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diff --git a/40265-0.txt b/40265-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31e9eb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/40265-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12250 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40265 *** + +Transcriber's note: +Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have +been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + + + +THE GREAT QUEST + +[Illustration: _I gave a quick jerk,--literally my foot was +held,--I lost my balance and all but went over._] + + + + + THE + GREAT QUEST + + _A romance of 1826, wherein are recorded + the experiences of Josiah Woods of Topham, + and of those others with whom he sailed + for Cuba and the Gulf of Guinea._ + + BY + + CHARLES BOARDMAN HAWES + Author of "The Mutineers" + + [Illustration] + + _Illustrated by_ + GEORGE VARIAN + + _The_ ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS + BOSTON + + Copyright, 1920, 1921 + + By THE TORBELL COMPANY + + (Publishers of _The Open Road_) + + Copyright, 1921 + By CHARLES BOARDMAN HAWES + + First Impression, September, 1921 + Second Impression, January, 1922 + + +_Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + + _To_ + MY FATHER AND MOTHER + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I + AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE + + I The Stranger 3 + II My Uncle Behaves Queerly 12 + III Higgleby's Barn 18 + IV Swords and Ships 26 + V A Mysterious Project 36 + + + II + HANDS ACROSS THE SEA + + VI Good-bye to Old Haunts and Faces 49 + VII A Wild Night 63 + VIII The Brig Adventure 81 + IX An Old Sea Song 87 + + + III + A LOW LAND IN THE EAST + + X Matterson 99 + XI New Light on an Old Friend 109 + XII Captain North Again 119 + XIII Issues Sharply Drawn 132 + XIV Land Ho! 137 + + + IV + THREE DESPERATE MEN + + XV The Island 151 + XVI Strangest of All 165 + XVII The Man from the Jungle 173 + XVIII A Warning Defied 185 + XIX Burned Bridges 193 + + + V + THE HOUSE ON THE HILL + + XX Up Stream 201 + XXI A Grim Surprise 212 + XXII Siege 225 + XXIII Sortie 234 + + + VI + FOR OUR VERY LIVES + + XXIV Spears in the Dark 247 + XXV Cards and Chess 252 + XXVI An Unseen Foe 261 + XXVII The Fort Falls 268 + XXVIII Down the Current 283 + XXIX The Fight at the Landing 295 + + + VII + THE LONG ROAD HOME + + XXX The Cruiser 307 + XXXI A Passage at Arms 321 + XXXII Westward Bound 332 + XXXIII The Door of Disaster 340 + XXXIV An Old, Old Story 352 + XXXV Eheu Fugaces! 357 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + _I gave a quick jerk--literally my foot was held,--I lost my + balance and all but went over_ Frontispiece + + _Clapping his hand to the wound, the landlord went white + and leaned back against the bar_ 78 + + "_In the name of Heaven, Neil, don't tell! Don't tell!_" 142 + + _There in a chair by the table sat a stark skeleton dressed in + good sound clothes_ 220 + + _And with that the two sat down by the board ... and began + perhaps the most extraordinary game of chess that ever + two men played_ 258 + + + + +I + +OLD ACQUAINTANCE + +[Illustration] + +THE GREAT QUEST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STRANGER + + +One morning early in the summer of 1826, I brushed the sweat from my +forehead and the flour from my clothes, unrolled my shirt-sleeves to +my wrists, donned my coat, and, with never a suspicion that that day +was to be unlike any other, calmly walked out into the slanting +sunshine. Rain had fallen in the night, and the air was still fresh +and cool. Although the clock had but just struck six, I had been at +work an hour, and now that my uncle, Seth Upham, had come down to +take charge of the store, I was glad that some business discussed +the evening before gave me an excuse to go on an errand to the other +end of the village. + +Uncle Seth looked up from his ledger as I passed. "You are prompt to +go," said he. "I've scarce got my hat on the peg. Well, the sooner +the better, I suppose. Young Mackay's last shipment of oil was of +poor quality and color. The rascal needs a good wigging, but the +best you can do is tell the old man my opinion of his son's goods. +If he gets a notion that we're likely to go down to nine cents a +gallon on the next lot, he'll bring the boy to taw, I'll warrant +you. Well, be gone. The sooner you go, the sooner you'll come, and +we're like to have a busy day." + +I nodded and went down the steps, but turned again and looked back. +As Uncle Seth sat at his desk just inside the door, his bald head +showing above the ledgers, he made me think of a pigeon-holed +document concerned with matters of trade--weights and measures, and +dollars and cents. He was a brisk, abrupt little man, with keen eyes +and a thin mouth, and lines that cut at sharp angles into his +forehead and drew testy curves around his chin; and in his way he +was prominent in the village. Though ours was a community of +Yankees, he had the reputation, in which he took great pride, of +being an uncommonly sharp hand at a bargain. That it could be a +doubtful compliment, he never suspected. + +He owned property in three towns besides our own village of Topham; +he kept a very considerable balance in a Boston bank; he loaned +money at interest from one end of the county to the other, and he +held shares in two schooners and a bark--not to mention the bustling +general store that was the keystone of his prosperity. + +If anyone had presumed so far as to suggest that a close bargain +could be aught but creditable, Uncle Seth would have shot a testy +glance at him, with some such comment as, "Pooh! He's drunk or +crazy!" And he would then have atoned for any little trickery by his +generosity, come Sunday, when the offering was taken at church. + +There were, to be sure, those who said, by allusion or implication, +that he would beat the devil at his own game, for all his pains to +appear so downright honest. But they were ne'er-do-weels and village +scoundrels, whom Uncle Seth, although he was said to have known them +well enough in early youth, passed without deigning to give them so +much as a nod; and of course no one believed the word of such as +they. + +For my own part, I had only friendly feelings toward him, for he was +always a decent man, and since my mother died, his odd bursts of +generosity had touched me not a little. Grumpy old Uncle Seth! +Others might call him "nigh," but for all his abrupt manner, he was +kind to me after a queer, short fashion, and many a bank-note had +whisked from his pocket to mine at moments when a stranger would +have thought him in furious temper. + +Turning on my heel, I left him busy at his desk amid his barrels and +cans and kegs and boxes, and unwittingly set forth to meet the +beginning of the wildest, maddest adventure that I ever heard of +outside the pages of fiction. + +As I went down past the church, the parsonage, and the smithy,--the +little group of buildings that, together with our general store, +formed the hub on which the life of the country for many miles +thereabouts revolved,--I was surprised to see no one astir. Few +country people then were--or now are--so shameless as to lie in bed +at six o'clock of a summer morning. + +By rights I should have heard the clank of metal, the hum of voices, +men calling to their horses, saws whining through wood, and hammers +driving nails. But there was no sound of speech or labor; the +nail-kegs on which our village worthies habitually reposed during +long intervals of the working day were unoccupied; the fire in the +blacksmith's forge, for want of blowing, had died down to a dull +deep red. Three horses were tugging at their halters inside the +smithy, and a well-fed team was waiting outside by a heavy cart; yet +no one was anywhere to be seen. + +Perceiving all this from a distance, I was frankly puzzled; and as I +approached, I cast about with lively curiosity to see what could +cause so strange a state of affairs. It was only when I had gone +past the smithy, that I saw the smith and his customers and his +habitual guests gathered on the other side of the building, where I +had not been able to see them before. They were staring at the old +village tavern, which stood some distance away on a gentle rise of +land. + +My curiosity so prevailed over my sense of duty that I turned from +the road through the tall grass, temporarily abandoning my errand, +and picked my way among some old wheels and scrap iron to join the +men. + +Their talk only aggravated my wonder. + +Clearing his throat, the smith gruffly muttered, "It does act like +him, and yet I can't believe it'll be him." + +"Why shouldn't he come back?" one of the farmers asked in a louder +voice. "Things done twenty years ago will never be dragged up to +face him, and he'd know that." + +The smith grunted. "Where would Neil Gleazen find the money to buy a +suit of good clothes and a beaver hat?" + +"That's easy answered," a third speaker put in. And they all +exchanged significant glances. + +In the silence that followed I made bold to put a question for +myself. "Of whom are you talking?" I asked. + +They looked closely at me and again exchanged glances. + +"There's someone up yonder at the inn, Joe," the smith said kindly; +"and Ben, here, getting sight of him last night and again this +morning, has took a notion that it's a fellow who used to live here +years ago and who left town--well, in a hurry. As to that, I can't +be sure, but I vum, I'd not be surprised if it was Neil Gleazen +after all." + +I now discerned in one of the rocking-chairs on the porch the figure +of a stranger, well dressed so far as we could see at that distance, +who wore a big beaver hat set rakishly a trifle forward. He had +thrust his thumbs into the armholes of his waistcoat, and as he +leaned back, with his feet raised against one of the columns that +supported the porch-roof, he sent clouds of white cigar-smoke +eddying up and away. + +The others were so intent on their random speculations that, when I +asked more about who and what Neil Gleazen was, they ignored my +question, and continued to exchange observations in low voices. + +I could hear little of their talk without forcing myself into their +very midst, and of what little I heard I made still less, for it was +full of unfamiliar names and reminiscences that meant nothing to me. + +When some one spoke of Seth Upham, my mother's brother, I was all +ears on the instant; but I saw the smith glance at me, and probably +he nudged the speaker, for, after a moment's pause, they went on +about indifferent matters. I then perceived that I was unlikely to +learn more, so I returned to the road and continued on my way. + +As I passed the tavern I took occasion to see what I could, in +courtesy, of the stranger; but he looked so hard at me while I was +passing that I could steal only glances at him, unless I gave him +stare for stare, which I did not wish to do. So I got only a brief +glimpse of tall hat, bold dark eyes under bushy brows, big nose, +smooth-shaven chin, and smiling mouth, all of which a heavy stock +and voluminous coat seemed to support. I thought that I caught the +flash of a jeweled pin in the man's stock and of a ring on his +finger, but of that I was not sure until later. Pushing on, I left +him in the old inn chair, as proud as a sultan, puffing clouds of +white smoke from a long cigar and surveying the village as grandly +as if he owned it, while I went about my uncle's business at the +other end of the town. + +But when I had gone far on my way, his dark face and arrogant manner +were still in my mind. While I was arguing with surly old Dan Mackay +about whale-oil and horses and sugar and lumber, I was thinking of +those proud, keen eyes and that smiling, scornful mouth; while I was +bargaining with Mrs. Mackay for eggs and early peas, I was thinking +of the beaver that the man had worn and the big ring on his finger; +and while I was walking back over two miles of country road, on +which the sun was now pouring down with ever-increasing heat, I was +thinking of how my uncle's name had popped out in the conversation +beside the smithy--and how it had popped, so to speak, discreetly +back again. + +I was all eagerness, now, for another and better look at the +stranger, and was resolved to stare him out of countenance, if need +be, to get it. Imagine, then, my disappointment when, hot and +sweaty, I once more came in sight of the tavern and saw the +unmistakable figure under the beaver hat walk jauntily down the +steps, pause a moment in the road, and, turning in the opposite +direction, go rapidly away from me. + +The stranger should not escape me like that, I thought with a grim +chuckle; and warm though I was, I lengthened my stride and drew +slowly up on him. + +As he passed the smithy, he looked to neither right nor left, yet I +was by no means sure that he did not see the curious faces that +filled the door when he went by. A man can see so much without +turning his head! + +While I toiled on after him, trying to appear indifferent and yet +striving to overtake him before he should go beyond the store, where +I must turn in, would I or would I not, he passed the church, the +parsonage, and the schoolhouse. He wore his hat tilted forward at +just such an angle, and to one side over his right eye; swinging his +walking-stick nonchalantly, he clipped the blossoms off the +buttercups as he passed them; now he paused to light a fresh cigar +from the butt of the one that he was smoking; now he lingered a +moment in the shade of an old chestnut tree. All the time I was +gaining on him; but now the store was hard by. + +Should I keep on until I had passed him and, turning back, could +meet him face to face? No, Uncle Seth would surely stop me. In my +determination to get a good look at the man, I was about to break +into a run, when, to my amazement, he turned to the left toward the +very place where I was going. + +So close to him had I now come that, when he stood on the threshold, +I was setting foot on the lower step. I could see Uncle Seth's +clerks, Arnold Lamont, a Frenchman, and Simeon Muzzy, busily at work +in the back room. I could see, as before, Uncle Seth's bald head +shining above the top of his desk. But my eyes were all for the +stranger, and I now saw plainly that in the ring on his finger there +flashed a great white diamond. + +Uncle Seth, hearing our steps, raised his head. "Well?" he said +sharply, in the dictatorial way that was so characteristic of him. + +"Well!" repeated the stranger in a voice that startled me. It was +deep and gruff, and into the monosyllable the man put a solid, heavy +emphasis, which made my uncle's sharpness seem as light as a woman's +burst of temper. + +Uncle Seth, too, was startled, I think, for he raised his head and +irritably peered over the steel rims of his spectacles. "Well," he +grumpily responded, "what do you want of me?" + +"An hour of your time," said the stranger, lowering his voice. + +"Time's money," returned my uncle. + +"I'm the lad to transmute it into fine gold for you, Seth Upham," +said the stranger. + +"How do you know my name?" + +"That's a foolish question to ask. Everyone in town can tell a +stranger the name of the man who keeps the village store." + +My uncle grunted irritably, and brushed his chin with the feather of +his quill. + +"Come," said the stranger, "where's a chair?" + +"Them that come to this store to loaf," my uncle cried, "generally +sit on cracker-boxes. I'm a busy man." + +He was still looking closely at the stranger, but his voice +indicated that, after all, it might not be so hard to mollify him. + +"Well, I ain't proud," the stranger said with a conciliatory +gesture, but without the faintest flicker of a smile. "It won't be +the first time I've set on a cracker-box and talked to Seth Upham. I +mind a time once when old Parker used to keep the store, and me and +you had stole our hats full of crackers, which we ate in the little +old camp over by the river." + +"Who," cried Uncle Seth, "who in heaven's name are you?" + +He was pale to the very summit of his bald head; unconscious of what +he was doing, he had thrust his pen down on the open ledger, where +it left a great blotch of wet ink. + +"Hgh! You've got no great memory for old friends, have you, Seth? +You're rich now, I hear. Money-bags full of gold. Well, 'time's +money,' you said. You're going to put in a golden hour with me this +day." + +Uncle Seth got up and laid a trembling hand on the back of his desk. +"Neil Gleazen! Cornelius Gleazen!" he gasped. + +The stranger pushed his beaver back on his head, and with the finger +on which the diamond sparkled flicked the ash from his cigar. "It's +me, Seth," he returned; and for the first time since I had seen him +he laughed a deep, hearty laugh. + +"Well, what'll you have?" Uncle Seth demanded hotly. "I'm an honest +man. I'm a deacon in the church. My business is an honest business. +There's nothing here for you, Neil! What do you want?" + +In spite of his apparent anger,--or because of it,--Uncle Seth's +voice trembled. + +"Well, what do you mean by all this talk of an honest man? Ain't I +an honest man?" + +"Why--why--" + +"Hgh! You've not got much to say to that, have you?" + +"I--why--I don't--know--" + +"Of course you don't know. You don't know an honest man when you see +one. Don't talk to me like that, Seth Upham. You and me has robbed +too many churches together when we was boys to have you talk like +that now. You and me--" + +"For heaven's sake keep still!" Uncle Seth cried. "Customers are +coming." + +Neil Gleazen grunted again. Pushing a cracker-box into the corner +behind Uncle Seth's desk and placing his beaver on it, he settled +back in Uncle Seth's own chair, with a cool impudent wink at me, as +if for a long stay, while Uncle Seth, with an eagerness quite unlike +his usual abrupt, scornful manner, rushed away from his unwelcome +guest and proceeded to make himself surprisingly agreeable to a pair +of country woman who wished to barter butter for cotton cloth. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MY UNCLE BEHAVES QUEERLY + + +The village of Topham, to which, after an absence of twenty years, +Cornelius Gleazen had returned as a stranger, lay near the sea and +yet not beside it, near the post road and yet not upon it. From the +lower branches of an old pine that used to stand on the hill behind +the tavern we could see a thread of salt water, which gleamed like +silver in the sun; and, on the clearest days, if we climbed higher, +we could sometimes catch a glimpse of tiny ships working up or down +the coast. + +In the other direction, if we faced about, we could see, far down a +long, broad valley, between low hills, a bit of white road that ran +for a mile or two between meadows and marshes; and on the road we +sometimes saw moving black dots trailing tiny clouds of dust, which +we knew were men and horses and coaches. + +In Topham I was born, and there I spent my boyhood. I suppose that I +was quieter than the average boy and more studious, for I was +content to find adventures in the pages of books, and I read from +cover to cover all the journals of the day that came to hand. +Certainly I was a dreamy lad, who knew books better than men, and +who cared so little for "practical affairs" that much passed me by +unnoticed which many another youth of no more native keenness would +instantly have perceived. + +When my mother, some years after my father's death, came to live +with her brother and keep his house for him, it did not make so +great a change in my manner of life as one might have expected. +Bustling, smart Uncle Seth ruled the household with a quick, +nervous hand; and for the time, as he bent all his energies to the +various projects in which he was interested and in which he was more +than ordinarily successful, he almost ignored his nephew. + +It was not strange that after my mother died Uncle Seth should give +me more thought, for he was left a second time alone in the world, +and except for me he had neither close friend nor blood relation. I +think that his very shrewdness, which must have shown him how much a +man needs friends, perversely kept him from making them; it built +around him a fence of cold, calculating, selfish appraisal that +repelled most people whom he might have drawn closer to him. But to +me, who had on him claims of a kind, and whom he had come by slow +stages to know intimately, he gave a queer, testy, impulsive +affection; and although the first well-meant but ill-chosen act by +which he manifested it was to withdraw me from my books to the +store, where he set me to learn the business, for which I was by no +means so grateful as I should have been, both I and his two clerks, +Sim Muzzy and Arnold Lamont, to whom long association had revealed +the spontaneous generosity of which he seemed actually to be +ashamed, had a very real affection for him. + +It was no secret that he intended to make me his heir, and I was +regarded through the town as a young man of rare prospects, which +reconciled me in a measure to exchanging during the day my worn +volumes of Goldsmith and Defoe for neat columns that represented +profit and loss on candles and sugar and spice; and my hard, +faithful work won Uncle Seth's confidence, and with it a curiously +grudging acknowledgment. Thus our little world of business moved +monotonously, though not unpleasantly, round and round the cycle of +the seasons, until the day when Cornelius Gleazen came back to his +native town. + +He continued to sit in my uncle's chair, that first morning, while +Uncle Seth, perspiring, it seemed to me, more freely than the heat +of the day could have occasioned, bustled about and waited on his +customers. I suppose that Neil Gleazen really saw nothing out of the +ordinary in Uncle Seth's manner; but to me, who knew him so well +now, it was plain that, instead of trying to get the troublesome +women and their little business of eggs and cloth done with and out +of the store as quickly as possible, which under the circumstances +was what I should have expected of him, he was trying by every means +in his power to prolong their bartering. And whether or not Neil +Gleazen suspected this, with imperturbable assurance he watched +Uncle Seth pass from one end of the store to the other. + +When at last the women went away and Uncle Seth returned to his +desk, Gleazen removed the beaver from the cracker-box, and blowing a +ring of smoke out across the top of the desk, watched the draft from +the door tear it into thin blue shreds. "Sit down," he said calmly. + +I was already staring at them in amazement; but my amazement was +fourfold when Uncle Seth hesitated, gulped, and _seated himself on +the cracker-box_. + +"Joe," he said in an odd voice, "go help Arnold and Sim in the back +shop." + +So I went out and left them; and when I came back, Cornelius Gleazen +was gone. But the next day he came again, and the next, and the +next. + +That he was the very man the smith and his cronies had thought him, +I learned beyond peradventure of a doubt. Strange tales were +whispered here and there about the village, and women covertly +turned their eyes to watch him when he passed. Some men who had +known him in the old days tried to conceal it, and pretended to be +ignorant of all that concerned him, and gave him the coldest of cold +stares when they chanced to meet him face to face. Others, on the +contrary, courted his attention and called on him at the tavern, and +went away, red with anger, when he coldly snubbed them. + +At the time it seemed to make little difference to him what they +thought. Strangely enough, the Cornelius Gleazen who had come back +to his boyhood home was a very different Cornelius, people found, +from the one who, twenty years before, had gone away by night with +the town officers hot on his trail. + +Strange stories of that wild night passed about the town, and I +learned, in one way and another, that Gleazen was not the only lad +who had then disappeared. There was talk of one Eli Norton, and of +foul play, and an ugly word was whispered. But it had all happened +long before, much had been forgotten, and some things had never come +to light, and the officers who had run Gleazen out of town were long +since dead. So, as the farmer by the smithy had said would be the +case, the old scandals were let lie, and Gleazen went his way +unmolested. + +That my uncle would gladly have been rid of the fellow, for all his +grand airs and the pocketfuls of money that he would throw out on +the bar at the inn or on the counter at the store, I very well knew; +I sometimes saw him wince at Gleazen's effrontery, or start to +retort with his customary sharpness, and then go red or pale and +press his lips to a straight line. Yet I could not imagine why this +should be. If any other man had treated him so, Uncle Seth would +have turned on him with the sharpest words at his command. + +It was not like him to sit meekly down to another's arrogance. He +had been too long a leading man in our community. But Cornelius +Gleazen seemed to have cast a spell upon him. The longer Gleazen +would sit and watch Uncle Seth, the more overbearing would his +manner become and the more nervous would Uncle Seth grow. + +I then believed, and still do, that if my uncle had stood up to him, +as man to man, on that first day, Neil Gleazen would have pursued a +very different course. But Uncle Seth, if he realized it at all, +realized it too late. + +At the end of a week Gleazen seemed to have become a part of the +store. He would frown and look away out of the window, and scarcely +deign to reply if any of the poorer or less reputable villagers +spoke to him, whether their greeting was casual or pretentious; but +he would nod affably, and proffer cigars, and exchange observations +on politics and affairs of the world, when the minister or the +doctor or any other of the solid, substantial men of the place came +in. + +I sometimes saw Uncle Seth surreptitiously watching him with a sort +of blank wonder; and once, when we had come home together late at +night, he broke a silence of a good two hours by remarking as +casually as if we had talked of nothing else all the evening, "I +declare to goodness, Joe, it does seem as if Neil Gleazen had +reformed. I could almost take my oath he's not spoken to one of the +old crowd since he returned. Who would have thought it? It's +strange--passing strange." + +It was the question that the whole town was asking--who would have +thought it? I had heard enough by now of the old escapades,--drunken +revels in the tavern, raids on a score of chicken-roosts and +gardens, arrant burglary, and even, some said, arson,--to understand +why they asked the question. But more remarkable by far to me was +the change that had come over my uncle. Never before had the +business of the store been better; never before had there been more +mortgages and notes locked up in the big safe; never had our affairs +of every description flourished so famously. But whereas, in other +seasons of greater than ordinary prosperity, Uncle Seth had become +almost genial, I had never seen him so dictatorial and testy as now. +Some secret fear seemed to haunt him from day to day and from week +to week. + +Thinking back on that morning when Cornelius Gleazen first came to +our store, I remembered a certain sentence he had spoken. "You and +me has robbed too many churches together when we was boys--" I +wondered if I could not put my finger on the secret of the change +that had come over my uncle. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HIGGLEBY'S BARN + + +That Cornelius Gleazen had returned to Topham a reformed and honest +man, the less skeptical people in the village now freely asserted. +To be sure, some said that no good could come from any man who wore +a diamond on his finger, to say nothing of another in his stock, and +the minister held aloof for reasons known only to himself. But there +was something hearty and wholesome in Gleazen's gruff voice and +blunt, kindly wit that quite turned aside the shafts of criticism, +particularly when he had made it plain that he would associate only +with people of unquestioned respectability; and his devout air, as +he sat in the very front pew in church and sang the hymns in a fine, +reverberating bass, almost--although never quite--won over even the +minister. All were agreed that you could pardon much in a man who +had lived long in foreign parts; and if any other argument were +needed, Gleazen's own free-handed generosity for every good cause +provided it. + +There were even murmurs that a man with Seth Upham's money might +well learn a lesson from the stranger within our gates, which came +to my uncle's ears, by way of those good people you can find in +every town who feel it incumbent on them to repeat in confidence +that which they have gained in confidence, and caused him no little +uneasiness. + +Of the probity of Cornelius Gleazen the village came gradually to +have few doubts; and those of us who believed in the man were +inclined to belittle the blacksmith, who persisted in thinking ill +of him, and even the minister. Unquestionably Gleazen had seen the +error of his youthful ways and had profited by the view, which, by +all accounts, must have been extensive. + +It was a fine thing to see him sitting on the tavern porch or in my +uncle's store and discoursing on the news of the day. By a gesture, +he would dispose of the riots in England and leave us marveling at +his keenness. The riots held a prominent place in the papers, and we +argued that a man who could so readily place them where they +belonged must have a head of no mean order. Of affairs in South +America, where General Paez had become Civil and Military Dictator +of Venezuela, he had more to say; for General Paez, it seemed, was a +friend of his. I have wondered since about his boasted friendship +with the distinguished general, but at the time he convinced us that +Venezuela was a fortunate state and that her affairs were much more +important to men of the world than a bill to provide for the support +of aged survivors of the Army of the Revolution, which a persistent +one-legged old chap from the Four Corners tried a number of times to +introduce into the conversation. + +There came a day when both the doctor and the minister joined the +circle around Cornelius Gleazen. Never was there prouder man! He +fairly expanded in the warmth of their interest. His gestures were +more impressive than ever before; his voice was more assertive. Yet +behind it all I perceived a curious twinkle in his eyes, and I got a +perverse impression that even then the man was laughing up his +sleeve. This did not in itself set my mind on new thoughts; but to +add to my curiosity, when the doctor and the minister were leaving, +I saw that they were talking in undertones and smiling significantly. + +Late one night toward the end of that week, I was returning from +Boston, whither I had gone to buy ten pipes of Schiedam gin and six +of Old East India Madeira, which a correspondent of my uncle's had +lately imported. An acquaintance from the next town had given me a +lift along the post road as far as a certain short cut, which led +through a pine woods and across an open pasture where once there had +been a farmhouse and where, although the house had burned to the +ground eight or ten years since, a barn still stood, which was known +throughout the countryside as "Higgleby's." + +The sky was overcast, but the moonlight nevertheless sifted through +the thin clouds; and with a word of thanks to the lad who had +brought me thus far, I vaulted the bars and struck off toward the +pines. + +My eyes were already accustomed to the darkness, and the relief from +trying to see my way under the thickly interwoven branches of the +grove made the open pasture, when I came to it, seem nearly as light +as day, although, of course, to anyone coming out into it from a +lighted room, it would have seemed quite otherwise. Of the old barn, +which loomed up on the hill, a black, gaunt, lonesome object a mile +or so away, I thought very little, as I walked along, until it +seemed to me that I saw a glimmer of fire through a breach where a +board had been torn off. + +Now the barn was remote from the woods and from the village; but the +weather had been dry, the dead grass in the old pasture was as +inflammable as tinder, and what wind there was, was blowing toward +the pines. Since it was plain that I ought to investigate that flash +of fire, I left the path and began to climb the hill. + +Stopping suddenly, I listened with all my ears. I thought I had +heard voices; it behooved me to be cautious. Prudently, now, I +advanced, and as silently as possible. Now I _knew_ that I heard +voices. The knowledge that there were men in the old barn relieved +me of any sense of duty in the matter of a possible fire, but at the +same time it kindled my imagination. Who were they, and why had they +come, and what were they doing? Instead of walking boldly up to the +barn door, I began to climb the wall that served as the foundation. + +The wall was six or eight feet high, but built of large stones, +which afforded me easy hold for foot and hand, and from the top I +was confident that I could peek in at a window just above. Very +cautiously I climbed from rock to rock, until I was on my knees on +the topmost tier. Now, twisting about and keeping flat to the barn +with both arms extended so as not to overbalance and fall, I raised +myself little by little, only to find, to my keen disappointment, +that the window was still ten inches above my eyes. + +That I should give up then, never occurred to me. I placed both +hands on the sill and silently lifted myself until my chin was well +above it. + +In the middle of the old barn, by the light of four candles, a +number of men were playing cards. I could hear much of what they +said, but it concerned only the fortunes of the game, and as they +spoke in undertones I could not recognize their voices. + +For all that I got from their conversation they might as well have +said naught, except that the sound of their talking and the clink of +money as it changed hands served to cover whatever small noises I +may have made, and thus enabled me to look in upon them +undiscovered. Nor could I see who they were, for the candle light +was dim and flickered, and those who were back to me, as they +pressed forward in their eagerness to follow the play, concealed the +faces of those opposite them. Moreover, my position was extremely +uncomfortable, perhaps even dangerous. So I lowered myself until my +toes rested on the wall of rock, and kneeling very cautiously, began +to descend. + +Exploring with my foot until I found a likely stone, I put my weight +on it, and felt it turn. Failing to clutch the top of the wall, I +went down with a heavy thud. + +For a moment I lay on the ground with my wind knocked out of me, +completely helpless. Then sharp voices broke the silence, and the +sound of someone opening the barn door instilled enough wholesome +fear into me to enable me to get up on all fours after a fashion, +and creep cautiously away. + +From the darkness outside, my eyes being already accustomed to the +absence of light, I could see a number of men standing together in +front of the barn door. They must have blown out the candles, for +the door and the windows and the chinks between the boards were +dark. Cursing myself for a silly fool, I made off as silently as +possible. + +I had not recognized one of the players, I had got a bad tumble and +sore joints for my trouble, and my pride was hurt. In short, I felt +that I had fallen out of the small end of the horn, and I was in no +cheerful mood as I limped along. But by the time I came into the +village half an hour later, I had recovered my temper and my wind; +and so, although I earnestly desired to go home and to bed, to rest +my lame bones, I decided to go first to the store and report to +Uncle Seth the results of my mission. + +Through the lighted windows of the store, as I approached, I could +see Arnold Lamont and Sim Muzzy playing chess in the back room. They +were a strange pair, and as ill matched as any two you ever saw. +Lamont was a Frenchman, who had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, +ten or a dozen years before, and in quaintly precise English had +asked for work--only because it was so exceedingly precise, would +you have suspected that it was a foreigner's English. He carried +himself with a strange dignity, and his manner, which seemed to +confer a favor rather than to seek one, had impressed Uncle Seth +almost against his will. + +"Why, yes," he had said sharply, "there's work enough to keep +another man. But what, pray, has brought you here?" + +"It is the fortune of war," Lamont had replied. And that was all +that my uncle ever got out of him. + +Without more ado he had joined Sim Muzzy, a well-meaning, simple +fellow who had already worked for Uncle Seth for some eight years, +and there he had stayed ever since. + +Arnold and Sim shared the room above the store and served both as +watchmen and as clerks; but it was Sim who cooked their meals, who +made their beds, who swept and dusted and polished. Although the two +worked for equally small pay and, all in all, were as satisfactory +men as any storekeeper could hope to have, Arnold had carried even +into the work of the store that same odd, foreign dignity; and it +apparently never occurred, even to petulant, talkative Sim, that +Arnold, so reserved, so quietly assured, should have lent his hand +to mere domestic duties. + +Learning early in their acquaintance, each that the other played +chess, they had got a board and a set of men, and, in spite of a +disparity in skill that for some people must have made it very +irksome, had kept the game up ever since. Arnold Lamont played chess +with the same precision with which he spoke English; and if Sim +Muzzy managed to catch him napping, and so to win one game in +twenty, it was a feat to be talked about for a month to come. + +Through the windows, as I said, I saw them playing chess in the back +shop; then, coming round the corner of the store, I saw someone just +entering. It was no other than Cornelius Gleazen, in beaver, stock, +coat, and diamonds, with the perpetual cigar bit tight between his +teeth. + +A little to my surprise, I noticed that there were beads of +perspiration on his forehead. I had been walking fast myself, and +yet I had not thought of it as a warm evening: the overcast sky and +the wind from the sea, with their promise of rain to break the +drouth, combined to make the night the coolest we had had for some +weeks. It surprised me also to see that Gleazen was breathing +hard--but was he? I could not be sure. + +Then, through the open door, I again saw Arnold Lamont in the back +room. In his hand he was holding a knight just over the square on +which it was to rest; but with his eyes he was following Cornelius +Gleazen across the store and round behind my uncle's desk, where now +there was a second chair in place of the cracker-box. + +When Gleazen had sat down beside my uncle, he tapping the desk with +a long pencil, which he had drawn from his pocket, Uncle Seth +bustling about among his papers, with quick useless sallies here and +there, and into the pigeonholes, as if he were confused by the mass +of business that confronted him,--it was a manner he sometimes +affected when visitors were present,--Arnold Lamont put down the +knight and absently, as if his mind were far away, said in his calm, +precise voice, "Check!" + +"No, no! You mustn't do that! You can't do that! That's wrong! See! +You were on that square there--see?--and you moved so! You can't +put your knight there," Sim Muzzy cried. + +That Lamont had transgressed by mistake the rules of the game hit +Sim like a thunderclap and even further befuddled his poor wits. + +"Ah," said Lamont, "I see. I beg you, pardon my error. So! Check." + +He again moved the knight, apparently without thought; and Sim Muzzy +fell to biting his lip and puzzling this way and that and working +his fingers, which he always did when he was getting the worst of +the game. + +Arnold Lamont seemed not to care a straw about the game. Through the +door he was watching Cornelius Gleazen. And Cornelius Gleazen was +wiping his forehead with his handkerchief. + +I wondered if it was my lively imagination that made me think that +he was breathing quickly. How long would it have taken him, I +wondered, to cut across the pasture from Higgleby's barn to the +north road? Coming thus by the Four Corners, could he have reached +the store ahead of me? Or could he, by way of the shun-pike, have +passed me on the road? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SWORDS AND SHIPS + + +Having succeeded in establishing himself in the society and +confidence of the more substantial men of the village, and having +discomfited completely those few--among whom remained the +blacksmith--who had treated him shabbily in the first weeks of his +return and had continued ever since to regard him with suspicion, +Cornelius Gleazen began now to extend his campaign to other +quarters, and to curry favor among those whose good-will, so far as +I could see, was really of little weight one way or another. He now +cast off something of his arrogant, disdainful air, and won the +hearts of the children by strange knickknacks and scrimshaws, which +he would produce, sometimes from his pockets, and sometimes, by +delectable sleight of hand, from the very air itself. Before long +half the homes in the village boasted whale's teeth on which were +wrought pictures of whales and ships and savages, or chips of ivory +carved into odd little idols, and every one of them, you would find, +if you took the trouble to ask, came from the old chests that Neil +Gleazen kept under the bed in his room at the tavern, where now he +was regarded as the prince of guests. + +To those who were a little older he gave more elaborate trinkets of +ivory and of dark, strange woods; and the report grew, and found +ready belief, that he had prospered greatly in trade before he +decided to retire, and that he had brought home a fortune with which +to settle down in the old town; for the toys that he gave away so +freely were worth, we judged, no inconsiderable sum. But to the +lads in their early twenties, of whom I was one, he endeared himself +perhaps most of all when, one fine afternoon, smoking one of his +long cigars and wearing his beaver tilted forward at just such an +angle, he came down the road with a great awkward bundle under his +arm, and disclosed on the porch of my uncle's store half a dozen +foils and a pair of masks. + +He smiled when all the young fellows in sight and hearing gathered +round him eagerly, and called one another to come and see, and +picked up the foils and passed at one another awkwardly. There was +an odd satisfaction in his smile, as if he had gained something +worth the having. What a man of his apparent means could care for +our good-will, I could not have said if anyone had asked me, and at +the time I did not think to wonder about it. But his air of triumph, +when I later had occasion to recall it to mind, convinced me that +for our good-will he did care, and that he was manoeuvring to win +and hold it. + +It was interesting to mark how the different ones took his +playthings. Sim Muzzy cried out in wonder and earnestly asked, "Are +those what men kill themselves with in duels? Pray how do they stick +'em in when the points are blunted?" Arnold Lamont, without a word +or a change of expression, picked up a foil at random and tested the +blade by bending it against the wall. Uncle Seth, having satisfied +his curiosity by a glance, cried sharply, "That's all very +interesting, but there's work to be done. Come, come, I pay no one +for gawking out the door." + +The lively hum of voices continued, and a number of town boys +remained to examine the weapons; but Arnold, Sim, and I obediently +turned back into the store. + +"That's all right, lads," Cornelius Gleazen cried. "Come evening, +I'll show you a few points on using these toys. I'll make a +fencing-master and a good one, I'll have you know, and there are +some among you that have the making of swordsmen. You're one, Joe +Woods, you're one." + +I was pleased to be singled out, and went to my work with a will, +thinking meanwhile of the promised lessons. It never occurred to me +that Cornelius Gleazen could have had a motive that did not appear +on the surface for so choosing my name from all the rest. + +That evening, true to his promise, he took us in hand on the village +green, with four fifths of the village standing by to watch, and +gave us lessons in thrusting and parrying and stepping swiftly +forward and backward. We were an awkward company of recruits, and +for our pains we got only hearty laughter from the onlookers; but +the new sport captured our imagination, and realizing that, once +upon a time, even Cornelius Gleazen himself had been a tyro, we +zealously worked to learn what we could, and in our idle moments we +watched with frank admiration the grand flourishes and great leaps +and stamps of which Gleazen was master. + +The diamond on the finger of his gracefully curved left hand flashed +as he sprang about, and his ruffled shirt, damped by his unwonted +exercise, clung close to his big shoulders and well-formed back. +Surely, we thought, few could equal his surprising agility; the +great voice in which he roared his suggestions and commands +increased our confidence in his knowledge of swordsmanship. + +When, after my second turn at his instruction, I came away with my +arms aching from the unaccustomed exertion and saw that Arnold +Lamont was watching us and covertly smiling, I flamed red and all +but lost my temper. Why should he laugh at _me_, I thought. Surely I +was no clumsier than the others. Indeed, he who thought himself so +smart probably could not do half so well. Had not Mr. Gleazen +praised me most of all? In my anger at Arnold's secret amusement, I +avoided him that evening and for several days to come. + +It was on Saturday night, when we were closing the store for the +week, that quite another subject led me back to my resentment in +such a way that we had the matter out between us; and as all that we +had to say is more or less intimately connected with my story I will +set it down word for word. + +A young woman in a great quilted bonnet of the kind that we used to +call calash, and a dress that she no doubt thought very fetching, +came mincing into the store and ordered this thing and that in a way +that kept me attending closely to her desires. When she had gone +mincing out again, I turned so impatiently to put the counter to +rights, that Arnold softly chuckled. + +"Apparently," said he, with a quiet smile, "the lady did not impress +you quite as she desired, Joe." + +"Impress me!" I snorted, ungallantly imitating her mincing manner. +"She impressed me as much as any of them." + +"You must have patience, Joe. Some day there will come a lady--" + +"No, no!" I cried, with the cocksure assertiveness of my years. + +"But yes!" + +"Not I! No, no, Arnold--, 'needles and pins, needles and pins'--" + +"When a man marries his trouble begins?" Sadness now shadowed +Arnold's expressive face. "No! Proverbs sometimes are pernicious." + +"You are laughing at me!" + +I had detected, through the veil of melancholy that seemed to have +fallen over him, a faint ray of something akin to humor. + +"I am not laughing at you, Joe." His voice was sad. "You will marry +some day--marry and settle down. It is good to do so. I--" + +There was something in his stopping that made me look at him in +wonder. Immediately he was himself again, calm, wise, taciturn; but +in spite of my youth I instinctively felt that only by suffering +could a man win his way to such kindly, quiet dignity. + +I had said that I would not marry: no wonder, I have since thought, +that Arnold looked at me with that gentle humor. Never dreaming that +in only a few short months a new name and a new face were to fill my +mind and my heart with a world of new anxieties and sorrows and +joys, never dreaming of the strange and distant adventures through +which Arnold and I were to pass,--if a fortune-teller had foretold +the story, I should have laughed it to scorn,--I was only angry at +his amused smile. Perhaps I had expected him to argue with me, to +try to correct my notions. In any case, when he so kindly and yet +keenly appraised at its true worth my boyish pose, I was sobered for +a moment by the sadness that he himself had revealed; then I all but +flew into a temper. + +"Oh, very well! Go on and laugh at me. You were laughing at me the +other night when I was fencing, too. I saw you. I'd like to see you +do better yourself. Go on and laugh, you who are so wise." + +Arnold's smile vanished. "I am not laughing at you, Joe. Nor was I +laughing at you then." + +"You were not laughing at me?" + +"No." + +"At whom, then, were you laughing?" + +To this Arnold did not reply. + +The fencing lessons, begun so auspiciously that first evening, +became a regular event. Every night we gathered on the green and +fenced together until twilight had all but settled into dark. Little +by little we learned such tricks of attack and defense as our master +could teach us, until we, too, could stamp and leap, and parry with +whistling circles of the blade. And as we did so, we young fellows +of the village came more and more to look upon Cornelius Gleazen +almost as one of us. + +Though his coming had aroused suspicion, though for many weeks there +were few who would say a good word for him, as the summer wore away, +he established himself so firmly in the life of his native town that +people began to forget, as far as anyone could see, that he had ever +had occasion to leave it in great haste. + +If he praised my fencing and gave me more time than the others, I +thought it no more than my due--was I not a young man of great +prospects? If Uncle Seth had at first regarded him with suspicion, +Uncle Seth, too, had quite returned now to his old abrupt, masterful +way and was again as sharp and quick of tongue as ever, even when +Neil Gleazen was sitting in Uncle Seth's own chair and at his own +desk. Perhaps, had we been keener, we should have suspected that +something was wrong, simply because _no one_--except a few stupid +persons like the blacksmith--had a word to say against Neil Gleazen. +You would at least have expected his old cronies to resent his +leaving them for more respectable company. But not even from them +did there come a whisper of suspicion or complaint. + +Why should not a man come home to his native place to enjoy the +prosperity of his later years? we argued. It was the most natural +thing in the world; and when Cornelius Gleazen talked of foreign +wars and the state of the country and the deaths of Mr. Adams and +Mr. Jefferson, and of the duel between Mr. Clay and Mr. Randolph, +the most intelligent of us listened with respect, and found occasion +in his shrewd observations and trenchant comment to rejoice that +Topham had so able a son to return to her in the full power of his +maturity. + +There was even talk of sending him to Congress, and that it was not +idle gossip I know because three politicians from Boston came to +town and conferred with our selectmen and Judge Bordman over their +wine at the inn for a long evening; and Peter Nuttles, whose sister +waited on them, spread the story to the ends of the county. + +Late one night, when Uncle Seth and I were about to set out for +home, leaving Arnold and Sim to lock up the store, we parted with +Gleazen on the porch, he stalking off to the right in the moonlight +and swinging his cane as he went, we turning our backs on the +village and the bright windows of the tavern, and stepping smartly +toward our own dark house, in which the one lighted lamp shone from +the window of the room that Mrs. Jameson, our housekeeper, occupied. + +"He's a man of judgment," Uncle Seth said, as if meditating aloud, +"rare judgment and a wonderful knowledge of the world." + +He seemed to expect no reply, and I made none. + +"He was venturesome to rashness as a boy," Uncle Seth presently +continued. "All that seems to have changed now." + +We walked along through the dust. The weeds beside the road and the +branches of the trees and shrubs were damp with dew. + +"As a boy," Uncle Seth said at last, "I should never have thought of +going to Neil Gleazen for judgment--aye, or for knowledge." And when +we stood on the porch in the moonlight and looked back at the +village, where all the houses were dark now except for a lamp here +and there that continued to burn far into the night, he added, "How +would you like to leave all this, Joe, and wrestle a fall with +fortune for big stakes--aye, for rich stakes, with everything in our +favor to win?" + +At something in his voice I turned on my heel, my heart leaping, and +stared hard at him. + +As if he suddenly realized that he had been saying things he ought +not to say, he gave himself a quick shake, and woke from his +meditations with a start. "We must away to bed," he cried sharply. +"It's close on midnight." + +Here was a matter for speculation. For an hour that afternoon and +for another hour that evening Uncle Seth and Neil Gleazen had sat +behind my uncle's desk, with their chairs drawn close together and +the beaver laid on the cracker-box, and had scribbled endless +columns of figures and mysterious notes on sheet after sheet of +foolscap. What, I wondered, did it mean? + +At noon next day, as I was waiting on customers in the front of the +store, I saw a rider with full saddlebags pass, on a great black +horse, and shortly afterwards I heard one of the customers remark +that the horse was standing at the inn. Glancing out of the window, +I saw that the rider had dismounted and was talking with Cornelius +Gleazen; though the distance was considerable, Gleazen's bearing and +the forward tilt of his beaver were unmistakable. When next I passed +the window, I saw that Gleazen was posting down the road toward the +store, with his beaver tipped even farther over his right eye, his +cane swinging, and a bundle under his arm. + +As I bowed the customers out, Gleazen entered the store, brushing +past me with a nod, and loudly called, "Seth Upham! Seth Upham! +Where are you?" + +"Here I am. What's wanted?" my uncle testily retorted, as he +emerged from a bin into which he had thrust his head and shoulders +in his efforts to fill a peck measure. + +"Come, come," cried Gleazen in his great, gruff voice. "Here's +news!" + +"News," returned my uncle, sharply; "news is no reason to scare a +man out of a year's growth." + +Neil Gleazen laughed loudly and gave my uncle a resounding slap on +the back that made him writhe. "News, Seth, news is the key to +fortune. Come, man, come, lay by your pettifogging. Here's papers +just in by the post. You ain't going to let 'em lie no more than I +am." + +To my amazement,--I could never get used to it,--my uncle's +resentment seemed to go like mist before the sun, and he said not a +word against the boisterous roughness of the friend of his youth, +although I almost believe that, if anyone else had dared to treat +him so, he would have grained the man with a hayfork. Instead, he +wiped his hands on his coarse apron and followed Gleazen to the +desk, where they sat down in the two chairs that now were always +behind it. + +For a time they talked in voices so low that I heard nothing of +their conversation; but after a while, as they became more and more +absorbed in their business, their voices rose, and I perceived that +Gleazen was reading aloud from the papers some advertisements in +which he seemed especially interested. + +"Here's this," he would cry. "Listen to this. If this ain't a good +one, I'll miss my guess. 'Executor's sale, Ship Congress: on +Saturday the 15th, at twelve o'clock, at the wharf of the late +William Gray, Lynn Street, will be sold at public auction the ship +Congress, built at Mattapoisett near New Bedford in the year 1823 +and designed for the whale fishery. Measures 349 tons, is copper +fastened and was copper sheathed over felt in London on the first +voyage, and is in every respect a first-rate vessel. She has two +suits of sails, chain and hemp cables, and is well found in the +usual appurtenances. By order of the executors of the late William +Gray, Whitewell, Bond and Company, Auctioneers.' There, Seth, +there's a vessel for you, I'll warrant you." + +My uncle murmured something that I could not hear; then Gleazen +tipped his beaver back on his head--for once he had neglected to set +it on the cracker-box--and hoarsely laughed. "Well, I'll be shot!" +he roared. "How's a man to better himself, if he's so confounded +cautious? Well, then, how's this: 'Marshal's Sale. United States of +America, District of Massachusetts, Boston, August 31, 1826. +Pursuant to a warrant from the Honorable John Davis, Judge of the +District Court for the District aforesaid, I hereby give public +notice that I shall sell at public auction on Wednesday the 8th day +of September, at 12 o'clock noon, at Long Wharf, the schooner +Caroline and Clara, libelled for wages by William Shipley, and the +money arising from the sale to be paid into court. Samuel D. Hains, +Marshal.' That'll come cheap, if cheap you'll have. But mark what I +tell you, Seth, that what comes cheap, goes cheap. There's no good +in it. It ain't as if you hadn't the money. The plan's mine, and I +tell you, it's a good one, with three merry men waiting for us over +yonder. Half's for you, a whole half, mind you; and half's to be +divided amongst the rest of us. It don't pay to try to do things +cheap. What with gear carried away and goods damaged, it don't pay." + +Uncle Seth was marking lines on the margin of the newspaper before +them. + +"I wonder," he began, "how much--" + +Then they talked in undertones, and I heard nothing more. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A MYSTERIOUS PROJECT + + +For three days I watched with growing amazement the strange behavior +of my uncle. Now he would sit hunched up over his desk and search +through a great pile of documents from the safe; now he would toss +the papers into his strong box, lock it, and return it to its place +in the vault, and pace the floor in a revery so deep that you could +speak in his very ear without getting a reply. At one minute he +would be as cross as a devil's imp, and turn on you in fury if you +wished to do him a favor; at the next he would fairly laugh aloud +with good humor. + +The only man at whom he never flew out in a rage was Cornelius +Gleazen, and why this should be so, I could only guess. You may be +sure that I, and others, tried hard to fathom the secret, when the +two of them were sitting at my uncle's desk over a huge mass of +papers, as they were for hours at a time. + +On the noon of the third day they settled themselves together at the +desk and talked interminably in undertones. Now Uncle Seth would +bend over his papers; now he would look off across the road and the +meadows to the woods beyond. Now he would put questions; now he +would sit silent. An hour passed, and another, and another. At four +o'clock they were still there, still talking in undertones. At five +o'clock their heads were closer together than ever. Now Neil Gleazen +was tapping on the top of his beaver. He had a strange look, which I +did not understand, and between his eyes and the flashing of his +diamond as his finger tapped the hat, he charmed me as if he were a +snake. Even Sim Muzzy was watching them curiously, and on Arnold +Lamont's fine, sober face there was an expression of mingled wonder +and distrust. + +Customers came, and we waited on them; and when they had gone, the +two were still there. The clocks were striking six when I faced +about, hearing their chairs move, and saw them shaking hands and +smiling. Then Cornelius Gleazen went away, and my uncle, carefully +locking up his papers, went out, too. + +Supper was late that night, for I waited until Uncle Seth came in; +but he made no excuse for his long absence and late return. He ate +rapidly and in silence, as if he were not thinking of his food, and +he took no wine until he had pushed his plate away. Then he poured +himself a glass from the decanter, tasted it, and said, "I am to be +away to-morrow, Joe." + +"Yes, sir," said I. + +"I may be back to-morrow night and I may not. As to that, I can't +say. But I wish, come afternoon, you'd go to Abe Guptil's for me. +I've an errand there I want you to do." + +I waited in silence. + +"I hold a mortgage of two thousand dollars on his place," he +presently went on. "I've let it run, out of good-nature. Good-nature +don't pay. Well, I'm going to need the money. Give him a month to +pay up. If he can't, tell him I'll sell him out." + +"You'll what?" I cried, not believing that I heard him aright. + +"I'll sell him out. Pringle has been wanting the place and he'll +give at least two thousand." + +"Now, Uncle Seth, Abraham Guptil's been a long time sick. His best +horse broke a leg a while back and he had to shoot it, and while he +was sick his crops failed. He can't pay you now. Give him another +year. He's good for the money and he pays his interest on the day +it's due." + +Uncle Seth frowned. "I've been too good-natured," he said sharply. +"I need the money myself. I shall sell him out." + +"But--" + +"Well?" + +I stopped short. After all, I could not save Abe Guptil--I knew +Uncle Seth too well for that. And it might be easier for Abe if I +broke the news than if, say, Uncle Seth did. + +"Very well," I replied after a moment's thought. "I will go." + +Uncle Seth, appeased by my compliance, gave a short grunt, curtly +bade me good-night and stumped off to bed. But I, wondering what was +afoot, sat a long time at table while the candles burned lower and +lower. + +Next morning, clad in his Sunday best, Uncle Seth waited in front of +the store, with his horses harnessed and ready, until the tall +familiar figure, with cane, cigar, and beaver hat, came marching +grandly down from the inn. Then the two got into the carriage and +drove away. + +Some hours later, leaving Arnold Lamont in charge of the store, I +set off in turn, but humbly and on foot, toward the white house by +the distant sea where poor Abraham Guptil lived; and you can be sure +that it made me sick at heart to think of my errand. + +From the pine land and meadows of Topham, the road emerged on the +border of a salt marsh, along which I tramped for an hour or two; +then, passing now through scrubby timber, now between barren farms, +it led up on higher ground, which a few miles farther on fell away +to tawny rocks and yellow sand and the sea, which came rolling in on +the beach in long, white hissing waves. Islands in the offing +seemed to give promise of other, far-distant lands; and the sun was +so bright and the water so blue that I thought to myself how much I +would give to go a-sailing with Uncle Seth in search of adventure. + +Late in the afternoon I saw ahead of me, beside the road, the small +white house, miles away from any other, where Abraham Guptil lived. +A dog came barking out at me, and a little boy came to call back the +dog; then a woman appeared in the door and told me I was welcome. +Abe, it seemed, was away working for a neighbor, but he would be +back soon, for supper-time was near. If I would stay with them for +the meal, she said, they should be glad and honored. + +So I sat down on the doorstone and made friends with the boy and the +dog, and talked away about little things that interested the boy, +until we saw Abraham Guptil coming home across the fields with the +sun at his back. + +He shook hands warmly, but his face was anxious, and when after +supper we went out doors and I told him as kindly as I could the +errand on which my uncle had sent me, he shook his head. + +"I feared it," said he. "It's rumored round the country that Seth +Upham's collecting money wherever he can. Without this, I've been in +desperate straits, and now--" + +He spread his hands hopelessly and leaned against the fence. His +eyes wandered over the acres on which he was raising crops by sheer +strength and determination. It was a poor, stony farm, yet the man +had claimed it from the wilderness and, what with fishing and odd +jobs, had been making a success of life until one misfortune after +another had fairly overwhelmed him. + +"It must go," he said at last. + +As best I could, I was taking leave of him for the long tramp home, +when he suddenly roused himself and cried, "But stay! See! The storm +is hard upon us. You must not go back until to-morrow." + +Heavy clouds were banking in the west, and already we could hear the +rumble of thunder. + +It troubled me to accept the hospitality of the Guptils when I had +come on such an errand; but the kindly souls would hear of no +denial, so I joined Abe in the chores with such good-will, that we +had milked, and fed the stock, and closed the barns for the night +before the first drops fell. + +Meanwhile much had gone forward indoors, and when we returned to the +house I was shown to a great bed made up with clean linen fragrant +of lavender. Darkness had scarcely fallen, but I was so weary that I +undressed and threw myself on the bed and went quietly to sleep +while the storm came raging down the coast. + +As one so often does in a strange place, I woke uncommonly early. +Dawn had no more than touched the eastern horizon, but I got out of +bed and, hearing someone stirring, went to the window. A door closed +very gently, then a man came round the corner of the house and +struck off across the fields. It was Abraham Guptil. What could he +be doing abroad at that hour? Going to the door of my room, which +led into the kitchen, I softly opened it, then stopped in amazement. +Someone was asleep on the kitchen floor. I looked closer and saw +that it was a woman with a child; then I turned back and closed the +door again. + +Rather than send me away, even though I brought a message that meant +the loss of their home, those good people had given me the one bed +in the house, and themselves, man, woman, and child, had slept on +hard boards, with only a blanket under them. + +Since I could not leave my room without their knowing that I had +discovered their secret, I sat down by the window and watched the +dawn come across the sea upon a world that was clean and cool after +the shower of the night. For an hour, as the light grew stronger, I +watched the slow waves that came rolling in and poured upon the long +rocks in cascades of silver; and still the time wore on, and still +Abe remained away. Another hour had nearly gone when I saw him +coming in the distance along the shore, and heard his wife stirring +outside. + +Now someone knocked at my door. + +I replied with a prompt "Good-morning," and presently went into the +kitchen, where the three greeted me warmly. All signs of their +sleeping on the kitchen floor had vanished. + +"I don't know what I shall do, Joe," said Abraham Guptil when I was +taking leave of him an hour later. "This place is all I have." + +I made up my mind there and then that neither Abraham Guptil nor his +wife and child should suffer want. + +"I'll see to that," I replied. "There'll be something for you to do +and some place for you to go." + +Then, with no idea how I should fulfil my promise, I shook his hand +and left him. + +When at last I got back to the store, Arnold Lamont was there alone. +My uncle had not returned, and Sim Muzzy had gone fishing. It was an +uncommonly hot day, and since there were few customers, we sat and +talked of one thing and another. + +When I saw that Arnold was looking closely at the foils, which stood +in a corner, an idea came to me. Cornelius Gleazen had praised my +swordsmanship to the skies, and, indeed, I was truly becoming a +match for him. Twice I had actually taken a bout from him, with a +great swishing and clattering of blades and stamping of feet, and +now, although he continued to give me lessons, he no longer would +meet me in an assault. As for the other young fellows, I had far and +away outstripped them. + +"Would you like to try the foils once, Arnold?" I asked. "I'll give +you a lesson if you say so." + +For a moment I thought there was a twinkle in the depths of his +eyes; but when I looked again they were sober and innocent. + +"Why, yes," he said. + +Something in the way he tested the foils made me a bit uneasy, in +spite of my confidence, but I shrugged it off. + +"You have learned well by watching," I said, as we came on guard. + +"I have tried it before," said he. + +"Then," said I, "I will lunge and you shall see if you can parry +me." + +"Very well." + +After a few perfunctory passes, during which I advanced and +retreated in a way that I flattered myself was exceptionally clever, +and after a quick feint in low line, I disengaged, deceived a +counter-parry by doubling, and confidently lunged. To my amazement +my foil rested against his blade hardly out of line with his +body--so slightly out of line that I honestly believed the attack +had miscarried by my own clumsiness. Certainly I never had seen so +nice a parry. That I escaped a riposte, I attributed to my deft +recovery and the constant pressure of my blade on his; but even then +I had an uncomfortable suspicion that behind the veil of his black +mask Arnold was smiling, and I was really dazed by the failure of an +attack that seemed to me so well planned and executed. + +Then, suddenly, easily, lightly, Arnold Lamont's blade wove its way +through my guard. His arms, his legs, his body moved with a lithe +precision such as I had never dreamed of; my own foil, circling +desperately, failed to find his, and his button rested for a moment +against my right breast so surely and so competently that, in the +face of his skill, I simply dropped my guard and stood in frank +wonder and admiration. + +Even then I was vaguely aware that I could not fully appreciate it. +Though I had thought myself an accomplished swordsman, the man's +dexterity, which had revealed me as a clumsy blunderer, was so +amazingly superior