthless +pirate chief, an' they lived happy ever after. Why don't you?" + +"I hadn't thought of that, Jimmy," I said, most mendaciously; "but the +idea has some merit. In fact, we've already started in by taking the +beautiful maiden captive, and, mayhap, yon varlet yet shall walk the +plank, or swear a solemn oath never to wear such waistcoats as these +again. But one thing lacks." + +"What?" + +"The maiden's consent!" + +"No, it don't! They never ast 'em--they just married 'em, that was +all. An' every time, they lived happy ever after. An' they founded +families that----" + +"Jimmy!" I raised a hand. "That will do." + +"Well, anyhow, I wouldn't pay any attention to Aunt Lucinda about it. +She's strong for yon varlet, for he's got the dough." + +"And isn't your Auntie Helena also--but no, on second thought, I will +not ask you that----" + +"Why no, sure not--it's better to demand it of her own fair lips, an' +not take no for a answer. They always live happy ever after." + +--"Of course, Jimmy." + +--"And so would you." + +"I know it! I know it!" + +"Well, then, why just don't you?" + +"Good leftenant, Black Bart will take your counsel into full +advisement. Later, we shall see. Meantime, we must have a care for our +good ship's safety, for none may tell what plans yon varlet may be +laying to circumvent us." + +So saying, I sought out Peterson and asked him for his maps and +charts. + +There was, as I found by consulting these, a deep bayou, an old river +bed, that ran inland some thirty miles, apparently tapping a rich +plantation country which was not served by the regular river boats. + +"Do you know anything about this old channel, Peterson?" I inquired. + +"Nothing at all except from hearsay and what you see here," he +replied. "I don't know whether or not it has a bar at either end, but +likely enough it has at both, though we might crowd through." + +"And how about the gasoline supply?" + +"Enough to get us in, at least. And, I say, here's a sort of +plantation post-office marked. There's just a bare chance we could get +a drum or so in there. I don't think we can, though." + +"What's she drawing now as she runs, Peterson?" + +"Four feet two inches. She's a shade low by the stern. We've quite a +lot of supplies aboard, this early in the cruise. But I don't suppose +we've got enough." + +"Well, Peterson," said I, "water leaves no trail. If there's no one +watching when we open up this next bend, run for the bayou, and we'll +see if we can get under cover. Of course, it's all a mistake about Mr. +Davidson's wiring on to have us stopped--though we can't blame him, +since he hasn't any idea who it is that has run away with the boat. +But now, it suits me better to double in here, and let the chase try +to find us on the main river; if there is any chase. You see, I don't +want to disturb the ladies unduly, and they might not understand it +all if we were overhauled and asked to explain our change in the +ownership." + +"Quite right, sir, and very good. I catch the idea. But, sir----" + +He hesitated. + +"Yes?" + +"Well, sir, if I might be so bold, what are your plans about the two +ladies?" + +"I have none which will effect your navigation of the boat, Peterson." + +The old man flushed a shade. "Excuse me, Mr. Harry. I know you'll do +nothing out of the way. But the old hen--I beg pardon----" + +"You mean the revered aunt, Peterson." + +"Yes, sir, the revered aunt. Well, sir, the revered aunt, dash +her!----" + +"Yes, dash her starry toplights, Peterson; and even if need be, shiver +her timbers! Go on----" + +"Why, she's been tryin' to pull off a weddin' on this boat ever since +we left Mackinaw." + +"Why not? You mean that Mr. Davidson and the revered aunt were getting +on well?" + +"Oh, no, bless your heart, no! It was the young lady, Miss Emory. And +she----" + +I raised my hand. "Never mind, Peterson. We can't discuss that at all. +But now, I'm minded to give my friend Mr. Davidson a little game of +follow-my-leader. And just to show how we'll do that, we'll begin with +a preliminary go at hide-and-seek. Take the chance, Peterson, and run +into the bayou. I'll put off the small boat for soundings. If we can +get gas, and can get in, and can get out unnoticed, maybe we can run +by New Orleans in the night, and none the wiser." + +"And where then, Mr. Harry?" + +"Peterson, the high seas have no bridges, and if they had, I should +not cross them yet. Perhaps if I did, I then should burn them behind +me." + +"She's a mortal fine young woman, Mr. Harry, a mortal fine one. I'll +be sworn he makes a hard run for her. But so can we--eh, Mr. Harry? +He'll like enough pocket us in here, though." + +I made no answer to this. The old man left me to take the wheel, and +I noted his head wag from side to side. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN WHICH I ESTABLISH A MODUS VIVENDI + + +As good fortune would have it, we swung in, opposite the screened +mouth of Henry's Bayou, at a time when the stream was free of all +craft that might have observed us, although far across the forest we +could see a black column of smoke, marking a river steamer coming up. + +"Quick with that long boat, Lafitte," I ordered; and he drew our old +craft alongside as we slowed down. "Get over yonder and sound for a +bar. Take the boat hook. If you get four feet, we'll try it." + +My hardy young ruffian was nothing if not prompt, nor was he less +efficient than the average deck-hand. It was he who did the sounding +while Willie, our factotum, pulled slowly in toward the mouth of the +old river bed. I watched them through the glasses, noting that rarely +could Lafitte find any bottom at all with the long shaft of the boat +hook. "She's all right, Peterson," said I. "Follow on in, slowly--I +don't want that steamer yonder to catch us." + +"_Why_ don't you?" A voice I should know, to which all my body would +thrill, did I hear it in any corner of the world, spoke at my elbow. +I started for a half instant before I made reply, looking into her +dark eyes, sensible again of the perfume most delirium-producing for a +man: the scent of a woman's hair. + +"Because, Helena," said I, "I wish our boat to lie unnoticed for a +time, till the hue and cry has lulled a bit." + +"And then?" She bent on me her gaze, so difficult to resist, and +smiled at me with the corners of her lips, so subtly irresistible. I +felt a rush of fire sweep through all my being, and something she must +have noted, for she gave back a bit and stood more aloof along the +rail. + +"And then," said I savagely, "this boat runs by all the towns, till we +reach the Gulf, and the open sea." + +"And then?" + +"And then, Helena, we sail the ocean blue, you and I." + +"For how long?" + +"Forever, Helena. Or, at least, until----" + +"Until when?" + +"Until you say you will marry me, Helena." + +She made no answer now at all beyond a scornful shrug of her +shoulders. "Suppose I can not?" she said at last. + +"If you can not, all the same you must and shall!" said I. "You shall +be prisoner until you do." + +"Is there no law for such as you?" + +"No. None on the high sea. None in my heart. Only one law I know any +more, Helena--I who have upheld the law, obeyed it, reverenced it." + +"And that?" + +"The law of the centuries, of the forest, of the sea. The law of love, +Helena." + +"Ah, you go about it handsomely! If you wished me to despise you, to +hate you, this would be very fit, what you say." + +"You may hate me, despise me, Helena. Let it be so. But you shall not +ignore me, as you have these three years." + +"It was your fault; your wish--as well as my wish. We agreed to that. +Why bring it up again? When the news came that you had quit your +profession, and just at the time you had lost all your father's +fortune and your own, had turned your back and run away, when you +should have stayed and fought--well, do you think a girl cares for +that sort of man? No. A man must do something in this world. He +mustn't quit. He's got to _fight_." + +"Not even if he has nothing to work for?" + +"No, not even then. There are plenty of girls in the world----" + +"One." + +--"And a man mustn't throw away his life for any one woman. That isn't +right. He has his work to do, his place to make and hold. That's what +a woman wants in a man. But you didn't. Now, you come and say we must +forget all the years of off-and-on, all the time we--we--wasted, don't +you know? And because I am, for a little while, in your hands, you +talk to me in a way of which you ought to be ashamed. You threaten me, +a woman. You even almost compromise me. This will make talk. You speak +to me as though, indeed, you were a buccaneer, and I, indeed, in your +power absolutely. If I did not know you----" + +"You do not. Forget the man you knew. I am not he." + +She spread out her hands mockingly, and yet more I felt my anger rise. + +"I am another man. I am my father, and his great grandfather, and all +his ancestors, pirates all. I know what I covet, and by the Lord! +nothing shall stop me, least of all the law. I shall take my own where +I find it." + +"And now listen!" I concluded. "I am master on this ship, no matter +how I got it. Late poor, as you say, I shall be richer soon, for I +shall take, law or no law, consent or no consent, what I want, what I +will have. And that is you! + +"Each day, at eleven, Helena," I concluded, "I shall meet you on the +after deck, and shall try to be kind, try to be courteous----" + +"Why, Harry----" + +"Try to be calm, too. I want to give you time to think. And I, too, +must think. For a time, I wondered what was right, in case you had +really pledged yourself to another man." + +"Suppose I had?" she asked, sphinx-like. + +"I will try to discover that. Not that it would make any difference in +my plans." + +"You would take what was another's?" She still gazed at me, +sphinx-like. + +"Yes! By the Lord, Helena, my father did, and his, and so would I! So +would I, if that were you! Let him fend for himself." + +She turned from the rail, her color a little heightened, affected to +yawn, stretched her arms. + +We were now passing over the bar, slowly, feeling our way, our skiff +alongside, and the shelter of the curving, tree-covered bayou banks +now beginning to hide us from view, though the bellowing steamer below +had not yet entered our bend. + +"Who is that boy?" she inquired lazily. + +"That, madam, is no less than the celebrated freebooter, Jean Lafitte, +who so long made this lower coast his rendezvous." + +"Nonsense! And you're filling his head with wild ideas." + +"Say not so; 'twas he and your blessed blue-eyed pirate nephew, the +cutthroat L'Olonnois, who filled my head with wild ideas." + +"How, then?" + +"They took me prisoner, on my own--I mean, at the little place where I +stop, up in the country. And not till by stern deeds I had won their +confidence, did they accept me as comrade, and, at last, as leader--as +I may modestly claim to be. And do not think that you can wheedle +either of them away from Black Bart. L'Olonnois remembers you spanked +him once, and has sworn a bitter vengeance." + +"Why did you happen to start sailing down this way?" + +"Because I learned Cal Davidson had started--with you." + +"And all that way you had it in mind to overtake us?" + +"Yes; and have done so; and have taken his ship away from him, and for +all I know his bride." + +"He was your friend." + +"I thought so. I suppose he never knew that you and I used to--well, +to know each other, before I lost my money." + +"He never spoke of that." + +"No difference, unless all for the better, for I shall, now, never +give you up to any man on earth." + +"And I thought you the best product of our civilization, a man of +education, of breeding." + +"No, not breeding, unless savagery gives it. I'm civilized no longer. +When you stand near me, and your hair--go below, Helena! Go at once!" + +She turned, moved slowly toward her door. + +I finished calmly as I could. "To-morrow, at eleven, I shall give you +an audience here on the deck. We shall have time. This is a +wilderness. You can not get away, and I hope no one will find you. +That is my risk. And oh! Helena," I added, suddenly, feeling my heart +soften at the pallor of her face--"Oh, Helena, Helena, try to think +gently of me as you can, for all these miles I have followed after +you; and all these years I have thought of you. You do not know--you +do not know! It has been one long agony. Now go, please. I promise to +keep myself as courteous as I can. You and I and Aunt Lucinda will +just have a pleasant voyage together until--until that time. Try to be +kind to me, Helena, as I shall try to be with you." + +Silent, unsmiling, she disappeared beyond her cabin door, nor would +she eat dinner even in her cabin, although Aunt Lucinda did; and found +the ninety-three was helping her neuralgia. + +I know not if they slept, but I slept not at all. The shadows hung +black about us as we lay at anchor four miles inland, silent, and with +no lights burning to betray us. Now and again, I could hear faint +voices of the night, betimes croakings, splashings in the black water +about us. It was as though the jungle had enclosed us, deep and +secret-keeping. And in my heart the fierce fever of the jungle's +teachings burned, so that I might not sleep. + +But in the morning Helena was fresh, all in white, and with no more +than a faint blue of shadow beneath her eyes. She honored us at +breakfast, and made no manner of reference to what had gone on the +evening before. This, then, I saw, was to be our _modus vivendi_; +convention, the social customs we all had known, the art, the gloss, +the veneer of life, as life runs on in society as we have organized +it! Ah, she fought cunningly! + +"Black Bart," said L'Olonnois, after breakfast as we all stood on +deck--Helena, Auntie Lucinda and all--"what's all them things floatin' +around in the water?" + +"They look like bottles, leftenant," said I; "perhaps they may have +floated in here. How do you suppose they came here, Mrs. Daniver?" I +asked. + +"How should I know?" sniffed that lady. + +"Well, good leftenant, go overside, you and Jean, and gather up all +those bottles, and carry them with my compliments to the ladies at +their cabin. You can have the satisfaction of throwing them all +overboard later on, Mrs. Daniver. Only, remember, that there is no +current in the bayou, and they will stay where they fall for weeks, +unless for the wind." + +"And where shall we be, then?" demanded Auntie Lucinda, who had eaten +a hearty breakfast, and I must say was looking uncommon fit for one so +afflicted with neuralgia. + +"Oh, very likely here, in the same place, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said +I, "unless war should break out meantime. At present we all seem to +have a very good _modus vivendi_, and as I have no pressing +engagements, I can conceive of nothing more charming than passing the +winter here in your society." Saying which I bowed, and turning to +Helena, "At eleven, then, if you please?" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +IN WHICH I HAVE POLITE CONVERSATION, BUT LITTLE ELSE + + +I had myself quite forgotten my appointed hour of eleven, feeling so +sure that it would not be remembered, as of covenant, by the party of +the second part, so to speak, and was sitting on the forward deck +looking out over the interesting pictures of the landscape that lay +about us. It was the morning of a Sabbath, and a Sabbath calm lay all +about us--silence, and hush, and arrested action. The sun itself, warm +at a time when soon the breezes must have been chill at my northern +home, was veiled in a soft and tender mist, which brought into yet +lower tones the pale greens and grays of the southern forest which +came close to the bayou's edge. The forest about us not yet fallen +before the devastating northern lumbermen--men such as my father had +been, who cared nothing for a tree or a country save as it might come +to cash--was in part cypress, in part cottonwood, but on the ridge +were many oaks, and over all hung the soft gray Spanish moss. The +bayou itself, once the river, but now released from all the river's +troubling duties, held its unceasing calm, fitted the complete +retirement of the spot, and scarce a ripple broke it anywhere. Over +it, on ahead, now and then passed a long-legged white crane, bound for +some distant and inaccessible swamp; all things fitting perfectly into +this quiet Sabbath picture. + +My cigar was excellent, I had my copy of Epictetus at hand, and all +seemed well with the world save one thing. Here, at hand, was +everything man could ask, all comforts, many luxuries; and I knew, +though Helena did not, that the safe increase of my fortune--that +fortune which some had called tainted, and which I myself valued +little, soon as I had helped increase it by the exercise of my +profession--was quite enough to maintain equal comfort or luxury for +us all our lives. But she was obstinate, and so was I. She would not +say whether she loved Cal Davidson, and I would never undeceive her as +to my supposed poverty. Why, the very fact that she had dismissed me +when she thought my fortune gone--that, alone, should have proved her +unworthy of a man's second thought. Therefore, ergo, hence, and +consequently, I could not have been a man; for I swear I was giving +her a second thought, and a thousandth; until I rebelled at a weakness +that could not put a mere woman out of mind. + +And then, I slowly turned my head, and saw her standing on the after +deck. Her footfall was not audible on the rubber deck-mats, and she +had not spoken. I resolved, as soon as I had leisure, to ask some +scientific friends to explain how it was possible that with no sound +or other appeal to any of the sensorial nerves, I could, at a distance +of seventy-five feet, become conscious of the presence of a person no +more than five feet five, who had not spoken a word, and was standing +idly looking out over the ship's rail, in quite the opposite direction +from that in which I sat. And then the ship's clock struck six bells, +and recalled the appointment at eleven. Hastily I dropped Epictetus +and my cigar, and hurried aft. + +"Good morning again, Helena," said I. + +She stood looking on out over the water for a time, but, at length, +turned toward me, just a finger up as to stifle a yawn. "Really," said +she, "while I am hardly so situated that I can well escape it or +resent it, it does seem to me that you might well be just a trifle +less familiar. Why not 'Miss Emory'?" + +"Because, Helena, I like 'Helena' better." + +A slow anger came into her eyes. She beat a swift foot on the deck. + +"Don't," I said. "Don't stamp with your feet. It reminds me of a +Belgian hare, and I do not like them, potted or caged." + +"I might as well be one," she broke out, "as well be one, caged here +as we are, and insulted by a--a----" + +"A ruthless buccaneer----" + +"Yes, a ruthless buccaneer, who has remembered only brutalities." + +"And forgotten all amenities? Why, Helena, how could you! And after +all the cork-tipped cigarettes I have given you, and all the +ninety-three I have given your Auntie Lucinda--why look at the empty +message bottles she and you have thrown out into the helpless and +unhelping bayou--a perfect fleet of them, bobbing around. Shan't I +send the boys overboard to gather them in for you again?" + +"A fine education you are giving those boys, aren't you, filling their +heads with lawless ideas! A fine debt we'll all owe you for ruining +the character of my nephew Jimmy. He was such a nice nephew, too." + +"Your admiration is mutual, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena. He says you +are a very nice auntie, and your divinity fudges are not surpassed and +seldom equaled. It is an accomplishment, however, of no special use to +a poor pirate's bride; as I intend you shall be." + +She had turned her back on me now. + +"Besides, as to that," I went on, "I am only affording these young +gentlemen the same advantages offered by the advertisements of the +United States navy recruiting service--good wages, good fare, and an +opportunity to see the world. Come now, we'll all see the world +together. Shall we not, Miss Emory--I mean, Helena?" + +"We can't live here forever, anyhow," said she. + +"I could," was my swift answer. "Forever, in just this quiet scene. +Forever, with all the world forgot, and just you standing there as you +are, the most beautiful girl I ever saw; and once, I thought, the +kindest." + +"That I am not." + +"No. I was much mistaken in you, much disappointed. It grieved me to +see you fall below the standard I had set for you. I thought your +ideals high and fine. They were not, as I learned to my sorrow. You +were just like all the rest. You cared only for my money, because it +could give you ease, luxury, station. When that was gone, you cared +nothing for me." + +I stood looking at her lovely shoulders for some time, but she made no +sign. + +"And therefore, finding you so fallen," I resumed, "finding you only, +after all, like the other worthless, parasitic women of the day, Miss +Emory--Helena, I mean--I resolved to do what I could to educate you. +And so I offer you the same footing that I do your nephew--good +wages, good fare, and an opportunity to see the world." + +No answer whatever. + +"Do you remember the Bay of Naples, at sunset, as we saw it when we +first steamed in on the old _City of Berlin_, Helena?" + +No answer. + +"And do you recall Fuji-yama, with the white top--remember the +rickshaw rides together, Helena?" + +No answer. + +"And then, the fiords of Norway, and the mountains? Or the chalk +cliffs off Dover? And those sweet green fields of England--as we rode +up to London town? And the taxis there, just you and I, Helena, with +Aunt Lucinda happily evaded--just you and I? Yes, I am thinking of +forcing Aunt Lucinda to walk the plank ere long, Helena. I want a +world all my own, Helena, the world that was meant for us, Helena, +made for us--a world with no living thing in it but yonder +mocking-bird that's singing; and you, and me." + +"Could you not dispense with the mocking-bird--and me?" she asked. + +"No," (I winced at her thrust, however). "No, not with you. And you +know in your heart, in the bottom of your trifling and fickle and +worthless heart, Helena Emory, that if it came to the test, and if +life and all the world and all happiness were to be either all yours +or all mine, I'd go anywhere, do anything, and leave it all to you +rather than keep any for myself." + +"Go, then!" + +"If I might, I should. But male and female made He them. I spoke of us +as units human, but not as the unit _homo_. Much as I despise you, +Helena, I can not separate you from myself in my own thought. We seem +to me to be like old Webster's idea of the Union--'one and +indivisible.' And since I can not divide us in any thought, I, John +Doe, alias Black Bart, alias the man you once called Harry, have +resolved that we shall go undivided, sink or swim, survive or perish. +If the world were indeed my oyster, I should open it for us both; but +saying both, I should see only you. Isn't it odd, Helena?" + +"It is eleven-thirty," said she. + +"Almost time for luncheon. Do you think me a 'good provider,' Helena?" + +"Humph! Mr. Davidson was. While your stolen stores last in your stolen +boat, I suppose we shall not be hungry." + +"Or thirsty?" She shrugged. + +"Or barren of cork-tips of the evening? Or devoid of guitar strings?" + +"I shall need none." + +"Ah, but you will! It belikes me much, fair maid, to disport me at +ease this very eve, here on the deck, under the moon, and to hear you +yourself and none other, fairest of all my captives, touch the lute, +or whatever you may call it, to that same air you and I, fair maid, +heard long ago together at a lattice under the Spanish moon. A swain +touched then his lute, or whatever you may call it, to his Dulcinea. +Here 'tis in the reverse. The fair maid, having no option, shall touch +the lute, or whatever you call it, to John Doe, Black Bart, or +whatever you may call him; who is her captor, who feels himself about +to love her beyond all reason; and who, if he find no relief, +presently, in music--which is better than drink--will go mad, go mad, +and be what he should not be, a cruel master; whereas all he asks of +fate is that he shall be only a kind captor and a gentle friend." + +Her head held very high, she passed me without a word and threw open +the door of her suite. + + [Illustration: It was a love song of old Spain] + +... And that night, that very night, that very wondrous, silent, +throbbing night of the Sabbath and the South, when all the air was as +it seemed to me in saturation, in a suspense of ecstasy, to be broken, +to be precipitated by a word, a motion, a caress, a note ... that +night, I say, as I sat on the forward deck alone, I heard, far off and +faint as though indeed it were the lute of Andalusia, the low, slow, +deep throb of a guitar!... My whole heart stopped. I was no more +than a focused demand of life. Reason was gone from me, not intellect +but emotion--that is its basic thing after all, emotion born on earth +but reaching to the stars.... I listened, not hearing.... It was the +air we had heard long ago, a love song of old Spain, written, perhaps, +before DeSoto and his men perished in these very bayous and forests +that now shielded us against all tumult, all turmoil, all things +unhappy or unpleasant. The full tide of life and love swept through my +veins as I listened. + +I rose, I hastened. At her door I paused. "Helena!" I called +raucously. "Helena." And she made no reply. "Helena," I called again. +"It was the same old air. This is Spain again! Ah, I thank you for +that same old air. Helena, forgive me. May I come in--will you come +out?" + +I halted. A cold voice came from the companionway door. "You have a +poor ear for music, John Doe. It is not the same. Do you think I would +take orders from you, or any other man?" + +I stood irresolute a moment, and then did what I should not have done. +I pulled open her door. "Come out," I demanded. But then I closed the +door and went away. She was sitting, her head bowed on the instrument +she had played. And when she looked up, startled at my rudeness, I saw +her eyes wet with tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +IN WHICH WE MAKE A RUN FOR IT + + +"Gadzooks! Black Bart," remarked L'Olonnois at the breakfast table the +next morning, "and where is the captive maiden?" + +"I do not know," was my answer. "Better go find out, Jimmy." + +He departed, but presently, returned somewhat troubled. + +"My Auntie Helen," said he, "I mean the captive maid, why, she says +she's got a headache and don't want no breakfast." + +"Not even a grapefruit and a cup of coffee?" I demanded, anxiously +and, it must be admitted, somewhat guiltily; for I knew that the soul +of Helena was grieved and whatever the trouble, the fault was my own. +Surely I had placed the poor captive in a most difficult position, and +loving her as I did, how could I continue to give her discomfort? My +resolution almost weakened. I was considerably disturbed. + +And yet as I faced the alternative of setting her free, and once more +taking up the aimless and unhappy life I had led these last three +years without sight of her, something--I suppose the great selfishness +which lies under love--rose up and said me nay; and I began to make +excuses in favor of my desire, as that, surely, soon she would come to +a more reasonable way of thought. And in one thing, at least, I was +honest with myself, deceitful as are lovers with themselves, and +arguing ever in their own favor--I did not know why Helena had wept, +and it was perhaps my right to know. + +One selfishness with another, I resolved to go on with this matter, +though knowing full well how difficult would be my battle with her, +how unequal; for I was armed only with a great love, backed by no art +at all, whereas, she merely would continue to unmask against me new +batteries of defense--severe politeness, formality with me; laughter +and scornfulness of me; anger, pitifulness, at last even tears; and +always the dread assault of her eyes, and the scent of her hair and +the sweet wistfulness of her mouth,--all, all the charms of all women +united in her one self, to attack, to assail, to harass, and to make +wholly wretched the man who loved her more than anything in life, and +who was driven almost to using any means, so only that she might not +be away, not be out of sense and sight; as out of mind and out of +heart she never more might be. So that, all in all, it were, indeed, +hard question whether she or I were the more wretched. Surely +grapefruit and toast and coffee seemed to me but inventions of the +powers of darkness at that breakfast. + +Not so my hardy mates, however, who ate with the keen appetite of +youth, from fruit through bacon and toast and back again, both talking +all the while. Nor, as the event proved, altogether unwisely. Indeed, +it was stout Jean Lafitte who resolved my doubts, and by suggesting +the simple medicine of action rather than meditation, sufficed for the +removal of one of my two minds. + +"What ho! Black Bart," said he, after his third helping of bacon, "why +does our good ship lie here idle at her anchor?" Question direct, like +Jean himself, and demanding direct answer. + +"Ask Captain Peterson," said I. "He perhaps can tell where we can get +more gasoline." + +"No, he can't. I asked him this morning." + +"Then 'twould seem we must lie here all winter, unless discovered by +some relief expedition." + +"Why don't we start a relief expedition of our own?" demanded he. + +"And how?" + +"Why, me and Willy, the deck-hand, we'll take the long boat an' go out +an' explore this region roundabout. Somebody may have gasoline +somewhere, and if so, we can git it, can't we?" + +"Your idea is excellent, Jean Lafitte," said I. "Within the hour you +shall set forth to see whether or not there is any settlement on this +bayou. And that you may not need use violence when secrecy is our +wish, here is a fat purse for our stores. And hasten, for of a truth, +Jean Lafitte, I am most aweary of this very morning, and I long to see +the white seas roll once more." + +It was determined, therefore, that we should fare onward--in case we +could fare at all--with our ship's company as it now was; for, of +course, none but myself knew what was afoot between Black Bart and his +captive. And well enough I knew that in keeping Helena Emory thus +close to me, I was breeding sleepless nights and anxious days. + +This day itself was anxious enough, nor could all of Epictetus teach +me calm philosophy, distracted as I was over this situation, complex +as it was. As to the fortune of the long boat, we knew nothing until, +at three of the afternoon, I saw a white speck of a sail round the +bend of our bayou, and saw that was hoisted, spirit fashion, over our +boat, which now, with following wind, rapidly drew in toward us. + +"It's all right," called out Jean Lafitte, when he came within hail; +and I saw now that he, indeed, had a boat's load of gasoline in tanks, +cans and all manner of receptacles. + +"Town and a store, down there five miles," he explained as I caught +his gunwale with boat hook. "You can git anything there. Now, the +Giants an' the Cubs, why, they tied in the 'leventh inning yesterday. +An' say----" + +"Enough," said I, "let me hear nothing of the cursed Giants or the yet +more accursed Cubs, for I have more serious work afoot! Tell me, is +there a bar cutting off the other end of the bayou; and how long is +the bayou?" + +"Sixteen miles," answered the useful Lafitte, "an' she seems like good +water all the way. They say there's seven foot on the bar, and the +wood boats run in and out." + +"Good! And did you tell them who you were, and why you wanted +gasoline?" + +"No. I only said our automobeel was broke down, an' we wanted the +baseball scores. That was all. They ast who was we. I said you was +John Doe--you see, I didn't want to tell your real name, so I didn't +say Black Bart." + +"And you didn't mention our boat?" + +"Of course not! Whose business is it what pirates does? They strike +hardest when least expected. To-night we can run in an' rob the store, +easy." + +"Jean!" I cried, horrified, "what do you mean? Let me hear no more +such talk, or by my halidom! back you go to your home by first train. +I'll not be responsible for the ruin of any boy's morals in this way." + +"Well what do you think about that, Jimmy!" said Jean, somewhat cast +down and much mystified. "Ain't we pirates, an' don't pirates live on +booty?" + +"Booty enough you have in your boat, Jean," said I, "and let us get it +aboard and in our tanks, for to-night we sail." + +"For to rob the store?" anxiously. + +"No, once more for the Spanish Main, my hearties! I seek a greater +treasure; and plenty of danger, believe me, lies between here and +there." + +"When'll we start?" queried L'Olonnois eagerly. + +"To-night, at six bells. Make all ready," was my reply. + +And that very night, with our search-light half covered, and at slow +speed and with the sounding lead going, Peterson felt his way out from +our moorings and along the full length of Henry's Bayou, silently as +he might. We saw few signs of life beyond now and then a distant light +in some negro cabin, and with all the lights doused we swept by like a +ghost in the night, along the front of the plantation at whose store +my men had got their gasoline. At last we broke open the lower end of +the bayou, which, coming in from the main stream in a long open reach, +showed like a lane of faint light in the forest; and to my great +relief presently, felt the current of the great stream pick us up, +and saw the channel lights ahead, so that we knew we might for a time, +at least, advance in safety. + +In all this work, my two faithful lieutenants were awake and alert; +but I saw nothing of Helena that day, nor had message either from her +or her aunt in the full round of twenty-four hours since last we met. +Had she sought deliberately to repay me for the grief I caused her, +Helena could have devised no better plan than her silence and her +absence from my sight, after what time I had seen her weep. + +Suddenly a thought of more practical sort came to my mind. "Jimmy," I +called. + +"Aye, aye, Sir;" and L'Olonnois saluted. + +"You remember all those bottles floating around in the bayou--did you +take them all up?" + +"Aye, aye, Sir, an' she throwed a lot more in, out o' the cabin +window. I was shootin' at 'em with the twenty-two, an' busted some." + +"But not all?" + +"Oh, no, some was left." + +"And we sailed away, leaving there, no doubt, the full story of our +voyage." + +"Like enough," said L'Olonnois. "I didn't think of that." + +"Nor I. For once, the vigilance of Black Bart faltered, L'Olonnois, +and he must yet, mayhap, make better amends for his fault. Full speed +ahead, now, Peterson," I added later as I went forward. "Run for New +Orleans and with all you can get out of her." + +"Very good, Mr. Harry," said the old man; and I could feel the throb +of her whole superstructure, from stack to keelson, when he called on +the double-sixties of the _Belle Helene_ for all their power. Nor did +any seek to stay us in our swift rush down the river. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IN WHICH I WALK AND TALK WITH HELENA + + +It was nine of as fine a winter morning as the South ever saw when at +last, having passed without pause all intervening ports, we found +ourselves at the city of New Orleans. Rather, in the vicinity of that +city; for when we reached the railway ferry above the town, I ran +alongshore and we made fast the _Belle Helene_ at a somewhat +precarious landing place. I now called Peterson to me. + +"It's a fine morning, Peterson," said I. + +"Yes, sir, but I think 'tis going to rain." (Peterson was always +gloomy.) + +"You must go down-town, Peterson," said I. "The through train from the +West is late and just now is coming into the ferry. You can take it +easily. We have got to have still more gasoline, for there is a long +trip ahead of us, and I am not sure what may be the chance for +supplies below the city." + +"Are you going into the Gulf, Mr. Harry?" + +"Yes, Peterson. You will continue to navigate the boat; and, meantime, +you may be quartermaster also. I shall be obliged to remain here until +you return." + +The old man touched his cap. "Very good, sir, but I'm almost sure not +to return." + +"Listen, Peterson," I went on, well used to his customary depression +of soul, "go to the ship's furnisher, Lavallier and Thibodeau, toward +the Old Market. Tell them to have all our supplies at slip K, below +the railway warehouses, not later than nine this evening. We want four +drums of gasoline. Also, get two thousand rounds of ammunition for the +twelve gages, ducking loads, for we may want to do some shooting. We +also want two or three cases of grapefruit and oranges, and any good +fresh vegetables in market. All these things must be ready on the +levee at nine, without fail. Here is my letter of credit, and a bank +draft, signed against it--I think you will find they know me still." + +The old man touched his cap again but hesitated. "I'm sure to be asked +something," he said somewhat nervously. + +"Say nothing about any change of ownership of this boat, Peterson, and +don't even give the boat's name, unless you must. Just say we will +meet their shipping clerk at slip K, this evening, at nine. Hurry +back, Peterson. And bring a newspaper, please." + +"Is any one else going down-town?" asked Peterson. "I may run into +trouble." + +"No, we shall all remain aboard." + +He departed mournfully enough, seeing that the ferry boat now was +coming across with the railway train. I continued my own moody pacing +up and down the deck. Truth was, I had not seen Helena for more than +twenty-four hours, nor had any word come from the ladies' cabin to +give me hope I ever would see her again of her own will. My surprise, +therefore, was great enough when I heard the after cabin door close +gently as she came out upon the deck. + +When last I saw her she had been in tears. Now she was all smiles and +radiant as the dawn! Her gown, moreover, was one I had never seen +before, and she, herself, seemed monstrous pleased with it, for, by +some miracle, fresh as though from the hands of her maid at home, she +knew herself fair and fit enough to make more trouble for mankind. + +"Good morning," said she, casually, as though we had parted but lately +and that conventionally. "Isn't it fine?" + +"It is a beautiful picture," said I, "and you fit into it. I am glad +to see you looking so well." + +"I wish I could say as much for you," said she. "You look like a +forlorn hope." + +"I am nothing better." + +"And as though you had not slept." + +"I have not, Helena." + +"Why not?" her eyes wide open in surprise. + +"Because I knew I had either hurt or offended you; and I would do +neither." + +"You have done both so often that it should not cost you your sleep," +said she slowly. "But if you really want to be kind, why can you not +have mercy on a girl who has been packed in a hat box for a month? Let +me go ashore." + +"Can you not breathe quite as well where you are, Helena?" + +"But I can't walk." + +"Oh, yes, you can; and I will walk beside you here on deck." + +"But I would like to pick flowers, over there by the embankment." + +"The train is too close," said I, smiling grimly. + +Her color heightened just a little, but she did not answer my +suspicions. "Please let me walk with you over there," she said. "I +used not to need ask twice." + +"Our situation is now reversed, Helena." + +"Please, let me walk with you, Sir!" + +"I dare not. We might both forget ourselves and go off to New Orleans +for a lark without Aunt Lucinda." + +"Oh, I am going to call Aunt Lucinda, too." + +"Pardon, but you are going to do nothing of the kind. Even with her as +chaperon, did we get down there in the old city once more, like the +children we once were, Helena, we would forget our duty, would, +perhaps, forget our purpose here. Mademoiselle, I dare not take that +risk." + +"Please, Sir, may I walk with you over yonder for just a little time?" +she said, as though it were her first request. She was tying her +quaint little white bonnet strings under her chin now. I raised a +hand. + +"You ask a man to put himself into the power of the woman he loves +most in all the world. When a man needs resolution, dare he look into +the eyes of that woman, feel her hand on his arm, have her walk close +to him as they promenade?" + +"Dear me! Is it so bad as that?" + +"Worse, Helena." + +"Then I am to continue a prisoner in that hat box?" + +"Until you love me, Helena, as I do you." + +"As I told you, that would be a long time." + +"Yes! For never in the world can you love me as I do you. I had +forgotten that." + +"If only you could forget everything and just be a nice young man," +said she. "It is such fun. This dear old town, don't you know? Now, +with a nice young man to go about with Aunt Lucinda and me----" + +"How would a man like Calvin Davidson do?" I demanded bitterly. + +"Very well. He is nice enough." + +"I suppose so. He is rich, able to have his horses and cars--even his +private yacht. He can order a dinner in any country in the world, or +tell you the standing of any club, in either league, at any minute of +the day or night. Could I say more for his education? He has two +country places and a city house and a business which nets him a +hundred thousand a year. How can he help being nice? I do not resemble +Mr. Davidson in any particular, except that I am wearing one of his +waistcoats. Also, Helena, I am wearing a suit of flannels which I have +borrowed from John, his Chinese cook. You can readily see I am a poor +man. How, then, can I be nice?" + +"No one would see us here," said she, sublimely irrelevant, as usual. +"There are some little yellow flowers over there on the bank. Maybe I +could find some violets." + +There was a wistfulness in her gaze which made appeal. I could not +resist. "Helena," said I suddenly, "give me your parole that you will +not try to escape, and I will walk with you among yonder flowers. You +look as though just from a Watteau fan, my dear. It is fall, but seems +spring, and the world seems made for flowers and shepherds and love, +my dear. Do you give me your word?" + +"If I do, may I walk alone?" + +"No, with me." + +"I'll not try to take the train. On my honor, I will not." + +I looked deep into her eyes and saw, as always, only truth there--her +deep brown eyes, filled with some deep liquid light whose color I +never could say--looked till my own senses swam. I could scarcely +speak. + +"I take your parole, Helena," I said. "You never lied to me or any +other human being in the world." + +"You don't know me," said she. "I used often to lie to mama, and +frequently do yet to Aunt Lucinda. But not if I say I give my word--my +real word." + +"When will you give me your real word, Helena? You know what I +mean--when will you say that you love me and no one else?" + +"Never!" said she promptly. "I hate you very much. You have been +presumptuous and overbearing." + +"Why then should you promenade with me?" + +"Fault of anything better, Sir!" But she took my hand lightly, smiling +as I assisted her down the landing way. + +"But tell me," she added as we made our way slowly up the muddy slope, +"really, Harry, how long is this thing to last? When are we going back +home?" + +"How can you ask? And how can I reply, save in one way, after taking +the advice of yonder pirate captain, your blue-eyed nephew? He says +they always live happy ever after. Listen, Helena. Gaze upon this +waistcoat! Forget its stripes, and imagine it to be sprigged silk of a +day long gone by. Let us play that romance is not yet dead. These are +not cuffs, but ruffles at my wrists--for all Cal Davidson's +extraordinary taste in shirts. All the world lies before us, and it is +yesterday once more. The Mediterranean, Helena, how blue it is--the +Bermudas, how fine they are of a winter day! And yonder lies motley +Egypt and her sands. Or Paris, Helena; or Vienna, the voluptuous, with +her gay ways of life. Or Nagasaki, Helena--little brown folks running +about, and all the world white in blossoms. All the world, Helena, +with only you and I in it, and with not a care until, at least, we +have eaten the last of our tinned goods of the ship's supplies; since +I am poor. But if I could give you all that, would I be nice?" + +"Would that suit you, Harry?" she asked soberly; "just gallivanting?" + +"You know it would not. You know I want no vacation lasting all my +life, nor does any real man. You know it was yourself that forced me +out of my man's place and robbed me of my greatest right." + +"Yes," said she, "a man's place is to fight and to work. It's the +same to-day. But," she added, "you ran away; and you lost." + +"But am I not trying to recoup my fortune, Helena? You see, I have +already acquired a yacht, although but a few weeks ago I started in +the world with scarcely more than my bare hands. Could Monte Cristo +have done more?" + +"It isn't money a woman wants in a man." + +"What is it, then?" + +"I don't know," said she. "Oh, come, we mustn't go to arguing these +things all over again! I'm weary of it. And certainly Aunt Lucinda and +I both are weary of our hat box yonder. That's what I asked you, how +long?" + +"As long as I like, Helena, you and your Aunt Lucinda shall dwell +there. What would you say to three years or so?" + +She seemed not to hear. "I believe I've found a four leaf clover," +said she. + +"Much good fortune may it bring you." + +"Let me try my fortune," said she, and began plucking off the leaves. +"He loves me, he loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not." + +"There!" she said, holding up the naked stem triumphantly; "I knew +it." + +"It would be a fairer test, had you a daisy, Helena," said I, "or +something with more leaves; not that I know whose has been this +ordeal. Suppose it were myself, and that you tried this one." I handed +her a trefoil, but she waved it aside. + +"I will try to find you a four leaf clover for your own, after a +while," said she, and bobbed me a very pretty courtesy. Angered, I +caught at the stick I was carrying with so sudden a grip that I broke +it in two. + +"I did not know your hands were so strong, Harry," said she. + +"Would they were stronger!" was my retort. "And were I in charge of +the affairs of Providence, the first thing I would do would be to +wring the neck of every woman in the world." + +"And then set out to put them together again, Harry? Don't be silly." + +"Oh, yes, naturally. But you must admit, Helena, that women have no +sense of reason whatever. For instance, if you really were trying out +the fortune of some man on a daisy's head, you would not accept the +decree of fate, any more than you could tell why you loved him or +loved him not. Why does a woman love a man, Helena? You say I must not +be silly--should I then be wise?" + +"No, you are much too wise, so that you often bore me." + +"Nor should he be poor?" + +"No." + +"Nor rich?" + +"Certainly not. Rich men also usually are bores--they talk about +themselves too much." + +"Should he be a tall man?" + +"Not too tall, for they're lanky, nor short, because they get fat. You +see, each girl has her own ideal about such matters. Then, she always +marries a man as different as possible from her ideal." + +"Why does she marry a man at all, Helena?" + +"She never knows. Why should she? But look--" she pointed out across +the water--"the train is leaving the ferry boat. Isn't that Captain +Peterson going aboard the train?" + +"Yes, Helena, I've sent him down-town to get some light reading for +you and your Aunt Lucinda--_Fox's Book of Martyrs_, and the _Critique +of Pure Reason_--the latter especially recommended to yourself. I +would I had in print a copy of my _magnum opus_, my treatment on +native American _culicidae_. My book on the mosquito is going to be +handsomely illustrated, Helena, believe me." + +She turned upon me with a curious look. "Harry," said she, "you've +changed in some ways. If I were not so bored by life in yonder hat +box, I might even be interested in you for a few minutes. You used +always to be so sober, but now, sometimes, I wonder if I understand +you. Honestly, you were an awful stick, and no girl likes a stick +about her. What do girls care which dynasty it was that built the +pyramids?--it's Biskra they want to see. And we don't care when or why +Baron Haussmann built the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris--it's the +boulevard itself interests us." + +"It is the fate of genius to be cast aside," said I. "No doubt even I +shall be forgotten--even after my book on the _culicidae_ shall have +been completed." + +"--So that," she went on, not noticing me, "there is that one point in +your favor." + +"Then there is a chance?" + +"Oh, yes, for me to study you as you once did me--as one of the +_culicidae_, I presume. But if you would listen to reason, and end this +foolishness, and set us all ashore, why, I would be almost willing to +forgive you, and we might be friends again,--only friends, Harry, as +we once were. Why not, Harry?" + +"You wheedle well," said I, "but you forget that what you ask is +impossible. I am Black Bart the Avenger, and the hand of every man is +against me. I am too deep in this adventure to end it here. Why? I did +not even dare go down-town for fear I might be arrested. Nothing +remains but further flight, and when you ask me to fly and leave you +here, you ask what is impossible." + +She stood for a time silent, a trifle paler, her flowers fallen from +her hand, clearly unhappy, but clearly not yet beaten. "Come," said +she coldly, "we must not be brutal to Aunt Lucinda also. Let us go +back." + +"Yes," said I, "now you have back your parole." + +"I think I should like an artichoke for luncheon," said she. +"Vinaigrette, you know." And she passed aft, her head hidden by her +white parasol, but I knew with chin as high as though she were Marie +Antoinette herself. Nor did I feel much happier than had I been her +executioner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +IN WHICH IS A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH + + +Miss Helena Emory had her artichoke for luncheon, and judging from my +own, my boy John never had prepared a better, good as he was with +artichokes; but we ate apart, the ladies not coming to our table. It +was late afternoon before I saw Helena again, once more come on deck. +She was sitting in a steamer chair with her face leaning against her +hand, and looking out across the water at the passing shipping. She +sat motionless a long time, the whole droop of her figure, the poise +of her tender curved chin, wistful and unhappy, although she said no +word. For myself, I did not accost her. I, too, looked up and down the +great river, not knowing at what moment some discerning eye might spy +us out, and I longed for nothing so much as that night or Peterson +would come. + +He did come at last, late in the afternoon, on an outbound train, and +he hurried aboard as rapidly as he might. The first thing he did was +to hand me a copy of an afternoon paper. I opened it eagerly enough, +already well assured of what news it might carry. + +On the front page, under a large, black head, was a despatch from +Baton Rouge relaying other despatches received at that point, from +many points between Plaquimine and Bayou Sara. These, in short, told +the story of the most high-handed attempt at river piracy known in +recent years. The private yacht of Calvin Davidson, a wealthy northern +business man, on his way South for the winter, had been seized by a +band of masked ruffians, who boarded her while the yacht's owner was +temporarily absent on important business in the city of Natchez. These +ruffians, abandoning their own boat, had at once gone on down-stream. +They had been hailed by officers of Baton Rouge, acting under advice +by wire from Mr. Davidson, on his way down from Natchez. The robber +band had paid no attention to the officers of the law, but had +continued their course. In some way the stolen craft had mysteriously +disappeared that afternoon and night, nor had any word of her yet been +received from points as far south as Plaquimine. A bottle thrown +overboard by one of the prisoners taken on the yacht contained a +message to Mr. Davidson, with the request that he should meet the +sender at New Orleans; but there was no signature to the note. + +Many mysterious circumstances surrounded this sensational piece of +piracy, according to the journalistic view-point. On board the _Belle +Helene_ were two ladies, the beautiful young heiress, Miss Helena +Emory, well known in northern social circles, and her aunt, Mrs. +Lucinda Daniver, widow of the late Commodore Daniver, United States +Navy. Mr. Davidson himself was unable to assign any reason for this +bold act of this abduction, although he feared the worst for the +comfort or even the safety of the two ladies, whose fate at this +writing remained unknown. The greatest mystery surrounded the identity +of the leader of this bold deed, whose name Mr. Davidson could not +imagine. He was reported to suspect that these same river pirates, +earlier in the day, attacked and perhaps made away with a friend of +his whose name is not yet given. A cigarette case was found in the +abandoned boat, which Mr. Davidson thought looked somewhat familiar to +him, although he could not say as to its ownership. He could and did +aver positively, however, that a photograph in a leather case on the +abandoned boat was a portrait of none other than Miss Helena Emory, +one of the captives made away with by the river ruffians. Mr. Davidson +could assign no explanation of these circumstances. + +Later despatches received at Baton Rouge, so the New Orleans journal +said, might or might not clear up the mystery of the stolen yacht's +disappearance, although the senders seemed much excited. One story +from a down-river point, brought in by an excited negro, told of a +dozen bottles found floating in the bayou. The negro, however, had +broken them all open, and declared they had contained nothing but bits +of paper, which he had thrown away. He also told a wild story that the +plantation store at Hamlin's Landing, on Bayou Henry, had been looted +in broad daylight, by a young man and a boy, apparently members of the +pirate crew. The younger of the two ruffians was masked, and on being +asked for pay for gasoline, refused it at the point of his weapons, +declaring that pirates never paid. + +While no attention should be paid to rumors such as the latter, the +despatches went on to say, it was obvious that a most high-handed +outrage had been perpetrated. It was supposed that the swift yacht had +been hurried forward, and had passed New Orleans in the night. Once +out of the river, and among the shallow bays of the Gulf Coast, the +ruffians might, perhaps, for some time evade pursuit, just as did the +craft of Jean Lafitte, himself, a century ago. Meantime, only the +greatest anxiety could pervade the hearts of the friends of these +ladies thus placed in the power of ruthless bandits. Such an outrage +upon civilization could, of course, occur only under the +administration of the Republican party. The journal therefore +hoped:--and so forth, and so forth. + +"Peterson," said I, after digesting this interesting information, +"you've read this. What have you to say?" + +Peterson was more despondent even than was his wont. "It looks mighty +bad, Mr. Harry," said he, "and I don't profess to understand it." + +"Did you order the supplies?" + +"Oh, yes, but they may forget to send them after all." + +"It is your intention to stick by me, Peterson?" + +"Well, there must be some mistake," he said, "but I don't see what +else I can do." + +"There is a mistake, Peterson," said I. "This is more newspaper +sensation. Mr. Davidson is excited over something he doesn't +understand. If I had him here now I could explain it all easily. But, +before the matter can be explained in this way, we must wait until +this excitement dies down. Why, at this gait, it would hardly be safe +for either of us to be recognized here in town. We might be arrested +and put to a lot of trouble. The best thing we can do is to run on +down the river and wait until Davidson gets down and until we get this +thing adjusted. That is why I wanted the supplies to-night." + +"But suppose we are discovered to-night?" + +"We take that chance, but I fancy that I have certain legal rights, +after all, and I own this boat. Fortune favors the bold. I shall make +no attempt to hide, either now or then, Peterson. At the same time, +while we will not run away from plain sight, there is no need to take +unnecessary chances. Drop some white sail-cloth over the yacht's name +on her bows, and on the fantail. Have one or two of the boys go +overboard in slings and seem to be painting her sides. That will give +the look that we are safe to lie here some time--which is the last +thing the _Belle Helene_ really would do, or will do. They think we've +run past the city already, and they'll be watching at Quarantine, and +along the Lake Borgne Canal. Most of the yachts go out that way, +headed for Florida. We'll go the other way. It's an adventure, +Peterson, and one which any viking, like yourself, ought to relish." + +"So I do, Mr. Harry," said he, "but I hardly knew which course to +lay." + +"Blood will tell, Peterson," said I. "Your ancestors were Danish +pirates; mine were English pirates." + +"For God's sake, Mr. Harry, don't talk that way. We mustn't go against +the law." + +"I'm not sure that we have as yet, Peterson, for the law says nothing +about abduction of ladies in pairs, or for purposes truly honorable. +Frankly, Peterson--and because you've been long in my employ--I'll +tell you something. I intend to marry that young lady if she's not +already married to Mr. Davidson." + +"Lord, Mr. Harry, she ain't--at least not since she come aboard the +boat." + +"In that case," said I, drawing a long breath, "this is not such a bad +world after all." + +"Not at all, Mr. Harry. I was going to say, as well be hung for a +sheep as a lamb, but of course I don't know about what she'll say. She +looks to me like one of these girls that's been petted a good deal, +and Mr. Harry, believe me, I always fight shy of a pet horse, or a pet +boat, or a pet woman--they're always hard to handle, and they raise +the devil when they get a chance. I hope you'll pardon me, sir." + +"On the contrary, Peterson, I am grateful to you. You are on double +pay from the time I took command. Moreover, I promise you the best +cruise we ever had together. Once among the shallow bays on the coast +down there, we can take care of ourselves while this chase cools down. +We're faster than anything on the Gulf, and draw less water than most +of them of anything like our speed. You take care of the boat and I'll +take care of the girl--or try to. I have attachment papers all made +out, to file on the boat if need be--and I also have an attachment +for the girl, when it comes to that." + +The old man shook his head. "I've got the easiest job," said he. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN WHICH WE HAVE A SENSATION + + +With no more than these slight precautions which I have indicated, we +lay all that afternoon in plain view of the world; and because all the +world could not suspect us of such hardihood, all the world went by +without suspecting that the stolen _Belle Helene_ and her ruthless +pirate crew were there in full sight and apparently inviting or +defying apprehension. Sometimes a passing craft would salute us as we +lay, and we returned the courtesy without fail. I know not whether +more bottles were cast overboard by Aunt Lucinda, but if so, we heard +of none. At last, after what seemed days to me, though no more than +hours, the shade of twilight fell across the river, the outlines of +the passing boats grew less distinct. Now and again we could hear the +wail of railway whistle, or see the curved snake of the lighted train +dashing across the alluvial lands toward the ferry. Here and there, +beyond, pin points of red lights shone. At last the night fell full, +and, gladly enough, I gave the order for the continuance of our +journey. + +We slipped down-stream gently and silently, yet speedily withal, +seeking to time our arrival, as nearly as we might, to the hour +assigned for the delivery of our supplies at the dock. + +"I'm none too easy in my mind," said my old skipper to me, as we stood +together forward. + +"Why not, Peterson?" + +"It's them two boys," said he. "You talk of pirates--there's the +bloodiest pair of pirates as ever was. I hardly know whether my own +life's safe or not, to hear them talk." + +"Never do you mind, Peterson," said I. "Those boys may be useful to us +yet. The one with blue eyes has proved himself able to keep the ladies +in their cabin, and as for the one who was going to run you through +when we took the boat, he still may have to work to keep Williams down +in the engine-room when we make our landing." + +"It may come out all right," said the old man gloomily, "but sometimes +I fear for the worst." + +"You always do, Peterson, and that is no frame of mind for a healthy +pirate. But here we are below the railway warehouse district, and I +think nearly opposite slip K, where we land. Port your helm, and run +in slow. We've got to have gasoline, although I must say my two +bullies took aboard quite a store up there at the Bayou." + +"Port it is, sir," said Peterson gloomily, still smoking. And he made +as neat a landing as ever in his life. + +A shadowy form arose amidst the blackness of the dock and came +directly forward to take our line. + +"Who's that?" I demanded. "Are you from Lavallier and Thibodeau?" + +"Yes, M'sieu," came the answer. "Those supply is here." + +"All right. Help him get the stuff aboard, Peterson." + +They went about their work. Just as turning I saw standing at my +elbow, the slight form of L'Olonnois, his arms folded and hat drawn +upon his brow. + +"Bid the varlets hasten," he hissed to me. "Time passes." + +"Back to your post, L'Olonnois," I rejoined. "See that the captives +remain in their room." + +Jean Lafitte, too, proved unable to restrain his curiosity, and this +time his habit of close observation was of benefit in an unexpected +way. + +"Hist, Black Bart!" he whispered distinctly, clutching my arm. "What +boat is that?" + +He pointed in the dim light to a low lying, battered power boat moored +in the same slip with us. Something in her look seemed familiar. + +"I can't see her name," said Jean Lafitte, "but she looks a lot like +our own old boat." + +I hastily stepped on the wharf and got a closer look in the wavering +beams of an arc light at the name on the boat's bows. There, in +indistinct and shaky, but unmistakable characters, was the title +painted by my young ruffians, weeks earlier--_Sea Rover!_ + +"Jean Lafitte," I whispered, "you are right, and now indeed we must +have a care. Yon varlet has beaten us into New Orleans." + +"Let's board her and take her," hissed Jean Lafitte. "We can do it +easy." + +"No, wait," said I. "Perhaps we can think of a better plan. Wait till +we get two drums of gasoline aboard. Then we'll make a run for it, if +yon varlet is here on the _Sea Rover_. Probably not, for every one +seems gone to bed." + +"I'll find out," said Jean Lafitte boldly, and before I could stop him +was gone, springing lightly on the deck of the _Sea Rover_. + +"Hello in there," he hailed. "Are you all asleep?" + +A voice muttered something from the shallow cabin, I could not tell +what. "We got a barrel of rum for you from Thibodeau's," said Jean +Lafitte. + +"No, you ain't. Must be some mistake," said a sleepy voice; and now a +tousled head appeared, indistinct in the gloom. "Anyhow, I don't know +anything about it, and it'll have to stay on the dock until morning. +I'm only the engineer, I come from Natchez. Mr. Davidson, he's +up-town." + +"Oh, all right," said Jean Lafitte, apparently mollified, and soon was +at my side again. So then, we had the information we sought. I was +sure my own engineer, Williams, was busy as usual below, oiling and +polishing his double sixties. + +"Hurry now," I whispered to Peterson. "Get that stuff aboard quick. +Don't forget the crates of fruit and vegetables." + +We were nearly done with this work, when for a moment all seemed on +the point of going wrong with us. I heard shufflings and door +slammings from the after cabin. "Help! Help!" sounded the voice of +Aunt Lucinda, somewhat muffled. It chanced that my engineer, Williams, +at that moment poked his head up his ladder to get a breath of fresh +air. + +"What's that?" he demanded of me as I passed. "I thought I heard some +one calling." + +"Oh, you did, Williams," said I. "It was Mrs. Daniver. She suffers +much with neuralgia and is in great pain. I shouldn't wonder if I +should have to go up-town and get a physician for her even yet. But, +Williams, in any case we'll be sailing soon, and I want you to +overhaul the screen of the intake pipe for that port boiler. We're +getting into very sandy waters, and of course you don't want anything +to happen to your engines. Can you attend to that at once?" + +"Surely, sir," said he, and went below again. I closed the hatch on +him. Meantime I hurried aft, to see what could be done toward quelling +any possible uproar. My blue-eyed lieutenant, L'Olonnois, had been as +efficient in his way as Jean Lafitte. Now, in full character, he was +enjoying himself immensely. When I saw him, he was standing with his +feet spread wide apart in the center of the cabin floor, with drawn +sword in his hand. + +"Lady," said he, addressing himself to Aunt Lucinda, "it irks me as a +gentleman to be rude with one so fair, but let me hear one more word +from you, and your life's blood shall dye the deck, and you shall walk +the plank at the morning sun. You deal with L'Olonnois, who knows no +fear!" + +Deep silence, broken presently by a little laugh; and I heard Helena's +voice in remonstrance. "Don't be so silly, Jimmie!" + +"Silly, indeed," boomed the deep voice of Aunt Lucinda, catching sight +of me at the door. "Yonder is the villain who put him up to this." + +"Oh, is that you?" said Helena, coming toward me. "Where are we, +Harry?" + +"In the port of New Orleans, Miss Helena," was my answer, "a city of +some three hundred thousand souls, noted for its manufacture of sugar, +and its large shipments abroad of the staple cotton." + +"May I come on deck?" she queried after a while. + +"We are alongside the levee, and there is little to see. We shall be +sailing now in a few moments." + +"But mayn't I come up and see New Orleans, even for a minute as we +pass by? I'll be good." + +"You may come up under parole," said I, throwing open the door. "But +you must bring your aunt's parole also. You must give no alarm, for we +have every reason here for silence." + +She turned back and held some converse with Auntie Lucinda, and by +what spell I know not, won the promise of the latter to remain silent +and make no attempt at escape. A little later she was at my side in +the dim light cast by a flickering and distant arc light at the +street. + +"I have your word, then?" I demanded of her. + +"Yes. You can't blame me for wanting to get out, to see what is going +on." + +"A great deal may be going on here any moment," said I. "In fact, if I +could show you the evening newspapers--which I purpose doing to-morrow +morning--it might seem to you that a great deal already has gone on. +For one thing, Cal Davidson is in town ahead of us. That's his boat +yonder, rubbing sides with us. He doesn't know we're here. He himself +is off up-town, at the Boston Club, probably, or perhaps some of the +cafes--he knows a thousand people here." + +"So do I, Harry," said she. "To think of going by in this plight! And +to think of leaving New Orleans without even one little supper at +Luigi's, Harry--it breaks my heart." + +"We are almost ready to sail, Helena. Suppose we see Luigi's some +other time. Things are getting pretty close about us here." + +"Any pirate should be a man of courage," said she; "he should be ever +willing to take a chance." + +"Very well; have I not taken several chances already?" + +"And again, a pirate ought to be kind toward all women, oughtn't he, +Harry? I asked you this afternoon, why couldn't we be friends again +and stop all this foolishness. Let's forget everything and just be +friends." + +"What! Again, Helena? Have I not tried that and found it a failure?" + +"You have no courage. You are no pirate. I challenge you to a test." + +"What is it, Helena?" + +"Let us go up-town and have a little supper at Luigi's, the way we +used to, Harry, when we really were friends." + +"What, with Cal Davidson loose in the town and his boat lying here?" + +"That is the adventure!" + +"You would turn me over to the authorities?" + +"No, but I would sell my parole for a mess of woodcock, Harry." She +laid a hand upon my arm. "I can't tell you how much I want a little +supper at Luigi's, Harry. I like the Chianti there. Between us we +could afford thirty cents a bottle, could we not? Now, if I gave my +parole--and of course, every one would be here at the boat just the +same--But of course, I did not expect you would." + +"Why did you not?" + +"Because it is an adventure, because it will take something of real +courage, I fancy, to meet a risk like that!" + +"There would be some risk for us all," said I truly. + +"There you go, balancing and not deciding. You are no pirate." + +"What will you give me if I go, Helena?" said I. + +"Nothing beyond thanking you. One thing, you must not think that I +would trick or trap you." + +"Many a criminal has been trapped by a woman whom he loves," said I +slowly. "But you would not do that if I had your word, even though you +hated me. And you do hate me very much, do you not?" + +"Yes, very much. But if you took me by New Orleans without a supper at +Luigi's, I should hate you even more." + +"Jean--Jean Lafitte," I called out in a low tone of voice. + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" he saluted, as he came to the place where we stood, +like some seasoned sailorman, regardless of youthful hours of sleep. + +"I am going up-town with the captive maiden. Do you stand here on +watch. We shall be gone about three hours." + +"Hully gee!" ejaculated Jean Lafitte, but at once he saluted again. +"'Tis well, Black Bart," said he. + +"Tell Captain Peterson to let no one come on board this boat under any +pretense; nor must any one leave it until I get back. If any one asks +for me, say I'm up-town." + +"Isn't Aunt Lucinda going, too?" demanded Helena. + +"She certainly is not!" + +"Is it--is it quite correct for me to go alone with you?" + +"That is your part of the adventure, Helena," said I calmly. An +instant later I had led her across the dingy warehouse dock, over +dusty streets, to a crooked street-car line over which I could hear +approaching one of the infrequent cars. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IN WHICH WE MEET THE OTHER MAN, ALSO ANOTHER WOMAN + + +Luigi's place, as all men know, is situated upon a small, crooked and +very dirty street, yet none the less, it is an abode of contentment +for those who know good living. When Helena and I entered the door I +felt as one again at home. Here were the sanded floors, the old +water-bottles, the large chandelier with its cut glasses in the middle +of the room, the small tables with their coarse clean linen. The same +old French waiters stood here and there about, each with impeccable +apron and very peccable shoes, as is the wont of all waiters. But the +waiters at Luigi's are more than waiters; they are friends, and they +never forget a face. Therefore, as always, I had no occasion for +surprise when Jean, my waiter these many years at Luigi's, stepped +forward as though it had been but last week and not three years ago +when he had seen me. He called me by name, greeted me again to his +city, and gently aided Helena with her wraps and gloves. + +"And M'sieu can not long remain away from us, forever?" said he. + +"It has been three years, Jean," said I, "more is the pity. But now, +I can remain three hours--will that serve? At the end of that time we +must away." + +Jean was human, yet discreet. He knew that when last he saw me I was a +single man. Now he had doubts. He stood hovering about, a question on +his tongue, smitten of admiration much as had been my dog, Partial, at +his first sight of Helena. At last he made excuse to step close behind +my chair under pretense of finding my napkin. + +"_Enfin, M'sieu?_" said he, smiling. + +"_Pas encore_, Jean!" I replied. + +I saw a slow flush on Helena's cheek, but she gave no other sign that +she had overheard. So I began forthwith making much ado about ordering +our supper, which as usual really was much a matter of Jean's taste. + +"We have to-night in the ice-boxes, M'sieu," said that artist, "some +cock oysters which are dreams. Moreover, I have laid aside two +canvasbacks, the best I ever saw--it was in the hope that some really +good friend of mine would come in. Behold, I am happy--I must have +been expecting you. Believe me, we have never had better birds than +these. They are excellent." + +"Perhaps the oysters, Jean," said I, "very small and dark. I presume +possibly a very small _fillet_ of trout this evening, and the +sauce--you still can make it, Jean? Such _entrees_ as you like, of +course. But, since Mademoiselle--" and here I smiled--"and I, also, +are very hungry this evening, we wish a woodcock after the canvasback, +if you do not mind. Perhaps it is not too much?" + +"_Mais non!_" replied Jean. "You are of those who know well that to +eat too much is not to dine well. But I shall bring you two oysters, +_mariniere_--a sauce my own wife invented. And yes, some small bird, +_beccasine_, broiled lightly--perhaps you will enjoy it after the +canvasback, although I assure you those are excellent indeed. We have +few sweets here, as M'sieu knows, but cheese, if you like, and of +course coffee; and always we have the red wine which I remember M'sieu +liked so much." + +"It is with you, Jean," said I. And Helena, turning, smiled upon him +swiftly, in such fashion that he scarce touched the floor at all as he +walked out for his radishes and olives. + +"Isn't it nice?" said Helena. "Isn't it like the old times? I always +loved this old town. It seems so homelike." + +"Please do not use that word, Helena," said I. "I wish to be entirely +happy to-night, in the belief that some time I shall know what home +is." + +"Do you think Jean knew me also?" she demanded. "Certainly, I have +been here also before." + +"No one who has ever seen you, Helena, ever forgets you. But Jean is, +of course, discreet." + +"Suppose he knew that I was here to-night against my free will, and +only under parole?" + +"Jean is wise; he knows such things ought not to be, even if they are. +And he understood me when I said, 'not yet.'" + +"Yes," said she; "quite right. _Pas encore!_" + +Jean returned, and as a special favor to an old patron asked us +politely if we would enjoy a look through the kitchen and the +ice-boxes. As usual, we accepted this invitation, and passed back +through the green swing doors, following our guide along the row of +charcoal fires, through a dingy room decorated with shining coppers +and bits of glass and silver. These ice-boxes were such as to offer +continual delight to any epicure, what with their rows of fat clean +fishes and crabs and oysters, the birds nicely plucked, all the +dainties which this rich market of the South could afford, from +papabotte to terrapin. Helena herself selected two woodcock and +approved the judgment of Jean in canvasback. Presently she turned to +me, a flush of embarrassment upon her face. + +"Harry," she said, "I don't like to say anything, but you know--you've +been telling me you were so poor. Now, a girl doesn't want to make it +difficult----" + +"Mademoiselle," said I, bowing, "I am quite able to foot the bill +to-night. I had just sold some hay before I started from home." + +"Well, I'm awfully hungry," she admitted; "besides, it's such a lark." + +"Yes," said I; and presently, as we reached our table again, I showed +her the afternoon papers, which as yet she had not seen. She read +through the account of our escapade, her lips compressed; but +presently she folded the paper and laid it down without comment. + +"At any minute, you see," said I, "I may be apprehended and our little +supper brought to an end. That is why I hastened with the order. I do +not wish to hurry you in any way, however, and we shall use the full +three hours. Although, of course, you see that the bird of time indeed +is on the wing to-night, as well as those other birds on the +broilers." + +She only looked at me steadily and made no comment. "Once suspected +here," said I, "all is over for me, and you are free again. It would +be entirely easy for you to make some sign or movement which I, +perhaps, could not detect. Perhaps, at any moment, some one may enter +who knows you--as I've said, no one can look at you and forget you, +Helena. But please let none of this affect your appetite. Our little +supper is our little adventure. I hope you will enjoy both, my dear." + +"You did take some chance, did you not?" she said slowly. + +"It might be a chance." + +"But you will be so nervous you can't enjoy your spread." + +"Not in the least, Helena. A nervous man has no business in the trade +of piracy;--but, ah! the _fillet_ of trout, Helena." + +Jean was proud of his art, the chef proud also, and the chef knew we +were here. A general air of comfort seemed to settle down upon our +little corner of the restaurant, a quiet contentment. For the most +part, folk came here who had no hurry and no anxiety, and it was a +sort of club for many persons who knew how to eat and to live and to +enjoy life quietly, as life should be enjoyed. None dreamed, of +course, that aught but equal leisure existed for our little table, +where sat a rather lank and shabby man in flannels, and a very +especially beautiful young woman in half evening dress. At Luigi's, +every one is polite to every one else, and the curiosity is but that +of fraternity. Perhaps, some eyes were cast our way, I could not tell. + +Jean, in slow solemnity and pleasant ease, brought on many things not +nominated in the bond. At length he arranged his duck-press on his +little table near us, and having squeezed the elixir from the two +dissected fowls, began to stir the juices into a sauce of his own, +made with sherry wine and a touch of _file_, many things which Jean +knows best. He was just in the act of pouring this most delectable +sauce over the two bits of tender fowl upon our hot plates, when, +happening to look up, I saw some one entering the door. + +"Jean, if you please," said I, deliberately pulling the coat-rack in +front of our table, "Mademoiselle perhaps feels a slight draft. Would +you fetch a screen?" + +He turned. "Helena," said I, after a moment, "now our adventure has +come." + +"What do you mean?" said she. "Why do you do that?"