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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34627-8.txt b/34627-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3796c01 --- /dev/null +++ b/34627-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7835 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, by A. Conan Doyle + +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 Dealings of Captain Sharkey + and Other Tales of Pirates + +Author: A. Conan Doyle + +Release Date: December 12, 2010 [EBook #34627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + + _and Other Tales of Pirates_ + + BY A. CONAN DOYLE + + + + NEW YORK + GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, + 1914, 1918, 1919, + BY A. CONAN DOYLE + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, + BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + COPYRIGHT, 1911, + BY ASSOCIATED SUNDAY MAGAZINES, INC. + + COPYRIGHT, 1908, + BY THE MCCLURE COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1902, + BY THE S. S. MCCLURE COMPANY + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +TALES OF PIRATES + +I CAPTAIN SHARKEY: HOW THE GOVERNOR OF SAINT KITT'S CAME HOME + +II THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY WITH STEPHEN CRADDOCK + +III THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY + +IV HOW COPLEY BANKS SLEW CAPTAIN SHARKEY + +V THE "SLAPPING SAL" + +VI A PIRATE OF THE LAND (ONE CROWDED HOUR) + + +TALES OF BLUE WATER + +VII THE STRIPED CHEST + +VIII THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR" + +IX THE FIEND OF THE COOPERAGE + +X JELLAND'S VOYAGE + +XI J. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT + +XII THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX + + + + +THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + +_and Other Stories of Pirates_ + + + + +TALES OF PIRATES + + + + +I + +CAPTAIN SHARKEY: HOW THE GOVERNOR OF SAINT KITT'S CAME HOME + + +When the great wars of the Spanish Succession had been brought to an end +by the Treaty of Utrecht, the vast number of privateers which had been +fitted out by the contending parties found their occupation gone. Some +took to the more peaceful but less lucrative ways of ordinary commerce, +others were absorbed into the fishing-fleets, and a few of the more +reckless hoisted the Jolly Rodger at the mizzen and the bloody flag at +the main, declaring a private war upon their own account against the +whole human race. + +With mixed crews, recruited from every nation they scoured the seas, +disappearing occasionally to careen in some lonely inlet, or putting in +for a debauch at some outlaying port, where they dazzled the inhabitants +by their lavishness and horrified them by their brutalities. + +On the Coromandel Coast, at Madagascar, in the African waters, and above +all in the West Indian and American seas, the pirates were a constant +menace. With an insolent luxury they would regulate their depredations +by the comfort of the seasons, harrying New England in the summer and +dropping south again to the tropical islands in the winter. + +They were the more to be dreaded because they had none of that +discipline and restraint which made their predecessors, the Buccaneers, +both formidable and respectable. These Ishmaels of the sea rendered an +account to no man, and treated their prisoners according to the drunken +whim of the moment. Flashes of grotesque generosity alternated with +longer stretches of inconceivable ferocity, and the skipper who fell +into their hands might find himself dismissed with his cargo, after +serving as boon companion in some hideous debauch, or might sit at his +cabin table with his own nose and his lips served up with pepper and +salt in front of him. It took a stout seaman in those days to ply his +calling in the Caribbean Gulf. + +Such a man was Captain John Scarrow, of the ship _Morning Star_, and yet +he breathed a long sigh of relief when he heard the splash of the +falling anchor and swung at his moorings within a hundred yards of the +guns of the citadel of Basseterre. St. Kitt's was his final port of +call, and early next morning his bowsprit would be pointed for Old +England. He had had enough of those robber-haunted seas. Ever since he +had left Maracaibo upon the Main, with his full lading of sugar and red +pepper, he had winced at every topsail which glimmered over the violet +edge of the tropical sea. He had coasted up the Windward Islands, +touching here and there, and assailed continually by stories of villainy +and outrage. + +Captain Sharkey, of the 20-gun pirate barque, _Happy Delivery_, had +passed down the coast, and had littered it with gutted vessels and with +murdered men. Dreadful anecdotes were current of his grim pleasantries +and of his inflexible ferocity. From the Bahamas to the Main his +coal-black barque, with the ambiguous name, had been freighted with +death and many things which are worse than death. So nervous was Captain +Scarrow, with his new full-rigged ship and her full and valuable lading, +that he struck out to the west as far as Bird's Island to be out of the +usual track of commerce. And yet even in those solitary waters he had +been unable to shake off sinister traces of Captain Sharkey. + +One morning they had raised a single skiff adrift upon the face of the +ocean. Its only occupant was a delirious seaman, who yelled hoarsely as +they hoisted him aboard, and showed a dried-up tongue like a black and +wrinkled fungus at the back of his mouth. Water and nursing soon +transformed him into the strongest and smartest sailor on the ship. He +was from Marblehead, in New England, it seemed, and was the sole +survivor of a schooner which had been scuttled by the dreadful Sharkey. + +For a week Hiram Evanson, for that was his name, had been adrift beneath +a tropical sun. Sharkey had ordered the mangled remains of his late +captain to be thrown into the boat, "as provisions for the voyage," but +the seaman had at once committed them to the deep, lest the temptation +should be more than he could bear. He had lived upon his own huge frame, +until, at the last moment, the _Morning Star_ had found him in that +madness which is the precursor of such a death. It was no bad find for +Captain Scarrow, for, with a short-handed crew, such a seaman as this +big New Englander was a prize worth having. He vowed that he was the +only man whom Captain Sharkey had ever placed under an obligation. + +Now that they lay under the guns of Basseterre, all danger from the +pirate was at an end, and yet the thought of him lay heavily upon the +seaman's mind as he watched the agent's boat shooting out from the +custom-house quay. + +"I'll lay you a wager, Morgan," said he to the first mate, "that the +agent will speak of Sharkey in the first hundred words that pass his +lips." + +"Well, captain, I'll have you a silver dollar, and chance it," said the +rough old Bristol man beside him. + +The negro rowers shot the boat alongside, and the linen-clad steersman +sprang up the ladder. + +"Welcome, Captain Scarrow!" he cried. "Have you heard about Sharkey?" + +The captain grinned at the mate. + +"What devilry has he been up to now?" he asked. + +"Devilry! You've not heard, then! Why, we've got him safe under lock and +key here at Basseterre. He was tried last Wednesday, and he is to be +hanged to-morrow morning." + +Captain and mate gave a shout of joy, which an instant later was taken +up by the crew. Discipline was forgotten as they scrambled up through +the break of the poop to hear the news. The New Englander was in the +front of them with a radiant face turned up to heaven, for he came of +the Puritan stock. + +"Sharkey to be hanged!" he cried. "You don't know, Master Agent, if they +lack a hangman, do you?" + +"Stand back!" cried the mate, whose outraged sense of discipline was +even stronger than his interest at the news. "I'll pay that dollar, +Captain Scarrow, with the lightest heart that ever I paid a wager yet. +How came the villain to be taken?" + +"Why, as to that, he became more than his own comrades could abide, and +they took such a horror of him that they would not have him on the ship. +So they marooned him upon the Little Mangles to the south of the +Mysteriosa Bank, and there he was found by a Portobello trader, who +brought him in. There was talk of sending him to Jamaica to be tried, +but our good little governor, Sir Charles Ewan, would not hear of it. +'He's my meat,' said he, 'and I claim the cooking of it.' If you can +stay till to-morrow morning at ten, you'll see the joint swinging." + +"I wish I could," said the captain, wistfully, "but I am sadly behind +time now. I should start with the evening tide." + +"That you can't do," said the agent with decision. "The Governor is +going back with you." + +"The Governor!" + +"Yes. He's had a dispatch from Government to return without delay. The +fly-boat that brought it has gone on to Virginia. So Sir Charles has +been waiting for you, as I told him you were due before the rains." + +"Well, well!" cried the captain, in some perplexity, "I'm a plain +seaman, and I don't know much of governors and baronets and their ways. +I don't remember that I ever so much as spoke to one. But if it's in +King George's service, and he asks a cast in the _Morning Star_ as far +as London, I'll do what I can for him. There's my own cabin he can have +and welcome. As to the cooking, it's lobscouse and salmagundy six days +in the week; but he can bring his own cook aboard with him if he thinks +our galley too rough for his taste." + +"You need not trouble your mind, Captain Scarrow," said the agent. "Sir +Charles is in weak health just now, only clear of a quartan ague, and it +is likely he will keep his cabin most of the voyage. Dr. Larousse said +that he would have sunk had the hanging of Sharkey not put fresh life +into him. He has a great spirit in him, though, and you must not blame +him if he is somewhat short in his speech." + +"He may say what he likes and do what he likes so long as he does not +come athwart my hawse when I am working the ship," said the captain. "He +is Governor of St. Kitt's, but I am Governor of the _Morning Star_. And, +by his leave, I must weigh with the first tide, for I owe a duty to my +employer, just as he does to King George." + +"He can scarce be ready to-night, for he has many things to set in order +before he leaves." + +"The early morning tide, then." + +"Very good. I shall send his things aboard to-night, and he will follow +them to-morrow early if I can prevail upon him to leave St. Kitt's +without seeing Sharkey do the rogue's hornpipe. His own orders were +instant, so it may be that he will come at once. It is likely that Dr. +Larousse may attend him upon the journey." + +Left to themselves, the captain and mate made the best preparations +which they could for their illustrious passenger. The largest cabin was +turned out and adorned in his honour, and orders were given by which +barrels of fruit and some cases of wine should be brought off to vary +the plain food of an ocean-going trader. In the evening the Governor's +baggage began to arrive--great ironbound ant-proof trunks, and official +tin packing-cases, with other strange-shaped packages, which suggested +the cocked hat or the sword within. And then there came a note, with a +heraldic device upon the big red seal, to say that Sir Charles Ewan made +his compliments to Captain Scarrow, and that he hoped to be with him in +the morning as early as his duties and his infirmities would permit. + +He was as good as his word, for the first grey of dawn had hardly begun +to deepen into pink when he was brought alongside, and climbed with some +difficulty up the ladder. The captain had heard that the Governor was an +eccentric, but he was hardly prepared for the curious figure who came +limping feebly down his quarter-deck, his steps supported by a thick +bamboo cane. He wore a Ramillies wig, all twisted into little tails like +a poodle's coat, and cut so low across the brow that the large green +glasses which covered his eyes looked as if they were hung from it. A +fierce beak of a nose, very long and very thin, cut the air in front of +him. His ague had caused him to swathe his throat and chin with a broad +linen cravat, and he wore a loose damask powdering-gown secured by a +cord round the waist. As he advanced he carried his masterful nose high +in the air, but his head turned slowly from side to side in the helpless +manner of the purblind, and he called in a high, querulous voice for the +captain. + +"You have my things?" he asked. + +"Yes, Sir Charles." + +"Have you wine aboard?" + +"I have ordered five cases, sir." + +"And tobacco?" + +"There is a keg of Trinidad." + +"You play a hand at piquet?" + +"Passably well, sir." + +"Then up anchor, and to sea!" + +There was a fresh westerly wind, so by the time the sun was fairly +through the morning haze, the ship was hull down from the islands. The +decrepit Governor still limped the deck, with one guiding hand upon the +quarter-rail. + +"You are on Government service now, Captain," said he. "They are +counting the days till I come to Westminster, I promise you. Have you +all that she will carry?" + +"Every inch, Sir Charles." + +"Keep her so if you blow the sails out of her. I fear, Captain Scarrow, +that you will find a blind and broken man a poor companion for your +voyage." + +"I am honoured in enjoying your Excellency's society," said the Captain. +"But I am sorry that your eyes should be so afflicted." + +"Yes, indeed. It is the cursed glare of the sun on the white streets of +Basseterre which has gone far to burn them out." + +"I had heard also that you had been plagued by a quartan ague." + +"Yes; I have had a pyrexy, which has reduced me much." + +"We had set aside a cabin for your surgeon." + +"Ah, the rascal! There was no budging him, for he has a snug business +amongst the merchants. But hark!" + +He raised his ring-covered hand in the air. From far astern there came +the low deep thunder of cannon. + +"It is from the island!" cried the captain in astonishment. "Can it be a +signal for us to put back?" + +The Governor laughed. + +"You have heard that Sharkey, the pirate, is to be hanged this morning. +I ordered the batteries to salute when the rascal was kicking his last, +so that I might know of it out at sea. There's an end of Sharkey!" + +"There's an end of Sharkey!" cried the captain; and the crew took up the +cry as they gathered in little knots upon the deck and stared back at +the low, purple line of the vanishing land. + +It was a cheering omen for their start across the Western Ocean, and the +invalid Governor found himself a popular man on board, for it was +generally understood that but for his insistence upon an immediate trial +and sentence, the villain might have played upon some more venal judge +and so escaped. At dinner that day Sir Charles gave many anecdotes of +the deceased pirate; and so affable was he, and so skilful in adapting +his conversation to men of lower degree, that captain, mate, and +Governor smoked their long pipes and drank their claret as three good +comrades should. + +"And what figure did Sharkey cut in the dock?" asked the captain. + +"He is a man of some presence," said the Governor. + +"I had always understood that he was an ugly, sneering devil," remarked +the mate. + +"Well, I dare say he could look ugly upon occasions," said the Governor. + +"I have heard a New Bedford whaleman say that he could not forget his +eyes," said Captain Scarrow. "They were of the lightest filmy blue, with +red-rimmed lids. Was that not so, Sir Charles?" + +"Alas, my own eyes will not permit me to know much of those of others! +But I remember now that the Adjutant-General said that he had such an +eye as you describe, and added that the jury were so foolish as to be +visibly discomposed when it was turned upon them. It is well for them +that he is dead, for he was a man who would never forget an injury, and +if he had laid hands upon any one of them he would have stuffed him with +straw and hung him for a figure-head." + +The idea seemed to amuse the Governor, for he broke suddenly into a +high, neighing laugh, and the two seamen laughed also, but not so +heartily, for they remembered that Sharkey was not the last pirate who +sailed the western seas, and that as grotesque a fate might come to be +their own. Another bottle was broached to drink to a pleasant voyage, +and the Governor would drink just one other on the top of it, so that +the seamen were glad at last to stagger off--the one to his watch and +the other to his bunk. But when after his four hours' spell the mate +came down again, he was amazed to see the Governor in his Ramillies wig, +his glasses, and his powdering-gown still seated sedately at the lonely +table with his reeking pipe and six black bottles by his side. + +"I have drunk with the Governor of St. Kitt's when he was sick," said +he, "and God forbid that I should ever try to keep pace with him when he +is well." + +The voyage of the _Morning Star_ was a successful one, and in about +three weeks she was at the mouth of the British Channel. From the first +day the infirm Governor had begun to recover his strength, and before +they were half-way across the Atlantic he was, save only for his eyes, +as well as any man upon the ship. Those who uphold the nourishing +qualities of wine might point to him in triumph, for never a night +passed that he did not repeat the performance of his first one. And yet +he would be out upon deck in the early morning as fresh and brisk as the +best of them, peering about with his weak eyes, and asking questions +about the sails and the rigging, for he was anxious to learn the ways of +the sea. And he made up for the deficiency of his eyes by obtaining +leave from the captain that the New England seaman--he who had been cast +away in the boat--should lead him about, and above all that he should +sit beside him when he played cards and count the number of the pips, +for unaided he could not tell the king from the knave. + +It was natural that this Evanson should do the Governor willing service, +since the one was the victim of the vile Sharkey, and the other was his +avenger. One could see that it was a pleasure to the big American to +lend his arm to the invalid, and at night he would stand with all +respect behind his chair in the cabin and lay his great stub-nailed +forefinger upon the card which he should play. Between them there was +little in the pockets either of Captain Scarrow or of Morgan, the first +mate, by the time they sighted the Lizard. + +And it was not long before they found that all they had heard of the +high temper of Sir Charles Ewan fell short of the mark. At a sign of +opposition or a word of argument his chin would shoot out from his +cravat, his masterful nose would be cocked at a higher and more insolent +angle, and his bamboo cane would whistle up over his shoulder. He +cracked it once over the head of the carpenter when the man had +accidentally jostled him upon the deck. Once, too, when there was some +grumbling and talk of a mutiny over the state of the provisions, he was +of opinion that they should not wait for the dogs to rise, but that they +should march forward and set upon them until they had trounced the +devilment out of them. "Give me a knife and a bucket!" he cried with an +oath, and could hardly be withheld from setting forth alone to deal with +the spokesman of the seamen. + +Captain Scarrow had to remind him that though he might be only +answerable to himself at St. Kitt's, killing became murder upon the high +seas. In politics he was, as became his official position, a stout prop +of the House of Hanover, and he swore in his cups that he had never met +a Jacobite without pistolling him where he stood. Yet for all his +vapouring and his violence he was so good a companion, with such a +stream of strange anecdote and reminiscence, that Scarrow and Morgan had +never known a voyage pass so pleasantly. + +And then at length came the last day, when, after passing the island, +they had struck land again at the high white cliffs at Beachy Head. As +evening fell the ship lay rolling in an oily calm, a league off from +Winchelsea, with the long dark snout of Dungeness jutting out in front +of her. Next morning they would pick up their pilot at the Foreland, and +Sir Charles might meet the king's ministers at Westminster before the +evening. The boatswain had the watch, and the three friends were met for +a last turn of cards in the cabin, the faithful American still serving +as eyes to the Governor. There was a good stake upon the table, for the +sailors had tried on this last night to win their losses back from their +passenger. Suddenly he threw his cards down, and swept all the money +into the pocket of his long-flapped silken waistcoat. + +"The game's mine!" said he. + +"Heh, Sir Charles, not so fast!" cried Captain Scarrow; "you have not +played out the hand, and we are not the losers." + +"Sink you for a liar!" said the Governor. "I tell you that I _have_ +played out the hand, and that you _are_ a loser." He whipped off his wig +and his glasses as he spoke, and there was a high, bald forehead, and a +pair of shifty blue eyes with the red rims of a bull terrier. + +"Good God!" cried the mate. "It's Sharkey!" + +The two sailors sprang from their seats, but the big American castaway +had put his huge back against the cabin door, and he held a pistol in +each of his hands. The passenger had also laid a pistol upon the +scattered cards in front of him, and he burst into his high, neighing +laugh. + +"Captain Sharkey is the name, gentlemen," said he, "and this is Roaring +Ned Galloway, the quartermaster of the _Happy Delivery_. We made it +hot, and so they marooned us: me on a dry Tortuga cay, and him in an +oarless boat. You dogs--you poor, fond, water-hearted dogs--we hold you +at the end of our pistols!" + +"You may shoot, or you may not!" cried Scarrow, striking his hand upon +the breast of his frieze jacket. "If it's my last breath, Sharkey, I +tell you that you are a bloody rogue and miscreant, with a halter and +hell-fire in store for you!" + +"There's a man of spirit, and one of my own kidney, and he's going to +make a very pretty death of it!" cried Sharkey. "There's no one aft save +the man at the wheel, so you may keep your breath, for you'll need it +soon. Is the dinghy astern, Ned?" + +"Ay, ay, captain!" + +"And the other boats scuttled?" + +"I bored them all in three places." + +"Then we shall have to leave you, Captain Scarrow. You look as if you +hadn't quite got your bearings yet. Is there anything you'd like to ask +me?" + +"I believe you're the devil himself!" cried the captain. "Where is the +Governor of St. Kitt's?" + +"When last I saw him his Excellency was in bed with his throat cut. When +I broke prison I learnt from my friends--for Captain Sharkey has those +who love him in every port--that the Governor was starting for Europe +under a master who had never seen him. I climbed his verandah and I paid +him the little debt that I owed him. Then I came aboard you with such of +his things as I had need of, and a pair of glasses to hide these +tell-tale eyes of mine, and I have ruffled it as a governor should. +Now, Ned, you can get to work upon them." + +"Help! Help! Watch ahoy!" yelled the mate; but the butt of the pirate's +pistol crashed down on to his head, and he dropped like a pithed ox. +Scarrow rushed for the door, but the sentinel clapped his hand over his +mouth, and threw his other arm round his waist. + +"No use, Master Scarrow," said Sharkey. "Let us see you go down on your +knees and beg for your life." + +"I'll see you----" cried Scarrow, shaking his mouth clear. + +"Twist his arm round, Ned. Now will you?" + +"No; not if you twist it off." + +"Put an inch of your knife into him." + +"You may put six inches, and then I won't." + +"Sink me, but I like his spirit!" cried Sharkey. "Put your knife in your +pocket, Ned. You've saved your skin, Scarrow, and it's a pity so stout a +man should not take to the only trade where a pretty fellow can pick up +a living. You must be born for no common death, Scarrow, since you have +lain at my mercy and lived to tell the story. Tie him up, Ned." + +"To the stove, captain?" + +"Tut, tut! there's a fire in the stove. None of your rover tricks, Ned +Galloway, unless they are called for, or I'll let you know which of us +two is captain and which is quartermaster. Make him fast to the table. + +"Nay, I thought you meant to roast him!" said the quartermaster. "You +surely do not mean to let him go?" + +"If you and I were marooned on a Bahama cay, Ned Galloway, it is still +for me to command and for you to obey. Sink you for a villain, do you +dare to question my orders?" + +"Nay, nay, Captain Sharkey, not so hot, sir!" said the quartermaster, +and, lifting Scarrow like a child, he laid him on the table. With the +quick dexterity of a seaman, he tied his spreadeagled hands and feet +with a rope which was passed underneath, and gagged him securely with +the long cravat which used to adorn the chin of the Governor of St. +Kitt's. + +"Now, Captain Scarrow, we must take our leave of you," said the pirate. +"If I had half a dozen of my brisk boys at my heels I should have had +your cargo and your ship, but Roaring Ned could not find a foremast hand +with the spirit of a mouse. I see there are some small craft about, and +we shall get one of them. When Captain Sharkey has a boat he can get a +smack, when he has a smack he can get a brig, when he has a brig he can +get a barque, and when he has a barque he'll soon have a full-rigged +ship of his own--so make haste into London town, or I may be coming +back, after all, for the _Morning Star_." + +Captain Scarrow heard the key turn in the lock as they left the cabin. +Then, as he strained at his bonds, he heard their foot-steps pass up the +companion and along the quarter-deck to where the dinghy hung in the +stern. Then, still struggling and writhing, he heard the creak of the +falls and the splash of the boat in the water. In a mad fury he tore and +dragged at his ropes, until at last, with flayed wrists and ankles, he +rolled from the table, sprang over the dead mate, kicked his way through +the closed door, and rushed hatless on to the deck. + +"Ahoy! Peterson, Armitage, Wilson!" he screamed. "Cutlasses and pistols! +Clear away the long-boat! Clear away the gig! Sharkey, the pirate, is in +yonder dinghy. Whistle up the larboard watch, bo'sun, and tumble into +the boats all hands." + +Down splashed the long-boat and down splashed the gig, but in an instant +the coxswains and crews were swarming up the falls on to the deck once +more. + +"The boats are scuttled!" they cried. "They are leaking like a sieve." + +The captain gave a bitter curse. He had been beaten and outwitted at +every point. Above was a cloudless, starlit sky, with neither wind nor +the promise of it. The sails flapped idly in the moonlight. Far away lay +a fishing-smack, with the men clustering over their net. + +Close to them was the little dinghy, dipping and lifting over the +shining swell. + +"They are dead men!" cried the captain. "A shout all together, boys, to +warn them of their danger." + +But it was too late. + +At that very moment the dinghy shot into the shadow of the fishing-boat. +There were two rapid pistol-shots, a scream, and then another +pistol-shot, followed by silence. The clustering fishermen had +disappeared. And then, suddenly, as the first puffs of a land-breeze +came out from the Sussex shore, the boom swung out, the mainsail filled, +and the little craft crept out with her nose to the Atlantic. + + + + +II + +THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY WITH STEPHEN CRADDOCK + + +Careening was a very necessary operation for the old pirate. On his +superior speed he depended both for overhauling the trader and escaping +the man-of-war. But it was impossible to retain his sailing qualities +unless he periodically--once a year, at the least--cleared his vessel's +bottom from the long, trailing plants and crusting barnacles which +gather so rapidly in the tropical seas. + +For this purpose he lightened his vessel, thrust her into some narrow +inlet where she would be left high and dry at low water, fastened blocks +and tackles to her masts to pull her over on to her bilge, and then +scraped her thoroughly from rudder-post to cutwater. + +During the weeks which were thus occupied the ship was, of course, +defenceless; but, on the other hand, she was unapproachable by anything +heavier than an empty hull, and the place for careening was chosen with +an eye to secrecy, so that there was no great danger. + +So secure did the captains feel, that it was not uncommon for them, at +such times, to leave their ships under a sufficient guard and to start +off in the long-boat, either upon a sporting expedition or, more +frequently, upon a visit to some outlying town, where they turned the +heads of the women by their swaggering gallantry, or broached pipes of +wine in the market square, with a threat to pistol all who would not +drink with them. + +Sometimes they would even appear in cities of the size of Charleston, +and walk the streets with their clattering sidearms--an open scandal to +the whole law-abiding colony. Such visits were not always paid with +impunity. It was one of them, for example, which provoked Lieutenant +Maynard to hack off Blackbeard's head, and to spear it upon the end of +his bowsprit. But, as a rule, the pirate ruffled and bullied and drabbed +without let or hindrance, until it was time for him to go back to his +ship once more. + +There was one pirate, however, who never crossed even the skirts of +civilisation, and that was the sinister Sharkey, of the barque _Happy +Delivery_. It may have been from his morose and solitary temper, or, as +is more probable, that he knew that his name upon the coast was such +that outraged humanity would, against all odds, have thrown themselves +upon him, but never once did he show his face in a settlement. + +When his ship was laid up he would leave her under the charge of Ned +Galloway--her New England quartermaster--and would take long voyages in +his boat, sometimes, it was said, for the purpose of burying his share +of the plunder, and sometimes to shoot the wild oxen of Hispaniola, +which, when dressed and barbecued, provided provisions for his next +voyage. In the latter case the barque would come round to some +pre-arranged spot to pick him up and take on board what he had shot. + +There had always been a hope in the islands that Sharkey might be taken +on one of these occasions; and at last there came news to Kingston which +seemed to justify an attempt upon him. It was brought by an elderly +logwood-cutter who had fallen into the pirate's hands, and in some freak +of drunken benevolence had been allowed to get away with nothing worse +than a slit nose and a drubbing. His account was recent and definite. +The _Happy Delivery_ was careening at Torbec on the south-west of +Hispaniola. Sharkey, with four men, was buccaneering on the outlying +island of La Vache. The blood of a hundred murdered crews was calling +out for vengeance, and now at last it seemed as if it might not call in +vain. + +Sir Edward Compton, the high-nosed, red-faced Governor, sitting in +solemn conclave with the commandant and the head of the council, was +sorely puzzled in his mind as to how he should use his chance. There was +no man-of-war nearer than Jamestown, and she was a clumsy old fly-boat, +which could neither overhaul the pirate on the seas, nor reach her in a +shallow inlet. There were forts and artillerymen both at Kingston and +Port Royal, but no soldiers available for an expedition. + +A private venture might be fitted out--and there were many who had a +blood-feud with Sharkey--but what could a private venture do? The +pirates were numerous and desperate. As to taking Sharkey and his four +companions, that, of course, would be easy if they could get at them; +but how were they to get at them on a large well-wooded island like La +Vache, full of wild hills and impenetrable jungles? A reward was offered +to whoever could find a solution, and that brought a man to the front +who had a singular plan, and was himself prepared to carry it out. + +Stephen Craddock had been that most formidable person, the Puritan gone +wrong. Sprung from a decent Salem family, his ill-doing seemed to be a +recoil from the austerity of their religion, and he brought to vice all +the physical strength and energy with which the virtues of his ancestors +had endowed him. He was ingenious, fearless, and exceedingly tenacious +of purpose, so that when he was still young his name became notorious +upon the American coast. + +He was the same Craddock who was tried for his life in Virginia for the +slaying of the Seminole Chief, and, though he escaped, it was well known +that he had corrupted the witnesses and bribed the judge. + +Afterwards, as a slaver, and even, as it was hinted, as a pirate, he had +left an evil name behind him in the Bight of Benin. Finally he had +returned to Jamaica with a considerable fortune, and had settled down to +a life of sombre dissipation. This was the man, gaunt, austere, and +dangerous, who now waited upon the Governor with a plan for the +extirpation of Sharkey. + +Sir Edward received him with little enthusiasm, for in spite of some +rumours of conversion and reformation, he had always regarded him as an +infected sheep who might taint the whole of his little flock. Craddock +saw the Governor's mistrust under his thin veil of formal and restrained +courtesy. + +"You've no call to fear me, sir," said he; "I'm a changed man from what +you've known. I've seen the light again, of late, after losing sight of +it for many a black year. It was through the ministration of the Rev. +John Simons, of our own people. Sir, if your spirit should be in need +of quickening, you would find a very sweet savour in his discourse." + +The Governor cocked his Episcopalian nose at him. + +"You came here to speak of Sharkey, Master Craddock," said he. + +"The man Sharkey is a vessel of wrath," said Craddock. "His wicked horn +has been exalted over long, and it is borne in upon me that if I can cut +him off and utterly destroy him, it will be a goodly deed, and one which +may atone for many backslidings in the past. A plan has been given to me +whereby I may encompass his destruction." + +The Governor was keenly interested, for there was a grim and practical +air about the man's freckled face which showed that he was in earnest. +After all, he was a seaman and a fighter, and, if it were true that he +was eager to atone for his past, no better man could be chosen for the +business. + +"This will be a dangerous task, Master Craddock," said he. + +"If I meet my death at it, it may be that it will cleanse the memory of +an ill-spent life. I have much to atone for." + +The Governor did not see his way to contradict him. + +"What was your plan?" he asked. + +"You have heard that Sharkey's barque, the _Happy Delivery_, came from +this very port of Kingston?" + +"It belonged to Mr. Codrington, and it was taken by Sharkey, who +scuttled his own sloop and moved into her because she was faster," said +Sir Edward. + +"Yes; but it may be that you have never heard that Mr. Codrington has a +sister ship, the _White Rose_, which lies even now in the harbour, and +which is so like the pirate, that, if it were not for a white paint +line, none could tell them apart." + +"Ah! and what of that?" asked the Governor keenly, with the air of one +who is just on the edge of an idea. + +"By the help of it this man shall be delivered into our hands." + +"And how?" + +"I will paint out the streak upon the _White Rose_, and make it in all +things like the _Happy Delivery_. Then I will set sail for the Island of +La Vache, where this man is slaying the wild oxen. When he sees me he +will surely mistake me for his own vessel which he is awaiting, and he +will come on board to his own undoing." + +It was a simple plan, and yet it seemed to the Governor that it might be +effective. Without hesitation he gave Craddock permission to carry it +out, and to take any steps he liked in order to further the object which +he had in view. Sir Edward was not very sanguine, for many attempts had +been made upon Sharkey, and their results had shown, that he was as +cunning as he was ruthless. But this gaunt Puritan with the evil record +was cunning and ruthless also. + +The contest of wits between two such men as Sharkey and Craddock +appealed to the Governor's acute sense of sport, and though he was +inwardly convinced that the chances were against him, he backed his man +with the same loyalty which he would have shown to his horse or his +cock. + +Haste was, above all things, necessary, for upon any day the careening +might be finished, and the pirates out at sea once more. But there was +not very much to do, and there were many willing hands to do it, so the +second day saw the _White Rose_ beating out for the open sea. There were +many seamen in the port who knew the lines and rig of the pirate barque, +and not one of them could see the slightest difference in this +counterfeit. Her white side line had been painted out, her masts and +yards were smoked, to give them the dingy appearance of the +weather-beaten rover, and a large diamond shaped patch was let into her +fore-topsail. + +Her crew were volunteers, many of them being men who had sailed with +Stephen Craddock before--the mate, Joshua Hird, an old slaver, had been +his accomplice in many voyages, and came now at the bidding of his +chief. + +The avenging barque sped across the Caribbean Sea, and, at the sight of +that patched topsail, the little craft which they met flew left and +right like frightened trout in a pool. On the fourth evening Point +Abacou bore five miles to the north and east of them. + +On the fifth they were at anchor in the Bay of Tortoises at the Island +of La Vache, where Sharkey and his four men had been hunting. It was a +well-wooded place, with the palms and underwood growing down to the thin +crescent of silver sand which skirted the shore. They had hoisted the +black flag and the red pennant, but no answer came from the shore. +Craddock strained his eyes, hoping every instant to see a boat shoot out +to them with Sharkey seated in the sheets. But the night passed away, +and a day and yet another night, without any sign of the men whom they +were endeavouring to trap. It looked as if they were already gone. + +On the second morning Craddock went ashore in search of some proof +whether Sharkey and his men were still upon the island. What he found +reassured him greatly. Close to the shore was a boucan of green wood, +such as was used for preserving the meat, and a great store of barbecued +strips of ox-flesh was hung upon lines all round it. The pirate ship had +not taken off her provisions, and therefore the hunters were still upon +the island. + +Why had they not shown themselves? Was it that they had detected that +this was not their own ship? Or was it that they were hunting in the +interior of the island, and were not on the lookout for a ship yet? +Craddock was still hesitating between the two alternatives, when a Carib +Indian came down with information. The pirates were in the island, he +said, and their camp was a day's march from the sea. They had stolen his +wife, and the marks of their stripes were still pink upon his brown +back. Their enemies were his friends, and he would lead them to where +they lay. + +Craddock could not have asked for anything better; so early next +morning, with a small party armed to the teeth, he set off under the +guidance of the Carib. All day they struggled through brushwood and +clambered over rocks, pushing their way further and further into the +desolate heart of the island. Here and there they found traces of the +hunters, the bones of a slain ox, or the marks of feet in a morass, and +once, towards evening, it seemed to some of them that they heard the +distant rattle of guns. + +That night they spent under the trees, and pushed on again with the +earliest light. About noon they came to the huts of bark, which, the +Carib told them, were the camp of the hunters, but they were silent and +deserted. No doubt their occupants were away at the hunt and would +return in the evening, so Craddock and his men lay in ambush in the +brushwood around them. But no one came, and another night was spent in +the forest. Nothing more could be done, and it seemed to Craddock that +after the two days' absence it was time that he returned to his ship +once more. + +The return journey was less difficult, as they had already blazed a path +for themselves. Before evening they found themselves once more at the +Bay of Palms, and saw their ship riding at anchor where they had left +her. Their boat and oars had been hauled up among the bushes, so they +launched it and pulled out to the barque. + +"No luck, then!" cried Joshua Hird, the mate, looking down with a pale +face from the poop. + +"His camp was empty, but he may come down to us yet," said Craddock, +with his hand on the ladder. + +Somebody upon deck began to laugh. "I think," said the mate, "that these +men had better stay in the boat." + +"Why so?" + +"If you will come aboard, sir, you will understand it." He spoke in a +curious hesitating fashion. + +The blood flushed to Craddock's gaunt face. + +"How is this, Master Hird?" he cried, springing up the side. "What mean +you by giving orders to my boat's crew?" + +But as he passed over the bulwarks, with one foot upon the deck and one +knee upon the rail, a tow-bearded man, whom he had never before observed +aboard his vessel, grabbed suddenly at his pistol. Craddock clutched at +the fellow's wrist, but at the same instant his mate snatched the +cutlass from his side. + +"What roguery is this?" shouted Craddock looking furiously around him. +But the crew stood in little knots about the deck, laughing and +whispering amongst themselves without showing any desire to go to his +assistance. Even in that hurried glance Craddock noticed that they were +dressed in the most singular manner, with long riding-coats, +full-skirted velvet gowns and coloured ribands at their knees, more like +men of fashion than seamen. + +As he looked at their grotesque figures he struck his brow with his +clenched fist to be sure that he was awake. The deck seemed to be much +dirtier than when he had left it, and there were strange, sun-blackened +faces turned upon him from every side. Not one of them did he know save +only Joshua Hird. Had the ship been captured in his absence? Were these +Sharkey's men who were around him? At the thought he broke furiously +away and tried to climb over to his boat, but a dozen hands were on him +in an instant, and he was pushed aft through the open door of his own +cabin. + +And it was all different from the cabin which he had left. The floor was +different, the ceiling was different, the furniture was different. His +had been plain and austere. This was sumptuous and yet dirty, hung with +rare velvet curtains splashed with wine-stains, and panelled with costly +woods which were pocked with pistol-marks. + +On the table was a great chart of the Caribbean Sea, and beside it, with +compasses in his hand, sat a clean-shaven, pale-faced man with a fur cap +and a claret-coloured coat of damask. Craddock turned white under his +freckles as he looked upon the long, thin, high-nostrilled nose and the +red-rimmed eyes which were turned upon him with the fixed, humorous gaze +of the master player who has left his opponent without a move. + +"Sharkey?" cried Craddock. + +Sharkey's thin lips opened and he broke into his high, sniggering laugh. + +"You fool!" he cried, and, leaning over, he stabbed Craddock's shoulder +again and again with his compasses. "You poor, dull-witted fool, would +you match yourself against me?" + +It was not the pain of the wounds, but it was the contempt in Sharkey's +voice which turned Craddock into a savage madman. He flew at the pirate, +roaring with rage, striking, kicking, writhing, and foaming. It took six +men to drag him down on to the floor amidst the splintered remains of +the table--and not one of the six who did not bear the prisoner's mark +upon him. But Sharkey still surveyed him with the same contemptuous eye. +From outside there came the crash of breaking wood and the clamour of +startled voices. + +"What is that?" asked Sharkey. + +"They have stove the boat with cold shot, and the men are in the water." + +"Let them stay there," said the pirate. "Now, Craddock, you know where +you are. You are aboard my ship the _Happy Delivery_, and you lie at my +mercy. I knew you for a stout seaman, you rogue, before you took to this +long-shore canting. Your hands then were no cleaner than my own. Will +you sign articles, as your mate has done, and join us, or shall I heave +you over to follow your ship's company?" + +"Where is my ship?" asked Craddock. + +"Scuttled in the bay." + +"And the hands?" + +"In the bay, too." + +"Hock him and heave him over," said Sharkey. + +Many rough hands had dragged Craddock out upon deck, and Galloway, the +quartermaster, had already drawn his hangar to cripple him, when Sharkey +came hurrying from his cabin with an eager face. + +"We can do better with the hound!" he cried. "Sink me if it is not a +rare plan. Throw him into the sail-room with the irons on, and do you +come here, quartermaster, that I may tell you what I have in my mind." + +So Craddock, bruised and wounded in soul and body, was thrown into the +dark sail-room, so fettered that he could not stir hand or foot, but his +Northern blood was running strong in his veins, and his grim spirit +aspired only to make such an ending as might go some way towards atoning +for the evil of his life. All night he lay in the curve of the bilge +listening to the rush of the water and the straining of the timbers +which told him that the ship was at sea, and driving fast. In the early +morning some one came crawling to him in the darkness over the heaps of +sails. + +"Here's rum and biscuits," said the voice of his late mate. "It's at the +risk of my life, Master Craddock, that I bring them to you." + +"It was you who trapped me and caught me as in a snare!" cried Craddock. +"How shall you answer for what you have done?" + +"What I did I did with the point of a knife betwixt my blade-bones." + +"God forgive you for a coward, Joshua Hird. How came you into their +hands?" + +"Why, Master Craddock, the pirate ship came back from its careening upon +the very day that you left us. They laid us aboard, and, short-handed as +we were, with the best of the men ashore with you, we could offer but a +poor defence. Some were cut down, and they were the happiest. The others +were killed afterwards. As to me, I saved my life by signing on with +them." + +"And they scuttled my ship?" + +"They scuttled her, and then Sharkey and his men, who had been watching +us from the brushwood, came off to the ship. His main-yard had been +cracked and fished last voyage, so he had suspicions of us, seeing that +ours was whole. Then he thought of laying the same trap for you which +you had set for him." + +Craddock groaned. + +"How came I not to see that fished main-yard?" he muttered. "But whither +are we bound?" + +"We are running north and west." + +"North and west! Then we are heading back towards Jamaica." + +"With an eight-knot wind." + +"Have you heard what they mean to do with me?" + +"I have not heard. If you would but sign the articles----" + +"Enough, Joshua Hird! I have risked my soul too often." + +"As you wish! I have done what I could. Farewell!" + +All that night and the next day the _Happy Delivery_ ran before the +easterly trades, and Stephen Craddock lay in the dark of the sail-room +working patiently at his wrist-irons. One he had slipped off at the cost +of a row of broken and bleeding knuckles, but, do what he would, he +could not free the other, and his ankles were securely fastened. + +From hour to hour he heard the swish of the water, and knew that the +barque must be driving with all set, in front of the trade wind. In that +case they must be nearly back again to Jamaica by now. What plan could +Sharkey have in his head, and what use did he hope to make of him? +Craddock set his teeth, and vowed that if he had once been a villain +from choice he would, at least, never be one by compulsion. + +On the second morning Craddock became aware that sail had been reduced +in the vessel, and that she was tacking slowly, with a light breeze on +her beam. The varying slope of the sail-room and the sounds from the +deck told his practised senses exactly what she was doing. The short +reaches showed him that she was manoeuvring near shore, and making for +some definite point. If so, she must have reached Jamaica. But what +could she be doing there? + +And then suddenly there was a burst of hearty cheering from the deck, +and then the crash of a gun above his head, and then the answering +booming of guns from far over the water. Craddock sat up and strained +his ears. Was the ship in action? Only the one gun had been fired, and +though many had answered there were none of the crashings which told of +a shot coming home. + +Then, if it was not an action, it must be a salute. But who would salute +Sharkey, the pirate? It could only be another pirate ship which would do +so. So Craddock lay back again with a groan, and continued to work at +the manacle which still held his right wrist. + +But suddenly there came the shuffling of steps outside, and he had +hardly time to wrap the loose links round his free hand, when the door +was unbolted and two pirates came in. + +"Got your hammer, carpenter?" asked one, whom Craddock recognised as the +big quartermaster. "Knock off his leg shackles, then. Better leave the +bracelets--he's safer with them on." + +With hammer and chisel the carpenter loosened the irons. + +"What are you going to do with me?" asked Craddock. + +"Come on deck and you'll see." + +The sailor seized him by the arm and dragged him roughly to the foot of +the companion. Above him was a square of blue sky cut across by the +mizzen gaff with the colours flying at the peak. But it was the sight of +those colours which struck the breath from Stephen Craddock's lips. For +there were two of them, and the British ensign was flying above the +Jolly Rodger--the honest flag above that of the rogue. + +For an instant Craddock stopped in amazement, but a brutal push from the +pirates behind drove him up the companion ladder. As he stepped out upon +deck, his eyes turned up to the main, and there again were the British +colours flying above the red pennant, and all the shrouds and rigging +were garlanded with streamers. + +Had the ship been taken, then? But that was impossible, for there were +the pirates clustering in swarms along the port bulwarks, and waving +their hats joyously in the air. Most prominent of all was the renegade +mate, standing on the foc'sle head, and gesticulating wildly. Craddock +looked over the side to see what they were cheering at, and then in a +flash he saw how critical was the moment. + +On the port bow, and about a mile off, lay the white houses and forts of +Port Royal, with flags breaking out everywhere over their roofs. Right +ahead was the opening of the palisades leading to the town of Kingston. +Not more than a quarter of a mile off was a small sloop working out +against the very slight wind. The British ensign was at her peak, and +her rigging was all decorated. On her deck could be seen a dense crowd +of people cheering and waving their hats, and the gleam of scarlet told +that there were officers of the garrison among them. + +In an instant, with the quick perception of a man of action, Craddock +saw through it all. Sharkey, with that diabolical cunning and audacity +which were among his main characteristics, was simulating the part which +Craddock would himself have played, had he come back victorious. It was +in _his_ honour that the salutes were firing and the flags flying. It +was to welcome _him_ that this ship with the Governor, the commandant, +and the chiefs of the island was approaching. In another ten minutes +they would all be under the guns of the _Happy Delivery_, and Sharkey +would have won the greatest stake that ever a pirate played for yet. + +"Bring him forward," cried the pirate captain, as Craddock appeared +between the carpenter and the quartermaster. "Keep the ports closed, but +clear away the port guns, and stand by for a broadside. Another two +cable lengths and we have them." + +"They are edging away," said the boatswain. "I think they smell us." + +"That's soon set right," said Sharkey, turning his filmy eyes upon +Craddock. "Stand there, you--right there, where they can recognise you, +with your hand on the guy, and wave your hat to them. Quick, or your +brains will be over your coat. Put an inch of your knife into him, Ned. +Now, will you wave your hat? Try him again, then. Hey, shoot him! stop +him!" + +But it was too late. Relying upon the manacles, the quartermaster had +taken his hands for a moment off Craddock's arm. In that instant he had +flung off the carpenter and, amid a spatter of pistol bullets, had +sprung the bulwarks and was swimming for his life. He had been hit and +hit again, but it takes many pistols to kill a resolute and powerful man +who has his mind set upon doing something before he dies. He was a +strong swimmer, and, in spite of the red trail which he left in the +water behind him, he was rapidly increasing his distance from the +pirate. + +"Give me a musket!" cried Sharkey, with a savage oath. + +He was a famous shot, and his iron nerves never failed him in an +emergency. The dark head appearing on the crest of a roller, and then +swooping down on the other side, was already half-way to the sloop. +Sharkey dwelt long upon his aim before he fired. With the crack of the +gun the swimmer reared himself up in the water, waved his hands in a +gesture of warning, and roared out in a voice which rang over the bay. +Then, as the sloop swung round her head-sails, and the pirate fired an +impotent broadside, Stephen Craddock, smiling grimly in his death agony, +sank slowly down to that golden couch which glimmered far beneath him. + + + + +III + +THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY + + +Sharkey, the abominable Sharkey, was out again. After two years of the +Coromandel coast, his black barque of death, the _Happy Delivery_, was +prowling off the Spanish Main, while trader and fisher flew for dear +life at the menace of that patched fore-topsail, rising slowly over the +violet rim of the tropical sea. + +As the birds cower when the shadow of the hawk falls athwart the field, +or as the jungle folk crouch and shiver when the coughing cry of the +tiger is heard in the night-time, so through all the busy world of +ships, from the whalers of Nantucket to the tobacco ships of Charleston, +and from the Spanish supply ships of Cadiz to the sugar merchants of the +Main, there spread the rumour of the black curse of the ocean. + +Some hugged the shore, ready to make for the nearest port, while others +struck far out beyond the known lines of commerce, but none were so +stout-hearted that they did not breathe more freely when their +passengers and cargoes were safe under the guns of some mothering fort. + +Through all the islands there ran tales of charred derelicts at sea, of +sudden glares seen afar in the night-time, and of withered bodies +stretched upon the sand of waterless Bahama Keys. All the old signs were +there to show that Sharkey was at his bloody game once more. + +These fair waters and yellow-rimmed palm-nodding islands are the +traditional home of the sea rover. First it was the gentleman +adventurer, the man of family and honour, who fought as a patriot, +though he was ready to take his payment in Spanish plunder. + +Then, within a century, his debonair figure had passed to make room for +the buccaneers, robbers pure and simple, yet with some organised code of +their own, commanded by notable chieftains, and taking in hand great +concerted enterprises. + +They, too, passed with their fleets and their sacking of cities, to make +room for the worst of all, the lonely, outcast pirate, the bloody +Ishmael of the seas, at war with the whole human race. This was the vile +brood which the early eighteenth century had spawned forth, and of them +all there was none who could compare in audacity, wickedness, and evil +repute with the unutterable Sharkey. + +It was early in May, in the year 1720, that the _Happy Delivery_ lay +with her fore-yard aback some five leagues west of the Windward Passage, +waiting to see what rich, helpless craft the trade-wind might bring down +to her. + +Three days she had lain there, a sinister black speck, in the centre of +the great sapphire circle of the ocean. Far to the south-east the low +blue hills of Hispaniola showed up on the skyline. + +Hour by hour as he waited without avail, Sharkey's savage temper had +risen, for his arrogant spirit chafed against any contradiction, even +from Fate itself. To his quartermaster, Ned Galloway, he had said that +night, with his odious neighing laugh, that the crew of the next +captured vessel should answer to him for having kept him waiting so +long. + +The cabin of the pirate barque was a good-sized room, hung with much +tarnished finery, and presenting a strange medley of luxury and +disorder. The panelling of carved and polished sandal-wood was blotched +with foul smudges and chipped with bullet-marks fired in some drunken +revelry. + +Rich velvets and laces were heaped upon the brocaded settees, while +metal-work and pictures of great price filled every niche and corner, +for anything which caught the pirate's fancy in the sack of a hundred +vessels was thrown haphazard into his chamber. A rich, soft carpet +covered the floor, but it was mottled with wine-stains and charred with +burned tobacco. + +Above, a great brass hanging-lamp threw a brilliant yellow light upon +this singular apartment, and upon the two men who sat in their +shirt-sleeves with the wine between them, and the cards in their hands, +deep in a game of piquet. Both were smoking long pipes, and the thin +blue reek filled the cabin and floated through the skylight above them, +which, half opened, disclosed a slip of deep violet sky spangled with +great silver stars. + +Ned Galloway, the quartermaster, was a huge New England wastrel, the one +rotten branch upon a goodly Puritan family tree. His robust limbs and +giant frame were the heritage of a long line of God-fearing ancestors, +while his black savage heart was all his own. Bearded to the temples, +with fierce blue eyes, a tangled lion's mane of coarse, dark hair, and +huge gold rings in his ears, he was the idol of the women in every +waterside hell from the Tortugas to Maracaibo on the Main. A red cap, a +blue silken shirt, brown velvet breeches with gaudy knee-ribbons, and +high sea-boots made up the costume of the rover Hercules. + +A very different figure was Captain John Sharkey. His thin, drawn, +clean-shaven face was corpse-like in its pallor, and all the suns of the +Indies could but turn it to a more deathly parchment tint. He was part +bald, with a few lank locks of tow-like hair, and a steep, narrow +forehead. His thin nose jutted sharply forth, and near-set on either +side of it were those filmy blue eyes, red-rimmed like those of a white +bull-terrier, from which strong men winced away in fear and loathing. +His bony hands, with long, thin fingers which quivered ceaselessly like +the antennae of an insect, were toying constantly with the cards and the +heap of gold moidores which lay before him. His dress was of some sober +drab material, but, indeed, the men who looked upon that fearsome face +had little thought for the costume of its owner. + +The game was brought to a sudden interruption, for the cabin door was +swung rudely open, and two rough fellows--Israel Martin, the boatswain, +and Red Foley, the gunner--rushed into the cabin. In an instant Sharkey +was on his feet with a pistol in either hand and murder in his eyes. + +"Sink you for villains!" he cried. "I see well that if I do not shoot +one of you from time to time you will forget the man I am. What mean you +by entering my cabin as though it were a Wapping alehouse?" + +"Nay, Captain Sharkey," said Martin, with a sullen frown upon his +brick-red face, "it is even such talk as this which has set us by the +ears. We have had enough of it." + +"And more than enough," said Red Foley, the gunner. "There be no mates +aboard a pirate craft, and so the boatswain, the gunner, and the +quartermaster are the officers." + +"Did I gainsay it?" asked Sharkey with an oath. + +"You have miscalled us and mishandled us before the men, and we scarce +know at this moment why we should risk our lives in fighting for the +cabin and against the foc'sle." + +Sharkey saw that something serious was in the wind. He laid down his +pistols and leaned back in his chair with a flash of his yellow fangs. + +"Nay, this is sad talk," said he, "that two stout fellows who have +emptied many a bottle and cut many a throat with me, should now fall out +over nothing. I know you to be roaring boys who would go with me against +the devil himself if I bid you. Let the steward bring cups and drown all +unkindness between us." + +"It is no time for drinking, Captain Sharkey," said Martin. "The men are +holding council round the mainmast, and may be aft at any minute. They +mean mischief, Captain Sharkey, and we have come to warn you." + +Sharkey sprang for the brass-handled sword which hung from the wall. + +"Sink them for rascals!" he cried. "When I have gutted one or two of +them they may hear reason." + +But the others barred his frantic way to the door. + +"There are forty of them under the lead of Sweetlocks, the master," said +Martin, "and on the open deck they would surely cut you to pieces. Here +within the cabin it may be that we can hold them off at the points of +our pistols." He had hardly spoken when there came the tread of many +heavy feet upon the deck. Then there was a pause with no sound but the +gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the pirate vessel. +Finally, a crashing blow as from a pistol-butt fell upon the door, and +an instant afterwards Sweetlocks himself, a tall, dark man, with a deep +red birth-mark blazing upon his cheek, strode into the cabin. His +swaggering air sank somewhat as he looked into those pale and filmy +eyes. + +"Captain Sharkey," said he, "I come as spokesman of the crew." + +"So I have heard, Sweetlocks," said the captain, softly. "I may live to +rip you the length of your vest for this night's work." + +"That is as it may be, Captain Sharkey," the master answered, "but if +you will look up you will see that I have those at my back who will not +see me mishandled." + +"Cursed if we do!" growled a deep voice from above, and glancing upwards +the officers in the cabin were aware of a line of fierce, bearded, +sun-blackened faces looking down at them through the open skylight. + +"Well, what would you have?" asked Sharkey. "Put it in words, man, and +let us have an end of it." + +"The men think," said Sweetlocks, "that you are the devil himself, and +that there will be no luck for them whilst they sail the sea in such +company. Time was when we did our two or three craft a day, and every +man had women and dollars to his liking, but now for a long week we have +not raised a sail, and save for three beggarly sloops, have taken never +a vessel since we passed the Bahama Bank. Also, they know that you +killed Jack Bartholomew, the carpenter, by beating his head in with a +bucket, so that each of us goes in fear of his life. Also, the rum has +given out, and we are hard put to it for liquor. Also, you sit in your +cabin whilst it is in the articles that you should drink and roar with +the crew. For all these reasons it has been this day in general meeting +decreed----" + +Sharkey had stealthily cocked a pistol under the table, so it may have +been as well for the mutinous master that he never reached the end of +his discourse, for even as he came to it there was a swift patter of +feet upon the deck, and a ship lad, wild with his tidings, rushed into +the room. + +"A craft!" he yelled. "A great craft, and close aboard us!" + +In a flash the quarrel was forgotten, and the pirates were rushing to +quarters. Sure enough, surging slowly down before the gentle trade-wind, +a great full-rigged ship, with all sail set, was close beside them. + +It was clear that she had come from afar and knew nothing of the ways of +the Caribbean Sea, for she made no effort to avoid the low, dark craft +which lay so close upon her bow, but blundered on as if her mere size +would avail her. + +So daring was she, that for an instant the Rovers, as they flew to loose +the tackles of their guns, and hoisted their battle-lanterns, believed +that a man-of-war had caught them napping. + +But at the sight of her bulging, portless sides and merchant rig a shout +of exultation broke from amongst them, and in an instant they had swung +round their fore-yard, and darting alongside they had grappled with her +and flung a spray of shrieking, cursing ruffians upon her deck. + +Half a dozen seamen of the night-watch were cut down where they stood, +the mate was felled by Sharkey and tossed overboard by Ned Galloway, and +before the sleepers had time to sit up in their berths, the vessel was +in the hands of the pirates. + +The prize proved to be the full-rigged ship _Portobello_--Captain Hardy, +master--bound from London to Kingston in Jamaica, with a cargo of cotton +goods and hoop-iron. + +Having secured their prisoners, all huddled together in a dazed, +distracted group, the pirates spread over the vessel in search of +plunder, handing all that was found to the giant quartermaster, who in +turn passed it over the side of the _Happy Delivery_ and laid it under +guard at the foot of her mainmast. + +The cargo was useless, but there were a thousand guineas in the ship's +strong-box, and there were some eight or ten passengers, three of them +wealthy Jamaica merchants, all bringing home well-filled boxes from +their London visit. + +When all the plunder was gathered, the passengers and crew were dragged +to the waist, and under the cold smile of Sharkey each in turn was +thrown over the side--Sweetlocks standing by the rail and hamstringing +them with his cutlass as they passed over, lest some strong swimmer +should rise in judgment against them. A portly, grey-haired woman, the +wife of one of the planters, was among the captives, but she also was +thrust screaming and clutching over the side. + +"Mercy, you hussy!" neighed Sharkey, "you are surely a good twenty +years too old for that." + +The captain of the _Portobello_, a hale, blue-eyed grey-beard, was the +last upon the deck. He stood, a thick-set resolute figure, in the glare +of the lanterns, while Sharkey bowed and smirked before him. + +"One skipper should show courtesy to another," said he, "and sink me if +Captain Sharkey would be behind in good manners! I have held you to the +last, as you see, where a brave man should be; so now, my bully, you +have seen the end of them, and may step over with an easy mind." + +"So I shall, Captain Sharkey," said the old seaman, "for I have done my +duty so far as my power lay. But before I go over I would say a word in +your ear." + +"If it be to soften me, you may save your breath. You have kept us +waiting here for three days, and curse me if one of you shall live!" + +"Nay, it is to tell you what you should know. You have not yet found +what is the true treasure aboard of this ship." + +"Not found it? Sink me, but I will slice your liver, Captain Hardy, if +you do not make good your words! Where is this treasure you speak of?" + +"It is not a treasure of gold, but it is a fair maid, which may be no +less welcome." + +"Where is she, then? And why was she not with the others?" + +"I will tell you why she was not with the others. She is the only +daughter of the Count and Countess Ramirez, who are amongst those whom +you have murdered. Her name is Inez Ramirez, and she is of the best +blood of Spain, her father being Governor of Chagre, to which he was now +bound. It chanced that she was found to have formed an attachment, as +maids will, to one far beneath her in rank aboard this ship; so her +parents, being people of great power, whose word is not to be gainsaid, +constrained me to confine her close in a special cabin aft of my own. +Here she was held straitly, all food being carried to her, and she +allowed to see no one. This I tell you as a last gift, though why I +should make it to you I do not know, for indeed you are a most bloody +rascal, and it comforts me in dying to think that you will surely be +gallow's-meat in this world, and hell's-meat in the next." + +At the words he ran to the rail, and vaulted over into the darkness, +praying as he sank into the depths of the sea, that the betrayal of this +maid might not be counted too heavily against his soul. + +The body of Captain Hardy had not yet settled upon the sand forty +fathoms deep before the pirates had rushed along the cabin gangway. +There, sure enough, at the further end, was a barred door, overlooked in +their previous search. There was no key, but they beat it in with their +gunstocks, whilst shriek after shriek came from within. In the light of +their outstretched, lanterns they saw a young woman, in the very prime +and fullness of her youth, crouching in a corner, her unkempt hair +hanging to the ground, her dark eyes glaring with fear, her lovely form +straining away in horror from this inrush of savage blood-stained men. +Rough hands seized her, she was jerked to her feet, and dragged with +scream on scream to where John Sharkey awaited her. He held the light +long and fondly to her face, then, laughing loudly, he bent forward and +left his red hand-print upon her cheek. + +"'Tis the rovers' brand, lass, that he marks his ewes. Take her to the +cabin and use her well. Now, hearties, get her under water, and out to +our luck once more." + +Within an hour the good ship _Portobello_ had settled down to her doom, +till she lay beside her murdered passengers upon the Caribbean sand, +while the pirate barque, her deck littered with plunder, was heading +northward in search of another victim. + +There was a carouse that night in the cabin of the _Happy Delivery_, at +which three men drank deep. They were the captain, the quartermaster, +and Baldy Stable, the surgeon, a man who had held the first practice in +Charleston, until, misusing a patient, he fled from justice, and took +his skill over to the pirates. A bloated fat man he was, with a creased +neck and a great shining scalp, which gave him his name. Sharkey had put +for the moment all thought of mutiny out of his head, knowing that no +animal is fierce when it is over-fed, and that whilst the plunder of the +great ship was new to them he need fear no trouble from his crew. He +gave himself up, therefore, to the wine and the riot, shouting and +roaring with his boon companions. All three were flushed and mad, ripe +for any devilment, when the thought of the woman crossed the pirate's +evil mind. He yelled to the negro steward that he should bring her on +the instant. + +Inez Ramirez had now realised it all--the death of her father and +mother, and her own position in the hands of their murderers. Yet +calmness had come with the knowledge, and there was no sign of terror in +her proud, dark face as she was led into the cabin, but rather a +strange, firm set of the mouth and an exultant gleam of the eyes, like +one who sees great hopes in the future. She smiled at the pirate captain +as he rose and seized her by the waist. + +"'Fore God! this is a lass of spirit," cried Sharkey; passing his arm +round her. "She was born to be a Rover's bride. Come, my bird, and drink +to our better friendship." + +"Article Six!" hiccoughed the doctor. "All _bona robas_ in common." + +"Aye! we hold you to that, Captain Sharkey," said Galloway. "It is so +writ in Article Six." + +"I will cut the man into ounces who comes betwixt us!" cried Sharkey, as +he turned his fish-like eyes from one to the other. "Nay, lass, the man +is not born that will take you from John Sharkey. Sit here upon my knee, +and place your arm round me so. Sink me, if she has not learned to love +me at sight! Tell me, my pretty, why you were so mishandled and laid in +the bilboes aboard yonder craft?" + +The woman shook her head and smiled. "No Inglese--no Inglese," she +lisped. She had drunk off the bumper of wine which Sharkey held to her, +and her dark eyes gleamed more brightly than before. Sitting on +Sharkey's knee, her arm encircled his neck, and her hand toyed with his +hair, his ear, his cheek. Even the strange quartermaster and the +hardened surgeon felt a horror as they watched her, but Sharkey laughed +in his joy. "Curse me, if she is not a lass of metal!" he cried, as he +pressed her to him and kissed her unresisting lips. + +But a strange intent look of interest had come into the surgeon's eyes +as he watched her, and his face set rigidly, as if a fearsome thought +had entered his mind. There stole a grey pallor over his bull face, +mottling all the red of the tropics and the flush of the wine. + +"Look at her hand, Captain Sharkey!" he cried. "For the Lord's sake, +look at her hand!" + +Sharkey stared down at the hand which had fondled him. It was of a +strange dead pallor, with a yellow shiny web betwixt the fingers. All +over it was a white fluffy dust, like the flour of a new-baked loaf. It +lay thick on Sharkey's neck and cheek. With a cry he flung the woman +from his lap; but in an instant, with a wild-cat bound, and a scream of +triumphant malice, she had sprung at the surgeon, who vanished yelling +under the table. One of her clawing hands grasped Galloway by the beard, +but he tore himself away, and snatching a pike, held her off from him as +she gibbered and mowed with the blazing eyes of a maniac. + +The black steward had run in on the sudden turmoil, and among them they +forced the mad creature back into the cabin and turned the key upon her. +Then the three sank panting into their chairs and looked with eyes of +horror upon each other. The same word was in the mind of each, but +Galloway was the first to speak it. + +"A leper!" he cried. "She has us all, curse her!" + +"Not me," said the surgeon; "she never laid her finger on me." + +"For that matter," cried Galloway, "it was but my beard that she +touched. I will have every hair of it off before morning." + +"Dolts that we are!" the surgeon shouted, beating his head with-his +hand. "Tainted or no, we shall never know a moment's peace till the year +is up and the time of danger past. 'Fore God, that merchant skipper has +left his mark on us, and pretty fools we were to think that such a maid +would be quarantined for the cause he gave. It is easy to see now that +her corruption broke forth in the journey, and that save throwing her +over they had no choice but to board her up until they should come to +some port with a lazarette." + +Sharkey had sat leaning back in his chair with a ghastly face while he +listened to the surgeon's words. He mopped himself with his red +handkerchief, and wiped away the fatal dust with which he was smeared. + +"What of me?" he croaked. "What say you, Baldy Stable? Is there a chance +for me? Curse you for a villain! speak out, or I will drub you within an +inch of your life, and that inch also! Is there a chance for me, I say!" + +But the surgeon shook his head. "Captain Sharkey," said he, "it would be +an ill deed to speak you false. The taint is on you. No man on whom the +leper scales have rested is ever clean again." + +Sharkey's head fell forward on his chest, and he sat motionless, +stricken by this great and sudden horror, looking with his smouldering +eyes into his fearsome future. Softly the mate and the surgeon rose from +their places, and stealing out from the poisoned air of the cabin, came +forth into the freshness of the early dawn, with the soft, scent-laden +breeze in their faces and the first red feathers of cloud catching the +earliest gleam of the rising sun as it shot its golden rays over the +palm-clad ridges of distant Hispaniola. + +That morning a second council of the Rovers was held at the base of the +mainmast, and a deputation chosen to see the captain. They were +approaching the after-cabins when Sharkey came forth, the old devil in +his eyes, and his bandolier with a pair of pistols over his shoulder. + +"Sink you all for villains!" he cried. "Would you dare cross my hawse? +Stand out, Sweetlocks, and I will lay you open! Here, Galloway, Martin, +Foley, stand by me and lash the dogs to their kennel!" + +But his officers had deserted him, and there was none to come to his +aid. There was a rush of the pirates. One was shot through the body, but +an instant afterwards Sharkey had been seized and was triced to his own +mainmast. His filmy eyes looked round from face to face, and there was +none who felt the happier for having met them. + +"Captain Sharkey," said Sweetlocks, "you have mishandled many of us, and +you have now pistolled John Masters, besides killing Bartholomew, the +carpenter, by braining him with a bucket. All this might have been +forgiven you, in that you have been our leader for years, and that we +have signed articles to serve under you while the voyage lasts. But now +we have heard of this _bona roba_ on board, and we know that you are +poisoned to the marrow, and that while you rot there will be no safety +for any of us, but that we shall all be turned into filth and +corruption. Therefore, John Sharkey, we Rovers of the _Happy Delivery_, +in council assembled, have decreed that while there be yet time, before +the plague spreads, you shall be set adrift in a boat to find such a +fate as Fortune may be pleased to send you." + +John Sharkey said nothing, but slowly circling his head, he cursed them +all with his baleful gaze. The ship's dinghy had been lowered, and he, +with his hands still tied, was dropped into it on the bight of a rope. + +"Cast her off!" cried Sweetlocks. + +"Nay, hold hard a moment, Master Sweetlocks!" shouted one of the crew. +"What of the wench? Is she to bide aboard and poison us all?" + +"Send her off with her mate!" cried another, and the Rovers roared their +approval. Driven forth at the end of pikes, the girl was pushed towards +the boat. With all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body she flashed +triumphant glances on her captors. + +"Perros! Perros Ingleses! Lepero, Lepero!" she cried in exultation, as +they thrust her over into the boat. + +"Good luck, captain! God speed you on your honeymoon!" cried a chorus of +mocking voices, as the painter was unloosed, and the _Happy Delivery_, +running full before the trade-wind, left the little boat astern, a tiny +dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely sea. + + * * * * * + +Extract from the log of H.M. fifty-gun ship _Hecate_ in her cruise off +the American Main. + + "_Jan. 26, 1721._--This day, the junk having become unfit for + food, and five of the crew down with scurvy, I ordered that we + send two boats ashore at the nor'-western point of Hispaniola, + to seek for fresh fruit, and perchance shoot some of the wild + oxen with which the island abounds. + + "_7 p.m._--The boats have returned with good store of green + stuff and two bullocks. Mr. Woodruff, the master, reports that + near the landing-place at the edge of the forest was found the + skeleton of a woman, clad in European dress, of such sort as to + show that she may have been a person of quality. Her head had + been crushed by a great stone which lay beside her. Hard by was + a grass hut, and signs that a man had dwelt therein for some + time, as was shown by charred wood, bones and other traces. + There is a rumour upon the coast that Sharkey, the bloody + pirate, was marooned in these parts last year, but whether he + has made his way into the interior, or whether he has been + picked up by some craft, there is no means of knowing. If he be + once again afloat, then I pray that God send him under our + guns." + + + + +IV + +HOW COPLEY BANKS SLEW CAPTAIN SHARKEY + + +The Buccaneers were something higher than a mere band of marauders. They +were a floating republic, with laws, usages, and discipline of their +own. In their endless and remorseless quarrel with the Spaniards they +had some semblance of right upon their side. Their bloody harryings of +the cities of the Main were not more barbarous than the inroads of Spain +upon the Netherlands--or upon the Caribs in these same American lands. + +The chief of the Buccaneers, were he English or French, a Morgan or a +Granmont, was still a responsible person, whose country might +countenance him, or even praise him, so long as he refrained from any +deed which might shock the leathery seventeenth-century conscience too +outrageously. Some of them were touched with religion, and it is still +remembered how Sawkins threw the dice overboard upon the Sabbath, and +Daniel pistolled a man before the altar for irreverence. + +But there came a day when the fleets of the Buccaneers no longer +mustered at the Tortugas, and the solitary and outlawed pirate took +their place. Yet even with him the tradition of restraint and of +discipline still lingered; and among the early pirates, the Avorys, the +Englands, and the Robertses, there remained some respect for human +sentiment. They were more dangerous to the merchant than to the seaman. + +But they in turn were replaced by more savage and desperate men, who +frankly recognised that they would get no quarter in their war with the +human race, and who swore that they would give as little as they got. Of +their histories we know little that is trustworthy. They wrote no +memoirs and left no trace, save an occasional blackened and +blood-stained derelict adrift upon the face of the Atlantic. Their deeds +could only be surmised from the long roll of ships which never made +their port. + +Searching the records of history, it is only here and there in an +old-world trial that the veil that shrouds them seems for an instant to +be lifted, and we catch a glimpse of some amazing and grotesque +brutality behind. Such was the breed of Ned Low, of Gow the Scotchman, +and of the infamous Sharkey, whose coal-black barque, the _Happy +Delivery_, was known from the Newfoundland Banks to the mouths of the +Orinoco as the dark forerunner of misery and of death. + +There were many men, both among the islands and on the main, who had a +blood feud with Sharkey, but not one who had suffered more bitterly than +Copley Banks, of Kingston. Banks had been one of the leading sugar +merchants of the West Indies. He was a man of position, a member of the +Council, the husband of a Percival, and the cousin of the Governor of +Virginia. His two sons had been sent to London to be educated, and their +mother had gone over to bring them back. On their return voyage the +ship, the _Duchess of Cornwall_, fell into the hands of Sharkey, and the +whole family met with an infamous death. + +Copley Banks said little when he heard the news, but he sank into a +morose and enduring melancholy. He neglected his business, avoided his +friends, and spent much of his time in the low taverns of the fishermen +and seamen. There, amidst riot and devilry, he sat silently puffing at +his pipe, with a set face and a smouldering eye. It was generally +supposed that his misfortunes had shaken his wits, and his old friends +looked at him askance, for the company which he kept was enough to bar +him from honest men. + +From time to time there came rumours of Sharkey over the sea. Sometimes +it was from some schooner which had seen a great flame upon the horizon, +and approaching to offer help to the burning ship, had fled away at the +sight of the sleek, black barque, lurking like a wolf near a mangled +sheep. Sometimes it was a frightened trader, which had come tearing in +with her canvas curved like a lady's bodice, because she had seen a +patched fore-topsail rising slowly above the violet water-line. +Sometimes it was from a Coaster, which had found a waterless Bahama Cay +littered with sun-dried bodies. + +Once there came a man who had been mate of a Guineaman, and who had +escaped from the pirate's hands. He could not speak--for reasons which +Sharkey could best supply--but he could write, and he did write, to the +very great interest of Copley Banks. For hours they sat together over +the map, and the dumb man pointed here and there to outlying reefs and +tortuous inlets, while his companion sat smoking in silence, with his +unvarying face and his fiery eyes. + +One morning, some two years after his misfortune, Mr. Copley Banks +strode into his own office with his old air of energy and alertness. The +manager stared at him in surprise, for it was months since he had shown +any interest in business. + +"Good morning, Mr. Banks!" said he. + +"Good morning, Freeman. I see that _Ruffling Harry_ is in the Bay." + +"Yes, sir; she clears for the Windward Islands on Wednesday." + +"I have other plans for her, Freeman. I have determined upon a slaving +venture to Whydah." + +"But her cargo is ready, sir." + +"Then it must come out again, Freeman. My mind is made up, and the +_Ruffling Harry_ must go slaving to Whydah." + +All argument and persuasion were vain, so the manager had dolefully to +clear the ship once more. + +And then Copley Banks began to make preparations for his African voyage. +It appeared that he relied upon force rather than barter for the filling +of his hold, for he carried none of those showy trinkets which savages +love, but the brig was fitted with eight nine-pounder guns and racks +full of muskets and cutlasses. The after sail-room next the cabin was +transformed into a powder magazine, and she carried as many round shot +as a well-found privateer. Water and provisions were shipped for a long +voyage. + +But the preparation of his ship's company was most surprising. It made +Freeman, the manager, realise that there was truth in the rumour that +his master had taken leave of his senses. For, under one pretext or +another, he began to dismiss the old and tried hands, who had served the +firm for years, and in their place he embarked the scum of the port--men +whose reputations were so vile that the lowest crimp would have been +ashamed to furnish them. + +There was Birthmark Sweetlocks, who was known to have been present at +the killing of the log-wood cutters, so that his hideous scarlet +disfigurement was put down by the fanciful as being a red afterglow from +that great crime. He was first mate, and under him was Israel Martin, a +little sun-wilted fellow who had served with Howell Davies at the taking +of Cape Coast Castle. + +The crew were chosen from amongst those whom Banks had met and known in +their own infamous haunts, and his own table-steward was a haggard-faced +man, who gobbled at you when he tried to talk. His beard had been +shaved, and it was impossible to recognise him as the same man whom +Sharkey had placed under the knife, and who had escaped to tell his +experiences to Copley Banks. + +These doings were not unnoticed, nor yet uncommented upon in the town of +Kingston. The Commandant of the troops--Major Harvey, of the +Artillery--made serious representations to the Governor. + +"She is not a trader, but a small warship," said he. "I think it would +be as well to arrest Copley Banks and to seize the vessel." + +"What do you suspect?" asked the Governor, who was a slow-witted man, +broken down with fevers and port wine. + +"I suspect," said the soldier, "that it is Stede Bonnet over again." + +Now, Stede Bonnet was a planter of high reputation and religious +character, who, from some sudden and overpowering freshet of wildness in +his blood, had given up everything in order to start off pirating in the +Caribbean Sea. The example was a recent one, and it had caused the +utmost consternation in the islands. Governors had before now been +accused of being in league with pirates, and of receiving commissions +upon their plunder, so that any want of vigilance was open to a sinister +construction. + +"Well, Major Harvey," said he, "I am vastly sorry to do anything which +may offend my friend Copley Banks, for many a time have my knees been +under his mahogany, but in face of what you say there is no choice for +me but to order you to board the vessel and to satisfy yourself as to +her character and destination." + +So at one in the morning Major Harvey, with a launchful of his soldiers, +paid a surprise visit to the _Ruffling Harry_, with the result that they +picked up nothing more solid than a hempen cable floating at the +moorings. It had been slipped by the brig, whose owner had scented +danger. She had already passed the Palisades, and was beating out +against the north-east trades on a course for the Windward Passage. + +When upon the next morning the brig had left Morant Point a mere haze +upon the Southern horizon, the men were called aft, and Copley Banks +revealed his plans to them. He had chosen them, he said, as brisk boys +and lads of spirit, who would rather run some risk upon the sea than +starve for a living upon the shore. King's ships were few and weak, and +they could master any trader who might come their way. Others had done +well at the business, and with a handy, well-found vessel, there was no +reason why they should not turn their tarry jackets into velvet coats. +If they were prepared to sail under the black flag, he was ready to +command them; but if any wished to withdraw, they might have the gig and +row back to Jamaica. + +Four men out of six-and-forty asked for their discharge, went over the +ship's side into the boat, and rowed away amidst the jeers and howlings +of the crew. The rest assembled aft, and drew up the articles of their +association. A square of black tarpaulin had the white skull painted +upon it, and was hoisted amidst cheering at the main. + +Officers were elected, and the limits of their authority fixed. Copley +Banks was chosen Captain, but, as there are no mates upon a pirate +craft, Birthmark Sweetlocks became quartermaster, and Israel Martin the +boatswain. There was no difficulty in knowing what was the custom of the +brotherhood, for half the men at least had served upon pirates before. +Food should be the same for all, and no man should interfere with +another man's drink! The Captain should have a cabin, but all hands +should be welcome to enter it when they chose. + +All should share and share alike, save only the captain, quartermaster, +boatswain, carpenter, and master-gunner, who had from a quarter to a +whole share extra. He who saw a prize first should have the best weapon +taken out of her. He who boarded her first should have the richest suit +of clothes aboard of her. Every man might treat his own prisoner, be it +man or woman, after his own fashion. If a man flinched from his gun, the +quartermaster should pistol him. These were some of the rules which the +crew of the _Ruffling Harry_ subscribed by putting forty-two crosses at +the foot of the paper upon which they had been drawn. + +So a new rover was afloat upon the seas, and her name before a year was +over became as well known as that of the _Happy Delivery_. From the +Bahamas to the Leewards, and from the Leewards to the Windwards, Copley +Banks became the rival of Sharkey and the terror of traders. For a long +time the barque and the brig never met, which was the more singular, as +the _Ruffling Harry_ was for ever looking in at Sharkey's resorts; but +at last one day, when she was passing down the inlet of Coxon's Hole, at +the east end of Cuba, with the intention of careening, there was the +_Happy Delivery_, with her blocks and tackle-falls already rigged for +the same purpose. + +Copley Banks fired a shotted salute and hoisted the green trumpeter +ensign, as the custom was among gentlemen of the sea. Then he dropped +his boat and went aboard. + +Captain Sharkey was not a man of a genial mood, nor had he any kindly +sympathy for those who were of the same trade as himself. Copley Banks +found him seated astride upon one of the after guns, with his New +England quartermaster, Ned Galloway, and a crowd of roaring ruffians +standing about him. Yet none of them roared with quite such assurance +when Sharkey's pale face and filmy blue eyes were turned upon him. + +He was in his shirt-sleeves, with his cambric frills breaking through +his open red satin long-flapped vest. The scorching sun seemed to have +no power upon his fleshless frame, for he wore a low fur cap, as though +it had been winter. A many-coloured band of silk passed across his body +and supported a short murderous sword, while his broad, brass-buckled +belt was stuffed with pistols. + +"Sink you for a poacher!" he cried, as Copley Banks passed over the +bulwarks. "I will drub you within an inch of your life, and that inch +also! What mean you by fishing in my waters?" + +Copley Banks looked at him, and his eyes were like those of a traveller +who sees his home at last. + +"I am glad that we are of one mind," said he, "for I am myself of +opinion that the seas are not large enough for the two of us. But if you +will take your sword and pistols and come upon a sand-bank with me, then +the world will be rid of a damned villain whichever way it goes." + +"Now, this is talking!" cried Sharkey, jumping off the gun and holding +out his hand. "I have not met many who could look John Sharkey in the +eyes and speak with a full breath. May the devil seize me if I do not +choose you as a consort! But if you play me false, then I will come +aboard of you and gut you upon your own poop." + +"And I pledge you the same!" said Copley Banks, and so the two pirates +became sworn comrades to each other. + +That summer they went north as far as the Newfoundland Banks, and +harried the New York traders and the whale-ships from New England. It +was Copley Banks who captured the Liverpool ship, _House of Hanover_, +but it was Sharkey who fastened her master to the windlass and pelted +him to death with empty claret-bottles. + +Together they engaged the King's ship _Royal Fortune_, which had been +sent in search of them, and beat her off after a night action of five +hours, the drunken, raving crews fighting naked in the light of the +battle-lanterns, with a bucket of rum and a pannikin laid by the tackles +of every gun. They ran to Topsail Inlet in North Carolina to refit, and +then in the spring they were at the Grand Caicos, ready for a long +cruise down the West Indies. + +By this time Sharkey and Copley Banks had become very excellent friends, +for Sharkey loved a wholehearted villain, and he loved a man of metal, +and it seemed to him that the two met in the captain of the _Ruffling +Harry_. It was long before he gave his confidence to him, for cold +suspicion lay deep in his character. Never once would he trust himself +outside his own ship and away from his own men. + +But Copley Banks came often on board the _Happy Delivery_, and joined +Sharkey in many of his morose debauches, so that at last any lingering +misgivings of the latter were set at rest. He knew nothing of the evil +that he had done to his new boon companion, for of his many victims how +could he remember the woman and the two boys whom he had slain with such +levity so long ago! When, therefore, he received a challenge to himself +and to his quartermaster for a carouse upon the last evening of their +stay at the Caicos Bank, he saw no reason to refuse. + +A well-found passenger ship had been rifled the week before, so their +fare was of the best, and after supper five of them drank deeply +together. There were the two captains, Birthmark Sweetlocks, Ned +Galloway, and Israel Martin, the old buccaneersman. To wait upon them +was the dumb steward, whose head Sharkey split with his glass, because +he had been too slow in the filling of it. + +The quartermaster had slipped Sharkey's pistols away from him, for it +was an old joke with him to fire them cross-handed under the table, and +see who was the luckiest man. It was a pleasantry which had cost his +boatswain his leg, so now, when the table was cleared, they would coax +Sharkey's weapons away from him on the excuse of the heat, and lay them +out of his reach. + +The Captain's cabin of the _Ruffling Harry_ was in a deck-house upon the +poop, and a sternchaser gun was mounted at the back of it. Round shot +were racked round the wall, and three great hogsheads of powder made a +stand for dishes and for bottles. In this grim room the five pirates +sang and roared and drank, while the silent steward still filled up +their glasses, and passed the box and the candle round for their +tobacco-pipes. Hour after hour the talk became fouler, the voices +hoarser, the curses and shoutings more incoherent, until three of the +five had closed their blood-shot eyes, and dropped their swimming heads +upon the table. + +Copley Banks and Sharkey were left face to face, the one because he had +drunk the least, the other because no amount of liquor would ever shake +his iron nerve or warm his sluggish blood. Behind him stood the watchful +steward, for ever filling up his waning glass. From without came the low +lapping of the tide, and from over the water a sailor's chanty from the +barque. + +In the windless tropical night the words came clearly to their ears: + + "A trader sailed from Stepney Town, + Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the mainsail! + A trader sailed from Stepney Town + With a keg full of gold and a velvet gown. + Ho, the bully Rover Jack, + Waiting with his yard aback + Out upon the Lowland Sea." + +The two boon companions sat listening in silence. Then Copley Banks +glanced at the steward, and the man took a coil of rope from the +shot-rack behind him. + +"Captain Sharkey," said Copley Banks, "do you remember the _Duchess of +Cornwall_, hailing from London, which you took and sank three years ago +off the Statira Shoal?" + +"Curse me if I can bear their names in mind," said Sharkey. "We did as +many as ten ships a week about that time." + +"There were a mother and two sons among the passengers. Maybe that will +bring it back to your mind." + +Captain Sharkey leant back in thought, with his huge thin beak of a nose +jutting upwards. Then he burst suddenly into a high treble, neighing +laugh. He remembered it, he said, and he added details to prove it. + +"But burn me if it had not slipped from my mind!" he cried. "How came +you to think of it?" + +"It was of interest to me," said Copley Banks, "for the woman was my +wife and the lads were my only sons." + +Sharkey stared across at his companion, and saw that the smouldering +fire which lurked always in his eyes had burned up into a lurid flame. +He read their menace, and he clapped his hands to his empty belt. Then +he turned to seize a weapon, but the bight of a rope was cast round him, +and in an instant his arms were bound to his side. He fought like a wild +cat and screamed for help. + +"Ned!" he yelled. "Ned! Wake up! Here's damned villainy! Help, Ned, +help!" + +But the three men were far too deeply sunk in their swinish sleep for +any voice to wake them. Round and round went the rope, until Sharkey was +swathed like a mummy from ankle to neck. They propped him stiff and +helpless against a powder barrel, and they gagged him with a +handkerchief, but his filmy, red-rimmed eyes still looked curses at +them. The dumb man chattered in his exultation, and Sharkey winced for +the first time when he saw the empty mouth before him. He understood +that vengeance, slow and patient, had dogged him long, and clutched him +at last. + +The two captors had their plans all arranged, and they were somewhat +elaborate. + +First of all they stove the heads of two of the great powder barrels, +and they heaped the contents out upon the table and floor. They piled it +round and under the three drunken men, until each sprawled in a heap of +it. Then they carried Sharkey to the gun and they triced him sitting +over the port-hole, with his body about a foot from the muzzle. Wriggle +as he would he could not move an inch either to right or left, and the +dumb man trussed him up with a sailor's cunning, so that there was no +chance that he should work free. + +"Now, you bloody devil," said Copley Banks, softly, "you must listen to +what I have to say to you, for they are the last words that you will +hear. You are my man now, and I have bought you at a price, for I have +given all that a man can give here below, and I have given my soul as +well. + +"To reach you I have had to sink to your level. For two years I strove +against it, hoping that some other way might come, but I learnt that +there was no other way. I've robbed and I have murdered--worse still, I +have laughed and lived with you--and all for the one end. And now my +time has come, and you will die as I would have you die, seeing the +shadow creeping slowly upon you and the devil waiting for you in the +shadow." + +Sharkey could hear the hoarse voices of his rovers singing their chanty +over the water. + + "Where is the trader of Stepney Town? + Wake her up! Shake her up! Every stick a-bending! + Where is the trader of Stepney Town? + His gold's on the capstan, his blood's on his gown. + All for bully rover Jack, + Reaching on the weather tack + Right across the Lowland Sea." + +The words came clear to his ear, and just outside he could hear two men +pacing backwards and forwards upon the deck. And yet he was helpless, +staring down the mouth of the nine-pounder, unable to move an inch or to +utter so much as a groan. Again there came the burst of voices from the +deck of the barque. + + "So it's up and it's over to Stornoway Bay, + Pack it on! Crack it on! Try her with the stun-sails! + It's off on a bowline to Stornoway Bay, + Where the liquor is good and the lasses are gay, + Waiting for their bully Jack, + Watching for him sailing back, + Right across the Lowland Sea." + +To the dying pirate the jovial words and rollicking tune made his own +fate seem the harsher, but there was no softening in his venomous blue +eyes. Copley Banks had brushed away the priming of the gun, and had +sprinkled fresh powder over the touch-hole. Then he had taken up the +candle and cut it to the length of about an inch. This he placed upon +the loose powder at the breach of the gun. Then he scattered powder +thickly over the floor beneath, so that when the candle fell at the +recoil it must explode the huge pile in which the three drunkards were +wallowing. + +"You've made others look death in the face, Sharkey," said he; "now it +has come to be your own turn. You and these swine here shall go +together!" He lit the candle-end as he spoke, and blew out the other +lights upon the table. Then he passed out with the dumb man, and locked +the cabin door upon the outer side. But before he closed it he took an +exultant look backwards and received one last curse from those +unconquerable eyes. In the single dim circle of light that ivory-white +face, with the gleam of moisture upon the high, bald forehead, was the +last that was ever seen of Sharkey. + +There was a skiff alongside, and in it Copley Banks and the dumb steward +made their way to the beach, and looked back upon the brig riding in the +moonlight just outside the shadow of the palm trees. They waited and +waited, watching that dim light which shone through the stern port. And +then at last there came the dull thud of a gun, and an instant later the +shattering crash of the explosion. The long, sleek, black barque, the +sweep of white sand, and the fringe of nodding, feathery palm trees +sprang into dazzling light and back into darkness again. Voices screamed +and called upon the bay. + +Then Copley Banks, his heart singing within him touched his companion +upon the shoulder, and they plunged together into the lonely jungle of +the Caicos. + + + + +V + +THE "SLAPPING SAL" + + +It was in the days when France's power was already broken upon the seas, +and when more of her three-deckers lay rotting in the Medway than were +to be found in Brest harbour. But her frigates and corvettes still +scoured the ocean, closely followed ever by those of her rival. At the +uttermost ends of the earth these dainty vessels, with sweet names of +girls or of flowers, mangled and shattered each other for the honour of +the four yards of bunting which flapped from the end of their gaffs. + +It had blown hard in the night, but the wind had dropped with the +dawning, and now the rising sun tinted the fringe of the storm-wrack as +it dwindled into the west and glinted on the endless crests of the long, +green waves. To north and south and west lay a skyline which was +unbroken save by the spout of foam when two of the great Atlantic seas +dashed each other into spray. To the east was a rocky island, jutting +out into craggy points, with a few scattered clumps of palm trees and a +pennant of mist streaming out from the bare, conical hill which capped +it. A heavy surf beat upon the shore, and, at a safe distance from it, +the British 32-gun frigate _Leda_, Captain A. P. Johnson, raised her +black, glistening side upon the crest of a wave, or swooped down into an +emerald valley, dipping away to the nor'ard under easy sail. On her +snow-white quarter-deck stood a stiff little brown-faced man, who swept +the horizon with his glass. + +"Mr. Wharton!" he cried, with a voice like a rusty hinge. + +A thin, knock-kneed officer shambled across the poop to him. + +"Yes, sir." + +"I've opened the sealed orders, Mr. Wharton." + +A glimmer of curiosity shone upon the meagre features of the first +lieutenant. The _Leda_ had sailed with her consort, the _Dido_, from +Antigua the week before, and the admiral's orders had been contained in +a sealed envelope. + +"We were to open them on reaching the deserted island of Sombriero, +lying in north latitude eighteen, thirty-six, west longitude +sixty-three, twenty-eight. Sombriero bore four miles to the north-east +from our port-bow when the gale cleared, Mr. Wharton." + +The lieutenant bowed stiffly. He and the captain had been bosom friends +from childhood. They had gone to school together, joined the navy +together, fought again and again together, and married into each other's +families, but so long as their feet were on the poop the iron discipline +of the service struck all that was human out of them and left only the +superior and the subordinate. Captain Johnson took from his pocket a +blue paper, which crackled as he unfolded it. + + "The 32-gun frigates _Leda_ and _Dido_ (Captains A. P. Johnson + and James Munro) are to cruise from the point at which these + instructions are read to the mouth of the Caribbean sea, in the + hope of encountering the French frigate _La Gloire_ (48), which + has recently harassed our merchant ships in that quarter. H.M. + frigates are also directed to hunt down the piratical craft + known sometimes as the _Slapping Sal_ and sometimes as the + _Hairy Hudson_, which has plundered the British ships as per + margin, inflicting barbarities upon their crews. She is a small + brig, carrying ten light guns, with one twenty-four pound + carronade forward. She was last seen upon the 23rd. ult. to the + north-east of the island of Sombriero. + + "(Signed) JAMES MONTGOMERY + + "(_Rear-Admiral_). + + "H.M.S. _Colossus_, Antigua." + +"We appear to have lost our consort," said Captain Johnson, folding up +his instructions and again sweeping the horizon with his glass. "She +drew away after we reefed down. It would be a pity if we met this heavy +Frenchman without the _Dido_, Mr. Wharton. Eh?" + +The lieutenant twinkled and smiled. + +"She has eighteen-pounders on the main and twelves on the poop, sir," +said the captain. "She carries four hundred to our two hundred and +thirty-one. Captain de Milon is the smartest man in the French service. +Oh, Bobby boy, I'd give my hopes of my flag to rub my side up against +her!" He turned on his heel, ashamed of his momentary lapse. "Mr. +Wharton," said he, looking back sternly over his shoulder, "get those +square sails shaken out and bear away a point more to the west." + +"A brig on the port-bow," came a voice from the forecastle. + +"A brig on the port-bow," said the lieutenant. + +The captain sprang upon the bulwarks and held on by the mizzen-shrouds, +a strange little figure with flying skirts and puckered eyes. The lean +lieutenant craned his neck and whispered to Smeaton, the second, while +officers and men came popping up from below and clustered along the +weather-rail, shading their eyes with their hands--for the tropical sun +was already clear of the palm trees. The strange brig lay at anchor in +the throat of a curving estuary, and it was already obvious that she +could not get out without passing under the guns of the frigate. A long, +rocky point to the north of her held her in. + +"Keep her as she goes, Mr. Wharton," said the captain. "Hardly worth +while our clearing for action, Mr. Smeaton, but the men can stand by the +guns in case she tries to pass us. Cast loose the bow-chasers and send +the small-arm men to the forecastle." + +A British crew went to its quarters in those days with the quiet +serenity of men on their daily routine. In a few minutes, without fuss +or sound, the sailors were knotted round their guns, the marines were +drawn up and leaning on their muskets, and the frigate's bowsprit +pointed straight for her little victim. + +"Is it the _Slapping Sal_, sir?" + +"I have no doubt of it, Mr. Wharton." + +"They don't seem to like the look of us, sir. They've cut their cable +and are clapping on sail." + +It was evident that the brig meant struggling for her freedom. One +little patch of canvas fluttered out above another, and her people could +be seen working like madmen in the rigging. She made no attempt to pass +her antagonist, but headed up the estuary. The captain rubbed his hands. + + +"She's making for shoal water, Mr. Wharton, and we shall have to cut her +out, sir. She's a footy little brig, but I should have thought a +fore-and-after would have been more handy." + +"It was a mutiny, sir." + +"Ah, indeed!" + +"Yes, sir, I heard of it at Manilla: a bad business, sir. Captain and +two mates murdered. This Hudson, or Hairy Hudson as they call him, led +the mutiny. He's a Londoner, sir, and a cruel villain as ever walked." + +"His next walk will be to Execution Dock, Mr. Wharton. She seems heavily +manned. I wish I could take twenty topmen out of her, but they would be +enough to corrupt the crew of the ark, Mr. Wharton." + +Both officers were looking through their glasses at the brig. Suddenly +the lieutenant showed his teeth in a grin, while the captain flushed a +deeper red. + +"That's Hairy Hudson on the after-rail, sir." + +"The low, impertinent blackguard! He'll play some other antics before we +are done with him. Could you reach him with the long eighteen, Mr. +Smeaton?" + +"Another cable length will do it, sir." + +The brig yawed as they spoke, and as she came round a spurt of smoke +whiffed out from her quarter. It was a pure piece of bravado, for the +gun could scarce carry half-way. Then with a jaunty swing the little +ship came into the wind again, and shot round a fresh curve in the +winding channel. + +"The water's shoaling rapidly, sir," repeated the second lieutenant. + +"There's six fathoms by the chart." + +"Four by the lead, sir." + +"When we clear this point we shall see how we lie. Ha! I thought as +much! Lay her to, Mr. Wharton. Now we have got her at our mercy!" + +The frigate was quite out of sight of the sea now at the head of this +river-like estuary. As she came round the curve the two shores were seen +to converge at a point about a mile distant. In the angle, as near shore +as she could get, the brig was lying with her broadside towards her +pursuer and a wisp of black cloth streaming from her mizzen. The lean +lieutenant, who had reappeared upon deck with a cutlass strapped to his +side and two pistols rammed into his belt, peered curiously at the +ensign. + +"Is it the Jolly Rodger, sir?" he asked. + +But the captain was furious. + +"He may hang where his breeches are hanging before I have done with +him!" said he. "What boats will you want, Mr. Wharton?" + +"We should do it with the launch and the jolly-boat." + +"Take four and make a clean job of it. Pipe away the crews at once, and +I'll work her in and help you with the long eighteens." + +With a rattle of ropes and a creaking of blocks the four boats splashed +into the water. Their crews clustered thickly into them: bare-footed +sailors, stolid marines, laughing middies, and in the sheets of each the +senior officers with their stern schoolmaster faces. The captain, his +elbows on the binnacle, still watched the distant brig. Her crew were +tricing up the boarding-netting, dragging round the starboard guns, +knocking new portholes for them, and making every preparation for a +desperate resistance. In the thick of it all a huge man, bearded to the +eyes, with a red nightcap upon his head, was straining and stooping and +hauling. The captain watched him with a sour smile, and then snapping up +his glass he turned upon his heel. For an instant he stood staring. + +"Call back the boats!" he cried in his thin, creaking voice. "Clear away +for action there! Cast loose those main-deck guns. Brace back the yards, +Mr. Smeaton, and stand by to go about when she has weigh enough." + +Round the curve of the estuary was coming a huge vessel. Her great +yellow bowsprit and white-winged figure-head were jutting out from the +cluster of palm trees, while high above them towered three immense masts +with the tricolour flag floating superbly from the mizzen. Round she +came, the deep-blue water creaming under her fore foot, until her long, +curving, black side, her line of shining copper beneath and of +snow-white hammocks above, and the thick clusters of men who peered over +her bulwarks were all in full view. Her lower yards were slung, her +ports triced up, and her guns run out all ready for action. Lying behind +one of the promontories of the island, the lookout men of the _Gloire_ +upon the shore had seen the _cul de sac_ into which the British frigate +was headed, so that Captain de Milon had served the _Leda_ as Captain +Johnson had the _Slapping Sal_. + +But the splendid discipline of the British service was at its best in +such a crisis. The boats flew back; their crews clustered aboard, they +were swung up at the davits and the fall-ropes made fast. Hammocks were +brought up and stowed, bulkheads sent down, ports and magazines opened, +the fires put out in the galley, and the drums beat to quarters. Swarms +of men set the head-sails and brought the frigate round, while the +gun-crews threw off their jackets and shirts, tightened their belts, and +ran out their eighteen-pounders, peering through the open portholes at +the stately Frenchman. The wind was very light. Hardly a ripple showed +itself upon the clear blue water, but the sails blew gently out as the +breeze came over the wooded banks. The Frenchman had gone about also, +and both ships were now heading slowly for the sea under fore-and-aft +canvas, the _Gloire_ a hundred yards in advance. She luffed up to cross +the _Leda's_ bows, but the British ship came round also, and the two +rippled slowly on in such a silence that the ringing of ramrods as the +French marines drove home their charges clanged quite loudly upon the +ear. + +"Not much sea-room, Mr. Wharton," remarked the captain. + +"I have fought actions in less, sir." + +"We must keep our distance and trust to our gunnery. She is very heavily +manned, and if she got alongside we might find ourselves in trouble." + +"I see the shakos of soldiers aboard of her." + +"Two companies of light infantry from Martinique. Now we have her! +Hard-a-port, and let her have it as we cross her stern!" + +The keen eye of the little commander had seen the surface ripple, which +told of a passing breeze. He had used it to dart across the big +Frenchman and to rake her with every gun as he passed. But, once past +her, the _Leda_ had to come back into the wind to keep out of shoal +water. The manoeuvre brought her on to the starboard side of the +Frenchman, and the trim little frigate seemed to heel right over under +the crashing broadside which burst from the gaping ports. A moment later +her topmen were swarming aloft to set her topsails and royals, and she +strove to cross the _Gloire's_ bows and rake her again. The French +captain, however, brought his frigate's head round, and the two rode +side by side within easy pistol-shot, pouring broadsides into each other +in one of those murderous duels which, could they all be recorded, would +mottle our charts with blood. + +In that heavy tropical air, with so faint a breeze, the smoke formed a +thick bank round the two vessels, from which the topmasts only +protruded. Neither could see anything of its enemy save the throbs of +fire in the darkness, and the guns were sponged and trained and fired +into a dense wall of vapour. On the poop and forecastle the marines, in +two little red lines, were pouring in their volleys, but neither they +nor the sea-men-gunners could see what effect their fire was having. +Nor, indeed, could they tell how far they were suffering themselves, +for, standing at a gun, one could but hazily see that upon the right and +the left. But above the roar of the cannon came the sharper sound of the +piping shot, the crashing of riven planks, and the occasional heavy thud +as spar or block came hurtling on to the deck. The lieutenants paced up +and down the line of guns, while Captain Johnson fanned the smoke away +with his cocked-hat and peered eagerly out. + +"This is rare, Bobby!" said he, as the lieutenant joined him. Then, +suddenly restraining himself, "What have we lost, Mr. Wharton?" + +"Our maintopsail yard and our gaff, sir." + +"Where's the flag?" + +"Gone overboard, sir." + +"They'll think we've struck! Lash a boat's ensign on the starboard arm +of the mizzen cross-jackyard." + +"Yes, sir." + +A round-shot dashed the binnacle to pieces between them. A second +knocked two marines into a bloody, palpitating mash. For a moment the +smoke rose, and the English captain saw that his adversary's heavier +metal was producing a horrible effect. The _Leda_ was a shattered wreck. +Her deck was strewed with corpses. Several of her portholes were knocked +into one, and one of her eighteen-pounder guns had been thrown right +back on to her breech, and pointed straight up to the sky. The thin line +of marines still loaded and fired, but half the guns were silent, and +their crews were piled thickly round them. + +"Stand by to repel boarders!" yelled the captain. + +"Cutlasses, lads, cutlasses!" roared Wharton. + +"Hold your volley till they touch!" cried the captain of marines. + +The huge loom of the Frenchman was seen bursting through the smoke. +Thick clusters of boarders hung upon her sides and shrouds. A final +broadside leapt from her ports, and the mainmast of the _Leda_, snapping +short off a few feet above the deck, spun into the air and crashed down +upon the port guns, killing ten men and putting the whole battery out of +action. An instant later the two ships scraped together, and the +starboard bower anchor of the _Gloire_ caught the mizzen-chains of the +_Leda_ upon the port side. With a yell the black swarm of boarders +steadied themselves for a spring. + +But their feet were never to reach that blood-stained deck. From +somewhere there came a well-aimed whiff of grape, and another, and +another. The English marines and seamen, waiting with cutlass and musket +behind the silent guns, saw with amazement the dark masses thinning and +shredding away. At the same time the port broadside of the Frenchman +burst into a roar. + +"Clear away the wreck!" roared the captain. "What the devil are they +firing at?" + +"Get the guns clear!" panted the lieutenant. "We'll do them yet, boys!" + +The wreckage was torn and hacked and splintered until first one gun and +then another roared into action again. The Frenchman's anchor had been +cut away, and the _Leda_ had worked herself free from that fatal hug. +But now, suddenly, there was a scurry up the shrouds of the _Gloire_, +and a hundred Englishmen were shouting themselves hoarse: "They're +running! They're running! They're running!" + +And it was true. The Frenchman had ceased to fire, and was intent only +upon clapping on every sail that he could carry. But that shouting +hundred could not claim it all as their own. As the smoke cleared it was +not difficult to see the reason. The ships had gained the mouth of the +estuary during the fight, and there, about four miles out to sea, was +the _Leda's_ consort bearing down under full sail to the sound of the +guns. Captain de Milon had done his part for one day, and presently the +_Gloire_ was drawing off swiftly to the north, while the _Dido_ was +bowling along at her skirts, rattling away with her bow-chasers, until a +headland hid them both from view. + +But the _Leda_ lay sorely stricken, with her mainmast gone, her bulwarks +shattered, her mizzen-topmast and gaff shot away, her sails like a +beggar's rags, and a hundred of her crew dead and wounded. Close beside +her a mass of wreckage floated upon the waves. It was the stern-post of +a mangled vessel, and across it, in white letters on a black ground, was +painted, "_The Slapping Sal_." + +"By the Lord! it was the brig that saved us!" cried Mr. Wharton. "Hudson +brought her into action with the Frenchman, and was blown out of the +water by a broadside!" + +The little captain turned on his heel and paced up and down the deck. +Already his crew were plugging the shot-holes, knotting and splicing and +mending. When he came back, the lieutenant saw a softening of the stern +lines about his eyes and mouth. + +"Are they all gone?" + +"Every man. They must have sunk with the wreck." + +The two officers looked down at the sinister name, and at the stump of +wreckage which floated in the discoloured water. Something black washed +to and fro beside a splintered gaff and a tangle of halliards. It was +the outrageous ensign, and near it a scarlet cap was floating. + +"He was a villain, but he was a Briton!" said the captain, at last. "He +lived like a dog, but, by God, he died like a man!" + + + + +VI + +A PIRATE OF THE LAND + +ONE CROWDED HOUR + + +The place was the Eastbourne-Tunbridge road, not very far from the Cross +in Hand--a lonely stretch, with a heath running upon either side. The +time was half-past eleven upon a Sunday night in the late summer. A +motor was passing slowly down the road. + +It was a long, lean Rolls-Royce, running smoothly with a gentle purring +of the engine. Through the two vivid circles cast by the electric +head-lights the waving grass fringes and clumps of heather streamed +swiftly like some golden cinematograph, leaving a blacker darkness +behind and around them. One ruby-red spot shone upon the road, but no +number-plate was visible within the dim ruddy halo of the tail-lamp +which cast it. The car was open and of a tourist type, but even in that +obscure light, for the night was moonless, an observer could hardly fail +to have noticed a curious indefiniteness in its lines. As it slid into +and across the broad stream of light from an open cottage door the +reason could be seen. The body was hung with a singular loose +arrangement of brown holland. Even the long black bonnet was banded with +some close-drawn drapery. + +The solitary man who drove this curious car was broad and burly. He sat +hunched up over his steering-wheel, with the brim of a Tyrolean hat +drawn down over his eyes. The red end of a cigarette smouldered under +the black shadow thrown by the headgear. A dark ulster of some +frieze-like material was turned up in the collar until it covered his +ears. His neck was pushed forward from his rounded shoulders, and he +seemed, as the car now slid noiselessly down the long sloping road, with +the clutch disengaged and the engine running free, to be peering ahead +of him through the darkness in search of some eagerly-expected object. + +The distant toot of a motor-horn came faintly from some point far to the +south of him. On such a night, at such a place, all traffic must be from +south to north when the current of London week-enders sweeps back from +the watering-place to the capital--from pleasure to duty. The man sat +straight and listened intently. Yes, there it was again, and certainly +to the south of him. His face was over the wheel and his eyes strained +through the darkness. Then suddenly he spat out his cigarette and gave a +sharp intake of the breath. Far away down the road two little yellow +points had rounded a curve. They vanished into a dip, shot upwards once +more, and then vanished again. The inert man in the draped car woke +suddenly into intense life. From his pocket he pulled a mask of dark +cloth, which he fastened securely across his face, adjusting it +carefully that his sight might be unimpeded. For an instant he uncovered +an acetylene hand-lantern, took a hasty glance at his own preparations, +and laid it beside a Mauser pistol upon the seat alongside him. Then, +twitching his hat down lower than ever, he released his clutch and slid +downward his gear-lever. With a chuckle and shudder the long, black +machine sprang forward, and shot with a soft sigh from her powerful +engines down the sloping gradient. The driver stooped and switched off +his electric head-lights. Only a dim grey swathe cut through the black +heath indicated the line of his road. From in front there came +presently a confused puffing and rattling and clanging as the oncoming +car breasted the slope. It coughed and spluttered on a powerful, +old-fashioned low gear, while its engine throbbed like a weary heart. +The yellow, glaring lights dipped for the last time into a switchback +curve. When they reappeared over the crest the two cars were within +thirty yards of each other. The dark one darted across the road and +barred the other's passage, while a warning acetylene lamp was waved in +the air. With a jarring of brakes the noisy new-comer was brought to a +halt. + +"I say," cried an aggrieved voice, "'pon my soul, you know, we might +have had an accident. Why the devil don't you keep your head-lights on? +I never saw you till I nearly burst my radiators on you!" + +The acetylene lamp, held forward, discovered a very angry young man, +blue-eyed, yellow-moustached, and florid, sitting alone at the wheel of +an antiquated twelve-horse Wolseley. Suddenly the aggrieved look upon +his flushed face changed to one of absolute bewilderment. The driver in +the dark car had sprung out of the seat, a black, long-barrelled, +wicked-looking pistol was poked in the traveller's face, and behind the +further sights of it was a circle of black cloth with two deadly eyes +looking from as many slits. + +"Hands up!" said a quick, stern voice. "Hands up! or, by the Lord----" + +The young man was as brave as his neighbours, but the hands went up all +the same. + +"Get down!" said his assailant, curtly. + +The young man stepped forth into the road, followed closely by the +covering lantern and pistol. Once he made as if he would drop his hands, +but a short, stern word jerked them up again. + +"I say, look here, this is rather out o' date, ain't it?" said the +traveller. "I expect you're joking--what?" + +"Your watch," said the man behind the Mauser pistol. + +"You can't really mean it!" + +"Your watch, I say!" + +"Well, take it, if you must. It's only plated, anyhow. You're two +centuries out in time, or a few thousand miles longitude. The bush is +your mark--or America. You don't seem in the picture on a Sussex road." + +"Purse," said the man. There was something very compelling in his voice +and methods. The purse was handed over. + +"Any rings?" + +"Don't wear 'em." + +"Stand there! Don't move!" + +The highwayman passed his victim and threw open the bonnet of the +Wolseley. His hand, with a pair of steel pliers, was thrust deep into +the works. There was the snap of a parting wire. + +"Hang it all, don't crock my car!" cried the traveller. + +He turned, but quick as a flash the pistol was at his head once more. +And yet even in that flash, whilst the robber whisked round from the +broken circuit, something had caught the young man's eye which made him +gasp and start. He opened his mouth as if about to shout some words. +Then with an evident effort he restrained himself. + +"Get in," said the highwayman. + +The traveller climbed back to his seat. + +"What is your name?" + +"Ronald Barker. What's yours?" + +The masked man ignored the impertinence. + +"Where do you live?" he asked. + +"My cards are in my purse. Take one." + +The highwayman sprang into his car, the engine of which had hissed and +whispered in gentle accompaniment to the interview. With a clash he +threw back his side-brake, flung in his gears, twirled the wheel hard +round, and cleared the motionless Wolseley. A minute later he was +gliding swiftly, with all his lights gleaming, some half-mile southward +on the road, while Mr. Ronald Barker, a side-lamp in his hand, was +rummaging furiously among the odds and ends of his repair-box for a +strand of wire which would connect up his electricity and set him on his +way once more. + +When he had placed a safe distance between himself and his victim, the +adventurer eased up, took his booty from his pocket, replaced the watch, +opened the purse, and counted out the money. Seven shillings constituted +the miserable spoil. The poor result of his efforts seemed to amuse +rather than annoy him, for he chuckled as he held the two half-crowns +and the florin in the glare of his lantern. Then suddenly his manner +changed. He thrust the thin purse back into his pocket, released his +brake, and shot onwards with the same tense bearing with which he had +started upon his adventure. The lights of another car were coming down +the road. + +On this occasion the methods of the highwayman were less furtive. +Experience had clearly given him confidence. With lights still blazing +he ran towards the new-comers, and, halting in the middle of the road, +summoned them to stop. From the point of view of the astonished +travellers the result was sufficiently impressive. They saw in the glare +of their own head-lights two glowing discs on either side of the long, +black-muzzled snout of a high-power car, and above the masked face and +menacing figure of its solitary driver. In the golden circle thrown by +the Rover there stood an elegant, open-topped, twenty-horse Humber, with +an undersized and very astonished chauffeur blinking from under his +peaked cap. From behind the wind-screen the veil-bound hats and +wondering faces of two very pretty young women protruded, one upon +either side, and a little crescendo of frightened squeaks announced the +acute emotion of one of them. The other was cooler and more critical. + +"Don't give it away, Hilda," she whispered. "Do shut up, and don't be +such a silly. It's Bertie or one of the boys playing it on us." + +"No, no! It's the real thing, Flossie. It's a robber, sure enough. Oh, +my goodness, whatever shall we do?" + +"What an 'ad.'!" cried the other. "Oh, what a glorious 'ad.'! Too late +now for the mornings, but they'll have it in every evening paper, sure." + +"What's it going to cost?" groaned the other. "Oh, Flossie, Flossie, I'm +sure I'm going to faint! Don't you think if we both screamed together we +could do some good? Isn't he too awful with that black thing over his +face? Oh, dear, oh, dear! He's killing poor little Alf!" + +The proceedings of the robber were indeed somewhat alarming. Springing +down from his car, he had pulled the chauffeur out of his seat by the +scruff of his neck. The sight of the Mauser had cut short all +remonstrance, and under its compulsion the little man had pulled open +the bonnet and extracted the sparking plugs. Having thus secured the +immobility of his capture, the masked man walked forward, lantern in +hand, to the side of the car. He had laid aside the gruff sternness with +which he had treated Mr. Ronald Barker, and his voice and manner were +gentle, though determined. He even raised his hat as a prelude to his +address. + +"I am sorry to inconvenience you, ladies," said he, and his voice had +gone up several notes since the previous interview. "May I ask who you +are?" + +Miss Hilda was beyond coherent speech, but Miss Flossie was of a sterner +mould. + +"This is a pretty business," said she. "What right have you to stop us +on the public road, I should like to know?" + +"My time is short," said the robber, in a sterner voice. "I must ask you +to answer my question." + +"Tell him, Flossie! For goodness' sake be nice to him!" cried Hilda. + +"Well, we're from the Gaiety Theatre, London, if you want to know," said +the young lady. "Perhaps you've heard of Miss Flossie Thornton and Miss +Hilda Mannering? We've been playing a week at the Royal at Eastbourne, +and took a Sunday off to ourselves. So now you know!" + +"I must ask you for your purses and for your jewellery." + +Both ladies set up shrill expostulations, but they found, as Mr. Ronald +Barker had done, that there was something quietly compelling in this +man's methods. In a very few minutes they had handed over their purses, +and a pile of glittering rings, bangles, brooches and chains was lying +upon the front seat of the car. The diamonds glowed and shimmered like +little electric points in the light of the lantern. He picked up the +glittering tangle and weighed it in his hand. + +"Anything you particularly value?" he asked the ladies; but Miss Flossie +was in no humour for concessions. + +"Don't come the Claude Duval over us," said she. "Take the lot or leave +the lot. We don't want bits of our own given back to us." + +"Except just Billy's necklace!" cried Hilda, and snatched at a little +rope of pearls. The robber bowed, and released his hold of it. + +"Anything else?" + +The valiant Flossie began suddenly to cry. Hilda did the same. The +effect upon the robber was surprising. He threw the whole heap of +jewellery into the nearest lap. + +"There! there! Take it!" he said. "It's trumpery stuff, anyhow. It's +worth something to you, and nothing to me." + +Tears changed in a moment to smiles. + +"You're welcome to the purses. The 'ad.' is worth ten times the money. +But what a funny way of getting a living nowadays! Aren't you afraid of +being caught? It's all so wonderful, like a scene from a comedy." + +"It may be a tragedy," said the robber. + +"Oh, I hope not--I'm sure I hope not!" cried the two ladies of the +drama. + +But the robber was in no mood for further conversation. Far away down +the road tiny points of light had appeared. Fresh business was coming to +him, and he must not mix his cases. Disengaging his machine, he raised +his hat, and slipped off to meet this new arrival, while Miss Flossie +and Miss Hilda leaned out of their derelict car, still palpitating from +their adventure, and watched the red gleam of the tail-light until it +merged into the darkness. + +This time there was every sign of a rich prize. Behind its four grand +lamps set in a broad frame of glittering brasswork the magnificent +sixty-horse Daimler breasted the slope with the low, deep, even snore +which proclaimed its enormous latent strength. Like some rich-laden, +high-pooped Spanish galleon, she kept her course until the prowling +craft ahead of her swept across her bows and brought her to a sudden +halt. An angry face, red, blotched, and evil, shot out of the open +window of the closed limousine. The robber was aware of a high, bald +forehead, gross pendulous cheeks, and two little crafty eyes which +gleamed between creases of fat. + +"Out of my way, sir! Out of my way this instant!" cried a rasping voice. +"Drive over him, Hearn! Get down and pull him off the seat. The fellow's +drunk--he's drunk, I say!" + +Up to this point the proceedings of the modern highwayman might have +passed as gentle. Now they turned in an instant to savagery. The +chauffeur, a burly, capable fellow, incited by that raucous voice behind +him, sprang from the car and seized the advancing robber by the throat. +The latter hit out with the butt-end of his pistol, and the man dropped +groaning on the road. Stepping over his prostrate body the adventurer +pulled open the door, seized the stout occupant savagely by the ear, and +dragged him bellowing on the highway. Then, very deliberately, he struck +him twice across the face with his open hand. The blows rang out like +pistol-shots in the silence of the night. The fat traveller turned a +ghastly colour and fell back half senseless against the side of the +limousine. The robber dragged open his coat, wrenched away the heavy +gold watch-chain with all that it held, plucked out the great diamond +pin that sparkled in the black satin tie, dragged off four rings--not +one of which could have cost less than three figures--and finally tore +from his inner pocket a bulky leather notebook. All this property he +transferred to his own black overcoat, and added to it the man's pearl +cuff-links, and even the golden stud which held his collar. Having made +sure that there was nothing else to take, the robber flashed his lantern +upon the prostrate chauffeur, and satisfied himself that he was stunned +and not dead. Then, returning to the master, he proceeded very +deliberately to tear all his clothes from his body with a ferocious +energy which set his victim whimpering and writhing in imminent +expectation of murder. + +Whatever the tormentor's intention may have been, it was very +effectually frustrated. A sound made him turn his head, and there, no +very great distance off, were the lights of a car coming swiftly from +the north. Such a car must have already passed the wreckage which this +pirate had left behind him. It was following his track with a deliberate +purpose, and might be crammed with every county constable of the +district. + +The adventurer had no time to lose. He darted from his bedraggled +victim, sprang into his own seat, and with his foot on the accelerator +shot swiftly off down the road. Some way down there was a narrow side +lane, and into this the fugitive turned, cracking on his high speed and +leaving a good five miles between him and any pursuer before he ventured +to stop. Then, in a quiet corner, he counted over his booty of the +evening--the paltry plunder of Mr. Ronald Barker, the rather +better-furnished purses of the actresses, which contained four pounds +between them, and, finally, the gorgeous jewellery and well-filled +notebook of the plutocrat upon the Daimler. Five notes of fifty pounds, +four of ten, fifteen sovereigns, and a number of valuable papers made up +a most noble haul. It was clearly enough for one night's work. The +adventurer replaced all his ill-gotten gains in his pocket, and, +lighting a cigarette, set forth upon his way with the air of a man who +has no further care upon his mind. + + * * * * * + +It was on the Monday morning following upon this eventful evening that +Sir Henry Hailworthy, of Walcot Old Place, having finished his breakfast +in a leisurely fashion, strolled down to his study with the intention of +writing a few letters before setting forth to take his place upon the +county bench. Sir Henry was a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county; he was a +baronet of ancient blood; he was a magistrate of ten years' standing; +and he was famous above all as the breeder of many a good horse and the +most desperate rider in all the Weald country. A tall, upstanding man, +with a strong clean-shaven face, heavy black eyebrows, and a square, +resolute jaw, he was one whom it was better to call friend than foe. +Though nearly fifty years of age, he bore no sign of having passed his +youth, save that Nature, in one of her freakish moods, had planted one +little feather of white hair above his right ear, making the rest of his +thick black curls the darker by contrast. He was in thoughtful mood this +morning, for having lit his pipe he sat at his desk with his blank +note-paper in front of him, lost in a deep reverie. + +Suddenly his thoughts were brought back to the present. From behind the +laurels of the curving drive there came a low, clanking sound, which +swelled into the clatter and jingle of an ancient car. Then from round +the corner there swung an old-fashioned Wolseley, with a +fresh-complexioned, yellow-moustached young man at the wheel. Sir Henry +sprang to his feet at the sight, and then sat down once more. He rose +again as a minute later the footman announced Mr. Ronald Barker. It was +an early visit, but Barker was Sir Henry's intimate friend. As each was +a fine shot, horseman, and billiard-player, there was much in common +between the two men, and the younger (and poorer) was in the habit of +spending at least two evenings a week at Walcot Old Place. Therefore, +Sir Henry advanced cordially with outstretched hand to welcome him. + +"You're an early bird this morning," said he. "What's up? If you are +going over to Lewes we could motor together." + +But the younger man's demeanour was peculiar and ungracious. He +disregarded the hand which was held out to him, and he stood pulling at +his own long moustache and staring with troubled, questioning eyes at +the county magistrate. + +"Well, what's the matter?" asked the latter. + +Still the young man did not speak. He was clearly on the edge of an +interview which he found it most difficult to open. His host grew +impatient. + +"You don't seem yourself this morning. What on earth is the matter? +Anything upset you?" + +"Yes," said Ronald Barker, with emphasis. + +"What has?" + +"_You_ have." + +Sir Henry smiled. "Sit down, my dear fellow. If you have any grievance +against me, let me hear it." + +Barker sat down. He seemed to be gathering himself for a reproach. When +it did come it was like a bullet from a gun. + +"Why did you rob me last night?" + +The magistrate was a man of iron nerve. He showed neither surprise nor +resentment. Not a muscle twitched upon his calm, set face. + +"Why do you say that I robbed you last night?" + +"A big, tall fellow in a motor-car stopped me on the Mayfield road. He +poked a pistol in my face and took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, +that man was you." + +The magistrate smiled. + +"Am I the only big, tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a +motor-car?" + +"Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls-Royce when I see it--I, who spend +half my life on a car and the other half under it? Who has a Rolls-Royce +about here except you?" + +"My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highwayman as you +describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How +many hundred Rolls-Royces are there in the South of England?" + +"No, it won't do, Sir Henry--it won't do! Even your voice, though you +sunk it a few notes, was familiar enough to me. But hang it, man! What +did you do it _for_? That's what gets over me. That you should stick up +me, one of your closest friends, a man that worked himself to the bone +when you stood for the division--and all for the sake of a Brummagem +watch and a few shillings--is simply incredible." + +"Simply incredible," repeated the magistrate, with a smile. + +"And then those actresses, poor little devils, who have to earn all they +get. I followed you down the road, you see. That was a dirty trick, if +ever I heard one. The City shark was different. If a chap must go +a-robbing, that sort of fellow is fair game. But your friend, and then +the girls--well, I say again, I couldn't have believed it." + +"Then why believe it?" + +"Because it _is_ so." + +"Well, you seem to have persuaded yourself to that effect. You don't +seem to have much evidence to lay before any one else." + +"I could swear to you in a police-court. What put the lid on it was that +when you were cutting my wire--and an infernal liberty it was!