to anything I had ever seen, that I simply could +not realize to the full how remarkable it was. + +I whipped off my mask and cried, "You,--you _are_ a fencer." + +He smiled. "Are you surprised? A man does not tell all he knows." + +As I looked him in the face, I wondered at him. Uncle Seth had come +to rely upon him implicitly for far more than you can get from any +ordinary clerk. Yet we really knew nothing at all about him. "A man +does not tell all he knows"--He had held his tongue without a slip +for all those years. + +I saw him now in a new light. His face was keen, but more than keen. +There was real wisdom in it. The quiet, confident dignity with which +he always bore himself seemed suddenly to assume a new, deeper, more +mysterious significance. Whatever the man might be, it was certain +that he was no mere shopkeeper's clerk. + +That afternoon Uncle Seth and Gleazen, the one strangely elated, the +other more pompous and grand than ever, returned in the carriage. Of +their errand, for the time being they said nothing. + +Uncle Seth merely asked about Abe Guptil's note; and, when I +answered him, impatiently grunted. + +Poor Abe, I thought, and wondered what had come over my uncle. + +In the evening, as we were finishing supper, Uncle Seth leaned back +with a broad smile. "Joe, my lad," he said, "our fortunes are +making. Great days are ahead. I can buy and sell the town of Topham +now, but before we are through, Joe, I--or you with the money I +shall leave you--can buy and sell the city of Boston--aye, or the +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There are great days ahead, Joe." + +"But what," I asked, with fear at my heart, "but what is this great +venture?" + +Uncle Seth looked at me with a smile that expressed whatever power +of affection was left in his hard old shell of a heart,--a meagre +affection, yet, as far as it went, all centred upon me,--and +revealed a great conceit of his own wisdom. + +"Joe," he said, leaning forward on his elbows till his face, on +which the light threw every testy wrinkle into sharp relief, was +midway between the two candles at the end of the table, "Joe, I've +bought a ship and we're all going to Africa." + +For a moment his voice expressed confidence; for a moment his +affection for me triumphed over his native sharpness. + +"You're all I've got, Joey," he cried, "You're all that's left to +the old man, and I'm going to do well by you. Whatever I have is +yours, Joey; it's all coming to you, every cent and every dollar. +Here,--you must be wanting a bit of money to spend,--here!" He +thrust his hand into his pocket and flung half a dozen gold pieces +down on the dark, well-oiled mahogany where they rang and rolled and +shone dully in the candle-light. "I swear, Joey, I think a lot of +you." + +I suppose that not five people in all Topham had ever seen Uncle +Seth in such a mood. I am sure that, if they had, the town could +never have thought of him as only a cold, exacting man. But now a +fear apparently overwhelmed him lest by so speaking out through his +reticence he had committed some unforgivable offense--lest he had +told too much. He seemed suddenly to snap back into his hard, +cynical shell. "But of that, no more," he said sharply. "Not a +word's to be said, you understand. Not a word--to _any one_." + +When I went back to the store that evening, I sat on the porch in +the darkness and thought of Uncle Seth as I had seen him across the +table, his face thrust forward between the candles, his elbows +planted on the white linen, with the dim, restful walls of the room +behind him, with the faces of my father and my mother looking down +upon us from the gilt frames on the wall. I knew him too well to ask +questions, even though, as I sat on the store porch, he was sitting +just behind me inside the open window. + +What, I wondered, almost in despair, could we, of all people, do +with a ship and a voyage to Africa? Had I not seen Cornelius Gleazen +play upon my uncle's fear and vanity and credulity? I had no doubt +whatever that the same Neil Gleazen, who had been run out of town +thirty years before, was at the bottom of whatever mad voyage my +uncle was going to send his ship upon. + +Then I thought of good old Abraham Guptil, so soon to be turned out +of house and home, and of Arnold Lamont, who saw and knew and +understood so much, yet said so little. And again I thought of +Cornelius Gleazen; and when I was thinking of him, a strange thing +came to pass. + +Down in the village a dog barked fiercely, then another nearer the +store, then another; then I saw coming up the road a figure that I +could not mistake. The man with that tall hat, that flowing coat, +that nonchalant air, which even the faint light of the stars +revealed, could be no other than Cornelius Gleazen himself. + +In the store behind me I heard the low drone of conversation from +the men gathered round the stove, the click of a chessman set firmly +on the board, the voice of Arnold Lamont--so clear, so precise, and +yet so definitely and indescribably foreign--saying, "Check!" +Through the small panes of glass I saw my uncle frowning over his +ledgers. Now he noted some figure on the foolscap at his right, now +he appeared to count on his fingers. + +I turned again to watch Cornelius Gleazen. Of course he could not +know that anyone was sitting on the porch in the darkness. When he +passed the store, he looked over at it with a turn of his head and a +twist of his shoulders. His gesture gave me an impression of scorn +and triumph so strong that I hardly restrained myself from retorting +loudly and angrily. Then I bit my lip and watched him go by and +disappear. + +"Who," I wondered, "who and _what_ really is Cornelius Gleazen?" + +[Illustration] + + + + +II + +HANDS ACROSS THE SEA + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOOD-BYE TO OLD HAUNTS AND FACES + + +That some extraordinary thing was afoot next day, every soul who +worked in our store, or who entered it on business, vaguely felt. To +me, who had gained a hint of what was going forward,--baffling and +tantalizing, yet a hint for all that,--and to Arnold Lamont, who, I +was convinced as I saw him watch my uncle's nervous movements, +although he had no such plain hint to go upon, had by his keen, +silent observation unearthed even more than I, the sense of an +impending great event was far from vague. I felt as sure as of my +own name that before nightfall something would happen to uproot me +from my native town, whose white houses and green trees and hedges, +kindly people and familiar associations, lovely scenes and quiet, +homely life I so deeply loved. + +The strange light in Cornelius Gleazen's eyes, as he watched us hard +at work taking an inventory of stock, confirmed me in the +presentiment. My uncle's harassed, nervous manner as he drove us on +with our various duties, Sim Muzzy's garrulous bewilderment, and +Arnold Lamont's keen, silent appraisal, added each its little to the +sum of my convictions. + +The warmer the day grew, the harder we worked. Uncle Seth flew about +like a madman, picking us up on this thing and that, and urging one +to greater haste, another to greater care. Throwing off his coat, he +pitched in with his own hands, and performed such prodigies of labor +that it seemed as if our force were doubled by the addition of +himself alone. And all the time Neil Gleazen sat and smiled and +tapped his beaver. + +He was so cool, so impudent about it, that I longed to turn on him +and vent my spleen; but to Uncle Seth it apparently seemed entirely +suitable that Gleazen should idle while others worked. + +Of the true meaning of all this haste and turmoil I had no further +inkling until in the early afternoon Gleazen called loudly,-- + +"He's here, prompt to the minute." + +Then Uncle Seth drew a long breath, mopped the sweat from his face +and cried,-- + +"I'm ready for him, thank heaven! The boys can be finishing up what +little's left." + +I looked, and saw a gentleman, just alighted from his chaise, tying +a handsome black horse to the hitching-post before the door. + +Turning his back upon us all, Uncle Seth rushed to the door, his +hands extended, and cried, "Welcome, sir! Since cock-crow this +morning we have been hard at work upon the inventory, and it's this +minute done--at least, all but adding a few columns. Sim, another +chair by my desk. Quick! Mr. Gleazen, I wish to present you to Mr. +Brown. Come in, sir, come in." + +The three shook hands, and all sat down together and talked for some +time; then, at the stranger's remark,--"Now for figures. There's +nothing like figures to tell a story, Mr. Upham. Eh, Mr. Gleazen? We +can run over those columns you spoke of, here and now,"--they +bestirred themselves. + +"You're right, sir," Uncle Seth cried: and then he sharply called, +"Arnold, bring me those lists you've just finished. That's right; is +that all? Well, then you take the other boys and return those boxes +in the back room to their shelves. That'll occupy you all of an +hour." + +No longer able to pick up an occasional sentence of their talk, we +glumly retired out of earshot and were more than ever irritated when +Gleazen, his cigar between his teeth, stamped up to the door between +the front room and the back and firmly closed it. + +"Why should they wish so much to be alone?" Arnold asked. + +I ventured no reply; but Sim Muzzy, as if personally affronted, +burst hotly forth:-- + +"You'd think Seth Upham would know enough to ask the advice of a man +who's been working for him ever since Neil Gleazen ran away from +home, now wouldn't you? Here I've toiled day in and out and done +good work for him and learned the business, for all the many times +he's said he never saw a thicker head, until there ain't a better +hand at candling eggs, not this side of Boston, than I be. And does +he ask my advice when he's got something up his sleeve? No, he +don't! And yet I'll leave it to Arnold, here, if my nose ain't +keener to scent sour milk than any nose in Topham--yes, sir." + +The idea of Sim Muzzy's advice on any matter of greater importance +than the condition of an egg or the sweetness of milk, in +determining which, to do him justice, he was entirely competent, +struck me as so funny that I almost sniggered. Nor could I have +restrained myself, even so, when I perceived Arnold looking at me +solemnly and as if reproachfully, had not Uncle Seth just then +opened the door and called, "Sim, there's a lady here wants some +calico and spices. Come and wait on her." + +When, fifteen minutes later, Sim returned, closing the door smartly +behind him, Arnold asked with a droll quirk, which I alone +perceived, "Well, my friend, what did you gather during your stay in +yonder?" + +"Gather? Gather?" Sim spluttered. "I gathered nothing. There was +talk of dollars and cents and pounds and pence, and stocks and +oils, and ships and horses, and though I listened till my head swam, +all I could make out was when Neil Gleazen told me to shut the door +behind my back. If they was to ask my advice, I'd tell 'em to talk +sense, that's what I'd do." + +"Ah, Sim," said Arnold, "if only they were to ask thy advice, what +advice thee would give them!" + +"Now you're talking like a Quaker," Sim replied hotly. "Why do +Quakers talk that way, I'd like to know. Thee-ing and thou-ing till +it is enough to fuddle a sober man's wits. I declare they are almost +as bad as people in foreign parts who, I've heard tell, have such a +queer way of talking that an honest man can't at all understand what +they're saying until he's got used to it." + +"Such, indeed, is the way of the inconsiderate world, Sim," Arnold +dryly replied. + +Then the three of us put our shoulders to a hogshead, and in the +mighty effort of lifting it to the bulkhead sill ceased to talk. + +As we finally raised it and shoved it into the yard, Sim stepped +farther out than Arnold and I, and looking toward the street, +whispered, "He's going." + +I sprang over beside him and saw that the visitor, having already +unhitched his horse, was shaking hands with Uncle Seth. Stepping +into the chaise, he then drove off. + +For a space of time so long that the man must have come to the bend +in the road, Uncle Seth and Cornelius Gleazen watched him as he +went; then, to puzzle us still further, smiling broadly, they shook +hands, and turning about, still entirely unaware that we were +watching them, walked with oddly pleased expressions back into the +store. + +My uncle's face expressed such confidence and friendliness as even I +had seldom seen on it. + +"Now ain't that queer?" Sim began. "If Seth Upham was a little less +set in his ways, I'd--" + +With a shrug Arnold Lamont broke in upon what seemed likely to be a +long harangue, and made a comment that was much more to the point. +"Now," said he, "we are going to hear what has happened." + +Surely enough, we thought. No sooner were we back in the store, all +three of us, than the door opened and in came Uncle Seth. + +"Well," said he, brusquely, and yet with a certain pleased +expression still lingering about his eyes, "I expected you to have +done more. Hm! Well, work hard. We must have things in order come +morning." + +Arnold smiled as my uncle promptly returned to the front room, but +Sim and I were keenly disappointed. + +"How now, you who are so clever?" Sim cried when Uncle Seth again +had closed the door. "How now, Arnold? We have heard nothing." + +"Why," said Arnold, imperturbably, "not exactly 'nothing.' We have +learned that the man is coming back to-morrow." + +"Are you crazy?" Sim responded. "Seth Upham said nothing of the +kind." + +Arnold only smiled again. "Wait and see," he said. + +So we worked until late at night, putting all once more to rights; +and in the morning, true to Arnold's prophecy, the gentleman with +the big black horse, accompanied now by a friend, made a second +visit in the front room of the store. + +This time he talked but briefly with Uncle Seth and Neil Gleazen, +who had already waited an hour for his arrival. As if eager to see +our business for himself, he then walked through the store, +examining every little detail of the stock and fixtures, and asked a +vast number of questions, which in themselves showed that he knew +what he was about and that he was determined to get at the bottom of +our affairs. There was talk of barrels of Alexandria superfine flour +and hogsheads of Kentucky tobacco; of teas--Hyson, young Hyson, +Hyson skin, Powchong and Souchong; of oil, summer and winter; of +Isles of Shoals dun fish and Holland gin and preserved ginger, and +one thing and another, until, with answering the questions they +asked me, I was fairly dizzy. + +Having examined store and stock to his satisfaction, he then went +with Uncle Seth, to my growing wonder, up to our own house; and from +what Sim reported when he came back from a trip to spy upon them, +they examined the house with the same care. In due course they +returned to the store and sat down at the desk, and then the friend +who accompanied our first visitor wrote for some time on an +official-looking document; Uncle Seth and the strange gentleman +signed it; Arnold Lamont, whom they summoned for the purpose, and +Cornelius Gleazen witnessed it; and all four drove away together, +the gentleman and his friend in their chaise and Uncle Seth and Neil +Gleazen in our own. + +"When Seth Upham returns," said Arnold, "we shall be told all." + +And it was so. + +Coming back alone in the late afternoon, Uncle Seth and Gleazen left +the chaise at the door, and entering, announced that we should close +the store early that day. Gleazen was radiant with good-nature, and +there was the odor of liquor on his breath. Uncle Seth, on the +contrary, appeared not to have tasted a drop. He was, if anything, a +little sharper than ever at one moment, a little more jovial at the +next, excited always, and full of some mysterious news that seemed +both to delight and to frighten him. + +Obediently we fastened the shutters and drew the shades and made +ready for the night. + +"Now, lads," said Uncle Seth, "come in by my desk and take chairs. I +have news for you." + +Exchanging glances, we did so. Even Sim Muzzy was silent now. + +We all sat down together, Uncle Seth and Neil Gleazen at the desk, +Arnold Lamont and I a little at one side, and Sim Muzzy tilting back +importantly at a point from which he could watch us all. + +At the time I thought what an interesting study in character the +others made; but since then I have come to think that by my own +attitude toward them I revealed more of the manner of youth I myself +was, than by their bearing they revealed of the manner of men they +were. There was Neil Gleazen, who held his cigar in his left hand +and, with the finger on which his great diamond flashed, knocked +each bit of ash on the floor so promptly after it formed, that the +glowing coal of fire seemed to eat into the dark tobacco and leave +no residue whatever. I was confident that he thought more of me both +for my good fellowship and for my sound sense than he thought of any +of the others present--or in town, for that matter! As for Uncle +Seth, who was at once nervous and elated, I must confess, although +it did not take me long to learn enough to be heartily ashamed of +it, that I was just a little inclined in my own mind to patronize +him; for although all my excellent prospects came entirely from his +shrewd labors, I felt that he was essentially the big toad in the +small puddle. + +With the others, I smiled at Sim Muzzy. But with regard to Arnold +Lamont I was less confident. There had been a world of philosophy in +his brief remark that a man does not tell all he knows; and my +fencing bout with him was still too fresh in my mind to permit me +actually to patronize him. He sat now with his thoughtful eyes +intent on my uncle, and of the five of us he was by long odds the +most composed. + +Although I have betrayed my vanity in a none too flattering light, +it would be unjust, I truly think, not to add, at the risk of +seeming to contradict myself, that I was instinctively kind-hearted, +and that I did not lack for courage. + +"I have news for you, boys," Uncle Seth began, with a manner at once +abrupt and a little pompous, but with a warm smile at me. "I hope +you'll be glad to hear it, although it means a radical change in the +life we've lived together for so many years. First of all, I want to +say that each of you will be well looked after." + +Uncle Seth paused and glanced at Cornelius Gleazen, who nodded as if +to encourage him to go on. + +"Yes, you will be well looked after, however it may appear at first +flush. I'll see that no faithful man suffers to my profit, even +though I have sold the store." + +"What's that? You've sold the store?" Sim wildly broke in. "If +you've--you've gone and sold the store? What--what?" + +"Be still, Sim," Uncle Seth interposed. "Yes, I have sold the store. +I know that Joe'll not be surprised to hear it; but even he has had +only the vaguest hint of what's going forward. The gentleman who was +here yesterday and to-day, has bought me out, store and house, lock, +stock, and barrel." + +"The house!" I cried. + +"Yes," said Uncle Seth shortly. + +"But what'll I do? And Arnold? And Joe?" Sim demanded. "Oh, Seth +Upham! Never did I think to see this day and hear them words." + +"I'm coming to that," said Uncle Seth. "There'll be room here for +the three of you if you want to stay, and there'll be work in +abundance in the store; but--ah, lads, here's the chance for +you!--there'll be room for you with me, if you wish to come. I have +bought a ship--" + +"A brig," Cornelius Gleazen put in. + +"A brig," said Uncle Seth, accepting the correction. "The Adventure, +a very tidy little craft, and well named." + +Cornelius Gleazen gave his cigar a harder flick and in a reminiscent +voice again forced his way into the conversation. "Ninety-seven foot +on deck, twenty-four foot beam, sixteen foot deep, and a good two +hundred and fifty ton, built of white oak and copper fastened. +Baltimore bow and beautiful rake. Trim as a gull and fast as a duck. +Tidy's the word, Seth, tidy." + +Gleazen's fingers were twitching and his eyes were strangely alight. + +"Yes, yes," said Uncle Seth, sharply. + +"But that's not all," Gleazen insisted. + +"Well, what of it?" Uncle Seth demanded. "Are you going to tell 'em +everything?" + +At this Gleazen paused and looked hard at his cigar. His fingers, I +could see, were twitching more than ever. + +"No," he slowly said, "not everything. Go ahead, Seth." + +"If you keep putting in, how can I go ahead." + +"Oh, stow it!" Gleazen suddenly roared. "This is no piffling +storekeeper's game. Go on!" + +As you can imagine, we were all eyes and ears at this brush between +the two; and when Gleazen lost his temper and burst out so hotly, in +spite of my admiration for the man, I hoped, and confidently +expected, to see Uncle Seth come back, hammer and tongs, and give +him as good as he sent. Instead, he suddenly turned white and +became strangely calm, and in a low, subdued voice went on to the +rest of us:-- + +"We shall take on a cargo at Boston and sail for the West Indies, +where we shall add a few men to the crew and thence sail for Africa. +I'm sure the voyage will yield a good profit and--" + +"O Seth, O Seth!" cried Gleazen, abruptly. "That is no manner of way +to talk to the boys. Let me tell 'em!" + +My uncle, at this, drew back in his chair and said with great +dignity, "Sir, whose money is financing this venture?" + +"Money?" Gleazen roared with laughter. "What's money without brains? +I'll tell 'em? You sit tight." + +We were all but dumbfounded. White of face and blue of lip, Seth +Upham sat in his chair--_his no longer!_--and Gleazen told us. + +He threw his cigar-butt on the floor and stepped on it, and drummed +on his beaver hat with nimble fingers. + +"It's like this, lads," he said in a voice that implied that he was +confiding in us: "I've come home here to Topham with a fortune, to +be sure, and I've come to end my days in the town that gave me +birth. But--" his voice now fell almost to a whisper--"I've left a +king's wealth on the coast of Guinea." + +He paused to see the effect of his words. I could hear my uncle +breathing hard, but I held my eyes intently on Neil Gleazen's face. + +"A fit treasure for an emperor!" he whispered, in such a way that +the words came almost hissing to our ears. + +Still we sat in silence and stared at him. + +"With three good men to guard it," he went on after another pause. +"Three tried, true men--friends of mine, every one of them. Suppose +I _have_ made my fortune and come home to end my days in comfort? +I'd as soon have a little more, _hadn't you_? And I'd as soon give a +hand to a hard-working, honest boyhood friend, _hadn't you_? Here's +what I done: I said to Seth Upham, who has robbed many a church with +me--" + +At that, I thought my uncle was going to cry out in protest or +denial; but his words died in his throat. + +"I said to him, 'Seth, you and me is old friends. Now here's this +little scheme. I've got plenty myself, so I'll gladly share with +you. If you'll raise the money for this venture, you'll be helping +three good men to get their little pile out of the hands of heathen +savages, and half of the profits will be yours.' So he says he'll +raise money for the venture, and he done so, and he's sold his store +and his house, and now he can't back down. How about it, Seth?" + +My uncle gulped, but made no reply. Gleazen, who up to this point +had been always deferential and considerate, seemed, out of a clear +sky, suddenly to have assumed absolute control of our united +fortunes. + +"Of course it won't do to turn off old friends," he continued. "So +he made up his mind to give you lads your choice of coming with us +at handsome pay--one third of his lay is to be divided amongst those +of you that come--" + +"No, I never said that," Uncle Seth cried, as if startled into +speech. + +"You never?" Gleazen returned in seeming amazement. "The papers is +signed, Seth." + +"But I never said that!" + +Gleazen turned on my uncle, his eyes blazing. "This from you!" he +cried with a crackling oath. "After all I've done! I swear _I'll_ +back out now--then where'll you be? What's more, I'll tell what I +know." + +My uncle in a dazed way looked around the place that up to now had +been his own little kingdom and uttered some unintelligible murmur. + +"Ah," said Gleazen, "I thought you did." Then, as if Uncle Seth had +not broken in upon him, as if he had not retorted at Uncle Seth, as +if his low, even voice had not been raised in pitch since he began, +he went on, "Or, lads, you can stay. What do you say?" + +Still we sat and stared at him. + +Sim Muzzy, as usual, was first to speak and last to think. "I'll +go," he exclaimed eagerly, "I'll go, for one." + +"Good lad," said Gleazen, who, although they were nearly of an age, +outrageously patronized him. + +With my familiar world torn down about my shoulders, and the +patrimony that I long had regarded as mine about to be imperiled in +this strange expedition, it seemed that I must choose between a +berth in the new vessel and a clerkship with no prospects. It was +not a difficult choice for a youth with a leaning toward adventure, +nor was I altogether unprepared for it. Then, too, there was +something in me that would not suffer me lightly to break all ties +with my mother's only brother. After a moment for reflection, I +said, "I'll go, for two." + +Meanwhile, Arnold Lamont had been studying us all and had seen, I am +confident, more than any of us. He had taken time to notice to the +full the sudden return of all Cornelius Gleazen's arrogance and the +extraordinary meekness of Uncle Seth who, without serious affront, +had just now taken words from Gleazen for which he would once have +blazed out at him in fury. + +It did not take Arnold Lamont's subtlety to see that Gleazen, by +some means or other, had got Seth Upham under his thumb and was +taking keen pleasure in feeling him there. Gleazen's attitude toward +my uncle had undergone a curious series of changes since the day +when, for the first time, I had seen him enter our store: from +arrogance he had descended to courtesy, even to deference; but from +deference he had now returned again to arrogance. In his attitude on +that first day there had been much of the cool insolence that he now +manifested; but after a few days it had seemed to a certain extent +to have vanished. Rather, the consideration with which he had of +late treated my uncle had been so great as to make this new +impudence the more amazing. + +Many things may have influenced Arnold in his decision; but among +them, I think, were his gratitude to Uncle Seth, who had taken him +in and given him a good living, and who, we both could see, was +likely now to need the utmost that a friend could give him; his +friendliness for Sim and me, with whom he had worked so long; and, +which I did not at the time suspect, the desire of a keen, able, +straight-forward man to meet and beat Cornelius Gleazen at his own +game. + +"I will go with you," he quietly said. + +"Good lads!" Gleazen cried. + +"One thing more," said I. + +"Anything--anything--within reason, aye, or without." + +"Uncle Seth once spoke to me of selling out Abraham Guptil." + +My uncle now bestirred himself and, shaking off the discomfiture +with which he had received Gleazen's earlier words, said with +something of his usual sharpness, "The sheriff has had the papers +these three days." + +"Then," I cried, "I beg you, as a favor, let him have a berth with +us." + +"What's that? Some farmer?" Gleazen demanded. + +"He's bred to the sea," I returned. + +"That puts another face on the matter," said Gleazen. + +"Well," said my uncle. "But his lay comes out of the part that goes +to you, then." + +"But," I responded, "I thought of his signing on at regular wages." +Then I blushed at my own selfishness and hastened to add, "Never +mind that. I for one will say that he shall share alike with us." + +And the others, knowing his plight, agreed as with a single voice. + +"Now, then, my lads," Cornelius Gleazen cried, "a word in +confidence: to the village and to the world we'll say that we are +going on a trading voyage. And so we are! All this rest of our +talk," he continued slowly and impressively, "all this rest of our +talk is a secret between you four and me and God Almighty." He +brought his great fist down on the desk with a terrific bang. "If +any one of you four men--I don't care a tinker's damn which +one--lets this story leak, I'll kill him." + +At the time I did not think that he meant it; since then I have come +to think that he did. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A WILD NIGHT + + +Unless you have lived in a little town where every man's business is +his neighbor's, you cannot imagine the furor in the village of +Topham when our fellow citizens learned that Seth Upham had actually +sold his business and his house, and was to embark with Cornelius +Gleazen on a voyage of speculation to the West Indies and Africa. +The friction with Great Britain that had closed ports in the West +Indies to American ships added zest to their surmises; and the +unexpected news that that very worthy gentleman, Cornelius Gleazen, +who had so recently returned to his old home, was so soon to depart +again, sharpened their regrets. All were united in wishing us good +fortune and a safe, speedy return; all were keenly interested in +whatever hints of the true character of the voyage we let fall, +which you can be sure were few and slender. It was such an +extraordinary affair in the annals of the village, that the more +enterprising began to prepare for a grand farewell, which should +express their feelings in a suitable way and should do honor both to +their respected fellow townsman, Seth Upham, and to their +distinguished resident, Cornelius Gleazen. + +There was to be a parade, with a band from Boston at its head, a +great dinner at the town hall, to which with uncommon generosity +they invited even the doubting blacksmith, and a splendid farewell +ceremony, with speeches by the minister and the doctor, and with +presentations to all who were to leave town. It was to mark an epoch +in the history of Topham. Nothing like it had ever taken place in +all the country round. And as we were to go to Boston in the near +future,--the man who had bought out Uncle Seth was to take over the +house and store almost at once,--they set the date for the first +Saturday in September. + +Because I, in a way, was to be one of the guests of the occasion, I +heard little of the plans directly, for they were supposed to be +secret, in order to surprise us by their splendor. But a less +curious lad than I could not have helped noticing the long benches +carried past the store and the platform that was building on the +green. + +The formal farewell, as I have said, was to take place on the first +Saturday in September, and the following Wednesday we five were to +leave town. But meanwhile, in order to have everything ready for our +departure, and because we needed another pair of hands to help in +the work during the last days at the store, I went on Friday to get +Abraham Guptil to join us. + +He had been so pleased at the chance to ship for a voyage, thus to +recover a little of the goods and gear that misfortune had swept +away from him almost to the last stick and penny, that I was more +than glad I had given him the chance. Well satisfied, accordingly, +with myself and the world, I turned my uncle's team toward the home +of Abe's father-in-law, where Mrs. Guptil and the boy were to stay +until Abe should return from the voyage; and when I passed the +green, where the great platform was almost finished, I thought with +pleasure of what an important part I was to play in the ceremonies +next day. + +It was a long ride to the home of Abraham Guptil's father-in-law, +and the way led through the pines and marshes beside the sea, and up +hill and down valley over a winding road inland. The goldenrod +beside the stone walls along the road was a bright yellow, and the +blue frost flowers were beginning to blossom. In the air, which was +as clear as on a winter night, was the pleasant, almost +indescribable tang of autumn, in which are blended so mysteriously +the mellow odors of stubble fields and fallen leaves, and fruit that +is ready for the market; it suggested bright foliage and mellow +sunsets, and blue smoke curling up from chimneys, and lighted +windows in the early dusk. + +On the outward journey, but partly occupied by driving the +well-broken team, I thought of how Neil Gleazen, before my very +eyes, had at first frightened Uncle Seth, and had then cajoled him, +and, finally, had completely won him over. I had never put it in so +many words before, that Gleazen had got my uncle into such a state +that he could do what he wished with him; but to me it was plain +enough, and I suspected that Arnold Lamont saw it, too. Although I +had watched Gleazen from the moment when he first began to +accomplish the purpose toward which he had been plotting, I could +not understand what power he held over Uncle Seth that had so +changed my uncle's whole character. Then I fell to thinking of that +remark, twice repeated, about robbing churches, and meditated on it +while the horses quietly jogged along. Never, I thought, should the +people of the town learn of my suspicions; they concerned a family +matter, and I would keep them discreetly to myself. + +It was touching to see Abraham Guptil bid farewell to his wife and +son. Their grief was so unaffected that it almost set me sniffling, +and I feared that poor Abe would make a dreary addition to our +little band; but when we had got out of sight of the house, he began +to pick up, and after wiping his eyes and blowing his nose, he +surprised me by becoming, all things considered, quite lively. + +"Now," said he, "you can tell me all about this voyage for which +I've shipped. It seems queer for a man to sign the articles when he +don't know where his lay is coming from, but, I declare, it was a +godsend to me to have a voyage and wages in prospect, and you were a +rare good friend of mine, Joe, to put my name in like you done." + +It puzzled me to know just how much to tell him, but I explained as +well as I could that it was a trading voyage to the West Indies and +Africa, and gave him a hint that there was a secret connected with +it whereby, if all went well, we were to get large profits, and let +him know that he was to share a certain proportion of this extra +money with Arnold, Sim, and me, in addition to the wages that we all +were to draw. + +It seemed to satisfy him, and after thinking it over, he said, "I've +heard Seth Upham was getting all his money together for some reason +or other. There must be more than enough to buy the Adventure. He's +been cashing in notes and mortgages all over the county, and I'm +told the bank is holding it for him in gold coin." + +"In gold!" I cried. + +"Gold coin," he repeated. "It's rumored round the county that Neil +Gleazen's holding something over him that's frightened him into +doing this and that, exactly according to order." + +"Where did you hear that?" I demanded. + +It was so precisely what I myself had been thinking that it seemed +as if I must have talked too freely; yet I knew that I had held my +tongue. + +"Oh, one place and another," he replied. Then, changing the subject, +he remarked, "There'll be a grand time in town to-morrow, what with +speeches and all. I'd like to have brought my wife to see it, but I +was afraid it would make it harder for her when I leave." + +"She doesn't want you to go?" + +"Oh, she's glad for me to have the chance, but she's no hand to bear +up at parting." + +Conversing thus, we drove on into the twilight and falling dusk, +till we came so near the town that we could see ahead of us the +tavern, all alight and cheerful for the evening. + +"I wonder," Abe cried eagerly, "who'll be sitting by the table with +a hot supper in front of him, and Nellie Nuttles to fetch and +carry." + +I was hungry after my day's drive and could not help sharing Abe's +desire for a meal at the tavern, which was known as far as Boston +and beyond for its good food; but I had no permission thus wantonly +to spend Uncle Seth's money, so I snapped the whip and was glad to +hear the louder rattling of wheels as the horses broke into a brisk +trot, which made our own supper seem appreciably nearer. + +And who, indeed, would be sitting now behind those lighted windows? +Abe's question came back to me as we neared the tavern. The broad +roofs seemed to suggest the very essence of hospitality, and as if +to indorse their promise of good fare, a roar of laughter came out +into the night. + +As we passed, I looked through one of the windows that but a moment +since had been rattling from the mirth within, and saw--I looked +again and made sure that I was not mistaken!--saw Neil Gleazen, +red-faced and wild-eyed, standing by the bar with a glass raised in +his hand. + +The sight surprised me, for although Gleazen, like almost everyone +else in old New England, took his wine regularly, in all the months +since his return he had conducted himself so soberly that there had +been not the slightest suggestion that he ever got himself the worse +for liquor; and even more it amazed me to see beside him one Jed +Matthews who was, probably, the most unscrupulous member of the +lawless crew with whom Gleazen was said to have associated much in +the old days, but of whom he had seen, everyone believed, almost +nothing since he had come home. + +As we drove on past the blacksmith shop, I saw the smith smoking his +pipe in the twilight. + +"It's a fine evening," I called. + +"It is," said he, coming into the road. And in a lower voice he +added, "Did you see him when you passed the inn?" + +"Yes," I replied, knowing well enough whom he meant. + +"They've called me a fool," the smith responded, "but before this +night's over we'll see who's a fool." He puffed away at his pipe and +looked at me significantly. "We'll see who's a fool, I or them that +has so much more money and wisdom than I." + +He went back and sat down, and Abe and I drove on, puzzled and +uncomfortable. The smith was vindictive. Could he, I wondered, be +right? + +A good supper was keeping hot for us in the brick oven, and we sat +down to it with the good-will that it merited; but before we were +more than half through, my uncle burst in upon us. He seemed +harassed by anxiety, and went at once to the window, where he stood +looking out into the darkness. + +"Have you heard anything said around town?" he presently demanded, +more sharply, it seemed to me, than ever. + +"I've heard little since I got back," I returned. "Only the smith's +ravings. He was in an ill temper as we passed. But I saw Neil +Gleazen at the inn drinking with Jed Matthews." + +"The ungrateful reprobate!" Uncle Seth cried with an angry gesture. +"He's drawn me into this thing hand and foot--hand and foot. I'm +committed. It's too late to withdraw, and he knows it. And now, now +for the first time, mind you, he's starting on one of his old +sprees." + +"He's not a hard drinker," I said. "In all the time he's been in +Topham he's not been the worse for liquor, and this evening, so far +as I could see, he was just taking a glass--" + +"You don't know him as he used to be," my uncle cried. + +"A glass," put in Abe Guptil; "but with Jed Matthews!" + +"You've hit the nail on the head," Uncle Seth burst out--"with Jed +Matthews. God save we're ruined by this night's work. If he should +go out to Higgleby's barn with that gang of thieves, my good name +will go too. I swear I'll sell the brig." + +Uncle Seth wildly paced the room and scowled until every testy +wrinkle on his face was drawn into one huge knot that centred in his +forehead. + +The only sounds, as Abe and I sat watching him in silence, were the +thumping of his feet as he walked and the hoarse whisper of his +breathing. Plainly, he was keyed up to a pitch higher than ever I +had seen him. + +At that moment, from far beyond the village, shrilly but faintly, +came a wild burst of drunken laughter. It was a single voice and one +strange to me. There was something devilish in its piercing, +unrestrained yell. + +"Merciful heavens!" Uncle Seth cried,--actually his hand was shaking +like the palsy; a note of fear in his strained voice struck to my +heart like a finger of ice,--"I'd know that sound if I heard it in +the shrieking of hell; and I have not heard Neil Gleazen laugh like +that in thirty years. Come, boys, maybe we can stop him before it's +too late." + +Thrusting his fingers through his hair so that it stood out on all +sides in disorder, he wildly dashed from the room. + +Springing up, Abe and I followed him outdoors and down the road. We +ran with a will, but old though he was, a frenzy of fear and anxiety +and shame led him on at a pace we could scarcely equal. Down the +long road into town we ran, all three, breathing harder and harder +as we went, past the store, the parsonage, and the church, and past +the smithy, where someone called to us and hurried out to stop us. + +It was the smith, who loomed up big and black and ominous in the +darkness. + +"They've gone," he said, "they've gone to Higgleby's barn." + +"Who?" my uncle demanded. "Who? Say who! For heaven's sake don't +keep me here on tenterhooks!" + +"Neil Gleazen," said the smith, "and Jed Matthews and all the rest. +Ah, you wouldn't listen to _me_." + +"And all the rest!" Uncle Seth echoed weakly. + +For a moment he reeled as if bewildered, even dazed. Whatever it was +that had come over him, it seemed to have pierced to some +unsuspected weakness in the fibre of the man, some spot so terribly +sensitive that he was fairly crazed by the thrust. To Abe and me, +both of us shocked and appalled, he turned with the madness of +despair in his eyes. + +"Boys," he said hoarsely, "we've got to be ready to leave. Call Sim +and Arnold! Hitch up the horses! Pack my bag and--and, Joe,"--he +laid his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, a mere +trembling breath of a whisper,--"here's the key to the house safe. +Pack all that's in it in the bed of the wagon while the others are +busy elsewhere. O Joe! what a wretched man I am! Why in heaven's +name could he not walk straight for just one day more?" + +Why, indeed? I thought. But I remembered Higgleby's barn, and in my +own heart I knew the reason. Secretly, all this time, Neil Gleazen +had been hand in glove with his old disreputable cronies; now that +he had got Uncle Seth so far committed to this new venture that he +could not desert it, Gleazen was entirely willing to throw away his +hard-won reputation for integrity, for the sake of one farewell +fling with the "old guard." + +"Go, lads," Uncle Seth cried; "go quickly." He rested a shaking hand +on my arm as Abe turned away. "My poor, poor boy!" he murmured. +"I've meant to do so well by you, Joey! Heaven keep us all!" + +"But you?" I asked. + +"I'm going, if I can, to bring Neil Gleazen back before it is too +late," Uncle Seth replied. And with that he set off into the +darkness. + +As we turned back to the store to rouse up Arnold and Sim, I caught +a glimpse of the stark white platform on the green, which was +visible even in the darkness, and ironically I thought of the +farewell ceremonies that were to take place next day. + +I shall never forget how the store looked that night, as Abe and I +came hurrying up to it. The shadows on the porch were as black as +ink, and the shuttered windows seemed to stare like the sightless +eyes of a blind man who hears a familiar voice and turns as if to +see whence it comes. From the windows of the room above, which +Arnold and Sim occupied, there shone a few thin shafts of light +along the edges of the shades, and the window frames divided the +shades themselves into small yellow squares, on which a shadow came +and went as one of the men moved about the room. + +In reply to our cries and knocks, Arnold raised the curtain and we +saw first his head, then Sim's, black against the lighted room. + +"Who is there?" he called, "and what's wanted?" + +Almost before we had finished pouring out our story, Arnold was +downstairs and fumbling at the bolts of the door; and as we entered +the dark store, Sim, his shoes in his hand, followed him, even more +than usually grotesque in the light from above. + +"My friends," said Arnold, calmly, "let us now, all four, prove to +ourselves and to Seth Upham, the mettle that is in us." + +We lost no time in idle speculation. Dividing among us all that was +to be done, we fell to with a will. Working like men possessed, we +packed our own possessions and Uncle Seth's, both at the store and +at the barn; and while the others were still busy in the +carriage-shed, I hurried back to the house and opened the safe, and +brought out bags of money and papers and heaven knows what, and as +secretly as possible packed them in the bottom of the wagon. For +three hours we toiled at one place and the other; then, hot, tired, +excited, apprehensive of we knew not what, we rested by the wagon +and waited. + +"I never heard of anything so rattle-headed in all my life," Sim +Muzzy cried, when he had caught his breath. "Seth Upham gets crazier +every day. Here all's ready for the grand farewell to-morrow and all +of us to be there, and not one of us to leave town until next week, +and yet he gets us up at all hours of the night as if we was to +start come sunrise. I'm not going to run away at such an hour, I can +tell you. Why it may be they'll call on me to make a speech! Who +knows?" + +"We'll be lucky, I fear," said Arnold Lamont, "if we do not start +before sunrise." + +"Before sunrise! Well, I'll have you know--" + +I simply could not endure Sim's interminable talk. "Watch the goods +and the wagon, you three," I said. "I'm going to look for Uncle Seth +and see what he wants us to do next." + +Before they could object, I had left them sitting by the wagon and +the harnessed horses, ready for no one knew what, and had made off +into the night. Having done all that I could to carry out my uncle's +orders, I had no intention of returning until I had solved the +mystery of Higgleby's barn. + +I hurried along and used every short cut that I knew; and though I +now stumbled in the darkness, now fell headlong on the dewy grass, +now barked my shins as I scrambled over a barway, I made reasonably +good progress, all things considered, and came in less than half an +hour to the pasture where Higgleby's lonely barn stood. The door of +the barn, as I saw it from a distance, was open and made a rectangle +of yellow light against the black woods beyond it. When I listened, +I heard confused voices. As I was about to advance toward the barn, +a certain note in the voices warned me that a quarrel was in +progress. I hesitated and stopped where I was, wondering whether to +go forward or not, and there I heard a strange sound and saw a +strange sight. + +First there came a much louder outcry than any that had gone before; +then the light in the barn suddenly went out; then I heard the sound +of running back and forth; then the light appeared again, but +flickering and unsteady; then a single harsh yell came all the way +across the dark pasture; then the light grew and grew and grew. + +It threw its rays out over the pasture land and revealed men running +about like ants around a newly destroyed hill. A tongue of flame +crept out of one window and crawled up the side of the old +building. A great wave of fire came billowing out of the door. +Sparks began to fly and the roar and crackling grew louder and +louder. + +As I breathlessly ran toward the barn, from which now I could see +little streams of fire flowing in every direction through the dry +grass, I suddenly became aware that there was someone ahead of me, +and by stopping short I narrowly escaped colliding with two men +whom, with a sudden shock, I recognized as my uncle and Neil +Gleazen. + +"Uncle Seth!" I gasped out. + +Nothing then, I think, could have surprised Seth Upham. There was +only relief in his voice when he cried, "Quick, Joe, quick, take his +other arm." + +Obediently, if reluctantly, I turned my back on the conflagration +behind us, and locking my right arm through Neil Gleazen's left, +helped partly to drag him, partly to carry him toward the village +and the tavern. + +"I showed the villains!" Gleazen proclaimed thickly. "The +scoundrels! The despicable curs! I showed them how a gentlemen +replies to such as them. I showed them, eh, Seth?" + +"Yes, yes, Neil! Hush! Be still! There are people coming. Merciful +heavens! That fire will bring the whole town out upon us." + +"I showed them, the villains! the scoundrels! the despicable curs! +They are not used to the ways of gentlemen, eh, Seth?" + +"Yes, yes, but do be still! _Do, do_ be still!" + +"I showed them how a gentleman acts--" + +The man was as drunk as a lord, but in his thick ravings there was a +fixed idea that sent a thrill of apprehension running through me. + +"Uncle Seth," I gasped, "Uncle Seth, _what has he done_?" + +"Quick! quick! We must hurry!" + +"What has he done?" + +"Come, come, Joe, never mind that now!" + +For the moment I yielded, and we stumbled along, arm in arm, with +Gleazen now all but a dead weight between us. + +"I showed them!" he cried again. "I showed them!" + +I simply could not ignore the strange muttering in his voice. + +"Tell me," I cried. "Uncle Seth, tell me what he has done." + +"Not yet! Not yet!" + +"Tell me!" + +"Not yet!" + +"Or I'll not go another step!" + +My uncle gasped and staggered. My importunity seemed to be one thing +more than he could bear, poor man! and even in my temper, pity +sobered me and cooled my anger. For a moment he touched my wrist. +His hand was icy cold. But his face, when I looked at him, was set +and hard, and my temper flashed anew. + +"Not another step! Tell me." + +Glancing apprehensively about, my uncle gasped in a hoarse +undertone, "He has killed Jed Matthews." + +As people were appearing now on all sides and running to fight the +fire, Uncle Seth and I tried our best to lead Gleazen into a by-path +and so home by a back way; but with drunken obstinacy he refused to +yield an inch. "No, no," he roared, "I'm going to walk home past all +the people. I'm not afraid of them. If they say aught to me, I'll +show 'em." + +So back we marched, supporting between us, hatless but with the +diamonds still flashing on his finger and in his stock, that maudlin +wretch, Cornelius Gleazen. I felt my own face redden as the curious +turned to stare at us, and for Uncle Seth it was a sad and bitter +experience; but we pushed on as fast as we could go, driven always +by fear of what would follow when the people should learn the whole +story of the brawl in the burning barn. + +Back into the village we came, now loitering for a moment in the +deeper shadows to avoid observation, now pushing at top speed across +a lighter open space, always dragging Cornelius Gleazen between us, +and so up to the open door of the tavern. + +"Now," murmured Uncle Seth, "heaven send us help! Neil, Neil--Neil, +I say!" + +"Well?" + +"We must get your chests and run. Your money, your papers--are they +packed?" + +"Money? What money?" + +"Your fortune! You can never come back here. Sober up, Neil, sober +up! You killed Jed Matthews." + +"Served him right. Despicable cur, villain, scoundrel! I'll show +them." + +"Neil, Neil Gleazen!" cried my uncle, now all but frantic. + +"Well, I hear you." + +"Oh, oh, will he not listen to reason? Take his arm again, Joe." + +We lifted him up the steps and led him into the inn, and there in +the door of the bar-room came face to face with the landlord, who +was hot with anger. + +"Don't bring him in here, Mr. Upham," he cried; "I keep no house for +sots and swine." + +"What!" gasped my uncle, "you'll not receive him?" + +"Not I!" + +"But what's come over you? _But you never would treat Mr. Gleazen +like this!_" + +"But, but, but!" the landlord snarled. "This very night he threw my +good claret in my own face and called it a brew for pigs. Let him +seek his lodgings elsewhere." + +"Where are his chests, then?" my uncle demanded. "We'll take his +chests and go." + +"Not till he's paid my bill." + +For a moment we stood at deadlock, Uncle Seth and I, with Gleazen +between us, and the landlord in the bar-room door. Every sound from +outside struck terror to us lest the village had discovered the +worst; lest at any moment we should have the people about our ears. +But the landlord, who, of course, knew nothing of what had been +going forward all this time, and Gleazen, who seemed too drunk to +care, were imperturbable, until Gleazen raised his head and with +inflamed eyes stared at the man. + +"Who's a swine?" he demanded. "Who's a sot?" + +Lurching forward, he broke away from us and crashed against the +landlord and knocked him into the bar-room, whither he himself +followed. + +"You blackfaced bla'guard!" the landlord cried; and, raising a +chair, he started to bring it down on Gleazen's head. + +I had thought that the man was too drunk to move quickly, but now, +as if a new brawl were all that he needed to bring him again to his +faculties, he stepped back like a flash and raised his hand. + +A sharp, hook-like instrument used to pull corks was kept stuck into +the beam above his head, where, so often was it used, it had worn a +hollow place nearly as big as a bowl. This he seized and, holding it +like a foil, lunged at the landlord as the chair descended. + +The chair struck Gleazen on the head and knocked him down, but the +cork-puller went into the landlord's shoulder, and when Gleazen, +clutching it as he fell, pulled it out again, the hooked end tore a +great hole in the muscles, from which blood spurted. + +Clapping his hand to the wound, the landlord went white and leaned +back against the bar; but Gleazen, having received a blow that might +have killed a horse, got up nimbly and actually appeared to be +sobered by the shock. Certainly he thought clearly and spoke to a +purpose. + +[Illustration: _Clapping his hand to the wound the landlord went +white and leaned back against the bar._] + +"Now, by heaven!" he cried, "I _have_ got to leave town. Come, Seth, +come, Joe." + +"But your chests! Your money!" my uncle repeated in a dazed way. The +events of the night were quite too much for his wits. + +"Let him keep them for the bill," said Gleazen with a harsh laugh. +"Come, I say!" + +"But--but--" + +"Come! Hear that?" + +"Watch the back door," someone was crying. "He's probably dead +drunk, but he's a dangerous man and we can't take chances." + +It was the constable's voice. + +Gleazen was already running through the long hall, and we followed +him at our best speed. + +As we left the room, the landlord fell and carried down with a crash +a table on which a tray of glasses was standing. I would have stayed +to help him, but I knew that other help was near, and to tell the +truth I was beginning to fear the consequences of even so slight a +part as mine had been in the ghastly happenings of the night. So I +followed the others, and we noiselessly slipped away through the +orchard, just as the men sent to guard the back door came hurrying +round the house and took their stations. + +With the distant fire flaming against the sky, with the smell of +smoke stinging in our nostrils, and with the clamor of the aroused +town sounding on every side, we hurried, unobserved, through dark +fields and orchards, to my uncle's house, where Arnold and Sim and +Abe were impatiently waiting. + +They started up from beside the wagon as we drew near, and crowded +round us with eager questions. But there was no time for mere +talking. Already we could hear voices approaching, although as yet +they were not dangerously near. + +"Come, boys," my uncle cried, "into the wagon, every one. Come, +Neil, come--for heaven's sake--" + +"Be still, Seth, I am sober." + +"Sober!" Uncle Seth put a world of disgust into the word. + +"Yes, sober, curse you." + +"Very well, but do climb in--" + +"Climb in? I'll climb in when it suits my convenience." + +Jostling and scrambling, we were all in the wagon at last. Uncle +Seth held reins and whip; Neil Gleazen, who was squeezed in between +him and me on the seat, snored loudly; and the others, finding such +seats as they could on boxes or the bed of the wagon, endured their +discomfort in silence. + +The whip cracked, the horses started forward, the wheels crunched in +gravel and came out on the hard road. Turning our backs on the +village of Topham, we left behind us the benches on the green, the +fine new platform, the banquet that was already half prepared, and +all our anticipations of the great farewell. + +We went up the long hill, from the summit of which we could see the +lights of the town shining in the dark valley, the great flare of +fire at the burning barn, and the country stretching for miles in +every direction, and thence we drove rapidly away. + +Thus, for the second time, twenty years after the first, Cornelius +Gleazen left his native town as a fugitive from justice. But this +time the fortunes of five men were bound up with his, and we whom he +was leading on his mad quest knew now only too well what we could +expect of our drunken leader. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BRIG ADVENTURE + + +We drove for a long time in silence, with the jolting of the chaise +and the terrible scenes behind us to occupy our minds; and I assure +you it was a grim experience. In all the years that have intervened +I have never been able to escape from the memory of the burning +barn, with the dark figures running this way and that; the shrill +cries of Cornelius Gleazen, staring drunk, and his talk of the man +he had killed; the landlord at the tavern, with the blood spurting +from his shoulder where the hook had pulled through the flesh. + +In a night the whole aspect of the world had changed. From a +care-free, selfish, heedless youth, put to work despite his wish to +linger over books, I had become of a sudden a companion of +criminals, haunted by terrible memories, and through no fault of my +own. After all, I thought, by whose fault was it? Cornelius +Gleazen's, to be sure. But by whose fault was I forced to accompany +Cornelius Gleazen in his flight? Certainly I was guiltless of any +unlawful act--for that matter, we all were, except Gleazen. I had +not a jot of sympathy for him, yet so completely had he interwoven +our affairs with his that, although the man was a drunken beast, we +dared not refuse to share his flight. By whose fault? I again asked +myself. + +For a while I would not accept the answer that came to me. It seemed +disloyal to a well-meaning man who at one time and another had given +a thousand evidences of his real affection for me, which underlay +the veneer of sharpness and irascibility that he presented to the +world at large. It seemed to me that I could hear him saying again, +"You're all I've got, Joey; you're all that's left to the old man +and I'm going to do well by you--"; that I could hear again the +clink of gold thrown down before me on the table; that I could feel +his hand again on my shoulder, his voice again trembling with +despair when he cried, "I've meant to do so well by you, Joey! But +now--heaven keep us all!" Yet, as we jounced away over that rough +road and on into the night, and as I thought of things that one and +another had said, I felt more and more confident that at bottom Seth +Upham was to blame for our predicament. To be sure, he had _meant_ +well, even in this present undertaking; and though he was said to +drive sharp bargains, he lived, I well knew, an honest life. Yet I +was convinced that at some time in the past he must have been guilty +of some sin or other that gave Neil Gleazen his hold over him. It +fairly staggered me to think of the power for good or evil that lies +in every act in a man's life. To be sure, had Seth Upham been a +really strong man, he would have lived down his mistake long since, +whatever it might have been, and would have defied Gleazen to do his +worst. But the crime, if such there was, was his, none the less; and +that it was the seed whence had sprung our great misfortunes, I was +convinced. + +Looking back at Arnold Lamont, I caught his eye by the light of the +rising moon and found great comfort in his steady glance. As if to +reassure me further, he laid his hand on my arm and slightly pressed +it. + +On and on and on we drove, past towns and villages, over bridges and +under arching trees, beside arms of the sea and inland ponds, until, +as dawn was breaking, we came down the road into Boston, with the +waters of the Charles River and of the Back Bay on our left and +Beacon Hill before us. + +Here and there in the town early risers were astir, and the smoke +climbed straight up from their chimneys; but for the most part the +people were still asleep, and the shops that we passed were still +shuttered, except one that an apprentice at that very moment was +opening for the day. Down to the wharves we drove, whence we could +see craft of every description, both in dock and lying at anchor; +and there we fell into a lively discussion. + +As the horses stopped, Gleazen woke, and that he was sick and +miserable a single glance at his face revealed. + +"Well," said he, "there's the brig." + +"Yes," Uncle Seth retorted, "and if you had kept away from +Higgleby's barn, we'd not have seen her for a week to come. We've +got you out of that scrape with a whole skin, and I swear we've done +well." + +"It was _sub rosa_," Gleazen responded thickly, "only _sub rosa_, +mind you. Under the rose--you know, Seth." + +"Yes, I know. If I had had my wits about me, you would never have +pulled the wool over my eyes." + +Gleazen laughed unpleasantly. It was plain that he was in an evil +temper, and Uncle Seth, worn and harassed by the terrible +experiences of the night, was in no mood to humor him. So we sat in +the wagon on a wharf by the harbor, where the clean salt water +licked at the piling and rose slowly with the incoming tide, while +our two leaders bickered together. + +At last, in anger, Seth Upham cried: "I swear I'll not go. I'll hold +back the brig. I'll keep my money. You shall hang." + +Gleazen laughed a low laugh that was more threatening by far than if +as usual he had laughed with a great roar. "No, you don't, Seth," he +quietly said. "You know the stakes that you've put up and you know +that the winnings will be big. I've used you right, and you're not +going to go back on me now--_not while I know what I know_! There's +them that would open their eyes to hear it, Seth. I've bore the +blame for thirty years, but the end's come if you try to go back on +me now." + +I looked at my uncle and saw that his face was white. His fingers +were twisting back and forth and he seemed not to know what to say; +but at last he nodded and said, "All right, Neil," and got down from +the wagon; and we all climbed out and stretched our stiff muscles. + +"Here's a boat handy," Gleazen cried. + +Uncle Seth cut the painter, and drawing her up to a convenient +ladder, we began to carry down our various belongings, finishing +with the big bags that hours before I had packed so carefully in the +bottom of the wagon. Neil Gleazen then seated himself in the stern +sheets, Abe Guptil took the oars, and I climbed into the bow. + +As Uncle Seth was coming on board, Sim Muzzy stopped him. + +"What about the horses?" he exclaimed. "You ain't going off to leave +them, are you? Not with wagon and all. Why, they must be worth a +deal of money; they--" + +"Come, come, you prattling fool," Gleazen called. + +Uncle Seth, after reflecting a moment, added sharply, "They'll maybe +go to pay for the boat we're taking. I don't like to steal, but now +I see no way out. Quick! I hear steps." + +So down came Sim, and out into the harbor we rowed; and when I +turned to look, I saw close at hand for the first time the brig +Adventure. + +She was a trim, well-proportioned craft, with a grace of masts and +spars and a neatness of rigging and black and white paint that quite +captivated me, although coming from what was virtually an inland +town, I was by no means qualified to pass judgment on her merits; +and I was not too weary to be glad to know that she, of all vessels +in the harbor, was the one in which we were to sail. + +When a sleepy sailor on deck called, "Boat ahoy!" Gleazen gave him +better than he sent with a loud, "Ahoy, Adventure!" + +Then we came up to her and swung with the tide under her chains, +until a couple of other sailors came running to help us get our +goods aboard; then up we scrambled, one at a time, and set the boat +adrift. + +I now found myself on a neat clean deck, and was taken with the +buckets and pins and coiled ropes lying in tidy fakes--but I should +say, too, that I was so tired after my long night ride that I could +scarcely keep my eyes open, so that I paid little attention to what +was going on around me until I heard Uncle Seth saying, "And this, +Captain North, is my nephew. If there are quarters for him aft, I'll +be glad, of course." + +"Of course, sir, of course," the captain replied; and I knew when I +first heard his voice that I was going to like him. "If he and the +Frenchman--Lamont you say's his name?--can share a stateroom, I've +one with two berths. Good! And you say we must sail at once? Hm! In +half an hour wind and tide will be in our favor. We're light of +ballast, but if we're careful, I've no doubt it will be safe. We +must get some fresh water. But that we can hurry up. Hm! I hadn't +expected sailing orders so soon; but in an hour's time, Mr. Upham, +if it's necessary, I can weigh anchor." + +"Good!" cried Uncle Seth. + +"Mr. Severance," Captain North called, "take five men and the cutter +for the rest of the fresh water, and be quick about it. Willie, take +Mr. Woods and Mr. Lamont below and show them to the stateroom the +lady passengers had when we came up from Rio. Now then, Guptil, you +take your bag forward and stow it in the forecastle, and if you're +hungry, tell the cook I said to give you a good cup of coffee and a +plate of beans." + +As with Arnold Lamont I followed Willie MacDougald, the little cabin +boy, I was too tired to care a straw about life on board a ship; and +before I should come on deck again, I was to be too sick. But as I +threw myself into one of the berths in our tiny cubby, I welcomed +the prospect of at least a long sleep, and I told Arnold how +sincerely glad I was that we were to be together. + +"Joe," he said, slowly and precisely, "I am very much afraid that we +are going on a wild-goose chase. Seth Upham has been kind to me in +his own way. He is one of the few friends I have in this world. Now, +I think, he would gladly be rid of me. But I shall stay with him to +the end, for I think the time is coming when he will need his +friends." + +I am afraid I fell asleep before Arnold finished what he had to say; +but weary though I was, I felt even then a great confidence in this +quiet, restrained man. He was so wise, so unfathomable. And I felt +already the growing determination, which, before we had seen the +last of Neil Gleazen, was to absorb almost my very life, to work +side by side with Arnold Lamont in order to save what we could of +Uncle Seth's happiness and property from the hands of the man who, +we both saw, had got my poor uncle completely in his power. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN OLD SEA SONG + + +The noise of the crew as they catted the anchor and made sail must +have waked me more than once, for to this very day I remember +hearing distinctly the loud chorus of a chantey, the trampling of +many feet, the creaking and rattling and calling--the strange jumble +of sounds heard only when a vessel is getting under way. But strange +and interesting though it all was, I must immediately have fallen +asleep again each time, for the memories come back to me like +strange snatches of a vivid dream, broken and disconnected, for all +that they are so clear. + +When at last, having slept my sleep out, I woke with no inclination +to close my eyes again, and sat up in my berth, the brig was +pitching and rolling in a heavy sea, and a great wave of sickness +engulfed me, such as I had never experienced. How long it lasted, I +do not know, but at the time it seemed like months and years. + +Perhaps, had I been forced to go on deck and work aloft, and eat +coarse sea-food, and meet my sickness like a man, I might have +thrown it off in short order and have got my sea-legs as soon as +another. But coming on board as the owner's nephew, with a stateroom +at my command, I lay and suffered untold wretchedness, now thinking +that I was getting better, now relapsing into agonies that seemed to +me ten times worse than before. Uncle Seth himself, I believe, was +almost as badly off, and Arnold Lamont and Willie MacDougald had a +time of it tending us. Even Arnold suffered a touch of sickness at +first; but recovering from it promptly, he took Uncle Seth and me +in his charge and set Willie jumping to attend our wants, which he +did with a comical alacrity that under other circumstances would +mightily have amused me. + +I took what satisfaction I could in being able to come on deck two +days before Uncle Seth would stir from his bunk; but even then I was +good for nothing except to lie on a blanket that Arnold and Willie +spread for me, or to lean weakly against the rail. + +But now, as I watched the blue seas through which the keen bow of +the brig, a Baltimore craft of clipper lines, swiftly and smoothly +cut its course, the great white sails, with every seam drawn to a +taut, clean curve by the wind, the occasional glimpses of low land +to the west, and the succession of great clouds that swept across +the blue sky like rolling masses of molten silver, I fell to +thinking in a dull, bewildered way of all that we had left behind. + +How long would it be, I wondered, before someone would take charge +of the horses we had left on the wharf in Boston? I could imagine +the advertisement that would appear in the paper, and the questions +of the people, until news should come from Topham of all that had +happened. Who then, I wondered, would get the team? + +Well, all that was done with, and we were embarked on our great +adventure. What was to become of us, no human prophet could +foretell. + +Cornelius Gleazen, who years before had got over his last attack of +seasickness, welcomed me on deck, with rough good-nature; but +something in his manner told me that, from this time on, in his eyes +I was one of the crowd, no further from his favor, perhaps, than any +of the others, but certainly no nearer it. + +To me, so weak from my long sickness that I could scarcely stand +unaided, this came like a blow, even although I had completely lost +my admiration for the man. I had been so sure of his friendly +interest! So confident of my own superiority! As I thought of it, I +slowly came to see that his kindness and flattery had been but a +part of his deep and well-considered plan to work into the +confidence of my uncle; that since he had secured his hold upon Seth +Upham and all his worldly goods, I, vain, credulous youth, might, +for all he cared, sink or swim. + +"Well," he would say carelessly, "how's the lad this morning?" And +when I would reply from the depths of my misery, he would respond +briefly, as he strolled away, "Better pull yourself together. +There's work ahead for all hands." + +It was not in his words, you understand, that I found indication of +his changed attitude,--he was always a man of careless speech,--but +in his manner of saying them. The tilt of his head, and his trick of +not looking at me when he spoke and when I replied, told me as +plainly as direct speech could have done that, having gained +whatever ends he had sought by flattery, he cared not a straw +whether I came with him or followed my own inclinations to the +opposite end of the earth. + +So we sailed, south, until we entered the Straits of Florida. Now we +saw at a distance great scarlet birds flying in a row. Now schools +of porpoises played around us. Now a big crane, speckled brown and +white, alighted on our rigging. Now we passed green islands, now +sandy shoals where the sea rose into great waves and crashed down in +cauldrons of foam. And now we sighted land and learned that it was +Cuba. + +All this time I had constantly been gaining strength, and though +more than once we had passed through spells of rough weather, I had +had no return of seasickness. It was natural, therefore, that I +should take an increasing interest in all that went on around me. +With some of the sailors I established myself on friendly terms, +although others seemed to suspect me of attempting to patronize +them; and thanks to the tutelage of Captain North, I made myself +familiar with the duties of the crew and with the more common +evolutions of a sailing ship. But in all that voyage only one thing +came to my notice that gave any suggestion of what was before us, +and that suggestion was so vague that at the time I did not suspect +how significant it was. + +In the first dog watch one afternoon, the carpenter, who had a good +voice and a good ear for music, got out his guitar and, after +strumming a few chords, began to sing a song so odd that I set my +mind on remembering it, and later wrote the words down: + + "Old King Mungo-Hungo-Ding + A barracoon he made, + And sold his blessed subjects to + A captain in the trade. + And when his subjects all were gone, + Oh, what did Mungo do? + He drove his wives and daughters in + And traded for them, too." + +He sang it to a queer tune that caught my feet and set them +twitching, and it was no surprise to see three or four sailors begin +to shuffle about the deck in time to the music. + +As the carpenter took up the chorus, they, too, began to sing softly +and to dance a kind of a hornpipe; but, I must confess, I was +surprised to hear someone behind me join in the singing under his +breath. The last time when I had heard that voice singing was in the +village church in Topham, and unless my memory serves me wrong, it +then had sung that good hymn:-- + + "No, I shall envy them no more, who grow profanely great; + Though they increase their golden store, and shine in robes of state." + +It was Cornelius Gleazen, who, it appeared, knew both words and tune +of the carpenter's song:-- + + "Tally on the braces! Heave and haul in time! + Four and twenty niggers and all of them was prime! + Old King Mungo's daughters, they bought our lasses rings. + Heave now! Pull now! They never married kings." + +They sang on and on to the strumming of the guitar, while all the +rest stood around and watched them; and when they had finished the +song, which told how King Mungo, when he had sold his family as well +as his subjects, made a raid upon his neighbors and was captured in +his turn and, very justly, was himself sold as a slave, Cornelius +Gleazen cried loudly, "_Encore! Encore!_" and clapped his hands, +until the carpenter, with a droll look in his direction, again began +to strum his guitar and sang the song all over. + +As I have said, at the time I attributed little significance to +Cornelius Gleazen's enthusiasm for the song or to the look that the +carpenter gave him. But when I saw Captain North staring from one to +the other and realized that he had seen and heard only what I had, I +wondered why he wore so queer an expression, and why, for some time +to come, he was so grave and stiff in his dealings with both Gleazen +and Uncle Seth. Nor did it further enlighten me to see that Arnold +Lamont and Captain North exchanged significant glances. + +So at last we came to the mouth of Havana harbor, and you can be +sure that when, after lying off the castle all night, we set our +Jack at the main as signal for a pilot, and passed through the +narrow strait between Moro Castle and the great battery of La +Punta, and came to anchor in the vast and beautiful port where a +thousand ships of war might have lain, I was all eyes for my first +near view of a foreign city. + +On every side were small boats plying back and forth, some laden +with freight of every description, from fresh fruit to nondescript, +dingy bales, others carrying only one or two passengers or a single +oarsman. There were scores of ships, some full of stir and activity +getting up anchor and making sail, others seeming half asleep as +they lay with only a drowsy anchor watch. On shore, besides the +grand buildings and green avenues and long fortifications, I could +catch here and there glimpses of curious two-wheeled vehicles, of +men and women with bundles on their heads, of countless negroes +lolling about on one errand or another, and, here and there, of men +on horseback. I longed to hurry ashore, and when I saw Uncle Seth +and Neil Gleazen deep in conversation, I had great hopes that I +should accomplish my desire. But something at that moment put an end +for the time being to all such thoughts. + +Among the boats that were plying back and forth I saw one that +attracted my attention by her peculiar manoeuvres. A negro was +rowing her at the command of a big dark man, who leaned back in the +stern and looked sharply about from one side to the other. Now he +had gone beyond us, but instead of continuing, he came about and +drew nearer. + +He wore his hair in a pig-tail, an old fashion that not many men +continued to observe, and on several fingers he wore broad gold +rings. His face was seamed and scarred. There were deep cuts on +cheek and chin, which might have been either scars or natural +wrinkles, and across his forehead and down one cheek were two white +lines that must have been torn in the first place by some weapon or +missile. His hands were big and broad and powerful, and there was a +grimly determined air in the set of his head and the thin line of +his mouth that made me think of him as a man I should not like to +meet alone in the dark. + +From the top of his round head to the soles of his feet, his whole +body gave an impression of great physical strength. His jaws and +chin were square and massive; his bull neck sloped down to great +broad shoulders, and his deep chest made his long, heavy arms seem +to hang away from his body. As he lay there in the stern of the +boat, with every muscle relaxed, yet with great swelling masses +standing out under his skin all over him, I thought to myself that +never in all my life had I seen so powerful a man. + +Now he leaned forward and murmured something to the negro, who with +a stroke of his oars deftly brought the boat under the stern of the +Adventure and held her there. Then the man, smiling slightly, amazed +me by calling in a voice so soft and gentle and low that it seemed +almost effeminate: "Neil Gleazen! Neil Gleazen!" + +The effect on Cornelius Gleazen was startling almost beyond words. +Springing up and staring from one side to the other as if he could +not believe his ears, he roared furiously: "By the Holy! Molly +Matterson, where are you?" + +Then the huge bull of a man, speaking in that same low, gentle +voice, said; "So you know me, Neil?" + +"Know you? I'd know your voice from Pongo River to Penzance," +Gleazen replied, whirling about and leaning far over the taffrail. + +The big man laughed so lightly that his voice seemed almost to +tinkle. "You're eager, Neil," he said. Then he glanced at me and +spoke again in a language that I could not understand. At the time I +had no idea what it was, but since then I have come to know +well--too well--that it was Spanish. + +And all the time my uncle stood by with a curiously wistful +expression. It was as if he felt himself barred from their council; +as if he longed to be one of them, hand in glove, and yet felt that +there was between him and them a gap that he could not quite bridge; +as if with his whole heart he had given himself and everything that +was his, as indeed he had, only to receive a cold welcome. +Remembering how haughtily Uncle Seth himself had but a little while +ago regarded the good people of Topham, how seldom he had expressed +even the very deep affection in which he held me, his only sister's +only son, I marveled at the simple, frank eagerness with which he +now watched those two; and since anyone could see that of him they +were thinking lightly, if at all, I felt for him a pang of sympathy. + +For a while the two talked together. Now they glanced at me, now at +the others. I am confident that they told no secrets, for of course +there was always the chance that some of us might speak the tongue, +too. But that they talked more freely than they would have talked in +English, I was very confident. + +At last Gleazen said, "Come aboard at all events." + +Instead of going around to the chains, the big man whom Gleazen had +hailed as Molly Matterson stood up in the boat, crouched slightly, +and leaping straight into the air, caught the taffrail with one +hand. Gracefully, easily, he lifted himself by that one hand to the +rail, placed his other hand upon it, where his gold rings gleamed +dully, and lightly vaulted to the deck. + +I now saw better what a huge man he was, for he towered above us +all, even Neil Gleazen, and he seemed almost as broad across the +chest as any two of us. + +He gently shook hands with Uncle Seth and Captain North, to whom +Gleazen introduced him, again glanced curiously at the rest of us, +and then stepped apart with Gleazen and Uncle Seth. I could hear +only a little of what they said, and the little that I did hear was +concerned with unfamiliar names and mysterious things. + +I saw Arnold Lamont watching them, too, and remembering how they had +talked in a strange language, I wished that Arnold might have +appeared to know what they had been saying. Well as I thought I knew +Arnold, it never occurred to me that he might have known and, for +reasons of his own, have held his tongue. + +Of one thing I was convinced, however; the strange talk that was now +going on was no such puzzle to Captain Gideon North as to me. The +more he listened, the more his lips twitched and the more his frown +deepened. It was queer, I thought, that he should appear to be so +quick-tempered as to show impatience because he was not taken into +their counsel. He had seemed so honest and fair-minded and generous +that I had not suspected him of any such pettiness. + +Presently Gleazen turned about and said loudly, "Captain North, we +are going below to have a glass of wine together. Will you come?" + +The captain hesitated, frowned, and then, as if he had suddenly made +up his mind that he might as well have things over soon as late, +stalked toward the companionway. + +Twenty minutes afterward, to the amazement of every man on deck, he +came stamping up again, red with anger, followed by Willie +MacDougald, who was staggering under the weight of his bag. Ordering +a boat launched, he turned to Uncle Seth, who had followed him and +stood behind him with a blank, dismayed look. + +"Mr. Upham," he said, "I am sorry to leave your vessel like this, +but I will not, sir, I will not remain in command of any craft +afloat, be she coasting brig or ship-of-the-line, where the owner's +friends are suffered to treat me thus. Willie, drop my bag into the +boat." + +And with that, red-faced and breathing hard, he left the Adventure +and gave angry orders to the men in the boat, who rowed him ashore. +But it was not the last that we were to see of Gideon North. + +[Illustration] + + + + +III + +A LOW LAND IN THE EAST + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MATTERSON + + +"And who," I wondered, as I turned from watching Gideon North go out +of sight between the buildings that lined the harbor side, "who will +now command the Adventure?" + +You would have expected the captain's departure to make a great stir +in a vessel; yet scarcely a person forward knew what was going on, +and aft only Seth Upham and Willie MacDougald, besides myself, were +seeing him off. Uncle Seth still stood in the companionway with that +blank, dazed expression; but Willie MacDougald scratched his head +and looked now at me and now at Uncle Seth, as if whatever had +happened below had frightened him mightily. The picture of their +bewilderment was so funny that I could have burst out laughing; and +yet, so obviously was there much behind it which did not appear on +the surface, that I was really more apprehensive than amused. + +When Uncle Seth suddenly turned and disappeared down the +companionway, and when Willie MacDougald with an inquisitive glance +at me darted over to the companion-hatch and stood there with his +head cocked bird-like on one side to catch any sound that might +issue from the cabin, I boldly followed my uncle. + +The brig was riding almost without motion at her anchorage, and all +on deck was so quiet that we could hear across the silent harbor the +rattle of blocks in a distant ship, the voice of a bos'n driving his +men to greater effort, and from the distant city innumerable street +cries. In the cabin, too, as I descended to it, everything was very +still. When I came to the door, I saw my uncle standing at one side +of the big, round table on which a chart lay. Opposite him sat Neil +Gleazen, and on his right that huge man with the light voice, Molly +Matterson. + +None of them so much as glanced at me when I appeared in the door; +but I saw at once that, although they were saying nothing, they were +thinking deeply and angrily. The intensity with which they glared, +the two now staring hard at Seth Upham and now at each other, my +uncle looking first at Matterson, then at Gleazen, and then at +Matterson again, so completely absorbed my interest, that I think +nothing short of a broadside fired by a man-of-war could have +distracted my attention. + +I heard the steps creak as Willie MacDougald now came on tiptoe part +way down the companion. I heard the heavy breathing of the men in +the cabin. Then, far across the harbor, I heard the great voice of a +chantey man singing while the crew heaved at the windlass. And still +the three men glared in silence at one another. It was Matterson who +broke the spell, when in his almost girlish voice he said; "He don't +seem to like me as captain of his vessel, Neil." + +"You old whited sepulchre," Neil Gleazen cried, speaking not to +Matterson, but to my uncle; "just because you've got money at stake +is no reason to think you know a sailor-man when you see one. Why, +Matterson, here, could give Gideon North a king's cruiser and +outsail him in a Gloucester pinkie." + +My uncle swallowed hard and laughed a little wildly. "If you hadn't +got yourself run out of town, Neil Gleazen, and had to leave your +chests with all that's in them behind you, you might have had money +to put in this vessel yourself. As it is, the brig's mine and I +swear I'll have a voice in saying who's to be her master." + +"A voice you shall have," Gleazen retorted, while the bull-necked +Matterson broadly grinned at the squabble; "a voice you shall have, +but you're only one of five good men, Seth, only one, and a good +long way from being the best of 'em, and your voice is just one vote +in five. Now I, here, vote for Molly and, Molly, here, votes for +himself, and there ain't no need of thinking who the others would +vote for. We've outvoted you already." + +Uncle Seth turned from red to white and from white to red. "Let it +be one vote to four, then. Though it's only one to four, my vote is +better than all the rest. The brig's mine. I swear, if you try to +override me so, I'll put her in the hands of the law. And if these +cursed Spaniards will not do me justice,--" again he laughed a +little wildly,--"there's an American frigate in port and we'll see +what her officers will say." + +"Ah," said Gleazen, gently, "we'll see what we shall see. But you +mark what I'm going to tell you, Seth Upham, mark it and mull it +over: I'm a ruined man; there's a price on _my_ head, I know. But +they'll never take me, because I've friends ashore,--eh, Molly? You +can do _me_ no harm by going to the captain of any frigate you +please. _But_--_But_--let me tell you this, Seth Upham: when you've +called in help and got this brig away from your friends what have +given you a chance to better yourself, news is going to come to the +captain of that ship about all them churches you and me used to +rob together when we was lads in Topham. Aye, Seth, and about one +thing and another that will interest the captain. And supposing +he don't clap you into irons and leave you there to cool your +heels,--supposing he don't, mind you,--which he probably will, to +get the reward that folks will be offering when I've told what I +shall tell,--supposing you come back to Topham from which you run +away with that desperate villain, Neil Gleazen,--supposing, which +ain't likely, that's what happens, you'll find when you get there +that news has come before you. You old fool, unless you and me holds +together like the old friends which we used to be, you'll find +yourself a broken man with the jail doors open and waiting for you. +I know what I know, and you know what I know, but as long as I keep +my mouth shut nobody else is going to know. _As long as I keep my +mouth shut, mind you._ + +"Now I votes for Molly Matterson as captain; and let me tell you, +Seth Upham, you'd better be reasonable and come along like you and +me owned this brig together, which by rights we do, seeing that I've +put in the brains as my share. It ain't fitting to talk of _your_ +owning her outright." + +Uncle Seth, I could see, was baffled and bewildered and hurt. With +an irresolute glance at me, which seemed to express his confusion +plainer than words, he nervously twitched his fingers and at last in +a low, hurried voice said: "That's all talk, and talk's +cheap--unless it's money talking. Now if you hadn't made a fool of +yourself and had to run away and leave your chests and money behind +you, you'd have a right to talk." + +Gleazen suddenly threw back his head and roared with laughter. + +"Them chests!" he bellowed. "Oh, them chests!" + +"Well," Uncle Seth cried, wrinkling his face till his nose seemed to +be the centre of a spider's web, "well, why not? What's so cursedly +funny about them chests?" + +"Oh, ho ho!" Gleazen roared. "Them chests! Money! There warn't no +money in them chests--not a red round copper." + +"But what--but why--" Uncle Seth's face, always quick to express +every emotion, smoothed out until it was as blank with amazement as +before it had been wrinkled with petulance. + +"You silly fool," Gleazen thundered,--no other word can express the +vigor of contempt and derision that his voice conveyed,--"do you +think that, if ever I had got a comfortable fortune safe to Topham, +I'd take to the sea and leave it there? Bah! Them chests was crammed +to the lid with toys and trinkets, which I've long since given to +the children. Them chests served their purpose well, Seth,--" again +he laughed, and we knew that he was laughing at my uncle and me, who +had believed all his great tales of vast wealth,--"and they'll do me +one more good turn when they show their empty sides to whomsoever +pulls 'em open in hope of finding gold." + +Matterson, looking from one to another, laughed with a ladylike +tinkle of his light voice, and Gleazen once more guffawed; but my +uncle sat weakly down and turned toward me his dazed face. + +He and I suddenly, for the first time, realized to the full what we +should of course have been stupid indeed not to have got inklings of +before: that Neil Gleazen had come home to Topham, an all but +penniless adventurer; that, instead of being a rich man who wished +to help my uncle and the rest of us to better ourselves, he had been +working on credulous Uncle Seth's cupidity to get from him the +wherewithal to reëstablish his own shattered fortunes. + +Of the pair of us, I was the less amazed. Although I had by no means +guessed all that Gleazen now revealed, I had nevertheless been more +suspicious than my uncle of the true state of the chests that +Gleazen had so willingly abandoned at the inn. + +"Come," said Matterson, lightly, "let's be friends, Upham. I'm no +ogre. I can sail your vessel. You'll see the crew work as not many +crews know how to work--and yet I'll not drive 'em hard, either. I +make one flogging go a long way, Upham. Here's my hand on it. Nor do +I want to be greedy. Say the word and I'll be mate, not skipper. +Find your own skipper." + +My uncle looked from one to the other. He was still dazed and +disconcerted. We lacked a mate because circumstances had forced us +to sail at little more than a moment's notice, with only Mr. +Severance as second officer. It was manifest that the two regarded +my uncle with good-humored contempt, that he was not in the least +necessary to their plans, yet that with something of the same clumsy +tolerance with which a great, confident dog regards an annoying +terrier, they were entirely willing to forgive his petulant +outbursts, provided always that he did not too long persist in them. +What could the poor man do? He accepted Matterson's proffered hand, +failed to restrain a cry when the mighty fist squeezed his fingers +until the bones crackled, and weakly settled back in his chair, +while Gleazen again laughed. + +When he and Gleazen faced about with hostile glances, I turned away, +carrying with me the knowledge that Matterson was to go to Africa +with the Adventure in one capacity, if not in another, and left the +three in the cabin. + +In the companionway I all but stumbled over Willie MacDougald, who +was such a comical little fellow, with his great round eyes and +freckled face and big ears, which stood out from his head like a +pair of fans, that I was amused by what I assumed to be merely his +lively curiosity. But late that same night I found occasion to +suspect that it was more than mere curiosity, and of that I shall +presently speak again. + +There were, it seemed to me, when I came up on the quarter-deck of +the Adventure, a thousand strange sights to be seen, and in my +eager desire to miss none of them I almost, _but never quite_, +forgot what had been going on below. + +When at last Seth Upham emerged alone from the companion head, he +came and stood beside me without a word, and, like me, fell to +watching the flags of many nations that were flying in the harbor, +the city on its flat, low plain, the softly green hills opposite us, +and the great fortifications that from the entrance to the harbor +and from the distant hilltops guarded town and port. After a while, +he began to pace back and forth across the quarter-deck. His head +was bent forward as he walked and there was an unhappy look in his +eyes. + +I could see that various of the men were watching him; but he gave +no sign of knowing it, and I truly think he was entirely unconscious +of what went on around him. Back and forth he paced, and back and +forth, buried always deep in thought; and though several times I +became aware that he had fixed his eyes upon me, never was I able to +look up quickly enough to meet them squarely, nor had he a word to +say to me. Poor Uncle Seth! Had one who thought himself so shrewd +really fallen such an easy victim to a man whose character he ought +by rights to have known in every phase and trait? I left him still +pacing the deck when I went below to supper. + +Because of my long seasickness I had had comparatively few meals in +the cabin, and always before there had been the honest face of +Gideon North to serve me as a sea anchor, so to speak; but now even +Uncle Seth was absent, and as Arnold Lamont and I sat opposite +Matterson and Gleazen, with Uncle Seth's place standing empty at one +end of the table and the captain's place standing empty at the +other, I could think only of Gideon North going angrily over the +side, and of Uncle Seth pacing ceaselessly back and forth. + +Willie MacDougald slipped from place to place, laying and removing +dishes. Now he was replenishing the glasses,--Gleazen's with port +from a cut-glass decanter, Matterson's with gin from a queer old +blown-glass bottle with a tiny mouth,--now he was scurrying forward, +pursued by a volley of oaths, to get a new pepper for the grinder. +Gleazen, always an able man at his food, said little and ate much; +but Matterson showed us that he could both eat and talk, for he +consumed vast quantities of bread and meat, and all the while he +discoursed so interestingly on one thing and another that, in spite +of myself, I came fairly to hang upon his words. + +As in his incongruously effeminate voice he talked of men in foreign +ports, and strangely rigged ships, and all manner of hairbreadth +escapes, and described desperate fights that had occurred, he said, +not a hundred miles from where at that moment we sat, I could fairly +see the things he spoke of and hear the guns boom. He thrilled me by +tales of wild adventure on the African coast and both fascinated and +horrified me by stories of "the trade," as he called it. + +"Ah," he would say, so lightly that it was hard to believe that the +words actually came from that great bulk of a man, "I have seen them +marching the niggers down to the sea, single file through the +jungle, chained one to another. Men, women and children, all +marching along down to the barracoons, there's a sight for you! +Chained hand and foot they are, too, and horribly afraid until +they're stuffed with rice and meat, and see that naught but good's +intended. They're cheery, then, aye, cheery's the word." + +"Hm!" Gleazen grunted. + +"Aye, it's a grand sight to see 'em clap their hands and sing and +gobble down the good stews and the rice. They're better off than +ever they were before, and it don't take 'em long to learn that." + +Matterson cast a sidelong glance at me as he leaned back and sipped +his gin, and Gleazen grunted again. Gleazen, too, I perceived, was +singularly interested in seeing how I took their talk. + +What they were really driving at, I had no clear idea; but I soon +saw that Arnold Lamont, more keenly than I, had detected the purpose +of Matterson's stories. + +"That," said he, slowly and precisely, "is very interesting. Has Mr. +Gleazen likewise engaged in the slave trade?" + +There was something in his voice that caused the two of them to +exchange quick glances. + +Gleazen looked hard at his wine glass and made no answer; but +Matterson, with a genial smile, replied: "Oh, I said nothing of +engaging in the slave trade. I was just telling of sights I've seen +in Africa, and I've no doubt at all that Mr. Gleazen has seen the +same sights, and merrier ones." + +"It is a wonderful thing," Arnold went on, in a grave voice, "to +travel and see the world and know strange peoples. I have often +wished that I could do so. Now I think that my wish is to be +gratified." + +As before, there was something strangely suggestive in his voice. I +puzzled over it and made nothing of it, yet I could no more ignore +it than could Matterson and Gleazen, who again exchanged glances. + +When Matterson muttered a word or two in Spanish and Gleazen replied +in the same language, I looked hard at Arnold to see if he +understood. + +His expression gave no indication that he did, but I could not +forget the words he had used long ago in Topham before ever I had +suspected Neil Gleazen of being a whit other than he seemed. "A +man," Arnold had said, "does not tell all he knows." There was no +doubt in my mind that Arnold was a _man_ in every sense of the word. + +Again Gleazen and Matterson spoke in Spanish; then Matterson with a +warm smile turned to us and said, "Will you have a glass of wine, +lads? You, Arnold? No? And you, Joe? No?" He raised his eyebrows and +with a deprecatory gesture glanced once more at Gleazen. + +I thought of Uncle Seth still pacing the quarter-deck. I suddenly +realized that I was afraid of the two men who sat opposite +me--afraid to drink with them or even to continue to talk with them. +My fear passed as a mood changes; but in its place came the +determination that I would not drink with them or talk with them. +They were no friends of mine. I pushed back my chair, and, leaving +Arnold below, went on deck. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD FRIEND + + +My uncle was still pacing back and forth when I came out into the +sunset; then, almost at once, the twilight had come and gone, and I +saw him as a deeper shadow moving up and down the deck, with only +the faint sound of his feet to convince me that my eyes saw truly. +The very monotony of his slow, even steps told me that there was no +companionship to be got from him, and at that moment more than +anything else I desired companionship. + +What I then did was for me a new step. Leaving the quarter-deck, I +went forward to the steerage and found Sim Muzzy smoking his pipe +with the sailmaker. + +"So it's you," he querulously said, when he recognized me, "Now +aren't you sorry you ever left Topham? If I had lost as much as you +have by Seth Upham's going into his second childhood, I vow I'd jump +overboard and be done with life. You're slow enough to look up your +old friends, seems to me." + +"But," said I, impatiently, "I've been like to die of seasickness. I +couldn't look you up then, and you never came near me." + +"Oh, that's all very well for you to say, but you know I couldn't +come aft without a trouncing from that Neil Gleazen--I'm sure I'd +like to see something awful happen to him to pay him for breaking up +the store!--and you've had plenty of time since. If I didn't show +more fondness for my friends than you do, I'd at least have the good +grace to stay away from them. You've used me very shabbily indeed, +Joe Woods, and I've got the spirit to resent it." + +The sailmaker, meanwhile, as if he were not listening with vast +interest to all that Sim had to say against me, looked absently away +and quietly smoked his pipe. But I imagined that I detected in his +eyes a glint of amusement at what he assumed to be my discomfiture, +and angered as much by that as by Sim's petulance, I turned my back +on the two and went on forward to the forecastle, where I found +Abraham Guptil, sprawled full length, in quiet conversation with two +shipmates. + +From Abe I got pleasanter greetings. + +"Here's Joe Woods," he cried, "one of the best friends Abe Guptil +ever had. You had a hard voyage, didn't you, Joe? I was sorry to +hear you were so bad off, I'd hoped to see more of you." + +I threw myself down beside Abe and fell to talking with him and the +others about affairs aft and forward, such as Captain North and his +quarrel with Seth Upham, and the meeting of Gleazen and Matterson, +and Sim Muzzy and his irritating garrulousness, and a score of +things that had happened among the crew. It was all so very friendly +and pleasant, that I was sorry to leave them and go back to my +stateroom, and I did so only when I was like to have fallen asleep +in spite of myself. But on the quarter-deck, when I passed, I saw +Seth Upham still pacing back and forth. He must have known that it +was I, for I came close to him and spoke his name, yet he completely +ignored my presence. + +How long he kept it up, I do not know; looking over my shoulder, I +saw last, as I went down the companionway, his stooped figure and +bowed head moving like a shadow back and forth, and back and forth. +Nor do I know just when my drowsy thoughts merged into dreams; but +it seems to me, as I look back upon that night, that my uncle's +bent figure silently pacing the deck haunted me until dawn. Only +when some noise waked me at daybreak, and I crept up the +companionway and found that he was no longer there, did I succeed in +escaping from the spell. + +Returning to our stateroom to dress, I came upon Arnold Lamont lying +wide awake. + +"Joe," said he, when I was pulling on my clothes, "I am surprised to +hear that Seth Upham ever believed Neil Gleazen to be aught but +penniless." + +I turned and looked at him. How could Arnold have learned of the +quarrel between Uncle Seth and Gleazen and Matterson, which only I +had witnessed? Or, if he had not learned of the quarrel and what +transpired in the course of it, where had he heard the story of +Gleazen's empty chests? + +Perceiving my amazement, he smiled. "I know many things that happen +on board this vessel, Joe," he said. + +"How much," I demanded, "do you know about what happened yesterday?" + +"Everything," said he. + +"But how?" I cried. I was at my wit's end with curiosity. + +"Listen!" + +I heard a quick step. + +"Joe," he whispered, "you must never tell. Crawl under your blankets +and cover your head so no one can see that you are there." + +More puzzled, even, than before, I complied. Whatever Arnold had up +his sleeve, I was convinced that he was not merely making game of +me; and, in truth, I had no sooner concealed myself in my tumbled +berth, which was so deep that this was not hard to do, than a gentle +tap sounded on the door. + +"Come in," Arnold said in a low voice. + +The door then opened and I heard hesitant steps. + +"Well?" Arnold said, when I had heard the latch of the door click +shut again. + +"If you please, sir," said a piping little voice, which I knew could +come from only Willie MacDougald, "if you please, sir, they were +laughing hearty at Mr. Upham most of the morning." + +"Yes?" + +"Yes, sir, and they said it was a shame for him to ruin his +complexion by a-walking all night." + +"What else?" + +"Yes, sir, and he was asleep all morning--at least, sir, he was in +his berth, but I heard him groaning, sir." + +"Anything else?" + +"Yes, sir. They didn't seem to like the way you and Joe Woods acted +about their stories of trading niggers, and they said--" + +"Ha!" That Arnold rose suddenly, I knew by the creaking of his bunk. + +"And they said, sir--" Willie's voice fell as if he were afraid to +go on. + +"Yes?" + +"And they said--" + +"Yes, yes! Come, speak out." + +"And they said--" again Willie hesitated, then he continued with a +rush, but in a mere whisper--"that they was going to get rid of you +two." + +For a long time there was silence, then Arnold asked in the same low +voice, "Have they laid their plans?" + +"They was talking of one thing and another, sir, but in such a way +that I couldn't hear." + +Again a long silence followed, which Willie MacDougald broke by +saying, "Please, sir, it was to-day you was to pay me." + +"Ah, yes." + +I heard a clinking sound as if money were changing hands; then +Willie MacDougald said, "Thank you, sir," and turned the latch. + +As he left the stateroom I could not forbear from sticking my head +out of the blankets to look after him. He was so small, so young, +seemingly so innocent! Yet for all his innocence and high voice and +respectful phrases, he had revealed a devilish spirit of hard +bargaining by the tone and manner, if not the words, with which he +demanded his pay; and I was confounded when, as I looked after him, +he turned, met my eyes, and instead of being disconcerted, gave me a +bold, impudent grimace. + +"He is a little devil," Arnold said with a smile. + +"Do you believe what he tells you?" + +"Yes, he does not dare lie to me." + +"But," said I, "what of his story that they intend to get rid of +us?" + +Arnold smiled again. "I shall put it to good use." + +It was evident enough now where Arnold had learned of the quarrel; +and as I noted anew his level, fearless gaze, his clear eyes, and +his erect, commanding carriage, I again recalled his words,--who +could forget them?--"A man does not tell all he knows." More and +more I was coming to realize how little we of Topham had known the +manner of man that this Frenchman truly was. + +It was with a paradoxical sense of security, a new confidence in my +old friend, that I accompanied Arnold to breakfast in the great +cabin, where two vacant places and three plates still laid showed +that Gleazen and Matterson had long since come and gone, and that +Seth Upham was still keeping aloof in his own quarters. But little +Willie MacDougald, appearing as ever a picture of childish +innocence, assiduously waited on us; and before we were through, +Matterson came below, flung his great body into a chair and, calling +for gin, settled himself for a friendly chat. + +"Yes, lads," he said in his oddly light voice, "I've decided to cast +my lot with you. I'm going to ship as mate. Not that I feel I +ought,--I really scarce can afford the time for a voyage now,--but +Neil Gleazen and Seth Upham wouldn't hear to my not going." + +He broadly grinned at me, for he knew well that I had heard every +word that passed between the three the day before. + +"Well, lads," he went on, "it's a great country we're going to, and +there's great adventures ahead. Yes,--" he spoke now with a sort of +humorous significance, as if he were playing boldly with an idea and +enjoying it simply because he was confident that we could not detect +what lay behind it,--"Yes, there's great adventures ahead. It's +queer, but even here in Cuba a young man never knows what's going to +overtake him next. I've seen young fellows, with their plans all +laid, switched sudden to quite another set of plans that no one, no, +sir, not no one ever thought they'd tumble into. It's mysterious. +Yes, sir, mysterious it is." + +That there was a double meaning behind all this talk, I had no doubt +whatever, and it irritated me that he should tease us as if we were +little children; but I could make no particular sense of what he +said, except so far as Willie MacDougald's tale served to indicate +that it was a threat; and Arnold Lamont, apparently not a whit +disturbed, continued his meal with great composure and, whatever he +may have thought, gave no sign to enlighten me. + +We had so little to say to Matterson in reply, that he soon left us, +and for another day we sat idle on deck or amused ourselves as best +we could, The crew had numberless duties to perform, such as +painting and caulking and working on the rigging. Arnold Lamont and +Sim Muzzy got out the chessmen and played for hours, while Matterson +watched them with an interest so intent that I suspected him of +being himself a chess-player; and Gleazen and Uncle Seth +intermittently played at cards. So the day passed, until in the +early evening a boat hailed us, and a sailor came aboard and said +that Captain Jones of the Merry Jack and Eleanor sent his +compliments to Mr. Upham and Mr. Gleazen and would be glad to have +all the gentlemen come visiting and share a bowl of punch, at making +which his steward had an excellent hand. + +My uncle seized upon the invitation with alacrity, for it seemed +that he had met Captain Jones in Havana two days since. He called to +Gleazen and Matterson, saying with something of his old sharp, +pompous manner that they certainly must come, too, and that he was +going also to bring Arnold, Sim, and me, at which, I perceived, the +two exchanged smiles. + +Sim came running aft, ready to complain at the slightest +provocation, but too pleased with the prospect of an outing to burst +forth on no grounds at all; Neil Gleazen and my uncle led the way +toward the quarter-boat in which we were to go; and Arnold followed +them. + +It did not escape me that both Gleazen and Matterson had held their +tongues since the sailor delivered his master's invitation, and +that, as they passed me, they exchanged nudges. I was all but +tempted into staying on board the Adventure. As I meditated on +Willie MacDougald's story, and Matterson's allusions,--how +significant they were, I could not know,--the silence of the two +alarmed me more than direct threats would have done. Why should +Gleazen and Matterson look at each other and smile when all the +rest--all, that is, except myself--were going down by the chains +ahead of them? Would they not, unless they had known more than we +about this Captain Jones and his ship, the Merry Jack and Eleanor, +have asked questions, or perhaps even have declined to go? + +Whatever my thoughts, I had no chance to express them; so over the +side I went, close after the rest, and down into the boat where the +sailors waited at their oars. To none of us did it occur that it was +in any way contrary to the usual etiquette to take Sim Muzzy with +us. Except that force of circumstances had placed him in the +steerage, his position aboard the Adventure was the same as Arnold's +and mine, or even Gleazen's, for that matter. + +Poor Sim! For once he forgot to complain and came with us as gayly +as the fly that walked into the spider's parlor. And yet I now hold +the opinion,--I was a long, long time in coming to it,--that after +all fate was very kind to Simeon Muzzy. + +He settled himself importantly in the boat and began to talk a blue +streak, as the saying is, about one thing and another, until I would +almost have tossed him overboard. Uncle Seth, too, frowned at him, +and the strange sailors smiled, and Gleazen and Matterson spoke +together in Spanish and laughed as if they shared a lively joke. But +Arnold Lamont leaned back and half closed his eyes and appeared to +hear nothing of what was going on. + +All the way to the Merry Jack and Eleanor, which lay about a quarter +of a mile from the Adventure, Gleazen and Matterson continued at +intervals to exchange remarks in Spanish; and although Uncle Seth +and Arnold Lamont completely ignored them, Sim, who by now had got +so used to foreign tongues that they no longer astonished and +confused him, took it hard that he could make nothing of what they +said and went into a lively tantrum about it, at which the strange +sailors chuckled as they rowed. + +Passing under the counter of the vessel, we continued to the +gangway; but just as we came about the stern, Arnold touched my hand +and by a motion so slight as to pass almost unnoticed drew my +attention to a man-of-war that lay perhaps a cable's length away. + +Under cover of the loud exchange of greetings and the bustle that +occurred when the others were going aboard, he whispered, "We are +safe for the time being. See! Yonder is a frigate. But either you or +I must stay on deck, and if there is aught of an outcry below, he +must call for help in such a way that there shall be no doubt of its +coming." + +"What do you mean?" I whispered. + +"Hush! They are watching us." + +As we followed the others, Arnold stopped by the bulwark and half +leaned, half fell, against it. + +"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said in that slow, precise voice, "For +the moment I am ill. It is a mere attack of dizziness, but I dare +not go below. I must stay in the open air. I beg you will pardon me. +I intend no rudeness." + +His face did look pale in the half-light, and the others, whatever +their suspicions may have been, said nothing to indicate that they +doubted him. When Captain Jones of the Merry Jack and Eleanor came +toward us a second time and again with oily courtesy asked us all to +the cabin, Gleazen and Matterson made excuses for Arnold, and the +rest of us went down into the gloomy space below and left him in the +gangway whence he could watch the hills, which were now dark against +the evening sky, and the black masts of the frigate, which stood by +like sentries guarding our lives and fortunes. + +There was a fetid, sickening odor about the ship, such as I had +never before experienced, and the cabin reeked of rum and tobacco. +The skipper had the face of a human brute, and the mate's right hand +was twisted all out of shape, as if some heavy weapon had once +smashed the bones of it. The more I looked about the dark, low +cabin, and the more I saw and heard of the skipper and his mate, the +more I wished I were on deck with Arnold. But the punch was brewed +in a colossal bowl and gave forth a fragrance of spices, and Sim +Muzzy drank with the rest, and for a while the five of them were as +jolly as the name of the ship would indicate. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CAPTAIN NORTH AGAIN + + +First there was talk of old times, for it seemed that Matterson and +Gleazen and Captain Jones were friends of long standing. Then there +was talk of strange wars and battles, particularly of one battle of +Insamankow, of which neither Gleazen nor Matterson had had other +news than that which Captain Jones now gave them, and in which it +seemed that the British had met with great disaster, although it +puzzled me to know wherein such a battle even remotely concerned any +of us. After that there was talk of various other things--a +murderous plague of smallpox that years before had swept the African +coast, a war between the Fantis and Ashantis, a cruiser that they, +with oaths and laughter, said had struck her flag in battle with a +slaver, a year's journey with desert caravans that traded with the +Arabs, and last of all, and apparently most important, curious ways +of circumventing the laws of England and America and of bribing +Cuban officers of low degree and high. + +All this, in a stuffy little place where the mingled smells of rum +and spices and tobacco hung heavily on the air as they grew stale, +filled me with disgust and almost with nausea. Vile oaths slipped +out between each two sentences, if by rare chance they were not +woven into the very warp of the sentences themselves; such stories +of barbarous and unbelievable cruelty were told and retold as I +cannot bear to call to mind, to say nothing of repeating; and always +I was aware of that sickening odor, now strong, now weak, which I +had detected before we went below. + +The first sign that the others gave of noticing it was when Gleazen +threw back his head and cried, "Pfaw! What a stench! The smell is +all I have against the trade." + +Matterson laughed, and Captain Jones with his grand manner said, +"You have been too long away from it, Mr. Gleazen." + +"Too long? That's as may be. An old horse settles easy into harness +again." + +Captain Jones smiled. With apparent irrelevance, but with a +reminiscent air, he said; "Too long or no, it's a long time since +first we met,--a long, long time, and yet I remember as yesterday +what a night we had of it. It began when that blasted Frenchman +slipped his cables and sought to beat us up the river. It was you, +Gleazen, that saved us then. When your message came, with what haste +we landed the boats and towed the old brig straight up stream! Row? +We rowed like the devil, and though our palms peeled, we won the +race. It was a good cargo you had waiting, too. Only seven died in +the passage." + +In the passage! Already I had suspected, now I knew, that the ship +with her fast lines and cruel officers was none other than a slaver; +that the smell was the stench of a slave-ship; that in that very +cabin men had bartered for human beings. If I could, I would have +turned my back on them there and then; the repugnance that I had +long felt grew into downright loathing. What would I not have given +to be up and away with Arnold Lamont! But I was a mere stripling, +alone, so far as help was concerned, in a den of villains crueler +than wolves. Though I would eagerly have left them, I dared not; and +almost at once something happened that in any case would have held +me where I was. + +Gleazen leaned across the punch-bowl and said to Captain Jones; "Who +is there in port will make a good captain for a smart brig with a +neat bow, swift to sail and clever to work?" + +Captain Jones ran his fingers through his stiff, shaggy hair. "Now, +let me see," he replied, "there's a man--" + +Cutting him sharply off, my uncle spoke up, "Gentlemen, I will +choose the master of my own vessel." + +I knew by his voice that he, as well as I, was sickened by the +situation in which we found ourselves. Poor Uncle Seth, I thought, +how little did he suspect, when he united his fortune with the +golden dreams of Neil Gleazen, that he was to travel such a road as +this! + +"Ah!" said Gleazen. "And who will it be?" An unkind smile played +around his mouth. + +"Gideon North, if he will come back to us," said my uncle. + +"Ah!" Matterson, Gleazen, and Captain Jones exclaimed as if with one +breath. + +For a minute or so the three sat in silence, looking hard at the top +of the table; then Matterson with a queer twist of his lips spoke in +Spanish. When, after another silence, the captain of the Merry Jack +and Eleanor answered at length in the same tongue, Matterson +responded briefly, and all three men nodded. + +A quality so curiously and subtly dramatic pervaded the scene that I +remember thinking, as I looked about, what a rare theme it would +have made for a painter. I believe that a skillful artist, if he had +studied the faces of us all as we sat there, could have put our +characters on his canvas so faithfully that he would have been in +danger of paying for his honesty with his life, had Matterson or the +strange captain had a chance at him in the dark. The very place in +which we sat smelled of villainies, and the rat-like captain of the +ship was a fit master of such a den. + +Gleazen now turned to my uncle. "Very well," said he, with an +amused smile, "Joe, here, and Arnold Lamont are in good odor with +him. Suppose, then, that we let them go ashore and hunt him out and +talk matters over. I've no doubt he'll come back. He went off in a +tantrum, as a man will when he takes pepper up his nose. You must +know where the fellow's staying. You were to send him the money due +him. Captain Jones will lend them one of his boats for now, and I'll +have our boat ready to take them all off together in, say, three +hours' time." + +As I have said in an earlier chapter of this narrative, by +inclination I was a dreamer; and yet I must have been more than a +mere dreamer, and worse, not to have scented by those dark looks and +cryptic words some trouble or other afoot. It was as if for a long +time I had seen the three to be united definitely against us, but as +if I now for the first time perceived what a desperately black and +sinful alliance they made--it was as if the spectacle struck me into +a daze. When Gleazen finished, the other two again nodded, and in +the very manner of their nods there was something as cold and +deliberate as a snake's eye. Had I been able to rely upon the +impressions of the moment, I should have said that time stood as +still as the sun upon Gibeon; that for many minutes we stared at one +another in mutual suspicion; that the beating of my heart had all +but ceased. But the impressions of the moment deceived me. + +When Gleazen stopped speaking, he hit with his elbow the ink-bottle +that stood on the table. It tipped on its side, rolled deliberately +across the table, and fell; but before it struck the floor, +Matterson, leaning out with a swift, dexterous motion, caught it, +tried the stopper, and murmured as if to himself, "There's luck for +you! Not a drop is lost." In the time it had taken that bottle to +roll across the table, and not a second more, I had suffered that +untold suspense. + +Now the spell was shattered, and hearing someone speaking in an +undertone behind me, I turned and caught Captain Jones in the act of +giving instructions _in Spanish_ to his negro steward. + +I was surprised and angry. Though of late I had heard much Spanish, +it seemed to me that to speak it under the circumstances was so rude +as to verge on open affront. Then Uncle Seth, gulping down his +astonishment that Gleazen should so readily accede to his wishes, +spoke up for himself; and because I was so deeply interested in +whatever he might have to say, I turned my back on the mungo, ceased +to watch Captain Jones, and did not notice that the steward went +immediately on deck. Nor did I attribute any significance to the +sound of oars bumping against the pins, which I soon afterwards +heard. Had not Arnold Lamont been waiting on deck with his eyes +fixed apparently on the dark outline of the frigate, my stupidity +must have cost us even more than it did. + +"Very well," said Uncle Seth. "I will do as you suggest." + +"Perhaps," said Gleazen, thoughtfully, "Sim Muzzy, here, would like +to go." + +"Oh, yes," cried Sim, "I'm fair dying for a trip on dry land. Yes, +indeed, I'd like to go. I'd like it mightily. You've always said, +Mr. Gleazen, I was too thick to do harm. Oh, yes indeed!" + +Matterson smiled and Captain Jones covered his mouth with his hand, +but Gleazen gravely nodded. + +"Well, Sim, go you shall," said he. "There ain't one of us here but +is glad to see an honest man take his fling ashore, and Havana's a +city for you. Such handsome women as ride about in their carriages! +And such sights as you'll see in the streets! You'll be a wiser man +e'er you come back to us, Sim. I swear, I'd like to go myself,--but +not to-night! I ain't one to neglect business for pleasure." + +When he shot a glance at Matterson and Captain Jones, my eyes +followed his, and I saw that once more they had fixed their gaze on +the top of the table. Now I was actually unable, so baffling had +been their change of front, to make up my mind whether they were to +be suspected or to be trusted. + +"Well," said Gleazen, "we are all agreed. Lay down your orders, +Seth. They'll carry them out to the last letter." + +So Uncle Seth told me where to find Gideon North, and Neil Gleazen +wrote it on a paper,--_in Spanish_, mind you!--and they put their +heads together, every one, to think up such arguments as would +induce Captain North to return, all with an appearance of enthusiasm +that amazed me and might easily have put my suspicions to shame but +for those other things that had happened. + +"I'll be civil to him," Gleazen cried. "And you can tell him, too, +that this is an _honest voyage_. We're to run no race with the +king's cruisers, Joe." + +"Aye," Captain Jones put in, "an able vessel and an honest voyage." + +"With a mountain of treasure to be got," added Matterson. + +The three spoke so gravely and straightforwardly now, that I +wondered at their insolence; and as Sim and I got up to go, not yet +quite believing that in reality, and not in a dream, we were being +dispatched into the heart of that strange city, they accompanied us +on deck and told Arnold Lamont that he was to go with us on our +errand, and saw us safely started in the long boat of the Merry Jack +and Eleanor before returning to their punch. + +I could see that Arnold had no liking for the mission, but while we +were in the boat he gave me no explanation of his uneasiness. +Indeed, Sim Muzzy talked so much and so fast that, when he once got +started, you could scarcely have thrust the point of a needle into +his monologue. + +"She's a slaver," he murmured as we pulled away from the Merry Jack +and Eleanor. "A cruel-hearted slaver! Thank heaven, we're never to +have a hand in any such iniquity as that." + +We looked back at the ship, black and gloomy against the sky, with +many men moving about on her deck. + +"You're a silly fool," one of the oarsmen cried, having overheard +him, "a man without stomach, heart, or good red blood." + +"Stomach, is it?" Sim retorted. "I'll have you know I eat my three +hearty meals a day and they set well too. I can eat as much victuals +as the next man. Why--" And there was no stopping him till the boat +bumped against a wharf and we three stepped out. + +The boat, I noticed, instead of putting back to the ship, waited by +the wharf. + +I turned and looked at the restless harbor, on which each light was +reflected as a long, tremulous finger of flame that reached almost +to my feet, at the sky, in which the stars were now shining, and at +the anchored ships, each with her own story, could one but have read +it; then I yielded to Sim's importunate call and in the darkness +turned after him and Arnold. What reason was there to suspect that +Simeon Muzzy and I stood at a crossroads where our paths divided? + +Coming to the street, we stopped, and in the light from an open +window put our heads together over the paper that Gleazen had +written out and given to us with instructions to show it to the +first person we met and turn where he pointed. + +"Why, it's all in foreigner's talk!" Sim exclaimed. + +"Let me see it," said Arnold. + +He looked at it a long time and smiled. "I wonder," he said, "do +they think we are so very simple?" + +Now a man came toward us. Before he could pass, Arnold stepped +suddenly forward and _addressed him in Spanish_. + +"Why," cried I, when the passerby had gone, "you, too--do you talk +Spanish?" + +Arnold turned to me with a smile and said, for the second time, "A +man does not tell all he knows." + +Thrusting the paper into his pocket, he continued, "According to the +directions that Mr. Gleazen has written down for our guidance, my +friends, we should turn to the right. But according to my personal +knowledge, which that man confirmed, we shall find Gideon North by +turning to the left." + +To the left, then, we turned; and only Arnold Lamont, who told me of +it afterward, saw one of the boatmen, when we had definitely taken +our course, leave the boat and run into the darkness in the +direction that Neil Gleazen wished to send us. + +Carriages passed us, and men on horseback, and negroes loitering +along the streets. There were bright lights in the windows; and we +saw ladies and their escorts riding in queer two-wheeled vehicles +that I later learned were called _volantes_. + +All was strange and bizarre and extraordinarily interesting. Never +did three men from a little country village in New England find +themselves in a more utterly foreign city. But although Sim and I +had our eyes open for every new sight, I was nevertheless aware that +Arnold was more alert than either of us, and twice he urged us to +keep our eyes and wits about us. + +Seeing nothing to fear, I inclined to smile at him. I now assumed +that I was the bolder and more sophisticated of the two of us. As +we tramped along in the darkness, I got over the sense of unreality +and felt as much at home in that alien city as if I had been back in +the familiar streets and lanes of Boston. + +Three times Arnold stopped to inquire the way; and the last time the +man of whom he asked directions pointed at a house not a hundred +yards distant and said, with a bow, "It is there, señor." + +That he spoke in English, which he had heard Sim and me use, so +surprised us that for the moment we were off our guard. I was +vaguely aware of hearing many feet trampling along, and afterwards I +realized that I had absently noticed the rumble of voices; but the +city was all so strange that I thought nothing of either the feet or +the voices, and gave all my attention to the stranger. He was +turning away, bowing and protesting his pleasure in serving us, when +Sim Muzzy said in a wondering tone, "Why, Arnold,--Joe,--how many +people there are hereabouts! Look there!" + +Arnold, turning as the poor fellow spoke, seized my arm. "_Mon +dieu!_" he gasped, startled into his native French. Then in English +he cried, "Quick, Joe! Quick! _Vite!_ Ha! Strike out, Sim, strike!" + +Around us there were indeed many men. They were approaching us from +ahead and behind. Suddenly, fiercely, three or four of them rushed +at us. + +From his belt Arnold drew a knife and thrust at a man who had caught +my collar. I lost no time in leaping free. + +Two of them, now, were upon Arnold, crying out in Spanish; but he +eluded them by a quick turn. + +I first saw him spring out of their reach, then an arm, flung round +my throat, cut my wind. As I throttled, I saw Arnold come charging +back again, knife in hand. The blade slashed past my ear so closely +that it cut the skin; something spurted over my neck and the back +of my head, and the arm that held me fell. + +Arnold, his hand on my shoulder, dragged me free. Stooping, he +picked up a stone and hurled it into the midst of our assailants, +eliciting a screech of pain and anger. When I bent to follow his +example, I saw a chance light flash on his knife-blade. But where, I +thought, is Sim? Then, somewhere in the crowd, I heard him choking +and gagging. My first impulse was to rush to his rescue, but +instantly I saw the folly of such a course, so greatly were we +outnumbered. For a moment Arnold and I held them off. Just behind us +was a street corner. As we darted toward it, one man dashed out from +the crowd, the rest followed, and a second time, with hoarse shouts, +they charged down upon us. They came in a solid phalanx, but we +rounded the corner and fled. At top speed we raced down the street +and round a second corner. Distancing them for the moment, but with +their yells ringing in our ears, we scrambled up over a wrought-iron +gate that gave us hold for fingers and feet, through a garden rich +with palms and statuary, over another gate and across still another +street. There we scaled one gate more, and throwing ourselves down +in some dense vines, lay quietly and got back our breath, while our +eluded pursuers raced and called on the street outside. + +The last thing I had heard as we ran was poor Sim Muzzy screaming +for help. + +"Who--wh-wh-o--wh-what--were th-they?" I gasped out. + +"I believe it to have been a press-gang," Arnold replied. He, too, +was gasping for breath, but he better controlled his voice. + +After a time he added, "Poor Sim! I fear that he is now on his way +into the service of the royal navy of Spain." + +"But," I returned, "they cannot hold an American citizen." + +"Lawfully," said he, "they cannot." + +"Then we'll soon have Sim out again." + +To this, he did not reply. He said merely, "You and I, Joe, must +keep it a secret between us that I speak their language." + +We lay a long time in the garden, with the stars shining above us +and yellow lights streaming out of the house, and I thought of how +skillfully Arnold Lamont had concealed his interest in what Gleazen +and Matterson had said in a language they thought none of us could +understand. But when the racing and shouting had gone, and come, and +gone again, and when we both were convinced that all danger was +past, we rose and stretched ourselves and went up to the house and +knocked. + +As the door swung open, a flood of light poured out into the garden; +but we saw only an old negro, who stood like a black shadow in our +way and assailed us with a broadside of angry Spanish. His gray head +shook with fury, I suppose at finding us in the garden, and he +spread his arms to keep us from entering the house. Behind him arose +a hubbub, and an angry white man came rushing out. When to his +fierce questions Arnold shot back prompt answers, his anger died, +and tolerance took its place, and finally a wave of cordiality swept +over his face. Stepping back he actually flung the door wide open +and with stately bows ushered us into the high-studded hall. Then +the negro went bustling down the passage and spoke in a low voice, +and I was amazed beyond measure to see Gideon North himself step out +of a lighted room. + +In our flight Arnold, shrewd, quick to think and to act, had led us +to the garden in the rear of the very house of which we had come in +search. + +"Well," said Captain North, when, after warm greetings and quick +explanations, we were seated together behind closed doors, "of all +that rascally crew in the cabin of the Adventure, you two are the +only ones I should be glad to see again. How in the name of +Beelzebub, prince of devils, did you light upon my lodging-house, +and what has brought you here?" + +Now Gleazen had suggested various arguments by which to bring +Captain North back to his command, and not the least of them was an +apology of a kind from himself; but they had all lacked sincerity, +and as I knew well enough that Gleazen really would be very sorry if +we should succeed in our errand, I had wisely determined to have +none of them. It is exceedingly doubtful, however, if I should have +dared to speak quite as plainly as did Arnold Lamont. + +"Sir," he said, "we have come on a strange errand. We ask you to +return to a ship where you have suffered indignities, to resume a +command that you have resigned under just provocation, to help a man +who, I fear, has forfeited every right to call upon you for help." + +"I'm no hand for riddles," said Gideon North. "Talk plain sea-talk." + +"Sir," said Arnold, "I ask you to come back as captain of the +Adventure, to save Seth Upham from his--friends." Arnold smiled +slightly. + +"Blast Upham and his friends!" + +"As you will. But that pair of leeches will get the blood from his +heart, and Joe Woods, his heir, will lose every penny of his +inheritance." + +"Upham should have thought of that before. Leave him alone. He lies +in the bed he made." + +"He, poor man, does not think of it now. Indeed, I fear he's beyond +saving." + +Gideon North got up and went to the barred windows that opened upon +the street. + +"What is this wild-goose chase?" he suddenly demanded. + +"Exactly what the object is I do not know," Arnold replied. "They +talk of a treasure, but they are fit to rule an empire of liars. +They are not, I believe, equipped for the slave trade, though of +that you are a better judge than I." + +Still Gideon North stood by the window. Without turning his head, he +remarked, "I wonder why _they_ want me back." + +"They?" At that Arnold laughed. "_They_ do not want you. Not they! +Seth Upham insisted against their every wish. We came to your door +with a press-gang at our heels. _They_ planned that Joe and I should +share Sim Muzzy's fate and never see you again--or them." + +Thereupon Captain North turned about. + +"I am interested," he said. "Aye, and tempted." + +He stood for a while musing on all he had heard; then he smiled in a +way that gave me confidence. + +"We are three honest men with one purpose," he said; "but Gleazen +and Matterson are a pair of double-dyed villains. I go into this +affair knowing that it is at the risk of my life, but so help me! +I'll take the plunge." + +After a pause he added, "You spend the night with me, lads, and we +will go on board together in the morning. That alone will give 'em a +pretty start, for I've no doubt they think already that they're well +rid of the three of us, and by sun-up they'll be sure of it. What's +more, we'll go armed, lads, knives in our belts and pistols in our +boots." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ISSUES SHARPLY DRAWN + + +We breakfasted next morning with Gideon North, and discussed in +particular Gleazen and Matterson and in general affairs on board the +Adventure. It seemed ages ago that I had first seen Gleazen on the +porch of the old tavern in Topham. I told all I knew of how he had +come to town and had won the confidence of so many people, of how +the blacksmith alone had stood out against him, and of how that last +wild night had justified the blacksmith in every word that he had +uttered. + +Then Arnold Lamont took up the story and told of scores of things +that I had not perceived: little incidents that his keen eyes had +detected, such as secret greetings passed between Gleazen and men +with whom he pretended to have nothing whatever to do; chance +phrases that I, too, had overheard, but that only Arnold's native +shrewdness had translated aright; until I blushed with shame to +think how great had been my own vanity and conceit--I who thought I +had known so much, but really had known so little! + +Then Captain North in blunt language told of things that had +happened on board the Adventure, which made Uncle Seth out to be a +poor, helpless dupe, and ended by saying vigorously, "Seth Upham is +truly in a bad way, what with Gleazen and Matterson; and brave lads +though you are, you're not their kind. Unless you two were smarter +than human, they'd get you in the end, for they're cruel men, with +no regard for human life, and the odds are all in their favor; but +three of us in the cabin is quite another matter. We'll see what we +can do to turn the cat in the pan. + +"And now,"--he pushed his dishes away and set his elbows on the +table,--"now for facts to work upon. The pair of them are going to +Africa with a purpose. Am I not right?" + +The question required no answer, but Arnold and I both nodded. + +"A cargo's all well and good, and they've no objection to turning an +honest dollar, just because it's honest; but there's more than +honest dollars in this kettle of fish." + +Again we nodded. + +"Now, then, my lads, let me tell you this: when they've got what +they want in Africa, whatever it may be, when they've squeezed Seth +Upham's last dollar out of his wallet, when they no longer need +honest men on board to protect them from cruising men-o'-war, then, +lads, they're going to throw you and me to the sharks. As yet, it is +too soon to strike against them. The odds are in their favor still, +and as far as we're concerned there's no hope in Seth Upham, for +they've got him twirling on a spit. It is for us, lads, to go +through with them to the very end, to walk up and shake hands with +death and the devil if worst comes to worst, but to be ready always +to strike when the iron's hot,--aye, to strike till the sparks fly +white." + +So there we sealed our compact, Arnold Lamont and Gideon North and +I, with no vows and with scant assertions, but with a completeness +of understanding and accord that gave us, every one, unquestioning +confidence in each of our associates. The fate of poor Sim Muzzy, +which Arnold and I had so narrowly escaped, was still perilously +close at hand; and in returning to the brig, which Gideon North had +left in anger, we shared a common danger that bound our alliance +more firmly than any pledge would have bound it. + +Our breakfast eaten, we sorted over some pistols that Captain North +had ordered sent from a shop, and chose, each of us, a pair, for +which our host insisted on standing scot; then he paid the bill for +his lodgings, and, armed against whatever the future might bring, +and firmly resolved that Gleazen and Matterson should not beat us in +a matter of wits, we went into the street. + +The day was beautiful almost beyond belief, and the streets of +Havana were full of wonderful sights; but with the memory of poor +Sim's sad fate in mind, and with our hearts set on the long contest +that we must wage, we saw little of what went on around us. Followed +by two negroes, who between them carried Captain North's bag, we +boldly marched three abreast down through the city to the +harbor-side, where we hailed a boatman and hired him to take us out +to the brig. + +Coming up to the gangway, Captain North loudly called, "Ahoy there!" + +There was a rush to the side of the brig, and a dozen faces looked +down at us; but none of them were the faces that we most desired to +see. + +"Ho!" Captain North exclaimed, "they're not here. You there, pass a +line, and step lively. Two of you bear a hand to lift this bag on +board." + +At that moment we heard steps, and a newcomer appeared at the rail. +It was Cornelius Gleazen. As he stared at us without a word, he +appeared to be the most surprised man that ever I had seen. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Gleazen," Captain North called. "I've got your +messages and thank you kindly. I reciprocate all good wishes and I'm +sure when anyone comes out with a handsome apology, I'm no man to +bear a grudge. I resume command with no hard feelings. Good-morning, +sir." + +By that time he was on deck and advancing aft. + +I had already seen Cornelius Gleazen in some extraordinary +situations, and later I was to see him in certain situations beside +which the others paled to milk and water, but never at any other +time, from the moment when I first saw him on the porch at the +tavern until the day when we parted not to meet again this side of +Judgment, did I see Cornelius Gleazen affected in just the way that +he was affected then. + +He backed away from Captain North, replied loudly as if in greeting, +still backed away, and finally turned and went below, where +evidently he recovered his powers of speech, for up came my uncle +with Matterson at his heels. + +"Captain North," Uncle Seth cried, meeting him with right hand +outstretched, "I declare I'm glad you're back again, and I'm sure +that all will go well from this time on." + +There was real pathos in Uncle Seth's eagerness to secure the +friendship of the stout captain. In his straight-forward, confiding +manner there was no suggestion of his old sharpness and pompousness. +To see him looking from one of us to another, so frankly pleased +that we had returned, you could not have failed to know that he was +sincere, and if any of us had had the least suspicion that Seth +Upham had condoned the scheme to have us fall into the hands of the +press-gang, he lost it there and then forever. + +"But where," he cried, glancing down the deck, "where is Sim Muzzy?" + +Matterson came a step nearer. I saw some of the sailors look +curiously at one another. A stir ran along the deck. + +It was Gideon North who replied. "I am told," he said deliberately, +letting his eyes wander from face to face, "that he has fallen into +the clutches of a press-gang." + +"What!" + +"A press-gang. But of that, Lamont, here, can tell you better than +I." + +And Arnold, in his precise, subtly foreign way, told all that had +happened. + +Completely stunned, my poor uncle went to the rail and buried his +face in his hands. + +As for Matterson, he shook hands with Captain North and nodded at +the rest of us impartially. + +"I'm glad to see you back, sir," he said. "As you know, without +doubt, I've shipped as chief mate." + +"You've what?" Captain North thundered, looking up at the big man +before him. + +"Shipped as chief mate, sir." + +"Is this true?" the captain demanded, turning on Uncle Seth. + +"It is," my uncle replied like a man just waking. "Mr. Gleazen and I +talked it over--" + +Captain North interrupted him without ceremony. "Well," said he to +Matterson, "I've no doubt you'll make a competent officer." + +His abruptness left Matterson no excuse for replying; so, when the +captain went below, the chief mate stepped over to the rail. There, +frowning slightly now and then, he remained for a long time. It did +not take Arnold Lamont's intuition to perceive that he, as well as +Gleazen, was puzzled and disappointed by the way things had turned +out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LAND HO! + + +With Captain North back on board again, we felt great confidence for +the future; and while we remained in Havana there was no other +attempt, so far as I know, to do us harm. But there was that in the +wind which kept us always uneasy; and at no time after the night +when Sim Muzzy left us, never to return to the brig Adventure, did +we have a moment of complete security. + +Every one asked questions about poor Sim, and by the way the various +ones received our answers they indicated much of their own attitude +toward us. Abe Guptil was moved almost to tears, and most of the men +forward shook their heads sympathetically, although in my presence, +since I was not one of them, they said little. But Matterson would +smile with a certain unkind satisfaction, and Neil Gleazen would +laugh softly, and here and there some one or other of the men would +make sly jests or cast sidelong glances at Arnold and me. + +Of all the men on board, Seth Upham was conspicuously the most +disturbed; and as he gloomily paced the deck,--a practice he +continued even after Captain North had returned,--I heard him more +than once murmuring to himself, "Sim, Sim, O my poor Sim! Into what +a plight I have led you!" + +Arnold and I suggested in the cabin that we send out a searching +party to see what we could learn of Sim's fate, and Uncle Seth urged +it madly upon the others; but Gleazen and Matterson would hear +nothing of it, and even Gideon North told us frankly that he +regarded such measures as hopeless. + +"The man's gone and I'm sorry," he said; "but I honestly believe it +is useless for us to try to help him now." + +So, reluctantly, we dropped the matter, after reporting it both to +the local authorities and to our own consul; for however deeply we +distrusted Gleazen and Matterson, in Captain North we had implicit +faith. + +To prepare for the voyage, we took on board in the next few days +supplies of divers kinds, and though I had learned much by now of +the ways of life at sea, many of the things puzzled me. One day it +was a vast number of empty water-casks; another day, more than a +hundred barrels of farina; yet another day, a boatload of beans and +one of lumber. There were mysterious gatherings in the cabin from +which Arnold and I were excluded,--we could not fail to notice that +they took place when Captain North was ashore,--but to which gentry +with dingy wristbands and shiny faces were bid; and presently we saw +stowed away forward iron boilers and iron bars, a great box of iron +spoons, a heap of rusty shackles, and still puzzling, although +perhaps less so, a mighty store of gunpowder. + +All this occasioned a long argument between Arnold and Captain North +and myself, which fully enlightened me concerning the purpose of the +mysterious supplies. But reluctant though we were to take the goods +on board, there was nothing that we could do to stop it so long as +my uncle, under Gleazen's influence, insisted on it; for as owner of +the brig, and in that particular port where contraband trade played +so important a part, he could have had us even jailed, if necessary, +to carry his point. Our only way to serve him best in the end was to +stand by in silence and let the stores, such as they were, go into +the hold. + +All the time my uncle came and went in a silence so deep that, if I +had not now and then caught his eyes fixed upon me with a sadness +that revealed, more than words, how unhappy he was, I could scarcely +have believed that he was the same Seth Upham in whose house I had +lived so long. From a person of importance in his own town and a +leader among those of us who had set forth with him, he had fallen +to a place so shameful that I felt for him the deepest concern, and +for the precious villains that were thus dishonoring my mother's +brother, the deepest anger. + +"There are no pirates on the seas nowadays," I remarked one morning +to Neil Gleazen who stood beside me watching all that went +forward--and all the time I watched his face. "Why then should we +set out armed to fight a sloop-of-war? Or ship a pair of +small-swords on the cabin bulkhead?" + +"Trade and barter, Joe," he replied. "The niggers fairly tumble over +themselves to buy such tricks. There's money in it, Joe." Then he +laughed as if mightily pleased with himself. + +"But," I persisted, scarcely veiling my impatience, "you've said +more than once that trade is not the object of our voyage." + +"True, Joe." He lowered his voice. "But that's no reason to neglect +a chance to turn our money over. Ah, Joe, you're a good lad, and we +must have a bout with the foils some day soon. I'm sure we'll get +along well together, you and I." + +He smiled and clapped me on the shoulder; but the old spell was +broken, and when he had gone, I ruminated for a long time on one +thing and another that had occurred in the past months. + +That evening, when Arnold and I stood with Gideon North abaft the +wheel where there was no one to overhear us, Arnold and the honest +captain would have confirmed my worst suspicions, had they needed to +be confirmed. But by then I had observed as much as they, and we +talked only in such vague terms as pleased our mood. + +"No! There's more to this voyage than has appeared on the surface +even yet," Captain North said in an undertone. + +"I have heard them talking in Spanish," said Arnold Lamont, "of +gold--and of other things--of two men on the coast--and of a ship +wrecked at the hour they needed her most. They share a great secret. +They have come scarred through more than one fight and have lost the +vessel on which they counted to make their fortunes. They are taking +us back now, perhaps to fight for them, perhaps to run for them, but +always as their creatures. So much I, too, have learned. We must +walk circumspectly, my friends. We must keep always together and +guard always against treachery. _Mon dieu!_ what men they are!" + +It was the longest speech I had ever heard Arnold make. + +Next day, following the arrival of a boatload of as rascally looking +mariners as ever attempted to ship on board a reputable vessel, +there ensued a quarrel so sudden and violent and so directly +concerned with our fortunes, that Arnold and I hung in breathless +suspense on the issue. + +"Gentlemen," Gideon North cried, hammering the cabin table with his +fist, "as captain of this brig, I and I alone will say who shall +ship with me and who shall not. I'll not have my crew packed with +vagabonds and buccaneers. I'll turn those fellows back on shore, be +it bag in hand and clothes upon them, or be it as stark naked as +they came into this world, and I'll have you leave my crew alone +from this day forth." + +Matterson laughed lightly. "Ah, captain," he said, in bitter +sarcasm, "you are so excitable. They are able men. I'll answer for +them." + +"Mr. Matterson," the captain retorted, "it devolves upon you to +answer for yourself, which bids fair to be no easy task." + +"But," roared Gleazen, cursing viciously, "the owner says they're to +come. And, by heaven, you'll cram them down your throat." + +"Stuff and nonsense--" + +By this time I felt that I could hold my peace no longer. Certainly +I was party to whatever agreement should be reached. "You lie!" I +cried to Gleazen, "the owner said nothing of the kind!" + +"How about it, Seth, how about it?" Gleazen demanded, disdainfully +ignoring me. "Speak out your orders, speak 'em out or--" the man's +voice dropped until it rumbled in his throat "--or--you know what." + +Poor Seth Upham had thought himself so strong and able and shrewd! +So he had been in little Topham. But neither the quick wit nor the +native courage necessary to cope with desperate, resolute men was +left to him now. + +"I--I--" he stammered. "Take one or two of them, Captain North, just +one or two,--do that for me, I beg you,--and let the rest go." + +"What!" exclaimed Gideon North. + +"One or two?" Gleazen thundered, "one or two? Only one or two?" + +Instantly both men had turned upon my uncle. Both men, their eyes +narrowed, their jaws out-thrust, faced him in hot anger. There was a +moment of dreadful silence; then, to my utter amazement, my uncle +actually got down on his knees in front of Neil Gleazen, down on his +marrow bones on the bare boards, and wailed, "In the name of Heaven, +Neil, don't tell! Don't tell!" + +[Illustration: "_In the name of Heaven, Neil, don't tell! Don't +tell!_"] + +While we stared at him, Gideon North, Arnold, and I, literally +doubting what our eyes told us was the plain truth, Matterson said +lightly, as if he were speaking of a sick and fretful child, "Let +him have it, Neil. I hate scenes. Keep only Pedro." + +Gideon North looked first at my uncle, then at Matterson, and then +back at my uncle. As if to a certain extent moved by the scene that +we had just witnessed, he said no more; so of five strange seamen, +next day all save one went ashore again. + +That brief, fierce quarrel had revealed to us, as nothing else could +have, into what a desperately abject plight my uncle had fallen. At +the time it shocked me beyond measure. It was so pitifully, so +inexpressibly disgraceful! In all the years that have passed since +that day in Havana harbor I have not been able to forget it; to this +moment I cannot think of it without feeling in my cheeks the hot +blood of shame. + +The man whom Matterson chose to keep on board the Adventure appeared +to be a good-natured soul, and he went by the name of Pedro. What +other name he had, if any, I never knew; but no seafaring man who +ever met him needed another name. Years afterwards, down on old Long +Wharf in Boston, I elicited an exclamation of amazement by saying to +a sailor who had slyly asked me for the price of a glass of beer, +"Did you ever know a seafaring man named Pedro who had a pet +monkey?" + +By his monkey I verily believe the man was known in half the ports +of the world. He came aboard with the grinning, chattering beast, +which seemed almost as big as himself, perched on his shoulder. He +made it a bed in his own bunk, fed it from his own dipper, and +always spoke affectionately of it as "my leetle frien'." + +The beast was uncannily wise. There was something +veritably Satanic in the leers with which it would regard the men, +and before we crossed the ocean, as I shall relate shortly, it +became the terror of Willie MacDougald's life. + +So far as most of us could see, we were now ready to weigh anchor +and be off; but by my uncle's orders we waited one day more, and on +the morning of that day Uncle Seth and Neil Gleazen went on shore +together. + +When after a long absence they returned, they had words with Captain +North; and though we had become used by now to quarrels between +Gleazen and the captain, there was a different tone in this one, +which puzzled Arnold and me. + +Presently the two and my uncle went below, where Matterson joined +them; and except for Willie MacDougald, Arnold and I might never +have known what took place. But Willie MacDougald, knocking at our +stateroom door that night, thrust his small and apparently innocent +face into the cabin, entered craftily and said, "If you please, sir, +I've got news worth a pretty penny." + +"How much is it worth?" Arnold asked. + +"A shilling," Willie whispered. + +"That is a great deal of money." + +"Ah, but I've got news that's worth it." + +"I shall be the judge of that," Arnold responded. + +Willie squinted up his face and whispered, "They've got new papers." + +"How so?" Arnold demanded. He did not yet understand what Willie +meant. + +"Why, new papers. Portuguese papers." + +"Ah," said Arnold. "Forged, I suppose? Shall we not sail under the +American flag?" + +"Ay, ay, sir, but the schooner Shark and the sloop of war Ontario +are to be sent across for cruising." + +"Ah!" + +"And Seth Upham's sold the brig." + +"Sold it!" Arnold exclaimed. For the moment both he and I thought +that Willie was lying to us. + +"Ay, ay, sir. To be delivered in Africa. Half the money down, and +half on delivery." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Why, sir," said the crafty youngster, who understood better than +either of us the various subterfuges to which African traders +resorted in order to elude searching cruisers, "all they have to do +to change registry is to say she's delivered to the new owners, and +fly a new flag and show the bill of sale." + +"Go on, go on. Must I drag the story from you word by word?" + +"Captain North, sir, said he'd be hanged first; and Mr. Gleazen said +he'd be hanged anyway; and ain't that worth two bits?" + +Arnold flung a coin to the grasping little wretch, and he went out +and closed the door behind him. + +It was dark just outside our stateroom, and neither Willie nor we +had been able to see anything that might have been there. For half a +minute after Willie left us, while he was feeling his way toward the +cabin, all was still. Then he suddenly shrieked so wildly that we +leaped from our berths. + +There was a sound of crashing and bumping. Even wilder shrieks +filled the air, and we heard a curious chattering and mumbling. +Something fell against the stateroom door and cracked a panel, the +door flew open, and in toppled Willie with Pedro's monkey grasping +him firmly by the throat from its perch on the little fellow's +shoulders. + +"Help, help!" Willie shrieked. "Lord save me! It's the devil! Help! +I repent! I repent!" And he tripped and fell with a crash. + +As he fell, the coin flew out of his hand, and the monkey, seeing +the flash of silver, leaped after it, picked it up, fled like a lean +brown shadow through the door, and was gone we knew not where. + +To this day I am not able to make up my mind whether the child's +anger or his fear was the greater. Turning like a flash, he saw what +it was that had attacked him; yet he made no move to pursue the +beast, and from that time on he regarded it with exceedingly great +caution and nimbly and prudently betook himself out of its way. +Canny, scheming, selfish Willie MacDougald! + +At peep of dawn we got up our anchors and set sail and put out to +sea, carrying with us heavy knowledge of perils and dangers that +encompassed us, and sad memories of our old home in Topham, of our +old friends in trouble, of high hopes that had fallen into ruin. + +It comforted me to see Abraham Guptil working with the crew. He +stood in good repute with every man on board, from Matterson and +Gleazen to little Willie MacDougald, who now was in the steerage +watching with great, round eyes all that went on about him. Good Abe +Guptil! He, at least, concealed no diabolical craft beneath an +innocent exterior. + +I thought of Sim Muzzy. Poor Sim! Since he had disappeared that +night in the clutches of the press-gang, nothing that we had been +able to do had called forth a single word of his whereabouts. He had +vanished utterly, and though neither Arnold nor I had ever felt any +great affection for the garrulous fellow, we both were sincerely +grieved to lose an old companion thus unhappily. + +Now, as our sails filled, we swept past the Merry Jack and Eleanor, +and the sight came to me like a shock of ill omen. The black +disgrace of her lawless trade, the brutal men who manned her, the +sinister experience that had followed so closely our call upon her +captain, all combined to make me feel that the shadow she had cast +upon us was not easily to be evaded. + +It was good to turn back once more to solid, substantial Gideon +North, firm, wise Arnold Lamont, and kindly, trustworthy Abe Guptil. +On them and on me Uncle Seth's fortunes and my own depended, if not +indeed our very lives. + +Mr. Matterson handled the brig from the forecastle and handled her +ably. Not even Captain North, who watched him constantly with +searching eyes, could find a thing of which to complain. His almost +feminine voice took on a cutting quality that reached each man on +board and conveyed by its hard, keen edge a very clear impression of +what would happen if aught should go astray. But there was that +about him which made it impossible to trust him; and Gleazen, +seeming by his airs far more the owner than my poor, cowed uncle, +stood by Gideon North and looked the triumph that he felt. + +So we passed between the castle and the battery and showed our heels +to Cuba and set our course across the sea and lived always on guard, +always suspicious, yet never confirming further our suspicions, +until, weeks later, the lookout at the masthead cried, "Land ho!" + +The low, dark line that appeared far on the horizon, to mark the end +of an uncommonly tranquil passage, so pleasantly in contrast to our +voyage to Cuba, deepened and took form. There was excitement forward +and aft. Gleazen and Matterson clapped hands on shoulders and roared +their delight and cried that now,--they were vile-mouthed, profane +men,--that now neither God nor devil should thwart them further. + +Through the ship the word went from lip to lip that yonder lay the +coast of Guinea. + +It had become natural to us in the cabin to align ourselves on one +side or the other. Gleazen and Matterson stood shoulder to shoulder, +and Gideon North and Arnold Lamont and I gathered a little farther +aft. We acted unconsciously, for all of us were intent on the land +that we had raised; and my poor uncle, apparently assuming neither +friend nor enemy, leaned against the cabin all alone. His face was +averted and I could catch only a glimpse of his profile; but I was +convinced that I saw his lip tremble. + +Yonder, in truth, lay the coast of Guinea, and there at last every +one of us was to learn the secret of that mad expedition which had +so long since set forth from the little New England town of Topham. + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV + +THREE DESPERATE MEN + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE ISLAND + + +To the dark land on the sky-line, we swiftly drew nearer, and +presently saw a low shore where a thread of gleaming white, which +came and went, told us unmistakably that great seas were breaking. +Of the exact point that we had reached on the coast we still were in +doubt, for our charts were poor and Captain North suspected the +quadrant of having developed some fault of a nature so technical +that I neither understood it at the time nor now remember its name; +so we hove to, while Gleazen and Matterson and Gideon North, and +eventually Mr. Severance, of whom I saw less and thought more seldom +than of any other man in the cabin, put their heads together and +argued the matter. + +Mr. Severance was a good enough man in his place, I suppose, but he +was too indolent and self-centred, and too sleepily fond of his +pipe, to command attention. + +For all the headway that the four seemed to be making, they might +have argued until the crack of doom, as far as I could see, when +from the masthead came the cry, "Sail ho!" + +Matterson and Gleazen faced about, as quickly as weasels on a stone +wall, and Gideon North was not much behind them. + +"Where away?" + +"Off the larboard bow!" + +"What do you make her out?" Captain North demanded. + +"As yet, sir, she's too far off to be seen clearly." + +I had known that we were sailing dangerous seas, but nothing else +had so vividly brought our dangers home to me as did the scene of +desperate activity that now ensued. Hoarse orders went booming up +and down the decks. Men sprang to braces and halyards. For a moment +the foresail, newly let fall, roared in the wind, then, clapping +like thunder, it filled, as the men tailed on tack and sheet, and +catching the wind, stiffened like iron. Wearing ship, we set every +stitch of our canvas, and with a breeze that drove us like a +greyhound through the long, swiftly running seas, went lasking up +the coast of Africa, as, intently training glasses across the +taffrail, we waited to see more of the strange vessel. + +Notwithstanding our feverish efforts to elude her, she had drawn +slowly nearer, and we made out that she was a schooner and as fleet +as a bird. For a time there was talk of the armed schooner Shark, +which our own government was reported to have sent out to cruise for +slavers. + +It was with grim interest that we watched her every manoeuvre. Our +men forward would constantly turn their heads to study her more +closely, and those of us aft kept our eyes fixed upon her. Swift as +was the Adventure, it was plain from the first that the schooner was +outsailing her in a way that seemed almost to savor of wizardry. + +"I swear I can see the hangman's knot in her halyard," Gleazen +cried, and roundly braced his oath. "Never before did I feel such an +itching on my neck." + +At that Gideon North sternly said, "If she's a government vessel, +gentlemen, I can assure you that we will not run from her. We have +committed no crime; we carry no contraband. It is not government +vessels I fear." + +"There's reason in that, too!" Gleazen muttered. "Yes, I'd as soon +swing, as go over the side with my throat slit." Then, caustically, +he added, "No! Oh, no! We've no contraband, you say. So we haven't. +But we have enough water-casks for three hundred men, and lumber for +extra decks, and shackles and nigger food." + +Gideon North flamed red and started to respond angrily; but +Matterson, with a sly smile, turned the argument off by saying +lightly, "If she's the Shark she's sailing under false colors. See! +She's broken out the flag of Spain." + +"Humph," Captain North grunted, "she's a trader at best--" + +"In either case, Captain North, she is outsailing us, for all our +Baltimore bow and grand spread of canvas," Matterson interposed. +"But never fear, Captain North, Gleazen and I have a way with us. We +have no wish to meet with any ships of war, but from mere pirates +and slavers we are not, I beg to assure you, in any great danger." + +"Humph! The devil looks well after his own." + +"The devil," Matterson retorted with an ironical smile, "is not so +bad a master as some men would make him out to be." + +Leaning on the rail, we silently watched the swift, strange +schooner. Above the horizon, so perfectly did the bright canvas with +the sun upon it blend into the background of sky, we could see only +the black shadows that appeared on the sails just abaft the masts +and stays; but her hull made a clean, bright line against the vivid +blue of the sea, and against that same blue the foot of her mainsail +stood out as sharp and white as if cut from bone. She continued to +gain on us surely all that afternoon, but our apprehensions, which +grew keener as she drew nearer, were allayed when she stood out to +sea and gave us as wide a berth as we desired. She was a rarely +beautiful sight, when, in the early evening, still far out at sea, +she passed us; and remembering the Merry Jack and Eleanor in Havana +harbor, I could not bear to think that so graceful a craft might +carry sordid sights and smells. + +After a time, as the light changed, her sails turned to a slate-gray +touched with dull blue, and with a great blotch of purple shadow +down the middle, where mainsail merged into staysail and foresail, +and foresail into jib. So grim, now, did she appear in the gathering +darkness, that I could have believed almost anything of her. And now +she was gone! Lost to sight! Vanished into the distant, almost +uncharted waters of the great gulf! Only the memory of her marvelous +swiftness and of the changing light on her sails was left to +us--that and the memory of one more angry encounter with Gleazen and +Matterson. + +That night, while we lay in those long slow seas which roll in upon +the African coast, the two spent hours by the taffrail in low-voiced +conversation, and Gideon North sat below over his charts and papers, +and Arnold and I strolled about the deck, arm in arm, talking of one +project and another. But my uncle, Seth Upham, the man who owned the +Adventure, paced the deck alone in the moonlight, now with his head +bent as if under the weight of a heavy burden, now with his head +erect and with an air of what seemed at some moments wild defiance. +An odor of tobacco drifted back to us on the wind from where the +carpenter and the sailmaker were smoking together, and we heard the +voices of men in the forecastle. + +When, at daybreak, we resumed our course up the coast, we knew that +we were near the end of our journey, for Gleazen and Matterson were +constantly conferring together and with Gideon North; and a dozen +times in two hours, one or the other of them charged the masthead +man to keep a smart lookout. + +Now Gleazen would lean his elbows on the rail and search the +horizon; now he would hand the glass to Matterson and stride the +deck in a fury of impatience. Below, the log-book lay open on the +cabin table at a blank page, on which there was a rough +pencil-sketch of coast and a river and an island. On a chart, which +lay half open across a chair, someone had drawn a circle with a pair +of compasses, half on land and half on sea; and when Arnold silently +drew my attention to it, I saw that in the circle someone had +penciled the same sketch that I had seen on the blank page of the +log-book. + +Coast, river, and island! We studied the sketch in silence and +talked of it afterward. + +That evening, for the first time in many hours, we came on Captain +North alone by the rail. + +"Someone has drawn an island on the chart," said Arnold, slowly. + +Gideon North growled assent. + +"Well?" said Arnold. + +"It would seem that the blithering idiots don't know its bearings +within a hundred miles, and yet they expect me to bring it straight +aboard. One says thus and so; t'other says so and thus. Gleazen +talked loudest and I took his word first--like a fool, for he's no +navigator. I'd not put such foolishness beyond Seth Upham, but the +others ought to know better. Aye! And they do know better." + +"What island?" I demanded. + +He shot a keen glance at me. + +"Hm! Have they said naught to you?" + +"Not a word." + +Arnold was smiling. + +"Nor to you?" Gideon North demanded, seeing him smile. + +"Nor to me." + +"Then," said he, "you two know less than I, and I know little +enough." + +"If you know more than we, pray tell us what you can?" + +"After all," said he, "I only know that we are looking for an +island, and that when we find it the deviltry is yet to begin--" He +smiled grimly. "We'll yet have a chance to see sparks fly from those +weapons Gleazen hung in the cabin. I hear he's a clever man at the +smallsword." + +When he said that, Captain North looked at Arnold and me as if to +question us. + +"Clever?" I replied. "Yes, he's clever, though--" + +I then saw that Arnold was smiling. I remembered seeing him smile +when Gleazen and I were fencing on the green. I remembered his +saying that he had not been laughing at me. And now he was smiling +again! + +I stammered with embarrassment and clumsily concluded, "But--but not +so very--perhaps not very clever." + +In the waist I heard Gleazen call in a low voice, "Masthead! You +there, wake up!" + +"Ay-ay, sir," came the man's reply. + +"Not so loud," said Gleazen. "Have you seen no lights--no land?" + +"No lights, sir, and no land but the coast yonder, which we've seen +these two days." + +I could just make out that Gleazen was leaning on the bulwark and +staring into the northeast. + +"Did you hear that?" Captain North asked in a whisper. + +We both had heard it. + +"I'm thinking," Captain North presently muttered, "that we're like +to see more land than will be good for us. Mark the sky to +westward." + +It was banked with clouds. + +The island, when we found it, which we did early next day, proved +to be low and flat and marshy. Behind it, exactly according to the +sketch in the log-book and on the chart, lay the mouth of a river. +On the mainland in each direction, as far as we could see, and on +the bar at the mouth of the river, and on the outer shore of the +island, which seemed to be in the nature of a delta, although with +deep water behind it where the flow of the river appeared to have +kept a Y-shaped channel open, a great surf broke with muffled roar; +and in the channel a ruffle of choppy waves indicated that stream +and tide combined to make a formidable current. + +As we bore down on it, Gleazen and Matterson and Seth Upham drew +apart and stood smiling as they talked together in undertones. But +Captain North and Mr. Severance and some of the older sailors were +studying sky and wind and currents, and their frowns indicated that +much was amiss. + +To me, watching Gleazen and Matterson, it seemed strange that men +who but a little while ago had been so fiercely eager should all at +once become as subdued as deacons before the communion table; and it +was only when I edged around until I could see Gleazen's face that I +suspected the wild glee that the man was restraining. The light in +his eyes and the change in his expression so fascinated me that for +the moment I almost forgot Arnold Lamont and Gideon North and the +alliance that bound us together, almost forgot my poor uncle and his +wild hopes, almost forgot the very island whose low and sedgy shores +we were approaching. + +"Gentlemen," cried Captain North,--his voice startled me as much as +those whom he addressed,--"would you wreck this vessel by keeping me +here on a lee shore with heaven only knows what weather brewing? +Look for yourselves at those clouds in the southwest. If this +harbor, of which you were talking yesterday, is within fifty miles +of us, we must run for it. If not, we must stand off shore and +prepare to ride out the storm." + +"The harbor, Captain North," Matterson returned, his light voice +hard with antagonism, "is much less than fifty miles from here. You +will lay by for one hour while we go ashore on that island yonder; +then I will pilot you to harbor." + +"_Mister Matterson!_" said Captain North calmly, turning on the +giant of a man beside him, "are you mate or master?" + +"Captain North," Matterson very quietly replied, "I am mate of this +vessel, and as mate I do not dictate. Have I not worked faithfully +and well on this voyage? Have I not carried out every order of +yours?" + +It was true, for to the surprise of Gideon North and Arnold and +myself, he had made a first-class mate. + +"But I also am a friend of the owner and as friend of the owner, I +spoke just now, forgetting my place as mate, I ask you to pardon +me." + +In his words and his manner there was something so oily and +insincere that from the bottom of my heart I distrusted him, and so, +obviously enough, did Gideon North. But the man's sudden change of +front took the weapons, so to speak, out of the captain's hands; and +before he could reply Matterson said, "Mr. Upham, what are your +wishes in the matter?" + +I looked first at my uncle, then I looked back at Matterson, and as +I looked at Matterson, I caught a glimpse over his shoulder of Neil +Gleazen, who was staring at Uncle Seth with a scowl on his brow and +with his lips moving. Turning again to my uncle, I once more saw on +his face, now so weak, the pathetically timid expression that I had +come to know so well. + +"If there's no immediate danger--" he began. + +"There's none at all!" Matterson and Gleazen cried with one voice. + +"Then let us go ashore, say for merely half an hour." + +Captain North, with a shrug as of resignation, put the trumpet to +his lips and gave orders that brought the brig into the wind with +sails ashiver. + +"Come, lads," Gleazen cried to Arnold and me, "the more the +merrier." + +So into the boat we climbed, and I for one was pleased to find that +Abe Guptil had an oar. + +It was about half a mile from the brig to the island, and when we +reached it and hauled out the boat, I pushed ahead of the others. +Climbing from the edge of the water up the little incline at the +head of the beach, I saw first of all, on the farther shore a +quarter of a mile away, the ribs and broken planking of a wrecked +ship. Then, before I had taken another step, I saw some little +creature running through the grass and looked after it eagerly, to +discover what strange kind of animal would inhabit so barren and +remote an isle. + +At first I saw only that the animal was long and gray. Then it came +out into plain sight, and I saw that it was a rat--an ordinary rat +such as I had seen by the hundreds in old barns and in old ships. +And how, I wondered, had an ordinary rat, such as might slink along +the wharves at Boston, come to live on that lonely island? Before an +answer occurred to me, I saw another running away in a different +direction, and another and another. I stopped short and looked about +me. Here, there, everywhere were rats. The island was peopled with +them. With big gray rats! Then I looked at the bones of that wrecked +ship, which stuck up out of the water, and knew that I had found the +answer to my question. They were rats from that ship; they had come +ashore when she was wrecked. + +What they lived on, I never knew; but there they had flourished and +multiplied and formed in the midst of those blue seas a great rat +empire. + +"Rats!" I heard Gleazen exclaim. "Pfaw! How I hate them!" + +Throwing sticks ahead of him to drive away the lean, gray vermin, he +started across the marshy land toward the old wreck, and the rest of +us fell in behind him. + +Of us all, Matterson showed the least repugnance for the multitude +of snaky little beasts that swarmed around us at a distance and +watched us with angry eyes as black as shoe buttons. + +And now we came to the wreck and saw a sight that filled me with +horror. In the hold, into which we could look through holes between +the ribs and between the beams where the waves had torn away the +spar deck, there were five human skeletons chained by their +ankle-bones to the timbers. Yet, so far as there was any outward +sign, I was the only one to see the skeletons. + +Matterson and Gleazen looked long and sadly at the old hulk, and +Gleazen finally said, "She's done for and gone, Molly. There's not a +thing left about her that's worth salving." + +Matterson gloomily nodded. "Mr. Upham," said he, "we lost two +hundred prime niggers that night." + +I turned away from them, as they stood there talking, and went back +to the boat. It would be good, I thought while I waited, to leave +the island forever. + +Whatever the outcome of their talk may have been, the rising wind +presently brought them back to the boat in a hurry. We launched her, +and tumbled aboard, drenched from head to foot, and after a lively +struggle came up alee of the brig. It was plain that we must soon +seek shelter, for already the storm was blowing up and the waves +came charging down upon us in fierce, racing lines. + +"Yonder island," Matterson was saying, at the same time marking a +diagram on the palm of one hand with the forefinger of the other, +"yonder island is part of the delta of the Rio Polo. It runs so--and +so--and all but the island is washed away. You see, do you not, +gentlemen? If Captain North will run straight so,--northeast by +east, say,--holding his bearings by the angle of ripples where you +see the current veer, and when we are four cables' lengths from the +breakers give me the wheel, I will take her over the bar." + +"Mr. Matterson--" + +"The responsibility is mine, Captain North, by the owner's orders." + +"Ah, Mr. Upham," said the captain, with a wry smile, "and is this +the kind of support you give me?" + +Not one word did my uncle say. + + * * * * * + +I had seen Pedro's monkey for a while playfully swinging from rope +to rope and later scratching its ear as it sat on the companion +hatch; but I had not seen it go below, nor had any of the others. To +this day no one knows just how it evaded us, for it was forbidden +the cabin, and every man on board had orders to head it off if it +showed any inclination to go there. Yet the mischievous beast did +slip below, and for once succeeded in catching Willie MacDougald off +his guard. + +Willie, it seems, had been engaged in the praiseworthy occupation of +spying on Neil Gleazen, and had one eye firmly fixed to the keyhole +of the cabin door when the monkey calmly jabbed teeth and claws into +the luckless boy's leg. + +His yell startled every man on deck; but far more than it startled +us did it startle the man in the cabin, who had thought himself safe +from peeping eyes. + +First we heard Willie yelling with all the power of his brazen +little throat; then the cabin door was flung open with a bang; then +suddenly Willie and the monkey literally flew out of the +companionway and alighted on deck. + +The fall was short and neither was much hurt. But when each tried to +escape from the other, both started to run in the same direction and +Willie, tripping, fell on the monkey. At that, the monkey grabbed +Willie's head with its front claws, raked its hind claws across his +face, then snatching out two good handfuls of hair, fled +triumphantly aloft. + +Gleazen burst out on deck at that very instant, and seeing nothing +of Willie who--luckily for him!--had fallen out of sight round the +corner of the cabin, started into the rigging, swearing to skin the +monkey alive. + +Meanwhile Matterson was like to have died laughing at Willie +MacDougald,--and, indeed, so were the rest of us!--for between anger +and fear, and with half a dozen long scratches across his cheeks, he +was in a sad state of mind. I tell you, any ideas of his innocent +childhood that we may have entertained completely vanished before +the flood of oaths that the little wretch was pouring out, when +Gideon North collared him and sent him below with stinging ears. + +And now, since all that takes so long to tell happened quickly, the +breakers were close aboard, when Gleazen, who had followed the +scapegrace monkey to the mizzen royal yard, roared in that great +voice of his:-- + +"Sail ho! By heaven, there's a cruiser in the offing." + +He came down the rigging like a cat, bawling orders as he came, and +at the same time Gideon North was giving counter-orders. It seemed +for a moment that in that scene of confusion, which suddenly from +comedy had changed to the grimmest of grim earnest, we should go on +beam-ends into the surf. + +Seas such as I had never dreamed of were breaking on the bar before +us. Overhead a storm was gathering. In the offing, it was reported, +there sailed a strange and hostile ship. And in the brig Adventure +there were contradictory orders and tangled ropes and men working at +cross purposes. + +Say what you will against Matterson in most respects, in that +emergency he was the man who saved us. Throwing the helmsman from +the wheel so violently that he fell clean over the companion ladder +and down to the spar-deck, he seized the wheel and cried in a voice +as hard as steel, "Gleazen, be still! Be still, I say! Now, Captain +North, with head yards aback and after yards braced for the +starboard tack, we'll make it." + +Captain North, with an able man at the wheel,--to pay the devil his +due,--gave orders in swift succession and the brig came back on her +course and rose to meet the breakers. How Matterson so surely and +confidently found the exact channel, I do not know. But this I do +know: he took the brig in through the breakers without the error of +as much as a hair's breadth, straight in along the channel, with +never a mark to guide him that I could see, except the belt of tidal +chop and the eddies of the intermingling currents, to the +comparative quiet of the mouth of a river that led away before us +into the mazes of vast swamps and tangled waterways, where mangroves +and huge interweaving, overhanging vines and sickly sweet flowers +grew in all the riotous luxury of tropical vegetation. + +To me the calm river seemed an amazing haven from every danger that +we had encountered outside. But not so to Matterson. + +Looking back at the thundering breakers, he thoughtfully shook his +head. + +"Well," said Gleazen significantly, "if worst comes to worst, we can +fight." + +"If worst comes to worst." + +"Well?" + +Matterson shook himself like a dog. "It's the niggers," he said in a +low voice. "If them infernal witch doctors get wind of us!" + +Gleazen stared a long time into the mangroves. + +"It ain't as if we could take an army," Matterson continued. "We've +got to take only them we _know_--_know_, mind you. What'd our lives +be worth if all these here--" he waved his hand at the crew +forward--"if all these here knew. It would pay 'em well to knock us +on the head." + +Still Gleazen stared silently into the tangled swamp. + +"It would pay 'em well," Matterson repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +STRANGEST OF ALL + + +Even had I not suspected already that Matterson had brought vessels +into the mouth of that river many times before, I could not have +doubted it after seeing him bring the Adventure through the narrow +channel across the bar, and up to the mouth of the river itself. I +marveled that, having been more than a year away from it,--how much +more than a year I did not know,--he dared even attempt the passage. +But whatever his faults, indecision and fear were not among them, +and he had justified his bold course by bringing us safely within +the sheltering bar, where the lookouts reported minute by minute +every movement of the suspicious distant sail, which approached +until from the deck we could see her courses, and then wore ship to +haul off shore before the storm caught her. + +"Bah! The cruising curs!" Matterson scornfully exclaimed. "Captain +North, shall I continue to serve as pilot and take the brig up the +river?" + +"Since up the river it seems we are to go," Captain North returned +stiffly, "I place the helm and all responsibility in your hands, Mr. +Matterson." With that he folded his arms and, with a nod to Seth +Upham, withdrew to the weather-rail. + +My poor uncle! + +Never was there merer figurehead than he as owner of the brig +Adventure. It was pathetic to see him try to maintain his dignity +and speak and answer smartly, even sharply as of old, when every man +on board knew that if that reckless, high-handed pair, Gleazen and +Matterson were at any time to cease tolerating him, his life would +be worth no more than the flame of a snuffed candle. He must have +been perfectly well aware of the weak part he had played, yet he +held up his head and boldly returned Gideon North's glance and nod. + +Meanwhile Matterson had climbed to the masthead and with glass at +eye was studying the stranger. Now he came slowly down again, and +said to Gleazen, "She's bearing off in good faith to ride out the +storm, Neil. What say? Shall we anchor here behind the bar?" + +Gleazen shook his head. + +"There's fair shelter," Matterson persisted. + +Gleazen waved his hand at the black sky. "But not shelter enough," +he said. + +"If we go up the river," said Matterson in a low voice, "the news +will spread from here to the hills." + +Gleazen smiled unpleasantly. "Look off the larboard bow," he said. + +We all turned, as did Matterson, and I for one, at first, saw +nothing except the vines and great trees on which fell the shadows +of the premature twilight that foreran the storm. But Matterson +cried out, and Arnold Lamont, seeing my blank expression, touched my +arm and pointed at a dark lane of water and said, "See--there--there!" + + +Then I saw something moving, and made out a canoe. In the canoe was +a big black negro, with round eyes and flat nose and huge, +puffed-out lips. The negro was paddling. Then I saw something else. +I could not believe my eyes. I turned to the others, and knew by +their faces that they and Arnold had seen it, too, and that Seth +Upham had not. + +Then Gleazen, who was looking hard at Matterson, said with an oath, +"The beer is spilt. It's up the river for us." + +And Matterson nodded. + +In that canoe, which had already swiftly and silently disappeared +among the mangroves, I had seen a white girl. + +I cannot describe her to you now as she then appeared in the canoe, +sitting in front of the great, black canoeman. It was long ago, and +even at the time I was so startled, so amazed, that I saw only her +white face and great dark eyes looking out at me from the shadowy +recesses of the swamp. + +I felt as if I had been set down suddenly in the midst of a fairy +story. I strove against a sense of mystery and danger, a thousand +vague terrors. + +I cannot tell you what the girl looked like; yet, though I seem to +deal in contradictions, I have never forgotten that white frightened +face and those dark eyes, which had disappeared as mysteriously as +they had come. + +Then, as the sails filled and the Adventure fell off and got +steerage-way and slipped up the great, swift river, Matterson spun +the wheel with his own hands this way and that. + +At first the shores were low and sedgy and covered deeply with +mangroves; but soon the river widened into a vast mirror, in which +we saw reflected towering trees of numberless varieties, with a +trailing network of vines and flowers, and from among the leaves, +which were unbelievably large, spears of bamboo and cane protruded. +As the wind at our backs drove us slowly up stream, notwithstanding +the swifter current where we passed through the narrows, we saw +plantains, bananas, oranges, lemons, and tall palms. Then between +the trunks we saw fields of rice; and then, as we turned a bend +where the river once more widened, we saw a settlement before us. + +In the centre of a clearing stood low houses built of cane and +thatched with grass, mud huts grouped here and there, and a large +enclosure for some purpose of which I was ignorant. Could the girl +I had seen in the swamp have come thither? On all sides people were +running this way and that, some of them white, but most of them as +black as midnight. So small did the settlement appear, and so +sharply was each figure outlined, that it looked for all the world +like a toy village in a shop window, or like such a tiny model of a +foreign town as sailors sometimes bring home from distant ports. + +As the anchor gripped the bed of the river, and the men, spraddling +out on the footropes and leaning over the yards, clewed up the sails +and hauled in the great folds of canvas, the Adventure brought up on +her cable and lay with her head into the current. + +Matterson and Gleazen who had ordered a boat launched and were +standing in the gangway, now turned and called to Uncle Seth, who +responded by walking toward them with as haughty a manner as if he +were heart and soul in their councils and their plans. All three of +them got into the boat and there talked for a while in undertones. +Then they called Willie MacDougald to come tumbling after them, and +all together they hastily went ashore, where I saw that a crowd had +gathered to meet them; then the storm, which had so long been +threatening, broke with a roar of wind and rain, and Arnold and I, +going below, had the cabin for a time to ourselves. + +Arnold sat down by the cabin table and looked around at ports and +doors, and at the dueling swords on the bulkhead, and up at the +skylight on which the storm was fiercely beating. + +"You, too," he said, with a quiet smile, "you, too, Joe, look around +at the cabin of this good brig. It has not been a pleasant place to +live, but I do believe there are times coming when we shall wish +ourselves back again in this very spot." + +"And what have you learned now of our friends' plans?" I asked. + +"One does not have to learn so much, Joe." + +"But what?" + +Arnold, I knew, was smiling at my impatience, although the light was +so nearly gone that I saw him, when he bent forward, only as a +deeper shadow in the darkness. Yet the ports and the skylight still +were clear enough to be reflected in his eyes when he leaned very +close to me, and whatever his doubts, I saw that he showed no sign +of fear. + +"They talked yesterday and to-day--in Spanish--of the men they call +Bud and Bull, who share the secret that has brought us all the way +from Top--Hark!" + +Arnold half rose. I myself heard a soft step. When Arnold lifted his +hand I saw his knife, now drawn, so far as I knew, for the first +time in apprehension of treachery. Then the step--so soft and +low--sounded again. I reached for my own pistol. The sound was +repeated yet again. It was just outside the door. Then into the +cabin crept a low ambling creature, which we both knew at once must +be Pedro's monkey. + +Arnold laughed quietly and sat down again and breathed deeply. + +"They have discovered--something," he whispered, as if we had +suffered no interruption. + +"That I know well," I said. "But what?" I believed that I, too, had +ferreted out the secret, but I was not yet willing to hazard my +surmises. + +"Sh!" He raised his hand to warn me. "Do you not guess?" he +whispered. "Try! Until they have got what they have found to the +sea, you and I are safe. They must have men to help them who will +not turn and rob them. They do not believe in the saying about honor +among thieves." + +"Come," I cried, "stop speaking in riddles. Tell me!" Then, thinking +of Cornelius Gleazen as I first had seen him, with the rings +flashing on his fingers, I popped out a word that began with D. + +Arnold smiled and nodded. + +"Well," I returned, "speak up and tell me if such a voyage as we +have come upon is not a far-fetched manner of approaching such an +errand as you have described." + +"In a sense, yes. In a sense, no. They are after other things, too. +This good vessel, as we have remarked before, is well found for the +trade." + +Suddenly, he gave me a start by beginning to whistle a lively tune +and to drum on the table. His quick ear had detected another step in +the companionway. As the step drew near, the monkey, which in our +absorption we had quite forgotten, pattered toward the door and +slipped out. + +"What's that? Who's here? Who passed me then?" It was Captain North. + +Arnold struck a spark into tinder and lighted a candle. + +"And what, pray, are you two doing here in the dark?" the captain +demanded. + +"We are passing time with talk of our good friends, Gleazen and +Matterson," said Arnold. + +With an angry exclamation, Captain North took the chair opposite us. + +"Well," said he, "matters have turned out as any sane man might have +known they would. That precious little scamp of a cabin boy will +tell you no more tales, Lamont." + +"You mean--" + +"I'll wager half my wages for the voyage that you and I have seen +the last of him. The monkey betrayed the little scamp after all." + +Although I knew that Willie MacDougald's innocent and childlike face +masked a scheming, rascally mind, I could not so calmly see the +little fellow go, soul and body, into the power of such men as +Gleazen and Matterson, or perhaps worse; and although neither Arnold +nor Gideon North, appraising Willie at his true worth, cared a straw +what became of him, I was so troubled by his probable fate that I +did not listen to the others, who were talking coolly enough about +our own predicament, but, instead, got up and walked around the +cabin. + +It seemed very strange to listen to the roaring wind and driving +rain and yet feel the brig lying quiet underfoot in the strong, deep +current of the river. Now I sat down and listened to a few sentences +of their talk; now I got up and once more paced the cabin. For a +while I thought about Willie MacDougald; then I thought of the +dangers that surrounded us all, and of poor Uncle Seth, once so bold +and arrogant, now become little better than a cowardly, pitiful +wretch; then I thought of the girl I had seen in the jungle, and +strangely enough the memory of her face seemed at once to quiet my +wilder fancies and to enable me to think more clearly than before. + +Becoming aware at last that the storm was passing, I went on deck +and saw lights in the clearing where the houses stood. The wind, +which had come upon us so suddenly and so fiercely, was subsiding as +suddenly as it had arisen, and a deep calm pervaded river, clearing, +and jungle. I had not waited ten minutes before I heard the boat on +the water. + +"I swear," I heard Gleazen say in an angry, excited voice, "I swear +they're lying to us. Bud'll tell us. News travels fast hereabouts. +Bud'll be here soon." + +They came on board, one at a time, all but Willie MacDougald. Of him +there was neither sign nor word. I started forward to question them, +then stopped short. Something in their attitude froze and repelled +me. Of what use were questions--then, at any rate? For a moment +they waited in the gangway, then, all together, they went aft. + +Leaving them and moving to the farther side of the brig, I looked a +long time into the dark, tangled jungle. The clouds had gone and the +stars had come out and the dying wind spoke only in slow, distant +soughs among the leaves. So blackly repellent was the matted and +decaying vegetation, through which dark veins of stagnant water ran, +and so grimly silent, that I could not keep from shuddering with a +sort of childish horror. Surely, I thought, human beings could not +penetrate such depths. Then, almost with my thought, there came +across the dark and fever-laden waters of the great swamp, out of +the black jungle night, a thread of golden melody. Someone in that +very jungle was whistling sweetly an old and plaintive tune. + +I heard the three, Gleazen, Matterson, and my uncle, turn to listen. +By lantern light I saw their faces as they looked intently toward +the jungle. So still had the brig now become, that I actually heard +them breath more quickly. + +Then Neil Gleazen cried, "By the Holy, that's either Bud O'Hara or +his ghost." + +With both hands cupped round his mouth, he was about to send a +hoarse reply roaring back across the river, when Matterson clutched +his hand. + +"Be still," he whispered. "Here's the answer." + +And he, in turn, sent back the answering phrase of that singularly +mournful and haunting ballad: "I Lost my Love in the Nightingale." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAN FROM THE JUNGLE + + +Very slowly Matterson whistled that old tune, "The Nightingale," and +very slowly an answer came back to us; then a long silence ensued. +The black water of the marsh rose and fell. We could hear it +whispering softly as it washed against the tangled roots of the +mangroves, and once in a while I could distinguish the long, faint +rasp of some branch or vine that dragged across another. But except +for those small noises, the place was as still as a house of death; +and as we watched and waited, the feeling grew upon me that we must +be in the midst of a dream. + +Then something moved and caught my eye, and a canoe silently shot +out upon the river. With a swish and swirl of paddles, she came +alongside us and stayed for a moment, like a dragon-fly pausing in +its flight, then shot silently back the way she had come. I had seen +against the water that there were three men in the canoe when she +came; but when she slipped back into the mangroves, I saw that there +were only two. + +Before I had time to question the reason of all this, I saw a man's +head rise above the bulwark and knew that he had sprung from the +canoe to the chains while the little craft so briefly paused. + +Climbing over the bulwark and dropping to the deck, the man said in +low, cautious voice, "Is it Neil I've been hearing? And Molly?" + +"Here we be, Bud, us two and Seth Upham." + +"And sure, do this fine vessel be ours, Neil?" + +"Ours she is, along with Seth Upham. Come, Bud, here is Mr. Upham, +who has joined in with us and gets a half-and-half lay, and here--" + +"O Neil," the mysterious newcomer drawled, "would he be comin' for +naught short of half shares? And where's Molly? Ah, Molly, you've +been long away." + +They all were shaking hands together. + +"And now," said Matterson, "what news of Bull?" + +"Of Bull, is it?" the man replied. "Sure, he's sitting on the chest +o' treasure. Warnings they give us, that the hill is haunted and all +such. Spirits, you know, Neil; spirits, Molly. Sure the niggers know +more about them things than we do--indeed they do. It's not I would +go agin them rashly. But I fixed 'em, lads." + +"How?" asked Matterson softly. + +"Bull laughed at them fit to kill,--which is his way, as you'll +remember,--but not I. Says I, 'Laugh if you will; 't is well to be +fearless since you're the one to stay.' But I did for him better +than the stiff-necked rascal would do for himself. That night I +hunted me out an old master wizard and paid him in gold, and didn't +he give me a charm that will keep spirits away?" + +To hear a sober white man talk of charms with all the faith of a +credulous child amazed me. I had never dreamed there could be such a +man. Pressing closer, I took a good look at this queer stranger, and +saw him to be a short, broad fellow, with a square jaw and a face so +intelligent that my amazement became even greater. + +He, in turn, saw me looking at him, and half in a drawl, half in a +brogue, asked, "Now who'll this one be?" + +"He's the young man that came with Mr. Upham," Gleazen replied. + +"Is he fearless?" asked the strange Bud. "And is he honest?