--she nodded at the +screen. "Why, I say?" + +"I have your parole?" + +"Yes." + +"I am glad it is yes!" said I. "You could break it now and escape so +easily. One little move on your part and my punishment is at hand." + +"Who was it?" she asked, suspecting. + +"No one much," said I, "only our esteemed friend, Mr. Calvin Davidson, +whose waistcoat I am now wearing. Some one is with him, I don't know +who it is. A very nice-looking lady, next to the most beautiful woman +in this room, I must say." + +"Let me see," said she; and I allowed her to look through the crack in +the screen. + +"She certainly is very stunning," said I, "is she not? Tall, dark, a +trifle superb--I wonder--I wonder sometimes, Helena, if Cal Davidson +is true to Poll?" + +"Nonsense!" was her retort. "But as you say, here is our adventure, or +at least yours. How do you propose to get out of it?" + +"I don't know yet," said I. "Just at present I do not wish this +canvasback to get cold. We have remaining before us two hours or more, +ample time to make any plan which may be needed. Coffee, I have found, +is excellent for plans. Let us make no plans until we have had our +coffee, after our little dinner. That will be an hour or so yet. +Plenty of time to plan, Helena," said I. "And please do not slight +this bird--it is delicious." + +Her eyes still were sparkling. "I'm rather glad I came," said she. + +"So am I, and I shall be glad when we are back. But meantime I trust +you, Helena, absolutely. I will even tell you more. Davidson's boat, +the one which we left him instead of the _Belle Helene_, is lying in +the same slip with ours, rubbing noses with our yacht yonder, as I +showed you. Our men have talked with his. They do not yet suspect that +we are the vessel which everybody wants to find. I am very thankful +their engineer was so sleepy. I learned there at the wharf that Cal +Davidson was down-town at his club. He seems to have departed long +enough to find excellent company, as usual. I am glad that he has done +so, for in all likelihood he will not return to his own boat before +to-morrow morning. He will prefer his room at the club to his bunk on +the _Sea Rover_, if I know Cal Davidson. And by that time I hope to be +far away." + +"Does he know who you are--does he know who it was that took the +_Belle Helene_?" + +"I think not. But, very stupidly--being so anxious to see the +original--I left a photograph of yourself on our old boat, the _Sea +Rover_. Item, one cigarette case with my initials. Of course, Cal +Davidson may guess the simple truth, or he may make a mystery of +these things. It seems he prefers to make a mystery; and I am sure +that suits me much better." + +"But knowing these things--knowing that his boat was lying right at +the dock alongside of us--why did you stop?" + +"I thought it was you, Helena, who suggested this little adventure at +Luigi's! And I promise you I am enjoying it very much. It seems so +much like old times." + +"But that can't ever be over again, Harry." + +"Naturally not. But often new times are quite as good as old ones. I +can conceive of such a thing in our case. No, I shall use this +privilege of your society to the limit, Helena, fearing I may not see +you soon again, after once I have put you back in your hat box. You +coaxed me to leave the boat, and I shall tell you when to return." + +"Why not now?" + +"No, at twelve o'clock. Not earlier." + +"And you propose sitting here with me till then?" + +"I could imagine no better pastime, were I condemned to die at +sunrise. Tell me, do you wish me to call Mr. Davidson?" + +"Of course I do not, since I gave you my word. Besides, I know that +girl with him. It's Sally Byington. Some call her good-looking, but I +am sure I don't know why." + +"Fie upon you! She is superb. In short, Helena, I am not sure but she +is finer-looking than yourself!" + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes. Cal Davidson, whatever may be his taste in neckties or +waistcoats, seems to me excellent in this other regard. Perhaps just a +trifle flamboyant for Luigi's, but certainly stunning." + +"Our relations are not such as to lead me to discuss our friends," she +rejoined haughtily. "And, as you say, our duck is getting cold. I +adore these canvasbacks. I would like to come back to-morrow and have +another." She cut savagely into her fowl. + +"Alas, Helena, to-morrow you will be far away. In time I hope to +reconcile you to the simple life of piracy. Indeed, unless all plans +go wrong, we may very likely have canvasbacks on the boat; although I +can not promise you that John will be as good a chef as our friend +here at Luigi's. All good buccaneers use their fair captives well." + +"Indeed! And why do you not ask Sally Byington into your list of +prisoners, since you fancy her so much." + +"Nay, say not so, Helena. I trust I am somewhat catholic in taste +regarding ladies, as any gentleman should be, yet after all, I am +gentler in my preferences. Quite aside from that, I find one fair +captive quite enough to make me abundant trouble." + +At about this time Jean approached behind the screen, bearing a copy +of a late edition of an evening paper, which fortunately he seemed not +closely to have scanned. I took it quickly and placed it with the +front page down. + +"Monsieur no doubt has heard of the great sensation?" commented Jean. + +"No, what is that, Jean?" + +"The papers have been full of nothing else. It seems a band of +cutthroat river pirates have stolen a gentleman's yacht, and so far as +can be told, have escaped with it down the river, perhaps entirely to +the Gulf." + +"That, Jean," said I, "is a most extraordinary thing. Are you sure of +the facts?" + +"Naturally--is it not all in the paper? This gentleman then has his +yacht anchored at Natchez, and he goes ashore on important business. +Comes then this band of river ruffians in the dark, and as though +pirates of a hundred years ago, and led by Jean Lafitte himself, they +capture the vessel!" + +"_Mon Dieu!_ Jean you do not say so?" + +"But assuredly I say so; nor is that all, Monsieur. On board this +yacht was a young and beautiful lady of great wealth and beauty, as +well--the fiancee, so it is said, of this gentleman who owns the +yacht. What is the action of these pirates in regard to this beautiful +young lady and her aunt, who also is upon the yacht for the cruise? Do +they place these ladies ashore? No, they imprison them upon the boat, +and so, _pouf!_ off for the gulf. Nor has any trace of them been found +from that time till now. A rumor goes that the gentleman who owns the +yacht is at this time in New Orleans, but as for that unfortunate +young lady, where is she to-night? I demand that, Monsieur. Ah! And +she is beautiful." + +"Now, is not this a most extraordinary tale you bring, Jean? Let us +hope it is not true. Why, if it were true, that ruffian might escape +and hide for days or weeks in the bayous around Barataria, even as +Jean Lafitte did a hundred years ago." + +"Assuredly he might. Ah, I know it well, that country. But Jean +Lafitte was no pirate, simply a merchant who did not pay duties. And +he sold silks and laces cheap to the people hereabout--I could show +you the very causeway they built across the marsh, to reach the place +where he landed his boats at the heads of one of the great bays--it is +not far from the plantation of Monsieur Edouard Manning, below New +Iberia. Believe me, Monsieur, the country folk hunt yet for the buried +treasure of Jean Lafitte; and sometimes they find it." + +"You please me, Jean. Tell me more of that extraordinary person." + +"Extraordinary, you may call him, Monsieur. And he had a way with +women, so it is said--even his captives came to admire him in time, so +generous and bold was he." + +"A daredevil fellow I doubt not, Jean?" + +"You may say that. But of great good and many kindnesses to all the +folk in the lower parts of this state in times gone by. Now--say it +not aloud, Monsieur--scarce a family in all Acadia but has map and key +to some buried treasure of Jean Lafitte. Why, Monsieur, here in this +very cafe, once worked a negro boy. He, being sick, I help him as a +gentleman does those negro, to be sure, and he was of heart enough to +thank me for that. So one day he came to me and told me a story of a +treasure of a descendant of Lafitte. He himself, this negro, had +helped his master to bury that same treasure." + +"And does he know the place now? Could he point it out?" + +"Assuredly, and the master who buried it now is dead." + +"Then why does not the negro boy go and dig it up again, very +naturally?" + +"Ah, for the best reasons. That old Frenchman, descendant of Jean +Lafitte, was no fool. What does he in this burial of treasure? Ah! He +takes him a white parrot, a black cat and a live monkey, and these +three, all of them, he buries on top of the treasure-box and covers +all with earth and grass above the earth. And then above the grave he +says such a malediction upon any who may disturb it as would alone +frighten to the death any person coming there and braving such a +curse. I suggested to the negro boy that he should show me the spot. +Monsieur, he grew pale in terror. Not for a million pounds of solid +gold would he go near that place, him." + +"That also is a most extraordinary story, Jean. Taken with this other +fairy tale which you have told me to-night, you almost make me feel +that we are back in the great old days which this country once saw. +But alas!" + +"As you say, Monsieur, alas!" + +"Now as to that ruffian who stole the gentleman's yacht," I resumed. +"Has he reflected? Has he indeed made his way to the Gulf? Why, he +might even be hiding here in the city somewhere." + +"Ah, hardly that, and if so, he well may look out for the law." + +"I think a sherbet would be excellent for the lady now, Jean," I +ventured, whereat he departed. I turned over the paper and showed +Helena her own portrait on the front page, four columns deep and set +in such framing of blackfaced scare type as made me blush for my own +sins. + +"It is an adventure, Helena!" said I. "Had you not been far the most +beautiful woman in this restaurant to-night, and had not Jean been all +eyes for you, he otherwise would have looked at this paper rather than +at you. Then he would have looked at us both and must have seen the +truth." + +"It is an adventure," said she slowly, her color heightening; and +later, "You carried it off well, Harry." + +I bowed to her across the table. "Need was to act quickly, for even +this vile newspaper cut is a likeness of you. One glance from Jean, +which may come at any moment later, Helena, and your parole will be +needless further." + +"I confess I wished to test you. It was wrong, foolish of me, Harry." + +"You have been tested no less, Helena, to-night. And I have found you +a gentle high-born lady, as I had always known you to be. _Noblesse +oblige_, my dear, and you have proved it so to-night. Any time from +now until twelve you need no more than raise a finger--I might not +even see you do so--and you might go free. Why do you not?" + +"If the woodcock is as good as the canvasback," was her somewhat +irrelevant reply, "I shall call the evening a success, after all." + +But Helena scarcely more than tasted her bird, and pushed back after a +time the broiled mushroom which Jean offered her gently. + +"Does not your appetite remain?" I inquired. "Come, you must not break +Jean's heart doubly." + +She only pushed back her chair. "I am sorry," said she, "but I want to +go back to the boat." + +"Back to the boat! You astonish me. I thought escape from the _Belle +Helene_ was the one wish of your heart these days." + +"And so it is." + +"Then, Helena, why not escape here and now?" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I do not mean for you to break your parole--I know you too well for +that. But give me additional parole, my dear girl. Give me your word. +Say that one word. Then we can rise here and announce to Mr. Davidson +and all the world and its newspapers that no crime has been done and +only a honeymoon has been begun. Come, Helena, all the world loves a +lover. All New Orleans will love us if you will raise your finger and +say the word." + +I looked toward her. Her head was bent and tears were dropping from +her eyes, tears faithfully concealed by her kerchief. But she said no +word to me, and at her silence my own heart sank--sank until my +courage was quite gone, until I felt the return of a cold brutality. +Still I endeavored to be gentle with one who deserved naught of +gentleness. + +"Do not hurry, Helena," I said. "We can return when you like. But the +salad--and the coffee! And see, you have not touched your wine." + +"Take me back," she said, her voice low. "I hate you. Till the end of +the world I'll hate you." + +"If I could believe that, Helena, it would matter nothing to me to go +a mile farther on any voyage, a foot farther to shield myself or you." + +"Take me back," she said to me again. "I want to go to Aunt Lucinda." + +"Jean," said I, a moment later when he reappeared. "Mademoiselle +wishes to see one more ice-box in the kitchen. We are in search of +something. May we go again?" + +Jean spread out his arms in surprise, but pushed open the green door. +We thus passed, shielded by our screen and unobserved. Once within, I +grasped Jean firmly by the shoulder and pressed a ten dollar bill into +his hand, with other money for the reckoning. + +"Take this, Jean, for yourself. We do not care to pass out at the +front, for certain reasons--do you comprehend? It is of Mademoiselle." + +"It is of Mademoiselle? Ah, depend upon me. What can I do?" + +"This. Leave us here, and we will walk about. Meantime go out the back +way to the alley, Jean, and have a taxicab ready at the mouth of the +alley. Come quick when it is arranged and let us go, because we must +go at once. At another time, Jean, we will return, I trust more +happily. Then we shall order such a dinner as will take Luigi himself +a day to prepare, my friend!" + +"For Mademoiselle?" + +"For Madame, Jean, as I hope." And now I showed him the portrait on +the front page of the newspaper he had brought me. "Quick," I said, +"and since you have been faithful, some day I will explain all this to +you--with Madame, as I hope." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +IN WHICH WE BURN ALL BRIDGES + + +"But, Monsieur," began Jean, a few moments later, as he entered from +the alley door. + +"_Eh bien?_ What then, Jean?" I demanded hastily, already leading +Helena toward the door. + +"This! This!" And he waved in my face a copy of the same paper which +had lain on our table. "The streets are full of it. And I see, I +behold--I recognize! It is Mademoiselle--that is to be Madame!" + +My face flushed hotly. "As I hope, Jean." That was all I said. "Now, +please, out of our way. Is the taxi there?" + +He stepped aside. I heard his voice, eager, apologetic, but knew that +now no time must be lost. Vague sounds of voices came to us from the +main room of the cafe, ordinarily so quiet. I felt, rather than knew, +that soon the news would be about town. The throb of the taxi was +music to my ears when I found it in the dark. + +"Stop for nothing," said I to the driver, as I closed the door. "Slip +K, on the river-front, below the warehouses. Stop at the car tracks +where they turn. And go fast--I must catch a boat that is just +leaving." + +"What boat--from there--are you sure, sir?" asked he, touching his +cap. + +"Of course I'm sure. Go on! Don't stop to talk, man!" + +He made no answer to this, but turned to his wheel. We shot out into +Royal Street, turned down it, spun into a narrow way past the old +Cathedral, crossed Jackson Square in the full moonlight, passed the +Old Market, and threaded dark and dirty thoroughfares parallel to the +river. None sought to stay us, though many paused in the gently +squalid life of that section, to look after our churning car, a thing +not usual there so far from depot or usual landing place. + +Helena sat silent, looking fixedly ahead through the glass at the +driver's back; nor did I find words myself. In truth, I was as one now +carried forward on the wings of adventure itself, with small plans, +and no duty beyond taking each situation as it might later come. A +dull feeling that I had sinned beyond forgiveness came upon me, a +conviction that my brutality to one thus innocent and tender had +passed all limits of atonement. She could never forgive me now, I +felt; and what was almost as intolerable in the reflection, I could +not forgive myself, could not find any specious argument longer to +justify myself in thus harrying the sensibilities of a woman such as +this one who now sat beside me in this mad midnight errand, proud, +pale and silent. Slowly I sought to adjust myself to the thought of +defeat, to the feeling that my presumption now had o'er-leaped itself. +Yes, I must say good-by to her, must release her; and this time, as I +well knew, forever. + +But, though I turned toward her half a dozen times in these few +minutes, she made no response to what she must have known was my +demand upon her attention. I gathered her gloves for her, and her +flowers, but she only took them, her lips parting in courtesy, not in +warmth, and no sound came to my ears, straining always to hear her +voice, a pleasant sound in a world of discords ever. I even touched +her arm, suddenly, impulsively. "Helena!" But she, not knowing that I +meant to give her liberty, though over a dead heart, shrank as though +I had added physical insult to my verbal taunts. Anyway I turned, I +was fast in the net of circumstance, fanged by the springs of +misapprehension.... Well, then, but one thing remained. She had said +it was a man's place to fight, and so now it would be! I must go on, +and take my punishment until justice had been done. Justice and my own +success I no longer confused in my own mind; but in my soul was the +grim resolution that justice should first be done to one human soul, +even though that chanced to be my own. After that, I should get her +again in the hands of her friends and myself; indeed, disappear beyond +all seeking, in parts of the world best known to myself. If I myself +were fair, why should not fairness as well be given to me? + +And with no more than this established, and nothing definite in plan, +either, for the present, I mechanically opened the door of the taxi +for her when the driver pulled up and bent a querying face about to +ask whether or not we now were opposite Slip K. I noted that he did +not at once drive away. Evidently he sat for some moments gazing after +us as we disappeared in the gloom of the river-front. His tale, as I +afterward learned, enabled the morning papers to print a conclusive +story describing the abduction of Miss Emory and her undoubted +retention on the stolen yacht, which, after lying at or near New +Orleans, some time that night, once more mysteriously had +disappeared. + +No doubt remained, according to this new story, that the supplies put +aboard at Slip K by Lavallier and Thibodeau had gone to this very +craft, the stolen yacht! With this came many wild and confusing +accounts and descriptions, including a passionate interview with Mr. +Calvin Davidson, of New York, who had announced his intention of +overhauling these ruffians, at any cost whatsoever; and much counsel +to the city officials, mingled with the bosom-beating of one +enterprising journal which declared it had put in commission a yacht +of its own, under charge of two of its ablest reporters, who had +instructions to take up the chase and to remain out until the mystery +had been solved and this beautiful young woman had been rescued from +her horrible situation and restored again to her home. There were more +portraits of Helena--furnished, most like, from Cal Davidson's +collection; one also of Aunt Lucinda (from a photograph of far earlier +days); and lastly, a half-page portrait of myself, the unnamed ruffian +who was the undoubted leader in this abduction--the portrait being +drawn by a staff artist "from description of eye-witnesses." As I +later saw this portrait I rejoiced that I was long ignorant of its +existence: and had I known that night that yonder chauffeur to whom I +had given undue largess had such treason as that portrait in his soul, +I know not what I might have done with him. + +But of this misinformation, of course, I was at the time ignorant, as +was all the city ignorant of the truth. What happened was otherwise, +nor was the truth learned even by the great metropolitan journals of +the North, which now recognized the existence of a "big story", and +added their keener noses to the trail. The great fact overlooked by +them all was that they pursued no criminal, but a man of education, I +may fairly say of brains. + +In my law practise many baffling cases came to me, because I most +liked, precisely, that sort of case. Once, for instance, a family of +my town well-nigh was disrupted by a series of anonymous letters, done +in typewriting, accusing an honorable man of dishonorable conduct. The +letters left the man's wife in an agony of loyalty and suspicion +alike. He brought me the letters, and to me the case was simple from +the start. I got the repair slips of a certain typewriter house, and +compared them until I found a machine with a bent letter M--knowing +as I did that each machine has its own individuality as ineradicable +and as inescapable as any personal handwriting. So at last I went to a +small outlying city, and going into a business house there asked to +see the stenographer in private. "My dear Miss ----," I said to her, +"why do you persist in sending these letters to Mr. ----?" I laid them +before her, and she wept and confessed, very naturally. + +That was merely jealousy of a discharged employee; and it was easy as +a case--easier I always thought, than the probate case I won over a +contested signature charge filed by certain heirs under a will. In +this case I merely went to the dead man's earlier home and learned his +history. Time out of mind he, a thrifty and respected German, had held +some petty county office or other; and by going over old county +warrants and receipts signed in forty years by my man, I discovered +what I already knew--that a man's signature changes many times during +his life, especially if he begins life as an uncultured immigrant and +advances to a fair business success later in his life: so that his +later signatures on records proved his signature in his will. + +Again, liking these simple mysteries, I had long ago learned to laugh +at the old and foolish assertion that murder will out, that not the +most skilful criminal can long conceal a capital crime. It is not +true. No one knows how many murders and other crimes go unsolved or +even unknown. The trouble with murderers, as I knew well enough, was +that they lacked mentality. And often I said to myself that were it in +my heart to kill a man, I assuredly could do so, and all my life +escape unsuspected of the crime. + +It may be that my fondness for these less obvious things in the law +had rendered me a trifle different from my fellow men. I could never +approach any question in life without wanting to go all about it and +to the bottom and top, like a cooper with his barrel. I was thus +actuated, without doubt, in my relations years since with Helena +Emory--I knew the shrewdness and accuracy of my own trained mind. I +confess I exulted in the infallible, relentless logic of my mind, a +mind able and well trained, especially well trained in reason and +argument. So, when I put the one great brief of all my life before +Helena, my splendid argument why should she love me, I did so, at +first, in the conviction that it must be convincing. Had I not myself +worked it out in each detail, had not my calm, cool, accurate reason +guarded each portal? Was it, indeed, not a perfect brief--that one I +held in my first lost case--the lost case which sent me out of my +profession, left me a stranded hulk of a man? + +But then, when these two pirate youngsters had found me and touched me +with the living point of some new flame of life, so that I knew a vast +world existed beyond the nature of the intellect, the old ways clung +to me, after all. Even as I swore to lay hold on youth and on +adventure (and on love, if, in sooth, that might be for me now), I +could not fight as yet wholly bare of the old weapons that had so long +fitted my hand. So, even on that very morning when we set forth from +my farm to be pirates, my mind ran back to its old cunning, and I +recalled my earlier boast to myself that if I ever cared to be a +criminal I knew I could be able to cover my tracks. + +Those writing-folk, therefore, who now wasted thousands of dollars in +pursuit of trace and trail of Black Bart, wealthy ex-lawyer, knew +nothing of their man, and guessed nothing of his caliber or of his +methods. They even failed to look in plain sight for their trail +maker. And having done so, they forgot that water leaves no trail. Yet +that simple thought had come to my mind as I had sat at breakfast in +my own house, some weeks before this time! Even then I had planned all +this. + +Absorbed as I had been in this pursuit of Helena, baffled as I had +been by her, unhappy as I now was over her own unhappiness, fierce as +was my love for her, still and notwithstanding, some trace of my old +self clung to me even now when, her hand on my arm, I guided Helena in +silence over the creaking planks of the dock, and saw, at last, dim +beyond the edge, the boom of the Mississippi's tawny flood, rolling on +and onward to the sea. Here was a task, a problem, a chase, an +endeavor, an adventure! To it, I was impelled by my old training; into +it I was thrust by all these fevers of the blood. Even though she did +not love me, she was woman ... in the dark air of night, it seemed to +me, I could smell the faint maddening fragrance of her hair.... No. It +was too late! I would not release her. I would go on, now! + +And with this resolution, formed when I caught sight of the passing +flood, I found a sudden peace and calm, and so knew that I was fit for +my adventure as yon other boy, L'Olonnois, was for his. + +I paused at the edge of the wharf, at the side of our boat. We still +were arm in arm, still silent, though she must have felt the beating +of my heart. + +"Helena," I whispered, "yonder, one step, and your parole is over. +Here it is not. That boat, just astern, is the one in which Cal +Davidson chased us all the way from Natchez, in which I chased him all +the way from Dubuque. His men do not know we are here, nor does he as +yet. Now, what is it that you wish to do?" + +She stood silent for some time, tightening her wrap at the throat +against the river damp, and made no answer, though her gaze took in +the dark hull of the low-lying craft made fast below us. When at last: + +"One thing," she began, "I will not do." + +"What is it?" I asked. We spoke low, but I well knew my men were aware +of our coming. + +"I shall ask no favor of you." And as she spoke, she stepped lightly +on the rubbered deck of the _Belle Helene_. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" called the hoarse voice of Jean Lafitte, the +faithful: and I knew the joy of the commander feeling that loyalty is +his. + +"'Tis I, Black Bart," I answered, full and clear. "Cast off, my +friends!" + +At once the _Belle Helene_ was full of activity. Peterson I met at +the wheel. I heard the bells jangle below. I saw Jean, active as a +cat, ready at the mooring-stub, waiting for the line to ease. Then +with my own hand I threw on every light of the _Belle Helene_, so that +she blazed, in the power of six thousand candles, search-light and +all: so that what had been a passing web of gloom now became a +rippling river. The warehouses started into light and shade, the +shadows of the wharf fled, the decks of the grimy craft alongside +became open of all their secrets. + +And now, revealed full in the flood of light as she stood at the side +portal, Helena did what I had not planned. Freed of her parole she +was--and she had asked no favor of me--so she had right to make +attempt to escape; and I gently stepped before her even as Jean cast +off and sprang aboard: and as I heard L'Olonnois' voice imperatively +demanding silence of the pounding at the after cabin door. All at +once, I heard what Helena heard--the rattle of wheels on the stone +flagging of the street beyond. And then I saw her fling back her cloak +and stand with cupped hands. Her voice was high, clear and unwavering, +such voice as a pirate's bride should have, fearless and bold. + +"Ahoy, there! Help! Help!" she cried. + +Some sort of shout came from the street, we knew not from whom. A +noise of an opening hatch came from the _Sea Rover_ at our stern, and +a man's tousled head came into view. + +"What's goin' on here," he demanded, as quaveringly as querulously. + +I made no answer, but saw our bows crawl out and away, felt the sob of +the screws, the arm of the river also, and knew a vast and pleasing +content with life. + +"L'Olonnois!" I called through the megaphone. + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" I heard his piping rejoinder. + +"Cast loose the stern-chaser and fire her at yon varlet if he makes a +move." I knew our deck cannon was loaded with nothing more deadly than +newspapers, but I also knew that valor feeds on action. Not that I had +given orders to fire on the world in general. So, I confess, I was +somewhat surprised, soon after the shout of approval which greeted my +command, to hear the air rent by the astonishing reverberation of our +Long Tom, which rolled like thunder all along the river-front, +breaking into a thousand echoes in the night. + +I heard the patter of feet along the deck, and had sight of Jean +Lafitte tugging at a halyard. Not content with our defiance of law and +order, he must needs break out the Jolly Rover with its skull and +cross-bones. And as we swung swiftly out into midstream, ablaze in +light from bow to stern, ghostlike in our swiftness and the silence of +our splendid engines, I had reason to understand all the descriptive +writing which, as I later learned, greeted the defiant departure of +this pirate craft and its ruffian crew. Thus I bade all the world come +and take from me what I had taken for my own. + +I stepped to the wheel with Peterson, expecting to find him pale in +consternation. To my surprise he was calm, save for a new glitter in +his eye. + +"There's nothing on the river can touch her," said he, as he picked up +his first channel light and called for more speed. "Let 'em come!" + +A sudden recklessness had caught us all, it seemed, the old spirit of +lawless man breaking the leash of custom. I shared it--with exultation +I knew I shared it with these others. The lust of youth for adventure +held us all, and the years were as naught. + +I turned now to find Helena, and met L'Olonnois, his face beaming. + +"Wasn't that a peach of a shot?" said he. "It would of blew yon varlet +out of the water, if I'd had anything to load with except just them +marbles. Are you looking for Auntie Helen? She has just went below." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +IN WHICH WE REACH THE SPANISH MAIN + + +It was as Peterson had said--nothing on the river could touch the +_Belle Helene_. And it also was as I had not said but had thought--the +water left no trail. By daylight we were far below the old +battle-field, far below the old forts, far below La Hache, and among +the channels of the great estuary whose marshes spread for scores of +miles on either hand impenetrably. Quarantine lay yonder, the +Southwest Passage opened here; and on beyond, a stone's throw now for +a vessel logging our smooth speed, rolled the open sea. And still +there rose behind us the smoke of no pursuing craft, nor did any seek +to bar our way. So far as I knew, the country had not been warned by +any wire down-stream from the city. We saw to it that no calling +points were passed in daylight. As for the chance market shooter +paddling his log pirogue to his shooting ground in the dawn, or the +occasional sportsman of some ducking club likewise engaged, they +saluted us gaily enough, but without suspicion. Even had they known, I +doubt whether they would have informed on us, for all the world loves +a lover, and these Southerners themselves now traveled waters long +known to adventure and romance. + +So at last, as the sun rose, we saw the last low marshy points widen, +flatten and recede, and beyond the outlying towers of the lights +caught sight of lazy liners crawling in, and felt the long throb of +the great Gulf's pulse, and sniffed the salt of the open sea. + +I had not slept, nor had Peterson, nor had Williams, my engineer. My +men never demurred when hard duty was asked of them, but put manly +pride above union hours, I fancy, resolved to show me they could +endure as long as I. And I asked none to endure more. Moreover, even +my pirate crew was seized of some new zest. I question whether either +Jean Lafitte or Henri L'Olonnois slept, save in his day clothing, that +night of our run from New Orleans; for now, just as we swept free of +the last point, so that we might call that gulf which but now had been +river, I heard a sound at my elbow as I bent over a chart, and turned +to see both my associates, the collars of their sweaters turned up +against the damp chill of the morning. + +"Where are we now, Black Bart?" asked Jean Lafitte. I could see on +his face the mystic emotion of youth, could see his face glorified in +the uplifting thrill of this mystery of the sea and the dawn and the +unknown which now enveloped us. "Where are we now?" he asked; but it +was as though he feared he slept and dreamed, and that this wondrous +dream of the dawn might rudely be broken by some command summoning him +back to life's routine. + +"Surely your soul should tell you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "for yonder, +as I may say, now rolls the Spanish Main. Its lift is now beneath our +feel. You are home again, Jean Lafitte. Yonder are the bays and bayous +and channels in the marshes, where your boats used to hide. And there, +L'Olonnois, my hearty, with you, I was used to ride the open sea, +toward the Isles of Spain, waiting for the galleons to come." + +"I know, I know!" said my blue-eyed pirate softly and reverently; and +so true was all his note to that inner struggling soul that lay both +in his bosom and my own, that I ceased to lament for my sin in so +allowing modern youth to be misled, and turned to him with open hand, +myself also young with the undying youth of the world. + +"Many a time, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois solemnly, "have we crowded +on full sail when the lookout gave the word of a prize a-comin', while +we laid to in some hidden channel over yonder." + +"Aye, aye, many a time, many a time, my hearty." + +"--An' loosed the bow-chaser an' shot away her foremast." + +"--At almost the first shot, L'Olonnois." + +"--So that her top hamper came down in a run an' swung her broadside +to our batteries." + +"--And we poured in a hail of chain-shot and set her hull afire." + +"--And then launched the boats for the boardin' parties," broke in +Jean Lafitte, standing on one leg in his excitement; "--an' so made +her a prize. An' then we made 'em walk the plank amid scenes of +wassail--all but the fair captives." + +I fell silent. But L'Olonnois' blue eyes were glowing. "An' them we +surrounded with every rude luxury," said he, "finally retiring to the +fortresses of the hidden channels of the coast, where we defied all +pursuit. This looks like one of them places, though I may be mistook," +he added judiciously. I shuddered to see how Jimmy's grammar had +deteriorated under my care. + +"Yes," said I, "we are now near to several of those places, scenes of +our bold deeds. The south coast of Louisiana lies on our right, cut by +a thousand bays and channels deep enough for hiding a pinnace or even +a stout schooner. Yonder, Jean, is Barataria Bay, your old home. Here, +under my finger, is Cote Blanche. Here comes the Chafalay, through its +new channel--all this floating hyacinth, all this red water, comes +from Texas soil, from the Red River, now discharging in new mouths. +Yonder, west of the main boat channels that make toward the railways +far inland, lie the salt reefs and the live-oak islands. Here is the +long key they now call Marsh Island. It was not an island until you, +stout Jean Lafitte, ordered the Yankee Morrison to take a hundred +black slaves with spades and cut a channel across the neck, so that +you could get through more quickly from the Spanish Main to the hidden +bayous where your boats lay concealed--until the wagons from Iberia +could come and traffic at the causeway for your wares. Do you not +remember it well?" + +"Aye, that I do, Black Bart!" said he; and I was sure he did. + +"And yonder channel, once just wide enough for a yawl, is to-day +washed