--I saw +that white tuft of yours sticking out from behind your mask." + +For the first time an acute observer might have seen some slight sign of +emotion upon the face of the baronet. + +"You seem to have a fairly vivid imagination," said he. + +His visitor flushed with anger. + +"See here, Hailworthy," said he, opening his hand and showing a small, +jagged triangle of black cloth. "Do you see that? It was on the ground +near the car of the young women. You must have ripped it off as you +jumped out from your seat. Now send for that heavy black driving-coat of +yours. If you don't ring the bell I'll ring it myself, and we shall have +it in. I'm going to see this thing through, and don't you make any +mistake about that." + +The baronet's answer was a surprising one. He rose, passed Barker's +chair, and, walking over to the door, he locked it and placed the key in +his pocket. + +"You _are_ going to see it through," said he. "I'll lock you in until +you do. Now we must have a straight talk, Barker, as man to man, and +whether it ends in tragedy or not depends on you." + +He had half-opened one of the drawers in his desk as he spoke. His +visitor frowned in anger. + +"You won't make matters any better by threatening me, Hailworthy. I am +going to do my duty, and you won't bluff me out of it." + +"I have no wish to bluff you. When I spoke of a tragedy I did not mean +to you. What I meant was that there are some turns which this affair +cannot be allowed to take. I have neither kith nor kin, but there is the +family honour, and some things are impossible." + +"It is late to talk like that." + +"Well, perhaps it is, but not too late. And now I have a good deal to +say to you. First of all, you are quite right, and it was I who held you +up last night on the Mayfield road." + +"But why on earth----" + +"All right. Let me tell it my own way. First I want you to look at +these." He unlocked a drawer and he took out two small packages. "These +were to be posted in London to-night. This one is addressed to you, and +I may as well hand it over to you at once. It contains your watch and +your purse. So, you see bar your cut wire you would have been none the +worse for your adventure. This other packet is addressed to the young +ladies of the Gaiety Theatre, and their properties are enclosed. I hope +I have convinced you that I had intended full reparation in each case +before you came to accuse me?" + +"Well?" asked Barker. + +"Well, we will now deal with Sir George Wilde, who is, as you may not +know, the senior partner of Wilde and Guggendorf, the founders of the +Ludgate Bank of infamous memory. His chauffeur is a case apart. You may +take it from me, upon my word of honour, that I had plans for the +chauffeur. But it is the master that I want to speak of. You know that I +am not a rich man myself. I expect all the county knows that. When Black +Tulip lost the Derby I was hard hit. And other things as well. Then I +had a legacy of a thousand. This infernal bank was paying 7 per cent. on +deposits. I knew Wilde. I saw him. I asked him if it was safe. He said +it was. I paid it in, and within forty-eight hours the whole thing went +to bits. It came out before the Official Receiver that Wilde had known +for three months that nothing could save him. And yet he took all my +cargo aboard his sinking vessel. He was all right--confound him! He had +plenty besides. But I had lost all my money and no law could help me. +Yet he had robbed me as clearly as one man could rob another. I saw him +and he laughed in my face. Told me to stick to Consols, and that the +lesson was cheap at the price. So I just swore that, by hook or by +crook, I would get level with him. I knew his habits, for I had made it +my business to do so. I knew that he came back from Eastbourse on Sunday +nights. I knew that he carried a good sum with him in his pocket-book. +Well it's _my_ pocket-book now. Do you mean to tell me that I'm not +morally justified in what I have done? By the Lord, I'd have left the +devil as bare as he left many a widow and orphan if I'd had the time!" + +"That's all very well. But what about me? What about the girls?" + +"Have some common sense, Barker. Do you suppose that I could go and +stick up this one personal enemy of mine and escape detection? It was +impossible. I was bound to make myself out to be just a common robber +who had run up against him by accident. So I turned myself loose on the +high road and took my chance. As the devil would have it, the first man +I met was yourself. I was a fool not to recognise that old ironmonger's +store of yours by the row it made coming up the hill. When I saw you I +could hardly speak for laughing. But I was bound to carry it through. +The same with the actresses. I'm afraid I gave myself away, for I +couldn't take their little fallals, but I had to keep up a show. Then +came my man himself. There was no bluff about that. I was out to skin +him, and I did. Now, Barker, what do you think of it all? I had a pistol +at your head last night, and, by George! whether you believe it or not, +you have one at mine this morning!" + +The young man rose slowly, and with a broad smile he wrung the +magistrate by the hand. + +"Don't do it again. It's too risky," said he. "The swine would score +heavily if you were taken." + +"You're a good chap, Barker," said the magistrate. "No, I won't do it +again. Who's the fellow who talks of 'one crowded hour of glorious +life'? By George! it's too fascinating. I had the time of my life! Talk +of fox-hunting! No, I'll never touch it again, for it might get a grip +of me." + +A telephone rang sharply upon the table, and the baronet put the +receiver to his ear. As he listened, he smiled at his companion. + +"I'm rather late this morning," said he, "and they are awaiting for me +to try some petty larcenies on the county bench." + + + + +TALES OF BLUE WATER + + + + +VII + +THE STRIPED CHEST + + +"What do you make of her, Allardyce?" I asked. + +My second mate was standing beside me upon the poop, with his short, +thick legs astretch, for the gale had left a considerable swell behind +it, and our two quarter-boats nearly touched the water with every roll. +He steadied his glass against the mizzen-shrouds, and he looked long and +hard at this disconsolate stranger every time she came reeling up on to +the crest of a roller and hung balanced for a few seconds before +swooping down upon the other side. She lay so low in the water that I +could only catch an occasional glimpse of a pea-green line of bulwark. + +She was a brig, but her mainmast had been snapped short off some ten +feet above the deck, and no effort seemed to have been made to cut away +the wreckage, which floated, sails and yards, like the broken wing of a +wounded gull, upon the water beside her. The foremast was still +standing, but the fore-topsail was flying loose, and the head-sails were +streaming out in long white pennons in front of her. Never have I seen a +vessel which appeared to have gone through rougher handling. + +But we could not be surprised at that, for there had been times during +the last three days when it was a question whether our own barque would +ever see land again. For thirty-six hours we had kept her nose to it, +and if the _Mary Sinclair_ had not been as good a seaboat as ever left +the Clyde, we could not have gone through. And yet here we were at the +end of it with the loss only of our gig and of part of the starboard +bulwark. It did not astonish us, however, when the smother had cleared +away, to find that others had been less lucky, and that this mutilated +brig, staggering about upon a blue sea, and under a cloudless sky, had +been left, like a blinded man after a lightning flash, to tell of the +terror which is past. + +Allardyce, who was a slow and methodical Scotchman, stared long and hard +at the little craft, while our seamen lined the bulwark or clustered +upon the fore shrouds to have a view of the stranger. In latitude 20° +and longitude 10°, which were about our bearings, one becomes a little +curious as to whom one meets, for one has left the main lines of +Atlantic commerce to the north. For ten days we had been sailing over a +solitary sea. + +"She's derelict, I'm thinking," said the second mate. + +I had come to the same conclusion, for I could see no sign of life upon +her deck, and there was no answer to the friendly wavings from our +seamen. The crew had probably deserted her under the impression that she +was about to founder. + +"She can't last long," continued Allardyce, in his measured way. "She +may put her nose down and her tail up any minute. The water's lipping up +to the edge of her rail." + +"What's her flag?" I asked. + +"I'm trying to make out. It's got all twisted and tangled with the +halyards. Yes, I've got it now, clear enough. It's the Brazilian flag, +but it's wrong side up." + +She had hoisted a signal of distress, then, before her people abandoned +her. Perhaps they had only just gone. I took the mate's glass and looked +round over the tumultuous face of the deep blue Atlantic, still veined +and starred with white lines and spoutings of foam. But nowhere could I +see anything human beyond ourselves. + +"There may be living men aboard," said I. + +"There may be salvage," muttered the second mate. + +"Then we will run down upon her lee side, and lie to." + +We were not more than a hundred yards from her when we swung our +fore-yard aback, and there we were, the barque and the brig, ducking and +bowing like two clowns in a dance. + +"Drop one of the quarter-boats," said I. "Take four men, Mr. Allardyce, +and see what you can learn of her." + +But just at that moment my first officer, Mr. Armstrong, came on deck, +for seven bells had struck, and it was but a few minutes off his watch. +It would interest me to go myself to this abandoned vessel and to see +what there might be aboard of her. So, with a word to Armstrong, I swung +myself over the side, slipped down the falls, and took my place in the +sheets of the boat. + +It was but a little distance, but it took some time to traverse, and so +heavy was the roll, that often, when we were in the trough of the sea, +we could not see either the barque which we had left or the brig which +we were approaching. The sinking sun did not penetrate down there, and +it was cold and dark in the hollows of the waves, but each passing +billow heaved us up into the warmth and the sunshine once more. At each +of these moments, as we hung upon a white-capped ridge between the two +dark valleys, I caught a glimpse of the long, pea-green line, and the +nodding foremast of the brig, and I steered so as to come round by her +stern, so that we might determine which was the best way of boarding +her. As we passed her we saw the name _Nossa Sehnora da Vittoria_ +painted across her dripping counter. + +"The weather side, sir," said the second mate. "Stand by with the +boat-hook, carpenter!" An instant later we had jumped over the bulwarks, +which were hardly higher than our boat, and found ourselves upon the +deck of the abandoned vessel. + +Our first thought was to provide for our own safety in case--as seemed +very probable--the vessel should settle down beneath our feet. With this +object two of our men held on to the painter of the boat, and fended her +off from the vessel's side, so that she might be ready in case we had to +make a hurried retreat. The carpenter was sent to find out how much +water there was, and whether it was still gaining, while the other +seaman, Allardyce, and myself, made a rapid inspection of the vessel and +her cargo. + +The deck was littered with wreckage and with hen-coops, in which the +dead birds were washing about. The boats were gone, with the exception +of one, the bottom of which had been stove, and it was certain that the +crew had abandoned the vessel. The cabin was in a deck house, one side +of which had been beaten in by a heavy sea. Allardyce and I entered it, +and found the captain's table as he had left it, his books and +papers--all Spanish or Portuguese--scattered over it, with piles of +cigarette ash everywhere. I looked about for the log, but could not find +it. + +"As likely as not he never kept one," said Allardyce. "Things are pretty +slack aboard a South American trader, and they don't do more than they +can help. If there was one it must have been taken away with him in the +boat." + +"I should like to take all these books and papers," said I. "Ask the +carpenter how much time we have." + +His report was reassuring. The vessel was full of water, but some of the +cargo was buoyant, and there was no immediate danger of her sinking. +Probably she would never sink, but would drift about as one of those +terrible, unmarked reefs which have sent so many stout vessels to the +bottom. + +"In that case there is no danger in your going below, Mr. Allardyce," +said I. "See what you can make of her, and find out how much of her +cargo may be saved. I'll look through these papers while you are gone." + +The bills of lading, and some notes and letters which lay upon the desk, +sufficed to inform me that the Brazilian brig _Nossa Sehnora da +Vittoria_ had cleared from Bahia a month before. The name of the captain +was Texeira, but there was no record as to the number of the crew. She +was bound for London, and a glance at the bills of lading was sufficient +to show me that we were not likely to profit much in the way of salvage. +Her cargo consisted of nuts, ginger, and wood, the latter in the shape +of great logs of valuable tropical growths. It was these, no doubt, +which had prevented the ill-fated vessel from going to the bottom, but +they were of such a size as to make it impossible for us to extract +them. Besides these, there were a few fancy goods, such as a number of +ornamental birds for millinery purposes, and a hundred cases of +preserved fruits. And then, as I turned over the papers, I came upon a +short note in English, which arrested my attention. + +"It is requested," said the note, "that the various old Spanish and +Indian curiosities, which came out of the Santarem collection, and which +are consigned to Prontfoot and Neuman, of Oxford Street, London, should +be put in some place where there may be no danger of these very valuable +and unique articles being injured or tampered with. This applies most +particularly to the treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, which must +on no account be placed where any one can get at it." + +The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez! Unique and valuable articles! Here +was a chance of salvage after all! I had risen to my feet with the paper +in my hand, when my Scotch mate appeared in the doorway. + +"I'm thinking all isn't quite as it should be aboard of this ship, sir," +said he. He was a hard-faced man, and yet I could see that he had been +startled. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Murder's the matter, sir. There's a man Here with his brains beaten +out." + +"Killed in the storm?" said I. + +"May be so, sir. But I'll be surprised if you think so after you have +seen him." + +"Where is he, then?" + +"This way, sir; here in the main-deck house." + +There appeared to have been no accommodation below in the brig, for +there was the afterhouse for the captain, another by the main hatchway +with the cook's galley attached to it, and a third in the forecastle for +the men. It was to this middle one that the mate led me. As you entered +the galley, with its litter of tumbled pots and dishes, was upon the +right, and upon the left was a small room with two bunks for the +officers. Then beyond there was a place about twelve feet square, which +was littered with flags and spare canvas. All round the walls were a +number of packets done up in coarse cloth and carefully lashed to the +woodwork. At the other end was a great box, striped red and white, +though the red was so faded and the white so dirty that it was only +where the light fell directly upon it that one could see the colouring. +The box was, by subsequent measurement, four feet three inches in +length, three feet two inches in height, and three feet +across--considerably larger than a seaman's chest. + +But it was not to the box that my eyes or my thoughts were turned as I +entered the store-room. On the floor, lying across the litter of +bunting, there was stretched a small, dark man with a short, curling +beard. He lay as far as it was possible from the box, with his feet +towards it and his head away. A crimson patch was printed upon the white +canvas on which his head was resting, and little red ribbons wreathed +themselves round his swarthy neck and trailed away on to the floor, but +there was no sign of a wound that I could see, and his face was as +placid as that of a sleeping child. + +It was only when I stooped that I could perceive his injury, and then I +turned away with an exclamation of horror. He had been pole-axed; +apparently by some person standing behind him. A frightful blow had +smashed in the top of his head and penetrated deeply into his brain. His +face might well be placid, for death must have been absolutely +instantaneous, and the position of the wound showed that he could never +have seen the person who had inflicted it. + +"Is that foul play or accident, Captain Barclay?" asked my second mate, +demurely. + +"You are quite right, Mr. Allardyce. The man has been murdered, struck +down from above by a sharp and heavy weapon. But who was he, and why did +they murder him?" + +"He was a common seaman, sir," said the mate. "You can see that if you +look at his fingers." He turned out his pockets as he spoke and brought +to light a pack of cards, some tarred string, and a bundle of Brazilian +tobacco. + +"Hullo, look at this!" said he. + +It was a large, open knife with a stiff spring blade which he had picked +up from the floor. The steel was shining and bright, so that we could +not associate it with the crime, and yet the dead man had apparently +held it in his hand when he was struck down, for it still lay within his +grasp. + +"It looks to me, sir, as if he knew he was in danger, and kept his knife +handy," said the mate. "However, we can't help the poor beggar now. I +can't make out these things that are lashed to the wall. They seem to be +idols and weapons and curios of all sorts done up in old sacking." + +"That's right," said I. "They are the only things of value that we are +likely to get from the cargo. Hail the barque and tell them to send the +other quarter-boat to help us to get the stuff aboard." + +While he was away I examined this curious plunder which had come into +our possession. The curiosities were so wrapped up that I could only +form a general idea as to their nature, but the striped box stood in a +good light where I could thoroughly examine it. On the lid, which was +clamped and cornered with metal-work, there was engraved a complex coat +of arms, and beneath it was a line of Spanish which I was able to +decipher as meaning, "The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, Knight +of the Order of Saint James, Governor and Captain-General of Terra Firma +and of the Province of Veraquas." In one corner was the date 1606, and +on the other a large white label, upon which was written in English, +"You are earnestly requested, upon no account, to open this box." The +same warning was repeated underneath in Spanish. As to the lock, it was +a very complex and heavy one of engraved steel, with a Latin motto, +which was above a seaman's comprehension. + +By the time I had finished this examination of the peculiar box, the +other quarter-boat with Mr. Armstrong, the first officer, had come +alongside, and we began to carry out and place in her the various +curiosities which appeared to be the only objects worth moving from the +derelict ship. When she was full I sent her back to the barque, and then +Allardyce and I, with a carpenter and one seaman, shifted the striped +box, which was the only thing left, to our boat, and lowered it over, +balancing it upon the two middle thwarts, for it was so heavy that it +would have given the boat a dangerous tilt had we placed it at either +end. As to the dead man, we left him where we had found him. + +The mate had a theory that at the moment of the desertion of the ship, +this fellow had started plundering, and that the captain in an attempt +to preserve discipline, had struck him down with a hatchet or some other +heavy weapon. It seemed more probable than any other explanation, and +yet it did not entirely satisfy me either. But the ocean is full of +mysteries, and we were content to leave the fate of the dead seaman of +the Brazilian brig to be added to that long list which every sailor can +recall. + +The heavy box was slung up by ropes on to the deck of the _Mary +Sinclair_, and was carried by four seamen into the cabin, where, between +the table and the after-lockers, there was just space for it to stand. +There it remained during supper, and after that meal the mates remained +with me, and discussed over a glass of grog the event of the day. Mr. +Armstrong was a long, thin, vulture-like man, an excellent seaman, but +famous for his nearness and cupidity. Our treasure-trove had excited him +greatly, and already he had begun with glistening eyes to reckon up how +much it might be worth to each of us when the shares of the salvage came +to be divided. + +"If the paper said that they were unique, Mr. Barclay, then they may be +worth anything that you like to name. You wouldn't believe the sums that +the rich collectors give. A thousand pounds is nothing to them. We'll +have something to show for our voyage, or I am mistaken." + +"I don't think that," said I. "As far as I can see they are not very +different from any other South American curios." + +"Well, sir, I've traded there for fourteen voyages, and I have never +seen anything like that chest before. That's worth a pile of money, just +as it stands. But it's so heavy, that surely there must be something +valuable inside it. Don't you think we ought to open it and see?" + +"If you break it open you will spoil it, as likely as not," said the +second mate. + +Armstrong squatted down in front of it, with his head on one side, and +his long, thin nose within a few inches of the lock. + +"The wood is oak," said he, "and it has shrunk a little with age. If I +had a chisel or a strong-bladed knife I could force the lock back +without doing any damage at all." + +The mention of a strong-bladed knife made me think of the dead seaman +upon the brig. + +"I wonder if he could have been on the job when some one came to +interfere with him," said I. + +"I don't know about that, sir, but I am perfectly certain that I could +open the box. There's a screwdriver here in the locker. Just hold the +lamp, Allardyce, and I'll have it done in a brace of shakes." + +"Wait a bit," said I, for already, with eyes which gleamed with +curiosity and with avarice, he was stooping over the lid. "I don't see +that there is any hurry over this matter. You've read that card which +warns us not to open it. It may mean anything or it may mean nothing, +but somehow I feel inclined to obey it. After all, whatever is in it +will keep, and if it is valuable it will be worth as much if it is +opened in the owner's offices as in the cabin of the _Mary Sinclair_." + +The first officer seemed bitterly disappointed at my decision. + +"Surely, sir, you are not superstitious about it," said he, with a +slight sneer upon his thin lips. "If it gets out of our own hands, and +we don't see for ourselves what is inside it, we may be done out of our +rights; besides----" + +"That's enough, Mr. Armstrong," said I, abruptly. "You may have every +confidence that you will get your rights, but I will not have that box +opened to-night." + +"Why, the label itself shows that the box has been examined by +Europeans," Allardyce added. "Because a box is a treasure-box is no +reason that it has treasures inside it now. A good many folk have had a +peep into it since the days of the old Governor of Terra Firma." + +Armstrong threw the screwdriver down upon the table and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Just as you like," said he; but for the rest of the evening, although +we spoke upon many subjects, I noticed that his eyes were continually +coming round, with the same expression of curiosity and greed, to the +old striped box. + +And now I come to that portion of my story which fills me even now with +a shuddering horror when I think of it. The main cabin had the rooms of +the officers round it, but mine was the farthest away from it at the end +of the little passage which led to the companion. No regular watch was +kept by me, except in cases of emergency, and the three mates divided +the watches among them. Armstrong had the middle watch, which ends at +four in the morning, and he was relieved by Allardyce. For my part I +have always been one of the soundest of sleepers, and it is rare for +anything less than a hand upon my shoulder to arouse me. + +And yet I was aroused that night, or rather in the early grey of the +morning. It was just half-past four by my chronometer when something +caused me to sit up in my berth wide awake and with every nerve +tingling. It was a sound of some sort, a crash with a human cry at the +end of it, which still jarred upon my ears. I sat listening, but all was +now silent. And yet it could not have been imagination, that hideous +cry, for the echo of it still rang in my head, and it seemed to have +come from some place quite close to me. I sprang from my bunk, and, +pulling on some clothes, I made my way into the cabin. + +At first I saw nothing unusual there. In the cold, grey light I made out +the red-clothed table, the six rotating chairs, the walnut lockers, the +swinging barometer, and there, at the end, the big striped chest. I was +turning away with the intention of going upon deck and asking the second +mate if he had heard anything, when my eyes fell suddenly upon something +which projected from under the table. It was the leg of a man--a leg +with a long sea-boot upon it. I stooped, and there was a figure +sprawling upon his face, his arms thrown forward and his body twisted. +One glance told me that it was Armstrong, the first officer, and a +second that he was a dead man. For a few moments I stood gasping. Then I +rushed on to the deck, called Allardyce to my assistance, and came back +with him into the cabin. + +Together we pulled the unfortunate fellow from under the table, and as +we looked at his dripping head, we exchanged glances, and I do not know +which was the paler of the two. + +"The same as the Spanish sailor," said I. + +"The very same. God preserve us! It's that infernal chest! Look at +Armstrong's hand!" + +He held up the mate's right hand, and there was the screwdriver which he +had wished to use the night before. + +"He's been at the chest, sir. He knew that I was on deck and you asleep. +He knelt down in front of it, and he pushed the lock back with that +tool. Then something happened to him, and he cried out so that you heard +him." + +"Allardyce," I whispered, "what _could_ have happened to him?" + +The second mate put his hand upon my sleeve and drew me into his cabin. + +"We can talk here, sir, and we don't know who may be listening to us in +there. What do you suppose is in that box, Captain Barclay?" + +"I give you my word, Allardyce, that I have no idea." + +"Well, I can only find one theory which will fit all the facts. Look at +the size of the box. Look at all the carving and metal-work which may +conceal any number of holes. Look at the weight of it; it took four men +to carry it. On the top of that, remember that two men have tried to +open it, and both have come to their end through it. Now, sir, what can +it mean except one thing?" + +"You mean there is a man in it?" + +"Of course there is a man in it. You know how it is in these South +American States, sir. A man may be President one week and hunted like a +dog the next. They are for ever flying for their lives. My idea is that +there is some fellow in hiding there, who is armed and desperate, and +who will fight to the death before he is taken." + +"But his food and drink?" + +"It's a roomy chest, sir, and he may have some provisions stowed away. +As to his drink, he had a friend among the crew upon the brig who saw +that he had what he needed." + +"You think, then, that the label asking people not to open the box was +simply written in his interest?" + +"Yes, sir, that is my idea. Have you any other way of explaining the +facts?" + +I had to confess that I had not. + +"The question is what are we to do?" I asked. + +"The man's a dangerous ruffian who sticks at nothing. I'm thinking it +wouldn't be a bad thing to put a rope round the chest and tow it +alongside for half an hour; then we could open it at our ease. Or if we +just tied the box up and kept him from getting any water maybe that +would do as well. Or the carpenter could put a coat of varnish over it +and stop all the blowholes." + +"Come, Allardyce," said I, angrily. "You don't seriously mean to say +that a whole ship's company are going to be terrorised by a single man +in a box. If he's there I'll engage to fetch him out!" I went to my room +and came back with my revolver in my hand. "Now, Allardyce," said I. "Do +you open the lock, and I'll stand on guard." + +"For God's sake, think what you are doing, sir," cried the mate. "Two +men have lost their lives over it, and the blood of one not yet dry upon +the carpet." + +"The more reason why we should revenge him." + +"Well, sir, at least let me call the carpenter. Three are better than +two, and he is a good stout man." + +He went off in search of him, and I was left alone with the striped +chest in the cabin. I don't think that I'm a nervous man, but I kept the +table between me and this solid old relic of the Spanish Main. In the +growing light of morning the red and white striping was beginning to +appear, and the curious scrolls and wreaths of metal and carving which +showed the loving pains which cunning craftsmen had expended upon it. +Presently the carpenter and the mate came back together, the former with +a hammer in his hand. + +"It's a bad business, this, sir," said he, shaking his head, as he +looked at the body of the mate. "And you think there's someone hiding in +the box?" + +"There's no doubt about it," said Allardyce, picking up the screwdriver +and setting his jaw like a man who needs to brace his courage. "I'll +drive the lock back if you will both stand by. If he rises let him have +it on the head with your hammer, carpenter! Shoot at once, sir, if he +raises his hand. Now!" + +He had knelt down in front of the striped chest, and passed the blade of +the tool under the lid. With a sharp snick the lock flew back. "Stand +by!" yelled the mate, and with a heave he threw open the massive top of +the box. As it swung up, we all three sprang back, I with my pistol +levelled, and the carpenter with the hammer above his head. Then, as +nothing happened, we each took a step forward and peeped in. The box +was empty. + +Not quite empty either, for in one corner was lying an old yellow +candlestick, elaborately engraved, which appeared to be as old as the +box itself. Its rich yellow tone and artistic shape suggested that it +was an object of value. For the rest there was nothing more weighty or +valuable than dust in the old striped treasure-chest. + +"Well, I'm blessed!" cried Allardyce, staring blankly into it. "Where +does the weight come in, then?" + +"Look at the thickness of the sides and look at the lid. Why, it's five +inches through. And see that great metal spring across it." + +"That's for holding the lid up," said the mate. "You see, it won't lean +back. What's that German printing on the inside?" + +"It means that it was made by Johann Rothstein of Augsburg, in 1606." + +"And a solid bit of work, too. But it doesn't throw much light on what +has passed, does it, Captain Barclay? That candlestick looks like gold. +We shall have something for our trouble after all." + +He leant forward to grasp it, and from that moment I have never doubted +as to the reality of inspiration, for on the instant I caught him by the +collar and pulled him straight again. It may have been some story of the +Middle Ages which had come back to my mind, or it may have been that my +eye had caught some red which was not that of rust upon the upper part +of the lock, but to him and to me it will always seem an inspiration, so +prompt and sudden was my action. + +"There's devilry here," said I. "Give me the crooked stick from the +corner." + +It was an ordinary walking-cane with a hooked top. I passed it over the +candlestick and gave it a pull. With a flash a row of polished steel +fangs shot out from below the upper lip, and the great striped chest +snapped at us like a wild animal. Clang came the huge lid into its +place, and the glasses on the swinging rack sang and tinkled with the +shock. The mate sat down on the edge of the table, and shivered like a +frightened horse. + +"You've saved my life, Captain Barclay!" said he. + +So this was the secret of the striped treasure-chest of old Don Ramirez +di Leyra, and this was how he preserved his ill-gotten gains from the +Terra Firma and the Province of Veraquas. Be the thief ever so cunning +he could not tell that golden candlestick from the other articles of +value, and the instant that he laid hand upon it the terrible spring was +unloosed and the murderous steel spikes were driven into his brain, +while the shock of the blow sent the victim backwards and enabled the +chest to automatically close itself. How many, I wondered, had fallen +victims to the ingenuity of the Mechanic of Augsburg. And as I thought +of the possible history of that grim striped chest my resolution was +very quickly taken. + +"Carpenter, bring three men and carry this on deck." + +"Going to throw it overboard, sir?" + +"Yes, Mr. Allardyce. I'm not superstitious as a rule, but there are some +things which are more than a sailor can be called upon to stand." + +"No wonder that brig made heavy weather, Captain Barclay, with such a +thing on board. The glass is dropping fast, sir, and we are only just in +time." + +So we did not even wait for the three sailors, but we carried it out, +the mate, the carpenter, and I, and we pushed it with our own hands over +the bulwarks. There was a white spout of water, and it was gone. There +it lies, the striped chest, a thousand fathoms deep, and if, as they +say, the sea will some day be dry land, I grieve for the man who finds +that old box and tries to penetrate into its secret. + + + + +VIII + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR" + +(BEING AN EXTRACT FROM THE SINGULAR JOURNAL OF JOHN M'ALISTER RAY, +STUDENT OF MEDICINE.) + + +_September 11th._--Lat. 81° 40' N.; long. 2° E. Still lying-to amid +enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away to the north of us, +and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot be smaller than an +English county. To the right and left unbroken sheets extend to the +horizon. This morning the mate reported that there were signs of pack +ice to the southward. Should this form of sufficient thickness to bar +our return, we shall be in a position of danger, as the food, I hear, is +already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and the nights +are beginning to reappear. This morning I saw a star twinkling just over +the fore-yard, the first since the beginning of May. There is +considerable discontent among the crew, many of whom are anxious to get +back home to be in time for the herring season, when labour always +commands a high price upon the Scotch coast. As yet their displeasure is +only signified by sullen countenances and black looks, but I heard from +the second mate this afternoon that they contemplated sending a +deputation to the Captain to explain their grievance. I much doubt how +he will receive it, as he is a man of fierce temper, and very sensitive +about anything approaching to an infringement of his rights. I shall +venture after dinner to say a few words to him upon the subject. I have +always found that he will tolerate from me what he would resent from any +other member of the crew. Amsterdam Island, at the north-west corner of +Spitzbergen, is visible upon our starboard quarter--a rugged line of +volcanic rocks, intersected by white seams, which represent glaciers. It +is curious to think that at the present moment there is probably no +human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements in the south of +Greenland--a good nine hundred miles as the crow flies. A captain takes +a great responsibility upon himself when he risks his vessel under such +circumstances. No whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so +advanced a period of the year. + +9 P.M.--I have spoken to Captain Craigie, and though the result has been +hardly satisfactory, I am bound to say that he listened to what I had to +say very quietly and even deferentially. When I had finished he put on +that air of iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his +face, and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin +for some minutes. At first I feared that I had seriously offended him, +but he dispelled the idea by sitting down again, and putting his hand +upon my arm with a gesture which almost amounted to a caress. There was +a depth of tenderness too in his wild dark eyes which surprised me +considerably. "Look here, Doctor," he said, "I'm sorry I ever took +you--I am indeed--and I would give fifty pounds this minute to see you +standing safe upon the Dundee quay. It's hit or miss with me this time. +There are fish to the north of us. How dare you shake your head, sir, +when I tell you I saw them blowing from the mast-head?"--this in a +sudden burst of fury, though I was not conscious of having shown any +signs of doubt. "Two-and-twenty fish in as many minutes as I am a +living man, and not one under ten foot.[1] Now, doctor, do you think I +can leave the country when there is only one infernal strip of ice +between me and my fortune? If it came on to blow from the north +to-morrow we could fill the ship and be away before the frost could +catch us. If it came on to blow from the south--well, I suppose the men +are paid for risking their lives, and as for myself it matters but +little to me, for I have more to bind me to the other world than to this +one. I confess that I am sorry for _you_, though. I wish I had old Angus +Tait who was with me last voyage, for he was a man that would never be +missed, and you--you said once that you were engaged, did you not?" + +[Footnote 1: A whale is measured among whalers not by the length of its +body, but by the length of its whalebone.] + +"Yes," I answered, snapping the spring of the locket which hung from my +watch-chain, and holding up the little vignette of Flora. + +"Curse you!" he yelled, springing out of his seat, with his very beard +bristling with passion. "What is your happiness to me? What have I to do +with her that you must dangle her photograph before my eyes?" I almost +thought that he was about to strike me in the frenzy of his rage, but +with another imprecation he dashed open the door of the cabin and rushed +out upon deck, leaving me considerably astonished at his extraordinary +violence. It is the first time that he has ever shown me anything but +courtesy and kindness. I can hear him pacing excitedly up and down +overhead as I write these lines. + +I should like to give a sketch of the character of this man, but it +seems presumptuous to attempt such a thing upon paper, when the idea in +my own mind is at best a vague and uncertain one. Several times I have +thought that I grasped the clue which might explain it, but only to be +disappointed by his presenting himself in some new light which would +upset all my conclusions. It may be that no human eye but my own shall +ever rest upon these lines, yet as a psychological study I shall attempt +to leave some record of Captain Nicholas Craigie. + +A man's outer case generally gives some indication of the soul within. +The Captain is tall and well-formed, with dark, handsome face, and a +curious way of twitching his limbs, which may arise from nervousness, or +be simply an outcome of his excessive energy. His jaw and whole cast of +countenance is manly and resolute, but the eyes are the distinctive +feature of his face. They are of the very darkest hazel, bright and +eager, with a singular mixture of recklessness in their expression, and +of something else which I have sometimes thought was more allied with +horror than any other emotion. Generally the former predominated, but on +occasions, and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined, the +look of fear would spread and deepen until it imparted a new character +to his whole countenance. It is at these times that he is most subject +to tempestuous fits of anger, and he seems to be aware of it, for I have +known him lock himself up so that no one might approach him until his +dark hour was passed. He sleeps badly, and I have heard him shouting +during the night, but his cabin is some little distance from mine, and I +could never distinguish the words which he said. + +This is one phase of his character, and the most disagreeable one. It is +only through my close association with him, thrown together as we are +day after day, that I have observed it. Otherwise he is an agreeable +companion, well-read and entertaining, and as gallant a seaman as ever +trod a deck. I shall not easily forget the way in which he handled the +ship when we were caught by a gale among the loose ice at the beginning +of April. I have never seen him so cheerful, and even hilarious, as he +was that night, as he paced backwards and forwards upon the bridge amid +the flashing of the lightning and the howling of the wind. He has told +me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, +which is a sad thing for a young man to say; he cannot be much more than +thirty, though his hair and moustache are already slightly grizzled. +Some great sorrow must have overtaken him and blighted his whole life. +Perhaps I should be the same if I lost my Flora--God knows! I think if +it were not for her that I should care very little whether the wind blew +from the north or the south to-morrow. There, I hear him come down the +companion, and he has locked himself up in his room, which shows that he +is still in an unamiable mood. And so to bed, as old Pepys would say, +for the candle is burning down (we have to use them now since the nights +are closing in), and the steward has turned in, so there are no hopes of +another one. + +_September 12th._--Calm, clear day, and still lying in the same +position. What wind there is comes from the south-east, but it is very +slight. Captain is in a better humour, and apologised to me at +breakfast for his rudeness. He still looks somewhat distrait, however, +and retains that wild look in his eyes which in a Highlander would mean +that he was "fey"--at least so our chief engineer remarked to me, and he +has some reputation among the Celtic portion of our crew as a seer and +expounder of omens. + +It is strange that superstition should have obtained such mastery over +this hard-headed and practical race. I could not have believed to what +an extent it is carried had I not observed it for myself. We have had a +perfect epidemic of it this voyage, until I have felt inclined to serve +out rations of sedatives and nerve-tonics with the Saturday allowance of +grog. The first symptom of it was that shortly after leaving Shetland +the men at the wheel used to complain that they heard plaintive cries +and screams in the wake of the ship, as if something were following it +and were unable to overtake it. This fiction has been kept up during the +whole voyage, and on dark nights at the beginning of the seal-fishing it +was only with great difficulty that men could be induced to do their +spell. No doubt what they heard was either the creaking of the +rudder-chains, or the cry of some passing sea-bird. I have been fetched +out of bed several times to listen to it, but I need hardly say that I +was never able to distinguish anything unnatural. The men, however, are +so absurdly positive upon the subject that it is hopeless to argue with +them. I mentioned the matter to the Captain once, but to my surprise he +took it very gravely, and indeed appeared to be considerably disturbed +by what I told him. I should have thought that he at least would have +been above such vulgar delusions. + +All this disquisition upon superstition leads me up to the fact that +Mr. Manson, our second mate, saw a ghost last night--or, at least, says +that he did, which of course is the same thing. It is quite refreshing +to have some new topic of conversation after the eternal routine of +bears and whales which has served us for so many months. Manson swears +the ship is haunted, and that he would not stay in her a day if he had +any other place to go to. Indeed the fellow is honestly frightened, and +I had to give him some chloral and bromide of potassium this morning to +steady him down. He seemed quite indignant when I suggested that he had +been having an extra glass the night before, and I was obliged to pacify +him by keeping as grave a countenance as possible during his story, +which he certainly narrated in a very straightforward and matter-of-fact +way. + +"I was on the bridge," he said, "about four bells in the middle watch, +just when the night was at its darkest. There was a bit of a moon, but +the clouds were blowing across it so that you couldn't see far from the +ship. John M'Leod, the harpooner, came aft from the fo'c'sle-head and +reported a strange noise on the starboard bow. I went forrard and we +both heard it, sometimes like a bairn crying and sometimes like a wench +in pain. I've been seventeen years to the country and I never heard +seal, old or young, make a sound like that. As we were standing there on +the fo'c'sle-head the moon came out from behind a cloud, and we both saw +a sort of white figure moving across the ice field in the same direction +that we had heard the cries. We lost sight of it for a while, but it +came back on the port bow, and we could just make it out like a shadow +on the ice. I sent a hand aft for the rifles, and M'Leod and I went +down on to the pack, thinking that maybe it might be a bear. When we +got on the ice I lost sight of M'Leod, but I pushed on in the direction +where I could still hear the cries. I followed them for a mile or maybe +more, and then running round a hummock I came right on to the top of it +standing and waiting for me seemingly. I don't know what it was. It +wasn't a bear, anyway. It was tall and white and straight, and if it +wasn't a man nor a woman, I'll stake my davy it was something worse. I +made for the ship as hard as I could run, and precious glad I was to +find myself aboard. I signed articles to do my duty by the ship, and on +the ship I'll stay, but you don't catch me on the ice again after +sundown." + +That is his story, given as far as I can in his own words. I fancy what +he saw must, in spite of his denial, have been a young bear erect upon +its hind legs, an attitude which they often assume when alarmed. In the +uncertain light this would bear a resemblance to a human figure, +especially to a man whose nerves were already somewhat shaken. Whatever +it may have been, the occurrence is unfortunate, for it has produced a +most unpleasant effect upon the crew. Their looks are more sullen than +before, and their discontent more open. The double grievance of being +debarred from the herring fishing and of being detained in what they +choose to call a haunted vessel, may lead them to do something rash. +Even the harpooners, who are the oldest and steadiest among them, are +joining in the general agitation. + +Apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition, things are looking +rather more cheerful. The pack which was forming to the south of us has +partly cleared away, and the water is so warm as to lead me to believe +that we are lying in one of those branches of the gulf-stream which run +up between Greenland and Spitzbergen. There are numerous small Medusæ +and sealemons about the ship, with abundance of shrimps, so that there +is every possibility of "fish" being sighted. Indeed one was seen +blowing about dinner-time, but in such a position that it was impossible +for the boats to follow it. + +_September 13th._--Had an interesting conversation with the chief mate, +Mr. Milne, upon the bridge. It seems that our captain is as great an +enigma to the seamen, and even to the owners of the vessel, as he has +been to me. Mr. Milne tells me that when the ship is paid off, upon +returning from a voyage, Captain Craigie disappears, and is not seen +again until the approach of another season, when he walks quietly into +the office of the company, and asks whether his services will be +required. He has no friend in Dundee, nor does any one pretend to be +acquainted with his early history. His position depends entirely upon +his skill as a seaman, and the name for courage and coolness which he +had earned in the capacity of mate, before being entrusted with a +separate command. The unanimous opinion seems to be that he is not a +Scotchman, and that his name is an assumed one. Mr. Milne thinks that he +has devoted himself to whaling simply for the reason that it is the most +dangerous occupation which he could select, and that he courts death in +every possible manner. He mentioned several instances of this, one of +which is rather curious, if true. It seems that on one occasion he did +not put in an appearance at the office, and a substitute had to be +selected in his place. That was at the time of the last Russian and +Turkish War. When he turned up again next spring he had a puckered wound +in the side of his neck which he used to endeavor to conceal with his +cravat. Whether the mate's inference that he had been engaged in the war +is true or not I cannot say. It was certainly a strange coincidence. + +The wind is veering round in an easterly direction, but is still very +slight. I think the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday. As far as +the eye can reach on every side there is one wide expanse of spotless +white, only broken by an occasional rift or the dark shadow of a +hummock. To the south there is the narrow lane of blue water which is +our sole means of escape, and which is closing up every day. The Captain +is taking a heavy responsibility upon himself. I hear that the tank of +potatoes has been finished, and even the biscuits are running short, but +he preserves the same impassable countenance, and spends the greater +part of the day at the crow's nest, sweeping the horizon with his glass. +His manner is very variable, and he seems to avoid my society, but there +has been no repetition of the violence which he showed the other night. + +7.30 P.M.--My deliberate opinion is that we are commanded by a madman. +Nothing else can account for the extraordinary vagaries of Captain +Craigie. It is fortunate that I have kept this journal of our voyage, as +it will serve to justify us in case we have to put him under any sort of +restraint, a step which I should only consent to as a last resource. +Curiously enough it was he himself who suggested lunacy and not mere +eccentricity as the secret of his strange conduct. He was standing upon +the bridge about an hour ago, peering as usual through his glass, while +I was walking up and down the quarter-deck. The majority of the men were +below at their tea, for the watches have not been regularly kept of +late. Tired of walking, I leaned against the bulwarks, and admired the +mellow glow cast by the sinking sun upon the great ice fields which +surround us. I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I had +fallen by a hoarse voice at my elbow, and starting round I found that +the Captain had descended and was standing by my side. He was staring +out over the ice with an expression in which horror, surprise, and +something approaching to joy were contending for the mastery. In spite +of the cold, great drops of perspiration were coursing down his +forehead, and he was evidently fearfully excited. His limbs twitched +like those of a man upon the verge of an epileptic fit, and the lines +about his mouth were drawn and hard. + +"Look!" he gasped, seizing me by the wrist, but still keeping his eyes +upon the distant ice, and moving his head slowly in a horizontal +direction, as if following some object which was moving across the field +of vision. "Look! There, man, there! Between the hummocks! Now coming +out from behind the far one! You see her--you _must_ see her! There +still! Flying from me, by God, flying from me--and gone!" + +He uttered the last two words in a whisper of concentrated agony which +shall never fade from my remembrance. Clinging to the ratlines he +endeavoured to climb up upon the top of the bulwarks as if in the hope +of obtaining a last glance at the departing object. His strength was +not equal to the attempt, however, and he staggered back against the +saloon skylights, where he leaned panting and exhausted. His face was so +livid that I expected him to become unconscious, so lost no time in +leading him down the companion, and stretching him upon one of the sofas +in the cabin. I then poured him out some brandy, which I held to his +lips, and which had a wonderful effect upon him, bringing the blood back +into his white face and steadying his poor shaking limbs. He raised +himself up upon his elbow, and looking round to see that we were alone, +he beckoned to me to come and sit beside him. + +"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked, still in the same subdued awesome +tone so foreign to the nature of the man. + +"No, I saw nothing." + +His head sank back again upon the cushions. "No, he wouldn't without the +glass," he murmured. "He couldn't. It was the glass that showed her to +me, and then the eyes of love--the eyes of love. I say, Doc, don't let +the steward in! He'll think I'm mad. Just bolt the door, will you!" + +I rose and did what he commanded. + +He lay quiet for a while, lost in thought apparently, and then raised +himself up upon his elbow again, and asked for some more brandy. + +"You don't think I am, do you Doc?" he asked, as I was putting the +bottle back into the after-locker. "Tell me now, as man to man, do you +think that I am mad?" + +"I think you have something on your mind," I answered, "which is +exciting you and doing you a good deal of harm." + +"Right there, lad!" he cried, his eyes sparkling from the effects of the +brandy. "Plenty on my mind--plenty! But I can work out the latitude and +the longitude, and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms. You +couldn't prove me mad in a court of law, could you, now?" It was curious +to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his +own sanity. + +"Perhaps not," I said; "but still I think you would be wise to get home +as soon as you can, and settle down to a quiet life for a while." + +"Get home, eh?" he muttered, with a sneer upon his face. "One word for +me and two for yourself, lad. Settle down with Flora--pretty little +Flora. Are bad dreams signs of madness?" + +"Sometimes," I answered. + +"What else? What would be the first symptoms?" + +"Pains in the head, noises in the ears, flashes before the eyes, +delusions----" + +"Ah! what about them?" he interrupted. "What would you call a delusion?" + +"Seeing a thing which is not there is a delusion." + +"But she _was_ there!" he groaned to himself. "She _was_ there!" and +rising, he unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps to +his own cabin, where I have no doubt that he will remain until to-morrow +morning. His system seems to have received a terrible shock, whatever it +may have been that he imagined himself to have seen. The man becomes a +greater mystery every day, though I fear that the solution which he has +himself suggested is the correct one, and that his reason is affected. I +do not think that a guilty conscience has anything to do with his +behaviour. The idea is a popular one among the officers, and, I +believe, the crew; but I have seen nothing to support it. He has not the +air of a guilty man, but of one who has had terrible usage at the hands +of fortune, and who should be regarded as a martyr rather than a +criminal. + +The wind is veering round to the south to-night. God help us if it +blocks that narrow pass which is our only road to safety! Situated as we +are on the edge of the main Arctic pack, or the "barrier" as it is +called by the whalers, any wind from the north has the effect of +shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape, while a wind +from the south blows up all the loose ice behind us and hems us in +between two packs. God help us, I say again! + +_September 14th._--Sunday, and a day of rest. My fears have been +confirmed, and the thin strip of blue water has disappeared from the +southward. Nothing but the great motionless ice fields around us, with +their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles. There is a deathly silence +over their wide expanse which is horrible. No lapping of the waves now, +no cries of seagulls or straining of sails, but one deep universal +silence in which the murmurs of the seamen, and the creak of their boots +upon the white shining deck, seem discordant and out of place. Our only +visitor was an Arctic fox, a rare animal upon the pack, though common +enough upon the land. He did not come near the ship, however, but after +surveying us from a distance fled rapidly across the ice. This was +curious conduct, as they generally know nothing of man, and being of an +inquisitive nature, become so familiar that they are easily captured. +Incredible as it may seem, even this little incident produced a bad +effect upon the crew. "Yon puir beastie kens mair, ay, an' sees mair nor +you nor me!" was the comment of one of the leading harpooners, and the +others nodded their acquiescence. It is vain to attempt to argue against +such puerile superstition. They have made up their minds that there is a +curse upon the ship, and nothing will ever persuade them to the +contrary. + +The Captain remained in seclusion all day except for about half an hour +in the afternoon, when he came out upon the quarter-deck. I observed +that he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the vision of yesterday +had appeared, and was quite prepared for another outburst, but none such +came. He did not seem to see me although I was standing close beside +him. Divine service was read as usual by the chief engineer. It is a +curious thing that in whaling vessels the Church of England Prayer-book +is always employed, although there is never a member of that Church +among either officers or crew. Our men are all Roman Catholics or +Presbyterians, the former predominating. Since a ritual is used which is +foreign to both, neither can complain that the other is preferred to +them, and they listen with all attention and devotion, so that the +system has something to recommend it. + +A glorious sunset, which made the great fields of ice look like a lake +of blood. I have never seen a finer and at the same time more weird +effect. Wind is veering round. If it will blow twenty-four hours from +the north all will yet be well. + +_September 15th._--To-day is Flora's birthday. Dear lass! it is well +that she cannot see her boy, as she used to call me, shut up among the +ice fields with a crazy captain and a few weeks' provisions. No doubt +she scans the shipping list in the _Scotsman_ every morning to see if we +are reported from Shetland. I have to set an example to the men and look +cheery and unconcerned; but God knows, my heart is very heavy at times. + +The thermometer is at nineteen Fahrenheit to-day. There is but little +wind, and what there is comes from an unfavourable quarter. Captain is +in an excellent humour; I think he imagines he has seen some other omen +or vision, poor fellow, during the night, for he came into my room early +in the morning, and stooping down over my bunk, whispered, "It wasn't a +delusion, Doc; it's all right!" After breakfast he asked me to find out +how much food was left, which the second mate and I proceeded to do. It +is even less than we had expected. Forward they have half a tank full of +biscuits, three barrels of salt meat, and a very limited supply of +coffee beans and sugar. In the after-hold and lockers there are a good +many luxuries, such as tinned salmon, soups, haricot mutton, etc., but +they will go a very short way among a crew of fifty men. There are two +barrels of flour in the store-room, and an unlimited supply of tobacco. +Altogether there is about enough to keep the men on half rations for +eighteen or twenty days--certainly not more. When we reported the state +of things to the Captain, he ordered all hands to be piped, and +addressed them from the quarter-deck. I never saw him to better +advantage. With his tall, well-knit figure, and dark animated face, he +seemed a man born to command, and he discussed the situation in a cool +sailor-like way which showed that while appreciating the danger he had +an eye for every loophole of escape. + +"My lads," he said, "no doubt you think I brought you into this fix, if +it is a fix, and maybe some of you feel bitter against me on account of +it. But you must remember that for many a season no ship that comes to +the country has brought in as much oil-money as the old _Polestar_, and +every one of you has had his share of it. You can leave your wives +behind you in comfort, while other poor fellows come back to find their +lasses on the parish. If you have to thank me for the one you have to +thank me for the other, and we may call it quits. We've tried a bold +venture before this and succeeded, so now that we've tried one and +failed we've no cause to cry out about it. If the worst comes to the +worst, we can make the land across the ice, and lay in a stock of seals +which will keep us alive until the spring. It won't come to that, +though, for you'll see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are +out. At present every man must go on half rations, share and share +alike, and no favour to any. Keep up your hearts and you'll pull through +this as you've pulled through many a danger before." These few simple +words of his had a wonderful effect upon the crew. His former +unpopularity was forgotten, and the old harpooner whom I have already +mentioned for his superstition, led off three cheers, which were +heartily joined in by all hands. + +_September 16th._--The wind has veered round to the north during the +night, and the ice shows some symptoms of opening out. The men are in +good humour in spite of the short allowance upon which they have been +placed. Steam is kept up in the engine-room, that there may be no delay +should an opportunity for escape present itself. The Captain is in +exuberant spirits, though he still retains that wild "fey" expression +which I have already remarked upon. This burst of cheerfulness puzzles +me more than his former gloom. I cannot understand it. I think I +mentioned in an early part of this journal that one of his oddities is +that he never permits any person to enter his cabin, but insists upon +making his own bed, such as it is, and performing every other office for +himself. To my surprise he handed me the key to-day and requested me to +go down there and take the time by his chronometer while he measured the +altitude of the sun at noon. It is a bare little room, containing a +washing-stand and a few books, but little else in the way of luxury, +except some pictures upon the walls. The majority of these are small +cheap oleographs, but there was one water-coloured sketch of the head of +a young lady which arrested my attention. It was evidently a portrait, +and not one of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors +particularly affect. No artist could have evolved from his own mind such +a curious mixture of character and weakness. The languid, dreamy eyes, +with their drooping lashes, and the broad, low brow, unruffled by +thought or care, were in strong contrast with the clean-cut, prominent +jaw, and the resolute set of the lower lip. Underneath it in one of the +corners was written, "M. B., æt. 19." That any one in the short space of +nineteen years of existence could develop such strength of will as was +stamped upon her face seemed to me at the time to be well-nigh +incredible. She must have been an extraordinary woman. Her features have +thrown such a glamour over me that, though I had but a fleeting glance +at them, I could, were I a draughtsman, reproduce them line for line +upon this page of the journal. I wonder what part she has played in our +Captain's life. He has hung her picture at the end of his berth, so that +his eyes continually rest upon it. Were he a less reserved man I should +make some remark upon the subject. Of the other things in his cabin +there was nothing worthy of mention--uniform coats, a camp-stool, small +looking-glass, tobacco-box, and numerous pipes, including an oriental +hookah--which, by the by, gives some colour to Mr. Milne's story about +his participation in the war, though the connection may seem rather a +distant one. + +11.20 P.M.--Captain just gone to bed after a long and interesting +conversation on general topics. When he chooses he can be a most +fascinating companion, being remarkably well-read, and having the power +of expressing his opinion forcibly without appearing to be dogmatic. I +hate to have my intellectual toes trod upon. He spoke about the nature +of the soul, and sketched out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon the +subject in a masterly manner. He seems to have a leaning for +metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras. In discussing them we +touched upon modern spiritualism, and I made some joking allusion to the +impostures of Slade, upon which, to my surprise, he warned me most +impressively against confusing the innocent with the guilty, and argued +that it would be as logical to brand Christianity as an error because +Judas, who professed that religion, was a villain. He shortly afterwards +bade me good-night and retired to his room. + +The wind is freshening up, and blows steadily from the north. The nights +are as dark now as they are in England. I hope to-morrow may set us free +from our frozen fetters. + +_September 17th._--The Bogie again. Thank Heaven that I have strong +nerves! The superstition of these poor fellows, and the circumstantial +accounts which they give, with the utmost earnestness and +self-conviction, would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways. +There are many versions of the matter, but the sum-total of them all is +that something uncanny has been flitting round the ship all night, and +that Sandie M'Donald of Peterhead and "lang" Peter Williamson of +Shetland saw it, as also did Mr. Milne on the bridge--so, having three +witnesses, they can make a better case of it than the second mate did. I +spoke to Milne after breakfast, and told him that he should be above +such nonsense, and that as an officer he ought to set the men a better +example. He shook his weather-beaten head ominously, but answered with +characteristic caution, "Mebbe, aye, mebbe na, Doctor," he said, "I +didna ca' it a ghaist. I canna' say I preen my faith in sea-bogles an' +the like, though there's a mony as claims to ha' seen a' that and waur. +I'm no easy feared, but maybe your ain bluid would run a bit cauld, mun, +if instead o' speerin' aboot it in daylicht ye were wi' me last night, +an' seed an awfu' like shape, white an' gruesome, whiles here, whiles +there, an' it greetin' an' ca'ing in the darkness like a bit lambie that +hae lost its mither. Ye would na' be sae ready to put it a' doon to auld +wives' clavers then, I'm thinkin'." I saw it was hopeless to reason with +him, so contented myself with begging him as a personal favour to call +me up the next time the spectre appeared--a request to which he acceded +with many ejaculations expressive of his hopes that such an opportunity +might never arise. + +As I had hoped, the white desert behind us has become broken by many +thin streaks of water which intersect it in all directions. Our latitude +to-day was 80° 52' N., which shows that there is a strong southerly +drift upon the pack. Should the wind continue favourable it will break +up as rapidly as it formed. At present we can do nothing but smoke and +wait and hope for the best. I am rapidly becoming a fatalist. When +dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice a man can be nothing +else. Perhaps it was the wind and sand of the Arabian deserts which gave +the minds of the original followers of Mahomet their tendency to bow to +kismet. + +These spectral alarms have a very bad effect upon the Captain. I feared +that it might excite his sensitive mind, and endeavoured to conceal the +absurd story from him, but unfortunately he overheard one of the men +making an allusion to it, and insisted upon being informed about it. As +I had expected, it brought out all his latent lunacy in an exaggerated +form. I can hardly believe that this is the same man who discoursed +philosophy last night with the most critical acumen and coolest +judgment. He is pacing backwards and forwards upon the quarter-deck like +a caged tiger, stopping now and again to throw out his hands with a +yearning gesture, and stare impatiently out over the ice. He keeps up a +continual mutter to himself, and once he called out, "But a little time, +love--but a little time!" Poor fellow, it is sad to see a gallant seaman +and accomplished gentleman reduced to such a pass, and to think that +imagination and delusion can cow a mind to which real danger was but the +salt of life. Was ever a man in such a position as I, between a demented +captain and a ghost-seeing mate? I sometimes think I am the only really +sane man aboard the vessel--except perhaps the second engineer, who is a +kind of ruminant, and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red +Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools. + +The ice is still opening rapidly, and there is every probability of our +being able to make a start to-morrow morning. They will think I am +inventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have +befallen me. + +12 P.M.--I have been a good deal startled, though I feel steadier now, +thanks to a stiff glass of brandy. I am hardly myself yet, however, as +this handwriting will testify. The fact is, that I have gone through a +very strange experience, and am beginning to doubt whether I was +justified in branding every one on board as madmen because they +professed to have seen things which did not seem reasonable to my +understanding. Pshaw! I am a fool to let such a trifle unnerve me; and +yet, coming as it does after all these alarms, it has an additional +significance, for I cannot doubt either Mr. Manson's story or that of +the mate, now that I have experienced that which I used formerly to +scoff at. + +After all it was nothing very alarming--a mere sound, and that was all. +I cannot expect that any one reading this, if any one should read it, +will sympathise with my feelings, or realise the effect which it +produced upon me at the time. Supper was over, and I had gone on deck to +have a quiet pipe before turning in. The night was very dark--so dark +that, standing under the quarter-boat, I was unable to see the officer +upon the bridge. I think I have already mentioned the extraordinary +silence which prevails in these frozen seas. In other parts of the +world, be they ever so barren, there is some slight vibration of the +air--some faint hum, be it from the distant haunts of men, or from the +leaves of the trees, of the wings of the birds, or even the faint rustle +of the grass that covers the ground. One may not actively perceive the +sound, and yet if it were withdrawn it would be missed. It is only here +in these Arctic seas that stark, unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself +upon you in all its gruesome reality. You find your tympanum straining +to catch some little murmur, and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental +sound within the vessel. In this state I was leaning against the +bulwarks when there arose from the ice almost directly underneath me a +cry, sharp and shrill, upon the silent air of the night, beginning, as +it seemed to me, at a note such as prima donna never reached, and +mounting from that ever higher and higher until it culminated in a long +wail of agony, which might have been the last cry of a lost soul. The +ghastly scream is still ringing in my ears. Grief, unutterable grief, +seemed to be expressed in it, and a great longing, and yet through it +all there was an occasional wild note of exultation. It shrilled out +from close beside me, and yet as I glared into the darkness I could +discern nothing. I waited some little time, but without hearing any +repetition of the sound, so I came below, more shaken than I have ever +been in my life before. As I came down the companion I met Mr. Milne +coming up to relieve the watch. "Weel, Doctor," he said, "maybe that's +auld wives' clavers tae? Did ye no hear it skirling? Maybe that's a +supersteetion? What d'ye think o't noo?" I was obliged to apologise to +the honest fellow, and acknowledge that I was as puzzled by it as he +was. Perhaps to-morrow things may look different. At present I dare +hardly write all that I think. Reading it again in days to come, when I +have shaken off all these associations, I should despise myself for +having been so weak. + +_September 18th._--Passed a restless and uneasy night, still haunted by +that strange sound. The Captain does not look as if he had had much +repose either, for his face is haggard and his eyes blood-shot. I have +not told him of my adventure of last night, nor shall I. He is already +restless and excited, standing up, sitting down, and apparently utterly +unable to keep still. + +A fine lead appeared in the pack this morning, as I had expected, and we +were able to cast off our ice-anchor, and steam about twelve miles in a +west-sou'-westerly direction. We were then brought to a halt by a great +floe as massive as any which we have left behind us. It bars our +progress completely, so we can do nothing but anchor again and wait +until it breaks up, which it will probably do within twenty-four hours, +if the wind holds. Several bladder-nosed seals were seen swimming in the +water, and one was shot, an immense creature more than eleven feet long. +They are fierce, pugnacious animals, and are said to be more than a +match for a bear. Fortunately they are slow and clumsy in their +movements, so that there is little danger in attacking them upon the +ice. + +The Captain evidently does not think we have seen the last of our +troubles, though why he should take a gloomy view of the situation is +more than I can fathom, since every one else on board considers that we +have had a miraculous escape, and are sure now to reach the open sea. + +"I suppose you think it's all right now, Doctor?" he said, as we sat +together after dinner. + +"I hope so," I answered. + +"We mustn't be too sure--and yet no doubt you are right. We'll all be in +the arms of our own true loves before long, lad, won't we? But we +mustn't be too sure--we mustn't be too sure." + +He sat silent a little, swinging his leg thoughtfully backward and +forwards. "Look here," he continued; "it's a dangerous place this, even +at its best--a treacherous, dangerous place. I have known men cut off +very suddenly in a land like this. A slip would do it sometimes--a +single slip, and down you go through a crack, and only a bubble on the +green water to show where it was that you sank. It's a queer thing," he +continued with a nervous laugh, "but all the years I've been in this +country I never once thought of making a will--not that I have anything +to leave in particular, but still when a man is exposed to danger he +should have everything arranged and ready--don't you think so?" + +"Certainly," I answered, wondering what on earth he was driving at. + +"He feels better for knowing it's all settled," he went on. "Now if +anything should ever befall me, I hope that you will look after things +for me. There is very little in the cabin, but such as it is I should +like it to be sold, and the money divided in the same proportion as the +oil-money among the crew. The chronometer I wish you to keep yourself as +some slight remembrance of our voyage. Of course all this is a mere +precaution, but I thought I would take the opportunity of speaking to +you about it. I suppose I might rely upon you if there were any +necessity?" + +"Most assuredly," I answered; "and since you are taking this step, I may +as well----" + +"You! you!" he interrupted. "_You're_ all right. What the devil is the +matter with _you_? There, I didn't mean to be peppery, but I don't like +to hear a young fellow, that has hardly begun life, speculating about +death. Go up on deck and get some fresh air into your lungs instead of +talking nonsense in the cabin, and encouraging me to do the same." + +The more I think of this conversation of ours the less do I like it. Why +should the man be settling his affairs at the very time when we seem to +be emerging from all danger? There must be some method in his madness. +Can it be that he contemplates suicide? I remember that upon one +occasion he spoke in a deeply reverent manner of the heinousness of the +crime of self-destruction. I shall keep my eye upon him, however, and +though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his cabin, I shall at least +make a point of remaining on deck as long as he stays up. + +Mr. Milne pooh-poohs my fears, and says it is only the "skipper's little +way." He himself takes a very rosy view of the situation. According to +him we shall be out of the ice by the day after to-morrow, pass Jan +Meyen two days after that, and sight Shetland in little more than a +week. I hope he may not be too sanguine. His opinion may be fairly +balanced against the gloomy precautions of the Captain, for he is an old +and experienced seaman, and weighs his words well before uttering them. + + * * * * * + +The long-impending catastrophe has come at last. I hardly know what to +write about it. The Captain is gone. He may come back to us again alive, +but I fear me--I fear me. It is now seven o'clock of the morning of the +19th of September. I have spent the whole night traversing the great +ice-floe in front of us with a party of seamen in the hope of coming +upon some trace of him, but in vain. I shall try to give some account of +the circumstances which attended upon his disappearance. Should any one +ever chance to read the words which I put down, I trust they will +remember that I do not write from conjecture or from hearsay, but that +I, a sane and educated man, am describing accurately what actually +occurred before my very eyes. My inferences are my own, but I shall be +answerable for the facts. + +The Captain remained in excellent spirits after the conversation which I +have recorded. He appeared to be nervous and impatient, however, +frequently changing his position, and moving his limbs in an aimless +choreic way which is characteristic of him at times. In a quarter of an +hour he went upon deck seven times, only to descend after a few hurried +paces. I followed him each time, for there was something about his face +which confirmed my resolution of not letting him out of my sight. He +seemed to observe the effect which his movements had produced, for he +endeavoured by an over-done hilarity, laughing boisterously at the very +smallest of jokes, to quiet my apprehensions. + +After supper he went on to the poop once more, and I with him. The night +was dark and very still, save for the melancholy soughing of the wind +among the spars. A thick cloud was coming up from the north-west, and +the ragged tentacles which it threw out in front of it were drifting +across the face of the moon, which only shone now and again through a +rift in the wrack. The Captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards, and +then seeing me still dogging him, he came across and hinted that he +thought I should be better below--which, I need hardly say, had the +effect of strengthening my resolution to remain on deck. + +I think he forgot about my presence after this, for he stood silently +leaning over the taffrail and peering out across the great desert of +snow, part of which lay in shadow, while part glittered mistily in the +moonlight. Several times I could see by his movements that he was +referring to his watch, and once he muttered a short sentence, of which +I could only catch the one word "ready." I confess to having felt an +eerie feeling creeping over me as I watched the loom of his tall figure +through the darkness, and noted how completely he fulfilled the idea of +a man who is keeping a tryst. A tryst with whom? Some vague perception +began to dawn upon me as I pieced one fact with another, but I was +utterly unprepared for the sequel. + +By the sudden intensity of his attitude I felt that he saw something. I +crept up behind him. He was staring with an eager questioning gaze at +what seemed to be a wreath of mist, blown swiftly in a line with the +ship. It was a dim nebulous body, devoid of shape, sometimes more, +sometimes less apparent, as the light fell on it. The moon was dimmed in +its brilliancy at the moment by a canopy of thinnest cloud, like the +coating of an anemone. + +"Coming, lass, coming," cried the skipper, in a voice of unfathomable +tenderness and compassion, like one who soothes a beloved one by some +favour long looked for, and as pleasant to bestow as to receive. + +What followed happened in an instant. I had no power to interfere. He +gave one spring to the top of the bulwarks, and another which took him +on to the ice, almost to the feet of the pale misty figure. He held out +his hands as if to clasp it, and so ran into the darkness with +outstretched arms and loving words. I still stood rigid and motionless, +straining my eyes after his retreating form, until his voice died away +in the distance. I never thought to see him again, but at that moment +the moon shone out brilliantly through a chink in the cloudy heaven, and +illuminated the great field of ice. Then I saw his dark figure already a +very long way off, running with prodigious speed across the frozen +plain. That was the last glimpse which we caught of him--perhaps the +last we ever shall. A party was organised to follow him, and I +accompanied them, but the men's hearts were not in the work, and nothing +was found. Another will be formed within a few hours. I can hardly +believe I have not been dreaming, or suffering from some hideous +nightmare, as I write these things down. + +7.30 P.M.--Just returned dead beat and utterly tired out from a second +unsuccessful search for the Captain. The floe is of enormous extent, for +though we have traversed at least twenty miles of its surface, there has +been no sign of its coming to an end. The frost has been so severe of +late that the overlying snow is frozen as hard as granite, otherwise we +might have had the foot-steps to guide us. The crew are anxious that we +should cast off and steam round the floe and so to the southward, for +the ice has opened up during the night, and the sea is visible upon the +horizon. They argue that Captain Craigie is certainly dead, and that we +are all risking our lives to no purpose by remaining when we have an +opportunity of escape. Mr. Milne and I have had the greatest difficulty +in persuading them to wait until to-morrow night, and have been +compelled to promise that we will not under any circumstances delay our +departure longer than that. We propose therefore to take a few hours' +sleep, and then to start upon a final search. + +_September 20th, evening._--I crossed the ice this morning with a party +of men exploring the southern part of the floe, while Mr. Milne went off +in a northerly direction. We pushed on for ten or twelve miles without +seeing a trace of any living thing except a single bird, which fluttered +a great way over our heads, and which by its flight I should judge to +have been a falcon. The southern extremity of the ice field tapered away +into a long narrow spit which projected out into the sea. When we came +to the base of this promontory, the men halted, but I begged them to +continue to the extreme end of it, that we might have the satisfaction +of knowing that no possible chance had been neglected. + +We had hardly gone a hundred yards before M'Donald of Peterhead cried +out that he saw something in front of us, and began to run. We all got a +glimpse of it and ran too. At first it was only a vague darkness against +the white ice, but as we raced along together it took the shape of a +man, and eventually of the man of whom we were in search. He was lying +face downwards upon a frozen bank. Many little crystals of ice and +feathers of snow had drifted on to him as he lay, and sparkled upon his +dark seaman's jacket. As we came up some wandering puff of wind caught +these tiny flakes in its vortex, and they whirled up into the air, +partially descended again, and then, caught once more in the current, +sped rapidly away in the direction of the sea. To my eyes it seemed but +a snow-drift, but many of my companions averred that it started up in +the shape of a woman, stooped over the corpse and kissed it, and then +hurried away across the floe. I have learned never to ridicule any man's +opinion, however strange it may seem. Sure it is that Captain Nicholas +Craigie had met with no painful end, for there was a bright smile upon +his blue pinched features, and his hands were still outstretched as +though grasping at the strange visitor which had summoned him away into +the dim world that lies beyond the grave. + +We buried him the same afternoon with the ship's ensign around him, and +a thirty-two pound shot at his feet. I read the burial service, while +the rough sailors wept like children, for there were many who owed much +to his kind heart, and who showed now the affection which his strange +ways had repelled during his lifetime. He went off the grating with a +dull, sullen splash, and as I looked into the green water I saw him go +down, down, down until he was but a little flickering patch of white +hanging upon the outskirts of eternal darkness. Then even that faded +away, and he was gone. There he shall lie, with his secret and his +sorrows and his mystery all still buried in his breast, until that great +day when the sea shall give up its dead, and Nicholas Craigie come out +from among the ice with the smile upon his face, and his stiffened arms +outstretched in greeting. I pray that his lot may be a happier one in +that life than it has been in this. + +I shall not continue my journal. Our road to home lies plain and clear +before us, and the great ice field will soon be but a remembrance of the +past. It will be some time before I get over the shock produced by +recent events. When I began this record of our voyage I little thought +of how I should be compelled to finish it. I am writing these final +words in the lonely cabin, still starting at times and fancying I hear +the quick nervous step of the dead man upon the deck above me. I entered +his cabin to-night, as was my duty, to make a list of his effects in +order that they might be entered in the official log. All was as it had +been upon my previous visit, save that the picture which I have +described as having hung at the end of his bed had been cut out of its +frame, as with a knife, and was gone. With this last link in a strange +chain of evidence I close my diary of the voyage of the _Polestar_. + + * * * * * + +Note by Dr. John M'Alister Ray, senior.--I have read over the strange +events connected with the death of the Captain of the _Polestar_, as +narrated in the journal of my son. That everything occurred exactly as +he describes it I have the fullest confidence, and, indeed, the most +positive certainty, for I know him to be a strong-nerved and +unimaginative man, with the strictest regard for veracity. Still, the +story is, on the face of it, so vague and so improbable, that I was long +opposed to its publication. Within the last few days, however, I have +had independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light upon +it. I had run down to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the British +Medical Association, when I chanced to come across Dr. P.----, an old +college chum of mine, now practising at Saltash, in Devonshire. Upon my +telling him of this experience of my son's, he declared to me that he +was familiar with the man, and proceeded, to my no small surprise, to +give me a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that +given in the journal, except that he depicted him as a younger man. +According to his account, he had been engaged to a young lady of +singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast. During his absence at +sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror. + + + + +IX + +THE FIEND OF THE COOPERAGE + + +It was no easy matter to bring the _Gamecock_ up to the island, for the +river had swept down so much silt that the banks extended for many miles +out into the Atlantic. The coast was hardly to be seen when the first +white curl of the breakers warned us of our danger, and from there +onwards we made our way very carefully under mainsail and jib, keeping +the broken water well to the left, as is indicated on the chart. More +than once her bottom touched the sand (we were drawing something under +six feet at the time), but we had always way enough and luck enough to +carry us through. Finally, the water shoaled, very rapidly, but they had +sent a canoe from the factory, and the Krooboy pilot brought us within +two hundred yards of the island. Here we dropped our anchor, for the +gestures of the negro indicated that we could not hope to get any +farther. The blue of the sea had changed to the brown of the river, and, +even under the shelter of the island, the current was singing and +swirling round our bows. The stream appeared to be in spate, for it was +over the roots of the palm trees, and everywhere upon its muddy, greasy +surface we could see logs of wood and debris of all sorts which had been +carried down by the flood. + +When I had assured myself that we swung securely at our moorings, I +thought it best to begin watering at once, for the place looked as if it +reeked with fever. The heavy river, the muddy, shining banks, the bright +poisonous green of the jungle, the moist steam in the air, they were all +so many danger signals to one who could read them. I sent the long-boat +off, therefore, with two large hogsheads, which should be sufficient to +last us until we made St. Paul de Loanda. For my own part I took the +dinghy and rowed for the island, for I could see the Union Jack +fluttering above the palms to mark the position of Armitage and Wilson's +trading station. + +When I had cleared the grove, I could see the place, a long, low, +whitewashed building, with a deep verandah in front, and an immense pile +of palm oil barrels heaped upon either flank of it. A row of surf boats +and canoes lay along the beach, and a single small jetty projected into +the river. Two men in white suits with red cummerbunds round their +waists were waiting upon the end of it to receive me. One was a large +portly fellow with a greyish beard. The other was slender and tall, with +a pale pinched face, which was half concealed by a great mushroom-shaped +hat. + +"Very glad to see you," said the latter, cordially. "I am Walker, the +agent of Armitage and Wilson. Let me introduce Dr. Severall of the same +company. It is not often we see a private yacht in these parts." + +"She's the _Gamecock_," I explained. "I'm owner and captain--Meldrum is +the name." + +"Exploring?" he asked. + +"I'm a lepidopterist--a butterfly-catcher. I've been doing the west +coast from Senegal downwards." + +"Good sport?" asked the Doctor, turning a slow yellow-shot eye upon me. + +"I have forty cases full. We came in here to water, and also to see what +you have in my line." + +These introductions and explanations had filled up the time whilst my +two Krooboys were making the dinghy fast. Then I walked down the jetty +with one of my new acquaintances upon either side, each plying me with +questions, for they had seen no white man for months. + +"What do we do?" said the Doctor, when I had begun asking questions in +my turn. "Our business keeps us pretty busy, and in our leisure time we +talk politics." + +"Yes, by the special mercy of Providence Severall is a rank Radical, and +I am a good stiff Unionist, and we talk Home Rule for two solid hours +every evening." + +"And drink quinine cocktails," said the Doctor. "We're both pretty well +salted now, but our normal temperature was about 103 last year. I +shouldn't, as an impartial adviser, recommend you to stay here very long +unless you are collecting bacilli as well as butterflies. The mouth of +the Ogowai River will never develop into a health resort." + +There is nothing finer than the way in which these outlying pickets of +civilisation distil a grim humour out of their desolate situation, and +turn not only a bold, but a laughing face upon the chances which their +lives may bring. Everywhere from Sierra Leone downwards I had found the +same reeking swamps, the same isolated fever-racked communities and the +same bad jokes. There is something approaching to the divine in that +power of man to rise above his conditions and to use his mind for the +purpose of mocking at the miseries of his body. + +"Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, Captain Meldrum," said the +Doctor. "Walker has gone in to see about it; he's the housekeeper this +week. Meanwhile, if you like, we'll stroll round and I'll show you the +sights of the island." + +The sun had already sunk beneath the line of palm trees, and the great +arch of the heaven above our head was like the inside of a huge shell, +shimmering with dainty pinks and delicate iridescence. No one who has +not lived in a land where the weight and heat of a napkin become +intolerable upon the knees can imagine the blessed relief which the +coolness of evening brings along with it. In this sweeter and purer air +the Doctor and I walked round the little island, he pointing out the +stores, and explaining the routine of his work. + +"There's a certain romance about the place," said he, in answer to some +remark of mine about the dullness of their lives. "We are living here +just upon the edge of the great unknown. Up there," he continued, +pointing to the north-east, "Du Chaillu penetrated, and found the home +of the gorilla. That is the Gaboon country--the land of the great apes. +In this direction," pointing to the south-east, "no one has been very +far. The land which is drained by this river is practically unknown to +Europeans. Every log which is carried past us by the current has come +from an undiscovered country. I've often wished that I was a better +botanist when I have seen the singular orchids and curious-looking +plants which have been cast up on the eastern end of the island." + +The place which the Doctor indicated was a sloping brown beach, freely +littered with the flotsam of the stream. At each end was a curved point, +like a little natural breakwater, so that a small shallow bay was left +between. This was full of floating vegetation, with a single huge +splintered tree lying stranded in the middle of it, the current rippling +against its high black side. + +"These are all from up country," said the Doctor. "They get caught in +our little bay, and then when some extra freshet comes they are washed +out again and carried out to sea." + +"What is the tree?" I asked. + +"Oh, some kind of teak, I should imagine, but pretty rotten by the look +of it. We get all sorts of big hardwood trees floating past here, to say +nothing of the palms. Just come in here, will you?" + +He led the way into a long building with an immense quantity of barrel +staves and iron hoops littered about in it. + +"This is our cooperage," said he. "We have the staves sent out in +bundles, and we put them together ourselves. Now, you don't see anything +particularly sinister about this building, do you?" + +I looked round at the high corrugated iron roof, the white wooden walls, +and the earthen floor. In one corner lay a mattress and a blanket. + +"I see nothing very alarming," said I. + +"And yet there's something out of the common, too," he remarked. "You +see that bed? Well, I intend to sleep there to-night. I don't want to +buck, but I think it's a bit of a test for nerve." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, there have been some funny goings on. You were talking about the +monotony of our lives, but I assure you that they are sometimes quite as +exciting as we wish them to be. You'd better come back to the house now, +for after sundown we begin to get the fever-fog up from the marshes. +There, you can see it coming across the river." + +I looked and saw long tentacles of white vapour writhing out from among +the thick green underwood and crawling at us over the broad swirling +surface of the brown river. At the same time the air turned suddenly +dank and cold. + +"There's the dinner gong," said the Doctor. "If this matter interests +you I'll tell you about it afterwards." + +It did interest me very much, for there was something earnest and +subdued in his manner as he stood in the empty cooperage, which appealed +very forcibly to my imagination. He was a big, bluff, hearty man, this +Doctor, and yet I had detected a curious expression in his eyes as he +glanced about him--an expression which I would not describe as one of +fear, but rather of a man who is alert and on his guard. + +"By the way," said I, as we returned to the house, "you have shown me +the huts of a good many of your native assistants, but I have not seen +any of the natives themselves." + +"They sleep in the hulk over yonder," the Doctor answered, pointing over +to one of the banks. + +"Indeed. I should not have thought in that case that they would need the +huts." + +"Oh, they used the huts until quite recently. We've put them on the hulk +until they recover their confidence a little. They were all half mad +with fright, so we let them go, and nobody sleeps on the island except +Walker and myself." + +"What frightened them?" I asked. + +"Well, that brings us back to the same story. I suppose Walker has no +objection to your hearing all about it. I don't know why we should make +any secret about it, though it is certainly a pretty bad business." + +He made no further allusion to it during the excellent dinner which had +been prepared in my honour. It appeared that no sooner had the little +white topsail of the _Gamecock_ shown round Cape Lopez than these kind +fellows had begun to prepare their famous pepper-pot--which is the +pungent stew peculiar to the West Coast--and to boil their yams and +sweet potatoes. We sat down to as good a native dinner as one could +wish, served by a smart Sierra Leone waiting boy. I was just remarking +to myself that he at least had not shared in the general fright when, +having laid the dessert and wine upon the table, he raised his hand to +his turban. + +"Anyting else I do, Massa Walker?" he asked. + +"No, I think that is all right, Moussa," my host answered. "I am not +feeling very well to-night, though, and I should much prefer if you +would stay on the island." + +I saw a struggle between his fears and his duty upon the swarthy face of +the African. His skin had turned of that livid purplish tint which +stands for pallor in a negro, and his eyes looked furtively about him. + +"No, no, Massa Walker," he cried, at last, "you better come to the hulk +with me, sah. Look after you much better in the hulk, sah!" + +"That won't do, Moussa. White men don't run away from the posts where +they are placed." + +Again I saw the passionate struggle in the negro's face, and again his +fears prevailed. + +"No use, Massa Walker, sah!" he cried. "S'elp me, I can't do it. If it +was yesterday or if it was to-morrow, but this is the third night, sah, +an' it's more than I can face." + +Walker shrugged his shoulders. + +"Off with you then!" said he. "When the mail-boat comes you can get back +to Sierra Leone, for I'll have no servant who deserts me when I need him +most. I suppose this is all mystery to you, or has the Doctor told you, +Captain Meldrum?" + +"I showed Captain Meldrum the cooperage, but I did not tell him +anything," said Dr. Severall. "You're looking bad, Walker," he added, +glancing at his companion. "You have a strong touch coming on you." + +"Yes, I've had the shivers all day, and now my head is like a +cannon-ball. I took ten grains of quinine, and my ears are singing like +a kettle. But I want to sleep with you in the cooperage to-night." + +"No, no, my dear chap. I won't hear of such a thing. You must get to bed +at once, and I am sure Meldrum will excuse you. I shall sleep in the +cooperage, and I promise you that I'll be round with your medicine +before breakfast." + +It was evident that Walker had been struck by one of those sudden and +violent attacks of remittent fever which are the curse of the West +Coast. His sallow cheeks were flushed and his eyes shining with fever, +and suddenly as he sat there he began to croon out a song in the +high-pitched voice of delirium. + +"Come, come, we must get you to bed, old chap," said the Doctor, and +with my aid he led his friend into his bedroom. There we undressed him +and presently, after taking a strong sedative, he settled down into a +deep slumber. + +"He's right for the night," said the Doctor, as we sat down and filled +our glasses once more. "Sometimes it is my turn and sometimes his, but, +fortunately, we have never been down together. I should have been sorry +to be out of it to-night, for I have a little mystery to unravel. I told +you that I intended to sleep in the cooperage." + +"Yes, you said so." + +"When I said sleep I meant watch, for there will be no sleep for me. +We've had such a scare here that no native will stay after sundown, and +I mean to find out to-night what the cause of it all may be. It has +always been the custom for a native watchman to sleep in the cooperage, +to prevent the barrel hoops being stolen. Well, six days ago the fellow +who slept there disappeared, and we have never seen a trace of him +since. It was certainly singular, for no canoe had been taken, and these +waters are too full of crocodiles for any man to swim to shore. What +became of the fellow, or how he could have left the island is a complete +mystery. Walker and I were merely surprised, but the blacks were badly +scared and queer Voodoo tales began to get about amongst them. But the +real stampede broke out three nights ago, when the new watchman in the +cooperage also disappeared." + +"What became of him?" I asked. + +"Well, we not only don't know, but we can't even give a guess which +would fit the facts. The niggers swear there is a fiend in the cooperage +who claims a man every third night. They wouldn't stay in the +island--nothing could persuade them. Even Moussa, who is a faithful boy +enough, would, as you have seen, leave his master in a fever rather than +remain for the night. If we are to continue to run this place we must +reassure our niggers, and I don't know any better way of doing it than +by putting in a night there myself. This is the third night, you see, so +I suppose the thing is due, whatever it may be." + +"Have you no clue?" I asked. "Was there no mark of violence, no +blood-stain, no foot-prints, nothing to give you a hint as to what kind +of danger you may have to meet?" + +"Absolutely nothing. The man was gone and that was all. Last time it was +old Ali, who has been wharf-tender here since the place was started. He +was always as steady as a rock, and nothing but foul play would take him +from his work." + +"Well," said I, "I really don't think that this is a one-man job. Your +friend is full of laudanum, and come what might he can be of no +assistance to you. You must let me stay and put in a night with you at +the cooperage." + +"Well, now, that's very good of you, Meldrum," said he heartily, shaking +my hand across the table. "It's not a thing that I should have ventured +to propose, for it is asking a good deal of a casual visitor, but if you +really mean it----" + +"Certainly I mean it. If you will excuse me a moment, I will hail the +_Gamecock_ and let them know that they need not expect me." + +As we came back from the other end of the little jetty we were both +struck by the appearance of the night. A huge blue-black pile of clouds +had built itself up upon the landward side, and the wind came from it in +little hot pants, which beat upon our faces like the draught from a +blast furnace. Under the jetty the river was swirling and hissing, +tossing little white spurts of spray over the planking. + +"Confound it!" said Doctor Severall. "We are likely to have a flood on +the top of all our troubles. That rise in the river means heavy rain +up-country, and when it once begins you never know how far it will go. +We've had the island nearly covered before now. Well, we'll just go and +see that Walker is comfortable, and then if you like we'll settle down +in our quarters." + +The sick man was sunk in a profound slumber, and we left him with some +crushed limes in a glass beside him in case he should awake with the +thirst of fever upon him. Then we made our way through the unnatural +gloom thrown by that menacing cloud. The river had risen so high that +the little bay which I have described at the end of the island had +become almost obliterated through the submerging of its flanking +peninsula. The great raft of driftwood, with the huge black tree in the +middle, was swaying up and down in the swollen current. + +"That's one good thing a flood will do for us," said the Doctor. "It +carries away all the vegetable stuff which is brought down on to the +east end of the island. It came down with the freshet the other day, and +here it will stay until a flood sweeps it out into the main stream. +Well, here's our room, and here are some books and here is my tobacco +pouch, and we must try and put in the night as best we may." + +By the light of our single lantern the great lonely room looked very +gaunt and dreary. Save for the piles of staves and heaps of hoops there +was absolutely nothing in it, with the exception of the mattress for the +Doctor, which had been laid in the corner. We made a couple of seats and +a table out of the staves, and settled down together for a long vigil. +Severall had brought a revolver for me and was himself armed with a +double-barrelled shot-gun. We loaded our weapons and laid them cocked +within reach of our hands. The little circle of light and the black +shadows arching over us were so melancholy that he went off to the +house, and returned with two candles. One side of the cooperage was +pierced, however, by several open windows, and it was only by screening +our lights behind staves that we could prevent them from being +extinguished. + +The Doctor, who appeared to be a man of iron nerves, had settled down to +a book, but I observed that every now and then he laid it upon his knee, +and took an earnest look all round him. For my part, although I tried +once or twice to read, I found it impossible to concentrate my thoughts +upon the book. They would always wander back to this great empty silent +room, and to the sinister mystery which overshadowed it. I racked my +brains for some possible theory which would explain the disappearance of +these two men. There was the black fact that they were gone, and not the +least tittle of evidence as to why or whither. And here we were waiting +in the same place--waiting without an idea as to what we were waiting +for. I was right in saying that it was not a one-man job. It was trying +enough as it was, but no force upon earth would have kept me there +without a comrade. + +What an endless, tedious night it was! Outside we heard the lapping and +gurgling of the great river, and the soughing of the rising wind. +Within, save for our breathing, the turning of the Doctor's pages, and +the high, shrill ping of an occasional mosquito, there was a heavy +silence. Once my heart sprang into my mouth as Severall's book suddenly +fell to the ground and he sprang to his feet with his eyes on one of the +windows. + +"Did you see anything, Meldrum?" + +"No. Did you?" + +"Well, I had a vague sense of movement outside that window." He caught +up his gun and approached it. "No, there's nothing to be seen, and yet I +could have sworn that something passed slowly across it." + +"A palm leaf, perhaps," said I, for the wind was growing stronger every +instant. + +"Very likely," said he, and settled down to his book again, but his eyes +were for ever darting little suspicious glances up at the window. I +watched it also, but all was quiet outside. + +And then suddenly our thoughts were turned into a new direction by the +bursting of the storm. A blinding flash was followed by a clap which +shook the building. Again and again came the vivid white glare with +thunder at the same instant, like the flash and roar of a monstrous +piece of artillery. And then down came the tropical rain, crashing and +rattling on the corrugated iron roofing of the cooperage. The big hollow +room boomed like a drum. From the darkness arose a strange mixture of +noises, a gurgling, splashing, tinkling, bubbling, washing, +dripping--every liquid sound that nature can produce from the thrashing +and swishing of the rain to the deep steady boom of the river. Hour +after hour the uproar grew louder and more sustained. + +"My word," said Severall, "we are going to have the father of all the +floods this time. Well, here's the dawn coming at last and that is a +blessing. We've about exploded the third night superstition anyhow." + +A grey light was stealing through the room, and there was the day upon +us in an instant. The rain had eased off, but the coffee-coloured river +was roaring past like a waterfall. Its power made me fear for the anchor +of the _Gamecock_. + +"I must get aboard," said I. "If she drags she'll never be able to beat +up the river again." + +"The island is as good as a breakwater," the Doctor answered. "I can +give you a cup of coffee if you will come up to the house." + +I was chilled and miserable, so the suggestion was a welcome one. We +left the ill-omened cooperage with its mystery still unsolved, and we +splashed our way up to the house. + +"There's the spirit lamp," said Severall. "If you would just put a light +to it, I will see how Walker feels this morning." + +He left me, but was back in an instant with a dreadful face. + +"He's gone!" he cried hoarsely. + +The words sent a thrill of horror through me. I stood with the lamp in +my hand, glaring at him. + +"Yes, he's gone!" he repeated. "Come and look!" + +I followed him without a word, and the first thing that I saw as I +entered the bedroom was Walker himself lying huddled on his bed in the +grey flannel sleeping suit in which I had helped to dress him on the +night before. + +"Not dead, surely!" I gasped. + +The Doctor was terribly agitated. His hands were shaking like leaves in +the wind. + +"He's been dead some hours." + +"Was it fever?" + +"Fever! Look at his foot!" + +I glanced down and a cry of horror burst from my lips. One foot was not +merely dislocated, but was turned completely round in a most grotesque +contortion. + +"Good God!" I cried. "What can have done this?" + +Severall had laid his hand upon the dead man's chest. + +"Feel here," he whispered. + +I placed my hand at the same spot. There was no resistance. The body was +absolutely soft and limp. It was like pressing a sawdust doll. + +"The breast-bone is gone," said Severall in the same awed whisper. "He's +broken to bits. Thank God that he had the laudanum. You can see by his +face that he died in his sleep." + +"But who can have done this?" + +"I've had about as much as I can stand," said the Doctor, wiping his +forehead. "I don't know that I'm a greater coward than my neighbors, but +this gets beyond me. If you're going out to the _Gamecock_----" + +"Come on!" said I, and off we started. If we did not run it was because +each of us wished to keep up the last shadow of his self-respect before +the other. It was dangerous in a light canoe on that swollen river, but +we never paused to give the matter a thought. He bailing and I paddling +we kept her above water, and gained the deck of the yacht. There, with +two hundred yards of water between us and this cursed island we felt +that we were our own men once more. + +"We'll go back in an hour or so," said he. "But we need a little time to +steady ourselves. I wouldn't have had the niggers see me as I was just +now for a year's salary." + +"I've told the steward to prepare breakfast. Then we shall go back," +said I. "But in God's name, Doctor Severall, what do you make of it +all?" + +"It beats me--beats me clean. I've heard of Voodoo deviltry, and I've +laughed at it with the others. But that poor old Walker, a decent, +God-fearing, nineteenth-century, Primrose-League Englishman should go +under like this without a whole bone in his body--it's given me a shake, +I won't deny it. But look there, Meldrum, is that hand of yours mad or +drunk, or what is it?" + +Old Patterson, the oldest man of my crew, and as steady as the Pyramids, +had been stationed in the bows with a boat-hook to fend off the drifting +logs which came sweeping down with the current. Now he stood with +crooked knees, glaring out in front of him, and one forefinger stabbing +furiously at the air. + +"Look at it!" he yelled. "Look at it!" + +And at the same instant we saw it. + +A huge black trunk was coming down the river, its broad glistening back +just lapped by the water. And in front of it--about three feet in +front--arching upwards like the figure-head of a ship, there hung a +dreadful face, swaying slowly from side to side. It was flattened, +malignant, as large as a small beer-barrel, of a faded fungoid colour, +but the neck which supported it was mottled with a dull yellow and black +As it flew past the _Gamecock_ in the swirl of the waters I saw two +immense coils roll up out of some great hollow in the tree, and the +villainous head rose suddenly to the height of eight or ten feet, +looking with dull, skin-covered eyes at the yacht. An instant later the +tree had shot past us and was plunging with its horrible passenger +towards the Atlantic. + +"What was it?" I cried. + +"It is our fiend of the cooperage," said Dr. Severall, and he had become +in an instant the same bluff, self-confident man that he had been +before. "Yes, that is the devil who has been haunting our island. It is +the great python of the Gaboon." + +I thought of the stories which I had heard all down the coast of the +monstrous constrictors of the interior, of their periodical appetite, +and of the murderous effects of their deadly squeeze. Then it all took +shape in my mind. There had been a freshet the week before. It had +brought down this huge hollow tree with its hideous occupant. Who knows +from what far distant tropical forest it may have come! It had been +stranded on the little east bay of the island. The cooperage had been +the nearest house. Twice with the return of its appetite it had carried +off the watchman. Last night it had doubtless come again, when Severall +had thought he saw something move at the window, but our lights had +driven it away. It had writhed onwards and had slain poor Walker in his +sleep. + +"Why did it not carry him off?" I asked. + +"The thunder and lightning must have scared the brute away. There's your +steward, Meldrum. The sooner we have breakfast and get back to the +island the better, or some of those niggers might think that we had been +frightened." + + + + +X + +JELLAND'S VOYAGE + + +"Well," said our Anglo-Jap as we all drew up our chairs round the +smoking-room fire, "it's an old tale out yonder, and may have spilt over +into print for all I know. I don't want to turn this club-room into a +chestnut stall, but it is a long way to the Yellow Sea, and it is just +as likely that none of you have ever heard of the yawl _Matilda_, and of +what happened to Henry Jelland and Willy McEvoy aboard of her. + +"The middle of the sixties was a stirring time out in Japan. That was +just after the Simonosaki bombardment, and before the Daimio affair. +There was a Tory party and there was a Liberal party among the natives, +and the question that they were wrangling over was whether the throats +of the foreigners should be cut or not. I tell you all, politics have +been tame to me since then. If you lived in a treaty port, you were +bound to wake up and take an interest in them. And to make it better, +the outsider had no way of knowing how the game was going. If the +opposition won it would not be a newspaper paragraph that would tell him +of it, but a good old Tory in a suit of chain mail, with a sword in each +hand, would drop in and let him know all about it in a single upper cut. + +"Of course it makes men reckless when they are living on the edge of a +volcano like that. Just at first they are very jumpy, and then there +comes a time when they learn to enjoy life while they have it. I tell +you there's nothing makes life so beautiful as when the shadow of death +begins to fall across it. Time is too precious to be dawdled away then, +and a man lives every minute of it. That was the way with us in +Yokohama. There were many European places of business which had to go on +running, and the men who worked them made the place lively for seven +nights in the week. + +"One of the heads of the European colony was Randolph Moore, the big +export merchant. His offices were in Yokohama, but he spent a good deal +of his time at his house up in Jeddo, which had only just been opened to +the trade. In his absence he used to leave his affairs in the hands of +his head clerk, Jelland, whom he knew to be a man of great energy and +resolution. But energy and resolution are two-edged things, you know, +and when they are used against you you don't appreciate them so much. + +"It was gambling that set Jelland wrong. He was a little dark-eyed +fellow with black curly hair--more than three-quarters Celt, I should +imagine. Every night in the week you would see him in the same place, on +the left-hand side of the croupier at Matheson's _rouge et noir_ table. +For a long time he won, and lived in better style than his employer. And +then came a turn of luck, and he began to lose so that at the end of a +single week his partner and he were stone broke, without a dollar to +their names. + +"This partner was a clerk in the employ of the same firm--a tall, +straw-haired young Englishman called McEvoy. He was a good boy enough at +the start, but he was clay in the hands of Jelland, who fashioned him +into a kind of weak model of himself. They were for ever on the prowl +together, but it was Jelland who led and McEvoy who followed. Lynch and +I and one or two others tried to show the youngster that he could come +to no good along that line, and when we were talking to him we could +win him round easily enough, but five minutes of Jelland would swing him +back again. It may have been animal magnetism or what you like, but the +little man could pull the big one along like a sixty-foot tug in front +of a full-rigged ship. Even when they had lost all their money they +would still take their places at the table and look on with shining eyes +when any one else was raking in the stamps. + +"But one evening they could keep out of it no longer. Red had turned up +sixteen times running, and it was more than Jelland could bear. He +whispered to McEvoy, and then said a word to the croupier. + +"'Certainly, Mr. Jelland; your cheque is as good as notes,' said he. + +"Jelland scribbled a cheque and threw it on the black. The card was the +king of hearts, and the croupier raked in the little bit of paper. +Jelland grew angry, and McEvoy white. Another and a heavier cheque was +written and thrown on the table. The card was the nine of diamonds. +McEvoy leaned his head upon his hands and looked as if he would faint. +'By God!' growled Jelland, 'I won't be beat,' and he threw on a cheque +that covered the other two. The card was the deuce of hearts. A few +minutes later they were walking down the Bund, with the cool night-air +playing upon their fevered faces. + +"'Of course you know what this means,' said Jelland, lighting a cheroot; +'we'll have to transfer some of the office money to our current account. +There's no occasion to make a fuss over it. Old Moore won't look over +the books before Easter. If we have any luck, we can easily replace it +before then.' + +"'But if we have no luck?' faltered McEvoy. + +"'Tut, man, we must take things as they come. You stick to me, and I'll +stick to you, and we'll pull through together. You shall sign the +cheques to-morrow night, and we shall see if your luck is better than +mine.' + +"But if anything it was worse. When the pair rose from the table on the +following evening, they had spent over £5,000 of their employer's money. +But the resolute Jelland was as sanguine as ever. + +"'We have a good nine weeks before us before the books will be +examined,' said he. 'We must play the game out, and it will all come +straight.' + +"McEvoy returned to his rooms that night in an agony of shame and +remorse. When he was with Jelland he borrowed strength from him; but +alone he recognised the full danger of his position, and the vision of +his old white-capped mother in England, who had been so proud when he +had received his appointment, rose up before him to fill him with +loathing and madness. He was still tossing upon his sleepless couch when +his Japanese servant entered the bedroom. For an instant McEvoy thought +that the long-expected outbreak had come, and plunged for his revolver. +Then, with his heart in his mouth, he listened to the message which the +servant had brought. + +"Jelland was downstairs, and wanted to see him. + +"What on earth could he want at that hour of night? McEvoy dressed +hurriedly and rushed downstairs. His companion, with a set smile upon +his lips, which was belied by the ghastly pallor of his face, was +sitting in the dim light of a solitary candle, with a slip of paper in +his hands. + +"'Sorry to knock you up, Willy,' said he. 'No eavesdroppers, I suppose?' + +"McEvoy shook his head. He could not trust himself to speak. + +"'Well, then, our little game is played out. This note was waiting for +me at home. It is from Moore, and says that he will be down on Monday +morning for an examination of the books. It leaves us in a tight place.' + +"'Monday!' gasped McEvoy; 'to-day is Friday.' + +"'Saturday, my son, and 3 A.M. We have not much time to turn round in.' + +"'We are lost!' screamed McEvoy. + +"'We soon will be, if you make such an infernal row,' said Jelland +harshly. 'Now do what I tell you, Willy, and we'll pull through yet.' + +"'I will do anything--anything.' + +"'That's better. Where's your whisky? It's a beastly time of the day to +have to get your back stiff, but there must be no softness with us, or +we are gone. First of all, I think there is something due to our +relations, don't you?' + +"McEvoy stared. + +"'We must stand or fall together, you know. Now I, for one, don't intend +to set my foot inside a felon's dock under any circumstances. D'ye see? +I'm ready to swear to that. Are you?' + +"'What d'you mean?' asked McEvoy, shrinking back. + +"'Why, man, we all have to die, and it's only the pressing of a +trigger. I swear that I shall never be taken alive. Will you? If you +don't, I leave you to your fate.' + +"'All right. I'll do whatever you think best.' + +"'You swear it?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Well, mind, you must be as good as your word. Now we have two clear +days to get off in. The yawl _Matilda_ is on sale, and she has all her +fixings and plenty of tinned stuff aboard. We'll buy the lot to-morrow +morning, and whatever we want, and get away in her. But, first, we'll +clear all that is left in the office. There are 5,000 sovereigns in the +safe. After dark we'll get them aboard the yawl, and take our chance of +reaching California. There's no use hesitating, my son, for we have no +ghost of a look-in in any other direction. It's that or nothing.' + +"'I'll do what you advise.' + +"'All right; and mind you get a bright face on you to-morrow, for if +Moore gets the tip and comes before Monday, then----' He tapped the +side-pocket of his coat and looked across at his partner with eyes that +were full of a sinister meaning. + +"All went well with their plans next day. The _Matilda_ was bought +without difficulty; and, though she was a tiny craft for so long a +voyage, had she been larger two men could not have hoped to manage her. +She was stocked with water during the day, and after dark the two clerks +brought down the money from the office and stowed it in the hold. Before +midnight they had collected all their own possessions without exciting +suspicion, and at two in the morning they left their moorings and stole +quietly out from among the shipping. They were seen, of course, and were +set down as keen yachtsmen who were on for a good long Sunday cruise; +but there was no one who dreamed that that cruise would only end either +on the American coast or at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean. +Straining and hauling, they got their mainsail up and set their foresail +and jib. There was a slight breeze from the south-east, and the little +craft went dipping along upon her way. Seven miles from land, however, +the wind fell away and they lay becalmed, rising and falling on the long +swell of a glassy sea. All Sunday they did not make a mile, and in the +evening Yokohama still lay along the horizon. + +"On Monday morning down came Randolph Moore from Jeddo, and made +straight for the offices. He had had the tip from some one that his +clerks had been spreading themselves a bit, and that had made him come +down out of his usual routine; but when he reached his place and found +the three juniors waiting in the street with their hands in their +pockets he knew that the matter was serious. + +"'What's this?' he asked. He was a man of action, and a nasty chap to +deal with when he had his topmasts lowered. + +"'We can't get in,' said the clerks. + +"Where is Mr. Jelland?' + +"'He has not come to-day.' + +"'And Mr. McEvoy?' + +"'He has not come either.' + +"Randolph Moore looked serious. 'We must have the door down,' said he. + +"They don't build houses very solid in that land of earthquakes, and in +a brace of shakes they were all in the office. Of course, the thing told +its own story. The safe was open, the money gone, and the clerks fled. +Their employer lost no time in talk. + +"'Where were they seen last?' + +"'On Saturday they bought the _Matilda_ and started for a cruise.' + +"Saturday! The matter seemed hopeless if they had got two days' start. +But there was still the shadow of a chance. He rushed to the beach and +swept the ocean with his glasses. + +"'My God!' he cried. 'There's the _Matilda_ out yonder. I know her by +the rake of her mast. I have my hand upon the villains after all!' + +"But there was a hitch even then. No boat had steam up, and the eager +merchant had not patience to wait. Clouds were banking up along the +haunch of the hills, and there was every sign of an approaching change +of weather. A police boat was ready with ten armed men in her, and +Randolph Moore himself took the tiller as she shot out in pursuit of the +becalmed yawl. + +"Jelland and McEvoy, waiting wearily for the breeze which never came, +saw the dark speck which sprang out from the shadow of the land and grew +larger with every swish of the oars. As she drew nearer, they could see +also that she was packed with men, and the gleam of weapons told what +manner of men they were. Jelland stood leaning against the tiller, and +he looked at the threatening sky, the limp sails, and the approaching +boat. + +"'It's a case with us, Willy,' said he. 'By the Lord, we are two most +unlucky devils, for there's wind in that sky, and another hour would +have brought it to us.' + +"McEvoy groaned. + +"'There's no good softening over it, my lad,' said Jelland. 'It's the +police boat right enough, and there's old Moore driving them to row like +hell. It'll be a ten-dollar job for every man of them.' + +"Willy McEvoy crouched against the side with his knees on the deck. 'My +mother! my poor old mother!' he sobbed. + +"'She'll never hear that you have been in the dock anyway,' said +Jelland. 'My people never did much for me, but I will do that much for +them. It's no good, Mac. We can chuck our hands. God bless you, old man! +Here's the pistol!' + +"He cocked the revolver, and held the butt towards the youngster. But +the other shrunk away from it with little gasps and cries. Jelland +glanced at the approaching boat. It was not more than a few hundred +yards away. + +"'There's no time for nonsense,' said he. 'Damn it! man, what's the use +of flinching? You swore it!' + +"'No, no, Jelland!' + +"'Well, anyhow, I swore that neither of us should be taken. Will you do +it?' + +"'I can't! I can't!' + +"'Then I will for you.' + +"The rowers in the boat saw him lean forwards, they heard two pistol +shots, they saw him double himself across the tiller, and then, before +the smoke had lifted, they found that they had something else to think +of. + +"For at that instant the storm broke--one of those short sudden squalls +which are common in these seas. The _Matilda_ heeled over, her sails +bellied out, she plunged her lee-rail into a wave, and was off like a +frightened deer. Jelland's body had jammed the helm, and she kept a +course right before the wind, and fluttered away over the rising sea +like a blown piece of paper. The rowers worked frantically, but the yawl +still drew a head, and in five minutes it had plunged into the storm +wrack never to be seen again by mortal eye. The boat put back, and +reached Yokohama with the water washing half-way up to the thwarts. + +"And that was how it came that the yawl _Matilda_, with a cargo of five +thousand pounds and a crew of two dead young men, set sail across the +Pacific Ocean. What the end of Jelland's voyage may have been no man +knows. He may have foundered in that gale, or he may have been picked up +by some canny merchant-man, who stuck to the bullion and kept his mouth +shut, or he may still be cruising in that vast waste of waters, blown +north to the Behring Sea, or south to the Malay Islands. It's better to +leave it unfinished than to spoil a true story by inventing a tag to +it." + + + + +XI + +J. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT + + +In the month of December in the year 1873, the British ship _Dei Gratia_ +steered into Gibraltar, having in tow the derelict brigantine _Marie +Celeste_, which had been picked up in latitude 38° 40', longitude 17° +15' W. There were several circumstances in connection with the condition +and appearance of this abandoned vessel which excited considerable +comment at the time, and aroused a curiosity which has never been +satisfied. What these circumstances were was summed up in an able +article which appeared in the _Gibraltar Gazette_. The curious can find +it in the issue for January 4, 1874, unless my memory deceives me. For +the benefit of those, however, who may be unable to refer to the paper +in question, I shall subjoin a few extracts which touch upon the leading +features of the case. + +"We have ourselves," says the anonymous writer in the _Gazette_, "been +over the derelict _Marie Celeste_, and have closely questioned the +officers of the _Dei Gratia_ on every point which might throw light on +the affair. They are of opinion that she had been abandoned several +days, or perhaps weeks, before being picked up. The official log, which +was found in the cabin, states that the vessel sailed from Boston to +Lisbon, starting upon October 16. It is, however, most imperfectly kept, +and affords little information. There is no reference to rough weather, +and, indeed, the state of the vessel's paint and rigging excludes the +idea that she was abandoned for any such reason. She is perfectly +watertight. No signs of a struggle or of violence are to be detected, +and there is absolutely nothing to account for the disappearance of the +crew. There are several indications that a lady was present on board, a +sewing-machine being found in the cabin and some articles of female +attire. These probably belonged to the captain's wife, who is mentioned +in the log as having accompanied her husband. As an instance of the +mildness of the weather, it may be remarked that a bobbin of silk was +found standing upon the sewing-machine, though the least roll of the +vessel would have precipitated it to the floor. The boats were intact +and slung upon the davits; and the cargo, consisting of tallow and +American clocks, was untouched. An old-fashioned sword of curious +workmanship was discovered among some lumber in the forecastle, and this +weapon is said to exhibit a longitudinal striation on the steel, as if +it had been recently wiped. It has been placed in the hands of the +police, and submitted to Dr. Monaghan, the analyst, for inspection. The +result of his examination has not yet been published. We may remark, in +conclusion, that Captain Dalton, of the _Dei Gratia_, an able and +intelligent seaman, is of opinion that the _Marie Celeste_ may have been +abandoned a considerable distance from the spot at which she was picked +up, since a powerful current runs up in that latitude from the African +coast. He confesses his inability, however, to advance any hypothesis +which can reconcile all the facts of the case. In the utter absence of a +clue or grain of evidence, it is to be feared that the fate of the crew +of the _Marie Celeste_ will be added to those numerous mysteries of the +deep which will never be solved until the great day when the sea shall +give up its dead. If crime has been committed, as is much to be +suspected, there is little hope of bringing the perpetrators to +justice." + +I shall supplement this extract from the _Gibraltar Gazette_ by quoting +a telegram from Boston, which went the round of the English papers, and +represented the total amount of information which had been collected +about the _Marie Celeste_. "She was," it said, "a brigantine of 170 tons +burden, and belonged to White, Russell & White, wine importers, of this +city. Captain J. W. Tibbs was an old servant of the firm, and was a man +of known ability and tried probity. He was accompanied by his wife, aged +thirty-one, and their youngest child, five years old. The crew consisted +of seven hands, including two coloured seamen, and a boy. There were +three passengers, one of whom was the well-known Brooklyn specialist on +consumption, Dr. Habakuk Jephson, who was a distinguished advocate for +Abolition in the early days of the movement, and whose pamphlet, +entitled, 'Where is thy Brother?' exercised a strong influence on public +opinion before the war. The other passengers were Mr. J. Harton, a +writer in the employ of the firm, and Mr. Septimius Goring, a half-caste +gentleman, from New Orleans. All investigations have failed to throw any +light upon the fate of these fourteen human beings. The loss of Dr. +Jephson will be felt both in political and scientific circles." + +I have here epitomised, for the benefit of the public, all that has been +hitherto known concerning the _Marie Celeste_ and her crew, for the past +ten years have not in any way helped to elucidate the mystery. I have +now taken up my pen with the intention of telling all that I know of the +ill-fated voyage. I consider that it is a duty which I owe to society, +for symptoms which I am familiar with in others lead me to believe that +before many months my tongue and hand may be alike incapable of +conveying information. Let me remark, as a preface to my narrative, +that I am Joseph Habakuk Jephson, Doctor of Medicine of the University +of Harvard, and ex-Consulting Physician of the Samaritan Hospital of +Brooklyn. + +Many will doubtless wonder why I have not proclaimed myself before, and +why I have suffered so many conjectures and surmises to pass +unchallenged. Could the ends of justice have been served in any way by +my revealing the facts in my possession I should unhesitatingly have +done so. It seemed to me, however, that there was no possibility of such +a result; and when I attempted after the occurrence, to state my case to +an English official, I was met with such offensive incredulity that I +determined never again to expose myself to the chance of such an +indignity. I can excuse the discourtesy of the Liverpool magistrate, +however, when I reflect upon the treatment which I received at the hands +of my own relatives, who, though they knew my unimpeachable character, +listened to my statement with an indulgent smile as if humouring the +delusion of a monomaniac. This slur upon my veracity led to a quarrel +between myself and John Vanburger, the brother of my wife, and confirmed +me in my resolution to let the matter sink into oblivion--a +determination which I have only altered through my son's solicitations. +In order to make my narrative intelligible, I must run lightly over one +or two incidents in my former life which throw light upon subsequent +events. + +My father, William K. Jephson, was a preacher of the sect called +Plymouth Brethren, and was one of the most respected citizens of +Lowell. Like most of the other Puritans of New England, he was a +determined opponent of slavery, and it was from his lips that I received +those lessons which tinged every action of my life. While I was studying +medicine at Harvard University, I had already made a mark as an advanced +Abolitionist; and when, after taking my degree, I bought a third share +of the practice of Dr. Willis, of Brooklyn, I managed, in spite of my +professional duties, to devote a considerable time to the cause which I +had at heart, my pamphlet, "Where is thy Brother?" (Swarburgh, Lister & +Co., 1849) attracting considerable attention. + +When the war broke out I left Brooklyn and accompanied the 113th New +York Regiment through the campaign. I was present at the second battle +of Bull's Run and at the battle of Gettysburg. Finally, I was severely +wounded at Antietam, and would probably have perished on the field had +it not been for the kindness of a gentleman named Murray, who had me +carried to his house and provided me with every comfort. Thanks to his +charity, and to the nursing which I received from his black domestics, I +was soon able to get about the plantation with the help of a stick. It +was during this period of convalescence that an incident occurred which +is closely connected with my story. + +Among the most assiduous of the negresses who had watched my couch +during my illness there was one old crone who appeared to exert +considerable authority over the others. She was exceedingly attentive to +me, and I gathered from the few words that passed between us that she +had heard of me, and that she was grateful to me for championing her +oppressed race. + +One day as I was sitting alone in the verandah, basking in the sun, and +debating whether I should rejoin Grant's army, I was surprised to see +this old creature hobbling towards me. After looking cautiously around +to see that we were alone, she fumbled in the front of her dress and +produced a small chamois leather bag which was hung round her neck by a +white cord. + +"Massa," she said, bending down and croaking the words into my ear, "me +die soon. Me very old woman. Not stay long on Massa Murray's +plantation." + +"You may live a long time yet, Martha," I answered. "You know I am a +doctor. If you feel ill let me know about it, and I will try to cure +you." + +"No wish to live--wish to die. I'm gwine to join the heavenly host." +Here she relapsed into one of those half-heathenish rhapsodies in which +negroes indulge. "But, massa, me have one thing must leave behind me +when I go. No able to take it with me across the Jordan. That one thing +very precious, more precious and more holy than all thing else in the +world. Me, a poor old black woman, have this because my people, very +great people, 'spose they was back in the old country. But you cannot +understand this same as black folk could. My fader give it me, and his +fader give it him, but now who shall I give it to? Poor Martha hab no +child, no relation, nobody. All round I see black man very bad man. +Black woman very stupid woman. Nobody worthy of the stone. And so I say, +Here is Massa Jephson who write books and fight for coloured folk--he +must be a good man, and he shall have it though he is white man, and +nebber can know what it mean or where it came from." Here the old woman +fumbled in the chamois leather bag and pulled out a flattish black stone +with a hole through the middle of it. "Here, take it," she said, +pressing it into my hand; "take it. No harm nebber come from anything +good. Keep it safe--nebber lose it!" and with a warning gesture the old +crone hobbled away in the same cautious way as she had come, looking +from side to side to see if we had been observed. + +I was more amused than impressed by the old woman's earnestness, and was +only prevented from laughing during her oration by the fear of hurting +her feelings. When she was gone I took a good look at the stone which +she had given me. It was intensely black, of extreme hardness, and oval +in shape--just such a flat stone as one would pick up on the seashore if +one wished to throw a long way. It was about three inches long, and an +inch and a half broad at the middle, but rounded off at the extremities. +The most curious part about it was several well-marked ridges which ran +in semicircles over its surface, and gave it exactly the appearance of a +human ear. Altogether I was rather interested in my new possession, and +determined to submit it, as a geological specimen, to my friend +Professor Shroeder of the New York Institute, upon the earliest +opportunity. In the meantime I thrust it into my pocket, and rising from +my chair started off for a short stroll in the shrubbery, dismissing the +incident from my mind. + +As my wound had nearly healed by this time, I took my leave of Mr. +Murray shortly afterwards. The Union armies were everywhere victorious +and converging on Richmond, so that my assistance seemed unnecessary, +and I returned to Brooklyn. There I resumed my practice, and married +the second daughter of Josiah Vanburger, the well-known wood engraver. +In the course of a few years I built up a good connection and acquired +considerable reputation in the treatment of pulmonary complaints. I +still kept the old black stone in my pocket, and frequently told the +story of the dramatic way in which I had become possessed of it. I also +kept my resolution of showing it to Professor Shroeder, who was much +interested both by the anecdote and the specimen. He pronounced it to be +a piece of meteoric stone, and drew my attention to the fact that its +resemblance to an ear was not accidental, but that it was most carefully +worked into that shape. A dozen little anatomical points showed that the +worker had been as accurate as he was skilful. "I should not wonder," +said the Professor, "if it were broken off from some larger statue, +though how such hard material could be so perfectly worked is more than +I can understand. If there is a statue to correspond I should like to +see it!" So I thought at the time, but I have changed my opinion since. + +The next seven or eight years of my life were quiet and uneventful. +Summer followed spring, and spring followed winter, without any +variation in my duties. As the practice increased I admitted J. S. +Jackson as partner, he to have one-fourth of the profits. The continued +strain had told upon my constitution, however, and I became at last so +unwell that my wife insisted upon my consulting Dr. Kavanagh Smith, who +was my colleague at the Samaritan Hospital. That gentleman examined me, +and pronounced the apex of my left lung to be in a state of +consolidation, recommending me at the same time to go through a course +of medical treatment and to take a long sea-voyage. + +My own disposition, which is naturally restless, predisposed me strongly +in favour of the latter piece of advice, and the matter was clinched by +my meeting young Russell, of the firm of White, Russell & White, who +offered me a passage in one of his father's ships, the _Marie Celeste_, +which was just starting from Boston. "She is a snug little ship," he +said, "and Tibbs, the captain, is an excellent fellow. There is nothing +like a sailing ship for an invalid." I was very much of the same opinion +myself, so I closed with the offer on the spot. + +My original plan was that my wife should accompany me on my travels. She +has always been a very poor sailor, however, and there were strong +family reasons against her exposing herself to any risk at the time, so +we determined that she should remain at home. I am not a religious or an +effusive man; but oh, thank God for that! As to leaving my practice, I +was easily reconciled to it, as Jackson, my partner, was a reliable and +hard-working man. + +I arrived in Boston on October 12, 1873, and proceeded immediately to +the office of the firm in order to thank them for their courtesy. As I +was sitting in the counting-house waiting until they should be at +liberty to see me, the words _Marie Celeste_ suddenly attracted my +attention. I looked round and saw a very tall, gaunt man, who was +leaning across the polished mahogany counter asking some questions of +the clerk at the other side. His face was turned half towards me, and I +could see that he had a strong dash of negro blood in him, being +probably a quadroon or even nearer akin to the black. His curved +aquiline nose and straight lank hair showed the white strain; but the +dark, restless eye, sensuous mouth, and gleaming teeth all told of his +African origin. His complexion was of a sickly unhealthy yellow, and as +his face was deeply pitted with small-pox, the general impression was so +unfavourable as to be almost revolting. When he spoke, however, it was +in a soft, melodious voice, and in well-chosen words, and he was +evidently a man of some education. + +"I wished to ask a few questions about the _Marie Celeste_," he +repeated, leaning across to the clerk. "She sails the day after +to-morrow, does she not?" + +"Yes, sir," said the young clerk, awed into unusual politeness by the +glimmer of a large diamond in the stranger's shirt front. + +"Where is she bound for?" + +"Lisbon." + +"How many of a crew?" + +"Seven, sir." + +"Passengers?" + +"Yes, two. One of our young gentlemen, and a doctor from New York." + +"No gentleman from the South?" asked the stranger eagerly. + +"No, none, sir." + +"Is there room for another passenger?" + +"Accommodation for three more," answered the clerk. + +"I'll go," said the quadroon decisively; "I'll go, I'll engage my +passage at once. Put it down, will you--Mr. Septimius Goring, of New +Orleans." + +The clerk filled up a form and handed it over to the stranger, pointing +to a blank space at the bottom. As Mr. Goring stooped over to sign it I +was horrified to observe that the fingers of his right hand had been +lopped off, and that he was holding the pen between his thumb and the +palm. I have seen thousands slain in battle, and assisted at every +conceivable surgical operation, but I cannot recall any sight which gave +me such a thrill of disgust as that great brown sponge-like hand with +the single member protruding from it. He used it skilfully enough, +however, for dashing off his signature, he nodded to the clerk and +strolled out of the office just as Mr. White sent out word that he was +ready to receive me. + +I went down to the _Marie Celeste_ that evening, and looked over my +berth, which was extremely comfortable considering the small size of the +vessel. Mr. Goring, whom I had seen in the morning, was to have the one +next mine. Opposite was the captain's cabin and a small berth for Mr. +John Harton, a gentleman who was going out in the interests of the firm. +These little rooms were arranged on each side of the passage which led +from the main-deck to the saloon. The latter was a comfortable room, the +panelling tastefully done in oak and mahogany, with a rich Brussels +carpet and luxurious settees. I was very much pleased with the +accommodation, and also with Tibbs the captain, a bluff, sailor-like +fellow, with a loud voice and hearty manner, who welcomed me to the ship +with effusion, and insisted upon our splitting a bottle of wine in his +cabin. He told me that he intended to take his wife and youngest child +with him on the voyage, and that he hoped with good luck to make Lisbon +in three weeks. We had a pleasant chat and parted the best of friends, +he warning me to make the last of my preparations next morning, as he +intended to make a start by the midday tide, having now shipped all his +cargo. I went back to my hotel, where I found a letter from my wife +awaiting me, and, after a refreshing night's sleep, returned to the boat +in the morning. From this point I am able to quote from the journal +which I kept in order to vary the monotony of the long sea-voyage. If it +is somewhat bald in places I can at least rely upon its accuracy in +details, as it was written conscientiously from day to day. + +_October 16th._--Cast off our warps at half-past two and were towed out +into the bay, where the tug left us, and with all sail set we bowled +along at about nine knots an hour. I stood upon the poop watching the +low land of America sinking gradually upon the horizon until the evening +haze hid it from my sight. A single red light, however, continued to +blaze balefully behind us, throwing a long track like a trail of blood +upon the water, and it is still visible as I write, though reduced to a +mere speck. The Captain is in a bad humour, for two of his hands +disappointed him at the last moment, and he was compelled to ship a +couple of negroes who happened to be on the quay. The missing men were +steady, reliable fellows, who had been with him several voyages, and +their non-appearance puzzled as well as irritated him. Where a crew of +seven men have to work a fair-sized ship the loss of two experienced +seamen is a serious one, for though the negroes may take a spell at the +wheel or swab the decks, they are of little or no use in rough weather. +Our cook is also a black man, and Mr. Septimius Goring has a little +darkie servant, so that we are rather a piebald community. The +accountant, John Harton, promises to be an acquisition, for he is a +cheery, amusing young fellow. Strange how little wealth has to do with +happiness! He has all the world before him and is seeking his fortune in +a far land, yet he is as transparently happy as a man can be. Goring is +rich, if I am not mistaken, and so am I; but I know that I have a lung, +and Goring has some deeper trouble still, to judge by his features. How +poorly do we both contrast with the careless, penniless clerk! + +_October 17th._--Mrs. Tibbs appeared upon the deck for the first time +this morning--a cheerful, energetic woman, with a dear little child just +able to walk and prattle. Young Harton pounced on it at once, and +carried it away to his cabin, where no doubt he will lay the seeds of +future dyspepsia in the child's stomach. Thus medicine doth make cynics +of us all! The weather is still all that could be desired, with a fine +fresh breeze from the west-sou'-west. The vessel goes so steadily that +you would hardly know that she was moving were it not for the creaking +of the cordage, the bellying of the sails, and the long white furrow in +our wake. Walked the quarter-deck all morning with the Captain, and I +think the keen fresh air has already done my breathing good, for the +exercise did not fatigue me in any way. Tibbs is a remarkably +intelligent man, and we had an interesting argument about Maury's +observations on ocean currents, which we terminated by going down into +his cabin to consult the original work. There we found Goring, rather to +the Captain's surprise, as it is not usual for passengers to enter that +sanctum unless specially invited. He apologised for his intrusion, +however, pleading his ignorance of the usages of ship life; and the +good-natured sailor simply laughed at the incident, begging him to +remain and favour us with his company. Goring pointed to the +chronometers, the case of which he had opened, and remarked that he had +been admiring them. He has evidently some practical knowledge of +mathematical instruments, as he told at a glance which was the most +trustworthy of the three, and also named their price within a few +dollars. He had a discussion with the Captain too upon the variation of +the compass, and when we came back to the ocean currents he showed a +thorough grasp of the subject. Altogether he rather improves upon +acquaintance, and is a man of decided culture and refinement. His voice +harmonises with his conversation, and both are the very antithesis of +his face and figure. + +The noonday observation shows that we have run two hundred and twenty +miles. Towards evening the breeze freshened up, and the first mate +ordered reefs to be taken in the topsails and top-gallant sails in +expectation of a windy night. I observe that the barometer has fallen to +twenty-nine. I trust our voyage will not be a rough one, as I am a poor +sailor, and my health would probably derive more harm than good from a +stormy trip, though I have the greatest confidence in the Captain's +seamanship and in the soundness of the vessel. Played cribbage with Mrs. +Tibbs after supper, and Harton gave us a couple of tunes on the violin. + +_October 18th._--The gloomy prognostications of last night were not +fulfilled, as the wind died away again, and we are lying now in a long +greasy swell, ruffled here and there by a fleeting catspaw which is +insufficient to fill the sails. The air is colder than it was +yesterday, and I have put on one of the thick woollen jerseys which my +wife knitted for me. Harton came into my cabin in the morning, and we +had a cigar together. He says that he remembers having seen Goring in +Cleveland, Ohio, in '69. He was, it appears, a mystery then as now, +wandering about without any visible employment, and extremely reticent +on his own affairs. The man interests me as a psychological study. At +breakfast this morning I suddenly had that vague feeling of uneasiness +which comes over some people when closely stared at, and, looking +quickly up, I met his eyes bent upon me with an intensity which amounted +to ferocity, though their expression instantly softened as he made some +conventional remark upon the weather. Curiously enough, Harton says that +he had a very similar experience yesterday upon deck. I observe that +Goring frequently talks to the coloured seamen as he strolls about--a +trait which I rather admire, as it is common to find half-breeds ignore +their dark strain and treat their black kinsfolk with greater +intolerance than a white man would do. His little page is devoted to +him, apparently, which speaks well for his treatment of him. Altogether, +the man is a curious mixture of incongruous qualities, and unless I am +deceived in him will give me food for observation during the voyage. + +The Captain is grumbling about his chronometers, which do not register +exactly the same time. He says it is the first time that they have ever +disagreed. We were unable to get a noonday observation on account of the +haze. By dead reckoning, we have done about a hundred and seventy miles +in the twenty-four hours. The dark seamen have proved, as the skipper +prophesied, to be very inferior hands, but as they can both manage the +wheel well they are kept steering, and so leave the more experienced +men to work the ship. These details are trivial enough, but a small +thing serves as food for gossip aboard ship. The appearance of a whale +in the evening caused quite a flutter among us. From its sharp back and +forked tail, I should pronounce it to have been a rorqual, or "finner," +as they are called by the fishermen. + +_October 19th._--Wind was cold, so I prudently remained in my cabin all +day, only creeping out for dinner. Lying in my bunk I can, without +moving, reach my books, pipes, or anything else I may want, which is one +advantage of a small apartment. My old wound began to ache a little +to-day, probably from the cold. Read _Montaigne's Essays_ and nursed +myself. Harton came in in the afternoon with Doddy, the Captain's child, +and the skipper himself followed, so that I held quite a reception. + +_October 20th and 21st._--Still cold, with a continual drizzle of rain, +and I have not been able to leave the cabin. This confinement makes me +feel weak and depressed. Goring came in to see me, but his company did +not tend to cheer me up much, as he hardly uttered a word, but contented +himself with staring at me in a peculiar and rather irritating manner. +He then got up and stole out of the cabin without saying anything. I am +beginning to suspect that the man is a lunatic. I think I mentioned that +his cabin is next to mine. The two are simply divided by a thin wooden +partition which is cracked in many places, some of the cracks being so +large that I can hardly avoid, as I lie in my bunk, observing his +motions in the adjoining room. Without any wish to play the spy, I see +him continually stooping over what appears to be a chart and working +with a pencil and compasses. I have remarked the interest he displays in +matters connected with navigation, but I am surprised that he should +take the trouble to work out the course of the ship. However, it is a +harmless amusement enough, and no doubt he verifies his results by those +of the Captain. + +I wish the man did not run in my thoughts so much. I had a nightmare on +the night of the 20th, in which I thought my bunk was a coffin, that I +was laid out in it, and that Goring was endeavouring to nail up the lid, +which I was frantically pushing away. Even when I woke up, I could +hardly persuade myself that I was not in a coffin. As a medical man, I +know that a nightmare is simply a vascular derangement of the cerebral +hemispheres, and yet in my weak state I cannot shake off the morbid +impression which it produces. + +_October 22nd._--A fine day, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and a fresh +breeze from the sou'-west which wafts us gaily on our way. There has +evidently been some heavy weather near us, as there is a tremendous +swell on, and the ship lurches until the end of the fore-yard nearly +touches the water. Had a refreshing walk up and down the quarter-deck, +though I have hardly found my sea-legs yet. Several small +birds--chaffinches, I think--perched in the rigging. + +4.40 P.M.