--Aye," +he rather testily added, "and is he, too, to share half-and-half?" + +To that Gleazen returned no answer, but the man's tone made me think +of Gleazen himself roaring drunk and staggering away from Higgleby's +barn, of Matterson with his voice hardened to a cutting edge, of the +master of the Merry Jack and Eleanor, and of the adventurous night +when we parted from poor Sim Muzzy. I tell you honestly, I would +have given every cent I had in the world and every chance I had of +fortune to have been fifteen hundred leagues away. + +Turning to Matterson, the man went on: "'T is not discreet for the +like o' you two to come sailing in by broad daylight with all sail +set. Now why couldn't ye ha' come in a boat, say, and let the brig +lie off the coast. Then we could 'a' met secret-like and 'a' got +away and up the river with no one the wiser. Sure, and there's not a +soul in a thousand miles, now, that ain't heard a tale o' Neil and +Molly." + +"The storm was hard upon us," said Matterson. + +"And a cruiser lay in the offing," said Gleazen. + +"It would be possible, then," the man returned, "that ye're not as +big--not _quite_ as big fools as I took ye to be." + +Then, as if all had been arranged beforehand, while Matterson and +the strange man and Uncle Seth went below to the cabin, Gleazen took +me by the arm and led me away from the others. + +"Joe," he murmured,--and I saw a new, eager glint in his +eyes,--"Joe, there's great times coming. I've made up my mind I can +trust you, Joe, and I'm going to make you my lieutenant. Yes, sir, +I'm going to make you an officer." + +I wondered what kind of story he would tell next, for by this time I +knew him far too intimately to be deceived by his brazen flattery. +It was singularly trying for me, man grown that I was, to be treated +with an air of patronage that a stripling would have resented, and +there were moments when I was like to have turned on Gleazen with a +vengeance. But I waited my time. It was not hard to see that my +patience need not endure interminably. + +"You, Joe, are one of us," he continued, "and we're glad to take you +into our confidence. But these others--" he waved his hand +generally--"we can't have 'em know too much. Now we're going +to-night to get things sized up and ready, and what I want to know, +Joe, is this: will you--as my lieutenant, you understand--take +Arnold and Mr. Severance and Captain North ashore to call on Mr. +Parmenter?" + +"But who," I asked, "is Mr. Parmenter?" + +"He's an Englishman, Joe, and if you can sort of convey to him--you +know what I mean--that we're after hides and ivory, purely a matter +of trade, it'll be a good thing, Joe. Mind you, as my lieutenant, +Joe." + +Never had I been so _Joe'd_ in all my life before. When Gleazen had +gone, I fairly snorted at my sudden and easy honors. Evidently he +told much the same story to the others, except Captain North, with +whom Gleazen himself very well knew that such a flimsy yarn was not +likely to prevail, and to whom Uncle Seth, accordingly, entrusted +some genuine business; and half an hour later we gathered at the +rail to go ashore. + +"Now, then," Captain North said peremptorily, in such a way that I +knew he was entirely unaware of my recent appointment as Gleazen's +lieutenant, "now then, lads, into the boat all hands together." + +"One moment!" I cried. "I forgot something." And with that I ran +back. + +In changing my jacket in honor of the call we were to make, I had +left my pistol behind me. Of no mind to put off without it, I +hurried down to my stateroom. + +Passing through the cabin, I saw that the four men, Gleazen, +Matterson, the strange Bud, and my uncle, were drawing up around the +great table, on which they had carelessly thrown a pack of cards. +They gave me frowns and hard looks as I passed, and I heard them +muttering among themselves at the interruption; but with scarcely a +thought of what they said, I left them to their game. + +No sooner had our boat crunched on the shore than on all sides black +figures appeared from the darkness, and landing, we found ourselves +surrounded by negroes, who pressed upon us until we fairly had to +thrust them back with oars. It was the first time I had set foot on +the continent of Africa, and the place and the people and the +circumstances were all, to my New England apprehension, so +extraordinary and so alarming that I cast a reluctant glance back at +the dim lights of the Adventure. But now a door opened, and I saw in +the bright rectangle a white man in European clothes; and we went up +and shook his hand,--which seemed for some reason to displease him, +although he did not actually refuse it,--and were ushered into a +large room with a board floor and chairs and tables and pictures, +for all the world as if it were a regular house. + +"Under some circumstances I should no doubt be glad to meet you, +gentlemen," he said, with cold reserve, "for no ship has visited us +for more than three months. But we hereabouts are not friendly to +slavers." + +"Nor are we," Gideon North retorted. + +"I think, sir," said Arnold Lamont, soberly and precisely, "that you +mistake our errand." + +He looked at us a long time without saying more, then he quietly +remarked, "I hope so." + +His cold, measured words repelled us and set us at an infinite +distance from him. + +We looked at one another and then at him, and he in turn studied us. + +We four--for Mr. Severance had accompanied us, although as usual he +scarcely opened his mouth--saw a man whose iron-gray hair indicated +that he was a little beyond middle age. The lamp that burned beside +him revealed a strong, rather sad face; the book at his elbow was a +Bible. It came to me suddenly that he was a missionary. + +"You give us chill welcome, sir," said Gideon North. "What, then, +will you have us do to prove that we are not what you believe us?" + +"Your leaders who were here a little while ago," our host replied, +"tried their best to prove it--and failed. Indeed, had I not seen +them, I should more readily believe you. It is not the first time +that I have seen some of them, you must remember." + +Gideon North bit his lip. "Have you considered," he asked, "that we +may not be in accord with them?" + +"A man must be known by the company he keeps." + +"We are in _neither_ sympathy nor accord with them." + +"It is a virtue, sir, no matter what your circumstances, to be at +least loyal to your associates. If you so glibly repudiate your +friends, on what grounds should a stranger trust you?" + +At that Gideon North got up all hot with temper. "Sir," he cried, "I +will not stay to be insulted." + +"Sir," the man returned, "I have insulted, and would insult, no +one." + +"Of that, sir," Gideon North responded, "I will be my own judge." + +"Captain North," said Arnold, "have patience. One moment and we--" + +Turning in the door, which he had reached in two strides, our +captain cried hotly, "Come, men, come! I tell you, come!" + +Mr. Severance followed him in silence; Arnold stepped forward as if +to restrain him, and I, left for a moment with the missionary, +turned and faced him with all the dignity of which I was master. + +"I am sorry that you think so ill of us," I said. + +"I am sorry," he replied, "to see a youth with an honest face in +such a band as that." + +I could think of no response and was about to turn and go, when I +suddenly remembered our lost cabin boy. + +"Can you, in any case," I asked, "tell me what has become of our +cabin boy, Willie MacDougald?" + +"Of whom?" + +"Of Willie MacDougald--the little fellow that came ashore to-day?" + +"Did he not return to the brig?" + +"No." + +The man stepped forward. + +"No," I repeated, "I have not seen him since." + +"Then," he returned, "you are not likely ever to see him again." + +"What do you mean?" I demanded. "What has happened? Where is he?" + +Getting no answer, I looked around the room at the chairs and tables +and pictures,--they had an air of comfort that made me miserably +homesick,--and at the well-trimmed lamp from which the light fell on +the Bible. Then I turned and went out into the darkness. + +What had befallen that hardened little wretch? Where under the +canopy of heaven could he be? I cared little enough for the mere +fate of Willie MacDougald; but as a new indication of the extremes +to which Matterson and Gleazen would go, his disappearance came at a +time that made it singularly ominous. + +As I stood, thus pondering, on the rough porch from which I was +about to step down and stride into the darkness, where I could make +out the figures of negroes of all ages moving restlessly just beyond +the light that shone from the windows, I received such a start as +seldom has come to me. A hand touched my arm so quietly that for a +moment I nearly had an illusion that that miserable little sinner, +Willie MacDougald, had returned from the next world to haunt me in +this one; a low voice said in my ear, "Stay here with us." + +I turned. Just beside me stood the girl whom I had seen in the +canoe. + +"Stay here," she repeated. "They have gone." + +I stammered and tried to speak, and for the first time in my life I +found that my tongue was tied. + +A step rustled in the grass just under the porch; something touched +the floor beside my foot; then a huge black hand brushed gently over +my shoe and up my leg, and a black, grotesque face, with rolling +eyes and round, slightly parted lips, looked up at me, so close to +my hand that unconsciously I snatched it away lest it be bitten. + +Startled nearly out of my wits by this amazing apparition, I gave a +leap backward and crashed against the wall, at which the absurd +negro uttered a shrill whistle of surprise. + +The girl tossed her head and stamped her foot, and spoke to the +negro in a low voice, which yet was clear enough and sharp enough to +send him without a sound into the darkness. + +For a moment the lights from the window shone full upon her, and I +saw that she was proud as well as comely, and spirited as well as +generous. The toss and the stamp showed it; the quick, precise voice +confirmed it; and withal there was a twinkle of kindliness in her +eyes that would have stormed the heart of a far more sophisticated +youth than I. Such spirit is little, if at all, less fascinating to +a young man than beauty; and when spirit and beauty go hand in hand, +he must be a crabbed old bachelor indeed who can withstand the pair. + +Whatever my theories of life, as I had long since revealed them to +Arnold Lamont, I was no Stoic; and though at the time I was too +excited to be fully aware of it, I thereupon fell, to the crown of +my head, in love. + +As the negro vanished, she turned on me with that same, queenly lift +of her head. + +"Well, sir, will you stay?" + +"Why should I stay?" I managed at last to ask. + +She looked me straight in the eye, "You're not of their kind," she +replied. "Father himself thinks that." + +For the moment I was confused, and thought only of Arnold and Gideon +North. + +"You and he are wrong," I stiffly responded. "I _am_ their kind, and +I am proud to be their kind." + +"Oh," she said, "oh! I beg your pardon." + +A hurt look appeared in her eyes and she stepped back and turned +away. + +All at once I remembered that she had never seen Arnold and Gideon +North; that she had not meant them at all; that she had meant +Gleazen and Matterson. It was at the tip of my tongue to cry out to +her, to call her back, to tell her the whole truth about our party +on board the brig Adventure. I had drawn the very breath to speak, +when Gideon North's voice summoned me from the darkness: + +"Joe, Joe Woods! Where are you?" + +"Here I am," I cried. "I am coming." Then, when I turned to speak to +the girl, I saw that she had gone. + +I stepped off the porch, tripped, stumbled to my knees, got up +again, and strode so recklessly down through the dark to the river +that, before I knew I had reached it, I was ankle-deep in water. + +"Well, my man," cried Gideon North, "you seem to be in a hurry now, +though you were long enough starting." + +Without a word, I got into the boat and took off my shoes and poured +out the water. It irritated me to see Arnold looking at me keenly +and yet with gentle amusement. I had come to have no small respect +for Arnold's unusual insight. + +All the way back to the brig my head was in such a whirl that, for +the first time in my waking moments since we left Cuba, I completely +forgot the one fundamental object for which we three were working, +to save as far as possible poor Seth Upham and his property from the +hands of Cornelius Gleazen and his fellows. Instead I kept hearing +the voice that had said, "You're not of their kind," kept seeing the +face that I had seen there in the dim light--not at all clearly, yet +clearly enough to see that it had a sweet dignity and that it was +good to look upon. + +The boat bumping against the brig woke me from my dreams. Scrambling +aboard, I left my shoes in the galley to dry by the stove and ran +aft in my stocking feet, and down below. In my eagerness to get dry +shoes and stockings I quite outstripped the others, who were +loitering in the gangway. + +It was with no thought or intention of surprising the four men in +the cabin that I burst in upon them on my way to my own stateroom. +They had pushed cards and chips to one side of the table and had +gathered closely round it. In the centre, where their four heads +almost met, was a handful of rough stones, which for all I knew +might have been quartz. + +That I had done anything to anger them, when I came down so +unceremoniously, I was entirely unaware; but O'Hara, the newcomer, +sweeping the stones together with a curse, covered them with his +hands; Gleazen faced about and angrily stared at my stockinged feet; +and Matterson, rising in fury, snarled through his teeth, "You +sniveling, sneaking, prying son of a skulking sea-cook, I swear I'll +have your heart's blood!" + +Before I could turn, the man dived at me straight across the table. +I raised my hands to fend him off, with the intention of shoving his +head into the floor and planting my feet on the back of his neck; +stepped back, tripped and fell. I saw Gleazen lift a chair to bring +it down on my head--even then I thought of the irony of my being his +"lieutenant"! I saw that wild Irishman, Bud O'Hara, laughing like a +fiend at my plight. Then I flung up my feet to receive the blow, and +seizing the legs of the chair, twisted it over between Matterson and +myself, and got up on my knees. Then in came the others. + +Spinning on his heel, Matterson, his jaw out-thrust, stood squarely +in the path of Gideon North. + +"You are hasty," I said. "I came in to get my shoes." + +"Ah," said Bud O'Hara, in biting sarcasm, "and then 't was in the +eyes of us that you was looking for trouble." + +"It was, indeed," I retorted. + +"And perhaps you didn't see what was going on," he persisted. + +"I did not," I replied, not knowing what he meant. + +They looked doubtfully at one another, and then at me, and presently +Gleazen said, "Then we're sorry we used you rough, Joe." + +Meanwhile, I now perceived, the handful of stones had disappeared. + +All this time my uncle had sat in his chair, looking like a man in a +nightmare, and had raised neither hand nor voice to help me. In a +way, so amazing was his silence, it seemed almost as if he himself +had struck me. I could scarcely believe it of him. When I looked at +him in mingled wonder and grief, his eyes fell and he slightly +moistened his lips. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A WARNING DEFIED + + +The brig Adventure, two thousand miles from home, lay now in the +strong, silent current of a great tropical river, which seemed to me +to have an almost human quality. In its depth and strength and +silence, it was like a determined, taciturn man. I felt keenly its +subtle fascination; I delighted to picture in my mind its course all +the way from the mysterious hills far inland, of which Pedro and +Gleazen and Matterson told stories filled with trade and slaves and +stirring incidents, down to the low, marshy shore, which had already +cast a spell upon me. + +For months since that fearful night when we five fled from Topham, +Arnold and Gideon North and I had been holding ourselves ready at +every moment to stand up against Gleazen and Matterson and meet them +man to man in behalf of my poor, deluded uncle, who now would go +slinking about the deck, now would make a pitiful show of his old +pompous, dictatorial manner. But when I burst in upon them in the +cabin, there had been that in their manner, even after their anger +spent itself, which told me more plainly than harshest words that +the time for action had come very near. + +To Arnold, when we were alone in our stateroom, I said, "What would +you think, were I to load my pistols afresh?" + +He looked curiously at me. + +"You think," said he, slowly, "that there is already need?" + +"I do," I replied. + +I felt a new confidence in myself and in my own judgment. I +regarded our situation calmly and with growing assurance. Although I +did not then realize it, I know now that I was crossing the +threshold between youth and manhood. + +He gravely nodded. + +"It is a wise precaution," he said at last, "although I prophesy +that they will use us further before the time comes when we must +fight for our lives." + +So we both slept that night with new charges in the pistols by our +heads, and Arnold, very likely, as well as I, dreamed of the utterly +reckless, lawless men with whom we were associated. I question, +though, if Arnold thought as much as I of the stern man in the cane +house on the riverbank, or if he thought at all of the girl whose +white face and dark eyes I could not forget. + +For another day we continued to lie in the river; but the brig, alow +and aloft, bustled with various activities. We sorted out firearms +on the cabin floor, and charts and maps on the cabin table, and on +the spar-deck we piled a large store of provisions. And in the +afternoon Matterson took Captain North in the quarter boat down to +the mouth of the river, and there taught him the bearings of the +channel. + +Side by side Arnold and I watched all that went forward, here +lending a hand at whatever task came our way, there noting keenly +how the stores were arranged. + +"Well, sir," said Arnold, quietly, when Captain North for a moment +stood beside us in preoccupied silence, "are we about to load a +cargo of Africans?" + +"I assure you I'd like to know that," the captain replied, with one +of his quick glances. + +Uncle Seth gave me an occasional curt word or sentence--he was in +one of his arrogant moods; Matterson talked to me vaguely and at +length of great times ahead; O'Hara watched me with hostile and +suspicious glances. And still Arnold and I, whenever occasion +offered, put our heads together and made what we could of the +various preparations. Our surmises, time showed, were not far wrong. + +And all this while I had watched the clearing ashore and had seen +neither the missionary nor any other white man. + +When, in the evening, all hands were ordered aft, we on the quarter +deck looked down and saw the men standing expectantly to hear +whatever was to be said. A thousand rumors had spread throughout the +vessel, and of what was really afoot they knew less, even, than +Arnold and I. There was Abe Guptil with his kindly face upturned, +Pedro with his monkey on his shoulder and what seemed to me a +devilish gleam in his eye, and all the rest. As they gathered close +under us, the light from the lanterns slung in the rigging revealed +every one of them to my curious gaze. + +"Men," said Captain North, quietly, "Mr. Gleazen has asked me to +call you together. There are certain things that he wishes to tell +you." + +As the grizzled old mariner stepped back, Cornelius Gleazen +advanced. + +His beaver, donned for the occasion, was tilted over his eye as of +old; his diamonds flashed from finger and throat; he puffed great +clouds of smoke from his ever-present cigar. + +"Lads," he cried in that voice which seemed always so fine and +hearty and honest, "lads, that there's no ordinary purpose in this +voyage, all of you, I make no doubt, have heard. Well, lads, you're +right about that. It is no ordinary purpose that has brought us all +the way from Boston. You've done good work for us so far, and if you +keep up the good work until the end of the voyage has brought us +home again to New England, we ain't going to forget you, lads. No, +sir! Not me and Mr. Matterson and Mr. O'Hara--oh, yes, and Mr. +Upham! We ain't going to forget you." + +Reflectively he knocked the ash from his cigar. Leaning over the +rail, he said, as if taking all the men into his confidence, "All +you've got to do now, lads, is stand by. Captain North will take the +brig to sea for one week. There's a reason for that, lads, a good +reason. At the end of the week he will bring the brig up off the +mouth of the river, and some fine morning you'll wake up and find us +back again. + +"Meanwhile, lads, we're going to make up a little party to go +exploring. Me and Mr. Matterson, Mr. O'Hara, Mr. Upham, and Pedro +and Sanchez are going. And we are going to take John Laughlin with +us, too. It's going to be a hard trip, lads, and you'll none of you +be sorry to miss it. Now, then, lay to and load this gear into the +boat. Be faithful to your work, and you'll be glad when you see what +we're going to do for you." + +As he turned away, proud of his eloquence, there was a low rumble of +voices. + +I looked first at Gleazen and Matterson and O'Hara; then I looked at +poor Seth Upham, once as proud and arrogant as any of them. +Remembering how in little ways he had been kind to me,--how, since +my mother died, his dry, hard affection had gone out to me, as if in +spite of him,--I pitied the man from the bottom of my heart. Surely, +I thought, he must not go alone into the wilds of Africa with such +men as were to make up Gleazen's party. + +No one had spoken, except in undertones, since Gleazen; some one, I +thought, must speak promptly and firmly. + +For a moment, as I looked at the hard faces of the men whom I must +oppose, my courage forsook me utterly; then the new confidence that +had been growing within me once more gave me command of myself. +Whatever should come of my effort, I was determined that my +mother's brother should have at least one honest man beside him. To +reason out all this had taken me the merest fraction of the time +that it takes to read it. + +Stepping suddenly forward, I said in a voice so decided that it +surprised me as much as anyone, if not more:-- + +"Mr. Gleazen, I desire to go with you." + +"And I," said Arnold Lamont. + +"You young pup," Gleazen bellowed, "who are you to desire this or +desire that?" + +"Then," said I, "I _will_ go with you." + +"You will not," he retorted. + +I saw out of the corner of my eye that Matterson and O'Hara were +looking at me keenly, but I never let my gaze veer from Gleazen's. + +"Mr. Gleazen," I said boldly, "Arnold Lamont, Abe Guptil, and I are +going to take the places of Pedro, Sanchez, and John Laughlin." + +He swore a round oath and stepped toward me with his fists clenched, +while the men below us fairly held their breath. In a fist fight the +man could have pounded me to a pulp, for he was half as heavy again +as I; but at the thought of poor Uncle Seth with all his property +tied up in that mad venture, with his happiness and his very life in +the absolute power of that band of godless reprobates, something +stronger than myself rose up within me. At that moment I verily +believe I could have faced the fires of hell without flinching. +Thinking of the old days when Uncle Seth and my mother and I had +been so happy together and of how kind he had been to me in his own +testy, abrupt, reserved way, I stepped out and shook my fist in +Gleazen's face. + +Before he could say another word, I cried, "So help me, unless we +three go with you and those three stay, we'll keep Seth Upham back +and sail away in the Adventure and leave you here forever." + +Never before could I have spoken thus lightly of what my uncle +should, or should not, do. The thought made me feel even more keenly +how helpless the poor man had become, and confirmed me in my +purpose. + +It was on the tip of my tongue to add that Gideon North was to come, +too, but I thought of how essential it was that someone whom +we--Arnold and I--could trust should stand guard upon the brig, and +said nothing more, which probably was better, for my words seemed to +have struck home. + +When I threatened to sail away with the Adventure, Gleazen glared at +me hard and murmured, with a respect and admiration in his voice +that surprised me, "You young cock, I didn't think you had it in +you." + +Throwing overboard the butt of his cigar, which made a bright arc in +its flight through the darkness and fell into the water with a smart +hiss, he smiled to himself. + +Matterson whispered to O'Hara, who touched Gleazen's arm. I thought +I heard him say, "Too honest to make trouble," as they drew apart +and conferred together, glancing now and then at my uncle; then +Gleazen nodded and said, "Very well, Joe"; and I knew that for once +I had come off victorious. + +At least, I thought, we are strong enough to stand up for our rights +and Uncle Seth's. + +The men quietly turned away and went forward, a little disappointed +that the trouble had blown past and the episode had come to naught. +But it had added one more issue to be fought out between Cornelius +Gleazen and myself; and though it was over, it was neither forgotten +nor forgiven. + +I had gone into the waist, where I was watching the arms and +provisions that the men were loading into the boat we were to take, +when I heard a voice at my ear, "I guess--ha-ha!--you come back with +plenty nigger, hey?" + +It was Pedro with his monkey riding on his shoulder. The beast +leered at me and clicked its teeth. + +"No," I replied, "of that I am sure. We are not going after any such +cargo as that." + +"I wonder," he responded. "I t'ink, hey, queer way to get nigger--no +barracoon--go in a boat. But dah plenty nigger food below. Plenty +lumber. Plenty chain'. What you get if not nigger?" + +I said nothing. + +"Maybe so--maybe not," Pedro muttered. His earrings tinkled as he +shook his head and moved away. + +I was surprised to observe that for the moment all work had stopped. + +Seeing that O'Hara was pointing into the swamp, I stepped over +beside him to ascertain what had caught his attention, but found the +darkness impenetrable. + +"I'm telling ye, some one's there," O'Hara muttered with an oath. + +I saw that Gleazen and Matterson were on the other side of him. + +Now the men were whispering. + +"Sh!" + +"See there--there--there it goes!" + +"What--Oh! There it is!" + +I myself saw that something vague and shadowy was moving +indistinctly toward us down one of the long lanes of water. + +Suddenly out of the swamp came a piercing wail. It was so utterly +unhuman that to every one of us it brought, I believe, a nameless +terror. Certainly I can answer for myself. It was as if some +creature from another world had suddenly found a voice and were +crying out to us. Then the wail was repeated, and then, as if +revealed by some preparation of phosphorus, I indistinctly saw, in +the dark of the swamp, an uncouth face, black as midnight, on which +were painted white rings and patches. + +For the third time the cry came out to us; then a voice shrieked in +a queer, wailing minor:-- + +"White man, I come 'peak. Long time past white man go up water. Him +t'ief from king spirit. Him go Dead Land. + +"White man, I come 'peak. We no sell slave. White man go him country +so him not go Dead Land. White man, I go." + +The dim, mysterious face drew away little by little and disappeared. +A single soft splash came from the great marsh, then a yell so wild +and weird that to this very day the memory of it sometimes sets me +to shivering, as if I myself were only a heathen savage and not a +white man and a Christian. + +Three times we heard the wild yell; then far off in the fastnesses +of the swamp, we heard an unholy chanting. It was high and shrill +and piercing, and it brought to us across the dark water suggestions +of a thousand terrors. + +I felt Bud O'Hara's hand on mine, and it was as cold as death. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BURNED BRIDGES + + +"By Heaven!" O'Hara gasped, "the voice has spoke." + +"Aye, so it has," said Gleazen slowly. + +"Neil, Molly, sure and we'd best put out to sea. This is no time for +us, surely. A month from now, say, we could slip in by night with a +boat--" + +"O'Hara," said Matterson's light, almost silvery voice, "have _you_ +turned coward?" + +"No, not that, Molly! 'T is not I am scairt of any man that walks +the green earth, Molly, but spirits is different." + +"Spirits!" Matterson was softly laughing. "I didn't think, O'Hara, +_you'd_ be one to turn black." + +"Laugh, curse you!" O'Hara cried hotly. "If 'twas you had seen a +glimmer of the things I've seen with my own two eyes; if 't was you +had seen a man die because he went against taboo; if 't was you had +seen a witch doctor bring the yammering spirit back unwilling to a +cold body; if 't was you had seen a man three weeks dead get up and +dance; if 't was you had seen a strong man fall down without the +breath of life in him at all, and all for nothing else but a spell +was on him, maybe then you'd believe me. I swear by the blessed +saints in heaven, it's throwing our lives away to go up river now; +and all I've got to say for Bull is, God help him!" + +The others were looking at O'Hara curiously. The lantern light on +their faces brought out every scar and wrinkle and showed that +strong passions were contending within each of them. + +"It ain't spirits that worries me," said Gleazen, at last, "and it +ain't niggers. It's men." He now seemed quite to shake off the spell +of the strange voice. "What say, Seth?" He turned to my uncle. + +To my surprise, Seth Upham rose manfully to the occasion. "Spirits?" +he cried. "Nonsense!" + +O'Hara uneasily shifted his feet. "Ah, say what you like, men," he +very earnestly replied, "say what you like against spirits and +greegrees and jujus and all the rest. I'll never be one to say +there's nothing in them, nor would you, if you'd seen all that I +have seen. And I'll be telling you this, men: that voice we heard +then was speaking the thoughts of ten thousand fighting niggers up +and down this river." + +"Pfaw!" said Gleazen, stretching his arms. "Niggers won't fight." + +"That from you, Neil!" + +I never learned just what lay behind O'Hara's simple thrust, but +there was no doubt that it struck a weak link in Gleazen's armor, +for he flushed so deeply that we could see it by lantern light. +"Well, now," said he, with a conciliatory inflection, "of course I +meant it in moderation." + +All this time Arnold and Gideon North and I stood by and looked and +listened. + +Now, with a glance at us, Matterson said shortly, "Come, come! +Enough of that. All hands lay to and load the boat." + +"I've warned ye," said O'Hara. + +"At midnight," said Matterson, "_we'll_ go _up_ the river, and +Gideon North'll take the brig _down_ the river. Come morning +there'll be no stick nor timber of us here. They'll bother no more +about us then." + +"Ye'll never fool 'em," said O'Hara. + +Matterson turned his back on him, and the work went forward, and for +an hour there was only the low murmur of voices. The boat, now +ready for the journey, rode at the end of her painter, where the +current made long ripples, which converged at her bow. Here and +there, lights shone in the clearing and set my imagination and my +memory hard at work, but elsewhere the impenetrable blackness of a +cloudy night blanketed the whole world. And meanwhile the others +were holding council in the cabin. + +"I think," Arnold Lamont said, "that Matterson and Gleazen +underestimate the ingenuity and resources of that black yelling +devil." + +"So they do," said Abe Guptil. "So they do, and I'd be glad enough +to be back home, I tell you." + +What would I not have given to be sleeping once more in Abe's +low-studded house beside our wholesome northern sea! + +Now the others came from the cabin. They walked eagerly. Their very +whispers were full of excitement. Even Uncle Seth seemed to have got +from somewhere a new confidence and a new hope, so smartly did he +step about and so sharply did he speak; and the faint odor of brandy +that came with them explained much. + +We climbed down into the loaded boat and settled ourselves on the +thwarts, where Abe Guptil and I took oars. + +"It's turn and turn about at the rowing," Matterson announced. +"We've a long way to go and a current dead against us." + +I saw Gideon North looking down at us anxiously, and waved my hand. +Then someone cast off, and we pulled out into midstream and up above +the brig, where we held our place and watched and waited. + +Soon we heard orders on board the brig. Sails fell from the gaskets +and shook free. The men began to heave at the windlass. The brig +first came up to the anchors, then, with anchors aweigh, she half +turned in the current. + +Now orders followed in quick succession. We could hear them rigging +the fish tackle and catching the hooks on the flukes of the anchors. +Blocks rattled, braces creaked, the yards swung from side to side +according to the word of command. The sails filled with the light +breeze, and coming slowly about, the Adventure gathered steerage-way +and went down the river as if she were some gigantic water bird +lazily swimming between the mangroves. We watched her go and knew +that we seven were now irrevocably left to fend for ourselves. + +When Gleazen whispered to us to give way, we bent to the oars with a +will. For better or for worse, we had embarked on the final stage of +our great quest. + +The lights in the clearing fell astern. The tall trees seemed to +close in above us. Alone in the wilderness, we turned the bow of our +boat toward the heart of Africa. + +That we had set forth in complete secrecy on our voyage up river we +were absolutely confident. What eyes were keen enough to tell at a +distance that the brig had left a boat behind her when she sailed? + +Gleazen now laughed derisively at O'Hara. "You'd have had us sail +away, would you? And wait a month? Or a year, maybe, or maybe two. +Ha, ha!" + +"Don't you laugh at me, Neil," O'Hara replied. "We're not yet out o' +the woods." + +At the man's solemn manner Gleazen laughed again, louder than +before. + +As if to reprove his rashness, as if to bear out every word O'Hara +had said, at that very moment the uncanny yell we had heard before +rose the second time, far off in the swamp. Three times we heard the +yell, then we heard the voice, faint and far away, "White man, I +come 'peak. White man boat him sink. White man him go Dead Land." + +Three times more the wordless wailing yell drifted to us out of the +darkness; then we heard a great multitude of men wildly and savagely +laughing. + +Never again did Cornelius Gleazen scoff at O'Hara. His face now, I +verily believe, was grayer than O'Hara's. He turned about and stared +downstream as if he could see beyond the black wall of mangroves. + +"Now what'll we do?" he gasped, with a choking, profane ejaculation. +"Did you hear that?" + +Had we heard it! There was not one of us whom it had not chilled to +the heart. Our own smallness under those vast trees, our few +resources,--we had only the goods that were piled in the boat,--our +unfathomable loneliness, combined to make us feel utterly without +help or strength. But it was now too late to return. So we bent to +our oars and rowed on, and on, and on, against the current of the +great river. + +The only help that remained to us lay in our own right hands and in +the mercy of divine Providence. Would Providence, I wondered, help +such men as Gleazen and Matterson and O'Hara? + +Nor was that the only doubt that beset us. Although the three +accepted us, and in actual fact trusted us, they made no attempt to +conceal their enmity; and I very well knew that, besides danger from +without our little band, Arnold, Abe, and I must guard against +treachery from within it. + +[Illustration] + + + + +V + +THE HOUSE ON THE HILL + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +UP STREAM + + +Pulling hard at our oars, we rowed up the river, along the shore and +so near it that the shadows of the mangroves almost concealed us. My +breath came in quick, hard gasps; the sweat started from my body and +dripped down my face; every muscle ached from violent exertion. As I +dizzily reeled, I saw, as if it were carved out of wood or stone, +Gleazen's staring, motionless face thrust forth squarely in front of +my own. Then I flopped forward and Gleazen himself caught the oar +from my hands. + +We had taken the gig for our expedition, because it was light and +fast; but although we carried four oars, we used only two of them, +mainly because it had been Gleazen's whim to load our baggage +between the after thwarts, so that while two men rowed for +comparatively short spells, the others could take their ease in bow +and stern. And indeed, had our plan to set forth with utmost secrecy +not gone awry, it would have been a comfortable enough arrangement. + +I had not dreamed that Gleazen was so strong; he set a stroke that +no ordinary oarsman could maintain; and when Abe Guptil lost time +and reeled on the thwart, Matterson slipped into his place and +fairly lifted the boat on the water. + +Of course we could not keep up such a pace for long; but the hard +work in a way relieved our anxiety, as hard work does when one is +troubled; and after each of us, including Uncle Seth, had taken his +turn at the oars until he was dog-tired, we settled down to a saner, +steadier stroke, and thus began in earnest the long journey that +was to be the last stage of our pilgrimage. + +By watching the gray lane overhead, where the arching trees failed +to meet above the river, since it was literally too dark to see the +water, we were able to mark out our course; and skirting the tangled +and interwoven roots as nearly as we could, we doggedly fought our +way against the current to the monotonous rhythm of swinging oars, +loud breathing, and hoarse grunts. The constant whisper of the river +so lulled me, weary as I was, that by and by my head drooped, and +the next thing that I knew was a hand on my shoulder and a voice at +my ear calling me to take my turn at rowing. + +I woke slowly and saw that Abe Guptil like me was rubbing his eyes, +and that my uncle and Arnold Lamont were lying fast asleep on the +bottom of the boat. + +"Come, come," said Gleazen, quietly. "See, now! Mr. Matterson and +I've brought us well on our way. Come, get up and row till it is +fairly light. Wake us then, and we'll haul the boat up and lie in +hiding for the day." + +Matterson handed over his oar without a word, and Abe and I fell to +our task. + +As the dawn grew and widened in the east, we could see how thickly +the roots of the mangroves intertwined. From the ends of the limbs +small "hangers," like ropes, grew down and took root in the ground. +The trees, thus braced and standing from six to twelve feet in air +on their network of tangled, interwoven roots, were the oddest I had +ever seen. + +After a time we came to a large stretch of bush, where innumerable +small palms were crowded together so thickly that among them an +object would have been completely invisible, even in broad day, at a +distance of six feet. In the midst of the bush a great tree grew, +and in the top of it a band of monkeys was swinging and racing and +chattering in the pale light. In an undertone I spoke to Abe about +the monkeys, and he, too, still rowing, turned his head to watch +them. Then, at the very moment when we were intent on their antics, +a new mood seemed to come over them. + +I cannot well describe the change, because at first it was so subtle +that I felt it, as much as saw it, and I was inclined to doubt if +Abe would notice it at all. Yet as I watched the little creatures, +which had now ceased their chattering, I suddenly realized that the +boat was beginning to drift with the current. By common impulse, +attracted by the very same thing, both Abe and I had stopped rowing. + +As I leaned forward and again swung out my oar, Abe touched my arm. +"Hush!" he whispered. "Wait! Listen!" + +Pausing with arms outstretched, ready to throw all my strength into +the catch, I listened and heard a faint _crack_, as of a broken +stick, under the tree in which a moment since the monkeys had been +hard at play. + +We exchanged glances. + +I now realized that daylight, coming with the swiftness that is +characteristic of it in the tropics, had taken us unawares. The sun +had risen and found Abe and me so intent on a band of monkeys +playing in a tree, that we had neglected to wake the others. + +I put out my hand and leaned over the bags to touch Gleazen, the +nearest of the sleepers, when Abe again pressed my arm. Turning, I +saw that his finger was at his lips. Although his gesture puzzled +me, I obeyed it, and we remained silent for a minute or two while +the current carried the boat farther and farther downstream. + +Every foot that we drifted back meant labor lost, and I was so +sorely tempted to put an end to our silence that I was on the point +of speaking out, when, distinctly, unmistakably, we heard another +crackle in the bush. + +"Pull," Abe whispered, "pull, Joe, as hard as you can." + +I leaned back against my oar, heard the water gurgle from under it, +saw bubbles go floating down past the stern, and knew that by one +stroke we had stopped our drifting. With a second swing of the long +blades, we sent the boat once more up against the current. Now we +got back into the old rhythm and went on past the dense palms, until +we again came to the tangled roots of mangroves. + +Laying hold of one of the roots, Abe whispered, "Wake 'em, Joe!" + +They woke testily, and with no thanks to us, even though it was by +their orders that we called them. + +In reply to their questions we told them the whole story, from the +strange hush that came over the monkeys to the second crackling +among the palms; but they appeared not to take our apprehensions +seriously. + +"Belike it was a snake," said O'Hara, "a big feller, Them big +fellers will scare a monkey into fits." + +"Or some kind of an animal," said Gleazen, curtly. "Didn't I say we +was to be called at daylight? When I say a thing I mean it." He +impatiently turned from us to his intimates. "How about it, Bud; +shall we haul up here for the day?" + +"Belike it was only a snake," O'Hara replied, "but 'twas near, +despite of that. Push on, I say." + +There was something in the expression of his face as he stared +downstream that made me even more uneasy than before. + +"Not so! The niggers will see us in the open and end us there and +then," interposed Matterson. "Moreover, unless the place has +changed with the times, there's a town a scant three miles ahead." + +"Belike 'twas only a serpent," O'Hara doggedly repeated, "but 'tis +no place for us here. Let us fare on just half a mile up stream +t'other side the river, in the mouth of the little creek that makes +in there, and, me lads, let us get there quickly." + +As we once more began to row, I was confident that O'Hara's talk of +a great serpent was poppy-cock for us and for Uncle Seth, and that +in any case neither Gleazen nor Matterson nor O'Hara cared a straw +about a serpent half a mile away. At the time I would have given +much to know just what shrewd guess they had made at the cause of +that strange crackling; but they dismissed the subject absolutely, +which probably was as well for all concerned; and refusing to speak +of it again, they urged Abe and me to our rowing until at their +direction we bore across the current and slipped through the +trailing branches of the trees, and through the thick bushes and +dangling vines, into the well-hidden mouth of a little creek. + +By then the sun was shining hotly and I was glad enough to lean on +my oar and get my breath. + + * * * * * + +All that day we lay in the thick vegetation of the creek, which to a +certain extent shielded us from the sun, although the warm, damp air +became almost unendurable. Much of the time we slept, but always one +or another of us was posted as a guard, and at high noon an alarm +called us to our weapons. + +O'Hara, who happened to be standing watch, woke us without a sound, +one after another, by touching us with his hand. + +For a while we saw only the great trees, the sluggish creek, the +slow river, and the interwoven vines; then we heard voices, and +into our sight there swept a long canoe manned by naked negroes, who +swung their paddles strongly and went racing past us down the river. + +How, I wondered, had O'Hara known that they were coming? Human ears +could not have heard their voices as far away as they must have been +when he woke us. + +It was evident, when the blacks had gone, that Matterson and O'Hara +had made sense of their mumbled gutteral speech. + +"I warned ye," O'Hara whispered, glaring at Matterson and Gleazen. +"Had we waited, now, say only a month, they'd not be scouring the +river in search of us." + +"Pfaw! Niggers with bows and arrows," Gleazen scornfully muttered. + +"Yes, niggers with bows and arrows," O'Hara returned. "But I'd no +sooner die by an arrow than by a musket-ball." + +"Die? Who's talking o' dying?" Gleazen whispered. And calmly laying +himself down again, he once more closed his eyes. + +"Sure, and I'd not be one to talk o' dying," O'Hara murmured, as he +resumed his guard with a musket across his knees, "was not the curse +o' rash companions upon me." + +Matterson, holding aloof from their controversy, solemnly looked +from one of the two to the other. There was that in his eyes which I +did not like to see--not fear, certainly, but a look of +understanding, which convinced me that O'Hara had the right of it. + +And now Seth Upham, who had followed all this so sleepily that he +did not more than half understand the significance of what had +occurred, as of old spoke up sharply, even pompously. In that +confused state between sleeping and waking his mind seemed to have +gone back to some mood of months before. "That's all nonsense, +O'Hara; we're safe enough. Gleazen's right." His words fairly +shattered the silence of the marshy woods. + +He was the first of us to speak in an ordinarily loud voice, and +almost before he had finished his sentence a bird about as big as a +crow and as black as jet except for its breast and neck, which were +snowy white, rose from a tree above us, and with a cry that to me +sounded for all the world like a crow cawing, circled high in the +air. + +Hot with anger, O'Hara struck Seth Upham on the mouth with his open +hand. + +That it had been arrant folly for my uncle thus to speak aloud, I +knew as well as any other; and the bird circling above us and crying +out in its slow flight was liable to draw upon us an attack from +heaven only knew what source and quarter. But that O'Hara or any +other should openly strike the man who in his own way had been so +kind to me was something that I could not endure, and my own temper +flamed up as hotly as ever did O'Hara's. + +Quick as a flash I caught his wrist, even before he had withdrawn +his hand, and jerked him from the thwart to his knees. With a +devilish gleam in his eye, he threw off my grip and clubbed his +musket. + +Before I could draw my pistol he would have brained me, had not +Matterson, with no desire whatever to save me from such a fate, but +apparently only eager to have a hand in the affair, seized me from +behind, lifted me bodily from my seat, and plunged me down out of +sight into the creek. + +Of what followed, I know only by hearsay, for I was too much +occupied with saving myself from drowning to observe events in the +boat. But the creek was comparatively shallow, and getting my feet +firmly planted on bottom, I pushed up my head and breathed deeply. + +Meanwhile it seems that Arnold Lamont quietly thrust his knife a +quarter of an inch through the skin between two of Matterson's ribs, +thus effectually distracting his attention, while Abe Guptil deftly +caught O'Hara's clubbed musket in his hands and wrenched it away. + +As I hauled myself back into the boat, Gleazen sat up and stared, +first at the others who, now that Matterson had knocked Arnold's +knife to one side, were momentarily deadlocked, then at me dripping +from my plunge, then at Seth Upham upon whose white face the marks +of O'Hara's hand still showed red. + +"Between you," he whispered angrily, "you _will_ have half the +niggers in Africa upon us." + +"He talked," O'Hara muttered, pointing at Uncle Seth. + +"You struck him," I retorted. + +"'Twas a bird told me they was coming by. 'Twill be that bird surely +will tell them we are here." + +Arnold and Abe and I glared angrily at O'Hara and Matterson and +Gleazen, but by common consent we dropped the brief quarrel, and +when, after an anxious time of waiting, the canoe had not +reappeared, we again lay down to sleep. + +Yet I saw that Uncle Seth's hand was trembling and that he was not +so calm as he tried to appear; and I knew that, although we might go +on with a semblance of tolerance, even of friendship, the rift in +our little party had grown vastly wider. + +Waking at nightfall, we made our evening meal of such cooked +provisions as we had brought from the Adventure, and pushed through +the screen of dense branches, and out on the strongly running, +silent river. Again we bent to the oars and rowed interminably on +against the stream and into the black darkness. + +That night we passed a town with wattled houses and thatched roofs +rising in tall cones high on the riverbank, and a building that +O'Hara said was a _barre_ or courthouse. In the town, we saw against +the sky, which the rising moon now lighted, a few orange trees and +palms, and under it, close beside the bank of the river, we +indistinctly made out a boat, which, Gleazen whispered, was very +likely loaded with camwood and ivory. We passed it in the shadow of +the opposite shore, rowing softly because we were afraid that +someone might be sleeping on the cargo to guard it, and went by and +up the river till the pointed roofs of the houses were miles astern. + +O'Hara and Gleazen and Matterson talked together, and part of their +talk was bickering among themselves, and part was of the man Bull +who, all alone in the wilderness, was waiting for us somewhere in +the jungle, and part was in Spanish, which I could not understand. +But when they talked in Spanish, they looked keenly at Arnold and +Abe and me, and I found comfort then in thinking that, although +Arnold and I now had no chance to exchange confidences, he was +hearing and remembering every word of their conversation. And all +the time that I watched them, I was thinking of the girl at the +mission. + +Remembering my talk with Arnold long ago, when I had expressed so +poor an opinion of all womankind, I felt at once a little amused at +myself and a little sheepish. Who would have thought that, at almost +my first sight of the despised continent of Africa, I should see a +girl whose face I could not forget? That when she spoke to me for +the first time, her low, firm voice would so fasten itself upon my +memory, that I should hear it in my dreams both sleeping and waking? + +Poor Uncle Seth! Never offering to take an oar, never exchanging a +word with any of the rest of us, he sat with his elbows on his knees +and his head bowed. Gleazen and Matterson had dropped even their +unkindly humorous pretense of deferring to him. In our little band +of adventurers he who had once been so assertive, so brimful of +importance, had become the merest nonentity. + +All that night we went up the river, and all the next day we lay +concealed among the mangroves; but about the following midnight we +came to a place where the banks were higher and the current swifter. +Here O'Hara stood up in the bow of the boat and studied the shore +and ordered us now to row, now to rest. For all of two miles we +advanced thus, and heartily tired of his orders we were, when he +directed us to veer sharply to larboard and enter a small creek, +along the banks of which tall water-grass grew right down to the +channel. + +There was barely room for the boat to pass along the stream between +the forests of grass which grew in the water on the two sides; but +as we advanced, the tall grass disappeared, and the stream itself +became narrower and swifter, and the banks became higher. The +country, we now saw, was heavily timbered, and we occasionally came +to logs, which we had to pry out of the way before we could pass. +One moment we would be in water up to our necks, another we would be +poling the boat along with the oars, until at last we grounded on a +bar over which only a runlet gurgled. + +There was a suggestion of dawn in the east, which revealed above and +beyond the wood a line of low, bare hills; but when I looked at the +wood itself, through which we must find our way, my courage oozed +out by every pore and left me wishing from the bottom of my heart +that I were safe at sea with Gideon North. + +Piling all our goods on the bank, we hid the boat in the bushes and +made camp. + +"Hard upon daylight, well be starting," said O'Hara, hoarsely. +"Sleep is it, you ask? Don't that give you your while of sleep? Be +about it. By dark, we'll reach him surely; and if not, we'll be in +the very shadow of the hill." + +The man was all a-quiver with excitement. He jerked his shoulders +and twitched his fingers and rolled his eyes. Matterson and Gleazen, +too, were softly laughing as they stepped a little apart from the +rest of us. + +I looked at Arnold. + +He stood with one hand raised. "What was that?" he asked in a low +voice. + +Very faintly,--very, very far away,--we heard just such a yell as we +had heard that night when in defiance of the wizard's warning we +left the Adventure. + +Coming to our ears at the particular moment when we most firmly +believed that by consummate craft we had so concealed our progress +up the river as to escape every prying eye and deceive every hostile +black, it both taunted us and threatened us. Three times we heard +it, faintly, then silence, deep and ominous, ensued. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A GRIM SURPRISE + + +To sleep at that moment would have required more than human +self-control. Forgetting every personal grudge, every cause of +enmity, we huddled together, seven men alone in an alien wilderness, +and waited,--listened,--waited. I, for one, more than half expected, +and very deeply feared, to hear coming from the darkness that +ghostly voice which had cried to us twice already, "White man, I +come 'peak." But, except for the whisper of the wind and the ripple +of the creek, there was no sound to be heard. + +The wind gently stirred the leaves, and the creek sang as it flowed +down over the gravel and away through the reeds. The moon cast its +pale light upon us, and the remote stars twinkled in the heavens. +The cries, after that second repetition, died away, and at that +moment did not come back. But our night of adventure was not yet at +an end. + +O'Hara deliberately leveled his index finger at the bed of the +stream above us. "Sure, now, and there do be someone there," he +whispered. "Watch now! Watch me!" + +Stepping forward, with a slow, tigerish motion, he slightly raised +his voice. "Come you out!" he said distinctly. Then he spoke in a +gibberish of which I could make no more sense than if it had been so +much Spanish. + +Before our very eyes, silently, there rose from the undergrowth a +great negro with a spear. + +Arnold Lamont gave a quick gasp and I saw steel flash in the +moonlight as his hand moved. Gleazen swore; Matterson started to +his feet; Abe Guptil came suddenly to a crouching position. But +O'Hara, after one sharply in-drawn breath, uttered a name and +whispered something in that same language, which I knew well I had +never heard before, and the negro answered him in kind. + +For a moment they talked rapidly; then O'Hara turned to his comrades +and in a frightened undertone said, "The black devils know the +worst." + +"Well?" retorted Gleazen, angrily. "What of it?" + +"This"--O'Hara's leveled finger indicated the negro--"is +Kaw-tah-bah." + +"Well?" Gleazen reiterated, still more angrily. + +"The war has razed his village to the ground." + +Matterson now stepped forward and looked closely into the negro's +face. Gleazen followed him. + +"He laid down eight slave money," said O'Hara. "It was no good. They +knew he was our friend. His wives, his children, his old father, all +are dead." + +Now Matterson spoke in the same strange tongue, slowly and +hesitantly, but so that the negro understood him and answered him. + +"He says," O'Hara translated, "that Bull built the house on the +king's grave, and they feared him, because he is a terrible man; and +because they feared him they left him alone in his house and brought +the war to his friend, Kaw-tah-bah. Kaw-tah-bah's people are slaves. +His wives, his children, his old father, all are dead. But he did +not betray the secret." + +Again Matterson spoke and again the negro answered. + +"He says," cried O'Hara, "that Bull is waiting there on the hill by +the king's grave." + +The negro suddenly uttered a low exclamation. + +Standing as still as so many statues, we heard yet again that faint, +unearthly wail far off in the night, a wail, as before, twice +repeated. The third cry had scarcely died away, when the negro, with +a startled gasp, darted into the brush. + +O'Hara raised his hand and called to him to come back; but, never +turning his head, he disappeared like a frightened animal. + +Again we were alone in the wilderness. + +To me, now, all that formerly I had understood only in vague outline +had become clear in every detail. I knew, of course, that, after +their own ship was wrecked, our quartette of adventurers had sent +Gleazen back to America, to get by hook or crook another vessel to +serve their godless purposes; and I knew that they had implicated my +deluded uncle in something more than ordinary slave trade. Their +talk of the man who had stayed behind for a purpose still further +convinced me that Arnold had been right; I remembered the rough +stones on the table in the cabin the night when I took the four by +surprise. But it was only common sense that, if our first guess were +_all_ their secret, they would have smuggled such a find down to the +coast, and have taken their chance in embarking in the first vessel +that came to port. There was more than that of which to be mindful, +and I knew well enough what. + +"I say, now, push forward this very minute," cried O'Hara. "Better +travel a bad road by dark in safety than a good road by day that +will land every mother's son of us in the place where there's no +road back." + +"The black devils are hard upon us," Gleazen cried. "Lay low, I say. +Come afternoon we'll sneak along easy like." + +"I stand with Bud O'Hara," said Matterson, slowly. "It'll not be so +easy to hit us by moonlight as by sunlight." + +"And once we're with Bull in the little fort that he'll have made +for us," Bud persisted, "we'll be safe surely." + +"It is harder to travel by night," said Arnold. "But it is easier by +night than by day to evade an enemy." + +The others looked at him curiously, as if surprised by his temerity +in speaking out; but, oddly, his seemed to be the deciding voice. +Working with furious haste, we sorted our goods and made them up +into six packs, which we shouldered according to our strength. But +as we worked, we would stop and look furtively around; and at the +slightest sound we would start and stare. Our determination to go +through to the end of our adventure had not flagged when at last we +gathered beside the thicket where we had concealed the boat; but we +were seven silent men who left the boat, the creek, and the river +behind us, and with O'Hara to guide us set off straight into the +heart of Africa. + +O'Hara's long sojourn on the continent, which had made him a "black +man" in the sense that he had come to believe, or at least more than +half believe, in the silly superstitions of the natives, had served +him better by giving him an amazing knowledge of the country. That +he was following a trail he had traveled many times before would +have been evident to a less keenly interested observer than I. But +though he had traveled it ever so many times, it was a mystery to me +how he could follow it unerringly, by moonlight alone, through black +tangles of forest growth so dense that scarcely a ray stole down on +the deeply shadowed path. + +Passing over some high hills, we came, sweaty and breathless, down +into a rocky gorge, along which we hurried, now skirting patches of +cotton and corn and yams, now making a long détour around a sleeping +village, until we arrived at a wood in a valley where a deep stream +rumbled. And all this time we had seen no sign whatever of any +living creature other than ourselves. + +It was already full daylight, and throwing off our burdens, we flung +ourselves down and slept. Had our danger been even more urgent, I +believe that we could not have kept awake, so exhausted were we; and +indeed, we were in greater peril than we had supposed, for all that +day, whenever we woke, we heard at no great distance from our place +of concealment the thump of a pestle pounding rice. + +Twelve hours of daylight would easily have brought us to our +destination. But it was slow work traveling in the darkness, and we +still had far to go. Pushing on again that night, we pressed through +a country thickly wooded with tall trees, many of which elephants +had broken down in order to feed on the tender upper branches. + +As we passed them, I was thrilled to see with my own eyes the work +of wild elephants in their native country, and should have liked to +stop for a time; but there was no opportunity to loiter, and leaving +the woods behind us, we came at daylight to a brook, which had cut a +deep channel into dark slate rock and blue clay. + +Here I conjectured that we should camp for another day, but not so: +our three leaders were strangely excited. + +"Sure," O'Hara cried, pointing at a low hill at a distance in the +plain, "sure, gentlemen, and there's our port. Where's the man would +cast anchor this side of it?" + +O'Hara, Gleazen, and Matterson stood at one side, and Arnold, Abe, +and I at the other, with my poor uncle in the middle. We had not +concerted to divide thus. Instinctively and unconsciously we +separated into hostile factions, with poor Seth Upham--neither fish, +flesh, nor fowl, as they say--standing weakly between us. But even +so, the enthusiasm of the three was contagious. Weary though we +were, we strongly felt it. We had come so far, all of us, and had +wondered so much and so often about our mysterious errand, that +now, with the end in sight, not one of us, I believe, would have +stopped. + +Casting caution to the winds, we swung down into a wild country and +across the broad plain, where, after some three hours of rough hard +travel, we came to the foot of the hill. And in all this time, +except the patches of tilled land that we had passed, the towns that +we had avoided, the thumping of pestles and the occasional sounds of +domestic animals, we had seen and heard no sign of human life. It is +not strange that for the moment I forgot the threats that had caused +us such anxiety. Stopping only to catch our breath and drink and +dash over our faces water from a brook, we started up the hill. + +O'Hara, ahead of us all, was like a mad man in his eagerness, and +Matterson and Gleazen were not far behind him. Even Uncle Seth +caught something of their frenzy and assumed an empty show of his +old pompousness and sharp manner. + +Up the hill we went, our three leaders first, then, in nervous +haste, between the two parties literally as well as figuratively, my +uncle, then Arnold and Abe and I, who were soon outdistanced, in +that fierce scramble, by all but Uncle Seth. + +"Do you know, Joe," Abe said in a low voice, as he gave me a hand up +over a bit of a ledge, "I'd sooner be home on my little farm that +Seth Upham sold from under me, with only my crops and fishing to +look forward to, than here with all the gold in Africa to be got? I +wonder, Joe, if I'll ever see my wife and the little boy again." + +"Nonsense!" I cried, "of course you will." + +"Do you think so? I'm not so sure." + +As we stood for a moment on the summit of the ledge, I saw that we +had chosen a rougher, more circuitous path than was necessary. The +others had gone up a sort of swale on our right, where tall, lush +grass indicated that the ground was marshy. It irritated me that we +should have scrambled over the rocks for nothing; my legs were +atremble from our haste. + +"Of course you will," I repeated testily. Then I saw something move. +"See!" I cried. "There goes an animal of some kind." + +While for a moment we waited in hope of seeing again whatever it was +that had moved, I thought, oddly enough, of the girl at the mission; +then my thoughts leaped back half round the world to little Topham, +and returned by swift steps, through all our adventures, to the spot +where we stood. + +Now the others were bawling at us to come along after them, so Abe +and I turned, not having seen distinctly whatever animal there may +have been, and followed them up the hill. + +"Here's the brook!" O'Hara cried, "the brook from the spring!" + +He was running now, straight up through the tall grass beside the +tiny trickle, and we were driving along at his heels as hard as we +could go. + +"Here's the clearing, and never a blade of grass is changed since I +left it last! O Bull! Here we are! See, men, see! Yonder on the old +grave is the house all wattled like a nigger hut! O Bull! Where are +you? But it's fine inside, men, I'll warrant you. He was laying to +build it good. He said he'd fix it up like a duke's mansion. O Bull! +I say, Bull!" + +There indeed was the house, on a low mound, which showed the marks +of sacrilegious pick and shovel. The posts on which it stood were +driven straight down into the hillock. But in reply to O'Hara's loud +hail no answer came from that silent, apparently deserted dwelling. + +O'Hara turned and, as if apologizing, said in a lower voice, but +still loud enough for us to hear, "Sure, now, and he must be out +somewhere." + +Then he waited for us, and we gathered in a little group and looked +at the wattled hut as if in apprehension, although of course there +was no reason on earth why we should have been apprehensive. + +"Well, gentlemen," said Arnold, very quietly, "why not go in?" + +Not a man stirred. + +O'Hara faced about with moodily clouded eyes. "Well, then," he +gasped, "he _would_ build it on the king's grave." + +I am sure that my face, for one, told O'Hara that he only mystified +me. + +"Sure, and he was like others I've seen. More than once I warned +him, but he didn't believe in nigger gods. He didn't believe in +nigger gods, and he built the house on the king's grave! On the +king's grave, mind you! He was that set and reckless." + +"Gentlemen," said Arnold, again, very quietly, very precisely, "why +not go in?" + +All this time my uncle, as was his way except in those rare moments +when he made a pitiful show of regaining his old peremptory manner, +had been standing by in silence, looking from one to another of our +company. But now he hesitantly spoke up. + +"He has not been here for some time," he said. + +Gleazen turned with a scornful grunt. "Much you know whether he has +or not," he retorted. + +"See!" My uncle pointed at the door. "Vines have grown across the +top of it." + +Gleazen softly swore, and Matterson said, "For once, Neil, he's +right." + +Why we had not noticed it before, I cannot say; probably we were +too much excited. But we all saw it now, and Gleazen, staring at the +dark shadow of the leaves on the door, stepped back a pace. + +"By Heaven," he whispered, "I don't like to go in." + +"Gentlemen," said Arnold, speaking for the third time, ever quietly +and precisely, "I am not afraid to go in." + +When he boldly went up to the house ahead of us, we, ashamed to hang +back, reluctantly followed. + +To this day I can see him in every detail as he laid his hand on the +latch. His blue coat, which fitted so snugly his tall, straight +figure, seemed to draw from the warm sunlight a brighter, more +intense hue. His black hair and white, handsome face stood out in +bold relief against the dark door, and the green leaves drooped +round him and formed a living frame. + +Setting his shoulders against the door, he straightened his body and +heaved mightily and broke the rusty latch. The hinges creaked +loudly, the vine tore away, the door opened, and in we walked, to +see the most dreadful sight my eyes have ever beheld. + +There in a chair by the table sat a stark skeleton dressed in good +sound clothes. The arms and skull lay on the table itself beside a +great heap of those rough quartz-like stones,--I knew now well +enough what they were,--and the bony fingers still held a pen, which +rested on a sheet of yellow foolscap where a great brown blot marked +the end of the last word that the man they called Bull had ever +written. Between the ribs of the skeleton, through the good coat and +into the back of the chair in such a way that it held the body in a +sitting posture, stuck a long spear. + +[Illustration: _There in a chair by the table sat a stark skeleton +dressed in good sound clothes._] + +Of the seven of us who stared in horror at that terrible object, +Matterson was the first to utter a word. His voice was singularly +meditative, detached. + +"He never knew--see!--it took him unawares." + + +O'Hara slowly went to the table, leaned over it, and looking +incredulously at the paper, as if he could not believe his eyes, +burst suddenly into a frenzy of grief and rage. + +"Lads," he cried, "look there! My name was the last thing he wrote. +O Bull, I warned ye, I warned ye--how many times I warned ye! And +yet ye _would_, _would_, _would_ build the house on the king's +grave. O Bull!" + +He drew the yellow paper out from under the fleshless fingers and +held it up for all of us to see, and we read in a clear flowing hand +the following inscription:-- + + MY DEAR O'HARA:-- + + Not having heard from you this long time, I take my pen in hand + to inform you that I am well and that despite your silly fears, + no harm has come of building our house on the sightliest spot + hereabouts. Martin Brown, the trader, from whom I bought the + hinges and fittings will carry this letter to you and-- + +There it ended in a great blot. Whence had the spear come? Why had +Martin Brown never called for the letter? Or had he called and gone +away again? + +What scenes that page of cheap, yellowed paper, from which the faded +brown writing stared at us, had witnessed! It was indeed as if a +dead man were speaking; and more than that, for the paper on which +the man had been writing when he died had remained ever since under +his very hands, undisturbed by all that had happened. How long must +the man have been dead, I wondered. The stark white bones uncannily +fascinated me. I saw that the feather had been stripped from the +bare quill of the pen: could moths have done that? A knife could not +have stripped it so cleanly. + +Abe Guptil, who had been prowling about, now spoke, and we looked +where he pointed and saw on the floor under a window the print of a +single bare foot as clearly marked in mud as if it had been placed +there yesterday. + +"Hm! He saw that the job was done and went away again," said +Gleazen, coolly. + +I stared about the hut, from which apparently not a thing had been +stolen, and thought that it was the more remarkable, because there +were pans and knives in plain sight that would have been a fortune +to an African black. The open ink-bottle, in which were a few brown +crystals, the pen, which was cut from the quill of some African +bird, and the faded letter, which was scarcely begun, told us that +the spear, hurled through the open window, had pierced the man's +body and snuffed out his life, without so much as a word of warning. + +O'Hara unsteadily laid the letter down and stepped back. His face +was still white. "It's words from the dead," he gasped. + +"So it is," said Matterson, "but he's panned out a noble lot of +stones." + +As if Matterson's effeminate voice had again goaded him to fury, +O'Hara burst out anew. + +"You'd talk o' stones, would ye? Stones to me, that has lost the +best friend surely ever man had? A man that would ha' laid down his +very life for me; and now the niggers have got him and the ants have +stripped his bones! O-o-oh!--" And throwing himself into a rough +chair that the dead man himself had made, O'Hara sobbed like a +little boy. + +Matterson and Gleazen nodded to each other, as much as to say that +it was too bad, but that no one had any call to take on to such an +extent; and Gleazen with a shrug thrust a finger into that heap of +stones, slowly, as if he could not quite believe his senses,--little +_he_ cared for any man's life!--while those of us who until now +had been so hypnotized by horror that we had not laid down our packs +dropped them on the floor. + +"Ants," O'Hara had said: I knew now why the bones were so clean and +white; why the feather was stripped from the quill. + +From the windows of the hut, which stood in a clearing at the very +top of the hill, we could see for miles through occasional vistas in +the tall timber below us. The edge of the clearing, on all sides +except that by which we had approached it, had grown into a tangled +net of vines, which had crept out into the open space to mingle with +saplings and green shrubs. Half way down the hill, where we had +passed it in our haste, I now saw, by the character of the +vegetation, was the spring from which issued the brook whose course +we had followed. + +Uncle Seth, who had been striving to appear at ease since the first +shock of seeing the single occupant of the house, came over beside +me; and after a few remarks, which touched me because they were so +obviously a pathetic effort to win back my friendship and affection, +said in a louder voice, "Thank God, _we_, at least, are safe!" + +The word to O'Hara was like spark to powder. + +Flaring up again, he shrieked, "Safe--_you!_--and you thank God for +it! You white-livered milk-sop of a country storekeeper, what is +your cowardly life worth to yourself or to any one else? You safe!" +He swore mightily. "You! I tell you, Upham, _there_--" he pointed at +the skeleton by the table--"_there_ was a _man_! You safe!" + +Withered by the contempt in the fellow's voice, Uncle Seth stepped +back from the window, turned round, and, as if puzzling what to say +next, bent his head. + +As he did so, a single arrow flew with a soft hiss in through the +window, passed exactly where his head had just that moment been, and +with a hollow _thump_ struck trembling into the opposite wall. There +was not a sound outside, not the motion of a leaf, to show whence +the arrow came. Only the arrow whispering through the air and +trembling in the wall. + +Uncle Seth, as yellow as old parchment, looked up with distended +eyes at the still quivering missile. + +"Safe, you say?" cried Gleazen with a hoarse laugh, still letting +those little stones fall between his fingers. The man at times was a +fiend for utter recklessness. "Aye, safe on the knees of +Mumbo-Jumbo!" + +I heard this, of course, but in a singularly absent way; for at that +moment, when every man of us was staring at the arrow in the wall, +I, strangely enough, was thinking of the girl at the mission. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SIEGE + + +Much as I hated and distrusted Cornelius Gleazen,--and in the months +since I first saw him sitting on the tavern porch in Topham he had +given me reason for both,--I continually wondered at his reckless +nonchalance. + +As coolly as if he were in our village store, with a codfish +swinging above the table, instead of a skeleton leaning against it, +and with a boy's dart trembling in a beam, instead of an arrow +thrust half through the wall--with just such a grand gesture as he +had used to overawe the good people of Topham, he stepped to the +door and brushed his hair back from his forehead. The diamond still +flashed on his finger; his bearing was as impressive as ever. + +"Well, lads," he said,--and little as I liked him, his calmness was +somehow reassuring,--"there _may_ be a hundred of 'em out there, but +again there _may_ be only one. First of all, we'll need water. I'll +fetch it." + +From a peg on the wall he took down a bucket and, returning to the +door, stepped out. + +In the clearing, where the hot sun was shining, I could see no sign +of life. + +Pausing on the doorstone, Gleazen shrugged his great shoulders and +stretched himself and moved his fingers so that the diamond in his +ring flashed a score of colors. He was a handsome man in his big, +rakehell way; and in spite of all I knew against him, I could but +admire his bravado as he turned from us. + +Boldly, deliberately, he stepped down into the grass, while we +crowded in the door and watched him. After all, it seemed that there +was really nothing to be afraid of. The rest of us were startled and +angry when O'Hara suddenly called out, "Come back, you blithering +fool! Come back! You don't know them, Neil; I say, you don't know +them. Come back, I say!" + +With a scornful smile Gleazen turned again and airily waved his +hand--I saw the diamond catch the sunlight as he did so. Then he +gave a groan and dropped the bucket and cried out in pain and +stumbled back over the threshold. + +With muskets we sprang to guard door and window. But outside the hut +there was no living thing to be seen. There was not even wind enough +to move the leaves of the trees, which hung motionless in the +sunlight. + +It was as if we were in the midst of a nightmare from which shortly +we should wake up. The whole ghastly incident seemed so utterly +unreal! But when we looked at Gleazen, we knew that it was no mere +nightmare. It was terrible reality. Blood was dripping from his left +hand and running down on his shoe. + +Through his hand, half on one side of it, half on the other, was +thrust an arrow. A second arrow had passed just under the skin of +his leg. + +From the door I could see the bucket lying in the grass where he had +dropped it; but except for a pair of parrots, which were flying from +tree to tree, there still was no living thing in sight. + +The vine-hung walls of the forest, which reached out long tendrils +and straggling clumps of undergrowth as if to seize upon and consume +the space of open ground, stood tall and green and silent. The deep +grass waved in the faintest of breezes. Above a single big rock the +hot air swayed and trembled. + +Without even wincing, Gleazen drew the arrow from his hand and, +refusing assistance, bound the wound himself. + +Turning from the door, Arnold went to the table and touched an arm +of the skeleton, which fell toward the body and collapsed inside the +sleeve with a low rattle. + +O'Hara raised his hand with an angry gesture. + +"I mean no irreverence," said Arnold. + +For a moment the two stood at gaze, then, letting his hand fall, +O'Hara stepped over beside Arnold, and they lifted the bones, which +for the most part fell together in the dead man's clothes, and laid +them by the north wall. + +"And what," asked Matterson, curiously, "are you two doing now?" + +Without answering, Arnold coolly swept the stones on the table +together between his hands into a more compact pile. + +"Hands off, my boy," said Gleazen, quietly. + +"Well?" Gleazen's words had brought a flush to Arnold's cheeks. He +himself was nearly as old as Gleazen and was quick to resent the +patronizing tone, and his very quietness was more threatening than +the loudest bluster. + +"Hands off," Gleazen repeated; and raising his musket, he cocked it +and tapped the muzzle on the opposite side of the table. "This says +'hands off,' too." He glanced around so that we could see that he +meant us all. "Matterson, ain't there a sack somewhere hereabouts?" +But for the blood on his shoe and the stained cloth round his hand, +he gave no sign of having been wounded. + +From under the table Matterson picked up a bag such as might have +been used for salt, but which was made of strong canvas and was +grimy from much handling. + +"He was always a careful man," Gleazen remarked with a glance at the +skeleton heaped up in the shadow of the wall. "I thought he would +have provided a bag." + +Gleazen and Matterson then, with pains not to miss a single one, +picked up the stones by handfuls and let them rattle into the bag +like shot. + +"And now," said Gleazen, when the last one was in and the neck of +the bag was tied, "once more: _hands off!_" + +Laying the bag beside the skeleton, he took his stand in front of +it, with Matterson and O'Hara on his right and left. + +So far as the three of them were concerned, we might have been +killed a dozen times over, had anyone seen fit to attack us. But Abe +and I, all the time keeping one eye on the strange scene inside the +cabin, had kept watch also for trouble from without, and all the +time not a thing had stirred in the clearing. + +"What," Matterson again asked, still watching Arnold curiously, +"what are you going to do now?" + +Tipping the table up on one side and wrenching off one of the boards +that formed the top of it, Arnold placed it across a window, so that +there was a slit at the bottom through which we could watch or +shoot. + +"Now, there's an idea!" Gleazen exclaimed. But he never stirred from +in front of the skeleton and the bag. + +"There are nails in the table," said Arnold. + +Matterson smiled, and taking the board in one hand, tapped a nail +against the table to start it, and with the thumb and forefinger of +the other hand drew it out as easily as if it had been stuck in +putty. "For a hammer," he said lightly, "use the butt of a musket." + +"Look!" my uncle exclaimed: he was pointing at a good claw-hammer, +which hung over the door. + +The hut fell far short of the duke's mansion that its luckless +builder had promised O'Hara, but it had a window in each of three +walls, and the door in the fourth, so that, by cutting a hole +through the door, we were able, after we had barricaded the +windows, to guard against surprise from any quarter without exposing +ourselves to a chance shot; and as we had brought four muskets, we +were able to give each sentry one well loaded. + +The silence deepened. The air was fairly alive with suspicion. When +Uncle Seth nervously moistened his lips, we all heard him; and when +he flushed and shifted his feet, the creaking of a board seemed +harsh and loud. + +"Well," said Gleazen, slowly, "I'll stand in one watch and Matterson +here will stand in the other. For the rest, suit yourselves." + +Another long, uncomfortable silence fell upon us. + +"Then," said Arnold, at last, "since no one else suggests an +arrangement, I would suggest that Mr. Matterson, O'Hara, Mr. Upham, +and I stand the first watch; that Mr. Gleazen, Joe Woods, and Abe +Guptil stand second watch; and in order to put four men in each +watch in turn, since we must have four to guard against surprise +from any direction, I suggest that each man, turn and turn about, +stands a double watch of eight hours. I myself will take the double +watch first." + +"That is good as far as it goes," Matterson interposed in his light +voice. "But a single watch of two hours, with the double watch of +four, is long enough. A man grows sleepy sooner with his eye at a +knothole than if he is walking the deck." + +Arnold nodded, "We agree to that," he replied. + +"Lads," said Gleazen, quite unexpectedly, "let's have an end of hard +looks and hard words. Come, Joe,--come, Arnold,--don't take sides +against us and good Seth Upham. We're all in this fix together, and, +by heaven! unless we stand together and come out together, not one +of us'll come out alive." + +The man now seemed so frank, and in the face of our common danger +so genial, that, if I had not still felt the sting of the flattery +by which he had deceived me so outrageously in the old days in +Topham, I should have been convinced that he was sincere in every +word he uttered. As it was, sincere or false, I knew that for the +moment he was honest. However his attitude toward us might change +when our troubles were past, for the time being we did share a +common danger, and it was imperative that we stand together. But to +speak of my poor uncle as if he were hand in glove with the three of +them and on equal terms exasperated me. + +Seth Upham's face was drawn and anxious. It was plain that his +spirit was broken, and I believed, when I looked at him, that never +again would he make a show of standing up to the man who had +virtually robbed him of all he possessed. + +"Sir," said Arnold Lamont, thoughtfully and with that quaint, almost +indefinable touch of foreign accent, "that is true. We might say +that we don't know what you mean by offering us a truce. We might +pretend that we have always been, and always shall be, on the +friendliest of terms with you. But we know, as well as you, that it +is not so. Since we share a common danger and since our safety +depends on our mutual loyalty, we, sir, agree to your offer. A truce +it shall be while our danger lasts, and here's my hand that it will +be an honest truce." + +It was easy to see that Gleazen and Matterson were not altogether +pleased by his words. They would have liked, I think, to have us +apprehend the situation less clearly. But there was nothing to do +but make the best of matters; so Gleazen shook Arnold's hand, and we +took an inventory of our provisions, which were quite too few to +last through a siege of any length. + +"To-morrow night, surely we can run for it," said O'Hara. "To-night +they'll watch us like hawks, but to-morrow night--" + +Plainly it was that for which we must wait. + +We divided our food into equal portions, each to serve for one +meal,--the meals, we saw, were to be very few,--ate one portion on +the spot and settled ourselves to watch and sleep. But before I fell +asleep I heard something that still further enlightened me. + +"Now, why," asked Gleazen, sourly, as he faced the other two in the +darkness, "couldn't _one_ of you ha' stayed with Bull, even if the +other was fool enough to go a-wandering?" + +Matterson quietly smiled. "Bud, here, swore he'd never leave him." + +"We-e-ell," O'Hara drawled, irritably, "you was both of you too long +gone and Bull was set in his ways. It was 'Step this side,' and +'Step that!' And 'Those stones are yourn and those are mine and +those are for the company.' Says I at last, 'Them that you've laid +out for me, I'll take to the coast. Keep the rest of them if you +wish.' Says he, 'You'll leave me here to rot.' 'Not so,' says I. 'By +hook or by crook Neil will get the vessel surely, and Molly will +arrange the market surely, for they're good men and not to be turned +lightly off. Do you clean the pocket, and build the house. Surely +the pocket that has sent Neil home like a gentleman, and has sent +Molly west like a man of business, will provide us at least the +wherewithal to buy _one_ cargo. And with a cargo under our own +hatches,' says I, 'four fortunes will soon be made.' 'Do you go,' +says he, 'and I'll build a house like a duke's mansion to live in, +and dig the pocket out and make friends with the niggers, which +eventually we will catch, and four fortunes we will make.' So I come +away, and you two surely would 'a' done the same if you'd been in +my breeches instead of me; and then he went and built his house on +the king's grave!" + +As I lay on the floor, not three feet from the skeleton and from the +round bag of quartz-like stones, through half-closed eyes I saw +against the door, beyond which the sun was shining with intense +heat, the great black shadow that I knew was Matterson, with a +musket across his knees; then, so exhausted was I, that I forgot the +grim object within arm's length of where I lay, forgot our feud with +Matterson and Gleazen and O'Hara, forgot every ominous event that +had happened since the Adventure had set sail four days before and +moved down the river toward the open sea, and, falling asleep, +dreamed of someone whom, strangely, I could not forget. + +The sun had set and the moon was up when my turn came to go on +guard. Taking Matterson's musket and his place by the open door +where I could see all that went on without, but where no one outside +could see me in the dark of the hut, I settled myself with my back +against the jamb. In Matterson's motions as he handed me the musket +and went over by the skeleton and lay down, there was the same lithe +strength that he had revealed when he lifted himself to the taffrail +and boarded the Adventure in Havana harbor. I marveled that he could +endure so much with so little drain on his physical powers. + +"Watch sharply, Joe, there's a brave lad," he said in his light +voice. + +As he crossed the hut and laid his great body on the floor, so +slowly yet so lightly, I thought to myself that I had never seen a +lazier man. What a power he might have been at sea or ashore, had he +had but a tithe of Gleazen's bold effrontery! Although he had shown +none of Gleazen's passionate recklessness, he had given no sign of +fear under any circumstances that we had yet encountered. I +wondered if it were not likely that the man's very quietness, the +complete absence of such petulance as Gleazen sometimes showed, +sprang from a deep, well-proved confidence in his own might. + +I was glad that it had fallen to me to guard the door rather than a +window. Whereas from the windows one could see only a short space of +rough open park and then the intermatted tangle of vines, from the +door the vista ran far down the hill to the open glade where, hidden +in deep grass, the spring lay. But though I sat with the musket +beside me for hours, and though the moon rose higher and higher, +revealing every tree and bush, in all my watch I did not see one +thing astir outside the hut. + +I must repeat that we seemed to be living in a dream. We had seen no +enemy, heard no enemy. For all the signs and sights that those walls +of tangled creepers revealed to us, there might have been no human +being within a hundred miles. Yet from behind those walls had come +three arrows, and for the time being those three arrows locked us in +the hut as fast as if they had been bolts and chains and padlocks. + +As I watched, I heard someone get up and walk around the hut; and +when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw that it was my uncle. To my +surprise he was talking in a low voice. Now what, I wondered, +possessed him to stay awake when he might be sleeping. + +"I must be getting home," I heard him say as he came nearer; and his +voice startled me because, although it spoke softly, it was the old +sharp, domineering voice that I had known so long and so well in +Topham; "I must be getting home. I don't know when I've stayed so +late at the store." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SORTIE + + +Night and morning we got little rest. We ate another meal from our +slender store; but it was a fearful thing to see how few meals +remained; and though in part we satisfied our hunger, our thirst +seemed more unendurable than ever. + +"Eat light and belt tight," O'Hara muttered. "Last night they was +watching like cats at a rat-hole. To-night surely they'll not be so +eager. It'll be to-night that we can make our dash to the river." + +Once more the sun was shining on the green, open space around the +hut. A huge butterfly, blazing with gaudy tropical colors, fluttered +out from some nook among the creepers where it had been hidden, and +on slow wings sailed almost up to us, loitered a moment beside a +blue flower, and again took flight through the still air to the +opposite forest wall. + +"If Neil Gleazen had as much brains under his hair as he has hair to +cover his head," Matterson softly remarked, "we'd have brought +enough food so that we'd not have to go hungry." + +"Food!" Gleazen roared. "Food, is it? You eat like a hog, you +glutton. And who was to know that Bull would not have a house full +of food to feast us on? Who was to know that Bull would be dead?" + +At that a silence fell upon us. + +As usual, though we had agreed to a truce between our two parties, +Gleazen, Matterson, and O'Hara sat on one side of the room, the side +where the skeleton and the bag of pebbles lay, and Arnold, Abe and +I sat on the other, with poor Uncle Seth wandering about at will +between us. + +There was that in my uncle's manner which I could not understand; +and as I watched him, Abe Guptil touched my elbow. + +"Something queer ails Seth Upham," he whispered. + +"I know it," I replied. + +"I don't like to see him act that way." + +"Nor I." + +Abe regarded me thoughtfully. "Now ain't it queer how things turn +out?" he whispered. "I mind the day you come to my house and told me +I'd got to flit. It was a bitter day for me, Joe, and yet do you +know, I'd kind o' like to be back there, even if it was all to go +through again. I swear, though, I'd never sail again with Mr. +Gleazen." + +There was something so ingenuous in Abe's way of saying that he +wished he had never come, that I smiled; but it touched me to +remember all that Abe and I had faced together; and Abe himself, +with keen Yankee shrewdness, added in an undertone, "It's all very +well for O'Hara to talk of making our break to-night. I'm thinking, +Joe, it is upon us a storm will break before we get free and clear +of this camp." + +As the sun rose higher and higher, the sunlight steadily grew +warmer. The air shimmered with heat, and the house itself became as +hot, it seemed, as an oven over a charcoal fire. Sweat streamed from +our faces and, having had no water now for nearly twenty-four hours, +we suffered agonies of thirst. + +Never were men in a more utterly tantalizing predicament. Whether or +not it was cooler outside the hut than within, it surely could have +been no hotter; and from the door straight down the hill to the +spring there led a broad, open path. The spring was only a short +distance away, and there was, so far as we could see, not a living +creature between us and cold water in abundance. Hour after hour the +green, deep grass around it mocked us. Yet in the wattled hut, under +the thatched roof, we were prisoners. + +Three arrows, shot by we knew not whom, every one of them now in our +own hands, were the only warnings that we had received; but not a +man of us dared disobey the message that those three arrows had +brought. + +The day wore on, through the long and dreary watches of the morning, +through the tortures of high noon, and through the less harsh +afternoon hours. We ate another of our few remaining meals and +watched the sun set and the darkness come swiftly. The shadows, +growing longer and longer, reached out across the clearing to the +trees on the opposite side; and suddenly, darkly, swept up the +eastern wall of the forest. As the light vanished, night enfolded +us. The stars that flashed into the sky only intensified the utter +blackness of the woods. + +O'Hara uneasily stirred and stretched himself in the darkness like a +dog. + +"Now, lads," he whispered, "now's the time to gather things +together. At two in the morning we'll run for it. Then's the hour +they'll be sleeping like so many black pigs." + +Gleazen moved and groaned,--it was almost the first time that he had +yielded in the least to the pain of his wound. + +"Can you travel by yourself, Neil?" Matterson asked. "Or shall I +carry you on my back?" + +When it came to me that the question was no joke, that Matterson +actually meant it, I could not keep from staring at him in +amazement. He was a tremendous man, but there was something honestly +heroic in his offering to carry Cornelius Gleazen's weight back over +all those miles. + +Gleazen smiled and shook his head. "Thanks, Mat," he replied, "but +I'll make out to scramble along." + +The word "scramble," it seemed, caught Uncle Seth's attention, and +with a curt nod, he said, "Yes, scramble them; use them any way but +boiled. We can't sell cracked eggs in the store, but they're +perfectly good to use at home." + +We all looked in amazement, and Gleazen, in spite of his pain, +hoarsely laughed. + +"Why, Seth," he cried, "are you gone crazy?" + +My uncle stared blankly at him and continued to pace the room. + +In the silence that ensued, Gleazen's words seemed to echo and +reëcho; though they were spoken quietly, even in jest, their +significance was truly terrible. + +"Gentlemen," said Arnold Lamont in a very low voice, "Seth Upham, I +fear, is not well. We must not let him stand guard. _We cannot trust +him!_" + +"Name of heaven!" whispered Matterson, "the man's right. Upham is +turning queer." + +As I watched my uncle, my mother's only brother, the last of all my +kin, a choking rose in my throat. He did not see me at all. He saw +none of us. In mind and spirit he was thousands of miles away from +us. I started toward him, but when his eyes met mine dully and with +no indication that he recognized me, I swallowed hard and turned +back. + +Never was a night so long and ghastly! With all prepared for our +dash to the river, with Uncle Seth wandering back and forth, and +with the rest of us divided into three watches of two each, that +overlapped by an hour, so that four men were always on guard, we +watched and waited until midnight passed and the morning hours came. + +When the moon was at the zenith, O'Hara woke Matterson, and we +gathered by the packs, which were made up and ready. + +"Poor Bull!" said O'Hara, brushing his hand across his eyes. "Sure, +and I hate to leave him thus. If ever man deserved a decent burial, +it's him." + +"If men got what they deserved," Gleazen briefly retorted, "Bull +would never have drove the ship on the island, and we'd never have +had to divide up this here find which Bull dug up for us, and Bull +would never have had to stand by the hill to get himself killed, in +the first place." + +Each man had tied up his own belongings to suit himself, and had put +in his pocket his share of what little food was left. The different +packs stood in the middle of the hut, but it was noticeable that, +although each man was nearest his own, Matterson was eyeing +Gleazen's with a show of keener interest. + +"Let me carry your bundle, Neil, you with a hole in your leg," he +said. + +"No," Gleazen replied. + +"I'll never notice the weight of it." + +"Keep your hand off, Molly. I'll carry my own bundle." + +"As you please." + +Matterson turned away and stepped to one side. + +All this I noticed, at first, mainly, if the truth be known, because +I saw how closely Arnold Lamont was noticing it, but later because +the manner of the two men convinced me that Gleazen's pack held the +bag that the others were so carefully guarding. + +Now that our food was almost gone, there remained so very little +baggage of any kind for us to carry, that there was no good reason +that I could see for not putting our odds and ends of clothing and +ammunition into, say, two convenient bundles, at which we could take +turns during our forced march to the river, or, indeed, for not +abandoning the mere baggage altogether. But Gleazen, Matterson, and +O'Hara had planned otherwise. Having allotted to each of us his +share of the food that remained, and an equal seventh of our various +common possessions, they kept three of the muskets themselves, and +gave the fourth to poor Seth Upham, which seemed to me so mad an act +that I was on the point of questioning its wisdom, when Arnold +caught my eye and signaled me to be still. + +Gathering in the door of the hut, we looked out into the silent, +moonlit glade that led down the hill and through the valley toward +the distant river. + +"Are we all ready, lads?" Matterson asked in his light voice. + +"Push on, Molly, push on," Gleazen replied. + +Shouldering his pack, Matterson stepped out into the moonlight. +"Now, then," he whispered,--for although we were confident that no +enemy within earshot was then awake (it had not been hard for O'Hara +to persuade us to his own way of thinking), a spell of silence and +secrecy was upon us,--"it's straight for the river, lads, and the +devil take the hindermost. If you're too lame to travel, Neil, so +help me, I'll carry you." + +"Push on!" Gleazen returned hoarsely. "Push on to the spring. After +that we'll talk if you wish." + +"We're going home," I thought. Home, indeed! It seemed that at last +we had turned the corner; that at last we had passed the height of +land and were on the point of racing down the long slope; that at +last our troubles were over and done with. A score of figures to +express it leaped into my mind. And first of all, best of all, at +last we were to get water! + +Arnold said sharply, "Come, Abe; come, Joe; step along." + +Bending low, Matterson led the way, I followed close at his heels, +and the others came in single file behind me. Seven dark figures, +silently slipping from shadow to shadow, we left behind us the +hut,--we believed forever!--and headed straight down the hill to the +spring; for more than anything else we longed to plunge our faces +into cold water and drink until we had quenched our burning thirst. + +Down the hill to the spring we went, slipping along in single file. +All night and all day, without a word, we had endured agony; for it +was by showing no sign of life whatever to those who were guarding +the hut from the forest that we hoped so to lull their watchfulness +that we could escape them just after midnight. And now we were eager +almost beyond words for that water which we had so vividly imagined. +As we darted into the tall grass, it seemed so completely assured +that I swung my pack from my shoulder and broke into a quick trot +after Matterson, whose long, swift strides, as he straightened up, +had carried him on ahead of me. + +If a thousand people read this tale, not one of them, probably, will +know the full meaning of the word thirst; not one will understand +what water had come by then to mean to me. + +I ran--I tried to run faster--faster! But as I dragged my pack +along, bumping at my knees, I was amazed to see Matterson stop. He +threw his musket to his shoulder. The hollow boom of it went rolling +off through the woodland and echoed slowly away into silence among +the mighty trees. Then he threw his hands up, and with a cry fell +into the grass, and lay so still that I could not tell where he had +fallen. + +By the flash of his musket I and those behind me had for an instant +seen by the spring a grotesque figure dressed in skins and rags, and +painted with white rings and bars. When the flash died away, we +could see nothing, not even the waving grasses and the black trees +against the sky, because momentarily the sudden glare had blinded +us. + +As if impelled by another will than mine, I drew back step by step +until I was standing shoulder to shoulder with the others. Whatever +quarrels we had had among ourselves were for the time forgotten. + +"Now, by heaven," Gleazen gasped, "it's back to the hut for all of +us!" + +"But Neil--now, Neil, sure now we can't run away and leave old +Molly," O'Hara cried. + +"Leave him?" Gleazen roared. "We've got to leave him! Where is he? +Tell me if you can! Go find him if you like! Hark! See!" + +With a thin, windy whistle a spear came flying out of the night and +passed just over Gleazen's shoulder and his pack. Another with a +soft _chug_ struck into the ground at my feet; then, my eyes having +once more become accustomed to the moonlight, I saw sneaking into +the clearing a score of dark, slinking figures. + +"They're coming!" I cried. "They're cutting us off! Quick! Quick!" +In panic I started back to the hut, with the others at my heels. + +When they saw the figures that I had seen, Gleazen and O'Hara both +fired their muskets, whereupon the figures disappeared and we, +deafened by the tremendous reports and blinded again by the bright +flashes, ran back as hard as we could go to the hut that so short a +time since we had eagerly abandoned; and with Gleazen limping in the +rear, fairly threw ourselves across the threshold. + +Whether our gunfire had done any real damage, we gravely doubted; +and now we were both a man and a weapon short. But bitterest of all, +and by far the most discouraging, was our intense thirst. + +"Ah, the black devils," O'Hara muttered between grinding teeth. +"Sure, and they planned all that--planned to let us get the water +almost between our lips and then drive us back here. The black +cowards, they dare not meet us man to man, though they are forty to +our one." + +It was significant that no one spoke of Matterson. The silence as +regarded his name marked a certain fatalism, which now possessed +us--something akin to despair, yet not so ignoble as despair; +something akin to resolution, yet not so praiseworthy as resolution. +There seemed, indeed, nothing to say about him. Bull was dead, I +thought, and Matterson was dead; and even if the blacks dared not +rush upon us and take the hut by storm, they would soon kill us by +thirst. We had done our best; if worst came to worst, we would die +with our boots on. + +Meanwhile queer low cries out in the forest were rising little by +little to shrill yells and hoots and cat-calls. If we could judge by +the sounds, there were hundreds of blacks, if not thousands. + +"O Bull! You poor, deluded fool!" O'Hara cried. "Now why--why--_why_ +did he go and build the house on a king's grave?" + +Why indeed? + +It was a fearful thing to hear those cries and yells; yet, although +we watched from door and windows a long while, we did not actually +see any further sign of danger, until Arnold Lamont, who was +guarding the door, said in a subdued voice, "Look--down the +hill--half-way down. Something has moved twice." + +As we gathered behind him, he turned and with a quick gesture said, +"Do not leave the windows. Who knows what trick they may try upon +us?" + +My uncle, who seemed for the moment to comprehend all that was going +forward, and Abe Guptil and Gleazen, went back to the windows, +although it was evident enough that their minds were not so much on +their own duty as on whatever it was that had caught Arnold's +attention. + +"See!" said Arnold. + +There was nothing down there now that seemed not to belong by nature +to the place, and I surmised that Arnold had seen only some small +animal. But that a black object, appearing and disappearing, had +revealed more to the others than to me, I immediately apprehended. + +"It was fifty feet farther down the hill when I first distinguished +it," said Arnold. + +O'Hara went over to my uncle and I heard him say, "Let me take your +gun, since it's loaded, Mr. Upham, and thank you kindly." + +Returning, he sat down in the door beside Arnold, who had begun +meanwhile to load the empty musket that O'Hara had carelessly laid +aside. When the thing, whatever it was, moved again, O'Hara raised +the gun to his shoulder. + +"Don't shoot!" Arnold whispered. + +"And why not?" + +The thing moved once more. + +"Will ye look, now! It's come ten feet in this direction," O'Hara +whispered. + +Now Arnold raised his own musket. + +Again we saw the thing, but so briefly that neither Arnold nor +O'Hara had time to fire. + +Suddenly O'Hara laid his hand on Arnold's shoulder and repeated +Arnold's own words:-- + +"Don't shoot." + +"This time," Arnold whispered, "I shall shoot." + +"Wait a bit, wait a bit!" O'Hara gently pressed down the muzzle of +the gun. + +Meanwhile, you must understand, the yelling and hooting had first +grown loud and near, then had drawn slowly farther away. It was not +easy to let that creature, be it animal or human, come crawling up +the hill in the full light of the moon. As the cries died in the +distance, the thing moved faster and with less concealment, and I +fiercely whispered, "Shoot, Arnold, shoot!" + +"Wait," he replied and lifted a restraining hand. + +At the moment I could not understand why he did not do as I said; +but as the thing came out into open ground, the same thought that +had caused the two to hold their fire occurred likewise to me; and +now we saw that we were right. + +The thing crawling up the hill was a man, and when the man came into +the open clearing directly in front of our camp, we saw that it was +Matterson. + +Without a word, followed closely by O'Hara, who laid his gun on the +threshold, I leaped out past Arnold and ran down to Matterson and +helped him to his feet and led him groaning up to the hut. + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI + +FOR OUR VERY LIVES + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SPEARS IN THE DARK + + +"O-o-oh!" he moaned. "They got me. It's a wonder they didn't kill +me. But here I am along with old Neil Gleazen." + +"Where's your bundle?" Gleazen demanded. + +"Down in the grass by the spring." + +"Let me tell you, Matterson, it's good I carried my own." + +Matterson repressed another groan and made no answer. + +Blood was running from a great gash above his ear and across his +cheek, which we hastened to bind to the best of our ability, and he +lay down on the floor with his head on his hand. + +"I'm on the sick list," he said at last, "but I've had water, and if +those black sons of hell have not poisoned the spring, I'll call it +quits." + +Matterson's face was a ghastly sight, and already blood had reddened +the strip of sacking round his head; but I believe there was not a +man of us who would not have taken his wound to have got his chance +at water. + +"If only we could catch a king," Gleazen remarked thoughtfully. +"That's the way to end a war in Africa. Catch us a king and make +peace on him." + +"That's one way surely to end a war," said O'Hara, darkly, "but not +this war." + +"And why not this war?" + +"Because," said O'Hara, "Bull built the house on a king's grave. +It's the _spirits_ that are offended." + +Gleazen laughed unkindly. + +"Aye, laugh," cried O'Hara, "that's all you know about spirits. Now +I'll tell ye, believe me or not as it pleases ye, that the spirit of +a nigger is a bad thing to cross. And care as little as ye please +for jujus and fetishes and nigger gods, the times are coming when +they'd serve you well if you'd not turned them off by laughing at +them." + +"Spirits--" said my uncle in an undertone. "Hm! Hollands, Scotch, +and Rye. We must lay in more Hollands, Sim; the stock's getting low. +And while you are about it, we'd best take an inventory of our +cordials." + +Gleazen fluently swore, and watched Seth Upham with a keen, +appraising look. There was no doubt that in his own wandering mind +my uncle was back again in his store in Topham. + +"I'm thirsty," he said suddenly. "I must get a drink of water. Now +where's the bucket? Sim, where's the bucket?" + +As he fumbled along the wall, we stared at one another with eyes in +which there was fear as well as horror. I swallowed hard. Poor, poor +Uncle Seth, I thought. What was to become of him? And indeed, for +the matter of that, of us all? + +By this time I had come to see clearly that poor Seth Upham was in +no condition to stand up for his own rights, and that, whether or +not he could stand up for his rights, he had no chance of getting +them from that precious trio, his associates, without a stronger +advocate than mere justice. + +They had promised unconditionally that half the profits of their mad +voyage should be his, and by that promise alone they had so cruelly +persuaded him to sell home and business and embark in their +enterprise. Now, deceived, bullied, flouted, he bade fair to lose +not only those gains which were rightfully his, but also his vessel, +his stores, and every cent that he had ventured. If there was to be +a copper penny saved for him, Arnold, Abe, and I must save it. + +Through the rough, less pleasant memories of his abrupt, sharp +ways--and so often, even when he was in the abruptest and sharpest +of moods he had betrayed unconsciously, even unwillingly, his +thought of my future, for which he was building, as well as for his +own--there came memories of old days, when he and my mother and I +had lived so quietly and happily together in Topham. + +I started up, all at once awakened from my reveries, with Abe's +dazed voice ringing in my ears. "Look! Look!" he cried. "Look +there!" + +For the moment, in our horror at my uncle's condition, we had almost +forgotten our danger from without. + +"Look!" Abe cried again. "In heaven's name look there!" + +We crowded shoulder to shoulder by the window where Abe had +stationed himself and saw in the moonlit clearing a strange +creature, which came dancing and rolling along from the edge of the +forest. It was dressed in skins and rags. It was painted with big +white rings and bars. Now it began to utter strange whines and +squeals and whimpers, in an unearthly tone that it might have +produced by blowing on a split quill. + +From the corner of my eye I saw that Matterson was biting his lip. +At my side I felt O'Hara violently trembling. + +Out in the moonlight, where the swaying creepers cast dim, spectral +shadows, the gibbering, murmuring creature was coming nearer. Its +boldness was appalling. I had been brought up in a Christian country +and given a Christian education, but even to me that clumsy, dancing +wizard, with his unearthly squeals and cries, brought a +superstitious fear so keen that I could scarcely control my wits. +Small wonder that such tricks impose on credulous savages! + +"Watch, now!" Gleazen said quietly. He leveled a musket across the +window-sill. "Spirits is it? I'll show them." + +"Don't shoot," O'Hara cried. "Don't shoot, Neil, don't shoot!" + +He reached past me toward Gleazen; but before he could lay hands on +the gun, Gleazen fired. A spurt of flame shot from the muzzle, and +as the report went thundering off into the forest the medicine +man--wizard--devil--call him what you will--seemed curiously to wilt +like a drought-killed plant, but more suddenly than ever plant +wilted, and fell in a crumpled heap in the moonlight. + +"You fool!" O'Hara cried, "you cursed fool! First it was Bull that +built the house on a king's grave and now it is you that's killed a +devil!" + +"He's dead enough," Gleazen calmly replied. + +"Look!" + +Here and there, along the edge of the forest, men darted into the +moonlight. They carried spears, which flashed now and then when the +moon fell just so on the points. First they gathered by the body of +the wizard and carried it back into the woods. We saw them, a little +knot of men with the heavy weight of the fallen mummer in their +midst, moving slowly to the wall of vines and through it into the +mysterious depths beyond. Then, coming slowly out again, they moved +back and forth before the hut as if to appraise our chances of +defending it. Then they once more disappeared. + +All this time they had walked as if in a world of death. Although we +had seen their every gesture, we had not heard a sound loud enough +to rival the almost imperceptible drone of insects in the grass. But +now we heard again that grimly familiar, haunting, wild cry. Three +times we heard it, terribly mournful and prolonged; then we heard a +voice wailing, "White man, I come 'peak: white man all go Dead +Land." + +The voice died away, a few formless shrieks and yells followed it, +and a silence, long and deep, settled upon the clearing. + +Once more Arnold, Abe, and I stood on one side of the hut, and +Gleazen, Matterson, and O'Hara on the other, with poor Seth Upham +wandering aimlessly between us. + +There was war within and without. There was almost no food. There +was no water at all. I thought, then, that I should never see the +town of Topham again; and--which oddly enough seemed even harder to +endure--I thought that I never again should see the mission on the +river. + +"I swear," O'Hara whispered,--so clearly did I hear the words, as I +stood with one eye for the inside of the hut and one for the +outside, that I jumped like a nervous girl,--"I swear we've started +a war that will reach from here to Barbary before it's done. Hearken +to that!" + +We heard afar off the throbbing of native drums, the roar of distant +angry voices, a strange chant sung in some remote African +encampment. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CARDS AND CHESS + + +Hunger and thirst were stripping away the last vestige of our +pretended good-will, and our two parties glared at each other in a +sullen rage, which seemed visibly to grow more intense, until it was +the most natural thing in the world that Arnold should touch with +the toe of his shoe a board that ran from one end of the hut to the +other and divided the floor approximately into halves. + +"That side," he said, "is yours. This side is ours. You shall not +cross that line. You shall guard the hut from that side; we, from +this." + +Gleazen looked at Matterson, then at O'Hara, then both he and +Matterson nodded grim assent. + +But although a board across the hut divided us into two hostile +camps, we shared a peril so imminent and so overwhelming that we +dared not for an instant relax our watchfulness toward our enemies +in the forest. + +With one eye on our foes without and one on our foes within, we +settled ourselves for another night, which I remember by the agonies +of thirst that we endured; and with a certain grim confidence, +shared by both parties in the hut, that neither would betray the +other, since to do so would be to throw away its own one chance for +life, we watched and waited for the dawn. + +And meanwhile we heard in the forest such a clamor and din as few +white men have ever been so unlucky as to hear. First, we heard +unseen people running about and furiously screaming; then, here and +there through the trees and vines we caught glimpses of flaming +torches, which they swung in great circles and again and again +touched to the ground. I was convinced that it preluded an attack, +and I screwed up my courage and fingered my pistols and tried not to +show my fear; but in a brief lull I learned from something that +O'Hara was saying to his companions that they were not preparing for +an attack; they were mourning for the wizard whom Gleazen had +killed, and with the flaming torches they were driving away evil +spirits. Now far down the valley we caught glimpses of moving +lights; and once in a while, through pauses in the nearer din, we +heard a distant droning, by which we knew that the blacks of the +countryside were converging upon us from the remotest districts, +along their narrow trails, in thin streams like ants. Minute by +minute the cries became more general, and rose to such a hideous +intermingling of wails and shrieks as I should not have believed +could issue from merely human throats. + +By its volume and extent the uproar was an appalling revelation of +the number of those who had surrounded us, and I tell you that we +seven men in that hut in the clearing were properly frightened. It +seemed a miracle that they did not sweep over us in one great +irresistible wave and bear us down and blot us out. Yet such was +their superstitious fear of things they did not understand, that +from the cover of our frail little hut our few firearms still held +them at a distance. + +Never dreaming that their own power was infinitely superior to ours, +attributing the death of their wizard to a witchcraft stronger than +his own, they circled round and round us under cover of the forest +and dared not come within gunshot. + +As day broke, and the sun rose like a ball of fire and blazed down +on us and doubled the tortures that we had suffered in the night, we +heard the drummers who had come to pound their drums by the body of +the dead wizard. The drumming throbbed and rolled in waves; bells +rang and hands clapped; and all the time there was shrieking and +wailing and moaning. + +They drummed the stars down and the sun up, and when at noon there +had been no respite from the din, which by then fairly tortured us, +the other three, who had been talking together among themselves, +called us to the board across the hut for conference. + +"Now, men," O'Hara began, "we'll make no foolish talk of being +friends together; surely we and you know how much such talk is +worth. But we and you know, surely, that if one party of us is +killed, the others will be killed likewise; for we are too few to +fight for our lives, even supposing as now that every man jack of us +is alive and bustling. Is not that so? + +"Now, lads, there's a chance we can break through their line and run +for the river while the niggers is praying and mourning over that +corpse yonder." + +O'Hara stopped as if for us to reply, and I glanced at Arnold, who, +meeting my glance, turned to Abe Guptil and thoughtfully said, +"Shall we take that chance, Abe?" + +"Take any chance, is my feeling, Mr. Lamont. Chances are all too +few." + +With a nod at O'Hara, Arnold replied, "We are agreed, I think. As +you say, there is a chance. You three shall go first. We will +follow." + +"It's a chance," O'Hara repeated, almost stubbornly. + +"We are in a mood for chances," Arnold returned. "But you three must +go first." + +When O'Hara frowned, hesitated, and acceded, I wondered if he +thought we were gullible enough to let them come behind us. + +Arnold was quietly smiling, but the others, as they gathered in the +door, were grave indeed. There was not one of us who did not know in +his heart that our hope was utterly forlorn. Only Arnold--time and +again I marveled at him!--sustained that amazing equanimity. + +Gleazen shouldered his pack, but the others let theirs lie. + +"How about the rest of the baggage?" Arnold asked, as composedly as +if he were setting out from the store in Topham upon a two days' +journey. + +"Leave it to the devils and the ants," Matterson thickly retorted. + +Both he and Gleazen were lame from their wounds and must have +suffered more than any of the rest of us. How they could face the +long, forced march, I did not understand; for though hunger and +thirst were my only troubles, my head swam when I moved quickly and +my limbs were now very light, now heavier than so much lead. But +Gleazen had long since shown his mettle, and Matterson, although he +staggered when he walked, set his teeth as he leaned against the +wall and waited to start. + +If the truth were told, we had no real hope of getting away; and +immediately whatever desperate dreams we clung to were frustrated; +for, as we appeared in front of the hut and weakly started down the +hill, there came a sudden lull in the mad wailing over the dead +wizard; black warriors appeared on all sides of us, and a line of +them, like hornets streaming out of their nest, emerged from the +forest and massed between us and the spring. + +"Come, men, it's back to the house," said O'Hara; and back we went, +each party to its own side as before, but each turning to the others +as if for what pitiful mutual reassurance there could be in such a +situation. + +"There's war from here to the coast," Matterson muttered. "Such a +war as never was before." + +The voice that issued from his dry throat was so thick and husky +that I should never have known it for the light, effeminate voice of +Matterson. + +"It's bad," said Gleazen, "but so help me, they'll be cleaning out +old Parmenter and putting an end to the sniveling psalm-singers on +this river. And then, lads! Ah, then'll be great times ahead, if +once we get free and clear of this accursed hornets' nest." + +In the face of our desperate danger, the man was actually exultant. +But I thought of the girl at the mission, and a dread filled my +heart, so strong that the room went black and I sat down, literally +too sick to stand. + +With never a word poor Uncle Seth was pacing back and forth across +the hut. Of us all, he alone had the liberty of the entire place; +but it was a tolerant, contemptuous liberty that the others gave +him, and nothing else would have testified so vividly to the way he +had fallen in their regard. + +It seemed incredible that this pale, gaunt, voiceless man, who +suffered so much in silence, who without comment or remark let +matters take their own course, who resented no indignity and aspired +to no authority, could be that same Seth Upham who had made himself +one of the leading men of our own Topham. And indeed it was not the +same Seth Upham! Something was broken; something was lost. In my +heart of hearts, I knew well enough what it was, but I could not +bear to put the thought into words. No man in my place, who had a +tender regard for old times and old associations, could have done +so. + +There had been no life at all in our last attempt to leave the hut. +We faced the future now in the listlessness of despair. Still the +extraordinary situation continued unchanged. Apparently, so long as +we remained in the hut, we were to be ignored. It seemed as if the +black fiends must know how bitterly we were suffering as hour after +hour the clamor of their mourning rose and fell; as if they were +deliberately torturing us. + +When Matterson sat down on the floor with his back against the wall, +and began to whittle out bits of wood from one of the legs of the +table, I watched him with an inward passion that I made no effort to +control. He, for one, was responsible for Seth Upham's sad plight, +but with a heart as hard as the blade of his knife he calmly sat for +hours whittling, and smiling over his work. + +All that day we heard the tumult in the forest; all that day the sun +blazed down on the hut and doubled and trebled the tortures of our +thirst; all that day Seth Upham paced the hut in silence; and from +noon till late afternoon Matterson whittled at little sticks of +wood. + +Piece by piece there grew before our eyes a set of chessmen. Rough +and crude though the men were, they slowly took the familiar shapes +of kings and queens and bishops and knights and pawns. When they +were done, Matterson hunted through the pockets of the coat that the +skeleton still wore, and found a carpenter's pencil, with which he +blackened half the men. Then, grunting with pain as he moved, he +drew a crude chessboard on the floor squarely in the middle of the +hut. + +"Lamont," said he, "shall we play?" + +Arnold smiled. "I will play you a game," he said. + +And with that the two sat down by the board and tossed for white and +set up the crudely carved men, and began perhaps the most +extraordinary game of chess that ever two men played. + +[Illustration: _And with that the two sat down by the board ... and +began perhaps the most extraordinary game of chess that ever two men +played._] + +There was something admirable in their very bravado. While the rest +of us watched the clearing, every man of us suffering from thirst +and hunger, the tortures of the damned, those two, swaying sometimes +from sheer weakness, played at chess as coolly as if it were one of +the games that Arnold and Sim had played of old in my uncle's store +at Topham; and although to this day I have never really mastered +chess, I knew enough of it to perceive that it was no uneven battle +that they fought. As the pawns and knights advanced, and the bishops +deployed, and the queens came out into the board, the two players +became more and more absorbed in their game, which seemed to take +them out of themselves and to enable them to forget all that had +happened and was happening. + +Indeed, it well-nigh hypnotized those of us who were only watching. +The ghastly calm of the two, the fierceness with which they fixed +their eyes on each move, the coolness with which they ignored the +wild clamor, all helped to compose the rest of us, and by their +example they made us ashamed of revealing to one another the fears +we were struggling against. + +"Neil," said O'Hara suddenly,--his harsh, hoarse voice startled even +the chess-players,--"shall we have a turn at cards? I do believe +there's a wonderful solace in such hazards." + +"Cards!" Gleazen echoed. His own voice was stranger than O'Hara's. +"We have no cards." + +From the pocket of the blue coat on the skeleton O'Hara drew out a +dingy old pack, which a dead man's fingers had placed there. + +"Sure, and I know where to find them," he said. "Never did Bull +travel without them." + +With that the two squatted on the floor, and shuffled the cards with +a pleasant whir, and dealt and played and dealt again. + +It was as if our party had suddenly been transported back to Topham. +Such nonchalance was almost beyond my understanding. Matterson, by +his cool, bold defiance of danger, seemed to have aroused emulation +in every one of us; and Gleazen, always reckless, now talked as +lightly and gayly of the games as if it were a child's play to while +away the dull hours of a holiday afternoon. + +For the time, abandoning the agreement that neither side should +trespass on the other's half of the hut, Abe and I watched from +window to window lest the blacks take us by surprise, and now and +then we would see someone observing the hut from under the trees a +long gunshot away. But although the wails and yells and moans and +the constant drumming over the dead wizard never ceased, no man came +from the cover of the vines into the clearing. + +Now Arnold precisely and clearly said, "Check." + +Matterson swore and snapped his fingers and moved. + +Again Arnold moved, and again he said, "Check!" + +Matterson bent over the board and frowned. After a long delay he +moved once more. + +Instantly Arnold moved again and in his calm voice repeated, +"Check!" + +Matterson looked up at him with a strange new respect in his eyes. + +"You win!" he cried with an oath. "You've done well. I didn't think +you could. You _are_ a chess-player." + +"I have played a good deal," Arnold quietly replied. + +"You have played with better men than Sim Muzzy." + +"Yes." For a moment Arnold hesitated, then he added: "I have beaten +at chess a great man. It was like to have cost me my sword and my +head." + +"Your sword?" Matterson repeated slowly. "Your sword and your head?" + +There was a question in his voice, but Arnold did not answer it. +Returning a curt, "Yes," as if regretting that he had said so much, +he brushed Matterson's chessmen together, and looked out of the door +and down the long slope at the tall green grass beside the spring, +which seemed as far away from us as did our own well, thousands of +miles away in Topham. + +And still Gleazen and O'Hara played on. Time and again we heard the +whir of shuffling and the slap of cards flung on top of one another. + +Now the sun was setting. The swift twilight came upon us and faded +into darkness, and the card-players also stopped their game. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN UNSEEN FOE + + +All day Seth Upham had scarcely said a word. From dawn until dark he +had paced the hut, apparently buried deep in thought. Only his +gaunt, pitiful face revealed the extent to which he shared our +tortures. + +Now for the first time in all that day, to our surprise, he spoke; +and his first words confirmed every fear we had felt for him. + +"The boys ought not to make so much noise," he said. "I must speak +to the constable about it." + +Matterson softly swore and shifted the bandage on his face. Gleazen +significantly looked over at me. Abe Guptil stood with his mouth +open and stared at Seth Upham. + +Never boys of a New England town made such an uproar as was going on +outside. Those wails and yells and hideous drummings and trumpetings +were African in every weird cadence and boisterous hoot and clang. + +Then, as if the first words had broken a way through his silence, +Seth Upham began to talk in a low, hurried voice; and however +reluctant we had hitherto been to believe that he was mad, there was +no longer any hope for him at all. The man had lost his mind +completely under the terrific strain that he had endured. + +Small wonder when you think of all that had happened: of how, for +Cornelius Gleazen's mad project, he had thrown away a place of honor +and assured comfort back in Topham; of how he had been driven deeper +and still deeper into Gleazen's nefarious schemes by blackmail for +we knew not what crimes that he had committed in his young-manhood; +of how, even in that alliance of thieves, he had fallen from a place +of authority to such a place that he got not even civil treatment; +of how he had lost reputation, livelihood, money, and now even his +vessel. + +"I declare, we must put in another constable," he muttered. "Johnson +can't even keep the boys in order--In order, did you say? Who else +should keep the place in order?--O Sim, if only you had wits to +match your good intentions! How can you expect to keep books if you +can't keep the stock in order?--" He stopped suddenly and faced the +door. "Hark! Who called? I declare, I thought I was a lad again." + +Moment by moment, as he paced the hut, we watched his expression +change with the mood of his delirium,--sometimes I have wondered if +the fever of the tropics did not precipitate his strange +frenzy,--and moment by moment his emotions seemed to become more +intense. + +Now, pursuing that latest fancy, he talked about his boyhood and +told how deeply he repented of the wicked life he had led as a young +man; told us, all unwittingly, of unsuspected ambitions that had led +him from wild ways into sober ones, and of his youthful +determination to win a creditable place in the community; told us of +the hard honest work that he had given to accomplish it. Now he +revealed the pride he had taken in all that he had succeeded in +doing and building, and--which touched me more than I can tell +you--how he had counted on me, his only kinsman, to take his place +and carry on his work. All this, you understand, not as if he were +talking to us or to anyone else, but as if he were thinking out +loud,--as indeed he was,--merely running over in his own mind the +story of his life. + +Now he reverted again to his repentance for the wicked youth that he +had lived. And now, suddenly, his manner of speaking changed, and +from merely thinking aloud he burst out into wild accusation. + +"The dice are loaded," he cried,--his voice was hoarse and strained +with the agonies that he, like all of us, had endured and was still +enduring,--"the dice are loaded. I'll not play with loaded dice, +Neil Gleazen!" + +At that Gleazen gasped out a queer whisper. + +But already Seth Upham's mind was racing away on another tack. + +"Aye, loaded with the blessed weight of salvation. Didn't my old +mother, God bless her, teach me at her knee that a man's soul can +never die? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name--" + +Staring at him in horror, we saw that he was not blasphemous. The +words came reverently from his weak lips. He simply was mad. + +Suddenly in a high-pitched voice, he began to sing, + + "Low at Thy gracious feet I bend, + My God, my everlasting friend." + +He sang three stanzas of the hymn in a way that appalled every one +of those three men who of us all, I think, were least easily +appalled--indeed, I think that for once they were more appalled than +the rest of us; certainly none of them had Arnold's composure or +Abe's obvious, almost overpowering sympathy for poor Seth Upham. +Then he stopped and faced about with eyes strangely aflame. In his +manner now there was all his old imperiousness and something more, +an almost noble dignity, a commanding enthusiasm, which, whether it +came from madness alone or whether it had always been in him, got +respect even from Matterson and O'Hara. + +"I am going to meet my God face to face at the throne of Judgment," +he cried. + +It was the first time in days that he had addressed us directly, and +he spoke with a fierce intensity that amazed us; then, before we +guessed what was in his disordered mind, before a man of us could +stop him, he stepped outside the door and flung his arms straight +out like a cross, and with his head thrown back marched, singing, +into the darkness. + +"By Heaven!" Gleazen gasped, "he has set sail now for the port of +Kingdom Come!" + +We who remained in the hut, where a spell of silence had fallen, +could hear him strongly and clearly singing as he strode down the +long, dark vista toward the spring:-- + + "Lo what a glorious sight appears + To our believing eyes! + The earth and seas are past away, + And the old rolling skies!" + +It may seem strange to one who reads of that fearful night that we +did not rush after him and drag him back. But at the time we were +taken completely by surprise, literally stupefied by the +extraordinary climax of our days and nights of suffering and +anxiety; and even then, I think,--certainly I have later come to +believe it,--we felt in our inmost hearts that it was kinder to let +him go. + +He went down the hill, singing like an innocent child. His voice, +which but a moment before had been pathetically weak, had now become +all at once as clear as silver. And still the words came back from +the tall grass by the spring, where creatures ten thousand times +worse than any crawling son of the serpent of Eden lay in wait for +him:-- + + "Attending angels shout for joy, + And the bright armies sing, + Mortals, behold the sacred feet; + Of your descending King." + +Then the song quavered and died away, and there came back to us a +queer choking cry; then the silence of the jungle, enigmatic, +ominous, unfathomable, enfolded us all, and we sat for a long time +with never a word between us. + +The wailing and drumming over the body of the dead wizard had +suddenly and completely ceased. At what was coming next, not a man +of us ventured to guess. + +Gleazen was first to break that ghastly silence. "They got him," he +whispered. For once the man was awed. + +"No," said Arnold Lamont, very quietly, "they have not got him. +Unless I am mistaken, his madness purged his soul of its black +stains, and he went straight to the God whose name was on his lips +when he died." + +Of that we never spoke again. Some thought one thing; some, another. +We had no heart to argue it. + +Poor Uncle Seth! What he had done in his youth that brought him at +last to that bitterly tragic end, perhaps no other besides Cornelius +Gleazen really knew, and Cornelius Gleazen, be it said to his +everlasting credit, never told. But for all that, I was to learn a +certain story long afterward and far away. Not one man in hundreds +of thousands pays such a penalty for blasphemous sins of his mature +years; and whatever Seth Upham had done, however dark the memory, it +had been a boy's fault, which he had so well lived down that, when +Cornelius Gleazen came back to Topham, no one in the whole world, +except those two, would have believed it of him. + +In that grim, threatening silence, which enfolded us like a thick, +new blanket, we forgot our own quarrel; we almost forgot the very +cause for which we had risked, and now bade fair to lose, our lives. + +We were six men, two of us wounded, three of us arrant desperadoes, +but all of us at least white of skin, surrounded by a black horde +that was able, if ever it knew its own power, to wipe us at one +blow clean off the face of the earth. Now that the terrible thing +which had just happened had broken down and done away with every +thought of those trivial enmities that fed on such unworthy motives +as desire for riches, our common danger bound us, in spite of every +antagonism, closer together than brothers. By some strange power +that cry which had come back to us when Seth Upham's song ended not +only enforced a truce between our two parties, but so brought out +the naked sincerity of each one of us, that we knew, each and all, +without a spoken word, that for the time being we could trust one +another. + +Gleazen, always reckless, was the first to break the silence. From +the wall he took down a pewter mug, which the dead man they called +Bull had hung there. Pretending to pour into it wine from an +imaginary bottle, he looked across it at Arnold. + +"This is not the vintage I should choose for my toast," he said with +a wry mouth, "but it must serve. Yes, Lamont, it must serve." He +raised the mug high. "In half an hour we'll be six dead men. I +drink--to the next one to go." + +Arnold coolly smiled. Pretending to raise a glass and clink it +against the mug, he, too, went through the pantomime of drinking. + +I was not surprised that Abe Guptil was staring at them, his lips +parted, or that his face was pale. Although drunk only in +make-believe, it was a toast to make a man think twice. I drew a +deep breath; I could only admire the coolness of the two. + +Yet now and then there flashed in Arnold's eye a hint of resourceful +determination such as Gleazen probably never dreamed of, a hint of +scorn for such theatrical trickery. + +We were all on our feet now, standing together in our silent truce, +when we heard for the last time that sound, so unhappily familiar, +the long-drawn wailing cry that, whenever the wizard spoke, had +preceded and followed his harangue. Coming from the dark forest +beyond the clearing, it brought home to us more vividly than ever +the ominous silence that had ensued since Seth Upham fell by the +spring. Then that familiar, accursed voice, faint but penetrating, +came from the wall of vines:-- + +"White man, him go Dead Land! + +"White man, him go Dead Land! + +"White man, him go Dead Land!" + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE FORT FALLS + + +"Now, by the holy," O'Hara whimpered, "it's fight for our lives, or +hand them away like so many maundy pennies." + +"Fight, is it?" Gleazen roared. And forgetting his stiff wounds, he +sprang to his feet. "Load those guns! Name of heaven, be quick!" + +Why at this particular time the bawling voice of the native should +thus have called us to action is not easy to say, for you would +think that, having become familiar with it, we should have regarded +it with proverbial contempt. But we knew that the deadlock could not +last forever; Seth Upham's fate was all too vivid in our minds; and +I really think that, in the strange voice itself, there was more +than a hint of what was to follow. + +Forgotten now was the edict that one party should stay on one side +of the hut, the other on the opposite side. Forgotten, even, was the +bag of stones in Gleazen's pack. Armed with every weapon that the +hut afforded, we stood behind door and window and saw a sight that +appalled the bravest of us. + +Straight up the hill from the spring where they had killed Seth +Upham there streamed a raging black horde. The rising moon shone on +their spears and revealed the endless multitudes that came hard at +the heels of the leaders. Their yells reverberated from wall to wall +of the forest and even, it seemed to us, to the starry sky above +them. + +As we fired on them, the streamers of flame from our guns darted +into the night and the acrid smoke drifted back to us. But though +they faltered, this time they came doggedly on. Already in the +moonlight we could distinguish individuals; now we could see their +contorted features alive with rage and vindictiveness. That they +would take the hut by storm, there was not the slightest doubt; nor +was there a ray of hope that we should survive its fall. + +It was a long, long way from Topham to that wattled hut in a +clearing on the side of an African hill, and in more ways than one +it was a far call from Higgleby's barn. But it was Higgleby's barn +that I thought of then--Higgleby's barn in the pasture, with a light +shining through a crack between the boards, and a boy scaling the +wall under the window; Higgleby's barn in the dark, with tongues of +flame running out from it through the grass. Truly, I thought in +metaphor, which was rare for me, the fire that sprang up so long ago +in Higgleby's barn had already killed Seth Upham, and now it was +going to enfold and engulf us all. + +Then I thought of the mission on the river, and the girl whom I had +seen first among the mangroves, then in the darkness on the mission +porch. Did the war actually reach to the coast? And would the war +wipe out "old Parmenter" as Gleazen had said? By heaven, I thought, +it would not and it should not! + +All this, of course, takes far longer to tell, than it took to go +coursing through my mind. In the time it took to think it out, not +one black foot struck the ground; not one left the ground. Before +that racing army of negroes had advanced another step, the answer +had come to me; and now, no longer the boy who had climbed in idle +curiosity the wall of Higgleby's barn, but a man to think and act, I +cried from my dry throat:-- + +"Out of the back window, men! O'Hara, help me brace the door! Out of +the window and over the hill!" + +With an oath Gleazen cried, "He's right! They're all coming on us up +the hill! The back way's our only chance!" + +O'Hara, in spite of my call for help, led the way out of the back +window; but Arnold paused to jam chairs and boards against the door; +and Gleazen, ever reckless, stooped in the darkness and picked +something up. As we sprang to the window, he came last of all, and I +saw that he, the only one to think of it in that hour of desperate +peril, was of a mind to bring his pack--the pack that had held the +thing for which we had left our homes and crossed the seas. I saw +Matterson clinging to brave Abe Guptil's shoulder, and striving +desperately, with Abe's help, to keep pace with O'Hara, who in all +this time had not got so much as a scratch. I saw the forest wherein +lay our sole hope of safety, and terribly far off it seemed. Then I +rolled out into the moonlight, and ran as if the devil were at my +heels. + +Almost at once I heard Gleazen come tumbling after me, and gasp with +a frightful oath that the pack had caught and he had left it. + +As we ran, we kept, as far as possible, the house between us and the +blacks, and so intent were they on attacking our little citadel, +that for a moment or two they overlooked our flight. + +We heard their cries as they battered down the door, their eager +shouts, their sudden silence, and then the fierce yell of discovery +when they saw us in the moonlight. It occurred to me then that, but +for my poor uncle's death down by the spring, which had very likely +caused them to break their circle and gather there in the open, we +should not have had so easy a time of it when we fled over the hill +behind the hut. Weak though we were, despair was a mighty stimulus +and we ran desperately for the woods; but although we had got a +fair start, the pack was now yelping in full cry on our trail. + +The pitiful futility of it all, I thought. Seth Upham was dead--the +stones were lost--we ourselves were hunted for our lives! As I +staggered after the others straight into the wall of almost +impenetrable vines, I turned in the act of wriggling through it and +let fly with my pistol. Compared with the muskets, the pistol made a +dainty little spit of fire and sound, but it served to delay the +foremost negroes, and with our scanty hopes a little brighter for +their hesitation, I struggled on to come up with the others. + +It was well for us, after all, that O'Hara had taken the lead. Say +what you will against him, the man knew the country. First, guided +by the general lay of the land, he led us down the hill, through +rocks and brush, straight to a stream where we drank and--warned by +Arnold Lamont--fought against the temptation to drink more than a +tiny fraction of what we desired. + +Revived by the plunge into water, we turned and followed O'Hara up +the stream-bed, bending low so that no onlooker could see us, +climbed a great precipitous hill down which the stream tumbled in +noisy cascades that hid every sound of our flight, drank again, and +kept on up into the rocks away from the water. Not daring to raise +our heads above the dry bed of the rainy-season torrent along which +we now hurried, we never once looked back down the slope up which we +had toiled, panting and puffing and reeling; but behind us, far +behind us now, we could hear the shrieks and yells of the +disappointed savages, who, having outflanked the timber into which +we disappeared, and having wasted many minutes in beating through +it, a manoeuvre that their wholesome respect for our firearms had +much delayed, had now come out on the brow of the rocky declivity +leading down to the creek, and were losing much time, if we could +judge by their clamor, in arguing which way we were likely to have +gone. + +I wonder if the whole performance to which we owed our lives was not +characteristic of the natives of the African coast? If therein did +not lie just the difference between a people so easily led into +slavery and a people that never, whatever their weaknesses have +been, have yielded to their oppressors? It all happened long ago, +and it was my only acquaintance with black warfare; but surely we +could never thus have thrown American Indians off the scent. + +It seemed to me, then, that we had made good our escape and could +run straight for the river, and in my enthusiasm I said as much. But +Arnold and Abe Guptil shook their heads, and O'Hara significantly +raised his hand. "Hark!" + +I listened, and realized that an undertone of sound, which I had +heard without noticing it, as one hears a clock ticking, was the +rumble of drums miles and miles away. While I listened, another drum +far to the north took up the grim throbbing note, then another to +the east. Then, mingling with the swelling voice of all the +drums,--how many of them there were, or in how many villages, I had +not the vaguest notion,--I heard human voices down the hill on our +right, and after a time other voices down the hill on our left. I +then knew that however stupid our pursuers might seem, to reach the +river was no such easy task as I had hoped. + +For an hour we lay hidden among the rocks, with the world spread out +before us in the moonlight. Here and there were small points of +fire, which shone as if they were stars reflected on water,--we +knew, of course, that there was no water, and that they must, +therefore, be lights of village or camp,--and twice, at a distance +of half a mile, men passed with torches. But for the most part we +lay shoulder to shoulder, with only the moon and the twinkling +points of light to awaken our meditations. + +I thought of Uncle Seth dead in the grass by the spring down to +which he had gone so bravely. I thought of the hut in which, so far +as we knew, still lay the skeleton and the bag of pebbles. And while +I was thinking thus, I heard to the southeast the sound of gunshots. + +First came several almost together like a volley, then another and +another, then two or three more, and after that, at intervals, still +others. + +O'Hara looked first at the sky and then in the direction of the +shooting. "They're attacking a trader's caravan," he said. "There'll +be white men in it, surely. The thing for us to do, my lads, is to +join up with them. They'll have food." + +"Aye, but how?" asked Gleazen. + +As if in answer to his question,--a terribly discouraging +answer!