out wide enough for a fleet to pass through--though not deep +enough. In that fact now lies our safety." + +"How do you mean, Black Bart?" demanded he. + +"Why, that all this water over yonder west of us is so shallow that it +takes a wise oyster boat to get through to Morgan City. The shrimpers +who reap these waters, even the market shooting schooners who carry +canvasbacks out of these feeding beds in the marshes, have to know the +tides and the winds as well, and if one be wrong the boat goes aground +on these wide shoals. Less than a fathom here and here and here on the +chart soundings--less than that if an offshore wind blows." + +"You mean we'll go aground?" + +"No, I mean that any pursuer very likely would. The glass is falling +now. Soon the wind will rise. If it comes offshore for five hours--and +it will wait for five hours before it does come offshore--we shall be +safe, inside, at one of your old haunts, Jean Lafitte; and back of us +will lie fifty miles of barrier--yon varlet may well have a care." + +"Yon varlet don't know where we have went," commented L'Olonnois in +his alarming grammar. + +"No, that is true. The water leaves no trail. Most Northerners go to +Florida for the winter, and not to these marshes. Methinks they will +have a long chase." + +"An' here," said Jean Lafitte, with much enthusiasm, "we kin lie +concealed an' dart out on passin' craft that strike our fancy as +prizes." + +"We could," said I, "but we will not." + +"Why not?" He seemed chilled by my reply. + +"Oh, we shall not need to," I hastened to explain. "We have everything +we need for a long stay here. We can live chiefly by hunting and +fishing for a month or so, until----" + +"Until the fair captive has gave her consent," broke in L'Olonnois, +also with enthusiasm. + +"Yes," said I, endeavoring a like enthusiasm. "Or, at least, until we +find it needful to go inland to one of the live-oak islands. There are +houses there. I know some of the planters over yonder." + +"Let's make them places scenes of rapeen!" suggested Jean Lafitte +anxiously. "They must have gold and jewels. Besides, I bear it well in +mind, many a time have I and my stout crew buried chests of treasure +on them islands. We c'd dig 'em up. Maybe them folks has a'ready dug +'em up. Then why not search their strongholds with a stout party of +our own hardy bullies, Black Bart?" + +"No," said I mildly; "for several reasons I think it best for my +hardy bullies to go and eat some breakfast and then go to sleep. If we +go into the live-oak heights above Cote Blanche, I think we'll only +ask for salt. I am almost sure, for instance, that my friend Edouard +Manning, of Bon Secours plantation, would give me salt if I asked it. +He has done so before. Beshrew me, it should go hard with him if he +refused." + +"There's a barrel an' eight boxes o' sacks o' salt aboard," said the +practical Jean Lafitte. "What'd you want so much salt for?" + +"'Twas yon varlet's idea," said I, "when he laid in the ship's stores. +But I had a mind that, to my taste, no salt is better than that made +by the Manning plantation mines. But now," I added, "to your +breakfast, after you have bathed." + +"Peterson," said I, after they had left me, and pointing to the chart, +"lay her west by south. I want to run inside the Timbalier Shoals." + +"Very shallow there, Mr. Harry--just look at the soundings, sir." + +"That's why I want to go. Hold on till you get the light at this +channel here, southeast of the Cote Blanche. You'll get a lot of +floating hyacinth, but do what you can. I'll take my trick, as soon as +I get a bite to eat. By night we'll be over our hurry and we can all +arrange for better sleep." + +"And then--I--ahem! Mr. Harry, what are your plans?" He was just a +trifle troubled over all this. + +"My plans, Peterson," said I, "are to anchor off Timbalier to-night, +to anchor in this channel of Cote Blanche to-morrow--and to eat +breakfast now." Saying which I left him gloomily shaking his head, but +laying her now west by south as I had made the course. + +"The glass is falling mighty fast, Mr. Harry," he called over his +shoulder to me by way of encouragement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IN WHICH IS CERTAIN POLITE CONVERSATION + + +My boy had ironed my trousers, that is to say, the trousers I had +given him the year previous, and which he now had loaned to me, my +extremity being greater than his own. He had laundered my collars--a +most useful boy, my China boy. I had, moreover, delving in Cal +Davidson's wardrobe, discovered yet another waistcoat, if possible +more radiant even than the one with pink stripes, for that it was +cross hatched with bars of pale pea green and mauve--I know not from +what looms he obtained these wondrous fabrics. Thus bravely attired +after breakfast, just before luncheon, indeed, it was, I felt +emboldened to call upon the captive ladies once more. With much shame +I owned that I had not seen Auntie Lucinda for nearly two days--and +with much trepidation, also, for I knew not what new bitterness her +soul, meantime, might have distilled into venom against my coming. + +I knocked at the door of the ladies' cabin, the aftermost suite on the +boat, and, at first, had no answer. The door, naturally, on a boat of +this size, would be low, the roof rising above decks no higher than +one's waist; and as I bent to knock again, the door of the companion +stairs was suddenly thrust open against my face, and framed in the +opening thus made, there appeared the august visage of Auntie Lucinda +herself. + +"Well, sir-r-r-r!" said she, after a time, regarding me sternly. I can +by no means reproduce the awfulness of her "r's." + +"Yes, madam?" I replied mildly, holding my nose, which had been +smitten by the door. + +She made no answer, but stood, a basilisk in mien. + +"I just came, my dear Mrs. Daniver," I began, "to ask you----" + +"And time you did, sir-r-r-r! I was just coming to ask _you_----" + +"And time you did, my dear Mrs. Daniver--I have missed you so much, +these several days. So I just called to ask for your health." + +"You need not trouble about my health!" + +"But I do, I do, madam! I give you my word, I was awake all night, +thinking of--of your neuralgia. Neuralgia is something--something +fierce, in a manner of speech--if one has it in the morning, my dear +Mrs. Daniver." + +"Don't 'dear Mrs. Daniver' me! I'm not your dear Mrs. Daniver at all." + +"Then whose dear Mrs. Daniver are you, my dear Mrs. Daniver?" I +rejoined most impudently. + +"If the poor dear Admiral were alive," said she, sniffing, "you should +repent those words!" + +"I wish the poor dear Admiral were here," said I. "I should like to +ask an abler sailorman than Peterson what to do, with the glass +falling as it is, and the holding ground none too good for an anchor. +I thought it just as well to come and tell you to prepare for the +worst." + +"The worst--what do you mean?" She now advanced three steps upward, so +that her shoulders were above the cabin door. Almost mechanically she +took my hand. + +"The worst just now is nothing worse than an orange with ice, my dear +Mrs. Daniver. And I only wanted you to come out on deck with--Miss +Emory--and see how blue the sea is." + +She advanced another step, being fond of an iced orange at +eleven-thirty. But now she paused. "My niece is resting," said she, +feeling her way. + +"No, I am not," I heard a voice say. Inadvertently I turned and almost +perforce glanced down the cabin stair. Helena, in a loose morning wrap +of pink, was lying on the couch. She now cast aside the covering of +eider-down, and shaking herself once, sprang up the stairs, so that +her dark hair appeared under Auntie Lucinda's own. Slowly that +obstacle yielded, and both finally stood on the after deck. The soft +wind caught the dark tendrils of Helena's hair. With one hand she +pushed at them. The other caught her loose robe about her softly +outlined figure. + +"Helena!" remarked her aunt, frowning. + +"I want an orange," remarked Miss Emory, addressing the impartial +universe, and looking about for John. + +"And shall have it. But," said I, finding a soft rug at the cabin-top, +"I think perhaps you may find the air cool. Allow me." I handed them +chairs, and with a hand that trembled a bit put the soft covering over +Helena's shoulders. She drew it close about her with one hand, and her +dark hair flowing about her cheeks, found her orange with the other +when John came with his tray. + +It was a wondrous morning in early fall. Never had a southern sky been +more blue, never the little curling waves saucier on the Gulf. The air +was mild, just fresh enough for zest. Around us circled many great +white gulls. Across the flats sailed a long slow line of pelicans; +and out yonder, tossing up now and then like a black floating blanket, +I could see a great raft of wild duck, taking their midday rest in +safety. All the world seemed a million miles away. Care did not exist. +And--so intimate and swiftly comprehensive is the human soul, +especially the more primal soul of woman--already and without words, +this young woman seemed to feel the less need of conversation, to +recognize the slackening rein of custom. So that a rug and a +wrapper--granted always also an aunt--seemed to her not amiss as full +equipment for reception of a morning caller. + +"A very good orange," said she at last. + +"Yes," said her aunt promptly; "I'm sure we ought to thank Mr. +Davidson for them. He was _such_ a good provider." + +"Except in waistcoats," I protested, casually indicating his latest +contribution to my wardrobe. "Quantity, yes, I grant that, but as to +quality, never! But why speak ill of the absent, especially regarding +matters of an earlier and bygone day? Yon varlet no longer exists for +us--we no longer exist for him. We have passed, as two ships pass +yonder in the channel. I know not what he may be doing now, unless +carrying roses to Miss Sally Byington. Certainly he can not know that +I, his hated rival, am safe from all pursuit behind the Timbalier +Shoals, and carrying oranges to a young lady in my belief almost as +beautiful as the beautiful Sally." + +Aunt Lucinda turned upon me a baleful eye. "You grow flippant as well +as rude, sir! As though you knew anything of that Byington girl. I +doubt if you ever saw her." + +"Oh, yes--last night. Miss Emory and I both saw her, last night, at +Luigi's. As for yon varlet's providing, while I would not too much +criticize a man whose waistcoats I wear even under protest, it is but +fair to say that these oranges and all the fresh things taken on at +New Orleans, are of my providing, and not his. He was so busy +providing other things for Miss Sally Byington." + +"I don't think she is so beautiful," said Helena, ceasing with her +orange. "Her color is so full. Very likely she'll be blowsy in a few +years." + +"How can you say so!" I rebuked, with much virtuous indignation. But +at the time I felt my heart leap at sight of Helena herself, the lines +of her slim graceful figure defined even under the rug she had drawn +about her neck, the wind-blown little neck curls and the long fuller +lock now plain against her fresh face, blown pale by the cool salt air +that sang above us gently. I could no longer even feign an interest in +any other woman in the world. So very unconsciously I chuckled to +myself, and Helena heard me. + +"You don't think so yourself!" she remarked. + +"Think what?" + +"That she is so beautiful." + +"No, I do not. Not as beautiful as----" + +"Look at the funny bird!" said Helena suddenly. Yet I could see +nothing out of the ordinary in the sea-bird she pointed out, skimming +and skipping close by. + +"Sir," demanded Aunt Lucinda, also suddenly, "how long is this to +last?" + +"You mean the orange-dish, Mrs. Daniver?" I queried politely. "As long +as you like. I also am a good provider, although to no credit, as it +seems." + +"You know I do not mean the oranges, sir. I mean this whole foolish +business. You are putting yourself liable to the law." + +"So did Jean Lafitte, over yonder in Barataria," said I, "but he lived +to a ripe old age and became famous. Why not I as well?" + +"--You are ruining those two boys. I weep to think of our poor +Jimmy--why, he lords it about as though he owned the boat. And such +language!" + +"He shall own a part of her if he likes, if all comes out well," said +I. "And as for Jean Lafitte, Junior, rarely have I seen a boy of +better judgment, cooler mind, or more talent in machinery. He shall +have an education, if he likes; and I know he will like." + +"It is wonderful what a waistcoat will do for the imagination," +remarked Helena, wholly casually. I turned to her. + +"I presume it is Mr. Davidson who is to be the fairy prince," added +Aunt Lucinda. + +"No, myself," I spoke quietly. Aunt Lucinda for once was almost too +unmistakable in her sniff of scorn. + +"I admit it seems unlikely," said I. "Still, this is a wonderful age. +Who can say what may be gained by the successful pirate!" + +"You act one!" commented Aunt Lucinda. "It is brutal. It is +outrageous. It is abominable. No gentleman would be guilty of such +conduct." + +"I grant you," said I, but flushed under the thrust. "But I am no +longer a gentleman where that conflicts with the purpose of my piracy. +I come of a family, after all, madam, who often have had their way in +piracy." + +"And left a good useful business to go away to idleness! And now +speak of doing large things! With whose money, pray?" + +"You are very direct, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I mildly, "but the +catechism is not yet so far along as that." + +"But why did you do this crazy thing?" + +"To marry Helena, and with your free consent as her next friend," said +I, swiftly turning to her. "Since I must be equally frank. Please +don't go!" I said to Helena, for now, very pale, she was starting +toward the cabin door. But she paid no heed to me, and passed. + +"So now you have it, plainly," said I to Mrs. Daniver. + +She turned on me a face full of surprise and anger mingled. "How dare +you, after all that has passed? You left the girl years ago. You have +no business, no fortune, not even the girl's consent. I'll not have +it! I love her." The good woman's lips trembled. + +"So do I," said I gently. "That is why we all are here. It is because +of this madness called love. Ah, Mrs. Daniver, if you only knew! If I +could make you know! But surely you do know, you, too, have loved. +Come, may you not love a lover, even one like myself? I'll be good to +Helena. Believe me, she is my one sacred charge in life. I love her. +Not worthy of her, no--but I love her." + +"That's too late." But I saw her face relent at what she heard. "I +have other plans. And you should have told her what you have told me." + +"Ah, have I not?" But then I suddenly remembered that, by some +reversal of my logical mind, here I was, making love to Auntie +Lucinda, whom I did not love, whereas in the past I had spent much +time in mere arguing with Helena, whom I did love. + +"I'm not sure that I've ever made it plain enough to her, that's +true," said I slowly. "But if she gives me the chance, I'll spend all +my life telling her that very thing. That, since you ask me, is why we +all are here--so that I may tell Helena, and you, and all the world, +that very thing. I love her, very much." + +"But suppose she does not love you?" demanded Mrs. Daniver. "I'll say +frankly, I've advised her against you all along. She ought to marry a +man of some station in the world." + +"With money?" + +"You put it baldly, but--yes." + +"Would that be enough--money?" I asked. + +"No. That is not fair----" + +"--Only honor between us now." + +"It would go for to-day. Because, after all, money means power, and +all of us worship power, you know--success." + +"And is that success--to have money, and then more money--and to go +on, piling up more money--to have more summer places, and more yachts +like this, and more city houses, and more money, money, money--yes, +yes, that's American, but is it all, is it right, is it the real +ambition for a man! And does that bring a woman happiness?" + +"What would you do if you had your money back?" asked Mrs. Daniver. +"You had a fortune from your father." + +"What would I do?" I rejoined hotly. "What I did do--settle every +claim against his honor as much as against his estate--judge his honor +by my own standards, and not his. Pay my debts--pay all my debts. It's +independence, madam, and not money that I want. It's freedom, Mrs. +Daniver, that I want, and not money. So far as it would be the usual +money, buying almost nothing that is worth owning, I give you my +solemn oath I don't care enough for it to work for it! So far as it +would help me be a man, help me to build my own character, help me +build manhood and character in my country--yes, I'd like it for that. +But if money were the price of Helena herself, I'd not ask for it. +The man who would court a girl with his money and not his manhood--the +woman who marries for money, or the man who does--what use has God +Almighty got for either of them? It's men and women and things worth +doing who make this world, Mrs. Daniver. I love her, so much, so +clearly, so wholly, that I think it must be right. And since you've +asked me, I've taken my man's chance, just to get you two alone, where +I could talk it over with you both." + +"It's been talked over, Harry," said she, rather uncomfortably. "Why +not let the poor child alone? Has it occurred to you how terribly hard +this is for her?" + +"Yes. But she can end it easily. Tell me, is she engaged to Davidson?" + +"What difference?" + +"None." + +"Why ask, then?" + +"Tell me!" + +"Well then, no, not so far as I know." + +"You are sorry?" + +"I had hope for it. It was all coming on so handsomely. At Natchez he +was--he was, well, you know----" + +"Almost upon the point?" + +"Quite so. I thought, I believed that between there and----" + +"Say between there and Baton Rouge----" + +"Well, yes----" + +"He would come to the main point?" + +"Yes." + +"And he did not?" + +"You can best answer. It was at Natchez that you and those ruffianly +boys ran off with Mr. Davidson's boat!" + +"That's all, your Honor," I remarked. "Take the witness, Mr. +Davidson!" + +"But what right you have to cross-question me, I don't know!" +commented Mrs. Daniver, addressing a passing sea-gull, and pulling +down the corners of her mouth most forbiddingly. + +"My disused and forgotten art comes back to me once in a while, my +dear Mrs. Daniver," I answered exultantly. "Pray, do you notice how +beautiful all the world is this morning? The sky is so wonderful, the +sea so adorable, don't you see?" + +"I see that we are a long way from home. Tell me, are these sharks +here?" + +"Oodles," said I, "and very large. No use trying to swim away. And +yonder coast is inhabited only by hostile cannibals. Barataria itself, +over yonder, is to-day no more than a shrimp-fishing village, part +Chinese, part Greek and part Sicilian. The railway runs far to the +north, and the ship channel is far to the east. No one comes here. It +is days to Galveston, westward, and between lies a maze of +interlocking channels, lakes and bayous, where boats once hid and may +hide again. Once we unship our flag mast, and we shall lie so saucy +and close that behind a bank of rushes we never would be seen. And we +do not burn coal, and so make no smoke. Here is my chosen hiding +ground. In short, madam, you are in my power!" + +"But really, how far----" + +"Since you ask, I will answer. Yonder, to the westward, a bayou comes +into Cote Blanche. Follow that bayou, eighty miles from here, and you +come to the house of my friend, Edouard Manning, the kindest man in +Louisiana, which is to say much. I had planned to have the wedding +there." + +"Your effrontery amazes me--I doubt your sanity!" said Aunt Lucinda, +horrified. "But what good will all this do you?" + +She had a certain bravery all her own, after all. Almost, I was on the +point of telling her the truth; which was that I had during the long +night resolved once more to offer my hand to Helena, and if she now +refused me, to accept my fate. I would torture her no more. No, if now +she were still resolute, it was my purpose to sail up yonder bayou, to +land at the Manning plantation, and there to part forever from Helena +and all my friends. I knew corners of the world far enough that none +might find me. + +But I did not tell Aunt Lucinda this. Instead, I made no answer; and +we both sat looking out over the rippling gulf, silent for some time. +I noted now a faint haze on the horizon inshore, like distant +cloud-banks, not yet distinct but advancing. Aunt Lucinda, it seemed, +was watching something else through the ship's glasses which she had +picked up near by. + +"What is that, over yonder?" asked she--"it looks like a wreck of some +kind." + +"It is a wreck--that of a lighthouse," I told her. "It is lying flat +on its side, a poor attitude for a lighthouse. The great tidal wave of +the gulf storm, four years ago, destroyed it. We are now, to tell the +truth, at the edge of that district which causes the Weather Bureau +much uncertainty--a breeding ground of the tropical cyclones that +break between the Indies and this coast." + +"And you bring us here?" + +"Only to pass to the inner channels, madam, where we should be safer +in case of storm. To-night, we shall anchor in the lee of a long +island, where the lighthouse is still standing, in its proper +position, and where we shall be safe as a church." + +"Sharks! Storms! Shipwrecks!" moaned she. + +--"And pirates," added I gently, "and cannibals. Yes, madam, your +plight is serious, and I know not what may come of it all--I wish I +did." + +"Well, no good will come of it, one thing sure," said Aunt Lucinda, +preparing to weep. + +And indeed, an instant later, my mournful skipper seemed to bear her +out. I saw Peterson standing expectant, a little forward, now. + +"Well, Peterson?" I rose and went to him. + +"I beg pardon, sir, Mr. Harry," said he somewhat anxiously, "but we've +bent her port shaft on a cursed oyster reef." + +"Very well, Peterson. Suppose we run with the starboard screw." + +"And the intake's clogged again with this cursed fine sand we've +picked up." + +"After I warned Williams?" + +"Yes, sir. And that's not the worst, sir." + +"Indeed? You must be happy, Peterson!" + +"We can't log over eight knots now, and it's sixty miles to our light +back of the big key." + +"Excellent, Peterson!" + +"And the glass is falling mighty fast." + +"In that case, Peterson," said I, "the best thing you can do is to +hold your course, and the best thing I can do is to get ready for +lunch." + +"The best thing either of us can do is to get some sleep," said he, +"for we may not get much to-night. She'll break somewhere after sunset +to-night, very likely." + +"Peterson," said I, "let us hope for the worst." + +All the same, I did not wholly like the look of things, for I had seen +these swift gulf storms before. A sudden sinking of the heart came +over me. What if my madness, indeed, should come to mean peril to her? +Swiftly I stepped back to the door of the ladies' cabin, where Mrs. +Daniver now disappeared. "Helena!" I cried. + +"Yes?" I heard her answer as she stepped toward the little stair. + +"Did you say 'Yes'?" I rejoined suddenly. + +"No, I did not! I only meant to ask what you wanted." + +"As though you did not know! I wanted only to call you to get ready +for luncheon. One of the owners of this waistcoat has provided a +pompano, not to mention some excellent endive. And the weather is +fine, isn't it?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK + + +It must be understood that our party on the _Belle Helene_ was divided +into two, or rather, indeed, three camps, each somewhat sharply +defined and each somewhat ignorant of the other's doings in detail. +The combination of either two against the other, in organized mutiny, +might very well prove successful, wherefore it was my task to keep all +apart by virtue of the authority which I had myself usurped. The +midship's cabin suite, of three rooms, was occupied by myself and my +two bold young mates--when the latter were not elsewhere engaged. We +made what might be called the ruling classes. Forward of our cabin, +and accessible only from the deck, was the engine-room where Williams +worked, and off this were two bunks, well ventilated and very +comfortable, occupied by Williams and Peterson. Forward of this, and +also accessible only from the deck, lay the dining saloon, with its +fixed table, its cupboards, dish racks and wine-room. In her bows and +below the saloon was the cook's gallery, a dumb-waiter running +between; and the sleeping quarters of John, the cook, and Willy, the +deck-hand, were in the forecastle below. This left the two captives +all the after part of the ship pretty much to themselves, and as the +after-suite of cabins was roomy and fitted with every modern nautical +luxury, they lacked neither freedom nor comfort, so far as these may +obtain on shipboard. Obviously, I said little to the ship's crew, +except to Peterson, and my two mates had orders to keep to their own +part of the ship, under my eye. + +Thus, like ancient Gaul, divided into three parts, we sailed on our +wholly indefinite voyage; and all I could do was to live from day to +day, or hour to hour. I was content, for Helena was there. Indeed, I +question if, these last three years, her image had not been always +present in my consciousness; such are the fevers of our unreasoning +blood, such the power of that madness known as love. + +But, thus divided as was our company, I had none such excellent +opportunity for often seeing Helena, as might at first be supposed. +She and her aunt refused to join us at any meal in the dining saloon; +although, now and then, they came for breakfast to what Auntie Lucinda +with scorn called the "second table". It was not feasible for me, +often, to do more than call of a morning to inquire if all was well +with them; and conversation through a lead-glass transom is not what +one would call intimate. Helena could bar her door if she liked in +more ways than one; and against the fences that she raised against me +one way or another, what with headaches, whims or Aunt Lucinda, I had +now no chance to meet her alone save as she herself might dictate. So +that, after all, though now I stood as commander of the _Belle Helene_ +in place of yon varlet, Cal Davidson, although I ate his ship's +stores, wore, indeed, his waistcoats and his neckties when that was +humanly possible, I was his successor only and not his equal. He +could--nay, had done so--meet Helena as he liked, at meals, on deck, +on a thousand errands, whereas I was helpless to do so. He could talk +with her all over the ship, take her alone on deck of a moonlit night, +listen to her sing, gaze--oh, curse him!--on the little curls on +Helena's neck--but no! I could not endure that thought. The round +white neck, the white shoulders, the soft curves beneath the +peignoir's careless irreverences--why, it was an intolerable thought +that any man should raise eye or heart or thought to Helena, save +myself. So, this morning, after that rare and unconventional meeting +on the after deck, one easily may see how much I wished all Gaul were +divided into but two parts, and that the occupants of the reserved +after cabin would come to lunch in the saloon with their captors, +Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois. + +Now, 'tis an odd thing, but one of my superstitions, that when we wish +much and fervently and cleanly for any certain thing, one day that +thing is ours. Some day, some time, some hour or instant, our dear +desire, our coveted thing, our wish, comes and flutters and alights at +our side; if really we have deserved it and have wished long and +deeply and honestly and purposefully. You ask proof? Well, then, +hardly had we three, Black Bart, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois, +seated ourselves at table for luncheon that day before I became +sensible of a faint shadow at the saloon stair. I saw a trim boot and +a substantial ankle which I knew belonged to Aunt Lucinda; and then I +looked up and saw on the deck Helena also, stooped, her clean-cut +head, with its blown dark hair, visible against the blue sky. + +"May I come in?" she asked gaily enough. And I reached up next to her +to hand her down, and smooth down her skirt for her at the rather +awkward narrow stair. + +"You are always invited," said I, and perhaps I flushed in my +pleasure. "John," I called down the tube, "two more--the ladies." And +I heard his calm "All lite." + +My young gentlemen had risen, politely, but Helena gently pushed them +down into their places. "Be seated here, ladies," said I. "These +places are, as you see, always spread for you. Your covers wait. And +all the ship's silver shall see duty now. L'Olonnois, my hearty, you +and I shall serve, eh? I am, indeed, delighted--greatly delighted--I +shall not inquire, I shall only hope." + +"Well," boomed the deep voice of Auntie Lucinda, "we came because we +did not like the look of things." + +"To be sure, things are not looking bully," I assented vaguely. + +"I mean the weather. It's getting black, and it's colder. And after +what you told me about the storms, and that lighthouse being blown +down----" + +"My dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, helping her to her chair while +L'Olonnois served his Auntie Helena in like fashion, "you really must +not take one too seriously. That lighthouse fell over of its own +weight--the contractor's work was done shamefully." + +"But you said it blew," ventured Helena. + +"It blows, a little, now and then, to be sure, but never very much, +only enough to enable the oyster boats and shrimpers to get in. How +could we have oysters without a sailing breeze?" + +"It's more than a breeze," said Aunt Lucinda. "My neuralgia tells +me----" + +"It is fortunate that you honored us, my dear Mrs. Daniver," said I, +"for I have here in the cooler a bottle of ninety-three. I had an +inspiration. I knew you would come, for nothing in the world could +have pleased me so much." + +I was looking at Helena, whose eyes were cast down. I observed now +that she was in somewhat elegant morning costume, her bridge coat of +Vienna lace, caught with a wide bar of plain gold, covering some soft +and shimmering under-bodice which fitted closely enough to be formal. +And I saw she had on many rings, and that her throat sparkled under a +circlet of gems. + +She must have caught my glance of surprise, for she said nervously, +"You think we are overplaying our return call? Well, the truth is, +we're afraid." + +"So then?"--and I bowed. + +"So then I fished out all my jewelry." + +"We are honored." + +"Well, I didn't know what might happen. If one should be +shipwrecked----" I caught her frightened gaze out an open port, +perfectly aware myself of the swift weather change. + +"There is nothing like dressing the part of the shipwrecked," said I. +"For myself, these same flannels will do." + +"Pshaw!" said young L'Olonnois, "suppose she does pitch a little--it +ain't any worse'n on the _Mauretania_ when we went across. I ain't +scared, are you, John?" + +"No," replied Jean Lafitte shyly. He was almost overawed with the +ladies. But I liked the look of his eye now. + +"She's not as big as the _Mauretania_," said Helena, fixing +L'Olonnois' collar for him. + +"I'm sure she's going to roll horribly," added Aunt Lucinda. "And if I +should be seasick, with my neuralgia, I'm sure I don't know what I +should do." + +"_I_ know!" remarked L'Olonnois; and Helena promptly dropped her hand +over his mouth. + +"Let us not think of storm and shipwreck," said I, "at least until +they come. I want to ask your attention to John's imitation of Luigi's +oysters _a la mariniere_. The oysters are of our own catching this +morning. For, you must know, the water hereabout is very shallow, and +is full of oysters." + +"You said full of sharks," corrected Aunt Lucinda. + +"Did I? I meant oysters." And I helped her to some from the +dumb-waiter and uncorked the very last bottle of the ninety-three left +in the case. "And as for this storm of which you speak, ladies," I +added as I poured, "I would there might come every day as ill a wind +if it would blow me as great a good as yourselves for luncheon." + +"Yes," said L'Olonnois brightly, "you might blow in once in a while +an' see us fellers. I told Black Bart that captives----" but here I +kicked Jimmy under the table. Poor chap, what with his Auntie Helena's +hand at one extremity and my boot at the other, he was strained in his +conversation, and in disgust, joined Jean Lafitte in complete silence +and oysters. + +"Really," and Helena raised her eyes, "isn't it growing colder?" + +"Jean, close the port behind Miss Emory," said I. It was plain enough +to my mind that a blue norther was breaking, with its swift drop in +temperature and its possibly high wind. + +"The table's actin' funny," commented Jean Lafitte presently. He had +never been at sea before. + +"Yes," said Aunt Lucinda, with very much--too much--dignity. "If you +all will please excuse me, I think I shall go back to the cabin. +Helena!" + +"Go with Mrs. Daniver at once, Jimmy," said I to L'Olonnois. + +"Aye, aye, Sir!" saluted he joyously; and added aside as he passed me, +"Hope the old girl's going to be good an' sick!" + +I could see Peterson standing near the saloon's door, and bethought me +to send Jean Lafitte up to aid him in making all shipshape. We were +beginning to roll; and I missed the smooth thrust of both our +propellors, although now the engines were purring smoothly enough. +Thus by mere chance, I found myself alone with Helena. I put out a +hand to steady her as she rose. + +"Is it really going to be bad?" she inquired anxiously. "Auntie gets +_so_ sick." + +"It will be rough, for three hours yet," I admitted. "She's not so big +as the _Mauretania_, but as well built for her tonnage. You couldn't +pound her apart, no matter what came--she's oak and cedar, through and +through, and every point----" + +"You've studied her well, since you--since you came aboard?" + +--"Yes, yes, to be sure I have. And she's worth her name. Don't you +think it was mighty fine of--of Mr. Davidson to name her after +you--the _Belle Helene_?" + +"He never did. If he had, why?" + +"Don't ask such questions, with the glass falling as it is," I said, +pulling up the racks to restrain the dancing tumblers. + +"Oh, don't joke!" she said. "Harry!" + +"Yes, Helena," said I. + +"I'm afraid!" + +"Why?" + +"I don't know. But we seem so little and the sea so big. And it's +getting black, and the fog is coming. Look--you can't see the +shore-line any more now." + +It was as she said. The swift bank of vapor had blotted out the +low-lying shores entirely. We sailed now in a narrowing circle of +mist. I saw thin points of moisture on the port lights. And now I +began to close the ports. + +"There _is_ danger!" she reiterated. + +"All horses can run away, all auto cars can blow up, all boats can +sink. But we have as good charts and compasses as the _Mauretania_, +and in three hours----" + +"But much can happen in three hours." + +"Much has happened in less time. It did not take me so long as that to +love you, Helena, and that I have not forgotten in more than five +years. Five years, Helena. And as to shipwreck, what does one more +matter? It is you who have made shipwreck of a man's life. Take shame +for that." + +"Take shame yourself, to talk in this way to me, when I am helpless, +when I can't get away, when I'm troubled and frightened half to death? +Ah, fine of you to persecute a girl!" She sobbed, choking a little, +but her head high. "Let me out, I'm going to Auntie Lucinda. I hate +you more and more. If I were to drown, I'd not take aid from you." + +"Do you mean that, Helena?" I asked, more than the chill of the +norther in my blood. + +"Yes, I mean it. You are a _coward_!" + +I stood for quite a time between her and the companion stair, my hand +still offering aid as she swayed in the boat's roll now. I was +thinking, and I was very sad. + +"Helena," said I, "perhaps you have won. That's a hard word to take +from man or woman. If it is in any way true, you have won and I have +lost, and deserved to lose. But now, since little else remains, let me +arrange matters as simply as I can. I'll admit there's an element of +risk in our situation--one screw is out of commission, and one engine +might be better. If we missed the channel west of the shoals, we +might go aground--I hope not. Whether we do or not, I want to tell +you--over yonder, forty or fifty miles, is the channel running inland, +which was my objective point all along. I know this coast in the dark, +like a book. Now, I promise you, I'll take you in there to friends of +mine, people of your own class, and no one shall suspect one jot of +all this, other than that we were driven out of our course. And once +there, you are free. You never will see my face again. I will do this, +as a ship's man, for you, and if need comes, will give my life to keep +you safe. It's about all a coward can do for you. Now go, and if any +time of need comes for me to call you, you will be called. And you +will be cared for by the ship's men. And because I am head of the +ship's men, you will do as I say. But I hope no need for this will +come. Yonder is our course, where she heads now, and soon you will be +free from me. You have wrecked me. Now I am derelict, from this time +on. Good-by." + +I heard footfalls above. "Mrs. Daniver's compliments to Captain Black +Bart," saluted L'Olonnois, "an' would he send my Auntie Helena back, +because she's offle sick." + +"Take good care of your Auntie Helena, Jimmy," said I, "and help her +aft along the rail." + +I followed up the companionway, and saw her going slowly, head down, +her coat of lace blown wide; her hand at her throat, and sobbing in +what Jimmy and I both knew was fear of the storm. + +"Have they got everything they need there, Jimmy?" I asked, as he +returned. + +"Sure. And the old girl's going to have a peach of a one this +time--she can't hardly rock in a rockin' chair 'thout gettin' seasick. +I think it's great, don't you? Look at her buck into 'em!" + +Jimmy and his friend shared this immunity from _mal de mer_. I could +see Jean now helping haul down our burgee, and the deck boy, Willy, in +his hurried work about the boat. Williams, I could not see. But +Peterson was now calm and much in his element, for a better skipper +than he never sailed a craft on the Great Lakes. + +"I think she's going to blow great guns," said he, "and like enough +the other engine'll pop any minute." + +"Yes?" I answered, stepping to the wheel. "In which case we go to Davy +Jones about when, Peterson?" + +"We don't go!" he rejoined. "She's the grandest little ship afloat, +and not a thing's the matter with her." + +"Can we make the channel and run inside the long key below the Cote +Blanche Bayou?" + +"Sure we can. You'd better get the covers off the boats, and see the +bottom plugs in and some water and supplies shipped aboard--but +there's not the slightest danger in the world for _this_ boat, let me +tell you that, sir. I've seen her perform before now, and there's not +a storm can blow on this coast she won't ride through." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +IN WHICH IS SHIPWRECK OF OTHER SORT + + +After the fashion of these gulf storms, this one tarried not in its +coming, nor offered any clemency when it had arrived. Where but a +half-hour since the heavens had been fair, the sea rippling, suave and +kind, now the sky was not visible at all and the tumbling waves about +us rolled savagely as in a nature wholly changed. The wind sang +ominously overhead, as with lift and plunge we drove on into a bank of +mist. A chill as of doom swiftly had replaced the balm of the southern +sky; and forsooth, all the mercy of the world seemed lost and gone. + +And as our craft, laboring, thrust forward blindly into this reek, +with naught of comfort on any hand, nor even the dimmest ray of hope +visible from any fixed thing on ahead, in like travail of going, in +like groaning to the very soul, the bark of my life now lay in the +welter, helpless, reft of storm and strife, blind, counseled by no +fixed ray ahead. I know not what purpose remained in me, that, like +the ship which bore us, I still, dumbly and without conscious +purpose, forged onward to some point fixed by reason or desire before +reason and desire had been engulfed by this final unkindness of the +world. For myself, I cared little or none at all. The plunge of the +boat, the shriek of the wind, the wild magic and mystery of it, would +have comported not ill with a strong man's tastes even in hours more +happy, and now, especially, they jumped with the wild protest of a +soul eager for some outlet of action or excitement. But for these +others, these women--this woman--these boys, all brought into this +danger by my own mad folly, ah! when the thought of these arose, a +swift remorse caught me; and though for myself I feared not at all, +for these I feared. + +Needs must, therefore, use every cool skilled resource that lay at +hand. No time now for broken hearts to ask attention, the ship must be +sailed. Crippled or not, what she had of help for us must be got out +of her, used, fostered, nourished. All the art of the navigator must +be charged with this duty. We must win through. And, as many a man who +has seen danger will testify, the great need brought to us all a great +calm and a steady precision in that which needed doing. + +I saw Peterson at the wheel, wet to the skin, as now and again a +seventh wave, slow, portentous, deadly-deliberate, showed ahead of us, +advanced, reared and pounded down on us with its tons of might. But he +only shook the brine from his eyes and held her up, waiting for the +slow pulse of our crippled engine to come on. + +"Can't keep my pipe lit!" he called to me, as I stood beside him; and +at last, Peterson, in a real time of danger, seemed altogether happy +and altogether free of apprehension beyond that regarding his pipe. + +At the first breaking of the storm I had, of course, ordered all ports +closed, and had sent both my young companions to the ladies' cabin +aft, as the driest part of the boat. Even there, the water that +sometimes fell upon our decks as the great waves broke, poured aft and +even broke about the cabin, drenching everything above deck. It was +man's work that was to be done now, yet none could bear a hand in it +save the engineer and the steersman. I was, therefore, ready sternly +to reprove Jean Lafitte when, presently, I saw him making the perilous +passage forward, clinging to the rail and wet to the skin before he +could reach the forward deck. But he protested so earnestly and seemed +withal so fit and keen, that I relented and allowed him to take his +place by us at the wheel, showing him as well as I could, on the +chart, the course we were trying to hold--the mouth of a long channel, +six miles or more, dredged by the government across a foot of the bay +and making through to deeper and more sheltered waters beyond. + +"S'posin' we don't hit her, in this fog!" asked Jean Lafitte. + +"It is our business to do that," was my reply. "In an hour or so more +we shall know. How did you leave the ladies, Jean?" + +"Jimmy, he's sicker'n anything," was his reply, "except the old lady, +and she's sicker'n Jimmy! The young lady, Miss Emory, she's all right, +an' she's holdin' their heads. She says she don't get sick. Neither do +I--ain't that funny? But gee, this is rougher'n any waves ever was on +our lake. What're you goin' to do?" + +"Hold straight ahead, Jean," I answered. "Now, wouldn't you better go +back to the others?" + +"Naw, I ain't scared--much. I told Jimmy, I did, any pirate ought to +be ashamed to get sick. But they're all scared. So'm I, some," he +added frankly. + +I might have made some confession of my own, had I liked, for I did +not, in the least, fancy the look of things; but after a time, I +compromised with sturdy Jean by sending him below into the dining +saloon, whence he could look out through the glass front and see the +tumbling sea ahead. Through the glazed housing I could see him +standing, hands in pockets, legs wide, gazing out in the simple +confidence that all was well, and enjoying the tumult and excitement +of it all in his boyish ignorance. + +"He don't know!" grinned Peterson to me, and I only nodded in silence. + +"Where are we, Peterson?" I asked, putting a finger on the wet chart +before us. + +"I don't know," replied the old man. "It depends on the drift, which +we can't calculate. Soundings mean nothing, for she's shallow for +miles. If the fog would break, so we could see the light--there ain't +any fog-buoy on that channel mouth, and it's murder that there ain't. +It's this d----d fog that makes it bad." + +I looked at my watch. It was now going on five o'clock, and in this +light, it soon would be night for us. Peterson caught the time, and +frowned. "Wish't we was in," said he. "No use trying to anchor unless +we must, anyhow--she'll ride mighty wet out here. Better buck on into +it." + +So we bucked on in, till five, till five-thirty, till six, and all +the boat's lights revealed was a yellow circle of fog that traveled +with us. Wet and chilled, we two stood at the wheel together, in such +hard conditions that no navigator and no pilot could have done much +more than grope. + +"We must have missed her!" admitted the old skipper at last. "I don't +fancy the open gulf, and I don't fancy piling her up on some shore in +here. What do you think we should do, Mr. Harry?" + +"Listen!" said I, raising a hand. + +"There's no bell-buoy," said he. + +"No, but hark. Don't you hear the birds--there's a million geese and +swans and ducks calling over yonder." + +"Right, by George!" said he. "But where?" + +"They'd not be at sea, Peterson. They must be in some fresh-water lake +inside some key or island. On the Long Key there's such an inland +lake." + +"It's beyond the channel, maybe?" said he. But he signaled Williams to +go slow, and that faithful unseen Cyclops, on whose precious engines +so much depended, obeyed and presently put out a head at his hatch, +quickly withdrawing it as a white sea came inboard. + +"We'll crawl on in," said Peterson. "The light can't be a thousand +miles from here. If only there was a nigger man and a dinner bell +beside the light--that's the trouble. And now--good God! _There she +goes!_" + +With a jar which shook the good boat to the core, we felt the bottom +come up from the depths and smite us. Our headway ceased, save for a +sickening crunching crawl. The waves piled clear across our port bow +as we swung. And so we hung, the gulf piling in on us in our yellow +rimmed world. And at the lift and hollow of the sea we rose and +pounded sullenly down, in such fashion as would have broken the back +of any boat less stanch than ours. + +Here, in an eye's flash, was danger tangible and real. I heard a +shriek from the cabin aft, and called out for them all to keep below +and keep the ports closed. Peterson had the power off in an instant, +and swung her head as best he could with the dying headway; but it +only put her farther on the shoal. + +"It's the Timbalier Shoals!" he screamed. "Oh, d---- it all! We'll +lose her, now." I recalled that his concern seemed rather for his boat +than the lives she carried. + +Jean Lafitte came bounding up the companionway, his face pale, but +ready for ship's discipline. "Come," said I quickly, "help me with the +anchor." A moment later, we sprung the capstan clutch, and I heard the +brief growl of the anchor chain as the big hook ran free. Glad enough +I was to think of the extra size it had. We eased her down and made +fast under Peterson's orders now, and so swung into the head of the +sea, which mercilessly lifted us and flung us down like a monkey +seeking to crack a cocoanut shell. Williams joined us now, and Willie +and John, pale as Jean Lafitte, came up from the forecastle, all +shouting and jabbering. I ran aft as soon as might be, and only pulled +up at the cabin door to summon such air of calm as I might. I rapped, +but followed in, not waiting. Helena met me, pale, her eyes wide, her +hair disheveled, but none the less mistress of herself. + +"What is it?" she demanded. "What makes it jolt?" + +"We've gone aground," said I. "She does pound a little, doesn't she?" + +She looked out into the wild night, across which the voices of the +confused wild fowl came like souls in torment. + +"This is terrible!" said she simply. "Are we lost?" + +"No," said I. "Let us hear no such talk. Go below, now, and keep +quiet. We may pass the night here, or we may conclude after a little +to go on ahead a little farther. We've just dropped the anchor. The +island's just over there a way." I did not care to be too specific. + +"What is it, oh, what is it?" I heard the faint voice of Mrs. Daniver. +"Oh, this is awful. I--am--going--to--die, going to _die_!" The agony +of _mal de mer_ was hers now of full license, for the choppy sea was +sustained on the bosom of a long ground swell, coming we knew not +whence. + +"Jimmy!" I called down. "Are you there?" + +"Yes, Sir," answered L'Olonnois bravely, from his place on the floor. +"I'm feeling pretty funny, but I'll be all right--maybe." + +"Stay right where you are--and you also, Miss Emory. I must go forward +now, and just came to tell you it's all right. If there should be any +need, we'll let you know. Now keep down, and keep the door shut." + +"I'm--going--to--_die_!" moaned Mrs. Daniver as I left. Helena made no +outcry, but that horror possessed her I knew very well, for every +reason told us that our case was desperate. The boat might start her +seams or break her back, any instant, now. + +I found the men trying to make soundings all about us as best they +could with boat hooks and a spare spar. But it came to little. + +"Peterson," said I, "you're ship's master. What are your orders?" + +"Unlash the boat covers," said he. "Get even the dingey ready. +Williams, close your hatch and bear a hand to swing the big boat out +in her davits. Set the bottom plugs in well. And Mr. Harry, you and +John, the Chink, had better get some stores and a case or so of +bottled water aboard the long boat. Have you got the slickers and rugs +ready, and plenty of clothes? We'll just be ready if it happens. I +don't know where that damned light or the damned channel is, but the +damned ducks maybe know where some damned thing is. We'll run for +them, if we can't ride her out." + +We all hurried now, Jean Lafitte at my heels, silent and faithful as a +dog, aiding me as I piled blankets and coats and rugs from our cabin +into the ship's boat, which swayed and swung perilously at the davits. +What with the aid of John, the China boy, and Willy, the deck-hand, we +also got supplies aboard her, I scarce knew what, except that there +seemed abundance. And then we stood waiting for what might happen, +helpless in the hands of the offended elements, and silent all. I +held Jean's hand in my own. He was loyal to his mate, even now. +"Jimmy'd be here," he said. "'Course he would, only he's so awful +sick. I ain't sick--yet, but I feel funny, someway." + +Peterson stood looking ahead, but was anxious. "She's coming up +stronger," said he, "and two points on the port quarter. We're going +on harder all the time. Anchor's dragging. Afraid we're going to lose +her, Mr. Harry." + +"Hush!" said I, nodding to the boy. "And turn on the search-light. It +seems to me I hear breakers in there." + +"That's so," said the old man. "Hook on the light's battery, Williams, +and let's see what we can see." + +The strong beam, wavering from side to side, plowed a furry path into +the fog. It disclosed at first only the succession of angry incoming +waves, each, as it passed, thudding us down on the bar of shell and +mud and slime. But at last, off to starboard and well astern in our +new position, riding at anchor, we raised a faint white line of broken +water which seemed a constant feature; and now and then caught the low +boom of the surf. + +"She ain't a half mile, over yonder," I heard Willy, the deck-hand, +say. "An' we could almost walk it if it wasn't for the sea." + +"Yes, sir," said Williams, "we'd do fine in there now, with them +boats. When we hit that white water----" + +"Shut up!" ordered Peterson. "Safe as a church, here or there, you +lubbers. Stand by your tackle, and keep your chin. Mr. Harry, tell the +ladies just to wrap up a bit, because--well, maybe, because----" + +"Call me when it is time, Peterson," said I; and moved aft, holding +Jean Lafitte by the arm. + +"Gee!" said he, as he dropped, wet and out of breath, into the cabin; +and "Gee!" remarked a very pale L'Olonnois in return, gamely as he +could. And Mrs. Daniver's moans went rhythmic with the pound of the +keel on the shoal. + +"What shall we do?" asked Helena at last calmly. "Auntie is very sick. +I am beginning to fear for her, it is such a bad attack. This is as +rough as I ever saw it on the Channel." + +"There is no danger," said I, "but Peterson and I just thought that if +she kept on pounding in this way, it might be better to go ashore." + +I spoke lightly, but well enough I knew the risk of trying to launch a +boat in such a sea; and what the surf might be, none could say. Ah, +how I wished that my empty assurance might be the truth. For I knew +that, anyway we looked, only danger stared back at us now, on every +hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +IN WHICH WE TAKE TO THE BOATS + + +I looked at the woman I loved, and self-reproach was in my soul, as I +saw a shudder go across her form. She was pale, but beyond a swift +look at me made no sign connecting me, either with the wreck or the +rescue. I think she had even then abandoned all hope of safety; and in +my own heart, such, also, was the rising conviction which I concealed. +Under the inborn habit of self-preservation, under the cultivated +habit of the well born, to show no fear and to use the resources of a +calm mind to the last in time of danger, we stood now, at least, in +some human equality. And again I lied and said, "There is no danger," +though I could see the white rollers and could hear their roar on the +shore. + +The night grew wilder. The great gulf storm had not yet reached its +climax, and none could tell what pitch of fury that might mean. The +dull jar of the boat as she time and again was flung down by the +waves, the shiver and creak and groan of the sturdy craft, told us +that the end might come at any instant, though now the anchor held +firm and our crawl on to the shoal had ceased. All around us was water +only four or five feet deep, but water whose waves were twice as high. +Once the final crash came, and it would be too late to launch a boat, +and all of us, overboard in that welter, were gone. + +Silently, I stepped on deck once more, and motioned to Willy, the +deck-hand, to bring me the life preservers. "Put them on," I said to +Helena. + +"Oh, I can't. I can't!" moaned the older woman. "I'm dying--let me +alone." + +"Stop this nonsense, madam," said I sternly--knowing that was the only +way--"put it on at once. You too, Miss Emory, and you, my boys. Quick. +Then throw on loose wraps--all you can. It will be cold." + +In spite of all my efforts to seem calm, the air of panic ran swiftly. +Mrs. Daniver awoke to swift action as she tremblingly fastened the +belt about her. Pushing past me, she reached the deck, and so mad was +she that in all likelihood she would have sprung overboard. I caught +at her, and though my clutch brought away little more than a handful +of false hair, it seemed to restore her reason though it destroyed her +coiffure. "Enough of this!" I cried to her. "Take your place by the +boat, and do as you are told." And I saw Helena pass forward, also, as +we all reached the deck, herself pale as a wraith, but with no outcry +and no spoken word. So, at last, I ranged them all near the boat that +swung ready at the davits. + +"We can't all get in that," said Jean Lafitte. + +"No," said I: and I did not like to look at the tiny dingey which lay +on the cabin-top, squat and tub-like, or the small ducking skiff that +here on deck was half full of water from the breaking seas. + +"Peterson," said I, "take charge of the big boat here. Take Williams +to run her motor for you. And the ladies will go with you." + +I turned to the two boys, and my heart leaped in pride for them both; +for when I motioned to Jimmy to make ready for the large boat, with +the ladies, he stepped back, pale as he was. "Not unless John goes, +too," said he. And they stood side by side, simply and with no outcry, +their young faces grave. + +"He must go with us--Jimmy," broke out Helena yearningly: "and so must +you." + +"Shut up, Auntie," exclaimed Jimmy most irreverently. "Who's a-runnin' +this boat, like to know?" Which abashed his auntie very much. + +"We'll take this one," said Jean Lafitte, and already was tipping the +duck boat. "It'll carry us three if it has to." And I allowed him and +his mate to stand by, not daring to look at its inadequate shell and +again at the breaking seas. + +That left the dingey for Willy and the cook. I glanced at Willy. +"Which would you rather chance?" I asked him, "the dingey or the duck +boat?" + +"The dingey," said he quickly,--and we both knew the cork-like quality +of this stubby craft. + +"Very well," said I. "Call John, when the word comes to go." + +"Aren't you going with us?" asked Helena now, suddenly, approaching +me. I took one long look into her eyes, then, "Obey orders," was all I +said, and pointed to the larger boat. I said good-by to her then. And, +in the swift intuitive justice that comes to us in moments of +extremity, I passed sentence upon these young boys and myself. Though +they had sinned in innocence, though I had sinned in love, it had been +our folly that had brought these others into this peril, and our +chance must be the least. Peterson and Williams would be a better team +in the big boat than any other we could afford. I saw Peterson step +toward us, and divined what was in his mind. "I'm owner of this boat, +my man," said I. "Go to your duty. You're needed in the big boat." + +"I'm last to leave her," whispered the old man. "She's my boat, and +I've run her." + +"Peterson," said I, taking him aside, "I'll buy us another boat. But +there is no woman on earth, nor ever will be, like that one yonder. +Save her. It is your first duty. I wanted that for myself, but she +thinks I'm a coward, and I would be, if I arranged our crews any other +way than just as we are. Take your boat through. We others will do the +best we can. And give the word for the boats when you're sure we can't +ride it out." + +Silently, the old man touched his cap, and giving me one look, he went +to the bows of his boat. The _Belle Helene_, lashed by the storm, +rolled and pulled at her cable, rose, fell thuddingly. And at last, +came a giant swell that almost submerged us. I caught Helena to the +cabin-top to keep her drier from it, and the two boys also sprang to a +point of safety. Mrs. Daniver, less agile, was caught by Peterson and +Williams and held to the rail, wetted thoroughly. And by some freak of +the wind, at that instant came fully the roar of the surf. We of the +_Belle Helene_ seemed very small. + +I looked now at Peterson. He raised his little megaphone, which hung +at his belt, and shouted loud and clear, as though we could not have +heard him at this distance of ten feet. "Get ready to lower away!" +Williams and the deck-hand sprang to the falls. "Get the women in the +boat, you, Williams," called the skipper, "and go in with them to +steady her when she floats. Take his place there, Mr. Harry. Lively +now!" And how we got the two women into the swinging boat I hardly +knew. + +The old skipper cast one eye ahead as a big wave rolled astern. "Now!" +he shouted. "Lower away, there!" + +The boat dropped into the cup of a sea, rose level with the rail the +next instant, and tossed perilously. I saw the two women huddled in +the bottom of her, their eyes covered, saw Williams climbing over them +and easing her at the bowline. Then, as we seized the next instant of +the rhythm, and hauled her alongside, Peterson made a leap and went +aboard her, and Williams scrambled back, once more, across the two +huddled forms. I saw him wrench at the engine crank, and heard the +spitting chug of the little motor. They fell off in the seaway, +Peterson holding her with an oar as he could till the screws caught. +Then I saw her answer the helm and they staggered off, passing out of +the beam of our search-light, so that it seemed to me I had said +good-by to Helena forever. + +We who remained had no davits to aid us, and must launch by hand. For +a moment I stood and made my plans. First, I called to Willy, our +deck-hand, who had the dingey now astern, some fashion. "Are you +ready?" I demanded: but the next moment I heard his call astern and +knew that, monkey-like, he had got her over and was aboard her +somehow. + +"Now, boys," said I, "come here and shake hands with Black Bart." They +came, their serious eyes turned up to me. And never has deeper emotion +seized me than as I felt their young hands in mine. We said nothing. + +"Now, bear a hand there, you, Jean!" I pulled open the gate of the +rail, and ran out the landing stage, on which the flat-bottomed skiff +sat. With an oar I pushed it across at right angles as nearly as +possible when she cleared. "Quick! Get in, both of you," I called. I +was holding the inboard end of the plank under a wedged oar shaft, +thrust below the sill of the forward cabin door. They scrambled out +and in, Jean grasping the bight of the painter that I handed him, and +passing it over the rail. + +"Now, look out," I called, and dropped the landing stage to meet the +swell of the next wave. They slid, tilted, righted, rose high--and +held. The next moment I sprang, fell into the sea, was caught by the +collar as my hand grasped the cockpit coaming, and so I slid in, +somehow, over the end deck, and caught the end of the painter from +John's hand and cast her free. + +The drift carried us off at once, and the next wave almost hid the +hull of the _Belle Helene_. I knew at once we were powerless, and that +our one hope lay in drifting ashore. There is no worse sea boat than a +low, flat ducking boat, decked though she be, and of good coaming, for +she butts into and does not rise to a sea. But now, I thanked my star, +one thing only was in our favor. We rolled like a log, already half +full of water, but we floated, because in each end of our skiff was a +big empty tin air tank, put there in spite of the laughing protest of +the builder, who said no room was left for decoys under the decks. +Just now, those tin cans were worth more than many duck decoys. + +"Keep down!" I ordered. "And hold on!" The boys obeyed me. I could +see their gaze bent on me, as the source of their hope, their +reliance. Jimmy was now free from the first violence of the +seasickness, but I saw Jean's hand on his arm. + +"Gee!" I heard the latter mutter as the first sea crossed under us. +"Dat was a peach." I took heart myself, for we lived that one through. +"Bail!" I ordered, and they took their cups to it, while I did all I +could with the long punt paddle to make some sort of course. Now and +then the blazing trail of the _Belle Helene's_ search-light swung +across as we rolled, to leave us, the next instant, in blackness. As +the seas permitted, we could see her, riding and rocking, sometimes, +alight from stern to stern and making a gallant fight for her life, as +were we all. + +So long as the rollers came in oily and black, we did well, but where +the top of one broke under us, we sank deep into the white foam that +had no carrying power, and our cockpit filled so that we all sat in +water. Only the tanks held us, log-like, and we bailed and paddled: +and after they saw we did not sink, my hardy bullies, perhaps in the +ignorance of youth and boy's confidence that a boy and water are +friends, began to shout aloud. We wallowed on. + +No sound came to us from either of the other boats; and now, very +quickly it seemed, we came at the edge of the surf. + +"I'm touching bottom, boys," I called, and cast the long punt pole +adrift as I took up the short paddle I had held under my leg. + +Now we had under us two feet of water or ten, as the waves might say, +and any moment we might roll over; but we wallowed in, rolling, till I +knew the supreme moment had come. I waited, holding her head in well +as I could so unruly a hulk, and as a big roller came after us, +paddled as hard as I could. The wave chased us, caught us, pushed us, +carried us in. There was a lift of our loggish bows, a blinding crash +of white water about us. Our boat was overturned, but in some way, +since the beach was all sand and very gentle, the wave flattened so +that the back-tow did not pull us down. In some way, I do not know +how, I found myself standing, and dragging Jimmy by the hand. Jean +already was ahead, and I heard his shout and saw his hand as he stood, +knee-deep but safe. So we all made it ashore, and our boat also, which +now we hauled out of the spume. And the long white row of breakers, +less dangerous than I had feared, came in, white maned and bellowing. + +I could still see the rocking lights of the yacht, and the shifting +stroke of the search-light on the sea, but I did not hear and see +aught else, at the time, and my heart sank. + +It was Jimmy whose ear first got the sound which came in--the feverish +phut-phut of the motor skiff. Then the ray of the great light swung +and I saw the boat still outside the breakers--nor could I tell then +why we had beaten her in. It seemed Peterson was hunting for us +others. + +"Stay back, boys!" I called to my companions. "You might get thrown +down by the waves--keep back." But now I was ready to rush in to meet +the long boat, whose keel I knew would leave her to overturn if she +caught bottom. + +But Peterson knew about the keel as well as any, and he caught what he +thought was water enough before he yelled to Williams to drive her in. +She sped in like an arrow; and again the white wave reared high and +broke upon its prey. By then, I was in water to my waist. I caught +Helena out with one reach of my arms, just as I saw Williams and +Peterson stagger in with Mrs. Daniver between them. In some miraculous +way we got beyond danger, and met my pirates, dancing and shouting a +welcome to our desert isle. Their advent, thereon, gave the two +womenfolk a fervent wish to embrace, sob and weep extraordinarily. I +had said nothing to Helena and said nothing now. + +"Where's the dingey, Peterson?" I called, as he came up, grinning. + +"Coming in," said he; and forsooth that water-rat, Willy, made a +better landing of it than any of us, and calmly helped us now to haul +the heavy motor skiff up the beach, a few feet at a time as the waves +thrust it forward. + +"Thank God!" I heard Helena exclaim. "Oh, thank God! We're safe, we're +all safe, after all." + +I looked at my little group for a time, all soaked to the skin, all +huddled now close together. Peterson, Williams, Willy--all the crew, +yes. Auntie Lucinda and the woman who had called me a coward--the two +captives, yes, Jean Lafitte and Henri L'Olonnois and myself, Black +Bart--all the ship's owners. What lacked? For a moment I could not +tell why I had the vague feeling that something or some one was +missing. + +"Willy," said I at last, "where's John, the cook?" + +"Why, I don't know," said Willy. "Didn't he come with you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +IN WHICH I RESCUE THE COOK + + +"What's that?" said Peterson sharply--"you didn't obey orders?" + +"Well, I thought he was in the other boat," explained Willy, hanging +his head. + +"You'll get your time," said the old man quietly, "soon as we get to +the railroad--and you'll go home by rail." + +"What are you trying to do, Mr. Harry?" he demanded of me, a moment +later. I was looking at the long boat. + +"Well, he's part of the boat's company," said I, "and we've got to +save him, Peterson." + +"What's that?" asked Helena now coming up--and then, "Why, John, our +cook, isn't here, is he?" She, too, looked at the long boat and at the +sea. "How horrible!" she said. "Horrible!" + +"What does he mean to do?" she demanded now of Peterson in turn. The +old man only looked at her. + +"Surely, you don't mean to go out there again," she said. + +I turned to them both, half cold with anger. "Do you think I'd leave +him out there to die, perhaps? It was my own fault, not to see him in +the boat." + +"It wasn't," reiterated Peterson. "It was Willy's fault--or mine." + +"In either case it's likely to be equally serious for him. We can't +leave the poor devil helpless, that way." + +"Mr. Harry," began Peterson again, "he's only a Chinaman." + +"Take shame to yourself for that, Peterson," said I. "He's a part of +the boat's company--a good cook--yes, but more than a good cook----" + +"Well, why didn't he come up with the rest of us?" + +"Because he was at his place of duty, below, until ordered up," said +I. + +Peterson pondered for a moment. "That's right," said he at length; +"I'll go out with you." + +I felt Helena's hand on my arm. "It's awful out there," said she. But +I only turned to look at her in the half-darkness and shook off her +hand. + +"You can't launch the big boat," said Peterson. "You'd only swamp her, +if you tried." + +"That may be," said I, "but the real thing is to try." + +"We might wait till the wind lulls," he argued. + +"Yes, and if the wind should change she might drag her anchor and go +out to sea. Which boat is best to take, Peterson?" + +A strange feeling of calm came over me, an odd feeling not easy to +explain, that I was not a young man of leisure, but some one else, one +of my ancestors of earlier days, used to encounters with adversity or +risk. Calmly and much to my own surprise, I stood and estimated the +chances as though I had been used to such things all my life. + +"Which is the best boat, Peterson?" I repeated. "Hardly the duck boat, +I think--and you say not the big boat." + +"The dingey is the safest," replied Peterson. "That little tub would +ride better; but no man could handle her out there." + +"Very well," said I; "she'll get her second wetting, anyhow. Lend a +hand." + +"She'll carry us both," commented the old man, stepping to the side of +the stubby little craft. + +"But she'll be lighter and ride easier with but one," was my reply. "A +chip is dry on top only as long as it's a chip." + +"Let me go along," said Jean Lafitte, stepping up at this time. + +"You'll do nothing of the sort, my son," said I. "Go back to the +ladies and make a fire, and make a shelter," said I. "I'll be here +again before long." + +The news of the new adventure now spread among our little party. Mrs. +Daniver began sniffling. "Helena," I heard her say, "this is +terrible." But meantime I was pulling off my sweater and fastening on +a life belt. Nodding to Peterson, we both picked up the dingey, and +when the next sea favored, made a swift run in the endeavor to break +through the surf. + +"Let go!" I cried to him, as the water swirled about our waist. "Go +back!" And so I sprang in alone and left him. + +For the time I could make small headway, indeed, had not time to get +at the oars, but pushing as I might with the first thing that came to +hand, I felt the bottom under me, felt again the lift of the sea carry +me out of touch. Then an incoming wave carried me back almost to the +point whence I had started. In such way as I could not explain, none +the less at length the little boat won through, no more than half +filled by the breaking comber. I worked first as best I might, +paddling, and so keeping her off the best I could. Then when I got the +oars, the stubby yawing little tub at first seemed scarce more than to +hold her own. I pulled hard--hard as I could. Slowly, the line of +white breakers passed astern. After that, saving my strength a trifle, +I edged out, now angling into the wind, now pulling full into the +teeth of the gale. Even my purpose was almost forgotten in the +intensity of the task of merely keeping away from the surf. Dully I +pulled, reasoning no more than that that was the thing for me to do. + +It had seemed a mile, that short half-mile between the yacht and the +beach. It seemed a hundred miles now going back to the boat. I did not +dare ask myself how I could go aboard if even I won across so far as +the yacht. It was enough that I did not slip backward to the beach +once more. Yawing and jibbing in the wind which caught her stubby +freeboard, the little boat, none the less, held up under me, and once +she was bailed of the surf, rode fairly dry in spite of all, being far +more buoyant than either of the other craft. Once in the dark, I saw +something thrust up beside me and fancied it to be a stake, marking +the channel which pierced the key hereabout. This was confirmed in my +mind when, presently, as rain began to fall and the fog lessened for +the time, I saw the blurred yellow lighthouse eye answering the +wavering search-light of the _Belle Helene_, which swept from side to +side across the bay as she rolled heavily at her anchor. In spite of +the hard fight it had given me, I was glad the wind still held +inshore. I knew the point of the little island lay not far beyond the +light. Once adrift beyond that, not the _Belle Helene_ herself would +be safe, in this offshore wind, but must be carried out into the gulf +beyond. + +Not reasoning much about this, however, and content with mere pulling, +I kept on until at length I saw the nodding lights of the _Belle +Helene_ lighting the gloom more definitely about me. Presently, I made +under her lee, so that the dingey was more manageable, and at last, I +edged up almost to her rail, planning how, perhaps, I might cast a +line and so make fast. But, first, I tried calling. + +"Ahoy, there below, John!" I called through the dark. At first there +came no answer, and again I shouted. At this I saw the door of the +dining saloon pushed open, and John himself thrust out his hand. + +"All litee," said he, merely greeting me casually. "You come?" + +"Yes," said I, with equal sang-froid. "You makee quick jump now, John, +s'pose I come in." + +"All litee," said he once more. I saw now that he stood there, a book +and a bundle in his arm. Perhaps he had been reading to pass the time! + +Be that as it may, I cautiously pulled the dingey under the lee of the +_Belle Helene_. Timing his leap with a sagacity and agility combined +which I had not suspected of him, my China boy made a leap, stumbled, +righted himself, got his balance and so placed his bundle on the +bottom of the boat and his book upon the seat, where he covered it +carefully against the spray. + +"All litee," said he once more. "I makee pull now. You come this +place." + +I endeavored to emulate his Oriental calm. "John," said I, "I catchee +plenty wind this time." + +"Yes, plenty wind," said he. + +"You suppose we leave China boy?" I demanded. + +"Oh, no, no!" he exclaimed with emphasis. "I know you come back allee +time bimeby, one time." + +"What were you doing, John?" + +"I leed plenty 'Melican book," said he calmly. "Now I makee pull." To +oblige him I made way for him, and we crawled past each other on the +floor of the heaving dingey. He took the oars and began pulling with +an odd chopping sort of a stroke, perhaps learned in his youth on some +sampan that rode the waters of his native land; but for my own part, +since Fate seemed to be kind to me after all, I trusted his skill, +such as it was, and was willing to rest for a time. + +"No velly bad," said John judicially, after a time. "Pretty soon come +in." No doubt he saw the little fire, now beginning to light the +beach. At any rate, he headed straight in, the seas following, reeling +after us. They have their own ways, these people of the East. I fancy +John had run surf before. At any rate, I knew the water now was +shallow and that, perhaps, one could swim ashore if we were overset. I +trusted him to make the landing, however, and he did it like a +veteran. One plunge through the ultimate white crest, and we were +carried up high on the beach, to meet the shouts of my men and to feel +their hands grasp the gunwales of the sturdy little craft. + +"All litee," remarked John amiably, and started for the fire, such +being his instinct, not with the purpose of getting warm, but of +cooking something. And in half an hour he had a cup of hot bouillon +all around. + +"It's a commendable thing," remarked Mrs. Daniver, "that you, sir, +should go to the rescue of even a humble Chinaman. I find this +bouillon delicious." + +"Have you quite recovered from your seasickness by this time, Mrs. +Daniver?" I asked politely. + +"Seasickness?" She raised an eyebrow in protest. "I never was seasick +in my life--not even in the roughest crossings of the Channel, where +others were quite helpless." + +"It is fortunate to be immune," said I. "People tell me it is a +terrible feeling--they even think they are going to die." + +Jean Lafitte, I found, had made quite a serviceable shelter, throwing +a tarpaulin over one of the long boat's oars. We pushed our fire to +the front of this, and after a time induced the ladies to make +themselves more comfortable. Only with some protest did my hearty +pirates agree to share this shelter which made our sole protection +against the storm. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IN WHICH WE ARE CASTAWAYS + + +The rain came down dismally, and the chill of the night was very +considerable, as I learned soon after ceasing my own exertions. The +men made some sort of shelter for themselves by turning up the long +boat and the dingey on edge, crawling into the lee, and thus finding a +little protection. All but John, my cook. That calm personage, every +time I turned, was at my elbow in the dark, standing silent, waiting +for I knew not what. For the first time, I realized the virtue of his +waterproof silk shirt. He seemed not to mind the rain, although he +asked my consent to put his bundle and his book under the shelter. I +stooped down at the firelight, curious to see the title of his book. +It was familiar--_The Pirate's Own Book_! + +"Where you catchee book, John?" I asked him. + +"Litlee boy he give me; him 'Melican book. I lead him some. Plenty +good book." + +"Yes," said I; "I see. That boy'll make pirates of us all, if we +aren't careful." + +"That book, him tellee what do, sposee bad storm," said John proudly. +"I know." + +I walked over to where Peterson lay, his pipe now lighted by some +magic all his own. We now could see more plainly the furred and yellow +gleam of the lighthouse lamp. Peterson's concern, however, was all for +the _Belle Helene_. + +"I hate to think of her out there all by herself," said he. + +"So do I, Peterson. I hate also to think of all that ninety-three we +left out there." + +We were standing near the edge of the ladies' shelter, and I heard +Mrs. Daniver's voice as she put out her head at the edge of the +tarpaulin. + +"I thought you said all the ninety-three was gone," said she with some +interest, as it appeared to me. + +"No, we only had the last bottle of that case at luncheon, Mrs. +Daniver," said I. "There are yet other cases out yonder." + +"It's a bad night for neuralgia," said she complainingly. + +"It is, madam. But I don't think I'll pull out again. And I am +rejoiced that you are not troubled now with seasickness,--that you +never are." Which last resulted in her dignified silence. + +Through the night, there came continually the clamoring of the wild +fowl in the lagoon back of us, and this seemed to make the boys +restless. It was Jean Lafitte, next, who poked his head out from under +the tarpaulin. + +"I've got the gun all right," said he, "and a lot of shells. In the +morning we'll go out and get some of those ducks that are squawking." + +"Yes, Jean," said I; "we're in one of the best ducking countries on +this whole coast." + +"That's fine--we can live chiefly by huntin' and fishin', like it says +in the g'ographies." + +"If the wind should shift," said I, "we may have to do that for quite +a time. I don't know whether the lighthouse keeper has a boat or not, +and the channel lies between us and the light--it makes out here +straight to the Gulf. But now, be quiet, my sons, and see if we can't +all get some sleep. I'll take care of the fire." + +I passed a little apart to hunt for some driftwood, my shadow, John, +following close at hand. When I returned I found a muffled figure +standing at the feeble blaze. Helena raised her eyes, grave and +serious. + +"It was splendid," said she in a low tone of voice, addressing not so +much myself as all the world, it seemed to me. + +"Get back in there and go to sleep," said I. And, quietly she obeyed, +so far as I might tell. + +For my own part, I did not seek the shelter of the other boat, but, +wrapped in sweater and slicker, stood in the rain, John at my side. +Once in a while we set out in the dark to find more wood for the +little fire. In some way the long night wore on. Toward morning the +rain ceased. It seemed to me that the rocking search-light of the +_Belle Helene_ made scarce so wide an arc across the bay. The +lighthouse ray shone less furry and yellow through the night. The wind +began to lull, coming in gusts, at times after some moments of calm. +The roll of the sea still came in, but sometimes I almost fancied that +the surf was bellowing not so loud. And so at length, the dawn came, +softening the gloom, and I could hear the roar of the great bodies of +wild fowl rising as they always do at dawn, the tumult of their wings +rivaling the heavy rhythm of the surf itself. + +The advancing calm of nature seemed to quiet the senses of the +sleepers, even in their sleep. Gently making up the fire for the last +time, as the gray light began to come across the beach, I wandered +inland a little way in search of the fresh water lagoon. Its edge lay +not more than two or three hundred yards back of our bivouac. So, as +best I might, I bathed my face and hands, and regretted that such +things as soap and towels had been forgotten with many other things. +Not irremediable, our plight; for now I could see the _Belle Helene_ +still rolling at her anchor, uneasy, but still afloat; and in the +daylight, and with a lessening sea, there would be no great difficulty +in boarding her as we liked. + +Presently the others of the party were all afoot, standing stiffly, +sluggishly, in the chill of dawn; and such was the breakfast which my +boy John presently prepared for us, that I confess I began to make +comparisons not wholly to his discredit. Now, for instance, said I to +myself, had it been Mrs. Daniver who had been forgotten on board +ship--but, of course, that line of reasoning might not be followed +out. And as for Mrs. Daniver herself, it was only just to say that she +made a fair attempt at comradeship, considering that she had retired +without any aid whatever for her neuralgia. Helena seemed reticent. +The men, as usual, ate apart. I did not find myself loquacious. Only +my two young ruffians seemed full of the enjoyment possible in such a +situation. + +"Gee! ain't this fine?" said L'Olonnois. "I never did think we'd be +really shipwrecked and cast away on a desert island. This is just +like it is in the books." + +"Can we go huntin' now?" demanded Jean Lafitte, his mouth still full +of bacon. "And will you come along? There must be millions of them +ducks and geese. I didn't know there was so many in all the world." + +"You may go, both of you, Jean Lafitte," said I, "if you'll be careful +not to shoot yourselves. As for me, I must go back once more to the +boat, I fancy." + +Peterson and I now held a brief conference, and presently, leaving the +ladies in charge of Willy and the cook, we two, with Williams to run +the motor, with some difficulty launched the long boat and made off +through a sea none too amiable, to go aboard the _Belle Helene_ once +more--which so short a time before I had thought we never might do +again. + +"This is easier than pulling out in the dingey," grinned Peterson, as +we approached the _Belle Helene_. "Confound that deck-hand, he might +have got you drowned! I'll fire him, sure!" + +"No," said I; "I've been thinking that over. There was a great deal of +confusion, and after all, he may have thought that we had John with +us. Besides, he's only young, and he's human. I'll tell you what +we'll do, Peterson--I'll dock him a month's wages, and I'll send his +wages to his mother. Meantime, let him carry the wood and water for a +week." + +We found it not difficult now to go aboard the _Belle Helene_, for, in +the lessening seaway, she rolled not so evilly. Peterson sprang to the +deck as the bow of our boat rose alongside on a wave, and made fast +our line. When Williams and I had followed, we took a general +inventory of the _Belle Helene_. All the deck gear was gone, spare +oars and spars, a canvas or so, and some coils of rope. Beyond that, +there seemed no serious damage, unless the hull had been injured by +its pounding during the night. + +"It's a mud-bank here, I think, Mr. Harry," said Peterson. "She may +have ripped some of her copper on the oyster reefs, but she seems to +bed full length and maybe she's not strained, after all." + +"There's the line of channel guides," said I, pointing to a row of +sticks driven into the mud a couple of miles in length. + +"Yes," said the old man, "the channel's not more than a biscuit toss +from here. We came right across it--if it hadn't been in the dark, +we'd have gone through into the lee of the island and been all right. +Now as it is, we're all wrong." + +"How do you mean?" I asked. + +"How'll we get that anchor up?" grumbled he. "If we start the engines +and try to crawl up by the capstan, we couldn't pull her out of the +mud. If we put on a donkey engine we'd snatch the bow out of here +before we could lift the hook. And until we do, how are we going to +move her? There's the channel, but it's as far as ever. We can't sweep +her off, of course, and we can't pole her off." + +"Well, Peterson," said I, "let us, by all means, hope for the worst." +I smiled, seeing that he now was possessed of his normal gloom. + +"Well," said he, "we went on at full tide, and hard aground at that. +This wind is blowing all the water out of Cote Blanche. Of course, if +the wind should turn and drive in again, we might move her, if we +caught her at high tide once more. Until that happens, I guess we're +anchored here for sure." + +"The glass is rising now, Peterson," said I, pleasantly. + +"Oh, yes, it may rise a little," said he, "and of course the storm's +gone by for the time. But I don't think there's going to be any good +change of weather that'll hold, very soon. But now, Williams and I'll +go below and see if we can start a pump. I expect she's sprung a +leak, all right." + +Shaking his head in much apprehension, the old man made his way with +Williams, first into the engine-room. For my own part, I turned toward +my cabin door. All at once as I did so it seemed to me I heard a +sound. It came again, a sort of a meek diffident sound, expectant +rather than complaining. And then I heard an unmistakable scraping at +the door. Hastening, I flung it open. I was greeted with a great whine +of joy and trust, a shaggy form leaped upon me, thrust its cold nose +into my face, gave me much greetings of whines, and at length of a +loud howl of joy. + +"Partial!" I cried, and caught him by the paws as he put them on my +shoulders and rubbed his muzzle along my cheek, whimpering; "Partial! +Oh, my dear chap, I say now, I'm glad to see you!" + +As a matter of fact, I had forgotten Partial these three days, other +things being on my mind. Once more our amateurishness in shipwreck had +nearly cost us a life. Partial, no doubt, had meekly waited at his +usual place until ordered to come out with the rest. We had closed the +doors and port-holes when we left the _Belle Helene_, and thus he had +been locked in. + +I sat down on one of the bench lockers with Partial's head in my +hand, and almost my eyes became moist. "Partial," said I, "let me +confess the truth to you. The woman had maddened me. I forgot you--I +did, and will own it now. It was a grave fault, my friend. I do not +ask you to forgive me, and all I can do is to promise you such amend +as lies in my power. From now on, I promise you, you shall go with me +to all the ends of the earth. My people shall be your people, till +death do us part. Do you hear me, Partial?" + +He answered by springing up again and licking my face and hands, +whimpering excitedly, glad that I had come at last. "Dear Partial," +said I, "you're no gladder than I am. And what's more, you've nothing +to cost you penitence. Come, we'll go to the dining-room and see +whether there's anything left to eat." + +He followed me now along the rolling deck, and happily I was able to +get him some scraps for his breakfast. Peterson heard me talking, and +thrust up a head above the engine-room hatch. He was as crestfallen as +myself when I showed him that, once more, we had been forgetful and +had left a friend while busy in saving ourselves. + +I went once more to my cabin--Peterson having discovered, apparently +to his great regret, that so far as could be determined, we had not +started a seam or smashed a timber anywhere. I found a small tent +among other of my sporting equipment and tossed this out to go in the +long boat's cargo. Another fowling piece and ammunition, my canvas +hunting coat and wading boots, followed. Even, I caught down from a +nail the only other pair of trousers available in my wardrobe--for +Davidson's vast midship section comported ill with my own. I found my +watch in these other trousers, and putting a hand in a pocket, fished +out also my portemonnaie. It had certain bills in it--I presume two or +three thousand dollars in all, and I thrust these into my pocket. At +the bottom of the little purse,--among collar buttons and other hard +objects,--I found a little round white object, and once more bethought +me of my pearl which I had won on the far northern river, as it seemed +to me many years before--the pearl which, as I have said, was to be +known as the _Belle Helene_. I preserved it now. + +Peterson and Williams, meantime, were busy in getting aboard a case or +so of water--not forgetting the ninety-three of which I reminded the +old man once more. Some additional stores of bacon and tea, and a +case of eggs, were also taken aboard. At length, with quite a little +cargo in the way of comforts, we embarked once more and started for +our rude encampment. + +"We may be here for a month," said Peterson gloomily, looking at the +_Belle Helene_, now rolling just a little, her keel fast full length +in the mud-bar. "I don't think there's ever going to be any change of +wind--it'll blow steadily this way for a week, anyhow." + +"I presume, Peterson," said I coolly, "that you don't see the sun +breaking through the clouds over there, at all. And I fancy that you +will not believe, either, that the sea is lulling now. Very well, I +don't want to make you unhappy, my friend." + +I heard Williams chuckling as he stooped over his engine. Thus, +chugging on merrily with the long oily roll of the sea under us, we +presently once more ran our surf, and this time had small difficulty +in winning through, for, once we felt the ground under us, we simply +sprang overboard and waded in, dragging the boat with us, waist-deep +sometimes in the flood, but on the whole quite safe. + +My two pirate mates came down to the beach joyously, and helped us +unload. It seemed that they had made something of a hunt already, for +with much pride Jean now displayed to me certain birds, proof of his +own prowess with his shotgun. + +"Some of 'em's good to eat," said he. "Regular greenheads, like we get +up North." I looked at the string of birds, and saw that they were +mallards and teals, a couple of dozen at least. + +"Fie, fie!" said I. "I fear you've been shooting on the water." + +"Sure I did! And here's four things that I don't suppose are good to +eat--they got kind of snaky heads, and red-colored, too. Ain't no +ducks good to eat that ain't got green heads." + +"Each man to his taste," said I, "but if you like, you may have the +green heads, and I'll take these with the auburn locks." + +"Pshaw! What are they?" answered he. + +"Only canvasbacks," said I, "and good fat ones, too. What luck have +you, Jimmy, my son?" + +"Well, I went along and helped carry things," said L'Olonnois. + +"What's that you've got on a string?" I asked him. + +"Oh, that," said he, flushing. "It ain't nothing but a little turtle. +It had funny marks on its back. I caught it in the grass over there +by the lake." + +Something about Jimmy's little turtle interested me, and I picked it +up in my hands. + +"For amateur sportsmen, gentlemen," said I, "you're doing pretty well. +Your funny little turtle, Jimmy, is nothing but a diamond-back +terrapin. There are perhaps more of them on this coast than anywhere +else in the world to-day. And Partial, here--that friend of ours now +leaping excitedly and joyously before them, barking at this little +turtle of Jimmy's--will perhaps be able to help you find some more of +them in the grass--the market hunters here hunt them with dogs, as +perhaps you did not know." + +"We got some oysters, Sir," said Willy, coming forward shyly and +shamefacedly; and showed me the cockpit of the duck boat pretty well +filled. The boy had, it seems, found a reef of these in a brackish arm +which made inland, and dug them by the simple process of stooping down +below the surface of the water, since he had no oyster tongs. + +"Well," said I, "it looks as if we would fare pretty well for lunch. +John"--and I called my China boy--"again I find renewed cause for +felicitations on your rescue." + +John stood looking at me blankly. + +"You savee, John?" said I, showing him one of the canvasbacks, and he +remarked mildly, "All litee." If anything, his lunch was better than +his breakfast, and when I saw him take Jimmy's funny little turtle +from him and examine it with appraising eye, I felt fairly well +convinced that we should not suffer at the dinner hour. + +But though a certain gaiety now came to others of the party as we sat +about our midday meal, warm now and well fed, and although the boys +excitedly made plans about putting up the tent and furnishing it and +going into camp for the winter, I could not share their eagerness. +There was one other reticent figure at our fireside. Helena sat +silent, the head of Partial in her lap. I felt resentment that she +should steal from me even my dog. At last, having nothing better to +do, I picked up my gun, and slipping on my coat, started down the +beach, telling the boys that I was going alone, perhaps too far for +them to follow, with the purpose of making some sort of an exploration +of the island. + +Moody and depressed, not in the least well satisfied with life, even +with matters thus so far more fortunate than we had so recently had +reason to expect, I walked along the hard sand, sometimes looking at +the long lines of wild fowl streaming in above the fresh-water lagoon, +but in reality thinking but little of these. I did not at first hear +the light step which came behind me on the sand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +IN WHICH IS NO RAPPROCHEMENT WITH THE FAIR CAPTIVE + + +"Harry!" I heard her call, and turned quickly. "Harry, wait!" + +She came hurrying up toward me. I felt my color rise. Awkwardly, I +stood waiting, and did not greet her. I cast a quick glance the other +way down the beach. It would be a hundred yards before the first bend +of the shore-line would carry us behind the tall rushes. Meantime, we +were in full sight of all. + +Partial, who had followed me when I whistled, now greeted her more +joyously than did his master. + +"Yes?" said I dully; "I suppose you came to take away my dog from me, +didn't you? It was all that was left." + +"Of course," said she coloring. "I didn't know but what Partial might +be hungry." + +"It is I who am hungry, Helena," said I. "I have long been hungry--for +a look, a word." + +She did not smile, showed not any trace of coquetry in her mien, but +paced on with me now down the beach. I suppose she knew when we had +turned the point of rushes, for now she laid her hand on my rough +canvas sleeve. It must have cost her effort to do that. + +"Harry, what's wrong with you?" said she after a time, since I still +remained moodily staring ahead. I did not answer, would not look at +her for a time, but at length she turned. She stood, I say, with her +hand on my arm, her chin raised fully, her serious eyes fixed on me. +The dark hair was blown all about her face. She had on over her long +white sweater a loose silk waterproof of some sort, which blew every +way, but did not disturb the lines of her tall figure, nor lessen the +pale red and white which the sea breeze had stung into her cheeks. She +did not smile, and her eyes, I say, looked steadily and seriously into +mine. + +"What's wrong with you?" she asked, frowning slightly, as it seemed to +me. + +"Everything in the world is wrong with me, as you know very well," +said I. "Am I not a poor man? Am I not an unsuccessful lover? Am I not +a failure under every test which you can apply? Am I not a coward--did +you not tell me so yourself?" + +Her eyes grew damp slowly. "I didn't mean it," said she. + +"Then why did you say it?" + +"It was long before--that was before last night, Harry. You forget." + +"What if it was?" I demanded. "I was the same man then that I was last +night." + +"I didn't mean it, Harry," said she, her voice low. Her hand was still +on my arm. Her eye now was cast down, the tip of her toe was tracing a +circle on the wet sand where we stood. + +"I didn't think," said she, after a little while. + +"I presume not," said I coldly. "Sometimes women do not stop to think. +You have not stopped to think that there is a limit even to what my +love would stand, Helena. Now, much as I love you--and I never loved +you so much as I do now--I'll never again ask you for what you can not +give me. I've been rubbed the wrong way all I can stand, and I'll not +have it any more. I've brought you here, yes, and I'm sorry enough for +it. But I'm going to fix all that now, soon as I can." + +"What do you mean, Harry?" she asked quietly. + +"Yonder, across the bay," said I, pointing, "runs a channel. That's +the Cheniere. I presume the lighthouse boats come from in there. Maybe +there'll be one down after the storm in a day or so. He'll take out a +message, and get it on some boat bound for Morgan City, perhaps." + +"And what then?" + +"Why, I shall send out any message you like, beside my own message to +the parents of these boys of mine. And I'll send a message, too, to my +friend, Manning." + +She turned her eyes where I pointed once more, this time seemingly +northward across the bay. "Yonder is still another channel," said I, +"not twenty miles from where we stand. It runs back to the live-oak +islands where my friend Manning has his plantation. If the tide serves +and we can get the yacht afloat, it won't take us long to get in +there. Once there, you are safe; and once there, I say good-by. Judge +for yourself whether or not this is the last time." + +"And when will that be, Harry?" she demanded, still tracing some +figure on the sand with the toe of her little boot. + +"That, I have said, is something I can not tell. But as soon as +possible, rest assured." + +She was silent now, confused, a little abashed, a mood entirely new to +her in my recollection of her many moods. Her hand still lay upon my +coarse canvas sleeve as though she had forgotten it. I bent now and +kissed it. "Harry," said she in a whisper, "don't you care for me any +more?" + +"Go back to the camp, Helena," said I; "you know I do, but I've done +enough for you, and I'll do no more. All a coward can do to keep you +safe I have done, but I'm no such coward as to follow you around now +and dangle at your apron strings. It's good-by once more. What are +you," I demanded fiercely, once more, "that you should walk over my +soul again and again? Hasn't there got to be an end to that sort of +thing some time, and don't you think there is an end for me? Go back +and tell your aunt that you have won. And much joy may you both have +in your winning." + +I kissed her hand, flung it off, turned and went down the beach. She +did not look about, but presently as I saw, turned and went back +toward the camp, her head hanging. And, as I had said to her, I never +loved her so much in all my life, though never was I so little +disposed to go one step in her pursuit. + +Partial sat, looking after her also, his heart torn in the division +between us, for he loved us both. + +"Partial," I called to him harshly, and he came, his ears down and +very unhappy. Silently, the dog at my heels, I strode on down the +beach, and so I saw her no more for some time. + +I found for myself a driftwood log at the edge of the sea-marsh, and +here for a time I sat down, moodily staring out across the bay, as +unhappy, I fancy, as man gets to be in this world. I scarce know how +long I sat here, in the wind which blew salt across the bay, and for +some time, I paid no attention to the clamoring fowl which passed and +repassed not far from my point. + +At length, a long harrow of great Canadian geese passed so close to me +that without much thought about it, I raised the gun and fired. I +killed two birds, and as I picked them up I found they were not a +brace, but a pair. The report of my gun started a clamoring of all +manner of fowl beyond the edge of reeds which hid the reef. A cloud of +ducks passed before me, and slipping in the shells once more, I fired +right and left. Again I killed my brace, and again when I picked them +up they were a pair. The head of one was green, the other brown. "Male +and female made He them!" said I. "If I had not killed these birds, in +the spring they would have gone northward, to the edge of the world in +their own love-making, thousands of miles from here." I looked at my +quarry with remorse, and not caring to shoot more, at length picked up +the birds and slowly started back to camp, not looking forward with +any too great pleasure, it may be imagined, to further meetings with +the woman whom, of all the world, I most cared to meet. + +I found all the others of the party amiably engaged in camp affairs. +The tent now was up, the fire was arranged in more practical fashion, +and John was busy with his pans. Lafitte, ever resourceful and ever +busy, was out with Willy after more oysters. L'Olonnois, his partner, +seemed engaged in some sort of argument with his Auntie Helena. + +"Jimmy, I can't!" I heard her say. "There isn't any sugar." + +"Aw!" said he, "there's plenty of sugar, ain't there, John?" And that +worthy smiled as he pointed toward an open canister of that dainty. + +"But I haven't any pan." + +"Yes, you have, too, got a pan. Here's one a-settin' right here in +front of you. Come on now, Auntie. We're goin' to have duck and +terrapin and oysters and everything--all a fellow would want, besides +that, is just fudges." + +Helena stood preoccupied and hesitant, hardly hearing what he said, as +I fancy. At once L'Olonnois' attitude changed. Folding his arms, he +turned toward her sternly. + +"Woman!" said he, "are you not a captive to our band? Then who gives +orders here? Either you make fudges, or your life's blood stains these +sands!" + +"Oh, all right, Jimmy," she said listlessly. "I'll make them, if you +like." + +"You'd better," remarked that worthy sententiously. "Of course," he +added, seeking to mollify his victim, over whom he thus domineered, +"it ain't just like it is back home on the stove, but you'll have to +get used to that, because we're going to live here forever. And," he +added, casting a glance of his stern blue eyes upon her, "it is the +part of the captive maid ever to live happily with the chief of the +pirate band." + +Whereupon Helena and Jimmy both looked up and saw me standing, +unwilling listener to all that had been said. Helena moved away and +pretended to be busy with the material for her confections. + +"Aw, shucks, Black Bart," said Jimmy, turning to me--"ain't that just +like a woman?--They won't never play the game." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +IN WHICH I FIND TWO ESTIMABLE FRIENDS, BUT LOSE ONE BELOVED + + +The weather now, moderating, after the fashion of weather on this +coast, as rapidly as it had become inclement, we passed a more +comfortable night on our desert island. No doubt the lighthouse tender +knew of our presence, for he easily could see our tent by day and our +fire by night, and he surely must have seen our good ship riding at +anchor under his nose at the edge of the channel; but no visit came +from that official--for the very good reason, as we later learned, +that the storm had stove in his boat at her mooring; so that all he +himself could do was to cross his Cajun bosom and pray that his supply +skiff might come from across the bay. So, as much alone as the Swiss +family by name of Robinson--an odd name for a Swiss family, it always +seemed to me--we remained on our desert island undisturbed, the ladies +now in the comfortable tent, my hardy pirates under the tarpaulin, and +the rest of us as we liked or might, all in beds of the sweet scented +grasses which grew along the lagoon where the great ranks of wild +fowl kept up their chatter day and night. + +It was a land of plenty, and any but a man in my situation might well +have been content there for many days. Content was not in my own soul. +I was up by dawn and busy about the boats, before any sign of life was +visible around the tent or the canvas shelter. But since the sun rose +warm, it yet was early when we met at John's breakfast fire. I felt +myself a shabby figure, for in my haste I had forgotten my razors; and +by now my clothing was sadly soiled and stained, even the most famous +of the Davidson waistcoats being the worse for the salt-water +immersions it had known; and my ancient flannels were corkscrewing +about my limbs. But as for Helena, young and vital, she discarded her +sweater for breakfast, and appeared as she had before the shipwreck, +in lace bridge coat and wearing many gems! L'Olonnois, with the +intimacy of kin and the admiration of youth--and with youth's lack of +tact--saluted her now gaily. "Gee! Auntie," said he, at table on the +sand, "togged out that way, all them glitterin' gems, you shore look +fit for a pirate's bride!" + +Poor Helena! She blushed red to the hair; and I fear I did no better +myself. "Jimmy!" reproved Aunt Lucinda. + +"Don't call me 'Jimmy'!" rejoined that hopeful. "My name is +L'Olonnois, the Scourge of The Sea. Me an' Jean Lafitte, we follow +Black Bart the Avenger, to the Spanish Main. Auntie, pass me the +bacon, please. I'm just about starved." + +Mrs. Daniver, as was her custom, ate a very substantial breakfast; +Helena, almost none at all; nor had I much taste for food. In some +way, our constraint insensibly extended to all the party, much to +L'Olonnois' disgust. "It's _her_ fault!" I overheard him say to his +mate. "Women can't play no games. An' we was havin' such a bully +chance! Now, like's not, we won't stay here longer'n it'll take to get +things back to the boat again. I don't want to go back home--I'd +rather be a pirate; an' so'd any fellow." + +"Sure he would," assented Jean. They did not see me, behind the tent. + +"Somethin's wrong," began L'Olonnois, portentously. + +"What'd you guess?" queried Lafitte. "Looks to me like it was +somethin' between him an' the fair captive." + +"That's just it--that's just what I said! Now, if Black Bart lets his +whiskers grow, an' Auntie Helena wears them rings, ain't it just like +in the book? Course it is! But here they go, don't eat nothin', don't +talk none to nobody." + +"I'll tell you what!" began Lafitte. + +"Uh-huh, what?" demanded L'Olonnois. + +"A great wrong has been did our brave leader by yon heartless jade; +that's what!" + +"You betcher life they has. He's on the square, an' look what he done +for us--look how he managed things all the way down to here. Anybody +else couldn't have got away with this. Anybody else'd never a' went +out there last night after John, just a Chink, thataway. An' her!" + +Jimmy's disapproval of his auntie, as thus expressed, was extreme. I +was now about to step away, but feared detection, so unwillingly heard +on. + +"But he can't see no one else but yon fickle jade!" commented Jean +Lafitte, "unworthy as she is of a bold chief's regard!" + +"Nope. That's what's goin' to make all the trouble. I'll tell you +what!" + +"What?" + +"We'll have to fix it up, somehow." + +"How'd you mean?" + +"Why, reason it out with 'em both." + +Jean apparently shook his head, or had some look of dubiousness, for +L'Olonnois went on. + +"We _gotta_ do it, somehow. If we don't, we'll about have to go back +home; an' who wants to go back home from a good old desert island like +this here. _So_ now----" + +"Uh, huh?" + +"Why, I'll tell you, now. You see, I got some pull with her--the fair +captive. She used to lick me, but she don't dast to try it on here on +a desert island: so I got some pull. An' like enough you c'd talk it +over with Black Bart." + +"Nuh--uh! I don't like to." + +"Why?" + +"Well, I don't. He's all right." + +"Yes, but we got to get 'em _together_!" + +"Shore. But, my idea, he's hard to _get_ together if he gets a notion +he ain't had a square deal nohow, someways." + +"Well, he ain't. So that makes my part the hardest. But you just go to +him, and tell him not to hurry, because you are informed the fair +captive is goin' to relent, pretty soon, if we just don't get in too +big a hurry and run away from a place like this--where the duck +shootin' is immense!" + +"But kin you work _her_, Jimmy?" + +"Well, I dunno. She's pretty set, if she thinks she ain't had a square +deal, too." + +"Well now," argued Lafitte, "if that's the way they both feel, either +they're both wrong an' ought to shake hands, or else one of 'em's +wrong, and they either ought to get together an' find out which it +was, or else they ought to leave it to some one else to say which one +_was_ wrong. Ain't that so?" + +"O' course it's so. So now, thing fer us fellows to do, is just to put +it before 'em plain, an' get 'em both to leave it to us two fellers +what's right fer 'em both to do. Now, _I_ think they'd ought to get +married, both of 'em--I mean to each other, you know. Folks _does_ get +married." + +"Black Bart would," said Jean Lafitte. "I'll bet anything. The fair +captive, she's a heartless jade, but I seen Black Bart lookin' at her, +an'----" + +"An' I seen her lookin' at him--leastways a picture--an' says she, +'Jimmy----'" + +"Jimmy!" It was I, myself, red and angry, who now broke from my +unwilling eavesdropping. + +The two boys turned to me innocently. I found it difficult to say +anything at all, and wisest to say nothing. "I was just going to ask +if you two wouldn't like to take the guns and go out after some more +ducks--especially the kind with red heads and flat noses, such as we +had yesterday. And I'll lend you Partial, so you can try for some more +of those funny little turtles. I'll have to go out to the ship, and +also over to the lighthouse, before long. The tide will turn, perhaps, +and at least the wind is offshore from the island now." + +"Sure, we'll go." Jean spoke for both at once. + +"Very well, then. And be careful. And you'd--you'd better leave your +auntie and her auntie alone, Jimmy--they'll want to sleep." + +"You didn't hear us sayin' nothin', did you, Black Bart?" asked +L'Olonnois, suspiciously. + +"By Jove! I believe that's a boat beating down the bay," said I. "Sail +ho!" And so eager were they that they forgot my omission of direct +reply. + +"It's very likely only the lighthouse supply boat coming in," said I. +"I'll find out over there. Better run along, or the morning flight of +the birds will be over." So they ran along. + +As for myself, I called Peterson and Williams for another visit to our +disabled ship, which now lay on a level keel, white and glistening, +rocking gently in the bright wind. I left word for the ladies that we +might not be back for luncheon. + +We found that the piling waters of Cote Blanche, erstwhile blown out +to sea, were now slowly settling back again after the offshore storm. +The _Belle Helene_ had risen from her bed in the mud now and rode +free. Our soundings showed us that it would be easy now to break out +the anchor and reach the channel, just ahead. So, finding no leak of +consequence, and the beloved engines not the worse for wear, Williams +went below to get up some power, while Peterson took the wheel and I +went forward to the capstan. + +The donkey winch soon began its work, and I felt the great anchor at +length break away and come apeak. The current of the air swung us +before we had all made fast; and as I sounded with a long bow pike, I +presently called out to Peterson, "No bottom!" He nodded; and now, +slowly, we took the channel and moved on in opposite the light. We +could see the white-capped gulf rolling beyond. + +"Water there!" said Peterson. "We can go on through, come around in +the Morrison cut-off, and so make the end of the Manning channel to +the mainland. But I wish we had a local pilot." + +I nodded. "Drop her in alongside this fellow's wharf," I added. "The +ladies have sent some letters--to go out by the tender's boat, +yonder--I suppose he'll be going back to-day." + +"Like enough," said Peterson; and so gently we moved on up the dredged +channel, and at last made fast at the tumble-down wharf of the +lighthouse; courteously waiting for the little craft of the tender to +make its landing. + +We found the mooring none too good, what with the storm's work at the +wharf, and as we shifted our lines a time or two, the gaping, +jeans-clad Cajun who had come in with mail and supplies passed in to +the lighthouse ahead of us; and I wonder his head did not twist quite +off its neck, for though he walked forward, he ever looked behind him. + +When at length we two, Peterson and myself, passed up the rickety walk +to the equally rickety gallery at the foot of the light, we found two +very badly frightened men instead of a single curious one. The keeper +in sooth had in hand a muzzle-loading shotgun of such extreme age, +connected with such extreme length of barrel, as might have led one to +suspect it had grown an inch or so annually for all of many decades. +He was too much frightened to make active resistance, however, and +only warned us away, himself, now, a pale saffron in color. + +"Keep hout!" he commanded. "No, you'll didn't!" + +"We'll didn't what, my friend?" began I mildly. "Don't you like my +looks? Not that I blame you if you do not. But has the boat brought +down any milk or eggs that you can spare?" + +"No milluk--no haig!" muttered the light tender; and they would have +closed the door. + +"Come, come now, my friends!" I rejoined testily. "Suppose you +haven't, you can at least be civil. I want to talk with you a minute. +This is the power yacht _Belle Helene_, of Mackinaw, cruising on the +Gulf. We went aground in the storm; and all we want now is to send out +a little mail by you to Morgan City, or wherever you go; and to pass +the time of day with you, as friends should. What's wrong--do you +think us a government revenue boat, and are you smuggling stuff from +Cuba through the light here?" + +"We no make hany smug'," replied the keeper. "But we know you, who you +been!" + +He smote now upon an open newspaper, whose wrapper still lay on the +floor. I glanced, and this time I saw a half-page cut of the _Belle +Helene_ herself, together with portraits of myself, Mrs. Daniver, Miss +Emory and two wholly imaginary and fearsome boys who very likely were +made up from newspaper portraits of the James Brothers! Moreover, my +hasty glance caught sight of a line in large letters, reading: + + TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD! + +"Peterson," said I calmly, handing him the paper, "they seem to be +after us, and to value us rather high." + +He glanced, his eyes eager; but Peterson, while a professional +doubter, was personally a man of whose loyalty and whose courage I, +myself, had not the slightest doubt. + +"Let 'em come!" said he. "We're on our own way and about our own +business; and outside the three mile zone, let 'em follow us on the +high seas if they like. She's sound as a bell, Mr. Harry, and once we +get her docked and her port shaft straight, there's nothing can touch +her on the Gulf. Let 'em come." + +"But we can't dock here, my good Peterson." + +"Well, we can beat 'em with one engine and one screw. Besides, what +have we done?" + +"Haint you was 'hrobber, han ron hoff with those sheep?" demanded the +keeper excitedly. + +"No, we are not ship thieves but gentlemen, my friend," I answered, +suddenly catching at his long gun and setting it behind me. "You +might let that go off," I explained. At which he went yellower than +ever, a thing I had thought impossible. + +"Now, look here," said I. "Suppose we are robbers, pirates, what you +like, and suppose a price is put on our heads--a price which means a +jolly nice libel suit for each paper printing it, by the way, or a +jolly nice apology--none the less, we are a strong band and without +fear either of the law or of you. Here you are alone, and not a sail +is in sight. If any boat did come here, we could--well, we could blow +her out of the water, couldn't we, Peterson? We could blow you out of +the water, too, couldn't we, we and these ruffians of our crew?"