--While I was on deck this morning I heard a sudden explosion +from the direction of my cabin, and, hurrying down, found that I had +very nearly met with a serious accident. Goring was cleaning a revolver, +it seems, in his cabin, when one of the barrels which he thought was +unloaded went off. The ball passed through the side partition and +imbedded itself in the bulwarks in the exact place where my head +usually rests. I have been under fire too often to magnify trifles, but +there is no doubt that if I had been in the bunk it must have killed me. +Goring, poor fellow, did not know that I had gone on deck that day, and +must therefore have felt terribly frightened. I never saw such emotion +in a man's face as when, on rushing out of his cabin with the smoking +pistol in his hand, he met me face to face as I came down from deck. Of +course, he was profuse in his apologies, though I simply laughed at the +incident. + +11 P.M.--A misfortune has occurred so unexpected and so horrible that my +little escape of the morning dwindles into insignificance. Mrs. Tibbs +and her child have disappeared--utterly and entirely disappeared. I can +hardly compose myself to write the sad details. About half-past eight +Tibbs rushed into my cabin with a very white face and asked me if I had +seen his wife. I answered that I had not. He then ran wildly into the +saloon and began groping about for any trace of her, while I followed +him, endeavouring vainly to persuade him that his fears were ridiculous. +We hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without coming on any +sign of the missing woman or child. Poor Tibbs lost his voice completely +from calling her name. Even the sailors, who are generally stolid +enough, were deeply affected by the sight of him as he roamed bareheaded +and dishevelled about the deck, searching with feverish anxiety the most +impossible places, and returning to them again and again with a piteous +pertinacity. The last time she was seen was about seven o'clock, when +she took Doddy on to the poop to give him a breath of fresh air before +putting him to bed. There was no one there at the time except the black +seaman at the wheel, who denies having seen her at all. The whole affair +is wrapped in mystery. My own theory is that while Mrs. Tibbs was +holding the child and standing near the bulwarks it gave a spring and +fell overboard, and that in her convulsive attempt to catch or save it, +she followed it. I cannot account for the double disappearance in any +other way. It is quite feasible that such a tragedy should be enacted +without the knowledge of the man at the wheel, since it was dark at the +time, and the peaked skylights of the saloon screen the greater part of +the quarter-deck. Whatever the truth may be it is a terrible +catastrophe, and has cast the darkest gloom upon our voyage. The mate +has put the ship about, but of course there is not the slightest hope of +picking them up. The Captain is lying in a state of stupor in his cabin. +I gave him a powerful dose of opium in his coffee that for a few hours +at least his anguish may be deadened. + +_October 23rd._--Woke with a vague feeling of heaviness and misfortune, +but it was not until a few moments' reflection that I was able to recall +our loss of the night before. When I came on deck I saw the poor skipper +standing gazing back at the waste of waters behind us which contains +everything dear to him upon earth. I attempted to speak to him, but he +turned brusquely away, and began pacing the deck with his head sunk upon +his breast. Even now, when the truth is so clear, he cannot pass a boat +or an unbent sail without peering under it. He looks ten years older +than he did yesterday morning. Harton is terribly cut up, for he was +fond of little Doddy, and Goring seems sorry too. At least he has shut +himself up in his cabin all day, and when I got a casual glance at him +his head was resting on his two hands as if in a melancholy reverie. I +fear we are about as dismal a crew as ever sailed. How shocked my wife +will be to hear of our disaster! The swell has gone down now, and we are +doing about eight knots with all sail set and a nice little breeze. +Hyson is practically in command of the ship, as Tibbs, though he does +his best to bear up and keep a brave front, is incapable of applying +himself to serious work. + +_October 24th._--Is the ship accursed? Was there ever a voyage which +began so fairly and which changed so disastrously? Tibbs shot himself +through the head during the night. I was awakened about three o'clock in +the morning by an explosion, and immediately sprang out of bed and +rushed into the Captain's cabin to find out the cause, though with a +terrible presentiment in my heart. Quickly as I went, Goring went more +quickly still, for he was already in the cabin stooping over the dead +body of the Captain. It was a hideous sight, for the whole front of his +face was blown in, and the little room was swimming in blood. The pistol +was lying beside him on the floor, just as it had dropped from his hand. +He had evidently put it to his mouth before pulling the trigger. Goring +and I picked him reverently up and laid him on his bed. The crew had all +clustered into his cabin, and the six white men were deeply grieved, for +they were old hands who had sailed with him many years. There were dark +looks and murmurs among them too, and one of them openly declared that +the ship was haunted. Harton helped to lay the poor skipper out, and we +did him up in canvas between us. At twelve o'clock the fore-yard was +hauled aback, and we committed his body to the deep, Goring reading the +Church of England burial service. The breeze has freshened up, and we +have done ten knots all day and sometimes twelve. The sooner we reach +Lisbon and get away from this accursed ship the better pleased shall I +be. I feel as though we were in a floating coffin. Little wonder that +the poor sailors are superstitious when I, an educated man, feel it so +strongly. + +_October 25th._--Made a good run all day. Feel listless and depressed. + +_October 26th._--Goring, Harton, and I had a chat together on deck in +the morning. Harton tried to draw Goring out as to his profession, and +his object in going to Europe, but the quadroon parried all his +questions and gave us no information. Indeed, he seemed to be slightly +offended by Harton's pertinacity, and went down into his cabin. I wonder +why we should both take such an interest in this man! I suppose it is +his striking appearance, coupled with his apparent wealth, which piques +our curiosity. Harton has a theory that he is really a detective, that +he is after some criminal who has got away to Portugal, and that he +chooses this peculiar way of travelling that he may arrive unnoticed and +pounce upon his quarry unawares. I think the supposition is rather a +farfetched one, but Harton bases it upon a book which Goring left on +deck, and which he picked up and glanced over. It was a sort of +scrap-book, it seems, and contained a large number of newspaper +cuttings. All these cuttings related to murders which had been committed +at various times in the States during the last twenty years or so. The +curious thing which Harton observed about them, however, was that they +were invariably murders the authors of which had never been brought to +justice. They varied in every detail, he says, as to the manner of +execution and the social status of the victim, but they uniformly wound +up with the same formula that the murderer was still at large, though, +of course, the police had every reason to expect his speedy capture. +Certainly the incident seems to support Harton's theory, though it may +be a mere whim of Goring's, or, as I suggested to Harton, he may be +collecting materials for a book which shall outvie De Quincey. In any +case it is no business of ours. + +_October 27th, 28th._--Wind still fair, and we are making good progress. +Strange how easily a human unit may drop out of its place and be +forgotten! Tibbs is hardly ever mentioned now; Hyson has taken +possession of his cabin, and all goes on as before. Were it not for Mrs. +Tibbs's sewing-machine upon a side-table we might forget that the +unfortunate family had ever existed. Another accident occurred on board +to-day, though fortunately not a very serious one. One of our white +hands had gone down the after-hold to fetch up a spare coil of rope, +when one of the hatches which he had removed came crashing down on the +top of him. He saved his life by springing out of the way, but one of +his feet was terribly crushed, and he will be of little use for the +remainder of the voyage. He attributes the accident to the carelessness +of his negro companion, who had helped him to shift the hatches. The +latter, however, puts it down to the roll of the ship. Whatever be the +cause, it reduces our short-handed crew still further. This run of +ill-luck seems to be depressing Harton, for he has lost his usual good +spirits and joviality. Goring is the only one who preserves his +cheerfulness. I see him still working at his chart in his own cabin. +His nautical knowledge would be useful should anything happen to +Hyson--which God forbid! + +_October 29th, 30th._--Still bowling along with a fresh breeze. All +quiet and nothing of note to chronicle. + +_October 31st._--My weak lungs, combined with the exciting episodes of +the voyage, have shaken my nervous system so much that the most trivial +incident affects me. I can hardly believe that I am the same man who +tied the external iliac artery, an operation requiring the nicest +precision, under a heavy rifle fire at Antietam. I am as nervous as a +child. I was lying half dozing last night about four bells in the middle +watch trying in vain to drop into a refreshing sleep. There was no light +inside my cabin, but a single ray of moonlight streamed in through the +port-hole, throwing a silvery flickering circle upon the door. As I lay +I kept my drowsy eyes upon this circle, and was conscious that it was +gradually becoming less well-defined as my senses left me, when I was +suddenly recalled to full wakefulness by the appearance of a small dark +object in the very centre of the luminous disc. I lay quietly and +breathlessly watching it. Gradually it grew larger and plainer, and then +I perceived that it was a human hand which had been cautiously inserted +through the chink of the half-closed door--a hand which, as I observed +with a thrill of horror, was not provided with fingers. The door swung +cautiously backwards, and Goring's head followed his hand. It appeared +in the centre of the moonlight, and was framed as it were in a ghastly +uncertain halo, against which his features showed out plainly. It +seemed to me that I had never seen such an utterly fiendish and +merciless expression upon a human face. His eyes were dilated and +glaring, his lips drawn back so as to show his white fangs, and his +straight black hair appeared to bristle over his low forehead like the +hood of a cobra. The sudden and noiseless apparition had such an effect +upon me that I sprang up in bed trembling in every limb, and held out my +hand towards my revolver. I was heartily ashamed of my hastiness when he +explained the object of his intrusion, as he immediately did in the most +courteous language. He had been suffering from toothache, poor fellow! +and had come in to beg some laudanum, knowing that I possessed a +medicine chest. As to a sinister expression he is never a beauty, and +what with my state of nervous tension and the effect of the shifting +moonlight it was easy to conjure up something horrible. I gave him +twenty drops, and he went off again with many expressions of gratitude. +I can hardly say how much this trivial incident affected me. I have felt +unstrung all day. + +A week's record of our voyage is here omitted, as nothing eventful +occurred during the time, and my log consists merely of a few pages of +unimportant gossip. + +_November 7th._--Harton and I sat on the poop all the morning, for the +weather is becoming very warm as we come into southern latitudes. We +reckon that we have done two-thirds of our voyage. How glad we shall be +to see the green banks of the Tagus, and leave this unlucky ship for +ever! I was endeavouring to amuse Harton to-day and to while away the +time by telling him some of the experiences of my past life. Among +others I related to him how I came into the possession of my black +stone, and as a finale I rummaged in the side pocket of my old shooting +coat and produced the identical object in question. He and I were +bending over it together, I pointing out to him the curious ridges upon +its surface, when we were conscious of a shadow falling between us and +the sun, and looking round saw Goring standing behind us glaring over +our shoulders at the stone. For some reason or other he appeared to be +powerfully excited, though he was evidently trying to control himself +and to conceal his emotion. He pointed once or twice at my relic with +his stubby thumb before he could recover himself sufficiently to ask +what it was and how I obtained it--a question put in such a brusque +manner that I should have been offended had I not known the man to be an +eccentric. I told him the story very much as I had told it to Harton. He +listened with the deepest interest and then asked me if I had any idea +what the stone was. I said I had not, beyond that it was meteoric. He +asked me if I had ever tried its effect upon a negro. I said I had not. +"Come," said he, "we'll see what our black friend at the wheel thinks of +it." He took the stone in his hand and went across to the sailor, and +the two examined it carefully. I could see the man gesticulating and +nodding his head excitedly as if making some assertion, while his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment, mixed, I think, with some reverence. +Goring came across the deck to as presently, still holding the stone in +his hand. "He says it is a worthless, useless thing," he said, "and fit +only to be chucked overboard," with which he raised his hand and would +most certainly have made an end of my relic, had the black sailor +behind him not rushed forward and seized him by the wrist. Finding +himself secured Goring dropped the stone and turned away with a very bad +grace to avoid my angry remonstrances at his breach of faith. The black +picked up the stone and handed it to me with a low bow and every sign of +profound respect. The whole affair is inexplicable. I am rapidly coming +to the conclusion that Goring is a maniac or something very near one. +When I compare the effect produced by the stone upon the sailor, +however, with the respect shown to Martha on the plantation, and the +surprise of Goring on its first production, I cannot but come to the +conclusion that I have really got hold of some powerful talisman which +appeals to the whole dark race. I must not trust it in Goring's hands +again. + +_November 8th, 9th._--What splendid weather we are having! Beyond one +little blow, we have had nothing but fresh breezes the whole voyage. +These two days we have made better runs than any hitherto. It is a +pretty thing to watch the spray fly up from our prow as it cuts through +the waves. The sun shines through it and breaks it up into a number of +miniature rainbows--"sun-dogs," the sailors call them. I stood on the +fo'c'sle-head for several hours to-day watching the effect, and +surrounded by a halo of prismatic colours. The steersman has evidently +told the other blacks about my wonderful stone, for I am treated by them +all with the greatest respect. Talking about optical phenomena, we had a +curious one yesterday evening which was pointed out to me by Hyson. This +was the appearance of a triangular well-defined object high up in the +heavens to the north of us. He explained that it was exactly like the +Peak of Teneriffe as seen from a great distance--the peak was, however, +at that moment at least five hundred miles to the south. It may have +been a cloud, or it may have been one of those strange reflections of +which one reads. The weather is very warm. The mate says that he never +knew it so warm in these latitudes. Played chess with Harton in the +evening. + +_November 10th._--It is getting warmer and warmer. Some land birds came +and perched in the rigging to-day, though we are still a considerable +way from our destination. The heat is so great that we are too lazy to +do anything but lounge about the decks and smoke. Goring came over to me +to-day and asked me some more questions about my stone; but I answered +him rather shortly, for I have not quite forgiven him yet for the cool +way in which he attempted to deprive me of it. + +_November 11th, 12th._--Still making good progress. I had no idea +Portugal was ever as hot as this, but no doubt it is cooler on land. +Hyson himself seemed surprised at it, and so do the men. + +_November 13th._--A most extraordinary event has happened, so +extraordinary as to be almost inexplicable. Either Hyson has blundered +wonderfully, or some magnetic influence has disturbed our instruments. +Just about daybreak the watch on the fo'c'sle-head shouted out that he +heard the sound of surf ahead, and Hyson thought he saw the loom of +land. The ship was put about, and, though no lights were seen, none of +us doubted that we had struck the Portuguese coast a little sooner than +we had expected. What was our surprise to see the scene which was +revealed to us at break of day! As far as we could look on either side +was one long line of surf, great, green billows rolling in and breaking +into a cloud of foam. But behind the surf what was there! Not the green +banks nor the high cliffs of the shores of Portugal, but a great sandy +waste which stretched away and away until it blended with the skyline. +To right and left, look where you would, there was nothing but yellow +sand, heaped in some places into fantastic mounds, some of them several +hundred feet high, while in other parts were long stretches as level +apparently as a billiard board. Harton and I, who had come on deck +together, looked at each other in astonishment, and Harton burst out +laughing. Hyson is exceedingly mortified at the occurrence, and protests +that the instruments have been tampered with. There is no doubt that +this is the mainland of Africa, and that it was really the Peak of +Teneriffe which we saw some days ago upon the northern horizon. At the +time when we saw the land birds we must have been passing some of the +Canary Islands. If we continued on the same course, we are now to the +north of Cape Blanco, near the unexplored country which skirts the great +Sahara. All we can do is to rectify our instruments as far as possible +and start afresh for our destination. + +8.30 P.M.--Have been lying in a calm all day. The coast is now about a +mile and a half from us. Hyson has examined the instruments, but cannot +find any reason for their extraordinary deviation. + +This is the end of my private journal, and I must make the remainder of +my statement from memory. There is little chance of my being mistaken +about facts, which have seared themselves into my recollection. That +very night the storm which had been brewing so long burst over us, and I +came to learn whither all those little incidents were tending which I +had recorded so aimlessly. Blind fool that I was not to have seen it +sooner! I shall tell what occurred as precisely as I can. + +I had gone into my cabin about half-past eleven, and was preparing to go +to bed, when a tap came at my door. On opening it I saw Goring's little +black page, who told me that his master would like to have a word with +me on deck. I was rather surprised that he should want me at such a late +hour, but I went up without hesitation. I had hardly put my foot on the +quarter-deck before I was seized from behind, dragged down upon my back, +and a handkerchief slipped round my mouth. I struggled as hard as I +could, but a coil of rope was rapidly and firmly wound round me, and I +found myself lashed to the davit of one of the boats, utterly powerless +to do or say anything, while the point of a knife pressed to my throat +warned me to cease my struggles. The night was so dark that I had been +unable hitherto to recognise my assailants, but as my eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, and the moon broke out through the clouds that +obscured it, I made out that I was surrounded by the two negro sailors, +the black cook, and my fellow-passenger, Goring. Another man was +crouching on the deck at my feet, but he was in the shadow and I could +not recognise him. + +All this occurred so rapidly that a minute could hardly have elapsed +from the time I mounted the companion until I found myself gagged and +powerless. It was so sudden that I could scarce bring myself to realise +it, or to comprehend what it all meant. I heard the gang round me +speaking in short, fierce whispers to each other, and some instinct told +me that my life was the question at issue. Goring spoke authoritatively +and angrily--the others doggedly and all together, as if disputing his +commands. Then they moved away in a body to the opposite side of the +deck, where I could still hear them whispering, though they were +concealed from my view by the saloon skylights. + +All this time the voices of the watch on deck chatting and laughing at +the other end of the ship were distinctly audible, and I could see them +gathered in a group, little dreaming of the dark doings which were going +on within thirty yards of them. Oh! That I could have given them one +word of warning, even though I had lost my life in doing it! but it was +impossible. The moon was shining fitfully through the scattered clouds, +and I could see the silvery gleam of the surge, and beyond it the vast +weird desert with its fantastic sand-hills. Glancing down, I saw that +the man who had been crouching on the deck was still lying there, and as +I gazed at him a flickering ray of moonlight fell full upon his upturned +face. Great heaven! even now, when more than twelve years have elapsed, +my hand trembles as I write that, in spite of distorted features and +projecting eyes, I recognised the face of Harton, the cheery young clerk +who had been my companion during the voyage. It needed no medical eye to +see that he was quite dead, while the twisted handkerchief round the +neck, and the gag in his mouth, showed the silent way in which the +hell-hounds had done their work. The clue which explained every event of +our voyage came upon me like a flash of light as I gazed on poor +Harton's corpse. Much was dark and unexplained, but I felt a great dim +perception of the truth. + +I heard the striking of a match at the other side of the skylights, and +then I saw the tall, gaunt figure of Goring standing up on the bulwarks +and holding in his hands what appeared to be a dark lantern. He lowered +this for a moment over the side of the ship, and, to my inexpressible +astonishment, I saw it answered instantaneously by a flash among the +sand-hills on shore, which came and went so rapidly, that unless I had +been following the direction of Goring's gaze, I should never have +detected it. Again he lowered the lantern, and again it was answered +from the shore. He then stepped down from the bulwarks, and in doing so +slipped, making such a noise, that for a moment my heart bounded with +the thought that the attention of the watch would be directed to his +proceedings. It was a vain hope. The night was calm and the ship +motionless, so that no idea of duty kept them vigilant. Hyson, who after +the death of Tibbs was in command of both watches, had gone below to +snatch a few hours' sleep, and the boatswain, who was left in charge, +was standing with the other two men at the foot of the foremast. +Powerless, speechless, with the cords cutting into my flesh and the +murdered man at my feet, I awaited the next act in the tragedy. + +The four ruffians were standing up now at the other side of the deck. +The cook was armed with some sort of a cleaver, the others had knives, +and Goring had a revolver. They were all leaning against the rail and +looking out over the water as if watching for something. I saw one of +them grasp another's arm and point as if at some object, and following +the direction I made out the loom of a large moving mass making towards +the ship. As it emerged from the gloom I saw that it was a great canoe +crammed with men and propelled by at least a score of paddles. As it +shot under our stern the watch caught sight of it also, and raising a +cry hurried aft. They were too late, however. A swarm of gigantic +negroes clambered over the quarter, and led by Goring swept down the +deck in an irresistible torrent. All opposition was overpowered in a +moment, the unarmed watch were knocked over and bound, and the sleepers +dragged out of their bunks and secured in the same manner. Hyson made an +attempt to defend the narrow passage leading to his cabin, and I heard a +scuffle, and his voice shouting for assistance. There was none to +assist, however, and he was brought on to the poop with the blood +streaming from a deep cut in his forehead. He was gagged like the +others, and a council was held upon our fate by the negroes. I saw our +black seamen pointing towards me and making some statement, which was +received with murmurs of astonishment and incredulity by the savages. +One of them then came over to me, and plunging his hand into my pocket +took out my black stone and held it up. He then handed it to a man who +appeared to be a chief, who examined it as minutely as the light would +permit, and muttering a few words passed it on to the warrior beside +him, who also scrutinised it and passed it on until it had gone from +hand to hand round the whole circle. The chief then said a few words to +Goring in the native tongue, on which the quadroon addressed me in +English. At this moment I seem to see the scene. The tall masts of the +ship with the moonlight streaming down, silvering the yards and bringing +the network of cordage into hard relief; the group of dusky warriors +leaning on their spears; the dead man at my feet; the line of +white-faced prisoners, and in front of me the loathsome half-breed, +looking in his white linen and elegant clothes a strange contrast to his +associates. + +"You will bear me witness," he said in his softest accents, "that I am +no party to sparing your life. If it rested with me you would die as +these other men are about to do. I have no personal grudge against +either you or them, but I have devoted my life to the destruction of the +white race, and you are the first that has ever been in my power and has +escaped me. You may thank that stone of yours for your life. These poor +fellows reverence it, and indeed if it really be what they think it is +they have cause. Should it prove when we get ashore that they are +mistaken, and this its shape and material is a mere chance, nothing can +save your life. In the meantime we wish to treat you well, so if there +are any of your possessions which you would like to take with you, you +are at liberty to get them." As he finished he gave a sign, and a couple +of the negroes unbound me, though without removing the gag. I was led +down into the cabin, where I put a few valuables into my pockets, +together with a pocket-compass and my journal of the voyage. They then +pushed me over the side into a small canoe, which was lying beside the +large one, and my guards followed me, and shoving off began paddling for +the shore. We had got about a hundred yards or so from the ship when our +steersman held up his hand, and the paddlers paused for a moment and +listened. Then on the silence of the night I heard a sort of dull, +moaning sound, followed by a succession of splashes in the water. That +is all I know of the fate of my poor shipmates. Almost immediately +afterwards the large canoe followed us, and the deserted ship was left +drifting about--a dreary spectre-like hulk. Nothing was taken from her +by the savages. The whole fiendish transaction was carried through as +decorously and temperately as though it were a religious rite. + +The first grey of daylight was visible in the east as we passed through +the surge and reached the shore. Leaving half-a-dozen men with the +canoes, the rest of the negroes set off through the sand-hills, leading +me with them, but treating me very gently and respectfully. It was +difficult walking, as we sank over our ankles into the loose, shifting +sand at every step, and I was nearly dead beat by the time we reached +the native village, or town rather, for it was a place of considerable +dimensions. The houses were conical structures not unlike bee-hives, and +were made of compressed seaweed cemented over with a rude form of +mortar, there being neither stick nor stone upon the coast nor anywhere +within many hundreds of miles. As we entered the town an enormous crowd +of both sexes came swarming out to meet us, beating tom-toms and howling +and screaming. On seeing me they redoubled their yells and assumed a +threatening attitude, which was instantly quelled by a few words shouted +by my escort. A buzz of wonder succeeded the war-cries and yells of the +moment before, and the whole dense mass proceeded down the broad central +street of the town, having my escort and myself in the centre. + +My statement hitherto may seem so strange as to excite doubt in the +minds of those who do not know me, but it was the fact which I am now +about to relate which caused my own brother-in-law to insult me by +disbelief. I can but relate the occurrence in the simplest words, and +trust to chance and time to prove their truth. In the centre of this +main street there was a large building, formed in the same primitive way +as the others, but towering high above them; a stockade of beautifully +polished ebony rails was planted all round it, the framework of the door +was formed by two magnificent elephant's tusks sunk in the ground on +each side and meeting at the top, and the aperture was closed by a +screen of native cloth richly embroidered with gold. We made our way to +this imposing-looking structure, but on reaching the opening in the +stockade, the multitude stopped and squatted down upon their hams, while +I was led through into the enclosure by a few of the chiefs and elders +of the tribe, Goring accompanying us, and in fact directing the +proceedings. On reaching the screen which closed the temple--for such it +evidently was--my hat and my shoes were removed, and I was then led in, +a venerable old negro leading the way carrying in his hand my stone, +which had been taken from my pocket. The building was only lit up by a +few long slits in the roof through which the tropical sun poured, +throwing broad golden bars upon the clay floor, alternating with +intervals of darkness. + +The interior was even larger than one would have imagined from the +outside appearance. The walls were hung with native mats, shells, and +other ornaments, but the remainder of the great space was quite empty, +with the exception of a single object in the centre. This was the figure +of a colossal negro, which I at first thought to be some real king or +high priest of titanic size, but as I approached it I saw by the way in +which the light was reflected from it that it was a statue admirably cut +in jet-black stone. I was led up to this idol, for such it seemed to be, +and looking at it closer I saw that though it was perfect in every other +respect, one of its ears had been broken short off. + +The grey-haired negro who held my relic mounted upon a small stool, and +stretching up his arm fitted Martha's black stone on to the jagged +surface on the side of the statue's head. There could not be a doubt +that the one had been broken off from the other. The parts dovetailed +together so accurately that when the old man removed his hand the ear +stuck in its place for a few seconds before dropping into his open palm. +The group round me prostrated themselves upon the ground at the sight +with a cry of reverence, while the crowd outside, to whom the result was +communicated, set up a wild whooping and cheering. + +In a moment I found myself converted from a prisoner into a demi-god. I +was escorted back through the town in triumph, the people pressing +forward to touch my clothing and to gather up the dust on which my foot +had trod. One of the largest huts was put at my disposal, and a banquet +of every native delicacy was served me. I still felt, however, that I +was not a free man, as several spearmen were placed as a guard at the +entrance of my hut. All day my mind was occupied with plans of escape, +but none seemed in any way feasible. On the one side was the great arid +desert stretching away to Timbuctoo, on the other was a sea untraversed +by vessels. The more I pondered over the problem the more hopeless did +it seem. I little dreamed how near I was to its solution. + +Night had fallen, and the clamour of the negroes had died gradually +away. I was stretched on the couch of skins which had been provided for +me, and was still meditating over my future, when Goring walked +stealthily into the hut. My first idea was that he had come to complete +his murderous holocaust by making away with me, the last survivor, and I +sprang up upon my feet, determined to defend myself to the last. He +smiled when he saw the action, and motioned me down again while he +seated himself upon the other end of the couch. + +"What do you think of me?" was the astonishing question with which he +commenced our conversation. + +"Think of you!" I almost yelled. "I think you the vilest, most unnatural +renegade that ever polluted the earth. If we were away from these black +devils of yours I would strangle you with my hands!" + +"Don't speak so loud," he said, without the slightest appearance of +irritation. "I don't want our chat to be cut short. So you would +strangle me, would you!" he went on, with an amused smile. "I suppose I +am returning good for evil, for I have come to help you to escape." + +"You!" I gasped incredulously. + +"Yes, I," he continued. "Oh, there is no credit to me in the matter. I +am quite consistent. There is no reason why I should not be perfectly +candid with you. I wish to be king over these fellows--not a very high +ambition, certainly, but you know what Cæsar said about being first in a +village in Gaul. Well, this unlucky stone of yours has not only saved +your life, but has turned all their heads, so that they think you are +come down from heaven, and my influence will be gone until you are out +of the way. That is why I am going to help you to escape, since I cannot +kill you"--this in the most natural and dulcet voice, as if the desire +to do so were a matter of course. + +"You would give the world to ask me a few questions," he went on, after +a pause; "but you are too proud to do it. Never mind, I'll tell you one +or two things, because I want your fellow white men to know them when +you go back--if you are lucky enough to get back. About that cursed +stone of yours, for instance. These negroes, or at least so the legend +goes, were Mahometans originally. While Mahomet himself was still alive, +there was a schism among his followers, and the smaller party moved away +from Arabia, and eventually crossed Africa. They took away with them, in +their exile, a valuable relic of their old faith in the shape of a large +piece of the black stone of Mecca. The stone was a meteoric one, as you +may have heard, and in its fall upon the earth it broke into two pieces. +One of these pieces is still at Mecca. The larger piece was carried away +to Barbary, where a skilful worker modelled it into the fashion which +you saw to-day. These men are the descendents of the original seceders +from Mahomet, and they have brought their relic safely through all their +wanderings until they settled in this strange place, where the desert +protects them from their enemies." + +"And the ear?" I asked, almost involuntarily. + +"Oh, that was the same story over again. Some of the tribe wandered away +to the south a few hundred years ago, and one of them, wishing to have +good luck for the enterprise, got into the temple at night and carried +off one of the ears. There has been a tradition among the negroes ever +since that the ear would come back some day. The fellow who carried it +was caught by some slaver, no doubt, and that was how it got into +America, and so into your hands--and you have had the honour of +fulfilling the prophecy." + +He paused for a few minutes, resting his head upon his hands, waiting +apparently for me to speak. When he looked up again, the whole +expression of his face had changed. His features were firm and set, and +he changed the air of half-levity with which he had spoken before for +one of sternness and almost ferocity. + +"I wish you to carry a message back," he said, "to the white race, the +great dominating race whom I hate and defy. Tell them that I have +battened on their blood for twenty years, that I have slain them until +even I became tired of what had once been a joy, that I did this +unnoticed and unsuspected in the face of every precaution which their +civilisation could suggest. There is no satisfaction in revenge when +your enemy does not know who has struck him. I am not sorry, therefore, +to have you as a messenger. There is no need why I should tell you how +this great hate became born in me. See this," and he held up his +mutilated hand; "that was done by a white man's knife. My father was +white, my mother was a slave. When he died she was sold again, and I, a +child then, saw her lashed to death to break her of some of the little +airs and graces which her late master had encouraged in her. My young +wife, too, oh, my young wife!" a shudder ran through his whole frame. +"No matter! I swore my oath, and I kept it. From Maine to Florida, and +from Boston to San Francisco, you could track my steps by sudden deaths +which baffled the police. I warred against the whole white race as they +for centuries had warred against the black one. At last, as I tell you, +I sickened of blood. Still, the sight of a white face was abhorrent to +me, and I determined to find some bold free black people and to throw in +my lot with them, to cultivate their latent powers and to form a nucleus +for a great coloured nation. This idea possessed me, and I travelled +over the world for two years seeking for what I desired. At last I +almost despaired of finding it. There was no hope of regeneration in the +slave-dealing Soudanese, the debased Fantee, or the Americanised negroes +of Liberia. I was returning from my quest when chance brought me in +contact with this magnificent tribe of dwellers in the desert, and I +threw in my lot with them. Before doing so, however, my old instinct of +revenge prompted me to make one last visit to the United States, and I +returned from it in the _Marie Celeste_. + +"As to the voyage itself, your intelligence will have told you by this +time that, thanks to my manipulation, both compasses and chronometers +were entirely untrustworthy. I alone worked out the course with correct +instruments of my own, while the steering was done by my black friends +under my guidance. I pushed Tibb's wife overboard. What! You look +surprised and shrink away. Surely you had guessed that by this time. I +would have shot you that day through the partition, but unfortunately +you were not there. I tried again afterwards, but you were awake. I shot +Tibbs. I think the idea of suicide was carried out rather neatly. Of +course when once we got on the coast the rest was simple. I had +bargained that all on board should die; but that stone of yours upset my +plans. I also bargained that there should be no plunder. No one can say +we are pirates. We have acted from principle, not from any sordid +motive." + +I listened in amazement to the summary of his crimes which this strange +man gave me, all in the quietest and most composed of voices, as though +detailing incidents of every-day occurrence. I still seem to see him +sitting like a hideous nightmare at the end of my couch, with the single +rude lamp flickering over his cadaverous features. + +"And now," he continued, "there is no difficulty about your escape. +These stupid adopted children of mine will say that you have gone back +to heaven from whence you came. The wind blows off the land. I have a +boat all ready for you, well stored with provisions and water. I am +anxious to be rid of you, so you may rely that nothing is neglected. +Rise up and follow me." + +I did what he commanded, and he led me through the door of the hut. The +guards had either been withdrawn, or Goring had arranged matters with +them. We passed unchallenged through the town and across the sandy +plain. Once more I heard the roar of the sea, and saw the long white +line of the surge. Two figures were standing upon the shore arranging +the gear of a small boat. They were the two sailors who had been with us +on the voyage. + +"See him safely through the surf," said Goring. The two men sprang in +and pushed off, pulling me in after them. With mainsail and jib we ran +out from the land and passed safely over the bar. Then my two companions +without a word of farewell sprang overboard, and I saw their heads like +black dots on the white foam as they made their way back to the shore, +while I scudded away into the blackness of the night. Looking back I +caught my last glimpse of Goring. He was standing upon the summit of a +sand-hill, and the rising moon behind him threw his gaunt angular figure +into hard relief. He was waving his arms frantically to and fro; it may +have been to encourage me on my way, but the gestures seemed to me at +the time to be threatening ones, and I have often thought that it was +more likely that his old savage instinct had returned when he realised +that I was out of his power. Be that as it may, it was the last that I +ever saw or ever shall see of Septimius Goring. + +There is no need for me to dwell upon my solitary voyage. I steered as +well as I could for the Canaries, but was picked up upon the fifth day +by the British and African Steam Navigation Company's boat _Monrovia_. +Let me take this opportunity of tendering my sincerest thanks to Captain +Stornoway and his officers for the great kindness which they showed me +from that time till they landed me in Liverpool, where I was enabled to +take one of the Guion boats to New York. + +From the day on which I found myself once more in the bosom of my family +I have said little of what I have undergone. The subject is still an +intensely painful one to me, and the little which I have dropped has +been discredited. I now put the facts before the public as they +occurred, careless how far they may be believed, and simply writing them +down because my lung is growing weaker, and I feel the responsibility +of holding my peace longer. I make no vague statement. Turn to your map +of Africa. There above Cape Blanco, where the land trends away north and +south from the westernmost point of the continent, there it is that +Septimius Goring still reigns over his dark subjects, unless retribution +has overtaken him; and there, where the long green ridges run swiftly in +to roar and hiss upon the hot yellow sand, it is there that Harton lies +with Hyson and the other poor fellows who were done to death in the +_Marie Celeste_. + + + + +XII + +THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX + + +"All aboard?" said the captain. + +"All aboard, sir!" said the mate. + +"Then stand by to let her go." + +It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday morning. The good ship _Spartan_ was +lying off Boston Quay with her cargo under hatches, her passengers +shipped, and everything prepared for a start. The warning whistle had +been sounded twice; the final bell had been rung. Her bowsprit was +turned towards England, and the hiss of escaping steam showed that all +was ready for her run of three thousand miles. She strained at the warps +that held her like a greyhound at its leash. + +I have the misfortune to be a very nervous man. A sedentary literary +life has helped to increase the morbid love of solitude which, even in +my boyhood, was one of my distinguishing characteristics. As I stood +upon the quarter-deck of the Transatlantic steamer, I bitterly cursed +the necessity which drove me back to the land of my forefathers. The +shouts of the sailors, the rattle of the cordage, the farewells of my +fellow-passengers, and the cheers of the mob, each and all jarred upon +my sensitive nature. I felt sad too. An indescribable feeling, as of +some impending calamity, seemed to haunt me. The sea was calm, and the +breeze light. There was nothing to disturb the equanimity of the most +confirmed of landsmen, yet I felt as if I stood upon the verge of a +great though indefinable danger. I have noticed that such presentiments +occur often in men of my peculiar temperament, and that they are not +uncommonly fulfilled. There is a theory that it arises from a species of +second-sight, a subtle spiritual communication with the future. I well +remember that Herr Raumer, the eminent spiritualist, remarked on one +occasion that I was the most sensitive subject as regards supernatural +phenomena that he had ever encountered in the whole of his wide +experience. Be that as it may, I certainly felt far from happy as I +threaded my way among the weeping, cheering groups which dotted the +white decks of the good ship _Spartan_. Had I known the experience which +awaited me in the course of the next twelve hours I should even then at +the last moment have sprung upon the shore, and made my escape from the +accursed vessel. + +"Time's up!" said the captain, closing his chronometer with a snap, and +replacing it in his pocket. "Time's up!" said the mate. There was a last +wail from the whistle, a rush of friends and relatives upon the land. +One warp was loosened, the gangway was being pushed away, when there was +a shout from the bridge, and two men appeared, running rapidly down the +quay. They were waving their hands and making frantic gestures, +apparently with the intention of stopping the ship. "Look sharp!" +shouted the crowd. "Hold hard!" cried the captain. "Ease her! stop her! +Up with the gangway!" and the two men sprang aboard just as the second +warp parted, and a convulsive throb of the engine shot us clear of the +shore. There was a cheer from the deck, another from the quay, a mighty +fluttering of handkerchiefs, and the great vessel ploughed its way out +of the harbour, and steamed grandly away across the placid bay. + +We were fairly started upon our fortnight's voyage. There was a general +dive among the passengers in quest of berths and luggage, while a +popping of corks in the saloon proved that more than one bereaved +traveller was adopting artificial means for drowning the pangs of +separation. I glanced round the deck and took a running inventory of my +_compagnons de voyage_. They presented the usual types met with upon +these occasions. There was no striking face among them. I speak as a +connoisseur, for faces are a speciality of mine. I pounce upon a +characteristic feature as a botanist does on a flower, and bear it away +with me to analyse at my leisure, and classify and label it in my little +anthropological museum. There was nothing worthy of me here. Twenty +types of young America going to "Yurrup," a few respectable middle-aged +couples as an antidote, a sprinkling of clergymen and professional men, +young ladies, bagmen, British exclusives, and all the _olla podrida_ of +an ocean-going steamer. I turned away from them and gazed back at the +receding shores of America, and, as a cloud of remembrances rose before +me, my heart warmed towards the land of my adoption. A pile of +portmanteaus and luggage chanced to be lying on one side of the deck, +awaiting their turn to be taken below. With my usual love for solitude I +walked behind these, and sitting on a coil of rope between them and the +vessel's side, I indulged in a melancholy reverie. + +I was aroused from this by a whisper behind me. "Here's a quiet place," +said the voice. "Sit down, and we can talk it over in safety." + +Glancing through a chink between two colossal chests, I saw that the +passengers who had joined us at the last moment were standing at the +other side of the pile. They had evidently failed to see me as I +crouched in the shadow of the boxes. The one who had spoken was a tall +and very thin man with a blue-black beard and a colourless face. His +manner was nervous and excited. His companion was a short plethoric +little fellow, with a brisk and resolute air. He had a cigar in his +mouth, and a large ulster slung over his left arm. They both glanced +round uneasily, as if to ascertain whether they were alone. "This is +just the place," I heard the other say. They sat down on a bale of goods +with their backs turned towards me, and I found myself, much against my +will, playing the unpleasant part of eavesdropper to their conversation. + +"Well, Muller," said the taller of the two, "we've got it aboard right +enough." + +"Yes," assented the man whom he had addressed as Muller, "it's safe +aboard." + +"It was rather a near go." + +"It was that, Flannigan." + +"It wouldn't have done to have missed the ship." + +"No, it would have put our plans out." + +"Ruined them entirely," said the little man, and puffed furiously at his +cigar for some minutes. + +"I've got it here," he said at last. + +"Let me see it." + +"Is no one looking?" + +"No, they are nearly all below." + +"We can't be too careful where so much is at stake," said Muller, as he +uncoiled the ulster which hung over his arm, and disclosed a dark object +which he laid upon the deck. One glance at it was enough to cause me to +spring to my feet with an exclamation of horror. Luckily they were so +engrossed in the matter on hand that neither of them observed me. Had +they turned their heads they would infallibly have seen my pale face +glaring at them over the pile of boxes. + +From the first moment of their conversation a horrible misgiving had +come over me. It seemed more than confirmed as I gazed at what lay +before me. It was a little square box made of some dark wood, and ribbed +with brass. I suppose it was about the size of a cubic foot. It reminded +me of a pistol-case, only it was decidedly higher. There was an +appendage to it, however, on which my eyes were riveted, and which +suggested the pistol itself rather than its receptacle. This was a +trigger-like arrangement upon the lid, to which a coil of string was +attached. Beside this trigger there was a small square aperture through +the wood. The tall man, Flannigan, as his companion called him, applied +his eye to this, and peered in for several minutes with an expression of +intense anxiety upon his face. + +"It seems right enough," he said at last. + +"I tried not to shake it," said his companion. + +"Such delicate things need delicate treatment. Put in some of the +needful, Muller." + +The shorter man fumbled in his pocket for some time, and then produced a +small paper packet. He opened this, and took out of it half a handful of +whitish granules, which he poured down through the hole. A curious +clicking noise followed from the inside of the box, and both men smiled +in a satisfied way. + +"Nothing much wrong there," said Flannigan. + +"Right as a trivet," answered his companion. + +"Look out! here's some one coming. Take it down to our berth. It +wouldn't do to have any one suspecting what our game is, or, worse +still, have them fumbling with it, and letting it off by mistake." + +"Well, it would come to the same, whoever let it off," said Muller. + +"They'd be rather astonished if they pulled the trigger," said the +taller, with a sinister laugh. "Ha, ha! fancy their faces! It's not a +bad bit of workmanship, I flatter myself." + +"No," said Muller. "I hear it is your own design, every bit of it, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, the spring and the sliding shutter are my own." + +"We should take out a patent." + +And the two men laughed again with a cold harsh laugh, as they took up +the little brass-bound package, and concealed it in Muller's voluminous +overcoat. + +"Come down, and we'll stow it in our berth," said Flannigan. "We won't +need it until to-night, and it will be safe there." + +His companion assented, and the two went arm-in-arm along the deck and +disappeared down the hatchway, bearing the mysterious little box away +with them. The last words I heard were a muttered injunction from +Flannigan to carry it carefully, and avoid knocking it against the +bulwarks. + +How long I remained sitting on that coil of rope I shall never know. The +horror of the conversation I had just overheard was aggravated by the +first sinking qualms of sea-sickness. The long roll of the Atlantic was +beginning to assert itself over both ship and passengers. I felt +prostrated in mind and in body, and fell into a state of collapse, from +which I was finally aroused by the hearty voice of our worthy +quartermaster. + +"Do you mind moving out of that, sir?" he said. "We want to get this +lumber cleared off the deck." + +His bluff manner and ruddy healthy face seemed to be a positive insult +to me in my present condition. Had I been a courageous or a muscular man +I could have struck him. As it was, I treated the honest sailor to a +melodramatic scowl which seemed to cause him no small astonishment, and +strode past him to the other side of the deck. Solitude was what I +wanted--solitude in which I could brood over the frightful crime which +was being hatched before my very eyes. One of the quarter-boats was +hanging rather low down upon the davits. An idea struck me, and climbing +on the bulwarks, I stepped into the empty boat and lay down in the +bottom of it. Stretched on my back, with nothing but the blue sky above +me, and an occasional view of the mizzen as the vessel rolled, I was at +last alone with my sickness and my thoughts. + +I tried to recall the words which had been spoken in the terrible +dialogue I had overheard. Would they admit of any construction but the +one which stared me in the face? My reason forced me to confess that +they would not. I endeavoured to array the various facts which formed +the chain of circumstantial evidence, and to find a flaw in it; but no, +not a link was missing. There was the strange way in which our +passengers had come aboard, enabling them to evade any examination of +their luggage. The very name of "Flannigan" smacked of Fenianism, while +"Muller" suggested nothing but socialism and murder. Then their +mysterious manner; their remark that their plans would have been ruined +had they missed the ship; their fear of being observed; last, but not +least, the clenching evidence in the production of the little square box +with the trigger, and their grim joke about the face of the man who +should let it off by mistake--could these facts lead to any conclusion +other than that they were the desperate emissaries of somebody, +political or otherwise, who intended to sacrifice themselves, their +fellow-passengers, and the ship, in one great holocaust? The whitish +granules which I had seen one of them pour into the box formed no doubt +a fuse or train for exploding it. I had myself heard a sound come from +it which might have emanated from some delicate piece of machinery. But +what did they mean by their allusion to to-night? Could it be that they +contemplated putting their horrible design into execution on the very +first evening of our voyage? The mere thought of it sent a cold shudder +over me, and made me for a moment superior even to the agonies of +sea-sickness. + +I have remarked that I am a physical coward. I am a moral one also. It +is seldom that the two defects are united to such a degree in the one +character. I have known many men who were most sensitive to bodily +danger, and yet were distinguished for the independence and strength of +their minds. In my own case, however, I regret to say that my quiet and +retiring habits had fostered a nervous dread of doing anything +remarkable or making myself conspicuous, which exceeded, if possible, my +fear of personal peril. An ordinary mortal placed under the +circumstances in which I now found myself would have gone at once to the +Captain, confessed his fears, and put the matter into his hands. To me, +however, constituted as I am, the idea was most repugnant. The thought +of becoming the observed of all observers, cross-questioned by a +stranger, and confronted with two desperate conspirators in the +character of a denouncer, was hateful to me. Might it not by some remote +possibility prove that I was mistaken? What would be my feelings if +there should turn out to be no grounds for my accusation? No, I would +procrastinate; I would keep my eye on the two desperadoes and dog them +at every turn. Anything was better than the possibility of being wrong. + +Then it struck me that even at that moment some new phase of the +conspiracy might be developing itself. The nervous excitement seemed to +have driven away my incipient attack of sickness, for I was able to +stand up and lower myself from the boat without experiencing any return +of it. I staggered along the deck with the intention of descending into +the cabin and finding how my acquaintances of the morning were occupying +themselves. Just as I had my hand on the companion-rail, I was +astonished by receiving a hearty slap on the back, which nearly shot me +down the steps with more haste than dignity. + +"Is that you, Hammond?" said a voice which I seemed to recognise. + +"God bless me," I said, as I turned round, "it can't be Dick Merton! +Why, how are you, old man?" + +This was an unexpected piece of luck in the midst of my perplexities. +Dick was just the man I wanted; kindly and shrewd in his nature, and +prompt in his actions, I should have no difficulty in telling him my +suspicions, and could rely upon his sound sense to point out the best +course to pursue. Since I was a little lad in the second form at Harrow, +Dick had been my adviser and protector. He saw at a glance that +something had gone wrong with me. + +"Hullo!" he said, in his kindly way, "what's put you about, Hammond? You +look as white as a sheet. _Mal de mer_, eh?" + +"No, not that altogether," said I. "Walk up and down with me, Dick; I +want to speak to you. Give me your arm." + +Supporting myself on Dick's stalwart frame, I tottered along by his +side; but it was some time before I could muster resolution to speak. + +"Have a cigar?" said he, breaking the silence. + +"No, thanks," said I. "Dick, we shall be all corpses to-night." + +"That's no reason against your having a cigar now," said Dick, in his +cool way, but looking hard at me from under his shaggy eyebrows as he +spoke. He evidently thought that my intellect was a little gone. + +"No," I continued, "it's no laughing matter; and I speak in sober +earnest, I assure you. I have discovered an infamous conspiracy, Dick, +to destroy this ship and every soul that is in her;" and I then +proceeded systematically, and in order, to lay before him the chain of +evidence which I had collected. "There, Dick," I said, as I concluded, +"what do you think of that and, above all, what am I to do?" + +To my astonishment he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. + +"I'd be frightened," he said, "if any fellow but you had told me as +much. You always had a way, Hammond, of discovering mares' nests. I like +to see the old traits breaking out again. Do you remember at school how +you swore there was a ghost in the long room, and how it turned out to +be your own reflection in the mirror? Why, man," he continued, "what +object would any one have in destroying this ship? We have no great +political guns aboard. On the contrary, the majority of the passengers +are Americans. Besides, in this sober nineteenth century, the most +wholesale murderers stop at including themselves among their victims. +Depend upon it, you have misunderstood them, and have mistaken a +photographic camera, or something equally innocent, for an infernal +machine." + +"Nothing of the sort, sir," said I, rather touchily. "You will learn to +your cost, I fear, that I have neither exaggerated nor misinterpreted a +word. As to the box, I have certainly never before seen one like it. It +contained delicate machinery; of that I am convinced, from the way in +which the men handled it and spoke of it." + +"You'd make out every packet of perishable goods to be a torpedo," said +Dick, "if that is to be your only test." + +"The man's name was Flannigan," I continued. + +"I don't think that would go very far in a court of law," said Dick; +"but come, I have finished my cigar. Suppose we go down together and +split a bottle of claret. You can point out these two Orsinis to me if +they are still in the cabin." + +"All right," I answered; "I am determined not to lose sight of them all +day. Don't look hard at them, though, for I don't want them to think +that they are being watched." + +"Trust me," said Dick; "I'll look as unconscious and guileless as a +lamb;" and with that we passed down the companion and into the saloon. + +A good many passengers were scattered about the great central table, +some wrestling with refractory carpet-bags and rug-straps, some having +their luncheon, and a few reading and otherwise amusing themselves. The +objects of our quest were not there. We passed down the room and peered +into every berth, but there was no sign of them. "Heavens!" thought I, +"perhaps at this very moment they are beneath our feet, in the hold or +engine-room, preparing their diabolical contrivance!" It was better to +know the worst than to remain in such suspense. + +"Steward," said Dick, "are there any other gentlemen about?" + +"There's two in the smoking room, sir," answered the steward. + +The smoking-room was a little snuggery, luxuriously fitted up, and +adjoining the pantry. We pushed the door opened and entered. A sigh of +relief escaped from my bosom. The very first object on which my eye +rested was the cadaverous face of Flannigan, with its hard-set mouth and +unwinking eye. His companion sat opposite to him. They were both +drinking, and a pile of cards lay upon the table. They were engaged in +playing as we entered. I nudged Dick to show him that we had found our +quarry, and we sat down beside them with as unconcerned an air as +possible. The two conspirators seemed to take little notice of our +presence. I watched them both narrowly. The game at which they were +playing was "Napoleon." Both were adepts at it, and I could not help +admiring the consummate nerve of men who, with such a secret at their +hearts, could devote their minds to the manipulation of a long suit or +the finessing of a queen. Money changed hands rapidly; but the run of +luck seemed to be all against the taller of the two players. At last he +threw down his cards on the table with an oath, and refused to go on. + +"No, I'm hanged if I do," he said; "I haven't had more than two of a +suit for five hands." + +"Never mind," said his comrade, as he gathered up his winnings; "a few +dollars one way or the other won't go very far after to-night's work." + +I was astonished at the rascal's audacity, but took care to keep my eyes +fixed abstractedly upon the ceiling, and drank my wine in as unconscious +a manner as possible. I felt that Flannigan was looking towards me with +his wolfish eyes to see if I had noticed the allusion. He whispered +something to his companion which I failed to catch. It was a caution, I +suppose, for the other answered rather angrily-- + +"Nonsense! Why shouldn't I say what I like? Over-caution is just what +would ruin us." + +"I believe you want it not to come off," said Flannigan. + +"You believe nothing of the sort," said the other, speaking rapidly and +loudly. "You know as well as I do that when I play for a stake I like to +win it. But I won't have my words criticised and cut short by you or any +other man. I have as much interest in our success as you have--more, I +hope." + +He was quite hot about it, and puffed furiously at his cigar for some +minutes. The eyes of the other ruffian wandered alternately from Dick +Merton to myself. I knew that I was in the presence of a desperate man, +that a quiver of my lip might be the signal for him to plunge a weapon +into my heart, but I betrayed more self-command than I should have given +myself credit for under such trying circumstances. As to Dick, he was as +immovable and apparently as unconscious as the Egyptian Sphinx. + +There was silence for some time in the smoking-room, broken only by the +crisp rattle of the cards, as the man Muller shuffled them up before +replacing them in his pocket. He still seemed to be somewhat flushed and +irritable. Throwing the end of his cigar into the spittoon, he glanced +defiantly at his companion and turned towards me. + +"Can you tell me, sir," he said, "when this ship will be heard of +again?" + +They were both looking at me; but though my face may have turned a +trifle paler, my voice was as steady as ever as I answered-- + +"I presume, sir, that it will be heard of first when it enters +Queenstown Harbour." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the angry little man, "I knew you would say that. +Don't you kick me under the table, Flannigan, I won't stand it. I know +what I am doing. You are wrong, sir," he continued, turning to me, +"utterly wrong." + +"Some passing ship, perhaps," suggested Dick. + +"No, nor that either." + +"The weather is fine," I said; "why should we not be heard of at our +destination?" + +"I didn't say we shouldn't be heard of at our destination. Possibly we +may not, and in any case that is not where we shall be heard of first." + +"Where, then?" asked Dick. + +"That you shall never know. Suffice it that a rapid and mysterious +agency will signal our whereabouts, and that before the day is out. Ha, +ha!" and he chuckled once again. + +"Come on deck!" growled his comrade; "you have drunk too much of that +confounded brandy-and-water. It has loosened your tongue. Come away!" +and taking him by the arm he half led him, half forced him out of the +smoking-room, and we heard them stumbling up the companion together, and +on to the deck. + +"Well, what do you think now?" I gasped, as I turned towards Dick. He +was as imperturbable as ever. + +"Think!" he said; "why, I think what his companion thinks, that we have +been listening to the ravings of a half-drunken man. The fellow stunk of +brandy." + +"Nonsense, Dick! you saw how the other tried to stop his tongue." + +"Of course he did. He didn't want his friend to make a fool of himself +before strangers. Maybe the short one is a lunatic, and the other his +private keeper. It's quite possible." + +"O, Dick, Dick," I cried, "how can you be so blind! Don't you see that +every word confirmed our previous suspicion?" + +"Humbug, man!" said Dick; "you're working yourself into a state of +nervous excitement. Why, what the devil do _you_ make of all that +nonsense about a mysterious agent which would signal our whereabouts?" + +"I'll tell you what he meant, Dick," I said, bending forward and +grasping my friend's arm. "He meant a sudden glare and a flash seen far +out at sea by some lonely fisherman off the American coast. That's what +he meant." + +"I didn't think you were such a fool, Hammond," said Dick Merton +testily. "If you try to fix a literal meaning on the twaddle that every +drunken man talks, you will come to some queer conclusions. Let us +follow their example, and go on deck. You need fresh air, I think. +Depend upon it, your liver is out of order. A sea-voyage will do you a +world of good." + +"If ever I see the end of this one," I groaned, "I'll promise never to +venture on another. They are laying the cloth, so it's hardly worth +while my going up. I'll stay below and unpack my things." + +"I hope dinner will find you in a more pleasant state of mind," said +Dick; and he went out, leaving me to my thoughts until the clang of the +great gong summoned us to the saloon. + +My appetite, I need hardly say, had not been improved by the incidents +which had occurred during the day. I sat down, however, mechanically at +the table, and listened to the talk which was going on around me. There +were nearly a hundred first-class passengers, and as the wine began to +circulate, their voices combined with the clash of the dishes to form a +perfect Babel. I found myself seated between a very stout and nervous +old lady and a prim little clergyman; and as neither made any advances I +retired into my shell, and spent my time in observing the appearance of +my fellow-voyagers. I could see Dick in the dim distance dividing his +attentions between a jointless fowl in front of him and a +self-possessed young lady at his side. Captain Dowie was doing the +honours at my end, while the surgeon of the vessel was seated at the +other. I was glad to notice that Flannigan was placed almost opposite to +me. As long as I had him before my eyes I knew that, for the time at +least, we were safe. He was sitting with what was meant to be a sociable +smile on his grim face. It did not escape me that he drank largely of +wine--so largely that even before the dessert appeared his voice had +become decidedly husky. His friend Muller was seated a few places lower +down. He ate little, and appeared to be nervous and restless. + +"Now, ladies," said our genial Captain, "I trust that you will consider +yourselves at home aboard my vessel. I have no fears for the gentlemen. +A bottle of champagne, steward. Here's to a fresh breeze and a quick +passage! I trust our friends in America will hear of our safe arrival in +eight days, or in nine at the very latest." + +I looked up. Quick as was the glance which passed between Flannigan and +his confederate, I was able to intercept it. There was an evil smile +upon the former's thin lips. + +The conversation rippled on. Politics, the sea, amusements, religion, +each was in turn discussed. I remained a silent though an interested +listener. It struck me that no harm could be done by introducing the +subject which was ever in my mind. It could be managed in an off-hand +way, and would at least have the effect of turning the Captain's +thoughts in that direction. I could watch, too, what effect it would +have upon the faces of the conspirators. + +There was a sudden lull in the conversation. The ordinary subjects of +interest appeared to be exhausted. The opportunity was a favourable one. + +"May I ask, Captain," I said, bending forward and speaking very +distinctly, "what you think of Fenian manifestos?" + +The Captain's ruddy face became a shade darker from honest indignation. + +"They are poor cowardly things," he said, "as silly as they are wicked." + +"The impotent threats of a set of anonymous scoundrels," said a +pompous-looking old gentleman beside him. + +"O Captain!" said the fat lady at my side, "you don't really think they +would blow up a ship?" + +"I have no doubt they would if they could. But I am very sure they shall +never blow up mine." + +"May I ask what precautions are taken against them?" asked an elderly +man at the end of the table. + +"All goods sent aboard the ship are strictly examined," said Captain +Dowie. + +"But suppose a man brought explosives aboard with him?" I suggested. + +"They are too cowardly to risk their own lives in that way." + +During this conversation Flannigan had not betrayed the slightest +interest in what was going on. He raised his head now and looked at the +Captain. + +"Don't you think you are rather underrating them?" he said. "Every +secret society has produced desperate men--why shouldn't the Fenians +have them too? Many men think it a privilege to die in the service of a +cause which seems right in their eyes, though others may think it +wrong." + +"Indiscriminate murder cannot be fight in anybody's eyes," said the +little clergyman. + +"The bombardment of Paris was nothing else," said Flannigan; "yet the +whole civilised world agreed to look on with folded arms, and change the +ugly word 'murder' into the more euphonious one of 'war.' It seemed +right enough to German eyes; why shouldn't dynamite seem so to the +Fenian?" + +"At any rate their empty vapourings have led to nothing as yet," said +the Captain. + +"Excuse me," returned Flannigan, "but is there not some room for doubt +yet as to the fate of the _Dotterel_? I have met men in America who +asserted from their own personal knowledge that there was a coal torpedo +aboard that vessel." + +"Then they lied," said the Captain. "It was proved conclusively at the +court-martial to have arisen from an explosion of coal-gas--but we had +better change the subject, or we may cause the ladies to have a restless +night;" and the conversation once more drifted back into its original +channel. + +During this little discussion Flannigan had argued his point with a +gentlemanly deference and a quiet power for which I had not given him +credit. I could not help admiring a man who, on the eve of a desperate +enterprise, could courteously argue upon a point which must touch him so +nearly. He had, as I have already mentioned, partaken of a considerable +quantity of wine; but though there was a slight flush upon his pale +cheek, his manner was as reserved as ever. He did not join in the +conversation again, but seemed to be lost in thought. + +A whirl of conflicting ideas was battling in my own mind. What was I to +do? Should I stand up now and denounce them before both passengers and +Captain? Should I demand a few minutes' conversation with the latter in +his own cabin, and reveal it all? For an instant I was half resolved to +do it, but then the old constitutional timidity came back with redoubled +force. After all there might be some mistake. Dick had heard the +evidence and had refused to believe in it. I determined to let things go +on their course. A strange reckless feeling came over me. Why should I +help men who were blind to their own danger? Surely it was the duty of +the officers to protect us, not ours to give warning to them. I drank +off a couple of glasses of wine, and staggered up on deck with the +determination of keeping my secret locked in my own bosom. + +It was a glorious evening. Even in my excited state of mind I could not +help leaning against the bulwarks and enjoying the refreshing breeze. +Away to the westward a solitary sail stood out as a dark speck against +the great sheet of flame left by the setting sun. I shuddered as I +looked at it. It was grand but appalling. A single star was twinkling +faintly above our mainmast, but a thousand seemed to gleam in the water +below with every stroke of our propeller. The only blot in the fair +scene was the great trail of smoke which stretched away behind us like a +black slash upon a crimson curtain. It was hard to believe that the +great peace which hung over all Nature could be marred by a poor +miserable mortal. + +"After all," I thought, as I gazed into the blue depths beneath me, "if +the worst comes to the worst, it is better to die here than to linger in +agony upon a sickbed on land." A man's life seems a very paltry thing +amid the great forces of Nature. All my philosophy could not prevent my +shuddering, however, when I turned my head and saw two shadowy figures +at the other side of the deck, which I had no difficulty in recognising. +They seemed to be conversing earnestly, but I had no opportunity of +overhearing what was said; so I contented myself with pacing up and +down, and keeping a vigilant watch upon their movements. + +It was a relief to me when Dick came on deck. Even an incredulous +confidant is better than none at all. + +"Well, old man," he said, giving me a facetious dig in the ribs, "we've +not been blown up yet." + +"No, not yet," said I; "but that's no proof that we are not going to +be." + +"Nonsense, man!" said Dick; "I can't conceive what has put this +extraordinary idea into your head. I have been talking to one of your +supposed assassins, and he seems a pleasant fellow enough; quite a +sporting character, I should think, from the way he speaks." + +"Dick," I said, "I am as certain that those men have an infernal +machine, and that we are on the verge of eternity, as if I saw them +putting the match to the fuse." + +"Well, if you really think so," said Dick, half awed for the moment by +the earnestness of my manner, "it is your duty to let the Captain know +of your suspicions." + +"You are right," I said; "I will. My absurd timidity has prevented my +doing so sooner. I believe our lives can only be saved by laying the +whole matter before him." + +"Well, go and do it now," said Dick; "but for goodness' sake don't mix +me up in the matter." + +"I'll speak to him when he comes off the bridge," I answered; "and in +the meantime I don't mean to lose sight of them." + +"Let me know of the result," said my companion; and with a nod he +strolled away in search, I fancy, of his partner at the dinner-table. + +Left to myself, I bethought me of my retreat of the morning, and +climbing on the bulwark I mounted into the quarter-boat, and lay down +there. In it I could reconsider my course of action, and by raising my +head I was able at any time to get a view of my disagreeable neighbours. + +An hour passed, and the Captain was still on the bridge. He was talking +to one of the passengers, a retired naval officer, and the two were deep +in debate concerning some abstruse point of navigation. I could see the +red tips of their cigars from where I lay. It was dark now, so dark that +I could hardly make out the figures of Flannigan and his accomplice. +They were still standing in the position which they had taken up after +dinner. A few of the passengers were scattered about the deck, but many +had gone below. A strange stillness seemed to pervade the air. The +voices of the watch and the rattle of the wheel were the only sounds +which broke the silence. + +Another half-hour passed. The Captain was still upon the bridge. It +seemed as if he would never come down. My nerves were in a state of +unnatural tension, so much so that the sound of two steps upon the deck +made me start up in a quiver of excitement. I peered over the edge of +the boat, and saw that our suspicious passengers had crossed from the +other side, and were standing almost directly beneath me. The light of a +binnacle fell full upon the ghastly face of the ruffian Flannigan. Even +in that short glance I saw that Muller had the ulster, whose use I knew +so well, slung loosely over his arm. I sank back with a groan. It seemed +that my fatal procrastination had sacrificed two hundred innocent lives. + +I had read of the fiendish vengeance which awaited a spy. I knew that +men with their lives in their hands would stick at nothing. All I could +do was to cower at the bottom of the boat and listen silently to their +whispered talk below. + +"This place will do," said a voice. + +"Yes, the leeward side is best." + +"I wonder if the trigger will act?" + +"I am sure it will." + +"We were to let it off at ten, were we not?" + +"Yes, at ten sharp. We have eight minutes yet." There was a pause. Then +the voice began again-- + +"They'll hear the drop of the trigger, won't they?" + +"It doesn't matter. It will be too late for any one to prevent its going +off." + +"That's true. There will be some excitement among those we have left +behind, won't there?" + +"Rather. How long do you reckon it will be before they hear of us?" + +"The first news will get in at about midnight at earliest." + +"That will be my doing." + +"No, mine." + +"Ha, ha! we'll settle that." + +There was a pause here. Then I heard Muller's voice in a ghastly +whisper, "There's only five minutes more." + +How slowly the moments seemed to pass! I could count them by the +throbbing of my heart. + +"It'll make a sensation on land," said a voice. + +"Yes, it will make a noise in the newspapers." + +I raised my head and peered over the side of the boat. There seemed no +hope, no help. Death stared me in the face, whether I did or did not +give the alarm. The Captain had at last left the bridge. The deck was +deserted, save for those two dark figures crouching in the shadow of the +boat. + +Flannigan had a watch lying open in his hand. + +"Three minutes more," he said. "Put it down upon the deck." + +"No, put it here on the bulwarks." + +It was the little square box. I knew by the sound that they had placed +it near the davit, and almost exactly under my head. + +I looked over again. Flannigan was pouring something out of a paper into +his hand. It was white and granular--the same that I had seen him use in +the morning. It was meant as a fuse, no doubt, for he shovelled it into +the little box, and I heard the strange noise which had previously +arrested my attention. + +"A minute and a half more," he said. "Shall you or I pull the string?" + +"I will pull it," said Muller. + +He was kneeling down and holding the end in his hand. Flannigan stood +behind with his arms folded, and an air of grim resolution upon his +face. + +I could stand it no longer. My nervous system seemed to give way in a +moment. + +"Stop!" I screamed, springing to my feet. "Stop, misguided and +unprincipled men!" + +They both staggered backwards. I fancy they thought I was a spirit, with +the moonlight streaming down upon my pale face. + +I was brave enough now. I had gone too far to retreat. + +"Cain was damned," I cried, "and he slew but one; would you have the +blood of two hundred upon your souls?" + +"He's mad!" said Flannigan. "Time's up. Let it off, Muller." + +I sprang down upon the deck. + +"You shan't do it!" I said. + +"By what right do you prevent us?" + +"By every right, human and divine." + +"It's no business of yours. Clear out of this." + +"Never!" said I. + +"Confound the fellow! There's too much at stake to stand on ceremony. +I'll hold him, Muller, while you pull the trigger." + +Next moment I was struggling in the herculean grasp of the Irishman. +Resistance was useless; I was a child in his hands. + +He pinned me up against the side of the vessel, and held me there. + +"Now," he said, "look sharp. He can't prevent us." + +I felt that I was standing on the verge of eternity. Half-strangled in +the arms of the taller ruffian, I saw the other approach the fatal box. +He stooped over it and seized the string. I breathed one prayer when I +saw his grasp tighten upon it. Then came a sharp snap, a strange rasping +noise. The trigger had fallen, the side of the box flew out, and let +off--_two grey carrier pigeons_! + + * * * * * + +Little more need be said. It is not a subject on which I care to dwell. +The whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd. Perhaps the best +thing I can do is to retire gracefully from the scene, and let the +sporting correspondent of the _New York Herald_ fill my unworthy place. +Here is an extract clipped from its columns shortly after our departure +from America: + +"_Pigeon-flying Extraordinary._--A novel match has been brought off last +week between the birds of John H. Flannigan, of Boston, and Jeremiah +Muller, a well-known citizen of Lowell. Both men have devoted much time +and attention to an improved breed of bird, and the challenge is an +old-standing one. The pigeons were backed to a large amount, and there +was considerable local interest in the result. The start was from the +deck of the Transatlantic steamship _Spartan_, at ten o'clock on the +evening of the day of starting, the vessel being then reckoned to be +about a hundred miles from the land. The bird which reached home first +was to be declared the winner. Considerable caution had, we believe, to +be observed, as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing off +of sporting events aboard their vessels. In spite of some little +difficulty at the last moment, the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten +o'clock. Muller's bird arrived in Lowell in an extreme state of +exhaustion on the following morning, while Flannigan's has not been +heard of. The backers of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing, +however, that the whole affair has been characterised by extreme +fairness. The pigeons were confined in a specially invented trap, which +could only be opened by the spring. It was thus possible to feed them +through an aperture in the top, but any tampering with their wings was +quite out of the question. A few such matches would go far towards +popularising pigeon-flying in America, and form an agreeable variety to +the morbid exhibitions of human endurance which have assumed such +proportions during the last few years." + + +THE END + + + + +By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + +_Novels and Stories_ + + DANGER! _And Other Stories_ + + THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW + + HIS LAST BOW + _Some Latin Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes_ + + THE BLACK DOCTOR + _And Other Tales of Terror and Mystery_ + + THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL + _And Other Tales of Adventure_ + + THE CROXLEY MASTER + _And Other Tales of the Ring and Camp_ + + THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT + _And Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen_ + + THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS + _And Other Tales of Long Ago_ + + THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + _And Other Tales of Pirates_ + +_On the Life Hereafter_ + + THE NEW REVELATION + THE VITAL MESSAGE + THE COMING OF THE FAIRIES + THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY + THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST + OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE + +_A History of the Great War_ + + THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE + AND FLANDERS--Six Vols. + +_Poems_ + + THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, by A. Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY *** + +***** This file should be named 34627-8.txt or 34627-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/2/34627/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Conan Doyle + +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 Dealings of Captain Sharkey + and Other Tales of Pirates + +Author: A. Conan Doyle + +Release Date: December 12, 2010 [EBook #34627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h1>THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY</h1> + +<h3><i>and Other Tales of Pirates</i></h3> + +<h2>BY A. CONAN DOYLE</h2> + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913,<br /> +1914, 1918, 1919,<br /> +By A. Conan Doyle</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910,<br /> +By Charles Scribner's Sons</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1911,<br /> +By Associated Sunday Magazines, Inc.</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908,<br /> +By The McClure Company</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, 1902,<br /> +By The S. S. McClure Company</span></h3> + +<h3>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</h3> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#TALES_OF_PIRATES">TALES OF PIRATES</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#I">I. <span class="smcap">Captain Sharkey: How the Governor of Saint Kitt's Came Home</span></a><br /> +<a href="#II">II. <span class="smcap">The Dealings of Captain Sharkey with Stephen Craddock</span></a><br /> +<a href="#III">III. <span class="smcap">The Blighting of Sharkey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IV">IV. <span class="smcap">How Copley Banks Slew Captain Sharkey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#V">V. <span class="smcap">The "Slapping Sal"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VI">VI. <span class="smcap">A Pirate of the Land (One Crowded Hour)</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#TALES_OF_BLUE_WATER">TALES OF BLUE WATER</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#VII">VII. <span class="smcap">The Striped Chest</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">The Captain of the "Polestar"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IX">IX. <span class="smcap">The Fiend of the Cooperage</span></a><br /> +<a href="#X">X. <span class="smcap">Jelland's Voyage</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XI. <span class="smcap">J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XII. <span class="smcap">That Little Square Box</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#By_SIR_ARTHUR_CONAN_DOYLE">By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY</h2> + +<h3><i>and Other Stories of Pirates</i></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TALES_OF_PIRATES" id="TALES_OF_PIRATES"></a>TALES OF PIRATES</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN SHARKEY: HOW THE GOVERNOR OF SAINT KITT'S CAME HOME</h3> + + +<p>When the great wars of the Spanish Succession had been brought to an end +by the Treaty of Utrecht, the vast number of privateers which had been +fitted out by the contending parties found their occupation gone. Some +took to the more peaceful but less lucrative ways of ordinary commerce, +others were absorbed into the fishing-fleets, and a few of the more +reckless hoisted the Jolly Rodger at the mizzen and the bloody flag at +the main, declaring a private war upon their own account against the +whole human race.</p> + +<p>With mixed crews, recruited from every nation they scoured the seas, +disappearing occasionally to careen in some lonely inlet, or putting in +for a debauch at some outlaying port, where they dazzled the inhabitants +by their lavishness and horrified them by their brutalities.</p> + +<p>On the Coromandel Coast, at Madagascar, in the African waters, and above +all in the West Indian and American seas, the pirates were a constant +menace. With an insolent luxury they would regulate their depredations +by the comfort of the seasons, harrying New England in the summer and +dropping south again to the tropical islands in the winter.</p> + +<p>They were the more to be dreaded because they had none of that +discipline and restraint which made their predecessors, the Buccaneers, +both formidable and respectable. These Ishmaels of the sea rendered an +account to no man, and treated their prisoners according to the drunken +whim of the moment. Flashes of grotesque generosity alternated with +longer stretches of inconceivable ferocity, and the skipper who fell +into their hands might find himself dismissed with his cargo, after +serving as boon companion in some hideous debauch, or might sit at his +cabin table with his own nose and his lips served up with pepper and +salt in front of him. It took a stout seaman in those days to ply his +calling in the Caribbean Gulf.</p> + +<p>Such a man was Captain John Scarrow, of the ship <i>Morning Star</i>, and yet +he breathed a long sigh of relief when he heard the splash of the +falling anchor and swung at his moorings within a hundred yards of the +guns of the citadel of Basseterre. St. Kitt's was his final port of +call, and early next morning his bowsprit would be pointed for Old +England. He had had enough of those robber-haunted seas. Ever since he +had left Maracaibo upon the Main, with his full lading of sugar and red +pepper, he had winced at every topsail which glimmered over the violet +edge of the tropical sea. He had coasted up the Windward Islands, +touching here and there, and assailed continually by stories of villainy +and outrage.</p> + +<p>Captain Sharkey, of the 20-gun pirate barque, <i>Happy Delivery</i>, had +passed down the coast, and had littered it with gutted vessels and with +murdered men. Dreadful anecdotes were current of his grim pleasantries +and of his inflexible ferocity. From the Bahamas to the Main his +coal-black barque, with the ambiguous name, had been freighted with +death and many things which are worse than death. So nervous was Captain +Scarrow, with his new full-rigged ship and her full and valuable lading, +that he struck out to the west as far as Bird's Island to be out of the +usual track of commerce. And yet even in those solitary waters he had +been unable to shake off sinister traces of Captain Sharkey.</p> + +<p>One morning they had raised a single skiff adrift upon the face of the +ocean. Its only occupant was a delirious seaman, who yelled hoarsely as +they hoisted him aboard, and showed a dried-up tongue like a black and +wrinkled fungus at the back of his mouth. Water and nursing soon +transformed him into the strongest and smartest sailor on the ship. He +was from Marblehead, in New England, it seemed, and was the sole +survivor of a schooner which had been scuttled by the dreadful Sharkey.</p> + +<p>For a week Hiram Evanson, for that was his name, had been adrift beneath +a tropical sun. Sharkey had ordered the mangled remains of his late +captain to be thrown into the boat, "as provisions for the voyage," but +the seaman had at once committed them to the deep, lest the temptation +should be more than he could bear. He had lived upon his own huge frame, +until, at the last moment, the <i>Morning Star</i> had found him in that +madness which is the precursor of such a death. It was no bad find for +Captain Scarrow, for, with a short-handed crew, such a seaman as this +big New Englander was a prize worth having. He vowed that he was the +only man whom Captain Sharkey had ever placed under an obligation.</p> + +<p>Now that they lay under the guns of Basseterre, all danger from the +pirate was at an end, and yet the thought of him lay heavily upon the +seaman's mind as he watched the agent's boat shooting out from the +custom-house quay.</p> + +<p>"I'll lay you a wager, Morgan," said he to the first mate, "that the +agent will speak of Sharkey in the first hundred words that pass his +lips."</p> + +<p>"Well, captain, I'll have you a silver dollar, and chance it," said the +rough old Bristol man beside him.</p> + +<p>The negro rowers shot the boat alongside, and the linen-clad steersman +sprang up the ladder.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, Captain Scarrow!" he cried. "Have you heard about Sharkey?"</p> + +<p>The captain grinned at the mate.</p> + +<p>"What devilry has he been up to now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Devilry! You've not heard, then! Why, we've got him safe under lock and +key here at Basseterre. He was tried last Wednesday, and he is to be +hanged to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Captain and mate gave a shout of joy, which an instant later was taken +up by the crew. Discipline was forgotten as they scrambled up through +the break of the poop to hear the news. The New Englander was in the +front of them with a radiant face turned up to heaven, for he came of +the Puritan stock.</p> + +<p>"Sharkey to be hanged!" he cried. "You don't know, Master Agent, if they +lack a hangman, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Stand back!" cried the mate, whose outraged sense of discipline was +even stronger than his interest at the news. "I'll pay that dollar, +Captain Scarrow, with the lightest heart that ever I paid a wager yet. +How came the villain to be taken?"</p> + +<p>"Why, as to that, he became more than his own comrades could abide, and +they took such a horror of him that they would not have him on the ship. +So they marooned him upon the Little Mangles to the south of the +Mysteriosa Bank, and there he was found by a Portobello trader, who +brought him in. There was talk of sending him to Jamaica to be tried, +but our good little governor, Sir Charles Ewan, would not hear of it. +'He's my meat,' said he, 'and I claim the cooking of it.' If you can +stay till to-morrow morning at ten, you'll see the joint swinging."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could," said the captain, wistfully, "but I am sadly behind +time now. I should start with the evening tide."</p> + +<p>"That you can't do," said the agent with decision. "The Governor is +going back with you."</p> + +<p>"The Governor!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He's had a dispatch from Government to return without delay. The +fly-boat that brought it has gone on to Virginia. So Sir Charles has +been waiting for you, as I told him you were due before the rains."</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" cried the captain, in some perplexity, "I'm a plain +seaman, and I don't know much of governors and baronets and their ways. +I don't remember that I ever so much as spoke to one. But if it's in +King George's service, and he asks a cast in the <i>Morning Star</i> as far +as London, I'll do what I can for him. There's my own cabin he can have +and welcome. As to the cooking, it's lobscouse and salmagundy six days +in the week; but he can bring his own cook aboard with him if he thinks +our galley too rough for his taste."</p> + +<p>"You need not trouble your mind, Captain Scarrow," said the agent. "Sir +Charles is in weak health just now, only clear of a quartan ague, and it +is likely he will keep his cabin most of the voyage. Dr. Larousse said +that he would have sunk had the hanging of Sharkey not put fresh life +into him. He has a great spirit in him, though, and you must not blame +him if he is somewhat short in his speech."</p> + +<p>"He may say what he likes and do what he likes so long as he does not +come athwart my hawse when I am working the ship," said the captain. "He +is Governor of St. Kitt's, but I am Governor of the <i>Morning Star</i>. And, +by his leave, I must weigh with the first tide, for I owe a duty to my +employer, just as he does to King George."</p> + +<p>"He can scarce be ready to-night, for he has many things to set in order +before he leaves."</p> + +<p>"The early morning tide, then."</p> + +<p>"Very good. I shall send his things aboard to-night, and he will follow +them to-morrow early if I can prevail upon him to leave St. Kitt's +without seeing Sharkey do the rogue's hornpipe. His own orders were +instant, so it may be that he will come at once. It is likely that Dr. +Larousse may attend him upon the journey."</p> + +<p>Left to themselves, the captain and mate made the best preparations +which they could for their illustrious passenger. The largest cabin was +turned out and adorned in his honour, and orders were given by which +barrels of fruit and some cases of wine should be brought off to vary +the plain food of an ocean-going trader. In the evening the Governor's +baggage began to arrive—great ironbound ant-proof trunks, and official +tin packing-cases, with other strange-shaped packages, which suggested +the cocked hat or the sword within. And then there came a note, with a +heraldic device upon the big red seal, to say that Sir Charles Ewan made +his compliments to Captain Scarrow, and that he hoped to be with him in +the morning as early as his duties and his infirmities would permit.</p> + +<p>He was as good as his word, for the first grey of dawn had hardly begun +to deepen into pink when he was brought alongside, and climbed with some +difficulty up the ladder. The captain had heard that the Governor was an +eccentric, but he was hardly prepared for the curious figure who came +limping feebly down his quarter-deck, his steps supported by a thick +bamboo cane. He wore a Ramillies wig, all twisted into little tails like +a poodle's coat, and cut so low across the brow that the large green +glasses which covered his eyes looked as if they were hung from it. A +fierce beak of a nose, very long and very thin, cut the air in front of +him. His ague had caused him to swathe his throat and chin with a broad +linen cravat, and he wore a loose damask powdering-gown secured by a +cord round the waist. As he advanced he carried his masterful nose high +in the air, but his head turned slowly from side to side in the helpless +manner of the purblind, and he called in a high, querulous voice for the +captain.</p> + +<p>"You have my things?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir Charles."</p> + +<p>"Have you wine aboard?"</p> + +<p>"I have ordered five cases, sir."</p> + +<p>"And tobacco?"</p> + +<p>"There is a keg of Trinidad."</p> + +<p>"You play a hand at piquet?"</p> + +<p>"Passably well, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then up anchor, and to sea!"</p> + +<p>There was a fresh westerly wind, so by the time the sun was fairly +through the morning haze, the ship was hull down from the islands. The +decrepit Governor still limped the deck, with one guiding hand upon the +quarter-rail.</p> + +<p>"You are on Government service now, Captain," said he. "They are +counting the days till I come to Westminster, I promise you. Have you +all that she will carry?"</p> + +<p>"Every inch, Sir Charles."</p> + +<p>"Keep her so if you blow the sails out of her. I fear, Captain Scarrow, +that you will find a blind and broken man a poor companion for your +voyage."</p> + +<p>"I am honoured in enjoying your Excellency's society," said the Captain. +"But I am sorry that your eyes should be so afflicted."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. It is the cursed glare of the sun on the white streets of +Basseterre which has gone far to burn them out."</p> + +<p>"I had heard also that you had been plagued by a quartan ague."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have had a pyrexy, which has reduced me much."</p> + +<p>"We had set aside a cabin for your surgeon."</p> + +<p>"Ah, the rascal! There was no budging him, for he has a snug business +amongst the merchants. But hark!"</p> + +<p>He raised his ring-covered hand in the air. From far astern there came +the low deep thunder of cannon.</p> + +<p>"It is from the island!" cried the captain in astonishment. "Can it be a +signal for us to put back?"</p> + +<p>The Governor laughed.</p> + +<p>"You have heard that Sharkey, the pirate, is to be hanged this morning. +I ordered the batteries to salute when the rascal was kicking his last, +so that I might know of it out at sea. There's an end of Sharkey!"</p> + +<p>"There's an end of Sharkey!" cried the captain; and the crew took up the +cry as they gathered in little knots upon the deck and stared back at +the low, purple line of the vanishing land.</p> + +<p>It was a cheering omen for their start across the Western Ocean, and the +invalid Governor found himself a popular man on board, for it was +generally understood that but for his insistence upon an immediate trial +and sentence, the villain might have played upon some more venal judge +and so escaped. At dinner that day Sir Charles gave many anecdotes of +the deceased pirate; and so affable was he, and so skilful in adapting +his conversation to men of lower degree, that captain, mate, and +Governor smoked their long pipes and drank their claret as three good +comrades should.</p> + +<p>"And what figure did Sharkey cut in the dock?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"He is a man of some presence," said the Governor.</p> + +<p>"I had always understood that he was an ugly, sneering devil," remarked +the mate.</p> + +<p>"Well, I dare say he could look ugly upon occasions," said the Governor.</p> + +<p>"I have heard a New Bedford whaleman say that he could not forget his +eyes," said Captain Scarrow. "They were of the lightest filmy blue, with +red-rimmed lids. Was that not so, Sir Charles?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, my own eyes will not permit me to know much of those of others! +But I remember now that the Adjutant-General said that he had such an +eye as you describe, and added that the jury were so foolish as to be +visibly discomposed when it was turned upon them. It is well for them +that he is dead, for he was a man who would never forget an injury, and +if he had laid hands upon any one of them he would have stuffed him with +straw and hung him for a figure-head."</p> + +<p>The idea seemed to amuse the Governor, for he broke suddenly into a +high, neighing laugh, and the two seamen laughed also, but not so +heartily, for they remembered that Sharkey was not the last pirate who +sailed the western seas, and that as grotesque a fate might come to be +their own. Another bottle was broached to drink to a pleasant voyage, +and the Governor would drink just one other on the top of it, so that +the seamen were glad at last to stagger off—the one to his watch and +the other to his bunk. But when after his four hours' spell the mate +came down again, he was amazed to see the Governor in his Ramillies wig, +his glasses, and his powdering-gown still seated sedately at the lonely +table with his reeking pipe and six black bottles by his side.</p> + +<p>"I have drunk with the Governor of St. Kitt's when he was sick," said +he, "and God forbid that I should ever try to keep pace with him when he +is well."</p> + +<p>The voyage of the <i>Morning Star</i> was a successful one, and in about +three weeks she was at the mouth of the British Channel. From the first +day the infirm Governor had begun to recover his strength, and before +they were half-way across the Atlantic he was, save only for his eyes, +as well as any man upon the ship. Those who uphold the nourishing +qualities of wine might point to him in triumph, for never a night +passed that he did not repeat the performance of his first one. And yet +he would be out upon deck in the early morning as fresh and brisk as the +best of them, peering about with his weak eyes, and asking questions +about the sails and the rigging, for he was anxious to learn the ways of +the sea. And he made up for the deficiency of his eyes by obtaining +leave from the captain that the New England seaman—he who had been cast +away in the boat—should lead him about, and above all that he should +sit beside him when he played cards and count the number of the pips, +for unaided he could not tell the king from the knave.</p> + +<p>It was natural that this Evanson should do the Governor willing service, +since the one was the victim of the vile Sharkey, and the other was his +avenger. One could see that it was a pleasure to the big American to +lend his arm to the invalid, and at night he would stand with all +respect behind his chair in the cabin and lay his great stub-nailed +forefinger upon the card which he should play. Between them there was +little in the pockets either of Captain Scarrow or of Morgan, the first +mate, by the time they sighted the Lizard.</p> + +<p>And it was not long before they found that all they had heard of the +high temper of Sir Charles Ewan fell short of the mark. At a sign of +opposition or a word of argument his chin would shoot out from his +cravat, his masterful nose would be cocked at a higher and more insolent +angle, and his bamboo cane would whistle up over his shoulder. He +cracked it once over the head of the carpenter when the man had +accidentally jostled him upon the deck. Once, too, when there was some +grumbling and talk of a mutiny over the state of the provisions, he was +of opinion that they should not wait for the dogs to rise, but that they +should march forward and set upon them until they had trounced the +devilment out of them. "Give me a knife and a bucket!" he cried with an +oath, and could hardly be withheld from setting forth alone to deal with +the spokesman of the seamen.</p> + +<p>Captain Scarrow had to remind him that though he might be only +answerable to himself at St. Kitt's, killing became murder upon the high +seas. In politics he was, as became his official position, a stout prop +of the House of Hanover, and he swore in his cups that he had never met +a Jacobite without pistolling him where he stood. Yet for all his +vapouring and his violence he was so good a companion, with such a +stream of strange anecdote and reminiscence, that Scarrow and Morgan had +never known a voyage pass so pleasantly.</p> + +<p>And then at length came the last day, when, after passing the island, +they had struck land again at the high white cliffs at Beachy Head. As +evening fell the ship lay rolling in an oily calm, a league off from +Winchelsea, with the long dark snout of Dungeness jutting out in front +of her. Next morning they would pick up their pilot at the Foreland, and +Sir Charles might meet the king's ministers at Westminster before the +evening. The boatswain had the watch, and the three friends were met for +a last turn of cards in the cabin, the faithful American still serving +as eyes to the Governor. There was a good stake upon the table, for the +sailors had tried on this last night to win their losses back from their +passenger. Suddenly he threw his cards down, and swept all the money +into the pocket of his long-flapped silken waistcoat.</p> + +<p>"The game's mine!" said he.</p> + +<p>"Heh, Sir Charles, not so fast!" cried Captain Scarrow; "you have not +played out the hand, and we are not the losers."</p> + +<p>"Sink you for a liar!" said the Governor. "I tell you that I <i>have</i> +played out the hand, and that you <i>are</i> a loser." He whipped off his wig +and his glasses as he spoke, and there was a high, bald forehead, and a +pair of shifty blue eyes with the red rims of a bull terrier.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" cried the mate. "It's Sharkey!"</p> + +<p>The two sailors sprang from their seats, but the big American castaway +had put his huge back against the cabin door, and he held a pistol in +each of his hands. The passenger had also laid a pistol upon the +scattered cards in front of him, and he burst into his high, neighing +laugh.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sharkey is the name, gentlemen," said he, "and this is Roaring +Ned Galloway, the quartermaster of the <i>Happy Delivery</i>. We made it +hot, and so they marooned us: me on a dry Tortuga cay, and him in an +oarless boat. You dogs—you poor, fond, water-hearted dogs—we hold you +at the end of our pistols!"</p> + +<p>"You may shoot, or you may not!" cried Scarrow, striking his hand upon +the breast of his frieze jacket. "If it's my last breath, Sharkey, I +tell you that you are a bloody rogue and miscreant, with a halter and +hell-fire in store for you!"</p> + +<p>"There's a man of spirit, and one of my own kidney, and he's going to +make a very pretty death of it!" cried Sharkey. "There's no one aft save +the man at the wheel, so you may keep your breath, for you'll need it +soon. Is the dinghy astern, Ned?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, captain!"</p> + +<p>"And the other boats scuttled?"</p> + +<p>"I bored them all in three places."</p> + +<p>"Then we shall have to leave you, Captain Scarrow. You look as if you +hadn't quite got your bearings yet. Is there anything you'd like to ask +me?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you're the devil himself!" cried the captain. "Where is the +Governor of St. Kitt's?"</p> + +<p>"When last I saw him his Excellency was in bed with his throat cut. When +I broke prison I learnt from my friends—for Captain Sharkey has those +who love him in every port—that the Governor was starting for Europe +under a master who had never seen him. I climbed his verandah and I paid +him the little debt that I owed him. Then I came aboard you with such of +his things as I had need of, and a pair of glasses to hide these +tell-tale eyes of mine, and I have ruffled it as a governor should. +Now, Ned, you can get to work upon them."</p> + +<p>"Help! Help! Watch ahoy!" yelled the mate; but the butt of the pirate's +pistol crashed down on to his head, and he dropped like a pithed ox. +Scarrow rushed for the door, but the sentinel clapped his hand over his +mouth, and threw his other arm round his waist.</p> + +<p>"No use, Master Scarrow," said Sharkey. "Let us see you go down on your +knees and beg for your life."</p> + +<p>"I'll see you——" cried Scarrow, shaking his mouth clear.</p> + +<p>"Twist his arm round, Ned. Now will you?"</p> + +<p>"No; not if you twist it off."</p> + +<p>"Put an inch of your knife into him."</p> + +<p>"You may put six inches, and then I won't."</p> + +<p>"Sink me, but I like his spirit!" cried Sharkey. "Put your knife in your +pocket, Ned. You've saved your skin, Scarrow, and it's a pity so stout a +man should not take to the only trade where a pretty fellow can pick up +a living. You must be born for no common death, Scarrow, since you have +lain at my mercy and lived to tell the story. Tie him up, Ned."</p> + +<p>"To the stove, captain?"</p> + +<p>"Tut, tut! there's a fire in the stove. None of your rover tricks, Ned +Galloway, unless they are called for, or I'll let you know which of us +two is captain and which is quartermaster. Make him fast to the table.</p> + +<p>"Nay, I thought you meant to roast him!" said the quartermaster. "You +surely do not mean to let him go?"</p> + +<p>"If you and I were marooned on a Bahama cay, Ned Galloway, it is still +for me to command and for you to obey. Sink you for a villain, do you +dare to question my orders?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, Captain Sharkey, not so hot, sir!" said the quartermaster, +and, lifting Scarrow like a child, he laid him on the table. With the +quick dexterity of a seaman, he tied his spreadeagled hands and feet +with a rope which was passed underneath, and gagged him securely with +the long cravat which used to adorn the chin of the Governor of St. +Kitt's.</p> + +<p>"Now, Captain Scarrow, we must take our leave of you," said the pirate. +"If I had half a dozen of my brisk boys at my heels I should have had +your cargo and your ship, but Roaring Ned could not find a foremast hand +with the spirit of a mouse. I see there are some small craft about, and +we shall get one of them. When Captain Sharkey has a boat he can get a +smack, when he has a smack he can get a brig, when he has a brig he can +get a barque, and when he has a barque he'll soon have a full-rigged +ship of his own—so make haste into London town, or I may be coming +back, after all, for the <i>Morning Star</i>."</p> + +<p>Captain Scarrow heard the key turn in the lock as they left the cabin. +Then, as he strained at his bonds, he heard their foot-steps pass up the +companion and along the quarter-deck to where the dinghy hung in the +stern. Then, still struggling and writhing, he heard the creak of the +falls and the splash of the boat in the water. In a mad fury he tore and +dragged at his ropes, until at last, with flayed wrists and ankles, he +rolled from the table, sprang over the dead mate, kicked his way through +the closed door, and rushed hatless on to the deck.</p> + +<p>"Ahoy! Peterson, Armitage, Wilson!" he screamed. "Cutlasses and pistols! +Clear away the long-boat! Clear away the gig! Sharkey, the pirate, is in +yonder dinghy. Whistle up the larboard watch, bo'sun, and tumble into +the boats all hands."</p> + +<p>Down splashed the long-boat and down splashed the gig, but in an instant +the coxswains and crews were swarming up the falls on to the deck once +more.</p> + +<p>"The boats are scuttled!" they cried. "They are leaking like a sieve."</p> + +<p>The captain gave a bitter curse. He had been beaten and outwitted at +every point. Above was a cloudless, starlit sky, with neither wind nor +the promise of it. The sails flapped idly in the moonlight. Far away lay +a fishing-smack, with the men clustering over their net.</p> + +<p>Close to them was the little dinghy, dipping and lifting over the +shining swell.</p> + +<p>"They are dead men!" cried the captain. "A shout all together, boys, to +warn them of their danger."</p> + +<p>But it was too late.</p> + +<p>At that very moment the dinghy shot into the shadow of the fishing-boat. +There were two rapid pistol-shots, a scream, and then another +pistol-shot, followed by silence. The clustering fishermen had +disappeared. And then, suddenly, as the first puffs of a land-breeze +came out from the Sussex shore, the boom swung out, the mainsail filled, +and the little craft crept out with her nose to the Atlantic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY WITH STEPHEN CRADDOCK</h3> + + +<p>Careening was a very necessary operation for the old pirate. On his +superior speed he depended both for overhauling the trader and escaping +the man-of-war. But it was impossible to retain his sailing qualities +unless he periodically—once a year, at the least—cleared his vessel's +bottom from the long, trailing plants and crusting barnacles which +gather so rapidly in the tropical seas.</p> + +<p>For this purpose he lightened his vessel, thrust her into some narrow +inlet where she would be left high and dry at low water, fastened blocks +and tackles to her masts to pull her over on to her bilge, and then +scraped her thoroughly from rudder-post to cutwater.</p> + +<p>During the weeks which were thus occupied the ship was, of course, +defenceless; but, on the other hand, she was unapproachable by anything +heavier than an empty hull, and the place for careening was chosen with +an eye to secrecy, so that there was no great danger.</p> + +<p>So secure did the captains feel, that it was not uncommon for them, at +such times, to leave their ships under a sufficient guard and to start +off in the long-boat, either upon a sporting expedition or, more +frequently, upon a visit to some outlying town, where they turned the +heads of the women by their swaggering gallantry, or broached pipes of +wine in the market square, with a threat to pistol all who would not +drink with them.</p> + +<p>Sometimes they would even appear in cities of the size of Charleston, +and walk the streets with their clattering sidearms—an open scandal to +the whole law-abiding colony. Such visits were not always paid with +impunity. It was one of them, for example, which provoked Lieutenant +Maynard to hack off Blackbeard's head, and to spear it upon the end of +his bowsprit. But, as a rule, the pirate ruffled and bullied and drabbed +without let or hindrance, until it was time for him to go back to his +ship once more.</p> + +<p>There was one pirate, however, who never crossed even the skirts of +civilisation, and that was the sinister Sharkey, of the barque <i>Happy +Delivery</i>. It may have been from his morose and solitary temper, or, as +is more probable, that he knew that his name upon the coast was such +that outraged humanity would, against all odds, have thrown themselves +upon him, but never once did he show his face in a settlement.</p> + +<p>When his ship was laid up he would leave her under the charge of Ned +Galloway—her New England quartermaster—and would take long voyages in +his boat, sometimes, it was said, for the purpose of burying his share +of the plunder, and sometimes to shoot the wild oxen of Hispaniola, +which, when dressed and barbecued, provided provisions for his next +voyage. In the latter case the barque would come round to some +pre-arranged spot to pick him up and take on board what he had shot.</p> + +<p>There had always been a hope in the islands that Sharkey might be taken +on one of these occasions; and at last there came news to Kingston which +seemed to justify an attempt upon him. It was brought by an elderly +logwood-cutter who had fallen into the pirate's hands, and in some freak +of drunken benevolence had been allowed to get away with nothing worse +than a slit nose and a drubbing. His account was recent and definite. +The <i>Happy Delivery</i> was careening at Torbec on the south-west of +Hispaniola. Sharkey, with four men, was buccaneering on the outlying +island of La Vache. The blood of a hundred murdered crews was calling +out for vengeance, and now at last it seemed as if it might not call in +vain.</p> + +<p>Sir Edward Compton, the high-nosed, red-faced Governor, sitting in +solemn conclave with the commandant and the head of the council, was +sorely puzzled in his mind as to how he should use his chance. There was +no man-of-war nearer than Jamestown, and she was a clumsy old fly-boat, +which could neither overhaul the pirate on the seas, nor reach her in a +shallow inlet. There were forts and artillerymen both at Kingston and +Port Royal, but no soldiers available for an expedition.</p> + +<p>A private venture might be fitted out—and there were many who had a +blood-feud with Sharkey—but what could a private venture do? The +pirates were numerous and desperate. As to taking Sharkey and his four +companions, that, of course, would be easy if they could get at them; +but how were they to get at them on a large well-wooded island like La +Vache, full of wild hills and impenetrable jungles? A reward was offered +to whoever could find a solution, and that brought a man to the front +who had a singular plan, and was himself prepared to carry it out.</p> + +<p>Stephen Craddock had been that most formidable person, the Puritan gone +wrong. Sprung from a decent Salem family, his ill-doing seemed to be a +recoil from the austerity of their religion, and he brought to vice all +the physical strength and energy with which the virtues of his ancestors +had endowed him. He was ingenious, fearless, and exceedingly tenacious +of purpose, so that when he was still young his name became notorious +upon the American coast.</p> + +<p>He was the same Craddock who was tried for his life in Virginia for the +slaying of the Seminole Chief, and, though he escaped, it was well known +that he had corrupted the witnesses and bribed the judge.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, as a slaver, and even, as it was hinted, as a pirate, he had +left an evil name behind him in the Bight of Benin. Finally he had +returned to Jamaica with a considerable fortune, and had settled down to +a life of sombre dissipation. This was the man, gaunt, austere, and +dangerous, who now waited upon the Governor with a plan for the +extirpation of Sharkey.</p> + +<p>Sir Edward received him with little enthusiasm, for in spite of some +rumours of conversion and reformation, he had always regarded him as an +infected sheep who might taint the whole of his little flock. Craddock +saw the Governor's mistrust under his thin veil of formal and restrained +courtesy.</p> + +<p>"You've no call to fear me, sir," said he; "I'm a changed man from what +you've known. I've seen the light again, of late, after losing sight of +it for many a black year. It was through the ministration of the Rev. +John Simons, of our own people. Sir, if your spirit should be in need +of quickening, you would find a very sweet savour in his discourse."</p> + +<p>The Governor cocked his Episcopalian nose at him.</p> + +<p>"You came here to speak of Sharkey, Master Craddock," said he.</p> + +<p>"The man Sharkey is a vessel of wrath," said Craddock. "His wicked horn +has been exalted over long, and it is borne in upon me that if I can cut +him off and utterly destroy him, it will be a goodly deed, and one which +may atone for many backslidings in the past. A plan has been given to me +whereby I may encompass his destruction."</p> + +<p>The Governor was keenly interested, for there was a grim and practical +air about the man's freckled face which showed that he was in earnest. +After all, he was a seaman and a fighter, and, if it were true that he +was eager to atone for his past, no better man could be chosen for the +business.</p> + +<p>"This will be a dangerous task, Master Craddock," said he.</p> + +<p>"If I meet my death at it, it may be that it will cleanse the memory of +an ill-spent life. I have much to atone for."</p> + +<p>The Governor did not see his way to contradict him.</p> + +<p>"What was your plan?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"You have heard that Sharkey's barque, the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, came from +this very port of Kingston?"</p> + +<p>"It belonged to Mr. Codrington, and it was taken by Sharkey, who +scuttled his own sloop and moved into her because she was faster," said +Sir Edward.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but it may be that you have never heard that Mr. Codrington has a +sister ship, the <i>White Rose</i>, which lies even now in the harbour, and +which is so like the pirate, that, if it were not for a white paint +line, none could tell them apart."</p> + +<p>"Ah! and what of that?" asked the Governor keenly, with the air of one +who is just on the edge of an idea.</p> + +<p>"By the help of it this man shall be delivered into our hands."</p> + +<p>"And how?"</p> + +<p>"I will paint out the streak upon the <i>White Rose</i>, and make it in all +things like the <i>Happy Delivery</i>. Then I will set sail for the Island of +La Vache, where this man is slaying the wild oxen. When he sees me he +will surely mistake me for his own vessel which he is awaiting, and he +will come on board to his own undoing."</p> + +<p>It was a simple plan, and yet it seemed to the Governor that it might be +effective. Without hesitation he gave Craddock permission to carry it +out, and to take any steps he liked in order to further the object which +he had in view. Sir Edward was not very sanguine, for many attempts had +been made upon Sharkey, and their results had shown, that he was as +cunning as he was ruthless. But this gaunt Puritan with the evil record +was cunning and ruthless also.</p> + +<p>The contest of wits between two such men as Sharkey and Craddock +appealed to the Governor's acute sense of sport, and though he was +inwardly convinced that the chances were against him, he backed his man +with the same loyalty which he would have shown to his horse or his +cock.</p> + +<p>Haste was, above all things, necessary, for upon any day the careening +might be finished, and the pirates out at sea once more. But there was +not very much to do, and there were many willing hands to do it, so the +second day saw the <i>White Rose</i> beating out for the open sea. There were +many seamen in the port who knew the lines and rig of the pirate barque, +and not one of them could see the slightest difference in this +counterfeit. Her white side line had been painted out, her masts and +yards were smoked, to give them the dingy appearance of the +weather-beaten rover, and a large diamond shaped patch was let into her +fore-topsail.</p> + +<p>Her crew were volunteers, many of them being men who had sailed with +Stephen Craddock before—the mate, Joshua Hird, an old slaver, had been +his accomplice in many voyages, and came now at the bidding of his +chief.</p> + +<p>The avenging barque sped across the Caribbean Sea, and, at the sight of +that patched topsail, the little craft which they met flew left and +right like frightened trout in a pool. On the fourth evening Point +Abacou bore five miles to the north and east of them.</p> + +<p>On the fifth they were at anchor in the Bay of Tortoises at the Island +of La Vache, where Sharkey and his four men had been hunting. It was a +well-wooded place, with the palms and underwood growing down to the thin +crescent of silver sand which skirted the shore. They had hoisted the +black flag and the red pennant, but no answer came from the shore. +Craddock strained his eyes, hoping every instant to see a boat shoot out +to them with Sharkey seated in the sheets. But the night passed away, +and a day and yet another night, without any sign of the men whom they +were endeavouring to trap. It looked as if they were already gone.</p> + +<p>On the second morning Craddock went ashore in search of some proof +whether Sharkey and his men were still upon the island. What he found +reassured him greatly. Close to the shore was a boucan of green wood, +such as was used for preserving the meat, and a great store of barbecued +strips of ox-flesh was hung upon lines all round it. The pirate ship had +not taken off her provisions, and therefore the hunters were still upon +the island.</p> + +<p>Why had they not shown themselves? Was it that they had detected that +this was not their own ship? Or was it that they were hunting in the +interior of the island, and were not on the lookout for a ship yet? +Craddock was still hesitating between the two alternatives, when a Carib +Indian came down with information. The pirates were in the island, he +said, and their camp was a day's march from the sea. They had stolen his +wife, and the marks of their stripes were still pink upon his brown +back. Their enemies were his friends, and he would lead them to where +they lay.</p> + +<p>Craddock could not have asked for anything better; so early next +morning, with a small party armed to the teeth, he set off under the +guidance of the Carib. All day they struggled through brushwood and +clambered over rocks, pushing their way further and further into the +desolate heart of the island. Here and there they found traces of the +hunters, the bones of a slain ox, or the marks of feet in a morass, and +once, towards evening, it seemed to some of them that they heard the +distant rattle of guns.</p> + +<p>That night they spent under the trees, and pushed on again with the +earliest light. About noon they came to the huts of bark, which, the +Carib told them, were the camp of the hunters, but they were silent and +deserted. No doubt their occupants were away at the hunt and would +return in the evening, so Craddock and his men lay in ambush in the +brushwood around them. But no one came, and another night was spent in +the forest. Nothing more could be done, and it seemed to Craddock that +after the two days' absence it was time that he returned to his ship +once more.</p> + +<p>The return journey was less difficult, as they had already blazed a path +for themselves. Before evening they found themselves once more at the +Bay of Palms, and saw their ship riding at anchor where they had left +her. Their boat and oars had been hauled up among the bushes, so they +launched it and pulled out to the barque.</p> + +<p>"No luck, then!" cried Joshua Hird, the mate, looking down with a pale +face from the poop.</p> + +<p>"His camp was empty, but he may come down to us yet," said Craddock, +with his hand on the ladder.</p> + +<p>Somebody upon deck began to laugh. "I think," said the mate, "that these +men had better stay in the boat."</p> + +<p>"Why so?"</p> + +<p>"If you will come aboard, sir, you will understand it." He spoke in a +curious hesitating fashion.</p> + +<p>The blood flushed to Craddock's gaunt face.</p> + +<p>"How is this, Master Hird?" he cried, springing up the side. "What mean +you by giving orders to my boat's crew?"</p> + +<p>But as he passed over the bulwarks, with one foot upon the deck and one +knee upon the rail, a tow-bearded man, whom he had never before observed +aboard his vessel, grabbed suddenly at his pistol. Craddock clutched at +the fellow's wrist, but at the same instant his mate snatched the +cutlass from his side.</p> + +<p>"What roguery is this?" shouted Craddock looking furiously around him. +But the crew stood in little knots about the deck, laughing and +whispering amongst themselves without showing any desire to go to his +assistance. Even in that hurried glance Craddock noticed that they were +dressed in the most singular manner, with long riding-coats, +full-skirted velvet gowns and coloured ribands at their knees, more like +men of fashion than seamen.</p> + +<p>As he looked at their grotesque figures he struck his brow with his +clenched fist to be sure that he was awake. The deck seemed to be much +dirtier than when he had left it, and there were strange, sun-blackened +faces turned upon him from every side. Not one of them did he know save +only Joshua Hird. Had the ship been captured in his absence? Were these +Sharkey's men who were around him? At the thought he broke furiously +away and tried to climb over to his boat, but a dozen hands were on him +in an instant, and he was pushed aft through the open door of his own +cabin.</p> + +<p>And it was all different from the cabin which he had left. The floor was +different, the ceiling was different, the furniture was different. His +had been plain and austere. This was sumptuous and yet dirty, hung with +rare velvet curtains splashed with wine-stains, and panelled with costly +woods which were pocked with pistol-marks.</p> + +<p>On the table was a great chart of the Caribbean Sea, and beside it, with +compasses in his hand, sat a clean-shaven, pale-faced man with a fur cap +and a claret-coloured coat of damask. Craddock turned white under his +freckles as he looked upon the long, thin, high-nostrilled nose and the +red-rimmed eyes which were turned upon him with the fixed, humorous gaze +of the master player who has left his opponent without a move.</p> + +<p>"Sharkey?" cried Craddock.</p> + +<p>Sharkey's thin lips opened and he broke into his high, sniggering laugh.</p> + +<p>"You fool!" he cried, and, leaning over, he stabbed Craddock's shoulder +again and again with his compasses. "You poor, dull-witted fool, would +you match yourself against me?"</p> + +<p>It was not the pain of the wounds, but it was the contempt in Sharkey's +voice which turned Craddock into a savage madman. He flew at the pirate, +roaring with rage, striking, kicking, writhing, and foaming. It took six +men to drag him down on to the floor amidst the splintered remains of +the table—and not one of the six who did not bear the prisoner's mark +upon him. But Sharkey still surveyed him with the same contemptuous eye. +From outside there came the crash of breaking wood and the clamour of +startled voices.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked Sharkey.</p> + +<p>"They have stove the boat with cold shot, and the men are in the water."</p> + +<p>"Let them stay there," said the pirate. "Now, Craddock, you know where +you are. You are aboard my ship the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, and you lie at my +mercy. I knew you for a stout seaman, you rogue, before you took to this +long-shore canting. Your hands then were no cleaner than my own. Will +you sign articles, as your mate has done, and join us, or shall I heave +you over to follow your ship's company?"</p> + +<p>"Where is my ship?" asked Craddock.</p> + +<p>"Scuttled in the bay."</p> + +<p>"And the hands?"</p> + +<p>"In the bay, too."</p> + +<p>"Hock him and heave him over," said Sharkey.</p> + +<p>Many rough hands had dragged Craddock out upon deck, and Galloway, the +quartermaster, had already drawn his hangar to cripple him, when Sharkey +came hurrying from his cabin with an eager face.</p> + +<p>"We can do better with the hound!" he cried. "Sink me if it is not a +rare plan. Throw him into the sail-room with the irons on, and do you +come here, quartermaster, that I may tell you what I have in my mind."</p> + +<p>So Craddock, bruised and wounded in soul and body, was thrown into the +dark sail-room, so fettered that he could not stir hand or foot, but his +Northern blood was running strong in his veins, and his grim spirit +aspired only to make such an ending as might go some way towards atoning +for the evil of his life. All night he lay in the curve of the bilge +listening to the rush of the water and the straining of the timbers +which told him that the ship was at sea, and driving fast. In the early +morning some one came crawling to him in the darkness over the heaps of +sails.</p> + +<p>"Here's rum and biscuits," said the voice of his late mate. "It's at the +risk of my life, Master Craddock, that I bring them to you."</p> + +<p>"It was you who trapped me and caught me as in a snare!" cried Craddock. +"How shall you answer for what you have done?"</p> + +<p>"What I did I did with the point of a knife betwixt my blade-bones."</p> + +<p>"God forgive you for a coward, Joshua Hird. How came you into their +hands?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Master Craddock, the pirate ship came back from its careening upon +the very day that you left us. They laid us aboard, and, short-handed as +we were, with the best of the men ashore with you, we could offer but a +poor defence. Some were cut down, and they were the happiest. The others +were killed afterwards. As to me, I saved my life by signing on with +them."</p> + +<p>"And they scuttled my ship?"</p> + +<p>"They scuttled her, and then Sharkey and his men, who had been watching +us from the brushwood, came off to the ship. His main-yard had been +cracked and fished last voyage, so he had suspicions of us, seeing that +ours was whole. Then he thought of laying the same trap for you which +you had set for him."</p> + +<p>Craddock groaned.</p> + +<p>"How came I not to see that fished main-yard?" he muttered. "But whither +are we bound?"</p> + +<p>"We are running north and west."</p> + +<p>"North and west! Then we are heading back towards Jamaica."</p> + +<p>"With an eight-knot wind."</p> + +<p>"Have you heard what they mean to do with me?"</p> + +<p>"I have not heard. If you would but sign the articles——"</p> + +<p>"Enough, Joshua Hird! I have risked my soul too often."</p> + +<p>"As you wish! I have done what I could. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>All that night and the next day the <i>Happy Delivery</i> ran before the +easterly trades, and Stephen Craddock lay in the dark of the sail-room +working patiently at his wrist-irons. One he had slipped off at the cost +of a row of broken and bleeding knuckles, but, do what he would, he +could not free the other, and his ankles were securely fastened.</p> + +<p>From hour to hour he heard the swish of the water, and knew that the +barque must be driving with all set, in front of the trade wind. In that +case they must be nearly back again to Jamaica by now. What plan could +Sharkey have in his head, and what use did he hope to make of him? +Craddock set his teeth, and vowed that if he had once been a villain +from choice he would, at least, never be one by compulsion.</p> + +<p>On the second morning Craddock became aware that sail had been reduced +in the vessel, and that she was tacking slowly, with a light breeze on +her beam. The varying slope of the sail-room and the sounds from the +deck told his practised senses exactly what she was doing. The short +reaches showed him that she was man[oe]uvring near shore, and making for +some definite point. If so, she must have reached Jamaica. But what +could she be doing there?</p> + +<p>And then suddenly there was a burst of hearty cheering from the deck, +and then the crash of a gun above his head, and then the answering +booming of guns from far over the water. Craddock sat up and strained +his ears. Was the ship in action? Only the one gun had been fired, and +though many had answered there were none of the crashings which told of +a shot coming home.</p> + +<p>Then, if it was not an action, it must be a salute. But who would salute +Sharkey, the pirate? It could only be another pirate ship which would do +so. So Craddock lay back again with a groan, and continued to work at +the manacle which still held his right wrist.</p> + +<p>But suddenly there came the shuffling of steps outside, and he had +hardly time to wrap the loose links round his free hand, when the door +was unbolted and two pirates came in.</p> + +<p>"Got your hammer, carpenter?" asked one, whom Craddock recognised as the +big quartermaster. "Knock off his leg shackles, then. Better leave the +bracelets—he's safer with them on."</p> + +<p>With hammer and chisel the carpenter loosened the irons.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with me?" asked Craddock.</p> + +<p>"Come on deck and you'll see."</p> + +<p>The sailor seized him by the arm and dragged him roughly to the foot of +the companion. Above him was a square of blue sky cut across by the +mizzen gaff with the colours flying at the peak. But it was the sight of +those colours which struck the breath from Stephen Craddock's lips. For +there were two of them, and the British ensign was flying above the +Jolly Rodger—the honest flag above that of the rogue.</p> + +<p>For an instant Craddock stopped in amazement, but a brutal push from the +pirates behind drove him up the companion ladder. As he stepped out upon +deck, his eyes turned up to the main, and there again were the British +colours flying above the red pennant, and all the shrouds and rigging +were garlanded with streamers.</p> + +<p>Had the ship been taken, then? But that was impossible, for there were +the pirates clustering in swarms along the port bulwarks, and waving +their hats joyously in the air. Most prominent of all was the renegade +mate, standing on the foc'sle head, and gesticulating wildly. Craddock +looked over the side to see what they were cheering at, and then in a +flash he saw how critical was the moment.</p> + +<p>On the port bow, and about a mile off, lay the white houses and forts of +Port Royal, with flags breaking out everywhere over their roofs. Right +ahead was the opening of the palisades leading to the town of Kingston. +Not more than a quarter of a mile off was a small sloop working out +against the very slight wind. The British ensign was at her peak, and +her rigging was all decorated. On her deck could be seen a dense crowd +of people cheering and waving their hats, and the gleam of scarlet told +that there were officers of the garrison among them.