--we heard, when we stopped to listen, coming up to us out of +the night from every side, near and far, the throbbing of drums. + +"Aye, 'how?'" O'Hara repeated. + +"Can we not," I asked, "work down toward them and break through the +blacks?" + +"The war has gone to the coast by now, and they are attacking all +comers. But it's us they're keen on the trail of, all because Bull +built his house on a king's grave and a blithering idiot killed a +devil. 'Tis true, Joe. If we could work down toward them, come three +o'clock in the morning, it might happen even as you say." + +There were no torches, now, to be seen; no voices were to be heard. +There were only the fixed lights shining like stars and the steadily +throbbing drums. Whether or not, back on our trail, the blacks were +still hunting for us, we did not know; but by all signs that we +could see, they were settling quietly down for the remainder of the +night. + +"And if it don't happen like you say," O'Hara added as an +afterthought, "we'll be nearer the river surely, and there may be +hope for us yet." + +At that he looked at Gleazen and smiled, and Gleazen softly laughed +and nudged Matterson, at which Matterson swore, because Gleazen's +elbow had touched a wound. Then they all three looked at one another +and laughed; and remembering the board in the centre of the hut and +the law that neither side should trespass on the part allotted to +the other, I heartily wished that we had another such board and +another such law. We had agreed upon our truce under the stress of +great danger. Take away that danger, I thought, and there would be +nothing to keep the old coals of hate from springing into flame +anew. + +Down from the hilltop we went, slowly picking our way among the +boulders, to still another brawling stream at the foot. There we +drank and waited and reconnoitred, and finally, convinced that we +were in no immediate danger, pushed on after our guide, O'Hara. + +He first led us down the ravine and through a wild and wooded +country; but within two miles the sound of drums, which had become +louder and nearer, warned us of a village ahead, and, leaving the +stream, we climbed a hill, passed through scattered patches of +plantains and yams, from which we took such food as would dull the +edge of our hunger, came down again into dense timber, worked our +way through it, and emerged at last into an open space above a broad +plain. + +And all this long way faithful Abe Guptil had half carried, half +dragged the great body of Matterson, who fought hard to keep up with +the rest of us and strove to regain the strength that his wound had +taken from him, but who despite his bravest efforts, still was sadly +weak. + +As well as we could judge by the interminable drumming, there were +villages on our right and on our left and behind us. By the stars we +estimated that it was still an hour before dawn, and by lights on +the plain we guessed at the location of the camp of which we had +come in search. + +We had already wandered so far from the road by which we had come to +the mountain, that it seemed as if only a miracle could bring us +back to the place on the river where we had left our boat; but in +that respect O'Hara was no mean worker of miracles, for his years in +Africa had given him an uncanny judgment of direction and distance. + +"Yonder will be the river," he said, pointing slightly to the left; +"and yonder will surely be the camp where we heard guns firing. +Below there'll be a road and the camp will be on the road. I know +this place; I've been here before." + +With that he once more plunged down the steep declivity and through +a growth of scrubby trees to a great prairie, where, even as he had +said, a road ran in the direction that our journey led us. Fire not +long since had burned over the meadow, and spears of grass from +fifteen to twenty feet high had fallen across the road and tangled +and twisted so that most of the time we had to bend almost double as +we walked. But in that early morning hour there were no travelers on +the road except occasional deer, which went dashing off through the +grass; and it crossed many streams into which we plunged our hot +faces. With water for our thirst and plantains for our hunger, we +fared on, until, just as dawn was breaking, we came in sight of the +red coals of a fire. + +O'Hara raised his hand and we stopped. "The niggers are ahead of +us," he whispered. "Beyond the niggers will be the caravan surely, +and beyond the caravan there'll be more niggers." + +"The question, then, my friends," said Arnold, slowly, "is whether +to go round them and on alone, or to go through the blacks and take +our chances on a friendly reception from whoever is camping just +ahead." + +"That," said O'Hara, "is the question." + +"There's no doubt but they're traders," Gleazen muttered. "We'll +have to fight before we reach the river. The more on our side, the +merrier, I say, when it comes to fighting." + +By our silence we assented. + +Arnold raised his hand. "It is by surprise, gentlemen, or not at +all. Are you ready?" + +Breathing hard, we pressed closer together. + +"Quickly, then! Together, and with speed!" + +Arnold's voice snapped out the orders as if we were a company of +military. There was something so commanding, so martial, in his +manner and carriage, yet something that fitted him so well and +seemed so much a part of his old, calm, taciturn, wise way, that I +felt a sudden new wonder at him, a feeling that, well though I +thought I had known him, I never had known him. + +Then, brought all at once into action by the energy and force of his +command, as was every one of the others, I started at the word as +did they. Together we ran straight through the camp of sleeping +blacks,--so strong was Matterson's spirit, so great his eagerness, +that he now kept pace with us almost without help,--straight past +the coals of their campfire, over the remnants of their evening +meal, over their weapons and shields strewn in the road, and on +toward their picket-line. As they woke behind us, bewildered, and +groped to learn the cause of the sudden disorder, and realized what +was happening, and started up with angry cries, we leaped, one +after another, actually leaped, over a black sentry nodding at his +post, over a frail barrier that they had thrown up to conceal their +movements, and charged down upon a threatening stockade behind which +lay the caravan. + +That the caravan kept better watch than their besiegers, we learned +first of all; for even as we leaped the barricade and came racing +down the road, a gun went off in our faces and a cry of warning +called the defenders from their sleep. + +"Don't shoot!" O'Hara yelled. "We're white men! Don't shoot!" + +All now depended on the men of that caravan. Were they friends or +foes, honest men or thieves, we had cast the dice, and on that throw +our fate waited. + +I heard Gleazen bellowing in Spanish and Arnold Lamont calling in +French; then up I came with Matterson and Abe to the crude, hasty +rampart of mud and grass, and over I tumbled upon a man who cried +out in amazement and raised his gun to strike me down, only to +desist at the sight of my white face, which was no whiter than his +own. Arnold was ahead of me; Gleazen and Matterson came in, almost +at the same moment; then came Abe; and last of all, dumb with +terror, O'Hara, who had tripped and fallen midway between the two +barricades and had narrowly escaped perishing at the hands of the +negro guards. + +In we came and about we turned, side by side with the strange +whites, and when the hostile spearmen showed signs of rushing upon +us, we gave them balls from musket and pistol to remember us by, and +they faltered and drew back. But that the end was not yet in sight +the thudding of their drums and the growing chorus of their angry +yells unmistakably told us. + +"Ha! Dey t'ink dey git us yet," one of the strangers cried, hearing +me speak to Arnold in English. "Dis one beeg war. Where he start, +who know? Dey fight, how dey fight! Dey come down upon us--whee! +Gun, spear--when we start we have feefty slave. Ten we loos' before +war hit us so we know and hit back. Ha! Dis one beeg war!" + +"How far, tell me," gasped O'Hara, "has the fighting gone?" + +"Leesten!" The stranger lifted his hand. "Hear dem drum? One +here--one dar--one five mile 'way--one ten mile 'way! Oh, ev'ywhere +dem drum! Hear dem yell! How far dis war gone--dis war gone clean to +Cuba! Dis one beeg war, by damn!" + +"Has the war," I cried, "reached the mission on the river?" + +"Ha! You t'ink you see dat meession, hey? Dat meession, he fall down +long since time, I'll bet. One good t'ing dat war he do." + +If only I had never seen the girl by the river, I thought. If only I +could have forgotten her! I turned away. Yet even then I would not +have spared one iota of my brief memories of that girl with the +strong, kind face and quiet voice. If I never saw her again, I still +had something to hold fast. How many times, since Seth Upham went +down to die by the spring, had I thought of that girl as one of the +few people whom I should be glad to see again, and how many times +had I wished that she did not think so ill of me! + +"Tell me, you man, where from you come?" the stranger now asked. +"You come _pop_! So! Whee!" + +At that Gleazen spoke in Spanish, and the man turned like a cat +taken unawares and looked at him with shrewd, keen eyes. Then +Matterson came up to them and likewise began to talk in Spanish, +and others crowded round them. + +Arnold, after listening for a moment, drew me to one side. "See," he +murmured. + +Following his gesture, I looked around the camp and saw, in the +middle of the clearing, thirty or forty cowering negroes bound fast +by bamboo withes. Behind them and mingling with them were bullocks +and sheep and goats. Moving restlessly about in the light of +earliest morning were numbers of male and female slaves; and on +every side were baled hides and bundles of merchandise: ivory, rice, +beeswax, and even, it was whispered, gold. + +"I fear, my friend," Arnold said in an undertone, "that our hosts +are more to the taste of Gleazen than of ourselves." + +"You have heard them talking," I whispered. "Tell me what they +said." + +"Only," replied Arnold, "that _we_ have a ship and _they_ have a +cargo; that it will be to our mutual advantage to join forces." + +I looked again at the captive negroes, and again thought of the girl +at the mission and of the evil that she had attributed to me. + +"To join forces," I said,--and in my excitement I spoke aloud,--"in +trading human beings? Not that!" + +The others turned. + +"What are you two talking about?" Matterson asked quickly in his +light voice. + +"Of one thing and another," I replied, flushing. + +"Come," said Gleazen, boldly, "let us _all_ talk together." + +"Dis one beeg war!" the trader cried. "To fight--eet is all we can +do. Fighting we go, da's what me, I say. See! Sun, he come up!" + +"To that," said Arnold, "we all agree. We, sir, will go with you and +fight by your side." + +"Good! Me, I's happy. You brave men. Dis one beeg war, but we make +plenty war back again." + +Then he cried out orders in Spanish, and the camp woke to the +activities of the new day; and while some of us held off the blacks, +the rest of us ate our morning meal in the first golden sunlight of +the dawn, with a hum and bustle of packing and harnessing and +herding going on around us. + +But all the time the drums beat, and far away we would hear now and +then calls and shouts that made the strange trader and Gleazen and +O'Hara exchange significant glances. + +As with loaded muskets we fell in to guard the caravan, and the +porters lifted their bundles, and the herders goaded their beasts, +and the captive negroes started hopelessly on the road to the river, +and the sudden hush of voices made the trample of feet seem three +times louder than before, we heard guns behind us. + +"Ha! Dose trade gun, hey?" the trader cried, and fell into Spanish. + +Wheeling his horse, he anxiously looked back along the road. + +One thing for which we had crossed the sea was lost in a hut overrun +by an army of vengeful savages. There was no fortune left for us, I +knew, unless it were a fortune gained by bartering human souls; and +at that, which lay at the real bottom of all Neil Gleazen's schemes, +my heart revolted. What chance should we have had of saving for Seth +Upham his ship and what money was left, even if he had lived? Small +chance, I admitted. + +All day we drove on in a forced march, leaving the war to all +appearances far behind us and stopping only at noon, by a clear cold +stream in the forest, to eat a hasty meal; and at nightfall, +crossing another stretch of prairie, we came to still another +forest. + +"Here," the trader cried, "here ees one fine leetle river! Here we +camp one leetle while! Den we go--like fire--when midnight come, +mebbe we see one beeg river!" + +That we, who had come the night before from the house on the king's +grave, were ready to rest, I can assure you. Never in all my life +have I been so heavy with weariness, nay, with downright exhaustion, +as on that evening at the edge of that African forest. + +The very beasts were weary after the long day's march. The trader's +horse hung its head. The bullocks and goats and sheep plodded on +before their noisy herders and scarcely quickened their pace at +thrust of goad or snap of whip. The captive negroes, wretched +creatures doomed to the horrors of the infamous middle passage in +the hold of some Cuban or Brazilian slave-ship, wearily dragged +along, their chins out-thrust, their hands lashed behind them. The +traders' own slaves, bending under the weight of hides and rice and +ivory, stumbled as they walked, and even the white men themselves, +who had done nothing more than ride or walk over the road, breathed +hard and showed drawn faces as they eagerly pushed on or +apprehensively looked back. + +Into the woods we pressed, thanking in our hearts the Divine +Providence that here at least there was no throb of drum, no howling +of black heathen, no war at all. The aisles between the great trees +were cool and green and inviting. The river rippled over rocks and +suggested by its music the luxury of bathing; fruits were to be had +for the picking, and there was no doubt in my mind that our hosts +would butcher a sheep for the evening meal. + +Water, food, and sleep at that moment seemed more desirable than all +the dominions of Africa; and water, food, and sleep, I was +confident, were but now at hand. Into the forest we marched, for +once relaxing the watchfulness that we had maintained since sunrise, +and down the trail to the creek that we could hear murmuring on its +way over the rocks and through the underbrush. And there, at the end +of our long day's journey, the bushes suddenly blossomed in flame. + +Guns boomed in our very faces. Up and down the creek fire flashed in +long spurts. The wind brought to our nostrils the stinging smell of +powder-smoke. Men and beasts were thrown into wild confusion. In the +dim light of the forest I saw coming at us from all sides, naked men +armed with trade guns and bows and spears and lances. Louder than +the shouts and curses behind us, rang the exultant yells before us. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DOWN THE CURRENT + + +When I was a boy in school, I one day ran across a translation of +Homer's Iliad and carried it home and read it afternoons for a week. +During those days I lived in the great pictures of the battles on +the plains of Troy, and though afterwards I had seldom thought of +them, they had never quite faded from my memory. + +It was far indeed from Homer's Iliad to an ambush in an African +forest; but the fight that ensued when we walked into that hornets' +nest of black warriors nevertheless brought Homer's story vividly to +my mind. The spears, I think, suggested the resemblance; or perhaps +the wild swiftness of the fight. First an arrow came whistling +through the air and struck one of the men on the throat and went +through his neck half the length of the shaft. He spun round, +spattering me with dark blood that ran from a severed vein, and went +down under the feet of the bullocks without a word. Then the +bullocks turned, stampeded by the sight and smell of blood, and +crowded back upon the sheep and goats, and the porters dropped their +burdens and tried to run. O'Hara threw up his musket and shattered +the skull of a huge black who came at him with a knife like the +blade of a scythe, and, himself stooping to pick up the knife, +grappled with another and died, shrieking, from a spear-thrust up +under the ribs. Then one of the porters hurled a bundle at a man who +was about to cut him down, and the bundle broke and a shower of +yellow gold scattered in front of us, whereupon there was a short, +fierce rush for plunder. + +Side by side with Arnold Lamont and Gleazen, emptying my pistol into +the crowd, I saw out of the corner of my eye that the blacks were +cutting their way into the heart of the caravan for slaves and +booty. + +Imagine, if you can, that motley horde which had rushed upon us out +of the wood. Some, naked except for loin cloths, brandished spears +and howled like enraged maniacs; some, in queer quilted armor and +helmets with ostrich plumes, clumsily wielded trade muskets; some +advanced boldly under the cover of shields and others, ranging +through the underbrush, kept up a desultory flight of arrows. It was +primitive, unorganized, ferocious war. + +"_Mon dieu_, what a spectacle!" Arnold exclaimed; then, "Now, my +friends, quick! To the left! While the thieves steal, we yet may +escape!" + +Up from the mêlée, streaked with blood and dust, now came the +trader. "All, all ees gone!" he wailed, and waved his arms and +shrieked and stamped and cursed and jabbered on in Spanish. + +Had our enemies been content to delay their plundering until they +had killed us all, not one of us would have escaped to tell the true +story of that bloody day. But at the sight of a rich caravan and +loose gold, the blacks, in the twinkling of an eye, were fighting +among themselves. + +"Quick!" again cried Arnold's voice, strangely familiar in the midst +of that grotesquely unreal uproar, and as amazingly precise as ever. +"Quick, gentlemen! It is our only chance." + +And with that, he, Gleazen, Matterson, the trader, Abe, and I took +to our heels into the bushes. The woods behind the line of the +ambush appeared to be deserted. At the foot of a ravine ran the +creek. We crossed it by a rude bridge of branches, hastily and +silently climbed the opposite bank, and stole off quite unobserved. + +A hundred yards farther on, at the sound of a great thrash and +clatter, we dove into the undergrowth and lay hidden while a band of +blacks tore past us to the scene of battle. But getting hastily up +as soon as they were out of sight, we resumed our headlong retreat. + +Every bush and tree darkly threatened us. Great rocks, deeply clothed +in moss and tumbled so together as to form damp holes and caves, +at once tempted us by their scores of hiding-places and filled us +with apprehension lest natives might have hidden there before us. +But as if we were playing the old game of follow-my-leader, we +scrambled up and down, and in and out, and always hard ahead, until +we again heard before us a rumble of voices and pounding feet, and +a second time, desperately, flung ourselves into the undergrowth +and lay all atremble while half a hundred naked negroes, armed with +bows and clubs and spears, came trotting, single file, like wolves, +and passed us not fifty feet away. + +As they disappeared, and while we still dared not move, I saw +something stir not five English cubits from my face. I caught my +breath and stared at the thing. Ten feet ahead of it; the leaves and +ferns rustled, and twenty feet ahead of it then, twitching, it +disappeared. I broke out from head to foot in sweat. Unwittingly, we +had thrown ourselves down within hand's reach of a great serpent. +Whether or not newly gorged, and so too sleepy to resent our +nearness, it moved slowly away through the quivering undergrowth. + +When we had put a mile between ourselves and the plundered caravan, +Matterson turned with an oath. "Poor Bud!" he said in his hard, +light voice. "At least, we'll hear no more of jujus and devils and +king's graves." + +Gleazen shrugged and turned to the trader. "How far is the river?" +he asked. + +"Mebbe one mile--mebbe two." + +"Do you, sir, know the road?" Arnold asked. + +The trader nodded and spread his hands as if in despair. "Know heem? +I know heem, yes! T'ree, ten, fifty time I come with slave and ivory +and hide--now all gone! Forty prime slave all gone! Ev'ytheeng +gone!" + +Gleazen grunted. + +"Let us go to the river," said Arnold. + +"Heem reever go by town," wailed the trader. "Heem beeg town! Walls +so high and strong!" + +"Ah, that is another matter," said Arnold. "But let us go forward at +all events. We may, for all that we can tell, strike the river below +the town." + +So forward we went in the darkness, and a slow, tedious journey it +was, particularly for Abe and me, who helped Matterson along as best +we could; but we avoided the town by the sound of drumming that +issued from behind its walls, and having helped ourselves to fruit +from the patches of cultivated land that we passed, we at last +emerged from the darkness of the woods into the half light of a +great clearing, and saw a vast, black, living surface on which +strange lights played unsteadily. It seemed unbelievable that it +really could be the same river that we had left so long ago,--in the +sense of all that had happened, so very long ago,--and yet I knew, +as I watched Gleazen and Matterson, that it must be the same. The +black, swift current recalled to my mind the toil that we had +expended in coming so far to so little purpose. In which direction +the creek lay that we had entered on our way to the ill-fated hut, I +had not the remotest idea; but I looked a long time downstream +toward the mission. + +Bearing around in a rough half-circle, we worked slowly down the +bank, until the walls of the town itself were before us, at a safe +distance. + +"Our boat," said Matterson, grimly, "is fifty miles away." + +"Wait here," said I. "There'll be canoes under the town. I'll get +one." + +Gleazen made a motion as if to go himself, but Arnold shook his +head. "No; let Joe go first. He will learn where the canoes are, and +do it more quietly than we." + +They all sat down by the edge of the water, and, leaving them, I +went on alone. It took all the courage I could muster; but having +rashly offered, I would not hesitate. + +For one thing, it gave me time to think, and in a sense I desired to +think, although in another sense it came to me that I was more +afraid of my own thoughts than of all the walled towns in Africa. +The living nightmare through which we had passed had left me worn in +body and mind. That Uncle Seth, upon whom once I had placed every +confidence, should have died so tragic a death, now brought me a +fresh burst of sorrow, as if I realized it for the first time. It +seemed to me that I could hear his sharp yet kindly voice speaking +to me of little things in our life at Topham. I thought of one +episode after another in those earlier days, some of them, things +that had happened while my mother was alive; others, things that had +happened after her death; all, things that I had almost forgotten +long before. My poor uncle, I thought for the hundredth time--my +poor, poor uncle! + +Then suddenly another thought came to me and I straightened up and +stood well-nigh aghast. By the terms of my uncle's will, of which +more than once he had told me, all that had been his was mine! + +The river silently swept down between its high banks, past me who +stood where the waves licked at my feet, past the black walls of the +town, which stood like a sentinel guarding the unknown fastnesses of +the continent of Africa, past high hill and low gravel shoal and +bottomless morass, past pawpaw and pine palm and mangrove, to the +mission and the sea. + +There I stood, as still as a statue, until after a long time I +remembered my errand and, like one just awakened, continued on my +way. + +I found a score of canoes drawn up on the beach under the town, and +very carefully placing paddles by one that was large enough for our +entire party, I cautiously returned to the others and reported what +I had done. Together we all slipped silently along the shore to the +canoes, launched the one that I had chosen, and with a last glance +up at the pointed roofs of the houses and the sharpened pickets of +the stockade, silently paddled, all unobserved, out on the strong +current and went flying down into the darkness. + +It had been one thing to row up stream against that current. It was +quite another, and vastly easier, even though three of us were +entirely ignorant of handling such a canoe, to paddle down the swift +waters of midstream. Exerting always the greatest care to balance +the ticklish wooden craft, which the blacks with their crude adzes +had hewn out of a solid log, we sent it, even by our clumsy efforts, +fairly flying past the trees ashore; and as it seemed that we had +struck the river many miles below the creek where we had left our +boat, we had hopes that the one night would bring us within striking +distance of the open sea. Indeed, I found myself watching every +point and bend, in hope that the mission lay just beyond it. + +Estimating that daylight was still two hours away, we drew in shore +at Gleazen's suggestion, to raid a patch of yams or plantains. + +"A man," he said arrogantly, but with truth, "can't go forever on an +empty stomach." + +Luckless venture that it was--no sooner did the canoe grate on the +beach than a wakeful woman in a hut on the bank set up a squealing +and squalling. As we put out again incontinently into the river, we +heard, first behind us, then also ahead of us, the roll of those +accursed native drums. + +To this very day I abhor the sound of drumming. It has a devilishly +haunting note that I cannot escape; and small wonder. + +We swept on down the current, but now, here and there, the +river-banks were alive with blacks, and always the booming of drums +ran before us, to warn the country that we were coming. Once, as we +passed a wooded point, a spear flew over our heads and went hissing +into the water, and I was all for putting over to the other bank. +But Arnold, who could use his eyes and ears as well as his head, +cried, "No! Watch!" + +All at once, under the dark bank of the river, there was screaming +and splashing and floundering. The torches that immediately flared +up revealed what Arnold, and now the rest of us, expected to see, +but they also revealed indistinctly another and more dreadful sight: +on the shore, running back and forth in great excitement, were many +men; but in the troubled water a negro was struggling in vain to +escape from the toils of a huge serpent, which was wrapping itself +round him and dragging him down into the river where it had been +lying in wait. + +To me, even though I knew that that very negro had been watching for +a chance to waylay us, the sight of the poor fellow's horrible death +almost overcame me. + +Not so with Matterson and Gleazen. + +With a curse, Matterson cried, "There's one less of them now." His +light voice filled me with loathing. + +And Gleazen softly laughed. + +On down the river we went, with flying paddles, and round a bend. +But as we passed the bend, I looked back, and saw coming after us, +first one canoe, then two, then six, then so many that I lost all +count. + +How far we had come in that one night, I had little or no idea; but +it was easy to see by the attitude of those who knew the river +better than I, that the end of our journey was close at hand. +Glancing round at our pursuers, Gleazen spoke in an undertone to +Matterson, and both they and the trader studied the shore ahead of +us. + +"A scant ten miles," Gleazen muttered; "only ten miles more." + +I felt the heavy dugout leap forward under the fierce pull of our +paddles. The water turned away from the bow in foam, and we fairly +outrode the current. But fast though we were, the war fleets behind +us were faster. By the next bend they had gained a hundred yards, by +the next, another hundred. We now led them by a scant quarter of a +mile, and if Gleazen had estimated our distance rightly, they would +have had us long before we could reach port. But suddenly, all +unexpectedly, round the next bend, not half a mile away, the mission +sprang into sight. + +There it stood, in the early morning sun, as clean and cool and +still as if it were a thousand miles away from Africa and all its +wars. + +"Give me your pistols," Arnold cried; and when we tossed them to him +and in frantic haste resumed our paddling, he coolly renewed the +priming and one by one fired them at our pursuers. + +That the negroes had a gun we then learned, for they retorted by a +single shot; but the shot went wild and the arrows that followed it +fell short, and our pistols cooled their eagerness. So we swept in +to the landing by the mission, and beached the canoe, and ran up +the long straight path to the mission house as fast as we could go, +while the black canoemen paused in midstream and let their craft +swing with the current. + +The place, as we came rushing up to it, was so quiet, so peaceful, +so free from any faintest sign of the terrible days through which we +had passed, that it seemed as if, after all, we had never left it; +as if we were waking from a troubled sleep; as if we had spent a +thousand years in the still, hazy heat of that very clearing. The +face in the window, the opening door, only intensified that uncanny +sense of familiarity. + +The door opened, and the man we had seen before met us. His eyes +were stern and inhospitable. + +"What?" said he. "Must you bring your vile quarrels and vile wars to +the very threshold of one whose whole duty here is to preach the +word of God?" + +"Those," cried Arnold, angry in turn, but as always, precise in +phrase and enunciation, "are hard words to cast at strangers who +come to your gate in trouble." + +"Trouble, sir, of your own brewing," the missionary retorted. "What +you have been up to, I do not know. Nor have I any wish to save your +rascally necks from a fate you no doubt richly merit." + +"Your words are inclusive," I cried. + +"They certainly include you, young man. If you would not be judged +by this company that you are keeping, you should think twice or +three times before embarking with it." + +"Father!" said a low voice. + +My heart leaped, but I did not turn my head. Down the river, manned +by warriors armed to the teeth, came more canoes of the war. Behind +them were more,--and more,--and still more. + +"Come, come, you sniveling parson," Gleazen bellowed, "where are +your guns? Where's your powder? Come, arm yourself!" + +The man turned on him with a look of scorn that no words of mine can +properly describe. + +"You have brought your dirty quarrel to my door," he said in a grim, +hard voice. "Now do you wish me to fight your battles for you?" + +Steadily, silently, the canoes were swinging inshore. I saw negroes +running into the clearing. On my left I heard a cry so shrill and +full of woe that it stood out, even amid the ungodly clamor of the +blacks, and commanded my attention. + +The man stepped down from the porch. + +"This," he said, turning, "is a house of peace. I order you to leave +it. I will go down and talk with these men myself." + +"You'll never come back alive!" Matterson cried, and hoarsely +laughed. + +At that the missionary, John Parmenter, merely smiled, and, afraid +of neither man nor devil, walked down toward the river and fell dead +with a chance arrow through his heart. + +There was something truly magnificent in his cold courage, and +Gleazen paid him almost involuntary tribute by crying, "There, by +heaven, went a brave man!" + +But from the door of the house the girl suddenly ran out. Her face +was deathly white and her voice shook, but as yet there were no +tears in her eyes. + +"Father!" she cried, and ran down the path, where occasional arrows +still fell, and bent over the dead man. + +"Come up, you little fool," Gleazen shouted. "Come back!" Then he +jumped and swore, as an arrow with a longer flight than its fellows +passed above his head. + +The canoes were drawing in upon the shore, very cautiously, +deliberately, grimly, in a great half-moon, and more of them were +arriving at every moment. + +I leaped from the porch and sped down beside the girl. + +"Come," I cried, "you--we--can do nothing for him." + +"Is it you?" she said. "You--I--go back!" + +"Come," I cried hoarsely. + +"Don't leave him here." + +I bent over and lifted the body, and staggering under its weight, +carried it up into the house and laid it on the couch in the big +front room. + +All this time the noise within and without the mission was +deafening. The blacks on the river were howling with fury, and those +ashore, who had not already fled to the woods, were wailing in grief +and terror. Gleazen and Arnold Lamont had joined forces to organize +a defense, the one raving at the arrant cowards who were fleeing +from first sight of an enemy, while the other turned the place +upside down in search of arms. And still the blacks on the river +held off, probably for fear of firearms, though there were +indications that as their numbers grew, they were screwing up their +courage to decisive action. + +The girl, suddenly realizing the object of Arnold's search, said +quietly, "There are no weapons." + +Arnold threw his hands out in a gesture of despair. + +"If you wish to leave," she coldly said, "there is a boat half a +mile downstream. You can reach it by the path that leads from the +chapel. No one will notice you if you hurry." + +"Then," I cried, "we'll go and you shall come with us." + +Gleazen spoke to the trader in Spanish. + +Abe Guptil was beside me now and Arnold behind me. We three, come +what would, were united. + +A louder yell than any before attracted our attention, and +Matterson, who stood where he could see out of the window, called, +"They're coming! Run, Neil, run!" + +At that he turned and fled, with the others after him. + +I stopped and looked into the girl's gray eyes. + +"Come!" I cried, "in heaven's name, make haste!" + +I had clean forgotten that the dead man by whom the girl was +standing was her father; but her next words, which were spoken from +deepest despair, reminded me of it grimly. + +"I will not leave him," she said. + +"You must!" + +"I cannot." + +"What," said I, "would he himself have had you do?" + +Her determination faltered. + +"Come! You cannot do anything more for him! Come." + +She shook her head. + +"Then I shall stay," I said. + +"No," said she, and I saw that there was a change in her manner +toward me. "You will go and I--I--" + +Then she whistled and cried, "Paul! Paul!" + +The great black Fantee servant whom I had seen with her in the canoe +on that day when first we met, appeared suddenly. + +"Come," she said. + +I now saw that Arnold Lamont was running back to the door of the +room. + +"Quick!" he called. "_Mon dieu_, be quick!" + +He stepped aside and let her go through the door first. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE FIGHT AT THE LANDING + + +As we ran down the footpath, we heard them after us like hounds on +the trail, and I tell you, it galled me to run from that cowardly +pack. Oh, for one good fight, I thought! For a chance to avenge Seth +Upham, who lay miles away beside the spring at the king's grave, to +avenge the stern man who had fallen so bravely in front of the +mission! For a chance to show the black curs that we would and could +meet them, though the odds against us were a hundred to one! A +chance to hold our own with them in defiance of their arms and +numbers! + +The hot pride of youth burned in my cheeks, and I was actually +tempted to turn on them there and then; but now I thought of +something besides myself, of something besides Seth Upham's rights +and my own: I thought of the girl who ran ahead of me so lithely and +easily. Be the hazards what they might, be the shame of our retreat +ever so great, she must not, while one of us lived, be left to that +herd at our heels. + +So, running thus in headlong flight, out we came on the river bank. + +There was a boat on the river, made fast to a peg on the bank, and +there was a long canoe drawn up in the bushes. But at a great +distance, where a narrow channel led through the mangroves, we saw +titanic waves rolling on the bar in shining cascades from which the +sun was brightly reflected, and which, one after another, hurled ton +upon ton of water into a welter of foaming whirlpools. And over the +lifting crests of the surf we saw, standing offshore, the topsails +of a brig. The prospect of riding that surf in any boat ever built +gave me, I confess without shame, a miserably sick feeling; and as +if that were not enough, in through the mangroves to the shore in +front of us shot three canoes of the war, and cut us off from the +river. + +Our time now had come to fight. With blacks behind us and blacks +before us, we could no longer double and turn. The river, we knew, +was alive with the canoes of the war. Already the black hornets were +swarming through the woods and swamps around us. Three times now we +had eluded them; this time we must fight. Our guns were lost and +only pistols were left. No longer, as in that fatal hut on the +king's grave,--in my heart I cursed the bull-headed stupidity of the +man who built it and who had paid but a fraction of the price with +his own life!--could we hold them at a distance by fear of firearms. +Their frenzy by now brooked no such fear. To the brig, whose +topsails we could descry miles off shore, we must win our way; there +lay our only hope. + +I thought of the voice of the wizard--"White man him go Dead Land." +Verily to the door of his Dead Land we had come; and it seemed now +that we must surely follow Bull and Seth Upham and Bud O'Hara and +many another over the threshold. + +"Men," said Arnold Lamont,--and his voice, calm, precise, cutting, +brought us together,--"stones and clubs are not weapons to be +despised in an encounter hand to hand." + +"Have into 'em, then!" Gleazen gasped. "All hands together!" + +"Mademoiselle," said Arnold, "keep close at our heels." + +The girl was beside me now. Her eyes were wide, but her lips were +set with a courage that rose above fear. "Come," she cried, and set +my heart beating faster than ever, if it were possible, "they're +upon us from the rear!" Then she spoke to her great negro in a +language that I had never heard, and came close behind us when we +charged down on the blacks ahead. + +I fired my pistol and saw that the ball accounted for one of our +enemies. I reeled from a glancing blow on the head, which knocked me +to my knees; but, rising, I lifted a great rock on the end of a +rope, which evidently the girl or her father had used for an +anchor,--never negro tied that knot!--and swinging the huge weapon +round my head, brought down one assailant with his shoulder and half +his ribs broken. Now Arnold fired his pistol; now Matterson pitched, +groaning, into the boat. Now, with my bare hand, I parried a +spear-thrust and, again swinging my rock, killed a negro in his +tracks. + +Out of the corner of my eye I saw that the girl had shoved the canoe +into the water. She was calling to us eagerly, but neither I nor the +others could distinguish her words. + +As Gleazen, with an oath, cut the painter of the boat and leaped +into her, the impulse of his jump carried her ten feet out from +shore; and instantly thrusting out the oars, he started to row away +with Matterson and desert us. + +"Come back, you yellow cur!" Arnold cried. + +The trader, who had fought industriously but to no great purpose, +now ran down the bank and, flinging himself full length into the +river, caught the stern of the boat, with outstretched fingers, and +dragged himself into her, and at the same moment Abe Guptil, +obviously with the intention of holding the boat until the rest of +us should have a chance to embark, too, not of saving himself, +fought his own way aboard and, in spite of violent efforts to lay +hands on the oars, was carried, protesting, away. + +It is not to be thought that Gleazen had the remotest notion of +saving _our_ lives. Having got rid of Arnold and me, he could, as he +very well knew, do what he pleased with the brig when once he had +silenced Gideon North. But although he had every desire not to help +us, he in truth did help us in very spite of himself: no sooner did +he appear to be getting safely out into the river, than the blacks, +who had us all but at their mercy, suddenly bent every effort to +keep him, too, from escaping. + +"Let them go! Let them go! Oh, will you not come this way?" + +It was the girl again. There was not a drop of cowardly blood in her +veins. She, in the bow of the canoe and her big black servant in the +stern, held the craft against the bank. + +Taking advantage of the momentary respite that we got while the +enemy was putting after Gleazen, Arnold and I fairly trembling in +our haste--Arnold missed his footing and plunged waist-deep into the +river--climbed in after them. + +All this, which has taken a long time to tell, happened like so many +cracks of the whip. Each event leaped sharply and suddenly at the +heels of another, so that it was really but a few seconds--at all +events less than a minute--after our arrival at the shore when we +found ourselves gliding swiftly and noiselessly through a tiny +channel among the mangroves, of which Gleazen had never dreamed. A +turn of the paddle carried us out of sight of the struggle behind +us, and it now appeared that, once out of sight, we were likewise +out of mind. + +"Mademoiselle," said Arnold, with a manner at once so deferential +and in itself so proud, that it puzzled me more than a little, +"shall we not paddle? Permit me to take your place." + +"Thank you, no," she said. + +"It is not fitting--" he began. + +"I know the canoe, the river and the surf," she said. "It is _safer_ +that I keep the paddle." + +And to my surprise, as well as Arnold's, she did keep it and handled +it in a way that would have shamed our efforts had we been permitted +to try. It was a strange thing in those days, when most women laced +tightly, and fainted gracefully if ever occasion required, and +played at croquet and battledore and shuttlecock, to see a slender +girl swing a paddle with far more than a man's deftness and skill to +make up for what she lacked of a man's strength. But though she +appeared so slender, so frail, there was that in her bearing which +told us that her life in that wild place had given her muscles of +steel. The big Fantee, too, drove the long craft ahead with sure, +powerful strokes; so we shot out of the mangroves, out of the mouth +of the river, into the full glare of the sun. + +For a time the sails of the brig had grown small in the distance, +but already we saw that she had come about and was standing in +again. Why, I wondered, did Gideon North not anchor? Why should he +indefinitely stand off and on? How long had he been beating back and +forth, and how long would he continue to wait for us if we were not +to come? We were long overdue at the meeting-place. + +"To think," I said, "that now we can go home to Topham!" + +"To Topham?" said Arnold. There was a question in his voice. "I +should be surer of going home to Topham if we were rid of Gleazen. +Also, my friend, we must ride that surf to the open sea." + +The negro in the stern of the canoe now spoke up in gutturals. + +"See!" Arnold cried. + +Looking back up the river, we saw Gleazen and Abe Guptil, whom we +had outdistanced by our short cut, now rowing madly downstream. Big +and heavy though the boat was, they rowed with the strength that +precedes despair, and sent her ploughing through the river with a +wake such as a cutter might have left. In the stern beside the +trader lay Matterson; and though his face, we could see, was +streaked with blood, he menaced the negroes upstream with a loaded +pistol. Arrows flew, and then a long spear hurtled through the air +and struck the bow of the boat. But for all that, they bade fair to +get clean away, and none of them appeared aware that we had slipped +ahead of them in the race for life. + +Now we in the canoe had come to the very edge of the surf, where the +surge of the breakers swept past us in waves of foam. Beyond that +surf was the open sea, the brig and safety. Behind it were more +terrors than we had yet endured. For a moment the canoe hung +motionless in the boiling surge; then, taking advantage of the +outward flow and guided and driven by the hands of the great negro +and the white, slender girl, she shot forward like a living +creature, rose on the moving wall of an incoming wave, yielded and +for a brief space drew back, then shot ahead once more and passed +over the crest just before the wave curled and broke. + +I heard a cry from behind us and knew that the others had discovered +us ahead of them. + +Turning, as we pitched on the heavy seas at a safe distance from the +breakers, I watched them, too, row into the surf. I faintly heard +Matterson's pistol spit, then I saw Gleazen drive the boat forward, +saw her hesitate and swing round, lose way and go over as the next +wave broke. + +Then we saw them swimming and heard their cries. + +As a mere matter of cold justice we should, I am convinced, have +left that villainous pair, Matterson and Gleazen, to their fate. +They had been ready enough to leave us to ours. Their whole career +was sown with fraud, cruelty, brazen effrontery, and downright +dishonesty. But even Arnold and I could scarcely have borne to do +that, for the trader was guiltless enough according to his lights, +and Abe Guptil was struggling with them in the water. + +The girl, turning and looking back when she heard their shouts, +spoke to the great negro in his own language. The canoe came about. +Again we paused, waiting for a lull. Then we shot back on the crest +of a wave, back down upon the overturned boat, and within gunshot of +the flotilla of canoes that were spreading to receive us. + +As we passed the wallowing boat I leaned out and caught Gleazen's +hands and drew him up to the canoe. The negro cried a hoarse +warning, and the canoe herself almost went over; but by as clever +use of paddles as ever man achieved, the girl and the negro brought +us up on an even keel, and Arnold and I lifted Gleazen aboard, half +drowned, and gave a hand to Abe Guptil, who had made out to swim to +the canoe. Of Matterson and the trader we saw no sign. + +Then Abe, himself but newly rescued, gave a lurch to starboard, and +with a clutch at something just under water, was whipped, fiercely +struggling to prevent it, clean overboard. + +We could neither stop nor turn; either would have been suicide. +Would we or would we not, we went past him and left him, and drove +on in the wash of the breaking waves down upon the grim line of +canoes. + +To them we must have seemed a visitation. When I sit alone in the +dark I can see again in memory, very clearly, that white girl, her +eyes flashing, that great, black Fantee, his bared teeth thrust out +between his thick lips. The long breakers were roaring as they swept +across the bar and crashed at slow intervals behind us. In those +seething waters the fiercest attack would have been futile; the very +tigers of the sea must have lain just beyond the wash of the surf, +as did the war. To one who has never seen a Fantee on his native +coast, the story that I tell of that wild canoe-ride may seem +incredible. It was an appalling, horrifying thing to those of us who +were forced passively to endure it, who a dozen times were flung to +the very brink of death. And yet every word is true. Though I could +scarce draw breath, so swiftly did we escape one danger only to meet +another, the big black, trained from childhood to face every peril +of the coast, with the white girl paddling in the bow, brought the +canoe through the surf and shipped no more than a bucket of water. +And then that negro and that slim girl turned in the surge, as +coolly as if there were no enemy within a thousand miles, and +started back, out again through the surf, to the Adventure. + +Were we thus, I thought, to lose Abe Guptil, whom but now we had +rescued--good old Abe Guptil, into whose home I had gone long since +with the sad news that had forced him to embark with us on Gleazen's +mad quest? The thunder of the seas was so loud that I could only +wait--no words that I might utter could be heard a hand's-breadth +away. + +For a moment the canoe hung motionless on the racing waters as a +hummingbird hangs in the air, then she shot ahead; and up from the +sea, directly in her path, came a tangle of bodies. Leaning out, +Arnold and I laid hands on Abe and Matterson; and while the negro +held the canoe in place, the girl herself reached back and caught +that rascal of a trader by the hair. Now tons of water broke around +us and the canoe half filled. Now the big negro, by the might of his +single paddle, drove us forward. The wash of water caught us up and +carried us on half a cable's length; the negro again fairly lifted +us by his great strength; we went in safety over the crest of the +next wave, then as we drew the last of the three into the canoe, we +began to pitch in the heavy swell of the open sea. + +With our backs turned forever on the war, we paddled out to meet the +brig. Our great quest had failed. We had left a trail of dead men, +plundered goods, and a broken mission. But though all our hopes had +gone wrong, though Gleazen had lost all that he sought, there was +that in his face as he lay sick and miserable in the canoe which +told me that he had other strings for his bow; and when I looked up +at the brig, I vowed to myself that I would defend my own property +with as much zeal as I would have defended my uncle's. + +"See!" Arnold whispered. "Yonder is a strange ship!" + +I saw the sail, but I thought little of it at the time. I had grown +surprisingly in many ways, but to this very day I have not acquired +Arnold Lamont's wonderful power to appraise seemingly insignificant +events at their true value. + +I only thought of how glad I was to come at last to the shelter of +the brig Adventure, how strangely glad I was to have brought off the +girl from the mission. + +And when we came up under the side of the brig and saw honest Gideon +North and all the others on deck looking down at us, the girl let +her paddle slide into the water and bent her head on her hands and +cried. + + + + +VII + +THE LONG ROAD HOME + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE CRUISER + + +Matterson, Gleazen and the trader, Arnold, Abe and I, and the white +girl and her great black servant, all were crowded into a frail +dugout, which must long since have foundered, but for the marvelous +skill of the big Fantee canoeman and the sureness and steadiness +with which the girl had wielded her paddle. And now the girl sat +with her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking as she +sobbed; and the big black, awed and frightened by the nearness and +strangeness of the good Adventure, was looking up at the men who had +crowded to the rail above him. As the brig came into the wind and +lay beside the canoe, her yards sharply counter-braced, the long +seas rose to the gunwale of our heavily laden and waterlogged little +craft, and she slowly filled and settled. + +We should have perished there and then, within an arm's length of +the solid planks that promised safety, had not Gideon North acted +promptly. As the canoe settled and the water rose, I suddenly found +myself swimming, and gave the bottom of the canoe a kick and plunged +forward through the water to reach the girl and hold her up. At the +same moment, indistinctly through the rush of the waves, I heard +Captain North giving orders. Then I saw Abe beside me, swimming on +the same errand, and heard someone spluttering and choking behind +me; then I came up beside the girl and, seizing one slender wrist, +drew her arm over my shoulder and swam slowly by the brig. + +There was no excitement or clamor. The canoe, having emerged half +full of water from those vast breakers on the bar, yet having made +out to ride the seas well enough until the girl and the negro +stopped paddling, had then quietly submerged and left us all at once +struggling in the ocean. + +Blocks creaked above us and oars splashed, and suddenly I felt the +girl lifted from my shoulders; then I myself was dragged into a +boat. Thus, after ten days on the continent of Africa, ten such days +of suffering and danger that they were to live always as terrible +nightmares in the memory of those of us who survived them, we came +home to the swift vessel that had belonged to poor Seth Upham. + +To the story that we told, first one talking, then another, all of +us excited and all of us, except Arnold Lamont, who never lost his +calm precision and the girl who did not speak at all, fairly +incoherent with emotion, Gideon North replied scarcely a word. + +"The black beasts!" Gleazen cried in a voice that shook with rage. +"I'd give my last chance of salvation to send a broadside among them +yonder." + +"Ah, that's no great price," Matterson murmured sourly. "I'd give +more than that--many times more, my friend. Think you, Captain +North, that a man of spirit would soon forget or forgive such a +token as this?" And he pointed at the raw wound the spear had left +on his face. + +Gleazen stepped close beside him. "Hm! It's sloughing," he said. + +"It's hot and it throbs like the devil," Matterson replied. + +Arnold also came over to Matterson and looked at the wound. + +"It needs attention," he commented. "It certainly is not healing as +it should." + +Matterson raised his brows angrily. "Let it be," he returned. + +With a slight lift of his head, Arnold faced about and walked slowly +away. + +As Matterson angrily glared from one of us to another, the group +separated and, turning, I saw our guest standing silently apart. + +"Captain North," I said slowly, "this lady--" + +He did not wait for me to finish. + +"I beg your pardon, ma'am," he cried. "You shall have my own +stateroom. I should have spoken before, but that sail troubles me." + +Thereupon others turned to study the sail, which was bearing down on +us, although still some miles away; but I continued to watch the +guest whose presence there in the Adventure seemed so strange as +almost to savor of magic, as she tried to thank Gideon North. + +"Don't say a word," he cried. "Not a word! Remember this: I've a +wife and daughters of my own, and I wish they were on board to make +things comfortable for you. But all we can do, I'm afraid, is give +you a chance to make yourself comfortable. Our cabin boy's gone. He +went ashore with those damnable villains yonder and never came +back." + +"A little boy?" she suddenly asked. + +"Aye." + +"A wicked little rascal?" A strangely roguish light flashed across +her face and she smiled as if in spite of herself. + +Gideon North's chuckle grew into a wide grin. "Ma'am, that's Willie +MacDougald to a T. But what do you know of him?" + +"He ran away from them, and came to us when they had gone up-river, +and said that they were going to beat him, and told a terrible +story of the wrongs he had suffered. But he could not abide our ways +any more than we his,--such a time as he led us with his swearing +and thieving and lying!--and when a boat from the American cruiser +came ashore while you were gone, he told the men such a story of +your search for slaves and of all your gear and goods, they vowed to +capture you if they lay off the coast a year and a day, and they +laughed at his wretched oaths and made much of him and took him on +board. And then--then--" It seemed the thought of all that had +happened since swept upon her in a wave almost as overwhelming as +one of those breakers through which we had fought our way; for she +suddenly turned white and tried to fight back her tears, and for the +time could speak no more. + +"Come, Joe, look alive now!" Captain North roared, trying to mask +his kind heart and lively emotions with a pretense of fierceness. +"Fetch hot water from the galley to my stateroom! Have the cook +bring aft hot coffee and a square meal. I'll take you below myself, +ma'am, to show you the way, and I now order you to help yourself to +all you need for comfort. Off with you, Joe!" + +All this time the cook had been gaping from the galley door at what +had been going on aft; and so eager was he to get a nearer view of +the young lady who had come mysteriously out with us from the river, +and to gather up new threads of the extraordinary story Abe Guptil +had told forward, that, although he was the laziest Yankee who ever +commanded a galley stove, he set out at a dead run aft, with a +coffee-pot in one hand and a pail of hot water, which at every +moment threatened to spill and scald him, in the other. + +Captain North at once came on deck again and found the rest of us +still intent on the approaching ship, which with all her canvas +spread was bearing down upon us like a race-horse. The cook, on his +way forward, paused to survey her. The watch, now glancing anxiously +aft, now studying the stranger, was standing by for whatever orders +should be forthcoming. + +"Sir," said Arnold, "she means trouble." + +"We've waited too long already," Captain North replied. Raising the +trumpet he cried, "Call up all hands, there, Mr. Severance!" + +A moment later he looked keenly at Matterson. "Mr. Matterson," he +said, "you are exhausted." + +"I _am_ a little peaked," Matterson said thoughtfully, "a little +peaked, but not exhausted." + +"Will you take your station, sir?" + +"I will." Still in his wet clothes and cautiously touching his +inflamed wound, Matterson went forward to the forecastle. There was +something soldierly in his promptness. It was so evident that his +strength was scarcely equal to his task, that for his hardihood, +little as I liked him, I freely gave him credit. + +"Mr. Gleazen," said Captain North, "I am afraid we must show her our +heels." + +"If I could lay my hands on the lean neck of William MacDougald," +Gleazen growled, "I'd wring his head clean off." + +"She unquestionably is bearing down on us." + +"She is." + +"And she knows--" + +"She knows," cried Gleazen, "all that Willie MacDougald can tell her +of casks and farina and shackles and lumber for extra decks." + +"And of false papers with which you so carefully provided yourself?" + +Gideon North's face all this time was as sober as a judge's, but +now I saw that he was deliberately tormenting Gleazen with the +various preparations the man had made for that unholy traffic in +slaves. + +Although Gleazen himself by now perceived it, his wrath turned on +our erstwhile cabin boy rather than on Gideon North. He swore +vilely. "Aye," he cried, "we must run--run or hang. And all for the +word of a prying, cursing, eavesdropping young rooster that I might +have wrung the neck of, any day for months past. If ever I lay hands +on his ape's throat--" + +"I gather, sir," Captain North dryly interposed, "you'll use him +harshly." + +With that he turned his back on Gleazen and raised his trumpet:-- + +"Lay aloft and loose the main to'g'l'ants'l.--Man the to'g'lant +sheets and halyards.--Some of you men, there, stand by the clewl'nes +and braces." For a moment he stood, trumpet at lips, watching every +motion of the men; then, as those on the yards loosened the sail, he +thundered, "Let fall!--Lay in!--Sheet home!" Then, "Hoist +away!