--and +I pointed at the two low-browed pictures of Lafitte and L'Olonnois. + +A shudder was my only answer. I think the two portraits of my young +bullies did the business. + +"Very well, then," I resumed, "it is plain, Messieurs, that there is +many a slip between the reward and the pocket, _voyez vous_? _Bien!_ +But here--" and I thrust a hand into my pocket--"is a reward much +closer home, and far easier to attain." + +Their eyes bulged as they saw two or three thousand dollars in big +bills smoothed out. + +"_Ecoutez, Messieurs!_" said I. "Behold here not enemies, but men of +like mind. I speak of men who live by the sea, men of the old home of +Jean Lafitte, that great merchant, that bold soldier, who did so much +to save his country at the Battle. Even now he has thousands of +friends and hundreds of relatives in this land. You yourself, I doubt +not, Messieurs, are distant cousins of Jean Lafitte? _N'est-ce pas?_" + +They crossed themselves, but murmured "_Ba-oui!_" "Est ees the trut'! +How did Monsieur know?" asked the tender. + +"I know many things. I know that any cousin descended from those brave +days loves the sea and its ways more than he loves the law. And if +money has come easy--as this did--what harm if a cousin should take +the price of a rat-skin or two and carry out a letter or so to the +railway, and keep a close mouth about it as well? To the good old +days, and Messieurs, my friends!" I had seen the neck of a flask in +Peterson's pocket, and now I took it forth, unscrewed the top, and +passed it, with two bills of one hundred dollars each. + +They poured, grinned. I stood, waiting for their slow brains to act, +but there was only a foregone answer. The keeper drank first, as +ranking his tender; the other followed; and they handed the +flask--not the bills--back to Peterson and me. + +"_Merci, mes amis!_" said I. "And I drink to Jean Lafitte and the old +days! Perhaps, you may buy a mass for your cousin's soul?" + +"_Ah non!_" answered the keeper. "Hees soul she's hout of _Purgatoire_ +long hago eef she'll goin' get hout. Me, I buy me some net for +s'rimp." + +"An' me, two harpent more lan' for my farm," quoth the tender. + +"Alas! poor Jean!" said I. "But he was so virtuous a man that he needs +no masses after a hundred years, perhaps. As you like. You will take +the letters; and this for the telegraph?" + +"Certain'! I'll took it those," answered the tender. "You'll stayed +for dish coffee, yass?" inquired the keeper, with Cajun hospitality. + +"No, I fear it is not possible, thank you," I replied. "We must be +going soon." + +"An' where you'll goin', Monsieur?" + +"Around the island, up the channel, up the old oyster-boat channel of +Monsieur Edouard. The letters are some of them for Monsieur Edouard +himself. And you know well, _mes amis_, that once we lie at the wharf +of Monsieur Edouard, not the government even of the state will touch +us yonder?" + +"My faith, _non!_ I should say it--certain' not! No man he'll mawnkey +wit' Monsieur Edouard, heem! You'll was know him, Monsieur?" + +"We went to school together. We smoked the same pipe." + +"My faith! You'll know Monsieur Edouard!" The keeper shook my hand. +"H'I'll was work for Monsieur Edouard manny tam hon hees boat, hon +hees plantation, hon hees 'ouse. When I'll want some leetle money, +s'pose those hrat he'll wasn't been prime yet, hall H'I'll need was to +go non Monsieur Edouard, hask for those leetle monny. He'll han' it on +me, yass, heem, ten dollar, jus' like as heasy Monsieur has gave it me +hondred dollar now, yas, heem!" + +"Yes? Well, I know that a cousin of Jean Lafitte--who no doubt has dug +for treasure all over the dooryard of Monsieur Edouard----" + +"But not behin' the smoke-house--nevair on dose place yet, I'll swear +it!" + +"--Very well, suppose you have not yet included the smoke-house of +Monsieur Edouard, at least you are his friend. And what Acadian lives +who is not a friend of the ladies?" + +"Certain', Monsieur." + +"Very well again. What you see in the paper is all false. The two +ladies whose pictures you see here, and here, are yonder at our camp. +You shall come and see that they are well and happy, both of them. +Moreover, if you like another fifty for the mass for Jean Lafitte's +soul, you, yourself, my friend, shall pilot us into the channel of +Monsieur Edouard. We'll tow your boat behind us across the bay. Is it +not?" + +"Certain'! _oui!_" answered the tender. "But you'll had leetle dish +coffee quite plain?" once more demanded the lonesome keeper; and for +sake of his hospitable soul we now said yes; and very good coffee it +was, too: and the better since I knew it meant we now were friends. +Ah! pirate blood is far thicker than any water you may find. + +"But if we take you on as pilot, my friend," said I to the pilot as at +length we arose, "how shall we get out our letters after all?" + +"Thass hall right," replied he, "my cousin, Richard Barriere--she's +cousin of Jean Lafitte too, heem--she'll was my partner on the s'rimp, +an' she'll was come hon the light, here, heem, to-mor', yas, heem." + +"And would you give the letters to Mr. Richard Barriere to-morrow?" I +inquired of the lighthouse keeper. + +"_Oui, oui_, certain', _assurement_, wit' _plaisir, Monsieur_," he +replied. So I handed him the little packet. + +It chanced that my eye caught sight of one of the two letters Mrs. +Daniver had handed me. The address was not in Mrs. Daniver's +handwriting, but one that I knew very well. And the letter, in this +handwriting that I knew very well, was addressed to Calvin Horace +Davidson, Esquire, The Boston Club, New Orleans, Louisiana: all +written out in full in Helena's own scrupulous fashion. + +I gave the letter over to the messenger, but for a time I stood +silent, thinking. I knew now very well what that letter contained. But +yesterday, Helena Emory had finally decided, there on the beach, alone +with me, the salt air on her cheek, the salt tears in her eyes. She +had gone far as woman might to tell me that she was grieved over a +hasty word--she had given me a chance, my first chance, my only +chance, my last chance. And, I, pig-headed fool, had slighted her at +the very moment of moments of all my life--I who had prided myself on +my "psychology"--I who had thought myself wise--I had allowed that +woman to go away with her head drooping when at last she--oh, I saw it +all plainly enough now! And now indeed small psychology and small wit +were requisite to know the whole process of a woman's soul, thus +chilled. She had been hesitant, had been a little resentful of this +runaway situation, had not liked my domineering ways; but at last she +had relented and had asked my pardon. Then I had spurned her. And then +her mind swung to the other man. She had not yet given that man his +answer, but when I chilled her, rejected her timid little desire to +"make up" with me--why, then, her mind was made up for that other man +at once. She had written his answer. And now--oh! fiendlike cruelty of +woman's heart--she had chosen me as her messenger to carry out that +word which would cost me herself forever! She had done that +exquisitely well, as she did everything, not even advising me that I +was to be her errand boy on such an errand, trusting me to find out by +accident, as I had, that I was to be my own executioner, was to spring +my own guillotine. She knew that, none the less, though I understood +what the letter meant thus addressed, I sacredly must execute her +silent trust. Oh! Helena, yours was indeed an exquisite revenge for +that one hour of a dour man's hurt pride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +IN WHICH WE FOLD OUR TENTS + + +By consent of the lighthouse keeper, we left the _Belle Helene_ moored +at the wharf in the channel, with Williams in charge, while Peterson +and I, towing the tender's sailing skiff, its piratical lateen sail +lowered, started back for our encampment in our long boat. It was only +a half mile or so alongshore around the head of the island, although +we had to keep out a bit to avoid going aground on the flats where the +_Belle Helene_ had come to grief--and had, moreover, to wade ashore +some fifty yards or so, now that the sea was calm, since the keel of +the motor-boat would not admit a closer approach in the shallows. + +We found our party all assembled, John having but now issued his +luncheon call; and, such had proved the swift spell of this care-free +life, none expressed much delight at the announcement of my decision +to strike camp and move toward civilization. Helena only looked up +swiftly, but made no comment; and Mrs. Daniver, to my surprise, openly +rebelled at leaving these flesh-pots, where canvasback and terrapin +might be had by shaking the bushes, and where the supply of +ninety-three seemed, after all, not exhausted. Of course, my men had +nothing to say about it, but when it came to my partners and +associates, Lafitte and L'Olonnois, there was open mutiny. + +"Why, now," protested L'Olonnois, his lip quivering, "O' _course_ we +don't want to go home. Ain't our desert island all right? Where you +goin' to find any better place 'n this, like to know? Besides"--and +here he drew me to one side--"they's a good reason for not goin' just +yet, Black Bart!" + +"What, Jimmy?" I inquired. + +"Well, _I_ know somethin'." + +"And what is it?" + +"Well, Jean Lafitte knows it, too." + +"What is it then?" + +"Well, it ain't happened yet, but it's goin' to--or anyhow maybe." + +"You interest me! Is it a matter of importance?" + +"--Say it was!" + +"To whom?" + +"Why, to you--an' besides, to my Auntie Helena. 'N' you can't pull off +things like that just anywheres. Jean Lafitte an' me, we frame up how +to handle yon heartless jade, the fair captive, 'n' here you butt in +'n' spoil the whole works. It ain't right." + +I bethought me now of the conversation I had unwillingly +overheard--and my heart was grateful to these my friends--but the next +instant I remembered the note to Cal Davidson. + +"I thank you, Jimmy, my friend," said I, "and I believe I know what +you mean, but it can't be done." + +"What can't, an' why can't it?" + +"Why, the--the frame-up that you have just mentioned. In short--but, +Jimmy, go on and roll up the blankets." + +"But why can't it, and what do you know about it? Tell me," he +demanded with sudden inspiration, "is yon varlet a suitor, too, for +yon heartless jade?" + +"I decline to answer, Jimmy. Don't let's get into too deep water. Go +on and get your bundles ready." + +"You're a fine pirate, ain't you, Black Bart!" he broke out. "Do you +hold yerself fit to head a band o' bold an' desprit men, when you let +yerself be bluffed by yon varlet, an' him a thousand miles away? You +try _me_, just you gimme a desert island, or even a pirut ship, a +week, like the chance you got, an' beshrew me, but any heartless jade +would be mine!" + +"Oh, maybe not, Jimmy." + +"--Or else she'd walk the plank." + +"There isn't any plank to walk here, Jimmy," said I, pointing to our +boat, which lay in the shoals far out. "I rather wish there were." + +"You'll have to carry my Auntie Helen out on yore strong right arm, +Black Bart." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort, Jimmy." + +"Don't you like her no more? An' if you don't, what're we here for?" + +I could foresee embarrassments in further conversation with Jimmy in +his present truculent mood, so sought out others less mutinous, and +gave orders for the striking of the camp and the embarkment of all in +the small boats. I left Peterson and Willy to take the ladies and most +of the duffel in the large boat, assigned John the dingey for his cook +boat, and decided to pole the light draft duck boat over the shallows +direct to the yacht, taking my two associates with me. It was +necessary, of course, to carry our fair passengers out to the long +boat, which was some distance out on the flat beach. Peterson and I +made a cradle for Mrs. Daniver, with our locked hands, and so got her +substantial weight aboard. Helena mutely waited, but seeing her so, +and unwilling myself to be so near to her any more, I motioned her to +step into the flat duck boat, dry shod, and so poled her out to the +long boat; but I did so in silence, nor did she look up or speak to +me. + +Our new pilot sat in his own boat, and was towed back, after rendering +some assistance with the cargoes; so now, at last, I was ready to +leave a spot which, in any other circumstances, would have offered +much charm for a man fond of the out-of-doors. As for my young +friends, they were almost in tears as they sat, looking back longingly +at the great flights of all manner of wild fowl continuously streaming +in and out of the lagoon. At any other time, I would have been +unwilling as any to depart, but, now, the whole taste and flavor of +life had left me, and no interest remained in any of my old +occupations or enjoyments. All that remained was the action necessary +to deliver Helena and her aunt back to the usual scenes of their +lives, to make their losses as light as possible, to take my own +losses, and so close the books of my life. + +"There they come!" said Jean Lafitte, pointing to a vast gaggle of +clamoring wild geese coming in from the bay. "Right over our point, +Jimmy! Gee! I wisht I was under them fellers right now. Pow! Pow!" + +"Aw, shut up!" was Jimmy's reply. "We won't never get no chance like +this again. Why, looky here, we was reg'lar castaways on a real desert +island, an' we had a abandoned ship, an' we c'd 'a' lived chiefly by +huntin' an' fishin'; and we had evaded all pursuit an' run off with +the fair captive to a place o' hidin'--why, it's all just like in the +book. An' what do _we_ do? Why, we go home! Wouldn't it frost you? An' +what's worse, we let the heartless jade get away with it, too! Ain't +that so?" + +"Yes, that's true, Jimmy," I replied. + +"Well, I was talkin' to Jean Lafitte--but it's so. We started out all +right as pirates, but now we let a girl bluff us." + +"What would you do, Jimmy, in a case like that?" I inquired. + +"I would wring the wench's slender neck, beshrew me! She couldn't put +over none o' that coarse work on me. No, curses on her fair face!" + +"That will do, Jimmy!" said I, and pushed on in silence, Jean Lafitte +very grave, and Jimmy snuffling, now, in his grief at leaving the +enchanted island. So, all much about the same time, we reached the +_Belle Helene_ and went aboard. The ladies went at once to their +cabin, and I saw neither again that day, although I sent down duck, +terrapin and ninety-three for their dinner that night. + +In half an hour we were under way; and in an hour and a half, having +circumvented our long desert island, we were passing through the +cut-off which led us back into Cote Blanche, some fifty miles, I +presume, from what was to be our voyage's end. We still were in the +vast marsh country, an inaccessible region teeming with wild life. The +sky now was clear, the air once more warm, the breeze gentle, and all +the country roundabout us had a charm quite its own. A thousand side +channels led back into the fortresses of the great sea-marsh, to this +or that of the many lakes, lagoons and pond holes where the wild fowl +found their feeding beds. Here was this refuge, where they fled to +escape persecution, the spot most remote, secluded, secret, +inaccessible. Here nature conspired to balk pursuit. The wide shallows +made a bar now to the average sailing craft, and as for a motor-yacht +like ours, the presence of a local pilot, acquainted with all the +oyster reefs and shallows, all the channels and cut-offs, made us feel +more easy, for we knew we could no longer sail merely by compass and +chart. A great sense of remoteness from all the world came over me. I +scarce could realize that yonder, so lately left behind, roared the +mad tumult of the northern cities. This wide expanse was broken by no +structure dedicated to commerce, not even the quiet spire of some +rural church arose among the lesser edifices of any village--not even +the blue smoke of some farmhouse marked the dwelling-place of man. It +was the wilderness, fit only for the nomad, fit only for the man +resentful of restraint and custom, longing only for the freedom of +adventure and romance. The cycles of Cathay lay here in these gray +silences, the leaf of the lotus pulsed on this lazy sea. Ah! here, +here indeed were surcease and calm. + +And all this I was leaving. I was going back now to the vast tumult of +the roaring towns, to the lip of mockery, the eye of insincerity, the +hand of hypocrisy, where none may trust a neighbor. And moreover, I +was going back without one look, face to face, into the eyes and the +heart of the woman I had loved, and who, by force of these +extraordinary circumstances had, for a miraculous moment, been thus +set down with me, her lover, in the very surroundings built of +Providence for secrecy and love! Yonder, speeding to her summons, no +doubt hastened, ready to meet her, the man whom she had preferred +above me. And like a beast of burden, driven in the service of these +two, I was plodding on, in the work of leaving paradise and +opportunity, and delivering safe into the hands of another man the +woman whom I loved far more than all else in all the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +IN WHICH IS PHILOSOPHY; WHICH, HOWEVER, SHOULD NOT BE SKIPPED + + +We passed on steadily to the northward until mid-afternoon, making no +great headway with one propellor missing, but leaving the main gulf +steadily, and at length, raising, a faint blue loom on the sky, the +long oak-crowned heights of those singular geological formations, the +heights known as "islands", that bound the head of this great bay. +Here the land, springing out of the level marshes and alluvial wet +prairies, thrusts up in long reefs, hundreds of feet above the sea +level. On the eminences grow ancient and mossy forest trees, as well +as much half-tropic brake in the lower levels. Here are wide and rich +acres also, owned as hereditary fees by old proud families, part of +whose wealth comes from their plantations, part from their bay +fisheries, and much from the ancient salt mines which lie under these +singular uplifts above the great alluvial plain. As of right, here +grow mansion homes, and here is lived life as nearly feudal and as +wholly dignified and cultured as any in any land. Ignorant of the +banal word "aristocracy," here, uncounting wealth, unsearching of self +and uncritical of others, simple and fine, folk live as the best +ambition of America might make one long to live, so far above the +vulgar northern scramble for money and display as might make angels +weep for the latter in the comparison. + +Perhaps it was Edouard Manning, planter, miner, sportsman, gentleman, +traveler, scholar and host, who first taught me what wealth might +mean, may mean, ought to mean. Always, before now, I had approached +his home with joy, as that of an old friend. There, I knew, I would +find horses, guns, dogs, good sport and a simple welcome; and I could +read or ride as I preferred. A king among all the cousins of Jean +Lafitte, Monsieur Edouard. Hereabouts ran the old causeway by which +the wagon reached the "importations" of Jean's barges, brought inland +from his schooners hid in the marshes far below. Here, too, as is well +known in all the state, was the burying-ground of Jean Lafitte's +treasure-chests: for, though the old adventurer sold silks and +tobaccos and sugars very cheap to the planters and traders, he +secreted, as is well known, great store of plate, bullion and minted +coins, at divers points about the several miles of forest covered +heights; so that the very atmosphere thereabout--till custom stales it +for the visitor who comes often there--reeks with the flavor of pieces +of eight, Spanish doubloons, and rare gems of the Orient. Laughingly, +many a time Monsieur Edouard had agreed to go a-treasure hunting with +me, even had showed me several of the curious old treasure-keys, maps +and cabalistic characters which tell the place where Lafitte and his +men buried their gold--such maps as are kept as secret heirlooms in +many a Cajun family. + +But now, as I saw myself once more approaching this pleasant spot so +well known to me, I felt little of the old thrill of eagerness come +over me. True, Edouard would be there, and the dogs, and the birds, +and the horses, and the quiet welcome. True, also, I could, either in +truth or by evasion, establish a pleasant and conventional footing for +all my party--it would be easy to explain so natural and pleasant an +incident as a visit during a yacht cruise, and to laugh at all that +silly newspaper sensation which by now must fully have blown over. +True, Monsieur Edouard would be charmed to meet the woman whose +influence on my life he knew so well. Yes, I could tell him +everything easily, nicely, except the truth; which was, that I was +bringing to another man's arms the woman whom he knew I loved. No, the +blue loom of Manning's Island gave me no joy now. I wished it three +thousand miles away instead of thirty. I wished that almost anything +might prevent my arrival--accident, delay. + +And then, in the most natural way in the world, there were both! +Without much warning, the pulse of our engine slackened, the throb of +our single screw slowed down and ceased. Williams stuck his head up +out of his engine-room and shouted something to Peterson, who +methodically drew out his pipe and made ready for a smoke. + +"It's no use going any farther," explained Williams when I came up. +"That intake's gone wrong again, and she's got sand all through her. +It's a crime to see her cut herself all to pieces this way. We've just +got to stop and clean her up, that's all, and fix the job right--ought +to have done it back there before we started in." + +"How long will it take, Williams?" I asked. + +"Oh, I don't know, sir. More than this afternoon, sure." + +"That's too bad," said I, with a fair imitation of regret. "We had +expected to make Manning Island by night." + +"Yes, it is too bad, but it's better to stop than ruin her, isn't it, +sir?" + +"Certainly it is, and I quite approve your judgment. But I presume we +can go a little way yet, until we find a good berth somewhere? There's +a deep channel comes in from the left, just ahead, and I think if we +move on half a mile or so, we can get water enough to float even at +low tide, and at the same time be out of sight of any boats passing in +the lower part of the bay." + +"Oh, yes, sir, we can get that far," said the engineer. Peterson was +full of gloom, and though he thought nothing less than that we were +going to be kept here a month, as one more event in a trip already +unlucky enough, he gave the wheel to our Cajun pilot, and we crawled +on around the head of a long point that came out into the bay. Here we +could not see Manning Island, and were out of sight from most of the +bay, so that, once more, the feeling of remoteness, aloofness, came +upon me. + +Not that it did me any present good. I despatched L'Olonnois as +messenger to the ladies, telling them the cause of our delay, and +explaining how difficult it was to say just when we would get in to +the island; and then I betook myself to gloomy pacing up and down what +restricted part of the deck I felt free for my own use. I wearied of +it soon, and went to my cabin, trying to read. + +At first I undertook one of the modern novels which had been +recommended by my bookseller, but I found myself unable to get on with +it, and standing before my shelves took down one volume after another +of philosophers who once were wont to comfort me--men with brains, +thinking men who had done something in the world beside buying yachts +and country houses. My eye caught a page which earlier I had turned +down, and I read again: + +"Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the +place the Divine Providence has found for you--the society of friends, +the connexion of events. Great men have always done so, and confided +themselves childlike to the genius of their age.... And we now are +men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent +destiny; and not pinched in a corner nor cowards fleeing before a +revolution, but redeemers, and benefactors, pious aspirants to be +noble clay, under the Almighty effort let us advance on Chaos and the +Dark." + +I read the mystic, involved, subjective words again, as most of the +Concord Sage's words require, and reflected how well they jumped with +the note of my heathen Epictetus, who had said, "Be natural and +noble". And, so thinking, I began to wonder whether, after all, my +father, whose ruthless ways I betimes had explored, whose ruthless +sins I had betimes atoned, had not been, perhaps, a better man than +sometimes I had credited him with being. He, in accordance with his +lights, had accepted the part given him by the Poet of the Play. He +had confided himself childlike to the genius of his age, roaring, +fighting, scrambling, getting and sometimes giving. He had trusted +himself; and in the end, a bold man, he had advanced bravely on Chaos +and the Dark. After a life of war and sometimes of rapine, done under +the genius of his day, he had struck boldly the last chord on an iron +string. Dear old Governor! I did not regret the million of his money I +had spent to restore his memory clean in my own mind: for after all, +it had all been in open war--that time when he unloaded a worthless +mine on his friend, Dan Emory--Helena's father, Daniel Emory, who was, +at first, said to have left his family penniless; until a shrewd +lawyer in some miraculous way had managed to sell at a good price a +box full of worthless mining stock to some innocent victim. + +Helena Emory never knew of that sale, nor did her guardian aunt. I did +know of it, for the very good reason that I was both the shrewd lawyer +and the innocent purchaser. It was the last act of my professional +career; and it was this which caused the general report that I had +made a bad mining venture, had lost my father's fortune, and retired +from my career a ruined man. A few friends knew otherwise: and I +blessed the rumor which cost me certain friends who thought me poor +and so forsook me. Perhaps, my father would have called me quixotic +had he known. Now, as I read and pondered, I neither blamed him for +his own course in fair business war with old Dan Emory, nor did I +censure myself for my own hidden act of restitution. Let the world wag +its head if it liked, and remain ignorant of other millions given to +me before my father's death, unprobated, secret, after the fashion of +my pirate parent who buried his treasures and told none but his kin +how they might be found. + +Of course, in time, it all might come out. In time, Helena would know +that this yacht which she supposed to be Davidson's was my own, that +the farm I was supposed to have rented really was a handsome estate +that I owned, that many covert deeds in finance had been my own--it +was only my silence and my absence in many parts of the world which +had prevented her, also much a traveler, from knowing the truth about +me long ago. And the truth was, I was not a poor man, but a rich one. + +Yet he who had stolen my purse would indeed have stolen trash this +day. Rich in one way, I was poor, indeed, in others. I cared nothing +for old Dan Emory's money, but very, very much for old Dan Emory's +daughter; and her I might not have, even after all my efforts.... No, +the waters would leave no trail; and once more, after I had restored +old Dan Emory's daughter to her home and friends, I would travel the +wide world again, and the gossipers might guess what causes had ended +a professional career, apparently ended a great fortune, and actually +had ended a life.... For, I thought--using some philosophy of my own +making--it is not wealth, but usefulness, contentment and independence +which a man should hold as his most desired success. These achieved, +little is left to gain. Any one of these last, and nothing remains +worth gaining. + +I took up another book, at another marked page: "Let us learn to be +content with what we have. Let us get rid of our false estimates, set +up all the higher ideals--a quiet home, vines of our own planting; a +few books full of the inspiration of genius; a few friends worthy of +being loved; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or +remorse; a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple +religion empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love--and to +such a philosophy, this world will give up all the empty joy it has." + +I meditated over this also, applying these tests to my own life.... +Ah! now I saw why my foot was ever restless, why I sought always new +scenes.... Where was my quiet home, the vines of my own planting? +Would I flee from that to every corner of the world? Not if it held +the woman of my choice. Would she thus roam restless, if she held the +heart of her chosen and if they had a home?... I began to see the Plan +unfold. Yes, and saw myself outside the Plan.... Because of a devotion +to the right that would not swerve. Because of a fanaticism, an +"oddness", a nonconformity--ah! so I said bitterly to myself, because, +after all, I was unattuned to my age, because I was unfit to survive +before a man's own judge.... It is Portia judges this world. The case +of every man comes before a woman for decision. I, who rarely had lost +a case at law where I could use my own trained mind, had lost my first +and only case at the bar of Love.... + +So--and I sighed as I shut the books and returned them to their +shelves--contentment never could be mine, nor that quiet home where +only life is lived that is worth living; nor usefulness; nor +independence. + +I did not hear Jimmy when he came in, and when he spoke I jumped, +startled. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +IN WHICH IS AN ARMISTICE WITH FATE + + +"Black Bart!" said Jimmy. "Say, now----" + +"Well, good mate," said I, and laid a hand on his curly fair head, +"what shall I say?" + +"Say nothin'," he remarked, dropping his voice. "Listen!" + +"Yes?" + +"We have held a council." + +"Who has?" + +"Why, me and Jean Lafitte and the heartless jade. I told her you sent +us to her to bid her seek your presence." + +"Jimmy! What on earth do you mean! That's precisely the last thing I +would have done--I haven't done it. On the contrary----" + +"I told her," he resumed calmly, "that when Black Bart, the pirut, +spoke, he spoke to be obeyed. She said, 'I can't go,' and I said, 'You +_gotta_ go.'" + +"You, yourself, may now go and tell her that there has been a very bad +mistake, Jimmy; and that she need not come." + +"An' make her cry worse? I ain't goin' to do it!" + +"Sir! This is mutiny!--But did she cry, Jimmy?" + +"Yes. Awful. She said she was homesick. She ain't. I don't know what +really is the matter. I ast Jean Lafitte, an' he said maybe you'd +know. We thought maybe it was something about yon varlet. Do you +know?" + +"No, I do not, Jimmy." I found myself engaged in one of those +detestable conversations where one knows the talk ought to end, yet +dislikes to end it. + +Jimmy stood for some time, much perturbed, looking every way but at +me, and at last he blurted out. + +"Don't you just jolly well awfully love the fair captive, yon +heartless jade--my Auntie Helen? Don't you, Black Bart?" + +I made no answer, but frowned very much at his presumption. + +"--Because, everybody else does. She's nice. I should think you would. +_I_ do, I know mighty well." + +"She is--she is--she's a very estimable young woman, Jimmy," said I, +coloring. "I think I may say that without compromising myself." + +"Then why do you hurt her feelings the way you do--when she's plumb +gone on you, the way she is?" + +I sprang toward him to clap a hand over his garrulous mouth, but he +evaded me, and spoke from behind the bathroom door. "Well, she is! +Don't I hear her sticking up for you all the time--didn't I hear her +an' Auntie Lucinda havin' a reg'lar row over it again, 'I don't care +if he _hasn't_ got a cent!' says she." + +"But yon varlet is rich," said I. + +"She didn't mean yon varlet--she meant you, I'm pretty sure, Black +Bart. An' she's been feedin' Partial all the afternoon--say, he's the +shape of a sausage." + +"She is heartless, Jimmy! Little do you know the ways of a heartless +jade--she wants to win away from me the last thing on earth I +have--even my dog. That's all. Now, Jimmy, you must go." + +But he emerged only in part from his shelter. "So Jean Lafitte an' me, +we looked it up in the book; an' it says where the heartless jade is +brought before the pirut chief, 'How now, fair one!' says he, an' he +bends on her the piercin' gaze o' his iggle eye: 'how now, wouldst +spurn me suit?' The fair captive she bends her head an' stands before +him unable to encounter his piercin' gaze, an' for some moments a deep +silence prevails----" + +"Jimmy!" I heard a clear voice calling along the deck. No answer, and +Jimmy raised a hand to command silence of me also. + +"Jimme-e-e-e!" It was Helena's voice, and nearer along the rail. +"Here's the fudges--now where can the little nuisance have gone! Jim!" + +"Here I am, Auntie," replied the little nuisance, as she now +approached the door of our cabin; and he brushed past me and started +not aft but toward the bows. "An' there _you_ are!" he shouted over +his shoulder in cryptic speech, whether to me or to his Auntie Helen I +could not say. + +She stood now in such position near my door that neither of us could +avoid the other without open rudeness. I looked at her gravely and she +at me, her eyes wide, her lips silent for a time. Silently also, I +swung the cabin door wide and stood back for her to pass. + +"You have sent for me?" she said at last, still standing as she was. A +faint smile--part in humor, part in timidity, part, it seemed suddenly +to me, wistful; and all just a trifle pathetic--stirred her lips. + +"'I sent my soul through the Invisible,'" said I; and stepped within +and quite aside for her to pass. + +"Jimmy told the biggest lie in all his career," said I. She would have +sprung back. + +"--And the greatest truth ever told in all the world. Come in, Helena +Emory. Come into my quiet home. Already, as you know, you have come +into my heart." + +"I am not used to going into a gentleman's--quarters," said she: but +her foot was on the shallow stair. + +"It is common to three gentlemen of the ship's company, Helena Emory," +said I, "and we have no better place to receive our friends." + +She now was in the room. I closed the door, and sprung the catch. + +"At last," said I, "you are in my power!" And I bent upon her the +piercing gaze of my eagle eye. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +IN WHICH ARE SEALED ORDERS + + +She stood before me for just a moment undecided. The twilight was +coming and the room was dim. + +"Auntie will miss me," said she, "after a time." + +"I have missed you all the time," was my reply. + +"But you sent for me?" + +"Of course I did. Doesn't this look as though I had?" + +"I don't quite understand----" + +"Shall I call Jimmy to explain? He called you a heartless jade----" + +"The little imp! How dare he!" + +"--As in fact all of our brotherhood has come to call you: 'The +heartless jade.'" + +"I made fudges for him! And the little wretch told me I wasn't playing +the game! What did he mean? Oh, Harry, I wouldn't have come if I +hadn't wanted to play the game fairly. I'm sorry for what I said." She +spoke now suddenly, impulsively. + +"What was it you said?" + +"When I said--when I called you--a coward. I didn't mean it." + +"You said it." + +"But not the way you thought. I only meant, you took an unfair +advantage of a girl, running off with her, this way, and giving her no +chance to--to get away. But now you do give me a chance--you meant to, +all along--and in every way, as I've just done telling auntie, you've +been perfectly fine, perfectly splendid, perfectly bully, too! It has +been a hard place for a man, too, but--Harry, dear boy, I'll have to +say it, you've been some considerable gentleman through it all! There +now!" And she stood, aloof, agitated, very likely flushed, though I +could not tell in the dark. + +"Thank you, Helena," I said. + +"And as to your being any other sort of a coward--that you had +physical fear--that you wouldn't do a man's part--why, I never did +mean that at all. How could I? And if I had--why, even Auntie Lucinda +said your going out after that Chinaman the other night was +heroic--even if he couldn't have cooked a bit!