</p> + +<p>In an instant, with the quick perception of a man of action, Craddock +saw through it all. Sharkey, with that diabolical cunning and audacity +which were among his main characteristics, was simulating the part which +Craddock would himself have played, had he come back victorious. It was +in <i>his</i> honour that the salutes were firing and the flags flying. It +was to welcome <i>him</i> that this ship with the Governor, the commandant, +and the chiefs of the island was approaching. In another ten minutes +they would all be under the guns of the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, and Sharkey +would have won the greatest stake that ever a pirate played for yet.</p> + +<p>"Bring him forward," cried the pirate captain, as Craddock appeared +between the carpenter and the quartermaster. "Keep the ports closed, but +clear away the port guns, and stand by for a broadside. Another two +cable lengths and we have them."</p> + +<p>"They are edging away," said the boatswain. "I think they smell us."</p> + +<p>"That's soon set right," said Sharkey, turning his filmy eyes upon +Craddock. "Stand there, you—right there, where they can recognise you, +with your hand on the guy, and wave your hat to them. Quick, or your +brains will be over your coat. Put an inch of your knife into him, Ned. +Now, will you wave your hat? Try him again, then. Hey, shoot him! stop +him!"</p> + +<p>But it was too late. Relying upon the manacles, the quartermaster had +taken his hands for a moment off Craddock's arm. In that instant he had +flung off the carpenter and, amid a spatter of pistol bullets, had +sprung the bulwarks and was swimming for his life. He had been hit and +hit again, but it takes many pistols to kill a resolute and powerful man +who has his mind set upon doing something before he dies. He was a +strong swimmer, and, in spite of the red trail which he left in the +water behind him, he was rapidly increasing his distance from the +pirate.</p> + +<p>"Give me a musket!" cried Sharkey, with a savage oath.</p> + +<p>He was a famous shot, and his iron nerves never failed him in an +emergency. The dark head appearing on the crest of a roller, and then +swooping down on the other side, was already half-way to the sloop. +Sharkey dwelt long upon his aim before he fired. With the crack of the +gun the swimmer reared himself up in the water, waved his hands in a +gesture of warning, and roared out in a voice which rang over the bay. +Then, as the sloop swung round her head-sails, and the pirate fired an +impotent broadside, Stephen Craddock, smiling grimly in his death agony, +sank slowly down to that golden couch which glimmered far beneath him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY</h3> + + +<p>Sharkey, the abominable Sharkey, was out again. After two years of the +Coromandel coast, his black barque of death, the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, was +prowling off the Spanish Main, while trader and fisher flew for dear +life at the menace of that patched fore-topsail, rising slowly over the +violet rim of the tropical sea.</p> + +<p>As the birds cower when the shadow of the hawk falls athwart the field, +or as the jungle folk crouch and shiver when the coughing cry of the +tiger is heard in the night-time, so through all the busy world of +ships, from the whalers of Nantucket to the tobacco ships of Charleston, +and from the Spanish supply ships of Cadiz to the sugar merchants of the +Main, there spread the rumour of the black curse of the ocean.</p> + +<p>Some hugged the shore, ready to make for the nearest port, while others +struck far out beyond the known lines of commerce, but none were so +stout-hearted that they did not breathe more freely when their +passengers and cargoes were safe under the guns of some mothering fort.</p> + +<p>Through all the islands there ran tales of charred derelicts at sea, of +sudden glares seen afar in the night-time, and of withered bodies +stretched upon the sand of waterless Bahama Keys. All the old signs were +there to show that Sharkey was at his bloody game once more.</p> + +<p>These fair waters and yellow-rimmed palm-nodding islands are the +traditional home of the sea rover. First it was the gentleman +adventurer, the man of family and honour, who fought as a patriot, +though he was ready to take his payment in Spanish plunder.</p> + +<p>Then, within a century, his debonair figure had passed to make room for +the buccaneers, robbers pure and simple, yet with some organised code of +their own, commanded by notable chieftains, and taking in hand great +concerted enterprises.</p> + +<p>They, too, passed with their fleets and their sacking of cities, to make +room for the worst of all, the lonely, outcast pirate, the bloody +Ishmael of the seas, at war with the whole human race. This was the vile +brood which the early eighteenth century had spawned forth, and of them +all there was none who could compare in audacity, wickedness, and evil +repute with the unutterable Sharkey.</p> + +<p>It was early in May, in the year 1720, that the <i>Happy Delivery</i> lay +with her fore-yard aback some five leagues west of the Windward Passage, +waiting to see what rich, helpless craft the trade-wind might bring down +to her.</p> + +<p>Three days she had lain there, a sinister black speck, in the centre of +the great sapphire circle of the ocean. Far to the south-east the low +blue hills of Hispaniola showed up on the skyline.</p> + +<p>Hour by hour as he waited without avail, Sharkey's savage temper had +risen, for his arrogant spirit chafed against any contradiction, even +from Fate itself. To his quartermaster, Ned Galloway, he had said that +night, with his odious neighing laugh, that the crew of the next +captured vessel should answer to him for having kept him waiting so +long.</p> + +<p>The cabin of the pirate barque was a good-sized room, hung with much +tarnished finery, and presenting a strange medley of luxury and +disorder. The panelling of carved and polished sandal-wood was blotched +with foul smudges and chipped with bullet-marks fired in some drunken +revelry.</p> + +<p>Rich velvets and laces were heaped upon the brocaded settees, while +metal-work and pictures of great price filled every niche and corner, +for anything which caught the pirate's fancy in the sack of a hundred +vessels was thrown haphazard into his chamber. A rich, soft carpet +covered the floor, but it was mottled with wine-stains and charred with +burned tobacco.</p> + +<p>Above, a great brass hanging-lamp threw a brilliant yellow light upon +this singular apartment, and upon the two men who sat in their +shirt-sleeves with the wine between them, and the cards in their hands, +deep in a game of piquet. Both were smoking long pipes, and the thin +blue reek filled the cabin and floated through the skylight above them, +which, half opened, disclosed a slip of deep violet sky spangled with +great silver stars.</p> + +<p>Ned Galloway, the quartermaster, was a huge New England wastrel, the one +rotten branch upon a goodly Puritan family tree. His robust limbs and +giant frame were the heritage of a long line of God-fearing ancestors, +while his black savage heart was all his own. Bearded to the temples, +with fierce blue eyes, a tangled lion's mane of coarse, dark hair, and +huge gold rings in his ears, he was the idol of the women in every +waterside hell from the Tortugas to Maracaibo on the Main. A red cap, a +blue silken shirt, brown velvet breeches with gaudy knee-ribbons, and +high sea-boots made up the costume of the rover Hercules.</p> + +<p>A very different figure was Captain John Sharkey. His thin, drawn, +clean-shaven face was corpse-like in its pallor, and all the suns of the +Indies could but turn it to a more deathly parchment tint. He was part +bald, with a few lank locks of tow-like hair, and a steep, narrow +forehead. His thin nose jutted sharply forth, and near-set on either +side of it were those filmy blue eyes, red-rimmed like those of a white +bull-terrier, from which strong men winced away in fear and loathing. +His bony hands, with long, thin fingers which quivered ceaselessly like +the antennae of an insect, were toying constantly with the cards and the +heap of gold moidores which lay before him. His dress was of some sober +drab material, but, indeed, the men who looked upon that fearsome face +had little thought for the costume of its owner.</p> + +<p>The game was brought to a sudden interruption, for the cabin door was +swung rudely open, and two rough fellows—Israel Martin, the boatswain, +and Red Foley, the gunner—rushed into the cabin. In an instant Sharkey +was on his feet with a pistol in either hand and murder in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sink you for villains!" he cried. "I see well that if I do not shoot +one of you from time to time you will forget the man I am. What mean you +by entering my cabin as though it were a Wapping alehouse?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Captain Sharkey," said Martin, with a sullen frown upon his +brick-red face, "it is even such talk as this which has set us by the +ears. We have had enough of it."</p> + +<p>"And more than enough," said Red Foley, the gunner. "There be no mates +aboard a pirate craft, and so the boatswain, the gunner, and the +quartermaster are the officers."</p> + +<p>"Did I gainsay it?" asked Sharkey with an oath.</p> + +<p>"You have miscalled us and mishandled us before the men, and we scarce +know at this moment why we should risk our lives in fighting for the +cabin and against the foc'sle."</p> + +<p>Sharkey saw that something serious was in the wind. He laid down his +pistols and leaned back in his chair with a flash of his yellow fangs.</p> + +<p>"Nay, this is sad talk," said he, "that two stout fellows who have +emptied many a bottle and cut many a throat with me, should now fall out +over nothing. I know you to be roaring boys who would go with me against +the devil himself if I bid you. Let the steward bring cups and drown all +unkindness between us."</p> + +<p>"It is no time for drinking, Captain Sharkey," said Martin. "The men are +holding council round the mainmast, and may be aft at any minute. They +mean mischief, Captain Sharkey, and we have come to warn you."</p> + +<p>Sharkey sprang for the brass-handled sword which hung from the wall.</p> + +<p>"Sink them for rascals!" he cried. "When I have gutted one or two of +them they may hear reason."</p> + +<p>But the others barred his frantic way to the door.</p> + +<p>"There are forty of them under the lead of Sweetlocks, the master," said +Martin, "and on the open deck they would surely cut you to pieces. Here +within the cabin it may be that we can hold them off at the points of +our pistols." He had hardly spoken when there came the tread of many +heavy feet upon the deck. Then there was a pause with no sound but the +gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the pirate vessel. +Finally, a crashing blow as from a pistol-butt fell upon the door, and +an instant afterwards Sweetlocks himself, a tall, dark man, with a deep +red birth-mark blazing upon his cheek, strode into the cabin. His +swaggering air sank somewhat as he looked into those pale and filmy +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sharkey," said he, "I come as spokesman of the crew."</p> + +<p>"So I have heard, Sweetlocks," said the captain, softly. "I may live to +rip you the length of your vest for this night's work."</p> + +<p>"That is as it may be, Captain Sharkey," the master answered, "but if +you will look up you will see that I have those at my back who will not +see me mishandled."</p> + +<p>"Cursed if we do!" growled a deep voice from above, and glancing upwards +the officers in the cabin were aware of a line of fierce, bearded, +sun-blackened faces looking down at them through the open skylight.</p> + +<p>"Well, what would you have?" asked Sharkey. "Put it in words, man, and +let us have an end of it."</p> + +<p>"The men think," said Sweetlocks, "that you are the devil himself, and +that there will be no luck for them whilst they sail the sea in such +company. Time was when we did our two or three craft a day, and every +man had women and dollars to his liking, but now for a long week we have +not raised a sail, and save for three beggarly sloops, have taken never +a vessel since we passed the Bahama Bank. Also, they know that you +killed Jack Bartholomew, the carpenter, by beating his head in with a +bucket, so that each of us goes in fear of his life. Also, the rum has +given out, and we are hard put to it for liquor. Also, you sit in your +cabin whilst it is in the articles that you should drink and roar with +the crew. For all these reasons it has been this day in general meeting +decreed——"</p> + +<p>Sharkey had stealthily cocked a pistol under the table, so it may have +been as well for the mutinous master that he never reached the end of +his discourse, for even as he came to it there was a swift patter of +feet upon the deck, and a ship lad, wild with his tidings, rushed into +the room.</p> + +<p>"A craft!" he yelled. "A great craft, and close aboard us!"</p> + +<p>In a flash the quarrel was forgotten, and the pirates were rushing to +quarters. Sure enough, surging slowly down before the gentle trade-wind, +a great full-rigged ship, with all sail set, was close beside them.</p> + +<p>It was clear that she had come from afar and knew nothing of the ways of +the Caribbean Sea, for she made no effort to avoid the low, dark craft +which lay so close upon her bow, but blundered on as if her mere size +would avail her.</p> + +<p>So daring was she, that for an instant the Rovers, as they flew to loose +the tackles of their guns, and hoisted their battle-lanterns, believed +that a man-of-war had caught them napping.</p> + +<p>But at the sight of her bulging, portless sides and merchant rig a shout +of exultation broke from amongst them, and in an instant they had swung +round their fore-yard, and darting alongside they had grappled with her +and flung a spray of shrieking, cursing ruffians upon her deck.</p> + +<p>Half a dozen seamen of the night-watch were cut down where they stood, +the mate was felled by Sharkey and tossed overboard by Ned Galloway, and +before the sleepers had time to sit up in their berths, the vessel was +in the hands of the pirates.</p> + +<p>The prize proved to be the full-rigged ship <i>Portobello</i>—Captain Hardy, +master—bound from London to Kingston in Jamaica, with a cargo of cotton +goods and hoop-iron.</p> + +<p>Having secured their prisoners, all huddled together in a dazed, +distracted group, the pirates spread over the vessel in search of +plunder, handing all that was found to the giant quartermaster, who in +turn passed it over the side of the <i>Happy Delivery</i> and laid it under +guard at the foot of her mainmast.</p> + +<p>The cargo was useless, but there were a thousand guineas in the ship's +strong-box, and there were some eight or ten passengers, three of them +wealthy Jamaica merchants, all bringing home well-filled boxes from +their London visit.</p> + +<p>When all the plunder was gathered, the passengers and crew were dragged +to the waist, and under the cold smile of Sharkey each in turn was +thrown over the side—Sweetlocks standing by the rail and hamstringing +them with his cutlass as they passed over, lest some strong swimmer +should rise in judgment against them. A portly, grey-haired woman, the +wife of one of the planters, was among the captives, but she also was +thrust screaming and clutching over the side.</p> + +<p>"Mercy, you hussy!" neighed Sharkey, "you are surely a good twenty +years too old for that."</p> + +<p>The captain of the <i>Portobello</i>, a hale, blue-eyed grey-beard, was the +last upon the deck. He stood, a thick-set resolute figure, in the glare +of the lanterns, while Sharkey bowed and smirked before him.</p> + +<p>"One skipper should show courtesy to another," said he, "and sink me if +Captain Sharkey would be behind in good manners! I have held you to the +last, as you see, where a brave man should be; so now, my bully, you +have seen the end of them, and may step over with an easy mind."</p> + +<p>"So I shall, Captain Sharkey," said the old seaman, "for I have done my +duty so far as my power lay. But before I go over I would say a word in +your ear."</p> + +<p>"If it be to soften me, you may save your breath. You have kept us +waiting here for three days, and curse me if one of you shall live!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, it is to tell you what you should know. You have not yet found +what is the true treasure aboard of this ship."</p> + +<p>"Not found it? Sink me, but I will slice your liver, Captain Hardy, if +you do not make good your words! Where is this treasure you speak of?"</p> + +<p>"It is not a treasure of gold, but it is a fair maid, which may be no +less welcome."</p> + +<p>"Where is she, then? And why was she not with the others?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you why she was not with the others. She is the only +daughter of the Count and Countess Ramirez, who are amongst those whom +you have murdered. Her name is Inez Ramirez, and she is of the best +blood of Spain, her father being Governor of Chagre, to which he was now +bound. It chanced that she was found to have formed an attachment, as +maids will, to one far beneath her in rank aboard this ship; so her +parents, being people of great power, whose word is not to be gainsaid, +constrained me to confine her close in a special cabin aft of my own. +Here she was held straitly, all food being carried to her, and she +allowed to see no one. This I tell you as a last gift, though why I +should make it to you I do not know, for indeed you are a most bloody +rascal, and it comforts me in dying to think that you will surely be +gallow's-meat in this world, and hell's-meat in the next."</p> + +<p>At the words he ran to the rail, and vaulted over into the darkness, +praying as he sank into the depths of the sea, that the betrayal of this +maid might not be counted too heavily against his soul.</p> + +<p>The body of Captain Hardy had not yet settled upon the sand forty +fathoms deep before the pirates had rushed along the cabin gangway. +There, sure enough, at the further end, was a barred door, overlooked in +their previous search. There was no key, but they beat it in with their +gunstocks, whilst shriek after shriek came from within. In the light of +their outstretched, lanterns they saw a young woman, in the very prime +and fullness of her youth, crouching in a corner, her unkempt hair +hanging to the ground, her dark eyes glaring with fear, her lovely form +straining away in horror from this inrush of savage blood-stained men. +Rough hands seized her, she was jerked to her feet, and dragged with +scream on scream to where John Sharkey awaited her. He held the light +long and fondly to her face, then, laughing loudly, he bent forward and +left his red hand-print upon her cheek.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the rovers' brand, lass, that he marks his ewes. Take her to the +cabin and use her well. Now, hearties, get her under water, and out to +our luck once more."</p> + +<p>Within an hour the good ship <i>Portobello</i> had settled down to her doom, +till she lay beside her murdered passengers upon the Caribbean sand, +while the pirate barque, her deck littered with plunder, was heading +northward in search of another victim.</p> + +<p>There was a carouse that night in the cabin of the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, at +which three men drank deep. They were the captain, the quartermaster, +and Baldy Stable, the surgeon, a man who had held the first practice in +Charleston, until, misusing a patient, he fled from justice, and took +his skill over to the pirates. A bloated fat man he was, with a creased +neck and a great shining scalp, which gave him his name. Sharkey had put +for the moment all thought of mutiny out of his head, knowing that no +animal is fierce when it is over-fed, and that whilst the plunder of the +great ship was new to them he need fear no trouble from his crew. He +gave himself up, therefore, to the wine and the riot, shouting and +roaring with his boon companions. All three were flushed and mad, ripe +for any devilment, when the thought of the woman crossed the pirate's +evil mind. He yelled to the negro steward that he should bring her on +the instant.</p> + +<p>Inez Ramirez had now realised it all—the death of her father and +mother, and her own position in the hands of their murderers. Yet +calmness had come with the knowledge, and there was no sign of terror in +her proud, dark face as she was led into the cabin, but rather a +strange, firm set of the mouth and an exultant gleam of the eyes, like +one who sees great hopes in the future. She smiled at the pirate captain +as he rose and seized her by the waist.</p> + +<p>"'Fore God! this is a lass of spirit," cried Sharkey; passing his arm +round her. "She was born to be a Rover's bride. Come, my bird, and drink +to our better friendship."</p> + +<p>"Article Six!" hiccoughed the doctor. "All <i>bona robas</i> in common."</p> + +<p>"Aye! we hold you to that, Captain Sharkey," said Galloway. "It is so +writ in Article Six."</p> + +<p>"I will cut the man into ounces who comes betwixt us!" cried Sharkey, as +he turned his fish-like eyes from one to the other. "Nay, lass, the man +is not born that will take you from John Sharkey. Sit here upon my knee, +and place your arm round me so. Sink me, if she has not learned to love +me at sight! Tell me, my pretty, why you were so mishandled and laid in +the bilboes aboard yonder craft?"</p> + +<p>The woman shook her head and smiled. "No Inglese—no Inglese," she +lisped. She had drunk off the bumper of wine which Sharkey held to her, +and her dark eyes gleamed more brightly than before. Sitting on +Sharkey's knee, her arm encircled his neck, and her hand toyed with his +hair, his ear, his cheek. Even the strange quartermaster and the +hardened surgeon felt a horror as they watched her, but Sharkey laughed +in his joy. "Curse me, if she is not a lass of metal!" he cried, as he +pressed her to him and kissed her unresisting lips.</p> + +<p>But a strange intent look of interest had come into the surgeon's eyes +as he watched her, and his face set rigidly, as if a fearsome thought +had entered his mind. There stole a grey pallor over his bull face, +mottling all the red of the tropics and the flush of the wine.</p> + +<p>"Look at her hand, Captain Sharkey!" he cried. "For the Lord's sake, +look at her hand!"</p> + +<p>Sharkey stared down at the hand which had fondled him. It was of a +strange dead pallor, with a yellow shiny web betwixt the fingers. All +over it was a white fluffy dust, like the flour of a new-baked loaf. It +lay thick on Sharkey's neck and cheek. With a cry he flung the woman +from his lap; but in an instant, with a wild-cat bound, and a scream of +triumphant malice, she had sprung at the surgeon, who vanished yelling +under the table. One of her clawing hands grasped Galloway by the beard, +but he tore himself away, and snatching a pike, held her off from him as +she gibbered and mowed with the blazing eyes of a maniac.</p> + +<p>The black steward had run in on the sudden turmoil, and among them they +forced the mad creature back into the cabin and turned the key upon her. +Then the three sank panting into their chairs and looked with eyes of +horror upon each other. The same word was in the mind of each, but +Galloway was the first to speak it.</p> + +<p>"A leper!" he cried. "She has us all, curse her!"</p> + +<p>"Not me," said the surgeon; "she never laid her finger on me."</p> + +<p>"For that matter," cried Galloway, "it was but my beard that she +touched. I will have every hair of it off before morning."</p> + +<p>"Dolts that we are!" the surgeon shouted, beating his head with-his +hand. "Tainted or no, we shall never know a moment's peace till the year +is up and the time of danger past. 'Fore God, that merchant skipper has +left his mark on us, and pretty fools we were to think that such a maid +would be quarantined for the cause he gave. It is easy to see now that +her corruption broke forth in the journey, and that save throwing her +over they had no choice but to board her up until they should come to +some port with a lazarette."</p> + +<p>Sharkey had sat leaning back in his chair with a ghastly face while he +listened to the surgeon's words. He mopped himself with his red +handkerchief, and wiped away the fatal dust with which he was smeared.</p> + +<p>"What of me?" he croaked. "What say you, Baldy Stable? Is there a chance +for me? Curse you for a villain! speak out, or I will drub you within an +inch of your life, and that inch also! Is there a chance for me, I say!"</p> + +<p>But the surgeon shook his head. "Captain Sharkey," said he, "it would be +an ill deed to speak you false. The taint is on you. No man on whom the +leper scales have rested is ever clean again."</p> + +<p>Sharkey's head fell forward on his chest, and he sat motionless, +stricken by this great and sudden horror, looking with his smouldering +eyes into his fearsome future. Softly the mate and the surgeon rose from +their places, and stealing out from the poisoned air of the cabin, came +forth into the freshness of the early dawn, with the soft, scent-laden +breeze in their faces and the first red feathers of cloud catching the +earliest gleam of the rising sun as it shot its golden rays over the +palm-clad ridges of distant Hispaniola.</p> + +<p>That morning a second council of the Rovers was held at the base of the +mainmast, and a deputation chosen to see the captain. They were +approaching the after-cabins when Sharkey came forth, the old devil in +his eyes, and his bandolier with a pair of pistols over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Sink you all for villains!" he cried. "Would you dare cross my hawse? +Stand out, Sweetlocks, and I will lay you open! Here, Galloway, Martin, +Foley, stand by me and lash the dogs to their kennel!"</p> + +<p>But his officers had deserted him, and there was none to come to his +aid. There was a rush of the pirates. One was shot through the body, but +an instant afterwards Sharkey had been seized and was triced to his own +mainmast. His filmy eyes looked round from face to face, and there was +none who felt the happier for having met them.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sharkey," said Sweetlocks, "you have mishandled many of us, and +you have now pistolled John Masters, besides killing Bartholomew, the +carpenter, by braining him with a bucket. All this might have been +forgiven you, in that you have been our leader for years, and that we +have signed articles to serve under you while the voyage lasts. But now +we have heard of this <i>bona roba</i> on board, and we know that you are +poisoned to the marrow, and that while you rot there will be no safety +for any of us, but that we shall all be turned into filth and +corruption. Therefore, John Sharkey, we Rovers of the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, +in council assembled, have decreed that while there be yet time, before +the plague spreads, you shall be set adrift in a boat to find such a +fate as Fortune may be pleased to send you."</p> + +<p>John Sharkey said nothing, but slowly circling his head, he cursed them +all with his baleful gaze. The ship's dinghy had been lowered, and he, +with his hands still tied, was dropped into it on the bight of a rope.</p> + +<p>"Cast her off!" cried Sweetlocks.</p> + +<p>"Nay, hold hard a moment, Master Sweetlocks!" shouted one of the crew. +"What of the wench? Is she to bide aboard and poison us all?"</p> + +<p>"Send her off with her mate!" cried another, and the Rovers roared their +approval. Driven forth at the end of pikes, the girl was pushed towards +the boat. With all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body she flashed +triumphant glances on her captors.</p> + +<p>"Perros! Perros Ingleses! Lepero, Lepero!" she cried in exultation, as +they thrust her over into the boat.</p> + +<p>"Good luck, captain! God speed you on your honeymoon!" cried a chorus of +mocking voices, as the painter was unloosed, and the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, +running full before the trade-wind, left the little boat astern, a tiny +dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely sea.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Extract from the log of H.M. fifty-gun ship <i>Hecate</i> in her cruise off +the American Main.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>Jan. 26, 1721.</i>—This day, the junk having become unfit for +food, and five of the crew down with scurvy, I ordered that we +send two boats ashore at the nor'-western point of Hispaniola, +to seek for fresh fruit, and perchance shoot some of the wild +oxen with which the island abounds.</p> + +<p>"<i>7 p.m.</i>—The boats have returned with good store of green +stuff and two bullocks. Mr. Woodruff, the master, reports that +near the landing-place at the edge of the forest was found the +skeleton of a woman, clad in European dress, of such sort as to +show that she may have been a person of quality. Her head had +been crushed by a great stone which lay beside her. Hard by was +a grass hut, and signs that a man had dwelt therein for some +time, as was shown by charred wood, bones and other traces. +There is a rumour upon the coast that Sharkey, the bloody +pirate, was marooned in these parts last year, but whether he +has made his way into the interior, or whether he has been +picked up by some craft, there is no means of knowing. If he be +once again afloat, then I pray that God send him under our +guns."</p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>HOW COPLEY BANKS SLEW CAPTAIN SHARKEY</h3> + + +<p>The Buccaneers were something higher than a mere band of marauders. They +were a floating republic, with laws, usages, and discipline of their +own. In their endless and remorseless quarrel with the Spaniards they +had some semblance of right upon their side. Their bloody harryings of +the cities of the Main were not more barbarous than the inroads of Spain +upon the Netherlands—or upon the Caribs in these same American lands.</p> + +<p>The chief of the Buccaneers, were he English or French, a Morgan or a +Granmont, was still a responsible person, whose country might +countenance him, or even praise him, so long as he refrained from any +deed which might shock the leathery seventeenth-century conscience too +outrageously. Some of them were touched with religion, and it is still +remembered how Sawkins threw the dice overboard upon the Sabbath, and +Daniel pistolled a man before the altar for irreverence.</p> + +<p>But there came a day when the fleets of the Buccaneers no longer +mustered at the Tortugas, and the solitary and outlawed pirate took +their place. Yet even with him the tradition of restraint and of +discipline still lingered; and among the early pirates, the Avorys, the +Englands, and the Robertses, there remained some respect for human +sentiment. They were more dangerous to the merchant than to the seaman.</p> + +<p>But they in turn were replaced by more savage and desperate men, who +frankly recognised that they would get no quarter in their war with the +human race, and who swore that they would give as little as they got. Of +their histories we know little that is trustworthy. They wrote no +memoirs and left no trace, save an occasional blackened and +blood-stained derelict adrift upon the face of the Atlantic. Their deeds +could only be surmised from the long roll of ships which never made +their port.</p> + +<p>Searching the records of history, it is only here and there in an +old-world trial that the veil that shrouds them seems for an instant to +be lifted, and we catch a glimpse of some amazing and grotesque +brutality behind. Such was the breed of Ned Low, of Gow the Scotchman, +and of the infamous Sharkey, whose coal-black barque, the <i>Happy +Delivery</i>, was known from the Newfoundland Banks to the mouths of the +Orinoco as the dark forerunner of misery and of death.</p> + +<p>There were many men, both among the islands and on the main, who had a +blood feud with Sharkey, but not one who had suffered more bitterly than +Copley Banks, of Kingston. Banks had been one of the leading sugar +merchants of the West Indies. He was a man of position, a member of the +Council, the husband of a Percival, and the cousin of the Governor of +Virginia. His two sons had been sent to London to be educated, and their +mother had gone over to bring them back. On their return voyage the +ship, the <i>Duchess of Cornwall</i>, fell into the hands of Sharkey, and the +whole family met with an infamous death.</p> + +<p>Copley Banks said little when he heard the news, but he sank into a +morose and enduring melancholy. He neglected his business, avoided his +friends, and spent much of his time in the low taverns of the fishermen +and seamen. There, amidst riot and devilry, he sat silently puffing at +his pipe, with a set face and a smouldering eye. It was generally +supposed that his misfortunes had shaken his wits, and his old friends +looked at him askance, for the company which he kept was enough to bar +him from honest men.</p> + +<p>From time to time there came rumours of Sharkey over the sea. Sometimes +it was from some schooner which had seen a great flame upon the horizon, +and approaching to offer help to the burning ship, had fled away at the +sight of the sleek, black barque, lurking like a wolf near a mangled +sheep. Sometimes it was a frightened trader, which had come tearing in +with her canvas curved like a lady's bodice, because she had seen a +patched fore-topsail rising slowly above the violet water-line. +Sometimes it was from a Coaster, which had found a waterless Bahama Cay +littered with sun-dried bodies.</p> + +<p>Once there came a man who had been mate of a Guineaman, and who had +escaped from the pirate's hands. He could not speak—for reasons which +Sharkey could best supply—but he could write, and he did write, to the +very great interest of Copley Banks. For hours they sat together over +the map, and the dumb man pointed here and there to outlying reefs and +tortuous inlets, while his companion sat smoking in silence, with his +unvarying face and his fiery eyes.</p> + +<p>One morning, some two years after his misfortune, Mr. Copley Banks +strode into his own office with his old air of energy and alertness. The +manager stared at him in surprise, for it was months since he had shown +any interest in business.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Mr. Banks!" said he.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Freeman. I see that <i>Ruffling Harry</i> is in the Bay."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; she clears for the Windward Islands on Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"I have other plans for her, Freeman. I have determined upon a slaving +venture to Whydah."</p> + +<p>"But her cargo is ready, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then it must come out again, Freeman. My mind is made up, and the +<i>Ruffling Harry</i> must go slaving to Whydah."</p> + +<p>All argument and persuasion were vain, so the manager had dolefully to +clear the ship once more.</p> + +<p>And then Copley Banks began to make preparations for his African voyage. +It appeared that he relied upon force rather than barter for the filling +of his hold, for he carried none of those showy trinkets which savages +love, but the brig was fitted with eight nine-pounder guns and racks +full of muskets and cutlasses. The after sail-room next the cabin was +transformed into a powder magazine, and she carried as many round shot +as a well-found privateer. Water and provisions were shipped for a long +voyage.</p> + +<p>But the preparation of his ship's company was most surprising. It made +Freeman, the manager, realise that there was truth in the rumour that +his master had taken leave of his senses. For, under one pretext or +another, he began to dismiss the old and tried hands, who had served the +firm for years, and in their place he embarked the scum of the port—men +whose reputations were so vile that the lowest crimp would have been +ashamed to furnish them.</p> + +<p>There was Birthmark Sweetlocks, who was known to have been present at +the killing of the log-wood cutters, so that his hideous scarlet +disfigurement was put down by the fanciful as being a red afterglow from +that great crime. He was first mate, and under him was Israel Martin, a +little sun-wilted fellow who had served with Howell Davies at the taking +of Cape Coast Castle.</p> + +<p>The crew were chosen from amongst those whom Banks had met and known in +their own infamous haunts, and his own table-steward was a haggard-faced +man, who gobbled at you when he tried to talk. His beard had been +shaved, and it was impossible to recognise him as the same man whom +Sharkey had placed under the knife, and who had escaped to tell his +experiences to Copley Banks.</p> + +<p>These doings were not unnoticed, nor yet uncommented upon in the town of +Kingston. The Commandant of the troops—Major Harvey, of the +Artillery—made serious representations to the Governor.</p> + +<p>"She is not a trader, but a small warship," said he. "I think it would +be as well to arrest Copley Banks and to seize the vessel."</p> + +<p>"What do you suspect?" asked the Governor, who was a slow-witted man, +broken down with fevers and port wine.</p> + +<p>"I suspect," said the soldier, "that it is Stede Bonnet over again."</p> + +<p>Now, Stede Bonnet was a planter of high reputation and religious +character, who, from some sudden and overpowering freshet of wildness in +his blood, had given up everything in order to start off pirating in the +Caribbean Sea. The example was a recent one, and it had caused the +utmost consternation in the islands. Governors had before now been +accused of being in league with pirates, and of receiving commissions +upon their plunder, so that any want of vigilance was open to a sinister +construction.</p> + +<p>"Well, Major Harvey," said he, "I am vastly sorry to do anything which +may offend my friend Copley Banks, for many a time have my knees been +under his mahogany, but in face of what you say there is no choice for +me but to order you to board the vessel and to satisfy yourself as to +her character and destination."</p> + +<p>So at one in the morning Major Harvey, with a launchful of his soldiers, +paid a surprise visit to the <i>Ruffling Harry</i>, with the result that they +picked up nothing more solid than a hempen cable floating at the +moorings. It had been slipped by the brig, whose owner had scented +danger. She had already passed the Palisades, and was beating out +against the north-east trades on a course for the Windward Passage.</p> + +<p>When upon the next morning the brig had left Morant Point a mere haze +upon the Southern horizon, the men were called aft, and Copley Banks +revealed his plans to them. He had chosen them, he said, as brisk boys +and lads of spirit, who would rather run some risk upon the sea than +starve for a living upon the shore. King's ships were few and weak, and +they could master any trader who might come their way. Others had done +well at the business, and with a handy, well-found vessel, there was no +reason why they should not turn their tarry jackets into velvet coats. +If they were prepared to sail under the black flag, he was ready to +command them; but if any wished to withdraw, they might have the gig and +row back to Jamaica.</p> + +<p>Four men out of six-and-forty asked for their discharge, went over the +ship's side into the boat, and rowed away amidst the jeers and howlings +of the crew. The rest assembled aft, and drew up the articles of their +association. A square of black tarpaulin had the white skull painted +upon it, and was hoisted amidst cheering at the main.</p> + +<p>Officers were elected, and the limits of their authority fixed. Copley +Banks was chosen Captain, but, as there are no mates upon a pirate +craft, Birthmark Sweetlocks became quartermaster, and Israel Martin the +boatswain. There was no difficulty in knowing what was the custom of the +brotherhood, for half the men at least had served upon pirates before. +Food should be the same for all, and no man should interfere with +another man's drink! The Captain should have a cabin, but all hands +should be welcome to enter it when they chose.</p> + +<p>All should share and share alike, save only the captain, quartermaster, +boatswain, carpenter, and master-gunner, who had from a quarter to a +whole share extra. He who saw a prize first should have the best weapon +taken out of her. He who boarded her first should have the richest suit +of clothes aboard of her. Every man might treat his own prisoner, be it +man or woman, after his own fashion. If a man flinched from his gun, the +quartermaster should pistol him. These were some of the rules which the +crew of the <i>Ruffling Harry</i> subscribed by putting forty-two crosses at +the foot of the paper upon which they had been drawn.</p> + +<p>So a new rover was afloat upon the seas, and her name before a year was +over became as well known as that of the <i>Happy Delivery</i>. From the +Bahamas to the Leewards, and from the Leewards to the Windwards, Copley +Banks became the rival of Sharkey and the terror of traders. For a long +time the barque and the brig never met, which was the more singular, as +the <i>Ruffling Harry</i> was for ever looking in at Sharkey's resorts; but +at last one day, when she was passing down the inlet of Coxon's Hole, at +the east end of Cuba, with the intention of careening, there was the +<i>Happy Delivery</i>, with her blocks and tackle-falls already rigged for +the same purpose.</p> + +<p>Copley Banks fired a shotted salute and hoisted the green trumpeter +ensign, as the custom was among gentlemen of the sea. Then he dropped +his boat and went aboard.</p> + +<p>Captain Sharkey was not a man of a genial mood, nor had he any kindly +sympathy for those who were of the same trade as himself. Copley Banks +found him seated astride upon one of the after guns, with his New +England quartermaster, Ned Galloway, and a crowd of roaring ruffians +standing about him. Yet none of them roared with quite such assurance +when Sharkey's pale face and filmy blue eyes were turned upon him.</p> + +<p>He was in his shirt-sleeves, with his cambric frills breaking through +his open red satin long-flapped vest. The scorching sun seemed to have +no power upon his fleshless frame, for he wore a low fur cap, as though +it had been winter. A many-coloured band of silk passed across his body +and supported a short murderous sword, while his broad, brass-buckled +belt was stuffed with pistols.</p> + +<p>"Sink you for a poacher!" he cried, as Copley Banks passed over the +bulwarks. "I will drub you within an inch of your life, and that inch +also! What mean you by fishing in my waters?"</p> + +<p>Copley Banks looked at him, and his eyes were like those of a traveller +who sees his home at last.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that we are of one mind," said he, "for I am myself of +opinion that the seas are not large enough for the two of us. But if you +will take your sword and pistols and come upon a sand-bank with me, then +the world will be rid of a damned villain whichever way it goes."</p> + +<p>"Now, this is talking!" cried Sharkey, jumping off the gun and holding +out his hand. "I have not met many who could look John Sharkey in the +eyes and speak with a full breath. May the devil seize me if I do not +choose you as a consort! But if you play me false, then I will come +aboard of you and gut you upon your own poop."</p> + +<p>"And I pledge you the same!" said Copley Banks, and so the two pirates +became sworn comrades to each other.</p> + +<p>That summer they went north as far as the Newfoundland Banks, and +harried the New York traders and the whale-ships from New England. It +was Copley Banks who captured the Liverpool ship, <i>House of Hanover</i>, +but it was Sharkey who fastened her master to the windlass and pelted +him to death with empty claret-bottles.</p> + +<p>Together they engaged the King's ship <i>Royal Fortune</i>, which had been +sent in search of them, and beat her off after a night action of five +hours, the drunken, raving crews fighting naked in the light of the +battle-lanterns, with a bucket of rum and a pannikin laid by the tackles +of every gun. They ran to Topsail Inlet in North Carolina to refit, and +then in the spring they were at the Grand Caicos, ready for a long +cruise down the West Indies.</p> + +<p>By this time Sharkey and Copley Banks had become very excellent friends, +for Sharkey loved a wholehearted villain, and he loved a man of metal, +and it seemed to him that the two met in the captain of the <i>Ruffling +Harry</i>. It was long before he gave his confidence to him, for cold +suspicion lay deep in his character. Never once would he trust himself +outside his own ship and away from his own men.</p> + +<p>But Copley Banks came often on board the <i>Happy Delivery</i>, and joined +Sharkey in many of his morose debauches, so that at last any lingering +misgivings of the latter were set at rest. He knew nothing of the evil +that he had done to his new boon companion, for of his many victims how +could he remember the woman and the two boys whom he had slain with such +levity so long ago! When, therefore, he received a challenge to himself +and to his quartermaster for a carouse upon the last evening of their +stay at the Caicos Bank, he saw no reason to refuse.</p> + +<p>A well-found passenger ship had been rifled the week before, so their +fare was of the best, and after supper five of them drank deeply +together. There were the two captains, Birthmark Sweetlocks, Ned +Galloway, and Israel Martin, the old buccaneersman. To wait upon them +was the dumb steward, whose head Sharkey split with his glass, because +he had been too slow in the filling of it.</p> + +<p>The quartermaster had slipped Sharkey's pistols away from him, for it +was an old joke with him to fire them cross-handed under the table, and +see who was the luckiest man. It was a pleasantry which had cost his +boatswain his leg, so now, when the table was cleared, they would coax +Sharkey's weapons away from him on the excuse of the heat, and lay them +out of his reach.</p> + +<p>The Captain's cabin of the <i>Ruffling Harry</i> was in a deck-house upon the +poop, and a sternchaser gun was mounted at the back of it. Round shot +were racked round the wall, and three great hogsheads of powder made a +stand for dishes and for bottles. In this grim room the five pirates +sang and roared and drank, while the silent steward still filled up +their glasses, and passed the box and the candle round for their +tobacco-pipes. Hour after hour the talk became fouler, the voices +hoarser, the curses and shoutings more incoherent, until three of the +five had closed their blood-shot eyes, and dropped their swimming heads +upon the table.</p> + +<p>Copley Banks and Sharkey were left face to face, the one because he had +drunk the least, the other because no amount of liquor would ever shake +his iron nerve or warm his sluggish blood. Behind him stood the watchful +steward, for ever filling up his waning glass. From without came the low +lapping of the tide, and from over the water a sailor's chanty from the +barque.</p> + +<p>In the windless tropical night the words came clearly to their ears:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"A trader sailed from Stepney Town,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the mainsail!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A trader sailed from Stepney Town<br /></span> +<span class="i6">With a keg full of gold and a velvet gown.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Ho, the bully Rover Jack,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Waiting with his yard aback<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Out upon the Lowland Sea."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The two boon companions sat listening in silence. Then Copley Banks +glanced at the steward, and the man took a coil of rope from the +shot-rack behind him.</p> + +<p>"Captain Sharkey," said Copley Banks, "do you remember the <i>Duchess of +Cornwall</i>, hailing from London, which you took and sank three years ago +off the Statira Shoal?"</p> + +<p>"Curse me if I can bear their names in mind," said Sharkey. "We did as +many as ten ships a week about that time."</p> + +<p>"There were a mother and two sons among the passengers. Maybe that will +bring it back to your mind."</p> + +<p>Captain Sharkey leant back in thought, with his huge thin beak of a nose +jutting upwards. Then he burst suddenly into a high treble, neighing +laugh. He remembered it, he said, and he added details to prove it.</p> + +<p>"But burn me if it had not slipped from my mind!" he cried. "How came +you to think of it?"</p> + +<p>"It was of interest to me," said Copley Banks, "for the woman was my +wife and the lads were my only sons."</p> + +<p>Sharkey stared across at his companion, and saw that the smouldering +fire which lurked always in his eyes had burned up into a lurid flame. +He read their menace, and he clapped his hands to his empty belt. Then +he turned to seize a weapon, but the bight of a rope was cast round him, +and in an instant his arms were bound to his side. He fought like a wild +cat and screamed for help.</p> + +<p>"Ned!" he yelled. "Ned! Wake up! Here's damned villainy! Help, Ned, +help!"</p> + +<p>But the three men were far too deeply sunk in their swinish sleep for +any voice to wake them. Round and round went the rope, until Sharkey was +swathed like a mummy from ankle to neck. They propped him stiff and +helpless against a powder barrel, and they gagged him with a +handkerchief, but his filmy, red-rimmed eyes still looked curses at +them. The dumb man chattered in his exultation, and Sharkey winced for +the first time when he saw the empty mouth before him. He understood +that vengeance, slow and patient, had dogged him long, and clutched him +at last.</p> + +<p>The two captors had their plans all arranged, and they were somewhat +elaborate.</p> + +<p>First of all they stove the heads of two of the great powder barrels, +and they heaped the contents out upon the table and floor. They piled it +round and under the three drunken men, until each sprawled in a heap of +it. Then they carried Sharkey to the gun and they triced him sitting +over the port-hole, with his body about a foot from the muzzle. Wriggle +as he would he could not move an inch either to right or left, and the +dumb man trussed him up with a sailor's cunning, so that there was no +chance that he should work free.</p> + +<p>"Now, you bloody devil," said Copley Banks, softly, "you must listen to +what I have to say to you, for they are the last words that you will +hear. You are my man now, and I have bought you at a price, for I have +given all that a man can give here below, and I have given my soul as +well.</p> + +<p>"To reach you I have had to sink to your level. For two years I strove +against it, hoping that some other way might come, but I learnt that +there was no other way. I've robbed and I have murdered—worse still, I +have laughed and lived with you—and all for the one end. And now my +time has come, and you will die as I would have you die, seeing the +shadow creeping slowly upon you and the devil waiting for you in the +shadow."</p> + +<p>Sharkey could hear the hoarse voices of his rovers singing their chanty +over the water.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Where is the trader of Stepney Town?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wake her up! Shake her up! Every stick a-bending!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where is the trader of Stepney Town?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His gold's on the capstan, his blood's on his gown.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">All for bully rover Jack,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Reaching on the weather tack<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Right across the Lowland Sea."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The words came clear to his ear, and just outside he could hear two men +pacing backwards and forwards upon the deck. And yet he was helpless, +staring down the mouth of the nine-pounder, unable to move an inch or to +utter so much as a groan. Again there came the burst of voices from the +deck of the barque.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"So it's up and it's over to Stornoway Bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pack it on! Crack it on! Try her with the stun-sails!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It's off on a bowline to Stornoway Bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the liquor is good and the lasses are gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Waiting for their bully Jack,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Watching for him sailing back,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Right across the Lowland Sea."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>To the dying pirate the jovial words and rollicking tune made his own +fate seem the harsher, but there was no softening in his venomous blue +eyes. Copley Banks had brushed away the priming of the gun, and had +sprinkled fresh powder over the touch-hole. Then he had taken up the +candle and cut it to the length of about an inch. This he placed upon +the loose powder at the breach of the gun. Then he scattered powder +thickly over the floor beneath, so that when the candle fell at the +recoil it must explode the huge pile in which the three drunkards were +wallowing.</p> + +<p>"You've made others look death in the face, Sharkey," said he; "now it +has come to be your own turn. You and these swine here shall go +together!" He lit the candle-end as he spoke, and blew out the other +lights upon the table. Then he passed out with the dumb man, and locked +the cabin door upon the outer side. But before he closed it he took an +exultant look backwards and received one last curse from those +unconquerable eyes. In the single dim circle of light that ivory-white +face, with the gleam of moisture upon the high, bald forehead, was the +last that was ever seen of Sharkey.</p> + +<p>There was a skiff alongside, and in it Copley Banks and the dumb steward +made their way to the beach, and looked back upon the brig riding in the +moonlight just outside the shadow of the palm trees. They waited and +waited, watching that dim light which shone through the stern port. And +then at last there came the dull thud of a gun, and an instant later the +shattering crash of the explosion. The long, sleek, black barque, the +sweep of white sand, and the fringe of nodding, feathery palm trees +sprang into dazzling light and back into darkness again. Voices screamed +and called upon the bay.</p> + +<p>Then Copley Banks, his heart singing within him touched his companion +upon the shoulder, and they plunged together into the lonely jungle of +the Caicos.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE "SLAPPING SAL"</h3> + + +<p>It was in the days when France's power was already broken upon the seas, +and when more of her three-deckers lay rotting in the Medway than were +to be found in Brest harbour. But her frigates and corvettes still +scoured the ocean, closely followed ever by those of her rival. At the +uttermost ends of the earth these dainty vessels, with sweet names of +girls or of flowers, mangled and shattered each other for the honour of +the four yards of bunting which flapped from the end of their gaffs.</p> + +<p>It had blown hard in the night, but the wind had dropped with the +dawning, and now the rising sun tinted the fringe of the storm-wrack as +it dwindled into the west and glinted on the endless crests of the long, +green waves. To north and south and west lay a skyline which was +unbroken save by the spout of foam when two of the great Atlantic seas +dashed each other into spray. To the east was a rocky island, jutting +out into craggy points, with a few scattered clumps of palm trees and a +pennant of mist streaming out from the bare, conical hill which capped +it. A heavy surf beat upon the shore, and, at a safe distance from it, +the British 32-gun frigate <i>Leda</i>, Captain A. P. Johnson, raised her +black, glistening side upon the crest of a wave, or swooped down into an +emerald valley, dipping away to the nor'ard under easy sail. On her +snow-white quarter-deck stood a stiff little brown-faced man, who swept +the horizon with his glass.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wharton!" he cried, with a voice like a rusty hinge.</p> + +<p>A thin, knock-kneed officer shambled across the poop to him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"I've opened the sealed orders, Mr. Wharton."</p> + +<p>A glimmer of curiosity shone upon the meagre features of the first +lieutenant. The <i>Leda</i> had sailed with her consort, the <i>Dido</i>, from +Antigua the week before, and the admiral's orders had been contained in +a sealed envelope.</p> + +<p>"We were to open them on reaching the deserted island of Sombriero, +lying in north latitude eighteen, thirty-six, west longitude +sixty-three, twenty-eight. Sombriero bore four miles to the north-east +from our port-bow when the gale cleared, Mr. Wharton."</p> + +<p>The lieutenant bowed stiffly. He and the captain had been bosom friends +from childhood. They had gone to school together, joined the navy +together, fought again and again together, and married into each other's +families, but so long as their feet were on the poop the iron discipline +of the service struck all that was human out of them and left only the +superior and the subordinate. Captain Johnson took from his pocket a +blue paper, which crackled as he unfolded it.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The 32-gun frigates <i>Leda</i> and <i>Dido</i> (Captains A. P. Johnson +and James Munro) are to cruise from the point at which these +instructions are read to the mouth of the Caribbean sea, in the +hope of encountering the French frigate <i>La Gloire</i> (48), which +has recently harassed our merchant ships in that quarter. H.M. +frigates are also directed to hunt down the piratical craft +known sometimes as the <i>Slapping Sal</i> and sometimes as the +<i>Hairy Hudson</i>, which has plundered the British ships as per +margin, inflicting barbarities upon their crews. She is a small +brig, carrying ten light guns, with one twenty-four pound +carronade forward. She was last seen upon the 23rd. ult. to the +north-east of the island of Sombriero.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"(Signed) <span class="smcap">James Montgomery</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">"(<i>Rear-Admiral</i>).<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"H.M.S. <i>Colossus</i>, Antigua."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>"We appear to have lost our consort," said Captain Johnson, folding up +his instructions and again sweeping the horizon with his glass. "She +drew away after we reefed down. It would be a pity if we met this heavy +Frenchman without the <i>Dido</i>, Mr. Wharton. Eh?"</p> + +<p>The lieutenant twinkled and smiled.</p> + +<p>"She has eighteen-pounders on the main and twelves on the poop, sir," +said the captain. "She carries four hundred to our two hundred and +thirty-one. Captain de Milon is the smartest man in the French service. +Oh, Bobby boy, I'd give my hopes of my flag to rub my side up against +her!" He turned on his heel, ashamed of his momentary lapse. "Mr. +Wharton," said he, looking back sternly over his shoulder, "get those +square sails shaken out and bear away a point more to the west."</p> + +<p>"A brig on the port-bow," came a voice from the forecastle.</p> + +<p>"A brig on the port-bow," said the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>The captain sprang upon the bulwarks and held on by the mizzen-shrouds, +a strange little figure with flying skirts and puckered eyes. The lean +lieutenant craned his neck and whispered to Smeaton, the second, while +officers and men came popping up from below and clustered along the +weather-rail, shading their eyes with their hands—for the tropical sun +was already clear of the palm trees. The strange brig lay at anchor in +the throat of a curving estuary, and it was already obvious that she +could not get out without passing under the guns of the frigate. A long, +rocky point to the north of her held her in.</p> + +<p>"Keep her as she goes, Mr. Wharton," said the captain. "Hardly worth +while our clearing for action, Mr. Smeaton, but the men can stand by the +guns in case she tries to pass us. Cast loose the bow-chasers and send +the small-arm men to the forecastle."</p> + +<p>A British crew went to its quarters in those days with the quiet +serenity of men on their daily routine. In a few minutes, without fuss +or sound, the sailors were knotted round their guns, the marines were +drawn up and leaning on their muskets, and the frigate's bowsprit +pointed straight for her little victim.</p> + +<p>"Is it the <i>Slapping Sal</i>, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt of it, Mr. Wharton."</p> + +<p>"They don't seem to like the look of us, sir. They've cut their cable +and are clapping on sail."</p> + +<p>It was evident that the brig meant struggling for her freedom. One +little patch of canvas fluttered out above another, and her people could +be seen working like madmen in the rigging. She made no attempt to pass +her antagonist, but headed up the estuary. The captain rubbed his hands.</p> + + +<p>"She's making for shoal water, Mr. Wharton, and we shall have to cut her +out, sir. She's a footy little brig, but I should have thought a +fore-and-after would have been more handy."</p> + +<p>"It was a mutiny, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ah, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I heard of it at Manilla: a bad business, sir. Captain and +two mates murdered. This Hudson, or Hairy Hudson as they call him, led +the mutiny. He's a Londoner, sir, and a cruel villain as ever walked."</p> + +<p>"His next walk will be to Execution Dock, Mr. Wharton. She seems heavily +manned. I wish I could take twenty topmen out of her, but they would be +enough to corrupt the crew of the ark, Mr. Wharton."</p> + +<p>Both officers were looking through their glasses at the brig. Suddenly +the lieutenant showed his teeth in a grin, while the captain flushed a +deeper red.</p> + +<p>"That's Hairy Hudson on the after-rail, sir."</p> + +<p>"The low, impertinent blackguard! He'll play some other antics before we +are done with him. Could you reach him with the long eighteen, Mr. +Smeaton?"</p> + +<p>"Another cable length will do it, sir."</p> + +<p>The brig yawed as they spoke, and as she came round a spurt of smoke +whiffed out from her quarter. It was a pure piece of bravado, for the +gun could scarce carry half-way. Then with a jaunty swing the little +ship came into the wind again, and shot round a fresh curve in the +winding channel.</p> + +<p>"The water's shoaling rapidly, sir," repeated the second lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"There's six fathoms by the chart."</p> + +<p>"Four by the lead, sir."</p> + +<p>"When we clear this point we shall see how we lie. Ha! I thought as +much! Lay her to, Mr. Wharton. Now we have got her at our mercy!"</p> + +<p>The frigate was quite out of sight of the sea now at the head of this +river-like estuary. As she came round the curve the two shores were seen +to converge at a point about a mile distant. In the angle, as near shore +as she could get, the brig was lying with her broadside towards her +pursuer and a wisp of black cloth streaming from her mizzen. The lean +lieutenant, who had reappeared upon deck with a cutlass strapped to his +side and two pistols rammed into his belt, peered curiously at the +ensign.</p> + +<p>"Is it the Jolly Rodger, sir?" he asked.</p> + +<p>But the captain was furious.</p> + +<p>"He may hang where his breeches are hanging before I have done with +him!" said he. "What boats will you want, Mr. Wharton?"</p> + +<p>"We should do it with the launch and the jolly-boat."</p> + +<p>"Take four and make a clean job of it. Pipe away the crews at once, and +I'll work her in and help you with the long eighteens."</p> + +<p>With a rattle of ropes and a creaking of blocks the four boats splashed +into the water. Their crews clustered thickly into them: bare-footed +sailors, stolid marines, laughing middies, and in the sheets of each the +senior officers with their stern schoolmaster faces. The captain, his +elbows on the binnacle, still watched the distant brig. Her crew were +tricing up the boarding-netting, dragging round the starboard guns, +knocking new portholes for them, and making every preparation for a +desperate resistance. In the thick of it all a huge man, bearded to the +eyes, with a red nightcap upon his head, was straining and stooping and +hauling. The captain watched him with a sour smile, and then snapping up +his glass he turned upon his heel. For an instant he stood staring.</p> + +<p>"Call back the boats!" he cried in his thin, creaking voice. "Clear away +for action there! Cast loose those main-deck guns. Brace back the yards, +Mr. Smeaton, and stand by to go about when she has weigh enough."</p> + +<p>Round the curve of the estuary was coming a huge vessel. Her great +yellow bowsprit and white-winged figure-head were jutting out from the +cluster of palm trees, while high above them towered three immense masts +with the tricolour flag floating superbly from the mizzen. Round she +came, the deep-blue water creaming under her fore foot, until her long, +curving, black side, her line of shining copper beneath and of +snow-white hammocks above, and the thick clusters of men who peered over +her bulwarks were all in full view. Her lower yards were slung, her +ports triced up, and her guns run out all ready for action. Lying behind +one of the promontories of the island, the lookout men of the <i>Gloire</i> +upon the shore had seen the <i>cul de sac</i> into which the British frigate +was headed, so that Captain de Milon had served the <i>Leda</i> as Captain +Johnson had the <i>Slapping Sal</i>.</p> + +<p>But the splendid discipline of the British service was at its best in +such a crisis. The boats flew back; their crews clustered aboard, they +were swung up at the davits and the fall-ropes made fast. Hammocks were +brought up and stowed, bulkheads sent down, ports and magazines opened, +the fires put out in the galley, and the drums beat to quarters. Swarms +of men set the head-sails and brought the frigate round, while the +gun-crews threw off their jackets and shirts, tightened their belts, and +ran out their eighteen-pounders, peering through the open portholes at +the stately Frenchman. The wind was very light. Hardly a ripple showed +itself upon the clear blue water, but the sails blew gently out as the +breeze came over the wooded banks. The Frenchman had gone about also, +and both ships were now heading slowly for the sea under fore-and-aft +canvas, the <i>Gloire</i> a hundred yards in advance. She luffed up to cross +the <i>Leda's</i> bows, but the British ship came round also, and the two +rippled slowly on in such a silence that the ringing of ramrods as the +French marines drove home their charges clanged quite loudly upon the +ear.</p> + +<p>"Not much sea-room, Mr. Wharton," remarked the captain.</p> + +<p>"I have fought actions in less, sir."</p> + +<p>"We must keep our distance and trust to our gunnery. She is very heavily +manned, and if she got alongside we might find ourselves in trouble."</p> + +<p>"I see the shakos of soldiers aboard of her."</p> + +<p>"Two companies of light infantry from Martinique. Now we have her! +Hard-a-port, and let her have it as we cross her stern!"</p> + +<p>The keen eye of the little commander had seen the surface ripple, which +told of a passing breeze. He had used it to dart across the big +Frenchman and to rake her with every gun as he passed. But, once past +her, the <i>Leda</i> had to come back into the wind to keep out of shoal +water. The man[oe]uvre brought her on to the starboard side of the +Frenchman, and the trim little frigate seemed to heel right over under +the crashing broadside which burst from the gaping ports. A moment later +her topmen were swarming aloft to set her topsails and royals, and she +strove to cross the <i>Gloire's</i> bows and rake her again. The French +captain, however, brought his frigate's head round, and the two rode +side by side within easy pistol-shot, pouring broadsides into each other +in one of those murderous duels which, could they all be recorded, would +mottle our charts with blood.</p> + +<p>In that heavy tropical air, with so faint a breeze, the smoke formed a +thick bank round the two vessels, from which the topmasts only +protruded. Neither could see anything of its enemy save the throbs of +fire in the darkness, and the guns were sponged and trained and fired +into a dense wall of vapour. On the poop and forecastle the marines, in +two little red lines, were pouring in their volleys, but neither they +nor the sea-men-gunners could see what effect their fire was having. +Nor, indeed, could they tell how far they were suffering themselves, +for, standing at a gun, one could but hazily see that upon the right and +the left. But above the roar of the cannon came the sharper sound of the +piping shot, the crashing of riven planks, and the occasional heavy thud +as spar or block came hurtling on to the deck. The lieutenants paced up +and down the line of guns, while Captain Johnson fanned the smoke away +with his cocked-hat and peered eagerly out.</p> + +<p>"This is rare, Bobby!" said he, as the lieutenant joined him. Then, +suddenly restraining himself, "What have we lost, Mr. Wharton?"</p> + +<p>"Our maintopsail yard and our gaff, sir."</p> + +<p>"Where's the flag?"</p> + +<p>"Gone overboard, sir."</p> + +<p>"They'll think we've struck! Lash a boat's ensign on the starboard arm +of the mizzen cross-jackyard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>A round-shot dashed the binnacle to pieces between them. A second +knocked two marines into a bloody, palpitating mash. For a moment the +smoke rose, and the English captain saw that his adversary's heavier +metal was producing a horrible effect. The <i>Leda</i> was a shattered wreck. +Her deck was strewed with corpses. Several of her portholes were knocked +into one, and one of her eighteen-pounder guns had been thrown right +back on to her breech, and pointed straight up to the sky. The thin line +of marines still loaded and fired, but half the guns were silent, and +their crews were piled thickly round them.</p> + +<p>"Stand by to repel boarders!" yelled the captain.</p> + +<p>"Cutlasses, lads, cutlasses!" roared Wharton.</p> + +<p>"Hold your volley till they touch!" cried the captain of marines.</p> + +<p>The huge loom of the Frenchman was seen bursting through the smoke. +Thick clusters of boarders hung upon her sides and shrouds. A final +broadside leapt from her ports, and the mainmast of the <i>Leda</i>, snapping +short off a few feet above the deck, spun into the air and crashed down +upon the port guns, killing ten men and putting the whole battery out of +action. An instant later the two ships scraped together, and the +starboard bower anchor of the <i>Gloire</i> caught the mizzen-chains of the +<i>Leda</i> upon the port side. With a yell the black swarm of boarders +steadied themselves for a spring.</p> + +<p>But their feet were never to reach that blood-stained deck. From +somewhere there came a well-aimed whiff of grape, and another, and +another. The English marines and seamen, waiting with cutlass and musket +behind the silent guns, saw with amazement the dark masses thinning and +shredding away. At the same time the port broadside of the Frenchman +burst into a roar.</p> + +<p>"Clear away the wreck!" roared the captain. "What the devil are they +firing at?"</p> + +<p>"Get the guns clear!" panted the lieutenant. "We'll do them yet, boys!"</p> + +<p>The wreckage was torn and hacked and splintered until first one gun and +then another roared into action again. The Frenchman's anchor had been +cut away, and the <i>Leda</i> had worked herself free from that fatal hug. +But now, suddenly, there was a scurry up the shrouds of the <i>Gloire</i>, +and a hundred Englishmen were shouting themselves hoarse: "They're +running! They're running! They're running!"</p> + +<p>And it was true. The Frenchman had ceased to fire, and was intent only +upon clapping on every sail that he could carry. But that shouting +hundred could not claim it all as their own. As the smoke cleared it was +not difficult to see the reason. The ships had gained the mouth of the +estuary during the fight, and there, about four miles out to sea, was +the <i>Leda's</i> consort bearing down under full sail to the sound of the +guns. Captain de Milon had done his part for one day, and presently the +<i>Gloire</i> was drawing off swiftly to the north, while the <i>Dido</i> was +bowling along at her skirts, rattling away with her bow-chasers, until a +headland hid them both from view.</p> + +<p>But the <i>Leda</i> lay sorely stricken, with her mainmast gone, her bulwarks +shattered, her mizzen-topmast and gaff shot away, her sails like a +beggar's rags, and a hundred of her crew dead and wounded. Close beside +her a mass of wreckage floated upon the waves. It was the stern-post of +a mangled vessel, and across it, in white letters on a black ground, was +painted, "<i>The Slapping Sal</i>."</p> + +<p>"By the Lord! it was the brig that saved us!" cried Mr. Wharton. "Hudson +brought her into action with the Frenchman, and was blown out of the +water by a broadside!"</p> + +<p>The little captain turned on his heel and paced up and down the deck. +Already his crew were plugging the shot-holes, knotting and splicing and +mending. When he came back, the lieutenant saw a softening of the stern +lines about his eyes and mouth.</p> + +<p>"Are they all gone?"</p> + +<p>"Every man. They must have sunk with the wreck."</p> + +<p>The two officers looked down at the sinister name, and at the stump of +wreckage which floated in the discoloured water. Something black washed +to and fro beside a splintered gaff and a tangle of halliards. It was +the outrageous ensign, and near it a scarlet cap was floating.</p> + +<p>"He was a villain, but he was a Briton!" said the captain, at last. "He +lived like a dog, but, by God, he died like a man!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>A PIRATE OF THE LAND</h3> + +<h3>ONE CROWDED HOUR</h3> + + +<p>The place was the Eastbourne-Tunbridge road, not very far from the Cross +in Hand—a lonely stretch, with a heath running upon either side. The +time was half-past eleven upon a Sunday night in the late summer. A +motor was passing slowly down the road.</p> + +<p>It was a long, lean Rolls-Royce, running smoothly with a gentle purring +of the engine. Through the two vivid circles cast by the electric +head-lights the waving grass fringes and clumps of heather streamed +swiftly like some golden cinematograph, leaving a blacker darkness +behind and around them. One ruby-red spot shone upon the road, but no +number-plate was visible within the dim ruddy halo of the tail-lamp +which cast it. The car was open and of a tourist type, but even in that +obscure light, for the night was moonless, an observer could hardly fail +to have noticed a curious indefiniteness in its lines. As it slid into +and across the broad stream of light from an open cottage door the +reason could be seen. The body was hung with a singular loose +arrangement of brown holland. Even the long black bonnet was banded with +some close-drawn drapery.</p> + +<p>The solitary man who drove this curious car was broad and burly. He sat +hunched up over his steering-wheel, with the brim of a Tyrolean hat +drawn down over his eyes. The red end of a cigarette smouldered under +the black shadow thrown by the headgear. A dark ulster of some +frieze-like material was turned up in the collar until it covered his +ears. His neck was pushed forward from his rounded shoulders, and he +seemed, as the car now slid noiselessly down the long sloping road, with +the clutch disengaged and the engine running free, to be peering ahead +of him through the darkness in search of some eagerly-expected object.</p> + +<p>The distant toot of a motor-horn came faintly from some point far to the +south of him. On such a night, at such a place, all traffic must be from +south to north when the current of London week-enders sweeps back from +the watering-place to the capital—from pleasure to duty. The man sat +straight and listened intently. Yes, there it was again, and certainly +to the south of him. His face was over the wheel and his eyes strained +through the darkness. Then suddenly he spat out his cigarette and gave a +sharp intake of the breath. Far away down the road two little yellow +points had rounded a curve. They vanished into a dip, shot upwards once +more, and then vanished again. The inert man in the draped car woke +suddenly into intense life. From his pocket he pulled a mask of dark +cloth, which he fastened securely across his face, adjusting it +carefully that his sight might be unimpeded. For an instant he uncovered +an acetylene hand-lantern, took a hasty glance at his own preparations, +and laid it beside a Mauser pistol upon the seat alongside him. Then, +twitching his hat down lower than ever, he released his clutch and slid +downward his gear-lever. With a chuckle and shudder the long, black +machine sprang forward, and shot with a soft sigh from her powerful +engines down the sloping gradient. The driver stooped and switched off +his electric head-lights. Only a dim grey swathe cut through the black +heath indicated the line of his road. From in front there came +presently a confused puffing and rattling and clanging as the oncoming +car breasted the slope. It coughed and spluttered on a powerful, +old-fashioned low gear, while its engine throbbed like a weary heart. +The yellow, glaring lights dipped for the last time into a switchback +curve. When they reappeared over the crest the two cars were within +thirty yards of each other. The dark one darted across the road and +barred the other's passage, while a warning acetylene lamp was waved in +the air. With a jarring of brakes the noisy new-comer was brought to a +halt.</p> + +<p>"I say," cried an aggrieved voice, "'pon my soul, you know, we might +have had an accident. Why the devil don't you keep your head-lights on? +I never saw you till I nearly burst my radiators on you!"</p> + +<p>The acetylene lamp, held forward, discovered a very angry young man, +blue-eyed, yellow-moustached, and florid, sitting alone at the wheel of +an antiquated twelve-horse Wolseley. Suddenly the aggrieved look upon +his flushed face changed to one of absolute bewilderment. The driver in +the dark car had sprung out of the seat, a black, long-barrelled, +wicked-looking pistol was poked in the traveller's face, and behind the +further sights of it was a circle of black cloth with two deadly eyes +looking from as many slits.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" said a quick, stern voice. "Hands up! or, by the Lord——"</p> + +<p>The young man was as brave as his neighbours, but the hands went up all +the same.</p> + +<p>"Get down!" said his assailant, curtly.</p> + +<p>The young man stepped forth into the road, followed closely by the +covering lantern and pistol. Once he made as if he would drop his hands, +but a short, stern word jerked them up again.</p> + +<p>"I say, look here, this is rather out o' date, ain't it?" said the +traveller. "I expect you're joking—what?"</p> + +<p>"Your watch," said the man behind the Mauser pistol.</p> + +<p>"You can't really mean it!"</p> + +<p>"Your watch, I say!"</p> + +<p>"Well, take it, if you must. It's only plated, anyhow. You're two +centuries out in time, or a few thousand miles longitude. The bush is +your mark—or America. You don't seem in the picture on a Sussex road."</p> + +<p>"Purse," said the man. There was something very compelling in his voice +and methods. The purse was handed over.</p> + +<p>"Any rings?"</p> + +<p>"Don't wear 'em."</p> + +<p>"Stand there! Don't move!"</p> + +<p>The highwayman passed his victim and threw open the bonnet of the +Wolseley. His hand, with a pair of steel pliers, was thrust deep into +the works. There was the snap of a parting wire.</p> + +<p>"Hang it all, don't crock my car!" cried the traveller.</p> + +<p>He turned, but quick as a flash the pistol was at his head once more. +And yet even in that flash, whilst the robber whisked round from the +broken circuit, something had caught the young man's eye which made him +gasp and start. He opened his mouth as if about to shout some words. +Then with an evident effort he restrained himself.</p> + +<p>"Get in," said the highwayman.</p> + +<p>The traveller climbed back to his seat.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Ronald Barker. What's yours?"</p> + +<p>The masked man ignored the impertinence.</p> + +<p>"Where do you live?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"My cards are in my purse. Take one."</p> + +<p>The highwayman sprang into his car, the engine of which had hissed and +whispered in gentle accompaniment to the interview. With a clash he +threw back his side-brake, flung in his gears, twirled the wheel hard +round, and cleared the motionless Wolseley. A minute later he was +gliding swiftly, with all his lights gleaming, some half-mile southward +on the road, while Mr. Ronald Barker, a side-lamp in his hand, was +rummaging furiously among the odds and ends of his repair-box for a +strand of wire which would connect up his electricity and set him on his +way once more.</p> + +<p>When he had placed a safe distance between himself and his victim, the +adventurer eased up, took his booty from his pocket, replaced the watch, +opened the purse, and counted out the money. Seven shillings constituted +the miserable spoil. The poor result of his efforts seemed to amuse +rather than annoy him, for he chuckled as he held the two half-crowns +and the florin in the glare of his lantern. Then suddenly his manner +changed. He thrust the thin purse back into his pocket, released his +brake, and shot onwards with the same tense bearing with which he had +started upon his adventure. The lights of another car were coming down +the road.</p> + +<p>On this occasion the methods of the highwayman were less furtive. +Experience had clearly given him confidence. With lights still blazing +he ran towards the new-comers, and, halting in the middle of the road, +summoned them to stop. From the point of view of the astonished +travellers the result was sufficiently impressive. They saw in the glare +of their own head-lights two glowing discs on either side of the long, +black-muzzled snout of a high-power car, and above the masked face and +menacing figure of its solitary driver. In the golden circle thrown by +the Rover there stood an elegant, open-topped, twenty-horse Humber, with +an undersized and very astonished chauffeur blinking from under his +peaked cap. From behind the wind-screen the veil-bound hats and +wondering faces of two very pretty young women protruded, one upon +either side, and a little crescendo of frightened squeaks announced the +acute emotion of one of them. The other was cooler and more critical.</p> + +<p>"Don't give it away, Hilda," she whispered. "Do shut up, and don't be +such a silly. It's Bertie or one of the boys playing it on us."</p> + +<p>"No, no! It's the real thing, Flossie. It's a robber, sure enough. Oh, +my goodness, whatever shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"What an 'ad.'!" cried the other. "Oh, what a glorious 'ad.'! Too late +now for the mornings, but they'll have it in every evening paper, sure."</p> + +<p>"What's it going to cost?" groaned the other. "Oh, Flossie, Flossie, I'm +sure I'm going to faint! Don't you think if we both screamed together we +could do some good? Isn't he too awful with that black thing over his +face? Oh, dear, oh, dear! He's killing poor little Alf!"</p> + +<p>The proceedings of the robber were indeed somewhat alarming. Springing +down from his car, he had pulled the chauffeur out of his seat by the +scruff of his neck. The sight of the Mauser had cut short all +remonstrance, and under its compulsion the little man had pulled open +the bonnet and extracted the sparking plugs. Having thus secured the +immobility of his capture, the masked man walked forward, lantern in +hand, to the side of the car. He had laid aside the gruff sternness with +which he had treated Mr. Ronald Barker, and his voice and manner were +gentle, though determined. He even raised his hat as a prelude to his +address.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to inconvenience you, ladies," said he, and his voice had +gone up several notes since the previous interview. "May I ask who you +are?"</p> + +<p>Miss Hilda was beyond coherent speech, but Miss Flossie was of a sterner +mould.</p> + +<p>"This is a pretty business," said she. "What right have you to stop us +on the public road, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"My time is short," said the robber, in a sterner voice. "I must ask you +to answer my question."</p> + +<p>"Tell him, Flossie! For goodness' sake be nice to him!" cried Hilda.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're from the Gaiety Theatre, London, if you want to know," said +the young lady. "Perhaps you've heard of Miss Flossie Thornton and Miss +Hilda Mannering? We've been playing a week at the Royal at Eastbourne, +and took a Sunday off to ourselves. So now you know!"</p> + +<p>"I must ask you for your purses and for your jewellery."</p> + +<p>Both ladies set up shrill expostulations, but they found, as Mr. Ronald +Barker had done, that there was something quietly compelling in this +man's methods. In a very few minutes they had handed over their purses, +and a pile of glittering rings, bangles, brooches and chains was lying +upon the front seat of the car. The diamonds glowed and shimmered like +little electric points in the light of the lantern. He picked up the +glittering tangle and weighed it in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Anything you particularly value?" he asked the ladies; but Miss Flossie +was in no humour for concessions.</p> + +<p>"Don't come the Claude Duval over us," said she. "Take the lot or leave +the lot. We don't want bits of our own given back to us."</p> + +<p>"Except just Billy's necklace!" cried Hilda, and snatched at a little +rope of pearls. The robber bowed, and released his hold of it.</p> + +<p>"Anything else?"</p> + +<p>The valiant Flossie began suddenly to cry. Hilda did the same. The +effect upon the robber was surprising. He threw the whole heap of +jewellery into the nearest lap.</p> + +<p>"There! there! Take it!" he said. "It's trumpery stuff, anyhow. It's +worth something to you, and nothing to me."</p> + +<p>Tears changed in a moment to smiles.</p> + +<p>"You're welcome to the purses. The 'ad.' is worth ten times the money. +But what a funny way of getting a living nowadays! Aren't you afraid of +being caught? It's all so wonderful, like a scene from a comedy."</p> + +<p>"It may be a tragedy," said the robber.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not—I'm sure I hope not!" cried the two ladies of the +drama.</p> + +<p>But the robber was in no mood for further conversation. Far away down +the road tiny points of light had appeared. Fresh business was coming to +him, and he must not mix his cases. Disengaging his machine, he raised +his hat, and slipped off to meet this new arrival, while Miss Flossie +and Miss Hilda leaned out of their derelict car, still palpitating from +their adventure, and watched the red gleam of the tail-light until it +merged into the darkness.</p> + +<p>This time there was every sign of a rich prize. Behind its four grand +lamps set in a broad frame of glittering brasswork the magnificent +sixty-horse Daimler breasted the slope with the low, deep, even snore +which proclaimed its enormous latent strength. Like some rich-laden, +high-pooped Spanish galleon, she kept her course until the prowling +craft ahead of her swept across her bows and brought her to a sudden +halt. An angry face, red, blotched, and evil, shot out of the open +window of the closed limousine. The robber was aware of a high, bald +forehead, gross pendulous cheeks, and two little crafty eyes which +gleamed between creases of fat.</p> + +<p>"Out of my way, sir! Out of my way this instant!" cried a rasping voice. +"Drive over him, Hearn! Get down and pull him off the seat. The fellow's +drunk—he's drunk, I say!"</p> + +<p>Up to this point the proceedings of the modern highwayman might have +passed as gentle. Now they turned in an instant to savagery. The +chauffeur, a burly, capable fellow, incited by that raucous voice behind +him, sprang from the car and seized the advancing robber by the throat. +The latter hit out with the butt-end of his pistol, and the man dropped +groaning on the road. Stepping over his prostrate body the adventurer +pulled open the door, seized the stout occupant savagely by the ear, and +dragged him bellowing on the highway. Then, very deliberately, he struck +him twice across the face with his open hand. The blows rang out like +pistol-shots in the silence of the night. The fat traveller turned a +ghastly colour and fell back half senseless against the side of the +limousine. The robber dragged open his coat, wrenched away the heavy +gold watch-chain with all that it held, plucked out the great diamond +pin that sparkled in the black satin tie, dragged off four rings—not +one of which could have cost less than three figures—and finally tore +from his inner pocket a bulky leather notebook. All this property he +transferred to his own black overcoat, and added to it the man's pearl +cuff-links, and even the golden stud which held his collar. Having made +sure that there was nothing else to take, the robber flashed his lantern +upon the prostrate chauffeur, and satisfied himself that he was stunned +and not dead. Then, returning to the master, he proceeded very +deliberately to tear all his clothes from his body with a ferocious +energy which set his victim whimpering and writhing in imminent +expectation of murder.</p> + +<p>Whatever the tormentor's intention may have been, it was very +effectually frustrated. A sound made him turn his head, and there, no +very great distance off, were the lights of a car coming swiftly from +the north. Such a car must have already passed the wreckage which this +pirate had left behind him. It was following his track with a deliberate +purpose, and might be crammed with every county constable of the +district.</p> + +<p>The adventurer had no time to lose. He darted from his bedraggled +victim, sprang into his own seat, and with his foot on the accelerator +shot swiftly off down the road. Some way down there was a narrow side +lane, and into this the fugitive turned, cracking on his high speed and +leaving a good five miles between him and any pursuer before he ventured +to stop. Then, in a quiet corner, he counted over his booty of the +evening—the paltry plunder of Mr. Ronald Barker, the rather +better-furnished purses of the actresses, which contained four pounds +between them, and, finally, the gorgeous jewellery and well-filled +notebook of the plutocrat upon the Daimler. Five notes of fifty pounds, +four of ten, fifteen sovereigns, and a number of valuable papers made up +a most noble haul. It was clearly enough for one night's work. The +adventurer replaced all his ill-gotten gains in his pocket, and, +lighting a cigarette, set forth upon his way with the air of a man who +has no further care upon his mind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was on the Monday morning following upon this eventful evening that +Sir Henry Hailworthy, of Walcot Old Place, having finished his breakfast +in a leisurely fashion, strolled down to his study with the intention of +writing a few letters before setting forth to take his place upon the +county bench. Sir Henry was a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county; he was a +baronet of ancient blood; he was a magistrate of ten years' standing; +and he was famous above all as the breeder of many a good horse and the +most desperate rider in all the Weald country. A tall, upstanding man, +with a strong clean-shaven face, heavy black eyebrows, and a square, +resolute jaw, he was one whom it was better to call friend than foe. +Though nearly fifty years of age, he bore no sign of having passed his +youth, save that Nature, in one of her freakish moods, had planted one +little feather of white hair above his right ear, making the rest of his +thick black curls the darker by contrast. He was in thoughtful mood this +morning, for having lit his pipe he sat at his desk with his blank +note-paper in front of him, lost in a deep reverie.</p> + +<p>Suddenly his thoughts were brought back to the present. From behind the +laurels of the curving drive there came a low, clanking sound, which +swelled into the clatter and jingle of an ancient car. Then from round +the corner there swung an old-fashioned Wolseley, with a +fresh-complexioned, yellow-moustached young man at the wheel. Sir Henry +sprang to his feet at the sight, and then sat down once more. He rose +again as a minute later the footman announced Mr. Ronald Barker. It was +an early visit, but Barker was Sir Henry's intimate friend. As each was +a fine shot, horseman, and billiard-player, there was much in common +between the two men, and the younger (and poorer) was in the habit of +spending at least two evenings a week at Walcot Old Place. Therefore, +Sir Henry advanced cordially with outstretched hand to welcome him.</p> + +<p>"You're an early bird this morning," said he. "What's up? If you are +going over to Lewes we could motor together."</p> + +<p>But the younger man's demeanour was peculiar and ungracious. He +disregarded the hand which was held out to him, and he stood pulling at +his own long moustache and staring with troubled, questioning eyes at +the county magistrate.</p> + +<p>"Well, what's the matter?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>Still the young man did not speak. He was clearly on the edge of an +interview which he found it most difficult to open. His host grew +impatient.</p> + +<p>"You don't seem yourself this morning. What on earth is the matter? +Anything upset you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Ronald Barker, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"What has?"</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> have."</p> + +<p>Sir Henry smiled. "Sit down, my dear fellow. If you have any grievance +against me, let me hear it."</p> + +<p>Barker sat down. He seemed to be gathering himself for a reproach. When +it did come it was like a bullet from a gun.</p> + +<p>"Why did you rob me last night?"</p> + +<p>The magistrate was a man of iron nerve. He showed neither surprise nor +resentment. Not a muscle twitched upon his calm, set face.</p> + +<p>"Why do you say that I robbed you last night?"</p> + +<p>"A big, tall fellow in a motor-car stopped me on the Mayfield road. He +poked a pistol in my face and took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, +that man was you."</p> + +<p>The magistrate smiled.</p> + +<p>"Am I the only big, tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a +motor-car?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls-Royce when I see it—I, who spend +half my life on a car and the other half under it? Who has a Rolls-Royce +about here except you?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highwayman as you +describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How +many hundred Rolls-Royces are there in the South of England?"</p> + +<p>"No, it won't do, Sir Henry—it won't do! Even your voice, though you +sunk it a few notes, was familiar enough to me. But hang it, man! What +did you do it <i>for</i>? That's what gets over me. That you should stick up +me, one of your closest friends, a man that worked himself to the bone +when you stood for the division—and all for the sake of a Brummagem +watch and a few shillings—is simply incredible."</p> + +<p>"Simply incredible," repeated the magistrate, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"And then those actresses, poor little devils, who have to earn all they +get. I followed you down the road, you see. That was a dirty trick, if +ever I heard one. The City shark was different. If a chap must go +a-robbing, that sort of fellow is fair game. But your friend, and then +the girls—well, I say again, I couldn't have believed it."</p> + +<p>"Then why believe it?"</p> + +<p>"Because it <i>is</i> so."</p> + +<p>"Well, you seem to have persuaded yourself to that effect. You don't +seem to have much evidence to lay before any one else."</p> + +<p>"I could swear to you in a police-court. What put the lid on it was that +when you were cutting my wire—and an infernal liberty it was!—I saw +that white tuft of yours sticking out from behind your mask."</p> + +<p>For the first time an acute observer might have seen some slight sign of +emotion upon the face of the baronet.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a fairly vivid imagination," said he.</p> + +<p>His visitor flushed with anger.</p> + +<p>"See here, Hailworthy," said he, opening his hand and showing a small, +jagged triangle of black cloth. "Do you see that? It was on the ground +near the car of the young women. You must have ripped it off as you +jumped out from your seat. Now send for that heavy black driving-coat of +yours. If you don't ring the bell I'll ring it myself, and we shall have +it in. I'm going to see this thing through, and don't you make any +mistake about that."</p> + +<p>The baronet's answer was a surprising one. He rose, passed Barker's +chair, and, walking over to the door, he locked it and placed the key in +his pocket.</p> + +<p>"You <i>are</i> going to see it through," said he. "I'll lock you in until +you do. Now we must have a straight talk, Barker, as man to man, and +whether it ends in tragedy or not depends on you."</p> + +<p>He had half-opened one of the drawers in his desk as he spoke. His +visitor frowned in anger.</p> + +<p>"You won't make matters any better by threatening me, Hailworthy. I am +going to do my duty, and you won't bluff me out of it."</p> + +<p>"I have no wish to bluff you. When I spoke of a tragedy I did not mean +to you. What I meant was that there are some turns which this affair +cannot be allowed to take. I have neither kith nor kin, but there is the +family honour, and some things are impossible."</p> + +<p>"It is late to talk like that."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps it is, but not too late. And now I have a good deal to +say to you. First of all, you are quite right, and it was I who held you +up last night on the Mayfield road."</p> + +<p>"But why on earth——"</p> + +<p>"All right. Let me tell it my own way. First I want you to look at +these." He unlocked a drawer and he took out two small packages. "These +were to be posted in London to-night. This one is addressed to you, and +I may as well hand it over to you at once. It contains your watch and +your purse. So, you see bar your cut wire you would have been none the +worse for your adventure. This other packet is addressed to the young +ladies of the Gaiety Theatre, and their properties are enclosed. I hope +I have convinced you that I had intended full reparation in each case +before you came to accuse me?"</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Barker.</p> + +<p>"Well, we will now deal with Sir George Wilde, who is, as you may not +know, the senior partner of Wilde and Guggendorf, the founders of the +Ludgate Bank of infamous memory. His chauffeur is a case apart. You may +take it from me, upon my word of honour, that I had plans for the +chauffeur. But it is the master that I want to speak of. You know that I +am not a rich man myself. I expect all the county knows that. When Black +Tulip lost the Derby I was hard hit. And other things as well. Then I +had a legacy of a thousand. This infernal bank was paying 7 per cent. on +deposits. I knew Wilde. I saw him. I asked him if it was safe. He said +it was. I paid it in, and within forty-eight hours the whole thing went +to bits. It came out before the Official Receiver that Wilde had known +for three months that nothing could save him. And yet he took all my +cargo aboard his sinking vessel. He was all right—confound him! He had +plenty besides. But I had lost all my money and no law could help me. +Yet he had robbed me as clearly as one man could rob another. I saw him +and he laughed in my face. Told me to stick to Consols, and that the +lesson was cheap at the price. So I just swore that, by hook or by +crook, I would get level with him. I knew his habits, for I had made it +my business to do so. I knew that he came back from Eastbourse on Sunday +nights. I knew that he carried a good sum with him in his pocket-book. +Well it's <i>my</i> pocket-book now. Do you mean to tell me that I'm not +morally justified in what I have done? By the Lord, I'd have left the +devil as bare as he left many a widow and orphan if I'd had the time!"</p> + +<p>"That's all very well. But what about me? What about the girls?"</p> + +<p>"Have some common sense, Barker. Do you suppose that I could go and +stick up this one personal enemy of mine and escape detection? It was +impossible. I was bound to make myself out to be just a common robber +who had run up against him by accident. So I turned myself loose on the +high road and took my chance. As the devil would have it, the first man +I met was yourself. I was a fool not to recognise that old ironmonger's +store of yours by the row it made coming up the hill. When I saw you I +could hardly speak for laughing. But I was bound to carry it through. +The same with the actresses. I'm afraid I gave myself away, for I +couldn't take their little fallals, but I had to keep up a show. Then +came my man himself. There was no bluff about that. I was out to skin +him, and I did. Now, Barker, what do you think of it all? I had a pistol +at your head last night, and, by George! whether you believe it or not, +you have one at mine this morning!"</p> + +<p>The young man rose slowly, and with a broad smile he wrung the +magistrate by the hand.</p> + +<p>"Don't do it again. It's too risky," said he. "The swine would score +heavily if you were taken."</p> + +<p>"You're a good chap, Barker," said the magistrate. "No, I won't do it +again. Who's the fellow who talks of 'one crowded hour of glorious +life'? By George! it's too fascinating. I had the time of my life! Talk +of fox-hunting! No, I'll never touch it again, for it might get a grip +of me."</p> + +<p>A telephone rang sharply upon the table, and the baronet put the +receiver to his ear. As he listened, he smiled at his companion.</p> + +<p>"I'm rather late this morning," said he, "and they are awaiting for me +to try some petty larcenies on the county bench."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TALES_OF_BLUE_WATER" id="TALES_OF_BLUE_WATER"></a>TALES OF BLUE WATER</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE STRIPED CHEST</h3> + + +<p>"What do you make of her, Allardyce?" I asked.</p> + +<p>My second mate was standing beside me upon the poop, with his short, +thick legs astretch, for the gale had left a considerable swell behind +it, and our two quarter-boats nearly touched the water with every roll. +He steadied his glass against the mizzen-shrouds, and he looked long and +hard at this disconsolate stranger every time she came reeling up on to +the crest of a roller and hung balanced for a few seconds before +swooping down upon the other side. She lay so low in the water that I +could only catch an occasional glimpse of a pea-green line of bulwark.</p> + +<p>She was a brig, but her mainmast had been snapped short off some ten +feet above the deck, and no effort seemed to have been made to cut away +the wreckage, which floated, sails and yards, like the broken wing of a +wounded gull, upon the water beside her. The foremast was still +standing, but the fore-topsail was flying loose, and the head-sails were +streaming out in long white pennons in front of her. Never have I seen a +vessel which appeared to have gone through rougher handling.</p> + +<p>But we could not be surprised at that, for there had been times during +the last three days when it was a question whether our own barque would +ever see land again. For thirty-six hours we had kept her nose to it, +and if the <i>Mary Sinclair</i> had not been as good a seaboat as ever left +the Clyde, we could not have gone through. And yet here we were at the +end of it with the loss only of our gig and of part of the starboard +bulwark. It did not astonish us, however, when the smother had cleared +away, to find that others had been less lucky, and that this mutilated +brig, staggering about upon a blue sea, and under a cloudless sky, had +been left, like a blinded man after a lightning flash, to tell of the +terror which is past.</p> + +<p>Allardyce, who was a slow and methodical Scotchman, stared long and hard +at the little craft, while our seamen lined the bulwark or clustered +upon the fore shrouds to have a view of the stranger. In latitude 20° +and longitude 10°, which were about our bearings, one becomes a little +curious as to whom one meets, for one has left the main lines of +Atlantic commerce to the north. For ten days we had been sailing over a +solitary sea.</p> + +<p>"She's derelict, I'm thinking," said the second mate.</p> + +<p>I had come to the same conclusion, for I could see no sign of life upon +her deck, and there was no answer to the friendly wavings from our +seamen. The crew had probably deserted her under the impression that she +was about to founder.</p> + +<p>"She can't last long," continued Allardyce, in his measured way. "She +may put her nose down and her tail up any minute. The water's lipping up +to the edge of her rail."</p> + +<p>"What's her flag?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to make out. It's got all twisted and tangled with the +halyards. Yes, I've got it now, clear enough. It's the Brazilian flag, +but it's wrong side up."</p> + +<p>She had hoisted a signal of distress, then, before her people abandoned +her. Perhaps they had only just gone. I took the mate's glass and looked +round over the tumultuous face of the deep blue Atlantic, still veined +and starred with white lines and spoutings of foam. But nowhere could I +see anything human beyond ourselves.</p> + +<p>"There may be living men aboard," said I.</p> + +<p>"There may be salvage," muttered the second mate.</p> + +<p>"Then we will run down upon her lee side, and lie to."</p> + +<p>We were not more than a hundred yards from her when we swung our +fore-yard aback, and there we were, the barque and the brig, ducking and +bowing like two clowns in a dance.</p> + +<p>"Drop one of the quarter-boats," said I. "Take four men, Mr. Allardyce, +and see what you can learn of her."</p> + +<p>But just at that moment my first officer, Mr. Armstrong, came on deck, +for seven bells had struck, and it was but a few minutes off his watch. +It would interest me to go myself to this abandoned vessel and to see +what there might be aboard of her. So, with a word to Armstrong, I swung +myself over the side, slipped down the falls, and took my place in the +sheets of the boat.</p> + +<p>It was but a little distance, but it took some time to traverse, and so +heavy was the roll, that often, when we were in the trough of the sea, +we could not see either the barque which we had left or the brig which +we were approaching. The sinking sun did not penetrate down there, and +it was cold and dark in the hollows of the waves, but each passing +billow heaved us up into the warmth and the sunshine once more. At each +of these moments, as we hung upon a white-capped ridge between the two +dark valleys, I caught a glimpse of the long, pea-green line, and the +nodding foremast of the brig, and I steered so as to come round by her +stern, so that we might determine which was the best way of boarding +her. As we passed her we saw the name <i>Nossa Sehnora da Vittoria</i> +painted across her dripping counter.</p> + +<p>"The weather side, sir," said the second mate. "Stand by with the +boat-hook, carpenter!" An instant later we had jumped over the bulwarks, +which were hardly higher than our boat, and found ourselves upon the +deck of the abandoned vessel.</p> + +<p>Our first thought was to provide for our own safety in case—as seemed +very probable—the vessel should settle down beneath our feet. With this +object two of our men held on to the painter of the boat, and fended her +off from the vessel's side, so that she might be ready in case we had to +make a hurried retreat. The carpenter was sent to find out how much +water there was, and whether it was still gaining, while the other +seaman, Allardyce, and myself, made a rapid inspection of the vessel and +her cargo.</p> + +<p>The deck was littered with wreckage and with hen-coops, in which the +dead birds were washing about. The boats were gone, with the exception +of one, the bottom of which had been stove, and it was certain that the +crew had abandoned the vessel. The cabin was in a deck house, one side +of which had been beaten in by a heavy sea. Allardyce and I entered it, +and found the captain's table as he had left it, his books and +papers—all Spanish or Portuguese—scattered over it, with piles of +cigarette ash everywhere. I looked about for the log, but could not find +it.</p> + +<p>"As likely as not he never kept one," said Allardyce. "Things are pretty +slack aboard a South American trader, and they don't do more than they +can help. If there was one it must have been taken away with him in the +boat."</p> + +<p>"I should like to take all these books and papers," said I. "Ask the +carpenter how much time we have."</p> + +<p>His report was reassuring. The vessel was full of water, but some of the +cargo was buoyant, and there was no immediate danger of her sinking. +Probably she would never sink, but would drift about as one of those +terrible, unmarked reefs which have sent so many stout vessels to the +bottom.</p> + +<p>"In that case there is no danger in your going below, Mr. Allardyce," +said I. "See what you can make of her, and find out how much of her +cargo may be saved. I'll look through these papers while you are gone."</p> + +<p>The bills of lading, and some notes and letters which lay upon the desk, +sufficed to inform me that the Brazilian brig <i>Nossa Sehnora da +Vittoria</i> had cleared from Bahia a month before. The name of the captain +was Texeira, but there was no record as to the number of the crew. She +was bound for London, and a glance at the bills of lading was sufficient +to show me that we were not likely to profit much in the way of salvage. +Her cargo consisted of nuts, ginger, and wood, the latter in the shape +of great logs of valuable tropical growths. It was these, no doubt, +which had prevented the ill-fated vessel from going to the bottom, but +they were of such a size as to make it impossible for us to extract +them. Besides these, there were a few fancy goods, such as a number of +ornamental birds for millinery purposes, and a hundred cases of +preserved fruits. And then, as I turned over the papers, I came upon a +short note in English, which arrested my attention.</p> + +<p>"It is requested," said the note, "that the various old Spanish and +Indian curiosities, which came out of the Santarem collection, and which +are consigned to Prontfoot and Neuman, of Oxford Street, London, should +be put in some place where there may be no danger of these very valuable +and unique articles being injured or tampered with. This applies most +particularly to the treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, which must +on no account be placed where any one can get at it."</p> + +<p>The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez! Unique and valuable articles! Here +was a chance of salvage after all! I had risen to my feet with the paper +in my hand, when my Scotch mate appeared in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking all isn't quite as it should be aboard of this ship, sir," +said he. He was a hard-faced man, and yet I could see that he had been +startled.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Murder's the matter, sir. There's a man Here with his brains beaten +out."</p> + +<p>"Killed in the storm?" said I.</p> + +<p>"May be so, sir. But I'll be surprised if you think so after you have +seen him."</p> + +<p>"Where is he, then?"</p> + +<p>"This way, sir; here in the main-deck house."</p> + +<p>There appeared to have been no accommodation below in the brig, for +there was the afterhouse for the captain, another by the main hatchway +with the cook's galley attached to it, and a third in the forecastle for +the men. It was to this middle one that the mate led me. As you entered +the galley, with its litter of tumbled pots and dishes, was upon the +right, and upon the left was a small room with two bunks for the +officers. Then beyond there was a place about twelve feet square, which +was littered with flags and spare canvas. All round the walls were a +number of packets done up in coarse cloth and carefully lashed to the +woodwork. At the other end was a great box, striped red and white, +though the red was so faded and the white so dirty that it was only +where the light fell directly upon it that one could see the colouring. +The box was, by subsequent measurement, four feet three inches in +length, three feet two inches in height, and three feet +across—considerably larger than a seaman's chest.</p> + +<p>But it was not to the box that my eyes or my thoughts were turned as I +entered the store-room. On the floor, lying across the litter of +bunting, there was stretched a small, dark man with a short, curling +beard. He lay as far as it was possible from the box, with his feet +towards it and his head away. A crimson patch was printed upon the white +canvas on which his head was resting, and little red ribbons wreathed +themselves round his swarthy neck and trailed away on to the floor, but +there was no sign of a wound that I could see, and his face was as +placid as that of a sleeping child.</p> + +<p>It was only when I stooped that I could perceive his injury, and then I +turned away with an exclamation of horror. He had been pole-axed; +apparently by some person standing behind him. A frightful blow had +smashed in the top of his head and penetrated deeply into his brain. His +face might well be placid, for death must have been absolutely +instantaneous, and the position of the wound showed that he could never +have seen the person who had inflicted it.</p> + +<p>"Is that foul play or accident, Captain Barclay?" asked my second mate, +demurely.</p> + +<p>"You are quite right, Mr. Allardyce. The man has been murdered, struck +down from above by a sharp and heavy weapon. But who was he, and why did +they murder him?"</p> + +<p>"He was a common seaman, sir," said the mate. "You can see that if you +look at his fingers." He turned out his pockets as he spoke and brought +to light a pack of cards, some tarred string, and a bundle of Brazilian +tobacco.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, look at this!" said he.</p> + +<p>It was a large, open knife with a stiff spring blade which he had picked +up from the floor. The steel was shining and bright, so that we could +not associate it with the crime, and yet the dead man had apparently +held it in his hand when he was struck down, for it still lay within his +grasp.</p> + +<p>"It looks to me, sir, as if he knew he was in danger, and kept his knife +handy," said the mate. "However, we can't help the poor beggar now. I +can't make out these things that are lashed to the wall. They seem to be +idols and weapons and curios of all sorts done up in old sacking."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said I. "They are the only things of value that we are +likely to get from the cargo. Hail the barque and tell them to send the +other quarter-boat to help us to get the stuff aboard."</p> + +<p>While he was away I examined this curious plunder which had come into +our possession. The curiosities were so wrapped up that I could only +form a general idea as to their nature, but the striped box stood in a +good light where I could thoroughly examine it. On the lid, which was +clamped and cornered with metal-work, there was engraved a complex coat +of arms, and beneath it was a line of Spanish which I was able to +decipher as meaning, "The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, Knight +of the Order of Saint James, Governor and Captain-General of Terra Firma +and of the Province of Veraquas." In one corner was the date 1606, and +on the other a large white label, upon which was written in English, +"You are earnestly requested, upon no account, to open this box." The +same warning was repeated underneath in Spanish. As to the lock, it was +a very complex and heavy one of engraved steel, with a Latin motto, +which was above a seaman's comprehension.</p> + +<p>By the time I had finished this examination of the peculiar box, the +other quarter-boat with Mr. Armstrong, the first officer, had come +alongside, and we began to carry out and place in her the various +curiosities which appeared to be the only objects worth moving from the +derelict ship. When she was full I sent her back to the barque, and then +Allardyce and I, with a carpenter and one seaman, shifted the striped +box, which was the only thing left, to our boat, and lowered it over, +balancing it upon the two middle thwarts, for it was so heavy that it +would have given the boat a dangerous tilt had we placed it at either +end. As to the dead man, we left him where we had found him.</p> + +<p>The mate had a theory that at the moment of the desertion of the ship, +this fellow had started plundering, and that the captain in an attempt +to preserve discipline, had struck him down with a hatchet or some other +heavy weapon. It seemed more probable than any other explanation, and +yet it did not entirely satisfy me either. But the ocean is full of +mysteries, and we were content to leave the fate of the dead seaman of +the Brazilian brig to be added to that long list which every sailor can +recall.</p> + +<p>The heavy box was slung up by ropes on to the deck of the <i>Mary +Sinclair</i>, and was carried by four seamen into the cabin, where, between +the table and the after-lockers, there was just space for it to stand. +There it remained during supper, and after that meal the mates remained +with me, and discussed over a glass of grog the event of the day. Mr. +Armstrong was a long, thin, vulture-like man, an excellent seaman, but +famous for his nearness and cupidity. Our treasure-trove had excited him +greatly, and already he had begun with glistening eyes to reckon up how +much it might be worth to each of us when the shares of the salvage came +to be divided.</p> + +<p>"If the paper said that they were unique, Mr. Barclay, then they may be +worth anything that you like to name. You wouldn't believe the sums that +the rich collectors give. A thousand pounds is nothing to them. We'll +have something to show for our voyage, or I am mistaken."</p> + +<p>"I don't think that," said I. "As far as I can see they are not very +different from any other South American curios."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I've traded there for fourteen voyages, and I have never +seen anything like that chest before. That's worth a pile of money, just +as it stands. But it's so heavy, that surely there must be something +valuable inside it. Don't you think we ought to open it and see?"</p> + +<p>"If you break it open you will spoil it, as likely as not," said the +second mate.</p> + +<p>Armstrong squatted down in front of it, with his head on one side, and +his long, thin nose within a few inches of the lock.</p> + +<p>"The wood is oak," said he, "and it has shrunk a little with age. If I +had a chisel or a strong-bladed knife I could force the lock back +without doing any damage at all."</p> + +<p>The mention of a strong-bladed knife made me think of the dead seaman +upon the brig.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if he could have been on the job when some one came to +interfere with him," said I.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that, sir, but I am perfectly certain that I could +open the box. There's a screwdriver here in the locker. Just hold the +lamp, Allardyce, and I'll have it done in a brace of shakes."</p> + +<p>"Wait a bit," said I, for already, with eyes which gleamed with +curiosity and with avarice, he was stooping over the lid. "I don't see +that there is any hurry over this matter. You've read that card which +warns us not to open it. It may mean anything or it may mean nothing, +but somehow I feel inclined to obey it. After all, whatever is in it +will keep, and if it is valuable it will be worth as much if it is +opened in the owner's offices as in the cabin of the <i>Mary Sinclair</i>."</p> + +<p>The first officer seemed bitterly disappointed at my decision.</p> + +<p>"Surely, sir, you are not superstitious about it," said he, with a +slight sneer upon his thin lips. "If it gets out of our own hands, and +we don't see for ourselves what is inside it, we may be done out of our +rights; besides——"</p> + +<p>"That's enough, Mr. Armstrong," said I, abruptly. "You may have every +confidence that you will get your rights, but I will not have that box +opened to-night."</p> + +<p>"Why, the label itself shows that the box has been examined by +Europeans," Allardyce added. "Because a box is a treasure-box is no +reason that it has treasures inside it now. A good many folk have had a +peep into it since the days of the old Governor of Terra Firma."</p> + +<p>Armstrong threw the screwdriver down upon the table and shrugged his +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Just as you like," said he; but for the rest of the evening, although +we spoke upon many subjects, I noticed that his eyes were continually +coming round, with the same expression of curiosity and greed, to the +old striped box.</p> + +<p>And now I come to that portion of my story which fills me even now with +a shuddering horror when I think of it. The main cabin had the rooms of +the officers round it, but mine was the farthest away from it at the end +of the little passage which led to the companion. No regular watch was +kept by me, except in cases of emergency, and the three mates divided +the watches among them. Armstrong had the middle watch, which ends at +four in the morning, and he was relieved by Allardyce. For my part I +have always been one of the soundest of sleepers, and it is rare for +anything less than a hand upon my shoulder to arouse me.</p> + +<p>And yet I was aroused that night, or rather in the early grey of the +morning. It was just half-past four by my chronometer when something +caused me to sit up in my berth wide awake and with every nerve +tingling. It was a sound of some sort, a crash with a human cry at the +end of it, which still jarred upon my ears. I sat listening, but all was +now silent. And yet it could not have been imagination, that hideous +cry, for the echo of it still rang in my head, and it seemed to have +come from some place quite close to me. I sprang from my bunk, and, +pulling on some clothes, I made my way into the cabin.</p> + +<p>At first I saw nothing unusual there. In the cold, grey light I made out +the red-clothed table, the six rotating chairs, the walnut lockers, the +swinging barometer, and there, at the end, the big striped chest. I was +turning away with the intention of going upon deck and asking the second +mate if he had heard anything, when my eyes fell suddenly upon something +which projected from under the table. It was the leg of a man—a leg +with a long sea-boot upon it. I stooped, and there was a figure +sprawling upon his face, his arms thrown forward and his body twisted. +One glance told me that it was Armstrong, the first officer, and a +second that he was a dead man. For a few moments I stood gasping. Then I +rushed on to the deck, called Allardyce to my assistance, and came back +with him into the cabin.</p> + +<p>Together we pulled the unfortunate fellow from under the table, and as +we looked at his dripping head, we exchanged glances, and I do not know +which was the paler of the two.</p> + +<p>"The same as the Spanish sailor," said I.</p> + +<p>"The very same. God preserve us! It's that infernal chest! Look at +Armstrong's hand!"</p> + +<p>He held up the mate's right hand, and there was the screwdriver which he +had wished to use the night before.</p> + +<p>"He's been at the chest, sir. He knew that I was on deck and you asleep. +He knelt down in front of it, and he pushed the lock back with that +tool. Then something happened to him, and he cried out so that you heard +him."</p> + +<p>"Allardyce," I whispered, "what <i>could</i> have happened to him?"</p> + +<p>The second mate put his hand upon my sleeve and drew me into his cabin.</p> + +<p>"We can talk here, sir, and we don't know who may be listening to us in +there. What do you suppose is in that box, Captain Barclay?"</p> + +<p>"I give you my word, Allardyce, that I have no idea."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can only find one theory which will fit all the facts. Look at +the size of the box. Look at all the carving and metal-work which may +conceal any number of holes. Look at the weight of it; it took four men +to carry it. On the top of that, remember that two men have tried to +open it, and both have come to their end through it. Now, sir, what can +it mean except one thing?"</p> + +<p>"You mean there is a man in it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course there is a man in it. You know how it is in these South +American States, sir. A man may be President one week and hunted like a +dog the next. They are for ever flying for their lives. My idea is that +there is some fellow in hiding there, who is armed and desperate, and +who will fight to the death before he is taken."</p> + +<p>"But his food and drink?"</p> + +<p>"It's a roomy chest, sir, and he may have some provisions stowed away. +As to his drink, he had a friend among the crew upon the brig who saw +that he had what he needed."</p> + +<p>"You think, then, that the label asking people not to open the box was +simply written in his interest?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, that is my idea. Have you any other way of explaining the +facts?"</p> + +<p>I had to confess that I had not.</p> + +<p>"The question is what are we to do?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"The man's a dangerous ruffian who sticks at nothing. I'm thinking it +wouldn't be a bad thing to put a rope round the chest and tow it +alongside for half an hour; then we could open it at our ease. Or if we +just tied the box up and kept him from getting any water maybe that +would do as well. Or the carpenter could put a coat of varnish over it +and stop all the blowholes."</p> + +<p>"Come, Allardyce," said I, angrily. "You don't seriously mean to say +that a whole ship's company are going to be terrorised by a single man +in a box. If he's there I'll engage to fetch him out!" I went to my room +and came back with my revolver in my hand. "Now, Allardyce," said I. "Do +you open the lock, and I'll stand on guard."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, think what you are doing, sir," cried the mate. "Two +men have lost their lives over it, and the blood of one not yet dry upon +the carpet."</p> + +<p>"The more reason why we should revenge him."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, at least let me call the carpenter. Three are better than +two, and he is a good stout man."</p> + +<p>He went off in search of him, and I was left alone with the striped +chest in the cabin. I don't think that I'm a nervous man, but I kept the +table between me and this solid old relic of the Spanish Main. In the +growing light of morning the red and white striping was beginning to +appear, and the curious scrolls and wreaths of metal and carving which +showed the loving pains which cunning craftsmen had expended upon it. +Presently the carpenter and the mate came back together, the former with +a hammer in his hand.</p> + +<p>"It's a bad business, this, sir," said he, shaking his head, as he +looked at the body of the mate. "And you think there's someone hiding in +the box?"</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about it," said Allardyce, picking up the screwdriver +and setting his jaw like a man who needs to brace his courage. "I'll +drive the lock back if you will both stand by. If he rises let him have +it on the head with your hammer, carpenter! Shoot at once, sir, if he +raises his hand. Now!"</p> + +<p>He had knelt down in front of the striped chest, and passed the blade of +the tool under the lid. With a sharp snick the lock flew back. "Stand +by!" yelled the mate, and with a heave he threw open the massive top of +the box. As it swung up, we all three sprang back, I with my pistol +levelled, and the carpenter with the hammer above his head. Then, as +nothing happened, we each took a step forward and peeped in. The box +was empty.</p> + +<p>Not quite empty either, for in one corner was lying an old yellow +candlestick, elaborately engraved, which appeared to be as old as the +box itself. Its rich yellow tone and artistic shape suggested that it +was an object of value. For the rest there was nothing more weighty or +valuable than dust in the old striped treasure-chest.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm blessed!" cried Allardyce, staring blankly into it. "Where +does the weight come in, then?"</p> + +<p>"Look at the thickness of the sides and look at the lid. Why, it's five +inches through. And see that great metal spring across it."</p> + +<p>"That's for holding the lid up," said the mate. "You see, it won't lean +back. What's that German printing on the inside?"</p> + +<p>"It means that it was made by Johann Rothstein of Augsburg, in 1606."</p> + +<p>"And a solid bit of work, too. But it doesn't throw much light on what +has passed, does it, Captain Barclay? That candlestick looks like gold. +We shall have something for our trouble after all."</p> + +<p>He leant forward to grasp it, and from that moment I have never doubted +as to the reality of inspiration, for on the instant I caught him by the +collar and pulled him straight again. It may have been some story of the +Middle Ages which had come back to my mind, or it may have been that my +eye had caught some red which was not that of rust upon the upper part +of the lock, but to him and to me it will always seem an inspiration, so +prompt and sudden was my action.</p> + +<p>"There's devilry here," said I. "Give me the crooked stick from the +corner."</p> + +<p>It was an ordinary walking-cane with a hooked top. I passed it over the +candlestick and gave it a pull. With a flash a row of polished steel +fangs shot out from below the upper lip, and the great striped chest +snapped at us like a wild animal. Clang came the huge lid into its +place, and the glasses on the swinging rack sang and tinkled with the +shock. The mate sat down on the edge of the table, and shivered like a +frightened horse.</p> + +<p>"You've saved my life, Captain Barclay!" said he.</p> + +<p>So this was the secret of the striped treasure-chest of old Don Ramirez +di Leyra, and this was how he preserved his ill-gotten gains from the +Terra Firma and the Province of Veraquas. Be the thief ever so cunning +he could not tell that golden candlestick from the other articles of +value, and the instant that he laid hand upon it the terrible spring was +unloosed and the murderous steel spikes were driven into his brain, +while the shock of the blow sent the victim backwards and enabled the +chest to automatically close itself. How many, I wondered, had fallen +victims to the ingenuity of the Mechanic of Augsburg. And as I thought +of the possible history of that grim striped chest my resolution was +very quickly taken.</p> + +<p>"Carpenter, bring three men and carry this on deck."</p> + +<p>"Going to throw it overboard, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Allardyce. I'm not superstitious as a rule, but there are some +things which are more than a sailor can be called upon to stand."</p> + +<p>"No wonder that brig made heavy weather, Captain Barclay, with such a +thing on board. The glass is dropping fast, sir, and we are only just in +time."</p> + +<p>So we did not even wait for the three sailors, but we carried it out, +the mate, the carpenter, and I, and we pushed it with our own hands over +the bulwarks. There was a white spout of water, and it was gone. There +it lies, the striped chest, a thousand fathoms deep, and if, as they +say, the sea will some day be dry land, I grieve for the man who finds +that old box and tries to penetrate into its secret.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR"</h3> + +<h3>(BEING AN EXTRACT FROM THE SINGULAR JOURNAL OF JOHN M'ALISTER RAY, +STUDENT OF MEDICINE.)</h3> + + +<p><i>September 11th.</i>—Lat. 81° 40' N.; long. 2° E. Still lying-to amid +enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away to the north of us, +and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot be smaller than an +English county. To the right and left unbroken sheets extend to the +horizon. This morning the mate reported that there were signs of pack +ice to the southward. Should this form of sufficient thickness to bar +our return, we shall be in a position of danger, as the food, I hear, is +already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and the nights +are beginning to reappear. This morning I saw a star twinkling just over +the fore-yard, the first since the beginning of May. There is +considerable discontent among the crew, many of whom are anxious to get +back home to be in time for the herring season, when labour always +commands a high price upon the Scotch coast. As yet their displeasure is +only signified by sullen countenances and black looks, but I heard from +the second mate this afternoon that they contemplated sending a +deputation to the Captain to explain their grievance. I much doubt how +he will receive it, as he is a man of fierce temper, and very sensitive +about anything approaching to an infringement of his rights. I shall +venture after dinner to say a few words to him upon the subject. I have +always found that he will tolerate from me what he would resent from any +other member of the crew. Amsterdam Island, at the north-west corner of +Spitzbergen, is visible upon our starboard quarter—a rugged line of +volcanic rocks, intersected by white seams, which represent glaciers. It +is curious to think that at the present moment there is probably no +human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements in the south of +Greenland—a good nine hundred miles as the crow flies. A captain takes +a great responsibility upon himself when he risks his vessel under such +circumstances. No whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so +advanced a period of the year.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">9 P.M.</span>—I have spoken to Captain Craigie, and though the result has been +hardly satisfactory, I am bound to say that he listened to what I had to +say very quietly and even deferentially. When I had finished he put on +that air of iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his +face, and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin +for some minutes. At first I feared that I had seriously offended him, +but he dispelled the idea by sitting down again, and putting his hand +upon my arm with a gesture which almost amounted to a caress. There was +a depth of tenderness too in his wild dark eyes which surprised me +considerably. "Look here, Doctor," he said, "I'm sorry I ever took +you—I am indeed—and I would give fifty pounds this minute to see you +standing safe upon the Dundee quay. It's hit or miss with me this time. +There are fish to the north of us. How dare you shake your head, sir, +when I tell you I saw them blowing from the mast-head?"—this in a +sudden burst of fury, though I was not conscious of having shown any +signs of doubt. "Two-and-twenty fish in as many minutes as I am a +living man, and not one under ten foot.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Now, doctor, do you think I +can leave the country when there is only one infernal strip of ice +between me and my fortune? If it came on to blow from the north +to-morrow we could fill the ship and be away before the frost could +catch us. If it came on to blow from the south—well, I suppose the men +are paid for risking their lives, and as for myself it matters but +little to me, for I have more to bind me to the other world than to this +one. I confess that I am sorry for <i>you</i>, though. I wish I had old Angus +Tait who was with me last voyage, for he was a man that would never be +missed, and you—you said once that you were engaged, did you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, snapping the spring of the locket which hung from my +watch-chain, and holding up the little vignette of Flora.</p> + +<p>"Curse you!" he yelled, springing out of his seat, with his very beard +bristling with passion. "What is your happiness to me? What have I to do +with her that you must dangle her photograph before my eyes?" I almost +thought that he was about to strike me in the frenzy of his rage, but +with another imprecation he dashed open the door of the cabin and rushed +out upon deck, leaving me considerably astonished at his extraordinary +violence. It is the first time that he has ever shown me anything but +courtesy and kindness. I can hear him pacing excitedly up and down +overhead as I write these lines.</p> + +<p>I should like to give a sketch of the character of this man, but it +seems presumptuous to attempt such a thing upon paper, when the idea in +my own mind is at best a vague and uncertain one. Several times I have +thought that I grasped the clue which might explain it, but only to be +disappointed by his presenting himself in some new light which would +upset all my conclusions. It may be that no human eye but my own shall +ever rest upon these lines, yet as a psychological study I shall attempt +to leave some record of Captain Nicholas Craigie.</p> + +<p>A man's outer case generally gives some indication of the soul within. +The Captain is tall and well-formed, with dark, handsome face, and a +curious way of twitching his limbs, which may arise from nervousness, or +be simply an outcome of his excessive energy. His jaw and whole cast of +countenance is manly and resolute, but the eyes are the distinctive +feature of his face. They are of the very darkest hazel, bright and +eager, with a singular mixture of recklessness in their expression, and +of something else which I have sometimes thought was more allied with +horror than any other emotion. Generally the former predominated, but on +occasions, and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined, the +look of fear would spread and deepen until it imparted a new character +to his whole countenance. It is at these times that he is most subject +to tempestuous fits of anger, and he seems to be aware of it, for I have +known him lock himself up so that no one might approach him until his +dark hour was passed. He sleeps badly, and I have heard him shouting +during the night, but his cabin is some little distance from mine, and I +could never distinguish the words which he said.</p> + +<p>This is one phase of his character, and the most disagreeable one. It is +only through my close association with him, thrown together as we are +day after day, that I have observed it. Otherwise he is an agreeable +companion, well-read and entertaining, and as gallant a seaman as ever +trod a deck. I shall not easily forget the way in which he handled the +ship when we were caught by a gale among the loose ice at the beginning +of April. I have never seen him so cheerful, and even hilarious, as he +was that night, as he paced backwards and forwards upon the bridge amid +the flashing of the lightning and the howling of the wind. He has told +me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, +which is a sad thing for a young man to say; he cannot be much more than +thirty, though his hair and moustache are already slightly grizzled. +Some great sorrow must have overtaken him and blighted his whole life. +Perhaps I should be the same if I lost my Flora—God knows! I think if +it were not for her that I should care very little whether the wind blew +from the north or the south to-morrow. There, I hear him come down the +companion, and he has locked himself up in his room, which shows that he +is still in an unamiable mood. And so to bed, as old Pepys would say, +for the candle is burning down (we have to use them now since the nights +are closing in), and the steward has turned in, so there are no hopes of +another one.</p> + +<p><i>September 12th.</i>—Calm, clear day, and still lying in the same +position. What wind there is comes from the south-east, but it is very +slight. Captain is in a better humour, and apologised to me at +breakfast for his rudeness. He still looks somewhat distrait, however, +and retains that wild look in his eyes which in a Highlander would mean +that he was "fey"—at least so our chief engineer remarked to me, and he +has some reputation among the Celtic portion of our crew as a seer and +expounder of omens.</p> + +<p>It is strange that superstition should have obtained such mastery over +this hard-headed and practical race. I could not have believed to what +an extent it is carried had I not observed it for myself. We have had a +perfect epidemic of it this voyage, until I have felt inclined to serve +out rations of sedatives and nerve-tonics with the Saturday allowance of +grog. The first symptom of it was that shortly after leaving Shetland +the men at the wheel used to complain that they heard plaintive cries +and screams in the wake of the ship, as if something were following it +and were unable to overtake it. This fiction has been kept up during the +whole voyage, and on dark nights at the beginning of the seal-fishing it +was only with great difficulty that men could be induced to do their +spell. No doubt what they heard was either the creaking of the +rudder-chains, or the cry of some passing sea-bird. I have been fetched +out of bed several times to listen to it, but I need hardly say that I +was never able to distinguish anything unnatural. The men, however, are +so absurdly positive upon the subject that it is hopeless to argue with +them. I mentioned the matter to the Captain once, but to my surprise he +took it very gravely, and indeed appeared to be considerably disturbed +by what I told him. I should have thought that he at least would have +been above such vulgar delusions.</p> + +<p>All this disquisition upon superstition leads me up to the fact that +Mr. Manson, our second mate, saw a ghost last night—or, at least, says +that he did, which of course is the same thing. It is quite refreshing +to have some new topic of conversation after the eternal routine of +bears and whales which has served us for so many months. Manson swears +the ship is haunted, and that he would not stay in her a day if he had +any other place to go to. Indeed the fellow is honestly frightened, and +I had to give him some chloral and bromide of potassium this morning to +steady him down. He seemed quite indignant when I suggested that he had +been having an extra glass the night before, and I was obliged to pacify +him by keeping as grave a countenance as possible during his story, +which he certainly narrated in a very straightforward and matter-of-fact +way.</p> + +<p>"I was on the bridge," he said, "about four bells in the middle watch, +just when the night was at its darkest. There was a bit of a moon, but +the clouds were blowing across it so that you couldn't see far from the +ship. John M'Leod, the harpooner, came aft from the fo'c'sle-head and +reported a strange noise on the starboard bow. I went forrard and we +both heard it, sometimes like a bairn crying and sometimes like a wench +in pain. I've been seventeen years to the country and I never heard +seal, old or young, make a sound like that. As we were standing there on +the fo'c'sle-head the moon came out from behind a cloud, and we both saw +a sort of white figure moving across the ice field in the same direction +that we had heard the cries. We lost sight of it for a while, but it +came back on the port bow, and we could just make it out like a shadow +on the ice. I sent a hand aft for the rifles, and M'Leod and I went +down on to the pack, thinking that maybe it might be a bear. When we +got on the ice I lost sight of M'Leod, but I pushed on in the direction +where I could still hear the cries. I followed them for a mile or maybe +more, and then running round a hummock I came right on to the top of it +standing and waiting for me seemingly. I don't know what it was. It +wasn't a bear, anyway. It was tall and white and straight, and if it +wasn't a man nor a woman, I'll stake my davy it was something worse. I +made for the ship as hard as I could run, and precious glad I was to +find myself aboard. I signed articles to do my duty by the ship, and on +the ship I'll stay, but you don't catch me on the ice again after +sundown."</p> + +<p>That is his story, given as far as I can in his own words. I fancy what +he saw must, in spite of his denial, have been a young bear erect upon +its hind legs, an attitude which they often assume when alarmed. In the +uncertain light this would bear a resemblance to a human figure, +especially to a man whose nerves were already somewhat shaken. Whatever +it may have been, the occurrence is unfortunate, for it has produced a +most unpleasant effect upon the crew. Their looks are more sullen than +before, and their discontent more open. The double grievance of being +debarred from the herring fishing and of being detained in what they +choose to call a haunted vessel, may lead them to do something rash. +Even the harpooners, who are the oldest and steadiest among them, are +joining in the general agitation.</p> + +<p>Apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition, things are looking +rather more cheerful. The pack which was forming to the south of us has +partly cleared away, and the water is so warm as to lead me to believe +that we are lying in one of those branches of the gulf-stream which run +up between Greenland and Spitzbergen. There are numerous small Medusæ +and sealemons about the ship, with abundance of shrimps, so that there +is every possibility of "fish" being sighted. Indeed one was seen +blowing about dinner-time, but in such a position that it was impossible +for the boats to follow it.</p> + +<p><i>September 13th.