--Belay the halyards!" + +As we crowded on sail, the brig leaned before the wind, and for a +time we hoped that we were gaining on the stranger; but our hopes +were soon dispelled. + +It seemed queer to run from our own countrymen, but run we did all +that afternoon, through the bluest of blue seas, with white clouds +flying overhead and low lands on the horizon. + +In another sense I could not help feeling that Gideon North himself +showed quite too little anxiety about the outcome of the race. Yet, +as time passed, even his face grew more serious, and all that +afternoon, as we braced the yards and so made or shortened sail as +best to maintain our speed at every change of wind, an anxious +group watched from the quarter-deck of the Adventure the swift +vessel that stood after us and slowly gained on us, with her canvas +spread till she looked on the blue sea for all the world like a +silver cloud racing in the blue sky. + +The nearer she came, the graver grew the faces about me; for, if the +full penalty of the law was exacted, to be convicted as a slaver in +those days was to be hanged, and in all the world there was no place +where a vessel and her men were so sure to be suspected of slaving +as in the very waters where we were then sailing. The track of +vessels outward bound from America to Good Hope and the Far East ran +in general from somewhere about the Cape Verde Islands to the +southeastern coast of Brazil; that of vessels homeward bound, from +Good Hope northwest past St. Helena and across the Equator. Thus the +western coast of Africa formed, with those two lines that vessels +followed, a rough triangle; and looking toward the apex, where the +two converged, it served as the base. In that triangle of seas, as +blue as sapphire and as clear, occurred horrors such as all human +history elsewhere can scarcely equal. There a slaver would leave the +lanes of commerce, run up to the coast one night, and be gone the +next with a cargo of "ebony" under her hatches, to mingle with the +ships inward or outward bound; and there the cruisers hunted. + +The faces of the crew were sober as the man-of-war, cracking on +every stitch of canvas, came slowly up to us at the end of the +afternoon. We all knew then that even to keep a safe lead until +sunset, it would do us precious little good; for in a clear +starlight night our pursuer could follow us almost as well as by +day. Arnold Lamont was inscrutable; Gideon North was gravely silent; +Matterson and Gleazen were angry and sullen; and the luckless +trader, who had escaped from his ambushed caravan only to find +himself in a doomed vessel, was yellow with fear. There was not a +man, forward or aft, who did not know the incalculable stakes for +which we were racing. Pedro with his monkey on and off his shoulder +as he worked, Abe Guptil with his nervous, eager step, and all the +others, each showing the strain after his own manner, leaped to the +ropes at the word of command or fidgeted about the decks in the +occasional moments of inaction. + +Of our passenger I had thought often and with ever keener anxiety. +How the fast-approaching end of our race would affect her future I +could only guess, and really I was more anxious for her than for +myself. But from the moment she went below neither I nor any of the +others saw sign or glimpse of her, until, just at sunset, I ran +thither to fetch the leather-bound spyglass whose lower power and +greater illumination lent itself best to night work. + +As I clattered down the companionway, I heard someone dart out of +the cabin. But when I entered, the girl, as if she had been waiting +to see who it was, came back again, so eager for news from above +that she could no longer remain in hiding. + +"Tell me, sir," she said, lifting her head proudly, "has the cruiser +overhauled us yet?" + +"Not yet," I replied. + +She stood as if waiting for whatever else I had to say; but my +tongue for the moment was tied. + +"If they do?" she said as if to question me. + +"Heaven help us!" + +"Come," she cried with some asperity, "don't stand there staring +like a gaby! Tell me everything. Have not I a right to know?" + +"If you wish," I replied, stung by the scorn in her voice. "The +chances are that, if we are caught, some of us will hang. Which of +us and how many, is a debatable question." + +She thought it over calmly. "That is probably true. I think, +however, that I shall have something to say about which ones will +hang." + +That was a phase of the matter which had not occurred to me. It gave +me a good deal of relief, until I met her eyes regarding me still +scornfully, and realized what an exhibition of myself I was making. +I had been assertive enough hitherto, and I had not lacked +confidence where females were concerned; I remembered well the one +who so long before had come into my uncle's store in Topham, and how +Arnold had smiled at the scorn that I had accorded her. But this +young lady somehow was different. She had a fine, quiet dignity that +seemed always to appraise me with cool precision. She had shown, +once at least, a flash of humor that indicated how lightly, in less +tragic circumstances, she could take light things. Now and then she +had dealt a keen thrust that cut me by its truth. + +And yet she treated me kindly enough, too. She had seemed almost +glad to have me at her side when we ran together from the mission. + +"Mistress--" I began; then stopped and clumsily stammered, "I--I +don't know your name." + +"My name?" With the hint of a smile, but with that fine dignity +which made me feel my awkwardness many times over, she said, "I am +Faith Parmenter." + +Another pause followed, which embarrassed me still more; then, +awkwardly, I reached for the night glass. Things were not happening +at all as I had dreamed. + +"You're long enough finding that glass," Captain North growled when +I handed it to him. "Aye, and red in the face, too." + +I was thankful indeed that the approach of the ship, which had +sailed so swiftly as to overhaul even our Baltimore brig, gave him +other things to think about. + +By now the race was almost over. I heard Gleazen talking of +bail--of judges--of bribes. I saw the man Pedro twitching his +fingers at his throat. I saw Arnold Lamont and Gideon North watching +the stranger intently, minute after minute. Taking in our +studding-sails and royals, we braced sharp by the wind with our head +to westward. At that our pursuer, which had come up almost abreast +of us but a mile away, followed our example, sail for sail and point +for point, whereupon we hauled up our courses, took in topgallant +sails and jib, and tacked. + +When the stranger followed our manoeuvre, but with the same sail +that she had been carrying, she came near enough for us to see that +her lower-deck ports were triced up. When we tacked offshore again, +she hauled up her mizzen staysail and stood for us; and fifteen +minutes later she hauled her jib down, braced her headsails to the +mast, and rounded to about half a cable's length to the windward of +us on our weather quarter. We had already heard the roll of drums +beating the men to their stations, and now Captain North, his glass +leveled at her in the half light, cried gloomily:-- + +"Aye, the tampions are out of her guns already!" + +"Ship ahoy!" came the deep hail. "What ship is that?" + +"Train your guns, Captain North!" Gleazen cried fiercely; "train +your guns!" + +"Mr. Gleazen," Gideon North retorted, with a stern smile, "with one +broadside she can blow us into splinters. Our shot would no more +than rattle on her planks." + +"Ahoy there!" the deep voice roared, now angrily. + +"The brig Adventure from Boston, bound on a legitimate trading +voyage to the Guinea coast," Captain North replied. "Where are you +from?" + +To his question they returned no answer. The curt order that the +speaking-trumpet sent out to us was:-- + +"Standby! We're sending a boat aboard." + +We were caught by a cruiser, and there was evidence below that would +send us, guilty and guiltless alike, to the very gallows if the +courts should impose on us the extreme penalty. + +Up to this point we had not been certain of the nationality of our +pursuers. Too often flags were used to suit the purpose of the +moment. But there was now no doubt that the uniforms in the boat +were those of our own countrymen. + +With long, hasty strides, Gleazen crossed the deck to the captain. +In his face defiance and despair were strangely mingled. He was +nervously working his hands. "Quick now," he cried. "Haul down the +flag, Captain North. Break out the red and yellow. Throw over the +papers. Over with them, quick!" + +"I am not sure I wish to change my registry," Gideon North quietly +returned. + +Gleazen swore furiously. "You'll hang with the rest of us," he +cried. + +"I think, sir, that I can _prove my_ innocence." + +"The casks and shackles will knot the rope round your stiff neck. +Aye, Captain North, you'll have a merry time of it, twitching your +toes against the sunrise." + +In fury Gleazen spun on his heel. For once, as his teeth pulled +shreds of skin from his lips, the man was stark white. + +We heard the creak of blocks as the ship lowered her boat, heard the +splash of oars as the boat came forging toward us, saw in the stern +the bright bars of a lieutenant's uniform. + +There was not one of us who did not feel keenly the suspense. So +surely as the boat came aboard, just so surely would the searchers, +primed for their task, no doubt, by that vengeful little wretch, +MacDougald, find whatever damning evidence was stowed in the hold; +and I was by no means certain that, in the cold light of open court, +we who had fought against every suggestion of illegal traffic could +prove our innocence. But to Gleazen and Matterson the boat promised +more than search and seizure. Whether or not the rest of us effected +our acquittal, for those two a long term in prison was the least +that they could expect, and the alternative caused even Gleazen's +nonchalance to fail him. It is one thing, and a very creditable +thing, to face without fear the prospect of an honest death in a +fair fight; it is quite another, calmly to anticipate hanging. + +Still Gleazen stood there in the fleeting twilight, opening and +closing his hands in indecision. Still Captain North waited with +folded arms, determined at any cost to have the truth and the truth +only told on board his brig. + +The brig slowly rose, and fell, and rose, on the long seas. The men +stood singly and in little groups, waiting, breathless with +apprehension, for whatever was to happen. A cable's length away, the +cruising man-of-war, her ports triced up, her guns run out and +trained, rolled on the long seas in time with the brig. We had +thought, when we escaped from the enfolding attack of the African +war, that all danger was over. Now, it seemed, we must face a new +danger, which menaced not only our lives, but our honor. + +The boat now lay bumping under the gangway. + +"Come, pass us a line!" the lieutenant cried. + +Suddenly Gleazen woke from his indecision. Stepping boldly to the +rail, he called down in his big, gruff, assertive voice:-- + +"You men had better not come on board. Mind you, I've given you fair +warning." + +"What's that you're saying?" + +"You better not come on board. We've got four cases of smallpox +already, and two more that I think are coming down." + +The men in the boat instantly shoved off, and a dozen feet away sat +talking in low voices. Obviously they were undecided what to do. + +To most of us Gleazen's cool, authoritative statement, that the most +dread plague of the African coast, the terror alike of traders, +cruisers, and slavers, had appeared among us--a downright lie--was +so amazing that we scarcely knew what to make of it. I must confess +that, little as I liked the means that he took, I was well pleased +at the prospect of his gaining his end. But Gideon North, as he had +been prompt to shatter at the start Gleazen's first attempt at +fraud, promptly and unexpectedly thrust his oar into this one. + +"That, gentlemen, is not so," he called down to the boat. "We have +as clean a bill of health as any ship in the service." + +"Come, come, now," cried the young officer. "What's all this?" + +"I'm telling you the truth, and I'm master of this brig." + +With his hands at his mouth Gleazen, half-pretending to whisper, +called, "We're humoring him. He won't admit he has it. But what I've +told you is God's honest truth." + +Captain North started as if about to speak, then seemed to think +better of it. Folding his arms, he let the matter stand. + +I think he, as much as any of the rest of us, was relieved when the +boat, after hesitating a long time, during which we suffered keenest +anxiety, made about and returned to the ship. Still we dared not +breathe easily, lest the commanding officer, refusing to accept his +subordinate's report, order a search at all costs. But five minutes +later it appeared that, whatever their suspicions may have been, +they had no intention of running needless risks, for they came about +and made off up the coast. + +Small wonder that they acted thus! The bravest of captains must have +stopped three times to think before ordering his men to dare that +terrible disease, the worst scourge of those seas, the terror alike +of slavers and cruisers, on the bare word of such as Willie +MacDougald that he would find contraband. + +I have often wondered whether Willie MacDougald was on board the +ship, and whether he was responsible for the chase. In the light of +all that I heard, I rather think he was, although none of us who +searched the decks of the other vessel caught so much as a glimpse +of him. But if so, it must have disappointed him deeply that his +revenge failed to reach Cornelius Gleazen and Pedro's monkey; and +seeing the monkey, which had eluded its owner and strayed aft, +perched in the rigging and malevolently eyeing Gleazen himself, I +laughed aloud. + +Then I saw that it was no time for laughing, for Gleazen and Gideon +North were standing grimly face to face, and Arnold and Matterson +and the trader were gathering close around them. + +Out of the rumble of angry voices, one came to me more distinctly +than any of the others:-- + +"Mr. Gleazen, it is time that we settled this question once and for +all. If you will come below with me, we can reach, I am sure, a +decision that will be best for all of us in the Adventure." + +It was Captain North who spoke. As he moved toward the companionway, +I saw that Arnold Lamont was beckoning to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A PASSAGE AT ARMS + + +Across the cabin table was spread the big, inaccurate chart of the +west coast of Africa, on which Captain North had penciled the +rat-infested island and the river. + +Seeing it now for the first time since he had returned to the brig, +Gleazen planted one finger on the picture of the spot where we had +found the wrecked ship with the bones of the drowned slaves still +chained to her timbers. "Pfaw!" he growled. "If only _she_ was +afloat! There was a ship for you! Given her at sea again, handsome +and handy, two good men would never 'a' lost their lives. Given that +she was not beyond repair, and we might yet kedge her off and plank +her and caulk her and rig her anew." + +"She's done," said Matterson languidly. "Forget her." He laid his +head on the table and closed his eyes. + +"Molly!" There was a new note of concern in Gleazen's voice. He +leaned over and shook the man. + +"Let me be," said Matterson. + +"Gentlemen," Gideon North interposed, "we are dodging the issue." + +"Well?" Gleazen angrily raised his head. "There is no issue. We'll +sail for the Rio Pongo, lay off and on till the first dark night, +then take the cargo that a friend of ours will have ready. Thence, +Captain North, we'll sail for Cuba. _I'll_ give the orders now, and +_you'll_ carry them out." + +"How long," I cried hotly, "have you been giving orders on board +this vessel?" + +He turned and glared at me. "If you want facts, Joe, I'll give them +to you: I've been giving orders aboard this vessel from the day we +sailed from Boston until now--aye, and seeing that they were obeyed, +too, you young cub. But if you want fancies, such as are suitable +for the young, I've owned the brig only since Seth Upham went mad +and got himself killed." + +"You own the brig?" + +"Yes, I own the brig." + +"You lie!" + +That he merely laughed, enraged me more than if he had hit me. + +"You lie!" I repeated. + +"Next," said he, "you'll be telling me that Seth Upham owned her." + +"That I will, indeed, and it is a small part of what I'll be telling +you." + +"Well, he didn't." + +The man's effrontery left me without words to retort. + +"He didn't," Gleazen said again. "Him and I went into this deal +share alike. Half to him and half to me and my partners. Ain't he +dead? Well, then I keep my half and Molly, here, who is all the +partner I've got left now, gets the other half. Ain't that plain? Of +course it is. It would be plain enough if we'd got clear with the +fortune that was ours by rights. And because we lost the fortune, +it's all the plainer that we ought to get something for our +trouble." + +"But, Mr. Gleazen," Arnold interposed, "supposing there were a grain +of truth in what you say,--which there isn't,--the rest of us, Joe +and Abe and I, still have a sixth part in it all." + +"That," cried Matterson, bursting into the controversy before +Gleazen could find words to meet this new argument, "that is stuff. +The sixth part was to come out of Seth Upham's lay; and Seth Upham +is dead, so he gets no lay. Therefore you get not a bit more than +the wages you signed on for; and if you signed on for no wages, you +get nothing." + +"I can promise you, Matterson," Gideon North said with a smile, +"that nothing of that kind goes down under my command." + +"Then you're likely not to keep your command." + +The trader, glancing shrewdly from one to another, had edged over +beside Gleazen, but now Arnold spoke, as ever, calmly and +precisely:-- + +"Let all that go. About that we do not as yet care. It is a matter +to be argued when the time comes. But--what will you take on board +for a cargo at Rio Pongo?" + +As if Arnold's question implied permission for him also to have his +say, the trader spread both hands in a gesture of despair at such +ignorance as it manifested. + +"'What weel you get?' Ah, me--" + +"Yes, what will you get?" Arnold reiterated, quietly smiling at the +irony of his question. + +"We'll get a cargo all right when we get there," Gleazen asserted. +"We'll let it go at that. Captain North, bring the brig about on a +course, say, of approximately west by north." He bent over the +chart. "That will be about right. As for the wind--" + +"Captain North," said I, "you will do nothing of the kind. Unless we +can get an honest cargo, you will head straight back to Boston and +sell the Adventure for what she'll bring." + +"'What weel you get?'" the still amazed trader cried again. "You +weel get--" + +"As for you, Joe,--" Gleazen momentarily drowned out the man's +voice,--"you'll get into trouble if you're not careful." + +"For you, Mr. Gleazen, I don't care the snap of my finger. I'll have +my property handled in the way I choose." + +For a moment Gleazen glared at me in angry silence, and in that +moment, the trader found opportunity to finish his sentence, which +he did with an air of such pleasure in the tidings he gave, and all +the time so completely unconscious of the subtler undercurrents of +our quarrel, that to an unprejudiced observer it would have been +ludicrous in the extreme. + +"You weel get--_niggers_! Such prime, stout, strong niggers! It ees +a pleasure always to buy niggers at Rio Pongo. Such barracoons! Such +niggers!" + +Although for a long time we had very well known the hidden real +object of Gleazen's return to Topham and of the mad quest on which +he had led us, this was the first time that anyone had frankly put +it into so many words. The anger and defiance with which our two +parties eyed each other seemed moment by moment to grow more +intense. + +"Well, there's no need to look so glum about it," said Gleazen at +last. "Half the deacons in New England live on the proceeds of rum +and notions, and they know well enough what trade their goods are +sold in. You may talk all you will of the gospel; they take their +dollars, when their ships come home. Your Englishman may talk of his +cruisers on the coast and his laws that Parliament made for him; but +when the bills come back on London for his Birmingham muskets and +Liverpool lead and Manchester cotton, he don't cry bad money and +turn 'em down. Why, then, should we? Where there's niggers, there'll +be slaves. It's in the blood of them." + +"Be that as it may," I retorted, "not a slave shall board this +vessel." + +"It appears," Gleazen slowly returned, "that this brig, which is a +small craft at best, is not big enough for both of us." + +"Not if you think you can give yourself the airs of an owner." + +"Hear that, you! 'Airs of an owner!' Well, I am owner, I think--yes, +I will give you a greater honor than you deserve." Suddenly he +leaned over and roared at me, "Get down on your knees and apologize, +or, so help me, I'll strike you dead on the spot." + +Quicker than a flash I reached out and slapped him on the face--and +as I did so I remembered the time when O'Hara had slapped Seth +Upham. + +With his hand half drawn back as if to seize a chair for a cudgel, +he stopped, smiled, spun round and reached for the pair of swords on +the bulkhead. Extending the two hilts, he smiled and said, "I shall +take pleasure in running you through, my friend." + +"Not so fast!" It was Arnold who spoke. "I, sir, will take first a +turn at the swords with you." + +"_In_ your turn, Mr. Lamont," Gleazen retorted with an exaggerated +bow. "Meanwhile, if you please, you may act as second to Mr. Woods." + +"Come, enough of this nonsense," cried honest Gideon North, "or I'll +clap you both into irons. Dueling aboard my vessel, indeed!" He +looked appraisingly from one of us to the other. + +"I will fight him," I coolly replied. + +"You will, will you?" + +"I will." + +Soberly Gideon North looked me in the eye. Already Gleazen, +Matterson, Arnold, and the others were moving toward the +companionway. This happened, you must remember, in '27; dueling was +not regarded then as it is now. + +"I am afraid, my boy, it will not be a fair fight." + +"It will be fair enough," I replied. + +Rising, Captain North brought out his medicine chest. + +I followed the others on deck, as if the little world in which I was +moving were a world of unreality. All that I knew of swordsmanship, +I had learned from Cornelius Gleazen himself; and though I felt that +at the end of our lessons I had learned enough to give him a hard +fight, it was quite another matter to cross swords that carried no +buttons, and to believe that one of us was to die. + +There was only starlight on deck, and Captain North stepped briskly +forward to Arnold and Matterson, who were standing together by a +clear space that they had paced off. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "if they were to wait until morning--" + +"There would be more light, to be sure," Arnold returned, "but the +disadvantage is common to both." + +Gleazen grumbled something far down in his throat, and I cried out +that I would fight him then as well as any time. + +"If a couple of lanterns were slung from the rigging," Matterson +suggested. He moved slowly and now and then touched the hot skin +around his wound; but although it still troubled him, he appeared to +be gaining strength. + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when two men came running +aft in response to Captain North's sharp order. Lanterns were +lighted and slung, and Cornelius Gleazen and I, with sword in hand, +faced each other across a length of clean white deck. + +It was a long way from friendly combat on the village green at +Topham to the bout I now waited to begin, and both for Cornelius +Gleazen and for myself the intervening months had piled up a +formidable score to be settled. Waiting in silence for our seconds, +Arnold and Matterson, to clear away some coiled ropes, we watched +each other with a bitter hate that had been growing on his part, I +am convinced, since the days when first he had seen me working in my +uncle's store, and on mine, certainly, ever since I had become aware +of the growing conviction that the friendship he had so loudly +professed for me was absolutely insincere. + +He had cheated, robbed, browbeaten, and, to all practical ends, +killed, my uncle. He stood there now, scheming by every means in his +power to kill and rob me in my turn. And if he succeeded!--I thought +of the girl to whom Gideon North had given up his stateroom. How +much did she know of all that was going forward? There had been only +one door between her and the quarrel in the cabin. And what fate +would be left for her, if I should fall--if Gleazen should override +Gideon North and Arnold Lamont? Truly, I thought, I must fight my +best. + +"And, sir," I heard Arnold saying, "if you are able to bear arms +after your bout with Mr. Woods, it is to be my turn and you shall so +favor me." + +"That I will," Gleazen replied with a wry smile. + +I know truly, although I do not understand the reason for it, that +after an unusually dramatic experience it is likely to be some +trifling, irrelevant little thing that one remembers most vividly. +And singularly enough it is a tiny patch on Arnold's coat that I now +most clearly recall of all that happened then. I noticed it for the +first time when Arnold was speaking; I do not remember that I ever +noticed it again. Yet to this day I can see it as clearly as if I +had only to turn my head to find it once more before my eyes, +slightly darker than the body of the coat and sewed on with small +neat stitches. + +Now Arnold was beside me. "Steady your blade, my boy," he said. +"Fence lightly and cautiously." + +The two swords circled, flashing in the lantern-light, and we came +on guard in a duel such as few men have fought. The rolling deck at +best gave us unsteady footing. As the lantern swung, the shadows +changed in a way that was most confusing. Now we were all but in +darkness; now the light was fairly in our eyes. + +This, I thought, can never be the old Neil Gleazen with whom I used +to fence. He was craftier, warier, more cautious now than I had ever +seen him, and I took a lesson from him and restrained the +impetuousness of the attack I should have launched had foils been +our weapons. Now he lunged out like a flash, and all but came in +past my guard. I instantly replied by a riposte, but failed to catch +him napping. Again he lunged and yet again, and for the third time I +succeeded in parrying, but all to no purpose so far as opening the +way for a counter-attack was concerned. + +Now I saw the spectators only as black shadows standing just out of +the range of my vision. With every sense I was alert to parry and +lunge. Now it seemed very dark except for the light of the lanterns, +although before we began to fence, the starlight had seemed +uncommonly bright and clear. The whole world appeared to grow dark +around me as I fought, until only Cornelius Gleazen was to be seen, +as if in the heart of a light cloud. Now I all but eluded his guard. +Now I drew blood from his arm--I was convinced of it. I pressed him +closer and closer and got new confidence from seeing that he was +breathing harder than I. + +For a moment,--it is a thing that happens when one has concentrated +his whole attention on a certain object for so long a time that at +last it inevitably wavers,--for a moment I was aware of those +around me as well as of the man in front of me. I even heard their +hard breathing, their whispered encouragement. I saw that Matterson +was standing on my right, midway between me and Gleazen. I saw a +sudden opening, and thrusting out my arm, drove my blade for it with +all the speed and strength of my body. That thrust, too, drew blood; +there was no doubt of it, for Gleazen gave a quick gasp and let his +guard fall. Victory was mine; I had beaten him. My heart leaped, and +lifting my sword-hand to turn off his blade, I attempted a reprise. +I knew by the frantic jerk of Gleazen's guard that he was aware that +I had beaten him. I was absolutely sure of myself. But when I +attempted to spring back and launch the doubled attack something +held my foot. + +I gave a quick jerk,--_literally my foot was held_,--I lost my +balance and all but went over. Then I felt a burning in the back of +my shoulder and sat down on deck with the feeling that the lanterns +were now expanding into strange wide circles of light, now +concentrating into tiny coals of fire. + +First I knew that Gideon North was bending over me with his medicine +chest; then I took a big swallow of brandy and had hard work to keep +from choking over it; then I felt cool hands, so firm and small that +I knew they could belong to only one person in the Adventure; then I +saw Arnold Lamont, sword in hand, facing Cornelius Gleazen. + +Now why, I wondered, had I been unable to withdraw my foot. +Matterson had been all but in my way. He must have thrust out his +own foot! + +"Arnold," I cried incoherently, "beware of Matterson! He tripped +me!" + +Arnold looked down at me and smiled and nodded. + +"Sir," I heard him saying, as if miles away, "you have beaten a man +years younger than yourself by a foul and treacherous trick. I shall +kill you." + +"Kill me?" Gleazen arrogantly roared. "It would take a swordsman to +do it." + +To that Arnold replied in a foreign tongue, which even then I knew +must be Spanish. I was no competent witness of what was taking +place; but cloudy though my mind was, I did not fail to see that +Arnold's taunt struck home, for both Gleazen and Matterson angrily +swore. + +"In Spanish, eh?" Gleazen sneered. "So this is the leaky spigot! No +more tales, my fine fellow, shall trickle out through your round +mouth, once I have measured your vitals with cold steel." + +Into my spinning brain there now came a sudden memory of my bout +with Arnold long, long ago, when I had gone at him just as +arrogantly as ever Neil Gleazen was doing now. I tried to cry out +again and could not. I laughed, which was all my strength permitted, +and wearily leaned back, and through eyes that would almost close in +spite of me, saw Arnold advance under the swinging lantern so +swiftly that his sword was like a beam of light flashed by a mirror. + +His blade sped through Gleazen's guard: Gleazen dropped his sword, +staggered, and fell with a crash. + +I heard Arnold say, "Sir, I am more clumsy than I knew. The rolling +deck has saved your miserable life, since I cannot kill a wounded +man. But if my hand were in practice, no ship that ever rolled would +have turned that thrust." + +Then a great uproar ensued, and I knew nothing more until I opened +my eyes in the cabin, where a hot argument was evidently in +progress, since oaths were bandied back and forth and there were +hard words on all sides. + +"As representatives of Josiah Woods, who owns this brig," I heard +Arnold say, "Gideon North and I will not permit you, sir, or any +other man, to ship such a cargo." + +The reply I did not understand, but I again heard Arnold's voice, +hot with anger. + +"We will _not_ sail again to that den of pirates and slavers and the +iniquitous of all the nations of the world, Havana. If you do not +wish to go to Boston,--" he hesitated,--"we will use you better than +you deserve. For a profitable voyage, we might compromise, say, on +South America." + +Of what followed I have no memory, for I was weaker than I realized, +from loss of blood. The cabin went white before my eyes. The voices +all dwindled away to remote threads of sound. I seemed to feel +myself sway with the motion of the ship, and opened my eyes again +and saw that I was being carried. Then I once more felt cool hands +on my forehead, and leaning back, seemed to sink into endless space. +I forgot Topham and all that had happened there; I forgot Africa and +every event of our ill-fated venture; I even forgot the brig and the +duel, and I almost forgot my own identity. But as I existed in a +sort of dream-land or fairyland somewhere between waking and +sleeping, I did not forget the girl who had come with me out of +Africa; and even when I could not remember my own name, I would find +myself struggling in a curiously detached way to connect the name +Faith, which persisted in my memory, with a personality that +likewise persisted, yet that seemed a thing apart from all the world +and not even to be given a name. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +WESTWARD BOUND + + +At the time I did not know whether it was two days or ten that I lay +in that borderland of consciousness. But as I emerged from it into a +clearer, more real world, I saw now the girl, now Arnold, now Gideon +North, passing before me and sometimes pausing by my berth. One day +I found myself eating broth that someone was feeding to me. The +next, I saw that the girl was my nurse. The next, I asked questions, +but so weakly that I could no more than murmur a faint protest when +she smiled and turned away without answering. + +So it went until a time when my voice was stronger and I would not +be put off again. Seizing her sleeve and feebly holding it, I cried +as stoutly as I was able, "Tell me--tell me where we are and all +that has happened." + +What she saw through the open port, I could only guess; if it was +possible to judge by her face, she saw more than mere sea and sky, +with perhaps a wandering sea bird; but she turned and quietly said, +"We are at sea, now, and all is going well, and when you are +stronger, I'll tell you more." + +"Tell me now!" I demanded. + +I would have said more, but I felt that my voice was failing and I +did not wish her to perceive it. + +She hesitated, then impulsively turned. + +"Just this: you are getting well fast, and he is getting well +slowly. We have gone from the coast and the Gulf of Guinea, and are +off for South America." + +Then she went away and left me, and I was troubled by the sadness +of her face, although she had had enough, heaven knew! to make her +sad. + +"So," I thought, "we have really abandoned the trade at last! And so +Arnold brought down Gleazen! And what of the trader and Pedro? And +what are our prospects of profit from a voyage to South America? And +what of Seth Upham and--" + +Then it all came back to me, a thousand memories bursting all at +once upon my bewildered brain, and I lived again those days from the +hour when I first saw Neil Gleazen on the porch of the inn, through +the mad night when we left Topham behind us, through the terrible +seasickness of my first voyage, through the sinister adventure in +Havana, through all the uncanny warnings of those African witch +doctors, up to the very hour when Seth Upham threw wide his arms and +went, singing, down to die by the spring. I remembered our wild +flight, the battle in the forest, the race down the river, the fall +of the mission, and again our flight,--the girl was with us +now!--the affair of the cruiser, the quarrel, the duel, and the +voices that I heard as I lay on deck. Then I came to a black hiatus. +Memory carried me no further and I wearily closed my eyes, having no +strength to keep them open longer. + +Next I knew that good Gideon North was standing over me, his hand on +my pulse; there was a sharp throbbing pain in my shoulder where +Gleazen's sword had struck home; I was vaguely aware that the girl +was sobbing. + +Now why, I thought, should anything trouble her? It was not as if +she, like me, had come up against a wall that she could not pass. I +seemed actually to throw myself at that black rigid barrier which +cut me off from every event that followed and--my delirious +metaphors were sadly mixed--left me balanced precariously on a +tenuous column of memories that came to an end high up in a dark +open place, like the truck of a ship in a black, stormy night. + +I heard Gideon North speaking of fever and my wound; then the +picture changed and the girl alone was sitting beside me. She was +singing in a low voice, and the song soothed me. I did not try to +follow the words; I simply let the tune lead me whither it would. +Then I went to sleep again, and when I woke my memory had succeeded +in passing the barrier that before had balked every effort. + +Now I remembered things that had happened while I lay in my berth in +my stateroom. I put together things that had happened before and +after my duel. It was as if I reached out from my frail mast of +memories and found accustomed ropes and knew that I could go +elsewhere at will. I felt a sudden new confidence in my power to +think and speak, and when the girl once more appeared, I cried out +eagerly, even strongly, "Now I know what, who, and where I am." + +At my words she stepped quickly forward and laid her hand on my +forehead. The fever had gone. With a little cry she turned, and I +heard her say to someone in the cabin, "His face is as cool as my +own!" + +In came Gideon North, then, and in the door appeared Arnold. + +"Bless me, boy!" Captain North cried, "you're on the mend at last." + +"I think I am," I returned. "What happened to me?" + +"Happened to you? A touch of African fever, my lad, on top of a +dastardly stab." + +"Where's Neil Gleazen?" I cried. + +"Oh, he's getting along better than he deserves. Our friend Lamont, +here, spitted him delicately; but he escaped the fever and has had +an easier time of it by far than you, my lad." + +He once more counted my pulse. "Fine," he said in his heartiest +voice, "fine enough. Now turn over and rest." + +"But I've been resting for days and days," I protested. "I want to +talk now and hear all the news." + +"Not now, Joe. Well go away and leave you now. But I'll have cook +wring the neck of another chicken and give your nurse, here, the +meat. She has a better hand at broth, Joe, my boy, than ever a +man-cook had, and I'll warrant, two hours from now, broth'll taste +good to you." + +So I went to sleep and woke to a saner, happier world. + +In another week I was able to be up on deck and to lie in the open +air on cushions and blankets, where the warm sunshine and the fair +wind and the gentle motion of the sea combined to soothe and restore +me. It was good to talk with Arnold and Captain North, and with Abe +Guptil, who, at my request, was ordered aft to spend an hour with me +one afternoon; but why, I wondered, did I see so little now of Faith +Parmenter? + +She would nod at me with a smile and a word, and then go away, +perhaps to lean on the rail and watch for an hour at a time the +rolling blue sea, or to pace the deck as if oblivious to all about +her. + +On that night at the mission weeks before, when neither of us even +knew the other's name, she had spoken to me with a directness that +had even more firmly stamped on my memory her face as I had first +seen it among the mangroves. On that terrible day when her father +had gone out from the mission house to die, when dangers worse than +death had threatened us from every side, she had cast her fortunes +with Arnold's and with mine; in all the weeks of my pain and fever, +she had tended me with a gentleness and thoughtfulness that had +filled me with gratitude and something more. But now she would give +me only a nod and a smile, with perhaps an occasional word! + +Why, Arnold and even old Gideon North got more of her time and +attention than did I. I would lie and watch her leaning on the rail, +the wind playing with stray tendrils of her hair, which the sun +turned to spun gold, and would suffer a loneliness even deeper than +that which I felt when my own uncle, Seth Upham, died by the spring +on the side of the hill. Could there be someone else of whom she was +always thinking? Or something more intangible and deeper rooted? +More and more I had feared it; now I believed it. + +To see Cornelius Gleazen, his right arm still swathed in many +bandages and his face as white almost as marble, eyeing me glumly +from his place across the deck, was the only other shadow on my +convalescence. With not a word for me,--or for my friends, for that +matter,--he would stroll about the deck in sullen anger, for which +no one could greatly blame him. He had no desire now to return to +our home town of Topham; his bolt there was shot. We had refused him +passage to the port of lawless men where no doubt he could have +plotted to win back the brig and all that he had staked. Little +grateful for the compromise by which he gained the privilege of +landing on another continent, he kept company with his thoughts--ill +company they were!--and with Matterson. But more than all else, it +troubled me to see him watching Faith Parmenter. + +As I would lie there, I would see him staring at her, unconscious +that anyone was observing him. He would keep it up for hours at a +time, until I did not see how she--or the others--could fail to +notice it; yet apparently no one did notice it. The man, I now +learned, and it surprised me, had a cat-like trick of dropping his +eyes or looking quickly away. + +As I grew stronger, I would now and then stand beside her, and we +would talk of one thing and another; but without fail there was the +wall of reserve behind which I could not go. She was always +courteous; she always welcomed me; yet she made her reserve so plain +that I had no doubt that it was kindness alone which led her to put +up with me. Only once in all that westward voyage did I feel that +she accepted me as more than the most casual of acquaintances, and I +could see, as I thought it over afterwards, that even then it was +because I had taken her by surprise. + +It came one night just when the sun was setting and the moon was +rising. The shadows on deck were long and of a deep umber. The +mellow light of early evening had washed the decks and all the lower +rigging in a soft brown, while the topsails were still tinted with +lavender and purple. We were running before a southeast wind +and--though I incur the ridicule of old sailors by saying it--there +was something singularly personal and friendly about the seas as +they broke against our larboard quarter and swept by us one by one. +I know that I have never forgotten that hour at the end of a fair +day, with a fair wind blowing, with strange colors and pleasant +shadows playing over an old brig, and with Faith Parmenter beside me +leaning on the taffrail. + +We had been talking of trivial things, with intervals of deep +silence, as people will, especially in early evening, when the +beauty of the great world almost takes away the power of speech. But +at the end of a longer silence than any that had gone before it, as +I watched her slim fingers moving noiselessly on the rail, I +suddenly said, "Why do you never tell me about your own life? In all +this time you have not let me know one thing about yourself." + +As she looked up at me, there was a startled expression in her +eyes. + +"Do you," she said, "wish to know more about me?" + +"Yes." + +She looked away again as if in doubt; then, with a little gesture, +which seemed for the time being to open a gate in that wall of +reserve which had so completely shut her away from me, she smiled +and spoke in a low, rather hurried voice. + +"My story is quickly told. I was born in a little town in Dorset, +and there I lived with my father and my mother and nurse, until I +was sixteen years old. My mother died then. The years that followed +were--lonely ones. It was no surprise to me--to anyone--when my +father decided to give up his parish and sail for Africa. We all +knew, of course, how bad things were on the West Coast. People said +our English ships still kept up the wicked trade. But they were +ships from Brazil and the West Indies, manned, I believe, by +Spaniards and Portuguese, that gave us the most trouble. There were +Englishmen and Americans now and then, but they were growing fewer. +We thought we were done with them; then you came. Even after you had +come, I told my father that you were not in the trade; but my father +already had seen _him_,"--she moved her hand ever so slightly in the +direction of Gleazen, who likewise was leaning on the rail at a +little distance,--"and he would believe no good of you. If only he +could have lived! But you came. And here am I, with only you and an +old black servant." + +She looked up at me with a sudden gesture of confidence that made my +heart leap. + +"I am glad you came," she said. + +Her hand lay on the rail beside mine, but so much smaller than mine +that I almost laughed. She turned quickly with an answering smile, +and impulsively I tried to cover her small hand with my larger one. + +Deftly she moved her hand away. "Are you so silly?" she gravely +asked. + +At that moment I was quite too shy and awkward for my own peace of +mind. She seemed suddenly to have stepped away from me as on +seven-league boots. I certainly felt that she was angry with me, and +I ventured no more familiarities; yet actually she merely moved her +hand away and stayed where she was. There was that about her which +made me feel like a child who is ashamed of being caught in some +ridiculous game; and I think now that in some ways I was truly very +much of a child. + +For a long time we watched in silence the rolling seas, which had +grown as black as jet save for the points of light that they +reflected from the stars, and save for the broad bright path that +led straight up to the full moon. But when the moon had risen higher +and had cast its cold hard light on the deck of the brig, Cornelius +Gleazen edged closer to us along the rail. + +"Good-night," she murmured in a very low voice, and gave a little +shudder, which, I divined, she intended that I should see. Then, +with a quick, half-concealed smile, she left me. + +All in all, I was happier that night than I had ever been before, I +believe, for I thought that we had razed the wall of her reserve. +But lo! in the morning it was there again, higher and more +unyielding than ever; and more firmly than ever I was convinced that +she had not told me _all_ her story; that there was someone else of +whom she was thinking, or that some other thing, of which I knew +nothing, preyed upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE DOOR OF DISASTER + + +On the morning when we sighted land, I saw the big Fantee canoeman +standing in the waist and looking with eager eyes at the distant +shore. I suppose it was because I was still so weak that it did not +thrill me as my first glimpse of Africa had thrilled me. We had +known for some time that we were off the La Plata River by the +changed color of the water; but the shores that we now saw were mere +sandy beaches and low hills, which stretched, Captain North said, +from Cape St. Mary up the river itself; and I, having somehow got +the notion that I should see grand cliffs and mountains, was sadly +disappointed in them. + +At about nine o'clock in the morning of that first day we passed an +island on which there were more seals than I had ever seen in any +one place; and at about eleven we came to a small town, whence with +light, fair winds we continued on our way up the river toward +Montevideo. + +For our venture into unfamiliar waters we could not have desired +better weather than thus far prevailed; but about sunset the wind +rose and a dense fog blew in; whereupon Captain North decided to +haul off shore a few miles and anchor for the night, which we did +about fifteen miles below the city. The wind, meanwhile, was rising +to a gale. At eight o'clock, as it was still rapidly increasing, we +paid out a considerable length of cable, and the Adventure rode with +much less straining than before; but Captain North, I could see, was +by no means well pleased with our situation, and as we went below to +supper I overheard him say to Matterson, who continued to hold the +berth of chief mate, "Tend the cable with care, Mr. Matterson, and +keep a good lookout." + +Whatever Matterson's reply, I lost it; but to this day I remember +his giant figure as he stood there on the quarter-deck, his jacket +buttoned tight up to his throat, his arms folded, with the wind +racing past his gray stubble of a beard. His strength was still +impaired by his wound, although at last it had healed clean; but +there was no sign of weakness in his bearing. In the dim light and +the rising gale he loomed up big, bold, and defiant. + +Small wonder that I remember him as he looked then! It was almost +the last time I ever saw him. + +We were five at the table that night,--Captain North, Gleazen, +Arnold, Faith, and I,--and Abe Guptil served us as steward. + +With Mr. Severance in his own quarters asleep during his watch +below, and with the trader whom we had rescued sent unceremoniously +forward to keep company with the cook, we should have had a pleasant +time of it but for the presence of Gleazen, whose sullen scowl +dampened every word we spoke. Why the fellow ate with us instead of +waiting for Matterson, I am sure I do not know, unless it was sheer +perversity. Not one of us had a word to say to him, yet there he +sat, with his arm in a sling and the folds of bandages showing +through his waistcoat as broad ridges, now glaring at Arnold, now +eyeing Faith Parmenter; and his few words could have brought little +comfort even to him. + +"How she pitches!" Arnold exclaimed, as wine from his glass fell in +a red blot on the cloth. + +"This wind," said Gleazen gloomily, "puts me in mind of that little +yell Seth Upham gave when they got him." His voice sank almost to a +whisper. + +Now, as the brig plunged, Abe Guptil stumbled while crossing the +cabin and fell to his knees, yet made out by a desperate effort both +to hold his tray upright and to keep the dishes from sliding off +against the bulkhead. + +"Bravo!" cried Gideon North. + +"Yes, sir," Abe replied, brightly, "that was a clever one and I'm +proud of it." + +It had been impossible to teach him the manners of his new work, but +we cared little about that. + +"Hark!" said Faith. "What was the noise?" + +"Nothing, so far as I know," Captain North replied. "How she pitches +and jumps! Give me a ship under sail, steadied by the wind abeam." + +"I've heard Bud O'Hara use them very words," said Gleazen. + +Again silence followed the man's ill-chosen remark. + +"When we have put our passengers ashore," Arnold began with a +significant glance at Gleazen, "shall we--" + +"Captain North!" + +Matterson's light voice calling down the companionway brought the +old mariner to his feet. + +Gleazen, who had seemed to be on the point of making some +ill-tempered retort, slumped back in his chair as Captain North +rose. + +"What will you have, Mr. Matterson?" + +"I wish you'd come on deck, sir," came Matterson's reply. "I'm in +doubt whether or no we're drifting." + +"Drifting?" + +The old man went up with haste, and I followed close at his heels. + +"I don't like the feel of the lead," he remarked, when, after +gaining the deck, he laid hands on the lead-line. "But what with the +current of the river and our pitching, I can't be sure. Are those +breakers to leeward?" + +"I think, sir," Matterson replied, "that they are only the white +tops of the waves." + +Matterson showed more genuine deference now than I had ever seen in +him before, which in itself went far to convince me that affairs +were going badly. + +"They may be," the old man replied, "but I'm inclined to doubt it." +And with that he went aft over the stern into the boat. + +Evidently the nearer view convinced him that they were indeed +breakers, for he returned with surprising agility. + +"Call 'em up, Joe," he hoarsely cried, "every living soul. We're in +a bad way. You, Mr. Matterson, get ready another anchor and send men +to clear the cable tier below. Quick now." + +I heard those in the cabin start to their feet when I called, and a +moment later Gleazen burst out and up the ladder. Behind him came +Faith, whom he had passed in his rush to the deck; then, a moment +later, Arnold, who had stopped to shake Mr. Severance out of a sound +sleep. + +The white crests were nearer now, and approaching at a startling +speed. The roar alone told us they were breakers. A wave curled +along the rail and a torrent of foam cascaded over the bulwark, +washed the length of the deck, and eddied for a moment above the +scuppers. + +The breakers were upon us and all about us. Their deafening roar +drowned out every sound in the brig. Then we struck. The man at the +wheel was thrown to his knees, but held his place. One or two men +succeeded in clinging to the rigging. The rest of us went tumbling +up against the rail. + +I really did not understand the expression on Gleazen's face. I +simply could not yet comprehend the terrible danger in which we were +placed. To me, being no sailor, anything would have seemed possible +at sea; but now, when we were so near port,--indeed, actually in +sight of land,--it seemed utterly incredible that we could be in +deadly peril. But it was a terrible lesson that put an end to my +folly. A second blow followed the first shock of our striking, then +a third still heavier, then a sea broke clean across our bows, +carrying one poor wretch overboard and driving two more back to the +quarter-deck. With a fearful, despairing yell the luckless fellow +went past us and down, and as he did so I saw clinging to his +shoulders a frightened animal and knew that we had seen the last of +Pedro and his monkey. + +The next sea broke over the whole weather side of the good +Adventure, and only by clinging fast to the rigging did any one of +us manage to retain his hold on the pounding wreck, which, desperate +though her plight was, represented our one chance for life. + +Now in a voice that rose above the roar of the tempest Gideon North +thundered, "Cut away the masts! Cut away the masts!" + +A lull followed, and for a moment we dared hope that, once the brig +was freed of all weight aloft, she would right herself and go over +the bar in such a way that we could let go our anchor on the farther +side and so bring her up again into the wind. But the lull brought +us only despair when the carpenter answered him by shrieking at the +top of his voice, "The axe has gone overboard." + +So swiftly and so mightily had the succession of seas burst over us +that of all hands only ten or a dozen were left on board. I could +see them in a line clinging precariously to the weather-rail. At +first, in dazed horror, I thought Faith Parmenter was not there; +then, seeing someone drag her back through the wash of the sea, I +myself strove to reach her side. Another sea broke, and again she +almost went overboard; then I saw that it was Abe Guptil who was +holding her with the strength of two men. Then the great black +figure of the Fantee canoeman worked along the rail ahead of me and +took a place beside her, opposite to Abe, and helped to hold her in +the brig. + +It was plain to every one of us what the outcome would have been had +not a cross-current now thrown the pounding hull at a new angle, so +that for a breathing-space those of us who were left alive had +opportunity to take other measures for safety. But the very wave +that did that also sent the masts by the board and, instead of +lightening us, cluttered the decks with a hopeless snarl of ropes +and canvas. + +I was farther forward than the others, and so weak from my long +illness that for a moment I could only strive to recover my strength +and my breath. I saw them haul the filled boat up to the stern and, +by sheer strength and audacity, raise her clear of the breakers, +empty out half or two thirds of the water and let her go back again +into the sea, where she rode sluggishly. + +Into that rocking boat, first of all, sprang Matterson. Close after +him scrambled the craven trader, and after him Neil Gleazen. + +"Cast off!" I heard Matterson yell. "She'll founder with another +soul aboard her." + +And off they cast, those three men, abandoning every one of the rest +of us to whatever end fate might hold in store. + +That they should leave behind them those of us who had been from the +first their enemies was not surprising; but that they should abandon +thus, on a wreck that we all could see was doomed to break up in a +few hours, if not literally in a few minutes, a girl who had done +them no harm whatsoever, whose only fault lay in coming from quite +another world than theirs, was contemptible beyond belief, if for no +other reason than that she was but a young girl and they strong men. + +I would not have believed it of even them. I could scarcely believe +my eyes when I saw them go. But as if to deal them a punishment more +fitting than any that we could devise, while the brig was pounding +in the breakers, a wave, sweeping clean over her, wrenched the +trysail boom about and parted the sheet and flung the boom in a wide +half-circle squarely on top of the boat, which it crushed to +kindlings. Whether or not it hit any of the three cowardly knaves a +direct blow, it left them struggling like so many rats in seas that +speedily carried them out of our sight into the darkness. + +No doubt we should have seen more of their fate had our own plight +been less desperate; but the boom, as it swung down on the boat, +raked across the taffrail, and those of us who had been clinging +there in a long line, losing our hold on what up to that point had +represented to us our only chance for safety, threw our arms round +the boom and clung fast to that and with it were swept away from the +wrecked brig, straight through the breakers that foamed between us +and the shore. Holding the boom itself with one arm, I struggled to +give Faith what help I could with the other; but we must both have +been washed off the leaping spar, had not the big black Fantee +canoeman, who all this time had been working closer and closer to +his beloved mistress, plunged under the boom and, coming up on the +farther side, seized both her and me with a grip like a gorilla's. +Meanwhile Abe Guptil, as strong as a bear, in a flash had seen how +effective the Fantee's manoeuvre was, and had tried to duplicate it +for himself, Arnold, and Gideon North, who had been washed to the +farther end of the spar and nearly carried away from it. But he +only partly succeeded, for to him the water was not nearly so +natural an element as to the mungo, and he began his attempt later +and completed it more slowly. + +Coming up on the far side of the boom, gasping and choking from a +wave that struck him squarely in the face, he clasped hands with +Arnold and tried to do so with Gideon North; but as his outstretched +arm groped for him, the sea tore the old sailor away and we five +were left alone on the long spar, two of us on one side and three on +the other, with arms and bodies locked around it. + +Brave Gideon North! There was little time then to feel his loss; but +it was to grow upon us more and more and more in the weeks and +months to come. Stout-hearted, downright, thoughtful, kind--it is +very seldom that one gets or loses such a friend. + +The spar rolled and turned as it swept toward the shore. Now we were +pounded and battered and almost drowned by the breakers; now we got +a chance to breathe and regain our strength as we came into deeper, +quieter water; now we were swept again through breakers that tossed +us, half drowned, into surging shallows. And so, holding fast to one +another, we were cast up on the shore in the darkness, where we +crawled away from the long waves that licked over the wet sand, and +sat down and watched and waited and watched. + +Twice we heard someone calling aloud, and once I was sure that I saw +someone struggling toward us out of the surge. But though we +staggered down to the sea and shouted time and again, we got no +answer. Slowly the conviction forced itself upon us that we five and +some half a dozen sailors who had reached land before us were all +who were left alive of the passengers and crew of the brig +Adventure; that after all there was no hope whatever for Gideon +North, that bravest of master mariners. + +To such an end had come Cornelius Gleazen's golden dreams! Through +suffering and disaster, they had led him to the ultimate wreck of +every hope; his own catastrophe had shattered the future of more +than one innocent man, and had caused directly the death of many +innocent men. + +It was a wild dawn that broke upon us on that foreign shore. The +wind raged and the sea thundered, and black, low clouds raced over +our heads. To watch by daylight the terrible cauldron through which +we had come by dark was in itself a fearful thing; and beyond it, +barely visible through the surf, lay the broken hull of the +Adventure. So far as we could discover, there was no living creature +in all that waste of waters. + +My dream of being a prosperous ship-owner lay wrecked beside the +shattered timbers of the Adventure; and knowing that, after all my +youthful dreams of affluence, I now was a poor man with my way in +the world to make, I felt that still another dream, a dearer, more +ambitious dream, likewise was shattered. + +If when I owned the brig and had good prospects Faith Parmenter had +withdrawn behind a wall of reserve, if there had been someone else +whom she held in greater favor,--of whom she thought more +often,--what hope that I could win her now? Starting to walk away +from the others, I saw that she was ahead of me, staring with dark, +tearless eyes at the stormy sea. I stopped beside her. + +"I suppose the time of our parting is near at hand," I began. "If I +can in any way be of service to you--" + +"You are going to leave me _now_? _Here?_" + +There was something in her breathless, anxious voice that brought my +heart up into my throat. + +"Not leave you, but--" + +"But the time of parting has come?" she said, with a rising +inflection. "It has found us in a wild and desolate place,"--she +smiled,--"more desolate and less wild than the place from which we +sailed. You came to me strangely, sir; you go as strangely as you +came." + +"If I can be of any service to you," I blindly repeated, "I--" + +Still smiling, she cut me short off. "I thank you, but I think I +shall be able, after all, to make shift. If someone--Mr. Lamont, +perhaps--will take me to some town where there is--an English +church--" + +She still was smiling, but her smile wavered. + +Could she, I wondered with a sort of fierce eagerness, have told me +_all_ her story? Was there, then, really nothing hidden? + +"If you--" I began, "if I--" + +Then she covered her face with her hands and sobbed, and for the +first time I dared guess the truth. + +At what I then said,--the words that opened the gate to the life we +two have lived together,--she smiled so brightly through her tears, +that for the moment I forgot the dark shore, the stormy seas, and +the terrible, tragic night through which we had passed. + +There was a wealth of affection in Arnold's kind, thoughtful face +when we joined the others, and Abe Guptil and the big Fantee, Paul, +smiled at us--it was good to see their smiles after the sufferings +and sorrow that we all had passed through. + +"If only Gideon North and Seth Upham were here now!" Abe cried. + +"Poor Seth!" said Arnold. "What a price he has paid for one +passionate blow." + +"What do you know?" I demanded. + +Arnold gravely turned, "I _know_ little," he said. "But I have +guessed much." + +"What have you guessed?" + +"They say in Topham that Neil Gleazen left town in the night and Eli +Norton was found dead in the morning." + +While he paused, we waited in silence. + +"That, my friends, is why Gleazen for twenty years did not come +back. But I once heard Gleazen say, when the mood was on him to +torment Seth Upham, let people think what they would, that at least +he--Gleazen--_knew_ who killed Eli Norton." + +"And you think that Seth Upham--" + +He interrupted me with a Latin phrase--"De mortuis nil nisi bonum." + +My poor uncle! + +"You four," said Arnold thoughtfully, "will need money before you +once more reach Topham." + +"But of course you are coming too," I cried. + +"No, I fear that I should not be content to live always in Topham." + +Taken aback by his words, I stared at him with an amazement that was +utterly incredulous. + +"You are not coming back with us?" + +"No." Arnold smiled kindly and perhaps a little sadly. + +Unbuckling a belt that he had worn since I first knew him, he drew +it off and opened it, and I saw to my further amazement that it was +full of gold coins. "This," said he, "will go far to pay your +expenses." + +"I cannot take gold from you," I cried. + +"Do not be foolish, Joe. We are old friends, you and I, and this by +rights is as much yours as mine." + +He thrust the belt into my hands. "It is all for you, but there is +enough for our good friend Abe, in case he parts from you before +reaching Topham." + +"But you--" + +"I have more. I am not, Joe, only that which I have pretended to be +in your uncle's store in Topham, where you and I have had happy days +together." + +At my bewildered face, he smiled again. + +"My real name, Joe, is old and not obscure. I am one of the least +illustrious sons of my house; but I myself have served on the staff +of the great Bonaparte. + +"And that--" I could scarcely believe that honest Arnold Lamont was +saying these astounding things. + +"That is why it has been necessary--at least advisable--for me to +conceal for so many years my identity. A man, Joe, does not tell all +he knows." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AN OLD, OLD STORY + + +It was spring when we came back to Topham. The sun was warm upon the +pleasant fields and gardens, and the blossoms on the fruit trees +were thick and fragrant. The loveliest days of all the year were +enfolding the pleasant countryside of New England in the glory and +peace of their bright skies and soft colors; and as the hired coach +that brought us down from Boston, with black Paul, at once proud and +uncomfortable in a new suit of white man's clothes, seated stiffly +high beside the driver, rolled along the familiar roads, I pointed +out to my bride the fair scenes among which my boyhood had been +spent. + +From Montevideo, which we reached on the evening following the +wreck,--there an old English clergyman married us,--we had sailed to +New York as passengers in a merchant ship; but first we had taken +leave of those two good friends, Arnold Lamont, whom we were never +to see again, and Abe Guptil, who had bravely insisted on setting +out to build anew his fortunes by shipping as second mate of an +American bark then in port. From New York a second ship had given us +passage to Boston, whence we came over the same road to Topham that +I had traveled so long before with Arnold and Sim and Abe and Neil +Gleazen and my uncle. + +We ought, I suppose, to have been a properly anxious young couple, +for of the great sum in gold that Arnold had so generously advanced +us only a small part remained, and what I should do in Topham, now +that Uncle Seth's store was in other hands, I had not the slightest +notion. The tower of golden dreams that poor Seth Upham had built +in idle moments had fallen into dust; Neil Gleazen's unscrupulous +quest had brought only ashes and bitterness; it was from the shadow +of a great tragedy that we came into that golden morning in spring. +But great as had been those things that Faith and I had lost, we had +gained something so deep and so great that even then, when in +discovering it we were so happy that the world seemed too good to be +real, we had not more than begun to appreciate the wonder and +magnitude of it. + +Thus I came back to Topham after such a year and a half as few men +have known, even though they have lived a full century--back to +Topham, with all my golden prospects shattered by Gleazen's mad +adventure, but with a treasure such that, if all the gold in the +world had been mine, I would eagerly have given every coin to win +it. + +With my bride beside me, her hand upon my arm, I rode into sleepy +little Topham, past my uncle's house where I had lived for many +happy years, past the store where Arnold and poor Sim Muzzy and I +had worked together, past the smithy where even now that old +prophet, the blacksmith, was peering out to see who went by in the +strange coach, and after all was failing to recognize me at the +distance, so changed was I by all that had befallen me, up to the +door of the very tavern where I had first seen Cornelius Gleazen. + +There I handed my dear wife down from her seat in the coach, dressed +in a simple gown and bonnet that became her charmingly, and turned +and saw, waiting to greet me, the very landlord whom last I had seen +reeling back from Gleazen's drunken thrust. + +At first, when he looked at me, he showed that he was puzzled; then +he recognized me and his face changed. + +My fears lest the good man bear me a grudge for my share, small +though it was, in that villainous night's work, vanished there and +then. "You!" he cried, with both hands outstretched; "why, Joe! why, +Joe! We thought you were long since lost at sea or killed by +buccaneers--such a story as Sim Muzzy told us!" + +"Sim Muzzy?" I cried. "Not Sim!" + +"Yes, Sim!" + +Then I heard far down the road someone calling, and turned and +saw--it was so good that I rubbed my eyes like a child waking from a +dream!--actually saw Sim Muzzy come puffing and sweating along, with +a cloud of dust trailing for a hundred yards behind him. + +"Joe, Joe," he cried, "welcome home! Welcome home, Joe Woods!" + +And as I am an honest man, he fell to blubbering on the spot. + +"Things are not what they used to be," he managed at last to say. +"The new man in the store don't like the town and the townspeople +don't like him, and I've been living in hopes Seth Upham would come +home and take it off his hands. But who is this has come back with +you, Joe, and what's come of Seth Upham?" + +At that I presented him to my wife, who received him with a sweet +dignity that won his deepest regard on the spot; and then I told him +the whole sad story of our adventures, or as much of it, at least, +as I could cram into the few minutes that we stood by the road. + +"And so," I concluded, "I have come back to Topham with not a penny +to my name, save such few as are left from Arnold's bounty." + +Sim heard me out in silence, for evidently his own trials had done +much to cure him of his garrulity, and with a very sad face indeed +he stood looking back over the village where we had lived and +worked so long together. + +"Poor Seth Upham!" he said at last. "Well, there's nothing we can do +for him now. And as for Neil Gleazen, he's better dead than back in +Topham, for here he'd hang as sure as preaching. Jed Matthews, they +say, never moved a muscle after Neil hit him on the head. But as for +you, Joe, you're no penniless wanderer." + +"What do you mean by that?" I asked. + +"There was all of fifteen thousand dollars on board the brig." + +"What makes you think that?" + +"Didn't I help Seth store it in his trunk? 'You're simple, Sim, and +honest,' he says to me. 'I'll not have another soul besides you know +this, but you're as honest as you are simple,' Them's the words he +said, and I was that proud of 'em that I've treasured 'em ever +since." + +I thought of the papers and bags we had stored in the wagon that +night when we fled from Topham. + +"He hid it well," I replied. "But even if he had not hidden it so +well, I fear that it would nevertheless be at the bottom of the La +Plata River, just as it now is, with the brig, and all the goods +that were on board her, and many men that sailed in her, good and +bad alike." + +"But that is not all." + +"Not all? What do you mean?" + +"Seth Upham left money in the bank, and I've seen his will with my +own eyes. 'Twas found in the safe after we left town, and turned +over to Judge Fuller." + +"But surely, what with buying the brig and taking all his papers, +which I looked over myself in the cabin of the Adventure and which +were lost, every one, when she broke up, he had nothing left. Why, +the brig must have cost a pretty penny." + +"That may well be, Joe, but there's money in the bank, for all that. +Seth Upham had more money tucked away than most people would have +believed." + +I thought this over with growing wonder. "I do believe, my love," I +said, "that we shall be able to make a fair start in the world after +all, and, which is more, repay certain debts at once." + +Faith smiled as she looked up at me; then she turned and looked at +the quaint old town, which was spread before us in the sun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +EHEU FUGACES! + + +Sim Muzzy's tale, when he bethought himself to tell it to us, was a +lively one in its own way, although it did not, of course, compare +with our African adventures. The press-gang that set upon us in +Havana had rushed him away to a Spanish ship, where he was kicked +about and cruelly abused, until, at peril of his life, he dropped +overboard in the dark and swam to an American schooner, whose +captain, hearing his story, took him on board and hid him in the +chain-locker until they were well on their way to Boston. Thence Sim +had set out on foot for Topham, where he had hired himself once +again to tend the store and had led a dog's life ever since. + +That Sim was right about Uncle Seth's bank accounts and his will, +which left all to me, I learned before sunset that very day. The +sums were not large in themselves, and taken all together they were +small enough compared with the golden dreams my poor uncle had lived +in; but they assured Faith and me of comfort at least; and when that +evening I called upon the new storekeeper and found him so eager to +escape from a town where his short measures and petty deceits had +made him unpopular and discontented, that he was not in the mood to +haggle over the bargain, I bought back the store on the spot. + +"There'll be happier days ahead, Sim," said I when I came out. + +"O Joe, I'm sure of that," he replied, his face bright with smiles; +for he had overheard considerable of our discussion. + +Within the week the papers were signed, and before a fortnight was +up Faith and I went out, arm-in-arm, on the old hill road and saw +the men break ground for the new house that we were to build. + +Whether any of the others, unknown to Faith and me, had made their +way ashore on the night of the wreck, we never learned; but it was +virtually impossible that they should have done so without revealing +themselves to those of us who had ranged all that bleak coast the +next morning. For honest Gideon North we mourned as for one of the +dearest of friends, and of the rest we thought sometimes in the +years that followed. But none of them, except our own Abe, ever came +to Topham, nor did I ever go back to the sea. + +Three letters at long intervals brought us news of Arnold Lamont; +and to the address that he gave in the first we sent with our reply +a draft for the sum that he had so generously lent us when on that +wild South American shore we four had set out to begin life anew. +They were good letters, and there was no note of complaint in them; +yet as I read them and thought of the Arnold Lamont whom I had known +so long and, all things considered, so intimately, I could not but +feel that in the cities of South America and, later, of Europe he +failed, whatever compensations there may have been, to find anything +like the peace and quiet happiness that he once had found in our New +England town of Topham. + +The week before the walls of our new house were raised, Faith and I +drove together along a road that I had tramped on an autumn +afternoon, to the farm where Abe Guptil had lived in the days that +now seemed so long ago. We carried with us certain papers, which +changed hands in the kitchen where Abe and his little family had +slept the night when I was their guest; and so it happened that, +when Abe returned from his voyage and came to see me at the store +full of honest joy at my good fortune, I sent him off to his own old +home with the assurance that the terms by which he was to buy it +were such that he need never fear again to lose it. + +As the town of Topham has grown around us, Faith and I have grown +into the town and with it; and although the black Fantee, Paul, who +remained the most faithful of servants, was a nine days' wonder in +the village, there now are few people left, I imagine, who know all +the wild, well-nigh unbelievable, yet absolutely true, story of the +year when we first met. A royal fortune may have been lost with Seth +Upham and Neil Gleazen in Gleazen's mad quest, but I can say in all +sincerity that from his quest I gained a fortune far beyond my +deserts. + +THE END + +[Illustration: THE COURSE OF THE BRIG ADVENTURE] + + McGrath-Sherrill Press, Boston + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Great Quest, by Charles Boardman Hawes + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40265 *** |