--and you know Auntie +Lucinda has always been against you." + +"Yes, and you both called me a coward, because I quit my law office +and ran away from misfortune." + +"Yes, we did. And I meant that, too! I say it now to your face, Harry. +But maybe I don't know all about that----" + +"Maybe not." + +"Well, I wouldn't want to be unjust, of course, but I _don't_ think a +man ought to throw away his life. You're young. You could start over +again, and you ought to have tried. Your father made his own money, +and so did my father--why, look at the Sally M. mine, that has given +me my own fortune. Do you suppose that grew on a bush to be shaken +off? So why couldn't you go out in the same way and do something in +the world--I don't mean just make money, you know, but _do_ something? +That's what a girl likes. And you were able enough. You are young and +strong, and you have your education; and I've heard my father say, +before he died--and other men agreed with him--that you were the best +lawyer at our bar, and that you had an extraordinary mind, and a clear +sense of justice, and, and----" + +"Go on. Did he say that?" + +"Yes." + +"But with all my fine qualities of mind and heart," said I, "I lost +all when I lost my money!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I'll tell you what I mean--you dropped me because you thought me +poor. Well, I don't blame you. It takes money to live, and you +deserved all that the world can give. I don't blame you. There were +other men in the world for you. The trouble with me was that there was +no other woman in the world for me. All our trouble--all our many +meetings and partings--have come out of those two facts." + +"Did you think that of me?" she asked at length, slowly. I suppose she +was pale, but I could not see. + +"I certainly did. How could I think anything else?" + +"Harry!" she half whispered. "Why, Harry, Harry!" + +"Admit that you did!" I exclaimed bitterly, "and let me start from +that as a premise. Listen! If you were a man, and loved a woman, and +she chucked you when you lost your money, do you think you'd break +your neck to make any more success in the world after that? Why should +you? Why does a man work? It's for a home, for the sake of power, and +mostly for the sake of the game." + +"Yes." + +"And I could play that game--I can play it now, and win at it, any +time I like. I quit it not because I was afraid of the game--it's the +easiest thing in the world to make money, if that's all you really +want to do. That's all your father wanted, or mine, and it was easy. I +can play that game. But why? Ah! if it were to win a quiet home, the +woman I loved, independence, usefulness, contentment,--yes! But when +all those stakes were out of the game, Helena, I didn't care to play +it any more. And that was why you thought I ran away. I did run +away--from myself, and you." + +She was silent now, and perhaps paler--I could not see. + +"--But wherever I have gone, Helena, all over the world, I've found +those two people there ahead of me, and I couldn't escape +them--myself, and you!" + +"Did you think that of me, Harry?" She half whispered once more. + +"Yes, I did. And did you think that of me?" + +"Yes, I did. But I did not understand." + +"No. Like many a woman, you got cause and effect mixed up: and you +never troubled yourself to get it straight. Let me tell you, unless +two people can come to each other without compromises and without +explanations and without reservations, they would better never come +at all. I don't want you cheap, you oughtn't to want me cheap. So how +can it end any way other than the way it has? If it was my loss of +fortune that made you chuck me, I oughtn't ever to give you a second +thought, for you wouldn't be worth it. The fact you did, and that I +do, hasn't anything to do with it at all." + +"No." + +"And if you don't think me able and disposed to play a man's part in +the world, you oughtn't to care a copper for me, that is plain, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, quite plain." + +"And the fact that you did, and that you do, has nothing to do with +it--nothing in the world, has it, Helena?" + +"No." She must have been very pale, though I could not tell. + +"Therefore, as logic shows us, my dear, and because we never did get +our premises straight, and so never will get our conclusions straight, +either--we don't belong together and never can come together, can we?" + +"No." I could barely hear her whisper. + +"No. And that is why, just before you came, I was trying to pull +myself together and to advance as best an unhappy devil may, upon +Chaos and the Dark! And that's all I see ahead, Helena, without +you--Chaos and the Dark." + +"It was all you saw that night, in the little boat," she said after a +time. "Yet you went?" + +"Oh, yes, but that was different." + +"Is this all, Harry?" she said, and moved toward the door. + +"Yes, my dear; it is all--but all the rest." + +Her color must have risen, for I saw dimly that she raised both her +hands to her bosom, her throat. Thus the heartless jade stood, her +head drooped, unable to meet the piercing gaze of my eagle eye. + +There came a faint scratching at the door, a little whimpering whine. + +"It is Partial, my dog, come after you," said I bitterly. "He knows +you are here. He never has done that way for me. He loves you." + +"He knows _you_ are here, and he loves you," said she. "That is why +things come and scratch at doors where ruffians live." + +I flung open the door. "Partial," said I, "come in; and choose between +us." + +As to the first part of my speech, the invitation to enter, Partial +obeyed with a rush; as to the second, the admonition, he apparently +could not obey at all. In his poor dumb brute affliction, lack of +human speech, he stood, after saluting us both, alternately and +equally, hesitant between us, wagging, whining and gazing, knowing +full well somewhat was wrong between us, grieving over us, beseeching +us--but certainly not choosing between us. + +"Give him time," said I hoarsely. "He loves you more, and is merely +polite to me." + +"Give him time," said she bitterly. "He loves you more, and you don't +deserve it." + +But Partial would not choose. + +"He wants us _both_, Helena!" said I at last. "He has wiped out logic, +premises, conclusions, cause and effect, horse, cart and all! He wants +us _both_! He wants a quiet home and independence, Helena, and +usefulness, and contentment. Ah, my God!" + +She reached down and put a hand on his head, but he only looked from +one to the other of us, unhappy. + +"Don't you love me, Helena?" I asked quietly, after a time. "For the +sake of my dog, can you not love me?" + +She continued stroking the head of the agonized Partial.... And until, +somewhat inarticulately, I had choked or spoken, and had caught her +dark hair against my cheek and kissed her hair and stammered in her +ear, and turned her face and kissed her eyes and her cheek and her +lips many, many times, Partial held his peace and issued no +decision.... At least, I did not hear him.... + +She was sobbing now, her head on my shoulder, as we sat on the locker +seat, and Partial's head was on the cushion beside us, and he was +silent and overjoyed, and tranquilly happy--seeing perhaps, that a +quiet home would in the event be his, and that he was going to live +happy ever after. And after I drew Helena's head closer to my face, I +kissed her hair. + +"Do you love me, Helena?" I asked. "Only the truth now, in God's +name!" + +"You know I do," she said, and I felt her arms about my neck. + +"Have you, always?" + +"I think so, yes. It seems always." + +"We have been cruel to each other." + +"Yes, are cruel now." + +"How now?" + +"You make me say I love you, and yet----" + +"You will marry me--right away, soon, Helena--as I am, poor, ragged, +without a cent, only myself?" + +"Not here," she smiled. + +"At Edouard Manning's, at once, as soon as we get in?" + +"It is duress! I am in the power of a ruffian band! Is it fair? Are +you sure I know my mind?" + +"I am sure only that I know my own! Tell me, what was in that note I +carried, addressed to yon varlet Davidson?" + +"Sealed orders!" + +"And how does that affect me, Helena. Tell me--I know you love me, and +you know that all the rest is small, to that; but as to that wedding +part of it, Helena--what do you say?" + +She hesitated for an instant. "You want me to--come--to come with +honor, as you do?" + +"Yes. I'll take any risk that means with you." + +"Will you take sealed orders, too?" + +"Yes." + +"Turn on the lights." + +I reached the switch, and an instant later a dozen high candle-power +bulbs flooded the suite with light. With a little cry of dismay Helena +sprang away, and stood at my shaving-glass, arranging her hair. Now +and then she turned her face just enough to smile at me a little, her +eyes dark, languid, heavy lidded, a faint shadow of blue beneath. And +now and then her breast heaved, as though it were a sea late troubled +by a storm gone by. + +"What will auntie say?" she sighed at last. + +"What will you say?" I replied. + +"Oh, brute, you shall not know! I must have some manner of revenge +against a ruffian who has taken advantage of me while I was in his +power!" + +"Ah, heartless jade!" + +"--So you shall wait until we are ashore. I will give you sealed +orders----" + +"When?" + +"Now. And you shall open them at your friend's house--as soon as we +are all settled and straightened after leaving the boat--as soon +as----" + +"It looks as though it were as soon as you please, not when I please." + +"Harry, it is my revenge for the indignities you have heaped on me. Do +you think a girl will submit to that meekly--to be browbeaten, abused, +endangered as I have been! No, sir--sealed orders or none. I have only +owned I loved you. So many girls have been mistaken about things +when--when the moon, or a desert island or--or something has bewitched +them. But I haven't said I would marry you, have I, ever?" + +"No. I don't care about that so much as the other; but I care a very, +very great deal about it, too. You, too, are cruel. You are a +heartless jade." + +"And you have been a cruel and ruthless pirate." + +"Tell me now!" + +"No." And she evaded me, and gained the door. "I must go. Oh, it's all +a ruin now--Auntie'll be furious. And what shall I say?" + +"Give her sealed orders, and my love! And when do I get mine?" + +"In five minutes." + +She was gone.... And after some moments, rapt as I was at her late +presence, which still seemed to fill the room like the fragrance, like +the fragrance of her hair which still lingered in my senses, I looked +about, sighing for that she was gone. Then I noted that our friend +Partial had gone with her. "Fie! Partial, after all, you loved her +more!" I said to myself. + +But in a few moments I heard a faint sound at my door. I opened. There +stood Partial in the dusk, gravely wagging his tail, looking at me +without moving his head. And I saw that he held daintily in his mouth +a dainty note, addressed to me in the same handwriting as that on the +note I had sent out from the heartless jade to yon varlet. And it was +sealed, and marked with instructions for its opening.... "When You +Two Varlets Meet." No more. + +"Peterson," said I, advancing to the forward deck, where I found him +smoking, "I've been getting up some correspondence, since we'll be +ashore by to-morrow noon----" + +"--I don't know as to that, Mr. Harry." + +"Well, I know about it. So, tell Williams that, even if he has to work +all night, we must be moving as soon as it's light enough to see. I've +got a very important message----" + +"By wireless, Mr. Harry?" chuckled the old man. + +"Yes, by wireless," (and I looked at Partial, who wagged his tail and +smiled). "So I must get into Manning Island the first possible moment +to-morrow. And Peterson, as we've had so good a run this trip, with no +accident or misfortune of any kind, I don't know but I may make it a +month or two extra pay--double--for you and Williams, and even John. +And as to Willy, please don't fire him, Peterson, for his deserting +the ship's cook the other night. In fact, I'm very glad, on the whole, +he did. Give him double pay for doing it, Peterson!" + +"Ain't this the wonderful age!" remarked Peterson to a star which was +rising over the misty marsh. "Especial, now, that wireless!" + +I only patted Partial on the head, and we smiled pleasantly and +understandingly at each other. Of course, Peterson could not know what +we knew. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +IN WHICH LAND SHOWS IN THE OFFING + + +Before the white sea mists had rolled away I was on deck, and had +summoned a general conference of my crew. + +"'Polyte," I demanded of our pilot, "how long before your partner will +be at the lighthouse, below, there?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, maybe thees day sometam." + +"And how long before he'll start back with the mail?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, maybe thees same day sometam." + +"And how long will it take him to get back to some post-office with +those letters?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, maybe those nex' day sometam." + +"And then how long to the big railroad to New Orleans?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, maybe those nex' day too h'also sometam, heem." + +"Then it will be three days, four days, before a letter could get from +the lighthouse to New Orleans?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Three or four days?" + +"_Oui_, maybe so." + +"And how long will it take us to get in to the plantation of Monsieur +Edouard, above, there?" + +"'Ow long?" + +"Yes." + +"H'I'll could not said, Monsieur. Maybe three four day--_'sais pas_." + +"Holy Mackinaw!" I remarked, _sotto voce_. + +"Pardon?" remarked 'Polyte respectfully. "Le +Machinaw--_que-est-que-ce-que-est, ca_?" + +"It is my patron saint, 'Polyte," I explained, and he crossed himself +for his mistake. + +"Suppose those h'engine he'll h'ron, we'll get in four five h'our +h'all right, on Monsieur Edouard, yass," he added. "H'I'll know those +channel lak some books." + +By now Williams--who, judging by certain rappings, hammerings and +clankings heard through the cabin walls back and above the +engine-rooms, had been at work much of the night--had reported, and +much to my pleasure had said he thought we could make it in at least +to the Manning dock before further repairs would be needed. To prove +which, he went down and "turned her over a time or two," as he +expressed it. Whereupon I gave orders to break out the anchor, and +knowing that any Cajun market hunter and shrimp fisher like 'Polyte +can travel in any mist or fog before sunup by some instinct of his +own, I took a chance and began to feel our way out to the mouth of the +Manning channel before the morning mists were gone; so that we were at +breakfast by the time the wide and gently rippling bay broke clear +below us, and by magic, we saw the oak-crowned heights of the island +dead ahead. + +Thence on, within the walls of the deep dredged channel, all we had to +do was to go sufficiently slow and follow the curves carefully, so +that the heavy waves of our boat, larger than any intended for that +channel, might not too much endanger the mud walls, or threaten +wreckage to the frail stagings leading to the cabins of the +half-aquatic trappers and fishers who dwell here in the marshes. + +So, at last, after many windings and doublings, we came in at the rear +of the timbered slopes, and could see the mansion houses and the +offices of the stately old plantation, where dwelt my friend, Edouard +Manning, who knew nothing of my coming. + +After custom, I signaled loud and often with the boat's whistle, so +that the men might come to the landing for us; and, in order that +Edouard himself might be warned, I gave orders to my hardy mates to +make proper nautical salute of honor. + +"Cast loose the stern-chaser, Jean Lafitte," said I: "and do you and +L'Olonnois load and fire her often as you like until we land; or until +you burst her." + +Gleefully they obeyed, and soon the roar of our deck gun echoed +formidably along the slopes, as had no gun since the salt-seeking +Union navy, in the Civil War, had pounded at the gates of Edouard's +father: and until scores of coots and rail chattered in excited chorus +for answer, and long clouds of wild ducks arose and circled over the +marsh. Again and again, my bold mates loaded and fired: and now, +turning back by chance from my own place at the wheel, I saw that they +had assumed full character, and each with a red kerchief bound about +his brow, was armed with, I dare not say how many, pistols, dirks, +swords and cutlasses thrust through his belt or otherwise suspended +on his person. + +I saw now the two ladies, their fingers in their ears, also on deck, +protesting at this cannonading at their cabin door; and so I raised my +hat to a very radiant and radiantly appareled Helena, for the first +time that day; and heard the answer of L'Olonnois to the dour protest +of Auntie Lucinda. + +"We follow Black Bart the Avenger, an' let any seek to stop us at +their per-rul! Jean, run up the flag, while I load her up again." + +And Jean having once more hoisted the skull and cross-bones at our +masthead, and assumed a specially savage scowl as he stood with folded +arms on our bow deck, we made what a mild imagination might have +called rather an impressive entry as we swept into the Manning +landing. + +I was not surprised to see Edouard himself there, and his wife, and +some thirty odd dogs and as many blacks, waiting for us at the wharf. +Nor was I surprised to see that all seemed somewhat to marvel at our +manner of advent, though I knew that Edouard, through his +field-glasses, had recognized both my boat and myself long before we +made the last curve and came gently in to the wharf where the grinning +darkies could catch our line. + +What did surprise me--and perhaps for a time I may have shown +surprise--was to see, in all this gay throng, two forms not usual on +the Manning landing. One was the elegantly garbed and rather stunning +figure of Sally Byington; and the other the robust, full-bodied, +gorgeously arrayed form of my old friend, Cal Davidson! How or why +they came there I could not for the moment guess. + +"'Tis he--yon varlet!" I heard a stern voice hiss at my ear. "Beshrew +me, but it shall go hard with him! I'm loading her up with marbles +now!" But I had no more than time to persuade my two lieutenants to +modify this purpose, and partially to disarm themselves, before the +two groups were mingling, with much chattering and laughing and gay +saluting. + +Edouard, hat in hand, was on deck before our fenders touched the +wharf, laughing and grasping my hands and looking up at my flag. + +"I knew you were coming," said he. "Fact is, all the country's been +looking for you. Davidson just got in a couple of hours ago--and you +know his lady is an old friend of Mrs. Manning's. And----" + +He was shaking the hands of Mrs. Daniver and Helena almost before I +could present them. Auntie Lucinda bestowed upon him the gaze of a +solemn and somewhat tear-stained visage (though I saw distinct +approval on her face as she caught sight of the great mansion house +among the giant oaks, and witnessed the sophisticatedness of the group +on the landing, and the easy courtesy of Edouard himself). + +"By Jove! old man!" the latter found time to say to me, "I +congratulate you--she's away beyond her pictures." He did not mean +Mrs. Daniver; and he never had seen Helena before. I could only press +his hand and attempt no comment as to the congratulations, for part of +that was a matter which yet rested in a sealed envelope in my pocket; +and at best it must be three or four days.... But then, with a great +flash of arrested intelligence, it was borne in upon me that perhaps, +after all, it was not so much a question of the tardy United States +mails! Because yon varlet, fat and saucy, and well content with life, +already, by some means and for some reason, had outrun the mails. He +was here, and we had met. It need not be four days before I could +learn my fate.... I reached into my pocket and looked at my sealed +orders. No matter what Davidson's letter held, here was Davidson +himself. + +"Oh, I say, there, you Harry, confound you!" roared Davidson to me in +his great voice above the heads of everybody. "I say, what did I tell +you?" + +Now I had not the slightest idea what Davidson had told me, nor what +he meant by waving a paper over his head. "They've signed Dingleheimer +for next year! Now what do you think of that? World's championship, +and good old Dingleheimer for next year--I guess that's pretty poor +for them little old Giants, what?" And he smiled like one devoid of +all care as well as of all reason. + +I myself smiled just a moment later--after I had greeted the Manning +ladies, had seen Helena step up and kiss Sally Byington fervently, +directly on the cheek, whose too keen coloring I once had heard her +decry; had slapped Edouard joyously on the shoulders and pointed to my +pirate flag and gloomy black-visaged crew--I say I also smiled +suddenly when I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder. + +'Polyte, the pilot, stood, cap in hand, and asked me to one side. + +"Pardon, Monsieur," said he, "but those _gentilhommes_--those fat +one--ees eet she'll was Monsieur Davelson who'll H'I'll got letter on +heem from those lighthouse, heem?" + +"Why, yes, 'Polyte--the letter you said would take four days to get to +New Orleans." + +'Polyte smiled sheepishly. "He'll wouldn't took four days now, +Monsieur! H'I'll got it h'all those letter here. H'I'll change the +coat on the _lighthouse_, maybe, h'an H'I'll got the coat of Guillaume +witt' h'all those letter in her, yass?" And he now handed me the +entire packet of letters, which I had supposed left far behind us on +the previous day! + +I took the letters from him, and handed all of them but one to +Edouard's old body servant to put in the office mail. The remaining +one I held in the same hand with its mate: and I motioned Davidson +aside to a spot under a live oak as the other began now slowly to move +toward the path from the landing up the hill. + +"This is for you," said I, handing him his letter; and told him how it +came to him thus. + +"It's from Helena--dear old girl, isn't she a trump, after all!" he +said, tearing open the letter and glancing at it. + +"She is a dear girl, Mr. Davidson," said I, stiffly, "yes." + +"Why, of course--yes, of course I'd have done it, if I'd got this +before I left the city," said he, "but how can I now?"--holding the +letter open in his hand. + +"Do you mean to tell me," I began, but choked in anger mixed with +uncertainty. What was it she had asked of him, offered to him? And was +not Helena's wish a command. + +"Yes, I mean to tell you or any one else, I'd do a favor to a lady if +I could; but----" + +"What favor, Mr. Davidson?" I demanded icily. + +"Well, why 'Mr. Davidson'? Ain't I your pal, in spite of all the muss +you made of my plans? Why, I'm damned if I'll pay you the charter +money at all, after the way you've acted, and all----" + +"Mr. Davidson, damn the charter money!" + +"That's what I say! What's charter money among friends? All right, if +you can forgive half the charter fee, I'll forgive the other half, +and----" + +"What was in the letter from her?" + +"It's none of your business, Harry--but still, I don't mind saying +that Miss Emory wrote me and said that if I was still--oh! I say!" he +roared, turning suddenly and poking a finger into my ribs, "if you +haven't got on one of my waistcoats!" + +"The one with pink stripes," said I still icily, "and deuced bad ones +they all are. And these clothes I borrowed from my China boy. But +then----" + +"I see, you must have come in a hurry, eh?" + +"Yes. But come now, old man, what's in that letter? I've got one of my +own here, done in the same hand, hers. I am under sealed orders--until +I shall have met you, which is now. So I suppose some sort of +explanation is due on both sides. We might as well have it all out +here, before we join the house party, so as to avoid any awkwardness." + +"Oh, nothing in my letter to amount to anything," he replied. "Miss +Emory only wanted to know if I'd please have her trunks shipped out +here from New Orleans--only that; and she asked me please to bring her +a box of marshmallows, as hers were all gone. She's polite, always, +dear old Helena--she says, here, 'So pleasant is our journey in every +way, and so kind have you gentlemen been, and so thoughtful in +providing every luxury, that I can not think of a single thing I could +ask for except some more marshmallows. Jimmy, the young imp, my +nephew, you know, has found mine, though I hid them under both +cushions in the stateroom.'" + +I had my hat off, and was wiping my forehead. A sudden burst of glory +seemed to me to envelope all the world. If there had been duplicity +anywhere, I did not care. + +"I suppose Jimmy is the one with two guns and a Jap sword, eh?" asked +Davidson. + +"No, the other one, God bless him! Is that all there was in the +letter, Cal?" + +"Yes. What's in yours? What's the game--button, button, who's got the +girl? And can't you _open_ your letter now?" + +"Yes," said I, and did so. It contained just two words (Helena +afterward said she had not time to write more while Auntie Lucinda +might be in from the other stateroom).[A] + +"Well, what's it say, dash you!" demanded Cal Davidson. "Play fair +now--I told, and so must you!" + +"I'm damned if I do, Cal!" said I, and put it in my pocket. But I +shook hands with him most warmly, none the less.... + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] (Those interested may find them later in the text.[B]) + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +IN WHICH IS MUCH ROMANCE, AND SOME TREASURE, ALSO VERY MUCH HAPPINESS + + +We walked on slowly up the hill together, my friend Calvin Davidson +and myself, following the parti-colored group now passing out of sight +behind the shrubbery. At last we paused and sat down on one of the +many seats that invited us. Around us, on the great lawn, were many +tropic or half-tropic plants, and the native roses, still abloom. +Yonder stood the old bronze sun-dial that I knew so well--I could have +read the inscription, _I Mark Only Pleasant Hours_; and I knew its +penciled shadow pointed to a high and glorious noon.... It seemed to +me that Heaven had never made a more perfect place or a more perfect +day; nor, that I am sure, was ever in the universe a world more +beautiful than this, more fit to swing in union with all the harmony +of the spheres.... I had fought so long, I had been so unhappy, had +doubted so much, had grown so sad, so misanthropic, that I trust I +shall be forgiven at this sudden joy I felt at hearing burst on my +ears--albeit a chorus of Edouard's mocking-birds hid in the oaks--all +the music of the spheres, soul-shaking, a thing of joy and +reverence.... So I spoke but little. + +"But I say, old man," began Davidson presently, "it's all right for a +joke, but my word! it was an awfully big one, and an awfully risky +one, too,--your stealing your own yacht from me! I didn't think it of +you. You not only broke up my boat party--you see, Sally was going on +down with us from Natchez--Miss Emory said she'd be glad to have her +come, and of course she and Mrs. Daniver made it proper, all right--I +say, you not only busted that all up, but by not sending a fellow the +least word of what you were going to do, you got those silly +newspapers crazy, from New Orleans to New York--why, you're famous, +that is, notorious! But so is Miss Emory, that's the worst of it. I +don't just fancy she'll just fancy some of those pictures, or some of +those stories. Least you can do now is to marry Helena and the old +girl, too, right off!" + +"In part, that is good advice," said I. "I wish I could wear your +clothes, Cal--but I remember now that Edouard and I can wear the same +clothes, and have, many a time." + +"But I say, don't be so hoggish. There's other people in the world +beside you--_you'd_ never have thought of making that river cruise, +now would you?" + +"No." + +"Nor you couldn't have got Helena aboard the boat if you had, now +could you?" + +"No." + +"Let alone the old girl, her revered aunt!" He dug another thumb into +his own pink striped waistcoat. "She loves you a lot, I am not of the +impression!" + +"No, I think she rather favored you!" I replied gravely. + +"No chance! And I say, isn't Sally a humdinger? Just the sort for +me--something doing every minute. And a fellow can always tell just +what she's thinkin'----" + +"I'm not right sure, Cal, whether that's safe to say of any woman," +said I. "A ship on the sea, or a serpent on a rock has--to use your +own quaint manner of speech, my friend--so to speak, nothing on the +way of a maid with a man. But go on. I do congratulate you. Do you +know, old man, I almost thought, once--a good while ago--that you were +just a little--that is--_epris_ of Helena your own self?" + +"Come again? 'Apree'--what's that?" + +"--Gone on her." + +"Oh, not at all, not at all--not in the least! Why, I can't see what +in the world--oh, well of course, you know, she's _fine_; but what I +mean is, why--there was Sally, you know. Say, do you know why I wanted +to get Sally away on that boat?--I was afraid you'd cut in somewhere, +run across her down at Mardi Gras, or something. And I just _figured_, +once you got a girl on a boat that way, away from all the other +fellows, you know, why even a plain chap like me would have a chance, +do you see? And I say now, I'll own it up--I was right down _jealous_ +of _you_, too! Wasn't it silly? And I ask your pardon. You're an +awfully good sort, Harry, though you're so d----d serious--you get too +much in earnest, take things too hard, you know. Will you shake hands +with me, knowing what a fool I've been? I say, you're the best chap in +the world, old man--if only you were a little more _human_ once in a +while." + +He put out his hand and I met it. "Will you shake hands with me, Cal?" +said I, "on precisely those same terms about having been an awful +fool? It's you who are the best chap in the world. And I'll admit +it--I was jealous of you!" + +He roared at this. "Well," said he, "as George Cohan says, 'All's well +that ends well', and I guess we couldn't beat this for a championship +year, now could we? Now say, about Dingleheimer----" + +"Oh, hang Dingleheimer, Cal!" I exclaimed. "What I want to know is, +did you ever talk any to Miss Emory about--well, about me, you +know?--say anything about my affairs, or anything, you know? I mean +while you were there on the boat together." + +"No. She wouldn't let me. Besides, the truth is, I was so full of +Sally all the time, I mostly talked about _her_. By Jove! that was a +measly trick you played us, running off with the boat from under my +nose! But I proposed to Sally in Natchez that night, and she came on +down to the city the next day by rail--while _I_ ran down in that +dirty little scow you left behind. And I never tumbled for days that +it was _you_ had run off with the boat--though I found a photo of +Helena and your cigarette case in the boat you left. Never tumbled +till that story of the taxi driver came out. Then I said, 'Well, of +all things! Wonder if that old stick has really come to life after +all!' And you sure had! What's in _your_ letter? Say, ain't a boat the +place----" + +"But how did you happen to be here?" + +"Oh, I've known Ed Manning years, in New York, Paris, all around. He +asked me to visit him some time. I wired and asked him if I could come +out for our honeymoon--you know, Harry, I'm such a d----d romantic son +of a gun, and once before I was out here at Ed's, and those d----d +nightingales, catbirds, what d'ye call 'ems----" + +"--Mockers." + +"Yes, mockers, they sung so sweet, especial in the evenings, you +know--and I'm so d----d romantic--_always_ was thataway--and you know, +why, a fellow _can_ be romantic on his honeymoon, can't he?--he can +just cut loose then an' be as big a d--n fool as he likes then--an' +get away with it, what? Say, can't he?" + +--"Yes." + +--"So that's why I came." + +--"But--honeymoon? Are you going to be married?" + +--"Naw! I ain't goin' to be married--I _am_ married! Day before +yesterday, in New Orleans. And I don't believe in dandlin' an' foolin' +around about a little thing like that. Ain't you married yet?" + +"No. Impossible. No preacher on Cote Blanche Bay or on our boat. I've +got Aunt Lucinda Daniver along, to take care of the proprieties. If I +should leave it to her, I never would be married." + +"Why?" + +"She thinks I'm broke." + +"Yes, too bad about that! I wish I could swap bank rolls with you. Why +didn't you tell her the truth--and Helena, too? Why didn't you tell +'em it was your own yacht? Why didn't you tell 'em you're worth a few +millions and don't have to work?" + +"I don't know--maybe I'm like you, Cal, foolish about nightingales and +things. But tell me--you never did tell them anything about that Sally +M. mine business, did you?" + +"No, I should say not! Didn't you tell me you didn't want it to get +out? It was bad enough, the way old Dan and your--sainted father +handed it to each other over that mine, wasn't it? I know about it, +for I promoted that mine myself, and the name'll prove that--Sally M. +Byington, with the Byington left off! There wasn't a blasted thing in +it then. But when you--like a blame quixotic fool--after she was good +for six thousand a month velvet, and ore blocked out to last a +thousand years--why, then you fool around in Papa's records, and think +Papa wasn't on the square with old Dan. So on the quiet you get it all +made over, back to old Dan's daughter; and take a sneak into the +hazelbrush when she turns you down! Say, you know what _I'd_ a-done?" + +"No." + +--"I'd a-held on to the mine and told the girl how much it was +bringin' in--that's _my_ system. Then I'd a-got the mine and the girl +both, maybe!" + +--"Maybe." + +"Well, that's the system I'd a-played. I wouldn't a-took to the tall +grass, me." + +"On the other hand, I played a system invented by myself and Henri +L'Olonnois." + +"I never heard of him. Well, anyhow, you were rich enough to afford to +do what you liked. But as to keeping it secret, you can't do that any +longer. Those newspaper fellows are the devil to get hold of things. +Since all this stuff came out about you running away with your own +boat--I can see now why you did it, and I'm glad you did--why, your +whole life history has been printed, including all that restitution +business about the Sally M. Fellows came to me and asked me about you, +asked if I knew you. Said, yes, I knew you--said you were a romantic +chap, and a good business man, too--and the best old scout in the +world--what?" + +I had arisen, and stood in some doubt. "What's the matter--let's go +on up to the house. I want to see Sally," he concluded. + +"And I want very much to see Helena," said I. "Only, it's going to be +rather harder now to meet her--and Mrs. Daniver." + +"Well, I don't know," said Cal Davidson; "every fellow plays his own +system. There's something in what you say about women having a good +poker face so far as tellin' what they think about a man is +concerned--yes. Frinstance, how much did Helena know I knew, or know +you knew or thought you knew--well, you get me? But the trouble with +you is, you ain't romantic in your temperament like me.... But if I +was you, I wouldn't be scared to tell Mrs. Daniver I had a dollar and +a quarter or so left! It'll soften the blow some to her, maybe. And as +for Helena----" + +"And as for Helena, I can look her in the face, and she can me, now. +And--will you telephone to New Iberia for a minister--at once--for +this evening train? And will you tell Edouard to have his man lay out +his best evening clothes for me--tell him I'll trade him these of my +cook's for them--and a suit of traveling clothes? Because, oh! fellow +varlet----" (I paused here; we both did; for a mocker just now broke +into an extraordinary burst of song, so sweet, so throbbingly sweet, +that we could not help but listen, both of us being lovers).... + +"What were you saying, old man?" Cal Davidson asked after a while, +musingly, as one awakening.... "Some bird, what?" + +... "Because, to-night," I answered, "I am going to marry my fair +captive, yon heartless jade, Helena. I've loved her always, rich or +poor, and she loves me, rich or poor. And we shall live happy ever +after. And may God bless us, and all true lovers!" + +"Amen!" I heard some one say; and have often wondered whether it was +yon varlet, the mocking-bird, or Cal Davidson himself, who spoke.... I +looked around for Partial. He had followed Helena. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[B] (The words in Helena's note, addressed to Henry Francis Drake, +Esquire, were, as I have said, but two: "Yes--Now". That was why I was +married that evening. It was curious about the wedding ring, for that +I would not borrow; so an old negro blacksmith took a gold ring +Edouard gave me, one found years ago by a Cajun treasure hunter in +some one of the few successful hunts for the treasure of Jean Lafitte; +and into this, in place of the gem long since missing, he clasped my +pearl, the one we got on the river far in the north; the great pearl +later known as the largest and most brilliant ever found in fresh +water. It was I who named it the "_Belle Helene_". So that our ring +pleased all but L'Olonnois and Jean Lafitte. These two pirates had set +at work that very afternoon, with 'Polyte (by Edouard's consent) and +dug behind the smoke-house. Wonderful enough, they did find old +bricks, enclosing a sort of hollow cavity, bricks of an ancient day; +and though they got nothing else ('Polyte said he knew who had beaten +them to this treasure--it was Achilles Dufrayne of Calcasieu, curse +him!) they both explained how easy it would be to deceive the fair +captive into thinking we really had found the ring's setting as well +as the ring itself, in a pirate treasure-box. I would not do that, on +the ground that already I had deceived the fair captive quite +enough.... But, though yon varlet, my friend dear old Cal Davidson, +spoke rather freely about his honeymoon, and all that, I can not do so +of mine with Helena.... I did not know that I could again be so happy. +Often I have wished I were a romantic man, like dear old Cal.... I +fear my book on the mosquitoes of North America never will be written +now.--H. F. D.) + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Minor typographic errors in spelling and punctuation have been +corrected without note. + +The Table of Contents has been made consistent with the chapter +headers, as follows--"In Which I Have a Polite Conversation" amended +to "In Which I Have Polite Conversation"; "In Which Is Certain +Conversation" amended to "In Which Is Certain Polite Conversation". + +This book contains some archaic spelling, and some dialect; this is +all reproduced here as in the original. + +Illustrations have been moved slightly so that they are not in the +middle of a paragraph. 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