</i>—Had an interesting conversation with the chief mate, +Mr. Milne, upon the bridge. It seems that our captain is as great an +enigma to the seamen, and even to the owners of the vessel, as he has +been to me. Mr. Milne tells me that when the ship is paid off, upon +returning from a voyage, Captain Craigie disappears, and is not seen +again until the approach of another season, when he walks quietly into +the office of the company, and asks whether his services will be +required. He has no friend in Dundee, nor does any one pretend to be +acquainted with his early history. His position depends entirely upon +his skill as a seaman, and the name for courage and coolness which he +had earned in the capacity of mate, before being entrusted with a +separate command. The unanimous opinion seems to be that he is not a +Scotchman, and that his name is an assumed one. Mr. Milne thinks that he +has devoted himself to whaling simply for the reason that it is the most +dangerous occupation which he could select, and that he courts death in +every possible manner. He mentioned several instances of this, one of +which is rather curious, if true. It seems that on one occasion he did +not put in an appearance at the office, and a substitute had to be +selected in his place. That was at the time of the last Russian and +Turkish War. When he turned up again next spring he had a puckered wound +in the side of his neck which he used to endeavor to conceal with his +cravat. Whether the mate's inference that he had been engaged in the war +is true or not I cannot say. It was certainly a strange coincidence.</p> + +<p>The wind is veering round in an easterly direction, but is still very +slight. I think the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday. As far as +the eye can reach on every side there is one wide expanse of spotless +white, only broken by an occasional rift or the dark shadow of a +hummock. To the south there is the narrow lane of blue water which is +our sole means of escape, and which is closing up every day. The Captain +is taking a heavy responsibility upon himself. I hear that the tank of +potatoes has been finished, and even the biscuits are running short, but +he preserves the same impassable countenance, and spends the greater +part of the day at the crow's nest, sweeping the horizon with his glass. +His manner is very variable, and he seems to avoid my society, but there +has been no repetition of the violence which he showed the other night.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">7.30 P.M.</span>—My deliberate opinion is that we are commanded by a madman. +Nothing else can account for the extraordinary vagaries of Captain +Craigie. It is fortunate that I have kept this journal of our voyage, as +it will serve to justify us in case we have to put him under any sort of +restraint, a step which I should only consent to as a last resource. +Curiously enough it was he himself who suggested lunacy and not mere +eccentricity as the secret of his strange conduct. He was standing upon +the bridge about an hour ago, peering as usual through his glass, while +I was walking up and down the quarter-deck. The majority of the men were +below at their tea, for the watches have not been regularly kept of +late. Tired of walking, I leaned against the bulwarks, and admired the +mellow glow cast by the sinking sun upon the great ice fields which +surround us. I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I had +fallen by a hoarse voice at my elbow, and starting round I found that +the Captain had descended and was standing by my side. He was staring +out over the ice with an expression in which horror, surprise, and +something approaching to joy were contending for the mastery. In spite +of the cold, great drops of perspiration were coursing down his +forehead, and he was evidently fearfully excited. His limbs twitched +like those of a man upon the verge of an epileptic fit, and the lines +about his mouth were drawn and hard.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he gasped, seizing me by the wrist, but still keeping his eyes +upon the distant ice, and moving his head slowly in a horizontal +direction, as if following some object which was moving across the field +of vision. "Look! There, man, there! Between the hummocks! Now coming +out from behind the far one! You see her—you <i>must</i> see her! There +still! Flying from me, by God, flying from me—and gone!"</p> + +<p>He uttered the last two words in a whisper of concentrated agony which +shall never fade from my remembrance. Clinging to the ratlines he +endeavoured to climb up upon the top of the bulwarks as if in the hope +of obtaining a last glance at the departing object. His strength was +not equal to the attempt, however, and he staggered back against the +saloon skylights, where he leaned panting and exhausted. His face was so +livid that I expected him to become unconscious, so lost no time in +leading him down the companion, and stretching him upon one of the sofas +in the cabin. I then poured him out some brandy, which I held to his +lips, and which had a wonderful effect upon him, bringing the blood back +into his white face and steadying his poor shaking limbs. He raised +himself up upon his elbow, and looking round to see that we were alone, +he beckoned to me to come and sit beside him.</p> + +<p>"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked, still in the same subdued awesome +tone so foreign to the nature of the man.</p> + +<p>"No, I saw nothing."</p> + +<p>His head sank back again upon the cushions. "No, he wouldn't without the +glass," he murmured. "He couldn't. It was the glass that showed her to +me, and then the eyes of love—the eyes of love. I say, Doc, don't let +the steward in! He'll think I'm mad. Just bolt the door, will you!"</p> + +<p>I rose and did what he commanded.</p> + +<p>He lay quiet for a while, lost in thought apparently, and then raised +himself up upon his elbow again, and asked for some more brandy.</p> + +<p>"You don't think I am, do you Doc?" he asked, as I was putting the +bottle back into the after-locker. "Tell me now, as man to man, do you +think that I am mad?"</p> + +<p>"I think you have something on your mind," I answered, "which is +exciting you and doing you a good deal of harm."</p> + +<p>"Right there, lad!" he cried, his eyes sparkling from the effects of the +brandy. "Plenty on my mind—plenty! But I can work out the latitude and +the longitude, and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms. You +couldn't prove me mad in a court of law, could you, now?" It was curious +to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his +own sanity.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," I said; "but still I think you would be wise to get home +as soon as you can, and settle down to a quiet life for a while."</p> + +<p>"Get home, eh?" he muttered, with a sneer upon his face. "One word for +me and two for yourself, lad. Settle down with Flora—pretty little +Flora. Are bad dreams signs of madness?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," I answered.</p> + +<p>"What else? What would be the first symptoms?"</p> + +<p>"Pains in the head, noises in the ears, flashes before the eyes, +delusions——"</p> + +<p>"Ah! what about them?" he interrupted. "What would you call a delusion?"</p> + +<p>"Seeing a thing which is not there is a delusion."</p> + +<p>"But she <i>was</i> there!" he groaned to himself. "She <i>was</i> there!" and +rising, he unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps to +his own cabin, where I have no doubt that he will remain until to-morrow +morning. His system seems to have received a terrible shock, whatever it +may have been that he imagined himself to have seen. The man becomes a +greater mystery every day, though I fear that the solution which he has +himself suggested is the correct one, and that his reason is affected. I +do not think that a guilty conscience has anything to do with his +behaviour. The idea is a popular one among the officers, and, I +believe, the crew; but I have seen nothing to support it. He has not the +air of a guilty man, but of one who has had terrible usage at the hands +of fortune, and who should be regarded as a martyr rather than a +criminal.</p> + +<p>The wind is veering round to the south to-night. God help us if it +blocks that narrow pass which is our only road to safety! Situated as we +are on the edge of the main Arctic pack, or the "barrier" as it is +called by the whalers, any wind from the north has the effect of +shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape, while a wind +from the south blows up all the loose ice behind us and hems us in +between two packs. God help us, I say again!</p> + +<p><i>September 14th.</i>—Sunday, and a day of rest. My fears have been +confirmed, and the thin strip of blue water has disappeared from the +southward. Nothing but the great motionless ice fields around us, with +their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles. There is a deathly silence +over their wide expanse which is horrible. No lapping of the waves now, +no cries of seagulls or straining of sails, but one deep universal +silence in which the murmurs of the seamen, and the creak of their boots +upon the white shining deck, seem discordant and out of place. Our only +visitor was an Arctic fox, a rare animal upon the pack, though common +enough upon the land. He did not come near the ship, however, but after +surveying us from a distance fled rapidly across the ice. This was +curious conduct, as they generally know nothing of man, and being of an +inquisitive nature, become so familiar that they are easily captured. +Incredible as it may seem, even this little incident produced a bad +effect upon the crew. "Yon puir beastie kens mair, ay, an' sees mair nor +you nor me!" was the comment of one of the leading harpooners, and the +others nodded their acquiescence. It is vain to attempt to argue against +such puerile superstition. They have made up their minds that there is a +curse upon the ship, and nothing will ever persuade them to the +contrary.</p> + +<p>The Captain remained in seclusion all day except for about half an hour +in the afternoon, when he came out upon the quarter-deck. I observed +that he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the vision of yesterday +had appeared, and was quite prepared for another outburst, but none such +came. He did not seem to see me although I was standing close beside +him. Divine service was read as usual by the chief engineer. It is a +curious thing that in whaling vessels the Church of England Prayer-book +is always employed, although there is never a member of that Church +among either officers or crew. Our men are all Roman Catholics or +Presbyterians, the former predominating. Since a ritual is used which is +foreign to both, neither can complain that the other is preferred to +them, and they listen with all attention and devotion, so that the +system has something to recommend it.</p> + +<p>A glorious sunset, which made the great fields of ice look like a lake +of blood. I have never seen a finer and at the same time more weird +effect. Wind is veering round. If it will blow twenty-four hours from +the north all will yet be well.</p> + +<p><i>September 15th.</i>—To-day is Flora's birthday. Dear lass! it is well +that she cannot see her boy, as she used to call me, shut up among the +ice fields with a crazy captain and a few weeks' provisions. No doubt +she scans the shipping list in the <i>Scotsman</i> every morning to see if we +are reported from Shetland. I have to set an example to the men and look +cheery and unconcerned; but God knows, my heart is very heavy at times.</p> + +<p>The thermometer is at nineteen Fahrenheit to-day. There is but little +wind, and what there is comes from an unfavourable quarter. Captain is +in an excellent humour; I think he imagines he has seen some other omen +or vision, poor fellow, during the night, for he came into my room early +in the morning, and stooping down over my bunk, whispered, "It wasn't a +delusion, Doc; it's all right!" After breakfast he asked me to find out +how much food was left, which the second mate and I proceeded to do. It +is even less than we had expected. Forward they have half a tank full of +biscuits, three barrels of salt meat, and a very limited supply of +coffee beans and sugar. In the after-hold and lockers there are a good +many luxuries, such as tinned salmon, soups, haricot mutton, etc., but +they will go a very short way among a crew of fifty men. There are two +barrels of flour in the store-room, and an unlimited supply of tobacco. +Altogether there is about enough to keep the men on half rations for +eighteen or twenty days—certainly not more. When we reported the state +of things to the Captain, he ordered all hands to be piped, and +addressed them from the quarter-deck. I never saw him to better +advantage. With his tall, well-knit figure, and dark animated face, he +seemed a man born to command, and he discussed the situation in a cool +sailor-like way which showed that while appreciating the danger he had +an eye for every loophole of escape.</p> + +<p>"My lads," he said, "no doubt you think I brought you into this fix, if +it is a fix, and maybe some of you feel bitter against me on account of +it. But you must remember that for many a season no ship that comes to +the country has brought in as much oil-money as the old <i>Polestar</i>, and +every one of you has had his share of it. You can leave your wives +behind you in comfort, while other poor fellows come back to find their +lasses on the parish. If you have to thank me for the one you have to +thank me for the other, and we may call it quits. We've tried a bold +venture before this and succeeded, so now that we've tried one and +failed we've no cause to cry out about it. If the worst comes to the +worst, we can make the land across the ice, and lay in a stock of seals +which will keep us alive until the spring. It won't come to that, +though, for you'll see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are +out. At present every man must go on half rations, share and share +alike, and no favour to any. Keep up your hearts and you'll pull through +this as you've pulled through many a danger before." These few simple +words of his had a wonderful effect upon the crew. His former +unpopularity was forgotten, and the old harpooner whom I have already +mentioned for his superstition, led off three cheers, which were +heartily joined in by all hands.</p> + +<p><i>September 16th.</i>—The wind has veered round to the north during the +night, and the ice shows some symptoms of opening out. The men are in +good humour in spite of the short allowance upon which they have been +placed. Steam is kept up in the engine-room, that there may be no delay +should an opportunity for escape present itself. The Captain is in +exuberant spirits, though he still retains that wild "fey" expression +which I have already remarked upon. This burst of cheerfulness puzzles +me more than his former gloom. I cannot understand it. I think I +mentioned in an early part of this journal that one of his oddities is +that he never permits any person to enter his cabin, but insists upon +making his own bed, such as it is, and performing every other office for +himself. To my surprise he handed me the key to-day and requested me to +go down there and take the time by his chronometer while he measured the +altitude of the sun at noon. It is a bare little room, containing a +washing-stand and a few books, but little else in the way of luxury, +except some pictures upon the walls. The majority of these are small +cheap oleographs, but there was one water-coloured sketch of the head of +a young lady which arrested my attention. It was evidently a portrait, +and not one of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors +particularly affect. No artist could have evolved from his own mind such +a curious mixture of character and weakness. The languid, dreamy eyes, +with their drooping lashes, and the broad, low brow, unruffled by +thought or care, were in strong contrast with the clean-cut, prominent +jaw, and the resolute set of the lower lip. Underneath it in one of the +corners was written, "M. B., æt. 19." That any one in the short space of +nineteen years of existence could develop such strength of will as was +stamped upon her face seemed to me at the time to be well-nigh +incredible. She must have been an extraordinary woman. Her features have +thrown such a glamour over me that, though I had but a fleeting glance +at them, I could, were I a draughtsman, reproduce them line for line +upon this page of the journal. I wonder what part she has played in our +Captain's life. He has hung her picture at the end of his berth, so that +his eyes continually rest upon it. Were he a less reserved man I should +make some remark upon the subject. Of the other things in his cabin +there was nothing worthy of mention—uniform coats, a camp-stool, small +looking-glass, tobacco-box, and numerous pipes, including an oriental +hookah—which, by the by, gives some colour to Mr. Milne's story about +his participation in the war, though the connection may seem rather a +distant one.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">11.20 P.M.</span>—Captain just gone to bed after a long and interesting +conversation on general topics. When he chooses he can be a most +fascinating companion, being remarkably well-read, and having the power +of expressing his opinion forcibly without appearing to be dogmatic. I +hate to have my intellectual toes trod upon. He spoke about the nature +of the soul, and sketched out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon the +subject in a masterly manner. He seems to have a leaning for +metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras. In discussing them we +touched upon modern spiritualism, and I made some joking allusion to the +impostures of Slade, upon which, to my surprise, he warned me most +impressively against confusing the innocent with the guilty, and argued +that it would be as logical to brand Christianity as an error because +Judas, who professed that religion, was a villain. He shortly afterwards +bade me good-night and retired to his room.</p> + +<p>The wind is freshening up, and blows steadily from the north. The nights +are as dark now as they are in England. I hope to-morrow may set us free +from our frozen fetters.</p> + +<p><i>September 17th.</i>—The Bogie again. Thank Heaven that I have strong +nerves! The superstition of these poor fellows, and the circumstantial +accounts which they give, with the utmost earnestness and +self-conviction, would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways. +There are many versions of the matter, but the sum-total of them all is +that something uncanny has been flitting round the ship all night, and +that Sandie M'Donald of Peterhead and "lang" Peter Williamson of +Shetland saw it, as also did Mr. Milne on the bridge—so, having three +witnesses, they can make a better case of it than the second mate did. I +spoke to Milne after breakfast, and told him that he should be above +such nonsense, and that as an officer he ought to set the men a better +example. He shook his weather-beaten head ominously, but answered with +characteristic caution, "Mebbe, aye, mebbe na, Doctor," he said, "I +didna ca' it a ghaist. I canna' say I preen my faith in sea-bogles an' +the like, though there's a mony as claims to ha' seen a' that and waur. +I'm no easy feared, but maybe your ain bluid would run a bit cauld, mun, +if instead o' speerin' aboot it in daylicht ye were wi' me last night, +an' seed an awfu' like shape, white an' gruesome, whiles here, whiles +there, an' it greetin' an' ca'ing in the darkness like a bit lambie that +hae lost its mither. Ye would na' be sae ready to put it a' doon to auld +wives' clavers then, I'm thinkin'." I saw it was hopeless to reason with +him, so contented myself with begging him as a personal favour to call +me up the next time the spectre appeared—a request to which he acceded +with many ejaculations expressive of his hopes that such an opportunity +might never arise.</p> + +<p>As I had hoped, the white desert behind us has become broken by many +thin streaks of water which intersect it in all directions. Our latitude +to-day was 80° 52' N., which shows that there is a strong southerly +drift upon the pack. Should the wind continue favourable it will break +up as rapidly as it formed. At present we can do nothing but smoke and +wait and hope for the best. I am rapidly becoming a fatalist. When +dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice a man can be nothing +else. Perhaps it was the wind and sand of the Arabian deserts which gave +the minds of the original followers of Mahomet their tendency to bow to +kismet.</p> + +<p>These spectral alarms have a very bad effect upon the Captain. I feared +that it might excite his sensitive mind, and endeavoured to conceal the +absurd story from him, but unfortunately he overheard one of the men +making an allusion to it, and insisted upon being informed about it. As +I had expected, it brought out all his latent lunacy in an exaggerated +form. I can hardly believe that this is the same man who discoursed +philosophy last night with the most critical acumen and coolest +judgment. He is pacing backwards and forwards upon the quarter-deck like +a caged tiger, stopping now and again to throw out his hands with a +yearning gesture, and stare impatiently out over the ice. He keeps up a +continual mutter to himself, and once he called out, "But a little time, +love—but a little time!" Poor fellow, it is sad to see a gallant seaman +and accomplished gentleman reduced to such a pass, and to think that +imagination and delusion can cow a mind to which real danger was but the +salt of life. Was ever a man in such a position as I, between a demented +captain and a ghost-seeing mate? I sometimes think I am the only really +sane man aboard the vessel—except perhaps the second engineer, who is a +kind of ruminant, and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red +Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools.</p> + +<p>The ice is still opening rapidly, and there is every probability of our +being able to make a start to-morrow morning. They will think I am +inventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have +befallen me.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">12 P.M.</span>—I have been a good deal startled, though I feel steadier now, +thanks to a stiff glass of brandy. I am hardly myself yet, however, as +this handwriting will testify. The fact is, that I have gone through a +very strange experience, and am beginning to doubt whether I was +justified in branding every one on board as madmen because they +professed to have seen things which did not seem reasonable to my +understanding. Pshaw! I am a fool to let such a trifle unnerve me; and +yet, coming as it does after all these alarms, it has an additional +significance, for I cannot doubt either Mr. Manson's story or that of +the mate, now that I have experienced that which I used formerly to +scoff at.</p> + +<p>After all it was nothing very alarming—a mere sound, and that was all. +I cannot expect that any one reading this, if any one should read it, +will sympathise with my feelings, or realise the effect which it +produced upon me at the time. Supper was over, and I had gone on deck to +have a quiet pipe before turning in. The night was very dark—so dark +that, standing under the quarter-boat, I was unable to see the officer +upon the bridge. I think I have already mentioned the extraordinary +silence which prevails in these frozen seas. In other parts of the +world, be they ever so barren, there is some slight vibration of the +air—some faint hum, be it from the distant haunts of men, or from the +leaves of the trees, of the wings of the birds, or even the faint rustle +of the grass that covers the ground. One may not actively perceive the +sound, and yet if it were withdrawn it would be missed. It is only here +in these Arctic seas that stark, unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself +upon you in all its gruesome reality. You find your tympanum straining +to catch some little murmur, and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental +sound within the vessel. In this state I was leaning against the +bulwarks when there arose from the ice almost directly underneath me a +cry, sharp and shrill, upon the silent air of the night, beginning, as +it seemed to me, at a note such as prima donna never reached, and +mounting from that ever higher and higher until it culminated in a long +wail of agony, which might have been the last cry of a lost soul. The +ghastly scream is still ringing in my ears. Grief, unutterable grief, +seemed to be expressed in it, and a great longing, and yet through it +all there was an occasional wild note of exultation. It shrilled out +from close beside me, and yet as I glared into the darkness I could +discern nothing. I waited some little time, but without hearing any +repetition of the sound, so I came below, more shaken than I have ever +been in my life before. As I came down the companion I met Mr. Milne +coming up to relieve the watch. "Weel, Doctor," he said, "maybe that's +auld wives' clavers tae? Did ye no hear it skirling? Maybe that's a +supersteetion? What d'ye think o't noo?" I was obliged to apologise to +the honest fellow, and acknowledge that I was as puzzled by it as he +was. Perhaps to-morrow things may look different. At present I dare +hardly write all that I think. Reading it again in days to come, when I +have shaken off all these associations, I should despise myself for +having been so weak.</p> + +<p><i>September 18th.</i>—Passed a restless and uneasy night, still haunted by +that strange sound. The Captain does not look as if he had had much +repose either, for his face is haggard and his eyes blood-shot. I have +not told him of my adventure of last night, nor shall I. He is already +restless and excited, standing up, sitting down, and apparently utterly +unable to keep still.</p> + +<p>A fine lead appeared in the pack this morning, as I had expected, and we +were able to cast off our ice-anchor, and steam about twelve miles in a +west-sou'-westerly direction. We were then brought to a halt by a great +floe as massive as any which we have left behind us. It bars our +progress completely, so we can do nothing but anchor again and wait +until it breaks up, which it will probably do within twenty-four hours, +if the wind holds. Several bladder-nosed seals were seen swimming in the +water, and one was shot, an immense creature more than eleven feet long. +They are fierce, pugnacious animals, and are said to be more than a +match for a bear. Fortunately they are slow and clumsy in their +movements, so that there is little danger in attacking them upon the +ice.</p> + +<p>The Captain evidently does not think we have seen the last of our +troubles, though why he should take a gloomy view of the situation is +more than I can fathom, since every one else on board considers that we +have had a miraculous escape, and are sure now to reach the open sea.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you think it's all right now, Doctor?" he said, as we sat +together after dinner.</p> + +<p>"I hope so," I answered.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't be too sure—and yet no doubt you are right. We'll all be in +the arms of our own true loves before long, lad, won't we? But we +mustn't be too sure—we mustn't be too sure."</p> + +<p>He sat silent a little, swinging his leg thoughtfully backward and +forwards. "Look here," he continued; "it's a dangerous place this, even +at its best—a treacherous, dangerous place. I have known men cut off +very suddenly in a land like this. A slip would do it sometimes—a +single slip, and down you go through a crack, and only a bubble on the +green water to show where it was that you sank. It's a queer thing," he +continued with a nervous laugh, "but all the years I've been in this +country I never once thought of making a will—not that I have anything +to leave in particular, but still when a man is exposed to danger he +should have everything arranged and ready—don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," I answered, wondering what on earth he was driving at.</p> + +<p>"He feels better for knowing it's all settled," he went on. "Now if +anything should ever befall me, I hope that you will look after things +for me. There is very little in the cabin, but such as it is I should +like it to be sold, and the money divided in the same proportion as the +oil-money among the crew. The chronometer I wish you to keep yourself as +some slight remembrance of our voyage. Of course all this is a mere +precaution, but I thought I would take the opportunity of speaking to +you about it. I suppose I might rely upon you if there were any +necessity?"</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly," I answered; "and since you are taking this step, I may +as well——"</p> + +<p>"You! you!" he interrupted. "<i>You're</i> all right. What the devil is the +matter with <i>you</i>? There, I didn't mean to be peppery, but I don't like +to hear a young fellow, that has hardly begun life, speculating about +death. Go up on deck and get some fresh air into your lungs instead of +talking nonsense in the cabin, and encouraging me to do the same."</p> + +<p>The more I think of this conversation of ours the less do I like it. Why +should the man be settling his affairs at the very time when we seem to +be emerging from all danger? There must be some method in his madness. +Can it be that he contemplates suicide? I remember that upon one +occasion he spoke in a deeply reverent manner of the heinousness of the +crime of self-destruction. I shall keep my eye upon him, however, and +though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his cabin, I shall at least +make a point of remaining on deck as long as he stays up.</p> + +<p>Mr. Milne pooh-poohs my fears, and says it is only the "skipper's little +way." He himself takes a very rosy view of the situation. According to +him we shall be out of the ice by the day after to-morrow, pass Jan +Meyen two days after that, and sight Shetland in little more than a +week. I hope he may not be too sanguine. His opinion may be fairly +balanced against the gloomy precautions of the Captain, for he is an old +and experienced seaman, and weighs his words well before uttering them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The long-impending catastrophe has come at last. I hardly know what to +write about it. The Captain is gone. He may come back to us again alive, +but I fear me—I fear me. It is now seven o'clock of the morning of the +19th of September. I have spent the whole night traversing the great +ice-floe in front of us with a party of seamen in the hope of coming +upon some trace of him, but in vain. I shall try to give some account of +the circumstances which attended upon his disappearance. Should any one +ever chance to read the words which I put down, I trust they will +remember that I do not write from conjecture or from hearsay, but that +I, a sane and educated man, am describing accurately what actually +occurred before my very eyes. My inferences are my own, but I shall be +answerable for the facts.</p> + +<p>The Captain remained in excellent spirits after the conversation which I +have recorded. He appeared to be nervous and impatient, however, +frequently changing his position, and moving his limbs in an aimless +choreic way which is characteristic of him at times. In a quarter of an +hour he went upon deck seven times, only to descend after a few hurried +paces. I followed him each time, for there was something about his face +which confirmed my resolution of not letting him out of my sight. He +seemed to observe the effect which his movements had produced, for he +endeavoured by an over-done hilarity, laughing boisterously at the very +smallest of jokes, to quiet my apprehensions.</p> + +<p>After supper he went on to the poop once more, and I with him. The night +was dark and very still, save for the melancholy soughing of the wind +among the spars. A thick cloud was coming up from the north-west, and +the ragged tentacles which it threw out in front of it were drifting +across the face of the moon, which only shone now and again through a +rift in the wrack. The Captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards, and +then seeing me still dogging him, he came across and hinted that he +thought I should be better below—which, I need hardly say, had the +effect of strengthening my resolution to remain on deck.</p> + +<p>I think he forgot about my presence after this, for he stood silently +leaning over the taffrail and peering out across the great desert of +snow, part of which lay in shadow, while part glittered mistily in the +moonlight. Several times I could see by his movements that he was +referring to his watch, and once he muttered a short sentence, of which +I could only catch the one word "ready." I confess to having felt an +eerie feeling creeping over me as I watched the loom of his tall figure +through the darkness, and noted how completely he fulfilled the idea of +a man who is keeping a tryst. A tryst with whom? Some vague perception +began to dawn upon me as I pieced one fact with another, but I was +utterly unprepared for the sequel.</p> + +<p>By the sudden intensity of his attitude I felt that he saw something. I +crept up behind him. He was staring with an eager questioning gaze at +what seemed to be a wreath of mist, blown swiftly in a line with the +ship. It was a dim nebulous body, devoid of shape, sometimes more, +sometimes less apparent, as the light fell on it. The moon was dimmed in +its brilliancy at the moment by a canopy of thinnest cloud, like the +coating of an anemone.</p> + +<p>"Coming, lass, coming," cried the skipper, in a voice of unfathomable +tenderness and compassion, like one who soothes a beloved one by some +favour long looked for, and as pleasant to bestow as to receive.</p> + +<p>What followed happened in an instant. I had no power to interfere. He +gave one spring to the top of the bulwarks, and another which took him +on to the ice, almost to the feet of the pale misty figure. He held out +his hands as if to clasp it, and so ran into the darkness with +outstretched arms and loving words. I still stood rigid and motionless, +straining my eyes after his retreating form, until his voice died away +in the distance. I never thought to see him again, but at that moment +the moon shone out brilliantly through a chink in the cloudy heaven, and +illuminated the great field of ice. Then I saw his dark figure already a +very long way off, running with prodigious speed across the frozen +plain. That was the last glimpse which we caught of him—perhaps the +last we ever shall. A party was organised to follow him, and I +accompanied them, but the men's hearts were not in the work, and nothing +was found. Another will be formed within a few hours. I can hardly +believe I have not been dreaming, or suffering from some hideous +nightmare, as I write these things down.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">7.30 P.M.</span>—Just returned dead beat and utterly tired out from a second +unsuccessful search for the Captain. The floe is of enormous extent, for +though we have traversed at least twenty miles of its surface, there has +been no sign of its coming to an end. The frost has been so severe of +late that the overlying snow is frozen as hard as granite, otherwise we +might have had the foot-steps to guide us. The crew are anxious that we +should cast off and steam round the floe and so to the southward, for +the ice has opened up during the night, and the sea is visible upon the +horizon. They argue that Captain Craigie is certainly dead, and that we +are all risking our lives to no purpose by remaining when we have an +opportunity of escape. Mr. Milne and I have had the greatest difficulty +in persuading them to wait until to-morrow night, and have been +compelled to promise that we will not under any circumstances delay our +departure longer than that. We propose therefore to take a few hours' +sleep, and then to start upon a final search.</p> + +<p><i>September 20th, evening.</i>—I crossed the ice this morning with a party +of men exploring the southern part of the floe, while Mr. Milne went off +in a northerly direction. We pushed on for ten or twelve miles without +seeing a trace of any living thing except a single bird, which fluttered +a great way over our heads, and which by its flight I should judge to +have been a falcon. The southern extremity of the ice field tapered away +into a long narrow spit which projected out into the sea. When we came +to the base of this promontory, the men halted, but I begged them to +continue to the extreme end of it, that we might have the satisfaction +of knowing that no possible chance had been neglected.</p> + +<p>We had hardly gone a hundred yards before M'Donald of Peterhead cried +out that he saw something in front of us, and began to run. We all got a +glimpse of it and ran too. At first it was only a vague darkness against +the white ice, but as we raced along together it took the shape of a +man, and eventually of the man of whom we were in search. He was lying +face downwards upon a frozen bank. Many little crystals of ice and +feathers of snow had drifted on to him as he lay, and sparkled upon his +dark seaman's jacket. As we came up some wandering puff of wind caught +these tiny flakes in its vortex, and they whirled up into the air, +partially descended again, and then, caught once more in the current, +sped rapidly away in the direction of the sea. To my eyes it seemed but +a snow-drift, but many of my companions averred that it started up in +the shape of a woman, stooped over the corpse and kissed it, and then +hurried away across the floe. I have learned never to ridicule any man's +opinion, however strange it may seem. Sure it is that Captain Nicholas +Craigie had met with no painful end, for there was a bright smile upon +his blue pinched features, and his hands were still outstretched as +though grasping at the strange visitor which had summoned him away into +the dim world that lies beyond the grave.</p> + +<p>We buried him the same afternoon with the ship's ensign around him, and +a thirty-two pound shot at his feet. I read the burial service, while +the rough sailors wept like children, for there were many who owed much +to his kind heart, and who showed now the affection which his strange +ways had repelled during his lifetime. He went off the grating with a +dull, sullen splash, and as I looked into the green water I saw him go +down, down, down until he was but a little flickering patch of white +hanging upon the outskirts of eternal darkness. Then even that faded +away, and he was gone. There he shall lie, with his secret and his +sorrows and his mystery all still buried in his breast, until that great +day when the sea shall give up its dead, and Nicholas Craigie come out +from among the ice with the smile upon his face, and his stiffened arms +outstretched in greeting. I pray that his lot may be a happier one in +that life than it has been in this.</p> + +<p>I shall not continue my journal. Our road to home lies plain and clear +before us, and the great ice field will soon be but a remembrance of the +past. It will be some time before I get over the shock produced by +recent events. When I began this record of our voyage I little thought +of how I should be compelled to finish it. I am writing these final +words in the lonely cabin, still starting at times and fancying I hear +the quick nervous step of the dead man upon the deck above me. I entered +his cabin to-night, as was my duty, to make a list of his effects in +order that they might be entered in the official log. All was as it had +been upon my previous visit, save that the picture which I have +described as having hung at the end of his bed had been cut out of its +frame, as with a knife, and was gone. With this last link in a strange +chain of evidence I close my diary of the voyage of the <i>Polestar</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Note by Dr. John M'Alister Ray, senior.—I have read over the strange +events connected with the death of the Captain of the <i>Polestar</i>, as +narrated in the journal of my son. That everything occurred exactly as +he describes it I have the fullest confidence, and, indeed, the most +positive certainty, for I know him to be a strong-nerved and +unimaginative man, with the strictest regard for veracity. Still, the +story is, on the face of it, so vague and so improbable, that I was long +opposed to its publication. Within the last few days, however, I have +had independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light upon +it. I had run down to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the British +Medical Association, when I chanced to come across Dr. P.——, an old +college chum of mine, now practising at Saltash, in Devonshire. Upon my +telling him of this experience of my son's, he declared to me that he +was familiar with the man, and proceeded, to my no small surprise, to +give me a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that +given in the journal, except that he depicted him as a younger man. +According to his account, he had been engaged to a young lady of +singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast. During his absence at +sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>THE FIEND OF THE COOPERAGE</h3> + + +<p>It was no easy matter to bring the <i>Gamecock</i> up to the island, for the +river had swept down so much silt that the banks extended for many miles +out into the Atlantic. The coast was hardly to be seen when the first +white curl of the breakers warned us of our danger, and from there +onwards we made our way very carefully under mainsail and jib, keeping +the broken water well to the left, as is indicated on the chart. More +than once her bottom touched the sand (we were drawing something under +six feet at the time), but we had always way enough and luck enough to +carry us through. Finally, the water shoaled, very rapidly, but they had +sent a canoe from the factory, and the Krooboy pilot brought us within +two hundred yards of the island. Here we dropped our anchor, for the +gestures of the negro indicated that we could not hope to get any +farther. The blue of the sea had changed to the brown of the river, and, +even under the shelter of the island, the current was singing and +swirling round our bows. The stream appeared to be in spate, for it was +over the roots of the palm trees, and everywhere upon its muddy, greasy +surface we could see logs of wood and debris of all sorts which had been +carried down by the flood.</p> + +<p>When I had assured myself that we swung securely at our moorings, I +thought it best to begin watering at once, for the place looked as if it +reeked with fever. The heavy river, the muddy, shining banks, the bright +poisonous green of the jungle, the moist steam in the air, they were all +so many danger signals to one who could read them. I sent the long-boat +off, therefore, with two large hogsheads, which should be sufficient to +last us until we made St. Paul de Loanda. For my own part I took the +dinghy and rowed for the island, for I could see the Union Jack +fluttering above the palms to mark the position of Armitage and Wilson's +trading station.</p> + +<p>When I had cleared the grove, I could see the place, a long, low, +whitewashed building, with a deep verandah in front, and an immense pile +of palm oil barrels heaped upon either flank of it. A row of surf boats +and canoes lay along the beach, and a single small jetty projected into +the river. Two men in white suits with red cummerbunds round their +waists were waiting upon the end of it to receive me. One was a large +portly fellow with a greyish beard. The other was slender and tall, with +a pale pinched face, which was half concealed by a great mushroom-shaped +hat.</p> + +<p>"Very glad to see you," said the latter, cordially. "I am Walker, the +agent of Armitage and Wilson. Let me introduce Dr. Severall of the same +company. It is not often we see a private yacht in these parts."</p> + +<p>"She's the <i>Gamecock</i>," I explained. "I'm owner and captain—Meldrum is +the name."</p> + +<p>"Exploring?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm a lepidopterist—a butterfly-catcher. I've been doing the west +coast from Senegal downwards."</p> + +<p>"Good sport?" asked the Doctor, turning a slow yellow-shot eye upon me.</p> + +<p>"I have forty cases full. We came in here to water, and also to see what +you have in my line."</p> + +<p>These introductions and explanations had filled up the time whilst my +two Krooboys were making the dinghy fast. Then I walked down the jetty +with one of my new acquaintances upon either side, each plying me with +questions, for they had seen no white man for months.</p> + +<p>"What do we do?" said the Doctor, when I had begun asking questions in +my turn. "Our business keeps us pretty busy, and in our leisure time we +talk politics."</p> + +<p>"Yes, by the special mercy of Providence Severall is a rank Radical, and +I am a good stiff Unionist, and we talk Home Rule for two solid hours +every evening."</p> + +<p>"And drink quinine cocktails," said the Doctor. "We're both pretty well +salted now, but our normal temperature was about 103 last year. I +shouldn't, as an impartial adviser, recommend you to stay here very long +unless you are collecting bacilli as well as butterflies. The mouth of +the Ogowai River will never develop into a health resort."</p> + +<p>There is nothing finer than the way in which these outlying pickets of +civilisation distil a grim humour out of their desolate situation, and +turn not only a bold, but a laughing face upon the chances which their +lives may bring. Everywhere from Sierra Leone downwards I had found the +same reeking swamps, the same isolated fever-racked communities and the +same bad jokes. There is something approaching to the divine in that +power of man to rise above his conditions and to use his mind for the +purpose of mocking at the miseries of his body.</p> + +<p>"Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, Captain Meldrum," said the +Doctor. "Walker has gone in to see about it; he's the housekeeper this +week. Meanwhile, if you like, we'll stroll round and I'll show you the +sights of the island."</p> + +<p>The sun had already sunk beneath the line of palm trees, and the great +arch of the heaven above our head was like the inside of a huge shell, +shimmering with dainty pinks and delicate iridescence. No one who has +not lived in a land where the weight and heat of a napkin become +intolerable upon the knees can imagine the blessed relief which the +coolness of evening brings along with it. In this sweeter and purer air +the Doctor and I walked round the little island, he pointing out the +stores, and explaining the routine of his work.</p> + +<p>"There's a certain romance about the place," said he, in answer to some +remark of mine about the dullness of their lives. "We are living here +just upon the edge of the great unknown. Up there," he continued, +pointing to the north-east, "Du Chaillu penetrated, and found the home +of the gorilla. That is the Gaboon country—the land of the great apes. +In this direction," pointing to the south-east, "no one has been very +far. The land which is drained by this river is practically unknown to +Europeans. Every log which is carried past us by the current has come +from an undiscovered country. I've often wished that I was a better +botanist when I have seen the singular orchids and curious-looking +plants which have been cast up on the eastern end of the island."</p> + +<p>The place which the Doctor indicated was a sloping brown beach, freely +littered with the flotsam of the stream. At each end was a curved point, +like a little natural breakwater, so that a small shallow bay was left +between. This was full of floating vegetation, with a single huge +splintered tree lying stranded in the middle of it, the current rippling +against its high black side.</p> + +<p>"These are all from up country," said the Doctor. "They get caught in +our little bay, and then when some extra freshet comes they are washed +out again and carried out to sea."</p> + +<p>"What is the tree?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, some kind of teak, I should imagine, but pretty rotten by the look +of it. We get all sorts of big hardwood trees floating past here, to say +nothing of the palms. Just come in here, will you?"</p> + +<p>He led the way into a long building with an immense quantity of barrel +staves and iron hoops littered about in it.</p> + +<p>"This is our cooperage," said he. "We have the staves sent out in +bundles, and we put them together ourselves. Now, you don't see anything +particularly sinister about this building, do you?"</p> + +<p>I looked round at the high corrugated iron roof, the white wooden walls, +and the earthen floor. In one corner lay a mattress and a blanket.</p> + +<p>"I see nothing very alarming," said I.</p> + +<p>"And yet there's something out of the common, too," he remarked. "You +see that bed? Well, I intend to sleep there to-night. I don't want to +buck, but I think it's a bit of a test for nerve."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there have been some funny goings on. You were talking about the +monotony of our lives, but I assure you that they are sometimes quite as +exciting as we wish them to be. You'd better come back to the house now, +for after sundown we begin to get the fever-fog up from the marshes. +There, you can see it coming across the river."</p> + +<p>I looked and saw long tentacles of white vapour writhing out from among +the thick green underwood and crawling at us over the broad swirling +surface of the brown river. At the same time the air turned suddenly +dank and cold.</p> + +<p>"There's the dinner gong," said the Doctor. "If this matter interests +you I'll tell you about it afterwards."</p> + +<p>It did interest me very much, for there was something earnest and +subdued in his manner as he stood in the empty cooperage, which appealed +very forcibly to my imagination. He was a big, bluff, hearty man, this +Doctor, and yet I had detected a curious expression in his eyes as he +glanced about him—an expression which I would not describe as one of +fear, but rather of a man who is alert and on his guard.</p> + +<p>"By the way," said I, as we returned to the house, "you have shown me +the huts of a good many of your native assistants, but I have not seen +any of the natives themselves."</p> + +<p>"They sleep in the hulk over yonder," the Doctor answered, pointing over +to one of the banks.</p> + +<p>"Indeed. I should not have thought in that case that they would need the +huts."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they used the huts until quite recently. We've put them on the hulk +until they recover their confidence a little. They were all half mad +with fright, so we let them go, and nobody sleeps on the island except +Walker and myself."</p> + +<p>"What frightened them?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, that brings us back to the same story. I suppose Walker has no +objection to your hearing all about it. I don't know why we should make +any secret about it, though it is certainly a pretty bad business."</p> + +<p>He made no further allusion to it during the excellent dinner which had +been prepared in my honour. It appeared that no sooner had the little +white topsail of the <i>Gamecock</i> shown round Cape Lopez than these kind +fellows had begun to prepare their famous pepper-pot—which is the +pungent stew peculiar to the West Coast—and to boil their yams and +sweet potatoes. We sat down to as good a native dinner as one could +wish, served by a smart Sierra Leone waiting boy. I was just remarking +to myself that he at least had not shared in the general fright when, +having laid the dessert and wine upon the table, he raised his hand to +his turban.</p> + +<p>"Anyting else I do, Massa Walker?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I think that is all right, Moussa," my host answered. "I am not +feeling very well to-night, though, and I should much prefer if you +would stay on the island."</p> + +<p>I saw a struggle between his fears and his duty upon the swarthy face of +the African. His skin had turned of that livid purplish tint which +stands for pallor in a negro, and his eyes looked furtively about him.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Massa Walker," he cried, at last, "you better come to the hulk +with me, sah. Look after you much better in the hulk, sah!"</p> + +<p>"That won't do, Moussa. White men don't run away from the posts where +they are placed."</p> + +<p>Again I saw the passionate struggle in the negro's face, and again his +fears prevailed.</p> + +<p>"No use, Massa Walker, sah!" he cried. "S'elp me, I can't do it. If it +was yesterday or if it was to-morrow, but this is the third night, sah, +an' it's more than I can face."</p> + +<p>Walker shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Off with you then!" said he. "When the mail-boat comes you can get back +to Sierra Leone, for I'll have no servant who deserts me when I need him +most. I suppose this is all mystery to you, or has the Doctor told you, +Captain Meldrum?"</p> + +<p>"I showed Captain Meldrum the cooperage, but I did not tell him +anything," said Dr. Severall. "You're looking bad, Walker," he added, +glancing at his companion. "You have a strong touch coming on you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've had the shivers all day, and now my head is like a +cannon-ball. I took ten grains of quinine, and my ears are singing like +a kettle. But I want to sleep with you in the cooperage to-night."</p> + +<p>"No, no, my dear chap. I won't hear of such a thing. You must get to bed +at once, and I am sure Meldrum will excuse you. I shall sleep in the +cooperage, and I promise you that I'll be round with your medicine +before breakfast."</p> + +<p>It was evident that Walker had been struck by one of those sudden and +violent attacks of remittent fever which are the curse of the West +Coast. His sallow cheeks were flushed and his eyes shining with fever, +and suddenly as he sat there he began to croon out a song in the +high-pitched voice of delirium.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, we must get you to bed, old chap," said the Doctor, and +with my aid he led his friend into his bedroom. There we undressed him +and presently, after taking a strong sedative, he settled down into a +deep slumber.</p> + +<p>"He's right for the night," said the Doctor, as we sat down and filled +our glasses once more. "Sometimes it is my turn and sometimes his, but, +fortunately, we have never been down together. I should have been sorry +to be out of it to-night, for I have a little mystery to unravel. I told +you that I intended to sleep in the cooperage."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you said so."</p> + +<p>"When I said sleep I meant watch, for there will be no sleep for me. +We've had such a scare here that no native will stay after sundown, and +I mean to find out to-night what the cause of it all may be. It has +always been the custom for a native watchman to sleep in the cooperage, +to prevent the barrel hoops being stolen. Well, six days ago the fellow +who slept there disappeared, and we have never seen a trace of him +since. It was certainly singular, for no canoe had been taken, and these +waters are too full of crocodiles for any man to swim to shore. What +became of the fellow, or how he could have left the island is a complete +mystery. Walker and I were merely surprised, but the blacks were badly +scared and queer Voodoo tales began to get about amongst them. But the +real stampede broke out three nights ago, when the new watchman in the +cooperage also disappeared."</p> + +<p>"What became of him?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, we not only don't know, but we can't even give a guess which +would fit the facts. The niggers swear there is a fiend in the cooperage +who claims a man every third night. They wouldn't stay in the +island—nothing could persuade them. Even Moussa, who is a faithful boy +enough, would, as you have seen, leave his master in a fever rather than +remain for the night. If we are to continue to run this place we must +reassure our niggers, and I don't know any better way of doing it than +by putting in a night there myself. This is the third night, you see, so +I suppose the thing is due, whatever it may be."</p> + +<p>"Have you no clue?" I asked. "Was there no mark of violence, no +blood-stain, no foot-prints, nothing to give you a hint as to what kind +of danger you may have to meet?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely nothing. The man was gone and that was all. Last time it was +old Ali, who has been wharf-tender here since the place was started. He +was always as steady as a rock, and nothing but foul play would take him +from his work."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "I really don't think that this is a one-man job. Your +friend is full of laudanum, and come what might he can be of no +assistance to you. You must let me stay and put in a night with you at +the cooperage."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, that's very good of you, Meldrum," said he heartily, shaking +my hand across the table. "It's not a thing that I should have ventured +to propose, for it is asking a good deal of a casual visitor, but if you +really mean it——"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I mean it. If you will excuse me a moment, I will hail the +<i>Gamecock</i> and let them know that they need not expect me."</p> + +<p>As we came back from the other end of the little jetty we were both +struck by the appearance of the night. A huge blue-black pile of clouds +had built itself up upon the landward side, and the wind came from it in +little hot pants, which beat upon our faces like the draught from a +blast furnace. Under the jetty the river was swirling and hissing, +tossing little white spurts of spray over the planking.</p> + +<p>"Confound it!" said Doctor Severall. "We are likely to have a flood on +the top of all our troubles. That rise in the river means heavy rain +up-country, and when it once begins you never know how far it will go. +We've had the island nearly covered before now. Well, we'll just go and +see that Walker is comfortable, and then if you like we'll settle down +in our quarters."</p> + +<p>The sick man was sunk in a profound slumber, and we left him with some +crushed limes in a glass beside him in case he should awake with the +thirst of fever upon him. Then we made our way through the unnatural +gloom thrown by that menacing cloud. The river had risen so high that +the little bay which I have described at the end of the island had +become almost obliterated through the submerging of its flanking +peninsula. The great raft of driftwood, with the huge black tree in the +middle, was swaying up and down in the swollen current.</p> + +<p>"That's one good thing a flood will do for us," said the Doctor. "It +carries away all the vegetable stuff which is brought down on to the +east end of the island. It came down with the freshet the other day, and +here it will stay until a flood sweeps it out into the main stream. +Well, here's our room, and here are some books and here is my tobacco +pouch, and we must try and put in the night as best we may."</p> + +<p>By the light of our single lantern the great lonely room looked very +gaunt and dreary. Save for the piles of staves and heaps of hoops there +was absolutely nothing in it, with the exception of the mattress for the +Doctor, which had been laid in the corner. We made a couple of seats and +a table out of the staves, and settled down together for a long vigil. +Severall had brought a revolver for me and was himself armed with a +double-barrelled shot-gun. We loaded our weapons and laid them cocked +within reach of our hands. The little circle of light and the black +shadows arching over us were so melancholy that he went off to the +house, and returned with two candles. One side of the cooperage was +pierced, however, by several open windows, and it was only by screening +our lights behind staves that we could prevent them from being +extinguished.</p> + +<p>The Doctor, who appeared to be a man of iron nerves, had settled down to +a book, but I observed that every now and then he laid it upon his knee, +and took an earnest look all round him. For my part, although I tried +once or twice to read, I found it impossible to concentrate my thoughts +upon the book. They would always wander back to this great empty silent +room, and to the sinister mystery which overshadowed it. I racked my +brains for some possible theory which would explain the disappearance of +these two men. There was the black fact that they were gone, and not the +least tittle of evidence as to why or whither. And here we were waiting +in the same place—waiting without an idea as to what we were waiting +for. I was right in saying that it was not a one-man job. It was trying +enough as it was, but no force upon earth would have kept me there +without a comrade.</p> + +<p>What an endless, tedious night it was! Outside we heard the lapping and +gurgling of the great river, and the soughing of the rising wind. +Within, save for our breathing, the turning of the Doctor's pages, and +the high, shrill ping of an occasional mosquito, there was a heavy +silence. Once my heart sprang into my mouth as Severall's book suddenly +fell to the ground and he sprang to his feet with his eyes on one of the +windows.</p> + +<p>"Did you see anything, Meldrum?"</p> + +<p>"No. Did you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I had a vague sense of movement outside that window." He caught +up his gun and approached it. "No, there's nothing to be seen, and yet I +could have sworn that something passed slowly across it."</p> + +<p>"A palm leaf, perhaps," said I, for the wind was growing stronger every +instant.</p> + +<p>"Very likely," said he, and settled down to his book again, but his eyes +were for ever darting little suspicious glances up at the window. I +watched it also, but all was quiet outside.</p> + +<p>And then suddenly our thoughts were turned into a new direction by the +bursting of the storm. A blinding flash was followed by a clap which +shook the building. Again and again came the vivid white glare with +thunder at the same instant, like the flash and roar of a monstrous +piece of artillery. And then down came the tropical rain, crashing and +rattling on the corrugated iron roofing of the cooperage. The big hollow +room boomed like a drum. From the darkness arose a strange mixture of +noises, a gurgling, splashing, tinkling, bubbling, washing, +dripping—every liquid sound that nature can produce from the thrashing +and swishing of the rain to the deep steady boom of the river. Hour +after hour the uproar grew louder and more sustained.</p> + +<p>"My word," said Severall, "we are going to have the father of all the +floods this time. Well, here's the dawn coming at last and that is a +blessing. We've about exploded the third night superstition anyhow."</p> + +<p>A grey light was stealing through the room, and there was the day upon +us in an instant. The rain had eased off, but the coffee-coloured river +was roaring past like a waterfall. Its power made me fear for the anchor +of the <i>Gamecock</i>.</p> + +<p>"I must get aboard," said I. "If she drags she'll never be able to beat +up the river again."</p> + +<p>"The island is as good as a breakwater," the Doctor answered. "I can +give you a cup of coffee if you will come up to the house."</p> + +<p>I was chilled and miserable, so the suggestion was a welcome one. We +left the ill-omened cooperage with its mystery still unsolved, and we +splashed our way up to the house.</p> + +<p>"There's the spirit lamp," said Severall. "If you would just put a light +to it, I will see how Walker feels this morning."</p> + +<p>He left me, but was back in an instant with a dreadful face.</p> + +<p>"He's gone!" he cried hoarsely.</p> + +<p>The words sent a thrill of horror through me. I stood with the lamp in +my hand, glaring at him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he's gone!" he repeated. "Come and look!"</p> + +<p>I followed him without a word, and the first thing that I saw as I +entered the bedroom was Walker himself lying huddled on his bed in the +grey flannel sleeping suit in which I had helped to dress him on the +night before.</p> + +<p>"Not dead, surely!" I gasped.</p> + +<p>The Doctor was terribly agitated. His hands were shaking like leaves in +the wind.</p> + +<p>"He's been dead some hours."</p> + +<p>"Was it fever?"</p> + +<p>"Fever! Look at his foot!"</p> + +<p>I glanced down and a cry of horror burst from my lips. One foot was not +merely dislocated, but was turned completely round in a most grotesque +contortion.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" I cried. "What can have done this?"</p> + +<p>Severall had laid his hand upon the dead man's chest.</p> + +<p>"Feel here," he whispered.</p> + +<p>I placed my hand at the same spot. There was no resistance. The body was +absolutely soft and limp. It was like pressing a sawdust doll.</p> + +<p>"The breast-bone is gone," said Severall in the same awed whisper. "He's +broken to bits. Thank God that he had the laudanum. You can see by his +face that he died in his sleep."</p> + +<p>"But who can have done this?"</p> + +<p>"I've had about as much as I can stand," said the Doctor, wiping his +forehead. "I don't know that I'm a greater coward than my neighbors, but +this gets beyond me. If you're going out to the <i>Gamecock</i>——"</p> + +<p>"Come on!" said I, and off we started. If we did not run it was because +each of us wished to keep up the last shadow of his self-respect before +the other. It was dangerous in a light canoe on that swollen river, but +we never paused to give the matter a thought. He bailing and I paddling +we kept her above water, and gained the deck of the yacht. There, with +two hundred yards of water between us and this cursed island we felt +that we were our own men once more.</p> + +<p>"We'll go back in an hour or so," said he. "But we need a little time to +steady ourselves. I wouldn't have had the niggers see me as I was just +now for a year's salary."</p> + +<p>"I've told the steward to prepare breakfast. Then we shall go back," +said I. "But in God's name, Doctor Severall, what do you make of it +all?"</p> + +<p>"It beats me—beats me clean. I've heard of Voodoo deviltry, and I've +laughed at it with the others. But that poor old Walker, a decent, +God-fearing, nineteenth-century, Primrose-League Englishman should go +under like this without a whole bone in his body—it's given me a shake, +I won't deny it. But look there, Meldrum, is that hand of yours mad or +drunk, or what is it?"</p> + +<p>Old Patterson, the oldest man of my crew, and as steady as the Pyramids, +had been stationed in the bows with a boat-hook to fend off the drifting +logs which came sweeping down with the current. Now he stood with +crooked knees, glaring out in front of him, and one forefinger stabbing +furiously at the air.</p> + +<p>"Look at it!" he yelled. "Look at it!"</p> + +<p>And at the same instant we saw it.</p> + +<p>A huge black trunk was coming down the river, its broad glistening back +just lapped by the water. And in front of it—about three feet in +front—arching upwards like the figure-head of a ship, there hung a +dreadful face, swaying slowly from side to side. It was flattened, +malignant, as large as a small beer-barrel, of a faded fungoid colour, +but the neck which supported it was mottled with a dull yellow and black +As it flew past the <i>Gamecock</i> in the swirl of the waters I saw two +immense coils roll up out of some great hollow in the tree, and the +villainous head rose suddenly to the height of eight or ten feet, +looking with dull, skin-covered eyes at the yacht. An instant later the +tree had shot past us and was plunging with its horrible passenger +towards the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>"What was it?" I cried.</p> + +<p>"It is our fiend of the cooperage," said Dr. Severall, and he had become +in an instant the same bluff, self-confident man that he had been +before. "Yes, that is the devil who has been haunting our island. It is +the great python of the Gaboon."</p> + +<p>I thought of the stories which I had heard all down the coast of the +monstrous constrictors of the interior, of their periodical appetite, +and of the murderous effects of their deadly squeeze. Then it all took +shape in my mind. There had been a freshet the week before. It had +brought down this huge hollow tree with its hideous occupant. Who knows +from what far distant tropical forest it may have come! It had been +stranded on the little east bay of the island. The cooperage had been +the nearest house. Twice with the return of its appetite it had carried +off the watchman. Last night it had doubtless come again, when Severall +had thought he saw something move at the window, but our lights had +driven it away. It had writhed onwards and had slain poor Walker in his +sleep.</p> + +<p>"Why did it not carry him off?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"The thunder and lightning must have scared the brute away. There's your +steward, Meldrum. The sooner we have breakfast and get back to the +island the better, or some of those niggers might think that we had been +frightened."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>JELLAND'S VOYAGE</h3> + + +<p>"Well," said our Anglo-Jap as we all drew up our chairs round the +smoking-room fire, "it's an old tale out yonder, and may have spilt over +into print for all I know. I don't want to turn this club-room into a +chestnut stall, but it is a long way to the Yellow Sea, and it is just +as likely that none of you have ever heard of the yawl <i>Matilda</i>, and of +what happened to Henry Jelland and Willy McEvoy aboard of her.</p> + +<p>"The middle of the sixties was a stirring time out in Japan. That was +just after the Simonosaki bombardment, and before the Daimio affair. +There was a Tory party and there was a Liberal party among the natives, +and the question that they were wrangling over was whether the throats +of the foreigners should be cut or not. I tell you all, politics have +been tame to me since then. If you lived in a treaty port, you were +bound to wake up and take an interest in them. And to make it better, +the outsider had no way of knowing how the game was going. If the +opposition won it would not be a newspaper paragraph that would tell him +of it, but a good old Tory in a suit of chain mail, with a sword in each +hand, would drop in and let him know all about it in a single upper cut.</p> + +<p>"Of course it makes men reckless when they are living on the edge of a +volcano like that. Just at first they are very jumpy, and then there +comes a time when they learn to enjoy life while they have it. I tell +you there's nothing makes life so beautiful as when the shadow of death +begins to fall across it. Time is too precious to be dawdled away then, +and a man lives every minute of it. That was the way with us in +Yokohama. There were many European places of business which had to go on +running, and the men who worked them made the place lively for seven +nights in the week.</p> + +<p>"One of the heads of the European colony was Randolph Moore, the big +export merchant. His offices were in Yokohama, but he spent a good deal +of his time at his house up in Jeddo, which had only just been opened to +the trade. In his absence he used to leave his affairs in the hands of +his head clerk, Jelland, whom he knew to be a man of great energy and +resolution. But energy and resolution are two-edged things, you know, +and when they are used against you you don't appreciate them so much.</p> + +<p>"It was gambling that set Jelland wrong. He was a little dark-eyed +fellow with black curly hair—more than three-quarters Celt, I should +imagine. Every night in the week you would see him in the same place, on +the left-hand side of the croupier at Matheson's <i>rouge et noir</i> table. +For a long time he won, and lived in better style than his employer. And +then came a turn of luck, and he began to lose so that at the end of a +single week his partner and he were stone broke, without a dollar to +their names.</p> + +<p>"This partner was a clerk in the employ of the same firm—a tall, +straw-haired young Englishman called McEvoy. He was a good boy enough at +the start, but he was clay in the hands of Jelland, who fashioned him +into a kind of weak model of himself. They were for ever on the prowl +together, but it was Jelland who led and McEvoy who followed. Lynch and +I and one or two others tried to show the youngster that he could come +to no good along that line, and when we were talking to him we could +win him round easily enough, but five minutes of Jelland would swing him +back again. It may have been animal magnetism or what you like, but the +little man could pull the big one along like a sixty-foot tug in front +of a full-rigged ship. Even when they had lost all their money they +would still take their places at the table and look on with shining eyes +when any one else was raking in the stamps.</p> + +<p>"But one evening they could keep out of it no longer. Red had turned up +sixteen times running, and it was more than Jelland could bear. He +whispered to McEvoy, and then said a word to the croupier.</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, Mr. Jelland; your cheque is as good as notes,' said he.</p> + +<p>"Jelland scribbled a cheque and threw it on the black. The card was the +king of hearts, and the croupier raked in the little bit of paper. +Jelland grew angry, and McEvoy white. Another and a heavier cheque was +written and thrown on the table. The card was the nine of diamonds. +McEvoy leaned his head upon his hands and looked as if he would faint. +'By God!' growled Jelland, 'I won't be beat,' and he threw on a cheque +that covered the other two. The card was the deuce of hearts. A few +minutes later they were walking down the Bund, with the cool night-air +playing upon their fevered faces.</p> + +<p>"'Of course you know what this means,' said Jelland, lighting a cheroot; +'we'll have to transfer some of the office money to our current account. +There's no occasion to make a fuss over it. Old Moore won't look over +the books before Easter. If we have any luck, we can easily replace it +before then.'</p> + +<p>"'But if we have no luck?' faltered McEvoy.</p> + +<p>"'Tut, man, we must take things as they come. You stick to me, and I'll +stick to you, and we'll pull through together. You shall sign the +cheques to-morrow night, and we shall see if your luck is better than +mine.'</p> + +<p>"But if anything it was worse. When the pair rose from the table on the +following evening, they had spent over £5,000 of their employer's money. +But the resolute Jelland was as sanguine as ever.</p> + +<p>"'We have a good nine weeks before us before the books will be +examined,' said he. 'We must play the game out, and it will all come +straight.'</p> + +<p>"McEvoy returned to his rooms that night in an agony of shame and +remorse. When he was with Jelland he borrowed strength from him; but +alone he recognised the full danger of his position, and the vision of +his old white-capped mother in England, who had been so proud when he +had received his appointment, rose up before him to fill him with +loathing and madness. He was still tossing upon his sleepless couch when +his Japanese servant entered the bedroom. For an instant McEvoy thought +that the long-expected outbreak had come, and plunged for his revolver. +Then, with his heart in his mouth, he listened to the message which the +servant had brought.</p> + +<p>"Jelland was downstairs, and wanted to see him.</p> + +<p>"What on earth could he want at that hour of night? McEvoy dressed +hurriedly and rushed downstairs. His companion, with a set smile upon +his lips, which was belied by the ghastly pallor of his face, was +sitting in the dim light of a solitary candle, with a slip of paper in +his hands.</p> + +<p>"'Sorry to knock you up, Willy,' said he. 'No eavesdroppers, I suppose?'</p> + +<p>"McEvoy shook his head. He could not trust himself to speak.</p> + +<p>"'Well, then, our little game is played out. This note was waiting for +me at home. It is from Moore, and says that he will be down on Monday +morning for an examination of the books. It leaves us in a tight place.'</p> + +<p>"'Monday!' gasped McEvoy; 'to-day is Friday.'</p> + +<p>"'Saturday, my son, and 3 A.M. We have not much time to turn round in.'</p> + +<p>"'We are lost!' screamed McEvoy.</p> + +<p>"'We soon will be, if you make such an infernal row,' said Jelland +harshly. 'Now do what I tell you, Willy, and we'll pull through yet.'</p> + +<p>"'I will do anything—anything.'</p> + +<p>"'That's better. Where's your whisky? It's a beastly time of the day to +have to get your back stiff, but there must be no softness with us, or +we are gone. First of all, I think there is something due to our +relations, don't you?'</p> + +<p>"McEvoy stared.</p> + +<p>"'We must stand or fall together, you know. Now I, for one, don't intend +to set my foot inside a felon's dock under any circumstances. D'ye see? +I'm ready to swear to that. Are you?'</p> + +<p>"'What d'you mean?' asked McEvoy, shrinking back.</p> + +<p>"'Why, man, we all have to die, and it's only the pressing of a +trigger. I swear that I shall never be taken alive. Will you? If you +don't, I leave you to your fate.'</p> + +<p>"'All right. I'll do whatever you think best.'</p> + +<p>"'You swear it?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, mind, you must be as good as your word. Now we have two clear +days to get off in. The yawl <i>Matilda</i> is on sale, and she has all her +fixings and plenty of tinned stuff aboard. We'll buy the lot to-morrow +morning, and whatever we want, and get away in her. But, first, we'll +clear all that is left in the office. There are 5,000 sovereigns in the +safe. After dark we'll get them aboard the yawl, and take our chance of +reaching California. There's no use hesitating, my son, for we have no +ghost of a look-in in any other direction. It's that or nothing.'</p> + +<p>"'I'll do what you advise.'</p> + +<p>"'All right; and mind you get a bright face on you to-morrow, for if +Moore gets the tip and comes before Monday, then——' He tapped the +side-pocket of his coat and looked across at his partner with eyes that +were full of a sinister meaning.</p> + +<p>"All went well with their plans next day. The <i>Matilda</i> was bought +without difficulty; and, though she was a tiny craft for so long a +voyage, had she been larger two men could not have hoped to manage her. +She was stocked with water during the day, and after dark the two clerks +brought down the money from the office and stowed it in the hold. Before +midnight they had collected all their own possessions without exciting +suspicion, and at two in the morning they left their moorings and stole +quietly out from among the shipping. They were seen, of course, and were +set down as keen yachtsmen who were on for a good long Sunday cruise; +but there was no one who dreamed that that cruise would only end either +on the American coast or at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean. +Straining and hauling, they got their mainsail up and set their foresail +and jib. There was a slight breeze from the south-east, and the little +craft went dipping along upon her way. Seven miles from land, however, +the wind fell away and they lay becalmed, rising and falling on the long +swell of a glassy sea. All Sunday they did not make a mile, and in the +evening Yokohama still lay along the horizon.</p> + +<p>"On Monday morning down came Randolph Moore from Jeddo, and made +straight for the offices. He had had the tip from some one that his +clerks had been spreading themselves a bit, and that had made him come +down out of his usual routine; but when he reached his place and found +the three juniors waiting in the street with their hands in their +pockets he knew that the matter was serious.</p> + +<p>"'What's this?' he asked. He was a man of action, and a nasty chap to +deal with when he had his topmasts lowered.</p> + +<p>"'We can't get in,' said the clerks.</p> + +<p>"Where is Mr. Jelland?'</p> + +<p>"'He has not come to-day.'</p> + +<p>"'And Mr. McEvoy?'</p> + +<p>"'He has not come either.'</p> + +<p>"Randolph Moore looked serious. 'We must have the door down,' said he.</p> + +<p>"They don't build houses very solid in that land of earthquakes, and in +a brace of shakes they were all in the office. Of course, the thing told +its own story. The safe was open, the money gone, and the clerks fled. +Their employer lost no time in talk.</p> + +<p>"'Where were they seen last?'</p> + +<p>"'On Saturday they bought the <i>Matilda</i> and started for a cruise.'</p> + +<p>"Saturday! The matter seemed hopeless if they had got two days' start. +But there was still the shadow of a chance. He rushed to the beach and +swept the ocean with his glasses.</p> + +<p>"'My God!' he cried. 'There's the <i>Matilda</i> out yonder. I know her by +the rake of her mast. I have my hand upon the villains after all!'</p> + +<p>"But there was a hitch even then. No boat had steam up, and the eager +merchant had not patience to wait. Clouds were banking up along the +haunch of the hills, and there was every sign of an approaching change +of weather. A police boat was ready with ten armed men in her, and +Randolph Moore himself took the tiller as she shot out in pursuit of the +becalmed yawl.</p> + +<p>"Jelland and McEvoy, waiting wearily for the breeze which never came, +saw the dark speck which sprang out from the shadow of the land and grew +larger with every swish of the oars. As she drew nearer, they could see +also that she was packed with men, and the gleam of weapons told what +manner of men they were. Jelland stood leaning against the tiller, and +he looked at the threatening sky, the limp sails, and the approaching +boat.</p> + +<p>"'It's a case with us, Willy,' said he. 'By the Lord, we are two most +unlucky devils, for there's wind in that sky, and another hour would +have brought it to us.'</p> + +<p>"McEvoy groaned.</p> + +<p>"'There's no good softening over it, my lad,' said Jelland. 'It's the +police boat right enough, and there's old Moore driving them to row like +hell. It'll be a ten-dollar job for every man of them.'</p> + +<p>"Willy McEvoy crouched against the side with his knees on the deck. 'My +mother! my poor old mother!' he sobbed.</p> + +<p>"'She'll never hear that you have been in the dock anyway,' said +Jelland. 'My people never did much for me, but I will do that much for +them. It's no good, Mac. We can chuck our hands. God bless you, old man! +Here's the pistol!'</p> + +<p>"He cocked the revolver, and held the butt towards the youngster. But +the other shrunk away from it with little gasps and cries. Jelland +glanced at the approaching boat. It was not more than a few hundred +yards away.</p> + +<p>"'There's no time for nonsense,' said he. 'Damn it! man, what's the use +of flinching? You swore it!'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, Jelland!'</p> + +<p>"'Well, anyhow, I swore that neither of us should be taken. Will you do +it?'</p> + +<p>"'I can't! I can't!'</p> + +<p>"'Then I will for you.'</p> + +<p>"The rowers in the boat saw him lean forwards, they heard two pistol +shots, they saw him double himself across the tiller, and then, before +the smoke had lifted, they found that they had something else to think +of.</p> + +<p>"For at that instant the storm broke—one of those short sudden squalls +which are common in these seas. The <i>Matilda</i> heeled over, her sails +bellied out, she plunged her lee-rail into a wave, and was off like a +frightened deer. Jelland's body had jammed the helm, and she kept a +course right before the wind, and fluttered away over the rising sea +like a blown piece of paper. The rowers worked frantically, but the yawl +still drew a head, and in five minutes it had plunged into the storm +wrack never to be seen again by mortal eye. The boat put back, and +reached Yokohama with the water washing half-way up to the thwarts.</p> + +<p>"And that was how it came that the yawl <i>Matilda</i>, with a cargo of five +thousand pounds and a crew of two dead young men, set sail across the +Pacific Ocean. What the end of Jelland's voyage may have been no man +knows. He may have foundered in that gale, or he may have been picked up +by some canny merchant-man, who stuck to the bullion and kept his mouth +shut, or he may still be cruising in that vast waste of waters, blown +north to the Behring Sea, or south to the Malay Islands. It's better to +leave it unfinished than to spoil a true story by inventing a tag to +it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>J. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT</h3> + + +<p>In the month of December in the year 1873, the British ship <i>Dei Gratia</i> +steered into Gibraltar, having in tow the derelict brigantine <i>Marie +Celeste</i>, which had been picked up in latitude 38° 40', longitude 17° +15' W. There were several circumstances in connection with the condition +and appearance of this abandoned vessel which excited considerable +comment at the time, and aroused a curiosity which has never been +satisfied. What these circumstances were was summed up in an able +article which appeared in the <i>Gibraltar Gazette</i>. The curious can find +it in the issue for January 4, 1874, unless my memory deceives me. For +the benefit of those, however, who may be unable to refer to the paper +in question, I shall subjoin a few extracts which touch upon the leading +features of the case.</p> + +<p>"We have ourselves," says the anonymous writer in the <i>Gazette</i>, "been +over the derelict <i>Marie Celeste</i>, and have closely questioned the +officers of the <i>Dei Gratia</i> on every point which might throw light on +the affair. They are of opinion that she had been abandoned several +days, or perhaps weeks, before being picked up. The official log, which +was found in the cabin, states that the vessel sailed from Boston to +Lisbon, starting upon October 16. It is, however, most imperfectly kept, +and affords little information. There is no reference to rough weather, +and, indeed, the state of the vessel's paint and rigging excludes the +idea that she was abandoned for any such reason. She is perfectly +watertight. No signs of a struggle or of violence are to be detected, +and there is absolutely nothing to account for the disappearance of the +crew. There are several indications that a lady was present on board, a +sewing-machine being found in the cabin and some articles of female +attire. These probably belonged to the captain's wife, who is mentioned +in the log as having accompanied her husband. As an instance of the +mildness of the weather, it may be remarked that a bobbin of silk was +found standing upon the sewing-machine, though the least roll of the +vessel would have precipitated it to the floor. The boats were intact +and slung upon the davits; and the cargo, consisting of tallow and +American clocks, was untouched. An old-fashioned sword of curious +workmanship was discovered among some lumber in the forecastle, and this +weapon is said to exhibit a longitudinal striation on the steel, as if +it had been recently wiped. It has been placed in the hands of the +police, and submitted to Dr. Monaghan, the analyst, for inspection. The +result of his examination has not yet been published. We may remark, in +conclusion, that Captain Dalton, of the <i>Dei Gratia</i>, an able and +intelligent seaman, is of opinion that the <i>Marie Celeste</i> may have been +abandoned a considerable distance from the spot at which she was picked +up, since a powerful current runs up in that latitude from the African +coast. He confesses his inability, however, to advance any hypothesis +which can reconcile all the facts of the case. In the utter absence of a +clue or grain of evidence, it is to be feared that the fate of the crew +of the <i>Marie Celeste</i> will be added to those numerous mysteries of the +deep which will never be solved until the great day when the sea shall +give up its dead. If crime has been committed, as is much to be +suspected, there is little hope of bringing the perpetrators to +justice."</p> + +<p>I shall supplement this extract from the <i>Gibraltar Gazette</i> by quoting +a telegram from Boston, which went the round of the English papers, and +represented the total amount of information which had been collected +about the <i>Marie Celeste</i>. "She was," it said, "a brigantine of 170 tons +burden, and belonged to White, Russell & White, wine importers, of this +city. Captain J. W. Tibbs was an old servant of the firm, and was a man +of known ability and tried probity. He was accompanied by his wife, aged +thirty-one, and their youngest child, five years old. The crew consisted +of seven hands, including two coloured seamen, and a boy. There were +three passengers, one of whom was the well-known Brooklyn specialist on +consumption, Dr. Habakuk Jephson, who was a distinguished advocate for +Abolition in the early days of the movement, and whose pamphlet, +entitled, 'Where is thy Brother?' exercised a strong influence on public +opinion before the war. The other passengers were Mr. J. Harton, a +writer in the employ of the firm, and Mr. Septimius Goring, a half-caste +gentleman, from New Orleans. All investigations have failed to throw any +light upon the fate of these fourteen human beings. The loss of Dr. +Jephson will be felt both in political and scientific circles."</p> + +<p>I have here epitomised, for the benefit of the public, all that has been +hitherto known concerning the <i>Marie Celeste</i> and her crew, for the past +ten years have not in any way helped to elucidate the mystery. I have +now taken up my pen with the intention of telling all that I know of the +ill-fated voyage. I consider that it is a duty which I owe to society, +for symptoms which I am familiar with in others lead me to believe that +before many months my tongue and hand may be alike incapable of +conveying information. Let me remark, as a preface to my narrative, +that I am Joseph Habakuk Jephson, Doctor of Medicine of the University +of Harvard, and ex-Consulting Physician of the Samaritan Hospital of +Brooklyn.</p> + +<p>Many will doubtless wonder why I have not proclaimed myself before, and +why I have suffered so many conjectures and surmises to pass +unchallenged. Could the ends of justice have been served in any way by +my revealing the facts in my possession I should unhesitatingly have +done so. It seemed to me, however, that there was no possibility of such +a result; and when I attempted after the occurrence, to state my case to +an English official, I was met with such offensive incredulity that I +determined never again to expose myself to the chance of such an +indignity. I can excuse the discourtesy of the Liverpool magistrate, +however, when I reflect upon the treatment which I received at the hands +of my own relatives, who, though they knew my unimpeachable character, +listened to my statement with an indulgent smile as if humouring the +delusion of a monomaniac. This slur upon my veracity led to a quarrel +between myself and John Vanburger, the brother of my wife, and confirmed +me in my resolution to let the matter sink into oblivion—a +determination which I have only altered through my son's solicitations. +In order to make my narrative intelligible, I must run lightly over one +or two incidents in my former life which throw light upon subsequent +events.</p> + +<p>My father, William K. Jephson, was a preacher of the sect called +Plymouth Brethren, and was one of the most respected citizens of +Lowell. Like most of the other Puritans of New England, he was a +determined opponent of slavery, and it was from his lips that I received +those lessons which tinged every action of my life. While I was studying +medicine at Harvard University, I had already made a mark as an advanced +Abolitionist; and when, after taking my degree, I bought a third share +of the practice of Dr. Willis, of Brooklyn, I managed, in spite of my +professional duties, to devote a considerable time to the cause which I +had at heart, my pamphlet, "Where is thy Brother?" (Swarburgh, Lister & +Co., 1849) attracting considerable attention.</p> + +<p>When the war broke out I left Brooklyn and accompanied the 113th New +York Regiment through the campaign. I was present at the second battle +of Bull's Run and at the battle of Gettysburg. Finally, I was severely +wounded at Antietam, and would probably have perished on the field had +it not been for the kindness of a gentleman named Murray, who had me +carried to his house and provided me with every comfort. Thanks to his +charity, and to the nursing which I received from his black domestics, I +was soon able to get about the plantation with the help of a stick. It +was during this period of convalescence that an incident occurred which +is closely connected with my story.</p> + +<p>Among the most assiduous of the negresses who had watched my couch +during my illness there was one old crone who appeared to exert +considerable authority over the others. She was exceedingly attentive to +me, and I gathered from the few words that passed between us that she +had heard of me, and that she was grateful to me for championing her +oppressed race.</p> + +<p>One day as I was sitting alone in the verandah, basking in the sun, and +debating whether I should rejoin Grant's army, I was surprised to see +this old creature hobbling towards me. After looking cautiously around +to see that we were alone, she fumbled in the front of her dress and +produced a small chamois leather bag which was hung round her neck by a +white cord.</p> + +<p>"Massa," she said, bending down and croaking the words into my ear, "me +die soon. Me very old woman. Not stay long on Massa Murray's +plantation."</p> + +<p>"You may live a long time yet, Martha," I answered. "You know I am a +doctor. If you feel ill let me know about it, and I will try to cure +you."</p> + +<p>"No wish to live—wish to die. I'm gwine to join the heavenly host." +Here she relapsed into one of those half-heathenish rhapsodies in which +negroes indulge. "But, massa, me have one thing must leave behind me +when I go. No able to take it with me across the Jordan. That one thing +very precious, more precious and more holy than all thing else in the +world. Me, a poor old black woman, have this because my people, very +great people, 'spose they was back in the old country. But you cannot +understand this same as black folk could. My fader give it me, and his +fader give it him, but now who shall I give it to? Poor Martha hab no +child, no relation, nobody. All round I see black man very bad man. +Black woman very stupid woman. Nobody worthy of the stone. And so I say, +Here is Massa Jephson who write books and fight for coloured folk—he +must be a good man, and he shall have it though he is white man, and +nebber can know what it mean or where it came from." Here the old woman +fumbled in the chamois leather bag and pulled out a flattish black stone +with a hole through the middle of it. "Here, take it," she said, +pressing it into my hand; "take it. No harm nebber come from anything +good. Keep it safe—nebber lose it!" and with a warning gesture the old +crone hobbled away in the same cautious way as she had come, looking +from side to side to see if we had been observed.</p> + +<p>I was more amused than impressed by the old woman's earnestness, and was +only prevented from laughing during her oration by the fear of hurting +her feelings. When she was gone I took a good look at the stone which +she had given me. It was intensely black, of extreme hardness, and oval +in shape—just such a flat stone as one would pick up on the seashore if +one wished to throw a long way. It was about three inches long, and an +inch and a half broad at the middle, but rounded off at the extremities. +The most curious part about it was several well-marked ridges which ran +in semicircles over its surface, and gave it exactly the appearance of a +human ear. Altogether I was rather interested in my new possession, and +determined to submit it, as a geological specimen, to my friend +Professor Shroeder of the New York Institute, upon the earliest +opportunity. In the meantime I thrust it into my pocket, and rising from +my chair started off for a short stroll in the shrubbery, dismissing the +incident from my mind.</p> + +<p>As my wound had nearly healed by this time, I took my leave of Mr. +Murray shortly afterwards. The Union armies were everywhere victorious +and converging on Richmond, so that my assistance seemed unnecessary, +and I returned to Brooklyn. There I resumed my practice, and married +the second daughter of Josiah Vanburger, the well-known wood engraver. +In the course of a few years I built up a good connection and acquired +considerable reputation in the treatment of pulmonary complaints. I +still kept the old black stone in my pocket, and frequently told the +story of the dramatic way in which I had become possessed of it. I also +kept my resolution of showing it to Professor Shroeder, who was much +interested both by the anecdote and the specimen. He pronounced it to be +a piece of meteoric stone, and drew my attention to the fact that its +resemblance to an ear was not accidental, but that it was most carefully +worked into that shape. A dozen little anatomical points showed that the +worker had been as accurate as he was skilful. "I should not wonder," +said the Professor, "if it were broken off from some larger statue, +though how such hard material could be so perfectly worked is more than +I can understand. If there is a statue to correspond I should like to +see it!" So I thought at the time, but I have changed my opinion since.</p> + +<p>The next seven or eight years of my life were quiet and uneventful. +Summer followed spring, and spring followed winter, without any +variation in my duties. As the practice increased I admitted J. S. +Jackson as partner, he to have one-fourth of the profits. The continued +strain had told upon my constitution, however, and I became at last so +unwell that my wife insisted upon my consulting Dr. Kavanagh Smith, who +was my colleague at the Samaritan Hospital. That gentleman examined me, +and pronounced the apex of my left lung to be in a state of +consolidation, recommending me at the same time to go through a course +of medical treatment and to take a long sea-voyage.</p> + +<p>My own disposition, which is naturally restless, predisposed me strongly +in favour of the latter piece of advice, and the matter was clinched by +my meeting young Russell, of the firm of White, Russell & White, who +offered me a passage in one of his father's ships, the <i>Marie Celeste</i>, +which was just starting from Boston. "She is a snug little ship," he +said, "and Tibbs, the captain, is an excellent fellow. There is nothing +like a sailing ship for an invalid." I was very much of the same opinion +myself, so I closed with the offer on the spot.</p> + +<p>My original plan was that my wife should accompany me on my travels. She +has always been a very poor sailor, however, and there were strong +family reasons against her exposing herself to any risk at the time, so +we determined that she should remain at home. I am not a religious or an +effusive man; but oh, thank God for that! As to leaving my practice, I +was easily reconciled to it, as Jackson, my partner, was a reliable and +hard-working man.</p> + +<p>I arrived in Boston on October 12, 1873, and proceeded immediately to +the office of the firm in order to thank them for their courtesy. As I +was sitting in the counting-house waiting until they should be at +liberty to see me, the words <i>Marie Celeste</i> suddenly attracted my +attention. I looked round and saw a very tall, gaunt man, who was +leaning across the polished mahogany counter asking some questions of +the clerk at the other side. His face was turned half towards me, and I +could see that he had a strong dash of negro blood in him, being +probably a quadroon or even nearer akin to the black. His curved +aquiline nose and straight lank hair showed the white strain; but the +dark, restless eye, sensuous mouth, and gleaming teeth all told of his +African origin. His complexion was of a sickly unhealthy yellow, and as +his face was deeply pitted with small-pox, the general impression was so +unfavourable as to be almost revolting. When he spoke, however, it was +in a soft, melodious voice, and in well-chosen words, and he was +evidently a man of some education.</p> + +<p>"I wished to ask a few questions about the <i>Marie Celeste</i>," he +repeated, leaning across to the clerk. "She sails the day after +to-morrow, does she not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said the young clerk, awed into unusual politeness by the +glimmer of a large diamond in the stranger's shirt front.</p> + +<p>"Where is she bound for?"</p> + +<p>"Lisbon."</p> + +<p>"How many of a crew?"</p> + +<p>"Seven, sir."</p> + +<p>"Passengers?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, two. One of our young gentlemen, and a doctor from New York."</p> + +<p>"No gentleman from the South?" asked the stranger eagerly.</p> + +<p>"No, none, sir."</p> + +<p>"Is there room for another passenger?"</p> + +<p>"Accommodation for three more," answered the clerk.</p> + +<p>"I'll go," said the quadroon decisively; "I'll go, I'll engage my +passage at once. Put it down, will you—Mr. Septimius Goring, of New +Orleans."</p> + +<p>The clerk filled up a form and handed it over to the stranger, pointing +to a blank space at the bottom. As Mr. Goring stooped over to sign it I +was horrified to observe that the fingers of his right hand had been +lopped off, and that he was holding the pen between his thumb and the +palm. I have seen thousands slain in battle, and assisted at every +conceivable surgical operation, but I cannot recall any sight which gave +me such a thrill of disgust as that great brown sponge-like hand with +the single member protruding from it. He used it skilfully enough, +however, for dashing off his signature, he nodded to the clerk and +strolled out of the office just as Mr. White sent out word that he was +ready to receive me.</p> + +<p>I went down to the <i>Marie Celeste</i> that evening, and looked over my +berth, which was extremely comfortable considering the small size of the +vessel. Mr. Goring, whom I had seen in the morning, was to have the one +next mine. Opposite was the captain's cabin and a small berth for Mr. +John Harton, a gentleman who was going out in the interests of the firm. +These little rooms were arranged on each side of the passage which led +from the main-deck to the saloon. The latter was a comfortable room, the +panelling tastefully done in oak and mahogany, with a rich Brussels +carpet and luxurious settees. I was very much pleased with the +accommodation, and also with Tibbs the captain, a bluff, sailor-like +fellow, with a loud voice and hearty manner, who welcomed me to the ship +with effusion, and insisted upon our splitting a bottle of wine in his +cabin. He told me that he intended to take his wife and youngest child +with him on the voyage, and that he hoped with good luck to make Lisbon +in three weeks. We had a pleasant chat and parted the best of friends, +he warning me to make the last of my preparations next morning, as he +intended to make a start by the midday tide, having now shipped all his +cargo. I went back to my hotel, where I found a letter from my wife +awaiting me, and, after a refreshing night's sleep, returned to the boat +in the morning. From this point I am able to quote from the journal +which I kept in order to vary the monotony of the long sea-voyage. If it +is somewhat bald in places I can at least rely upon its accuracy in +details, as it was written conscientiously from day to day.</p> + +<p><i>October 16th.</i>—Cast off our warps at half-past two and were towed out +into the bay, where the tug left us, and with all sail set we bowled +along at about nine knots an hour. I stood upon the poop watching the +low land of America sinking gradually upon the horizon until the evening +haze hid it from my sight. A single red light, however, continued to +blaze balefully behind us, throwing a long track like a trail of blood +upon the water, and it is still visible as I write, though reduced to a +mere speck. The Captain is in a bad humour, for two of his hands +disappointed him at the last moment, and he was compelled to ship a +couple of negroes who happened to be on the quay. The missing men were +steady, reliable fellows, who had been with him several voyages, and +their non-appearance puzzled as well as irritated him. Where a crew of +seven men have to work a fair-sized ship the loss of two experienced +seamen is a serious one, for though the negroes may take a spell at the +wheel or swab the decks, they are of little or no use in rough weather. +Our cook is also a black man, and Mr. Septimius Goring has a little +darkie servant, so that we are rather a piebald community. The +accountant, John Harton, promises to be an acquisition, for he is a +cheery, amusing young fellow. Strange how little wealth has to do with +happiness! He has all the world before him and is seeking his fortune in +a far land, yet he is as transparently happy as a man can be. Goring is +rich, if I am not mistaken, and so am I; but I know that I have a lung, +and Goring has some deeper trouble still, to judge by his features. How +poorly do we both contrast with the careless, penniless clerk!</p> + +<p><i>October 17th.</i>—Mrs. Tibbs appeared upon the deck for the first time +this morning—a cheerful, energetic woman, with a dear little child just +able to walk and prattle. Young Harton pounced on it at once, and +carried it away to his cabin, where no doubt he will lay the seeds of +future dyspepsia in the child's stomach. Thus medicine doth make cynics +of us all! The weather is still all that could be desired, with a fine +fresh breeze from the west-sou'-west. The vessel goes so steadily that +you would hardly know that she was moving were it not for the creaking +of the cordage, the bellying of the sails, and the long white furrow in +our wake. Walked the quarter-deck all morning with the Captain, and I +think the keen fresh air has already done my breathing good, for the +exercise did not fatigue me in any way. Tibbs is a remarkably +intelligent man, and we had an interesting argument about Maury's +observations on ocean currents, which we terminated by going down into +his cabin to consult the original work. There we found Goring, rather to +the Captain's surprise, as it is not usual for passengers to enter that +sanctum unless specially invited. He apologised for his intrusion, +however, pleading his ignorance of the usages of ship life; and the +good-natured sailor simply laughed at the incident, begging him to +remain and favour us with his company. Goring pointed to the +chronometers, the case of which he had opened, and remarked that he had +been admiring them. He has evidently some practical knowledge of +mathematical instruments, as he told at a glance which was the most +trustworthy of the three, and also named their price within a few +dollars. He had a discussion with the Captain too upon the variation of +the compass, and when we came back to the ocean currents he showed a +thorough grasp of the subject. Altogether he rather improves upon +acquaintance, and is a man of decided culture and refinement. His voice +harmonises with his conversation, and both are the very antithesis of +his face and figure.</p> + +<p>The noonday observation shows that we have run two hundred and twenty +miles. Towards evening the breeze freshened up, and the first mate +ordered reefs to be taken in the topsails and top-gallant sails in +expectation of a windy night. I observe that the barometer has fallen to +twenty-nine. I trust our voyage will not be a rough one, as I am a poor +sailor, and my health would probably derive more harm than good from a +stormy trip, though I have the greatest confidence in the Captain's +seamanship and in the soundness of the vessel. Played cribbage with Mrs. +Tibbs after supper, and Harton gave us a couple of tunes on the violin.</p> + +<p><i>October 18th.</i>—The gloomy prognostications of last night were not +fulfilled, as the wind died away again, and we are lying now in a long +greasy swell, ruffled here and there by a fleeting catspaw which is +insufficient to fill the sails. The air is colder than it was +yesterday, and I have put on one of the thick woollen jerseys which my +wife knitted for me. Harton came into my cabin in the morning, and we +had a cigar together. He says that he remembers having seen Goring in +Cleveland, Ohio, in '69. He was, it appears, a mystery then as now, +wandering about without any visible employment, and extremely reticent +on his own affairs. The man interests me as a psychological study. At +breakfast this morning I suddenly had that vague feeling of uneasiness +which comes over some people when closely stared at, and, looking +quickly up, I met his eyes bent upon me with an intensity which amounted +to ferocity, though their expression instantly softened as he made some +conventional remark upon the weather. Curiously enough, Harton says that +he had a very similar experience yesterday upon deck. I observe that +Goring frequently talks to the coloured seamen as he strolls about—a +trait which I rather admire, as it is common to find half-breeds ignore +their dark strain and treat their black kinsfolk with greater +intolerance than a white man would do. His little page is devoted to +him, apparently, which speaks well for his treatment of him. Altogether, +the man is a curious mixture of incongruous qualities, and unless I am +deceived in him will give me food for observation during the voyage.</p> + +<p>The Captain is grumbling about his chronometers, which do not register +exactly the same time. He says it is the first time that they have ever +disagreed. We were unable to get a noonday observation on account of the +haze. By dead reckoning, we have done about a hundred and seventy miles +in the twenty-four hours. The dark seamen have proved, as the skipper +prophesied, to be very inferior hands, but as they can both manage the +wheel well they are kept steering, and so leave the more experienced +men to work the ship. These details are trivial enough, but a small +thing serves as food for gossip aboard ship. The appearance of a whale +in the evening caused quite a flutter among us. From its sharp back and +forked tail, I should pronounce it to have been a rorqual, or "finner," +as they are called by the fishermen.</p> + +<p><i>October 19th.</i>—Wind was cold, so I prudently remained in my cabin all +day, only creeping out for dinner. Lying in my bunk I can, without +moving, reach my books, pipes, or anything else I may want, which is one +advantage of a small apartment. My old wound began to ache a little +to-day, probably from the cold. Read <i>Montaigne's Essays</i> and nursed +myself. Harton came in in the afternoon with Doddy, the Captain's child, +and the skipper himself followed, so that I held quite a reception.</p> + +<p><i>October 20th and 21st.</i>—Still cold, with a continual drizzle of rain, +and I have not been able to leave the cabin. This confinement makes me +feel weak and depressed. Goring came in to see me, but his company did +not tend to cheer me up much, as he hardly uttered a word, but contented +himself with staring at me in a peculiar and rather irritating manner. +He then got up and stole out of the cabin without saying anything. I am +beginning to suspect that the man is a lunatic. I think I mentioned that +his cabin is next to mine. The two are simply divided by a thin wooden +partition which is cracked in many places, some of the cracks being so +large that I can hardly avoid, as I lie in my bunk, observing his +motions in the adjoining room. Without any wish to play the spy, I see +him continually stooping over what appears to be a chart and working +with a pencil and compasses. I have remarked the interest he displays in +matters connected with navigation, but I am surprised that he should +take the trouble to work out the course of the ship. However, it is a +harmless amusement enough, and no doubt he verifies his results by those +of the Captain.</p> + +<p>I wish the man did not run in my thoughts so much. I had a nightmare on +the night of the 20th, in which I thought my bunk was a coffin, that I +was laid out in it, and that Goring was endeavouring to nail up the lid, +which I was frantically pushing away. Even when I woke up, I could +hardly persuade myself that I was not in a coffin. As a medical man, I +know that a nightmare is simply a vascular derangement of the cerebral +hemispheres, and yet in my weak state I cannot shake off the morbid +impression which it produces.</p> + +<p><i>October 22nd.</i>—A fine day, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and a fresh +breeze from the sou'-west which wafts us gaily on our way. There has +evidently been some heavy weather near us, as there is a tremendous +swell on, and the ship lurches until the end of the fore-yard nearly +touches the water. Had a refreshing walk up and down the quarter-deck, +though I have hardly found my sea-legs yet. Several small +birds—chaffinches, I think—perched in the rigging.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">4.40 P.M.</span>—While I was on deck this morning I heard a sudden explosion +from the direction of my cabin, and, hurrying down, found that I had +very nearly met with a serious accident. Goring was cleaning a revolver, +it seems, in his cabin, when one of the barrels which he thought was +unloaded went off. The ball passed through the side partition and +imbedded itself in the bulwarks in the exact place where my head +usually rests. I have been under fire too often to magnify trifles, but +there is no doubt that if I had been in the bunk it must have killed me. +Goring, poor fellow, did not know that I had gone on deck that day, and +must therefore have felt terribly frightened. I never saw such emotion +in a man's face as when, on rushing out of his cabin with the smoking +pistol in his hand, he met me face to face as I came down from deck. Of +course, he was profuse in his apologies, though I simply laughed at the +incident.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">11 P.M.</span>—A misfortune has occurred so unexpected and so horrible that my +little escape of the morning dwindles into insignificance. Mrs. Tibbs +and her child have disappeared—utterly and entirely disappeared. I can +hardly compose myself to write the sad details. About half-past eight +Tibbs rushed into my cabin with a very white face and asked me if I had +seen his wife. I answered that I had not. He then ran wildly into the +saloon and began groping about for any trace of her, while I followed +him, endeavouring vainly to persuade him that his fears were ridiculous. +We hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without coming on any +sign of the missing woman or child. Poor Tibbs lost his voice completely +from calling her name. Even the sailors, who are generally stolid +enough, were deeply affected by the sight of him as he roamed bareheaded +and dishevelled about the deck, searching with feverish anxiety the most +impossible places, and returning to them again and again with a piteous +pertinacity. The last time she was seen was about seven o'clock, when +she took Doddy on to the poop to give him a breath of fresh air before +putting him to bed. There was no one there at the time except the black +seaman at the wheel, who denies having seen her at all. The whole affair +is wrapped in mystery. My own theory is that while Mrs. Tibbs was +holding the child and standing near the bulwarks it gave a spring and +fell overboard, and that in her convulsive attempt to catch or save it, +she followed it. I cannot account for the double disappearance in any +other way. It is quite feasible that such a tragedy should be enacted +without the knowledge of the man at the wheel, since it was dark at the +time, and the peaked skylights of the saloon screen the greater part of +the quarter-deck. Whatever the truth may be it is a terrible +catastrophe, and has cast the darkest gloom upon our voyage. The mate +has put the ship about, but of course there is not the slightest hope of +picking them up. The Captain is lying in a state of stupor in his cabin. +I gave him a powerful dose of opium in his coffee that for a few hours +at least his anguish may be deadened.</p> + +<p><i>October 23rd.</i>—Woke with a vague feeling of heaviness and misfortune, +but it was not until a few moments' reflection that I was able to recall +our loss of the night before. When I came on deck I saw the poor skipper +standing gazing back at the waste of waters behind us which contains +everything dear to him upon earth. I attempted to speak to him, but he +turned brusquely away, and began pacing the deck with his head sunk upon +his breast. Even now, when the truth is so clear, he cannot pass a boat +or an unbent sail without peering under it. He looks ten years older +than he did yesterday morning. Harton is terribly cut up, for he was +fond of little Doddy, and Goring seems sorry too. At least he has shut +himself up in his cabin all day, and when I got a casual glance at him +his head was resting on his two hands as if in a melancholy reverie. I +fear we are about as dismal a crew as ever sailed. How shocked my wife +will be to hear of our disaster! The swell has gone down now, and we are +doing about eight knots with all sail set and a nice little breeze. +Hyson is practically in command of the ship, as Tibbs, though he does +his best to bear up and keep a brave front, is incapable of applying +himself to serious work.</p> + +<p><i>October 24th.</i>—Is the ship accursed? Was there ever a voyage which +began so fairly and which changed so disastrously? Tibbs shot himself +through the head during the night. I was awakened about three o'clock in +the morning by an explosion, and immediately sprang out of bed and +rushed into the Captain's cabin to find out the cause, though with a +terrible presentiment in my heart. Quickly as I went, Goring went more +quickly still, for he was already in the cabin stooping over the dead +body of the Captain. It was a hideous sight, for the whole front of his +face was blown in, and the little room was swimming in blood. The pistol +was lying beside him on the floor, just as it had dropped from his hand. +He had evidently put it to his mouth before pulling the trigger. Goring +and I picked him reverently up and laid him on his bed. The crew had all +clustered into his cabin, and the six white men were deeply grieved, for +they were old hands who had sailed with him many years. There were dark +looks and murmurs among them too, and one of them openly declared that +the ship was haunted. Harton helped to lay the poor skipper out, and we +did him up in canvas between us. At twelve o'clock the fore-yard was +hauled aback, and we committed his body to the deep, Goring reading the +Church of England burial service. The breeze has freshened up, and we +have done ten knots all day and sometimes twelve. The sooner we reach +Lisbon and get away from this accursed ship the better pleased shall I +be. I feel as though we were in a floating coffin. Little wonder that +the poor sailors are superstitious when I, an educated man, feel it so +strongly.</p> + +<p><i>October 25th.</i>—Made a good run all day. Feel listless and depressed.</p> + +<p><i>October 26th.</i>—Goring, Harton, and I had a chat together on deck in +the morning. Harton tried to draw Goring out as to his profession, and +his object in going to Europe, but the quadroon parried all his +questions and gave us no information. Indeed, he seemed to be slightly +offended by Harton's pertinacity, and went down into his cabin. I wonder +why we should both take such an interest in this man! I suppose it is +his striking appearance, coupled with his apparent wealth, which piques +our curiosity. Harton has a theory that he is really a detective, that +he is after some criminal who has got away to Portugal, and that he +chooses this peculiar way of travelling that he may arrive unnoticed and +pounce upon his quarry unawares. I think the supposition is rather a +farfetched one, but Harton bases it upon a book which Goring left on +deck, and which he picked up and glanced over. It was a sort of +scrap-book, it seems, and contained a large number of newspaper +cuttings. All these cuttings related to murders which had been committed +at various times in the States during the last twenty years or so. The +curious thing which Harton observed about them, however, was that they +were invariably murders the authors of which had never been brought to +justice. They varied in every detail, he says, as to the manner of +execution and the social status of the victim, but they uniformly wound +up with the same formula that the murderer was still at large, though, +of course, the police had every reason to expect his speedy capture. +Certainly the incident seems to support Harton's theory, though it may +be a mere whim of Goring's, or, as I suggested to Harton, he may be +collecting materials for a book which shall outvie De Quincey. In any +case it is no business of ours.</p> + +<p><i>October 27th, 28th.</i>—Wind still fair, and we are making good progress. +Strange how easily a human unit may drop out of its place and be +forgotten! Tibbs is hardly ever mentioned now; Hyson has taken +possession of his cabin, and all goes on as before. Were it not for Mrs. +Tibbs's sewing-machine upon a side-table we might forget that the +unfortunate family had ever existed. Another accident occurred on board +to-day, though fortunately not a very serious one. One of our white +hands had gone down the after-hold to fetch up a spare coil of rope, +when one of the hatches which he had removed came crashing down on the +top of him. He saved his life by springing out of the way, but one of +his feet was terribly crushed, and he will be of little use for the +remainder of the voyage. He attributes the accident to the carelessness +of his negro companion, who had helped him to shift the hatches. The +latter, however, puts it down to the roll of the ship. Whatever be the +cause, it reduces our short-handed crew still further. This run of +ill-luck seems to be depressing Harton, for he has lost his usual good +spirits and joviality. Goring is the only one who preserves his +cheerfulness. I see him still working at his chart in his own cabin. +His nautical knowledge would be useful should anything happen to +Hyson—which God forbid!</p> + +<p><i>October 29th, 30th.</i>—Still bowling along with a fresh breeze. All +quiet and nothing of note to chronicle.</p> + +<p><i>October 31st.</i>—My weak lungs, combined with the exciting episodes of +the voyage, have shaken my nervous system so much that the most trivial +incident affects me. I can hardly believe that I am the same man who +tied the external iliac artery, an operation requiring the nicest +precision, under a heavy rifle fire at Antietam. I am as nervous as a +child. I was lying half dozing last night about four bells in the middle +watch trying in vain to drop into a refreshing sleep. There was no light +inside my cabin, but a single ray of moonlight streamed in through the +port-hole, throwing a silvery flickering circle upon the door. As I lay +I kept my drowsy eyes upon this circle, and was conscious that it was +gradually becoming less well-defined as my senses left me, when I was +suddenly recalled to full wakefulness by the appearance of a small dark +object in the very centre of the luminous disc. I lay quietly and +breathlessly watching it. Gradually it grew larger and plainer, and then +I perceived that it was a human hand which had been cautiously inserted +through the chink of the half-closed door—a hand which, as I observed +with a thrill of horror, was not provided with fingers. The door swung +cautiously backwards, and Goring's head followed his hand. It appeared +in the centre of the moonlight, and was framed as it were in a ghastly +uncertain halo, against which his features showed out plainly. It +seemed to me that I had never seen such an utterly fiendish and +merciless expression upon a human face. His eyes were dilated and +glaring, his lips drawn back so as to show his white fangs, and his +straight black hair appeared to bristle over his low forehead like the +hood of a cobra. The sudden and noiseless apparition had such an effect +upon me that I sprang up in bed trembling in every limb, and held out my +hand towards my revolver. I was heartily ashamed of my hastiness when he +explained the object of his intrusion, as he immediately did in the most +courteous language. He had been suffering from toothache, poor fellow! +and had come in to beg some laudanum, knowing that I possessed a +medicine chest. As to a sinister expression he is never a beauty, and +what with my state of nervous tension and the effect of the shifting +moonlight it was easy to conjure up something horrible. I gave him +twenty drops, and he went off again with many expressions of gratitude. +I can hardly say how much this trivial incident affected me. I have felt +unstrung all day.</p> + +<p>A week's record of our voyage is here omitted, as nothing eventful +occurred during the time, and my log consists merely of a few pages of +unimportant gossip.</p> + +<p><i>November 7th.</i>—Harton and I sat on the poop all the morning, for the +weather is becoming very warm as we come into southern latitudes. We +reckon that we have done two-thirds of our voyage. How glad we shall be +to see the green banks of the Tagus, and leave this unlucky ship for +ever! I was endeavouring to amuse Harton to-day and to while away the +time by telling him some of the experiences of my past life. Among +others I related to him how I came into the possession of my black +stone, and as a finale I rummaged in the side pocket of my old shooting +coat and produced the identical object in question. He and I were +bending over it together, I pointing out to him the curious ridges upon +its surface, when we were conscious of a shadow falling between us and +the sun, and looking round saw Goring standing behind us glaring over +our shoulders at the stone. For some reason or other he appeared to be +powerfully excited, though he was evidently trying to control himself +and to conceal his emotion. He pointed once or twice at my relic with +his stubby thumb before he could recover himself sufficiently to ask +what it was and how I obtained it—a question put in such a brusque +manner that I should have been offended had I not known the man to be an +eccentric. I told him the story very much as I had told it to Harton. He +listened with the deepest interest and then asked me if I had any idea +what the stone was. I said I had not, beyond that it was meteoric. He +asked me if I had ever tried its effect upon a negro. I said I had not. +"Come," said he, "we'll see what our black friend at the wheel thinks of +it." He took the stone in his hand and went across to the sailor, and +the two examined it carefully. I could see the man gesticulating and +nodding his head excitedly as if making some assertion, while his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment, mixed, I think, with some reverence. +Goring came across the deck to as presently, still holding the stone in +his hand. "He says it is a worthless, useless thing," he said, "and fit +only to be chucked overboard," with which he raised his hand and would +most certainly have made an end of my relic, had the black sailor +behind him not rushed forward and seized him by the wrist. Finding +himself secured Goring dropped the stone and turned away with a very bad +grace to avoid my angry remonstrances at his breach of faith. The black +picked up the stone and handed it to me with a low bow and every sign of +profound respect. The whole affair is inexplicable. I am rapidly coming +to the conclusion that Goring is a maniac or something very near one. +When I compare the effect produced by the stone upon the sailor, +however, with the respect shown to Martha on the plantation, and the +surprise of Goring on its first production, I cannot but come to the +conclusion that I have really got hold of some powerful talisman which +appeals to the whole dark race. I must not trust it in Goring's hands +again.</p> + +<p><i>November 8th, 9th.</i>—What splendid weather we are having! Beyond one +little blow, we have had nothing but fresh breezes the whole voyage. +These two days we have made better runs than any hitherto. It is a +pretty thing to watch the spray fly up from our prow as it cuts through +the waves. The sun shines through it and breaks it up into a number of +miniature rainbows—"sun-dogs," the sailors call them. I stood on the +fo'c'sle-head for several hours to-day watching the effect, and +surrounded by a halo of prismatic colours. The steersman has evidently +told the other blacks about my wonderful stone, for I am treated by them +all with the greatest respect. Talking about optical phenomena, we had a +curious one yesterday evening which was pointed out to me by Hyson. This +was the appearance of a triangular well-defined object high up in the +heavens to the north of us. He explained that it was exactly like the +Peak of Teneriffe as seen from a great distance—the peak was, however, +at that moment at least five hundred miles to the south. It may have +been a cloud, or it may have been one of those strange reflections of +which one reads. The weather is very warm. The mate says that he never +knew it so warm in these latitudes. Played chess with Harton in the +evening.</p> + +<p><i>November 10th.</i>—It is getting warmer and warmer. Some land birds came +and perched in the rigging to-day, though we are still a considerable +way from our destination. The heat is so great that we are too lazy to +do anything but lounge about the decks and smoke. Goring came over to me +to-day and asked me some more questions about my stone; but I answered +him rather shortly, for I have not quite forgiven him yet for the cool +way in which he attempted to deprive me of it.</p> + +<p><i>November 11th, 12th.</i>—Still making good progress. I had no idea +Portugal was ever as hot as this, but no doubt it is cooler on land. +Hyson himself seemed surprised at it, and so do the men.</p> + +<p><i>November 13th.</i>—A most extraordinary event has happened, so +extraordinary as to be almost inexplicable. Either Hyson has blundered +wonderfully, or some magnetic influence has disturbed our instruments. +Just about daybreak the watch on the fo'c'sle-head shouted out that he +heard the sound of surf ahead, and Hyson thought he saw the loom of +land. The ship was put about, and, though no lights were seen, none of +us doubted that we had struck the Portuguese coast a little sooner than +we had expected. What was our surprise to see the scene which was +revealed to us at break of day! As far as we could look on either side +was one long line of surf, great, green billows rolling in and breaking +into a cloud of foam. But behind the surf what was there! Not the green +banks nor the high cliffs of the shores of Portugal, but a great sandy +waste which stretched away and away until it blended with the skyline. +To right and left, look where you would, there was nothing but yellow +sand, heaped in some places into fantastic mounds, some of them several +hundred feet high, while in other parts were long stretches as level +apparently as a billiard board. Harton and I, who had come on deck +together, looked at each other in astonishment, and Harton burst out +laughing. Hyson is exceedingly mortified at the occurrence, and protests +that the instruments have been tampered with. There is no doubt that +this is the mainland of Africa, and that it was really the Peak of +Teneriffe which we saw some days ago upon the northern horizon. At the +time when we saw the land birds we must have been passing some of the +Canary Islands. If we continued on the same course, we are now to the +north of Cape Blanco, near the unexplored country which skirts the great +Sahara. All we can do is to rectify our instruments as far as possible +and start afresh for our destination.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">8.30 P.M.</span>—Have been lying in a calm all day. The coast is now about a +mile and a half from us. Hyson has examined the instruments, but cannot +find any reason for their extraordinary deviation.</p> + +<p>This is the end of my private journal, and I must make the remainder of +my statement from memory. There is little chance of my being mistaken +about facts, which have seared themselves into my recollection. That +very night the storm which had been brewing so long burst over us, and I +came to learn whither all those little incidents were tending which I +had recorded so aimlessly. Blind fool that I was not to have seen it +sooner! I shall tell what occurred as precisely as I can.</p> + +<p>I had gone into my cabin about half-past eleven, and was preparing to go +to bed, when a tap came at my door. On opening it I saw Goring's little +black page, who told me that his master would like to have a word with +me on deck. I was rather surprised that he should want me at such a late +hour, but I went up without hesitation. I had hardly put my foot on the +quarter-deck before I was seized from behind, dragged down upon my back, +and a handkerchief slipped round my mouth. I struggled as hard as I +could, but a coil of rope was rapidly and firmly wound round me, and I +found myself lashed to the davit of one of the boats, utterly powerless +to do or say anything, while the point of a knife pressed to my throat +warned me to cease my struggles. The night was so dark that I had been +unable hitherto to recognise my assailants, but as my eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, and the moon broke out through the clouds that +obscured it, I made out that I was surrounded by the two negro sailors, +the black cook, and my fellow-passenger, Goring. Another man was +crouching on the deck at my feet, but he was in the shadow and I could +not recognise him.</p> + +<p>All this occurred so rapidly that a minute could hardly have elapsed +from the time I mounted the companion until I found myself gagged and +powerless. It was so sudden that I could scarce bring myself to realise +it, or to comprehend what it all meant. I heard the gang round me +speaking in short, fierce whispers to each other, and some instinct told +me that my life was the question at issue. Goring spoke authoritatively +and angrily—the others doggedly and all together, as if disputing his +commands. Then they moved away in a body to the opposite side of the +deck, where I could still hear them whispering, though they were +concealed from my view by the saloon skylights.</p> + +<p>All this time the voices of the watch on deck chatting and laughing at +the other end of the ship were distinctly audible, and I could see them +gathered in a group, little dreaming of the dark doings which were going +on within thirty yards of them. Oh! That I could have given them one +word of warning, even though I had lost my life in doing it! but it was +impossible. The moon was shining fitfully through the scattered clouds, +and I could see the silvery gleam of the surge, and beyond it the vast +weird desert with its fantastic sand-hills. Glancing down, I saw that +the man who had been crouching on the deck was still lying there, and as +I gazed at him a flickering ray of moonlight fell full upon his upturned +face. Great heaven! even now, when more than twelve years have elapsed, +my hand trembles as I write that, in spite of distorted features and +projecting eyes, I recognised the face of Harton, the cheery young clerk +who had been my companion during the voyage. It needed no medical eye to +see that he was quite dead, while the twisted handkerchief round the +neck, and the gag in his mouth, showed the silent way in which the +hell-hounds had done their work. The clue which explained every event of +our voyage came upon me like a flash of light as I gazed on poor +Harton's corpse. Much was dark and unexplained, but I felt a great dim +perception of the truth.</p> + +<p>I heard the striking of a match at the other side of the skylights, and +then I saw the tall, gaunt figure of Goring standing up on the bulwarks +and holding in his hands what appeared to be a dark lantern. He lowered +this for a moment over the side of the ship, and, to my inexpressible +astonishment, I saw it answered instantaneously by a flash among the +sand-hills on shore, which came and went so rapidly, that unless I had +been following the direction of Goring's gaze, I should never have +detected it. Again he lowered the lantern, and again it was answered +from the shore. He then stepped down from the bulwarks, and in doing so +slipped, making such a noise, that for a moment my heart bounded with +the thought that the attention of the watch would be directed to his +proceedings. It was a vain hope. The night was calm and the ship +motionless, so that no idea of duty kept them vigilant. Hyson, who after +the death of Tibbs was in command of both watches, had gone below to +snatch a few hours' sleep, and the boatswain, who was left in charge, +was standing with the other two men at the foot of the foremast. +Powerless, speechless, with the cords cutting into my flesh and the +murdered man at my feet, I awaited the next act in the tragedy.</p> + +<p>The four ruffians were standing up now at the other side of the deck. +The cook was armed with some sort of a cleaver, the others had knives, +and Goring had a revolver. They were all leaning against the rail and +looking out over the water as if watching for something. I saw one of +them grasp another's arm and point as if at some object, and following +the direction I made out the loom of a large moving mass making towards +the ship. As it emerged from the gloom I saw that it was a great canoe +crammed with men and propelled by at least a score of paddles. As it +shot under our stern the watch caught sight of it also, and raising a +cry hurried aft. They were too late, however. A swarm of gigantic +negroes clambered over the quarter, and led by Goring swept down the +deck in an irresistible torrent. All opposition was overpowered in a +moment, the unarmed watch were knocked over and bound, and the sleepers +dragged out of their bunks and secured in the same manner. Hyson made an +attempt to defend the narrow passage leading to his cabin, and I heard a +scuffle, and his voice shouting for assistance. There was none to +assist, however, and he was brought on to the poop with the blood +streaming from a deep cut in his forehead. He was gagged like the +others, and a council was held upon our fate by the negroes. I saw our +black seamen pointing towards me and making some statement, which was +received with murmurs of astonishment and incredulity by the savages. +One of them then came over to me, and plunging his hand into my pocket +took out my black stone and held it up. He then handed it to a man who +appeared to be a chief, who examined it as minutely as the light would +permit, and muttering a few words passed it on to the warrior beside +him, who also scrutinised it and passed it on until it had gone from +hand to hand round the whole circle. The chief then said a few words to +Goring in the native tongue, on which the quadroon addressed me in +English. At this moment I seem to see the scene. The tall masts of the +ship with the moonlight streaming down, silvering the yards and bringing +the network of cordage into hard relief; the group of dusky warriors +leaning on their spears; the dead man at my feet; the line of +white-faced prisoners, and in front of me the loathsome half-breed, +looking in his white linen and elegant clothes a strange contrast to his +associates.</p> + +<p>"You will bear me witness," he said in his softest accents, "that I am +no party to sparing your life. If it rested with me you would die as +these other men are about to do. I have no personal grudge against +either you or them, but I have devoted my life to the destruction of the +white race, and you are the first that has ever been in my power and has +escaped me. You may thank that stone of yours for your life. These poor +fellows reverence it, and indeed if it really be what they think it is +they have cause. Should it prove when we get ashore that they are +mistaken, and this its shape and material is a mere chance, nothing can +save your life. In the meantime we wish to treat you well, so if there +are any of your possessions which you would like to take with you, you +are at liberty to get them." As he finished he gave a sign, and a couple +of the negroes unbound me, though without removing the gag. I was led +down into the cabin, where I put a few valuables into my pockets, +together with a pocket-compass and my journal of the voyage. They then +pushed me over the side into a small canoe, which was lying beside the +large one, and my guards followed me, and shoving off began paddling for +the shore. We had got about a hundred yards or so from the ship when our +steersman held up his hand, and the paddlers paused for a moment and +listened. Then on the silence of the night I heard a sort of dull, +moaning sound, followed by a succession of splashes in the water. That +is all I know of the fate of my poor shipmates. Almost immediately +afterwards the large canoe followed us, and the deserted ship was left +drifting about—a dreary spectre-like hulk. Nothing was taken from her +by the savages. The whole fiendish transaction was carried through as +decorously and temperately as though it were a religious rite.</p> + +<p>The first grey of daylight was visible in the east as we passed through +the surge and reached the shore. Leaving half-a-dozen men with the +canoes, the rest of the negroes set off through the sand-hills, leading +me with them, but treating me very gently and respectfully. It was +difficult walking, as we sank over our ankles into the loose, shifting +sand at every step, and I was nearly dead beat by the time we reached +the native village, or town rather, for it was a place of considerable +dimensions. The houses were conical structures not unlike bee-hives, and +were made of compressed seaweed cemented over with a rude form of +mortar, there being neither stick nor stone upon the coast nor anywhere +within many hundreds of miles. As we entered the town an enormous crowd +of both sexes came swarming out to meet us, beating tom-toms and howling +and screaming. On seeing me they redoubled their yells and assumed a +threatening attitude, which was instantly quelled by a few words shouted +by my escort. A buzz of wonder succeeded the war-cries and yells of the +moment before, and the whole dense mass proceeded down the broad central +street of the town, having my escort and myself in the centre.</p> + +<p>My statement hitherto may seem so strange as to excite doubt in the +minds of those who do not know me, but it was the fact which I am now +about to relate which caused my own brother-in-law to insult me by +disbelief. I can but relate the occurrence in the simplest words, and +trust to chance and time to prove their truth. In the centre of this +main street there was a large building, formed in the same primitive way +as the others, but towering high above them; a stockade of beautifully +polished ebony rails was planted all round it, the framework of the door +was formed by two magnificent elephant's tusks sunk in the ground on +each side and meeting at the top, and the aperture was closed by a +screen of native cloth richly embroidered with gold. We made our way to +this imposing-looking structure, but on reaching the opening in the +stockade, the multitude stopped and squatted down upon their hams, while +I was led through into the enclosure by a few of the chiefs and elders +of the tribe, Goring accompanying us, and in fact directing the +proceedings. On reaching the screen which closed the temple—for such it +evidently was—my hat and my shoes were removed, and I was then led in, +a venerable old negro leading the way carrying in his hand my stone, +which had been taken from my pocket. The building was only lit up by a +few long slits in the roof through which the tropical sun poured, +throwing broad golden bars upon the clay floor, alternating with +intervals of darkness.</p> + +<p>The interior was even larger than one would have imagined from the +outside appearance. The walls were hung with native mats, shells, and +other ornaments, but the remainder of the great space was quite empty, +with the exception of a single object in the centre. This was the figure +of a colossal negro, which I at first thought to be some real king or +high priest of titanic size, but as I approached it I saw by the way in +which the light was reflected from it that it was a statue admirably cut +in jet-black stone. I was led up to this idol, for such it seemed to be, +and looking at it closer I saw that though it was perfect in every other +respect, one of its ears had been broken short off.</p> + +<p>The grey-haired negro who held my relic mounted upon a small stool, and +stretching up his arm fitted Martha's black stone on to the jagged +surface on the side of the statue's head. There could not be a doubt +that the one had been broken off from the other. The parts dovetailed +together so accurately that when the old man removed his hand the ear +stuck in its place for a few seconds before dropping into his open palm. +The group round me prostrated themselves upon the ground at the sight +with a cry of reverence, while the crowd outside, to whom the result was +communicated, set up a wild whooping and cheering.</p> + +<p>In a moment I found myself converted from a prisoner into a demi-god. I +was escorted back through the town in triumph, the people pressing +forward to touch my clothing and to gather up the dust on which my foot +had trod. One of the largest huts was put at my disposal, and a banquet +of every native delicacy was served me. I still felt, however, that I +was not a free man, as several spearmen were placed as a guard at the +entrance of my hut. All day my mind was occupied with plans of escape, +but none seemed in any way feasible. On the one side was the great arid +desert stretching away to Timbuctoo, on the other was a sea untraversed +by vessels. The more I pondered over the problem the more hopeless did +it seem. I little dreamed how near I was to its solution.</p> + +<p>Night had fallen, and the clamour of the negroes had died gradually +away. I was stretched on the couch of skins which had been provided for +me, and was still meditating over my future, when Goring walked +stealthily into the hut. My first idea was that he had come to complete +his murderous holocaust by making away with me, the last survivor, and I +sprang up upon my feet, determined to defend myself to the last. He +smiled when he saw the action, and motioned me down again while he +seated himself upon the other end of the couch.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of me?" was the astonishing question with which he +commenced our conversation.</p> + +<p>"Think of you!" I almost yelled. "I think you the vilest, most unnatural +renegade that ever polluted the earth. If we were away from these black +devils of yours I would strangle you with my hands!"</p> + +<p>"Don't speak so loud," he said, without the slightest appearance of +irritation. "I don't want our chat to be cut short. So you would +strangle me, would you!" he went on, with an amused smile. "I suppose I +am returning good for evil, for I have come to help you to escape."</p> + +<p>"You!" I gasped incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I," he continued. "Oh, there is no credit to me in the matter. I +am quite consistent. There is no reason why I should not be perfectly +candid with you. I wish to be king over these fellows—not a very high +ambition, certainly, but you know what Cæsar said about being first in a +village in Gaul. Well, this unlucky stone of yours has not only saved +your life, but has turned all their heads, so that they think you are +come down from heaven, and my influence will be gone until you are out +of the way. That is why I am going to help you to escape, since I cannot +kill you"—this in the most natural and dulcet voice, as if the desire +to do so were a matter of course.</p> + +<p>"You would give the world to ask me a few questions," he went on, after +a pause; "but you are too proud to do it. Never mind, I'll tell you one +or two things, because I want your fellow white men to know them when +you go back—if you are lucky enough to get back. About that cursed +stone of yours, for instance. These negroes, or at least so the legend +goes, were Mahometans originally. While Mahomet himself was still alive, +there was a schism among his followers, and the smaller party moved away +from Arabia, and eventually crossed Africa. They took away with them, in +their exile, a valuable relic of their old faith in the shape of a large +piece of the black stone of Mecca. The stone was a meteoric one, as you +may have heard, and in its fall upon the earth it broke into two pieces. +One of these pieces is still at Mecca. The larger piece was carried away +to Barbary, where a skilful worker modelled it into the fashion which +you saw to-day. These men are the descendents of the original seceders +from Mahomet, and they have brought their relic safely through all their +wanderings until they settled in this strange place, where the desert +protects them from their enemies."</p> + +<p>"And the ear?" I asked, almost involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was the same story over again. Some of the tribe wandered away +to the south a few hundred years ago, and one of them, wishing to have +good luck for the enterprise, got into the temple at night and carried +off one of the ears. There has been a tradition among the negroes ever +since that the ear would come back some day. The fellow who carried it +was caught by some slaver, no doubt, and that was how it got into +America, and so into your hands—and you have had the honour of +fulfilling the prophecy."</p> + +<p>He paused for a few minutes, resting his head upon his hands, waiting +apparently for me to speak. When he looked up again, the whole +expression of his face had changed. His features were firm and set, and +he changed the air of half-levity with which he had spoken before for +one of sternness and almost ferocity.</p> + +<p>"I wish you to carry a message back," he said, "to the white race, the +great dominating race whom I hate and defy. Tell them that I have +battened on their blood for twenty years, that I have slain them until +even I became tired of what had once been a joy, that I did this +unnoticed and unsuspected in the face of every precaution which their +civilisation could suggest. There is no satisfaction in revenge when +your enemy does not know who has struck him. I am not sorry, therefore, +to have you as a messenger. There is no need why I should tell you how +this great hate became born in me. See this," and he held up his +mutilated hand; "that was done by a white man's knife. My father was +white, my mother was a slave. When he died she was sold again, and I, a +child then, saw her lashed to death to break her of some of the little +airs and graces which her late master had encouraged in her. My young +wife, too, oh, my young wife!" a shudder ran through his whole frame. +"No matter! I swore my oath, and I kept it. From Maine to Florida, and +from Boston to San Francisco, you could track my steps by sudden deaths +which baffled the police. I warred against the whole white race as they +for centuries had warred against the black one. At last, as I tell you, +I sickened of blood. Still, the sight of a white face was abhorrent to +me, and I determined to find some bold free black people and to throw in +my lot with them, to cultivate their latent powers and to form a nucleus +for a great coloured nation. This idea possessed me, and I travelled +over the world for two years seeking for what I desired. At last I +almost despaired of finding it. There was no hope of regeneration in the +slave-dealing Soudanese, the debased Fantee, or the Americanised negroes +of Liberia. I was returning from my quest when chance brought me in +contact with this magnificent tribe of dwellers in the desert, and I +threw in my lot with them. Before doing so, however, my old instinct of +revenge prompted me to make one last visit to the United States, and I +returned from it in the <i>Marie Celeste</i>.</p> + +<p>"As to the voyage itself, your intelligence will have told you by this +time that, thanks to my manipulation, both compasses and chronometers +were entirely untrustworthy. I alone worked out the course with correct +instruments of my own, while the steering was done by my black friends +under my guidance. I pushed Tibb's wife overboard. What! You look +surprised and shrink away. Surely you had guessed that by this time. I +would have shot you that day through the partition, but unfortunately +you were not there. I tried again afterwards, but you were awake. I shot +Tibbs. I think the idea of suicide was carried out rather neatly. Of +course when once we got on the coast the rest was simple. I had +bargained that all on board should die; but that stone of yours upset my +plans. I also bargained that there should be no plunder. No one can say +we are pirates. We have acted from principle, not from any sordid +motive."</p> + +<p>I listened in amazement to the summary of his crimes which this strange +man gave me, all in the quietest and most composed of voices, as though +detailing incidents of every-day occurrence. I still seem to see him +sitting like a hideous nightmare at the end of my couch, with the single +rude lamp flickering over his cadaverous features.</p> + +<p>"And now," he continued, "there is no difficulty about your escape. +These stupid adopted children of mine will say that you have gone back +to heaven from whence you came. The wind blows off the land. I have a +boat all ready for you, well stored with provisions and water. I am +anxious to be rid of you, so you may rely that nothing is neglected. +Rise up and follow me."</p> + +<p>I did what he commanded, and he led me through the door of the hut. The +guards had either been withdrawn, or Goring had arranged matters with +them. We passed unchallenged through the town and across the sandy +plain. Once more I heard the roar of the sea, and saw the long white +line of the surge. Two figures were standing upon the shore arranging +the gear of a small boat. They were the two sailors who had been with us +on the voyage.</p> + +<p>"See him safely through the surf," said Goring. The two men sprang in +and pushed off, pulling me in after them. With mainsail and jib we ran +out from the land and passed safely over the bar. Then my two companions +without a word of farewell sprang overboard, and I saw their heads like +black dots on the white foam as they made their way back to the shore, +while I scudded away into the blackness of the night. Looking back I +caught my last glimpse of Goring. He was standing upon the summit of a +sand-hill, and the rising moon behind him threw his gaunt angular figure +into hard relief. He was waving his arms frantically to and fro; it may +have been to encourage me on my way, but the gestures seemed to me at +the time to be threatening ones, and I have often thought that it was +more likely that his old savage instinct had returned when he realised +that I was out of his power. Be that as it may, it was the last that I +ever saw or ever shall see of Septimius Goring.</p> + +<p>There is no need for me to dwell upon my solitary voyage. I steered as +well as I could for the Canaries, but was picked up upon the fifth day +by the British and African Steam Navigation Company's boat <i>Monrovia</i>. +Let me take this opportunity of tendering my sincerest thanks to Captain +Stornoway and his officers for the great kindness which they showed me +from that time till they landed me in Liverpool, where I was enabled to +take one of the Guion boats to New York.</p> + +<p>From the day on which I found myself once more in the bosom of my family +I have said little of what I have undergone. The subject is still an +intensely painful one to me, and the little which I have dropped has +been discredited. I now put the facts before the public as they +occurred, careless how far they may be believed, and simply writing them +down because my lung is growing weaker, and I feel the responsibility +of holding my peace longer. I make no vague statement. Turn to your map +of Africa. There above Cape Blanco, where the land trends away north and +south from the westernmost point of the continent, there it is that +Septimius Goring still reigns over his dark subjects, unless retribution +has overtaken him; and there, where the long green ridges run swiftly in +to roar and hiss upon the hot yellow sand, it is there that Harton lies +with Hyson and the other poor fellows who were done to death in the +<i>Marie Celeste</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX</h3> + + +<p>"All aboard?" said the captain.</p> + +<p>"All aboard, sir!" said the mate.</p> + +<p>"Then stand by to let her go."</p> + +<p>It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday morning. The good ship <i>Spartan</i> was +lying off Boston Quay with her cargo under hatches, her passengers +shipped, and everything prepared for a start. The warning whistle had +been sounded twice; the final bell had been rung. Her bowsprit was +turned towards England, and the hiss of escaping steam showed that all +was ready for her run of three thousand miles. She strained at the warps +that held her like a greyhound at its leash.</p> + +<p>I have the misfortune to be a very nervous man. A sedentary literary +life has helped to increase the morbid love of solitude which, even in +my boyhood, was one of my distinguishing characteristics. As I stood +upon the quarter-deck of the Transatlantic steamer, I bitterly cursed +the necessity which drove me back to the land of my forefathers. The +shouts of the sailors, the rattle of the cordage, the farewells of my +fellow-passengers, and the cheers of the mob, each and all jarred upon +my sensitive nature. I felt sad too. An indescribable feeling, as of +some impending calamity, seemed to haunt me. The sea was calm, and the +breeze light. There was nothing to disturb the equanimity of the most +confirmed of landsmen, yet I felt as if I stood upon the verge of a +great though indefinable danger. I have noticed that such presentiments +occur often in men of my peculiar temperament, and that they are not +uncommonly fulfilled. There is a theory that it arises from a species of +second-sight, a subtle spiritual communication with the future. I well +remember that Herr Raumer, the eminent spiritualist, remarked on one +occasion that I was the most sensitive subject as regards supernatural +phenomena that he had ever encountered in the whole of his wide +experience. Be that as it may, I certainly felt far from happy as I +threaded my way among the weeping, cheering groups which dotted the +white decks of the good ship <i>Spartan</i>. Had I known the experience which +awaited me in the course of the next twelve hours I should even then at +the last moment have sprung upon the shore, and made my escape from the +accursed vessel.</p> + +<p>"Time's up!" said the captain, closing his chronometer with a snap, and +replacing it in his pocket. "Time's up!" said the mate. There was a last +wail from the whistle, a rush of friends and relatives upon the land. +One warp was loosened, the gangway was being pushed away, when there was +a shout from the bridge, and two men appeared, running rapidly down the +quay. They were waving their hands and making frantic gestures, +apparently with the intention of stopping the ship. "Look sharp!" +shouted the crowd. "Hold hard!" cried the captain. "Ease her! stop her! +Up with the gangway!" and the two men sprang aboard just as the second +warp parted, and a convulsive throb of the engine shot us clear of the +shore. There was a cheer from the deck, another from the quay, a mighty +fluttering of handkerchiefs, and the great vessel ploughed its way out +of the harbour, and steamed grandly away across the placid bay.</p> + +<p>We were fairly started upon our fortnight's voyage. There was a general +dive among the passengers in quest of berths and luggage, while a +popping of corks in the saloon proved that more than one bereaved +traveller was adopting artificial means for drowning the pangs of +separation. I glanced round the deck and took a running inventory of my +<i>compagnons de voyage</i>. They presented the usual types met with upon +these occasions. There was no striking face among them. I speak as a +connoisseur, for faces are a speciality of mine. I pounce upon a +characteristic feature as a botanist does on a flower, and bear it away +with me to analyse at my leisure, and classify and label it in my little +anthropological museum. There was nothing worthy of me here. Twenty +types of young America going to "Yurrup," a few respectable middle-aged +couples as an antidote, a sprinkling of clergymen and professional men, +young ladies, bagmen, British exclusives, and all the <i>olla podrida</i> of +an ocean-going steamer. I turned away from them and gazed back at the +receding shores of America, and, as a cloud of remembrances rose before +me, my heart warmed towards the land of my adoption. A pile of +portmanteaus and luggage chanced to be lying on one side of the deck, +awaiting their turn to be taken below. With my usual love for solitude I +walked behind these, and sitting on a coil of rope between them and the +vessel's side, I indulged in a melancholy reverie.</p> + +<p>I was aroused from this by a whisper behind me. "Here's a quiet place," +said the voice. "Sit down, and we can talk it over in safety."</p> + +<p>Glancing through a chink between two colossal chests, I saw that the +passengers who had joined us at the last moment were standing at the +other side of the pile. They had evidently failed to see me as I +crouched in the shadow of the boxes. The one who had spoken was a tall +and very thin man with a blue-black beard and a colourless face. His +manner was nervous and excited. His companion was a short plethoric +little fellow, with a brisk and resolute air. He had a cigar in his +mouth, and a large ulster slung over his left arm. They both glanced +round uneasily, as if to ascertain whether they were alone. "This is +just the place," I heard the other say. They sat down on a bale of goods +with their backs turned towards me, and I found myself, much against my +will, playing the unpleasant part of eavesdropper to their conversation.</p> + +<p>"Well, Muller," said the taller of the two, "we've got it aboard right +enough."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented the man whom he had addressed as Muller, "it's safe +aboard."</p> + +<p>"It was rather a near go."</p> + +<p>"It was that, Flannigan."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't have done to have missed the ship."</p> + +<p>"No, it would have put our plans out."</p> + +<p>"Ruined them entirely," said the little man, and puffed furiously at his +cigar for some minutes.</p> + +<p>"I've got it here," he said at last.</p> + +<p>"Let me see it."</p> + +<p>"Is no one looking?"</p> + +<p>"No, they are nearly all below."</p> + +<p>"We can't be too careful where so much is at stake," said Muller, as he +uncoiled the ulster which hung over his arm, and disclosed a dark object +which he laid upon the deck. One glance at it was enough to cause me to +spring to my feet with an exclamation of horror. Luckily they were so +engrossed in the matter on hand that neither of them observed me. Had +they turned their heads they would infallibly have seen my pale face +glaring at them over the pile of boxes.</p> + +<p>From the first moment of their conversation a horrible misgiving had +come over me. It seemed more than confirmed as I gazed at what lay +before me. It was a little square box made of some dark wood, and ribbed +with brass. I suppose it was about the size of a cubic foot. It reminded +me of a pistol-case, only it was decidedly higher. There was an +appendage to it, however, on which my eyes were riveted, and which +suggested the pistol itself rather than its receptacle. This was a +trigger-like arrangement upon the lid, to which a coil of string was +attached. Beside this trigger there was a small square aperture through +the wood. The tall man, Flannigan, as his companion called him, applied +his eye to this, and peered in for several minutes with an expression of +intense anxiety upon his face.</p> + +<p>"It seems right enough," he said at last.</p> + +<p>"I tried not to shake it," said his companion.</p> + +<p>"Such delicate things need delicate treatment. Put in some of the +needful, Muller."</p> + +<p>The shorter man fumbled in his pocket for some time, and then produced a +small paper packet. He opened this, and took out of it half a handful of +whitish granules, which he poured down through the hole. A curious +clicking noise followed from the inside of the box, and both men smiled +in a satisfied way.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much wrong there," said Flannigan.</p> + +<p>"Right as a trivet," answered his companion.</p> + +<p>"Look out! here's some one coming. Take it down to our berth. It +wouldn't do to have any one suspecting what our game is, or, worse +still, have them fumbling with it, and letting it off by mistake."</p> + +<p>"Well, it would come to the same, whoever let it off," said Muller.</p> + +<p>"They'd be rather astonished if they pulled the trigger," said the +taller, with a sinister laugh. "Ha, ha! fancy their faces! It's not a +bad bit of workmanship, I flatter myself."</p> + +<p>"No," said Muller. "I hear it is your own design, every bit of it, isn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the spring and the sliding shutter are my own."</p> + +<p>"We should take out a patent."</p> + +<p>And the two men laughed again with a cold harsh laugh, as they took up +the little brass-bound package, and concealed it in Muller's voluminous +overcoat.</p> + +<p>"Come down, and we'll stow it in our berth," said Flannigan. "We won't +need it until to-night, and it will be safe there."</p> + +<p>His companion assented, and the two went arm-in-arm along the deck and +disappeared down the hatchway, bearing the mysterious little box away +with them. The last words I heard were a muttered injunction from +Flannigan to carry it carefully, and avoid knocking it against the +bulwarks.</p> + +<p>How long I remained sitting on that coil of rope I shall never know. The +horror of the conversation I had just overheard was aggravated by the +first sinking qualms of sea-sickness. The long roll of the Atlantic was +beginning to assert itself over both ship and passengers. I felt +prostrated in mind and in body, and fell into a state of collapse, from +which I was finally aroused by the hearty voice of our worthy +quartermaster.</p> + +<p>"Do you mind moving out of that, sir?" he said. "We want to get this +lumber cleared off the deck."</p> + +<p>His bluff manner and ruddy healthy face seemed to be a positive insult +to me in my present condition. Had I been a courageous or a muscular man +I could have struck him. As it was, I treated the honest sailor to a +melodramatic scowl which seemed to cause him no small astonishment, and +strode past him to the other side of the deck. Solitude was what I +wanted—solitude in which I could brood over the frightful crime which +was being hatched before my very eyes. One of the quarter-boats was +hanging rather low down upon the davits. An idea struck me, and climbing +on the bulwarks, I stepped into the empty boat and lay down in the +bottom of it. Stretched on my back, with nothing but the blue sky above +me, and an occasional view of the mizzen as the vessel rolled, I was at +last alone with my sickness and my thoughts.</p> + +<p>I tried to recall the words which had been spoken in the terrible +dialogue I had overheard. Would they admit of any construction but the +one which stared me in the face? My reason forced me to confess that +they would not. I endeavoured to array the various facts which formed +the chain of circumstantial evidence, and to find a flaw in it; but no, +not a link was missing. There was the strange way in which our +passengers had come aboard, enabling them to evade any examination of +their luggage. The very name of "Flannigan" smacked of Fenianism, while +"Muller" suggested nothing but socialism and murder. Then their +mysterious manner; their remark that their plans would have been ruined +had they missed the ship; their fear of being observed; last, but not +least, the clenching evidence in the production of the little square box +with the trigger, and their grim joke about the face of the man who +should let it off by mistake—could these facts lead to any conclusion +other than that they were the desperate emissaries of somebody, +political or otherwise, who intended to sacrifice themselves, their +fellow-passengers, and the ship, in one great holocaust? The whitish +granules which I had seen one of them pour into the box formed no doubt +a fuse or train for exploding it. I had myself heard a sound come from +it which might have emanated from some delicate piece of machinery. But +what did they mean by their allusion to to-night? Could it be that they +contemplated putting their horrible design into execution on the very +first evening of our voyage? The mere thought of it sent a cold shudder +over me, and made me for a moment superior even to the agonies of +sea-sickness.</p> + +<p>I have remarked that I am a physical coward. I am a moral one also. It +is seldom that the two defects are united to such a degree in the one +character. I have known many men who were most sensitive to bodily +danger, and yet were distinguished for the independence and strength of +their minds. In my own case, however, I regret to say that my quiet and +retiring habits had fostered a nervous dread of doing anything +remarkable or making myself conspicuous, which exceeded, if possible, my +fear of personal peril. An ordinary mortal placed under the +circumstances in which I now found myself would have gone at once to the +Captain, confessed his fears, and put the matter into his hands. To me, +however, constituted as I am, the idea was most repugnant. The thought +of becoming the observed of all observers, cross-questioned by a +stranger, and confronted with two desperate conspirators in the +character of a denouncer, was hateful to me. Might it not by some remote +possibility prove that I was mistaken? What would be my feelings if +there should turn out to be no grounds for my accusation? No, I would +procrastinate; I would keep my eye on the two desperadoes and dog them +at every turn. Anything was better than the possibility of being wrong.</p> + +<p>Then it struck me that even at that moment some new phase of the +conspiracy might be developing itself. The nervous excitement seemed to +have driven away my incipient attack of sickness, for I was able to +stand up and lower myself from the boat without experiencing any return +of it. I staggered along the deck with the intention of descending into +the cabin and finding how my acquaintances of the morning were occupying +themselves. Just as I had my hand on the companion-rail, I was +astonished by receiving a hearty slap on the back, which nearly shot me +down the steps with more haste than dignity.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Hammond?" said a voice which I seemed to recognise.</p> + +<p>"God bless me," I said, as I turned round, "it can't be Dick Merton! +Why, how are you, old man?"</p> + +<p>This was an unexpected piece of luck in the midst of my perplexities. +Dick was just the man I wanted; kindly and shrewd in his nature, and +prompt in his actions, I should have no difficulty in telling him my +suspicions, and could rely upon his sound sense to point out the best +course to pursue. Since I was a little lad in the second form at Harrow, +Dick had been my adviser and protector. He saw at a glance that +something had gone wrong with me.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" he said, in his kindly way, "what's put you about, Hammond? You +look as white as a sheet. <i>Mal de mer</i>, eh?"</p> + +<p>"No, not that altogether," said I. "Walk up and down with me, Dick; I +want to speak to you. Give me your arm."</p> + +<p>Supporting myself on Dick's stalwart frame, I tottered along by his +side; but it was some time before I could muster resolution to speak.</p> + +<p>"Have a cigar?" said he, breaking the silence.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," said I. "Dick, we shall be all corpses to-night."</p> + +<p>"That's no reason against your having a cigar now," said Dick, in his +cool way, but looking hard at me from under his shaggy eyebrows as he +spoke. He evidently thought that my intellect was a little gone.</p> + +<p>"No," I continued, "it's no laughing matter; and I speak in sober +earnest, I assure you. I have discovered an infamous conspiracy, Dick, +to destroy this ship and every soul that is in her;" and I then +proceeded systematically, and in order, to lay before him the chain of +evidence which I had collected. "There, Dick," I said, as I concluded, +"what do you think of that and, above all, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>To my astonishment he burst into a hearty fit of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I'd be frightened," he said, "if any fellow but you had told me as +much. You always had a way, Hammond, of discovering mares' nests. I like +to see the old traits breaking out again. Do you remember at school how +you swore there was a ghost in the long room, and how it turned out to +be your own reflection in the mirror? Why, man," he continued, "what +object would any one have in destroying this ship? We have no great +political guns aboard. On the contrary, the majority of the passengers +are Americans. Besides, in this sober nineteenth century, the most +wholesale murderers stop at including themselves among their victims. +Depend upon it, you have misunderstood them, and have mistaken a +photographic camera, or something equally innocent, for an infernal +machine."</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort, sir," said I, rather touchily. "You will learn to +your cost, I fear, that I have neither exaggerated nor misinterpreted a +word. As to the box, I have certainly never before seen one like it. It +contained delicate machinery; of that I am convinced, from the way in +which the men handled it and spoke of it."</p> + +<p>"You'd make out every packet of perishable goods to be a torpedo," said +Dick, "if that is to be your only test."</p> + +<p>"The man's name was Flannigan," I continued.</p> + +<p>"I don't think that would go very far in a court of law," said Dick; +"but come, I have finished my cigar. Suppose we go down together and +split a bottle of claret. You can point out these two Orsinis to me if +they are still in the cabin."</p> + +<p>"All right," I answered; "I am determined not to lose sight of them all +day. Don't look hard at them, though, for I don't want them to think +that they are being watched."</p> + +<p>"Trust me," said Dick; "I'll look as unconscious and guileless as a +lamb;" and with that we passed down the companion and into the saloon.</p> + +<p>A good many passengers were scattered about the great central table, +some wrestling with refractory carpet-bags and rug-straps, some having +their luncheon, and a few reading and otherwise amusing themselves. The +objects of our quest were not there. We passed down the room and peered +into every berth, but there was no sign of them. "Heavens!" thought I, +"perhaps at this very moment they are beneath our feet, in the hold or +engine-room, preparing their diabolical contrivance!" It was better to +know the worst than to remain in such suspense.</p> + +<p>"Steward," said Dick, "are there any other gentlemen about?"</p> + +<p>"There's two in the smoking room, sir," answered the steward.</p> + +<p>The smoking-room was a little snuggery, luxuriously fitted up, and +adjoining the pantry. We pushed the door opened and entered. A sigh of +relief escaped from my bosom. The very first object on which my eye +rested was the cadaverous face of Flannigan, with its hard-set mouth and +unwinking eye. His companion sat opposite to him. They were both +drinking, and a pile of cards lay upon the table. They were engaged in +playing as we entered. I nudged Dick to show him that we had found our +quarry, and we sat down beside them with as unconcerned an air as +possible. The two conspirators seemed to take little notice of our +presence. I watched them both narrowly. The game at which they were +playing was "Napoleon." Both were adepts at it, and I could not help +admiring the consummate nerve of men who, with such a secret at their +hearts, could devote their minds to the manipulation of a long suit or +the finessing of a queen. Money changed hands rapidly; but the run of +luck seemed to be all against the taller of the two players. At last he +threw down his cards on the table with an oath, and refused to go on.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm hanged if I do," he said; "I haven't had more than two of a +suit for five hands."</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said his comrade, as he gathered up his winnings; "a few +dollars one way or the other won't go very far after to-night's work."</p> + +<p>I was astonished at the rascal's audacity, but took care to keep my eyes +fixed abstractedly upon the ceiling, and drank my wine in as unconscious +a manner as possible. I felt that Flannigan was looking towards me with +his wolfish eyes to see if I had noticed the allusion. He whispered +something to his companion which I failed to catch. It was a caution, I +suppose, for the other answered rather angrily—</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Why shouldn't I say what I like? Over-caution is just what +would ruin us."</p> + +<p>"I believe you want it not to come off," said Flannigan.</p> + +<p>"You believe nothing of the sort," said the other, speaking rapidly and +loudly. "You know as well as I do that when I play for a stake I like to +win it. But I won't have my words criticised and cut short by you or any +other man. I have as much interest in our success as you have—more, I +hope."</p> + +<p>He was quite hot about it, and puffed furiously at his cigar for some +minutes. The eyes of the other ruffian wandered alternately from Dick +Merton to myself. I knew that I was in the presence of a desperate man, +that a quiver of my lip might be the signal for him to plunge a weapon +into my heart, but I betrayed more self-command than I should have given +myself credit for under such trying circumstances. As to Dick, he was as +immovable and apparently as unconscious as the Egyptian Sphinx.</p> + +<p>There was silence for some time in the smoking-room, broken only by the +crisp rattle of the cards, as the man Muller shuffled them up before +replacing them in his pocket. He still seemed to be somewhat flushed and +irritable. Throwing the end of his cigar into the spittoon, he glanced +defiantly at his companion and turned towards me.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me, sir," he said, "when this ship will be heard of +again?"</p> + +<p>They were both looking at me; but though my face may have turned a +trifle paler, my voice was as steady as ever as I answered—</p> + +<p>"I presume, sir, that it will be heard of first when it enters +Queenstown Harbour."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" laughed the angry little man, "I knew you would say that. +Don't you kick me under the table, Flannigan, I won't stand it. I know +what I am doing. You are wrong, sir," he continued, turning to me, +"utterly wrong."</p> + +<p>"Some passing ship, perhaps," suggested Dick.</p> + +<p>"No, nor that either."</p> + +<p>"The weather is fine," I said; "why should we not be heard of at our +destination?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say we shouldn't be heard of at our destination. Possibly we +may not, and in any case that is not where we shall be heard of first."</p> + +<p>"Where, then?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"That you shall never know. Suffice it that a rapid and mysterious +agency will signal our whereabouts, and that before the day is out. Ha, +ha!" and he chuckled once again.</p> + +<p>"Come on deck!" growled his comrade; "you have drunk too much of that +confounded brandy-and-water. It has loosened your tongue. Come away!" +and taking him by the arm he half led him, half forced him out of the +smoking-room, and we heard them stumbling up the companion together, and +on to the deck.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think now?" I gasped, as I turned towards Dick. He +was as imperturbable as ever.</p> + +<p>"Think!" he said; "why, I think what his companion thinks, that we have +been listening to the ravings of a half-drunken man. The fellow stunk of +brandy."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Dick! you saw how the other tried to stop his tongue."</p> + +<p>"Of course he did. He didn't want his friend to make a fool of himself +before strangers. Maybe the short one is a lunatic, and the other his +private keeper. It's quite possible."</p> + +<p>"O, Dick, Dick," I cried, "how can you be so blind! Don't you see that +every word confirmed our previous suspicion?"</p> + +<p>"Humbug, man!" said Dick; "you're working yourself into a state of +nervous excitement. Why, what the devil do <i>you</i> make of all that +nonsense about a mysterious agent which would signal our whereabouts?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what he meant, Dick," I said, bending forward and +grasping my friend's arm. "He meant a sudden glare and a flash seen far +out at sea by some lonely fisherman off the American coast. That's what +he meant."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think you were such a fool, Hammond," said Dick Merton +testily. "If you try to fix a literal meaning on the twaddle that every +drunken man talks, you will come to some queer conclusions. Let us +follow their example, and go on deck. You need fresh air, I think. +Depend upon it, your liver is out of order. A sea-voyage will do you a +world of good."</p> + +<p>"If ever I see the end of this one," I groaned, "I'll promise never to +venture on another. They are laying the cloth, so it's hardly worth +while my going up. I'll stay below and unpack my things."</p> + +<p>"I hope dinner will find you in a more pleasant state of mind," said +Dick; and he went out, leaving me to my thoughts until the clang of the +great gong summoned us to the saloon.</p> + +<p>My appetite, I need hardly say, had not been improved by the incidents +which had occurred during the day. I sat down, however, mechanically at +the table, and listened to the talk which was going on around me. There +were nearly a hundred first-class passengers, and as the wine began to +circulate, their voices combined with the clash of the dishes to form a +perfect Babel. I found myself seated between a very stout and nervous +old lady and a prim little clergyman; and as neither made any advances I +retired into my shell, and spent my time in observing the appearance of +my fellow-voyagers. I could see Dick in the dim distance dividing his +attentions between a jointless fowl in front of him and a +self-possessed young lady at his side. Captain Dowie was doing the +honours at my end, while the surgeon of the vessel was seated at the +other. I was glad to notice that Flannigan was placed almost opposite to +me. As long as I had him before my eyes I knew that, for the time at +least, we were safe. He was sitting with what was meant to be a sociable +smile on his grim face. It did not escape me that he drank largely of +wine—so largely that even before the dessert appeared his voice had +become decidedly husky. His friend Muller was seated a few places lower +down. He ate little, and appeared to be nervous and restless.</p> + +<p>"Now, ladies," said our genial Captain, "I trust that you will consider +yourselves at home aboard my vessel. I have no fears for the gentlemen. +A bottle of champagne, steward. Here's to a fresh breeze and a quick +passage! I trust our friends in America will hear of our safe arrival in +eight days, or in nine at the very latest."</p> + +<p>I looked up. Quick as was the glance which passed between Flannigan and +his confederate, I was able to intercept it. There was an evil smile +upon the former's thin lips.</p> + +<p>The conversation rippled on. Politics, the sea, amusements, religion, +each was in turn discussed. I remained a silent though an interested +listener. It struck me that no harm could be done by introducing the +subject which was ever in my mind. It could be managed in an off-hand +way, and would at least have the effect of turning the Captain's +thoughts in that direction. I could watch, too, what effect it would +have upon the faces of the conspirators.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden lull in the conversation. The ordinary subjects of +interest appeared to be exhausted. The opportunity was a favourable one.</p> + +<p>"May I ask, Captain," I said, bending forward and speaking very +distinctly, "what you think of Fenian manifestos?"</p> + +<p>The Captain's ruddy face became a shade darker from honest indignation.</p> + +<p>"They are poor cowardly things," he said, "as silly as they are wicked."</p> + +<p>"The impotent threats of a set of anonymous scoundrels," said a +pompous-looking old gentleman beside him.</p> + +<p>"O Captain!" said the fat lady at my side, "you don't really think they +would blow up a ship?"</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt they would if they could. But I am very sure they shall +never blow up mine."</p> + +<p>"May I ask what precautions are taken against them?" asked an elderly +man at the end of the table.</p> + +<p>"All goods sent aboard the ship are strictly examined," said Captain +Dowie.</p> + +<p>"But suppose a man brought explosives aboard with him?" I suggested.</p> + +<p>"They are too cowardly to risk their own lives in that way."</p> + +<p>During this conversation Flannigan had not betrayed the slightest +interest in what was going on. He raised his head now and looked at the +Captain.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you are rather underrating them?" he said. "Every +secret society has produced desperate men—why shouldn't the Fenians +have them too? Many men think it a privilege to die in the service of a +cause which seems right in their eyes, though others may think it +wrong."</p> + +<p>"Indiscriminate murder cannot be fight in anybody's eyes," said the +little clergyman.</p> + +<p>"The bombardment of Paris was nothing else," said Flannigan; "yet the +whole civilised world agreed to look on with folded arms, and change the +ugly word 'murder' into the more euphonious one of 'war.' It seemed +right enough to German eyes; why shouldn't dynamite seem so to the +Fenian?"</p> + +<p>"At any rate their empty vapourings have led to nothing as yet," said +the Captain.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," returned Flannigan, "but is there not some room for doubt +yet as to the fate of the <i>Dotterel</i>? I have met men in America who +asserted from their own personal knowledge that there was a coal torpedo +aboard that vessel."</p> + +<p>"Then they lied," said the Captain. "It was proved conclusively at the +court-martial to have arisen from an explosion of coal-gas—but we had +better change the subject, or we may cause the ladies to have a restless +night;" and the conversation once more drifted back into its original +channel.</p> + +<p>During this little discussion Flannigan had argued his point with a +gentlemanly deference and a quiet power for which I had not given him +credit. I could not help admiring a man who, on the eve of a desperate +enterprise, could courteously argue upon a point which must touch him so +nearly. He had, as I have already mentioned, partaken of a considerable +quantity of wine; but though there was a slight flush upon his pale +cheek, his manner was as reserved as ever. He did not join in the +conversation again, but seemed to be lost in thought.</p> + +<p>A whirl of conflicting ideas was battling in my own mind. What was I to +do? Should I stand up now and denounce them before both passengers and +Captain? Should I demand a few minutes' conversation with the latter in +his own cabin, and reveal it all? For an instant I was half resolved to +do it, but then the old constitutional timidity came back with redoubled +force. After all there might be some mistake. Dick had heard the +evidence and had refused to believe in it. I determined to let things go +on their course. A strange reckless feeling came over me. Why should I +help men who were blind to their own danger? Surely it was the duty of +the officers to protect us, not ours to give warning to them. I drank +off a couple of glasses of wine, and staggered up on deck with the +determination of keeping my secret locked in my own bosom.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious evening. Even in my excited state of mind I could not +help leaning against the bulwarks and enjoying the refreshing breeze. +Away to the westward a solitary sail stood out as a dark speck against +the great sheet of flame left by the setting sun. I shuddered as I +looked at it. It was grand but appalling. A single star was twinkling +faintly above our mainmast, but a thousand seemed to gleam in the water +below with every stroke of our propeller. The only blot in the fair +scene was the great trail of smoke which stretched away behind us like a +black slash upon a crimson curtain. It was hard to believe that the +great peace which hung over all Nature could be marred by a poor +miserable mortal.</p> + +<p>"After all," I thought, as I gazed into the blue depths beneath me, "if +the worst comes to the worst, it is better to die here than to linger in +agony upon a sickbed on land." A man's life seems a very paltry thing +amid the great forces of Nature. All my philosophy could not prevent my +shuddering, however, when I turned my head and saw two shadowy figures +at the other side of the deck, which I had no difficulty in recognising. +They seemed to be conversing earnestly, but I had no opportunity of +overhearing what was said; so I contented myself with pacing up and +down, and keeping a vigilant watch upon their movements.</p> + +<p>It was a relief to me when Dick came on deck. Even an incredulous +confidant is better than none at all.</p> + +<p>"Well, old man," he said, giving me a facetious dig in the ribs, "we've +not been blown up yet."</p> + +<p>"No, not yet," said I; "but that's no proof that we are not going to +be."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, man!" said Dick; "I can't conceive what has put this +extraordinary idea into your head. I have been talking to one of your +supposed assassins, and he seems a pleasant fellow enough; quite a +sporting character, I should think, from the way he speaks."</p> + +<p>"Dick," I said, "I am as certain that those men have an infernal +machine, and that we are on the verge of eternity, as if I saw them +putting the match to the fuse."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you really think so," said Dick, half awed for the moment by +the earnestness of my manner, "it is your duty to let the Captain know +of your suspicions."</p> + +<p>"You are right," I said; "I will. My absurd timidity has prevented my +doing so sooner. I believe our lives can only be saved by laying the +whole matter before him."</p> + +<p>"Well, go and do it now," said Dick; "but for goodness' sake don't mix +me up in the matter."</p> + +<p>"I'll speak to him when he comes off the bridge," I answered; "and in +the meantime I don't mean to lose sight of them."</p> + +<p>"Let me know of the result," said my companion; and with a nod he +strolled away in search, I fancy, of his partner at the dinner-table.</p> + +<p>Left to myself, I bethought me of my retreat of the morning, and +climbing on the bulwark I mounted into the quarter-boat, and lay down +there. In it I could reconsider my course of action, and by raising my +head I was able at any time to get a view of my disagreeable neighbours.</p> + +<p>An hour passed, and the Captain was still on the bridge. He was talking +to one of the passengers, a retired naval officer, and the two were deep +in debate concerning some abstruse point of navigation. I could see the +red tips of their cigars from where I lay. It was dark now, so dark that +I could hardly make out the figures of Flannigan and his accomplice. +They were still standing in the position which they had taken up after +dinner. A few of the passengers were scattered about the deck, but many +had gone below. A strange stillness seemed to pervade the air. The +voices of the watch and the rattle of the wheel were the only sounds +which broke the silence.</p> + +<p>Another half-hour passed. The Captain was still upon the bridge. It +seemed as if he would never come down. My nerves were in a state of +unnatural tension, so much so that the sound of two steps upon the deck +made me start up in a quiver of excitement. I peered over the edge of +the boat, and saw that our suspicious passengers had crossed from the +other side, and were standing almost directly beneath me. The light of a +binnacle fell full upon the ghastly face of the ruffian Flannigan. Even +in that short glance I saw that Muller had the ulster, whose use I knew +so well, slung loosely over his arm. I sank back with a groan. It seemed +that my fatal procrastination had sacrificed two hundred innocent lives.</p> + +<p>I had read of the fiendish vengeance which awaited a spy. I knew that +men with their lives in their hands would stick at nothing. All I could +do was to cower at the bottom of the boat and listen silently to their +whispered talk below.</p> + +<p>"This place will do," said a voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the leeward side is best."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the trigger will act?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure it will."</p> + +<p>"We were to let it off at ten, were we not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, at ten sharp. We have eight minutes yet." There was a pause. Then +the voice began again—</p> + +<p>"They'll hear the drop of the trigger, won't they?"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter. It will be too late for any one to prevent its going +off."</p> + +<p>"That's true. There will be some excitement among those we have left +behind, won't there?"</p> + +<p>"Rather. How long do you reckon it will be before they hear of us?"</p> + +<p>"The first news will get in at about midnight at earliest."</p> + +<p>"That will be my doing."</p> + +<p>"No, mine."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! we'll settle that."</p> + +<p>There was a pause here. Then I heard Muller's voice in a ghastly +whisper, "There's only five minutes more."</p> + +<p>How slowly the moments seemed to pass! I could count them by the +throbbing of my heart.</p> + +<p>"It'll make a sensation on land," said a voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it will make a noise in the newspapers."</p> + +<p>I raised my head and peered over the side of the boat. There seemed no +hope, no help. Death stared me in the face, whether I did or did not +give the alarm. The Captain had at last left the bridge. The deck was +deserted, save for those two dark figures crouching in the shadow of the +boat.</p> + +<p>Flannigan had a watch lying open in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Three minutes more," he said. "Put it down upon the deck."</p> + +<p>"No, put it here on the bulwarks."</p> + +<p>It was the little square box. I knew by the sound that they had placed +it near the davit, and almost exactly under my head.</p> + +<p>I looked over again. Flannigan was pouring something out of a paper into +his hand. It was white and granular—the same that I had seen him use in +the morning. It was meant as a fuse, no doubt, for he shovelled it into +the little box, and I heard the strange noise which had previously +arrested my attention.</p> + +<p>"A minute and a half more," he said. "Shall you or I pull the string?"</p> + +<p>"I will pull it," said Muller.</p> + +<p>He was kneeling down and holding the end in his hand. Flannigan stood +behind with his arms folded, and an air of grim resolution upon his +face.</p> + +<p>I could stand it no longer. My nervous system seemed to give way in a +moment.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" I screamed, springing to my feet. "Stop, misguided and +unprincipled men!"</p> + +<p>They both staggered backwards. I fancy they thought I was a spirit, with +the moonlight streaming down upon my pale face.</p> + +<p>I was brave enough now. I had gone too far to retreat.</p> + +<p>"Cain was damned," I cried, "and he slew but one; would you have the +blood of two hundred upon your souls?"</p> + +<p>"He's mad!" said Flannigan. "Time's up. Let it off, Muller."</p> + +<p>I sprang down upon the deck.</p> + +<p>"You shan't do it!" I said.</p> + +<p>"By what right do you prevent us?"</p> + +<p>"By every right, human and divine."</p> + +<p>"It's no business of yours. Clear out of this."</p> + +<p>"Never!" said I.</p> + +<p>"Confound the fellow! There's too much at stake to stand on ceremony. +I'll hold him, Muller, while you pull the trigger."</p> + +<p>Next moment I was struggling in the herculean grasp of the Irishman. +Resistance was useless; I was a child in his hands.</p> + +<p>He pinned me up against the side of the vessel, and held me there.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "look sharp. He can't prevent us."</p> + +<p>I felt that I was standing on the verge of eternity. Half-strangled in +the arms of the taller ruffian, I saw the other approach the fatal box. +He stooped over it and seized the string. I breathed one prayer when I +saw his grasp tighten upon it. Then came a sharp snap, a strange rasping +noise. The trigger had fallen, the side of the box flew out, and let +off—<i>two grey carrier pigeons</i>!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Little more need be said. It is not a subject on which I care to dwell. +The whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd. Perhaps the best +thing I can do is to retire gracefully from the scene, and let the +sporting correspondent of the <i>New York Herald</i> fill my unworthy place. +Here is an extract clipped from its columns shortly after our departure +from America:</p> + +<p>"<i>Pigeon-flying Extraordinary.</i>—A novel match has been brought off last +week between the birds of John H. Flannigan, of Boston, and Jeremiah +Muller, a well-known citizen of Lowell. Both men have devoted much time +and attention to an improved breed of bird, and the challenge is an +old-standing one. The pigeons were backed to a large amount, and there +was considerable local interest in the result. The start was from the +deck of the Transatlantic steamship <i>Spartan</i>, at ten o'clock on the +evening of the day of starting, the vessel being then reckoned to be +about a hundred miles from the land. The bird which reached home first +was to be declared the winner. Considerable caution had, we believe, to +be observed, as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing off +of sporting events aboard their vessels. In spite of some little +difficulty at the last moment, the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten +o'clock. Muller's bird arrived in Lowell in an extreme state of +exhaustion on the following morning, while Flannigan's has not been +heard of. The backers of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing, +however, that the whole affair has been characterised by extreme +fairness. The pigeons were confined in a specially invented trap, which +could only be opened by the spring. It was thus possible to feed them +through an aperture in the top, but any tampering with their wings was +quite out of the question. A few such matches would go far towards +popularising pigeon-flying in America, and form an agreeable variety to +the morbid exhibitions of human endurance which have assumed such +proportions during the last few years."</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A whale is measured among whalers not by the length of its +body, but by the length of its whalebone.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="By_SIR_ARTHUR_CONAN_DOYLE" id="By_SIR_ARTHUR_CONAN_DOYLE"></a>By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE</h2> + + +<h3><i>Novels and Stories</i></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DANGER! <i>And Other Stories</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">HIS LAST BOW<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Some Latin Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BLACK DOCTOR<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of Terror and Mystery</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of Adventure</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE CROXLEY MASTER<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of the Ring and Camp</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of Long Ago</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And Other Tales of Pirates</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h3><i>On the Life Hereafter</i></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE NEW REVELATION<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE VITAL MESSAGE<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE COMING OF THE FAIRIES<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST<br /></span> +<span class="i0">OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h3><i>A History of the Great War</i></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE<br /></span> +<span class="i0">AND FLANDERS—Six Vols.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h3><i>Poems</i></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, by A. 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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 Dealings of Captain Sharkey + and Other Tales of Pirates + +Author: A. Conan Doyle + +Release Date: December 12, 2010 [EBook #34627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + + _and Other Tales of Pirates_ + + BY A. CONAN DOYLE + + + + NEW YORK + GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, + 1914, 1918, 1919, + BY A. CONAN DOYLE + + COPYRIGHT, 1910, + BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + COPYRIGHT, 1911, + BY ASSOCIATED SUNDAY MAGAZINES, INC. + + COPYRIGHT, 1908, + BY THE MCCLURE COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1902, + BY THE S. S. MCCLURE COMPANY + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +TALES OF PIRATES + +I CAPTAIN SHARKEY: HOW THE GOVERNOR OF SAINT KITT'S CAME HOME + +II THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY WITH STEPHEN CRADDOCK + +III THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY + +IV HOW COPLEY BANKS SLEW CAPTAIN SHARKEY + +V THE "SLAPPING SAL" + +VI A PIRATE OF THE LAND (ONE CROWDED HOUR) + + +TALES OF BLUE WATER + +VII THE STRIPED CHEST + +VIII THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR" + +IX THE FIEND OF THE COOPERAGE + +X JELLAND'S VOYAGE + +XI J. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT + +XII THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX + + + + +THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + +_and Other Stories of Pirates_ + + + + +TALES OF PIRATES + + + + +I + +CAPTAIN SHARKEY: HOW THE GOVERNOR OF SAINT KITT'S CAME HOME + + +When the great wars of the Spanish Succession had been brought to an end +by the Treaty of Utrecht, the vast number of privateers which had been +fitted out by the contending parties found their occupation gone. Some +took to the more peaceful but less lucrative ways of ordinary commerce, +others were absorbed into the fishing-fleets, and a few of the more +reckless hoisted the Jolly Rodger at the mizzen and the bloody flag at +the main, declaring a private war upon their own account against the +whole human race. + +With mixed crews, recruited from every nation they scoured the seas, +disappearing occasionally to careen in some lonely inlet, or putting in +for a debauch at some outlaying port, where they dazzled the inhabitants +by their lavishness and horrified them by their brutalities. + +On the Coromandel Coast, at Madagascar, in the African waters, and above +all in the West Indian and American seas, the pirates were a constant +menace. With an insolent luxury they would regulate their depredations +by the comfort of the seasons, harrying New England in the summer and +dropping south again to the tropical islands in the winter. + +They were the more to be dreaded because they had none of that +discipline and restraint which made their predecessors, the Buccaneers, +both formidable and respectable. These Ishmaels of the sea rendered an +account to no man, and treated their prisoners according to the drunken +whim of the moment. Flashes of grotesque generosity alternated with +longer stretches of inconceivable ferocity, and the skipper who fell +into their hands might find himself dismissed with his cargo, after +serving as boon companion in some hideous debauch, or might sit at his +cabin table with his own nose and his lips served up with pepper and +salt in front of him. It took a stout seaman in those days to ply his +calling in the Caribbean Gulf. + +Such a man was Captain John Scarrow, of the ship _Morning Star_, and yet +he breathed a long sigh of relief when he heard the splash of the +falling anchor and swung at his moorings within a hundred yards of the +guns of the citadel of Basseterre. St. Kitt's was his final port of +call, and early next morning his bowsprit would be pointed for Old +England. He had had enough of those robber-haunted seas. Ever since he +had left Maracaibo upon the Main, with his full lading of sugar and red +pepper, he had winced at every topsail which glimmered over the violet +edge of the tropical sea. He had coasted up the Windward Islands, +touching here and there, and assailed continually by stories of villainy +and outrage. + +Captain Sharkey, of the 20-gun pirate barque, _Happy Delivery_, had +passed down the coast, and had littered it with gutted vessels and with +murdered men. Dreadful anecdotes were current of his grim pleasantries +and of his inflexible ferocity. From the Bahamas to the Main his +coal-black barque, with the ambiguous name, had been freighted with +death and many things which are worse than death. So nervous was Captain +Scarrow, with his new full-rigged ship and her full and valuable lading, +that he struck out to the west as far as Bird's Island to be out of the +usual track of commerce. And yet even in those solitary waters he had +been unable to shake off sinister traces of Captain Sharkey. + +One morning they had raised a single skiff adrift upon the face of the +ocean. Its only occupant was a delirious seaman, who yelled hoarsely as +they hoisted him aboard, and showed a dried-up tongue like a black and +wrinkled fungus at the back of his mouth. Water and nursing soon +transformed him into the strongest and smartest sailor on the ship. He +was from Marblehead, in New England, it seemed, and was the sole +survivor of a schooner which had been scuttled by the dreadful Sharkey. + +For a week Hiram Evanson, for that was his name, had been adrift beneath +a tropical sun. Sharkey had ordered the mangled remains of his late +captain to be thrown into the boat, "as provisions for the voyage," but +the seaman had at once committed them to the deep, lest the temptation +should be more than he could bear. He had lived upon his own huge frame, +until, at the last moment, the _Morning Star_ had found him in that +madness which is the precursor of such a death. It was no bad find for +Captain Scarrow, for, with a short-handed crew, such a seaman as this +big New Englander was a prize worth having. He vowed that he was the +only man whom Captain Sharkey had ever placed under an obligation. + +Now that they lay under the guns of Basseterre, all danger from the +pirate was at an end, and yet the thought of him lay heavily upon the +seaman's mind as he watched the agent's boat shooting out from the +custom-house quay. + +"I'll lay you a wager, Morgan," said he to the first mate, "that the +agent will speak of Sharkey in the first hundred words that pass his +lips." + +"Well, captain, I'll have you a silver dollar, and chance it," said the +rough old Bristol man beside him. + +The negro rowers shot the boat alongside, and the linen-clad steersman +sprang up the ladder. + +"Welcome, Captain Scarrow!" he cried. "Have you heard about Sharkey?" + +The captain grinned at the mate. + +"What devilry has he been up to now?" he asked. + +"Devilry! You've not heard, then! Why, we've got him safe under lock and +key here at Basseterre. He was tried last Wednesday, and he is to be +hanged to-morrow morning." + +Captain and mate gave a shout of joy, which an instant later was taken +up by the crew. Discipline was forgotten as they scrambled up through +the break of the poop to hear the news. The New Englander was in the +front of them with a radiant face turned up to heaven, for he came of +the Puritan stock. + +"Sharkey to be hanged!" he cried. "You don't know, Master Agent, if they +lack a hangman, do you?" + +"Stand back!" cried the mate, whose outraged sense of discipline was +even stronger than his interest at the news. "I'll pay that dollar, +Captain Scarrow, with the lightest heart that ever I paid a wager yet. +How came the villain to be taken?" + +"Why, as to that, he became more than his own comrades could abide, and +they took such a horror of him that they would not have him on the ship. +So they marooned him upon the Little Mangles to the south of the +Mysteriosa Bank, and there he was found by a Portobello trader, who +brought him in. There was talk of sending him to Jamaica to be tried, +but our good little governor, Sir Charles Ewan, would not hear of it. +'He's my meat,' said he, 'and I claim the cooking of it.' If you can +stay till to-morrow morning at ten, you'll see the joint swinging." + +"I wish I could," said the captain, wistfully, "but I am sadly behind +time now. I should start with the evening tide." + +"That you can't do," said the agent with decision. "The Governor is +going back with you." + +"The Governor!" + +"Yes. He's had a dispatch from Government to return without delay. The +fly-boat that brought it has gone on to Virginia. So Sir Charles has +been waiting for you, as I told him you were due before the rains." + +"Well, well!" cried the captain, in some perplexity, "I'm a plain +seaman, and I don't know much of governors and baronets and their ways. +I don't remember that I ever so much as spoke to one. But if it's in +King George's service, and he asks a cast in the _Morning Star_ as far +as London, I'll do what I can for him. There's my own cabin he can have +and welcome. As to the cooking, it's lobscouse and salmagundy six days +in the week; but he can bring his own cook aboard with him if he thinks +our galley too rough for his taste." + +"You need not trouble your mind, Captain Scarrow," said the agent. "Sir +Charles is in weak health just now, only clear of a quartan ague, and it +is likely he will keep his cabin most of the voyage. Dr. Larousse said +that he would have sunk had the hanging of Sharkey not put fresh life +into him. He has a great spirit in him, though, and you must not blame +him if he is somewhat short in his speech." + +"He may say what he likes and do what he likes so long as he does not +come athwart my hawse when I am working the ship," said the captain. "He +is Governor of St. Kitt's, but I am Governor of the _Morning Star_. And, +by his leave, I must weigh with the first tide, for I owe a duty to my +employer, just as he does to King George." + +"He can scarce be ready to-night, for he has many things to set in order +before he leaves." + +"The early morning tide, then." + +"Very good. I shall send his things aboard to-night, and he will follow +them to-morrow early if I can prevail upon him to leave St. Kitt's +without seeing Sharkey do the rogue's hornpipe. His own orders were +instant, so it may be that he will come at once. It is likely that Dr. +Larousse may attend him upon the journey." + +Left to themselves, the captain and mate made the best preparations +which they could for their illustrious passenger. The largest cabin was +turned out and adorned in his honour, and orders were given by which +barrels of fruit and some cases of wine should be brought off to vary +the plain food of an ocean-going trader. In the evening the Governor's +baggage began to arrive--great ironbound ant-proof trunks, and official +tin packing-cases, with other strange-shaped packages, which suggested +the cocked hat or the sword within. And then there came a note, with a +heraldic device upon the big red seal, to say that Sir Charles Ewan made +his compliments to Captain Scarrow, and that he hoped to be with him in +the morning as early as his duties and his infirmities would permit. + +He was as good as his word, for the first grey of dawn had hardly begun +to deepen into pink when he was brought alongside, and climbed with some +difficulty up the ladder. The captain had heard that the Governor was an +eccentric, but he was hardly prepared for the curious figure who came +limping feebly down his quarter-deck, his steps supported by a thick +bamboo cane. He wore a Ramillies wig, all twisted into little tails like +a poodle's coat, and cut so low across the brow that the large green +glasses which covered his eyes looked as if they were hung from it. A +fierce beak of a nose, very long and very thin, cut the air in front of +him. His ague had caused him to swathe his throat and chin with a broad +linen cravat, and he wore a loose damask powdering-gown secured by a +cord round the waist. As he advanced he carried his masterful nose high +in the air, but his head turned slowly from side to side in the helpless +manner of the purblind, and he called in a high, querulous voice for the +captain. + +"You have my things?" he asked. + +"Yes, Sir Charles." + +"Have you wine aboard?" + +"I have ordered five cases, sir." + +"And tobacco?" + +"There is a keg of Trinidad." + +"You play a hand at piquet?" + +"Passably well, sir." + +"Then up anchor, and to sea!" + +There was a fresh westerly wind, so by the time the sun was fairly +through the morning haze, the ship was hull down from the islands. The +decrepit Governor still limped the deck, with one guiding hand upon the +quarter-rail. + +"You are on Government service now, Captain," said he. "They are +counting the days till I come to Westminster, I promise you. Have you +all that she will carry?" + +"Every inch, Sir Charles." + +"Keep her so if you blow the sails out of her. I fear, Captain Scarrow, +that you will find a blind and broken man a poor companion for your +voyage." + +"I am honoured in enjoying your Excellency's society," said the Captain. +"But I am sorry that your eyes should be so afflicted." + +"Yes, indeed. It is the cursed glare of the sun on the white streets of +Basseterre which has gone far to burn them out." + +"I had heard also that you had been plagued by a quartan ague." + +"Yes; I have had a pyrexy, which has reduced me much." + +"We had set aside a cabin for your surgeon." + +"Ah, the rascal! There was no budging him, for he has a snug business +amongst the merchants. But hark!" + +He raised his ring-covered hand in the air. From far astern there came +the low deep thunder of cannon. + +"It is from the island!" cried the captain in astonishment. "Can it be a +signal for us to put back?" + +The Governor laughed. + +"You have heard that Sharkey, the pirate, is to be hanged this morning. +I ordered the batteries to salute when the rascal was kicking his last, +so that I might know of it out at sea. There's an end of Sharkey!" + +"There's an end of Sharkey!" cried the captain; and the crew took up the +cry as they gathered in little knots upon the deck and stared back at +the low, purple line of the vanishing land. + +It was a cheering omen for their start across the Western Ocean, and the +invalid Governor found himself a popular man on board, for it was +generally understood that but for his insistence upon an immediate trial +and sentence, the villain might have played upon some more venal judge +and so escaped. At dinner that day Sir Charles gave many anecdotes of +the deceased pirate; and so affable was he, and so skilful in adapting +his conversation to men of lower degree, that captain, mate, and +Governor smoked their long pipes and drank their claret as three good +comrades should. + +"And what figure did Sharkey cut in the dock?" asked the captain. + +"He is a man of some presence," said the Governor. + +"I had always understood that he was an ugly, sneering devil," remarked +the mate. + +"Well, I dare say he could look ugly upon occasions," said the Governor. + +"I have heard a New Bedford whaleman say that he could not forget his +eyes," said Captain Scarrow. "They were of the lightest filmy blue, with +red-rimmed lids. Was that not so, Sir Charles?" + +"Alas, my own eyes will not permit me to know much of those of others! +But I remember now that the Adjutant-General said that he had such an +eye as you describe, and added that the jury were so foolish as to be +visibly discomposed when it was turned upon them. It is well for them +that he is dead, for he was a man who would never forget an injury, and +if he had laid hands upon any one of them he would have stuffed him with +straw and hung him for a figure-head." + +The idea seemed to amuse the Governor, for he broke suddenly into a +high, neighing laugh, and the two seamen laughed also, but not so +heartily, for they remembered that Sharkey was not the last pirate who +sailed the western seas, and that as grotesque a fate might come to be +their own. Another bottle was broached to drink to a pleasant voyage, +and the Governor would drink just one other on the top of it, so that +the seamen were glad at last to stagger off--the one to his watch and +the other to his bunk. But when after his four hours' spell the mate +came down again, he was amazed to see the Governor in his Ramillies wig, +his glasses, and his powdering-gown still seated sedately at the lonely +table with his reeking pipe and six black bottles by his side. + +"I have drunk with the Governor of St. Kitt's when he was sick," said +he, "and God forbid that I should ever try to keep pace with him when he +is well." + +The voyage of the _Morning Star_ was a successful one, and in about +three weeks she was at the mouth of the British Channel. From the first +day the infirm Governor had begun to recover his strength, and before +they were half-way across the Atlantic he was, save only for his eyes, +as well as any man upon the ship. Those who uphold the nourishing +qualities of wine might point to him in triumph, for never a night +passed that he did not repeat the performance of his first one. And yet +he would be out upon deck in the early morning as fresh and brisk as the +best of them, peering about with his weak eyes, and asking questions +about the sails and the rigging, for he was anxious to learn the ways of +the sea. And he made up for the deficiency of his eyes by obtaining +leave from the captain that the New England seaman--he who had been cast +away in the boat--should lead him about, and above all that he should +sit beside him when he played cards and count the number of the pips, +for unaided he could not tell the king from the knave. + +It was natural that this Evanson should do the Governor willing service, +since the one was the victim of the vile Sharkey, and the other was his +avenger. One could see that it was a pleasure to the big American to +lend his arm to the invalid, and at night he would stand with all +respect behind his chair in the cabin and lay his great stub-nailed +forefinger upon the card which he should play. Between them there was +little in the pockets either of Captain Scarrow or of Morgan, the first +mate, by the time they sighted the Lizard. + +And it was not long before they found that all they had heard of the +high temper of Sir Charles Ewan fell short of the mark. At a sign of +opposition or a word of argument his chin would shoot out from his +cravat, his masterful nose would be cocked at a higher and more insolent +angle, and his bamboo cane would whistle up over his shoulder. He +cracked it once over the head of the carpenter when the man had +accidentally jostled him upon the deck. Once, too, when there was some +grumbling and talk of a mutiny over the state of the provisions, he was +of opinion that they should not wait for the dogs to rise, but that they +should march forward and set upon them until they had trounced the +devilment out of them. "Give me a knife and a bucket!" he cried with an +oath, and could hardly be withheld from setting forth alone to deal with +the spokesman of the seamen. + +Captain Scarrow had to remind him that though he might be only +answerable to himself at St. Kitt's, killing became murder upon the high +seas. In politics he was, as became his official position, a stout prop +of the House of Hanover, and he swore in his cups that he had never met +a Jacobite without pistolling him where he stood. Yet for all his +vapouring and his violence he was so good a companion, with such a +stream of strange anecdote and reminiscence, that Scarrow and Morgan had +never known a voyage pass so pleasantly. + +And then at length came the last day, when, after passing the island, +they had struck land again at the high white cliffs at Beachy Head. As +evening fell the ship lay rolling in an oily calm, a league off from +Winchelsea, with the long dark snout of Dungeness jutting out in front +of her. Next morning they would pick up their pilot at the Foreland, and +Sir Charles might meet the king's ministers at Westminster before the +evening. The boatswain had the watch, and the three friends were met for +a last turn of cards in the cabin, the faithful American still serving +as eyes to the Governor. There was a good stake upon the table, for the +sailors had tried on this last night to win their losses back from their +passenger. Suddenly he threw his cards down, and swept all the money +into the pocket of his long-flapped silken waistcoat. + +"The game's mine!" said he. + +"Heh, Sir Charles, not so fast!" cried Captain Scarrow; "you have not +played out the hand, and we are not the losers." + +"Sink you for a liar!" said the Governor. "I tell you that I _have_ +played out the hand, and that you _are_ a loser." He whipped off his wig +and his glasses as he spoke, and there was a high, bald forehead, and a +pair of shifty blue eyes with the red rims of a bull terrier. + +"Good God!" cried the mate. "It's Sharkey!" + +The two sailors sprang from their seats, but the big American castaway +had put his huge back against the cabin door, and he held a pistol in +each of his hands. The passenger had also laid a pistol upon the +scattered cards in front of him, and he burst into his high, neighing +laugh. + +"Captain Sharkey is the name, gentlemen," said he, "and this is Roaring +Ned Galloway, the quartermaster of the _Happy Delivery_. We made it +hot, and so they marooned us: me on a dry Tortuga cay, and him in an +oarless boat. You dogs--you poor, fond, water-hearted dogs--we hold you +at the end of our pistols!" + +"You may shoot, or you may not!" cried Scarrow, striking his hand upon +the breast of his frieze jacket. "If it's my last breath, Sharkey, I +tell you that you are a bloody rogue and miscreant, with a halter and +hell-fire in store for you!" + +"There's a man of spirit, and one of my own kidney, and he's going to +make a very pretty death of it!" cried Sharkey. "There's no one aft save +the man at the wheel, so you may keep your breath, for you'll need it +soon. Is the dinghy astern, Ned?" + +"Ay, ay, captain!" + +"And the other boats scuttled?" + +"I bored them all in three places." + +"Then we shall have to leave you, Captain Scarrow. You look as if you +hadn't quite got your bearings yet. Is there anything you'd like to ask +me?" + +"I believe you're the devil himself!" cried the captain. "Where is the +Governor of St. Kitt's?" + +"When last I saw him his Excellency was in bed with his throat cut. When +I broke prison I learnt from my friends--for Captain Sharkey has those +who love him in every port--that the Governor was starting for Europe +under a master who had never seen him. I climbed his verandah and I paid +him the little debt that I owed him. Then I came aboard you with such of +his things as I had need of, and a pair of glasses to hide these +tell-tale eyes of mine, and I have ruffled it as a governor should. +Now, Ned, you can get to work upon them." + +"Help! Help! Watch ahoy!" yelled the mate; but the butt of the pirate's +pistol crashed down on to his head, and he dropped like a pithed ox. +Scarrow rushed for the door, but the sentinel clapped his hand over his +mouth, and threw his other arm round his waist. + +"No use, Master Scarrow," said Sharkey. "Let us see you go down on your +knees and beg for your life." + +"I'll see you----" cried Scarrow, shaking his mouth clear. + +"Twist his arm round, Ned. Now will you?" + +"No; not if you twist it off." + +"Put an inch of your knife into him." + +"You may put six inches, and then I won't." + +"Sink me, but I like his spirit!" cried Sharkey. "Put your knife in your +pocket, Ned. You've saved your skin, Scarrow, and it's a pity so stout a +man should not take to the only trade where a pretty fellow can pick up +a living. You must be born for no common death, Scarrow, since you have +lain at my mercy and lived to tell the story. Tie him up, Ned." + +"To the stove, captain?" + +"Tut, tut! there's a fire in the stove. None of your rover tricks, Ned +Galloway, unless they are called for, or I'll let you know which of us +two is captain and which is quartermaster. Make him fast to the table. + +"Nay, I thought you meant to roast him!" said the quartermaster. "You +surely do not mean to let him go?" + +"If you and I were marooned on a Bahama cay, Ned Galloway, it is still +for me to command and for you to obey. Sink you for a villain, do you +dare to question my orders?" + +"Nay, nay, Captain Sharkey, not so hot, sir!" said the quartermaster, +and, lifting Scarrow like a child, he laid him on the table. With the +quick dexterity of a seaman, he tied his spreadeagled hands and feet +with a rope which was passed underneath, and gagged him securely with +the long cravat which used to adorn the chin of the Governor of St. +Kitt's. + +"Now, Captain Scarrow, we must take our leave of you," said the pirate. +"If I had half a dozen of my brisk boys at my heels I should have had +your cargo and your ship, but Roaring Ned could not find a foremast hand +with the spirit of a mouse. I see there are some small craft about, and +we shall get one of them. When Captain Sharkey has a boat he can get a +smack, when he has a smack he can get a brig, when he has a brig he can +get a barque, and when he has a barque he'll soon have a full-rigged +ship of his own--so make haste into London town, or I may be coming +back, after all, for the _Morning Star_." + +Captain Scarrow heard the key turn in the lock as they left the cabin. +Then, as he strained at his bonds, he heard their foot-steps pass up the +companion and along the quarter-deck to where the dinghy hung in the +stern. Then, still struggling and writhing, he heard the creak of the +falls and the splash of the boat in the water. In a mad fury he tore and +dragged at his ropes, until at last, with flayed wrists and ankles, he +rolled from the table, sprang over the dead mate, kicked his way through +the closed door, and rushed hatless on to the deck. + +"Ahoy! Peterson, Armitage, Wilson!" he screamed. "Cutlasses and pistols! +Clear away the long-boat! Clear away the gig! Sharkey, the pirate, is in +yonder dinghy. Whistle up the larboard watch, bo'sun, and tumble into +the boats all hands." + +Down splashed the long-boat and down splashed the gig, but in an instant +the coxswains and crews were swarming up the falls on to the deck once +more. + +"The boats are scuttled!" they cried. "They are leaking like a sieve." + +The captain gave a bitter curse. He had been beaten and outwitted at +every point. Above was a cloudless, starlit sky, with neither wind nor +the promise of it. The sails flapped idly in the moonlight. Far away lay +a fishing-smack, with the men clustering over their net. + +Close to them was the little dinghy, dipping and lifting over the +shining swell. + +"They are dead men!" cried the captain. "A shout all together, boys, to +warn them of their danger." + +But it was too late. + +At that very moment the dinghy shot into the shadow of the fishing-boat. +There were two rapid pistol-shots, a scream, and then another +pistol-shot, followed by silence. The clustering fishermen had +disappeared. And then, suddenly, as the first puffs of a land-breeze +came out from the Sussex shore, the boom swung out, the mainsail filled, +and the little craft crept out with her nose to the Atlantic. + + + + +II + +THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY WITH STEPHEN CRADDOCK + + +Careening was a very necessary operation for the old pirate. On his +superior speed he depended both for overhauling the trader and escaping +the man-of-war. But it was impossible to retain his sailing qualities +unless he periodically--once a year, at the least--cleared his vessel's +bottom from the long, trailing plants and crusting barnacles which +gather so rapidly in the tropical seas. + +For this purpose he lightened his vessel, thrust her into some narrow +inlet where she would be left high and dry at low water, fastened blocks +and tackles to her masts to pull her over on to her bilge, and then +scraped her thoroughly from rudder-post to cutwater. + +During the weeks which were thus occupied the ship was, of course, +defenceless; but, on the other hand, she was unapproachable by anything +heavier than an empty hull, and the place for careening was chosen with +an eye to secrecy, so that there was no great danger. + +So secure did the captains feel, that it was not uncommon for them, at +such times, to leave their ships under a sufficient guard and to start +off in the long-boat, either upon a sporting expedition or, more +frequently, upon a visit to some outlying town, where they turned the +heads of the women by their swaggering gallantry, or broached pipes of +wine in the market square, with a threat to pistol all who would not +drink with them. + +Sometimes they would even appear in cities of the size of Charleston, +and walk the streets with their clattering sidearms--an open scandal to +the whole law-abiding colony. Such visits were not always paid with +impunity. It was one of them, for example, which provoked Lieutenant +Maynard to hack off Blackbeard's head, and to spear it upon the end of +his bowsprit. But, as a rule, the pirate ruffled and bullied and drabbed +without let or hindrance, until it was time for him to go back to his +ship once more. + +There was one pirate, however, who never crossed even the skirts of +civilisation, and that was the sinister Sharkey, of the barque _Happy +Delivery_. It may have been from his morose and solitary temper, or, as +is more probable, that he knew that his name upon the coast was such +that outraged humanity would, against all odds, have thrown themselves +upon him, but never once did he show his face in a settlement. + +When his ship was laid up he would leave her under the charge of Ned +Galloway--her New England quartermaster--and would take long voyages in +his boat, sometimes, it was said, for the purpose of burying his share +of the plunder, and sometimes to shoot the wild oxen of Hispaniola, +which, when dressed and barbecued, provided provisions for his next +voyage. In the latter case the barque would come round to some +pre-arranged spot to pick him up and take on board what he had shot. + +There had always been a hope in the islands that Sharkey might be taken +on one of these occasions; and at last there came news to Kingston which +seemed to justify an attempt upon him. It was brought by an elderly +logwood-cutter who had fallen into the pirate's hands, and in some freak +of drunken benevolence had been allowed to get away with nothing worse +than a slit nose and a drubbing. His account was recent and definite. +The _Happy Delivery_ was careening at Torbec on the south-west of +Hispaniola. Sharkey, with four men, was buccaneering on the outlying +island of La Vache. The blood of a hundred murdered crews was calling +out for vengeance, and now at last it seemed as if it might not call in +vain. + +Sir Edward Compton, the high-nosed, red-faced Governor, sitting in +solemn conclave with the commandant and the head of the council, was +sorely puzzled in his mind as to how he should use his chance. There was +no man-of-war nearer than Jamestown, and she was a clumsy old fly-boat, +which could neither overhaul the pirate on the seas, nor reach her in a +shallow inlet. There were forts and artillerymen both at Kingston and +Port Royal, but no soldiers available for an expedition. + +A private venture might be fitted out--and there were many who had a +blood-feud with Sharkey--but what could a private venture do? The +pirates were numerous and desperate. As to taking Sharkey and his four +companions, that, of course, would be easy if they could get at them; +but how were they to get at them on a large well-wooded island like La +Vache, full of wild hills and impenetrable jungles? A reward was offered +to whoever could find a solution, and that brought a man to the front +who had a singular plan, and was himself prepared to carry it out. + +Stephen Craddock had been that most formidable person, the Puritan gone +wrong. Sprung from a decent Salem family, his ill-doing seemed to be a +recoil from the austerity of their religion, and he brought to vice all +the physical strength and energy with which the virtues of his ancestors +had endowed him. He was ingenious, fearless, and exceedingly tenacious +of purpose, so that when he was still young his name became notorious +upon the American coast. + +He was the same Craddock who was tried for his life in Virginia for the +slaying of the Seminole Chief, and, though he escaped, it was well known +that he had corrupted the witnesses and bribed the judge. + +Afterwards, as a slaver, and even, as it was hinted, as a pirate, he had +left an evil name behind him in the Bight of Benin. Finally he had +returned to Jamaica with a considerable fortune, and had settled down to +a life of sombre dissipation. This was the man, gaunt, austere, and +dangerous, who now waited upon the Governor with a plan for the +extirpation of Sharkey. + +Sir Edward received him with little enthusiasm, for in spite of some +rumours of conversion and reformation, he had always regarded him as an +infected sheep who might taint the whole of his little flock. Craddock +saw the Governor's mistrust under his thin veil of formal and restrained +courtesy. + +"You've no call to fear me, sir," said he; "I'm a changed man from what +you've known. I've seen the light again, of late, after losing sight of +it for many a black year. It was through the ministration of the Rev. +John Simons, of our own people. Sir, if your spirit should be in need +of quickening, you would find a very sweet savour in his discourse." + +The Governor cocked his Episcopalian nose at him. + +"You came here to speak of Sharkey, Master Craddock," said he. + +"The man Sharkey is a vessel of wrath," said Craddock. "His wicked horn +has been exalted over long, and it is borne in upon me that if I can cut +him off and utterly destroy him, it will be a goodly deed, and one which +may atone for many backslidings in the past. A plan has been given to me +whereby I may encompass his destruction." + +The Governor was keenly interested, for there was a grim and practical +air about the man's freckled face which showed that he was in earnest. +After all, he was a seaman and a fighter, and, if it were true that he +was eager to atone for his past, no better man could be chosen for the +business. + +"This will be a dangerous task, Master Craddock," said he. + +"If I meet my death at it, it may be that it will cleanse the memory of +an ill-spent life. I have much to atone for." + +The Governor did not see his way to contradict him. + +"What was your plan?" he asked. + +"You have heard that Sharkey's barque, the _Happy Delivery_, came from +this very port of Kingston?" + +"It belonged to Mr. Codrington, and it was taken by Sharkey, who +scuttled his own sloop and moved into her because she was faster," said +Sir Edward. + +"Yes; but it may be that you have never heard that Mr. Codrington has a +sister ship, the _White Rose_, which lies even now in the harbour, and +which is so like the pirate, that, if it were not for a white paint +line, none could tell them apart." + +"Ah! and what of that?" asked the Governor keenly, with the air of one +who is just on the edge of an idea. + +"By the help of it this man shall be delivered into our hands." + +"And how?" + +"I will paint out the streak upon the _White Rose_, and make it in all +things like the _Happy Delivery_. Then I will set sail for the Island of +La Vache, where this man is slaying the wild oxen. When he sees me he +will surely mistake me for his own vessel which he is awaiting, and he +will come on board to his own undoing." + +It was a simple plan, and yet it seemed to the Governor that it might be +effective. Without hesitation he gave Craddock permission to carry it +out, and to take any steps he liked in order to further the object which +he had in view. Sir Edward was not very sanguine, for many attempts had +been made upon Sharkey, and their results had shown, that he was as +cunning as he was ruthless. But this gaunt Puritan with the evil record +was cunning and ruthless also. + +The contest of wits between two such men as Sharkey and Craddock +appealed to the Governor's acute sense of sport, and though he was +inwardly convinced that the chances were against him, he backed his man +with the same loyalty which he would have shown to his horse or his +cock. + +Haste was, above all things, necessary, for upon any day the careening +might be finished, and the pirates out at sea once more. But there was +not very much to do, and there were many willing hands to do it, so the +second day saw the _White Rose_ beating out for the open sea. There were +many seamen in the port who knew the lines and rig of the pirate barque, +and not one of them could see the slightest difference in this +counterfeit. Her white side line had been painted out, her masts and +yards were smoked, to give them the dingy appearance of the +weather-beaten rover, and a large diamond shaped patch was let into her +fore-topsail. + +Her crew were volunteers, many of them being men who had sailed with +Stephen Craddock before--the mate, Joshua Hird, an old slaver, had been +his accomplice in many voyages, and came now at the bidding of his +chief. + +The avenging barque sped across the Caribbean Sea, and, at the sight of +that patched topsail, the little craft which they met flew left and +right like frightened trout in a pool. On the fourth evening Point +Abacou bore five miles to the north and east of them. + +On the fifth they were at anchor in the Bay of Tortoises at the Island +of La Vache, where Sharkey and his four men had been hunting. It was a +well-wooded place, with the palms and underwood growing down to the thin +crescent of silver sand which skirted the shore. They had hoisted the +black flag and the red pennant, but no answer came from the shore. +Craddock strained his eyes, hoping every instant to see a boat shoot out +to them with Sharkey seated in the sheets. But the night passed away, +and a day and yet another night, without any sign of the men whom they +were endeavouring to trap. It looked as if they were already gone. + +On the second morning Craddock went ashore in search of some proof +whether Sharkey and his men were still upon the island. What he found +reassured him greatly. Close to the shore was a boucan of green wood, +such as was used for preserving the meat, and a great store of barbecued +strips of ox-flesh was hung upon lines all round it. The pirate ship had +not taken off her provisions, and therefore the hunters were still upon +the island. + +Why had they not shown themselves? Was it that they had detected that +this was not their own ship? Or was it that they were hunting in the +interior of the island, and were not on the lookout for a ship yet? +Craddock was still hesitating between the two alternatives, when a Carib +Indian came down with information. The pirates were in the island, he +said, and their camp was a day's march from the sea. They had stolen his +wife, and the marks of their stripes were still pink upon his brown +back. Their enemies were his friends, and he would lead them to where +they lay. + +Craddock could not have asked for anything better; so early next +morning, with a small party armed to the teeth, he set off under the +guidance of the Carib. All day they struggled through brushwood and +clambered over rocks, pushing their way further and further into the +desolate heart of the island. Here and there they found traces of the +hunters, the bones of a slain ox, or the marks of feet in a morass, and +once, towards evening, it seemed to some of them that they heard the +distant rattle of guns. + +That night they spent under the trees, and pushed on again with the +earliest light. About noon they came to the huts of bark, which, the +Carib told them, were the camp of the hunters, but they were silent and +deserted. No doubt their occupants were away at the hunt and would +return in the evening, so Craddock and his men lay in ambush in the +brushwood around them. But no one came, and another night was spent in +the forest. Nothing more could be done, and it seemed to Craddock that +after the two days' absence it was time that he returned to his ship +once more. + +The return journey was less difficult, as they had already blazed a path +for themselves. Before evening they found themselves once more at the +Bay of Palms, and saw their ship riding at anchor where they had left +her. Their boat and oars had been hauled up among the bushes, so they +launched it and pulled out to the barque. + +"No luck, then!" cried Joshua Hird, the mate, looking down with a pale +face from the poop. + +"His camp was empty, but he may come down to us yet," said Craddock, +with his hand on the ladder. + +Somebody upon deck began to laugh. "I think," said the mate, "that these +men had better stay in the boat." + +"Why so?" + +"If you will come aboard, sir, you will understand it." He spoke in a +curious hesitating fashion. + +The blood flushed to Craddock's gaunt face. + +"How is this, Master Hird?" he cried, springing up the side. "What mean +you by giving orders to my boat's crew?" + +But as he passed over the bulwarks, with one foot upon the deck and one +knee upon the rail, a tow-bearded man, whom he had never before observed +aboard his vessel, grabbed suddenly at his pistol. Craddock clutched at +the fellow's wrist, but at the same instant his mate snatched the +cutlass from his side. + +"What roguery is this?" shouted Craddock looking furiously around him. +But the crew stood in little knots about the deck, laughing and +whispering amongst themselves without showing any desire to go to his +assistance. Even in that hurried glance Craddock noticed that they were +dressed in the most singular manner, with long riding-coats, +full-skirted velvet gowns and coloured ribands at their knees, more like +men of fashion than seamen. + +As he looked at their grotesque figures he struck his brow with his +clenched fist to be sure that he was awake. The deck seemed to be much +dirtier than when he had left it, and there were strange, sun-blackened +faces turned upon him from every side. Not one of them did he know save +only Joshua Hird. Had the ship been captured in his absence? Were these +Sharkey's men who were around him? At the thought he broke furiously +away and tried to climb over to his boat, but a dozen hands were on him +in an instant, and he was pushed aft through the open door of his own +cabin. + +And it was all different from the cabin which he had left. The floor was +different, the ceiling was different, the furniture was different. His +had been plain and austere. This was sumptuous and yet dirty, hung with +rare velvet curtains splashed with wine-stains, and panelled with costly +woods which were pocked with pistol-marks. + +On the table was a great chart of the Caribbean Sea, and beside it, with +compasses in his hand, sat a clean-shaven, pale-faced man with a fur cap +and a claret-coloured coat of damask. Craddock turned white under his +freckles as he looked upon the long, thin, high-nostrilled nose and the +red-rimmed eyes which were turned upon him with the fixed, humorous gaze +of the master player who has left his opponent without a move. + +"Sharkey?" cried Craddock. + +Sharkey's thin lips opened and he broke into his high, sniggering laugh. + +"You fool!" he cried, and, leaning over, he stabbed Craddock's shoulder +again and again with his compasses. "You poor, dull-witted fool, would +you match yourself against me?" + +It was not the pain of the wounds, but it was the contempt in Sharkey's +voice which turned Craddock into a savage madman. He flew at the pirate, +roaring with rage, striking, kicking, writhing, and foaming. It took six +men to drag him down on to the floor amidst the splintered remains of +the table--and not one of the six who did not bear the prisoner's mark +upon him. But Sharkey still surveyed him with the same contemptuous eye. +From outside there came the crash of breaking wood and the clamour of +startled voices. + +"What is that?" asked Sharkey. + +"They have stove the boat with cold shot, and the men are in the water." + +"Let them stay there," said the pirate. "Now, Craddock, you know where +you are. You are aboard my ship the _Happy Delivery_, and you lie at my +mercy. I knew you for a stout seaman, you rogue, before you took to this +long-shore canting. Your hands then were no cleaner than my own. Will +you sign articles, as your mate has done, and join us, or shall I heave +you over to follow your ship's company?" + +"Where is my ship?" asked Craddock. + +"Scuttled in the bay." + +"And the hands?" + +"In the bay, too." + +"Hock him and heave him over," said Sharkey. + +Many rough hands had dragged Craddock out upon deck, and Galloway, the +quartermaster, had already drawn his hangar to cripple him, when Sharkey +came hurrying from his cabin with an eager face. + +"We can do better with the hound!" he cried. "Sink me if it is not a +rare plan. Throw him into the sail-room with the irons on, and do you +come here, quartermaster, that I may tell you what I have in my mind." + +So Craddock, bruised and wounded in soul and body, was thrown into the +dark sail-room, so fettered that he could not stir hand or foot, but his +Northern blood was running strong in his veins, and his grim spirit +aspired only to make such an ending as might go some way towards atoning +for the evil of his life. All night he lay in the curve of the bilge +listening to the rush of the water and the straining of the timbers +which told him that the ship was at sea, and driving fast. In the early +morning some one came crawling to him in the darkness over the heaps of +sails. + +"Here's rum and biscuits," said the voice of his late mate. "It's at the +risk of my life, Master Craddock, that I bring them to you." + +"It was you who trapped me and caught me as in a snare!" cried Craddock. +"How shall you answer for what you have done?" + +"What I did I did with the point of a knife betwixt my blade-bones." + +"God forgive you for a coward, Joshua Hird. How came you into their +hands?" + +"Why, Master Craddock, the pirate ship came back from its careening upon +the very day that you left us. They laid us aboard, and, short-handed as +we were, with the best of the men ashore with you, we could offer but a +poor defence. Some were cut down, and they were the happiest. The others +were killed afterwards. As to me, I saved my life by signing on with +them." + +"And they scuttled my ship?" + +"They scuttled her, and then Sharkey and his men, who had been watching +us from the brushwood, came off to the ship. His main-yard had been +cracked and fished last voyage, so he had suspicions of us, seeing that +ours was whole. Then he thought of laying the same trap for you which +you had set for him." + +Craddock groaned. + +"How came I not to see that fished main-yard?" he muttered. "But whither +are we bound?" + +"We are running north and west." + +"North and west! Then we are heading back towards Jamaica." + +"With an eight-knot wind." + +"Have you heard what they mean to do with me?" + +"I have not heard. If you would but sign the articles----" + +"Enough, Joshua Hird! I have risked my soul too often." + +"As you wish! I have done what I could. Farewell!" + +All that night and the next day the _Happy Delivery_ ran before the +easterly trades, and Stephen Craddock lay in the dark of the sail-room +working patiently at his wrist-irons. One he had slipped off at the cost +of a row of broken and bleeding knuckles, but, do what he would, he +could not free the other, and his ankles were securely fastened. + +From hour to hour he heard the swish of the water, and knew that the +barque must be driving with all set, in front of the trade wind. In that +case they must be nearly back again to Jamaica by now. What plan could +Sharkey have in his head, and what use did he hope to make of him? +Craddock set his teeth, and vowed that if he had once been a villain +from choice he would, at least, never be one by compulsion. + +On the second morning Craddock became aware that sail had been reduced +in the vessel, and that she was tacking slowly, with a light breeze on +her beam. The varying slope of the sail-room and the sounds from the +deck told his practised senses exactly what she was doing. The short +reaches showed him that she was manoeuvring near shore, and making for +some definite point. If so, she must have reached Jamaica. But what +could she be doing there? + +And then suddenly there was a burst of hearty cheering from the deck, +and then the crash of a gun above his head, and then the answering +booming of guns from far over the water. Craddock sat up and strained +his ears. Was the ship in action? Only the one gun had been fired, and +though many had answered there were none of the crashings which told of +a shot coming home. + +Then, if it was not an action, it must be a salute. But who would salute +Sharkey, the pirate? It could only be another pirate ship which would do +so. So Craddock lay back again with a groan, and continued to work at +the manacle which still held his right wrist. + +But suddenly there came the shuffling of steps outside, and he had +hardly time to wrap the loose links round his free hand, when the door +was unbolted and two pirates came in. + +"Got your hammer, carpenter?" asked one, whom Craddock recognised as the +big quartermaster. "Knock off his leg shackles, then. Better leave the +bracelets--he's safer with them on." + +With hammer and chisel the carpenter loosened the irons. + +"What are you going to do with me?" asked Craddock. + +"Come on deck and you'll see." + +The sailor seized him by the arm and dragged him roughly to the foot of +the companion. Above him was a square of blue sky cut across by the +mizzen gaff with the colours flying at the peak. But it was the sight of +those colours which struck the breath from Stephen Craddock's lips. For +there were two of them, and the British ensign was flying above the +Jolly Rodger--the honest flag above that of the rogue. + +For an instant Craddock stopped in amazement, but a brutal push from the +pirates behind drove him up the companion ladder. As he stepped out upon +deck, his eyes turned up to the main, and there again were the British +colours flying above the red pennant, and all the shrouds and rigging +were garlanded with streamers. + +Had the ship been taken, then? But that was impossible, for there were +the pirates clustering in swarms along the port bulwarks, and waving +their hats joyously in the air. Most prominent of all was the renegade +mate, standing on the foc'sle head, and gesticulating wildly. Craddock +looked over the side to see what they were cheering at, and then in a +flash he saw how critical was the moment. + +On the port bow, and about a mile off, lay the white houses and forts of +Port Royal, with flags breaking out everywhere over their roofs. Right +ahead was the opening of the palisades leading to the town of Kingston. +Not more than a quarter of a mile off was a small sloop working out +against the very slight wind. The British ensign was at her peak, and +her rigging was all decorated. On her deck could be seen a dense crowd +of people cheering and waving their hats, and the gleam of scarlet told +that there were officers of the garrison among them. + +In an instant, with the quick perception of a man of action, Craddock +saw through it all. Sharkey, with that diabolical cunning and audacity +which were among his main characteristics, was simulating the part which +Craddock would himself have played, had he come back victorious. It was +in _his_ honour that the salutes were firing and the flags flying. It +was to welcome _him_ that this ship with the Governor, the commandant, +and the chiefs of the island was approaching. In another ten minutes +they would all be under the guns of the _Happy Delivery_, and Sharkey +would have won the greatest stake that ever a pirate played for yet. + +"Bring him forward," cried the pirate captain, as Craddock appeared +between the carpenter and the quartermaster. "Keep the ports closed, but +clear away the port guns, and stand by for a broadside. Another two +cable lengths and we have them." + +"They are edging away," said the boatswain. "I think they smell us." + +"That's soon set right," said Sharkey, turning his filmy eyes upon +Craddock. "Stand there, you--right there, where they can recognise you, +with your hand on the guy, and wave your hat to them. Quick, or your +brains will be over your coat. Put an inch of your knife into him, Ned. +Now, will you wave your hat? Try him again, then. Hey, shoot him! stop +him!" + +But it was too late. Relying upon the manacles, the quartermaster had +taken his hands for a moment off Craddock's arm. In that instant he had +flung off the carpenter and, amid a spatter of pistol bullets, had +sprung the bulwarks and was swimming for his life. He had been hit and +hit again, but it takes many pistols to kill a resolute and powerful man +who has his mind set upon doing something before he dies. He was a +strong swimmer, and, in spite of the red trail which he left in the +water behind him, he was rapidly increasing his distance from the +pirate. + +"Give me a musket!" cried Sharkey, with a savage oath. + +He was a famous shot, and his iron nerves never failed him in an +emergency. The dark head appearing on the crest of a roller, and then +swooping down on the other side, was already half-way to the sloop. +Sharkey dwelt long upon his aim before he fired. With the crack of the +gun the swimmer reared himself up in the water, waved his hands in a +gesture of warning, and roared out in a voice which rang over the bay. +Then, as the sloop swung round her head-sails, and the pirate fired an +impotent broadside, Stephen Craddock, smiling grimly in his death agony, +sank slowly down to that golden couch which glimmered far beneath him. + + + + +III + +THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY + + +Sharkey, the abominable Sharkey, was out again. After two years of the +Coromandel coast, his black barque of death, the _Happy Delivery_, was +prowling off the Spanish Main, while trader and fisher flew for dear +life at the menace of that patched fore-topsail, rising slowly over the +violet rim of the tropical sea. + +As the birds cower when the shadow of the hawk falls athwart the field, +or as the jungle folk crouch and shiver when the coughing cry of the +tiger is heard in the night-time, so through all the busy world of +ships, from the whalers of Nantucket to the tobacco ships of Charleston, +and from the Spanish supply ships of Cadiz to the sugar merchants of the +Main, there spread the rumour of the black curse of the ocean. + +Some hugged the shore, ready to make for the nearest port, while others +struck far out beyond the known lines of commerce, but none were so +stout-hearted that they did not breathe more freely when their +passengers and cargoes were safe under the guns of some mothering fort. + +Through all the islands there ran tales of charred derelicts at sea, of +sudden glares seen afar in the night-time, and of withered bodies +stretched upon the sand of waterless Bahama Keys. All the old signs were +there to show that Sharkey was at his bloody game once more. + +These fair waters and yellow-rimmed palm-nodding islands are the +traditional home of the sea rover. First it was the gentleman +adventurer, the man of family and honour, who fought as a patriot, +though he was ready to take his payment in Spanish plunder. + +Then, within a century, his debonair figure had passed to make room for +the buccaneers, robbers pure and simple, yet with some organised code of +their own, commanded by notable chieftains, and taking in hand great +concerted enterprises. + +They, too, passed with their fleets and their sacking of cities, to make +room for the worst of all, the lonely, outcast pirate, the bloody +Ishmael of the seas, at war with the whole human race. This was the vile +brood which the early eighteenth century had spawned forth, and of them +all there was none who could compare in audacity, wickedness, and evil +repute with the unutterable Sharkey. + +It was early in May, in the year 1720, that the _Happy Delivery_ lay +with her fore-yard aback some five leagues west of the Windward Passage, +waiting to see what rich, helpless craft the trade-wind might bring down +to her. + +Three days she had lain there, a sinister black speck, in the centre of +the great sapphire circle of the ocean. Far to the south-east the low +blue hills of Hispaniola showed up on the skyline. + +Hour by hour as he waited without avail, Sharkey's savage temper had +risen, for his arrogant spirit chafed against any contradiction, even +from Fate itself. To his quartermaster, Ned Galloway, he had said that +night, with his odious neighing laugh, that the crew of the next +captured vessel should answer to him for having kept him waiting so +long. + +The cabin of the pirate barque was a good-sized room, hung with much +tarnished finery, and presenting a strange medley of luxury and +disorder. The panelling of carved and polished sandal-wood was blotched +with foul smudges and chipped with bullet-marks fired in some drunken +revelry. + +Rich velvets and laces were heaped upon the brocaded settees, while +metal-work and pictures of great price filled every niche and corner, +for anything which caught the pirate's fancy in the sack of a hundred +vessels was thrown haphazard into his chamber. A rich, soft carpet +covered the floor, but it was mottled with wine-stains and charred with +burned tobacco. + +Above, a great brass hanging-lamp threw a brilliant yellow light upon +this singular apartment, and upon the two men who sat in their +shirt-sleeves with the wine between them, and the cards in their hands, +deep in a game of piquet. Both were smoking long pipes, and the thin +blue reek filled the cabin and floated through the skylight above them, +which, half opened, disclosed a slip of deep violet sky spangled with +great silver stars. + +Ned Galloway, the quartermaster, was a huge New England wastrel, the one +rotten branch upon a goodly Puritan family tree. His robust limbs and +giant frame were the heritage of a long line of God-fearing ancestors, +while his black savage heart was all his own. Bearded to the temples, +with fierce blue eyes, a tangled lion's mane of coarse, dark hair, and +huge gold rings in his ears, he was the idol of the women in every +waterside hell from the Tortugas to Maracaibo on the Main. A red cap, a +blue silken shirt, brown velvet breeches with gaudy knee-ribbons, and +high sea-boots made up the costume of the rover Hercules. + +A very different figure was Captain John Sharkey. His thin, drawn, +clean-shaven face was corpse-like in its pallor, and all the suns of the +Indies could but turn it to a more deathly parchment tint. He was part +bald, with a few lank locks of tow-like hair, and a steep, narrow +forehead. His thin nose jutted sharply forth, and near-set on either +side of it were those filmy blue eyes, red-rimmed like those of a white +bull-terrier, from which strong men winced away in fear and loathing. +His bony hands, with long, thin fingers which quivered ceaselessly like +the antennae of an insect, were toying constantly with the cards and the +heap of gold moidores which lay before him. His dress was of some sober +drab material, but, indeed, the men who looked upon that fearsome face +had little thought for the costume of its owner. + +The game was brought to a sudden interruption, for the cabin door was +swung rudely open, and two rough fellows--Israel Martin, the boatswain, +and Red Foley, the gunner--rushed into the cabin. In an instant Sharkey +was on his feet with a pistol in either hand and murder in his eyes. + +"Sink you for villains!" he cried. "I see well that if I do not shoot +one of you from time to time you will forget the man I am. What mean you +by entering my cabin as though it were a Wapping alehouse?" + +"Nay, Captain Sharkey," said Martin, with a sullen frown upon his +brick-red face, "it is even such talk as this which has set us by the +ears. We have had enough of it." + +"And more than enough," said Red Foley, the gunner. "There be no mates +aboard a pirate craft, and so the boatswain, the gunner, and the +quartermaster are the officers." + +"Did I gainsay it?" asked Sharkey with an oath. + +"You have miscalled us and mishandled us before the men, and we scarce +know at this moment why we should risk our lives in fighting for the +cabin and against the foc'sle." + +Sharkey saw that something serious was in the wind. He laid down his +pistols and leaned back in his chair with a flash of his yellow fangs. + +"Nay, this is sad talk," said he, "that two stout fellows who have +emptied many a bottle and cut many a throat with me, should now fall out +over nothing. I know you to be roaring boys who would go with me against +the devil himself if I bid you. Let the steward bring cups and drown all +unkindness between us." + +"It is no time for drinking, Captain Sharkey," said Martin. "The men are +holding council round the mainmast, and may be aft at any minute. They +mean mischief, Captain Sharkey, and we have come to warn you." + +Sharkey sprang for the brass-handled sword which hung from the wall. + +"Sink them for rascals!" he cried. "When I have gutted one or two of +them they may hear reason." + +But the others barred his frantic way to the door. + +"There are forty of them under the lead of Sweetlocks, the master," said +Martin, "and on the open deck they would surely cut you to pieces. Here +within the cabin it may be that we can hold them off at the points of +our pistols." He had hardly spoken when there came the tread of many +heavy feet upon the deck. Then there was a pause with no sound but the +gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the pirate vessel. +Finally, a crashing blow as from a pistol-butt fell upon the door, and +an instant afterwards Sweetlocks himself, a tall, dark man, with a deep +red birth-mark blazing upon his cheek, strode into the cabin. His +swaggering air sank somewhat as he looked into those pale and filmy +eyes. + +"Captain Sharkey," said he, "I come as spokesman of the crew." + +"So I have heard, Sweetlocks," said the captain, softly. "I may live to +rip you the length of your vest for this night's work." + +"That is as it may be, Captain Sharkey," the master answered, "but if +you will look up you will see that I have those at my back who will not +see me mishandled." + +"Cursed if we do!" growled a deep voice from above, and glancing upwards +the officers in the cabin were aware of a line of fierce, bearded, +sun-blackened faces looking down at them through the open skylight. + +"Well, what would you have?" asked Sharkey. "Put it in words, man, and +let us have an end of it." + +"The men think," said Sweetlocks, "that you are the devil himself, and +that there will be no luck for them whilst they sail the sea in such +company. Time was when we did our two or three craft a day, and every +man had women and dollars to his liking, but now for a long week we have +not raised a sail, and save for three beggarly sloops, have taken never +a vessel since we passed the Bahama Bank. Also, they know that you +killed Jack Bartholomew, the carpenter, by beating his head in with a +bucket, so that each of us goes in fear of his life. Also, the rum has +given out, and we are hard put to it for liquor. Also, you sit in your +cabin whilst it is in the articles that you should drink and roar with +the crew. For all these reasons it has been this day in general meeting +decreed----" + +Sharkey had stealthily cocked a pistol under the table, so it may have +been as well for the mutinous master that he never reached the end of +his discourse, for even as he came to it there was a swift patter of +feet upon the deck, and a ship lad, wild with his tidings, rushed into +the room. + +"A craft!" he yelled. "A great craft, and close aboard us!" + +In a flash the quarrel was forgotten, and the pirates were rushing to +quarters. Sure enough, surging slowly down before the gentle trade-wind, +a great full-rigged ship, with all sail set, was close beside them. + +It was clear that she had come from afar and knew nothing of the ways of +the Caribbean Sea, for she made no effort to avoid the low, dark craft +which lay so close upon her bow, but blundered on as if her mere size +would avail her. + +So daring was she, that for an instant the Rovers, as they flew to loose +the tackles of their guns, and hoisted their battle-lanterns, believed +that a man-of-war had caught them napping. + +But at the sight of her bulging, portless sides and merchant rig a shout +of exultation broke from amongst them, and in an instant they had swung +round their fore-yard, and darting alongside they had grappled with her +and flung a spray of shrieking, cursing ruffians upon her deck. + +Half a dozen seamen of the night-watch were cut down where they stood, +the mate was felled by Sharkey and tossed overboard by Ned Galloway, and +before the sleepers had time to sit up in their berths, the vessel was +in the hands of the pirates. + +The prize proved to be the full-rigged ship _Portobello_--Captain Hardy, +master--bound from London to Kingston in Jamaica, with a cargo of cotton +goods and hoop-iron. + +Having secured their prisoners, all huddled together in a dazed, +distracted group, the pirates spread over the vessel in search of +plunder, handing all that was found to the giant quartermaster, who in +turn passed it over the side of the _Happy Delivery_ and laid it under +guard at the foot of her mainmast. + +The cargo was useless, but there were a thousand guineas in the ship's +strong-box, and there were some eight or ten passengers, three of them +wealthy Jamaica merchants, all bringing home well-filled boxes from +their London visit. + +When all the plunder was gathered, the passengers and crew were dragged +to the waist, and under the cold smile of Sharkey each in turn was +thrown over the side--Sweetlocks standing by the rail and hamstringing +them with his cutlass as they passed over, lest some strong swimmer +should rise in judgment against them. A portly, grey-haired woman, the +wife of one of the planters, was among the captives, but she also was +thrust screaming and clutching over the side. + +"Mercy, you hussy!" neighed Sharkey, "you are surely a good twenty +years too old for that." + +The captain of the _Portobello_, a hale, blue-eyed grey-beard, was the +last upon the deck. He stood, a thick-set resolute figure, in the glare +of the lanterns, while Sharkey bowed and smirked before him. + +"One skipper should show courtesy to another," said he, "and sink me if +Captain Sharkey would be behind in good manners! I have held you to the +last, as you see, where a brave man should be; so now, my bully, you +have seen the end of them, and may step over with an easy mind." + +"So I shall, Captain Sharkey," said the old seaman, "for I have done my +duty so far as my power lay. But before I go over I would say a word in +your ear." + +"If it be to soften me, you may save your breath. You have kept us +waiting here for three days, and curse me if one of you shall live!" + +"Nay, it is to tell you what you should know. You have not yet found +what is the true treasure aboard of this ship." + +"Not found it? Sink me, but I will slice your liver, Captain Hardy, if +you do not make good your words! Where is this treasure you speak of?" + +"It is not a treasure of gold, but it is a fair maid, which may be no +less welcome." + +"Where is she, then? And why was she not with the others?" + +"I will tell you why she was not with the others. She is the only +daughter of the Count and Countess Ramirez, who are amongst those whom +you have murdered. Her name is Inez Ramirez, and she is of the best +blood of Spain, her father being Governor of Chagre, to which he was now +bound. It chanced that she was found to have formed an attachment, as +maids will, to one far beneath her in rank aboard this ship; so her +parents, being people of great power, whose word is not to be gainsaid, +constrained me to confine her close in a special cabin aft of my own. +Here she was held straitly, all food being carried to her, and she +allowed to see no one. This I tell you as a last gift, though why I +should make it to you I do not know, for indeed you are a most bloody +rascal, and it comforts me in dying to think that you will surely be +gallow's-meat in this world, and hell's-meat in the next." + +At the words he ran to the rail, and vaulted over into the darkness, +praying as he sank into the depths of the sea, that the betrayal of this +maid might not be counted too heavily against his soul. + +The body of Captain Hardy had not yet settled upon the sand forty +fathoms deep before the pirates had rushed along the cabin gangway. +There, sure enough, at the further end, was a barred door, overlooked in +their previous search. There was no key, but they beat it in with their +gunstocks, whilst shriek after shriek came from within. In the light of +their outstretched, lanterns they saw a young woman, in the very prime +and fullness of her youth, crouching in a corner, her unkempt hair +hanging to the ground, her dark eyes glaring with fear, her lovely form +straining away in horror from this inrush of savage blood-stained men. +Rough hands seized her, she was jerked to her feet, and dragged with +scream on scream to where John Sharkey awaited her. He held the light +long and fondly to her face, then, laughing loudly, he bent forward and +left his red hand-print upon her cheek. + +"'Tis the rovers' brand, lass, that he marks his ewes. Take her to the +cabin and use her well. Now, hearties, get her under water, and out to +our luck once more." + +Within an hour the good ship _Portobello_ had settled down to her doom, +till she lay beside her murdered passengers upon the Caribbean sand, +while the pirate barque, her deck littered with plunder, was heading +northward in search of another victim. + +There was a carouse that night in the cabin of the _Happy Delivery_, at +which three men drank deep. They were the captain, the quartermaster, +and Baldy Stable, the surgeon, a man who had held the first practice in +Charleston, until, misusing a patient, he fled from justice, and took +his skill over to the pirates. A bloated fat man he was, with a creased +neck and a great shining scalp, which gave him his name. Sharkey had put +for the moment all thought of mutiny out of his head, knowing that no +animal is fierce when it is over-fed, and that whilst the plunder of the +great ship was new to them he need fear no trouble from his crew. He +gave himself up, therefore, to the wine and the riot, shouting and +roaring with his boon companions. All three were flushed and mad, ripe +for any devilment, when the thought of the woman crossed the pirate's +evil mind. He yelled to the negro steward that he should bring her on +the instant. + +Inez Ramirez had now realised it all--the death of her father and +mother, and her own position in the hands of their murderers. Yet +calmness had come with the knowledge, and there was no sign of terror in +her proud, dark face as she was led into the cabin, but rather a +strange, firm set of the mouth and an exultant gleam of the eyes, like +one who sees great hopes in the future. She smiled at the pirate captain +as he rose and seized her by the waist. + +"'Fore God! this is a lass of spirit," cried Sharkey; passing his arm +round her. "She was born to be a Rover's bride. Come, my bird, and drink +to our better friendship." + +"Article Six!" hiccoughed the doctor. "All _bona robas_ in common." + +"Aye! we hold you to that, Captain Sharkey," said Galloway. "It is so +writ in Article Six." + +"I will cut the man into ounces who comes betwixt us!" cried Sharkey, as +he turned his fish-like eyes from one to the other. "Nay, lass, the man +is not born that will take you from John Sharkey. Sit here upon my knee, +and place your arm round me so. Sink me, if she has not learned to love +me at sight! Tell me, my pretty, why you were so mishandled and laid in +the bilboes aboard yonder craft?" + +The woman shook her head and smiled. "No Inglese--no Inglese," she +lisped. She had drunk off the bumper of wine which Sharkey held to her, +and her dark eyes gleamed more brightly than before. Sitting on +Sharkey's knee, her arm encircled his neck, and her hand toyed with his +hair, his ear, his cheek. Even the strange quartermaster and the +hardened surgeon felt a horror as they watched her, but Sharkey laughed +in his joy. "Curse me, if she is not a lass of metal!" he cried, as he +pressed her to him and kissed her unresisting lips. + +But a strange intent look of interest had come into the surgeon's eyes +as he watched her, and his face set rigidly, as if a fearsome thought +had entered his mind. There stole a grey pallor over his bull face, +mottling all the red of the tropics and the flush of the wine. + +"Look at her hand, Captain Sharkey!" he cried. "For the Lord's sake, +look at her hand!" + +Sharkey stared down at the hand which had fondled him. It was of a +strange dead pallor, with a yellow shiny web betwixt the fingers. All +over it was a white fluffy dust, like the flour of a new-baked loaf. It +lay thick on Sharkey's neck and cheek. With a cry he flung the woman +from his lap; but in an instant, with a wild-cat bound, and a scream of +triumphant malice, she had sprung at the surgeon, who vanished yelling +under the table. One of her clawing hands grasped Galloway by the beard, +but he tore himself away, and snatching a pike, held her off from him as +she gibbered and mowed with the blazing eyes of a maniac. + +The black steward had run in on the sudden turmoil, and among them they +forced the mad creature back into the cabin and turned the key upon her. +Then the three sank panting into their chairs and looked with eyes of +horror upon each other. The same word was in the mind of each, but +Galloway was the first to speak it. + +"A leper!" he cried. "She has us all, curse her!" + +"Not me," said the surgeon; "she never laid her finger on me." + +"For that matter," cried Galloway, "it was but my beard that she +touched. I will have every hair of it off before morning." + +"Dolts that we are!" the surgeon shouted, beating his head with-his +hand. "Tainted or no, we shall never know a moment's peace till the year +is up and the time of danger past. 'Fore God, that merchant skipper has +left his mark on us, and pretty fools we were to think that such a maid +would be quarantined for the cause he gave. It is easy to see now that +her corruption broke forth in the journey, and that save throwing her +over they had no choice but to board her up until they should come to +some port with a lazarette." + +Sharkey had sat leaning back in his chair with a ghastly face while he +listened to the surgeon's words. He mopped himself with his red +handkerchief, and wiped away the fatal dust with which he was smeared. + +"What of me?" he croaked. "What say you, Baldy Stable? Is there a chance +for me? Curse you for a villain! speak out, or I will drub you within an +inch of your life, and that inch also! Is there a chance for me, I say!" + +But the surgeon shook his head. "Captain Sharkey," said he, "it would be +an ill deed to speak you false. The taint is on you. No man on whom the +leper scales have rested is ever clean again." + +Sharkey's head fell forward on his chest, and he sat motionless, +stricken by this great and sudden horror, looking with his smouldering +eyes into his fearsome future. Softly the mate and the surgeon rose from +their places, and stealing out from the poisoned air of the cabin, came +forth into the freshness of the early dawn, with the soft, scent-laden +breeze in their faces and the first red feathers of cloud catching the +earliest gleam of the rising sun as it shot its golden rays over the +palm-clad ridges of distant Hispaniola. + +That morning a second council of the Rovers was held at the base of the +mainmast, and a deputation chosen to see the captain. They were +approaching the after-cabins when Sharkey came forth, the old devil in +his eyes, and his bandolier with a pair of pistols over his shoulder. + +"Sink you all for villains!" he cried. "Would you dare cross my hawse? +Stand out, Sweetlocks, and I will lay you open! Here, Galloway, Martin, +Foley, stand by me and lash the dogs to their kennel!" + +But his officers had deserted him, and there was none to come to his +aid. There was a rush of the pirates. One was shot through the body, but +an instant afterwards Sharkey had been seized and was triced to his own +mainmast. His filmy eyes looked round from face to face, and there was +none who felt the happier for having met them. + +"Captain Sharkey," said Sweetlocks, "you have mishandled many of us, and +you have now pistolled John Masters, besides killing Bartholomew, the +carpenter, by braining him with a bucket. All this might have been +forgiven you, in that you have been our leader for years, and that we +have signed articles to serve under you while the voyage lasts. But now +we have heard of this _bona roba_ on board, and we know that you are +poisoned to the marrow, and that while you rot there will be no safety +for any of us, but that we shall all be turned into filth and +corruption. Therefore, John Sharkey, we Rovers of the _Happy Delivery_, +in council assembled, have decreed that while there be yet time, before +the plague spreads, you shall be set adrift in a boat to find such a +fate as Fortune may be pleased to send you." + +John Sharkey said nothing, but slowly circling his head, he cursed them +all with his baleful gaze. The ship's dinghy had been lowered, and he, +with his hands still tied, was dropped into it on the bight of a rope. + +"Cast her off!" cried Sweetlocks. + +"Nay, hold hard a moment, Master Sweetlocks!" shouted one of the crew. +"What of the wench? Is she to bide aboard and poison us all?" + +"Send her off with her mate!" cried another, and the Rovers roared their +approval. Driven forth at the end of pikes, the girl was pushed towards +the boat. With all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body she flashed +triumphant glances on her captors. + +"Perros! Perros Ingleses! Lepero, Lepero!" she cried in exultation, as +they thrust her over into the boat. + +"Good luck, captain! God speed you on your honeymoon!" cried a chorus of +mocking voices, as the painter was unloosed, and the _Happy Delivery_, +running full before the trade-wind, left the little boat astern, a tiny +dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely sea. + + * * * * * + +Extract from the log of H.M. fifty-gun ship _Hecate_ in her cruise off +the American Main. + + "_Jan. 26, 1721._--This day, the junk having become unfit for + food, and five of the crew down with scurvy, I ordered that we + send two boats ashore at the nor'-western point of Hispaniola, + to seek for fresh fruit, and perchance shoot some of the wild + oxen with which the island abounds. + + "_7 p.m._--The boats have returned with good store of green + stuff and two bullocks. Mr. Woodruff, the master, reports that + near the landing-place at the edge of the forest was found the + skeleton of a woman, clad in European dress, of such sort as to + show that she may have been a person of quality. Her head had + been crushed by a great stone which lay beside her. Hard by was + a grass hut, and signs that a man had dwelt therein for some + time, as was shown by charred wood, bones and other traces. + There is a rumour upon the coast that Sharkey, the bloody + pirate, was marooned in these parts last year, but whether he + has made his way into the interior, or whether he has been + picked up by some craft, there is no means of knowing. If he be + once again afloat, then I pray that God send him under our + guns." + + + + +IV + +HOW COPLEY BANKS SLEW CAPTAIN SHARKEY + + +The Buccaneers were something higher than a mere band of marauders. They +were a floating republic, with laws, usages, and discipline of their +own. In their endless and remorseless quarrel with the Spaniards they +had some semblance of right upon their side. Their bloody harryings of +the cities of the Main were not more barbarous than the inroads of Spain +upon the Netherlands--or upon the Caribs in these same American lands. + +The chief of the Buccaneers, were he English or French, a Morgan or a +Granmont, was still a responsible person, whose country might +countenance him, or even praise him, so long as he refrained from any +deed which might shock the leathery seventeenth-century conscience too +outrageously. Some of them were touched with religion, and it is still +remembered how Sawkins threw the dice overboard upon the Sabbath, and +Daniel pistolled a man before the altar for irreverence. + +But there came a day when the fleets of the Buccaneers no longer +mustered at the Tortugas, and the solitary and outlawed pirate took +their place. Yet even with him the tradition of restraint and of +discipline still lingered; and among the early pirates, the Avorys, the +Englands, and the Robertses, there remained some respect for human +sentiment. They were more dangerous to the merchant than to the seaman. + +But they in turn were replaced by more savage and desperate men, who +frankly recognised that they would get no quarter in their war with the +human race, and who swore that they would give as little as they got. Of +their histories we know little that is trustworthy. They wrote no +memoirs and left no trace, save an occasional blackened and +blood-stained derelict adrift upon the face of the Atlantic. Their deeds +could only be surmised from the long roll of ships which never made +their port. + +Searching the records of history, it is only here and there in an +old-world trial that the veil that shrouds them seems for an instant to +be lifted, and we catch a glimpse of some amazing and grotesque +brutality behind. Such was the breed of Ned Low, of Gow the Scotchman, +and of the infamous Sharkey, whose coal-black barque, the _Happy +Delivery_, was known from the Newfoundland Banks to the mouths of the +Orinoco as the dark forerunner of misery and of death. + +There were many men, both among the islands and on the main, who had a +blood feud with Sharkey, but not one who had suffered more bitterly than +Copley Banks, of Kingston. Banks had been one of the leading sugar +merchants of the West Indies. He was a man of position, a member of the +Council, the husband of a Percival, and the cousin of the Governor of +Virginia. His two sons had been sent to London to be educated, and their +mother had gone over to bring them back. On their return voyage the +ship, the _Duchess of Cornwall_, fell into the hands of Sharkey, and the +whole family met with an infamous death. + +Copley Banks said little when he heard the news, but he sank into a +morose and enduring melancholy. He neglected his business, avoided his +friends, and spent much of his time in the low taverns of the fishermen +and seamen. There, amidst riot and devilry, he sat silently puffing at +his pipe, with a set face and a smouldering eye. It was generally +supposed that his misfortunes had shaken his wits, and his old friends +looked at him askance, for the company which he kept was enough to bar +him from honest men. + +From time to time there came rumours of Sharkey over the sea. Sometimes +it was from some schooner which had seen a great flame upon the horizon, +and approaching to offer help to the burning ship, had fled away at the +sight of the sleek, black barque, lurking like a wolf near a mangled +sheep. Sometimes it was a frightened trader, which had come tearing in +with her canvas curved like a lady's bodice, because she had seen a +patched fore-topsail rising slowly above the violet water-line. +Sometimes it was from a Coaster, which had found a waterless Bahama Cay +littered with sun-dried bodies. + +Once there came a man who had been mate of a Guineaman, and who had +escaped from the pirate's hands. He could not speak--for reasons which +Sharkey could best supply--but he could write, and he did write, to the +very great interest of Copley Banks. For hours they sat together over +the map, and the dumb man pointed here and there to outlying reefs and +tortuous inlets, while his companion sat smoking in silence, with his +unvarying face and his fiery eyes. + +One morning, some two years after his misfortune, Mr. Copley Banks +strode into his own office with his old air of energy and alertness. The +manager stared at him in surprise, for it was months since he had shown +any interest in business. + +"Good morning, Mr. Banks!" said he. + +"Good morning, Freeman. I see that _Ruffling Harry_ is in the Bay." + +"Yes, sir; she clears for the Windward Islands on Wednesday." + +"I have other plans for her, Freeman. I have determined upon a slaving +venture to Whydah." + +"But her cargo is ready, sir." + +"Then it must come out again, Freeman. My mind is made up, and the +_Ruffling Harry_ must go slaving to Whydah." + +All argument and persuasion were vain, so the manager had dolefully to +clear the ship once more. + +And then Copley Banks began to make preparations for his African voyage. +It appeared that he relied upon force rather than barter for the filling +of his hold, for he carried none of those showy trinkets which savages +love, but the brig was fitted with eight nine-pounder guns and racks +full of muskets and cutlasses. The after sail-room next the cabin was +transformed into a powder magazine, and she carried as many round shot +as a well-found privateer. Water and provisions were shipped for a long +voyage. + +But the preparation of his ship's company was most surprising. It made +Freeman, the manager, realise that there was truth in the rumour that +his master had taken leave of his senses. For, under one pretext or +another, he began to dismiss the old and tried hands, who had served the +firm for years, and in their place he embarked the scum of the port--men +whose reputations were so vile that the lowest crimp would have been +ashamed to furnish them. + +There was Birthmark Sweetlocks, who was known to have been present at +the killing of the log-wood cutters, so that his hideous scarlet +disfigurement was put down by the fanciful as being a red afterglow from +that great crime. He was first mate, and under him was Israel Martin, a +little sun-wilted fellow who had served with Howell Davies at the taking +of Cape Coast Castle. + +The crew were chosen from amongst those whom Banks had met and known in +their own infamous haunts, and his own table-steward was a haggard-faced +man, who gobbled at you when he tried to talk. His beard had been +shaved, and it was impossible to recognise him as the same man whom +Sharkey had placed under the knife, and who had escaped to tell his +experiences to Copley Banks. + +These doings were not unnoticed, nor yet uncommented upon in the town of +Kingston. The Commandant of the troops--Major Harvey, of the +Artillery--made serious representations to the Governor. + +"She is not a trader, but a small warship," said he. "I think it would +be as well to arrest Copley Banks and to seize the vessel." + +"What do you suspect?" asked the Governor, who was a slow-witted man, +broken down with fevers and port wine. + +"I suspect," said the soldier, "that it is Stede Bonnet over again." + +Now, Stede Bonnet was a planter of high reputation and religious +character, who, from some sudden and overpowering freshet of wildness in +his blood, had given up everything in order to start off pirating in the +Caribbean Sea. The example was a recent one, and it had caused the +utmost consternation in the islands. Governors had before now been +accused of being in league with pirates, and of receiving commissions +upon their plunder, so that any want of vigilance was open to a sinister +construction. + +"Well, Major Harvey," said he, "I am vastly sorry to do anything which +may offend my friend Copley Banks, for many a time have my knees been +under his mahogany, but in face of what you say there is no choice for +me but to order you to board the vessel and to satisfy yourself as to +her character and destination." + +So at one in the morning Major Harvey, with a launchful of his soldiers, +paid a surprise visit to the _Ruffling Harry_, with the result that they +picked up nothing more solid than a hempen cable floating at the +moorings. It had been slipped by the brig, whose owner had scented +danger. She had already passed the Palisades, and was beating out +against the north-east trades on a course for the Windward Passage. + +When upon the next morning the brig had left Morant Point a mere haze +upon the Southern horizon, the men were called aft, and Copley Banks +revealed his plans to them. He had chosen them, he said, as brisk boys +and lads of spirit, who would rather run some risk upon the sea than +starve for a living upon the shore. King's ships were few and weak, and +they could master any trader who might come their way. Others had done +well at the business, and with a handy, well-found vessel, there was no +reason why they should not turn their tarry jackets into velvet coats. +If they were prepared to sail under the black flag, he was ready to +command them; but if any wished to withdraw, they might have the gig and +row back to Jamaica. + +Four men out of six-and-forty asked for their discharge, went over the +ship's side into the boat, and rowed away amidst the jeers and howlings +of the crew. The rest assembled aft, and drew up the articles of their +association. A square of black tarpaulin had the white skull painted +upon it, and was hoisted amidst cheering at the main. + +Officers were elected, and the limits of their authority fixed. Copley +Banks was chosen Captain, but, as there are no mates upon a pirate +craft, Birthmark Sweetlocks became quartermaster, and Israel Martin the +boatswain. There was no difficulty in knowing what was the custom of the +brotherhood, for half the men at least had served upon pirates before. +Food should be the same for all, and no man should interfere with +another man's drink! The Captain should have a cabin, but all hands +should be welcome to enter it when they chose. + +All should share and share alike, save only the captain, quartermaster, +boatswain, carpenter, and master-gunner, who had from a quarter to a +whole share extra. He who saw a prize first should have the best weapon +taken out of her. He who boarded her first should have the richest suit +of clothes aboard of her. Every man might treat his own prisoner, be it +man or woman, after his own fashion. If a man flinched from his gun, the +quartermaster should pistol him. These were some of the rules which the +crew of the _Ruffling Harry_ subscribed by putting forty-two crosses at +the foot of the paper upon which they had been drawn. + +So a new rover was afloat upon the seas, and her name before a year was +over became as well known as that of the _Happy Delivery_. From the +Bahamas to the Leewards, and from the Leewards to the Windwards, Copley +Banks became the rival of Sharkey and the terror of traders. For a long +time the barque and the brig never met, which was the more singular, as +the _Ruffling Harry_ was for ever looking in at Sharkey's resorts; but +at last one day, when she was passing down the inlet of Coxon's Hole, at +the east end of Cuba, with the intention of careening, there was the +_Happy Delivery_, with her blocks and tackle-falls already rigged for +the same purpose. + +Copley Banks fired a shotted salute and hoisted the green trumpeter +ensign, as the custom was among gentlemen of the sea. Then he dropped +his boat and went aboard. + +Captain Sharkey was not a man of a genial mood, nor had he any kindly +sympathy for those who were of the same trade as himself. Copley Banks +found him seated astride upon one of the after guns, with his New +England quartermaster, Ned Galloway, and a crowd of roaring ruffians +standing about him. Yet none of them roared with quite such assurance +when Sharkey's pale face and filmy blue eyes were turned upon him. + +He was in his shirt-sleeves, with his cambric frills breaking through +his open red satin long-flapped vest. The scorching sun seemed to have +no power upon his fleshless frame, for he wore a low fur cap, as though +it had been winter. A many-coloured band of silk passed across his body +and supported a short murderous sword, while his broad, brass-buckled +belt was stuffed with pistols. + +"Sink you for a poacher!" he cried, as Copley Banks passed over the +bulwarks. "I will drub you within an inch of your life, and that inch +also! What mean you by fishing in my waters?" + +Copley Banks looked at him, and his eyes were like those of a traveller +who sees his home at last. + +"I am glad that we are of one mind," said he, "for I am myself of +opinion that the seas are not large enough for the two of us. But if you +will take your sword and pistols and come upon a sand-bank with me, then +the world will be rid of a damned villain whichever way it goes." + +"Now, this is talking!" cried Sharkey, jumping off the gun and holding +out his hand. "I have not met many who could look John Sharkey in the +eyes and speak with a full breath. May the devil seize me if I do not +choose you as a consort! But if you play me false, then I will come +aboard of you and gut you upon your own poop." + +"And I pledge you the same!" said Copley Banks, and so the two pirates +became sworn comrades to each other. + +That summer they went north as far as the Newfoundland Banks, and +harried the New York traders and the whale-ships from New England. It +was Copley Banks who captured the Liverpool ship, _House of Hanover_, +but it was Sharkey who fastened her master to the windlass and pelted +him to death with empty claret-bottles. + +Together they engaged the King's ship _Royal Fortune_, which had been +sent in search of them, and beat her off after a night action of five +hours, the drunken, raving crews fighting naked in the light of the +battle-lanterns, with a bucket of rum and a pannikin laid by the tackles +of every gun. They ran to Topsail Inlet in North Carolina to refit, and +then in the spring they were at the Grand Caicos, ready for a long +cruise down the West Indies. + +By this time Sharkey and Copley Banks had become very excellent friends, +for Sharkey loved a wholehearted villain, and he loved a man of metal, +and it seemed to him that the two met in the captain of the _Ruffling +Harry_. It was long before he gave his confidence to him, for cold +suspicion lay deep in his character. Never once would he trust himself +outside his own ship and away from his own men. + +But Copley Banks came often on board the _Happy Delivery_, and joined +Sharkey in many of his morose debauches, so that at last any lingering +misgivings of the latter were set at rest. He knew nothing of the evil +that he had done to his new boon companion, for of his many victims how +could he remember the woman and the two boys whom he had slain with such +levity so long ago! When, therefore, he received a challenge to himself +and to his quartermaster for a carouse upon the last evening of their +stay at the Caicos Bank, he saw no reason to refuse. + +A well-found passenger ship had been rifled the week before, so their +fare was of the best, and after supper five of them drank deeply +together. There were the two captains, Birthmark Sweetlocks, Ned +Galloway, and Israel Martin, the old buccaneersman. To wait upon them +was the dumb steward, whose head Sharkey split with his glass, because +he had been too slow in the filling of it. + +The quartermaster had slipped Sharkey's pistols away from him, for it +was an old joke with him to fire them cross-handed under the table, and +see who was the luckiest man. It was a pleasantry which had cost his +boatswain his leg, so now, when the table was cleared, they would coax +Sharkey's weapons away from him on the excuse of the heat, and lay them +out of his reach. + +The Captain's cabin of the _Ruffling Harry_ was in a deck-house upon the +poop, and a sternchaser gun was mounted at the back of it. Round shot +were racked round the wall, and three great hogsheads of powder made a +stand for dishes and for bottles. In this grim room the five pirates +sang and roared and drank, while the silent steward still filled up +their glasses, and passed the box and the candle round for their +tobacco-pipes. Hour after hour the talk became fouler, the voices +hoarser, the curses and shoutings more incoherent, until three of the +five had closed their blood-shot eyes, and dropped their swimming heads +upon the table. + +Copley Banks and Sharkey were left face to face, the one because he had +drunk the least, the other because no amount of liquor would ever shake +his iron nerve or warm his sluggish blood. Behind him stood the watchful +steward, for ever filling up his waning glass. From without came the low +lapping of the tide, and from over the water a sailor's chanty from the +barque. + +In the windless tropical night the words came clearly to their ears: + + "A trader sailed from Stepney Town, + Wake her up! Shake her up! Try her with the mainsail! + A trader sailed from Stepney Town + With a keg full of gold and a velvet gown. + Ho, the bully Rover Jack, + Waiting with his yard aback + Out upon the Lowland Sea." + +The two boon companions sat listening in silence. Then Copley Banks +glanced at the steward, and the man took a coil of rope from the +shot-rack behind him. + +"Captain Sharkey," said Copley Banks, "do you remember the _Duchess of +Cornwall_, hailing from London, which you took and sank three years ago +off the Statira Shoal?" + +"Curse me if I can bear their names in mind," said Sharkey. "We did as +many as ten ships a week about that time." + +"There were a mother and two sons among the passengers. Maybe that will +bring it back to your mind." + +Captain Sharkey leant back in thought, with his huge thin beak of a nose +jutting upwards. Then he burst suddenly into a high treble, neighing +laugh. He remembered it, he said, and he added details to prove it. + +"But burn me if it had not slipped from my mind!" he cried. "How came +you to think of it?" + +"It was of interest to me," said Copley Banks, "for the woman was my +wife and the lads were my only sons." + +Sharkey stared across at his companion, and saw that the smouldering +fire which lurked always in his eyes had burned up into a lurid flame. +He read their menace, and he clapped his hands to his empty belt. Then +he turned to seize a weapon, but the bight of a rope was cast round him, +and in an instant his arms were bound to his side. He fought like a wild +cat and screamed for help. + +"Ned!" he yelled. "Ned! Wake up! Here's damned villainy! Help, Ned, +help!" + +But the three men were far too deeply sunk in their swinish sleep for +any voice to wake them. Round and round went the rope, until Sharkey was +swathed like a mummy from ankle to neck. They propped him stiff and +helpless against a powder barrel, and they gagged him with a +handkerchief, but his filmy, red-rimmed eyes still looked curses at +them. The dumb man chattered in his exultation, and Sharkey winced for +the first time when he saw the empty mouth before him. He understood +that vengeance, slow and patient, had dogged him long, and clutched him +at last. + +The two captors had their plans all arranged, and they were somewhat +elaborate. + +First of all they stove the heads of two of the great powder barrels, +and they heaped the contents out upon the table and floor. They piled it +round and under the three drunken men, until each sprawled in a heap of +it. Then they carried Sharkey to the gun and they triced him sitting +over the port-hole, with his body about a foot from the muzzle. Wriggle +as he would he could not move an inch either to right or left, and the +dumb man trussed him up with a sailor's cunning, so that there was no +chance that he should work free. + +"Now, you bloody devil," said Copley Banks, softly, "you must listen to +what I have to say to you, for they are the last words that you will +hear. You are my man now, and I have bought you at a price, for I have +given all that a man can give here below, and I have given my soul as +well. + +"To reach you I have had to sink to your level. For two years I strove +against it, hoping that some other way might come, but I learnt that +there was no other way. I've robbed and I have murdered--worse still, I +have laughed and lived with you--and all for the one end. And now my +time has come, and you will die as I would have you die, seeing the +shadow creeping slowly upon you and the devil waiting for you in the +shadow." + +Sharkey could hear the hoarse voices of his rovers singing their chanty +over the water. + + "Where is the trader of Stepney Town? + Wake her up! Shake her up! Every stick a-bending! + Where is the trader of Stepney Town? + His gold's on the capstan, his blood's on his gown. + All for bully rover Jack, + Reaching on the weather tack + Right across the Lowland Sea." + +The words came clear to his ear, and just outside he could hear two men +pacing backwards and forwards upon the deck. And yet he was helpless, +staring down the mouth of the nine-pounder, unable to move an inch or to +utter so much as a groan. Again there came the burst of voices from the +deck of the barque. + + "So it's up and it's over to Stornoway Bay, + Pack it on! Crack it on! Try her with the stun-sails! + It's off on a bowline to Stornoway Bay, + Where the liquor is good and the lasses are gay, + Waiting for their bully Jack, + Watching for him sailing back, + Right across the Lowland Sea." + +To the dying pirate the jovial words and rollicking tune made his own +fate seem the harsher, but there was no softening in his venomous blue +eyes. Copley Banks had brushed away the priming of the gun, and had +sprinkled fresh powder over the touch-hole. Then he had taken up the +candle and cut it to the length of about an inch. This he placed upon +the loose powder at the breach of the gun. Then he scattered powder +thickly over the floor beneath, so that when the candle fell at the +recoil it must explode the huge pile in which the three drunkards were +wallowing. + +"You've made others look death in the face, Sharkey," said he; "now it +has come to be your own turn. You and these swine here shall go +together!" He lit the candle-end as he spoke, and blew out the other +lights upon the table. Then he passed out with the dumb man, and locked +the cabin door upon the outer side. But before he closed it he took an +exultant look backwards and received one last curse from those +unconquerable eyes. In the single dim circle of light that ivory-white +face, with the gleam of moisture upon the high, bald forehead, was the +last that was ever seen of Sharkey. + +There was a skiff alongside, and in it Copley Banks and the dumb steward +made their way to the beach, and looked back upon the brig riding in the +moonlight just outside the shadow of the palm trees. They waited and +waited, watching that dim light which shone through the stern port. And +then at last there came the dull thud of a gun, and an instant later the +shattering crash of the explosion. The long, sleek, black barque, the +sweep of white sand, and the fringe of nodding, feathery palm trees +sprang into dazzling light and back into darkness again. Voices screamed +and called upon the bay. + +Then Copley Banks, his heart singing within him touched his companion +upon the shoulder, and they plunged together into the lonely jungle of +the Caicos. + + + + +V + +THE "SLAPPING SAL" + + +It was in the days when France's power was already broken upon the seas, +and when more of her three-deckers lay rotting in the Medway than were +to be found in Brest harbour. But her frigates and corvettes still +scoured the ocean, closely followed ever by those of her rival. At the +uttermost ends of the earth these dainty vessels, with sweet names of +girls or of flowers, mangled and shattered each other for the honour of +the four yards of bunting which flapped from the end of their gaffs. + +It had blown hard in the night, but the wind had dropped with the +dawning, and now the rising sun tinted the fringe of the storm-wrack as +it dwindled into the west and glinted on the endless crests of the long, +green waves. To north and south and west lay a skyline which was +unbroken save by the spout of foam when two of the great Atlantic seas +dashed each other into spray. To the east was a rocky island, jutting +out into craggy points, with a few scattered clumps of palm trees and a +pennant of mist streaming out from the bare, conical hill which capped +it. A heavy surf beat upon the shore, and, at a safe distance from it, +the British 32-gun frigate _Leda_, Captain A. P. Johnson, raised her +black, glistening side upon the crest of a wave, or swooped down into an +emerald valley, dipping away to the nor'ard under easy sail. On her +snow-white quarter-deck stood a stiff little brown-faced man, who swept +the horizon with his glass. + +"Mr. Wharton!" he cried, with a voice like a rusty hinge. + +A thin, knock-kneed officer shambled across the poop to him. + +"Yes, sir." + +"I've opened the sealed orders, Mr. Wharton." + +A glimmer of curiosity shone upon the meagre features of the first +lieutenant. The _Leda_ had sailed with her consort, the _Dido_, from +Antigua the week before, and the admiral's orders had been contained in +a sealed envelope. + +"We were to open them on reaching the deserted island of Sombriero, +lying in north latitude eighteen, thirty-six, west longitude +sixty-three, twenty-eight. Sombriero bore four miles to the north-east +from our port-bow when the gale cleared, Mr. Wharton." + +The lieutenant bowed stiffly. He and the captain had been bosom friends +from childhood. They had gone to school together, joined the navy +together, fought again and again together, and married into each other's +families, but so long as their feet were on the poop the iron discipline +of the service struck all that was human out of them and left only the +superior and the subordinate. Captain Johnson took from his pocket a +blue paper, which crackled as he unfolded it. + + "The 32-gun frigates _Leda_ and _Dido_ (Captains A. P. Johnson + and James Munro) are to cruise from the point at which these + instructions are read to the mouth of the Caribbean sea, in the + hope of encountering the French frigate _La Gloire_ (48), which + has recently harassed our merchant ships in that quarter. H.M. + frigates are also directed to hunt down the piratical craft + known sometimes as the _Slapping Sal_ and sometimes as the + _Hairy Hudson_, which has plundered the British ships as per + margin, inflicting barbarities upon their crews. She is a small + brig, carrying ten light guns, with one twenty-four pound + carronade forward. She was last seen upon the 23rd. ult. to the + north-east of the island of Sombriero. + + "(Signed) JAMES MONTGOMERY + + "(_Rear-Admiral_). + + "H.M.S. _Colossus_, Antigua." + +"We appear to have lost our consort," said Captain Johnson, folding up +his instructions and again sweeping the horizon with his glass. "She +drew away after we reefed down. It would be a pity if we met this heavy +Frenchman without the _Dido_, Mr. Wharton. Eh?" + +The lieutenant twinkled and smiled. + +"She has eighteen-pounders on the main and twelves on the poop, sir," +said the captain. "She carries four hundred to our two hundred and +thirty-one. Captain de Milon is the smartest man in the French service. +Oh, Bobby boy, I'd give my hopes of my flag to rub my side up against +her!" He turned on his heel, ashamed of his momentary lapse. "Mr. +Wharton," said he, looking back sternly over his shoulder, "get those +square sails shaken out and bear away a point more to the west." + +"A brig on the port-bow," came a voice from the forecastle. + +"A brig on the port-bow," said the lieutenant. + +The captain sprang upon the bulwarks and held on by the mizzen-shrouds, +a strange little figure with flying skirts and puckered eyes. The lean +lieutenant craned his neck and whispered to Smeaton, the second, while +officers and men came popping up from below and clustered along the +weather-rail, shading their eyes with their hands--for the tropical sun +was already clear of the palm trees. The strange brig lay at anchor in +the throat of a curving estuary, and it was already obvious that she +could not get out without passing under the guns of the frigate. A long, +rocky point to the north of her held her in. + +"Keep her as she goes, Mr. Wharton," said the captain. "Hardly worth +while our clearing for action, Mr. Smeaton, but the men can stand by the +guns in case she tries to pass us. Cast loose the bow-chasers and send +the small-arm men to the forecastle." + +A British crew went to its quarters in those days with the quiet +serenity of men on their daily routine. In a few minutes, without fuss +or sound, the sailors were knotted round their guns, the marines were +drawn up and leaning on their muskets, and the frigate's bowsprit +pointed straight for her little victim. + +"Is it the _Slapping Sal_, sir?" + +"I have no doubt of it, Mr. Wharton." + +"They don't seem to like the look of us, sir. They've cut their cable +and are clapping on sail." + +It was evident that the brig meant struggling for her freedom. One +little patch of canvas fluttered out above another, and her people could +be seen working like madmen in the rigging. She made no attempt to pass +her antagonist, but headed up the estuary. The captain rubbed his hands. + + +"She's making for shoal water, Mr. Wharton, and we shall have to cut her +out, sir. She's a footy little brig, but I should have thought a +fore-and-after would have been more handy." + +"It was a mutiny, sir." + +"Ah, indeed!" + +"Yes, sir, I heard of it at Manilla: a bad business, sir. Captain and +two mates murdered. This Hudson, or Hairy Hudson as they call him, led +the mutiny. He's a Londoner, sir, and a cruel villain as ever walked." + +"His next walk will be to Execution Dock, Mr. Wharton. She seems heavily +manned. I wish I could take twenty topmen out of her, but they would be +enough to corrupt the crew of the ark, Mr. Wharton." + +Both officers were looking through their glasses at the brig. Suddenly +the lieutenant showed his teeth in a grin, while the captain flushed a +deeper red. + +"That's Hairy Hudson on the after-rail, sir." + +"The low, impertinent blackguard! He'll play some other antics before we +are done with him. Could you reach him with the long eighteen, Mr. +Smeaton?" + +"Another cable length will do it, sir." + +The brig yawed as they spoke, and as she came round a spurt of smoke +whiffed out from her quarter. It was a pure piece of bravado, for the +gun could scarce carry half-way. Then with a jaunty swing the little +ship came into the wind again, and shot round a fresh curve in the +winding channel. + +"The water's shoaling rapidly, sir," repeated the second lieutenant. + +"There's six fathoms by the chart." + +"Four by the lead, sir." + +"When we clear this point we shall see how we lie. Ha! I thought as +much! Lay her to, Mr. Wharton. Now we have got her at our mercy!" + +The frigate was quite out of sight of the sea now at the head of this +river-like estuary. As she came round the curve the two shores were seen +to converge at a point about a mile distant. In the angle, as near shore +as she could get, the brig was lying with her broadside towards her +pursuer and a wisp of black cloth streaming from her mizzen. The lean +lieutenant, who had reappeared upon deck with a cutlass strapped to his +side and two pistols rammed into his belt, peered curiously at the +ensign. + +"Is it the Jolly Rodger, sir?" he asked. + +But the captain was furious. + +"He may hang where his breeches are hanging before I have done with +him!" said he. "What boats will you want, Mr. Wharton?" + +"We should do it with the launch and the jolly-boat." + +"Take four and make a clean job of it. Pipe away the crews at once, and +I'll work her in and help you with the long eighteens." + +With a rattle of ropes and a creaking of blocks the four boats splashed +into the water. Their crews clustered thickly into them: bare-footed +sailors, stolid marines, laughing middies, and in the sheets of each the +senior officers with their stern schoolmaster faces. The captain, his +elbows on the binnacle, still watched the distant brig. Her crew were +tricing up the boarding-netting, dragging round the starboard guns, +knocking new portholes for them, and making every preparation for a +desperate resistance. In the thick of it all a huge man, bearded to the +eyes, with a red nightcap upon his head, was straining and stooping and +hauling. The captain watched him with a sour smile, and then snapping up +his glass he turned upon his heel. For an instant he stood staring. + +"Call back the boats!" he cried in his thin, creaking voice. "Clear away +for action there! Cast loose those main-deck guns. Brace back the yards, +Mr. Smeaton, and stand by to go about when she has weigh enough." + +Round the curve of the estuary was coming a huge vessel. Her great +yellow bowsprit and white-winged figure-head were jutting out from the +cluster of palm trees, while high above them towered three immense masts +with the tricolour flag floating superbly from the mizzen. Round she +came, the deep-blue water creaming under her fore foot, until her long, +curving, black side, her line of shining copper beneath and of +snow-white hammocks above, and the thick clusters of men who peered over +her bulwarks were all in full view. Her lower yards were slung, her +ports triced up, and her guns run out all ready for action. Lying behind +one of the promontories of the island, the lookout men of the _Gloire_ +upon the shore had seen the _cul de sac_ into which the British frigate +was headed, so that Captain de Milon had served the _Leda_ as Captain +Johnson had the _Slapping Sal_. + +But the splendid discipline of the British service was at its best in +such a crisis. The boats flew back; their crews clustered aboard, they +were swung up at the davits and the fall-ropes made fast. Hammocks were +brought up and stowed, bulkheads sent down, ports and magazines opened, +the fires put out in the galley, and the drums beat to quarters. Swarms +of men set the head-sails and brought the frigate round, while the +gun-crews threw off their jackets and shirts, tightened their belts, and +ran out their eighteen-pounders, peering through the open portholes at +the stately Frenchman. The wind was very light. Hardly a ripple showed +itself upon the clear blue water, but the sails blew gently out as the +breeze came over the wooded banks. The Frenchman had gone about also, +and both ships were now heading slowly for the sea under fore-and-aft +canvas, the _Gloire_ a hundred yards in advance. She luffed up to cross +the _Leda's_ bows, but the British ship came round also, and the two +rippled slowly on in such a silence that the ringing of ramrods as the +French marines drove home their charges clanged quite loudly upon the +ear. + +"Not much sea-room, Mr. Wharton," remarked the captain. + +"I have fought actions in less, sir." + +"We must keep our distance and trust to our gunnery. She is very heavily +manned, and if she got alongside we might find ourselves in trouble." + +"I see the shakos of soldiers aboard of her." + +"Two companies of light infantry from Martinique. Now we have her! +Hard-a-port, and let her have it as we cross her stern!" + +The keen eye of the little commander had seen the surface ripple, which +told of a passing breeze. He had used it to dart across the big +Frenchman and to rake her with every gun as he passed. But, once past +her, the _Leda_ had to come back into the wind to keep out of shoal +water. The manoeuvre brought her on to the starboard side of the +Frenchman, and the trim little frigate seemed to heel right over under +the crashing broadside which burst from the gaping ports. A moment later +her topmen were swarming aloft to set her topsails and royals, and she +strove to cross the _Gloire's_ bows and rake her again. The French +captain, however, brought his frigate's head round, and the two rode +side by side within easy pistol-shot, pouring broadsides into each other +in one of those murderous duels which, could they all be recorded, would +mottle our charts with blood. + +In that heavy tropical air, with so faint a breeze, the smoke formed a +thick bank round the two vessels, from which the topmasts only +protruded. Neither could see anything of its enemy save the throbs of +fire in the darkness, and the guns were sponged and trained and fired +into a dense wall of vapour. On the poop and forecastle the marines, in +two little red lines, were pouring in their volleys, but neither they +nor the sea-men-gunners could see what effect their fire was having. +Nor, indeed, could they tell how far they were suffering themselves, +for, standing at a gun, one could but hazily see that upon the right and +the left. But above the roar of the cannon came the sharper sound of the +piping shot, the crashing of riven planks, and the occasional heavy thud +as spar or block came hurtling on to the deck. The lieutenants paced up +and down the line of guns, while Captain Johnson fanned the smoke away +with his cocked-hat and peered eagerly out. + +"This is rare, Bobby!" said he, as the lieutenant joined him. Then, +suddenly restraining himself, "What have we lost, Mr. Wharton?" + +"Our maintopsail yard and our gaff, sir." + +"Where's the flag?" + +"Gone overboard, sir." + +"They'll think we've struck! Lash a boat's ensign on the starboard arm +of the mizzen cross-jackyard." + +"Yes, sir." + +A round-shot dashed the binnacle to pieces between them. A second +knocked two marines into a bloody, palpitating mash. For a moment the +smoke rose, and the English captain saw that his adversary's heavier +metal was producing a horrible effect. The _Leda_ was a shattered wreck. +Her deck was strewed with corpses. Several of her portholes were knocked +into one, and one of her eighteen-pounder guns had been thrown right +back on to her breech, and pointed straight up to the sky. The thin line +of marines still loaded and fired, but half the guns were silent, and +their crews were piled thickly round them. + +"Stand by to repel boarders!" yelled the captain. + +"Cutlasses, lads, cutlasses!" roared Wharton. + +"Hold your volley till they touch!" cried the captain of marines. + +The huge loom of the Frenchman was seen bursting through the smoke. +Thick clusters of boarders hung upon her sides and shrouds. A final +broadside leapt from her ports, and the mainmast of the _Leda_, snapping +short off a few feet above the deck, spun into the air and crashed down +upon the port guns, killing ten men and putting the whole battery out of +action. An instant later the two ships scraped together, and the +starboard bower anchor of the _Gloire_ caught the mizzen-chains of the +_Leda_ upon the port side. With a yell the black swarm of boarders +steadied themselves for a spring. + +But their feet were never to reach that blood-stained deck. From +somewhere there came a well-aimed whiff of grape, and another, and +another. The English marines and seamen, waiting with cutlass and musket +behind the silent guns, saw with amazement the dark masses thinning and +shredding away. At the same time the port broadside of the Frenchman +burst into a roar. + +"Clear away the wreck!" roared the captain. "What the devil are they +firing at?" + +"Get the guns clear!" panted the lieutenant. "We'll do them yet, boys!" + +The wreckage was torn and hacked and splintered until first one gun and +then another roared into action again. The Frenchman's anchor had been +cut away, and the _Leda_ had worked herself free from that fatal hug. +But now, suddenly, there was a scurry up the shrouds of the _Gloire_, +and a hundred Englishmen were shouting themselves hoarse: "They're +running! They're running! They're running!" + +And it was true. The Frenchman had ceased to fire, and was intent only +upon clapping on every sail that he could carry. But that shouting +hundred could not claim it all as their own. As the smoke cleared it was +not difficult to see the reason. The ships had gained the mouth of the +estuary during the fight, and there, about four miles out to sea, was +the _Leda's_ consort bearing down under full sail to the sound of the +guns. Captain de Milon had done his part for one day, and presently the +_Gloire_ was drawing off swiftly to the north, while the _Dido_ was +bowling along at her skirts, rattling away with her bow-chasers, until a +headland hid them both from view. + +But the _Leda_ lay sorely stricken, with her mainmast gone, her bulwarks +shattered, her mizzen-topmast and gaff shot away, her sails like a +beggar's rags, and a hundred of her crew dead and wounded. Close beside +her a mass of wreckage floated upon the waves. It was the stern-post of +a mangled vessel, and across it, in white letters on a black ground, was +painted, "_The Slapping Sal_." + +"By the Lord! it was the brig that saved us!" cried Mr. Wharton. "Hudson +brought her into action with the Frenchman, and was blown out of the +water by a broadside!" + +The little captain turned on his heel and paced up and down the deck. +Already his crew were plugging the shot-holes, knotting and splicing and +mending. When he came back, the lieutenant saw a softening of the stern +lines about his eyes and mouth. + +"Are they all gone?" + +"Every man. They must have sunk with the wreck." + +The two officers looked down at the sinister name, and at the stump of +wreckage which floated in the discoloured water. Something black washed +to and fro beside a splintered gaff and a tangle of halliards. It was +the outrageous ensign, and near it a scarlet cap was floating. + +"He was a villain, but he was a Briton!" said the captain, at last. "He +lived like a dog, but, by God, he died like a man!" + + + + +VI + +A PIRATE OF THE LAND + +ONE CROWDED HOUR + + +The place was the Eastbourne-Tunbridge road, not very far from the Cross +in Hand--a lonely stretch, with a heath running upon either side. The +time was half-past eleven upon a Sunday night in the late summer. A +motor was passing slowly down the road. + +It was a long, lean Rolls-Royce, running smoothly with a gentle purring +of the engine. Through the two vivid circles cast by the electric +head-lights the waving grass fringes and clumps of heather streamed +swiftly like some golden cinematograph, leaving a blacker darkness +behind and around them. One ruby-red spot shone upon the road, but no +number-plate was visible within the dim ruddy halo of the tail-lamp +which cast it. The car was open and of a tourist type, but even in that +obscure light, for the night was moonless, an observer could hardly fail +to have noticed a curious indefiniteness in its lines. As it slid into +and across the broad stream of light from an open cottage door the +reason could be seen. The body was hung with a singular loose +arrangement of brown holland. Even the long black bonnet was banded with +some close-drawn drapery. + +The solitary man who drove this curious car was broad and burly. He sat +hunched up over his steering-wheel, with the brim of a Tyrolean hat +drawn down over his eyes. The red end of a cigarette smouldered under +the black shadow thrown by the headgear. A dark ulster of some +frieze-like material was turned up in the collar until it covered his +ears. His neck was pushed forward from his rounded shoulders, and he +seemed, as the car now slid noiselessly down the long sloping road, with +the clutch disengaged and the engine running free, to be peering ahead +of him through the darkness in search of some eagerly-expected object. + +The distant toot of a motor-horn came faintly from some point far to the +south of him. On such a night, at such a place, all traffic must be from +south to north when the current of London week-enders sweeps back from +the watering-place to the capital--from pleasure to duty. The man sat +straight and listened intently. Yes, there it was again, and certainly +to the south of him. His face was over the wheel and his eyes strained +through the darkness. Then suddenly he spat out his cigarette and gave a +sharp intake of the breath. Far away down the road two little yellow +points had rounded a curve. They vanished into a dip, shot upwards once +more, and then vanished again. The inert man in the draped car woke +suddenly into intense life. From his pocket he pulled a mask of dark +cloth, which he fastened securely across his face, adjusting it +carefully that his sight might be unimpeded. For an instant he uncovered +an acetylene hand-lantern, took a hasty glance at his own preparations, +and laid it beside a Mauser pistol upon the seat alongside him. Then, +twitching his hat down lower than ever, he released his clutch and slid +downward his gear-lever. With a chuckle and shudder the long, black +machine sprang forward, and shot with a soft sigh from her powerful +engines down the sloping gradient. The driver stooped and switched off +his electric head-lights. Only a dim grey swathe cut through the black +heath indicated the line of his road. From in front there came +presently a confused puffing and rattling and clanging as the oncoming +car breasted the slope. It coughed and spluttered on a powerful, +old-fashioned low gear, while its engine throbbed like a weary heart. +The yellow, glaring lights dipped for the last time into a switchback +curve. When they reappeared over the crest the two cars were within +thirty yards of each other. The dark one darted across the road and +barred the other's passage, while a warning acetylene lamp was waved in +the air. With a jarring of brakes the noisy new-comer was brought to a +halt. + +"I say," cried an aggrieved voice, "'pon my soul, you know, we might +have had an accident. Why the devil don't you keep your head-lights on? +I never saw you till I nearly burst my radiators on you!" + +The acetylene lamp, held forward, discovered a very angry young man, +blue-eyed, yellow-moustached, and florid, sitting alone at the wheel of +an antiquated twelve-horse Wolseley. Suddenly the aggrieved look upon +his flushed face changed to one of absolute bewilderment. The driver in +the dark car had sprung out of the seat, a black, long-barrelled, +wicked-looking pistol was poked in the traveller's face, and behind the +further sights of it was a circle of black cloth with two deadly eyes +looking from as many slits. + +"Hands up!" said a quick, stern voice. "Hands up! or, by the Lord----" + +The young man was as brave as his neighbours, but the hands went up all +the same. + +"Get down!" said his assailant, curtly. + +The young man stepped forth into the road, followed closely by the +covering lantern and pistol. Once he made as if he would drop his hands, +but a short, stern word jerked them up again. + +"I say, look here, this is rather out o' date, ain't it?" said the +traveller. "I expect you're joking--what?" + +"Your watch," said the man behind the Mauser pistol. + +"You can't really mean it!" + +"Your watch, I say!" + +"Well, take it, if you must. It's only plated, anyhow. You're two +centuries out in time, or a few thousand miles longitude. The bush is +your mark--or America. You don't seem in the picture on a Sussex road." + +"Purse," said the man. There was something very compelling in his voice +and methods. The purse was handed over. + +"Any rings?" + +"Don't wear 'em." + +"Stand there! Don't move!" + +The highwayman passed his victim and threw open the bonnet of the +Wolseley. His hand, with a pair of steel pliers, was thrust deep into +the works. There was the snap of a parting wire. + +"Hang it all, don't crock my car!" cried the traveller. + +He turned, but quick as a flash the pistol was at his head once more. +And yet even in that flash, whilst the robber whisked round from the +broken circuit, something had caught the young man's eye which made him +gasp and start. He opened his mouth as if about to shout some words. +Then with an evident effort he restrained himself. + +"Get in," said the highwayman. + +The traveller climbed back to his seat. + +"What is your name?" + +"Ronald Barker. What's yours?" + +The masked man ignored the impertinence. + +"Where do you live?" he asked. + +"My cards are in my purse. Take one." + +The highwayman sprang into his car, the engine of which had hissed and +whispered in gentle accompaniment to the interview. With a clash he +threw back his side-brake, flung in his gears, twirled the wheel hard +round, and cleared the motionless Wolseley. A minute later he was +gliding swiftly, with all his lights gleaming, some half-mile southward +on the road, while Mr. Ronald Barker, a side-lamp in his hand, was +rummaging furiously among the odds and ends of his repair-box for a +strand of wire which would connect up his electricity and set him on his +way once more. + +When he had placed a safe distance between himself and his victim, the +adventurer eased up, took his booty from his pocket, replaced the watch, +opened the purse, and counted out the money. Seven shillings constituted +the miserable spoil. The poor result of his efforts seemed to amuse +rather than annoy him, for he chuckled as he held the two half-crowns +and the florin in the glare of his lantern. Then suddenly his manner +changed. He thrust the thin purse back into his pocket, released his +brake, and shot onwards with the same tense bearing with which he had +started upon his adventure. The lights of another car were coming down +the road. + +On this occasion the methods of the highwayman were less furtive. +Experience had clearly given him confidence. With lights still blazing +he ran towards the new-comers, and, halting in the middle of the road, +summoned them to stop. From the point of view of the astonished +travellers the result was sufficiently impressive. They saw in the glare +of their own head-lights two glowing discs on either side of the long, +black-muzzled snout of a high-power car, and above the masked face and +menacing figure of its solitary driver. In the golden circle thrown by +the Rover there stood an elegant, open-topped, twenty-horse Humber, with +an undersized and very astonished chauffeur blinking from under his +peaked cap. From behind the wind-screen the veil-bound hats and +wondering faces of two very pretty young women protruded, one upon +either side, and a little crescendo of frightened squeaks announced the +acute emotion of one of them. The other was cooler and more critical. + +"Don't give it away, Hilda," she whispered. "Do shut up, and don't be +such a silly. It's Bertie or one of the boys playing it on us." + +"No, no! It's the real thing, Flossie. It's a robber, sure enough. Oh, +my goodness, whatever shall we do?" + +"What an 'ad.'!" cried the other. "Oh, what a glorious 'ad.'! Too late +now for the mornings, but they'll have it in every evening paper, sure." + +"What's it going to cost?" groaned the other. "Oh, Flossie, Flossie, I'm +sure I'm going to faint! Don't you think if we both screamed together we +could do some good? Isn't he too awful with that black thing over his +face? Oh, dear, oh, dear! He's killing poor little Alf!" + +The proceedings of the robber were indeed somewhat alarming. Springing +down from his car, he had pulled the chauffeur out of his seat by the +scruff of his neck. The sight of the Mauser had cut short all +remonstrance, and under its compulsion the little man had pulled open +the bonnet and extracted the sparking plugs. Having thus secured the +immobility of his capture, the masked man walked forward, lantern in +hand, to the side of the car. He had laid aside the gruff sternness with +which he had treated Mr. Ronald Barker, and his voice and manner were +gentle, though determined. He even raised his hat as a prelude to his +address. + +"I am sorry to inconvenience you, ladies," said he, and his voice had +gone up several notes since the previous interview. "May I ask who you +are?" + +Miss Hilda was beyond coherent speech, but Miss Flossie was of a sterner +mould. + +"This is a pretty business," said she. "What right have you to stop us +on the public road, I should like to know?" + +"My time is short," said the robber, in a sterner voice. "I must ask you +to answer my question." + +"Tell him, Flossie! For goodness' sake be nice to him!" cried Hilda. + +"Well, we're from the Gaiety Theatre, London, if you want to know," said +the young lady. "Perhaps you've heard of Miss Flossie Thornton and Miss +Hilda Mannering? We've been playing a week at the Royal at Eastbourne, +and took a Sunday off to ourselves. So now you know!" + +"I must ask you for your purses and for your jewellery." + +Both ladies set up shrill expostulations, but they found, as Mr. Ronald +Barker had done, that there was something quietly compelling in this +man's methods. In a very few minutes they had handed over their purses, +and a pile of glittering rings, bangles, brooches and chains was lying +upon the front seat of the car. The diamonds glowed and shimmered like +little electric points in the light of the lantern. He picked up the +glittering tangle and weighed it in his hand. + +"Anything you particularly value?" he asked the ladies; but Miss Flossie +was in no humour for concessions. + +"Don't come the Claude Duval over us," said she. "Take the lot or leave +the lot. We don't want bits of our own given back to us." + +"Except just Billy's necklace!" cried Hilda, and snatched at a little +rope of pearls. The robber bowed, and released his hold of it. + +"Anything else?" + +The valiant Flossie began suddenly to cry. Hilda did the same. The +effect upon the robber was surprising. He threw the whole heap of +jewellery into the nearest lap. + +"There! there! Take it!" he said. "It's trumpery stuff, anyhow. It's +worth something to you, and nothing to me." + +Tears changed in a moment to smiles. + +"You're welcome to the purses. The 'ad.' is worth ten times the money. +But what a funny way of getting a living nowadays! Aren't you afraid of +being caught? It's all so wonderful, like a scene from a comedy." + +"It may be a tragedy," said the robber. + +"Oh, I hope not--I'm sure I hope not!" cried the two ladies of the +drama. + +But the robber was in no mood for further conversation. Far away down +the road tiny points of light had appeared. Fresh business was coming to +him, and he must not mix his cases. Disengaging his machine, he raised +his hat, and slipped off to meet this new arrival, while Miss Flossie +and Miss Hilda leaned out of their derelict car, still palpitating from +their adventure, and watched the red gleam of the tail-light until it +merged into the darkness. + +This time there was every sign of a rich prize. Behind its four grand +lamps set in a broad frame of glittering brasswork the magnificent +sixty-horse Daimler breasted the slope with the low, deep, even snore +which proclaimed its enormous latent strength. Like some rich-laden, +high-pooped Spanish galleon, she kept her course until the prowling +craft ahead of her swept across her bows and brought her to a sudden +halt. An angry face, red, blotched, and evil, shot out of the open +window of the closed limousine. The robber was aware of a high, bald +forehead, gross pendulous cheeks, and two little crafty eyes which +gleamed between creases of fat. + +"Out of my way, sir! Out of my way this instant!" cried a rasping voice. +"Drive over him, Hearn! Get down and pull him off the seat. The fellow's +drunk--he's drunk, I say!" + +Up to this point the proceedings of the modern highwayman might have +passed as gentle. Now they turned in an instant to savagery. The +chauffeur, a burly, capable fellow, incited by that raucous voice behind +him, sprang from the car and seized the advancing robber by the throat. +The latter hit out with the butt-end of his pistol, and the man dropped +groaning on the road. Stepping over his prostrate body the adventurer +pulled open the door, seized the stout occupant savagely by the ear, and +dragged him bellowing on the highway. Then, very deliberately, he struck +him twice across the face with his open hand. The blows rang out like +pistol-shots in the silence of the night. The fat traveller turned a +ghastly colour and fell back half senseless against the side of the +limousine. The robber dragged open his coat, wrenched away the heavy +gold watch-chain with all that it held, plucked out the great diamond +pin that sparkled in the black satin tie, dragged off four rings--not +one of which could have cost less than three figures--and finally tore +from his inner pocket a bulky leather notebook. All this property he +transferred to his own black overcoat, and added to it the man's pearl +cuff-links, and even the golden stud which held his collar. Having made +sure that there was nothing else to take, the robber flashed his lantern +upon the prostrate chauffeur, and satisfied himself that he was stunned +and not dead. Then, returning to the master, he proceeded very +deliberately to tear all his clothes from his body with a ferocious +energy which set his victim whimpering and writhing in imminent +expectation of murder. + +Whatever the tormentor's intention may have been, it was very +effectually frustrated. A sound made him turn his head, and there, no +very great distance off, were the lights of a car coming swiftly from +the north. Such a car must have already passed the wreckage which this +pirate had left behind him. It was following his track with a deliberate +purpose, and might be crammed with every county constable of the +district. + +The adventurer had no time to lose. He darted from his bedraggled +victim, sprang into his own seat, and with his foot on the accelerator +shot swiftly off down the road. Some way down there was a narrow side +lane, and into this the fugitive turned, cracking on his high speed and +leaving a good five miles between him and any pursuer before he ventured +to stop. Then, in a quiet corner, he counted over his booty of the +evening--the paltry plunder of Mr. Ronald Barker, the rather +better-furnished purses of the actresses, which contained four pounds +between them, and, finally, the gorgeous jewellery and well-filled +notebook of the plutocrat upon the Daimler. Five notes of fifty pounds, +four of ten, fifteen sovereigns, and a number of valuable papers made up +a most noble haul. It was clearly enough for one night's work. The +adventurer replaced all his ill-gotten gains in his pocket, and, +lighting a cigarette, set forth upon his way with the air of a man who +has no further care upon his mind. + + * * * * * + +It was on the Monday morning following upon this eventful evening that +Sir Henry Hailworthy, of Walcot Old Place, having finished his breakfast +in a leisurely fashion, strolled down to his study with the intention of +writing a few letters before setting forth to take his place upon the +county bench. Sir Henry was a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county; he was a +baronet of ancient blood; he was a magistrate of ten years' standing; +and he was famous above all as the breeder of many a good horse and the +most desperate rider in all the Weald country. A tall, upstanding man, +with a strong clean-shaven face, heavy black eyebrows, and a square, +resolute jaw, he was one whom it was better to call friend than foe. +Though nearly fifty years of age, he bore no sign of having passed his +youth, save that Nature, in one of her freakish moods, had planted one +little feather of white hair above his right ear, making the rest of his +thick black curls the darker by contrast. He was in thoughtful mood this +morning, for having lit his pipe he sat at his desk with his blank +note-paper in front of him, lost in a deep reverie. + +Suddenly his thoughts were brought back to the present. From behind the +laurels of the curving drive there came a low, clanking sound, which +swelled into the clatter and jingle of an ancient car. Then from round +the corner there swung an old-fashioned Wolseley, with a +fresh-complexioned, yellow-moustached young man at the wheel. Sir Henry +sprang to his feet at the sight, and then sat down once more. He rose +again as a minute later the footman announced Mr. Ronald Barker. It was +an early visit, but Barker was Sir Henry's intimate friend. As each was +a fine shot, horseman, and billiard-player, there was much in common +between the two men, and the younger (and poorer) was in the habit of +spending at least two evenings a week at Walcot Old Place. Therefore, +Sir Henry advanced cordially with outstretched hand to welcome him. + +"You're an early bird this morning," said he. "What's up? If you are +going over to Lewes we could motor together." + +But the younger man's demeanour was peculiar and ungracious. He +disregarded the hand which was held out to him, and he stood pulling at +his own long moustache and staring with troubled, questioning eyes at +the county magistrate. + +"Well, what's the matter?" asked the latter. + +Still the young man did not speak. He was clearly on the edge of an +interview which he found it most difficult to open. His host grew +impatient. + +"You don't seem yourself this morning. What on earth is the matter? +Anything upset you?" + +"Yes," said Ronald Barker, with emphasis. + +"What has?" + +"_You_ have." + +Sir Henry smiled. "Sit down, my dear fellow. If you have any grievance +against me, let me hear it." + +Barker sat down. He seemed to be gathering himself for a reproach. When +it did come it was like a bullet from a gun. + +"Why did you rob me last night?" + +The magistrate was a man of iron nerve. He showed neither surprise nor +resentment. Not a muscle twitched upon his calm, set face. + +"Why do you say that I robbed you last night?" + +"A big, tall fellow in a motor-car stopped me on the Mayfield road. He +poked a pistol in my face and took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, +that man was you." + +The magistrate smiled. + +"Am I the only big, tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a +motor-car?" + +"Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls-Royce when I see it--I, who spend +half my life on a car and the other half under it? Who has a Rolls-Royce +about here except you?" + +"My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highwayman as you +describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How +many hundred Rolls-Royces are there in the South of England?" + +"No, it won't do, Sir Henry--it won't do! Even your voice, though you +sunk it a few notes, was familiar enough to me. But hang it, man! What +did you do it _for_? That's what gets over me. That you should stick up +me, one of your closest friends, a man that worked himself to the bone +when you stood for the division--and all for the sake of a Brummagem +watch and a few shillings--is simply incredible." + +"Simply incredible," repeated the magistrate, with a smile. + +"And then those actresses, poor little devils, who have to earn all they +get. I followed you down the road, you see. That was a dirty trick, if +ever I heard one. The City shark was different. If a chap must go +a-robbing, that sort of fellow is fair game. But your friend, and then +the girls--well, I say again, I couldn't have believed it." + +"Then why believe it?" + +"Because it _is_ so." + +"Well, you seem to have persuaded yourself to that effect. You don't +seem to have much evidence to lay before any one else." + +"I could swear to you in a police-court. What put the lid on it was that +when you were cutting my wire--and an infernal liberty it was!--I saw +that white tuft of yours sticking out from behind your mask." + +For the first time an acute observer might have seen some slight sign of +emotion upon the face of the baronet. + +"You seem to have a fairly vivid imagination," said he. + +His visitor flushed with anger. + +"See here, Hailworthy," said he, opening his hand and showing a small, +jagged triangle of black cloth. "Do you see that? It was on the ground +near the car of the young women. You must have ripped it off as you +jumped out from your seat. Now send for that heavy black driving-coat of +yours. If you don't ring the bell I'll ring it myself, and we shall have +it in. I'm going to see this thing through, and don't you make any +mistake about that." + +The baronet's answer was a surprising one. He rose, passed Barker's +chair, and, walking over to the door, he locked it and placed the key in +his pocket. + +"You _are_ going to see it through," said he. "I'll lock you in until +you do. Now we must have a straight talk, Barker, as man to man, and +whether it ends in tragedy or not depends on you." + +He had half-opened one of the drawers in his desk as he spoke. His +visitor frowned in anger. + +"You won't make matters any better by threatening me, Hailworthy. I am +going to do my duty, and you won't bluff me out of it." + +"I have no wish to bluff you. When I spoke of a tragedy I did not mean +to you. What I meant was that there are some turns which this affair +cannot be allowed to take. I have neither kith nor kin, but there is the +family honour, and some things are impossible." + +"It is late to talk like that." + +"Well, perhaps it is, but not too late. And now I have a good deal to +say to you. First of all, you are quite right, and it was I who held you +up last night on the Mayfield road." + +"But why on earth----" + +"All right. Let me tell it my own way. First I want you to look at +these." He unlocked a drawer and he took out two small packages. "These +were to be posted in London to-night. This one is addressed to you, and +I may as well hand it over to you at once. It contains your watch and +your purse. So, you see bar your cut wire you would have been none the +worse for your adventure. This other packet is addressed to the young +ladies of the Gaiety Theatre, and their properties are enclosed. I hope +I have convinced you that I had intended full reparation in each case +before you came to accuse me?" + +"Well?" asked Barker. + +"Well, we will now deal with Sir George Wilde, who is, as you may not +know, the senior partner of Wilde and Guggendorf, the founders of the +Ludgate Bank of infamous memory. His chauffeur is a case apart. You may +take it from me, upon my word of honour, that I had plans for the +chauffeur. But it is the master that I want to speak of. You know that I +am not a rich man myself. I expect all the county knows that. When Black +Tulip lost the Derby I was hard hit. And other things as well. Then I +had a legacy of a thousand. This infernal bank was paying 7 per cent. on +deposits. I knew Wilde. I saw him. I asked him if it was safe. He said +it was. I paid it in, and within forty-eight hours the whole thing went +to bits. It came out before the Official Receiver that Wilde had known +for three months that nothing could save him. And yet he took all my +cargo aboard his sinking vessel. He was all right--confound him! He had +plenty besides. But I had lost all my money and no law could help me. +Yet he had robbed me as clearly as one man could rob another. I saw him +and he laughed in my face. Told me to stick to Consols, and that the +lesson was cheap at the price. So I just swore that, by hook or by +crook, I would get level with him. I knew his habits, for I had made it +my business to do so. I knew that he came back from Eastbourse on Sunday +nights. I knew that he carried a good sum with him in his pocket-book. +Well it's _my_ pocket-book now. Do you mean to tell me that I'm not +morally justified in what I have done? By the Lord, I'd have left the +devil as bare as he left many a widow and orphan if I'd had the time!" + +"That's all very well. But what about me? What about the girls?" + +"Have some common sense, Barker. Do you suppose that I could go and +stick up this one personal enemy of mine and escape detection? It was +impossible. I was bound to make myself out to be just a common robber +who had run up against him by accident. So I turned myself loose on the +high road and took my chance. As the devil would have it, the first man +I met was yourself. I was a fool not to recognise that old ironmonger's +store of yours by the row it made coming up the hill. When I saw you I +could hardly speak for laughing. But I was bound to carry it through. +The same with the actresses. I'm afraid I gave myself away, for I +couldn't take their little fallals, but I had to keep up a show. Then +came my man himself. There was no bluff about that. I was out to skin +him, and I did. Now, Barker, what do you think of it all? I had a pistol +at your head last night, and, by George! whether you believe it or not, +you have one at mine this morning!" + +The young man rose slowly, and with a broad smile he wrung the +magistrate by the hand. + +"Don't do it again. It's too risky," said he. "The swine would score +heavily if you were taken." + +"You're a good chap, Barker," said the magistrate. "No, I won't do it +again. Who's the fellow who talks of 'one crowded hour of glorious +life'? By George! it's too fascinating. I had the time of my life! Talk +of fox-hunting! No, I'll never touch it again, for it might get a grip +of me." + +A telephone rang sharply upon the table, and the baronet put the +receiver to his ear. As he listened, he smiled at his companion. + +"I'm rather late this morning," said he, "and they are awaiting for me +to try some petty larcenies on the county bench." + + + + +TALES OF BLUE WATER + + + + +VII + +THE STRIPED CHEST + + +"What do you make of her, Allardyce?" I asked. + +My second mate was standing beside me upon the poop, with his short, +thick legs astretch, for the gale had left a considerable swell behind +it, and our two quarter-boats nearly touched the water with every roll. +He steadied his glass against the mizzen-shrouds, and he looked long and +hard at this disconsolate stranger every time she came reeling up on to +the crest of a roller and hung balanced for a few seconds before +swooping down upon the other side. She lay so low in the water that I +could only catch an occasional glimpse of a pea-green line of bulwark. + +She was a brig, but her mainmast had been snapped short off some ten +feet above the deck, and no effort seemed to have been made to cut away +the wreckage, which floated, sails and yards, like the broken wing of a +wounded gull, upon the water beside her. The foremast was still +standing, but the fore-topsail was flying loose, and the head-sails were +streaming out in long white pennons in front of her. Never have I seen a +vessel which appeared to have gone through rougher handling. + +But we could not be surprised at that, for there had been times during +the last three days when it was a question whether our own barque would +ever see land again. For thirty-six hours we had kept her nose to it, +and if the _Mary Sinclair_ had not been as good a seaboat as ever left +the Clyde, we could not have gone through. And yet here we were at the +end of it with the loss only of our gig and of part of the starboard +bulwark. It did not astonish us, however, when the smother had cleared +away, to find that others had been less lucky, and that this mutilated +brig, staggering about upon a blue sea, and under a cloudless sky, had +been left, like a blinded man after a lightning flash, to tell of the +terror which is past. + +Allardyce, who was a slow and methodical Scotchman, stared long and hard +at the little craft, while our seamen lined the bulwark or clustered +upon the fore shrouds to have a view of the stranger. In latitude 20 deg. +and longitude 10 deg., which were about our bearings, one becomes a little +curious as to whom one meets, for one has left the main lines of +Atlantic commerce to the north. For ten days we had been sailing over a +solitary sea. + +"She's derelict, I'm thinking," said the second mate. + +I had come to the same conclusion, for I could see no sign of life upon +her deck, and there was no answer to the friendly wavings from our +seamen. The crew had probably deserted her under the impression that she +was about to founder. + +"She can't last long," continued Allardyce, in his measured way. "She +may put her nose down and her tail up any minute. The water's lipping up +to the edge of her rail." + +"What's her flag?" I asked. + +"I'm trying to make out. It's got all twisted and tangled with the +halyards. Yes, I've got it now, clear enough. It's the Brazilian flag, +but it's wrong side up." + +She had hoisted a signal of distress, then, before her people abandoned +her. Perhaps they had only just gone. I took the mate's glass and looked +round over the tumultuous face of the deep blue Atlantic, still veined +and starred with white lines and spoutings of foam. But nowhere could I +see anything human beyond ourselves. + +"There may be living men aboard," said I. + +"There may be salvage," muttered the second mate. + +"Then we will run down upon her lee side, and lie to." + +We were not more than a hundred yards from her when we swung our +fore-yard aback, and there we were, the barque and the brig, ducking and +bowing like two clowns in a dance. + +"Drop one of the quarter-boats," said I. "Take four men, Mr. Allardyce, +and see what you can learn of her." + +But just at that moment my first officer, Mr. Armstrong, came on deck, +for seven bells had struck, and it was but a few minutes off his watch. +It would interest me to go myself to this abandoned vessel and to see +what there might be aboard of her. So, with a word to Armstrong, I swung +myself over the side, slipped down the falls, and took my place in the +sheets of the boat. + +It was but a little distance, but it took some time to traverse, and so +heavy was the roll, that often, when we were in the trough of the sea, +we could not see either the barque which we had left or the brig which +we were approaching. The sinking sun did not penetrate down there, and +it was cold and dark in the hollows of the waves, but each passing +billow heaved us up into the warmth and the sunshine once more. At each +of these moments, as we hung upon a white-capped ridge between the two +dark valleys, I caught a glimpse of the long, pea-green line, and the +nodding foremast of the brig, and I steered so as to come round by her +stern, so that we might determine which was the best way of boarding +her. As we passed her we saw the name _Nossa Sehnora da Vittoria_ +painted across her dripping counter. + +"The weather side, sir," said the second mate. "Stand by with the +boat-hook, carpenter!" An instant later we had jumped over the bulwarks, +which were hardly higher than our boat, and found ourselves upon the +deck of the abandoned vessel. + +Our first thought was to provide for our own safety in case--as seemed +very probable--the vessel should settle down beneath our feet. With this +object two of our men held on to the painter of the boat, and fended her +off from the vessel's side, so that she might be ready in case we had to +make a hurried retreat. The carpenter was sent to find out how much +water there was, and whether it was still gaining, while the other +seaman, Allardyce, and myself, made a rapid inspection of the vessel and +her cargo. + +The deck was littered with wreckage and with hen-coops, in which the +dead birds were washing about. The boats were gone, with the exception +of one, the bottom of which had been stove, and it was certain that the +crew had abandoned the vessel. The cabin was in a deck house, one side +of which had been beaten in by a heavy sea. Allardyce and I entered it, +and found the captain's table as he had left it, his books and +papers--all Spanish or Portuguese--scattered over it, with piles of +cigarette ash everywhere. I looked about for the log, but could not find +it. + +"As likely as not he never kept one," said Allardyce. "Things are pretty +slack aboard a South American trader, and they don't do more than they +can help. If there was one it must have been taken away with him in the +boat." + +"I should like to take all these books and papers," said I. "Ask the +carpenter how much time we have." + +His report was reassuring. The vessel was full of water, but some of the +cargo was buoyant, and there was no immediate danger of her sinking. +Probably she would never sink, but would drift about as one of those +terrible, unmarked reefs which have sent so many stout vessels to the +bottom. + +"In that case there is no danger in your going below, Mr. Allardyce," +said I. "See what you can make of her, and find out how much of her +cargo may be saved. I'll look through these papers while you are gone." + +The bills of lading, and some notes and letters which lay upon the desk, +sufficed to inform me that the Brazilian brig _Nossa Sehnora da +Vittoria_ had cleared from Bahia a month before. The name of the captain +was Texeira, but there was no record as to the number of the crew. She +was bound for London, and a glance at the bills of lading was sufficient +to show me that we were not likely to profit much in the way of salvage. +Her cargo consisted of nuts, ginger, and wood, the latter in the shape +of great logs of valuable tropical growths. It was these, no doubt, +which had prevented the ill-fated vessel from going to the bottom, but +they were of such a size as to make it impossible for us to extract +them. Besides these, there were a few fancy goods, such as a number of +ornamental birds for millinery purposes, and a hundred cases of +preserved fruits. And then, as I turned over the papers, I came upon a +short note in English, which arrested my attention. + +"It is requested," said the note, "that the various old Spanish and +Indian curiosities, which came out of the Santarem collection, and which +are consigned to Prontfoot and Neuman, of Oxford Street, London, should +be put in some place where there may be no danger of these very valuable +and unique articles being injured or tampered with. This applies most +particularly to the treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, which must +on no account be placed where any one can get at it." + +The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez! Unique and valuable articles! Here +was a chance of salvage after all! I had risen to my feet with the paper +in my hand, when my Scotch mate appeared in the doorway. + +"I'm thinking all isn't quite as it should be aboard of this ship, sir," +said he. He was a hard-faced man, and yet I could see that he had been +startled. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Murder's the matter, sir. There's a man Here with his brains beaten +out." + +"Killed in the storm?" said I. + +"May be so, sir. But I'll be surprised if you think so after you have +seen him." + +"Where is he, then?" + +"This way, sir; here in the main-deck house." + +There appeared to have been no accommodation below in the brig, for +there was the afterhouse for the captain, another by the main hatchway +with the cook's galley attached to it, and a third in the forecastle for +the men. It was to this middle one that the mate led me. As you entered +the galley, with its litter of tumbled pots and dishes, was upon the +right, and upon the left was a small room with two bunks for the +officers. Then beyond there was a place about twelve feet square, which +was littered with flags and spare canvas. All round the walls were a +number of packets done up in coarse cloth and carefully lashed to the +woodwork. At the other end was a great box, striped red and white, +though the red was so faded and the white so dirty that it was only +where the light fell directly upon it that one could see the colouring. +The box was, by subsequent measurement, four feet three inches in +length, three feet two inches in height, and three feet +across--considerably larger than a seaman's chest. + +But it was not to the box that my eyes or my thoughts were turned as I +entered the store-room. On the floor, lying across the litter of +bunting, there was stretched a small, dark man with a short, curling +beard. He lay as far as it was possible from the box, with his feet +towards it and his head away. A crimson patch was printed upon the white +canvas on which his head was resting, and little red ribbons wreathed +themselves round his swarthy neck and trailed away on to the floor, but +there was no sign of a wound that I could see, and his face was as +placid as that of a sleeping child. + +It was only when I stooped that I could perceive his injury, and then I +turned away with an exclamation of horror. He had been pole-axed; +apparently by some person standing behind him. A frightful blow had +smashed in the top of his head and penetrated deeply into his brain. His +face might well be placid, for death must have been absolutely +instantaneous, and the position of the wound showed that he could never +have seen the person who had inflicted it. + +"Is that foul play or accident, Captain Barclay?" asked my second mate, +demurely. + +"You are quite right, Mr. Allardyce. The man has been murdered, struck +down from above by a sharp and heavy weapon. But who was he, and why did +they murder him?" + +"He was a common seaman, sir," said the mate. "You can see that if you +look at his fingers." He turned out his pockets as he spoke and brought +to light a pack of cards, some tarred string, and a bundle of Brazilian +tobacco. + +"Hullo, look at this!" said he. + +It was a large, open knife with a stiff spring blade which he had picked +up from the floor. The steel was shining and bright, so that we could +not associate it with the crime, and yet the dead man had apparently +held it in his hand when he was struck down, for it still lay within his +grasp. + +"It looks to me, sir, as if he knew he was in danger, and kept his knife +handy," said the mate. "However, we can't help the poor beggar now. I +can't make out these things that are lashed to the wall. They seem to be +idols and weapons and curios of all sorts done up in old sacking." + +"That's right," said I. "They are the only things of value that we are +likely to get from the cargo. Hail the barque and tell them to send the +other quarter-boat to help us to get the stuff aboard." + +While he was away I examined this curious plunder which had come into +our possession. The curiosities were so wrapped up that I could only +form a general idea as to their nature, but the striped box stood in a +good light where I could thoroughly examine it. On the lid, which was +clamped and cornered with metal-work, there was engraved a complex coat +of arms, and beneath it was a line of Spanish which I was able to +decipher as meaning, "The treasure-chest of Don Ramirez di Leyra, Knight +of the Order of Saint James, Governor and Captain-General of Terra Firma +and of the Province of Veraquas." In one corner was the date 1606, and +on the other a large white label, upon which was written in English, +"You are earnestly requested, upon no account, to open this box." The +same warning was repeated underneath in Spanish. As to the lock, it was +a very complex and heavy one of engraved steel, with a Latin motto, +which was above a seaman's comprehension. + +By the time I had finished this examination of the peculiar box, the +other quarter-boat with Mr. Armstrong, the first officer, had come +alongside, and we began to carry out and place in her the various +curiosities which appeared to be the only objects worth moving from the +derelict ship. When she was full I sent her back to the barque, and then +Allardyce and I, with a carpenter and one seaman, shifted the striped +box, which was the only thing left, to our boat, and lowered it over, +balancing it upon the two middle thwarts, for it was so heavy that it +would have given the boat a dangerous tilt had we placed it at either +end. As to the dead man, we left him where we had found him. + +The mate had a theory that at the moment of the desertion of the ship, +this fellow had started plundering, and that the captain in an attempt +to preserve discipline, had struck him down with a hatchet or some other +heavy weapon. It seemed more probable than any other explanation, and +yet it did not entirely satisfy me either. But the ocean is full of +mysteries, and we were content to leave the fate of the dead seaman of +the Brazilian brig to be added to that long list which every sailor can +recall. + +The heavy box was slung up by ropes on to the deck of the _Mary +Sinclair_, and was carried by four seamen into the cabin, where, between +the table and the after-lockers, there was just space for it to stand. +There it remained during supper, and after that meal the mates remained +with me, and discussed over a glass of grog the event of the day. Mr. +Armstrong was a long, thin, vulture-like man, an excellent seaman, but +famous for his nearness and cupidity. Our treasure-trove had excited him +greatly, and already he had begun with glistening eyes to reckon up how +much it might be worth to each of us when the shares of the salvage came +to be divided. + +"If the paper said that they were unique, Mr. Barclay, then they may be +worth anything that you like to name. You wouldn't believe the sums that +the rich collectors give. A thousand pounds is nothing to them. We'll +have something to show for our voyage, or I am mistaken." + +"I don't think that," said I. "As far as I can see they are not very +different from any other South American curios." + +"Well, sir, I've traded there for fourteen voyages, and I have never +seen anything like that chest before. That's worth a pile of money, just +as it stands. But it's so heavy, that surely there must be something +valuable inside it. Don't you think we ought to open it and see?" + +"If you break it open you will spoil it, as likely as not," said the +second mate. + +Armstrong squatted down in front of it, with his head on one side, and +his long, thin nose within a few inches of the lock. + +"The wood is oak," said he, "and it has shrunk a little with age. If I +had a chisel or a strong-bladed knife I could force the lock back +without doing any damage at all." + +The mention of a strong-bladed knife made me think of the dead seaman +upon the brig. + +"I wonder if he could have been on the job when some one came to +interfere with him," said I. + +"I don't know about that, sir, but I am perfectly certain that I could +open the box. There's a screwdriver here in the locker. Just hold the +lamp, Allardyce, and I'll have it done in a brace of shakes." + +"Wait a bit," said I, for already, with eyes which gleamed with +curiosity and with avarice, he was stooping over the lid. "I don't see +that there is any hurry over this matter. You've read that card which +warns us not to open it. It may mean anything or it may mean nothing, +but somehow I feel inclined to obey it. After all, whatever is in it +will keep, and if it is valuable it will be worth as much if it is +opened in the owner's offices as in the cabin of the _Mary Sinclair_." + +The first officer seemed bitterly disappointed at my decision. + +"Surely, sir, you are not superstitious about it," said he, with a +slight sneer upon his thin lips. "If it gets out of our own hands, and +we don't see for ourselves what is inside it, we may be done out of our +rights; besides----" + +"That's enough, Mr. Armstrong," said I, abruptly. "You may have every +confidence that you will get your rights, but I will not have that box +opened to-night." + +"Why, the label itself shows that the box has been examined by +Europeans," Allardyce added. "Because a box is a treasure-box is no +reason that it has treasures inside it now. A good many folk have had a +peep into it since the days of the old Governor of Terra Firma." + +Armstrong threw the screwdriver down upon the table and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Just as you like," said he; but for the rest of the evening, although +we spoke upon many subjects, I noticed that his eyes were continually +coming round, with the same expression of curiosity and greed, to the +old striped box. + +And now I come to that portion of my story which fills me even now with +a shuddering horror when I think of it. The main cabin had the rooms of +the officers round it, but mine was the farthest away from it at the end +of the little passage which led to the companion. No regular watch was +kept by me, except in cases of emergency, and the three mates divided +the watches among them. Armstrong had the middle watch, which ends at +four in the morning, and he was relieved by Allardyce. For my part I +have always been one of the soundest of sleepers, and it is rare for +anything less than a hand upon my shoulder to arouse me. + +And yet I was aroused that night, or rather in the early grey of the +morning. It was just half-past four by my chronometer when something +caused me to sit up in my berth wide awake and with every nerve +tingling. It was a sound of some sort, a crash with a human cry at the +end of it, which still jarred upon my ears. I sat listening, but all was +now silent. And yet it could not have been imagination, that hideous +cry, for the echo of it still rang in my head, and it seemed to have +come from some place quite close to me. I sprang from my bunk, and, +pulling on some clothes, I made my way into the cabin. + +At first I saw nothing unusual there. In the cold, grey light I made out +the red-clothed table, the six rotating chairs, the walnut lockers, the +swinging barometer, and there, at the end, the big striped chest. I was +turning away with the intention of going upon deck and asking the second +mate if he had heard anything, when my eyes fell suddenly upon something +which projected from under the table. It was the leg of a man--a leg +with a long sea-boot upon it. I stooped, and there was a figure +sprawling upon his face, his arms thrown forward and his body twisted. +One glance told me that it was Armstrong, the first officer, and a +second that he was a dead man. For a few moments I stood gasping. Then I +rushed on to the deck, called Allardyce to my assistance, and came back +with him into the cabin. + +Together we pulled the unfortunate fellow from under the table, and as +we looked at his dripping head, we exchanged glances, and I do not know +which was the paler of the two. + +"The same as the Spanish sailor," said I. + +"The very same. God preserve us! It's that infernal chest! Look at +Armstrong's hand!" + +He held up the mate's right hand, and there was the screwdriver which he +had wished to use the night before. + +"He's been at the chest, sir. He knew that I was on deck and you asleep. +He knelt down in front of it, and he pushed the lock back with that +tool. Then something happened to him, and he cried out so that you heard +him." + +"Allardyce," I whispered, "what _could_ have happened to him?" + +The second mate put his hand upon my sleeve and drew me into his cabin. + +"We can talk here, sir, and we don't know who may be listening to us in +there. What do you suppose is in that box, Captain Barclay?" + +"I give you my word, Allardyce, that I have no idea." + +"Well, I can only find one theory which will fit all the facts. Look at +the size of the box. Look at all the carving and metal-work which may +conceal any number of holes. Look at the weight of it; it took four men +to carry it. On the top of that, remember that two men have tried to +open it, and both have come to their end through it. Now, sir, what can +it mean except one thing?" + +"You mean there is a man in it?" + +"Of course there is a man in it. You know how it is in these South +American States, sir. A man may be President one week and hunted like a +dog the next. They are for ever flying for their lives. My idea is that +there is some fellow in hiding there, who is armed and desperate, and +who will fight to the death before he is taken." + +"But his food and drink?" + +"It's a roomy chest, sir, and he may have some provisions stowed away. +As to his drink, he had a friend among the crew upon the brig who saw +that he had what he needed." + +"You think, then, that the label asking people not to open the box was +simply written in his interest?" + +"Yes, sir, that is my idea. Have you any other way of explaining the +facts?" + +I had to confess that I had not. + +"The question is what are we to do?" I asked. + +"The man's a dangerous ruffian who sticks at nothing. I'm thinking it +wouldn't be a bad thing to put a rope round the chest and tow it +alongside for half an hour; then we could open it at our ease. Or if we +just tied the box up and kept him from getting any water maybe that +would do as well. Or the carpenter could put a coat of varnish over it +and stop all the blowholes." + +"Come, Allardyce," said I, angrily. "You don't seriously mean to say +that a whole ship's company are going to be terrorised by a single man +in a box. If he's there I'll engage to fetch him out!" I went to my room +and came back with my revolver in my hand. "Now, Allardyce," said I. "Do +you open the lock, and I'll stand on guard." + +"For God's sake, think what you are doing, sir," cried the mate. "Two +men have lost their lives over it, and the blood of one not yet dry upon +the carpet." + +"The more reason why we should revenge him." + +"Well, sir, at least let me call the carpenter. Three are better than +two, and he is a good stout man." + +He went off in search of him, and I was left alone with the striped +chest in the cabin. I don't think that I'm a nervous man, but I kept the +table between me and this solid old relic of the Spanish Main. In the +growing light of morning the red and white striping was beginning to +appear, and the curious scrolls and wreaths of metal and carving which +showed the loving pains which cunning craftsmen had expended upon it. +Presently the carpenter and the mate came back together, the former with +a hammer in his hand. + +"It's a bad business, this, sir," said he, shaking his head, as he +looked at the body of the mate. "And you think there's someone hiding in +the box?" + +"There's no doubt about it," said Allardyce, picking up the screwdriver +and setting his jaw like a man who needs to brace his courage. "I'll +drive the lock back if you will both stand by. If he rises let him have +it on the head with your hammer, carpenter! Shoot at once, sir, if he +raises his hand. Now!" + +He had knelt down in front of the striped chest, and passed the blade of +the tool under the lid. With a sharp snick the lock flew back. "Stand +by!" yelled the mate, and with a heave he threw open the massive top of +the box. As it swung up, we all three sprang back, I with my pistol +levelled, and the carpenter with the hammer above his head. Then, as +nothing happened, we each took a step forward and peeped in. The box +was empty. + +Not quite empty either, for in one corner was lying an old yellow +candlestick, elaborately engraved, which appeared to be as old as the +box itself. Its rich yellow tone and artistic shape suggested that it +was an object of value. For the rest there was nothing more weighty or +valuable than dust in the old striped treasure-chest. + +"Well, I'm blessed!" cried Allardyce, staring blankly into it. "Where +does the weight come in, then?" + +"Look at the thickness of the sides and look at the lid. Why, it's five +inches through. And see that great metal spring across it." + +"That's for holding the lid up," said the mate. "You see, it won't lean +back. What's that German printing on the inside?" + +"It means that it was made by Johann Rothstein of Augsburg, in 1606." + +"And a solid bit of work, too. But it doesn't throw much light on what +has passed, does it, Captain Barclay? That candlestick looks like gold. +We shall have something for our trouble after all." + +He leant forward to grasp it, and from that moment I have never doubted +as to the reality of inspiration, for on the instant I caught him by the +collar and pulled him straight again. It may have been some story of the +Middle Ages which had come back to my mind, or it may have been that my +eye had caught some red which was not that of rust upon the upper part +of the lock, but to him and to me it will always seem an inspiration, so +prompt and sudden was my action. + +"There's devilry here," said I. "Give me the crooked stick from the +corner." + +It was an ordinary walking-cane with a hooked top. I passed it over the +candlestick and gave it a pull. With a flash a row of polished steel +fangs shot out from below the upper lip, and the great striped chest +snapped at us like a wild animal. Clang came the huge lid into its +place, and the glasses on the swinging rack sang and tinkled with the +shock. The mate sat down on the edge of the table, and shivered like a +frightened horse. + +"You've saved my life, Captain Barclay!" said he. + +So this was the secret of the striped treasure-chest of old Don Ramirez +di Leyra, and this was how he preserved his ill-gotten gains from the +Terra Firma and the Province of Veraquas. Be the thief ever so cunning +he could not tell that golden candlestick from the other articles of +value, and the instant that he laid hand upon it the terrible spring was +unloosed and the murderous steel spikes were driven into his brain, +while the shock of the blow sent the victim backwards and enabled the +chest to automatically close itself. How many, I wondered, had fallen +victims to the ingenuity of the Mechanic of Augsburg. And as I thought +of the possible history of that grim striped chest my resolution was +very quickly taken. + +"Carpenter, bring three men and carry this on deck." + +"Going to throw it overboard, sir?" + +"Yes, Mr. Allardyce. I'm not superstitious as a rule, but there are some +things which are more than a sailor can be called upon to stand." + +"No wonder that brig made heavy weather, Captain Barclay, with such a +thing on board. The glass is dropping fast, sir, and we are only just in +time." + +So we did not even wait for the three sailors, but we carried it out, +the mate, the carpenter, and I, and we pushed it with our own hands over +the bulwarks. There was a white spout of water, and it was gone. There +it lies, the striped chest, a thousand fathoms deep, and if, as they +say, the sea will some day be dry land, I grieve for the man who finds +that old box and tries to penetrate into its secret. + + + + +VIII + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE "POLESTAR" + +(BEING AN EXTRACT FROM THE SINGULAR JOURNAL OF JOHN M'ALISTER RAY, +STUDENT OF MEDICINE.) + + +_September 11th._--Lat. 81 deg. 40' N.; long. 2 deg. E. Still lying-to amid +enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away to the north of us, +and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot be smaller than an +English county. To the right and left unbroken sheets extend to the +horizon. This morning the mate reported that there were signs of pack +ice to the southward. Should this form of sufficient thickness to bar +our return, we shall be in a position of danger, as the food, I hear, is +already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and the nights +are beginning to reappear. This morning I saw a star twinkling just over +the fore-yard, the first since the beginning of May. There is +considerable discontent among the crew, many of whom are anxious to get +back home to be in time for the herring season, when labour always +commands a high price upon the Scotch coast. As yet their displeasure is +only signified by sullen countenances and black looks, but I heard from +the second mate this afternoon that they contemplated sending a +deputation to the Captain to explain their grievance. I much doubt how +he will receive it, as he is a man of fierce temper, and very sensitive +about anything approaching to an infringement of his rights. I shall +venture after dinner to say a few words to him upon the subject. I have +always found that he will tolerate from me what he would resent from any +other member of the crew. Amsterdam Island, at the north-west corner of +Spitzbergen, is visible upon our starboard quarter--a rugged line of +volcanic rocks, intersected by white seams, which represent glaciers. It +is curious to think that at the present moment there is probably no +human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements in the south of +Greenland--a good nine hundred miles as the crow flies. A captain takes +a great responsibility upon himself when he risks his vessel under such +circumstances. No whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so +advanced a period of the year. + +9 P.M.--I have spoken to Captain Craigie, and though the result has been +hardly satisfactory, I am bound to say that he listened to what I had to +say very quietly and even deferentially. When I had finished he put on +that air of iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his +face, and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin +for some minutes. At first I feared that I had seriously offended him, +but he dispelled the idea by sitting down again, and putting his hand +upon my arm with a gesture which almost amounted to a caress. There was +a depth of tenderness too in his wild dark eyes which surprised me +considerably. "Look here, Doctor," he said, "I'm sorry I ever took +you--I am indeed--and I would give fifty pounds this minute to see you +standing safe upon the Dundee quay. It's hit or miss with me this time. +There are fish to the north of us. How dare you shake your head, sir, +when I tell you I saw them blowing from the mast-head?"--this in a +sudden burst of fury, though I was not conscious of having shown any +signs of doubt. "Two-and-twenty fish in as many minutes as I am a +living man, and not one under ten foot.[1] Now, doctor, do you think I +can leave the country when there is only one infernal strip of ice +between me and my fortune? If it came on to blow from the north +to-morrow we could fill the ship and be away before the frost could +catch us. If it came on to blow from the south--well, I suppose the men +are paid for risking their lives, and as for myself it matters but +little to me, for I have more to bind me to the other world than to this +one. I confess that I am sorry for _you_, though. I wish I had old Angus +Tait who was with me last voyage, for he was a man that would never be +missed, and you--you said once that you were engaged, did you not?" + +[Footnote 1: A whale is measured among whalers not by the length of its +body, but by the length of its whalebone.] + +"Yes," I answered, snapping the spring of the locket which hung from my +watch-chain, and holding up the little vignette of Flora. + +"Curse you!" he yelled, springing out of his seat, with his very beard +bristling with passion. "What is your happiness to me? What have I to do +with her that you must dangle her photograph before my eyes?" I almost +thought that he was about to strike me in the frenzy of his rage, but +with another imprecation he dashed open the door of the cabin and rushed +out upon deck, leaving me considerably astonished at his extraordinary +violence. It is the first time that he has ever shown me anything but +courtesy and kindness. I can hear him pacing excitedly up and down +overhead as I write these lines. + +I should like to give a sketch of the character of this man, but it +seems presumptuous to attempt such a thing upon paper, when the idea in +my own mind is at best a vague and uncertain one. Several times I have +thought that I grasped the clue which might explain it, but only to be +disappointed by his presenting himself in some new light which would +upset all my conclusions. It may be that no human eye but my own shall +ever rest upon these lines, yet as a psychological study I shall attempt +to leave some record of Captain Nicholas Craigie. + +A man's outer case generally gives some indication of the soul within. +The Captain is tall and well-formed, with dark, handsome face, and a +curious way of twitching his limbs, which may arise from nervousness, or +be simply an outcome of his excessive energy. His jaw and whole cast of +countenance is manly and resolute, but the eyes are the distinctive +feature of his face. They are of the very darkest hazel, bright and +eager, with a singular mixture of recklessness in their expression, and +of something else which I have sometimes thought was more allied with +horror than any other emotion. Generally the former predominated, but on +occasions, and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined, the +look of fear would spread and deepen until it imparted a new character +to his whole countenance. It is at these times that he is most subject +to tempestuous fits of anger, and he seems to be aware of it, for I have +known him lock himself up so that no one might approach him until his +dark hour was passed. He sleeps badly, and I have heard him shouting +during the night, but his cabin is some little distance from mine, and I +could never distinguish the words which he said. + +This is one phase of his character, and the most disagreeable one. It is +only through my close association with him, thrown together as we are +day after day, that I have observed it. Otherwise he is an agreeable +companion, well-read and entertaining, and as gallant a seaman as ever +trod a deck. I shall not easily forget the way in which he handled the +ship when we were caught by a gale among the loose ice at the beginning +of April. I have never seen him so cheerful, and even hilarious, as he +was that night, as he paced backwards and forwards upon the bridge amid +the flashing of the lightning and the howling of the wind. He has told +me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, +which is a sad thing for a young man to say; he cannot be much more than +thirty, though his hair and moustache are already slightly grizzled. +Some great sorrow must have overtaken him and blighted his whole life. +Perhaps I should be the same if I lost my Flora--God knows! I think if +it were not for her that I should care very little whether the wind blew +from the north or the south to-morrow. There, I hear him come down the +companion, and he has locked himself up in his room, which shows that he +is still in an unamiable mood. And so to bed, as old Pepys would say, +for the candle is burning down (we have to use them now since the nights +are closing in), and the steward has turned in, so there are no hopes of +another one. + +_September 12th._--Calm, clear day, and still lying in the same +position. What wind there is comes from the south-east, but it is very +slight. Captain is in a better humour, and apologised to me at +breakfast for his rudeness. He still looks somewhat distrait, however, +and retains that wild look in his eyes which in a Highlander would mean +that he was "fey"--at least so our chief engineer remarked to me, and he +has some reputation among the Celtic portion of our crew as a seer and +expounder of omens. + +It is strange that superstition should have obtained such mastery over +this hard-headed and practical race. I could not have believed to what +an extent it is carried had I not observed it for myself. We have had a +perfect epidemic of it this voyage, until I have felt inclined to serve +out rations of sedatives and nerve-tonics with the Saturday allowance of +grog. The first symptom of it was that shortly after leaving Shetland +the men at the wheel used to complain that they heard plaintive cries +and screams in the wake of the ship, as if something were following it +and were unable to overtake it. This fiction has been kept up during the +whole voyage, and on dark nights at the beginning of the seal-fishing it +was only with great difficulty that men could be induced to do their +spell. No doubt what they heard was either the creaking of the +rudder-chains, or the cry of some passing sea-bird. I have been fetched +out of bed several times to listen to it, but I need hardly say that I +was never able to distinguish anything unnatural. The men, however, are +so absurdly positive upon the subject that it is hopeless to argue with +them. I mentioned the matter to the Captain once, but to my surprise he +took it very gravely, and indeed appeared to be considerably disturbed +by what I told him. I should have thought that he at least would have +been above such vulgar delusions. + +All this disquisition upon superstition leads me up to the fact that +Mr. Manson, our second mate, saw a ghost last night--or, at least, says +that he did, which of course is the same thing. It is quite refreshing +to have some new topic of conversation after the eternal routine of +bears and whales which has served us for so many months. Manson swears +the ship is haunted, and that he would not stay in her a day if he had +any other place to go to. Indeed the fellow is honestly frightened, and +I had to give him some chloral and bromide of potassium this morning to +steady him down. He seemed quite indignant when I suggested that he had +been having an extra glass the night before, and I was obliged to pacify +him by keeping as grave a countenance as possible during his story, +which he certainly narrated in a very straightforward and matter-of-fact +way. + +"I was on the bridge," he said, "about four bells in the middle watch, +just when the night was at its darkest. There was a bit of a moon, but +the clouds were blowing across it so that you couldn't see far from the +ship. John M'Leod, the harpooner, came aft from the fo'c'sle-head and +reported a strange noise on the starboard bow. I went forrard and we +both heard it, sometimes like a bairn crying and sometimes like a wench +in pain. I've been seventeen years to the country and I never heard +seal, old or young, make a sound like that. As we were standing there on +the fo'c'sle-head the moon came out from behind a cloud, and we both saw +a sort of white figure moving across the ice field in the same direction +that we had heard the cries. We lost sight of it for a while, but it +came back on the port bow, and we could just make it out like a shadow +on the ice. I sent a hand aft for the rifles, and M'Leod and I went +down on to the pack, thinking that maybe it might be a bear. When we +got on the ice I lost sight of M'Leod, but I pushed on in the direction +where I could still hear the cries. I followed them for a mile or maybe +more, and then running round a hummock I came right on to the top of it +standing and waiting for me seemingly. I don't know what it was. It +wasn't a bear, anyway. It was tall and white and straight, and if it +wasn't a man nor a woman, I'll stake my davy it was something worse. I +made for the ship as hard as I could run, and precious glad I was to +find myself aboard. I signed articles to do my duty by the ship, and on +the ship I'll stay, but you don't catch me on the ice again after +sundown." + +That is his story, given as far as I can in his own words. I fancy what +he saw must, in spite of his denial, have been a young bear erect upon +its hind legs, an attitude which they often assume when alarmed. In the +uncertain light this would bear a resemblance to a human figure, +especially to a man whose nerves were already somewhat shaken. Whatever +it may have been, the occurrence is unfortunate, for it has produced a +most unpleasant effect upon the crew. Their looks are more sullen than +before, and their discontent more open. The double grievance of being +debarred from the herring fishing and of being detained in what they +choose to call a haunted vessel, may lead them to do something rash. +Even the harpooners, who are the oldest and steadiest among them, are +joining in the general agitation. + +Apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition, things are looking +rather more cheerful. The pack which was forming to the south of us has +partly cleared away, and the water is so warm as to lead me to believe +that we are lying in one of those branches of the gulf-stream which run +up between Greenland and Spitzbergen. There are numerous small Medusae +and sealemons about the ship, with abundance of shrimps, so that there +is every possibility of "fish" being sighted. Indeed one was seen +blowing about dinner-time, but in such a position that it was impossible +for the boats to follow it. + +_September 13th._--Had an interesting conversation with the chief mate, +Mr. Milne, upon the bridge. It seems that our captain is as great an +enigma to the seamen, and even to the owners of the vessel, as he has +been to me. Mr. Milne tells me that when the ship is paid off, upon +returning from a voyage, Captain Craigie disappears, and is not seen +again until the approach of another season, when he walks quietly into +the office of the company, and asks whether his services will be +required. He has no friend in Dundee, nor does any one pretend to be +acquainted with his early history. His position depends entirely upon +his skill as a seaman, and the name for courage and coolness which he +had earned in the capacity of mate, before being entrusted with a +separate command. The unanimous opinion seems to be that he is not a +Scotchman, and that his name is an assumed one. Mr. Milne thinks that he +has devoted himself to whaling simply for the reason that it is the most +dangerous occupation which he could select, and that he courts death in +every possible manner. He mentioned several instances of this, one of +which is rather curious, if true. It seems that on one occasion he did +not put in an appearance at the office, and a substitute had to be +selected in his place. That was at the time of the last Russian and +Turkish War. When he turned up again next spring he had a puckered wound +in the side of his neck which he used to endeavor to conceal with his +cravat. Whether the mate's inference that he had been engaged in the war +is true or not I cannot say. It was certainly a strange coincidence. + +The wind is veering round in an easterly direction, but is still very +slight. I think the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday. As far as +the eye can reach on every side there is one wide expanse of spotless +white, only broken by an occasional rift or the dark shadow of a +hummock. To the south there is the narrow lane of blue water which is +our sole means of escape, and which is closing up every day. The Captain +is taking a heavy responsibility upon himself. I hear that the tank of +potatoes has been finished, and even the biscuits are running short, but +he preserves the same impassable countenance, and spends the greater +part of the day at the crow's nest, sweeping the horizon with his glass. +His manner is very variable, and he seems to avoid my society, but there +has been no repetition of the violence which he showed the other night. + +7.30 P.M.--My deliberate opinion is that we are commanded by a madman. +Nothing else can account for the extraordinary vagaries of Captain +Craigie. It is fortunate that I have kept this journal of our voyage, as +it will serve to justify us in case we have to put him under any sort of +restraint, a step which I should only consent to as a last resource. +Curiously enough it was he himself who suggested lunacy and not mere +eccentricity as the secret of his strange conduct. He was standing upon +the bridge about an hour ago, peering as usual through his glass, while +I was walking up and down the quarter-deck. The majority of the men were +below at their tea, for the watches have not been regularly kept of +late. Tired of walking, I leaned against the bulwarks, and admired the +mellow glow cast by the sinking sun upon the great ice fields which +surround us. I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I had +fallen by a hoarse voice at my elbow, and starting round I found that +the Captain had descended and was standing by my side. He was staring +out over the ice with an expression in which horror, surprise, and +something approaching to joy were contending for the mastery. In spite +of the cold, great drops of perspiration were coursing down his +forehead, and he was evidently fearfully excited. His limbs twitched +like those of a man upon the verge of an epileptic fit, and the lines +about his mouth were drawn and hard. + +"Look!" he gasped, seizing me by the wrist, but still keeping his eyes +upon the distant ice, and moving his head slowly in a horizontal +direction, as if following some object which was moving across the field +of vision. "Look! There, man, there! Between the hummocks! Now coming +out from behind the far one! You see her--you _must_ see her! There +still! Flying from me, by God, flying from me--and gone!" + +He uttered the last two words in a whisper of concentrated agony which +shall never fade from my remembrance. Clinging to the ratlines he +endeavoured to climb up upon the top of the bulwarks as if in the hope +of obtaining a last glance at the departing object. His strength was +not equal to the attempt, however, and he staggered back against the +saloon skylights, where he leaned panting and exhausted. His face was so +livid that I expected him to become unconscious, so lost no time in +leading him down the companion, and stretching him upon one of the sofas +in the cabin. I then poured him out some brandy, which I held to his +lips, and which had a wonderful effect upon him, bringing the blood back +into his white face and steadying his poor shaking limbs. He raised +himself up upon his elbow, and looking round to see that we were alone, +he beckoned to me to come and sit beside him. + +"You saw it, didn't you?" he asked, still in the same subdued awesome +tone so foreign to the nature of the man. + +"No, I saw nothing." + +His head sank back again upon the cushions. "No, he wouldn't without the +glass," he murmured. "He couldn't. It was the glass that showed her to +me, and then the eyes of love--the eyes of love. I say, Doc, don't let +the steward in! He'll think I'm mad. Just bolt the door, will you!" + +I rose and did what he commanded. + +He lay quiet for a while, lost in thought apparently, and then raised +himself up upon his elbow again, and asked for some more brandy. + +"You don't think I am, do you Doc?" he asked, as I was putting the +bottle back into the after-locker. "Tell me now, as man to man, do you +think that I am mad?" + +"I think you have something on your mind," I answered, "which is +exciting you and doing you a good deal of harm." + +"Right there, lad!" he cried, his eyes sparkling from the effects of the +brandy. "Plenty on my mind--plenty! But I can work out the latitude and +the longitude, and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms. You +couldn't prove me mad in a court of law, could you, now?" It was curious +to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his +own sanity. + +"Perhaps not," I said; "but still I think you would be wise to get home +as soon as you can, and settle down to a quiet life for a while." + +"Get home, eh?" he muttered, with a sneer upon his face. "One word for +me and two for yourself, lad. Settle down with Flora--pretty little +Flora. Are bad dreams signs of madness?" + +"Sometimes," I answered. + +"What else? What would be the first symptoms?" + +"Pains in the head, noises in the ears, flashes before the eyes, +delusions----" + +"Ah! what about them?" he interrupted. "What would you call a delusion?" + +"Seeing a thing which is not there is a delusion." + +"But she _was_ there!" he groaned to himself. "She _was_ there!" and +rising, he unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps to +his own cabin, where I have no doubt that he will remain until to-morrow +morning. His system seems to have received a terrible shock, whatever it +may have been that he imagined himself to have seen. The man becomes a +greater mystery every day, though I fear that the solution which he has +himself suggested is the correct one, and that his reason is affected. I +do not think that a guilty conscience has anything to do with his +behaviour. The idea is a popular one among the officers, and, I +believe, the crew; but I have seen nothing to support it. He has not the +air of a guilty man, but of one who has had terrible usage at the hands +of fortune, and who should be regarded as a martyr rather than a +criminal. + +The wind is veering round to the south to-night. God help us if it +blocks that narrow pass which is our only road to safety! Situated as we +are on the edge of the main Arctic pack, or the "barrier" as it is +called by the whalers, any wind from the north has the effect of +shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape, while a wind +from the south blows up all the loose ice behind us and hems us in +between two packs. God help us, I say again! + +_September 14th._--Sunday, and a day of rest. My fears have been +confirmed, and the thin strip of blue water has disappeared from the +southward. Nothing but the great motionless ice fields around us, with +their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles. There is a deathly silence +over their wide expanse which is horrible. No lapping of the waves now, +no cries of seagulls or straining of sails, but one deep universal +silence in which the murmurs of the seamen, and the creak of their boots +upon the white shining deck, seem discordant and out of place. Our only +visitor was an Arctic fox, a rare animal upon the pack, though common +enough upon the land. He did not come near the ship, however, but after +surveying us from a distance fled rapidly across the ice. This was +curious conduct, as they generally know nothing of man, and being of an +inquisitive nature, become so familiar that they are easily captured. +Incredible as it may seem, even this little incident produced a bad +effect upon the crew. "Yon puir beastie kens mair, ay, an' sees mair nor +you nor me!" was the comment of one of the leading harpooners, and the +others nodded their acquiescence. It is vain to attempt to argue against +such puerile superstition. They have made up their minds that there is a +curse upon the ship, and nothing will ever persuade them to the +contrary. + +The Captain remained in seclusion all day except for about half an hour +in the afternoon, when he came out upon the quarter-deck. I observed +that he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the vision of yesterday +had appeared, and was quite prepared for another outburst, but none such +came. He did not seem to see me although I was standing close beside +him. Divine service was read as usual by the chief engineer. It is a +curious thing that in whaling vessels the Church of England Prayer-book +is always employed, although there is never a member of that Church +among either officers or crew. Our men are all Roman Catholics or +Presbyterians, the former predominating. Since a ritual is used which is +foreign to both, neither can complain that the other is preferred to +them, and they listen with all attention and devotion, so that the +system has something to recommend it. + +A glorious sunset, which made the great fields of ice look like a lake +of blood. I have never seen a finer and at the same time more weird +effect. Wind is veering round. If it will blow twenty-four hours from +the north all will yet be well. + +_September 15th._--To-day is Flora's birthday. Dear lass! it is well +that she cannot see her boy, as she used to call me, shut up among the +ice fields with a crazy captain and a few weeks' provisions. No doubt +she scans the shipping list in the _Scotsman_ every morning to see if we +are reported from Shetland. I have to set an example to the men and look +cheery and unconcerned; but God knows, my heart is very heavy at times. + +The thermometer is at nineteen Fahrenheit to-day. There is but little +wind, and what there is comes from an unfavourable quarter. Captain is +in an excellent humour; I think he imagines he has seen some other omen +or vision, poor fellow, during the night, for he came into my room early +in the morning, and stooping down over my bunk, whispered, "It wasn't a +delusion, Doc; it's all right!" After breakfast he asked me to find out +how much food was left, which the second mate and I proceeded to do. It +is even less than we had expected. Forward they have half a tank full of +biscuits, three barrels of salt meat, and a very limited supply of +coffee beans and sugar. In the after-hold and lockers there are a good +many luxuries, such as tinned salmon, soups, haricot mutton, etc., but +they will go a very short way among a crew of fifty men. There are two +barrels of flour in the store-room, and an unlimited supply of tobacco. +Altogether there is about enough to keep the men on half rations for +eighteen or twenty days--certainly not more. When we reported the state +of things to the Captain, he ordered all hands to be piped, and +addressed them from the quarter-deck. I never saw him to better +advantage. With his tall, well-knit figure, and dark animated face, he +seemed a man born to command, and he discussed the situation in a cool +sailor-like way which showed that while appreciating the danger he had +an eye for every loophole of escape. + +"My lads," he said, "no doubt you think I brought you into this fix, if +it is a fix, and maybe some of you feel bitter against me on account of +it. But you must remember that for many a season no ship that comes to +the country has brought in as much oil-money as the old _Polestar_, and +every one of you has had his share of it. You can leave your wives +behind you in comfort, while other poor fellows come back to find their +lasses on the parish. If you have to thank me for the one you have to +thank me for the other, and we may call it quits. We've tried a bold +venture before this and succeeded, so now that we've tried one and +failed we've no cause to cry out about it. If the worst comes to the +worst, we can make the land across the ice, and lay in a stock of seals +which will keep us alive until the spring. It won't come to that, +though, for you'll see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are +out. At present every man must go on half rations, share and share +alike, and no favour to any. Keep up your hearts and you'll pull through +this as you've pulled through many a danger before." These few simple +words of his had a wonderful effect upon the crew. His former +unpopularity was forgotten, and the old harpooner whom I have already +mentioned for his superstition, led off three cheers, which were +heartily joined in by all hands. + +_September 16th._--The wind has veered round to the north during the +night, and the ice shows some symptoms of opening out. The men are in +good humour in spite of the short allowance upon which they have been +placed. Steam is kept up in the engine-room, that there may be no delay +should an opportunity for escape present itself. The Captain is in +exuberant spirits, though he still retains that wild "fey" expression +which I have already remarked upon. This burst of cheerfulness puzzles +me more than his former gloom. I cannot understand it. I think I +mentioned in an early part of this journal that one of his oddities is +that he never permits any person to enter his cabin, but insists upon +making his own bed, such as it is, and performing every other office for +himself. To my surprise he handed me the key to-day and requested me to +go down there and take the time by his chronometer while he measured the +altitude of the sun at noon. It is a bare little room, containing a +washing-stand and a few books, but little else in the way of luxury, +except some pictures upon the walls. The majority of these are small +cheap oleographs, but there was one water-coloured sketch of the head of +a young lady which arrested my attention. It was evidently a portrait, +and not one of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors +particularly affect. No artist could have evolved from his own mind such +a curious mixture of character and weakness. The languid, dreamy eyes, +with their drooping lashes, and the broad, low brow, unruffled by +thought or care, were in strong contrast with the clean-cut, prominent +jaw, and the resolute set of the lower lip. Underneath it in one of the +corners was written, "M. B., aet. 19." That any one in the short space of +nineteen years of existence could develop such strength of will as was +stamped upon her face seemed to me at the time to be well-nigh +incredible. She must have been an extraordinary woman. Her features have +thrown such a glamour over me that, though I had but a fleeting glance +at them, I could, were I a draughtsman, reproduce them line for line +upon this page of the journal. I wonder what part she has played in our +Captain's life. He has hung her picture at the end of his berth, so that +his eyes continually rest upon it. Were he a less reserved man I should +make some remark upon the subject. Of the other things in his cabin +there was nothing worthy of mention--uniform coats, a camp-stool, small +looking-glass, tobacco-box, and numerous pipes, including an oriental +hookah--which, by the by, gives some colour to Mr. Milne's story about +his participation in the war, though the connection may seem rather a +distant one. + +11.20 P.M.--Captain just gone to bed after a long and interesting +conversation on general topics. When he chooses he can be a most +fascinating companion, being remarkably well-read, and having the power +of expressing his opinion forcibly without appearing to be dogmatic. I +hate to have my intellectual toes trod upon. He spoke about the nature +of the soul, and sketched out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon the +subject in a masterly manner. He seems to have a leaning for +metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras. In discussing them we +touched upon modern spiritualism, and I made some joking allusion to the +impostures of Slade, upon which, to my surprise, he warned me most +impressively against confusing the innocent with the guilty, and argued +that it would be as logical to brand Christianity as an error because +Judas, who professed that religion, was a villain. He shortly afterwards +bade me good-night and retired to his room. + +The wind is freshening up, and blows steadily from the north. The nights +are as dark now as they are in England. I hope to-morrow may set us free +from our frozen fetters. + +_September 17th._--The Bogie again. Thank Heaven that I have strong +nerves! The superstition of these poor fellows, and the circumstantial +accounts which they give, with the utmost earnestness and +self-conviction, would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways. +There are many versions of the matter, but the sum-total of them all is +that something uncanny has been flitting round the ship all night, and +that Sandie M'Donald of Peterhead and "lang" Peter Williamson of +Shetland saw it, as also did Mr. Milne on the bridge--so, having three +witnesses, they can make a better case of it than the second mate did. I +spoke to Milne after breakfast, and told him that he should be above +such nonsense, and that as an officer he ought to set the men a better +example. He shook his weather-beaten head ominously, but answered with +characteristic caution, "Mebbe, aye, mebbe na, Doctor," he said, "I +didna ca' it a ghaist. I canna' say I preen my faith in sea-bogles an' +the like, though there's a mony as claims to ha' seen a' that and waur. +I'm no easy feared, but maybe your ain bluid would run a bit cauld, mun, +if instead o' speerin' aboot it in daylicht ye were wi' me last night, +an' seed an awfu' like shape, white an' gruesome, whiles here, whiles +there, an' it greetin' an' ca'ing in the darkness like a bit lambie that +hae lost its mither. Ye would na' be sae ready to put it a' doon to auld +wives' clavers then, I'm thinkin'." I saw it was hopeless to reason with +him, so contented myself with begging him as a personal favour to call +me up the next time the spectre appeared--a request to which he acceded +with many ejaculations expressive of his hopes that such an opportunity +might never arise. + +As I had hoped, the white desert behind us has become broken by many +thin streaks of water which intersect it in all directions. Our latitude +to-day was 80 deg. 52' N., which shows that there is a strong southerly +drift upon the pack. Should the wind continue favourable it will break +up as rapidly as it formed. At present we can do nothing but smoke and +wait and hope for the best. I am rapidly becoming a fatalist. When +dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice a man can be nothing +else. Perhaps it was the wind and sand of the Arabian deserts which gave +the minds of the original followers of Mahomet their tendency to bow to +kismet. + +These spectral alarms have a very bad effect upon the Captain. I feared +that it might excite his sensitive mind, and endeavoured to conceal the +absurd story from him, but unfortunately he overheard one of the men +making an allusion to it, and insisted upon being informed about it. As +I had expected, it brought out all his latent lunacy in an exaggerated +form. I can hardly believe that this is the same man who discoursed +philosophy last night with the most critical acumen and coolest +judgment. He is pacing backwards and forwards upon the quarter-deck like +a caged tiger, stopping now and again to throw out his hands with a +yearning gesture, and stare impatiently out over the ice. He keeps up a +continual mutter to himself, and once he called out, "But a little time, +love--but a little time!" Poor fellow, it is sad to see a gallant seaman +and accomplished gentleman reduced to such a pass, and to think that +imagination and delusion can cow a mind to which real danger was but the +salt of life. Was ever a man in such a position as I, between a demented +captain and a ghost-seeing mate? I sometimes think I am the only really +sane man aboard the vessel--except perhaps the second engineer, who is a +kind of ruminant, and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red +Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools. + +The ice is still opening rapidly, and there is every probability of our +being able to make a start to-morrow morning. They will think I am +inventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have +befallen me. + +12 P.M.--I have been a good deal startled, though I feel steadier now, +thanks to a stiff glass of brandy. I am hardly myself yet, however, as +this handwriting will testify. The fact is, that I have gone through a +very strange experience, and am beginning to doubt whether I was +justified in branding every one on board as madmen because they +professed to have seen things which did not seem reasonable to my +understanding. Pshaw! I am a fool to let such a trifle unnerve me; and +yet, coming as it does after all these alarms, it has an additional +significance, for I cannot doubt either Mr. Manson's story or that of +the mate, now that I have experienced that which I used formerly to +scoff at. + +After all it was nothing very alarming--a mere sound, and that was all. +I cannot expect that any one reading this, if any one should read it, +will sympathise with my feelings, or realise the effect which it +produced upon me at the time. Supper was over, and I had gone on deck to +have a quiet pipe before turning in. The night was very dark--so dark +that, standing under the quarter-boat, I was unable to see the officer +upon the bridge. I think I have already mentioned the extraordinary +silence which prevails in these frozen seas. In other parts of the +world, be they ever so barren, there is some slight vibration of the +air--some faint hum, be it from the distant haunts of men, or from the +leaves of the trees, of the wings of the birds, or even the faint rustle +of the grass that covers the ground. One may not actively perceive the +sound, and yet if it were withdrawn it would be missed. It is only here +in these Arctic seas that stark, unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself +upon you in all its gruesome reality. You find your tympanum straining +to catch some little murmur, and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental +sound within the vessel. In this state I was leaning against the +bulwarks when there arose from the ice almost directly underneath me a +cry, sharp and shrill, upon the silent air of the night, beginning, as +it seemed to me, at a note such as prima donna never reached, and +mounting from that ever higher and higher until it culminated in a long +wail of agony, which might have been the last cry of a lost soul. The +ghastly scream is still ringing in my ears. Grief, unutterable grief, +seemed to be expressed in it, and a great longing, and yet through it +all there was an occasional wild note of exultation. It shrilled out +from close beside me, and yet as I glared into the darkness I could +discern nothing. I waited some little time, but without hearing any +repetition of the sound, so I came below, more shaken than I have ever +been in my life before. As I came down the companion I met Mr. Milne +coming up to relieve the watch. "Weel, Doctor," he said, "maybe that's +auld wives' clavers tae? Did ye no hear it skirling? Maybe that's a +supersteetion? What d'ye think o't noo?" I was obliged to apologise to +the honest fellow, and acknowledge that I was as puzzled by it as he +was. Perhaps to-morrow things may look different. At present I dare +hardly write all that I think. Reading it again in days to come, when I +have shaken off all these associations, I should despise myself for +having been so weak. + +_September 18th._--Passed a restless and uneasy night, still haunted by +that strange sound. The Captain does not look as if he had had much +repose either, for his face is haggard and his eyes blood-shot. I have +not told him of my adventure of last night, nor shall I. He is already +restless and excited, standing up, sitting down, and apparently utterly +unable to keep still. + +A fine lead appeared in the pack this morning, as I had expected, and we +were able to cast off our ice-anchor, and steam about twelve miles in a +west-sou'-westerly direction. We were then brought to a halt by a great +floe as massive as any which we have left behind us. It bars our +progress completely, so we can do nothing but anchor again and wait +until it breaks up, which it will probably do within twenty-four hours, +if the wind holds. Several bladder-nosed seals were seen swimming in the +water, and one was shot, an immense creature more than eleven feet long. +They are fierce, pugnacious animals, and are said to be more than a +match for a bear. Fortunately they are slow and clumsy in their +movements, so that there is little danger in attacking them upon the +ice. + +The Captain evidently does not think we have seen the last of our +troubles, though why he should take a gloomy view of the situation is +more than I can fathom, since every one else on board considers that we +have had a miraculous escape, and are sure now to reach the open sea. + +"I suppose you think it's all right now, Doctor?" he said, as we sat +together after dinner. + +"I hope so," I answered. + +"We mustn't be too sure--and yet no doubt you are right. We'll all be in +the arms of our own true loves before long, lad, won't we? But we +mustn't be too sure--we mustn't be too sure." + +He sat silent a little, swinging his leg thoughtfully backward and +forwards. "Look here," he continued; "it's a dangerous place this, even +at its best--a treacherous, dangerous place. I have known men cut off +very suddenly in a land like this. A slip would do it sometimes--a +single slip, and down you go through a crack, and only a bubble on the +green water to show where it was that you sank. It's a queer thing," he +continued with a nervous laugh, "but all the years I've been in this +country I never once thought of making a will--not that I have anything +to leave in particular, but still when a man is exposed to danger he +should have everything arranged and ready--don't you think so?" + +"Certainly," I answered, wondering what on earth he was driving at. + +"He feels better for knowing it's all settled," he went on. "Now if +anything should ever befall me, I hope that you will look after things +for me. There is very little in the cabin, but such as it is I should +like it to be sold, and the money divided in the same proportion as the +oil-money among the crew. The chronometer I wish you to keep yourself as +some slight remembrance of our voyage. Of course all this is a mere +precaution, but I thought I would take the opportunity of speaking to +you about it. I suppose I might rely upon you if there were any +necessity?" + +"Most assuredly," I answered; "and since you are taking this step, I may +as well----" + +"You! you!" he interrupted. "_You're_ all right. What the devil is the +matter with _you_? There, I didn't mean to be peppery, but I don't like +to hear a young fellow, that has hardly begun life, speculating about +death. Go up on deck and get some fresh air into your lungs instead of +talking nonsense in the cabin, and encouraging me to do the same." + +The more I think of this conversation of ours the less do I like it. Why +should the man be settling his affairs at the very time when we seem to +be emerging from all danger? There must be some method in his madness. +Can it be that he contemplates suicide? I remember that upon one +occasion he spoke in a deeply reverent manner of the heinousness of the +crime of self-destruction. I shall keep my eye upon him, however, and +though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his cabin, I shall at least +make a point of remaining on deck as long as he stays up. + +Mr. Milne pooh-poohs my fears, and says it is only the "skipper's little +way." He himself takes a very rosy view of the situation. According to +him we shall be out of the ice by the day after to-morrow, pass Jan +Meyen two days after that, and sight Shetland in little more than a +week. I hope he may not be too sanguine. His opinion may be fairly +balanced against the gloomy precautions of the Captain, for he is an old +and experienced seaman, and weighs his words well before uttering them. + + * * * * * + +The long-impending catastrophe has come at last. I hardly know what to +write about it. The Captain is gone. He may come back to us again alive, +but I fear me--I fear me. It is now seven o'clock of the morning of the +19th of September. I have spent the whole night traversing the great +ice-floe in front of us with a party of seamen in the hope of coming +upon some trace of him, but in vain. I shall try to give some account of +the circumstances which attended upon his disappearance. Should any one +ever chance to read the words which I put down, I trust they will +remember that I do not write from conjecture or from hearsay, but that +I, a sane and educated man, am describing accurately what actually +occurred before my very eyes. My inferences are my own, but I shall be +answerable for the facts. + +The Captain remained in excellent spirits after the conversation which I +have recorded. He appeared to be nervous and impatient, however, +frequently changing his position, and moving his limbs in an aimless +choreic way which is characteristic of him at times. In a quarter of an +hour he went upon deck seven times, only to descend after a few hurried +paces. I followed him each time, for there was something about his face +which confirmed my resolution of not letting him out of my sight. He +seemed to observe the effect which his movements had produced, for he +endeavoured by an over-done hilarity, laughing boisterously at the very +smallest of jokes, to quiet my apprehensions. + +After supper he went on to the poop once more, and I with him. The night +was dark and very still, save for the melancholy soughing of the wind +among the spars. A thick cloud was coming up from the north-west, and +the ragged tentacles which it threw out in front of it were drifting +across the face of the moon, which only shone now and again through a +rift in the wrack. The Captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards, and +then seeing me still dogging him, he came across and hinted that he +thought I should be better below--which, I need hardly say, had the +effect of strengthening my resolution to remain on deck. + +I think he forgot about my presence after this, for he stood silently +leaning over the taffrail and peering out across the great desert of +snow, part of which lay in shadow, while part glittered mistily in the +moonlight. Several times I could see by his movements that he was +referring to his watch, and once he muttered a short sentence, of which +I could only catch the one word "ready." I confess to having felt an +eerie feeling creeping over me as I watched the loom of his tall figure +through the darkness, and noted how completely he fulfilled the idea of +a man who is keeping a tryst. A tryst with whom? Some vague perception +began to dawn upon me as I pieced one fact with another, but I was +utterly unprepared for the sequel. + +By the sudden intensity of his attitude I felt that he saw something. I +crept up behind him. He was staring with an eager questioning gaze at +what seemed to be a wreath of mist, blown swiftly in a line with the +ship. It was a dim nebulous body, devoid of shape, sometimes more, +sometimes less apparent, as the light fell on it. The moon was dimmed in +its brilliancy at the moment by a canopy of thinnest cloud, like the +coating of an anemone. + +"Coming, lass, coming," cried the skipper, in a voice of unfathomable +tenderness and compassion, like one who soothes a beloved one by some +favour long looked for, and as pleasant to bestow as to receive. + +What followed happened in an instant. I had no power to interfere. He +gave one spring to the top of the bulwarks, and another which took him +on to the ice, almost to the feet of the pale misty figure. He held out +his hands as if to clasp it, and so ran into the darkness with +outstretched arms and loving words. I still stood rigid and motionless, +straining my eyes after his retreating form, until his voice died away +in the distance. I never thought to see him again, but at that moment +the moon shone out brilliantly through a chink in the cloudy heaven, and +illuminated the great field of ice. Then I saw his dark figure already a +very long way off, running with prodigious speed across the frozen +plain. That was the last glimpse which we caught of him--perhaps the +last we ever shall. A party was organised to follow him, and I +accompanied them, but the men's hearts were not in the work, and nothing +was found. Another will be formed within a few hours. I can hardly +believe I have not been dreaming, or suffering from some hideous +nightmare, as I write these things down. + +7.30 P.M.--Just returned dead beat and utterly tired out from a second +unsuccessful search for the Captain. The floe is of enormous extent, for +though we have traversed at least twenty miles of its surface, there has +been no sign of its coming to an end. The frost has been so severe of +late that the overlying snow is frozen as hard as granite, otherwise we +might have had the foot-steps to guide us. The crew are anxious that we +should cast off and steam round the floe and so to the southward, for +the ice has opened up during the night, and the sea is visible upon the +horizon. They argue that Captain Craigie is certainly dead, and that we +are all risking our lives to no purpose by remaining when we have an +opportunity of escape. Mr. Milne and I have had the greatest difficulty +in persuading them to wait until to-morrow night, and have been +compelled to promise that we will not under any circumstances delay our +departure longer than that. We propose therefore to take a few hours' +sleep, and then to start upon a final search. + +_September 20th, evening._--I crossed the ice this morning with a party +of men exploring the southern part of the floe, while Mr. Milne went off +in a northerly direction. We pushed on for ten or twelve miles without +seeing a trace of any living thing except a single bird, which fluttered +a great way over our heads, and which by its flight I should judge to +have been a falcon. The southern extremity of the ice field tapered away +into a long narrow spit which projected out into the sea. When we came +to the base of this promontory, the men halted, but I begged them to +continue to the extreme end of it, that we might have the satisfaction +of knowing that no possible chance had been neglected. + +We had hardly gone a hundred yards before M'Donald of Peterhead cried +out that he saw something in front of us, and began to run. We all got a +glimpse of it and ran too. At first it was only a vague darkness against +the white ice, but as we raced along together it took the shape of a +man, and eventually of the man of whom we were in search. He was lying +face downwards upon a frozen bank. Many little crystals of ice and +feathers of snow had drifted on to him as he lay, and sparkled upon his +dark seaman's jacket. As we came up some wandering puff of wind caught +these tiny flakes in its vortex, and they whirled up into the air, +partially descended again, and then, caught once more in the current, +sped rapidly away in the direction of the sea. To my eyes it seemed but +a snow-drift, but many of my companions averred that it started up in +the shape of a woman, stooped over the corpse and kissed it, and then +hurried away across the floe. I have learned never to ridicule any man's +opinion, however strange it may seem. Sure it is that Captain Nicholas +Craigie had met with no painful end, for there was a bright smile upon +his blue pinched features, and his hands were still outstretched as +though grasping at the strange visitor which had summoned him away into +the dim world that lies beyond the grave. + +We buried him the same afternoon with the ship's ensign around him, and +a thirty-two pound shot at his feet. I read the burial service, while +the rough sailors wept like children, for there were many who owed much +to his kind heart, and who showed now the affection which his strange +ways had repelled during his lifetime. He went off the grating with a +dull, sullen splash, and as I looked into the green water I saw him go +down, down, down until he was but a little flickering patch of white +hanging upon the outskirts of eternal darkness. Then even that faded +away, and he was gone. There he shall lie, with his secret and his +sorrows and his mystery all still buried in his breast, until that great +day when the sea shall give up its dead, and Nicholas Craigie come out +from among the ice with the smile upon his face, and his stiffened arms +outstretched in greeting. I pray that his lot may be a happier one in +that life than it has been in this. + +I shall not continue my journal. Our road to home lies plain and clear +before us, and the great ice field will soon be but a remembrance of the +past. It will be some time before I get over the shock produced by +recent events. When I began this record of our voyage I little thought +of how I should be compelled to finish it. I am writing these final +words in the lonely cabin, still starting at times and fancying I hear +the quick nervous step of the dead man upon the deck above me. I entered +his cabin to-night, as was my duty, to make a list of his effects in +order that they might be entered in the official log. All was as it had +been upon my previous visit, save that the picture which I have +described as having hung at the end of his bed had been cut out of its +frame, as with a knife, and was gone. With this last link in a strange +chain of evidence I close my diary of the voyage of the _Polestar_. + + * * * * * + +Note by Dr. John M'Alister Ray, senior.--I have read over the strange +events connected with the death of the Captain of the _Polestar_, as +narrated in the journal of my son. That everything occurred exactly as +he describes it I have the fullest confidence, and, indeed, the most +positive certainty, for I know him to be a strong-nerved and +unimaginative man, with the strictest regard for veracity. Still, the +story is, on the face of it, so vague and so improbable, that I was long +opposed to its publication. Within the last few days, however, I have +had independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light upon +it. I had run down to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the British +Medical Association, when I chanced to come across Dr. P.----, an old +college chum of mine, now practising at Saltash, in Devonshire. Upon my +telling him of this experience of my son's, he declared to me that he +was familiar with the man, and proceeded, to my no small surprise, to +give me a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that +given in the journal, except that he depicted him as a younger man. +According to his account, he had been engaged to a young lady of +singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast. During his absence at +sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror. + + + + +IX + +THE FIEND OF THE COOPERAGE + + +It was no easy matter to bring the _Gamecock_ up to the island, for the +river had swept down so much silt that the banks extended for many miles +out into the Atlantic. The coast was hardly to be seen when the first +white curl of the breakers warned us of our danger, and from there +onwards we made our way very carefully under mainsail and jib, keeping +the broken water well to the left, as is indicated on the chart. More +than once her bottom touched the sand (we were drawing something under +six feet at the time), but we had always way enough and luck enough to +carry us through. Finally, the water shoaled, very rapidly, but they had +sent a canoe from the factory, and the Krooboy pilot brought us within +two hundred yards of the island. Here we dropped our anchor, for the +gestures of the negro indicated that we could not hope to get any +farther. The blue of the sea had changed to the brown of the river, and, +even under the shelter of the island, the current was singing and +swirling round our bows. The stream appeared to be in spate, for it was +over the roots of the palm trees, and everywhere upon its muddy, greasy +surface we could see logs of wood and debris of all sorts which had been +carried down by the flood. + +When I had assured myself that we swung securely at our moorings, I +thought it best to begin watering at once, for the place looked as if it +reeked with fever. The heavy river, the muddy, shining banks, the bright +poisonous green of the jungle, the moist steam in the air, they were all +so many danger signals to one who could read them. I sent the long-boat +off, therefore, with two large hogsheads, which should be sufficient to +last us until we made St. Paul de Loanda. For my own part I took the +dinghy and rowed for the island, for I could see the Union Jack +fluttering above the palms to mark the position of Armitage and Wilson's +trading station. + +When I had cleared the grove, I could see the place, a long, low, +whitewashed building, with a deep verandah in front, and an immense pile +of palm oil barrels heaped upon either flank of it. A row of surf boats +and canoes lay along the beach, and a single small jetty projected into +the river. Two men in white suits with red cummerbunds round their +waists were waiting upon the end of it to receive me. One was a large +portly fellow with a greyish beard. The other was slender and tall, with +a pale pinched face, which was half concealed by a great mushroom-shaped +hat. + +"Very glad to see you," said the latter, cordially. "I am Walker, the +agent of Armitage and Wilson. Let me introduce Dr. Severall of the same +company. It is not often we see a private yacht in these parts." + +"She's the _Gamecock_," I explained. "I'm owner and captain--Meldrum is +the name." + +"Exploring?" he asked. + +"I'm a lepidopterist--a butterfly-catcher. I've been doing the west +coast from Senegal downwards." + +"Good sport?" asked the Doctor, turning a slow yellow-shot eye upon me. + +"I have forty cases full. We came in here to water, and also to see what +you have in my line." + +These introductions and explanations had filled up the time whilst my +two Krooboys were making the dinghy fast. Then I walked down the jetty +with one of my new acquaintances upon either side, each plying me with +questions, for they had seen no white man for months. + +"What do we do?" said the Doctor, when I had begun asking questions in +my turn. "Our business keeps us pretty busy, and in our leisure time we +talk politics." + +"Yes, by the special mercy of Providence Severall is a rank Radical, and +I am a good stiff Unionist, and we talk Home Rule for two solid hours +every evening." + +"And drink quinine cocktails," said the Doctor. "We're both pretty well +salted now, but our normal temperature was about 103 last year. I +shouldn't, as an impartial adviser, recommend you to stay here very long +unless you are collecting bacilli as well as butterflies. The mouth of +the Ogowai River will never develop into a health resort." + +There is nothing finer than the way in which these outlying pickets of +civilisation distil a grim humour out of their desolate situation, and +turn not only a bold, but a laughing face upon the chances which their +lives may bring. Everywhere from Sierra Leone downwards I had found the +same reeking swamps, the same isolated fever-racked communities and the +same bad jokes. There is something approaching to the divine in that +power of man to rise above his conditions and to use his mind for the +purpose of mocking at the miseries of his body. + +"Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, Captain Meldrum," said the +Doctor. "Walker has gone in to see about it; he's the housekeeper this +week. Meanwhile, if you like, we'll stroll round and I'll show you the +sights of the island." + +The sun had already sunk beneath the line of palm trees, and the great +arch of the heaven above our head was like the inside of a huge shell, +shimmering with dainty pinks and delicate iridescence. No one who has +not lived in a land where the weight and heat of a napkin become +intolerable upon the knees can imagine the blessed relief which the +coolness of evening brings along with it. In this sweeter and purer air +the Doctor and I walked round the little island, he pointing out the +stores, and explaining the routine of his work. + +"There's a certain romance about the place," said he, in answer to some +remark of mine about the dullness of their lives. "We are living here +just upon the edge of the great unknown. Up there," he continued, +pointing to the north-east, "Du Chaillu penetrated, and found the home +of the gorilla. That is the Gaboon country--the land of the great apes. +In this direction," pointing to the south-east, "no one has been very +far. The land which is drained by this river is practically unknown to +Europeans. Every log which is carried past us by the current has come +from an undiscovered country. I've often wished that I was a better +botanist when I have seen the singular orchids and curious-looking +plants which have been cast up on the eastern end of the island." + +The place which the Doctor indicated was a sloping brown beach, freely +littered with the flotsam of the stream. At each end was a curved point, +like a little natural breakwater, so that a small shallow bay was left +between. This was full of floating vegetation, with a single huge +splintered tree lying stranded in the middle of it, the current rippling +against its high black side. + +"These are all from up country," said the Doctor. "They get caught in +our little bay, and then when some extra freshet comes they are washed +out again and carried out to sea." + +"What is the tree?" I asked. + +"Oh, some kind of teak, I should imagine, but pretty rotten by the look +of it. We get all sorts of big hardwood trees floating past here, to say +nothing of the palms. Just come in here, will you?" + +He led the way into a long building with an immense quantity of barrel +staves and iron hoops littered about in it. + +"This is our cooperage," said he. "We have the staves sent out in +bundles, and we put them together ourselves. Now, you don't see anything +particularly sinister about this building, do you?" + +I looked round at the high corrugated iron roof, the white wooden walls, +and the earthen floor. In one corner lay a mattress and a blanket. + +"I see nothing very alarming," said I. + +"And yet there's something out of the common, too," he remarked. "You +see that bed? Well, I intend to sleep there to-night. I don't want to +buck, but I think it's a bit of a test for nerve." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, there have been some funny goings on. You were talking about the +monotony of our lives, but I assure you that they are sometimes quite as +exciting as we wish them to be. You'd better come back to the house now, +for after sundown we begin to get the fever-fog up from the marshes. +There, you can see it coming across the river." + +I looked and saw long tentacles of white vapour writhing out from among +the thick green underwood and crawling at us over the broad swirling +surface of the brown river. At the same time the air turned suddenly +dank and cold. + +"There's the dinner gong," said the Doctor. "If this matter interests +you I'll tell you about it afterwards." + +It did interest me very much, for there was something earnest and +subdued in his manner as he stood in the empty cooperage, which appealed +very forcibly to my imagination. He was a big, bluff, hearty man, this +Doctor, and yet I had detected a curious expression in his eyes as he +glanced about him--an expression which I would not describe as one of +fear, but rather of a man who is alert and on his guard. + +"By the way," said I, as we returned to the house, "you have shown me +the huts of a good many of your native assistants, but I have not seen +any of the natives themselves." + +"They sleep in the hulk over yonder," the Doctor answered, pointing over +to one of the banks. + +"Indeed. I should not have thought in that case that they would need the +huts." + +"Oh, they used the huts until quite recently. We've put them on the hulk +until they recover their confidence a little. They were all half mad +with fright, so we let them go, and nobody sleeps on the island except +Walker and myself." + +"What frightened them?" I asked. + +"Well, that brings us back to the same story. I suppose Walker has no +objection to your hearing all about it. I don't know why we should make +any secret about it, though it is certainly a pretty bad business." + +He made no further allusion to it during the excellent dinner which had +been prepared in my honour. It appeared that no sooner had the little +white topsail of the _Gamecock_ shown round Cape Lopez than these kind +fellows had begun to prepare their famous pepper-pot--which is the +pungent stew peculiar to the West Coast--and to boil their yams and +sweet potatoes. We sat down to as good a native dinner as one could +wish, served by a smart Sierra Leone waiting boy. I was just remarking +to myself that he at least had not shared in the general fright when, +having laid the dessert and wine upon the table, he raised his hand to +his turban. + +"Anyting else I do, Massa Walker?" he asked. + +"No, I think that is all right, Moussa," my host answered. "I am not +feeling very well to-night, though, and I should much prefer if you +would stay on the island." + +I saw a struggle between his fears and his duty upon the swarthy face of +the African. His skin had turned of that livid purplish tint which +stands for pallor in a negro, and his eyes looked furtively about him. + +"No, no, Massa Walker," he cried, at last, "you better come to the hulk +with me, sah. Look after you much better in the hulk, sah!" + +"That won't do, Moussa. White men don't run away from the posts where +they are placed." + +Again I saw the passionate struggle in the negro's face, and again his +fears prevailed. + +"No use, Massa Walker, sah!" he cried. "S'elp me, I can't do it. If it +was yesterday or if it was to-morrow, but this is the third night, sah, +an' it's more than I can face." + +Walker shrugged his shoulders. + +"Off with you then!" said he. "When the mail-boat comes you can get back +to Sierra Leone, for I'll have no servant who deserts me when I need him +most. I suppose this is all mystery to you, or has the Doctor told you, +Captain Meldrum?" + +"I showed Captain Meldrum the cooperage, but I did not tell him +anything," said Dr. Severall. "You're looking bad, Walker," he added, +glancing at his companion. "You have a strong touch coming on you." + +"Yes, I've had the shivers all day, and now my head is like a +cannon-ball. I took ten grains of quinine, and my ears are singing like +a kettle. But I want to sleep with you in the cooperage to-night." + +"No, no, my dear chap. I won't hear of such a thing. You must get to bed +at once, and I am sure Meldrum will excuse you. I shall sleep in the +cooperage, and I promise you that I'll be round with your medicine +before breakfast." + +It was evident that Walker had been struck by one of those sudden and +violent attacks of remittent fever which are the curse of the West +Coast. His sallow cheeks were flushed and his eyes shining with fever, +and suddenly as he sat there he began to croon out a song in the +high-pitched voice of delirium. + +"Come, come, we must get you to bed, old chap," said the Doctor, and +with my aid he led his friend into his bedroom. There we undressed him +and presently, after taking a strong sedative, he settled down into a +deep slumber. + +"He's right for the night," said the Doctor, as we sat down and filled +our glasses once more. "Sometimes it is my turn and sometimes his, but, +fortunately, we have never been down together. I should have been sorry +to be out of it to-night, for I have a little mystery to unravel. I told +you that I intended to sleep in the cooperage." + +"Yes, you said so." + +"When I said sleep I meant watch, for there will be no sleep for me. +We've had such a scare here that no native will stay after sundown, and +I mean to find out to-night what the cause of it all may be. It has +always been the custom for a native watchman to sleep in the cooperage, +to prevent the barrel hoops being stolen. Well, six days ago the fellow +who slept there disappeared, and we have never seen a trace of him +since. It was certainly singular, for no canoe had been taken, and these +waters are too full of crocodiles for any man to swim to shore. What +became of the fellow, or how he could have left the island is a complete +mystery. Walker and I were merely surprised, but the blacks were badly +scared and queer Voodoo tales began to get about amongst them. But the +real stampede broke out three nights ago, when the new watchman in the +cooperage also disappeared." + +"What became of him?" I asked. + +"Well, we not only don't know, but we can't even give a guess which +would fit the facts. The niggers swear there is a fiend in the cooperage +who claims a man every third night. They wouldn't stay in the +island--nothing could persuade them. Even Moussa, who is a faithful boy +enough, would, as you have seen, leave his master in a fever rather than +remain for the night. If we are to continue to run this place we must +reassure our niggers, and I don't know any better way of doing it than +by putting in a night there myself. This is the third night, you see, so +I suppose the thing is due, whatever it may be." + +"Have you no clue?" I asked. "Was there no mark of violence, no +blood-stain, no foot-prints, nothing to give you a hint as to what kind +of danger you may have to meet?" + +"Absolutely nothing. The man was gone and that was all. Last time it was +old Ali, who has been wharf-tender here since the place was started. He +was always as steady as a rock, and nothing but foul play would take him +from his work." + +"Well," said I, "I really don't think that this is a one-man job. Your +friend is full of laudanum, and come what might he can be of no +assistance to you. You must let me stay and put in a night with you at +the cooperage." + +"Well, now, that's very good of you, Meldrum," said he heartily, shaking +my hand across the table. "It's not a thing that I should have ventured +to propose, for it is asking a good deal of a casual visitor, but if you +really mean it----" + +"Certainly I mean it. If you will excuse me a moment, I will hail the +_Gamecock_ and let them know that they need not expect me." + +As we came back from the other end of the little jetty we were both +struck by the appearance of the night. A huge blue-black pile of clouds +had built itself up upon the landward side, and the wind came from it in +little hot pants, which beat upon our faces like the draught from a +blast furnace. Under the jetty the river was swirling and hissing, +tossing little white spurts of spray over the planking. + +"Confound it!" said Doctor Severall. "We are likely to have a flood on +the top of all our troubles. That rise in the river means heavy rain +up-country, and when it once begins you never know how far it will go. +We've had the island nearly covered before now. Well, we'll just go and +see that Walker is comfortable, and then if you like we'll settle down +in our quarters." + +The sick man was sunk in a profound slumber, and we left him with some +crushed limes in a glass beside him in case he should awake with the +thirst of fever upon him. Then we made our way through the unnatural +gloom thrown by that menacing cloud. The river had risen so high that +the little bay which I have described at the end of the island had +become almost obliterated through the submerging of its flanking +peninsula. The great raft of driftwood, with the huge black tree in the +middle, was swaying up and down in the swollen current. + +"That's one good thing a flood will do for us," said the Doctor. "It +carries away all the vegetable stuff which is brought down on to the +east end of the island. It came down with the freshet the other day, and +here it will stay until a flood sweeps it out into the main stream. +Well, here's our room, and here are some books and here is my tobacco +pouch, and we must try and put in the night as best we may." + +By the light of our single lantern the great lonely room looked very +gaunt and dreary. Save for the piles of staves and heaps of hoops there +was absolutely nothing in it, with the exception of the mattress for the +Doctor, which had been laid in the corner. We made a couple of seats and +a table out of the staves, and settled down together for a long vigil. +Severall had brought a revolver for me and was himself armed with a +double-barrelled shot-gun. We loaded our weapons and laid them cocked +within reach of our hands. The little circle of light and the black +shadows arching over us were so melancholy that he went off to the +house, and returned with two candles. One side of the cooperage was +pierced, however, by several open windows, and it was only by screening +our lights behind staves that we could prevent them from being +extinguished. + +The Doctor, who appeared to be a man of iron nerves, had settled down to +a book, but I observed that every now and then he laid it upon his knee, +and took an earnest look all round him. For my part, although I tried +once or twice to read, I found it impossible to concentrate my thoughts +upon the book. They would always wander back to this great empty silent +room, and to the sinister mystery which overshadowed it. I racked my +brains for some possible theory which would explain the disappearance of +these two men. There was the black fact that they were gone, and not the +least tittle of evidence as to why or whither. And here we were waiting +in the same place--waiting without an idea as to what we were waiting +for. I was right in saying that it was not a one-man job. It was trying +enough as it was, but no force upon earth would have kept me there +without a comrade. + +What an endless, tedious night it was! Outside we heard the lapping and +gurgling of the great river, and the soughing of the rising wind. +Within, save for our breathing, the turning of the Doctor's pages, and +the high, shrill ping of an occasional mosquito, there was a heavy +silence. Once my heart sprang into my mouth as Severall's book suddenly +fell to the ground and he sprang to his feet with his eyes on one of the +windows. + +"Did you see anything, Meldrum?" + +"No. Did you?" + +"Well, I had a vague sense of movement outside that window." He caught +up his gun and approached it. "No, there's nothing to be seen, and yet I +could have sworn that something passed slowly across it." + +"A palm leaf, perhaps," said I, for the wind was growing stronger every +instant. + +"Very likely," said he, and settled down to his book again, but his eyes +were for ever darting little suspicious glances up at the window. I +watched it also, but all was quiet outside. + +And then suddenly our thoughts were turned into a new direction by the +bursting of the storm. A blinding flash was followed by a clap which +shook the building. Again and again came the vivid white glare with +thunder at the same instant, like the flash and roar of a monstrous +piece of artillery. And then down came the tropical rain, crashing and +rattling on the corrugated iron roofing of the cooperage. The big hollow +room boomed like a drum. From the darkness arose a strange mixture of +noises, a gurgling, splashing, tinkling, bubbling, washing, +dripping--every liquid sound that nature can produce from the thrashing +and swishing of the rain to the deep steady boom of the river. Hour +after hour the uproar grew louder and more sustained. + +"My word," said Severall, "we are going to have the father of all the +floods this time. Well, here's the dawn coming at last and that is a +blessing. We've about exploded the third night superstition anyhow." + +A grey light was stealing through the room, and there was the day upon +us in an instant. The rain had eased off, but the coffee-coloured river +was roaring past like a waterfall. Its power made me fear for the anchor +of the _Gamecock_. + +"I must get aboard," said I. "If she drags she'll never be able to beat +up the river again." + +"The island is as good as a breakwater," the Doctor answered. "I can +give you a cup of coffee if you will come up to the house." + +I was chilled and miserable, so the suggestion was a welcome one. We +left the ill-omened cooperage with its mystery still unsolved, and we +splashed our way up to the house. + +"There's the spirit lamp," said Severall. "If you would just put a light +to it, I will see how Walker feels this morning." + +He left me, but was back in an instant with a dreadful face. + +"He's gone!" he cried hoarsely. + +The words sent a thrill of horror through me. I stood with the lamp in +my hand, glaring at him. + +"Yes, he's gone!" he repeated. "Come and look!" + +I followed him without a word, and the first thing that I saw as I +entered the bedroom was Walker himself lying huddled on his bed in the +grey flannel sleeping suit in which I had helped to dress him on the +night before. + +"Not dead, surely!" I gasped. + +The Doctor was terribly agitated. His hands were shaking like leaves in +the wind. + +"He's been dead some hours." + +"Was it fever?" + +"Fever! Look at his foot!" + +I glanced down and a cry of horror burst from my lips. One foot was not +merely dislocated, but was turned completely round in a most grotesque +contortion. + +"Good God!" I cried. "What can have done this?" + +Severall had laid his hand upon the dead man's chest. + +"Feel here," he whispered. + +I placed my hand at the same spot. There was no resistance. The body was +absolutely soft and limp. It was like pressing a sawdust doll. + +"The breast-bone is gone," said Severall in the same awed whisper. "He's +broken to bits. Thank God that he had the laudanum. You can see by his +face that he died in his sleep." + +"But who can have done this?" + +"I've had about as much as I can stand," said the Doctor, wiping his +forehead. "I don't know that I'm a greater coward than my neighbors, but +this gets beyond me. If you're going out to the _Gamecock_----" + +"Come on!" said I, and off we started. If we did not run it was because +each of us wished to keep up the last shadow of his self-respect before +the other. It was dangerous in a light canoe on that swollen river, but +we never paused to give the matter a thought. He bailing and I paddling +we kept her above water, and gained the deck of the yacht. There, with +two hundred yards of water between us and this cursed island we felt +that we were our own men once more. + +"We'll go back in an hour or so," said he. "But we need a little time to +steady ourselves. I wouldn't have had the niggers see me as I was just +now for a year's salary." + +"I've told the steward to prepare breakfast. Then we shall go back," +said I. "But in God's name, Doctor Severall, what do you make of it +all?" + +"It beats me--beats me clean. I've heard of Voodoo deviltry, and I've +laughed at it with the others. But that poor old Walker, a decent, +God-fearing, nineteenth-century, Primrose-League Englishman should go +under like this without a whole bone in his body--it's given me a shake, +I won't deny it. But look there, Meldrum, is that hand of yours mad or +drunk, or what is it?" + +Old Patterson, the oldest man of my crew, and as steady as the Pyramids, +had been stationed in the bows with a boat-hook to fend off the drifting +logs which came sweeping down with the current. Now he stood with +crooked knees, glaring out in front of him, and one forefinger stabbing +furiously at the air. + +"Look at it!" he yelled. "Look at it!" + +And at the same instant we saw it. + +A huge black trunk was coming down the river, its broad glistening back +just lapped by the water. And in front of it--about three feet in +front--arching upwards like the figure-head of a ship, there hung a +dreadful face, swaying slowly from side to side. It was flattened, +malignant, as large as a small beer-barrel, of a faded fungoid colour, +but the neck which supported it was mottled with a dull yellow and black +As it flew past the _Gamecock_ in the swirl of the waters I saw two +immense coils roll up out of some great hollow in the tree, and the +villainous head rose suddenly to the height of eight or ten feet, +looking with dull, skin-covered eyes at the yacht. An instant later the +tree had shot past us and was plunging with its horrible passenger +towards the Atlantic. + +"What was it?" I cried. + +"It is our fiend of the cooperage," said Dr. Severall, and he had become +in an instant the same bluff, self-confident man that he had been +before. "Yes, that is the devil who has been haunting our island. It is +the great python of the Gaboon." + +I thought of the stories which I had heard all down the coast of the +monstrous constrictors of the interior, of their periodical appetite, +and of the murderous effects of their deadly squeeze. Then it all took +shape in my mind. There had been a freshet the week before. It had +brought down this huge hollow tree with its hideous occupant. Who knows +from what far distant tropical forest it may have come! It had been +stranded on the little east bay of the island. The cooperage had been +the nearest house. Twice with the return of its appetite it had carried +off the watchman. Last night it had doubtless come again, when Severall +had thought he saw something move at the window, but our lights had +driven it away. It had writhed onwards and had slain poor Walker in his +sleep. + +"Why did it not carry him off?" I asked. + +"The thunder and lightning must have scared the brute away. There's your +steward, Meldrum. The sooner we have breakfast and get back to the +island the better, or some of those niggers might think that we had been +frightened." + + + + +X + +JELLAND'S VOYAGE + + +"Well," said our Anglo-Jap as we all drew up our chairs round the +smoking-room fire, "it's an old tale out yonder, and may have spilt over +into print for all I know. I don't want to turn this club-room into a +chestnut stall, but it is a long way to the Yellow Sea, and it is just +as likely that none of you have ever heard of the yawl _Matilda_, and of +what happened to Henry Jelland and Willy McEvoy aboard of her. + +"The middle of the sixties was a stirring time out in Japan. That was +just after the Simonosaki bombardment, and before the Daimio affair. +There was a Tory party and there was a Liberal party among the natives, +and the question that they were wrangling over was whether the throats +of the foreigners should be cut or not. I tell you all, politics have +been tame to me since then. If you lived in a treaty port, you were +bound to wake up and take an interest in them. And to make it better, +the outsider had no way of knowing how the game was going. If the +opposition won it would not be a newspaper paragraph that would tell him +of it, but a good old Tory in a suit of chain mail, with a sword in each +hand, would drop in and let him know all about it in a single upper cut. + +"Of course it makes men reckless when they are living on the edge of a +volcano like that. Just at first they are very jumpy, and then there +comes a time when they learn to enjoy life while they have it. I tell +you there's nothing makes life so beautiful as when the shadow of death +begins to fall across it. Time is too precious to be dawdled away then, +and a man lives every minute of it. That was the way with us in +Yokohama. There were many European places of business which had to go on +running, and the men who worked them made the place lively for seven +nights in the week. + +"One of the heads of the European colony was Randolph Moore, the big +export merchant. His offices were in Yokohama, but he spent a good deal +of his time at his house up in Jeddo, which had only just been opened to +the trade. In his absence he used to leave his affairs in the hands of +his head clerk, Jelland, whom he knew to be a man of great energy and +resolution. But energy and resolution are two-edged things, you know, +and when they are used against you you don't appreciate them so much. + +"It was gambling that set Jelland wrong. He was a little dark-eyed +fellow with black curly hair--more than three-quarters Celt, I should +imagine. Every night in the week you would see him in the same place, on +the left-hand side of the croupier at Matheson's _rouge et noir_ table. +For a long time he won, and lived in better style than his employer. And +then came a turn of luck, and he began to lose so that at the end of a +single week his partner and he were stone broke, without a dollar to +their names. + +"This partner was a clerk in the employ of the same firm--a tall, +straw-haired young Englishman called McEvoy. He was a good boy enough at +the start, but he was clay in the hands of Jelland, who fashioned him +into a kind of weak model of himself. They were for ever on the prowl +together, but it was Jelland who led and McEvoy who followed. Lynch and +I and one or two others tried to show the youngster that he could come +to no good along that line, and when we were talking to him we could +win him round easily enough, but five minutes of Jelland would swing him +back again. It may have been animal magnetism or what you like, but the +little man could pull the big one along like a sixty-foot tug in front +of a full-rigged ship. Even when they had lost all their money they +would still take their places at the table and look on with shining eyes +when any one else was raking in the stamps. + +"But one evening they could keep out of it no longer. Red had turned up +sixteen times running, and it was more than Jelland could bear. He +whispered to McEvoy, and then said a word to the croupier. + +"'Certainly, Mr. Jelland; your cheque is as good as notes,' said he. + +"Jelland scribbled a cheque and threw it on the black. The card was the +king of hearts, and the croupier raked in the little bit of paper. +Jelland grew angry, and McEvoy white. Another and a heavier cheque was +written and thrown on the table. The card was the nine of diamonds. +McEvoy leaned his head upon his hands and looked as if he would faint. +'By God!' growled Jelland, 'I won't be beat,' and he threw on a cheque +that covered the other two. The card was the deuce of hearts. A few +minutes later they were walking down the Bund, with the cool night-air +playing upon their fevered faces. + +"'Of course you know what this means,' said Jelland, lighting a cheroot; +'we'll have to transfer some of the office money to our current account. +There's no occasion to make a fuss over it. Old Moore won't look over +the books before Easter. If we have any luck, we can easily replace it +before then.' + +"'But if we have no luck?' faltered McEvoy. + +"'Tut, man, we must take things as they come. You stick to me, and I'll +stick to you, and we'll pull through together. You shall sign the +cheques to-morrow night, and we shall see if your luck is better than +mine.' + +"But if anything it was worse. When the pair rose from the table on the +following evening, they had spent over L5,000 of their employer's money. +But the resolute Jelland was as sanguine as ever. + +"'We have a good nine weeks before us before the books will be +examined,' said he. 'We must play the game out, and it will all come +straight.' + +"McEvoy returned to his rooms that night in an agony of shame and +remorse. When he was with Jelland he borrowed strength from him; but +alone he recognised the full danger of his position, and the vision of +his old white-capped mother in England, who had been so proud when he +had received his appointment, rose up before him to fill him with +loathing and madness. He was still tossing upon his sleepless couch when +his Japanese servant entered the bedroom. For an instant McEvoy thought +that the long-expected outbreak had come, and plunged for his revolver. +Then, with his heart in his mouth, he listened to the message which the +servant had brought. + +"Jelland was downstairs, and wanted to see him. + +"What on earth could he want at that hour of night? McEvoy dressed +hurriedly and rushed downstairs. His companion, with a set smile upon +his lips, which was belied by the ghastly pallor of his face, was +sitting in the dim light of a solitary candle, with a slip of paper in +his hands. + +"'Sorry to knock you up, Willy,' said he. 'No eavesdroppers, I suppose?' + +"McEvoy shook his head. He could not trust himself to speak. + +"'Well, then, our little game is played out. This note was waiting for +me at home. It is from Moore, and says that he will be down on Monday +morning for an examination of the books. It leaves us in a tight place.' + +"'Monday!' gasped McEvoy; 'to-day is Friday.' + +"'Saturday, my son, and 3 A.M. We have not much time to turn round in.' + +"'We are lost!' screamed McEvoy. + +"'We soon will be, if you make such an infernal row,' said Jelland +harshly. 'Now do what I tell you, Willy, and we'll pull through yet.' + +"'I will do anything--anything.' + +"'That's better. Where's your whisky? It's a beastly time of the day to +have to get your back stiff, but there must be no softness with us, or +we are gone. First of all, I think there is something due to our +relations, don't you?' + +"McEvoy stared. + +"'We must stand or fall together, you know. Now I, for one, don't intend +to set my foot inside a felon's dock under any circumstances. D'ye see? +I'm ready to swear to that. Are you?' + +"'What d'you mean?' asked McEvoy, shrinking back. + +"'Why, man, we all have to die, and it's only the pressing of a +trigger. I swear that I shall never be taken alive. Will you? If you +don't, I leave you to your fate.' + +"'All right. I'll do whatever you think best.' + +"'You swear it?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Well, mind, you must be as good as your word. Now we have two clear +days to get off in. The yawl _Matilda_ is on sale, and she has all her +fixings and plenty of tinned stuff aboard. We'll buy the lot to-morrow +morning, and whatever we want, and get away in her. But, first, we'll +clear all that is left in the office. There are 5,000 sovereigns in the +safe. After dark we'll get them aboard the yawl, and take our chance of +reaching California. There's no use hesitating, my son, for we have no +ghost of a look-in in any other direction. It's that or nothing.' + +"'I'll do what you advise.' + +"'All right; and mind you get a bright face on you to-morrow, for if +Moore gets the tip and comes before Monday, then----' He tapped the +side-pocket of his coat and looked across at his partner with eyes that +were full of a sinister meaning. + +"All went well with their plans next day. The _Matilda_ was bought +without difficulty; and, though she was a tiny craft for so long a +voyage, had she been larger two men could not have hoped to manage her. +She was stocked with water during the day, and after dark the two clerks +brought down the money from the office and stowed it in the hold. Before +midnight they had collected all their own possessions without exciting +suspicion, and at two in the morning they left their moorings and stole +quietly out from among the shipping. They were seen, of course, and were +set down as keen yachtsmen who were on for a good long Sunday cruise; +but there was no one who dreamed that that cruise would only end either +on the American coast or at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean. +Straining and hauling, they got their mainsail up and set their foresail +and jib. There was a slight breeze from the south-east, and the little +craft went dipping along upon her way. Seven miles from land, however, +the wind fell away and they lay becalmed, rising and falling on the long +swell of a glassy sea. All Sunday they did not make a mile, and in the +evening Yokohama still lay along the horizon. + +"On Monday morning down came Randolph Moore from Jeddo, and made +straight for the offices. He had had the tip from some one that his +clerks had been spreading themselves a bit, and that had made him come +down out of his usual routine; but when he reached his place and found +the three juniors waiting in the street with their hands in their +pockets he knew that the matter was serious. + +"'What's this?' he asked. He was a man of action, and a nasty chap to +deal with when he had his topmasts lowered. + +"'We can't get in,' said the clerks. + +"Where is Mr. Jelland?' + +"'He has not come to-day.' + +"'And Mr. McEvoy?' + +"'He has not come either.' + +"Randolph Moore looked serious. 'We must have the door down,' said he. + +"They don't build houses very solid in that land of earthquakes, and in +a brace of shakes they were all in the office. Of course, the thing told +its own story. The safe was open, the money gone, and the clerks fled. +Their employer lost no time in talk. + +"'Where were they seen last?' + +"'On Saturday they bought the _Matilda_ and started for a cruise.' + +"Saturday! The matter seemed hopeless if they had got two days' start. +But there was still the shadow of a chance. He rushed to the beach and +swept the ocean with his glasses. + +"'My God!' he cried. 'There's the _Matilda_ out yonder. I know her by +the rake of her mast. I have my hand upon the villains after all!' + +"But there was a hitch even then. No boat had steam up, and the eager +merchant had not patience to wait. Clouds were banking up along the +haunch of the hills, and there was every sign of an approaching change +of weather. A police boat was ready with ten armed men in her, and +Randolph Moore himself took the tiller as she shot out in pursuit of the +becalmed yawl. + +"Jelland and McEvoy, waiting wearily for the breeze which never came, +saw the dark speck which sprang out from the shadow of the land and grew +larger with every swish of the oars. As she drew nearer, they could see +also that she was packed with men, and the gleam of weapons told what +manner of men they were. Jelland stood leaning against the tiller, and +he looked at the threatening sky, the limp sails, and the approaching +boat. + +"'It's a case with us, Willy,' said he. 'By the Lord, we are two most +unlucky devils, for there's wind in that sky, and another hour would +have brought it to us.' + +"McEvoy groaned. + +"'There's no good softening over it, my lad,' said Jelland. 'It's the +police boat right enough, and there's old Moore driving them to row like +hell. It'll be a ten-dollar job for every man of them.' + +"Willy McEvoy crouched against the side with his knees on the deck. 'My +mother! my poor old mother!' he sobbed. + +"'She'll never hear that you have been in the dock anyway,' said +Jelland. 'My people never did much for me, but I will do that much for +them. It's no good, Mac. We can chuck our hands. God bless you, old man! +Here's the pistol!' + +"He cocked the revolver, and held the butt towards the youngster. But +the other shrunk away from it with little gasps and cries. Jelland +glanced at the approaching boat. It was not more than a few hundred +yards away. + +"'There's no time for nonsense,' said he. 'Damn it! man, what's the use +of flinching? You swore it!' + +"'No, no, Jelland!' + +"'Well, anyhow, I swore that neither of us should be taken. Will you do +it?' + +"'I can't! I can't!' + +"'Then I will for you.' + +"The rowers in the boat saw him lean forwards, they heard two pistol +shots, they saw him double himself across the tiller, and then, before +the smoke had lifted, they found that they had something else to think +of. + +"For at that instant the storm broke--one of those short sudden squalls +which are common in these seas. The _Matilda_ heeled over, her sails +bellied out, she plunged her lee-rail into a wave, and was off like a +frightened deer. Jelland's body had jammed the helm, and she kept a +course right before the wind, and fluttered away over the rising sea +like a blown piece of paper. The rowers worked frantically, but the yawl +still drew a head, and in five minutes it had plunged into the storm +wrack never to be seen again by mortal eye. The boat put back, and +reached Yokohama with the water washing half-way up to the thwarts. + +"And that was how it came that the yawl _Matilda_, with a cargo of five +thousand pounds and a crew of two dead young men, set sail across the +Pacific Ocean. What the end of Jelland's voyage may have been no man +knows. He may have foundered in that gale, or he may have been picked up +by some canny merchant-man, who stuck to the bullion and kept his mouth +shut, or he may still be cruising in that vast waste of waters, blown +north to the Behring Sea, or south to the Malay Islands. It's better to +leave it unfinished than to spoil a true story by inventing a tag to +it." + + + + +XI + +J. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT + + +In the month of December in the year 1873, the British ship _Dei Gratia_ +steered into Gibraltar, having in tow the derelict brigantine _Marie +Celeste_, which had been picked up in latitude 38 deg. 40', longitude 17 deg. +15' W. There were several circumstances in connection with the condition +and appearance of this abandoned vessel which excited considerable +comment at the time, and aroused a curiosity which has never been +satisfied. What these circumstances were was summed up in an able +article which appeared in the _Gibraltar Gazette_. The curious can find +it in the issue for January 4, 1874, unless my memory deceives me. For +the benefit of those, however, who may be unable to refer to the paper +in question, I shall subjoin a few extracts which touch upon the leading +features of the case. + +"We have ourselves," says the anonymous writer in the _Gazette_, "been +over the derelict _Marie Celeste_, and have closely questioned the +officers of the _Dei Gratia_ on every point which might throw light on +the affair. They are of opinion that she had been abandoned several +days, or perhaps weeks, before being picked up. The official log, which +was found in the cabin, states that the vessel sailed from Boston to +Lisbon, starting upon October 16. It is, however, most imperfectly kept, +and affords little information. There is no reference to rough weather, +and, indeed, the state of the vessel's paint and rigging excludes the +idea that she was abandoned for any such reason. She is perfectly +watertight. No signs of a struggle or of violence are to be detected, +and there is absolutely nothing to account for the disappearance of the +crew. There are several indications that a lady was present on board, a +sewing-machine being found in the cabin and some articles of female +attire. These probably belonged to the captain's wife, who is mentioned +in the log as having accompanied her husband. As an instance of the +mildness of the weather, it may be remarked that a bobbin of silk was +found standing upon the sewing-machine, though the least roll of the +vessel would have precipitated it to the floor. The boats were intact +and slung upon the davits; and the cargo, consisting of tallow and +American clocks, was untouched. An old-fashioned sword of curious +workmanship was discovered among some lumber in the forecastle, and this +weapon is said to exhibit a longitudinal striation on the steel, as if +it had been recently wiped. It has been placed in the hands of the +police, and submitted to Dr. Monaghan, the analyst, for inspection. The +result of his examination has not yet been published. We may remark, in +conclusion, that Captain Dalton, of the _Dei Gratia_, an able and +intelligent seaman, is of opinion that the _Marie Celeste_ may have been +abandoned a considerable distance from the spot at which she was picked +up, since a powerful current runs up in that latitude from the African +coast. He confesses his inability, however, to advance any hypothesis +which can reconcile all the facts of the case. In the utter absence of a +clue or grain of evidence, it is to be feared that the fate of the crew +of the _Marie Celeste_ will be added to those numerous mysteries of the +deep which will never be solved until the great day when the sea shall +give up its dead. If crime has been committed, as is much to be +suspected, there is little hope of bringing the perpetrators to +justice." + +I shall supplement this extract from the _Gibraltar Gazette_ by quoting +a telegram from Boston, which went the round of the English papers, and +represented the total amount of information which had been collected +about the _Marie Celeste_. "She was," it said, "a brigantine of 170 tons +burden, and belonged to White, Russell & White, wine importers, of this +city. Captain J. W. Tibbs was an old servant of the firm, and was a man +of known ability and tried probity. He was accompanied by his wife, aged +thirty-one, and their youngest child, five years old. The crew consisted +of seven hands, including two coloured seamen, and a boy. There were +three passengers, one of whom was the well-known Brooklyn specialist on +consumption, Dr. Habakuk Jephson, who was a distinguished advocate for +Abolition in the early days of the movement, and whose pamphlet, +entitled, 'Where is thy Brother?' exercised a strong influence on public +opinion before the war. The other passengers were Mr. J. Harton, a +writer in the employ of the firm, and Mr. Septimius Goring, a half-caste +gentleman, from New Orleans. All investigations have failed to throw any +light upon the fate of these fourteen human beings. The loss of Dr. +Jephson will be felt both in political and scientific circles." + +I have here epitomised, for the benefit of the public, all that has been +hitherto known concerning the _Marie Celeste_ and her crew, for the past +ten years have not in any way helped to elucidate the mystery. I have +now taken up my pen with the intention of telling all that I know of the +ill-fated voyage. I consider that it is a duty which I owe to society, +for symptoms which I am familiar with in others lead me to believe that +before many months my tongue and hand may be alike incapable of +conveying information. Let me remark, as a preface to my narrative, +that I am Joseph Habakuk Jephson, Doctor of Medicine of the University +of Harvard, and ex-Consulting Physician of the Samaritan Hospital of +Brooklyn. + +Many will doubtless wonder why I have not proclaimed myself before, and +why I have suffered so many conjectures and surmises to pass +unchallenged. Could the ends of justice have been served in any way by +my revealing the facts in my possession I should unhesitatingly have +done so. It seemed to me, however, that there was no possibility of such +a result; and when I attempted after the occurrence, to state my case to +an English official, I was met with such offensive incredulity that I +determined never again to expose myself to the chance of such an +indignity. I can excuse the discourtesy of the Liverpool magistrate, +however, when I reflect upon the treatment which I received at the hands +of my own relatives, who, though they knew my unimpeachable character, +listened to my statement with an indulgent smile as if humouring the +delusion of a monomaniac. This slur upon my veracity led to a quarrel +between myself and John Vanburger, the brother of my wife, and confirmed +me in my resolution to let the matter sink into oblivion--a +determination which I have only altered through my son's solicitations. +In order to make my narrative intelligible, I must run lightly over one +or two incidents in my former life which throw light upon subsequent +events. + +My father, William K. Jephson, was a preacher of the sect called +Plymouth Brethren, and was one of the most respected citizens of +Lowell. Like most of the other Puritans of New England, he was a +determined opponent of slavery, and it was from his lips that I received +those lessons which tinged every action of my life. While I was studying +medicine at Harvard University, I had already made a mark as an advanced +Abolitionist; and when, after taking my degree, I bought a third share +of the practice of Dr. Willis, of Brooklyn, I managed, in spite of my +professional duties, to devote a considerable time to the cause which I +had at heart, my pamphlet, "Where is thy Brother?" (Swarburgh, Lister & +Co., 1849) attracting considerable attention. + +When the war broke out I left Brooklyn and accompanied the 113th New +York Regiment through the campaign. I was present at the second battle +of Bull's Run and at the battle of Gettysburg. Finally, I was severely +wounded at Antietam, and would probably have perished on the field had +it not been for the kindness of a gentleman named Murray, who had me +carried to his house and provided me with every comfort. Thanks to his +charity, and to the nursing which I received from his black domestics, I +was soon able to get about the plantation with the help of a stick. It +was during this period of convalescence that an incident occurred which +is closely connected with my story. + +Among the most assiduous of the negresses who had watched my couch +during my illness there was one old crone who appeared to exert +considerable authority over the others. She was exceedingly attentive to +me, and I gathered from the few words that passed between us that she +had heard of me, and that she was grateful to me for championing her +oppressed race. + +One day as I was sitting alone in the verandah, basking in the sun, and +debating whether I should rejoin Grant's army, I was surprised to see +this old creature hobbling towards me. After looking cautiously around +to see that we were alone, she fumbled in the front of her dress and +produced a small chamois leather bag which was hung round her neck by a +white cord. + +"Massa," she said, bending down and croaking the words into my ear, "me +die soon. Me very old woman. Not stay long on Massa Murray's +plantation." + +"You may live a long time yet, Martha," I answered. "You know I am a +doctor. If you feel ill let me know about it, and I will try to cure +you." + +"No wish to live--wish to die. I'm gwine to join the heavenly host." +Here she relapsed into one of those half-heathenish rhapsodies in which +negroes indulge. "But, massa, me have one thing must leave behind me +when I go. No able to take it with me across the Jordan. That one thing +very precious, more precious and more holy than all thing else in the +world. Me, a poor old black woman, have this because my people, very +great people, 'spose they was back in the old country. But you cannot +understand this same as black folk could. My fader give it me, and his +fader give it him, but now who shall I give it to? Poor Martha hab no +child, no relation, nobody. All round I see black man very bad man. +Black woman very stupid woman. Nobody worthy of the stone. And so I say, +Here is Massa Jephson who write books and fight for coloured folk--he +must be a good man, and he shall have it though he is white man, and +nebber can know what it mean or where it came from." Here the old woman +fumbled in the chamois leather bag and pulled out a flattish black stone +with a hole through the middle of it. "Here, take it," she said, +pressing it into my hand; "take it. No harm nebber come from anything +good. Keep it safe--nebber lose it!" and with a warning gesture the old +crone hobbled away in the same cautious way as she had come, looking +from side to side to see if we had been observed. + +I was more amused than impressed by the old woman's earnestness, and was +only prevented from laughing during her oration by the fear of hurting +her feelings. When she was gone I took a good look at the stone which +she had given me. It was intensely black, of extreme hardness, and oval +in shape--just such a flat stone as one would pick up on the seashore if +one wished to throw a long way. It was about three inches long, and an +inch and a half broad at the middle, but rounded off at the extremities. +The most curious part about it was several well-marked ridges which ran +in semicircles over its surface, and gave it exactly the appearance of a +human ear. Altogether I was rather interested in my new possession, and +determined to submit it, as a geological specimen, to my friend +Professor Shroeder of the New York Institute, upon the earliest +opportunity. In the meantime I thrust it into my pocket, and rising from +my chair started off for a short stroll in the shrubbery, dismissing the +incident from my mind. + +As my wound had nearly healed by this time, I took my leave of Mr. +Murray shortly afterwards. The Union armies were everywhere victorious +and converging on Richmond, so that my assistance seemed unnecessary, +and I returned to Brooklyn. There I resumed my practice, and married +the second daughter of Josiah Vanburger, the well-known wood engraver. +In the course of a few years I built up a good connection and acquired +considerable reputation in the treatment of pulmonary complaints. I +still kept the old black stone in my pocket, and frequently told the +story of the dramatic way in which I had become possessed of it. I also +kept my resolution of showing it to Professor Shroeder, who was much +interested both by the anecdote and the specimen. He pronounced it to be +a piece of meteoric stone, and drew my attention to the fact that its +resemblance to an ear was not accidental, but that it was most carefully +worked into that shape. A dozen little anatomical points showed that the +worker had been as accurate as he was skilful. "I should not wonder," +said the Professor, "if it were broken off from some larger statue, +though how such hard material could be so perfectly worked is more than +I can understand. If there is a statue to correspond I should like to +see it!" So I thought at the time, but I have changed my opinion since. + +The next seven or eight years of my life were quiet and uneventful. +Summer followed spring, and spring followed winter, without any +variation in my duties. As the practice increased I admitted J. S. +Jackson as partner, he to have one-fourth of the profits. The continued +strain had told upon my constitution, however, and I became at last so +unwell that my wife insisted upon my consulting Dr. Kavanagh Smith, who +was my colleague at the Samaritan Hospital. That gentleman examined me, +and pronounced the apex of my left lung to be in a state of +consolidation, recommending me at the same time to go through a course +of medical treatment and to take a long sea-voyage. + +My own disposition, which is naturally restless, predisposed me strongly +in favour of the latter piece of advice, and the matter was clinched by +my meeting young Russell, of the firm of White, Russell & White, who +offered me a passage in one of his father's ships, the _Marie Celeste_, +which was just starting from Boston. "She is a snug little ship," he +said, "and Tibbs, the captain, is an excellent fellow. There is nothing +like a sailing ship for an invalid." I was very much of the same opinion +myself, so I closed with the offer on the spot. + +My original plan was that my wife should accompany me on my travels. She +has always been a very poor sailor, however, and there were strong +family reasons against her exposing herself to any risk at the time, so +we determined that she should remain at home. I am not a religious or an +effusive man; but oh, thank God for that! As to leaving my practice, I +was easily reconciled to it, as Jackson, my partner, was a reliable and +hard-working man. + +I arrived in Boston on October 12, 1873, and proceeded immediately to +the office of the firm in order to thank them for their courtesy. As I +was sitting in the counting-house waiting until they should be at +liberty to see me, the words _Marie Celeste_ suddenly attracted my +attention. I looked round and saw a very tall, gaunt man, who was +leaning across the polished mahogany counter asking some questions of +the clerk at the other side. His face was turned half towards me, and I +could see that he had a strong dash of negro blood in him, being +probably a quadroon or even nearer akin to the black. His curved +aquiline nose and straight lank hair showed the white strain; but the +dark, restless eye, sensuous mouth, and gleaming teeth all told of his +African origin. His complexion was of a sickly unhealthy yellow, and as +his face was deeply pitted with small-pox, the general impression was so +unfavourable as to be almost revolting. When he spoke, however, it was +in a soft, melodious voice, and in well-chosen words, and he was +evidently a man of some education. + +"I wished to ask a few questions about the _Marie Celeste_," he +repeated, leaning across to the clerk. "She sails the day after +to-morrow, does she not?" + +"Yes, sir," said the young clerk, awed into unusual politeness by the +glimmer of a large diamond in the stranger's shirt front. + +"Where is she bound for?" + +"Lisbon." + +"How many of a crew?" + +"Seven, sir." + +"Passengers?" + +"Yes, two. One of our young gentlemen, and a doctor from New York." + +"No gentleman from the South?" asked the stranger eagerly. + +"No, none, sir." + +"Is there room for another passenger?" + +"Accommodation for three more," answered the clerk. + +"I'll go," said the quadroon decisively; "I'll go, I'll engage my +passage at once. Put it down, will you--Mr. Septimius Goring, of New +Orleans." + +The clerk filled up a form and handed it over to the stranger, pointing +to a blank space at the bottom. As Mr. Goring stooped over to sign it I +was horrified to observe that the fingers of his right hand had been +lopped off, and that he was holding the pen between his thumb and the +palm. I have seen thousands slain in battle, and assisted at every +conceivable surgical operation, but I cannot recall any sight which gave +me such a thrill of disgust as that great brown sponge-like hand with +the single member protruding from it. He used it skilfully enough, +however, for dashing off his signature, he nodded to the clerk and +strolled out of the office just as Mr. White sent out word that he was +ready to receive me. + +I went down to the _Marie Celeste_ that evening, and looked over my +berth, which was extremely comfortable considering the small size of the +vessel. Mr. Goring, whom I had seen in the morning, was to have the one +next mine. Opposite was the captain's cabin and a small berth for Mr. +John Harton, a gentleman who was going out in the interests of the firm. +These little rooms were arranged on each side of the passage which led +from the main-deck to the saloon. The latter was a comfortable room, the +panelling tastefully done in oak and mahogany, with a rich Brussels +carpet and luxurious settees. I was very much pleased with the +accommodation, and also with Tibbs the captain, a bluff, sailor-like +fellow, with a loud voice and hearty manner, who welcomed me to the ship +with effusion, and insisted upon our splitting a bottle of wine in his +cabin. He told me that he intended to take his wife and youngest child +with him on the voyage, and that he hoped with good luck to make Lisbon +in three weeks. We had a pleasant chat and parted the best of friends, +he warning me to make the last of my preparations next morning, as he +intended to make a start by the midday tide, having now shipped all his +cargo. I went back to my hotel, where I found a letter from my wife +awaiting me, and, after a refreshing night's sleep, returned to the boat +in the morning. From this point I am able to quote from the journal +which I kept in order to vary the monotony of the long sea-voyage. If it +is somewhat bald in places I can at least rely upon its accuracy in +details, as it was written conscientiously from day to day. + +_October 16th._--Cast off our warps at half-past two and were towed out +into the bay, where the tug left us, and with all sail set we bowled +along at about nine knots an hour. I stood upon the poop watching the +low land of America sinking gradually upon the horizon until the evening +haze hid it from my sight. A single red light, however, continued to +blaze balefully behind us, throwing a long track like a trail of blood +upon the water, and it is still visible as I write, though reduced to a +mere speck. The Captain is in a bad humour, for two of his hands +disappointed him at the last moment, and he was compelled to ship a +couple of negroes who happened to be on the quay. The missing men were +steady, reliable fellows, who had been with him several voyages, and +their non-appearance puzzled as well as irritated him. Where a crew of +seven men have to work a fair-sized ship the loss of two experienced +seamen is a serious one, for though the negroes may take a spell at the +wheel or swab the decks, they are of little or no use in rough weather. +Our cook is also a black man, and Mr. Septimius Goring has a little +darkie servant, so that we are rather a piebald community. The +accountant, John Harton, promises to be an acquisition, for he is a +cheery, amusing young fellow. Strange how little wealth has to do with +happiness! He has all the world before him and is seeking his fortune in +a far land, yet he is as transparently happy as a man can be. Goring is +rich, if I am not mistaken, and so am I; but I know that I have a lung, +and Goring has some deeper trouble still, to judge by his features. How +poorly do we both contrast with the careless, penniless clerk! + +_October 17th._--Mrs. Tibbs appeared upon the deck for the first time +this morning--a cheerful, energetic woman, with a dear little child just +able to walk and prattle. Young Harton pounced on it at once, and +carried it away to his cabin, where no doubt he will lay the seeds of +future dyspepsia in the child's stomach. Thus medicine doth make cynics +of us all! The weather is still all that could be desired, with a fine +fresh breeze from the west-sou'-west. The vessel goes so steadily that +you would hardly know that she was moving were it not for the creaking +of the cordage, the bellying of the sails, and the long white furrow in +our wake. Walked the quarter-deck all morning with the Captain, and I +think the keen fresh air has already done my breathing good, for the +exercise did not fatigue me in any way. Tibbs is a remarkably +intelligent man, and we had an interesting argument about Maury's +observations on ocean currents, which we terminated by going down into +his cabin to consult the original work. There we found Goring, rather to +the Captain's surprise, as it is not usual for passengers to enter that +sanctum unless specially invited. He apologised for his intrusion, +however, pleading his ignorance of the usages of ship life; and the +good-natured sailor simply laughed at the incident, begging him to +remain and favour us with his company. Goring pointed to the +chronometers, the case of which he had opened, and remarked that he had +been admiring them. He has evidently some practical knowledge of +mathematical instruments, as he told at a glance which was the most +trustworthy of the three, and also named their price within a few +dollars. He had a discussion with the Captain too upon the variation of +the compass, and when we came back to the ocean currents he showed a +thorough grasp of the subject. Altogether he rather improves upon +acquaintance, and is a man of decided culture and refinement. His voice +harmonises with his conversation, and both are the very antithesis of +his face and figure. + +The noonday observation shows that we have run two hundred and twenty +miles. Towards evening the breeze freshened up, and the first mate +ordered reefs to be taken in the topsails and top-gallant sails in +expectation of a windy night. I observe that the barometer has fallen to +twenty-nine. I trust our voyage will not be a rough one, as I am a poor +sailor, and my health would probably derive more harm than good from a +stormy trip, though I have the greatest confidence in the Captain's +seamanship and in the soundness of the vessel. Played cribbage with Mrs. +Tibbs after supper, and Harton gave us a couple of tunes on the violin. + +_October 18th._--The gloomy prognostications of last night were not +fulfilled, as the wind died away again, and we are lying now in a long +greasy swell, ruffled here and there by a fleeting catspaw which is +insufficient to fill the sails. The air is colder than it was +yesterday, and I have put on one of the thick woollen jerseys which my +wife knitted for me. Harton came into my cabin in the morning, and we +had a cigar together. He says that he remembers having seen Goring in +Cleveland, Ohio, in '69. He was, it appears, a mystery then as now, +wandering about without any visible employment, and extremely reticent +on his own affairs. The man interests me as a psychological study. At +breakfast this morning I suddenly had that vague feeling of uneasiness +which comes over some people when closely stared at, and, looking +quickly up, I met his eyes bent upon me with an intensity which amounted +to ferocity, though their expression instantly softened as he made some +conventional remark upon the weather. Curiously enough, Harton says that +he had a very similar experience yesterday upon deck. I observe that +Goring frequently talks to the coloured seamen as he strolls about--a +trait which I rather admire, as it is common to find half-breeds ignore +their dark strain and treat their black kinsfolk with greater +intolerance than a white man would do. His little page is devoted to +him, apparently, which speaks well for his treatment of him. Altogether, +the man is a curious mixture of incongruous qualities, and unless I am +deceived in him will give me food for observation during the voyage. + +The Captain is grumbling about his chronometers, which do not register +exactly the same time. He says it is the first time that they have ever +disagreed. We were unable to get a noonday observation on account of the +haze. By dead reckoning, we have done about a hundred and seventy miles +in the twenty-four hours. The dark seamen have proved, as the skipper +prophesied, to be very inferior hands, but as they can both manage the +wheel well they are kept steering, and so leave the more experienced +men to work the ship. These details are trivial enough, but a small +thing serves as food for gossip aboard ship. The appearance of a whale +in the evening caused quite a flutter among us. From its sharp back and +forked tail, I should pronounce it to have been a rorqual, or "finner," +as they are called by the fishermen. + +_October 19th._--Wind was cold, so I prudently remained in my cabin all +day, only creeping out for dinner. Lying in my bunk I can, without +moving, reach my books, pipes, or anything else I may want, which is one +advantage of a small apartment. My old wound began to ache a little +to-day, probably from the cold. Read _Montaigne's Essays_ and nursed +myself. Harton came in in the afternoon with Doddy, the Captain's child, +and the skipper himself followed, so that I held quite a reception. + +_October 20th and 21st._--Still cold, with a continual drizzle of rain, +and I have not been able to leave the cabin. This confinement makes me +feel weak and depressed. Goring came in to see me, but his company did +not tend to cheer me up much, as he hardly uttered a word, but contented +himself with staring at me in a peculiar and rather irritating manner. +He then got up and stole out of the cabin without saying anything. I am +beginning to suspect that the man is a lunatic. I think I mentioned that +his cabin is next to mine. The two are simply divided by a thin wooden +partition which is cracked in many places, some of the cracks being so +large that I can hardly avoid, as I lie in my bunk, observing his +motions in the adjoining room. Without any wish to play the spy, I see +him continually stooping over what appears to be a chart and working +with a pencil and compasses. I have remarked the interest he displays in +matters connected with navigation, but I am surprised that he should +take the trouble to work out the course of the ship. However, it is a +harmless amusement enough, and no doubt he verifies his results by those +of the Captain. + +I wish the man did not run in my thoughts so much. I had a nightmare on +the night of the 20th, in which I thought my bunk was a coffin, that I +was laid out in it, and that Goring was endeavouring to nail up the lid, +which I was frantically pushing away. Even when I woke up, I could +hardly persuade myself that I was not in a coffin. As a medical man, I +know that a nightmare is simply a vascular derangement of the cerebral +hemispheres, and yet in my weak state I cannot shake off the morbid +impression which it produces. + +_October 22nd._--A fine day, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and a fresh +breeze from the sou'-west which wafts us gaily on our way. There has +evidently been some heavy weather near us, as there is a tremendous +swell on, and the ship lurches until the end of the fore-yard nearly +touches the water. Had a refreshing walk up and down the quarter-deck, +though I have hardly found my sea-legs yet. Several small +birds--chaffinches, I think--perched in the rigging. + +4.40 P.M.--While I was on deck this morning I heard a sudden explosion +from the direction of my cabin, and, hurrying down, found that I had +very nearly met with a serious accident. Goring was cleaning a revolver, +it seems, in his cabin, when one of the barrels which he thought was +unloaded went off. The ball passed through the side partition and +imbedded itself in the bulwarks in the exact place where my head +usually rests. I have been under fire too often to magnify trifles, but +there is no doubt that if I had been in the bunk it must have killed me. +Goring, poor fellow, did not know that I had gone on deck that day, and +must therefore have felt terribly frightened. I never saw such emotion +in a man's face as when, on rushing out of his cabin with the smoking +pistol in his hand, he met me face to face as I came down from deck. Of +course, he was profuse in his apologies, though I simply laughed at the +incident. + +11 P.M.--A misfortune has occurred so unexpected and so horrible that my +little escape of the morning dwindles into insignificance. Mrs. Tibbs +and her child have disappeared--utterly and entirely disappeared. I can +hardly compose myself to write the sad details. About half-past eight +Tibbs rushed into my cabin with a very white face and asked me if I had +seen his wife. I answered that I had not. He then ran wildly into the +saloon and began groping about for any trace of her, while I followed +him, endeavouring vainly to persuade him that his fears were ridiculous. +We hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without coming on any +sign of the missing woman or child. Poor Tibbs lost his voice completely +from calling her name. Even the sailors, who are generally stolid +enough, were deeply affected by the sight of him as he roamed bareheaded +and dishevelled about the deck, searching with feverish anxiety the most +impossible places, and returning to them again and again with a piteous +pertinacity. The last time she was seen was about seven o'clock, when +she took Doddy on to the poop to give him a breath of fresh air before +putting him to bed. There was no one there at the time except the black +seaman at the wheel, who denies having seen her at all. The whole affair +is wrapped in mystery. My own theory is that while Mrs. Tibbs was +holding the child and standing near the bulwarks it gave a spring and +fell overboard, and that in her convulsive attempt to catch or save it, +she followed it. I cannot account for the double disappearance in any +other way. It is quite feasible that such a tragedy should be enacted +without the knowledge of the man at the wheel, since it was dark at the +time, and the peaked skylights of the saloon screen the greater part of +the quarter-deck. Whatever the truth may be it is a terrible +catastrophe, and has cast the darkest gloom upon our voyage. The mate +has put the ship about, but of course there is not the slightest hope of +picking them up. The Captain is lying in a state of stupor in his cabin. +I gave him a powerful dose of opium in his coffee that for a few hours +at least his anguish may be deadened. + +_October 23rd._--Woke with a vague feeling of heaviness and misfortune, +but it was not until a few moments' reflection that I was able to recall +our loss of the night before. When I came on deck I saw the poor skipper +standing gazing back at the waste of waters behind us which contains +everything dear to him upon earth. I attempted to speak to him, but he +turned brusquely away, and began pacing the deck with his head sunk upon +his breast. Even now, when the truth is so clear, he cannot pass a boat +or an unbent sail without peering under it. He looks ten years older +than he did yesterday morning. Harton is terribly cut up, for he was +fond of little Doddy, and Goring seems sorry too. At least he has shut +himself up in his cabin all day, and when I got a casual glance at him +his head was resting on his two hands as if in a melancholy reverie. I +fear we are about as dismal a crew as ever sailed. How shocked my wife +will be to hear of our disaster! The swell has gone down now, and we are +doing about eight knots with all sail set and a nice little breeze. +Hyson is practically in command of the ship, as Tibbs, though he does +his best to bear up and keep a brave front, is incapable of applying +himself to serious work. + +_October 24th._--Is the ship accursed? Was there ever a voyage which +began so fairly and which changed so disastrously? Tibbs shot himself +through the head during the night. I was awakened about three o'clock in +the morning by an explosion, and immediately sprang out of bed and +rushed into the Captain's cabin to find out the cause, though with a +terrible presentiment in my heart. Quickly as I went, Goring went more +quickly still, for he was already in the cabin stooping over the dead +body of the Captain. It was a hideous sight, for the whole front of his +face was blown in, and the little room was swimming in blood. The pistol +was lying beside him on the floor, just as it had dropped from his hand. +He had evidently put it to his mouth before pulling the trigger. Goring +and I picked him reverently up and laid him on his bed. The crew had all +clustered into his cabin, and the six white men were deeply grieved, for +they were old hands who had sailed with him many years. There were dark +looks and murmurs among them too, and one of them openly declared that +the ship was haunted. Harton helped to lay the poor skipper out, and we +did him up in canvas between us. At twelve o'clock the fore-yard was +hauled aback, and we committed his body to the deep, Goring reading the +Church of England burial service. The breeze has freshened up, and we +have done ten knots all day and sometimes twelve. The sooner we reach +Lisbon and get away from this accursed ship the better pleased shall I +be. I feel as though we were in a floating coffin. Little wonder that +the poor sailors are superstitious when I, an educated man, feel it so +strongly. + +_October 25th._--Made a good run all day. Feel listless and depressed. + +_October 26th._--Goring, Harton, and I had a chat together on deck in +the morning. Harton tried to draw Goring out as to his profession, and +his object in going to Europe, but the quadroon parried all his +questions and gave us no information. Indeed, he seemed to be slightly +offended by Harton's pertinacity, and went down into his cabin. I wonder +why we should both take such an interest in this man! I suppose it is +his striking appearance, coupled with his apparent wealth, which piques +our curiosity. Harton has a theory that he is really a detective, that +he is after some criminal who has got away to Portugal, and that he +chooses this peculiar way of travelling that he may arrive unnoticed and +pounce upon his quarry unawares. I think the supposition is rather a +farfetched one, but Harton bases it upon a book which Goring left on +deck, and which he picked up and glanced over. It was a sort of +scrap-book, it seems, and contained a large number of newspaper +cuttings. All these cuttings related to murders which had been committed +at various times in the States during the last twenty years or so. The +curious thing which Harton observed about them, however, was that they +were invariably murders the authors of which had never been brought to +justice. They varied in every detail, he says, as to the manner of +execution and the social status of the victim, but they uniformly wound +up with the same formula that the murderer was still at large, though, +of course, the police had every reason to expect his speedy capture. +Certainly the incident seems to support Harton's theory, though it may +be a mere whim of Goring's, or, as I suggested to Harton, he may be +collecting materials for a book which shall outvie De Quincey. In any +case it is no business of ours. + +_October 27th, 28th._--Wind still fair, and we are making good progress. +Strange how easily a human unit may drop out of its place and be +forgotten! Tibbs is hardly ever mentioned now; Hyson has taken +possession of his cabin, and all goes on as before. Were it not for Mrs. +Tibbs's sewing-machine upon a side-table we might forget that the +unfortunate family had ever existed. Another accident occurred on board +to-day, though fortunately not a very serious one. One of our white +hands had gone down the after-hold to fetch up a spare coil of rope, +when one of the hatches which he had removed came crashing down on the +top of him. He saved his life by springing out of the way, but one of +his feet was terribly crushed, and he will be of little use for the +remainder of the voyage. He attributes the accident to the carelessness +of his negro companion, who had helped him to shift the hatches. The +latter, however, puts it down to the roll of the ship. Whatever be the +cause, it reduces our short-handed crew still further. This run of +ill-luck seems to be depressing Harton, for he has lost his usual good +spirits and joviality. Goring is the only one who preserves his +cheerfulness. I see him still working at his chart in his own cabin. +His nautical knowledge would be useful should anything happen to +Hyson--which God forbid! + +_October 29th, 30th._--Still bowling along with a fresh breeze. All +quiet and nothing of note to chronicle. + +_October 31st._--My weak lungs, combined with the exciting episodes of +the voyage, have shaken my nervous system so much that the most trivial +incident affects me. I can hardly believe that I am the same man who +tied the external iliac artery, an operation requiring the nicest +precision, under a heavy rifle fire at Antietam. I am as nervous as a +child. I was lying half dozing last night about four bells in the middle +watch trying in vain to drop into a refreshing sleep. There was no light +inside my cabin, but a single ray of moonlight streamed in through the +port-hole, throwing a silvery flickering circle upon the door. As I lay +I kept my drowsy eyes upon this circle, and was conscious that it was +gradually becoming less well-defined as my senses left me, when I was +suddenly recalled to full wakefulness by the appearance of a small dark +object in the very centre of the luminous disc. I lay quietly and +breathlessly watching it. Gradually it grew larger and plainer, and then +I perceived that it was a human hand which had been cautiously inserted +through the chink of the half-closed door--a hand which, as I observed +with a thrill of horror, was not provided with fingers. The door swung +cautiously backwards, and Goring's head followed his hand. It appeared +in the centre of the moonlight, and was framed as it were in a ghastly +uncertain halo, against which his features showed out plainly. It +seemed to me that I had never seen such an utterly fiendish and +merciless expression upon a human face. His eyes were dilated and +glaring, his lips drawn back so as to show his white fangs, and his +straight black hair appeared to bristle over his low forehead like the +hood of a cobra. The sudden and noiseless apparition had such an effect +upon me that I sprang up in bed trembling in every limb, and held out my +hand towards my revolver. I was heartily ashamed of my hastiness when he +explained the object of his intrusion, as he immediately did in the most +courteous language. He had been suffering from toothache, poor fellow! +and had come in to beg some laudanum, knowing that I possessed a +medicine chest. As to a sinister expression he is never a beauty, and +what with my state of nervous tension and the effect of the shifting +moonlight it was easy to conjure up something horrible. I gave him +twenty drops, and he went off again with many expressions of gratitude. +I can hardly say how much this trivial incident affected me. I have felt +unstrung all day. + +A week's record of our voyage is here omitted, as nothing eventful +occurred during the time, and my log consists merely of a few pages of +unimportant gossip. + +_November 7th._--Harton and I sat on the poop all the morning, for the +weather is becoming very warm as we come into southern latitudes. We +reckon that we have done two-thirds of our voyage. How glad we shall be +to see the green banks of the Tagus, and leave this unlucky ship for +ever! I was endeavouring to amuse Harton to-day and to while away the +time by telling him some of the experiences of my past life. Among +others I related to him how I came into the possession of my black +stone, and as a finale I rummaged in the side pocket of my old shooting +coat and produced the identical object in question. He and I were +bending over it together, I pointing out to him the curious ridges upon +its surface, when we were conscious of a shadow falling between us and +the sun, and looking round saw Goring standing behind us glaring over +our shoulders at the stone. For some reason or other he appeared to be +powerfully excited, though he was evidently trying to control himself +and to conceal his emotion. He pointed once or twice at my relic with +his stubby thumb before he could recover himself sufficiently to ask +what it was and how I obtained it--a question put in such a brusque +manner that I should have been offended had I not known the man to be an +eccentric. I told him the story very much as I had told it to Harton. He +listened with the deepest interest and then asked me if I had any idea +what the stone was. I said I had not, beyond that it was meteoric. He +asked me if I had ever tried its effect upon a negro. I said I had not. +"Come," said he, "we'll see what our black friend at the wheel thinks of +it." He took the stone in his hand and went across to the sailor, and +the two examined it carefully. I could see the man gesticulating and +nodding his head excitedly as if making some assertion, while his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment, mixed, I think, with some reverence. +Goring came across the deck to as presently, still holding the stone in +his hand. "He says it is a worthless, useless thing," he said, "and fit +only to be chucked overboard," with which he raised his hand and would +most certainly have made an end of my relic, had the black sailor +behind him not rushed forward and seized him by the wrist. Finding +himself secured Goring dropped the stone and turned away with a very bad +grace to avoid my angry remonstrances at his breach of faith. The black +picked up the stone and handed it to me with a low bow and every sign of +profound respect. The whole affair is inexplicable. I am rapidly coming +to the conclusion that Goring is a maniac or something very near one. +When I compare the effect produced by the stone upon the sailor, +however, with the respect shown to Martha on the plantation, and the +surprise of Goring on its first production, I cannot but come to the +conclusion that I have really got hold of some powerful talisman which +appeals to the whole dark race. I must not trust it in Goring's hands +again. + +_November 8th, 9th._--What splendid weather we are having! Beyond one +little blow, we have had nothing but fresh breezes the whole voyage. +These two days we have made better runs than any hitherto. It is a +pretty thing to watch the spray fly up from our prow as it cuts through +the waves. The sun shines through it and breaks it up into a number of +miniature rainbows--"sun-dogs," the sailors call them. I stood on the +fo'c'sle-head for several hours to-day watching the effect, and +surrounded by a halo of prismatic colours. The steersman has evidently +told the other blacks about my wonderful stone, for I am treated by them +all with the greatest respect. Talking about optical phenomena, we had a +curious one yesterday evening which was pointed out to me by Hyson. This +was the appearance of a triangular well-defined object high up in the +heavens to the north of us. He explained that it was exactly like the +Peak of Teneriffe as seen from a great distance--the peak was, however, +at that moment at least five hundred miles to the south. It may have +been a cloud, or it may have been one of those strange reflections of +which one reads. The weather is very warm. The mate says that he never +knew it so warm in these latitudes. Played chess with Harton in the +evening. + +_November 10th._--It is getting warmer and warmer. Some land birds came +and perched in the rigging to-day, though we are still a considerable +way from our destination. The heat is so great that we are too lazy to +do anything but lounge about the decks and smoke. Goring came over to me +to-day and asked me some more questions about my stone; but I answered +him rather shortly, for I have not quite forgiven him yet for the cool +way in which he attempted to deprive me of it. + +_November 11th, 12th._--Still making good progress. I had no idea +Portugal was ever as hot as this, but no doubt it is cooler on land. +Hyson himself seemed surprised at it, and so do the men. + +_November 13th._--A most extraordinary event has happened, so +extraordinary as to be almost inexplicable. Either Hyson has blundered +wonderfully, or some magnetic influence has disturbed our instruments. +Just about daybreak the watch on the fo'c'sle-head shouted out that he +heard the sound of surf ahead, and Hyson thought he saw the loom of +land. The ship was put about, and, though no lights were seen, none of +us doubted that we had struck the Portuguese coast a little sooner than +we had expected. What was our surprise to see the scene which was +revealed to us at break of day! As far as we could look on either side +was one long line of surf, great, green billows rolling in and breaking +into a cloud of foam. But behind the surf what was there! Not the green +banks nor the high cliffs of the shores of Portugal, but a great sandy +waste which stretched away and away until it blended with the skyline. +To right and left, look where you would, there was nothing but yellow +sand, heaped in some places into fantastic mounds, some of them several +hundred feet high, while in other parts were long stretches as level +apparently as a billiard board. Harton and I, who had come on deck +together, looked at each other in astonishment, and Harton burst out +laughing. Hyson is exceedingly mortified at the occurrence, and protests +that the instruments have been tampered with. There is no doubt that +this is the mainland of Africa, and that it was really the Peak of +Teneriffe which we saw some days ago upon the northern horizon. At the +time when we saw the land birds we must have been passing some of the +Canary Islands. If we continued on the same course, we are now to the +north of Cape Blanco, near the unexplored country which skirts the great +Sahara. All we can do is to rectify our instruments as far as possible +and start afresh for our destination. + +8.30 P.M.--Have been lying in a calm all day. The coast is now about a +mile and a half from us. Hyson has examined the instruments, but cannot +find any reason for their extraordinary deviation. + +This is the end of my private journal, and I must make the remainder of +my statement from memory. There is little chance of my being mistaken +about facts, which have seared themselves into my recollection. That +very night the storm which had been brewing so long burst over us, and I +came to learn whither all those little incidents were tending which I +had recorded so aimlessly. Blind fool that I was not to have seen it +sooner! I shall tell what occurred as precisely as I can. + +I had gone into my cabin about half-past eleven, and was preparing to go +to bed, when a tap came at my door. On opening it I saw Goring's little +black page, who told me that his master would like to have a word with +me on deck. I was rather surprised that he should want me at such a late +hour, but I went up without hesitation. I had hardly put my foot on the +quarter-deck before I was seized from behind, dragged down upon my back, +and a handkerchief slipped round my mouth. I struggled as hard as I +could, but a coil of rope was rapidly and firmly wound round me, and I +found myself lashed to the davit of one of the boats, utterly powerless +to do or say anything, while the point of a knife pressed to my throat +warned me to cease my struggles. The night was so dark that I had been +unable hitherto to recognise my assailants, but as my eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, and the moon broke out through the clouds that +obscured it, I made out that I was surrounded by the two negro sailors, +the black cook, and my fellow-passenger, Goring. Another man was +crouching on the deck at my feet, but he was in the shadow and I could +not recognise him. + +All this occurred so rapidly that a minute could hardly have elapsed +from the time I mounted the companion until I found myself gagged and +powerless. It was so sudden that I could scarce bring myself to realise +it, or to comprehend what it all meant. I heard the gang round me +speaking in short, fierce whispers to each other, and some instinct told +me that my life was the question at issue. Goring spoke authoritatively +and angrily--the others doggedly and all together, as if disputing his +commands. Then they moved away in a body to the opposite side of the +deck, where I could still hear them whispering, though they were +concealed from my view by the saloon skylights. + +All this time the voices of the watch on deck chatting and laughing at +the other end of the ship were distinctly audible, and I could see them +gathered in a group, little dreaming of the dark doings which were going +on within thirty yards of them. Oh! That I could have given them one +word of warning, even though I had lost my life in doing it! but it was +impossible. The moon was shining fitfully through the scattered clouds, +and I could see the silvery gleam of the surge, and beyond it the vast +weird desert with its fantastic sand-hills. Glancing down, I saw that +the man who had been crouching on the deck was still lying there, and as +I gazed at him a flickering ray of moonlight fell full upon his upturned +face. Great heaven! even now, when more than twelve years have elapsed, +my hand trembles as I write that, in spite of distorted features and +projecting eyes, I recognised the face of Harton, the cheery young clerk +who had been my companion during the voyage. It needed no medical eye to +see that he was quite dead, while the twisted handkerchief round the +neck, and the gag in his mouth, showed the silent way in which the +hell-hounds had done their work. The clue which explained every event of +our voyage came upon me like a flash of light as I gazed on poor +Harton's corpse. Much was dark and unexplained, but I felt a great dim +perception of the truth. + +I heard the striking of a match at the other side of the skylights, and +then I saw the tall, gaunt figure of Goring standing up on the bulwarks +and holding in his hands what appeared to be a dark lantern. He lowered +this for a moment over the side of the ship, and, to my inexpressible +astonishment, I saw it answered instantaneously by a flash among the +sand-hills on shore, which came and went so rapidly, that unless I had +been following the direction of Goring's gaze, I should never have +detected it. Again he lowered the lantern, and again it was answered +from the shore. He then stepped down from the bulwarks, and in doing so +slipped, making such a noise, that for a moment my heart bounded with +the thought that the attention of the watch would be directed to his +proceedings. It was a vain hope. The night was calm and the ship +motionless, so that no idea of duty kept them vigilant. Hyson, who after +the death of Tibbs was in command of both watches, had gone below to +snatch a few hours' sleep, and the boatswain, who was left in charge, +was standing with the other two men at the foot of the foremast. +Powerless, speechless, with the cords cutting into my flesh and the +murdered man at my feet, I awaited the next act in the tragedy. + +The four ruffians were standing up now at the other side of the deck. +The cook was armed with some sort of a cleaver, the others had knives, +and Goring had a revolver. They were all leaning against the rail and +looking out over the water as if watching for something. I saw one of +them grasp another's arm and point as if at some object, and following +the direction I made out the loom of a large moving mass making towards +the ship. As it emerged from the gloom I saw that it was a great canoe +crammed with men and propelled by at least a score of paddles. As it +shot under our stern the watch caught sight of it also, and raising a +cry hurried aft. They were too late, however. A swarm of gigantic +negroes clambered over the quarter, and led by Goring swept down the +deck in an irresistible torrent. All opposition was overpowered in a +moment, the unarmed watch were knocked over and bound, and the sleepers +dragged out of their bunks and secured in the same manner. Hyson made an +attempt to defend the narrow passage leading to his cabin, and I heard a +scuffle, and his voice shouting for assistance. There was none to +assist, however, and he was brought on to the poop with the blood +streaming from a deep cut in his forehead. He was gagged like the +others, and a council was held upon our fate by the negroes. I saw our +black seamen pointing towards me and making some statement, which was +received with murmurs of astonishment and incredulity by the savages. +One of them then came over to me, and plunging his hand into my pocket +took out my black stone and held it up. He then handed it to a man who +appeared to be a chief, who examined it as minutely as the light would +permit, and muttering a few words passed it on to the warrior beside +him, who also scrutinised it and passed it on until it had gone from +hand to hand round the whole circle. The chief then said a few words to +Goring in the native tongue, on which the quadroon addressed me in +English. At this moment I seem to see the scene. The tall masts of the +ship with the moonlight streaming down, silvering the yards and bringing +the network of cordage into hard relief; the group of dusky warriors +leaning on their spears; the dead man at my feet; the line of +white-faced prisoners, and in front of me the loathsome half-breed, +looking in his white linen and elegant clothes a strange contrast to his +associates. + +"You will bear me witness," he said in his softest accents, "that I am +no party to sparing your life. If it rested with me you would die as +these other men are about to do. I have no personal grudge against +either you or them, but I have devoted my life to the destruction of the +white race, and you are the first that has ever been in my power and has +escaped me. You may thank that stone of yours for your life. These poor +fellows reverence it, and indeed if it really be what they think it is +they have cause. Should it prove when we get ashore that they are +mistaken, and this its shape and material is a mere chance, nothing can +save your life. In the meantime we wish to treat you well, so if there +are any of your possessions which you would like to take with you, you +are at liberty to get them." As he finished he gave a sign, and a couple +of the negroes unbound me, though without removing the gag. I was led +down into the cabin, where I put a few valuables into my pockets, +together with a pocket-compass and my journal of the voyage. They then +pushed me over the side into a small canoe, which was lying beside the +large one, and my guards followed me, and shoving off began paddling for +the shore. We had got about a hundred yards or so from the ship when our +steersman held up his hand, and the paddlers paused for a moment and +listened. Then on the silence of the night I heard a sort of dull, +moaning sound, followed by a succession of splashes in the water. That +is all I know of the fate of my poor shipmates. Almost immediately +afterwards the large canoe followed us, and the deserted ship was left +drifting about--a dreary spectre-like hulk. Nothing was taken from her +by the savages. The whole fiendish transaction was carried through as +decorously and temperately as though it were a religious rite. + +The first grey of daylight was visible in the east as we passed through +the surge and reached the shore. Leaving half-a-dozen men with the +canoes, the rest of the negroes set off through the sand-hills, leading +me with them, but treating me very gently and respectfully. It was +difficult walking, as we sank over our ankles into the loose, shifting +sand at every step, and I was nearly dead beat by the time we reached +the native village, or town rather, for it was a place of considerable +dimensions. The houses were conical structures not unlike bee-hives, and +were made of compressed seaweed cemented over with a rude form of +mortar, there being neither stick nor stone upon the coast nor anywhere +within many hundreds of miles. As we entered the town an enormous crowd +of both sexes came swarming out to meet us, beating tom-toms and howling +and screaming. On seeing me they redoubled their yells and assumed a +threatening attitude, which was instantly quelled by a few words shouted +by my escort. A buzz of wonder succeeded the war-cries and yells of the +moment before, and the whole dense mass proceeded down the broad central +street of the town, having my escort and myself in the centre. + +My statement hitherto may seem so strange as to excite doubt in the +minds of those who do not know me, but it was the fact which I am now +about to relate which caused my own brother-in-law to insult me by +disbelief. I can but relate the occurrence in the simplest words, and +trust to chance and time to prove their truth. In the centre of this +main street there was a large building, formed in the same primitive way +as the others, but towering high above them; a stockade of beautifully +polished ebony rails was planted all round it, the framework of the door +was formed by two magnificent elephant's tusks sunk in the ground on +each side and meeting at the top, and the aperture was closed by a +screen of native cloth richly embroidered with gold. We made our way to +this imposing-looking structure, but on reaching the opening in the +stockade, the multitude stopped and squatted down upon their hams, while +I was led through into the enclosure by a few of the chiefs and elders +of the tribe, Goring accompanying us, and in fact directing the +proceedings. On reaching the screen which closed the temple--for such it +evidently was--my hat and my shoes were removed, and I was then led in, +a venerable old negro leading the way carrying in his hand my stone, +which had been taken from my pocket. The building was only lit up by a +few long slits in the roof through which the tropical sun poured, +throwing broad golden bars upon the clay floor, alternating with +intervals of darkness. + +The interior was even larger than one would have imagined from the +outside appearance. The walls were hung with native mats, shells, and +other ornaments, but the remainder of the great space was quite empty, +with the exception of a single object in the centre. This was the figure +of a colossal negro, which I at first thought to be some real king or +high priest of titanic size, but as I approached it I saw by the way in +which the light was reflected from it that it was a statue admirably cut +in jet-black stone. I was led up to this idol, for such it seemed to be, +and looking at it closer I saw that though it was perfect in every other +respect, one of its ears had been broken short off. + +The grey-haired negro who held my relic mounted upon a small stool, and +stretching up his arm fitted Martha's black stone on to the jagged +surface on the side of the statue's head. There could not be a doubt +that the one had been broken off from the other. The parts dovetailed +together so accurately that when the old man removed his hand the ear +stuck in its place for a few seconds before dropping into his open palm. +The group round me prostrated themselves upon the ground at the sight +with a cry of reverence, while the crowd outside, to whom the result was +communicated, set up a wild whooping and cheering. + +In a moment I found myself converted from a prisoner into a demi-god. I +was escorted back through the town in triumph, the people pressing +forward to touch my clothing and to gather up the dust on which my foot +had trod. One of the largest huts was put at my disposal, and a banquet +of every native delicacy was served me. I still felt, however, that I +was not a free man, as several spearmen were placed as a guard at the +entrance of my hut. All day my mind was occupied with plans of escape, +but none seemed in any way feasible. On the one side was the great arid +desert stretching away to Timbuctoo, on the other was a sea untraversed +by vessels. The more I pondered over the problem the more hopeless did +it seem. I little dreamed how near I was to its solution. + +Night had fallen, and the clamour of the negroes had died gradually +away. I was stretched on the couch of skins which had been provided for +me, and was still meditating over my future, when Goring walked +stealthily into the hut. My first idea was that he had come to complete +his murderous holocaust by making away with me, the last survivor, and I +sprang up upon my feet, determined to defend myself to the last. He +smiled when he saw the action, and motioned me down again while he +seated himself upon the other end of the couch. + +"What do you think of me?" was the astonishing question with which he +commenced our conversation. + +"Think of you!" I almost yelled. "I think you the vilest, most unnatural +renegade that ever polluted the earth. If we were away from these black +devils of yours I would strangle you with my hands!" + +"Don't speak so loud," he said, without the slightest appearance of +irritation. "I don't want our chat to be cut short. So you would +strangle me, would you!" he went on, with an amused smile. "I suppose I +am returning good for evil, for I have come to help you to escape." + +"You!" I gasped incredulously. + +"Yes, I," he continued. "Oh, there is no credit to me in the matter. I +am quite consistent. There is no reason why I should not be perfectly +candid with you. I wish to be king over these fellows--not a very high +ambition, certainly, but you know what Caesar said about being first in a +village in Gaul. Well, this unlucky stone of yours has not only saved +your life, but has turned all their heads, so that they think you are +come down from heaven, and my influence will be gone until you are out +of the way. That is why I am going to help you to escape, since I cannot +kill you"--this in the most natural and dulcet voice, as if the desire +to do so were a matter of course. + +"You would give the world to ask me a few questions," he went on, after +a pause; "but you are too proud to do it. Never mind, I'll tell you one +or two things, because I want your fellow white men to know them when +you go back--if you are lucky enough to get back. About that cursed +stone of yours, for instance. These negroes, or at least so the legend +goes, were Mahometans originally. While Mahomet himself was still alive, +there was a schism among his followers, and the smaller party moved away +from Arabia, and eventually crossed Africa. They took away with them, in +their exile, a valuable relic of their old faith in the shape of a large +piece of the black stone of Mecca. The stone was a meteoric one, as you +may have heard, and in its fall upon the earth it broke into two pieces. +One of these pieces is still at Mecca. The larger piece was carried away +to Barbary, where a skilful worker modelled it into the fashion which +you saw to-day. These men are the descendents of the original seceders +from Mahomet, and they have brought their relic safely through all their +wanderings until they settled in this strange place, where the desert +protects them from their enemies." + +"And the ear?" I asked, almost involuntarily. + +"Oh, that was the same story over again. Some of the tribe wandered away +to the south a few hundred years ago, and one of them, wishing to have +good luck for the enterprise, got into the temple at night and carried +off one of the ears. There has been a tradition among the negroes ever +since that the ear would come back some day. The fellow who carried it +was caught by some slaver, no doubt, and that was how it got into +America, and so into your hands--and you have had the honour of +fulfilling the prophecy." + +He paused for a few minutes, resting his head upon his hands, waiting +apparently for me to speak. When he looked up again, the whole +expression of his face had changed. His features were firm and set, and +he changed the air of half-levity with which he had spoken before for +one of sternness and almost ferocity. + +"I wish you to carry a message back," he said, "to the white race, the +great dominating race whom I hate and defy. Tell them that I have +battened on their blood for twenty years, that I have slain them until +even I became tired of what had once been a joy, that I did this +unnoticed and unsuspected in the face of every precaution which their +civilisation could suggest. There is no satisfaction in revenge when +your enemy does not know who has struck him. I am not sorry, therefore, +to have you as a messenger. There is no need why I should tell you how +this great hate became born in me. See this," and he held up his +mutilated hand; "that was done by a white man's knife. My father was +white, my mother was a slave. When he died she was sold again, and I, a +child then, saw her lashed to death to break her of some of the little +airs and graces which her late master had encouraged in her. My young +wife, too, oh, my young wife!" a shudder ran through his whole frame. +"No matter! I swore my oath, and I kept it. From Maine to Florida, and +from Boston to San Francisco, you could track my steps by sudden deaths +which baffled the police. I warred against the whole white race as they +for centuries had warred against the black one. At last, as I tell you, +I sickened of blood. Still, the sight of a white face was abhorrent to +me, and I determined to find some bold free black people and to throw in +my lot with them, to cultivate their latent powers and to form a nucleus +for a great coloured nation. This idea possessed me, and I travelled +over the world for two years seeking for what I desired. At last I +almost despaired of finding it. There was no hope of regeneration in the +slave-dealing Soudanese, the debased Fantee, or the Americanised negroes +of Liberia. I was returning from my quest when chance brought me in +contact with this magnificent tribe of dwellers in the desert, and I +threw in my lot with them. Before doing so, however, my old instinct of +revenge prompted me to make one last visit to the United States, and I +returned from it in the _Marie Celeste_. + +"As to the voyage itself, your intelligence will have told you by this +time that, thanks to my manipulation, both compasses and chronometers +were entirely untrustworthy. I alone worked out the course with correct +instruments of my own, while the steering was done by my black friends +under my guidance. I pushed Tibb's wife overboard. What! You look +surprised and shrink away. Surely you had guessed that by this time. I +would have shot you that day through the partition, but unfortunately +you were not there. I tried again afterwards, but you were awake. I shot +Tibbs. I think the idea of suicide was carried out rather neatly. Of +course when once we got on the coast the rest was simple. I had +bargained that all on board should die; but that stone of yours upset my +plans. I also bargained that there should be no plunder. No one can say +we are pirates. We have acted from principle, not from any sordid +motive." + +I listened in amazement to the summary of his crimes which this strange +man gave me, all in the quietest and most composed of voices, as though +detailing incidents of every-day occurrence. I still seem to see him +sitting like a hideous nightmare at the end of my couch, with the single +rude lamp flickering over his cadaverous features. + +"And now," he continued, "there is no difficulty about your escape. +These stupid adopted children of mine will say that you have gone back +to heaven from whence you came. The wind blows off the land. I have a +boat all ready for you, well stored with provisions and water. I am +anxious to be rid of you, so you may rely that nothing is neglected. +Rise up and follow me." + +I did what he commanded, and he led me through the door of the hut. The +guards had either been withdrawn, or Goring had arranged matters with +them. We passed unchallenged through the town and across the sandy +plain. Once more I heard the roar of the sea, and saw the long white +line of the surge. Two figures were standing upon the shore arranging +the gear of a small boat. They were the two sailors who had been with us +on the voyage. + +"See him safely through the surf," said Goring. The two men sprang in +and pushed off, pulling me in after them. With mainsail and jib we ran +out from the land and passed safely over the bar. Then my two companions +without a word of farewell sprang overboard, and I saw their heads like +black dots on the white foam as they made their way back to the shore, +while I scudded away into the blackness of the night. Looking back I +caught my last glimpse of Goring. He was standing upon the summit of a +sand-hill, and the rising moon behind him threw his gaunt angular figure +into hard relief. He was waving his arms frantically to and fro; it may +have been to encourage me on my way, but the gestures seemed to me at +the time to be threatening ones, and I have often thought that it was +more likely that his old savage instinct had returned when he realised +that I was out of his power. Be that as it may, it was the last that I +ever saw or ever shall see of Septimius Goring. + +There is no need for me to dwell upon my solitary voyage. I steered as +well as I could for the Canaries, but was picked up upon the fifth day +by the British and African Steam Navigation Company's boat _Monrovia_. +Let me take this opportunity of tendering my sincerest thanks to Captain +Stornoway and his officers for the great kindness which they showed me +from that time till they landed me in Liverpool, where I was enabled to +take one of the Guion boats to New York. + +From the day on which I found myself once more in the bosom of my family +I have said little of what I have undergone. The subject is still an +intensely painful one to me, and the little which I have dropped has +been discredited. I now put the facts before the public as they +occurred, careless how far they may be believed, and simply writing them +down because my lung is growing weaker, and I feel the responsibility +of holding my peace longer. I make no vague statement. Turn to your map +of Africa. There above Cape Blanco, where the land trends away north and +south from the westernmost point of the continent, there it is that +Septimius Goring still reigns over his dark subjects, unless retribution +has overtaken him; and there, where the long green ridges run swiftly in +to roar and hiss upon the hot yellow sand, it is there that Harton lies +with Hyson and the other poor fellows who were done to death in the +_Marie Celeste_. + + + + +XII + +THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX + + +"All aboard?" said the captain. + +"All aboard, sir!" said the mate. + +"Then stand by to let her go." + +It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday morning. The good ship _Spartan_ was +lying off Boston Quay with her cargo under hatches, her passengers +shipped, and everything prepared for a start. The warning whistle had +been sounded twice; the final bell had been rung. Her bowsprit was +turned towards England, and the hiss of escaping steam showed that all +was ready for her run of three thousand miles. She strained at the warps +that held her like a greyhound at its leash. + +I have the misfortune to be a very nervous man. A sedentary literary +life has helped to increase the morbid love of solitude which, even in +my boyhood, was one of my distinguishing characteristics. As I stood +upon the quarter-deck of the Transatlantic steamer, I bitterly cursed +the necessity which drove me back to the land of my forefathers. The +shouts of the sailors, the rattle of the cordage, the farewells of my +fellow-passengers, and the cheers of the mob, each and all jarred upon +my sensitive nature. I felt sad too. An indescribable feeling, as of +some impending calamity, seemed to haunt me. The sea was calm, and the +breeze light. There was nothing to disturb the equanimity of the most +confirmed of landsmen, yet I felt as if I stood upon the verge of a +great though indefinable danger. I have noticed that such presentiments +occur often in men of my peculiar temperament, and that they are not +uncommonly fulfilled. There is a theory that it arises from a species of +second-sight, a subtle spiritual communication with the future. I well +remember that Herr Raumer, the eminent spiritualist, remarked on one +occasion that I was the most sensitive subject as regards supernatural +phenomena that he had ever encountered in the whole of his wide +experience. Be that as it may, I certainly felt far from happy as I +threaded my way among the weeping, cheering groups which dotted the +white decks of the good ship _Spartan_. Had I known the experience which +awaited me in the course of the next twelve hours I should even then at +the last moment have sprung upon the shore, and made my escape from the +accursed vessel. + +"Time's up!" said the captain, closing his chronometer with a snap, and +replacing it in his pocket. "Time's up!" said the mate. There was a last +wail from the whistle, a rush of friends and relatives upon the land. +One warp was loosened, the gangway was being pushed away, when there was +a shout from the bridge, and two men appeared, running rapidly down the +quay. They were waving their hands and making frantic gestures, +apparently with the intention of stopping the ship. "Look sharp!" +shouted the crowd. "Hold hard!" cried the captain. "Ease her! stop her! +Up with the gangway!" and the two men sprang aboard just as the second +warp parted, and a convulsive throb of the engine shot us clear of the +shore. There was a cheer from the deck, another from the quay, a mighty +fluttering of handkerchiefs, and the great vessel ploughed its way out +of the harbour, and steamed grandly away across the placid bay. + +We were fairly started upon our fortnight's voyage. There was a general +dive among the passengers in quest of berths and luggage, while a +popping of corks in the saloon proved that more than one bereaved +traveller was adopting artificial means for drowning the pangs of +separation. I glanced round the deck and took a running inventory of my +_compagnons de voyage_. They presented the usual types met with upon +these occasions. There was no striking face among them. I speak as a +connoisseur, for faces are a speciality of mine. I pounce upon a +characteristic feature as a botanist does on a flower, and bear it away +with me to analyse at my leisure, and classify and label it in my little +anthropological museum. There was nothing worthy of me here. Twenty +types of young America going to "Yurrup," a few respectable middle-aged +couples as an antidote, a sprinkling of clergymen and professional men, +young ladies, bagmen, British exclusives, and all the _olla podrida_ of +an ocean-going steamer. I turned away from them and gazed back at the +receding shores of America, and, as a cloud of remembrances rose before +me, my heart warmed towards the land of my adoption. A pile of +portmanteaus and luggage chanced to be lying on one side of the deck, +awaiting their turn to be taken below. With my usual love for solitude I +walked behind these, and sitting on a coil of rope between them and the +vessel's side, I indulged in a melancholy reverie. + +I was aroused from this by a whisper behind me. "Here's a quiet place," +said the voice. "Sit down, and we can talk it over in safety." + +Glancing through a chink between two colossal chests, I saw that the +passengers who had joined us at the last moment were standing at the +other side of the pile. They had evidently failed to see me as I +crouched in the shadow of the boxes. The one who had spoken was a tall +and very thin man with a blue-black beard and a colourless face. His +manner was nervous and excited. His companion was a short plethoric +little fellow, with a brisk and resolute air. He had a cigar in his +mouth, and a large ulster slung over his left arm. They both glanced +round uneasily, as if to ascertain whether they were alone. "This is +just the place," I heard the other say. They sat down on a bale of goods +with their backs turned towards me, and I found myself, much against my +will, playing the unpleasant part of eavesdropper to their conversation. + +"Well, Muller," said the taller of the two, "we've got it aboard right +enough." + +"Yes," assented the man whom he had addressed as Muller, "it's safe +aboard." + +"It was rather a near go." + +"It was that, Flannigan." + +"It wouldn't have done to have missed the ship." + +"No, it would have put our plans out." + +"Ruined them entirely," said the little man, and puffed furiously at his +cigar for some minutes. + +"I've got it here," he said at last. + +"Let me see it." + +"Is no one looking?" + +"No, they are nearly all below." + +"We can't be too careful where so much is at stake," said Muller, as he +uncoiled the ulster which hung over his arm, and disclosed a dark object +which he laid upon the deck. One glance at it was enough to cause me to +spring to my feet with an exclamation of horror. Luckily they were so +engrossed in the matter on hand that neither of them observed me. Had +they turned their heads they would infallibly have seen my pale face +glaring at them over the pile of boxes. + +From the first moment of their conversation a horrible misgiving had +come over me. It seemed more than confirmed as I gazed at what lay +before me. It was a little square box made of some dark wood, and ribbed +with brass. I suppose it was about the size of a cubic foot. It reminded +me of a pistol-case, only it was decidedly higher. There was an +appendage to it, however, on which my eyes were riveted, and which +suggested the pistol itself rather than its receptacle. This was a +trigger-like arrangement upon the lid, to which a coil of string was +attached. Beside this trigger there was a small square aperture through +the wood. The tall man, Flannigan, as his companion called him, applied +his eye to this, and peered in for several minutes with an expression of +intense anxiety upon his face. + +"It seems right enough," he said at last. + +"I tried not to shake it," said his companion. + +"Such delicate things need delicate treatment. Put in some of the +needful, Muller." + +The shorter man fumbled in his pocket for some time, and then produced a +small paper packet. He opened this, and took out of it half a handful of +whitish granules, which he poured down through the hole. A curious +clicking noise followed from the inside of the box, and both men smiled +in a satisfied way. + +"Nothing much wrong there," said Flannigan. + +"Right as a trivet," answered his companion. + +"Look out! here's some one coming. Take it down to our berth. It +wouldn't do to have any one suspecting what our game is, or, worse +still, have them fumbling with it, and letting it off by mistake." + +"Well, it would come to the same, whoever let it off," said Muller. + +"They'd be rather astonished if they pulled the trigger," said the +taller, with a sinister laugh. "Ha, ha! fancy their faces! It's not a +bad bit of workmanship, I flatter myself." + +"No," said Muller. "I hear it is your own design, every bit of it, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, the spring and the sliding shutter are my own." + +"We should take out a patent." + +And the two men laughed again with a cold harsh laugh, as they took up +the little brass-bound package, and concealed it in Muller's voluminous +overcoat. + +"Come down, and we'll stow it in our berth," said Flannigan. "We won't +need it until to-night, and it will be safe there." + +His companion assented, and the two went arm-in-arm along the deck and +disappeared down the hatchway, bearing the mysterious little box away +with them. The last words I heard were a muttered injunction from +Flannigan to carry it carefully, and avoid knocking it against the +bulwarks. + +How long I remained sitting on that coil of rope I shall never know. The +horror of the conversation I had just overheard was aggravated by the +first sinking qualms of sea-sickness. The long roll of the Atlantic was +beginning to assert itself over both ship and passengers. I felt +prostrated in mind and in body, and fell into a state of collapse, from +which I was finally aroused by the hearty voice of our worthy +quartermaster. + +"Do you mind moving out of that, sir?" he said. "We want to get this +lumber cleared off the deck." + +His bluff manner and ruddy healthy face seemed to be a positive insult +to me in my present condition. Had I been a courageous or a muscular man +I could have struck him. As it was, I treated the honest sailor to a +melodramatic scowl which seemed to cause him no small astonishment, and +strode past him to the other side of the deck. Solitude was what I +wanted--solitude in which I could brood over the frightful crime which +was being hatched before my very eyes. One of the quarter-boats was +hanging rather low down upon the davits. An idea struck me, and climbing +on the bulwarks, I stepped into the empty boat and lay down in the +bottom of it. Stretched on my back, with nothing but the blue sky above +me, and an occasional view of the mizzen as the vessel rolled, I was at +last alone with my sickness and my thoughts. + +I tried to recall the words which had been spoken in the terrible +dialogue I had overheard. Would they admit of any construction but the +one which stared me in the face? My reason forced me to confess that +they would not. I endeavoured to array the various facts which formed +the chain of circumstantial evidence, and to find a flaw in it; but no, +not a link was missing. There was the strange way in which our +passengers had come aboard, enabling them to evade any examination of +their luggage. The very name of "Flannigan" smacked of Fenianism, while +"Muller" suggested nothing but socialism and murder. Then their +mysterious manner; their remark that their plans would have been ruined +had they missed the ship; their fear of being observed; last, but not +least, the clenching evidence in the production of the little square box +with the trigger, and their grim joke about the face of the man who +should let it off by mistake--could these facts lead to any conclusion +other than that they were the desperate emissaries of somebody, +political or otherwise, who intended to sacrifice themselves, their +fellow-passengers, and the ship, in one great holocaust? The whitish +granules which I had seen one of them pour into the box formed no doubt +a fuse or train for exploding it. I had myself heard a sound come from +it which might have emanated from some delicate piece of machinery. But +what did they mean by their allusion to to-night? Could it be that they +contemplated putting their horrible design into execution on the very +first evening of our voyage? The mere thought of it sent a cold shudder +over me, and made me for a moment superior even to the agonies of +sea-sickness. + +I have remarked that I am a physical coward. I am a moral one also. It +is seldom that the two defects are united to such a degree in the one +character. I have known many men who were most sensitive to bodily +danger, and yet were distinguished for the independence and strength of +their minds. In my own case, however, I regret to say that my quiet and +retiring habits had fostered a nervous dread of doing anything +remarkable or making myself conspicuous, which exceeded, if possible, my +fear of personal peril. An ordinary mortal placed under the +circumstances in which I now found myself would have gone at once to the +Captain, confessed his fears, and put the matter into his hands. To me, +however, constituted as I am, the idea was most repugnant. The thought +of becoming the observed of all observers, cross-questioned by a +stranger, and confronted with two desperate conspirators in the +character of a denouncer, was hateful to me. Might it not by some remote +possibility prove that I was mistaken? What would be my feelings if +there should turn out to be no grounds for my accusation? No, I would +procrastinate; I would keep my eye on the two desperadoes and dog them +at every turn. Anything was better than the possibility of being wrong. + +Then it struck me that even at that moment some new phase of the +conspiracy might be developing itself. The nervous excitement seemed to +have driven away my incipient attack of sickness, for I was able to +stand up and lower myself from the boat without experiencing any return +of it. I staggered along the deck with the intention of descending into +the cabin and finding how my acquaintances of the morning were occupying +themselves. Just as I had my hand on the companion-rail, I was +astonished by receiving a hearty slap on the back, which nearly shot me +down the steps with more haste than dignity. + +"Is that you, Hammond?" said a voice which I seemed to recognise. + +"God bless me," I said, as I turned round, "it can't be Dick Merton! +Why, how are you, old man?" + +This was an unexpected piece of luck in the midst of my perplexities. +Dick was just the man I wanted; kindly and shrewd in his nature, and +prompt in his actions, I should have no difficulty in telling him my +suspicions, and could rely upon his sound sense to point out the best +course to pursue. Since I was a little lad in the second form at Harrow, +Dick had been my adviser and protector. He saw at a glance that +something had gone wrong with me. + +"Hullo!" he said, in his kindly way, "what's put you about, Hammond? You +look as white as a sheet. _Mal de mer_, eh?" + +"No, not that altogether," said I. "Walk up and down with me, Dick; I +want to speak to you. Give me your arm." + +Supporting myself on Dick's stalwart frame, I tottered along by his +side; but it was some time before I could muster resolution to speak. + +"Have a cigar?" said he, breaking the silence. + +"No, thanks," said I. "Dick, we shall be all corpses to-night." + +"That's no reason against your having a cigar now," said Dick, in his +cool way, but looking hard at me from under his shaggy eyebrows as he +spoke. He evidently thought that my intellect was a little gone. + +"No," I continued, "it's no laughing matter; and I speak in sober +earnest, I assure you. I have discovered an infamous conspiracy, Dick, +to destroy this ship and every soul that is in her;" and I then +proceeded systematically, and in order, to lay before him the chain of +evidence which I had collected. "There, Dick," I said, as I concluded, +"what do you think of that and, above all, what am I to do?" + +To my astonishment he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. + +"I'd be frightened," he said, "if any fellow but you had told me as +much. You always had a way, Hammond, of discovering mares' nests. I like +to see the old traits breaking out again. Do you remember at school how +you swore there was a ghost in the long room, and how it turned out to +be your own reflection in the mirror? Why, man," he continued, "what +object would any one have in destroying this ship? We have no great +political guns aboard. On the contrary, the majority of the passengers +are Americans. Besides, in this sober nineteenth century, the most +wholesale murderers stop at including themselves among their victims. +Depend upon it, you have misunderstood them, and have mistaken a +photographic camera, or something equally innocent, for an infernal +machine." + +"Nothing of the sort, sir," said I, rather touchily. "You will learn to +your cost, I fear, that I have neither exaggerated nor misinterpreted a +word. As to the box, I have certainly never before seen one like it. It +contained delicate machinery; of that I am convinced, from the way in +which the men handled it and spoke of it." + +"You'd make out every packet of perishable goods to be a torpedo," said +Dick, "if that is to be your only test." + +"The man's name was Flannigan," I continued. + +"I don't think that would go very far in a court of law," said Dick; +"but come, I have finished my cigar. Suppose we go down together and +split a bottle of claret. You can point out these two Orsinis to me if +they are still in the cabin." + +"All right," I answered; "I am determined not to lose sight of them all +day. Don't look hard at them, though, for I don't want them to think +that they are being watched." + +"Trust me," said Dick; "I'll look as unconscious and guileless as a +lamb;" and with that we passed down the companion and into the saloon. + +A good many passengers were scattered about the great central table, +some wrestling with refractory carpet-bags and rug-straps, some having +their luncheon, and a few reading and otherwise amusing themselves. The +objects of our quest were not there. We passed down the room and peered +into every berth, but there was no sign of them. "Heavens!" thought I, +"perhaps at this very moment they are beneath our feet, in the hold or +engine-room, preparing their diabolical contrivance!" It was better to +know the worst than to remain in such suspense. + +"Steward," said Dick, "are there any other gentlemen about?" + +"There's two in the smoking room, sir," answered the steward. + +The smoking-room was a little snuggery, luxuriously fitted up, and +adjoining the pantry. We pushed the door opened and entered. A sigh of +relief escaped from my bosom. The very first object on which my eye +rested was the cadaverous face of Flannigan, with its hard-set mouth and +unwinking eye. His companion sat opposite to him. They were both +drinking, and a pile of cards lay upon the table. They were engaged in +playing as we entered. I nudged Dick to show him that we had found our +quarry, and we sat down beside them with as unconcerned an air as +possible. The two conspirators seemed to take little notice of our +presence. I watched them both narrowly. The game at which they were +playing was "Napoleon." Both were adepts at it, and I could not help +admiring the consummate nerve of men who, with such a secret at their +hearts, could devote their minds to the manipulation of a long suit or +the finessing of a queen. Money changed hands rapidly; but the run of +luck seemed to be all against the taller of the two players. At last he +threw down his cards on the table with an oath, and refused to go on. + +"No, I'm hanged if I do," he said; "I haven't had more than two of a +suit for five hands." + +"Never mind," said his comrade, as he gathered up his winnings; "a few +dollars one way or the other won't go very far after to-night's work." + +I was astonished at the rascal's audacity, but took care to keep my eyes +fixed abstractedly upon the ceiling, and drank my wine in as unconscious +a manner as possible. I felt that Flannigan was looking towards me with +his wolfish eyes to see if I had noticed the allusion. He whispered +something to his companion which I failed to catch. It was a caution, I +suppose, for the other answered rather angrily-- + +"Nonsense! Why shouldn't I say what I like? Over-caution is just what +would ruin us." + +"I believe you want it not to come off," said Flannigan. + +"You believe nothing of the sort," said the other, speaking rapidly and +loudly. "You know as well as I do that when I play for a stake I like to +win it. But I won't have my words criticised and cut short by you or any +other man. I have as much interest in our success as you have--more, I +hope." + +He was quite hot about it, and puffed furiously at his cigar for some +minutes. The eyes of the other ruffian wandered alternately from Dick +Merton to myself. I knew that I was in the presence of a desperate man, +that a quiver of my lip might be the signal for him to plunge a weapon +into my heart, but I betrayed more self-command than I should have given +myself credit for under such trying circumstances. As to Dick, he was as +immovable and apparently as unconscious as the Egyptian Sphinx. + +There was silence for some time in the smoking-room, broken only by the +crisp rattle of the cards, as the man Muller shuffled them up before +replacing them in his pocket. He still seemed to be somewhat flushed and +irritable. Throwing the end of his cigar into the spittoon, he glanced +defiantly at his companion and turned towards me. + +"Can you tell me, sir," he said, "when this ship will be heard of +again?" + +They were both looking at me; but though my face may have turned a +trifle paler, my voice was as steady as ever as I answered-- + +"I presume, sir, that it will be heard of first when it enters +Queenstown Harbour." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the angry little man, "I knew you would say that. +Don't you kick me under the table, Flannigan, I won't stand it. I know +what I am doing. You are wrong, sir," he continued, turning to me, +"utterly wrong." + +"Some passing ship, perhaps," suggested Dick. + +"No, nor that either." + +"The weather is fine," I said; "why should we not be heard of at our +destination?" + +"I didn't say we shouldn't be heard of at our destination. Possibly we +may not, and in any case that is not where we shall be heard of first." + +"Where, then?" asked Dick. + +"That you shall never know. Suffice it that a rapid and mysterious +agency will signal our whereabouts, and that before the day is out. Ha, +ha!" and he chuckled once again. + +"Come on deck!" growled his comrade; "you have drunk too much of that +confounded brandy-and-water. It has loosened your tongue. Come away!" +and taking him by the arm he half led him, half forced him out of the +smoking-room, and we heard them stumbling up the companion together, and +on to the deck. + +"Well, what do you think now?" I gasped, as I turned towards Dick. He +was as imperturbable as ever. + +"Think!" he said; "why, I think what his companion thinks, that we have +been listening to the ravings of a half-drunken man. The fellow stunk of +brandy." + +"Nonsense, Dick! you saw how the other tried to stop his tongue." + +"Of course he did. He didn't want his friend to make a fool of himself +before strangers. Maybe the short one is a lunatic, and the other his +private keeper. It's quite possible." + +"O, Dick, Dick," I cried, "how can you be so blind! Don't you see that +every word confirmed our previous suspicion?" + +"Humbug, man!" said Dick; "you're working yourself into a state of +nervous excitement. Why, what the devil do _you_ make of all that +nonsense about a mysterious agent which would signal our whereabouts?" + +"I'll tell you what he meant, Dick," I said, bending forward and +grasping my friend's arm. "He meant a sudden glare and a flash seen far +out at sea by some lonely fisherman off the American coast. That's what +he meant." + +"I didn't think you were such a fool, Hammond," said Dick Merton +testily. "If you try to fix a literal meaning on the twaddle that every +drunken man talks, you will come to some queer conclusions. Let us +follow their example, and go on deck. You need fresh air, I think. +Depend upon it, your liver is out of order. A sea-voyage will do you a +world of good." + +"If ever I see the end of this one," I groaned, "I'll promise never to +venture on another. They are laying the cloth, so it's hardly worth +while my going up. I'll stay below and unpack my things." + +"I hope dinner will find you in a more pleasant state of mind," said +Dick; and he went out, leaving me to my thoughts until the clang of the +great gong summoned us to the saloon. + +My appetite, I need hardly say, had not been improved by the incidents +which had occurred during the day. I sat down, however, mechanically at +the table, and listened to the talk which was going on around me. There +were nearly a hundred first-class passengers, and as the wine began to +circulate, their voices combined with the clash of the dishes to form a +perfect Babel. I found myself seated between a very stout and nervous +old lady and a prim little clergyman; and as neither made any advances I +retired into my shell, and spent my time in observing the appearance of +my fellow-voyagers. I could see Dick in the dim distance dividing his +attentions between a jointless fowl in front of him and a +self-possessed young lady at his side. Captain Dowie was doing the +honours at my end, while the surgeon of the vessel was seated at the +other. I was glad to notice that Flannigan was placed almost opposite to +me. As long as I had him before my eyes I knew that, for the time at +least, we were safe. He was sitting with what was meant to be a sociable +smile on his grim face. It did not escape me that he drank largely of +wine--so largely that even before the dessert appeared his voice had +become decidedly husky. His friend Muller was seated a few places lower +down. He ate little, and appeared to be nervous and restless. + +"Now, ladies," said our genial Captain, "I trust that you will consider +yourselves at home aboard my vessel. I have no fears for the gentlemen. +A bottle of champagne, steward. Here's to a fresh breeze and a quick +passage! I trust our friends in America will hear of our safe arrival in +eight days, or in nine at the very latest." + +I looked up. Quick as was the glance which passed between Flannigan and +his confederate, I was able to intercept it. There was an evil smile +upon the former's thin lips. + +The conversation rippled on. Politics, the sea, amusements, religion, +each was in turn discussed. I remained a silent though an interested +listener. It struck me that no harm could be done by introducing the +subject which was ever in my mind. It could be managed in an off-hand +way, and would at least have the effect of turning the Captain's +thoughts in that direction. I could watch, too, what effect it would +have upon the faces of the conspirators. + +There was a sudden lull in the conversation. The ordinary subjects of +interest appeared to be exhausted. The opportunity was a favourable one. + +"May I ask, Captain," I said, bending forward and speaking very +distinctly, "what you think of Fenian manifestos?" + +The Captain's ruddy face became a shade darker from honest indignation. + +"They are poor cowardly things," he said, "as silly as they are wicked." + +"The impotent threats of a set of anonymous scoundrels," said a +pompous-looking old gentleman beside him. + +"O Captain!" said the fat lady at my side, "you don't really think they +would blow up a ship?" + +"I have no doubt they would if they could. But I am very sure they shall +never blow up mine." + +"May I ask what precautions are taken against them?" asked an elderly +man at the end of the table. + +"All goods sent aboard the ship are strictly examined," said Captain +Dowie. + +"But suppose a man brought explosives aboard with him?" I suggested. + +"They are too cowardly to risk their own lives in that way." + +During this conversation Flannigan had not betrayed the slightest +interest in what was going on. He raised his head now and looked at the +Captain. + +"Don't you think you are rather underrating them?" he said. "Every +secret society has produced desperate men--why shouldn't the Fenians +have them too? Many men think it a privilege to die in the service of a +cause which seems right in their eyes, though others may think it +wrong." + +"Indiscriminate murder cannot be fight in anybody's eyes," said the +little clergyman. + +"The bombardment of Paris was nothing else," said Flannigan; "yet the +whole civilised world agreed to look on with folded arms, and change the +ugly word 'murder' into the more euphonious one of 'war.' It seemed +right enough to German eyes; why shouldn't dynamite seem so to the +Fenian?" + +"At any rate their empty vapourings have led to nothing as yet," said +the Captain. + +"Excuse me," returned Flannigan, "but is there not some room for doubt +yet as to the fate of the _Dotterel_? I have met men in America who +asserted from their own personal knowledge that there was a coal torpedo +aboard that vessel." + +"Then they lied," said the Captain. "It was proved conclusively at the +court-martial to have arisen from an explosion of coal-gas--but we had +better change the subject, or we may cause the ladies to have a restless +night;" and the conversation once more drifted back into its original +channel. + +During this little discussion Flannigan had argued his point with a +gentlemanly deference and a quiet power for which I had not given him +credit. I could not help admiring a man who, on the eve of a desperate +enterprise, could courteously argue upon a point which must touch him so +nearly. He had, as I have already mentioned, partaken of a considerable +quantity of wine; but though there was a slight flush upon his pale +cheek, his manner was as reserved as ever. He did not join in the +conversation again, but seemed to be lost in thought. + +A whirl of conflicting ideas was battling in my own mind. What was I to +do? Should I stand up now and denounce them before both passengers and +Captain? Should I demand a few minutes' conversation with the latter in +his own cabin, and reveal it all? For an instant I was half resolved to +do it, but then the old constitutional timidity came back with redoubled +force. After all there might be some mistake. Dick had heard the +evidence and had refused to believe in it. I determined to let things go +on their course. A strange reckless feeling came over me. Why should I +help men who were blind to their own danger? Surely it was the duty of +the officers to protect us, not ours to give warning to them. I drank +off a couple of glasses of wine, and staggered up on deck with the +determination of keeping my secret locked in my own bosom. + +It was a glorious evening. Even in my excited state of mind I could not +help leaning against the bulwarks and enjoying the refreshing breeze. +Away to the westward a solitary sail stood out as a dark speck against +the great sheet of flame left by the setting sun. I shuddered as I +looked at it. It was grand but appalling. A single star was twinkling +faintly above our mainmast, but a thousand seemed to gleam in the water +below with every stroke of our propeller. The only blot in the fair +scene was the great trail of smoke which stretched away behind us like a +black slash upon a crimson curtain. It was hard to believe that the +great peace which hung over all Nature could be marred by a poor +miserable mortal. + +"After all," I thought, as I gazed into the blue depths beneath me, "if +the worst comes to the worst, it is better to die here than to linger in +agony upon a sickbed on land." A man's life seems a very paltry thing +amid the great forces of Nature. All my philosophy could not prevent my +shuddering, however, when I turned my head and saw two shadowy figures +at the other side of the deck, which I had no difficulty in recognising. +They seemed to be conversing earnestly, but I had no opportunity of +overhearing what was said; so I contented myself with pacing up and +down, and keeping a vigilant watch upon their movements. + +It was a relief to me when Dick came on deck. Even an incredulous +confidant is better than none at all. + +"Well, old man," he said, giving me a facetious dig in the ribs, "we've +not been blown up yet." + +"No, not yet," said I; "but that's no proof that we are not going to +be." + +"Nonsense, man!" said Dick; "I can't conceive what has put this +extraordinary idea into your head. I have been talking to one of your +supposed assassins, and he seems a pleasant fellow enough; quite a +sporting character, I should think, from the way he speaks." + +"Dick," I said, "I am as certain that those men have an infernal +machine, and that we are on the verge of eternity, as if I saw them +putting the match to the fuse." + +"Well, if you really think so," said Dick, half awed for the moment by +the earnestness of my manner, "it is your duty to let the Captain know +of your suspicions." + +"You are right," I said; "I will. My absurd timidity has prevented my +doing so sooner. I believe our lives can only be saved by laying the +whole matter before him." + +"Well, go and do it now," said Dick; "but for goodness' sake don't mix +me up in the matter." + +"I'll speak to him when he comes off the bridge," I answered; "and in +the meantime I don't mean to lose sight of them." + +"Let me know of the result," said my companion; and with a nod he +strolled away in search, I fancy, of his partner at the dinner-table. + +Left to myself, I bethought me of my retreat of the morning, and +climbing on the bulwark I mounted into the quarter-boat, and lay down +there. In it I could reconsider my course of action, and by raising my +head I was able at any time to get a view of my disagreeable neighbours. + +An hour passed, and the Captain was still on the bridge. He was talking +to one of the passengers, a retired naval officer, and the two were deep +in debate concerning some abstruse point of navigation. I could see the +red tips of their cigars from where I lay. It was dark now, so dark that +I could hardly make out the figures of Flannigan and his accomplice. +They were still standing in the position which they had taken up after +dinner. A few of the passengers were scattered about the deck, but many +had gone below. A strange stillness seemed to pervade the air. The +voices of the watch and the rattle of the wheel were the only sounds +which broke the silence. + +Another half-hour passed. The Captain was still upon the bridge. It +seemed as if he would never come down. My nerves were in a state of +unnatural tension, so much so that the sound of two steps upon the deck +made me start up in a quiver of excitement. I peered over the edge of +the boat, and saw that our suspicious passengers had crossed from the +other side, and were standing almost directly beneath me. The light of a +binnacle fell full upon the ghastly face of the ruffian Flannigan. Even +in that short glance I saw that Muller had the ulster, whose use I knew +so well, slung loosely over his arm. I sank back with a groan. It seemed +that my fatal procrastination had sacrificed two hundred innocent lives. + +I had read of the fiendish vengeance which awaited a spy. I knew that +men with their lives in their hands would stick at nothing. All I could +do was to cower at the bottom of the boat and listen silently to their +whispered talk below. + +"This place will do," said a voice. + +"Yes, the leeward side is best." + +"I wonder if the trigger will act?" + +"I am sure it will." + +"We were to let it off at ten, were we not?" + +"Yes, at ten sharp. We have eight minutes yet." There was a pause. Then +the voice began again-- + +"They'll hear the drop of the trigger, won't they?" + +"It doesn't matter. It will be too late for any one to prevent its going +off." + +"That's true. There will be some excitement among those we have left +behind, won't there?" + +"Rather. How long do you reckon it will be before they hear of us?" + +"The first news will get in at about midnight at earliest." + +"That will be my doing." + +"No, mine." + +"Ha, ha! we'll settle that." + +There was a pause here. Then I heard Muller's voice in a ghastly +whisper, "There's only five minutes more." + +How slowly the moments seemed to pass! I could count them by the +throbbing of my heart. + +"It'll make a sensation on land," said a voice. + +"Yes, it will make a noise in the newspapers." + +I raised my head and peered over the side of the boat. There seemed no +hope, no help. Death stared me in the face, whether I did or did not +give the alarm. The Captain had at last left the bridge. The deck was +deserted, save for those two dark figures crouching in the shadow of the +boat. + +Flannigan had a watch lying open in his hand. + +"Three minutes more," he said. "Put it down upon the deck." + +"No, put it here on the bulwarks." + +It was the little square box. I knew by the sound that they had placed +it near the davit, and almost exactly under my head. + +I looked over again. Flannigan was pouring something out of a paper into +his hand. It was white and granular--the same that I had seen him use in +the morning. It was meant as a fuse, no doubt, for he shovelled it into +the little box, and I heard the strange noise which had previously +arrested my attention. + +"A minute and a half more," he said. "Shall you or I pull the string?" + +"I will pull it," said Muller. + +He was kneeling down and holding the end in his hand. Flannigan stood +behind with his arms folded, and an air of grim resolution upon his +face. + +I could stand it no longer. My nervous system seemed to give way in a +moment. + +"Stop!" I screamed, springing to my feet. "Stop, misguided and +unprincipled men!" + +They both staggered backwards. I fancy they thought I was a spirit, with +the moonlight streaming down upon my pale face. + +I was brave enough now. I had gone too far to retreat. + +"Cain was damned," I cried, "and he slew but one; would you have the +blood of two hundred upon your souls?" + +"He's mad!" said Flannigan. "Time's up. Let it off, Muller." + +I sprang down upon the deck. + +"You shan't do it!" I said. + +"By what right do you prevent us?" + +"By every right, human and divine." + +"It's no business of yours. Clear out of this." + +"Never!" said I. + +"Confound the fellow! There's too much at stake to stand on ceremony. +I'll hold him, Muller, while you pull the trigger." + +Next moment I was struggling in the herculean grasp of the Irishman. +Resistance was useless; I was a child in his hands. + +He pinned me up against the side of the vessel, and held me there. + +"Now," he said, "look sharp. He can't prevent us." + +I felt that I was standing on the verge of eternity. Half-strangled in +the arms of the taller ruffian, I saw the other approach the fatal box. +He stooped over it and seized the string. I breathed one prayer when I +saw his grasp tighten upon it. Then came a sharp snap, a strange rasping +noise. The trigger had fallen, the side of the box flew out, and let +off--_two grey carrier pigeons_! + + * * * * * + +Little more need be said. It is not a subject on which I care to dwell. +The whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd. Perhaps the best +thing I can do is to retire gracefully from the scene, and let the +sporting correspondent of the _New York Herald_ fill my unworthy place. +Here is an extract clipped from its columns shortly after our departure +from America: + +"_Pigeon-flying Extraordinary._--A novel match has been brought off last +week between the birds of John H. Flannigan, of Boston, and Jeremiah +Muller, a well-known citizen of Lowell. Both men have devoted much time +and attention to an improved breed of bird, and the challenge is an +old-standing one. The pigeons were backed to a large amount, and there +was considerable local interest in the result. The start was from the +deck of the Transatlantic steamship _Spartan_, at ten o'clock on the +evening of the day of starting, the vessel being then reckoned to be +about a hundred miles from the land. The bird which reached home first +was to be declared the winner. Considerable caution had, we believe, to +be observed, as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing off +of sporting events aboard their vessels. In spite of some little +difficulty at the last moment, the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten +o'clock. Muller's bird arrived in Lowell in an extreme state of +exhaustion on the following morning, while Flannigan's has not been +heard of. The backers of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing, +however, that the whole affair has been characterised by extreme +fairness. The pigeons were confined in a specially invented trap, which +could only be opened by the spring. It was thus possible to feed them +through an aperture in the top, but any tampering with their wings was +quite out of the question. A few such matches would go far towards +popularising pigeon-flying in America, and form an agreeable variety to +the morbid exhibitions of human endurance which have assumed such +proportions during the last few years." + + +THE END + + + + +By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + +_Novels and Stories_ + + DANGER! _And Other Stories_ + + THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW + + HIS LAST BOW + _Some Latin Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes_ + + THE BLACK DOCTOR + _And Other Tales of Terror and Mystery_ + + THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL + _And Other Tales of Adventure_ + + THE CROXLEY MASTER + _And Other Tales of the Ring and Camp_ + + THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT + _And Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen_ + + THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS + _And Other Tales of Long Ago_ + + THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY + _And Other Tales of Pirates_ + +_On the Life Hereafter_ + + THE NEW REVELATION + THE VITAL MESSAGE + THE COMING OF THE FAIRIES + THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY + THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST + OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE + +_A History of the Great War_ + + THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE + AND FLANDERS--Six Vols. + +_Poems_ + + THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Dealings of Captain Sharkey, by A. Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEALINGS OF CAPTAIN SHARKEY *** + +***** This file should be named 34627.txt or 34627.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/2/34627/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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