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diff --git a/old/62375-0.txt b/old/62375-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c0c8834..0000000 --- a/old/62375-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7145 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's My Shipmate Louise, Vol. III, by William Clark Russell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: My Shipmate Louise, Vol. III - The Romance of a Wreck - -Author: William Clark Russell - -Release Date: June 12, 2020 [EBook #62375] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY SHIPMATE LOUISE, VOL. III *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - MY SHIPMATE LOUISE - - VOL. III. - - - - - NEW NOVELS AT ALL LIBRARIES. - - - A FELLOW OF TRINITY. By ALAN ST. AUBYN and WALT WHEELER. 3 vols. - - THE WORD AND THE WILL. By JAMES PAYN. 3 vols. - - AUNT ABIGAIL DYKES. By GEORGE RANDOLPH. 1 vol. - - A WARD OF THE GOLDEN GATE. By BRET HARTE. 1 vol. - - RUFFINO. By OUIDA. 1 vol. - - - London: CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly, W. - - - - - MY SHIPMATE LOUISE - The Romance of a Wreck - - - BY - - W. CLARK RUSSELL - -[Illustration] - - IN THREE VOLUMES - - VOL. III. - - - London - CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY - 1890 - - - - - PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE - LONDON - - - - - CONTENTS - OF - THE THIRD VOLUME - - - CHAPTER PAGE - XXIX. THE CAPTAIN BEGINS A STORY 1 - - XXX. THE CAPTAIN MAKES A PROPOSAL 21 - - XXXI. THE FORM OF AGREEMENT 45 - - XXXII. A TRAGEDY 67 - - XXXIII. THE CARPENTER CALLS A COUNCIL 90 - - XXXIV. I ASSENT 116 - - XXXV. MY CAPTAINCY 140 - - XXXVI. I CONVERSE WITH WETHERLY 164 - - XXXVII. CAPE HORN 184 - - XXXVIII. LAND! 208 - - XXXIX. THE ISLAND 233 - - XL. I ESCAPE 256 - - XLI. WE SAIL AWAY 278 - - XLII. CONCLUSION 302 - - - - - MY SHIPMATE LOUISE - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - THE CAPTAIN BEGINS A STORY - - -For a couple of days nothing that need find a place in this narrative -happened. On the afternoon of the third day of our being aboard the -barque we sighted a sail, hull down, to windward. I climbed into the -main-top and examined her through the glass, and found her a brig, very -loftily rigged, her canvas soaring into moonsails, a sight I had never -before witnessed at sea, even in those days when ships went more heavily -draped than they do in these. She was heading our course, perhaps making -a slightly more weatherly navigation, and full blown as she looked to -be—a large, soft cloud of canvas in the lenses of the telescope—we -passed her at the rate of two feet to her one; and some time before -sunset we had sunk her to her royals on the quarter. - -Miss Temple wanted me to ask Captain Braine to run the _Lady Blanche_ -into speaking distance of the brig, that we might ascertain where she -was bound to and get on board of her. ‘For she may be sailing,’ she -said, ‘to some South American port that will be, comparatively speaking, -close at hand, where we shall be easily able to find a ship to convey us -home.’ But after thinking a little, I decided to keep quiet. It would -not sound very graciously to request Captain Braine to tranship us into -an outward-bound vessel: nor would it be wise to put him to the trouble -of deviating from his course merely, perhaps, to ascertain that the brig -was bound round the Horn to parts more distant than the Mauritius. -Besides, I had no wish to court a blunt refusal from Captain Braine to -put his vessel within hailing distance of another until a real -opportunity to get to England should present itself by some -homeward-bound ship passing close; when, of course, I should take my -chance of his assent or refusal. So I suffered the brig to veer away out -of sight without speaking to the captain about her, or even appearing to -again heed her after I had come down from aloft. - -It was a terribly dull, anxious, weary time; I am speaking of those two -uneventful days. The hot breeze had drawn abeam, and blew feverishly -under a cloudless sky that was a dazzle of brass all about the sun from -morn till evening. We showed royals and a foretopmast-studdingsail to -it, and drove along over the smooth plain with half a fathom’s height of -foam at the cutwater, and a spin and hurry of snow alongside that made -the eyes which watched it reel. I entered the day’s work and the -necessary observations, and so forth, in the log-book in compliance with -the captain’s request. He was delighted with my handwriting, sat -contemplating it with his unwinking gaze for some considerable time, as -though it were a picture, and then, drawing a deep breath, exclaimed: -‘There’s no question but that eddication’s a first-class article. Look -at your writing alongside of mine, and at mine alongside of Chicken’s. -Chicken and me was brought up in the same college—a ship’s forecastle, -and so far from standing amazed at my own fist and that there spelling, -I’m only astonished that I’m able to read or write at all.” - -However, though he broke forth thus, he fell silent, and remained so -afterwards, became, indeed, extraordinarily meditative, and at mealtimes -scarcely opened his lips, though his stare grew more deliberate in -proportion as his reserve increased, until it came at last to his never -taking his eyes off one or the other of us. Again and again Miss Temple -would say to me that she was certain he had something on his mind, and -she looked frightened as she theorized upon his secret. Sometimes, when -on deck, I would observe him standing at the rail, gazing seaward, and -talking to himself, frequently snapping his fingers, whipping round, as -though suddenly conscious that he had talked aloud, then starting off in -a short, restless, unsteady walk, coming to an abrupt halt to again -mutter and to snap his fingers with the air of one laboring to form a -resolution. - -It was on the afternoon of the second day of those two about which I -have spoken, and it was drawing on to six o’clock, four bells of the -first dog-watch. The captain had been on deck since four, and for the -last twenty minutes he had been standing a little to the right of the -fellow who was steering, eyeing me with an intentness that had a long -time before become embarrassing, and I may say distressing. Whenever I -turned my head towards him, I found his gaze fixed upon me. Miss Temple -and I were seated too near him to admit of our commenting upon the -singular regard that he was bestowing upon me. She contrived to whisper, -however, that she was certain his secret, whatever it was, was slowly -rising from the depths of his soul to the surface of his mind. - -‘I seem to find a change in the man’s face,’ she said under her breath. -‘Let us walk, Mr. Dugdale. Such scrutiny as that is unbearable.’ - -As she spoke, four bells were struck forward. Mr. Lush, who was leaning -against his windlass end, knocked the ashes out of his pipe and slowly -came aft to relieve the deck. I rose to walk with Miss Temple as she had -proposed. Captain Braine called my name. He met me as I approached him, -and said: ‘I want to have a talk with you in my cabin.’ - -There was something in his manner that alarmed me. How shall I express -it? An air of uneasy exultation, as of a mind proud of the achievement -of a resolution at which the secret instincts tremble. For a moment I -hung in the wind, strongly reluctant to box myself up alone, unarmed as -I was, with a man whose insanity, to call it so, seemed stronger in him -at this moment than I had ever before observed it. But the carpenter had -now gained the poop; and the captain, on seeing him, instantly walked to -the companion, down which he went to midway the ladder, and there stood -waiting for me to follow him. - -Tut, thought I, surely I am more than his match in strength, and I am on -my guard! As I put my foot on the ladder—the captain descending on -seeing me coming—I paused to lean over the cover and say to Miss Temple: - -‘If you will remain on deck, I shall be able to get away from him if he -should prove tedious, by telling him that I have you to look after.’ - -‘What do you imagine he wishes to say?’ she exclaimed with a face of -alarm that came very near to consternation. - -I could only answer with a helpless shrug of the shoulders, and the next -minute I had entered Captain Braine’s cabin. - -‘Pray sit you down,’ said he. He pulled off his straw hat and sent it -wheeling through the air into a corner, as though it were a boomerang, -and fell to drying his perspiring face upon a large pocket-handkerchief; -then folding his arms tightly across his breast, and crooking his right -knee whilst he dropped his chin somewhat, he stood gazing at me under -the shadow of his very heavy eyebrows with a steadfastness I could only -compare to the stare of a cat’s eye. - -‘Well, Captain Braine,’ said I in an off-hand way, though I watched him -with the narrowness of a man who goes in fear, ‘what now is it that I am -to hear from you? Do you propose to ask me more questions on navigation -and seamanship?’ - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he exclaimed, speaking very slowly, though the excitement -that worked in him rendered his voice deep and unusually clear and loud, -‘I have come to the conclusion that you are a gentleman very well able -to sarve me, and by sarving me to sarve yourself. I’ve been a-turning of -it over in all hours of the day and a good many hours in the night, too, -since the moment when ye first stepped over the side, and I’ve resolved -to take ye into my confidence.’ - -He nodded, and stood looking at me without speech for a few moments; -then seated himself near me and leaned forwards with a forefinger upon -his thumb in a posture of computing. - -‘It was in the year 1831,’ he began, ‘that I was third-mate aboard of a -ship called the _Ocean Monarch_. We sailed from London with a cargo of -mixed goods, bound to the port of Callao. Nothing happened till we was -well round to the west’ards of Cape Horn, when the ship was set afire by -the live cinders of the cabin stove burning through the deck. The cargo -was of an inflammable kind. In less than two hours the vessel was in a -blaze from stem to starn, by which time we had got the boats over, and -lay at a distance waiting for her to disappear. There was two boats, the -long-boat and a jolly-boat. The long-boat was a middling big consarn, -and most of the men went in her along with the captain, a man named -Matthews, and the second mate, a foreign chap named Falck. In our boat -was the chief mate, Mr. Ruddiman, myself, two sailors, and a couple of -young apprentices. We was badly stocked with water and food; and after -the _Ocean Monarch_ had foundered, Captain Matthews sings out to Mr. -Ruddiman to keep company. But it wasn’t to be done. The long-boat ran -away from us, and then she hove-to and took us in tow; but there came on -a bit of a sea, and the line parted, and next morning we was alone.’ - -He paused. - -‘I am closely following you,’ said I, fancying I perceived in his face a -suspicion of inattention in me, and wondering what on earth his story -was going to lead to. He stood up, and folding his arms in the first -attitude he had adopted, proceeded, his voice deep and clear. - -‘It came on to blow hard from the south’ard and east’ard, and we had to -up hellum and run before the seas for our lives. This went on for three -or four days, till Mr. Ruddiman reckoned that we was blowed pretty nigh -half-way across to the Marquesas. It then fell a stark calm, and we lay -roasting under a broiling sun with no fresh water in the boat, and -nothing to eat but a handful of mouldy fragments of biscuit in the -bottom of a bag that had been soaked with spray o’er and o’er again. One -of the apprentices went mad, and jumped overboard, and was drownded. We -was too weak to help him; besides, ne’er a one of us but thought him -well off in that cool water, leaving thirst and hunger behind him, and -sinking into a deep sleep, as it might be. Then the other apprentice was -took bad, and died in a fit of retching, and we put him over the side. -When daylight broke on the morning following that job, we saw one of the -sailors dead in the bottom of the boat. T’other was the sicklier man of -the two, yet he hung out, sir, and lived for three days. We kept his -body.’ - -His deep tones ceased, and he stared at me. Just a story of a bad -shipwreck, thought I, so far. - -‘There came a light breeze from the east’ard,’ he continued after a -little pause; ‘but neither Mr. Ruddiman nor me had the strength of a -kitten in our arms, and we let the boat drive, waiting for death. I -thought it had come that same afternoon, and on top of the sensation -followed a fit, I allow, for I recollect no more, till on opening my -eyes I found myself in a hammock in the ’tweendecks of a little ship. -The craft was a small Spanish vessel, called the _Rosario_. She had -floated into sight of our boat, and there was just enough strength left -in Mr. Ruddiman to enable him to flourish his handkerchief so as they -might see the boat had something alive in her. Ne’er a soul aboard spoke -a syllable of English, and neither Mr. Ruddiman nor me understood a word -of Spanish. We couldn’t even get to larn where the brigantine was bound -to, or where she hailed from. We conversed with the crew in signs all -the same as though we had been cast away among savages. We was both -hearty men in those days, and it wasn’t long afore we had picked up what -we had let fall during our ramble in the boat. Well, the course the -vessel made was something to the south’ard o’ west, and I took it we -were heading for an Australian port; but though I’d make motions, and -draw with a piece of chalk on the deck, I’d never get more’n a stare, -and a shake of the head and a grin, and a shrug of the shoulders, for an -answer. In fact, it was like being sent adrift along with a company of -monkeys.’ - -He dried his face again, took his seat as before, and leaned towards me -in his former computing posture with his eyes glued to my face. The -singularity of their habitual expression was now greatly heightened by a -look of wildness, which I attributed in a measure to the emotions -kindled in him by this recital of past and dreadful sufferings. I sat as -though engrossed by his story; but I had an eye for every movement in -him as well as for his face. - -‘It came on to blow a gale of wind one night after we had been aboard -the brigantine about a fortnight. They were a poor lot of sailors in the -vessel, and so many as to be in one another’s road. They got the little -ship in the trough, somehow, under more sail than she could stand up to; -the main-topmast went; it brought down the fore-topmast, which wrecked -the bowsprit and jib-boom. The Spaniards ran about like madmen, some of -them crossing themselves, and praying about the decks; others bawling in -a manner to terrify all hands, though I can’t tell ye what was said; the -ship was in a horrible mess with wreckage, which nobody attempted to -clear away. It blew very hard, and the seas were bursting in smoke over -the brigantine, that lay unmanageable. At last the boatswain of her, -holding a sounding-rod in his hand, yelled out something, and there was -a rush for the boats stowed amidships. They were so crazy with fear they -hardly knew how to swing ’em over the side. Ruddiman says to me: “I -shall stick to the ship. If those boats are not swamped, they’ll blow -away, and her people’ll starve, and our late job in that line is quite -enough for me.” I said I would stick by the ship, too, and we stood -watching whilst the Spaniards got their boats over. It was luck, and not -management, that set the little craft afloat. The captain roaring out, -made signs to us to come; but we, pointing to the sea, made motions to -signify that they would be capsized and shook our heads. They were mad -with fright, and weren’t going to stay to argue, and in twos and threes -at a time they sprang into the boats like rats; and whether they took -food and water with them I can’t tell ye; but this I know, that within -twenty minutes of the Spanish bo’sun’s singing out, the two boats had -disappeared, and Mr. Ruddiman and me were alone.’ - -He rose as he said this, and fell to pacing the cabin floor in silence, -with his head drooped, and his arms hanging up and down like pump -handles. - -‘A very interesting story, captain, so far as it goes,’ said I, shifting -a bit on my seat, as though I supposed that the end was not far off now. -‘Of course you were taken off by some passing vessel?’ - -He made no reply to this, nor, indeed, seemed to heed me. After several -turns, he stopped, and looked me in the face, and continued to stare -with a knitted brow, as though he were returning to his first resolution -to communicate his secret with an effort that fell little short of -mental anguish. He came slowly to his chair, and started afresh. - -‘We sounded the well, and presently discovered that the water she was -taking in drained through the decks, and that she was tight enough in -her bottom; and we reckoned that if we could get her out of the trough, -she’d live buoyant; so we searched for the carpenter’s chest, and found -it, and let fly at the raffle with a chopper apiece, and after a bit, -cleared the vessel of the wrecked spars and muddle, and got her to look -up to it, and she made middling good weather, breasting it prettily -under a tarpaulin seized in the weather main rigging. The gale blew -itself out after twenty-four hours, and the wind shifted into the -east’ards. We let drop the foresail; there was no more canvas on her to -set, with the head of the mast gone, and with it the peak halliards and -the sail in rags. Our notion was to head for the Sandwich Islands, for -we stood by so doing to fall in with a whaler, and failing help of that -sort there was civilisation over at Hawaii; but t’others of the -Polynesian rocks were mostly cannibal islands, we believed, and we were -for giving them a wide berth. Yet we could do nothing but blow before -it. _That_ you’ll understand, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Quite,’ said I. - -‘It came on thick,’ he continued, speaking with intensity and in an -utterance deep, clear, and loud, ‘with a bit of a swell from the -east’ards and a fresh wind singing over it. I was at the hellum in the -afternoon, and Ruddiman lay asleep close against the companion hatch. I -was drowsy for want of rest, and there was sleep enough in my eyes to -make me see very ill. Suddenly looking ahead, I caught sight of a sort -of whitish shadow, and even whilst I was staring at it, wondering -whether it was vapour or white water, it took shape as a low coral -island with clumps of trees here and there and a small rise of greenish -land amidships of it. I put the hellum hard over, and called to -Ruddiman, who jumps up and takes a look. “A dead lee-shore, Braine,” -says he; “what’s to be done? There’s no clawing off under this canvas.” -What _was_ to be done? The land lay in a stretch of reef right along our -beam, with the brigantine’s head falling off again to the drag of the -foresail, spite of the hellum being hard down. In less than twenty -minutes she struck, was took by the swell, and drove hard aground, and -lay fixed on her bilge with her deck aslope to the beach that was within -an easy jump from the rail.’ - -He broke off, and went in a restless, feverish way to the table and -unlocked and drew out a drawer, looked at something within, then shut -the drawer with a convulsive movement of the arm and turned the key. I -was now heartily wishing he would make an end. Down to this, the tale -was just a commonplace narrative of marine suffering, scarcely reclaimed -from insipidity by the singularity of the figure that recited it. But -that was not quite it. I was under a constant fear of the next piece of -behaviour he might exhibit, and my alarm was considerably increased by -the air of mystery with which he had examined the drawer and hurriedly -closed it, as though to satisfy himself that the weapon he had lodged -there was still in its place. Having locked the drawer, he stood -thinking a little, then taking up his Bible from the table, he -approached me with it. - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he exclaimed, ‘before I can go on, I must have ye kiss -this here book to an oath. Take it!’ he cried with a sudden fierceness; -‘hold it, and now follow me.’ - -‘Stop a minute,’ I said; ‘you are telling me a story that I have really -no particular desire to hear. You have no right to exact an oath from me -upon a matter that I cannot possibly be in the smallest decree -interested in.’ - -‘It’s to come,’ said he in a raven note; ‘ye shall be interested afore -long. Take the oath, sir,’ he added with a dark look. - -‘But what oath, man, what oath is it that I am to take?’ - -‘That as the Lord is now a-listening to ye, you will never divulge to -mortal creature the secret I’m agoing to tell ye, so help you God: and -if you break your oath, may ye be struck dead at the moment of it, and -your soul chased to the very gates of hell. So help ye God, again!’ - -I looked at him with astonishment and fear. No pen could express his -manner as he pronounced these words—the dull fire that entered his eyes -and seemed to enlarge them yet, the solemn note his deep and trembling, -yet distinctly clear voice took—his mien of command that had the force -of a menace in it as he stood upreared before me, his nostrils wide, his -face a dingy sallow, one arm thrusting the little volume at me, the -other hanging at his side with the fingers clenched. - -‘I dare not take that oath,’ said I, after a little spell of thinking, -with every nerve in me tight-strung, so to speak, in readiness to defend -myself should he attack me. ‘Miss Temple will certainly inquire what our -talk has been about; I will not undertake to be silent to her, sir. Keep -your secret. It is not too late. Your narrative is one of shipwreck, and -so far there is nothing in it to betray.’ - -With that I rose. - -‘Stop!’ he exclaimed; ‘you may tell the lady. There need be no -objection. I see how it lies betwixt you and her, and I’m not so -onreasonable as to reckon she’ll never be able to coax it out of ye. No. -Your interests’ll be hers, and of course she goes along with us. ’Tis my -crew I’m thinking of.’ - -I was horribly puzzled. At the same time curiosity was growing in me; -and with the swiftness of thought I reflected that whether I had his -secret or not it would be all the same; he was most assuredly a madman -in this direction, anyhow, if not in others; and it could be nothing -more than some insane fancy which he had it in his head to impart, and -which might be worth hearing if only for the sake of recalling it as an -incident of this adventure when Miss Temple and I should have got away -from the barque. - -‘Mr. Dugdale, you will swear, sir,’ he exclaimed. - -‘Very well,’ said I; ‘but put it a little more mildly, please. Leave out -the gates of hell, for instance; or see—suffer me to swear in my own -way. Give me that book.’ - -I observed that his hand was trembling violently as I took the volume -from him. - -‘I swear,’ I said, ‘to keep secret from all mortal persons in this -world, saving Miss Temple, whatever it is your intention now to tell me. -So help me God,’ and I put the book to my lips. ‘That oath excludes your -crew,’ I added, ‘and I hope you’re satisfied?’ - -His face took a little complexion of life, and he almost smiled. - -‘It’ll do—oh yes, it’ll do,’ he exclaimed. ‘I knew I could count upon -you. Now then for it.’ - -He resumed his seat, and leaning towards me with his unwinking eyes -fixed upon my face as usual, he proceeded thus. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - THE CAPTAIN MAKES A PROPOSAL - - -‘Mr. Ruddiman and I got ashore and walked a little way up the beach, to -see what sort of spot we had been cast away on. It was a small island, -betwixt two and three miles long, and about a mile wide in the middle of -it. There were no natives to be seen. We might be sure that it was -uninhabited. There was nothing to eat upon it, and though we spent the -hours till it came on dark in searching for fresh water, we found none. -This made us resolve to land all we could out of the brigantine when -daylight should arrive. The weather cleared at midnight, the stars -shone, and the sea smoothed down with a light swell from the north-west, -which the trend of the reef shouldered off and left the water about the -stranded craft calm. As soon as daylight came we got aboard, and rigged -a whip on the fore-yardarm, and by noon we had landed provisions enough, -along with fresh water and wines and spirits in jars, to last us two men -for three months; but that didn’t satisfy us. There was no other land in -sight all round the horizon; we were without a boat; and though, if the -vessel broke up, we had made up our minds to turn to and save as much of -her as we could handle that might wash ashore, so as to have the -materials for a raft at hand if it should come to it, we hadn’t the -heart to talk of such a thing then, in the middle of that wide ocean, -with such a sun as was shining over our heads all day, and the sure -chance of the first of any squall or bit of dirty weather that might -come along adrowning of us. So we continued to break out all we could -come at. We worked our way out of the hold into the lazarette, and after -we had made a trifle of clearance there, we came across three chests -heavily padlocked and clamped with iron. “What’s here?” says Mr. -Ruddiman. “If these ain’t treasure-chests like to what the Spanish -marchants sends away gold in along the coast my eyes ain’t mates,” he -says. He went away to the carpenter’s chest, and returned with a crow -and a big hammer, and let fly at one of the padlocks, and struck a -staple off short. We lifted the lid, and found the chest full of Spanish -pieces of gold. The other two was the same, full up with minted gold; -and we reckoned that in all three chests there couldn’t be less in the -value of English money than a hundred and eighty to two hundred thousand -pounds! It wasn’t to be handled in the chests; so we made parcels of it -in canvas wrappers; and by the time the dusk drew down, we had landed -every farden of it.’ - -Once more he broke off and went to the drawer. I watched him with -profound anxiety, incapable of imagining what he was about to produce, -and collecting all my faculties, so to speak, ready for whatever was to -come. He took from the drawer, however, nothing more alarming than a -piece of folded parchment, round which some green tape was tied. This he -opened with trembling hands, smoothed out the sheet of parchment upon -the table, and invited me to approach. The outline, formed of thick -strokes of ink, represented an island. Its shape had something of the -look of a bottle with the neck of it broken away. It lay due north and -south according to the points of the compass marked by hand upon the -parchment; and towards the north end of it, on the eastern side, there -was a somewhat spacious indent, signifying, as I supposed, a lagoon. -Over the face of this outline were a number of crosses irregularly -dotted about to express vegetation. In the centre of the lagoon was a -black spot like a little blot of ink, with an arrow pointing from it to -another little blot in the heart of the island bearing due east from the -mark in the indent or lagoon. In the corner of the sheet of parchment -were written in a bold hand the figures, Long. 120° 3′ W.; Lat. 33° 6′ -S. - -‘This,’ said he, in a voice vibratory with excitement and emotion, ‘is -the island.’ I inclined my head. ‘You see how it lies, sir,’ he -continued, pointing with a shaking forefinger to the latitude and -longitude of the place in the corner. ‘Easter Island bears due -north-east from it. That will be the nearest land. Supposing you start -from Valparaiso, a due west-by-south course would run you stem on to the -reef.’ - -I waited for him to proceed. He drew away by a step, that he might keep -his eyes upon my face, whilst he continued to hold his trembling -forefinger pressed down upon his little chart. - -‘We agreed to bury the gold,’ he said; ‘to hide it somewhere where we -should be easily able to find it when we came to look for it, if so be -as providence should ever allow us to come off with our lives from this -destitute reef. D’ye see this hollow, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘A lagoon, I suppose?’ said I. - -‘Yes. This here mark amidships of it’—he turned his dead black eyes upon -the chart—‘signifies a coral pillar about twice as thick as my mainmast, -rising out of the water to about fourteen foot. We reckoned that there -was no force in nature outside an airthquake to level such a shaft as -that, and Mr. Ruddiman and me took it for a mark. We landed the -brigantine’s compass, and having hit on a clump of trees, found they -bore east three-quarters south from that there coral pillar. We fixed -upon a tree, and after trying again and again, made it exactly two -hundred and eight paces from the wash of the water in the curve of the -lagoon. There we buried the money, sir.’ - -‘And there it is now, I suppose?’ said I. - -‘Hard upon two hundred thousand pounds,’ he exclaimed, letting the words -drop from his lips as though they were of lead. ‘Think of it, sir.’ - -He folded up the sheet of parchment, always with a very trembling hand, -replaced it in the drawer, which he locked; and then, after steadfastly -gazing at me for some little while, an expression of energy entered his -face, and he seemed to quicken from his eyes to his very toes. - -‘All that money is mine,’ said he, ‘and I want you to help me recover -it.’ - -‘I!’ - -‘Yes, you, Mr. Dugdale. You and me’ll do it between us. And I’ll tell ye -how, if you’ll listen’—— - -‘But, my dear sir,’ I exclaimed, ‘I suppose you recollect that you are -under a solemn promise to Miss Temple and myself to transfer us to the -first homeward-bound ship we meet.’ - -‘I can’t help that,’ he cried with a hint of ferocity in his manner. -‘There’s this here fortune to be recovered first. After we’ve got it, -home won’t be fur off.’ - -Come, thought I, I must be cool and apparently careless. - -‘It is very good of you, Captain Braine, to wish me to participate in -this treasure; but really, my dear sir, I have no title to any portion -of it; besides, I am a man of independent means, and what I possess is -quite as much as I require.’ - -‘Ye’ll not refuse it when ye see it,’ he exclaimed. ‘Money’s money; and -in this here world, where money signifies everything,—love, happiness, -pleasure, everything you can name—who’s the man that’s agoing to tell me -he can get too much of it?’ - -‘But you haven’t completed your story,’ said I, strenuously endeavouring -to look as though I believed in every word of the mad trash he had been -communicating. - -‘As much as is necessary,’ said he. ‘I want to come to business, sir. I -could keep you listening for hours whilst I told ye of our life aboard -that island, how the brigantine went to pieces, how one day Mr. Ruddiman -went for a swim in the lagoon, and how the cramp or some fit took him, -and he sunk with me a-looking on, being no swimmer, and incapable of -giving him any help.’ - -‘And how long were you on the island?’ said I. - -‘Four months and three days. It was one morning that I crawled from the -little hut we had built ourselves out of some of the brigantine’s -wreckage that had drifted ashore, and saw a small man-of-war with her -tops’l aback just off the island. She was a Yankee surveying craft, and -a boat was coming off when I first see her. They took me aboard, and -landed me at Valparaiso two months later. But all that’s got nothing to -do with what I want to talk to ye about. I’ve got now to recover this -money, and I mean to have it, and you’ll help me to get it, Mr. -Dugdale.’ - -‘But why have you waited all this time before setting about to recover -this treasure?’ said I. - -‘I never had a chance of doing it afore,’ he replied; ‘but it’s come -now, and I don’t mean to lose it.’ - -‘What is your scheme?’ - -‘As easy,’ he cried, ‘as the digging up of the money’ll be. I shall head -straight away for Rio, and there discharge all my crew, then take in a -few runners to navigate the vessel to the Sandwich Islands, where I’ll -ship a small company of Kanakas, just as many as’ll help us to sail the -_Lady Blanche_ to my island. I shan’t fear _them_. Kanakas ain’t -Europeans; they’re as simple as babies; and we can do a deal that -they’ll never dream of taking notice of.’ - -I listened with a degree of astonishment and consternation it was -impossible for me to conceal in my face; yet I managed to preserve a -steady voice. - -‘But you have a cargo consigned to Port Louis, I presume?’ said I. ‘You -don’t mean to run away with this ship, do you? for that would be an act -of piracy punishable with the gallows, as I suppose you know?’ - -He eyed me steadily and squarely. - -‘I don’t mean to run away with this ship,’ he answered; ‘I know my -owners, and what they’ll think. It’ll be a deviation that ain’t going to -interfere with the ultimate delivery of my cargo at Port Louis, and I -don’t suppose it’ll take me much time to fix upon a sum that’ll make my -owners very well pleased with the delay, and quite willing that I should -do it again on the same tarms.’ - -‘But why do you desire to bring me into this business?’ I exclaimed, -startled by the intelligence I found in this last answer of his. - -‘Because I can trust ye. You’re a gentleman, and you’ll be satisfied -with the share we’ll settle upon. Where am I to find a sailor capable of -helping me to navigate this ship that I could feel any confidence in, -that I could talk to about this here gold with the sartinty that he -wouldn’t play me some devilish trick? _Can’t_ ye see my position. Mr. -Dugdale?’ he cried with a wild almost pathetic air of eagerness and -pleading. ‘I can’t work out such a traverse as this alone. I must have -somebody alongside of me that I can confide in. Once the money’s aboard, -we can rid ourselves of the Kanaka crew, and ship a company of white men -for the run to the Mauritius. The gold’ll be aboard, and it’ll be my -secret and yourn.’ - -Though I never doubted for a moment that all this was the emission of -some mad, fixed humour, I was yet willing to go on questioning him as if -I was interested, partly that he might think me sincere in my profession -of belief in his tale, and partly that I might plumb his intentions to -the very bottom; for it was certain that, lie or no lie, his fancy of -buried treasure was a profound reality to his poor brains, and that it -would influence him, as though it were the truth, to heaven alone knew -what issue of hardship and fatefulness and even destruction to Miss -Temple and me. - -‘I presume,’ said I, assuming an off-hand manner, ‘that your men have -signed for the run to Port Louis and back?’ - -‘Well, sir?’ - -‘How are you going to get rid of them at Rio?’ - -‘Half of them will run, and the rest I shall know how to start.’ - -‘But what excuse will you have for putting into Rio?’ - -‘Want of a chief mate,’ he answered, in a deep sepulchral voice. - -This threw me all aback again, and thoroughly confounded me. Indeed, I -was well enough acquainted with the sea to guess that he was within the -truth when he spoke of an easy quittance of the crew at Rio; and -assuredly in the want of a chief mate he could find a reason for heading -to that South American port, against which it would be impossible for -his sailors to find anything to urge, supposing, a thing not to be taken -into account, that they had it in their power to insist upon his sailing -straight for Mauritius. - -But even as I sat looking at him in an interval of silence that fell -upon us, a thought entered my head that transformed what was just now a -dark, most sinister menace, into a bright prospect of deliverance. As -matters stood—particularly now that I had his so-called secret—I could -not flatter myself that he would suffer me to leave his ship for a -homeward-bound craft, or even for the _Countess Ida_ herself, if we -should heave her into sight. Consequently, my best, perhaps the only, -chance for myself and the girl who looked to me for protection and -safety must lie in this madman making for a near port, where it would be -strange indeed if I did not find a swift opportunity of getting ashore -with Miss Temple. I saw by the expression in his own face that he -instantly observed the change in mine. He extended his hand. - -‘Mr. Dugdale, you will entertain it? I see it grows upon ye.’ - -‘It is a mighty unexpected proposal,’ said I, giving him my fingers to -hold. ‘I don’t like the scheme it involves of running away with the -ship—the deviation, as you term it, which to my mind is a piratical -proceeding. But if you will sign a document to the effect that I acted -under compulsion, that I was in your power, and obliged to go with you -in consequence of your refusal to transfer me to another ship—if, in -short, you will draw up some instrument signed by yourself and witnessed -by Miss Temple that may help to absolve me from all complicity in this -sotermed deviation, I will consent to accompany you to your island. But -I must also know what share I am to expect?’ - -‘A third,’ he cried feverishly. ‘I’ll put that down in writing, too, on -a separate piece of paper. As to t’other document, draw it up yourself, -and I’ll copy it and put my name to it, for I han’t got the language for -such a job.’ He paused, and then said, ‘Is it settled?’ - -‘It will be settled,’ I answered, ‘when those two formal documents are -made out and signed.’ - -‘That can be done at once,’ he cried, with profound excitement working -in every limb of him, and agitating his face into many singular -twitchings and almost convulsive dilatations of the sockets of his eyes. - -‘Give me leave to think a little,’ said I. ‘I will have a talk with Miss -Temple and settle with her the terms of the absolving letter you are to -write and sign.’ - -‘How long will it take ye?’ he asked with painful anxiety. - -‘I shall hope to be ready for you before noon to-morrow,’ I replied. - -‘All right,’ said he; ‘the moment it _is_ settled I’ll change my -course.’ - -I took his track-chart and opened it, and with a pair of compasses that -lay on the table measured the distance betwixt the point at which we had -arrived at noon and Rio. Roughly speaking, and allowing an average of a -hundred and fifty miles a day to the barque, I computed that the run -would occupy between ten and twelve days. - -‘What are ye looking for?’ he asked suspiciously. - -‘To see how far Rio is from us,’ I answered. - -‘Well, and what d’ye make it?’ - -‘Call it fifteen hundred miles,’ I responded. He nodded in a sort of -cunning emphatic way. ‘Nothing remains to be said, I think?’ said I, -making a step to the door. - -‘Only this,’ said he. ‘I _was_ thinking of asking ye to keep my lookout, -acting, as you will be, as my chief mate, but on consideration I believe -it’ll be best to wait till we’ve got a new crew afore ye take that duty. -Not that the men could object to my calling into Rio on the grounds that -you’re aboard and are good enough as a navigator to sarve my turn; -because they reckon that you’re to be transhipped along with the lady at -the first opportunity. But it’ll be safest, I allow, for you to remain -as ye are this side of Rio.’ - -‘Very well,’ said I; ‘but I can continue to take observations if you -like.’ - -‘Oh yes; there can be no harm in that,’ he answered. - -I opened the door. - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he exclaimed, softening his voice into a hoarse whisper -with a sudden expression of real insanity in the gloomy, almost -threatening look he fastened upon me, ‘ye’ll recollect the oath you’ve -taken, if you please.’ - -‘Captain Braine,’ I replied with an assumption of haughtiness, ‘I am a -gentleman first of all, and my oath merely follows;’ and slightly -bowing, I closed the door upon him. - -By this time it was nearly dark. I had scarcely noticed the drawing down -of the evening whilst in the captain’s cabin, so closely had my -attention been attached to him and his words. Indeed, the man had -detained me an hour with his talk, owing to his pausings and silent -intervals of staring; though the substance of his speech and our -conversation could have been easily packed into a quarter that time. I -went half-way up the companion steps, but feeling thirsty, descended -again to drink from a jug that stood upon a swinging tray. Whilst I -filled the glass, my eye at the moment happening to be idly bent aft, I -observed the door of the cabin adjoining that of Captain Braine’s to -open and a man’s head showed. It instantly vanished. It was too gloomy -to allow me to make sure. However, next moment the young fellow Wilkins -came out, no doubt guessing that I had seen him, and that he had -therefore better show himself honestly. - -I was somewhat startled by the apparition, wondering if the fellow had -been in the berth throughout our talk, for if so, it was not to be -questioned but that he had overheard every syllable, for there was -nothing between the cabins but a wooden bulkhead, and the captain’s -utterance had been singularly clear, deep, and loud. But a moment’s -reflection convinced me that even if he had heard everything, his -knowledge (supposing he carried the news forward) would only help to -persuade the men that Captain Braine was a madman, and facilitate any -efforts I might have to make to deliver myself and Miss Temple from this -situation, should Braine’s craziness increase and his lunatic -imagination take a new turn. So, that the fellow might not think that I -took any special notice of his coming out of that cabin, I asked him in -a careless way when supper would be ready. He answered that he was now -going to lay the table; and without further words I went on deck. - -It was a hot and lovely evening, with a range of mountainous but -fine-weather clouds in the west, whose heads swelled in scarlet to the -fires of the sun sinking into the sea behind them. In the east the -shadow was of a deep liquid blue, with the low-lying stars already -coming into their places. The breeze blew softly off the starboard beam, -and the barque, clothed in canvas to the height of her trucks and to the -outmost points of her far-reaching studding-sail booms, was floating -quietly and softly, like some spirit-shape of ship, through the rich and -tender tropic blending of nightdyes and westering lights. - -Miss Temple stood at the rail, leaning upon her arms, apparently -watching the water sliding past. She sprang erect when I pronounced her -name. - -‘I was beginning to fear you would never come on deck again,’ she -exclaimed as she looked at me with a passionate eagerness of inquiry. -‘How long you have been! What could he have found to say to detain you -all this while?’ - -‘Softly!’ I said, with a glance at old Lush, who was patrolling the -forward end of the poop athwartships with his hands deep buried in his -breeches’ pockets, and with a sulky air in the round of his back and the -droop of his head. ‘I have heard some strange things. If you are not -tired, take my arm, and we will walk a little. We are less likely to be -overheard in the open air than if we conversed in the silence of the -cabin.’ - -‘You do not look miserable,’ she exclaimed. ‘I expected to see you -emerge with a pale face and alarmed eyes. Now, please tell me -everything.’ - -There was something almost of a caress in her manner of taking my arm, -as though she could not suppress some little exhibition of pleasure in -having me at her side again. Also she seemed to find relief in the -expression on my face. She had been full of dark forebodings, and my -light smiling manner instantly soothed her. - -I at once started to tell her everything that had passed between Captain -Braine and myself. I contrived to recite the skipper’s yarn as though I -fully believed it, always taking care to sober my voice down to little -more than a whisper as we alternately approached the fellow at the wheel -and the carpenter at the other end in our pendulum walk. Her fine eyes -glowed with astonishment; never did her beauty show with so much -perfection to the animation of the wonder, the incredulity, the -excitement raised by the narrative I gave her. - -‘So _that_ is his secret?’ she exclaimed, drawing a breath like a sigh -as I concluded, halting at the rail to gaze at her with a smile. ‘I -presume now, Mr. Dugdale, that you are satisfied he is mad?’ - -‘Perfectly satisfied.’ - -‘You do not believe a word of his story?’ - -‘Not a syllable of it.’ - -‘And yet it might be true!’ said she. - -‘And even then I would not believe it,’ I answered. - -‘Did he explain how it was that all that gold lay hidden in a poor ship -like the Spanish brigand—brig—whatever you call it?’ she asked, her -curiosity as a woman dominating for a moment all other considerations -which might grow out of that yarn. - -‘No,’ said I; ‘nor would I inquire. It is giving one’s self needless -trouble to dissect the fabric of a dream.’ - -‘Poor wretch! But how frightful to be in a ship commanded by a madman! -What object has he in telling you this secret?’ - -‘He wants me to help him recover the treasure;’ and I then related the -man’s proposals. - -She gazed at me with so much alarm that I imagined her fear had rendered -her speechless. - -‘You tell me,’ she cried, ‘that you have consented to sail with him to -this island of his in—in—the Pacific? Are you as mad as he is, Mr. -Dugdale? Do you forget that I look to you to protect me and help me to -return home?’ - -Her eyes sparkled; the colour mounted to her cheek, her bosom rose and -fell to the sudden gust of temper. - -‘I am surprised that you do not see my motive,’ I exclaimed. ‘Of course -I feigned to fall in with his views. My desire is to get to Rio as soon -as possible, and ship with you thence for England.’ - -‘To Rio? But I’m not going to Rio!’ she cried. ‘The captain solemnly -promised to put me on board the first ship going home. Why did you not -insist upon his keeping his word?’ she exclaimed, drawing herself up to -her fullest stature and towering over me with a flashing stare. - -‘He’ll not tranship us now,’ said I. ‘I’m like Caleb Williams. I have -his secret, and he’ll not lose sight of me.’ - -‘Oh, what miserable judgment!’ she exclaimed. ‘You are frightened of -him! But were he ten times madder than he is, I would _compel_ him to -keep his word. Rio indeed! He shall put us on board the first ship we -meet, and I’ll tell him so when I see him.’ - -‘You will do nothing of the kind,’ said I. ‘If you open your lips or -suffer your temper to come between me and any project I have formed, I -will wash my hands of all responsibility. I will not lift a finger to -help ourselves. He shall carry us whithersoever he pleases.’ - -‘How can you talk to me so heartlessly! I have no friend but you now, -and you are turning from me, and making me feel utterly alone.’ - -‘I am so much your friend,’ said I, ‘that I do not intend you shall -alienate me. My judgment is going to serve me better than yours in this -dilemma. I know exactly what I am about and what I intend, and you must -keep quiet and be obedient to my wishes.’ - -‘Oh, I should abhor you at any other time for talking to me like that!’ -she exclaimed. ‘There was a time—— I shall _not_ go to Rio! He has -promised to put us on board a ship going home.’ - -‘Miss Temple, you talk intemperately. You are in an unreasonable mood, -and I will not converse with you. We will resume the subject by-and-by;’ -and I half turned, as though to walk off, humming an air betwixt my -teeth. - -She grasped my arm. ‘You must not leave me. I have been long enough -alone. I believe you will drive me as crazy as the captain.’ - -‘I will see you safely to England first,’ said I, ‘and then you shall -fall crazy.’ - -The tears suddenly gushed into her eyes, and she turned seawards to hide -her face. I moved away, but before I had measured half-a-dozen paces, -her hand was again upon my arm. - -‘I am sorry,’ she said softly, hanging her stately head, ‘if I have said -anything to vex you.’ - -‘I desire but one end,’ said I, ‘and that is your safety. To ensure it -needs but a little exercise of tact on your part and a resolution to -trust me.’ - -‘I do trust you,’ she exclaimed; ‘but am I wholly wanting in brains, -that you will not suffer me to offer an opinion, nay, even to express a -regret?’ - -‘You would be able to do nothing with this mad sailor,’ said I. ‘Rio is -within a fortnight’s sail, and our safety depends upon our getting -there.’ - -‘A fortnight!’ she cried—‘another fortnight of this horrible ship!’ - -‘Yes; but England is a long way off from where we are. Were you to get -on board another vessel, you might be fully as uncomfortable as you are -here, unless she should prove a passenger craft with ladies in her. A -fortnight more or less could not signify. At Rio you will be able to -purchase such articles as you immediately need, and there will be a -choice of ships to carry us home in comfort.’ - -‘I believe you are right,’ said she, after a little pause, with -something of timidity in the lift of her eyes to my face. ‘I was shocked -and made irritable by alarm. I am sorry, Mr. Dugdale.’ - -The answer I was about to make was checked by Wilkins calling to us from -the companion way that supper was ready. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - THE FORM OF AGREEMENT - - -The captain did not arrive, and we had the table to ourselves. Miss -Temple was subdued, and her glances almost wistful. It gave me but -little pleasure to humble her, or in any way to triumph over her; but I -had made up my mind to be master whilst we were together, and not to -spare her feelings in my effort to assert myself; and I may add here -that I had determined, if it pleased God to preserve us, to make this -noble and beautiful woman my wife. For I was now loving her, but so -secretly, that my love was scarce like a passion even to my own reason; -and the conclusion I had formed was that the only road to her heart lay -behind the armour of her pride, which must be broken down and demolished -if ever I was to gain her affection. And sure I was of this too; that -she was of that kind of women who need to be bowed by a strong hand into -a submissive posture before they can be won. - -We spoke very little; the captain’s cabin was not far off, and the -knowledge of his being in it held us very taciturn. However, we made -amends for our silence after we had supped and regained the deck. She -was now to be easily convinced that our best chance of escaping from -this barque was for me to fool the captain to the top of his bent, that -he might carry us to Rio; and before long she was even talking -cheerfully of our prospects, asking me in a half-laughing way how we -were to manage for money when we arrived at Rio, whether I had any -friends there, and so on. - -‘There are my jewels,’ she said; ‘but I should be very sorry to part -with them.’ - -‘There will be no need to do that,’ said I. ‘I have a few bank-notes in -my pocket which I think may suffice. There is an English consul, I -suppose, at Rio, and he will advise us.’ - -Talk of this kind heartened her wonderfully. It gave her something happy -and hopeful to think about; in fact, before we went below she told me -that she now preferred the idea of proceeding to Rio to the old scheme -of going aboard a ship bound to England. - -‘I shall be able to purchase a few comforts,’ she said; ‘whereas I might -be transferred to some horrid little vessel that would occupy weeks in -crawling along the sea, and in all that time I should be as badly off as -I am now. Do the ladies in South America dress picturesquely, do you -know? I should like to be romantically attired on my arrival home. How -my dearest mother would stare! What colour a long Spanish veil and a -dress of singular fashion would give to my story of our adventures.’ - -And so she talked. - -It was a very calm and lovely night, with the moon, a few days old, -going down in the west. The breeze held everything silent aloft; a -murmur as of the raining of a fountain floated up from alongside as the -white body of the little barque slipped through the darkling waters -brimming in a firm black line to the spangled sky of the horizon. The -captain had arrived on deck at eight, but he kept to the after-part of -the poop, nor once addressed us, often standing motionless for ten -minutes at a time, till he looked like some ebony statue at the rail -floating softly up and down against the stars to the delicate curtseying -of his little ship. I seemed to notice, however, yet without giving much -heed to the thing, an indisposition on the part of the watch on deck to -coil themselves away for their usual fine-weather naps. From time to -time, though dimly, there would steal aft a hum of voices from the black -shadow upon the deck past the galley. Once a man kindled a phosphorus -match to light his pipe, and a small group of faces showed to the flash -of the flame, so to speak, as it soared and sank to the fellow’s sucking -at it; but I found nothing in this to arrest my attention saving that I -recollect asking Miss Temple to notice the odd effect produced by the -coming out of those faces amid the dusk; for one saw _them_ only and no -other portion of the men’s bodies. - -We walked to the companion to leave the deck. I scarcely knew whether or -not to call a good-night to the captain, so absorbed in thought did his -motionless posture express him. But as Miss Temple put her foot upon the -steps, he quietly cried out: ‘Are ye going to bed?’ - -‘Yes, captain,’ I answered, ‘and we wish you a very good-night.’ - -‘A minute!’ he sung out, and came to us. He seemed to peer into Miss -Temple’s face, that showed as a mere faint glimmer in the starlight, the -moon being then sunk, and addressing me, exclaimed in a voice but a -little above a whisper: ‘I suppose you have told the lady everything, -Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Yes,’ I answered; ‘my oath allowed for that, you know.’ - -‘Certainly,’ said he. ‘It’s a grand opportunity for money-getting, mem. -The brace of you know more than the wife of my own bosom has any -suspicion of. As God’s my Saviour, never once have I opened my lips to -Mrs. Braine about that there money.’ - -‘I had hoped you would have transferred me to a homeward-bound ship,’ -said Miss Temple. - -‘You don’t want to be separated from a sweetheart, do you?’ he -exclaimed. - -This was a stroke to utterly silence her. I believe she had spoken from -no other motive than to finesse, that the captain might suppose her as -sincere in her belief of his story as I was; but this word _sweetheart_ -was like a blast of lightning. What her face would have exhibited if -there had been light enough to see it by, I could only imagine. - -‘It grows late, captain; good-night,’ said I, pitying her for the -confusion and disorder which I knew she would be under. - -‘Have you been thinking over the tarms of that letter we were talking -about?’ said he. - -‘Yes,’ I answered. ‘I’ll pay your cabin a visit after breakfast and -write it out.’ - -‘Very well, sir. That and the agreement about the division of the money -too. I shall want to shift my hellum for Rio to-morrow.’ - -He left us, and we descended in silence, nor did Miss Temple speak a -word to me as we made our way to our gloomy deep-sunk quarters, -excepting to wish me good-night. - -I slept well, and rose next morning at seven to get a bath in the head; -for, as in the Indiaman, so in this barque, and so, indeed, in most -ships in those days, there was a little pump fixed in the bows for -washing down the decks of the fore-part of the craft. It was a very gay -brilliant morning, a fresh breeze about a point before the starboard -beam, and the _Lady Blanche_ was moving through it at a meteoric pace -with her royals and gaff topsail in, and all else save the flying jib -abroad. The water was of a rich blue, and rolled in snow; the violet -shadows of swollen steamcoloured clouds swept over the rolling lines of -the ocean, and by their alternations of the sunshine made a very prism -of the vast, throbbing disc of the deep. About two miles astern was a -large schooner, staggering along on a westerly course, so close hauled -that she seemed to look into the very eye of the wind and plunging bow -under with a constant boiling of foam all about her head. By the time I -had taken my bath she was a mere chip of white on the windy blue over -our weather quarter. - -There were a few sailors cleaning up about the decks, and as I passed -them on the road to the cabin, I could not fail to observe that they -eyed me with a degree of attention I had never before noticed in them. -Their looks were full of curiosity, with something almost of impudence -in the bold stare of one or two of them. What, I reflected, can this -signify but that the fellow Wilkins overheard everything that passed -between the captain and me, and has carried the news into the -forecastle? So much the better, I thought; for should the captain come -to guess that the men had his secret, the suspicion must harden him in -his insane resolve to carry the barque forthwith to Rio to get rid of -his crew. - -When Miss Temple came out of her berth there was a momentary touch of -bashfulness and even of confusion in her manner; then a laughing -expression flashed into her eye. As we repaired to the cabin we -exchanged some commonplaces about the weather. She warmed up a little -when I spoke of the noble breeze and of the splendid pace of the barque, -and assured her that the most distant port in the world could never be -far off to people aboard such a clipper keel as this. The captain joined -us at the breakfast table. I thought he looked unusually haggard and -pale, appearing as a man might after a long spell of bitter mental -conflict. His eyes seemed preternaturally large, and of a duller and -deader black than my recollection found common in them. He seldom spoke -but to answer the idle conversational questions one or the other of us -put to him. I observed that he drank thirstily and ate but little, and -that he would occasionally rest his forehead upon his hand as though to -soothe a pain there. Yet lustreless as was his gaze, it was singularly -eager and devouring in its steadfastness. He had been on deck since four -o’clock, he told us, and had not closed his eyes during the previous -four hours of his watch below. - -‘I get but little sleep now,’ said he with a long trembling sigh. - -‘That schooner astern this morning,’ said I, ‘looked as if she were -bound somewhere Rio way.’ - -He responded with a dull nod of indifference. - -‘Were you ever at Rio, Captain Braine?’ asked Miss Temple. - -‘No, mem.’ - -‘I suppose I shall easily find a ship there to carry me home?’ said she. - -He stared at her and then at me; and then said, looking at her again, -‘Don’t you mean to go along with him?’ indicating me with a sideways -jerk of the head. - -Her eyes sought mine for counsel. - -‘It will be a question for you and me to discuss, captain,’ said I. -‘With all due deference to Miss Temple, it may be you will come to think -that the presence of a lady could but encumber us in such a job as we -have in hand.’ - -‘Ay, but she has my secret!’ said he swiftly and warmly. - -‘Your secret is mine, and my interests are hers—you know that!’ I -exclaimed. - -‘What are the relations between you?’ he asked. - -A blush overspread Miss Temple’s face and her eyes fell. - -‘Ask me that question presently, captain,’ said I, laughing. - -He continued to stare slowly at one or the other of us, but remained -silent. - -Wilkins entered with a pot of coffee. I furtively but attentively -surveyed his expressionless veal-like countenance; but I might as well -have explored the sole of his foot for hints of what was passing in his -mind. He came and went quickly. Indeed, his practice of waiting -consisted merely in placing our meals upon the table, and then lingering -out upon the quarter-deck within hearing of the captain’s voice if he -was wanted. - -Presently the skipper rose. - -‘I’ve made out that document consarning shares,’ said he; ‘perhaps you -might now come with me and con-coct the letter you want me to sign.’ - -‘Very well,’ I answered; ‘Miss Temple is to witness your signature, and -you will allow her to accompany us?’ - -For answer he gave her one of his astonishing bows, and the three of us -went to his cabin. He opened the drawer that contained the chart of his -island, and produced a sheet of paper, very oddly scrawled over. - -‘I made this up last evening,’ said he; ‘jest see if it’ll do, Mr. -Dugdale. If so, I’ll sign it, and ye can draw me up a copy for my own -keeping.’ - -‘Miss Temple will have to witness this too,’ said I, ‘so I’ll read it -aloud: - - “Barque _Lady Blanche_. - - At Sea (_such and such a date_). - - I, John Braine, master of the barque _Lady Blanche_, do hereby agree - with Dugdale, Esquire, that in consideration of his serving - me as chief-officer for a voyage to an island situate in the South - Pacific Ocean, latitude 83° 16′ S. longitude 120° 3′ W., unnamed, - but bearing due south-west from Easter Island, distant ; I say - that in consideration of your helping me to navigate this ship to - that there island, and from there to Port Louis in the island of - Mauritius afterwards, the said John Braine do hereby undertake to - give and secure to the said Dugdale, Esquire, by this here - instrument as witnessed, one whole and full third of the money now - lying buried in the above-said island, whereof the amount, as by - calculation allowed, is in Spanish pieces from 180 to 200,000 - pounds. - - - Witness my hand and seal.”’ - - -It cost me a prodigious effort to keep my face whilst I read, almost -tragical as was the significance of this absurd document to Miss Temple -and myself, as forming a condition, so to speak, of the extraordinary -adventure fate had put us upon. I durst not look at her for fear of -bursting into a laugh. The man’s strange eyes were fixed upon me. - -‘Nothing could be better,’ said I. ‘Now, sir, if you will kindly sign -it—and I will ask you, Miss Temple, to witness it.’ - -He turned to seat himself; the girl’s glance met mine; but heaven knows -there was no hint of merriment in _her_ face. She was colourless and -agitated, though I could perceive that she had a good grip of her -emotions. The captain signed his name with a great scratching noise of -his pen, then made way for Miss Temple, whose hand slightly trembled as -she attached her signature to the precious document. It was now my turn; -in a few minutes I had scribbled out a form of letter addressed to -myself guaranteeing me immunity from all legal perils which might follow -upon the captain’s piratical deviation from his voyage. This also he -signed, and Miss Temple afterwards put her name to it as a witness. - -‘I’ll take copies of these,’ said I, ‘at noon, after helping you to work -out the sights.’ - -‘I beg pardon,’ he exclaimed, observing me to take a step towards the -door; ‘I should be glad to know the relations ’twixt you and this young -lady? It ain’t for inquisitiveness that I ask. She has my secret, sir;’ -and he drew himself erect. - -‘We were fellow-passengers,’ I answered with a side-look at the girl, -whose expression was one of disgust and distress. - -‘There’s nothing close in that,’ said he: ‘I counted upon ye as being -sweethearts—that you was keeping company with her, and to be married -when the chance came, when I told you there was no objection to your -reporting my secret to her.’ - -‘We are sweethearts,’ I replied, smiling, and taking the girl’s hand; -‘and _when_ the chance comes along,’ I added, faintly accentuating the -‘when’ for _her_ ear only, ‘we shall be married, captain, and I shall -hope to see you dancing at our wedding and heartily enjoying the -entertainment, which, it will not need all my third share to furnish -forth.’ - -Miss Temple could not contain herself; she uttered a short hysteric -laugh. - -‘Pity ye couldn’t have told me this at once,’ exclaimed the captain, -regarding me sternly; ‘but,’ he went on whilst his countenance slightly -relaxed, ‘there’s always sensitiveness in love-making whilst it keeps -young. I’m obliged to you, mem, for your visit.’ - -I opened the door and followed Miss Temple out. - -‘I am of opinion that he is not so mad as he appears,’ said I. - -She averted her flushed face somewhat haughtily. No matter, thought I; -it is a subject that will keep. - -We got under the short awning on the poop and lounged away the morning -there. Her good breeding speedily came to her rescue, and our chat was -as easy, in a sense, as ever it could have been aboard the -Indiaman—easier, i’ faith, by a long chalk! though it concerned troubles -and anxieties which never could have occurred to us in the _Countess -Ida_. I observed that Mr. Lush frequently directed his eyes at me as he -paced the weather deck. To my accost he had satisfied himself with -returning a surly ‘marning,’ and we spoke no more. He seemed unable to -view me attentively enough to satisfy himself without growing offensive -by staring. - -‘I hope that fellow,’ I whispered to Miss Temple, ‘may not thwart my Rio -programme. Yet I don’t see how he could do so. The barque wants a -chiefmate, so the captain contends. It is no falsehood; the need would -by all sailors be regarded as an imperative one. Still, I hate that -surly fellow without exactly knowing why.’ - -‘Do you notice how those men yonder are constantly looking this way?’ - -‘Yes. As I have explained to you, Master Eavesdropper Wilkins has -reported all he heard; and the Jacks understanding at last that their -skipper is a madman, are wondering what on earth is going to happen -next. They’ll be glad, you’ll find, to learn that we’re heading for Rio -when the course is changed. They’ll report the skipper as insane, and -end our difficulties out of hand for us.’ - -‘I hope so indeed!’ she sighed. - -Well, for the rest of the day nothing happened worth relating. I took an -observation with the captain, worked it out in his cabin, and made -draughts of the two extraordinary documents. When we had calculated our -situation, he went on deck, and by a tell-tale compass in his cabin I -perceived that he had changed the barque’s course. Simultaneously with -this, I heard the men bracing the yards more forward, and the heel of -the barque slightly sharpened to the increased lateral pressure of the -fresh breeze upon her canvas. I hastened on deck when I had done my -copying to observe the crew’s deportment; but in the manner of the few -men who were about I witnessed nothing to lead me to suppose that they -made anything of this sudden change of course. - -When I told Miss Temple that we were now heading as close as the wind -would let us lie for the South American port she instantly grew -animated; her eyes brightened, a look of hope and pleasure entered her -face, and her voice was full of cheerfulness. The captain, on the other -hand, grew gloomier as the day advanced. During his watch on deck from -twelve to four he paced the planks without any intermission that I was -sensible of, walking nearly always in the same posture, with his hands -clasped behind him and his head bowed; and with his long black hair, -yellow face, and blue gills he needed nothing but the dress of a monk to -look one, rehearsing his part for the cloisters. - -Some dinner was taken to him on deck; but I saw Wilkins afterwards carry -the dishes forward, and the food appeared to me untouched. At the supper -hour he came to the table, but neither ate nor drank. During the greater -part of the sitting he kept turning his eyes first on one and then on -the other of us with a dim sort of strained interrogative expression in -his stare, as though he was struggling with some degree of suffering to -dislodge an imagination or idea out of a remote secret cell of his brain -and bring it forward into the clear light of his understanding. He -seemed to find Miss Temple’s presence a restraint. Sometimes, after -eyeing me he’d start as if about to speak, but instantly check himself -with a glance at the girl, whilst his face would darken to some mood of -irritation and impatience. - -Another gloriously fine night followed sunset that day, with a brighter -and longerliving moon, and a gushing of breeze that melted through, and -through one with the delicious coolness that it brushed off the waters -and gathered from the dew. The sea throbbed in flashings of foam, which -shone with the radiance of moon-touched snow mingled with spangles of -the gold and emerald light of the phosphor. There was a pleasant roaring -and hissing noise off the weather bow, with merry whistlings aloft, -where the fullthroated canvas soaring to the main-topgallant yard leaned -in pale spaces against the stars, with frequent sweeps of the mastheads -to the frisky plungings of the clipper hull upon the head seas. - -The carpenter was in charge of the deck. He was standing at the rail -abreast of the wheel, when it occurred to me to accost him, that I might -gather from his replies what notions had been put into his head by the -captain having changed the course. I had Miss Temple on my arm, for the -deck was hardly safe for her without some such support. We went to the -binnacle, and I took a peep at the card, then crossed over to the -carpenter. - -‘Good-evening, Mr. Lush. A rattling breeze this! Since Rio is our -destination, such a draught as this should put us in the way of making -it smartly, off her course as the barque is.’ - -‘I suppose you know what we’re a-going there for?’ he answered in a -gruff tone of voice, that left me in doubt as to whether he intended a -question or not. - -‘You are second mate, and of course are in the captain’s confidence. -What should I know that you don’t?’ - -‘Ah, what?’ he exclaimed, in a voice like a dog’s growl. - -Miss Temple slightly pressed my arm, as though she would have me walk -away. - -‘A vessel like this wants a chief mate,’ said I, ‘some one who knows -what to do with the sun and stars.’ - -‘Oh, then, you’re acquainted with the reason why we’re going to Rio?’ -said he in a tone of such impudent sarcasm, that without another word I -rounded on my heel and led Miss Temple forward. - -‘The brute!’ I exclaimed. ‘But I am rightly served. I have no business -to address the surly illiterate baboon.’ - -‘You know that _he_ knows you have learnt the captain’s motives, if it -be true, as you suppose, that Wilkins has repeated to the men what he -overheard; why, then, do you feign an ignorance that can only excite the -creature’s suspicions?’ - -‘Suspicions of what?’ - -‘That you are acting a double part: with the captain for the sake of his -buried money, and with the crew for the sake of your safety.’ - -‘You put it shrewdly, and I am fairly hit,’ said I. ‘I wanted to get at -the fellow’s mind, if he has any; it did not occur to me for the moment -that he would know through Wilkins of what had passed in the cabin. That -is to say if he _does_ know; for after all, Wilkins may not have -overheard everything, and for aught we can tell he may not have repeated -a syllable of the little that he managed to collect through that -bulkhead. No matter, Miss Temple. A fortnight more, please God, and we -shall be able to write the word finis to this passage of our -adventures.’ - -‘I shall scarcely know myself again,’ she exclaimed cheerfully, whilst -she extended her disengaged white hand to the sheen in the air flowing -from the stars and scar of moon, ‘when I put my rings on once more. What -an experience! How improbable, and how consistently possible and -horribly absolute!’ - -And then she asked me how far it was from Rio to London; and we went on -chatting and pacing, sometimes coming to a stand at the side to watch -some sweep of foaming water roaring off from the blow of the lee bow -into the weltering gloom until five bells were struck—half-past ten. She -then said she felt chilly, and I took her below. It was a little early -for bed, however; besides, the excitement of the day still lingered—the -signing and witnessing of the queer documents: the captain’s insane -dream of a treasure-quest, mad, as we deemed it, at all events: the -sense of our speeding now towards a port whence we should be able to -take ship and proceed comfortably to England. - -I went to the cuddy door and called for Wilkins, and on his arrival told -him to put a bottle of the wine that had been brought from the wreck on -the table along with some biscuit, and thus furnished, Miss Temple and I -managed to kill very nearly another hour. She removed her hat; the -lamplight streamed fair upon the marble-like beauty of her face, upon -her large, dark, soft, and glowing eyes, upon her rich neglected -abundant hair. - -‘Do you remember that night,’ I said, ‘in the English Channel, when -after the collision with the Frenchman you came to where I stood and -asked me to explain what had happened?’ - -‘I would rather not remember anything that passed between us on board -the Indiaman, Mr. Dugdale,’ she replied with a droop of her long lashes -as she spoke. - -I gazed at her earnestly; a single glance would have enabled her to -witness something of passion in my regard at that instant: I bit my lip -to check what my instincts assured me would then have been said all too -soon, and looking at my watch exclaimed: ‘Hard upon half-past eleven.’ - -She rose, and together we descended to our inhospitable steerage -quarters. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - A TRAGEDY - - -How long it was before I fell asleep I cannot say. The humming of the -wake racing away close outside was noisy; the light cargo in the -steerage creaked and strained, and the thump of the rudder was frequent, -and sometimes startling. I was aroused by a continuous knocking on the -bulkhead. It was pitch-dark, despite a small sliding dance of stars in -the porthole glass. I thought the knocking was upon my door, and cried -out, ‘What is it?’ It did not cease; and gathering by this time that it -proceeded from the bulkhead that divided the cabins, I jumped out of my -bunk and beat upon the boards to let Miss Temple know I heard her. - -I called; but though I caught her voice, I could not distinguish her -utterance. I had turned in partially clothed, and groping my way to the -door, stepped forth and knocked upon her cabin. The handle was touched -and I was sensible that the girl’s door was ajar. - -‘Are you there, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Yes. What is the matter?’ - -‘Did not you hear a pistol-shot?’ - -‘No,’ I cried. - -‘I am certain a firearm has been discharged,’ she exclaimed. - -‘Stay a bit,’ said I. ‘I will see if anything is wrong, and let you -know.’ - -After some groping, I succeeded in lighting the candle in my lantern; -and then slipping on my shoes, I made for the hatch ladder, which I was -able to see by leaving my cabin door open. I entered the cuddy and -listened. The lamp had been extinguished; but a sort of spectral -illumination of stars and white water came sifting through the skylight -and the port-holes and the little windows in the cuddy front, and I was -able to determine the outline of objects. All was right in this -interior, so far as I could tell. I listened; but not so much as a -footfall sounded upon the upper deck, not a note of human voice or -movement of men forward. The barque was sweeping through the seas -bravely, and the atmosphere of the cuddy was vibratory with the resonant -cries of the wind up aloft. - -I made for the cuddy door and looked out; nothing stirred on the -quarter-deck that ran pallid into the impenetrable shadow past the -waist. I returned to the companion steps, which I mounted, and stood in -the hatch a moment or two. There was nobody on the poop saving the man -at the helm. I stepped over to him and said, ‘Where’s the captain?’ - -‘He’s gone below,’ he answered; ‘he told me he wouldn’t be long.’ - -‘When did he leave the deck?’ - -‘Seven or eight minutes ago, belike.’ - -‘Did you hear a noise just now that resembled a pistol-shot?’ I -inquired. - -‘No, sir,’ he answered. ‘But who’s to hear anything atop of this here -shindy of wind and water?’ - -‘That’s true,’ I exclaimed. ‘I doubt if the noise will have meant more -than a fall of something below. It is the lady who heard the sound, and -I’ve just stepped up to see what it might mean. It’s to be hoped the -captain won’t linger. This is not a breeze in which to leave a ship in -charge of her helmsman only.’ - -And indeed the little craft wanted too much watching on the part of the -fellow to suffer him to talk or to permit of my calling off his -attention from his duty. I resolved to wait, that there might be some -sort of lookout kept whilst the captain stayed below. The breeze had -freshened, I thought, since I left the deck; there was a dim windy look, -moreover, all away out to starboard; and the barque close hauled was -making the wind to come as hard again as it was blowing, in fact, -through her thrusting, plunging, nimble manner of looking up into it. -The mainsail is too much for her, thought I; it should be furled. There -is a staysail or two too many, also; and that top-gallant sail will have -to come in anon, if the look of the sky out yonder means what it -threatens. - -Five minutes passed, but the captain did not make his appearance. The -sound that Miss Temple had heard was beginning to work an ugly fancy in -my mind. I stepped aft to the wheel. - -‘Did the captain tell you why he was going below?’ - -‘No, sir,’ was the answer. ‘He’d been standing for about a quarter of an -hour stock still; then he comes soddenly in a sort o’ run to the -binnacle, takes a look at the card, and says: “Keep her as she goes; -nothing off: see to it! I shan’t be long.” That was all.’ - -At that instant the wind breezed up in a gust that came in a long howl -over the weather rail, and the little vessel bowed down to it till the -smother alongside looked to be up to the covering-board. - -‘No use waiting for the captain,’ said I, made irritable by anxiety; ‘we -shall have the masts out of her if we don’t mind our eye;’ and running -forward, I shouted at the top of my voice: ‘Lay aft and haul up the -mainsail!’ - -In a moment the watch came tumbling out of the darkness forward. Their -manner of rushing gave me to know that they had been standing by for the -order to shorten sail, and were wondering why it had not been delivered -sooner. - -‘Furl it, lads,’ I shouted, ‘when you’ve hauled it up; but first get -your maintopgallant staysail hauled down. I must find out what has -become of the captain.’ - -Without losing another moment, I ran into the cuddy and knocked upon the -door of the captain’s cabin. No answer was returned. I knocked again, -thundering with my fist; then tried the handle, and found the door -locked. ‘Good God!’ thought I, ‘the man has shot himself. _That_ will be -the meaning of the sound Miss Temple heard.’ As I turned for a moment, -utterly at a loss how to act, the girl rose through the hatch close to -where I stood. She held in her hand the lantern I had left alight in my -berth. - -‘What has happened?’ she cried. - -‘I have no notion as yet,’ I responded; ‘but I fear the captain has shot -himself. Let me take that lantern from you.’ - -I swiftly hitched it by its laniard to a hook in a stanchion, noticing -as I did so that she had completely dressed herself. - -‘Remain here for the present, will you?’ I went on. ‘I must go on -deck—there is no one to give orders to the men.’ - -I ran up the steps, and perceived the shadowy shapes of the seamen -ascending the shrouds to lay out upon the main yard. - -‘Who is that there?’ I called, observing a dark figure standing near the -main hatch. - -‘Me—Wilkins, sir.’ - -‘Jump forward, Wilkins,’ I shouted, ‘and call Mr. Lush. Tell him I want -him aft—that I’m afraid something serious has happened; in fact, rout up -all hands. We shall be having to reef down shortly.’ - -The fellow sped forwards. It had been no passing gust that had bowed the -barque down, but a real increase in the weight of wind; and by this -time, knowing fairly well how the gear led, I let go the maintopgallant -halliards, and then ran aft to the mizzen topmast staysail halliards, -and was dragging with my single pair of hands upon the downhaul, when -the carpenter came up to me, followed by the rest of the watch below. - -‘What’s gone wrong?’ he said. - -‘I believe the captain has shot himself. His cabin door is locked, and -we have yet to discover that he has committed suicide. The wind -freshens, the ship wants watching, and there is nobody to see to her. -Will you take charge? I’ll wait for you in the cabin.’ - -What expression a light cast upon his countenance might have shown my -news produced in it I know not; there was a pause in him, as of sulky -astonishment, but he said nothing. He mounted the poop ladder; and I -entered the cuddy, catching the sound as I did so of the men on the main -yard chorusing as they triced up the bunt of the sail, along with a -sudden roar from the carpenter to clew up the main-topgallant-sail and -furl it. The candle end burning in the lantern made but a wretched -light, as you will suppose. Close beside it, in such radiance as it -emitted, stood Miss Temple, white as stone, and her eyes wide and -luminous with alarm. - -‘Is the vessel in danger?’ she asked. - -‘Oh dear, no,’ I replied; ‘the breeze has freshened considerably, and -the men are shortening sail. But this light is truly abominable. We -shall require to be able to see clearly presently.’ And with that I took -out the candle and lighted the cabin lamp with it. - -‘I have been every moment expecting to see that door open, and _his_ -figure creep out!’ said Miss Temple, pointing with a shudder, and -without looking, towards the captain’s berth. ‘Do you believe he has -shot himself?’ - -‘Not a doubt of it. Why should his door be locked? I should know he has -destroyed himself without being able to make a guess at his method of -doing so, but for your saying that you heard the report of a pistol.’ - -‘I assuredly heard it, Mr. Dugdale. I was awake. I have not slept since -I lay down. The sound was like the crack of a whip over my head.’ - -Just then the carpenter roared out some fresh orders. The barque, -relieved of her mainsail and topgallant-sail, had recovered from her -perilous heel, and was thrashing through it with what seemed a stubborn -erectness of spar after the recent wild slope of her masts. The sea was -rising, and the vessel was beginning to pitch with some spite in the -chopping and smiting shear of her clipper bows, from which the surge -recoiled in thunder, washing aft in boiling spume with a sound like the -fall of the hail and rain of an electric storm. I could tell without -needing to look that Mr. Lush’s latest order concerned the reefing of -the foretopsail. At all events, he had his little ship well in hand, and -the whole of the vessel’s small crew were on deck to run about to his -directions, and there was some comfort to be got out of knowing this. - -To satisfy a small doubt that had arisen, I stepped once again over to -the captain’s cabin and hammered loud and long upon the door, shouting -out his name, and then trying the handle; but to no purpose. - -‘For what new horrors are we reserved?’ cried Miss Temple. ‘Shall we -ever escape with our lives? How much has been compressed within the last -few days: the dead body on the wreck—the drowning of the poor -lieutenant—the loss, perhaps, of Mr. Colledge and the sailors in the -man-of-war’s boat—and now this!’ she cried, bringing her hands to her -face with a sudden convulsive, tearless sob; then looking at me she -said: ‘If Captain Braine has killed himself, what is to follow?’ - -‘Rio,’ I answered. ‘I shall carry the ship there straight. Thank God for -such knowledge of navigation as I possess! I trust the captain may not -have killed himself; but if he has done so, it will make for our good. -He was a madman, and it was impossible from hour to hour to be sure of -his intentions.’ - -‘But, Mr. Dugdale, there will be no head to the ship if the captain be -dead. Who, then, is to control the crew—this crew of convicts and -mutineers and—and?’—— - -‘It was a madman who drew that picture,’ said I. ‘I suspect he is as -correct in his description of his crew as in his description of his -treasure. The men are without a navigator; they can do nothing without -me. If they are true Jacks, they are already sick of the voyage, and -will be glad to have a port under their lee, with the promise of a jaunt -ashore and fresh articles to sign on another ship’s capstan.’ - -We continued talking thus; presently I heard the seamen chorusing at the -foretopsail halliards, and later on the carpenter Lush entered the cabin -by the cuddy door. - -‘She’ll be snug at this,’ he exclaimed in his gruff voice; ‘there’s no -more weight of wind, and the whole main-topsail won’t be too much for -her if it don’t freshen yet. What’s this about the capt’n, sir?’ - -As he spoke, I observed the glimmering faces of the crew, the whole body -of them, saving the fellow at the wheel, crowding to take a peep through -the cuddy windows and doorway. I saw Miss Temple glance with terror -towards them; but there was nothing more natural than that the fellows -should desire to obtain all news of an event that concerned them so -closely as the suicide of their captain. I repeated what little I knew -to the carpenter, who at once stalked to the captain’s door and tried -the handle for himself, shaking it viciously. - -‘I suppose it’ll have to be broke open?’ he exclaimed, looking round. - -‘Certainly,’ I answered, ‘and the sooner the better. This suspense is -intolerable.’ - -‘I’ll go forrards and get some tools,’ he said. - -He returned after a few minutes, and two seamen accompanied him, one of -them being Joe Wetherly. The others, heedless of all custom, in their -devouring curiosity came shouldering one another into the cuddy, -thrusting inch by inch to the centre of it, where they stood staring—a -wild and rugged group, indeed, in that light; hairy breasts, naked, -weather-darkened nervous arms liberally scored with blue devices, bare -feet, gleaming eyes, sheath-knives on their hips—I could scarcely wonder -that Miss Temple shrank from them, and clung to my side with her hand in -my arm! They did not need the character the captain had given them to -make her do that! - -Lush forced the door of the berth; it flew open to a heavy blow, and I -advanced to take a view of the interior, Miss Temple letting go of my -arm with an exclamation, rather choosing to remain alone near the -sailors than take a peep at the horror her imagination bodied forth. A -small bracket lamp was burning brightly. In the centre of the deck of -the cabin lay the body of Captain Braine. He was on his breast, his arms -were outstretched, one leg was crooked, as though broken under the -other. A pistol of a pattern somewhat similar to the one I had -discovered in Mr. Chicken’s locker lay beside his right hand. These -details we immediately witnessed; but we had to look a little before we -could distinguish the great stain of blood upon the square of drugget -under the cheek of the poor creature, and showing in a black line from a -hole on a level with his eye. - -‘He has shot himself, as you said,’ exclaimed the carpenter in a hoarse -note, and backing half a pace to the right. - -‘Turn him over, Bill,’ said Wetherly to the other sailor. - -‘Not me! Handle him yourself, Joe.’ - -Wetherly fell upon a knee, and got the corpse on its back. After my -experience with the body on the wreck, I should have deemed myself equal -to any sort of ghastly sight-seeing; but that dead captain’s face was -more than I could bear, and I was forced to look away and to keep my -gaze averted, to rally my nerves from the shock the spectacle had given -them. - -The crew had come shoving right to the very cabin door, and stood in a -crowd, staring open-mouthed with a sort of groaning of exclamations -breaking out from amongst them. - -‘A bad job this, sir,’ said Wetherly, looking round to me. - -‘He’ll be stone-dead, I suppose?’ said the carpenter. - -‘O God, yes!’ I exclaimed. - -The carpenter seemed to wait, as if he expected me to give directions. - -‘Better get the body into the bunk, Mr. Lush,’ said I, ‘and cover it up -for to-night.’ - -‘Ay, hide it as soon as ye will, Joe,’ exclaimed the carpenter; and as -he said these words, I observed that he rolled his eyes with an -expression in them of keen and thirsty scrutiny over the cabin. - -Wetherly and the other man who had entered with him lifted the body, -placed it in the bunk, and threw a blanket over it. We then quitted the -cabin, leaving the lamp burning, though, I fancy, nobody noticed that -but myself; and the carpenter put a little wedge of wood under the door -to keep it shut. The sailors slowly walked away out on to the -quarter-deck, casting inquisitive glances around them, and at Miss -Temple, as they withdrew. The carpenter came to a stand at the table, -and turning his surly face upon me, exclaimed in his deep-sea, -bad-tempered voice: ‘What’s to be done now?’ - -‘There’s nothing for it,’ I answered, ‘but to make for the nearest port, -and Rio will be that.’ - -‘Ay; but that ain’t the question just at present,’ he exclaimed. ‘What I -mean is, what’s the discipline agoing to be?’ - -‘Why, of course,’ I exclaimed, ‘I must render all the assistance I -possibly can. If the crew consent, I shall be happy to keep watch and -watch with you. In any case, I’ll navigate the ship. Very fortunately, I -can do so.’ - -‘It’ll be a matter for the crew,’ said he, talking with his eyes upon -the deck and speaking after a pause. ‘To-morrow morning will be time -enough to settle what’s to be done. I kep’ a lookout from eight to -twelve to-night; and if you’ll stand this here middle watch, I’ll be a -relieving of ye at four; and arter breakfast, giving you time to get -some sleep, I’ll call the crew aft, and we’ll see what they’ve got to -say, now there ain’t neither mate nor capt’n left.’ - -‘But you are the mate; the acting second mate,’ I cried, sensible of an -indefinable misgiving that grew rapidly into an emotion of cold and -heart-sickening consternation. - -‘I tell ye _no_, sir!’ he shouted; ‘I’m no second mate. I signed on as -ship’s carpenter, and I’ve told ye so. Since Mr. Chicken died, I’ve been -treated by that man there’—he pointed with a square forefinger to the -cabin door—‘worse than any mongrel dog that e’er a blunderbuss was -brought to bear on. _Me_ a second mate?’ He struck his breast in a sort -of frenzy with his clenched fist and grinned in my face. - -‘Very well,’ said I, forcing a note of composure into my voice; ‘it is a -mere detail of routine, which we can settle to-morrow, as you say.’ - -‘All right,’ he exclaimed; and pulling his skin cap down over his head, -he trudged on his rounded legs out of the cuddy. - -‘I must go on deck, Miss Temple,’ said I. - -She was eyeing me, as though bereft of speech, when I addressed her. - -‘I will accompany you,’ she exclaimed. - -‘No! It is out of the question.’ - -‘Why?’ she cried imperiously, with the irritability of dismay and dread -in her manner. - -‘I shall be on deck till four. Such a spell of exposure it will be -needless for you to undergo. You are perfectly safe in your cabin.’ - -‘How _dare_ you ask me to return to that horrible lonely part of the -ship?’ she cried, with wrath and alarm brilliant in her eyes. - -‘Then take some rest upon that locker there.’ - -‘You ask me to remain here _alone_ with the dead body close to in that -cabin?’ - -‘Miss Temple,’ said I firmly, ‘if you decline to return to your cabin, -you will at least oblige me by staying in this cuddy. I have no time to -reason with you. You must obey me, if you please. Give me your hand.’ -She extended it, and I conducted her to the sofa locker, on which I -gently but resolutely compelled her to seat herself. ‘You can rest here -with perfect safety,’ I went on. ‘I am astonished that a woman of your -spirit should find anything to render you uneasy, in the face of the -real difficulties which confront us, in the neighbourhood of a harmless -corpse. I can command a view of you and of this interior through that -skylight. But you must not come on deck.’ - -She watched me in a motionless posture with an air of haughty resentment -upon her lips, to which a kind of awe in her gaze gave the lie. I left -her, and had my foot upon the companion steps, when a thought occurred -to me. Going to the door of the captain’s berth, I withdrew the wedge, -and entered and picked up the pistol that lay upon the deck. It was a -heavy single-barrelled concern, but a firearm all the same, and I thrust -it into my breast. I perceived no materials for loading it; but I had -what was necessary in that way below; and now I was possessed, as I did -not doubt, of the only two pistols in the ship. - -I extinguished the lamp, wedged the door afresh, and responding to Miss -Temple’s appealing stare with a smile, I went on deck. The night was a -clear dusk, with a great plenty of shining stars, over which many small -clouds were driving swiftly; and the wind still continued to blow -strong, though it had not gained in force since sail had last been -shortened, and the sea was now running steadily on the bow in regular -heaps of dark waters melting at their heads, so that the motion of the -barque, by being rhythmic, was comparatively easy. I gained the weather -deck; and after a peep at the compass and a glance at the -indistinguishable face of the figure at the wheel, I started off on the -traditionary pendulum walk of the sea-watch, to and fro, to and fro, -from the wheel to the break of the poop, constantly directing looks to -windward or up aloft, and frequently at Miss Temple, as she showed, -seated as I had left her, visible to me through the glass of the -skylight. It was out of the question that she should pace the deck with -me throughout that long watch. The pouring wind came with an edge of -cold damp that made itself felt after a brief term of exposure to it. -Then, again, it was not to be thought of that the sailors should find -the lady on deck throughout this night watch, as though we were both in -mortal fear, and kept together to hearten each other. Now that it had -come to there being no head to the ship, it was of vital importance that -Miss Temple should remain as private as possible, but little seen by the -men. I had clear ideas as to the extraordinary situation in which we -were placed; and as I glanced at her through the skylight window, I made -up my mind to subdue her to my views, to conquer the insolence of her -spirit, even should it come to my having to act in a manner that might -be deemed brutal, never to humour her by giving her reasons, but to -peremptorily insist in such a fashion as to make her perceive that -whilst we were thus together, I was her master, and she must instantly -acquiesce in my decisions; for unless this was to be managed, her -temper, her want of tact, her pettish character as that of a person -whose nature had been injured by admiration and indulgence, might end in -the destruction of us both. - -What a midnight watch was that! I was sick at heart, and miserable with -misgiving. My distrust of the carpenter, a feeling that had all along -possessed me, was strong even to a conviction that he was equal to the -acting of a hellish part, and that being free, and at the head, so to -speak, of a gang of men, of whom one only—I mean Wetherly—seemed worthy -of confidence, he might be presently hatching some plot of deadly menace -to Miss Temple and me. I asked myself what form could such a plot take? -I knew not: I could but forebode: I could only keep before me the -circumstance of a little ship afloat on a wide sea without captain or -mates, full to the hatches with commodities of value, a handsome fabric -of herself, virtually in the possession of an irresponsible body of men, -into whose keeping she had come through the merest effect of fortune, -without the least stroke of rascality on their part. I say I had only to -consider this, and then to think of the character of the crew as it had -been represented to me by Captain Braine, to forebode some action on -their part that might extinguish my project of reaching Rio—with so much -to follow that I durst not give my mind to speculating upon it. - -Shocking as had been the suddenness and the unexpectedness of the -captain’s suicide, the thing sat lightly as a horror upon my -imagination, so profoundly agitated was I by the indeterminable fears -that had been raised in me by the few words the carpenter had let fall. -I could not be sure; but it seemed to me, by the haze of light which -hung about the forecastle hatch, called the forescuttle, and by an -occasional stirring of shadows amidst it, as though to the movements of -the men below, or to figures coming on deck and descending again, that -all hands were awake forward. There should have been nothing to -particularly disturb me in this suspicion, for enough lay in the -captain’s death to account for the men keeping awake and talking; still, -the belief that the sailors were conversing in their gloomy little sea -parlour, with Lush’s growling tongue sulkily active amongst them, -greatly increased my uneasiness. - -I continued to pace the deck, keeping a close eye upon the ship, with -watchful regard also of the compass, for every hour of this sailing was -bringing us by so many miles nearer to the South American seaboard. -Shortly before two o’clock, on looking through the skylight, I observed -Miss Temple lying back upon the cushion of the locker in a sound sleep. -Her hat was upon her knees, her cheek was pillowed upon her arm; thus -she rested in sideways posture. Whilst I stood looking at her, as at a -picture of a beautiful sleeping woman framed in the square of the -skylight, and touched with the soft illumination of the oil-lamp -swinging hard by her couch, a man struck four bells on the forecastle, -and a minute or two later the dark figure of a seaman came along to -leeward to relieve the wheel. I waited a little, and then stepped to the -binnacle under pretence of inspecting the card. - -‘Are the watch below up forward?’ said I. - -‘All hands are awake,’ he answered, and I recognised him by his voice, -though I could not discern his features. He was a young sailor named -Forrest, a fellow I had often taken notice of for the elastic suppleness -of his body, the peculiar swing of his walk, an amazing agility aloft, -and an air of mutinous impudence in his manner of going about any job he -might be put to. - -‘I suppose they have been talking about the captain’s death?’ said I. - -‘They’ve been talking of a many things,’ he responded with a sort of -chuckle in his voice, as though he had been drinking. - -‘Is Mr. Lush among them?’ - -‘Oh, ay.’ - -‘Well, keep your luff,’ said I; ‘she’s a couple of points off her course -as it is.’ - -‘Her course for where?’ said the man. - -‘For Rio,’ I answered. - -He made no answer, and I resumed my pacing of the planks. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - THE CARPENTER CALLS A COUNCIL - - -At four o’clock the carpenter came aft to relieve me. He asked me in a -short off-hand way how the weather had been; and the wide-awake note in -his voice satisfied me that whether or not he had slept during his watch -below, he had certainly not now come fresh from his bunk or hammock. -When I had answered him, he went abruptly to the compass, and I -descended the poop ladder and entered the cuddy. - -Miss Temple was still asleep. It was more like some issue of the sorcery -of the imagination than the reality to come out of the windy dusk of the -night and an association, momentary it might be, with the carpenter, to -the spectacle of the slumbering beautiful girl breathing deep and -restfully, with the gleam of her white teeth showing through her parted -lips, and the lashes of her closed lids resting in a shadow of -surprising loveliness upon her colourless cheeks. But rest was -imperative to me; there was not another locker to use; and I would not -leave the girl alone. I lightly touched her hand; she smiled, but slept -on; I touched her again, and she sprang erect with an affrighted air, -staring at me with the meaningless gaze of the newly awakened. - -‘Ah!’ she cried with a violent shudder, ‘I thought it was the dead -captain who touched me! How cold your hand is.’ - -‘I am going to my berth to seek some rest,’ said I; ‘and would not leave -you alone here.’ - -‘Oh no!’ she exclaimed; ‘I will go with you.’ - -‘You have been sleeping for above two hours,’ said I. ‘I am very glad. -Slumber is strength; nay, it is life. You have been safe, and you will -now tell me that I was in the right in entreating you to remain here.’ - -‘In _commanding_ me, you mean,’ she answered with a faint smile. ‘But -how miserable I was alone until I fell asleep—constantly imagining that -that door was being cautiously opened’—another strong shudder swept -through her while she motioned towards the captain’s cabin, holding her -face averted. - -I unhooked the lantern belonging to my berth, lighted the candle in it, -and, taking her by the hand, conducted her to the hatch. When we had -entered the steerage, I lifted her hand to my lips in the old-fashioned -salute and said: ‘Miss Temple, if I appear to _command_, it is with the -hope of being useful as a protector to a companion whose claims upon me -must needs deepen as we continue together and as the outlook darkens.’ - -I held open her cabin door for her, gave her my lantern; and then going -to my own berth, groped my way to the bunk, and was speedily in a sound -sleep. - -It was eight o’clock by my watch when I awoke. I at once sprang out of -bed, and, having carefully secreted the pistol I had brought with me -from the captain’s cabin, I hastily sluiced my face with some salt -water, and stepped to Miss Temple’s cabin door, on which I knocked. She -answered me. I told her that she would find me on deck. ‘It is eight -o’clock,’ I said, ‘and my turn to keep watch has come round.’ With that -I ascended the steps. Wilkins was in the cuddy, as I must needs call the -little living-room, though, after the Indiaman’s saloon, it seemed a big -name to give to so small an interior. I said: ‘The lady will be here -shortly. Get breakfast ready for us, d’ye hear? We will eat it on deck, -unless there is somebody to keep my lookout whilst I come below for the -meal.’ He answered, civilly enough, that he would carry it on deck to us -on my letting him know when we were ready for it. - -I found the carpenter on the poop talking to a couple of seamen; but on -seeing me, the two fellows went forward in a sort of sheepish way. It -was a fine morning, lively with flying sunshine, and the seas were -running in foaming dark-blue hills, which shouldered the reflection of -the sun into incessant flashings of fire as dazzling as the beams darted -down by the luminary himself betwixt the edges of the streaming clouds. -I sent a swift look round; there was nothing in sight. The barque was -under the same canvas I had left upon her when I went below; but my -first step carrying me to the compass, I perceived that she was making a -more southerly course by two points than she had been heading when I -left the deck; and, indeed, when I directed my eyes aloft for a second -time, I perceived that the yards had been slightly braced in, and that, -in short, Mr. Lush was making a fair wind of what was a foul one for -Rio. I was greatly startled, but controlled my face, for the man’s eyes -were upon me. - -‘I presume, Mr. Lush,’ said I, crossing over to him and feigning a -certain carelessness of behaviour whilst I looked with a manner of -indifference past him at the weather horizon, ‘that you are aware the -barque is needlessly off her course, seeing that she’ll easily look up -another two or two and a half points?’ - -‘A ship’s course depends upon where she’s a going,’ he answered, running -his eyes over my figure; ‘and nothen’s settled yet so far as we’re -consarned.’ - -‘Oho! Is it so, indeed!’ said I, after venting myself in a short -whistle. ‘What is the objection to Rio, Mr. Lush?’ - -‘I’ll be calling the crew aft presently,’ he exclaimed; ‘it’s a question -for all hands, not for me nor you only, sir.’ - -‘I trust,’ said I, my feigned air of carelessness vanishing before the -real consternation that was now active in me, ‘that the sailors will not -obstruct my earnest desire for the lady’s sake, as well as for my own, -to make for Rio as promptly as possible. Miss Temple and I have met with -some cruel experiences, and we are as badly off even now, aboard this -smart little barque, as we were in the wreck from which you rescued us. -In God’s name, Mr. Lush, let there be no unreasonable hindrance to our -speedy arrival at a port whence we may take shipping for home.’ - -‘I have said,’ he responded in his sulkiest manner, ‘that it ain’t a -question for one man nor for two men, but for all hands.’ - -I witnessed stubbornness that was to be easily developed into insolence -strong in the ruffian’s face, and bit my lip to silence my tongue. After -a short pause I said: ‘I observe that the decks have not been washed -down.’ - -‘No; that’s right. They han’t been washed down.’ - -‘When is the body of the captain to be buried?’ - -‘He is buried,’ he answered; and then went on, as though perceiving that -some explanation was necessary: ‘No good in keeping a human corpse -aboard ship. ‘Tain’t lucky. ‘Tain’t lucky, even if so be as it’s the -human corpse of a good man; but when it comes to the body of the likes -of _him_‘—— He spat over the rail. ‘He was rolled up in canvas and -dropped overboard two hours since.’ - -‘A dog’s funeral!’ said I, betwixt my teeth. - -‘A dog’s funeral’s all that the best sailor must expect; the treatment -of a dog when he’s alive, and a mongrel’s burial when he’s dead.’ - -‘Well, I’m here to relieve you,’ said I. ‘Wilkins will bring my -breakfast on deck.’ - -‘All right,’ he answered. ‘Suppose we call it nine o’clock for the -council that’s to be held?’ - -I turned from him, assenting with a gesture, and walked aft, miserably -sick at heart, to receive Miss Temple, who at that moment appeared in -the companion way. She instantly perceived by my face that there was -something gravely wrong with us, and fixed a look of nervous passionate -inquiry upon me. There was no purpose to be served by concealing my -fears from her—fears which, shapeless as they might now be, were, I did -not question, to be converted presently into bitter convictions. I took -her hand and conducted her to the skylight, where we were out of earshot -of the helmsman. - -‘I am afraid,’ said I, ‘that the death of Captain Braine has thickened -the problem of this adventure for us.’ - -‘What has happened?’ she demanded. - -‘When I went below at four o’clock this morning,’ I replied, ‘the _Lady -Blanche_ was looking up for the port of Rio as closely as the wind -permitted her. Since then, Mr. Lush has taken it upon himself to alter -the vessel’s course, and we need but another point or two of southing to -be sailing straight away—down the South Atlantic Ocean.’ - -‘But the ship is _now_ being steered for Rio?’ - -‘No.’ - -‘No!’ she cried. ‘Why do you not order the man to direct her according -to your wishes?’ And she sent one of her flashing glances at the hairy -face of the sailor who grasped the spokes. - -‘The crew are coming aft presently to settle the question of our -destination. I can do nothing. If they have made up their minds to a -course, they are not going to suffer me to get in the road of it.’ - -‘But what course? What resolution are they likely to form?’ she -exclaimed, clasping her hands with a gesture of despair, and gazing -forwards with an expression of terror at a group of fellows who stood at -the galley door talking. - -‘I know nothing, and can tell you nothing,’ I replied. ‘It is to signify -another tax upon our patience, and we must wait. Some destination they -are bound to hit upon; it will not be Rio, I believe. We shall see. They -cannot do without me—that is, I alone am capable of navigating the -vessel—and in that may lie our security. But one thing you must help me -to achieve, Miss Temple: I mean a behaviour of coolness, good temper, -and tact. I believe the devil himself is lodged in the hide of that -round-backed brute of a carpenter, and the crew may not be wanting in -some of the highest flavoured of his agreeable qualities. Help me, then, -to the most inoffensive and patient of attitudes, and say nothing -yourself—nay, _look_ nothing! for those dark eyes of yours have a hot -eloquence of their own, and a man need not hear your rich voice to know -what is passing in your mind.’ - -She forced a calmness upon herself, and spoke in a low voice: ‘If the -crew insist upon sailing the ship to some distant part, is there nothing -that we can do to induce them to transfer us to another vessel, or to -run into the land close enough to set us ashore in any town on the -coast?’ - -‘First, let them come to a resolution.’ - -‘This is a shocking situation to be in! Your old energy seems to be -leaving you. You give me dreadful news in a lifeless way, and talk -spiritlessly of suffering the crew to do as they please.’ She said this, -still preserving her forced composure; but there was ire in her gaze and -temper and despair in her respiration, in the twitching of the nostril, -in the curl of her lip, when she had spoken. - -I looked at her steadily, but in silence, weighing down upon her gaze, -as it were, with my own until her eyes fell. ‘Not spiritless yet,’ said -I. ‘Nor shall I suffer you to make me so, Miss Temple.’ - -She hung her head, and beat with her fingers upon her knuckles, as -though she needed some exercise of that sort to enable her to suppress -her emotions or her tears. Wilkins came under the skylight to ask if I -was ready for breakfast. I bade him bring it to us; and he arrived with -some coffee and cold meat and biscuit. I could not induce the girl to -eat. Even when she took a sip of coffee she scarcely seemed able to -swallow it. Her misery was wretched to see. Sometimes she would start -and send a wild sweeping look round the horizon; often she would moan. I -tried to put some heart into her; but I could find little to say, -ignorant as I then was of what the crew meant to do. Most of them seemed -to be in or about the galley. A few stood in the doorway, and their -behaviour suggested that there were others inside to whose utterance, -whatever form it took, they listened with attention, sometimes glancing -aft at us. Shortly before nine o’clock I said to Miss Temple that the -crew were coming aft at that hour, and requested her to go to her own -cabin that she might be out of sight of them. - -‘Cannot I remain on deck?’ she exclaimed. ‘My suspense will be a -torment. You are banishing me to an underground cell.’ - -‘You will withdraw to your cabin, if you please, Miss Temple. We are -here dealing with a crew of men who are now without a head, and whose -temper may grow lawless whenever they shall realise that they are their -own masters.’ - -‘You will come to me the moment you are at liberty, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Most assuredly.’ - -I accompanied her to the companion, and watched her as she descended the -steps. She halted at the bottom of the ladder to look up at me with eyes -of appealing grief. How close she had come to my heart I might not have -been able to successfully guess till that moment. I longed to take her -in my arms, to entreat her forgiveness for any act or speech of -sternness or harshness, to soothe her with all bright and comforting -hopes that it was in my power to utter. A step carried her out of my -sight, but for some minutes after, the memory of her beautiful appealing -eyes dominated all other thoughts, and I could think of nothing but her -noble figure, the grief of her colourless high-bred face, the suggestion -I found in her attitude of her yearning for my presence and -protection—profoundly touching to me who loved her, spite of not knowing -that the motive of her longing was to be found in no other sentiment -than that of her fear. - -Presently the carpenter came out of the galley knocking the ashes out of -his pipe, and advanced slowly to the poop, followed by most of the crew, -who halted opposite the cuddy front. - -‘The cabin’ll be the place to talk in,’ said he; ‘there’ll be no hearing -of one another up here. There’s Joe Wetherly’ll keep a lookout whilst -you and me are below.’ - -‘I am ready,’ I answered. - -He called to Wetherly, who was standing in the waist, forward of the -others. The man touched his cap to me as he ascended the poop ladder, -and looked at me meaningly through the minute holes in which his eyes -lay deep buried. I entered the cuddy with the carpenter, who turned -round as he passed through the door to sing out, ‘Step in, lads.’ Nine -fellows in all followed. Most of them carried a sort of grinning, -wondering expression on their faces; but here and there I took note of a -determined countenance. - -‘Mr. Lush,’ I exclaimed, ‘the ordering of this business is in your -hands. I will leave you to settle whatever ceremonies we are to pass -through.’ - -‘Mr. Lush’ll take the cheer,’ said one of the men. - -The carpenter at once seated himself in the captain’s chair at the after -end of the little table. The sailors sat down upon the benches. Lush -exclaimed: ‘Mr. Dugdale, you sit alongside o’ me here. Mates, ease -yourselves down, and make room for the gent.’ - -I took the place he indicated, and waited with as resolved a face as I -could screw my features into for what was to follow. There was a pause -whilst the carpenter, rolling his eyes over the seamen, seemed to be -hunting in his mind for words in which to express himself. The men -stared from him to me with an occasional glance round, especially in the -direction of the tumbler-rack, at which they would cast thirsty looks. -In this brief spell of silence I sought to interpret their intentions -from their postures; but there was little to reassure me in their -bearing. There was a kind of defiance in it that instantly made itself -felt. They were clad for the most part in shirts and duck or dungaree -breeches; their breasts were bare, with the sight here and there of some -ink and gunpowder device straggling amidst the hair; they leaned upon -their naked muscular arms or sat with them folded looking at me or the -carpenter. There was no hint of such diffidence as one might expect to -find in forecastle hands occupying the saloon or cabin of a ship. - -‘We’ve been a-tarning over,’ began the carpenter, speaking slowly and -viewing me out of the corners of his eyes, ‘the condition we’re put in -by the sooicide of Capt’n Braine. All hands is agreed, saving one, who -says that he dorn’t much care how it goes.’ - -‘Who is that one?’ I asked. - -‘Joe Wetherly,’ he answered. - -I waited, but he seemed to require me to question him. - -‘You are all agreed, you say, Mr. Lush—upon what?’ - -He coughed, thrust his fingers into his neckcloth to ease his throat, -and then said: ‘Well, now, I’ll tell ye exactly how it stands. Wilkins -there was next door to the capt’n’s cabin when he told you of that -matter of two hundred thousand pound lying stowed away in a South Sea -island. He comes forward and tells us all about it.’ He paused, then -said with a tone of impatience: ‘Of course, ye can guess now what we’ve -settled on?’ - -‘Pray, explain,’ said I, understanding but too thoroughly, and feeling -the blood forsaking my cheek. - -‘Why,’ said the carpenter with a short laugh, ‘what we’ve resolved on is -to sail to that there island and get the money.’ - -‘No good in leaving all that money to lie there for the savages to dig -up,’ exclaimed one of the men. - -‘Mr. Lush,’ said I, ‘I am a stranger in this ship, and have but one -desire, and that is, to leave her along with the young lady who was my -fellow-passenger aboard the Indiaman. You will of course do what you -will with the vessel. The action of the crew can make no part of my -business. All that I ask is that you will signal the first vessel we -fall in with, let her be heading as she will, and tranship us.’ - -A growling ‘No!’ ran amongst the men. The carpenter echoed it with a -blow of his fist upon the table. ‘No, sir! we can’t spare you. It’ll be -_you_, Mr. Dugdale, that’ll carry us to that island.’ - -My consternation was too visible to be missed even by the ignorant eyes -which were bent upon me. - -‘You’ll be treated fairly, sir,’ said one of the men, with an air and -tone of conciliation. ‘We’ve allowed for you being a gent as’ll be -carried away from the parts he wants to git to, Mr. Lush and us men have -talked it well over, and the share of the money ye choose to name is the -share you shall have for the time and trouble this bit of navigation’ll -cost you.’ - -A murmur of assent followed this speech, several heads nodding so -vehemently that their hair danced about their eyes. - -‘But, men,’ I cried, turning upon and addressing them in a body, ‘you -are surely not going to persuade me that you _believe_ in this yarn of -the captain?’ - -‘Don’t you?’ inquired the carpenter with a sarcastic sneer. - -‘It was the imagination of a madman,’ I continued—‘a crazy fancy, men! -Surely there is no sailor here but knew that the captain was insane. Did -not his actions, his talk, his very looks, prove him mad? And what more -convincing proof of his insanity could you desire than the last act of -his life?’ - -Two or three of the fellows grumbled out something, but I did not catch -the words. ‘Mad, was he?’ exclaimed the carpenter in a voice of coarse, -morose sarcasm; ‘ye didn’t think that when you stood out for a share.’ - -‘How do you know,’ I cried, ‘that I stood out for a share?’ - -‘By God, then,’ he roared, ‘we know everything! Did ye or did ye not -sign an agreement for a share?’ - -‘I did,’ I answered, ‘but merely to humour the man’s madness. I should -have left the ship at Rio.’ - -‘There’s no use in talking,’ he exclaimed, smoothing down his voice a -trifle; ‘the compact between ye was overheard. Me and the others here -was to be got rid of at Rio. Then a crew of Kanakas was to be shipped -off the Sandwich Islands. Then, with the gold aboard hidden out of -sight, you and him was to ship fresh hands. Mad?’ he cried in an -indescribably sneering way; ‘no, no, that worn’t do. Ye didn’t think him -mad, then, when you made him provide that if the law laid hold of him -for a-running away with his ship, you was to be guaranteed free o’ peril -by what you or him tarmed a hinstrument. Ye didn’t think him mad then, -and ye don’t think him mad now.’ - -‘Wilkins,’ I exclaimed to the young fellow who sat at the corner end of -the table, ‘you overheard that conversation, and your ears were sharp -enough to gather in every syllable of it. Were they not sharp enough, my -lad, to judge by the tone of my voice that I assented to the madman’s -humour merely to induce him to make for the near port of Rio, that I and -the lady might quickly get away from this vessel?’ - -The veal-faced fellow stirred uneasily to the many eyes which were -turned upon him; but he answered nevertheless with resolution and -emphasis: ‘You stipulated for tarms, specially for a share, and you -spoke as if you was in airnest.’ - -‘Mr. Lush,’ I cried, ‘I am a gentleman. Believe me, on my honour as one, -when I swear to you that I accepted the captain’s story as a madman’s -fabrication, and seemed to agree with him only that I might get away -from his ship the sooner.’ - -‘What was the dawcument you signed, sir?’ inquired one of the sailors. - -‘Ah, that’s it,’ cried another; ‘let’s see the hinstrument, as Mr. Lush -tarms it.’ - -I had them both in my pocket-book, intending to preserve them as -curiosities and as illustrations of my adventure with Miss Temple. I -could not refuse to produce them, nor would I stoop to a falsehood; but -I was sensible as I drew out the pocket-book, intently watched by the -seamen, that the mere circumstance of my carrying the papers about with -me as though I deemed them too precious to be laid aside in a drawer, -told heavily against the assurance I had made to the men. The carpenter -picked the documents up. - -‘Who can read here?’ said he, looking round. There was no reply. ‘Will -you recite ’em, sir?’ he continued, turning his surly eyes upon me. - -‘There’s Joe as can read,’ broke in a voice. - -‘Ay, call Joe,’ exclaimed another man. - -This signified that I was not to be trusted. They might suppose I would -invent instead of reading, and there was no man present able to spell a -word to disprove what I chose to deliver. The lee lid of the skylight -lay open. The carpenter roared through it for Joe Wetherly, who promptly -stepped below. - -‘What is it?’ he asked, looking round upon his mates. - -‘Here, Joe,’ said the carpenter, ‘you’re the one scholard aboard us. -Tarn to, will ‘ee, and let’s hear what’s wrote down upon these papers.’ - -The man glanced at me with an expression of sympathy and bashfulness. ‘I -hope there’s nothen private and agin your wish in this, sir? ‘he -exclaimed. ‘I’m for standin’ neutral in this here job.’ - -‘Pray read,’ said I. - -He did so, backing and filling in his postures in true sailor fashion as -he struggled through the writing, reciting the words slowly, with -considerable pauses between, which furnished his hearers with time to -digest what he delivered. He then put the papers down, but with an air -of astonishment, as I noticed with grief and anxiety, as if having been -before incredulous of the captain’s story, he was beginning to regard it -as a fact now in the face of such documentary evidence as he had read. - -‘All right, Joe; thank ye,’ said the carpenter gruffly; ‘you can go on -deck agin.’ The man went up the ladder slowly, as though lost in -thought. ‘Lads,’ exclaimed Lush, ‘ye’ll agree with me there’s no need -for further arguefication after what ye’ve just heard.’ - -‘The money’s right enough, and we’ll git it,’ said one of the men. - -‘Where’s the chart of the island as Wilkins said the captain talked -about?’ inquired the limber bold-faced young seaman with whom I had -spoken at the wheel when I found the barque off her course. - -All eyes were at once turned upon me. ‘You’ll find it in the drawer of -the table of the captain’s cabin,’ said I. - -The fellow coolly entered the berth, and presently returned with a -handful of papers. ‘Which’ll it be, sir?’ he exclaimed, placing them -before me. I picked up the parchment chart, and gave it to the -carpenter, who spread it out before him, and instantly all the men came -round to his chair, and stood in a heap of shouldering figures mowing -and mopping over his shoulders to catch a view, tossing the hair with -jerks of their heads out of their eyes, and breathing hard with -excitement. - -‘I suppose you’re capable of explaining the meaning of these here -marks?’ exclaimed the carpenter, pressing a shovel-shaped thumb upon the -outline of the island. - -‘You shall have the yarn as the captain gave it me,’ said I, speaking -with a throat dry with mortification and sickness at heart; for it was -only too certain now that my agreements with the captain coupled with -this chart had hardened the men’s conviction into an immovable -resolution. They listened with breathless interest as I told them that -the barb of the arrow indicated the situation of the buried money; that -the treasure lay hidden so many paces away from the wash of the water of -the lagoon; that the blot in the centre of the bight was meant to -express a coral pillar that served as a mark to obtain the bearings of -the gold by; and so on. I see their feverish eyes as I write coming and -going from my face to the chart, and the various expressions of -exultation, eager determination, amazement, and delight on the mob of -countenances over the carpenter’s shoulders. - -‘You now have what the captain explained to me,’ said I; ‘but he was a -madman, men; and I take God to witness that though this island may be -real, the money is the coinage of a diseased mind.’ - -‘Yet ye would not stir till you had made him agree to give you a share,’ -said the carpenter. ‘Boys, back to your places whilst I delivers the -resolution we have all of us made up our minds to.’ - -The sailors hurriedly resumed their seats. The carpenter gazed slowly -round, then addressed me with his eyes in the corner of their sockets -whilst his face pointed straight down the table. - -‘We’re here without a capt’n,’ he began, ‘and though this barque ain’t -ourn, we mean to use her. We don’t intend no act of piracy. When we’ve -got the gold, we’ll deliver up the ship and her cargo, which we shan’t -meddle with. We’re all of us working men, and the money in that there -island fairly distributed’ll make all hands of us independent for life. -There’s no more inwolved than the job of fetching it, and that’s to be -easily managed.’ The men nodded emphatically. ‘You’re a navigator, Mr. -Dugdale, and we can’t do without ye. There’s no good in talking of -shipping another man in your place, because, d’ ye see, that ‘ud oblige -us either to communicate with a passing vessel or to put into some port, -neither of which is to be hentertained, seeing the nature of the secret -which is ourn, and which we mean to keep ourn. We’re agreeable to -con-sider any tarms ye may think proper to propose. As has bin said, the -share ye name is the share ye’ll have. Ye shall be capt’n, and treated -as capt’n. You and the lady shall live in this here part of the ship -without mollystation, as the saying is; and ye’ll find us a perlite and -willing crew, who’ll stick to our side of the compact as _you_ stick to -yourn. The money ye’ll get by this job, gent as ye are, will repay both -you and the lady for loss o’ time and for work done. This here barque -knows how to sail, and neither me nor you’ll spare her; for we’re now in -a hurry and this voyage can’t end too quickly to please us all. Them’s -our tarms, which ye can put into writing if you please, and we’ll write -our marks agin it. There must be no communicating with ships; and _ye’ve -got to be honest_!’ He said this with a sudden frown, looking full at -me. ‘Is that your mind, men?’ - -There was a hurricane response of ‘Ay, ay! That’s right; that’s right.’ - -‘Give me a little while to consider,’ said I, observing that the -carpenter had come to an end. - -‘By when will we have your answer?’ he demanded. - -‘By noon.’ - -‘Agreed,’ he exclaimed. ‘Here’s your two documents. I’ll take charge of -this here chart.’ - -A few minutes later I was alone. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - I ASSENT - - -I sat as the sailors had left me at that table, lost in thought, bending -all the energies of my mind to full realisation of my situation, that my -judgment might soundly advise me. I daresay I remained thus for above -twenty minutes as motionless as ever was the dead figure that we had met -with in the deck-house of the wreck. Then slowly rising, I went to one -of the cabin windows and stood mechanically staring at the piebald sky -that would come with a sweep, as the vessel rolled to windward, to the -throbbing line of the frothing horizon; and thus I continued, still -thinking, weighing one consideration and then another, forming -resolutions which the next effort of thought rendered helplessly idle, -until I had arrived at a determination; when, starting from my deep and -painful reverie, I descended into the steerage and knocked on Miss -Temple’s cabin door. She immediately opened it. - -‘At last!’ she cried. ‘Oh, Mr. Dugdale, what have you to tell me now?’ - -‘Let us go to the cabin,’ I answered; ‘we shall be alone there. The -gloom of these quarters is horribly depressing.’ - -My manner caused her to regard me for a moment or two with a feverish -eagerness of scrutiny; she then mounted the steps, and I followed her. - -‘I wish I had news to give that might comfort you,’ said I, seating -myself at her side. ‘The men left me half an hour ago. I have been -thinking my hardest since, and will tell you now how matters stand, and -how I believe I must act.’ - -She breathed quickly, but said nothing. Her eyes devoured me, so -passionate was her curiosity and fear. - -‘The captain’s conversation with me,’ I began, ‘was, as you know, -overheard by the rogue Wilkins, who waits upon us. He must have -hearkened thirstily; not a syllable did he lose, and every sentence he -carried forward to the crew. They are fully convinced of the truth of -the crazy story; they are firmly persuaded that there are some two -hundred thousand pounds’ worth of golden coin buried in that South Sea -island; they were also made aware by that scoundrel listener that I had -insisted upon having an agreement signed and witnessed; which of course -confirmed them in their opinion that I myself believe in the captain’s -story up to the hilt. Their demand, then, is, that I should navigate the -ship to the island, that they may dig up the money hidden in it.’ - -She listened with silent horror. - -‘They laugh at my assurance that the captain was mad,’ I went on, ‘and -they see nothing in his suicide to cause them to doubt that his story is -absolutely true.’ - -‘And what did you tell them?’ - -‘That I must have time to think, and will give them an answer by noon.’ - -‘What _do_ you think?’ she demanded, searching my gaze with her proud -eyes. - -‘I see nothing for it but to undertake to sail the ship to the South -Pacific.’ - -‘Are you mad?’ she almost shrieked. ‘To the South Pacific! Did you not -say to them that you will insist upon their stopping the first ship that -passes, and putting you and me on board of her?’ - -‘They are not to be reasoned with,’ I answered gently; ‘the dream of -this gold has raised an appetite in them that might easily convert them -into wild beasts, if I refuse to help them to satisfy their hunger. They -will not suffer communication with any passing vessel; they will not -permit me to make for any port. Their proposal is that I shall be -captain, and have, with you, the exclusive use of this end of the ship, -and they promise me handsome usage. But underlying the terms they desire -me to agree to is a menace that I should be blind not to see. I must do -what they want, or what that villain Lush has contrived that they shall -want, or God alone knows what the issue may be for you as well as for -myself.’ - -She sat viewing me like one paralysed. - -‘My intention,’ I went on, ‘is to inform the carpenter at noon that I -assent to the wishes of the crew.’ - -She was about to speak; I held up my hand. - -‘I entreat you to let me have my way. Do not reason. You can offer no -remedy for this situation saving that of haughty demand, which, unless -you can back it, as a theory of escape, by a gang of men capable of -pistolling the fellows forward, will be of no more use to you or to me -than a feather to a drowning man. My resolution is, to consent to -navigate this vessel to that South Sea island. The island may be an -imaginary one; the crew’s disappointment may force us into a hunt; they -will then certainly believe that the captain’s story was the fancy of a -madman, and will ask me to carry them to some near port. This will be -the issue of the adventure, supposing it is all smooth sailing till -then. But what may happen meanwhile? A storm to cripple us, and force us -to seek assistance? The sea abounds in the unexpected. We must wait upon -fortune. Nothing shall tempt me to endeavour to force her hand by any -sort of demeanour that is not one of tact, good temper, and secret, -iron-hard resolution to snatch at the first chance that may come along. -Why, is not such a policy as this your due, Miss Temple? Compared to -what _might_ happen if I did not deal with these men as a combustible -not on any account whatever to be approached with matter that could give -fire to them, this existence, this unendurable existence which we are -now passing through might be looked back upon as a veritable paradise. I -am one to twelve, and you have no protector but me. Think of it! Bear -with my judgment then; help me by striving to witness wisdom in my -determination; and above all keep up your heart, which is an -Englishwoman’s, whose pulse should grow stronger as the road grows -darker.’ - -She had put her hands to her face, and so sat listening to me, slightly -rocking herself. Presently she looked up. - -‘I wish I had the spirit you ask me to show,’ she said in a low voice. -‘You may have resolved rightly—but this long alienation from home—the -misery of this existence—the peril we are in, which every day, which -every hour, seems to increase—oh, it is hard to bear! I will endeavour -to school myself—I will strive to see with your eyes’—she broke off with -a sob. - -‘All will come right,’ I exclaimed; ‘it is entirely a question of -waiting. Have you patience? Yes—and your patience will keep you hopeful. -Trust to me and to my judgment.’ - -I took her hand in both mine and pressed it. She did not offer to -withdraw it. Indeed, it seemed as though she found comfort in the clasp; -her hard expression of consternation softened, and her fine eyes took -the same air of appeal I had noticed in them when she went below to her -cabin. - -‘There is yet the chance,’ I said, ‘of my being able to persuade the -crew to transfer you to a passing ship. I might indeed,’ I went on, -warming up to the fancy, ‘insist upon this as a part of my agreement -with them.’ - -She slightly shook her head and her glance fell. - -‘How long will it take us to reach this island?’ she asked, keeping her -gaze bent down. - -‘Ten or twelve weeks, perhaps.’ - -She bit her lip to enable her to speak steadily, and said: ‘Supposing -there is no gold, what will be done?’ - -‘I cannot tell,’ I answered; ‘we may be quite certain that there is no -gold. It yet remains to be seen whether even the poor wretch’s island is -real.’ - -‘If there should be no island, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Well, as I just now said, the men will at first suppose me wrong in my -navigation, and oblige me to keep on hunting about for a bit. But such a -quest will not take long to tire them, and they will probably ask me to -carry them on to the coast.’ - -‘To what part?’ - -‘Valparaiso, probably. That will be a near port in those seas.’ - -‘At that rate,’ she exclaimed with an expression of impatience and -dismay, ‘we shall be sailing about for five or six months without the -least opportunity of my getting on shore, of my returning home, of my -being able to obtain a change of dress.’ - -‘Providing nothing happens. And even assuming that you are forced to see -this adventure out to the bitter end, the worst that befalls you is a -disagreeably long divorce from your home, together with such discomforts -as you should laugh at when you think of them side by side with the -tragedy that this ramble is easily to be worked into.’ - -However, spite of her little effort to look the difficulty in the face, -she seemed stunned. She would start sometimes whilst I talked to her, -and send a wild sweeping look round the cabin, as though she could not -realise her situation and sought to persuade herself that she was in a -dream. I was grieved for her beyond words, yet I would not exhibit too -much sympathy either, lest I should unduly accentuate the significance -of our condition, and make her suppose that I believed it darker and -more perilous than it really was. She had been buoyed up with a hope of -escaping into another ship, or of shortly landing at Rio, and sailing -home from there; and the disappointment coming on top of the perception -that our adventure, harsh and soul-subduing as it had already been in -some particulars, was only in reality just beginning, seemed to break -her down. I did my utmost to make light of the business: said that but -for my anxiety for her, I should enter upon the affair with positive -relish, accepting it as a wild romance of the sea, which could seldom -happen to a man in his life, and which he ought to live through and see -out, if only for the sake of the memory of a stirring picturesque -passage that at the longest would yet be brief. - -‘As to wearing-apparel,’ I said, ‘there are needles and thread forward, -and I don’t doubt that when you are put to it you will be able to -manage. And then, suppose this story of the captain’s should prove true! -suppose we should actually find buried in the spot he indicated a mass -of gold which, when equally divided amongst us, would yield every man -several thousands of pounds!’ - -She searched my face with her glowing eyes. ‘You do not believe this?’ -she cried. - -‘Certainly I do not,’ I answered. ‘I am only supposing.’ - -‘I wish I could read your heart; I wish I could be sure that your -determination to assent to the men’s wishes is not owing to sympathy -with their own ideas.’ - -I burst into a loud laugh. ‘Of how many sins do you think me capable?’ I -exclaimed. ‘How many enormous follies am I equal to? I believe you -already secretly regard me as a pirate. Oh, Miss Temple, no man could -ever feel ill-tempered in conversing with you, say what you will. But -you are a little trying, though, now and again. Why do you wish to read -my heart? You might discover sentiments which would render me detestable -to you.’ - -‘I do not understand you,’ she exclaimed, looking somewhat frightened. - -‘Admiration for you, in a person whom you dislike, would make you abhor -him.’ - -‘Mr. Dugdale, is this a time for such feeble small-talk as would -scarcely be endurable amidst safety and comfort? I should not be so -utterly unhappy as I am if I felt that my mother knew where I was, that -she was conscious of all that has happened to me, and that we should -meet again.’ - -‘It will all come right,’ said I, looking at my watch. ‘I must make -ready now for taking sights, and letting the carpenter know the -determination I have arrived at. Back me, Miss Temple, in my efforts by -the utmost exertion of your tact. And now, come on deck with me, will -you? There is life in the fresh and frothing scene outside, and you will -find courage in the mere sight of the wide horizon, with thoughts of -what lies behind it, and how time will work all things to your wishes.’ - -I entered the captain’s cabin to fetch a sextant, and then, with Miss -Temple, went on deck. Lush was marching up and down the weather side of -the poop. The sailors were sprawling about forward in whatever -shadowings of the canvas they could find, most of them smoking, their -faces red as powder-flags with the heat. Hot it was, with the sun -shining nearly over our mastheads, with a sting like to some fierce bite -in every flashing launch of his radiance betwixt the wool-white clouds -blowing transversely athwart his path, spite of the strong sweep of the -wind as it came splitting in long whistlings upon our rigging from a -little forward of the beam, the rush of it feeling almost damp to the -flesh to the view of the foaming waters melting into yeast out of the -long blue lines of the Atlantic surge. The barque, making a fair breeze -of it, was storming through the seas in noble style, shouldering off -vast masses of throbbing white from her weather bow with a wake twisting -away astern of her of twice her beam in width, a broad path of -glittering, leaping, blowing crystals and foam-flakes and creaming -eddies rising and falling for a mile astern into the windy blue there, -full of fire and snow as it looked with the spume of breaking waves and -the splendour of the darting sunlight. - -The carpenter came to a stand when I arrived. I went up to him at once, -Miss Temple at my side. - -‘I have thought the matter over,’ I said, ‘and accept the men’s terms.’ - -‘Glad to hear it,’ he answered, with a slow smile breaking sulkily -through his surly countenance. ‘If you care about a written -hundertaking’—— - -‘No,’ I interrupted contemptuously; ‘my agreement is based on yours. If -you do not hold piously to every article of it, I drop my part.’ - -He viewed me with his head slightly on one side, but without any -appearance of resentment at my peremptory tone. Coarse and unlettered as -the fellow was, he had discernment enough to witness what he would -regard as sincerity of purpose in my very outspokenness. - -‘All you’ve got to do,’ said he, ‘is to carry us to that there island. -You do your bit, and you’ll have no occasion to grumble at us for not -doing ourn. But—you’ll _do_ it. You onderstand me, Mr. Dugdale? So long -as you’re honest, you’ll find _us_ honest.’ - -The ugly significance he imparted to these words by the look that -accompanied them, I could not hope to express. Miss Temple, whose hand -was on my arm, shrank at my side. It pleased me that she should have -witnessed that look and heard the words, for they would go further to -persuade her that the only road to choose in this matter was the one I -had taken, than any amount of reasoning on my part. - -‘Your threats are perfectly indifferent to me,’ I exclaimed, eyeing him -coolly and fixedly. ‘I believe I know your character, and don’t question -your capacity to act up again to the part your captain told me you had -already played.’ - -‘What was that?’ he growled, but with no other change of face than such -as temper might produce. I seemed to find even in this little thing that -the captain had told me a lie when he charged the fellow with murder, -and my mind felt easier on a sudden as to a conviction of the truth of a -matter less dark than I had dared believe. - -‘That is my business,’ I responded, preserving my cool almost -contemptuous manner. ‘You need be at no pains to threaten me. You’ll -achieve nothing by your forecastle menaces. I have been a sailor in my -time and quite know what you and such as you are. If you or any of your -mates disappoint me in a single particular of the understanding between -us, I will throw this sextant,’ said I, flourishing it under his nose, -‘overboard, and you may grope your way round the Horn as best you can. -That agreement is this:’ I elevated my forefinger. ‘First we are to have -the exclusive use of this end of the ship; you alone coming aft to stand -your watch.’ He nodded. I erected another finger. ‘Next: the captain’s -cabin and the one adjoining are to be occupied by this lady and myself.’ -He nodded again. I raised a third finger, thrusting it close to his -face. ‘Next: Wilkins continues to wait upon us as heretofore; we are to -be fed with care and punctuality; it is distinctly to be understood—and -this _you_ will see to—that no liquor aboard is broached outside a tot -or two per man per day; for,’ said I, speaking with the most emphatic -deliberateness I could contrive, ‘if there should be a single exhibition -of drunkenness amongst the crew, I shall pitch this sextant overboard.’ - -‘I’ve got nothen to say agin that,’ he exclaimed, speaking with -something of sullen respect, as though impressed by my energy and -language. - -‘Next,’ I proceeded, ‘I am to be captain, and what I say must be law, -and what I do must be done.’ - -‘Saving this,’ said he, elevating two square fingers in imitation of my -gesture: ‘Fust, you ain’t going to order us to speak a ship, and next -you ain’t going to get us to obey ye if you should take it into your -head to steer for a port.’ - -‘No,’ I replied, ‘that is a part of my agreement. Yet there is this to -be said: it is mere idle cruelty to carry this young lady away round -Cape Horn into the Pacific. She is without any other wearing apparel -than what you see; she is destitute of almost every convenience; her -mother is in bad health, and she wishes to return as speedily as -possible, that no news about us may reach England that is not perfectly -true. The crew, therefore, will not object to speak a ship that we may -transfer this lady to her.’ - -‘No!’ he roared. - -‘Her going will render me easy in my mind as to her safety,’ I -continued, ‘and I shall be able to serve you the better by knowing that -she is on her way home.’ - -‘No!’ he roared again; ‘she’s quite safe aboard us. There must be no -speaking with ships. ‘Sides,’ he added, falling back a step with a round -flourish of his arm, ‘the lady knows all about the gold and where it is -and how it’s to be come at.’ - -‘I can keep a secret, Mr. Lush,’ she exclaimed. - -‘No,’ he repeated with a stamp of his foot; ‘sorry for it, lady, but -here ye are, and here ye must stop. I know what the crew ‘ud say. I’m -but expressing of their minds. Here ye stop, lady. Mr. Dugdale, that was -a part of the bargain, as we onderstood it this marning. Besides, lady,’ -he added with an indescribable leer, ‘ye wouldn’t care to be separated -from him _now_, would ‘ee?’ - -She moved so as to bring him between me and her. - -‘That will do, Mr. Lush,’ said I. ‘I am acquainted with your wishes, and -you know now my resolution;’ and so saying, I walked to a part of the -deck where I could command the sun, and went to work with my sextant, -talking to Miss Temple in a low voice as I ogled the luminary. - -‘You see now how it is? If I refused my assent to the crew’s wishes, -they might have sent me adrift in a boat—alone.’ I added significantly. - -‘He is a most dreadful creature. You spoke to him bravely. But is that -manner what you call tact?’ - -‘Yes. The man must not imagine that I am afraid of him. I would that I -could choke him with his own threats.’ - -‘I believe he would not shrink from murdering both of us.’ - -‘They have made up their minds to sail to the island, and they mean that -I shall carry them there. That resolve was strong in them when they -entered the cabin. If I had refused—— But no matter! It may yet come to -my being able to induce them to speak a ship.’ - -She made no response. There was a short silence between us. - -‘Make eight bells!’ I shouted, and the chimes floated sharp upon the -rushing wind as I walked aft to the companion, Miss Temple always at my -side. - -I went straight to the captain’s cabin, and there worked out my -observation, and fixed the correct position of the barque on the chart. -The course she was steering happened to be the true direction she needed -to take, and there was nothing to mend in that way. Miss Temple came to -the table and watched me as I made my calculations. When I had come to -an end, I asked her to remain where she was, and returned with the chart -on deck. I beckoned to the carpenter, who was standing at the break of -the poop, as though waiting for me to arrive that he might go forward to -his dinner. - -‘Here’s our situation to-day,’ I exclaimed pointing to the chart—it was -a tract-chart of the world—‘and here’s Cape Horn. Our course then is as -we’re steering.’ - -He stared at the chart with the blind and stupid look of a man who -cannot read, and after a bit said: ‘Let’s see: here’s south, and here’s -west, ain’t it? And here’s Cape Horn, as you say. Ay, our course is -about right for it, I allow.’ - -Whilst I rolled the chart up, I exclaimed: ‘It is inconvenient to be -without a stand-by for a third relief. You and I both want to dine at -once, and there is nobody to keep a lookout in the place of one of us. -The man who had charge this morning whilst we were below appeared to be -a very respectable steady sailor. Suppose now, calling me captain, and -you chief officer, we appoint him, with the sanction of the crew of -course, second mate.’ - -‘I dunno as I should do that,’ he answered; ‘best not have too many -masters aboard. _I’m_ no chief officer, and there’ll be no convartin’ of -Joe Wetherly into a second mate. We’re all jest _men_. But I tell ‘ee -what; if the crew’s willing, Joe might be selected to relieve you or me -whensoever it comes about as the pair of us wants to be below at the -same time, as now.’ - -‘Very well,’ I exclaimed, in the sort of peremptory yet half-careless -way which I had made up my mind to employ when speaking to this man; -‘work it out in your own fashion. You can send him aft to relieve me -when he’s done dinner. I shall feel obliged by your seeing that Wilkins -turns to and prepares the table for us at once.’ - -I was about to leave him, when he exclaimed: ‘One question, Mr. Dugdale. -Nothen was said between us men and you as to the share ye expect.’ - -‘Never mind about that now,’ I answered. - -‘The agreement betwixt you and the captain was for a third, I think,’ -said he; ‘you won’t expect that, now there’s a dozen of us in the -consarn?’ - -‘Oh no, oh no! Send Joe Wetherly aft as soon as he’s done.’ - -‘It’s onderstood,’ said he, ‘that the lady won’t take no share?’ - -‘Yes, you may understand that,’ I exclaimed. ‘As for my portion,’ I -continued, anxious to get rid of him, ‘give me what you think I shall -have fairly earned, and you’ll satisfy me.’ - -‘Right!’ he exclaimed with alacrity, seeking clumsily to conceal an -emotion of sulky exultation. ‘Just another word, Mr. Dugdale. What sort -of character might that ha’ been which the captain gave me?’ - -‘Oh, damn it! go and send Joe Wetherly aft,’ I cried, feigning a fit of -temper; and I marched away to the binnacle, leaving him to trudge -forward. - -A few minutes later, on looking through the skylight, I perceived -Wilkins preparing the table. Presently, Wetherly arrived on the poop. I -went forward to meet him, that I might be out of ear-shot of the fellow -at the wheel, and at once said: ‘Wetherly, how is it with you in this -truly infernal business?’ - -‘Truly infarnal it is, sir,’ he instantly replied; ‘but you’ve got the -most raw-headed lot of men to deal with that ever slung hammocks in a -ship’s forecastle. After they went forward last night, they fell -a-debating, all hands of them, and settled for this ship to fetch away -that there gold, you commanding. I was agin it till I see how hot they -talked, and then I thinks says I to myself, what do it sinnify? Whether -I’m bound away to the Isle o’ France or to a loonatic’s island in the -South Pacific, is all the same. If there’s money there, so much the -better. If there ain’t, it can’t be helped. One agin ten’s not going to -do much aboard a ship; so, when I was asked for an opinion, I just says, -I’m neutral, lads. Do as ye like. I’ll be with ye; but never none of ye -go and ask if I’m _of_ ye.’ - -‘You don’t surely believe in Captain Braine’s crazy fancy?’ - -‘Well, I own, Mr. Dugdale, that that there agreement ’twixt you and him -a bit nonplushed me this mornin’ after I had read it out. It did look -oncommonly like as though you yourself genu-inely believed in the yarn.’ - -He viewed me critically, though respectfully, as he spoke, with his mere -pins’-heads of eyes. - -‘Oh, man, I agreed—I pretended to fully credit—wholly with the idea of -coaxing the madman to Rio, where the lady and myself would have left the -barque. Can’t you see _that_, Wetherly?’ - -‘Why, yes,’ he answered quickly, though speaking, nevertheless, as -though his mind was not quite made up. ‘It’s a bad job for you and the -lady, sir. The men are terribly in airnest. They’ll allow no speaking -with ships, for fear of your blowing the gaff, as the saying goes. I may -tell you you’ve acted wisely in falling in with their wishes. I may be -more open by and by. I’m with you and the lady, sir; but I’ve got to be -very careful.’ - -‘I thank you sincerely.’ - -I saw him restlessly glance aft at the helmsman, and took the hint. His -goodwill was of the utmost importance to me, and it would not do to -imperil my relations with him by any sort of behaviour that might excite -the suspicions of the crew as to our intimacy. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - MY CAPTAINCY - - -I am arrived now at a passage of this singular adventure that will admit -only of brief indications of certain features of it. To write down all -the incidents of the time which followed could but run me into several -volumes of very insipid matter. I own that when I look back upon this -experience, it offers itself as something so amazing, something so -beside the most astonishing romantic incidents of sea-life which my -memory carries, that, though I was the chief actor in it, I often at -this hour find myself pausing as in doubt of the actuality of the events -I have related and have yet to narrate. - -Sometimes I wonder whether I might not have brought this kidnapping -business—for thus it may fairly be called so far as Miss Temple and I -were concerned—to a speedy end by peremptory refusal to navigate the -ship to Captain Braine’s island. But I have only to close my eyes and -recall the faces and recollect the behaviour of the men who formed that -barque’s crew, to know better; I have only to repeople that now timeworn -canvas with the countenances of those seamen, to witness afresh the -looks and bearing of the carpenter, to recollect my defencelessness, the -helplessness of my companion, whose life and whose more than life were -absolutely dependent upon my judgment; to think of the wild greed raised -in the men by their dream of thousands, their resolution to get the -money, the sense of lawlessness that would increase upon them with the -growing perception of their irresponsibility as a crew deprived of their -officers by no crime of their own: I have only to recall all this along -with my own thoughts and fears and bitter nerve-sapping anxieties, to -understand that the course I adopted was the only practicable one open -to me, and that what I did no other man situated as I then was but must -have also done. But enough of this. - -That afternoon, when the carpenter relieved me at four o’clock, I went -below and superintended the preparation of the two cabins at the -extremity of the cuddy for our reception. The berth adjoining the -captain’s was a fresh, bright, airy little apartment, and every -convenience that Braine’s cabin yielded was put into it for Miss -Temple’s use. This change of apartment seemed to tranquillise her a bit. -Such was her dislike and fear of our steerage quarters, that I believe -she would have thought the deck-house of the wreck endurable compared to -them. Instead of a little ‘tweendeck shrouded in gloom and lumbered with -cargo, we had the whole breezy, sun-lit cuddy before us when we opened -our doors. The berths were also well lighted, with something of taste in -their equipment of panel, bulkhead mouldings, and the like. I was very -careful to bring up Mr. Chicken’s pistol and ammunition, and when I was -alone with Miss Temple, I said: ‘You are not afraid to handle a firearm, -I think?’ - -‘Oh dear, no.’ - -‘You shot very well, I remember, with Mr. Colledge at a bottle. Who hit -the bottle?’ - -‘I did.’ - -‘So I might have thought by your manner of aiming at it. Your figure -showed nobly, Miss Temple, in your posture as markswoman. I remember the -sparkle of your eyes as you glanced along the barrel. I should not have -cared to be hated by you and in front of you at that moment.’ - -‘I wish I had the courage you feign I have,’ said she. - -‘Well,’ I exclaimed, pulling the captain’s pistol out of my breast, -‘here is a friend that will do more than bark for you, if you should -find yourself in want of such help as it can give. I have a -double-barrelled concern of a like build in the next room, so that -between us we are able to muster three muzzles; artillery enough to fit -us to stand a siege, I can assure you, with the ammunition we possess.’ - -She took the clumsy weapon in her small delicate white hand and toyed -with it, levelling and examining it, and so forth. I bade her mind, as -it was loaded. She smiled, and going to her bunk, hid the pistol between -the mattress and the bulkhead. - -‘I shall certainly feel easier for having it,’ said she. ‘You will not -always now be next door, Mr. Dugdale. You will be for four hours at a -time on deck, when you keep your watch.’ - -‘Ay,’ said I; ‘but there is a skylight; and I’ll take care that the -cabin lamp be kept burning; and I have a keen ear, too, that when I am -away from you will not be blunted by my thoughts always being here.’ - -My own cabin I found comfortable enough. I was not so choice as to be -above using what I found in it. The unhappy captain had left behind him -sufficient clothes to provide me with several changes; and a couple of -his coats fitted me very well—being made, I suppose, to allow for a -sailor’s underclothing in cold weather—though I was much broader in the -shoulders than he had been. I overhauled his papers, but found nothing -of interest. What I met with I carefully put away in a drawer along with -some money, and one or two objects of some small value, for I remembered -that the unfortunate creature had left a widow behind him, who might be -thankful for his poor effects, should the little ship ever live to carry -his goods and his tragic story to a civilised place. - -Wilkins waited upon us with punctuality and civility. He would ask me -what I wished for breakfast and dinner and supper, bringing little -suggestions from the cook as to sea-pies and ship-board hashes and -currant dumplings and other heavy dishes, for the due digestion of which -a man needs to have bowels of brass and the triple rows of the shark’s -fangs. Indeed, the _Lady Blanche’s_ larder was a poor one, and the -genius of the first cook in the world must have come to a halt in the -face of such a Mother Hubbard of a cupboard. Aft, there was little more -to eat than the forecastle stores: salt beef and salt pork, peas, -currants for duff days, biscuit, coffee and tea, and a few other items. -However, the dead captain had laid in a good stock of bottled beer. -There were also a few gallons of brandy and gin, both of them a very -good spirit; and the forecastle stores, supplemented by cheese and hams -and some tins of preserved stuff bearing the name of soup and -bouilli—pronounced by sailors soup and bully, or soap and -bullion—supplied us with dishes enough to enable us to support life and -even health, helped out as they were by occasional little relishes from -the cook, feeble attempts indeed, and briny to a degree, yet in their -way welcome to people who were as good as beggars in food, and without -choice. - -Lush faithfully kept to his end of the ship. He never offered to enter -the cabin except to my invitation, when perhaps I would have something -in navigation to tell him about. He seemed anxious to keep us at a -distance, and picked up the ship’s routine, when his watch came round, -as I let it fall, with an air of morose reserve. I made several efforts -with an assumption of cheerfulness and heartiness of manner to break -through his sullenness, with the dream of finding something like a human -being of sensibilities behind it, whom I should be able to influence -into getting the crew to consent to speak a passing ship, that Miss -Temple might be transferred to her; but he was like a hedgehog; his -quills regularly rose to my least approach. He would watch me with a -sulky, cursing expression in his eye, or view me with a sour, askant -regard, and to my civillest speech respond in some ragged, scurvy -sentence. - -But I did not play an obliging part with him very long. Having come to -the conclusion that he was a ruffian of immovable qualities, I recurred -to my earlier behaviour, addressed him only to give him instructions in -a peremptory manner, or to point out the ship’s place on the chart; so, -as you will suppose, very little passed between us; yet my putting on -the airs of a captain and treating him as the mere forecastle hand which -he claimed to be, influenced his bearing, and rendered him even -respectful. - -Nevertheless, I knew that he and his mates never had their eyes off me, -so to speak; that, having learnt the course to Cape Horn was so-and-so, -the compass was watched with restless assiduity, every man as he was -relieved at the wheel reporting the direction of the ship’s head to his -companions forward, and how she had been steering during his trick; that -my behaviour on deck was critically followed by eyes in the fore-part of -the ship; that I could never give an order to trim sail during my watch -but that it was duly reported to Lush, and weighed and considered by the -crew in the frequent councils they held in the caboose. All this I was -secretly informed of by Wetherly. - -Yet I had nothing to complain of in the behaviour of the men. They -sprang to my bidding, and their ‘Ay, ay, sirs,’ and responses to my -orders had as lively and hearty a ring as anyone could hope to hear in -the mouth of a crew. They sang out briskly when they pulled and hauled, -with enjoyment of the sound of their own voices, and a marked -willingness in their demeanour to contribute their utmost to the -navigation of the vessel. This, indeed, was to be expected. It was -rather a Jack’s jaunt now with them, than a voyage; they were sailing, -as they believed, to an island full of gold; their fortunes were -assured; they gazed into a future radiant with visions of dancing, -drinking, marine jinks of all sorts; they knew that the fulfilment of -their fine lookout must depend upon their willingness to work the ship -now, so that everything they did they did without a growl; without the -least hint of the mutinous disposition that would have shown strong and -deadly in them, had their wishes been delayed or obstructed. - -But outside the actual, essential routine of the ship, nothing was done. -The decks were washed down at very long intervals only; there was no -sail-making or repairing; the spunyarn winch was mute; the chafing gear -was left to rot off as it would; the carpenter indeed saw to the -rigging, took care that everything should be sound, for neither he nor -his mates had a mind to lose a mast. But there was very little of -sweeping or polishing, of swabbing or cleaning. - -The rum was kept down in the steerage; every day Wilkins drew as much as -sufficed to furnish the men with two glasses apiece. After drawing the -stuff, he regularly presented himself with it to Lush or me, according -as the one or the other of us was on deck, that it might be seen he had -drawn the allowance only. The men seemed fully satisfied. There was -never any demand for more grog than what was given to them, and I do not -recall a single instance of intoxication: which I attributed to my -determined and oft-repeated declaration that should there be any -exhibition of drunkenness on board the barque, I would abandon my -undertaking, and leave the carpenter to navigate her. Dread of the -consequences of drink amongst a mob of such ungoverned men as those -fellows, rendered me extraordinarily impressive and emphatic in this -threat; and I knew that the carpenter was convinced in his own mind that -I would prove as good as my word. Indeed, I had only to look at Miss -Temple to shrink from the mere thought of drunkenness amongst the -sailors. All other risks that might attend a drinking bout forward were -as naught compared to the peril _she_ would stand in. The least insult -offered her I should resent with the muzzle of my pistol: and if it ever -came to _that_, then God alone could foresee the character of the -tragedy that must follow. - -But, as I have said, they showed themselves satisfied with their two -glasses a day. The sense of festivity never carried them further than an -occasional dance on the forecastle head of a fine dog watch, when they -would diversify their caper-cutting with songs and yarns—all as harmless -as child’s play, so unsuggestive of the errand that we were upon, so -dumb as indications of the smouldering fires which were to be blown into -a blaze by want of judgment on my part, that any one viewing us from the -deck of a ship close at hand would have supposed the _Lady Blanche_ the -very peacefullest of traders, worked by the happiest and most liberally -paid of crews, and bound on a voyage that was scarcely more than one of -pleasure from port to port. - -I was as eager as any man aboard to make an end of the voyage—to arrive, -at all events, in the South Sea, where, let the problem of the island -prove what it might, we should have come to the end of our expectations, -and be able to see our way to the near future, that might signify a -return home for me and Miss Temple; and, consequently, I never spared -the barque’s canvas, but, on the contrary, would hold on every rag to -the very last, leaving the white clipper hull to sweep through it at the -pace of a comet. The carpenter used the little ship in the same way, and -between us both, our runs in the twenty-four hours would again and again -rise to figures that might have been deemed almost miraculous in those -days of round bows and kettle bottoms, of apple sides, and a beam but a -third less than the length. To be sure, when I was at sea -professionally, I was never in a position to give an order, nor were the -midshipmen, of whom I was one, regarded as much better than inconvenient -ornaments, though we were well grounded in navigation; yet this command -that had been forced upon me caused me no uneasiness; I would find -myself walking the weather side of the poop as though I had been master -of a ship for years; I knew, or thought I knew, exactly what to do, and -the men sprang to my orders, and the little ship could not have been -managed better had she been handsomely officered by men grown grey in -the profession, instead of commanded by a young fellow who had only -passed two years at sea a long while earlier, whose chief mate was a -surly and sinister old rascal, so illiterate as to be unable to read his -own name when written by another, and as incapable of handling a sextant -as of expressing himself in correct English. - -It came into my head once that we might run short of fresh water before -we should arrive at that spot on the chart where the captain’s gold was -supposed to be buried, and I earnestly hoped that this might happen, -since a threat of thirst must infallibly drive us for help to the first -port we could manage to reach. I asked the carpenter if he knew what -stock of water there was aboard. He said no, but promised to find out, -and later in the day came to tell me that there were so many casks, -making in all so many gallons—I cannot recollect the figures. To satisfy -myself, I went into the hold with him, and discovered that he was right, -and then entered into a calculation, which, to my secret mortification -and disappointment, expressed a sufficient quantity of water aboard to -last all hands of us at a liberal supply per diem for at least six -months. - -Now that I had assured myself as to the posture of the crew, and was -profoundly satisfied in my own mind that their consuming eagerness to -arrive at the island would guarantee a uniformly proper behaviour in -them, unless they addressed themselves to the rum casks, or unless I -gave them cause to turn upon me, I had no misgiving in suffering Miss -Temple to be seen by them. She was therefore constantly with me on deck -when my lookout came round, and all the hours I could spare from sleep I -dedicated to her society; so that it would be impossible to imagine any -young unmarried couple passing the time in an association more intimate -and incessant. At the beginning of this run to the South Pacific she -showed a spirit that afterwards temporarily failed her. It was two days -after I had consented to navigate the vessel that I observed a certain -air of determination in her, as though she had been earnestly -contemplating our situation, and had formed her resolution to encounter -what might come with courage and patience. Then, after awhile, her pluck -seemed to fail her again; I would find her sitting motionless in the -cabin with her eyes fixed on the deck, and an expression of misery in -her face, as though her heart were broken. I could not induce her to -eat; though, God knows, there was little or nothing to tempt her with. -She could not sleep, she told me; and the glow faded out of her deep and -beautiful eyes. Pale she always was, but now her face took a character -of haggardness, which her whiteness, that was a loveliness in her when -in health, accentuated to a degree that was presently shocking to me. -When on deck, she would take my arm and walk listlessly, almost -lifelessly, by my side, briefly replying to me in low tones, which -trembled with excess of grief. - -Secretly loving her as I did, though not as yet had a syllable, nay, as -I believe, had a look of my passion escaped me, I began to dread the -influence of her misery upon my behaviour to the men. She was a constant -appeal to me, so to speak, to call the fellows aft, and tell them that -the girl was pining her heart away, that she must be put ashore or -conveyed aboard another ship this side Cape Horn, though it came to our -backing our maintopsail to wait for one, or that I would throw up my -command of the vessel and refuse to sail her another mile. I say I lived -in mortal fear of my being forced into this by sentiment and sympathy; -for I was advised by every secret instinct, by every glance I levelled -at the crew, by every look I directed at the carpenter, that the certain -issue of such a resolution as that must involve my life! - -I do not exaggerate in this; the nimbleness and sleekness of the crew -were the qualities of the tiger; the ferocity of the wild beast was in -them too, and for the girl’s sake I recoiled in terror from the mere -fancy of arousing their passions. How they might serve me if I showed -myself stubborn in proposals which they declined to accept, I could not -foresee; they might send me adrift in a boat; they might more mercifully -knock me over the head in the dark, and toss what their weapons left of -me overboard. I was unalterably convinced, at all events, that if I -ceased to be of use to them, then, as the possessor of the secret of the -island, I should be made away with. But Miss Temple they would keep with -them! Of that I had no shadow of a doubt either; and hence I say I was -in terror lest the spectacle of her misery should impel me to some act -that, even whilst it was doing, my reason would pronounce madness. - -I said everything I could imagine that I thought might reassure her, and -one afternoon spent two hours in earnest talk with her. I told her that -her grief was influencing me, and that it might come to my not being -able to control myself in my relations with the crew; and I went on to -point out what must follow if I suffered my sorrow for her to betray me -into any other attitude towards the men than that I now wore. I had -never been very candid in this way with her before, not choosing to -excite her alarm and distress, and now I succeeded in thoroughly -frightening her. It was enough that I should indicate the probability of -her being left alone among the crew to fill her with horror. I need not -give you the substance of my talk with her. So much remains to be told -that I can only refer to it. But it achieved the end I had hoped to -witness. - -When next day came, I found some spirit in her voice and manner. Whilst -we sat at breakfast alone, as we invariably were whether in the cuddy or -on deck, she exclaimed, viewing me with an earnestness which there was -nothing in the faint smile that accompanied it to diminish: - -‘I have taken your lecture to heart, Mr. Dugdale, and I mean to reform. -I have shown myself a sad coward; but you shall have no further reason -to complain of me for that. I am ashamed of myself. I wonder that I have -confidence enough to look at you when I compare my behaviour with yours. -You have thought only of me, and I have thought only of myself; and that -is the difference between us.’ - -‘It puts a new pulse into my heart to hear you talk so,’ said I. ‘I want -to conduct you home to your mother’s side out of this wild adventure, -with the same beauty and health that you brought away from England with -you. It grieved me to the soul to see you refusing food, to watch your -face growing hollow, to hear of your sleepless nights, and to witness in -your eyes the misery that was consuming you. Pray keep this steadfastly -in mind—that every day shortens our run to the South Pacific, and that -every day this horrible experience is lessened by twenty-four hours. -Whether there be gold in the island or not, whether the island have -existence or not, the crew must still be dependent upon me to carry them -to a port, and the port that is good for them will be good for us; for -it will be strange if from it we are unable to proceed straight home. -All along I have said it is but a question of patience and waiting, and -God alone can tell how grateful I shall be to you if you will enable me -to play the part that I know _must_ be played if our safety is to be -worth a rushlight.’ - -From this time she showed herself a thoroughly resolved woman. She -ceased to tease me with regrets, to distress me with inquiries which I -could not answer, to imply by her silence or her sighs or looks of -reproach that I had it in my power by some other sort of policy than -what I was pursuing, to get her safely away out of the barque. With this -new mind in her came a subtle but appreciable change in her manner -towards me. Heretofore her behaviour had been uniformly haunted by some -small flavour more or less defined of her treatment of me, and indeed of -all others, saving Mr. Colledge, aboard the Indiaman. She had suggested, -though perhaps without intending it, a sort of condescension in our -quiet hours, with a deal of haughtiness and almost contemptuous command -in moments when she was wrought up by alarm and despair. I now found a -kind of yielding in her, a compliance, a complaisance that was almost -tender, a subdued form of expression, no matter what the mood might be -which our conversation happened to excite in her. At times I would -observe her watching me with an expression of sweetness in her fine -eyes, though these sudden discoveries never betrayed her into the least -air of confusion or embarrassment upon which I might found a hope that I -was slowly making my way to her heart. - -However, I consoled myself by thinking that our situation hung in too -black a shadow over her mind to enable her to guess at what might be -going on in it. Besides, never a word had I let fall that she could -construe into a revelation of my passion for her. Had I loved her a -thousandfold more than I did, my honour must have held my emotions dumb. -It was not only that my pride determined me to keep silent until I might -have good reason to believe that my love would not be declined by this -high and mighty young lady of the _Countess Ida_, with hidden wonder at -my impertinence in offering it; I also was sensible that I should be -acting the meanest part in the world to let her guess my feelings—by my -language, at least; my face I might not be always able to control—whilst -she continued in this miserable condition, utterly dependent upon me for -protection, and too helpless to avow any resentment, which she would be -desperately quick to express and let me feel under other circumstances. - -We should be entering the bitter climate of the Horn presently, and she -was without warm apparel. Her dress, as you know, was the light tropical -costume in which she had attired herself to visit the corvette. What was -to be done? - -‘You cannot face the weather of the Horn in that garb,’ said I on one -occasion, lightly glancing at her dress, to which her noble and -faultless figure communicated a grace that the wear and tear and soiling -of the many days she had worn it could not rob it of. ‘Needs must, you -know, when Old Nick drives. There is but one expedient; I hope you will -not make a grimace at it.’ - -‘Tell it to me?’ - -‘There is a good, warm, long pilot coat in my cabin. I will borrow -needles and thread, and you must go to work to make it fit you.’ - -She laughed with a slight blush. ‘I fear I shall not be able to manage -it.’ - -‘Try. If you fail, fifty to one but that there is some man forward who -will contrive it for you. Most sailors can sew and cut out after a -fashion. But I would rather you should try your hand at it alone. If I -employ a fellow forward he will have to come aft and measure you, and so -on; all of which I don’t want.’ - -‘Nor I,’ she cried eagerly. ‘I will try the coat on now, Mr. Dugdale. I -daresay I shall be able to fashion it into some sort of jacket,’ she -added with another laugh that trembled with a sigh. - -I procured the coat, and helped her to put it on. It had been built for -an overcoat, and designed to wrap up more than the narrow shoulders for -which it had been fashioned, and it buttoned easily over the girl’s -swelling figure. - -‘Come, we shan’t want a tailor after all,’ said I, backing a step to -admire her in this new, queer apparel. - -‘It will keep me warm,’ said she, turning about to take a view of -herself. - -‘And now,’ said I, ‘for a hat. That elegant straw of yours will not do -for Cape Horn.’ - -I overhauled the captain’s wardrobe, and unearthed three hats of -different kinds—one of them a wideawake; another, a cap of some kind of -skin, very good to keep a night-watch in in dirty weather; and the -third, an old-fashioned tarpaulin glazed hat—the sire of the sou’-wester -of our own times, though, to be sure, sou’-wester caps, as they were -called, were in use at the beginning of the century. This example of -head-gear I returned to the locker in which I had found it, but the -other two Miss Temple thought she could make serviceable. She tried them -on, stealing glances almost coquettish at me as she peered at herself in -the looking-glass which I brought from her cabin. - -There had been a time when nothing, I am persuaded, could have induced -her to touch those hats. She would have shrunk from them with the -aversion and disgust she had exhibited at Captain Braine’s suggestions -about the furnishing of her cabin in the steerage. Assuredly, old ocean -was working a mighty change in her character. Life real, stern, -uncompromising, was busy with her; and just as Byron says of his -shipwrecked people, that the mothers of them would not have known their -own sons, so was I assured of my shipmate Louise that if it pleased God -we should escape from the perils of this adventure, she would emerge a -changed woman in every characteristic that had been displeasing in her -before. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI - I CONVERSE WITH WETHERLY - - -Not to dwell too long on a detail of insignificance, it will suffice to -say that by dint of rummaging the wardrobes of Captain Braine and Mr. -Chicken I obtained several useful articles, and Miss Temple went to work -to convert them into wearing-apparel for herself, with the help of a -pair of scissors which I borrowed from the carpenter, and needles and -thread procured from amongst the men by Wetherly. The occupation was -useful to her in other ways; it killed the tedious, the insufferably -tedious time, and it gave her something to think of, and even something -to look forward to, so blank had been the hours. - -I remember coming out of my cabin after a spell of sleep to take sights -shortly before noon, and finding her seated at the table with some -flannel or fine blanket stuff before her, at which she was -stitching—ripped up and violated vestments of either Braine or Chicken, -but brand-new, or she would scarcely have meddled with them. She -received me with a smile and a few words, and then went on sewing with -an air as of gratification in her that I should have found her at work. - -I halted, and stood looking on, feigning to watch her busy fingers, -whilst in reality I gazed at her face with a lover’s delight. It was -hard to believe that what was passing was something more than a dream, -astonishingly vivid and logical. Again and again, when in the company of -this girl, a sense of the unreality of our association had possessed me -to such a degree at times that had the feeling continued, I might -honestly have feared for my head. But never before this moment had that -sense been so strong upon me. I forgot her beauty in my wonder. It was -sheer bewilderment to recall her as she was on board the Indiaman; her -haughtiness, her disdain, her contemptuous insensibility to all -presences save that of my Lord Sandown’s son, the cold glance of -scornful surprise that would instantly cause me to avert mine—to recall -this and how much more? and behold her now pensively bending her lovely -head and face of high-bred charms over that sordid need of rough -sailor’s clothes, occasionally stealing a peep at me of mingled -sweetness and a sort of wistful amusement, as though she grieved while -she smiled at the necessity that had brought her to such a pass. Yet -there was no repining; if she sighed, it was under her breath; forced as -her light air of cheerfulness might be, it proved a growing resolution -of spirit, a development of heroic forces, latent in her till recently. - -Secretly, however, I was worried by keen anxiety. What was to be the -issue of this voyage? I merely feigned a manner of confidence when -talking with her about the result of this amazing ramble, as I chose to -figure it. In reality, I could not think of the time when we should have -arrived upon the spot where the dead captain had declared his island to -be without dread. Suppose there were no island! What next step would the -men take? The disappointment that must follow their long dream of gold -might determine them upon plundering the barque—put them upon some wild -scheme of converting her and her cargo into money. Or suppose—though I -never seriously considered the matter thus—suppose, I would ask myself, -that the island proved real, that the treasure proved real, that the men -should dig and actually find the gold! What then? Was I to conceive that -a body of ignorant, reckless, lawless sailors, led by a man who was at -heart the completest imaginable copy of a sea-villain, would peaceably -divide the treasure amongst them, pay me over my share—which, God knows, -I should have been willing to attach to Mr. Lush’s feet on condition of -the others throwing him overboard—and suffer me to quietly navigate the -barque to an adjacent port, conscious that I owed them a bitter grudge -for the outrage they had committed in forcing me and the lady to -accompany them? - -At long intervals I would exchange a few sentences with Joe Wetherly. -Unfortunately, he was in the carpenter’s watch, and my opportunities, -therefore, for speaking with him were few. It was only now and again, -when he was required to keep a lookout for Lush or myself, that I -contrived to gather what was going forward amongst the men by engaging -him in a brief chat before he quitted the poop. I was so sensible of -being keenly observed by all hands, that I was obliged to exercise the -utmost caution in speaking to this man. On the poop there was always the -fellow at the helm to observe me; and the quarter-deck was within the -easy reach of men stirring about the galley, or leaving or entering the -forecastle. - -However, it happened one dog-watch that Wetherly came aft instead of the -carpenter to relieve me. Mr. Lush, he told me, felt unwell, and had -asked him to stand his watch from eight to twelve. It was a clear night, -but dark, the south-east trade-wind strong off the port beam, and the -weather dry and cold, with a frosty glitter in the trembling of the -stars which enriched the heavens with such a multitude of white and -green lights that the firmament seemed to hover over our mastheads like -some vast sheet of black velvet gloriously spangled with brilliants and -emeralds and dust of diamonds and tender miracles of delicate prisms. - -Miss Temple had left me some twenty minutes or so, and was now in the -cabin, seated at the table under the lamp, with a pencil in her hand, -with which she drew outlines upon a sheet of paper with an air of -profound absent-mindedness. She wore over her dress a knitted waistcoat -that had belonged to the captain; it stretched to her figure, and it was -already a need even in the day-time with the sun shining brightly, for -we were penetrating well to the southwards, and every score of miles -which the nimble keel of the barque could measure made a sensible -difference in the temperature of even the shelter in the cabin. It was -too dark to distinguish Wetherly until he was close. On hearing that he -was to keep the deck until twelve, I determined to have a long chat with -him, to get with some thoroughness at his views, which, to a certain -extent, I had found a bit puzzling, and to gather what information I -could from him touching the behaviour I might expect in the crew if -there should be no gold, or, which was the same, no island. - -The fellow who had come to the wheel at eight bells was Forrest, the -supple, piratic-looking young sailor, whose walk, as he rolled along the -lee-deck, his figure swinging against the stars over the rail, had told -me who he was without need of my going to the binnacle to make sure. -Whilst Wetherly talked about the carpenter feeling unwell, I drew him -aft, that we might be within earshot of Forrest, and said, as I turned -to the companion hatch: ‘I’ll bring my pipe on deck, Wetherly, for a -smoke after I’ve had a bite below. I wish to keep an eye upon the -weather till two bells. Those green stars to wind’ard may signify more -than a mere atmospheric effect.’ - -‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered in a voice that made me see that he took my -words in their most literal meaning. - -I remained below until half-past eight, talking with Miss Temple, eating -a little supper, and so on. I then fetched my pipe, and told her that I -should be down again at nine, and that I did not ask her to accompany -me, as I wished to have a talk with Wetherly. She fixed her dark eyes -upon me with an expression of inquiry, but asked no questions. There had -been a time when she would have opened the full battery of her alarm and -anxiety upon me, but silence was now become a habit with her. It was her -confession of faith in my judgment, an admission that she expected no -other information than such as I chose to give her. I cannot express how -this new behaviour was emphasised by the eloquence of her beauty, in -which I could witness the curiosity and the apprehension which she had -disciplined her tongue to suppress. - -I left her, and went on deck. I first walked to the binnacle, into which -I peered, and then in the sheen of it gazed very earnestly to windward -and around, as though I was a little uneasy. The floating figure of -Forrest swayed at the wheel, and I observed that he cast several glances -to windward also. Muttering to myself, as though thinking aloud, ‘Those -green stars show uncommonly bright!’ I went abruptly to the break of the -poop, where the dark form of Wetherly was pacing, as though my mind were -full of the weather. - -‘What’s wrong with them stars, sir, d’ye think?’ said he. - -‘Oh, nothing in the world,’ I answered. ‘They are very honest trade-wind -stars. I wanted an excuse for a chat, Wetherly. Forrest has the ears of -a prairie hunter. I’m not here to talk to you about the weather. You are -the only man on board in whom I can confide. As we approach the Horn, my -anxieties gain upon me. How is this voyage to end? By this time you -pretty well understand the disposition of the crew. If there should be -no island, what then, Wetherly?’ - -I noticed a cautious pause in him. - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he answered, ‘I’m heartily consarned for you, and for the -lady too, and I may say particularly for the lady, who seems to me to be -a born princess, a sight too good for such quarters as them’—he pointed -to the skylight with a shadowy hand—‘with naught but a dead man’s -clothes to keep her warm. If I could be of sarvice to ye, I would; but -I’ve got to be as careful as you. Mr. Lush has such a hold upon the -minds of the crew that there’s nothen he couldn’t get ’em to do, I -believe; and if he should come to suspect that there’s anything ’twixt -you and me, any sort of confidence that aint direct in the interests of -the fo’c’sle, it ‘ud go as hard with me as I may tell ‘ee it certainly -would with you if _you_ was to play ’em false.’ - -This speech he delivered in a low key, with frequent glances aft and at -the quarter-deck below. I listened with patience, though he told me -nothing that I was not fully aware of. - -‘But what course, Wetherly, do you think these men will adopt if on our -arrival at the latitude and longitude named by that unhappy madman as -the spot where his treasure lies, there should be no island?’ - -‘Well, sir,’ he responded, preserving his cautious tone, ‘I can answer -that question, for it’s formed a part of the consultations the crew is -agin and agin a-holding. They’ll think ye’ve dished ’em, and that o’ -purpose you han’t steered a true course.’ - -‘Ha!’ I exclaimed; ‘and what then?’ - -‘You’ll have to find the island, sir.’ - -‘But, my God, Wetherly, if it be not there! There is no rock marked on -the chart in the place that was named by Captain Braine.’ - -‘They’ll keep ye a-hunting for it,’ said he grimly. - -‘And if we don’t find it?’ - -‘Well, I can’t tell ‘ee _what_ they’ll do. All they’ve said is, “If it -ain’t there, it’ll be because he don’t mean it shall be.” But I’ve heard -no threats—no talk of what ‘ud follow.’ - -‘If there should be no gold, no island,’ said I, ‘my opinion is that -they will seize upon the ship and cargo, and compel me to navigate her -to some port where they will find a market for their plunder.’ - -‘And where will that be?’ he asked. - -‘Impossible to say. Lush will probably know. He has the airs and -appearance of a man to whom a performance of the kind I suggest would be -no novelty. I may tell you now, Wetherly, and, indeed, I might have done -so long ago, that it was the carpenter whom Captain Braine charged with -murder.’ - -‘Well, sir, you’ll excuse me. I’m not for believing that, Mr. Dugdale. -That Lush has been a rare old sinner, ye need only watch him by daylight -and hear him talk in his sleep at night, to know; but, as I said afore, -when ye mentioned it—murder’—I saw him wag his head by the -starlight—‘I’d choose to make sure afore believing it on the evidence of -a madman.’ - -‘But don’t you think the carpenter and, let me add, most of the crew -equal to the commission of any crime?’ - -‘Well, I won’t say no to that now with this here glittering temptation -of money getting into their souls, to work everything that may be evil -in ’em out through their skins. I wouldn’t trust ’em, and so I tell ‘ee, -Mr. Dugdale; and if this here barque was any other ship than the _Lady -Blanche_, and my mates any other men but what they are, I’d be content -to pawn for sixpence all that I’ve got in my chest.’ - -I came to a stand with him for a while at the weather rail in feigned -contemplation of the weather. - -‘Wetherly,’ said I quietly, as we resumed our crosswise walk, ‘my -position is a frightful one. Were it not for the cursed lunatic fancy -that that shambling villain Wilkins overheard—the completest lie that -ever took shape in a madman’s brain—I might hope to be able to tempt the -crew with a handsome reward to allow me to sail this ship to a port -whence the lady and I could get home. But what could I offer, with -honest intention to pay, that should approach the thousands which those -fools yonder dream about day and night?’ - -He made no answer. - -‘Supposing, Wetherly,’ I continued, ‘I should determine, in a mood of -desperation, to drop my command here, and refuse to navigate the vessel -another league unless Miss Temple and I are put ashore?’ - -‘You know what ‘ud happen,’ he cried; ‘ye’ve said it o’er and o’er agin, -hitting upon what’s most likely. For God’s sake, sir, clear your mind o’ -that scheme, if it’s only for the lady’s sake!’ - -‘But what’s to follow upon our arrival in the Pacific?’ I exclaimed with -an emotion of despair. - -‘There’s nothen to be done but to wait,’ he answered gloomily. - -‘Do you believe that every mother’s son forward believes in the -existence of the treasure?’ - -‘Every mother’s son of ’em, sir. The belief mightn’t have been so -general, I daresay, if it hadn’t been for them documents you signed. -Ignorant as the men are, they know how to git four out of two and two. -First, there’s the drawing on that there bit of parchment; then there -was the capt’n’s yarn of how he come by the gold, as ship-shape to the -minds of the men as if they’d seen him fetch it out of the Bank of -England; then comes the plot of getting rid of ’em at Rio, with a crew -of Kanakas to follow; and then a company of beachcombers atop of them, -to carry the barque on. Here alone’s a thought-out scheme proper to -convince an atheist. But then follows them documents o’ yourn to prove -that you, a born gent of eddication and first-class intelligence, don’t -doubt the truth o’ what ye hear, and, to make sure, provide for your -share when the gold’s come at and for your security, if so be as the law -should lay hold on the capt’n for a-deviating.’ - -‘It’s all very true,’ I exclaimed, staggered myself by the consistency -of the wretched business, and forced to mentally admit the -reasonableness of the illiterate creatures in the forecastle accepting -it all as indisputable. ‘But you know my motive in acting as I did?’ - -‘Well, I _do_, sir. As I told ye, I was a bit nonplushed at first; but -it’s a madman’s yarn—ne’er a doubt of it. And I’m as wishful, Mr. -Dugdale, as ever ye can be to be quit of the whole blooming job.’ - -Again I came to a pause at the weather rail, as though I lingered on -deck only to observe the weather. - -‘Now, Wetherly, listen to me,’ said I. ‘You know you are the only man in -the ship that I would dream of opening my lips to. You have my full -confidence; I believe you to be sound to the core. If you will give me -your word I shall be perfectly satisfied that you will not betray me.’ - -‘Whatever ye may tell me, Mr. Dugdale,’ he responded in a voice slightly -agitated, ‘I swear to keep locked up in my bosom; but afore I can give -ye my word, I must know what I’ve got to take my oath on.’ - -‘You misunderstand me,’ I exclaimed; ‘I desire no oath. Simply assure me -that should a time ever come when I may see my way to escape, you will -stand my friend; you will actively assist me if you can—you will not be -neutral; I mean, merely my well-wisher; simply tell me this, and I shall -know that when an opportunity arises, I will have you to count upon.’ - -‘Have you a scheme, first of all, Mr. Dugdale?’ he inquired. ‘There’s no -good in my consenting to anything that’s agoing to end in getting our -throats cut.’ - -‘No; I have no scheme. What plan could I form? I must grasp the first, -the best chance that offers, and then it may be that I will want you. -There are others besides myself whom you would find grateful. Miss -Temple’s mother is a lady of title, and a rich woman’—— - -‘Excuse me, Mr. Dugdale,’ he interrupted; ‘I don’t want no bribe to -bring me into a proper way of acting, if so be as that proper way ain’t -a-going to cost too much. I’ll say downright, now, that if I can help -you and the lady to get out of this job and put ye both in the road of -getting home, ye may depend upon my doing my best. More’n that there’d -be no use in saying, seeing that it ain’t possible to consart a scheme, -and that we must wait until something tarns up. If there be an island, -and we bring up off it, the sort of opportunity you want may come, and -you’ll find all of me there. If the island be a delusion, then something -else’ll have to be waited for. But I tell you as man to man that I’m -with you and the lady, that I don’t like Mr. Lush nor the business he’s -brought the vessel’s crew into but that I’ve got to be as cautious as -you; which now means, sir—and I beg that you’ll onderstand me as -speaking respectfully—that that there Forrest has seen us together long -enough.’ - -‘Right,’ I exclaimed, grasping his hand; ‘I thank you from my heart for -your assurance; and Miss Temple shall thank you herself.’ - -With which I went aft, gazing steadfastly to windward as I walked, and -after a final peep into the binnacle and a slow look round, I stepped -below. - -There was little to comfort me in this chat with Wetherly; it was worth -knowing, however, that he regarded the captain’s yarn as a mere emission -of craziness; for heretofore, in the few conversations I had had with -him, his hesitation, his cautious inquiries, his manner, that in a -superior person would to a certain extent have suggested irony, had -caused me to see that his mind was by no means made up on the subject. -This, then, was to the good, and it was satisfactory to be informed by -him that he would befriend us if an opportunity occurred, providing his -assistance should not jeopardise his life. I was grateful for this -promise, but scarcely comforted by it. I carried a clouded face into the -cabin; Miss Temple, who awaited my return to the cabin, fixed an anxious -gaze upon me, but asked no questions. - -‘How good you are to suppress your curiosity!’ I exclaimed, standing by -her side, and looking into her upturned face; ‘you incalculably lighten -my burthen by your forbearance.’ - -‘You have taught me my lesson,’ she answered quietly; ‘and as a pupil I -should be proud of the commendations of my master.’ She pronounced the -word ‘master’ with a glance of her proud eyes through the droop of the -lashes, and a smile at once sweet and haughty played upon her lips. - -‘It will comfort you to know that Wetherly is our friend,’ said I. - -‘I have always regarded him as so,’ she responded. - -‘Yes; but he has now consented to aid me in any effort I may by-and-by -make to escape with you from this barque.’ - -She was silent, but her face was eloquent with nervous eager -questioning. - -‘Moreover,’ I proceeded, ‘Wetherly is now convinced that Captain -Braine’s gold was a dream of that man’s madness. A dream of course it -is. But do you know I am extremely anxious that we should find an island -in that latitude and longitude of waters to which I shall be presently -heading this ship.’ - -‘May I ask why?’ - -‘Because I think—mind, I do but think—that I may see a way to escape -with you and Wetherly alone in this barque.’ She breathed quickly, and -watched me with impassioned attention. ‘In fact,’ I continued, ‘even as -I stand here, looking at you, Miss Temple, a resolution grows in me to -create an island for Captain Braine’s gold, should the bearings he gave -me prove barren of land.’ - -‘Create?’ she exclaimed musingly. - -‘Yes. The South Sea is full of rocks. I’ll find the men a reef, and that -reef must provide me with my chance. But,’ I exclaimed, breaking off and -looking at my watch, ‘it is time for me to seek some rest. I shall have -to be on deck again at twelve.’ - -‘I shall go to bed also,’ she exclaimed; ‘it is dull—and there are many -weeks before us yet.’ She smiled with a quivering lip, as though she -would have me know that she rebuked herself for complaining. ‘I believe -you would tell me more if you had the least faith in my judgment.’ - -‘At present, I have nothing to tell; but an hour may come when I shall -have to depend very largely upon your judgment and your spirit also.’ - -She met my eyes with a firm, full, glowing gaze. ‘No matter what task -you assign to me,’ she cried with vehemence, ‘you will find me equal to -it. This life is insupportable; and I would choose at this instant the -chance of death side by side with the chance of escape, sooner than -continue as I am in this horrible condition of uncertainty, banishment, -and misery.’ - -‘That may be the spirit I shall want to evoke,’ I said, smiling, whilst -I held open her cabin door. ‘Good-night, Miss Temple.’ - -She held my hand a moment or two before relinquishing it. ‘I hope I have -said nothing to vex you, Mr. Dugdale?’ she exclaimed, slightly inclining -her fine head into a posture that might make one think of a princess -expressing an apology. - -‘What have _I_ said that you should think so?’ I answered. - -‘Your manner is a little hard,’ she exclaimed in a low voice. - -‘God forgive me if it be so,’ said I. ‘Not to you, Miss Temple, would I -be hard.’ - -My voice trembled as I pronounced these words, and abruptly I caught up -her hand and pressed her fingers to my lips, and bowing, closed the door -upon her and entered my own berth. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII - CAPE HORN - - -It was on one of the closing days of the month of December that my -longitude being then some three leagues east of the easternmost of the -Falkland Islands, and my latitude some fifty-five degrees south, that I -brought the barque’s head to a west-south-west course for the rounding -of Cape Horn. It was happily the summer season in those parts—their -midsummer, indeed—and I was glad to believe that the horrors of this -passage would be mitigated by a sun that in the month of June shines for -scarcely six hours in the day over the ice-laden surge of this, the most -inhospitable, the most bitterly dreary tract of waters upon the face of -the world. - -Down to the latitude of the Falkland Islands we had sighted, from the -hour of my taking command of the barque, but four sail, so vast is the -ocean, and so minute a speck does a ship make upon it. But whilst the -loom of the land about Berkeley Sound was hanging in a blue and windy -shadow, with a gleam as of snow upon it away out upon our starboard -beam, we fell in with a whaler, a vessel rigged as ours was; a -round-bowed, motherly old craft, jogging along under a load of boats -suspended over her sides from the extremities of thick wooden davits. -There was a long Atlantic swell running, and as she rose and rolled to -it, she showed a line of green sheathing dark with moss and barnacles -and lines of trailing weeds. - -She had been visible at daybreak right ahead, and she was clear upon the -sea over our bow, when I came on deck shortly after eight bells to -relieve Lush, who had had the watch since four o’clock. - -‘What have we there?’ said I, bringing Braine’s old leather telescope -out of the companion and putting my eye to it. ‘A squab old whaler, as I -may suppose by her boats; Cape Horn topgallant-masts; a sawed-off square -sea-wagon after the true Nantucket pattern.’ - -‘I’ve been a-waiting for you to come on deck,’ said the carpenter. ‘We -don’t want to run her down. We’ve got nothen to say to her, and so ‘ud -better keep out of hail. Shift the course, will you, sir?’ - -There was nothing in the _sir_ to qualify the offensive tone of command -with which he addressed me. I looked at him fixedly, taking care, -however, to keep a good grip on my temper. - -‘What are you afraid of?’ I asked. ‘Are any of the crew likely to hail -her if we pass within speaking distance?’ - -‘I’d like to know what man there is amongst us as ‘ud have the courage -to do it,’ he exclaimed, his face darkening to the thought, and his eyes -travelling up and down my body, as though in search of some part on -which to settle. - -‘Why do you wait for me to shift the helm, man?’ said I. - -‘The navigation’s in your hands,’ he answered sullenly; ‘if your -calculations don’t turn out correct, it musn’t be because of any man -a-meddling with the course whilst you was below.’ - -Miss Temple at this moment arrived on deck and joined me. - -‘A pity to run away,’ said I; ‘we’re sailing three feet to that chap’s -one, and will be passing him like smoke. There’s been nothing to look at -for a long time. It’ll be a treat to our shore-going eyes to see a -strange face, though we catch but a glimpse. You don’t think _I’ll_ hail -her, I hope?’ - -‘_I_ hope!’ he responded with a coarse ironical sneer and a rude stare -of suspicion. - -‘By God, then!’ said I, with an effusion of temper I instantly -regretted, ‘since you have forced this command upon me, I’ll take what -privileges it confers, and be hanged to it! My orders are to keep the -ship as she goes. If you disobey me, I’ll call the crew aft, and charge -them to observe that any miscalculations in my navigation will be owing -to your interference.’ - -The fellow scowled, and looked ahead at the vessel, and then at a knot -of sailors who were standing at the galley, and I could see that he was -at a loss; in fact, a minute after, never having spoken a word, during -which time he frequently sent his gaze at the craft over the bow, he -abruptly crossed to the lee side of the deck and fell to patrolling, -coming now and again to a stand to leeward of the sailor at the helm, -with whom he would exchange a few words, whilst he swayed on his rounded -shanks, with his arms folded upon his breast, occasionally stooping to -obtain a view of the whaler under the curve of the fore-course. - -It was his watch below, and at another time he would have promptly gone -forward. His remaining on deck signified an insulting menace, an -impudent threat to watch me, and to guard his own and the crew’s -interests against me. But I was resolved not to seem to notice his -behaviour, nor even to appear conscious of his presence. We were -carrying a grand sailing wind out of the south, and under a main -top-gallant sail and a boarded main tack, the barque was sweeping nobly -over the powerful heave of the long Pacific swell, and through the tall -surges which were breaking in foam far as the eye could reach, with deep -blue lines between. At intervals, some great hill of waters sparkling to -the flying sunshine would flash into foam to the buoyant rise of the -glittering metalled forefoot of the speeding, milk-white fabric, and -cloud her forecastle in a storm of snow. The wind sang in the rigging -with a frosty note, but the shrewd air was dry, without any sting of -ice, though there was no warmth whatever in the white splendour of the -leaping sun. - -The men observing that Lush kept the deck, came out of the galley and -forecastle, and with abrupt shifting motions gradually drew aft to the -line of the quarter-deck rail, which they overhung, feigning to watch -the ship we were overtaking, though nothing could be more obvious than -their real motive in drawing aft in this fashion. Wetherly alone kept -forward. He stood leaning in the galley door, smoking a short pipe in as -careless and unconcerned a posture as you would look to see in a -lounging fellow sailing up the river Thames. - -‘The brutes are terribly in earnest,’ said I to Miss Temple, as we stood -together under the lee of the weather quarter-boat for the shelter of -it. ‘If ever I had had a doubt of the wisdom of my conduct in this -business, the presence of that group yonder would extinguish it for good -and all.’ - -‘Forgive me,’ she exclaimed; ‘but were you well advised in not altering -the course of this vessel?’ - -‘The fellows must not know that I am afraid of them, or believe me to be -without some resolution of character.’ - -‘What would happen were you to attempt to hail that ship there?’ she -asked, with her eyes enlarging to the fear that accompanied the -question, and her lips quivering as they closed to a blast of wind -sweeping in a long howl betwixt the rail and the keel of the boat. - -‘I do not intend to hail her,’ I replied; ‘and we will not, therefore, -distract our minds with conjectures. Let us rather wonder,’ I went on, -forcing a light air of cheerfulness upon me, ‘what those whalemen will -think of you when they catch a sight of your figure? Will they take you -to be captain or chief mate?’ - -She smiled, and slightly coloured. Indeed, at a little distance, with -the rail to hide her dress, she would very well have passed for a young -man, habited as she was in Captain Braine’s long pilot coat and his -wide-awake, which entirely hid her hair to the level of her ears, and -which she kept seated on her head by means of a piece of black tape -passed under her chin. But shall I tell you that her beauty borrowed a -new and fascinating freshness of grace from the very oddity of her -attire? For my part, I found her more admirable in the perfections of -her face and form, grotesquely clothed as she was, than had she come to -my side but now from the hands of the most fashionable dressmaker and -the most modish of hairdressers and milliners. - -The name of the old whaler lifted clear in long white letters to the -heave of her square stern off the spread of froth that raced from under -her counter: _Maria Jane Taylor_ was her title, and I remember it now as -I can remember very much smaller matters which entered into that -abominable time. The green and weedy and rust-stained fabric, heeling to -the pressure of the wind, and making prodigious weather of the Pacific -surge as she crushed into the violet hollow with a commotion of foam -such as no whale which ever her boats had made fast to could have raised -in its death-agony, swarmed and staggered along with frequent wild -slantings of her spars, upon which her ill-patched sails pulled in -disorderly spaces. A whole mob of people, black, orange-coloured, and -white, stared at us from under all kinds of singular headgear over her -weather rail, and a man swinging off in the mizzen shrouds, apparently -waited for us to come abreast to hail us. As our clipper keel swept in -thunder to her quarter, scarcely more water than a pistol-shot could -measure dividing us, Lush came up from to leeward and stood beside me, -but without speaking, simply holding himself in readiness—as I might -witness in the sulky determined expression in the villain’s face—to -silence me if I should attempt to hail. I glanced at him askant, running -my eye down his round-backed muscular figure, and then put on a -behaviour of perfect insensibility to his presence. - -‘How touching is the sight of a strange face,’ said I to Miss Temple, -‘encountered in the heart of such a waste as this! Rough as those -fellows are, how could one take them by the hand! with what pleasure -could one listen to their voices! Would to God we were aboard of her!’ -And I brought my foot with a stamp of momentary poignant impatience to -the deck. - -Our own crew staring at the whaler over the quarter-deck bulwarks were -incessantly bringing their eyes away from her to fix them upon me with a -manner of angry suspicion that it was impossible to mistake. The noise -of the roaring of the wind in her canvas was loud in the pouring air; -the blue waters foamed viciously to her tall catheads, and her green and -rusty bends showed raggedly amid the frothing, foaming, and seething -curves of the boiling smother rushing past her; here and there aft was -the muddy glint of a disc of begrimed window amid the line of her seams, -out of which all the caulking appeared to have dropped. We were passing -her as a roll of smoke might. - -‘Barque ahoy!’ bawled the long slabsided man in the mizzen rigging in -the nasal accents of the ‘longshore Yankee. - -Lush at my side stood grimly staring. Several of the crew on the -quarter-deck were now watching me continuously. - -‘What barque air you?’ came in a hurricane note out of the whaler’s -mizzen shrouds. - -There was no reply from us. - -‘Barque ahoy, I say!’ yelled the man with a frantic gesture of -astonishment; ‘where air you bound, and what ship might you be?’ - -The _Lady Blanche_ rushed on; nevertheless, we were yet so close to the -whaler even when we had her on our quarter that I could easily -distinguish the features of the man who had hailed us as he hung -motionless, as though withered by some blast from the skies, in the -mizzen rigging, with his mouth wide open, whilst an expression of -inimitable amazement was visible in the rows of faces along the bulwark -rail, white and coloured alternately, like the keys of a pianoforte. - -On a sudden the man sprang out of the mizzen shrouds on to the deck; his -legs were immensely long, and he was habited in a short monkey jacket. -He started to run for the forecastle, and his prodigious strides made -one think of a pair of tongs put into motion by some electrical power. -He gained the forecastle head, where for one moment he stood surveying -us, then bringing his hands to his face, he made what is known to -schoolboys as a ‘long-nose’ at us, turning a little sideways, that we -might clearly observe the humiliating derisiveness of his posture. In -this attitude he remained whilst a man might have counted twenty, then -turning his back upon us, he smote himself with a gesture of utmost -scorn upon a part of his body which the short skirts of his monkey -jacket left partially exposed; after which, with the air of a person -whose mind has been relieved, he leisurely made his way aft, thrice, as -he walked, turning his profile, that we might observe him lift his thumb -and fingers again to his nose. A little while later the old whaler was -plunging amid the white throbbings of her own churning a long mile -astern; and in half an hour she looked to be scarcely more than a gleam -out in the cold blue air, where there seemed a dimness in the atmosphere -as of the blowing of crystals off the melting heads of the high seas. - -It was not till then that Lush left the deck. - -This little incident was as stern a warrant of the disposition of the -crew as they could have desired to make me understand. It proved their -possession of a quality of suspicion, of a character so ungovernably -insolent and daring, that I might well believe, were it transformed into -passion by disappointment or insincerity on my part, there was no infamy -it would not render them equal to. I often wonder in recalling this time -that I should have found strength to bear up under my anxieties. The -future lay absolutely in blackness. I had some hope, some vague fancy, -rather, let me call it, of lighting upon an island, should Braine’s -prove the chimera I feared it was, that might enable me to contrive a -stratagem to effect our deliverance from this unspeakable situation. But -there was nothing in such an imagination as this to cast the faintest -light upon the gloom ahead. I would cudgel my brains in my lonely -watches at night with vehement struggles in search of any idea that -might be shaped into a method of escape. At intervals I would secretly -and warily converse with Wetherly; but he had no other proposals to make -than the souldepressing one of patience, with regular assurances, -indeed, that he would stand by me if his help could be safely ventured. - -In these despairful considerations I even went to the length of fixing -my thoughts upon the boats. When we should have rounded the Horn and -entered the mild parallels of the Pacific, sparkling nights of -tranquillity were sure to descend upon us, and furnish me with an -opportunity of leaving the barque with Miss Temple; an opportunity, I -say, so far as the weather and the peace of the sea might be concerned; -but how with my single pair of hands was I to lower a boat, provide that -Miss Temple should be in her, provide also that the little fabric should -be stored with food and water, then unhook her, and slide away into the -gloom, all so privily, all so noiselessly as to elude the vigilance of -the man at the helm and of the seamen in my own watch sprawling about -the decks forward? - -It was not to be done. I did not even suggest this method of deliverance -to Wetherly, feeling perfectly convinced that he would not entertain it. -And suppose I should be able to successfully get away with the girl in -this manner, how dreadful would be our outlook! with oars, indeed, but -without masts or sails, lying exposed for God alone could tell how long -a time in the heart of one of old ocean’s mightiest deserts, not -traversed then, as in these days; scarcely penetrated, indeed, save at -long times between, by such a whaler as we had passed, or by some vessel -trading to the Polynesian groups from the western South American -seaboard. - -I do not know that I considered myself very fortunate because of the -fine weather which attended the barque in her passage of the Horn. Far -better, I sometimes thought, than the strong southerly breeze, the -flying skies of dark winter blue, the brilliant rolling and foaming of -long arrays of billows brimming in cream to the ivory white sides of the -little ship, and aiding her headlong flight with floating buoyant -liftings and fallings that timed the measures of her nimble sea-dance -with her waving mastheads as the batôn of a band conductor keeps the -elbows of his fiddlers quivering in unison—far better might it have been -for us, I would often think, had the month been the mid-winter of the -Horn, with heavy westerly gales to oppose our entrance into the Pacific -Ocean, and fields of ice to hinder us yet, with some disaster on top to -force us to bear away as the wind might permit for the nearest port. - -The rounding of this iron headland was absolutely uneventful; the wind -blew almost continuously from the southward, and throughout was a strong -and steady breeze, that enabled me to show whole topsails and a -maintopgallant-sail to it. Once only did we sight ice, a distant spot of -a luminous crystalline whiteness upon the throbbing limits of the sea. -Day and night the water in white clouds poured in thunder from either -bow of the rushing barque; the clouds soaring from out the Antarctic -solitudes down behind the ocean line, swept in smoke athwart our trucks; -by day the small white sun danced amongst these fleeting shadows in the -north, and flashed up the sea into a very dazzle at each blinding launch -of his beams, so multitudinous were the peaks of froth which glanced -back the sparkling emissions of the luminary; by night the dark skies -were filled with stars of a frosty brilliance, amid which burned the -jewels of the Southern Cross with the Magellanic clouds beyond dim as -curls of vapour. A fire was lighted in the little stove in the cabin, -and by it, during my watch below, Miss Temple and I would sit exchanging -our hopes and fears, speculating upon the future, endeavouring to -animate each other with representations of our feelings when we should -have arrived home, and amid safety and comfort look back upon the -unutterable experiences into which we had been plunged by so trifling a -circumstance as a visit to a wreck. - -Thus passed the time. Every day I obtained a clear sight of the sun, and -then striking the meridian of 76° West, I headed the barque on a -north-north-west course for Captain Braine’s island, the declared -situation of which I calculated would occupy us about three weeks to -reach. - -It was on the afternoon of the day on which I had shifted the barque’s -helm, that Wilkins came to me as I sat at dinner with Miss Temple with a -message from the carpenter to the effect that he would be glad of a word -with me. I answered that I was at Mr. Lush’s disposal when I had dined, -but not before. This did not occupy another ten minutes in -accomplishing; my companion then withdrew to her cabin, having with much -eagerness expressed a number of conjectures as to the carpenter’s motive -in soliciting an interview. - -The man came off the poop by way of the quarter-deck and entered the -cabin with his skin cap in hand. - -‘I obsarve,’ said he, ‘that you’ve altered the vessel’s course.’ - -‘That is so,’ I rejoined. ‘Wetherly was on deck when I left my cabin -after working out my sights, and I believed he would have reported the -change of course to you.’ - -‘No; it was Woodward [one of the sailors] that was at the hellum. He -calls me over and points into the binnacle and says: “Ye see what’s -happened?” The men ‘ud be glad to know if it’s all right?’ - -‘If what is all right?’ - -‘Why, if this here course is true for the island? They’ll feel obliged -if ye’ll let ’em in here and show ’em the chart and ‘splain the distance -and the course and the likes of that to ’em yourself.’ - -I hardly required him to inform me of their wishes, for I had but to -direct my glance at the cabin door to observe them assembled on the -quarter-deck awaiting the invitation the carpenter had come to demand; -all hands of them, saving Wetherly and the fellow that was steering, -called Woodward by Lush. - -‘Certainly: let them enter,’ said I; and at once fetched my chart, which -I placed upon the table, and went to the other side, ruler in hand, -ready to point and to explain. - -The body of rough men, a few of them with their mahogany lineaments -scarcely visible amidst the whiskers, eyebrows, and falls of front hair -which obscured their countenances, stood looking upon the chart with -Lush in the thick of them, and Forrest’s mutinous, daredevil, rolling -face conspicuous over the carpenter’s shoulder. - -‘Now, men, what is it you want to know?’ said I. - -‘We’re a steering by the compass up above nor’-nor’-west,’ answered -Lush; ‘will ye be pleased to tell us how ye make that right?’ - -I had to fetch a pair of parallel rulers to render my answer -intelligible to the illiterate creatures who stood gaping at me with an -expression of dull struggling perception that would come and go in a -manner that must have moved me to laughter at another time. - -‘What part of this here paper is the island wrote down upon?’ demanded -Forrest. - -I pointed with my ruler, and the whole knot of faces came together as -they stooped with a sound as of a general snore arising from their -vigorous breathing. - -‘How far is it off from where we are?’ inquired one of the men. I told -him. Several questions of a like kind were put to me; a growling ran -amongst them as they hummed their comments into one another’s ears. -Meanwhile, I stood inspecting them with mingled inquisitiveness and -disgust. What a miserable pass had the wretches brought the girl and me -to! What bitter anxieties had they overwhelmed us with! What was to be -our future so far as they should have a share in the creation of it? I -sought in vain amidst their various countenances, composed of hair and -warts and beards, of leathery skins, of moist eyes dim with weather, of -the smooth cheeks of two or three of the younger fellows—I sought in -vain, I say, for a single expression to assure me of the existence of -qualities upon whose generous response I might depend, should it ever -come to my having to entreat them. Yet they presented, as I long ago -said, just such exteriors as you would expect to meet with in the -sailors of a humble trader like the _Lady Blanche_. - -‘Well, men,’ exclaimed the carpenter, ‘there ain’t no doubt to my mind. -It’s all right; and I’m bound to say stan’ing here, that con-sidering -that Mr. Dugdale guv’ up the sea a good bit ago, he’s managed oncommonly -well down to this here time.’ - -There was a murmur of assent. I thought I would take advantage of this -momentary posture in them of appreciation, perhaps of concession. - -‘Since you are all before me,’ said I, ‘two excepted, let me ask you a -question. You are aware, of course, that from the very beginning of this -business I have regarded your whole scheme as the effect of a madman’s -dream.’ - -Lush stared at me with an iron face; Forrest, with an impudent grin, -shook his head; two or three of the fellows smiled incredulously. I -proceeded, eyeing them deliberately one after the other, and speaking in -the most collected tones I could command. - -‘I want to know this: If Captain Braine’s island should have no -existence in fact, what do you men propose to do?’ - -‘No use putting it in that way!’ exclaimed the carpenter, after a brief -pause, and a slow, sour wagging of his head; ‘the island’s there. -‘Tain’t no dream. Ye’ll find it right enough, I’ll warrant.’ - -‘It was described to me,’ I went on, ‘as little more than a reef. This -is a big sea, men. A reef is easily missed in such an ocean as this.’ - -‘You have its bearings,’ exclaimed Forrest defiantly; ‘if you put the -barque in the place on the chart where the captain said the island is, -how are we agoing to miss it, unless all hands turns puppies, and keeps -a lookout with their eyes shut?’ - -‘But,’ said I, preserving my temper, ‘may not this hope of obtaining a -large treasure have rendered you all very considerably overconfident? -Suppose there is no island. Reason with me on that supposition. Imagine -that we have arrived, and that there is nothing but clear water. -Imagine, if you will, that we have been sweeping those seas for a month -without heaving into sight your late captain’s reef. What then, I ask? -What next steps have you in your minds to take? I have a right to an -answer, even though I should address you only in the name of the young -lady whose protector I am.’ - -The fellows glanced at one another. Their low, suspicious intelligence -manifestly witnessed some strategic fancy underlying my question. - -‘Look here, Mr. Dugdale,’ exclaimed the carpenter, ‘there’s no use in -your a-putting it in any other way than the way we want, and the way we -mean to have.’ He accompanied this with a violent nod of the head. -‘Though we’re plain men without e’er a stroke of book-learning amongst -us, we ain’t to be made fools of. The island’s where ‘ee can find it, if -ye choose, and to that there island we’re bound, sir;’ and he bestowed -another emphatic, malevolent nod upon me. - -I gazed at the fellows in silence. One glance at the array of mulish -countenances should have satisfied me that there was nothing in anything -I could say to induce in them other views than those they held, or to -render endurable to them a discussion that must be based upon a -probability of their being disappointed. - -‘We’ve stuck to our side of the bargain, sir,’ said one of them. - -‘Ay,’ cried the carpenter; ‘I allow that let the gent strive as he may, -there’s nothen he can find in the treatment him and the lady’s met with -from us men to complain of.’ - -‘I do not complain,’ I exclaimed; ‘have you on your side any reason to -complain?’ - -‘No, sir, and we don’t want none,’ the fellow responded with a look that -rendered his words indescribably significant. - -‘You are satisfied, I hope,’ said I, ‘with the explanation I have given -you as to the situation and course of the barque?’ - -‘Yes,’ answered the carpenter, with a look round. - -‘Then there is nothing more to be said,’ I exclaimed, and picking up the -chart, I carried it into my cabin. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - LAND! - - -Our progress was slow. For some while we carried strong winds, which -swept us onwards into the softer climates of the Pacific; they then -failed us, and were followed by a succession of light airs, as often -ahead as astern. I was astonished, however, by the yacht-like qualities -of motion of the little barque. Through weather that had scarcely weight -enough in it to have stirred the _Countess Ida_, the _Lady Blanche_ -would sneak over a surface of water that was often glass-like, ripples -fine as wire breaking away from her keen stem, and a short wake scoring -the liquid smoothness under her counter; her topsails and courses -motionless, save but for their soft swaying to the long and gentle -respiration of the swell; a faint lifting, however, perceptible in the -light cloths of the loftier sails, which were doing the work of the -rest, and communicating to the little fabric out of the delicate -softness of the blue Pacific heavens, so to speak, an impulse of -vitality, the recollection of which would move me to amazement when I -found that our progress in the twenty-four hours had been as -considerable as the Indiaman would have got out of a pleasant breeze. - -But not to linger upon this time—though I could tell much of my -incessant intimate association with Miss Temple—dwell with delight, -untinctured by recollection of the miseries and anxieties of this -passage, upon the memory of the soft and lovely nights of those -delicious parallels, the clear dusk radiant with the glistening of stars -from sea-line to sea-line, the mild atmosphere, sweet with dew, the hush -upon the slumbering leagues of the deep, soothing as a benediction to -the perturbed spirit, the play of delicate fires in the water, the -stirring of canvas in the still gloom aloft, as of the brushing of the -pinions of hovering creatures: then the wide blue sparkling scene of -day, the barque clothed in the ivory whiteness of her canvas striking a -prismatic shadow of pearl from her white sides and silken heights into -the opalescent profound, on which she would rest as on a bed of glass, -some distant fountain and curve of wet black body denoting the rising of -a leviathan from the depths—ah! had all been well with us, this would -have made a noble time for the memory to muse on—but my story draws me -to its conclusion. - -It was February the 18th, as very well indeed do I remember. From the -hour of our having sighted the whaler off Cape Horn, we had met with -nothing, not even of the bigness of the tip of the wing of a sea-fowl, -to break the continuity of the sea-line, no shadow of low-lying land, no -vision of star-like space of water indicating the froth of the submerged -reef. On this day at noon, having worked out my calculations, I -discovered that the distance to Braine’s island, as I may call it, from -the then situation of the barque, was to be traversed, if the light air -held as it was, in about twelve hours; so that it would be proper to -keep a lookout for it at about midnight. - -I gave Mr. Lush this piece of news; he received it with a flush of -excitement that almost humanised the insipid coarseness of his dull, -wooden, leather-bound, weather-hardened visage. - -‘Ye may calculate upon our keeping a bright lookout, sir,’ said he with -a grin that disclosed his tobacco-coloured fangs, and that might fairly -be called sardonic, since the eyes bore no part in this disagreeable -expression of satisfaction. - -I watched him walk forwards to convey the information to the men. They -went in a whole body on to the forecastle, and stood staring about them, -as though the ocean wore a new countenance to their gaze, now that they -believed Braine’s island to be a short distance past the slope of it. -The carpenter pointed, and was full of talk; there was much lighting of -pipes, expectoration, puffing of great clouds indicative of emotion, -uneasy, impatient, flitting movements amongst the men, some of whom -presently broke up into couples and fell to pacing the forecastle like -marines on sentry; talking, as I did not doubt, of the money they were -going to dig up, what they would do with it when they had it, and so on; -the expressions on their faces varying at every instant, one emotion -suppressing another in a manner that to a contemplative and leisurely -eye would have provided a study at once ludicrous and informing. - -I had the watch that afternoon; and when Miss Temple and I had eaten our -little midday meal, I drew chairs into the shadow of the short awning, -and we sat together, I, pipe in mouth, occasionally quitting her side to -take a look outside the edge of our canvas roof, along with a brief -stare ahead, for I could not be sure of Captain Braine’s chronometer, -nor of the exactness of my own calculations, and if the madman’s island -was where he had declared it to be, it might heave into view off either -bow or right ahead at any moment, for all I could tell. - -Miss Temple stood in no need now of Captain Braine’s overcoat. She was -habited in the costume of the _Countess Ida_; somewhat soiled it was, -yet the perfect fit of it continued to atone for its shipwrecked airs. -Her dark eyes glowed under the shadow of the straw hat she had had on -when she left the Indiaman. She needed but her jewelry, the flash and -decoration of her trinkets, to show very nearly as finely as she had on -that day. There was but little alteration visible in her. For my part I -could detect no more than that her face was a trifle thinner than when -we had first entered on this wild adventure. The eye of close and -constant association would not indeed witness changes which might -instantly be perceptible to one encountered after an absence. Still, I -had the image of her brilliant on my mind as she was on board the -Indiaman, and viewing her now, as I say, I could perceive no other -change than what I have mentioned. Intellectually, however, there was an -alteration, defined to a degree to my sight. Her gaze was softened, and -was often sweet. The characteristic firmness of her lips had lost its -air of haughtiness. There was no longer any manner of command in her -looks, nor of exaction in her fixed regard; there was nothing to hint -that her spirit was broken—merely that it had been bowed to an average -human level by the rough usage of the sea, and by the amazing -experiences with which her months of lonely association with me had been -surcharged. - -Heretofore, that is to say for some weeks past, she had exhibited a -resigned, calm, resolved behaviour, as of one who was constantly -schooling herself to prepare for an issue of life or death. She had long -ceased to utter a complaint; she would even detect a sigh in herself -with a glance of contrition and self-reproach. Again and again had I -complimented her upon the heroic qualities which her sufferings of mind -and body had fructified in her; but this afternoon she was feverishly -impatient and restless. The old fires of her spirit when alarmed were in -her eyes. I would observe her struggling in vain to appear composed. As -we sat together, she exclaimed, as she brought her eyes to my face from -a nervous sweeping gaze at the horizon over the bows: ‘By this time -to-morrow we shall know our fate.’ - -‘Perhaps not. Yet I pray it may be so. If I were sentenced to be hanged, -I would wish the hour come. But what is to be our fate? Nothing in this -life is so bad or so good as our fears or our hopes would have us think. -If there should be no island—— Well, those villains will find me on the -alert for what may come along in the shape of chance, and you must be -ready.’ - -‘I am ready,’ she exclaimed; ‘only tell me what to do. But this -expectation——’ Her lips trembled, and her white fingers clenched to the -agitation that possessed her. ‘The misery is, Mr. Dugdale, you have no -scheme.’ - -‘That will come,’ I exclaimed; ‘be calm, and remain hopeful. I might, in -the language of the heroes of novels, hope to reassure you by promising -that if we are to perish we will perish together. I am not a hero, and I -talk with the desire and the intention of living. There may be a few -more adventures yet before us; but your hand is in mine, and I shall not -relinquish it until I conduct you to your mother’s side.’ - -Of course I talked only to cheer her; yet I hoped even as I spoke, and -my hope gave a tone of conviction to my words that seemed to animate -her, and she smiled whilst her wistful eyes sank, as though to a sudden -reverie. - -During the rest of the day the crew were ceaselessly on the move, -passing in and out of the galley and in and out of the forecastle, -pacing the planks with impatience strong in their rolling gait; one or -another of them from time to time springing on to the head rail to peer -thirstily and steadfastly under the shelter of his hand; one or another -again at long intervals ascending to the height of the foreroyal yard, -there to linger, whilst the fellows below gazed up with expectant faces, -and ears greedy for a cry from that lofty summit. The sturdy figure of -the carpenter was conspicuous amongst them. When he came aft, he would -look as though willing to converse with me, but I walked away abruptly -on his approach, and if I chanced to leave the cabin when he was on -deck, I kept to the lee side, contriving an air that even to his -unintelligent gaze must have conveyed the assurance that I wished to -have nothing to do with him. - -The breeze was light, just forward enough on the beam to allow of the -foretopmast studding-sail remaining abroad. So weak was the air, that -the barque crept along with erect spars, and the red fly of the dogvane -scarcely flickered to the soft breathings at the royal mast head. I -feared that it would fall a dead calm at sun-down, but greatly to my -satisfaction, there was a small freshening in the breeze whilst the -scarlet yet lay gloriously upon the cloudless countenance of the west. -Indeed, my own almost crazy anxieties and expectation made the mere -fancy of a spell of stagnation abhorrent to me. Supposing the -chronometer below to be correct, I was in little doubt of the accuracy -of my computations, and my desire to verify or disprove the madman’s -assurance was consuming and insupportable. - -When the night descended it was moonless, and through the pleasant -blowing of the wind, of a singular sweetness and freshness such as I -could not imagine of darkness in any other ocean. The water was now -streaming in a line of whiteness along either side, and the murmur under -the counter was as constant as the voice of a running brook heard amid -the stillness of a summer night. The carpenter had the watch from eight -to twelve; but for my part I could not find it in me to go to my cabin. -Such was my feverishly restless condition, that I knew I should close my -eyes in vain, and that the inactivity of a recumbent posture would -speedily grow irksome and intolerable. Miss Temple entreated me to lie -down upon the locker in the cabin. I answered that I should be unable to -sleep, and that without sleep the mere resting of my limbs would be of -no service to me. - -‘But you will have to watch from twelve to four,’ she exclaimed, ‘and at -this rate you will get no sleep to-night.’ - -I smiled, and answered that Braine and the carpenter between them had -murdered sleep; and then took her on deck, where we walked and conversed -till the hour of eleven—six bells. I then returned with her to the -cabin. She declined to enter her berth; she begged me, and her eyes -pleaded with her voice, to suffer her to remain at my side throughout -the night. But this I would not hear of; I told her that such a vigil -would exhaust her, that her utmost strength might have to be taxed -sooner than either of us could imagine; that she must endeavour to -obtain some repose upon the locker, and that if anything resembling land -showed during my watch, I would call her. I saw a look of reproachful -remonstrance in her face; but compliance was now a habit with her, and -in silence she allowed me to arrange a pillow and to throw a light -blanket, that I fetched from her bed, over her feet. I sat near her at -the table, leaning my cheek on my elbow, and from time to time exchanged -a few words with her. There was hardly any movement in the sea. The wind -held the canvas motionless. The seething alongside was too delicate to -penetrate, and the silence in the little cuddy was unbroken save by the -ticking of a small brass clock under the skylight, and by the measured -tramp of the carpenter overhead. - -A little before twelve I looked at my companion, and perceived that she -was asleep. On the eve, as I believed we were, of God alone knew what -sort of events, the spectacle of the slumbering unconscious girl, whose -beauty was never so affecting as when softened, and I may say -spiritualised by the expression of placid repose, moved me to the heart. -What a strange association had been ours! How intimate had we become! -what confidences had our common suffering caused us to exchange! what -condition of shoregoing life was there that could have brought this girl -and me together as we had been and still were? How I loved her, I was -now knowing; I could dwell upon my passion with delight as I looked at -her, though on the threshold of a future that might prove terrible and -destructive to us both. What was the secret of her heart, so far as I -was concerned? I gazed at her lips with some unintelligible hope of -witnessing them shape the syllables of my name; then the clear chimes of -eight bells floated aft. With a sigh and a prayer, I dimmed the cabin -lamp and went softly to the companion steps. - -On my emerging, the carpenter came up to me. - -‘It’s been blowing a steady air o’ wind,’ said he; ‘allowing for this -here improvement in our pace, what time d’ye reckon the island’ll take -to show itself?’ - -‘If it exists,’ I answered, ‘it might be in sight now. The captain’s -description showed that there was no height of side to make a loom of. -If you’re going forward, see that a couple of hands are stationed on the -forecastle, and tell them to keep a bright lookout. We don’t want to run -the reef down, if it’s there.’ - -‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he exclaimed in the rough off-hand voice of a sailor -receiving an order, and left the poop. - -The time crept away. There was a light burning in the galley; and the -shapes that flitted in and out through the open door, throwing giant -shadows upon the hazy square of illumination on the bulwark abreast of -the galley entrance, satisfied me that most if not all of the men were -awake and on the lookout. Several figures, never less than two, paced -against the stars over the bows with the regular tread of sentinels, -clear on the forecastle under the forecourse by the spaces of the -spangled sky they blotted out as they moved. The breeze continued a -pleasant air, and all about the gliding barque were the summer tinkling -sounds of water gently broken. Occasionally, I would go forward, and -taking my stand on the rise of the cathead where it sloped to the rail, -strain my eyes into the elusive starry dusk where sea and sky seemed to -melt into liquid gloom. No one accosted me as I passed to and fro. Once -I heard the tones of the carpenter in the galley warm in argument. The -fellows pacing the forecastle would come to a halt whenever I went -forward, and stand looking at me in silence, full of expectation, no -doubt, of my being able to see more than they. The very barque herself -seemed to participate in the emotions, the breathless curiosity, the -avid yearnings of the men who awaited the appearance of the island with -restless motions and voices subdued into low growling notes: the ship -herself, I say, seemed governed by the impassioned expectation of the -hour, so tremulously breathless was she aloft, so still and subtle was -her movement through the water, so hearkening the aspect of her forward, -as though the stirless curve of her jibs were ears which she eagerly -projected that she might catch the first sound of the wash of surf. - -All this while Miss Temple lay soundly sleeping below. - -It was wanting about ten minutes to four when the quarter-deck was -suddenly hailed from the forecastle. The voice rang loud and startlingly -upon the ear used to the continued stillness of the night. - -‘Hallo!’ I cried. - -‘There’s something dark right ahead,’ came back the answer. - -I whipped the glass out of the companion, and walked swiftly forwards -where all the crew had run to the first cry, and where I found them -standing in a huddle of shadowy shapes at the rail, some pointing, and -all looking in one direction. - -‘Where away is the object reported?’ I exclaimed. - -‘Yonder,’ cried the carpenter, stepping out of the little crowd and -projecting his arm almost on a line with the jib-boom end. - -I instantly perceived it! It was just a streak of shadow, low-lying, -like a line of cloud beheld by night lifting a few fathoms of its brow -above the sea-line. I pointed the telescope; and the lenses without -revealing features, resolved the length of airy obscurity into the firm -proportions of land. - -‘Is it the island, sir?’ demanded the carpenter in a voice hoarse with -excitement. - -My own astonishment—the wonder raised in me by yonder prompt settlement -of the incredulity that had possessed me from the first minute of -hearing the captain’s story—the conflict of emotions which followed on -my considering that the land ahead must inevitably be Braine’s island, -since the chart showed clear water to the distance of the latitude of -Easter Island, which the low stretch over the bows most assuredly was -not, the loom being little more than that of a reef—rendered my ear deaf -to the carpenter’s inquiry. He repeated his question. - -‘If not, then I know not what other land it can be,’ said I. ‘How far -distant will it be, think you?’ - -The men gathered about us to hear what was said. - -‘Three mile about,’ he answered. - -‘More like five,’ grumbled out a seaman. - -‘Five in your eye!’ cried another—‘more like _tew_. If ye’ll stay your -breathing, you’ll hear the wash o’ the surf.’ - -‘Better shorten sail and wait for daylight, Mr. Lush,’ said I. - -‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered; ‘that’ll be the proper thing to do;’ and -instantly fell to bellowing out orders. - -The uproar of the excited crew clewing up and hauling down, yelling as -they pulled at the ropes, and springing about with an alacrity that made -their darting figures resemble those of madmen, awakened Miss Temple. I -stood alone on the poop, endeavouring to obtain a view of the land by -leaning over the rail, when she came up to me. - -‘What is it, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘Land!’ I exclaimed, instantly turning to her. - -‘The island?’ she cried, suppressing astonishment until she should have -received my answer. - -‘I have no doubt of it. The shadow indicates that it is little more than -a reef. Its bearings, according to my computation, accurately correspond -with those given by Captain Braine.’ - -She projected her head over the rail, but was some time before she could -distinguish the mere dash of gloom that the land made upon the horizon. - -‘If it should be the island!’ she cried. ‘That you should have steered -this ship straight as an arrow for it, and that it should be there—no -madman’s dream, as we have both believed it! If one part of the story be -true, the other part should be so.’ - -I was too astounded to converse. I could do no more than ejaculate. To -be sure, as my companion had said, if the story of the island was true, -the story of the gold might be equally true. There would be the -treasure, then, for the men to possess themselves of! And afterwards? - -My brains seemed to whirl like a teetotum in my skull. - -Meanwhile, the sailors had reduced sail till the barque was now under -topsails only, the rest of the canvas hanging from the yards in the grip -of its gear. The carpenter arrived on the poop. - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he exclaimed, in a rough, congratulatory voice, ‘you’ve -done wonderfully well, sir. By ——! but I don’t think there’s e’er a -navigator would have struck it true as a hair as ye have. Ye’ve got no -doubts now left, I allow?’ and I saw his face darken with the wrinkles -of the grin that overspread his countenance. - -‘What’s to follow?’ I demanded, thinking to take advantage of his mood. - -‘Why, the gold,’ he answered, ‘the money, sir; what we’ve been a-waiting -for; and what I suspects we’ll most of us know what to do with when we -gits it.’ - -‘And then?’ - -‘That’ll be a matter for consideration,’ he answered, drawing off and -going to the rail and staring ahead. - -‘Back the topsail yard and bring the ship to a stand, Mr. Lush,’ said I, -‘and get a cast of the lead, will you?’ - -These orders were immediately obeyed. The lead ran out to the whole -scope of line without touching bottom. There was nothing now to be done -but to wait for daylight. A whole eternity seemed to pass before the -dawn broke. Then to the sifting of the dull gray faintness over the rim -of the eastern sea, the land came stealing out, till, to the sudden -soaring of the sun into the clear blue sky of the Pacific morning, it -flashed out into its full proportions and distinctive features not a -mile off our port beam as we then lay with our maintopsail aback. - -The crew, neglecting all discipline and shipboard habit, were assembled -in a body on the poop; and thus we all stood looking, I a little -distance away from them with Miss Temple at my side. It was a small -coral island, apparently of the dimensions that Captain Braine had -named. To the northward the smooth water brimmed to a long shelf of -coral grit, lustrous as snow in the sparkle of the early sunshine. There -was a small rise, green with vegetation, in the centre of the island; -how far distant, I could not imagine. Almost abreast of us, the land -went in with a semicircular sweep like to a horseshoe, and was exactly -the lagoon that had been described by Captain Braine. In the centre of -it, just as he had marked the thing down upon his chart, rose a coral -formation of the appearance of a very thick pillar, and at the distance -from which we surveyed it, it might easily have passed for a monument of -white stone erected by human hands, the decorated summit of which had -been rudely broken off by a tempest or some volcanic shock. On a line -with this pillar, some little distance up the beach of the lagoon, were -several clumps of trees. There was a deal of a sort of stunted -vegetation going inland from the margin of the little bay, coarse grass, -as my telescope made out, tangles of bushes, and so on. - -The carpenter in the midst of the men stood with the parchment chart in -his hand, pointing out how the outlines corresponded with those of the -land, amidst a hubbub of eager comments and exclamations of excitement. -For my part, I could not credit my senses; I disputed the evidence of my -own eyes; I brought them away from the island to fix them with an -emotion of profound bewilderment upon Miss Temple. - -‘Can it be real?’ I cried. ‘After the weeks of conviction of the utter -madness of this quest, am I at last to be persuaded that the wretched -suicide was not mad, that his island is a fact, and his gold an absolute -reality too?’ - -I turned my back upon the crew to press my hands to my eyes to ease my -brow of an intolerable sense of swooning in it. - -‘Three cheers for him, men!’ I heard the carpenter roar out. Volley -after volley of huzzas rang from the deep sea lungs of the sailors. They -were cheering me. I turned to find them all looking my way. They tossed -their caps and flourished their arms like madmen in the exuberance of -their delight. - -‘Now, sir,’ sung out the carpenter, ‘hadn’t we better see to our ground -tackle?’ - -‘As you will,’ I answered; ‘there is your island; I have kept my word -with you; now, Mr. Lush, the crew will proceed as they think proper. -When you require my services again as a navigator I am ready;’ and so -saying I seated myself on the edge of the skylight, and with folded arms -continued to view the island with such astonishment and incredulity as -made me fear for my head. - -‘Is it all for the best, do you think, Mr. Dugdale?’ said Miss Temple, -who had seated herself beside me. - -‘I cannot tell—it may be so. If they find the money, the wretches’ -delight and good temper may render them willing to comply with my wishes -to make for the nearest port. I am in a dream. Give me a little time to -recover my amazement. You know it ought to be impossible that that -island should be there.’ - -She glanced at me anxiously, with something of alarm indeed, as though -there was even a greater strangeness in my manner than in my language. -Long hours of anxiety, long hours of sleeplessness, the continual -apprehension of what was to follow if this island was not discoverable, -these things and how much more had done their work with me; and now on -top was come the shock of the discovery of the truth of what I had all -along been convinced was the dream of a madman—the lie of a crazy head! -I felt a moisture in my eyes; my limbs trembled; my breathing grew thick -and difficult. In silence, Miss Temple hurried below and returned with a -tumbler of cold brandy grog. She put it into my hand, and I drank it -off; and I have very little doubt that the strong stimulant—such a dose -as might have made me boozy in an hour of ease!—rescued me from an -attack of hysterics, man as I am who tell this! - -Meanwhile the seamen had gone forward, and were all hard at work with -the chain cables, connecting them with the anchors, affixing tackles, -hoisting the ponderous irons to the catheads, and filling the barque -with business and songs. They worked with desperate will and eagerness, -yet their progress was slow, and the sun had mounted many degrees before -all was ready forward for bringing up. They then went tumultuously to -breakfast, which they devoured upon deck, emptying their hook-pots down -their throats, and hastily eating their biscuit and meat, whilst they -jabbered away in voices of enthusiasm, one calling out a joke to another -amidst loud laughter. - -The carpenter had now taken command. He came aft while Miss Temple and I -nibbled at some breakfast which Wilkins had brought us on deck, and -ordered the maintopsail to be swung, and stationed a hand with a -lead-line in each of the main-chains. The wind was about south, and -allowed the barque with her yards braced fore and aft to very nearly -look up for the lagoon. We crept slowly along; the lead on either hand -went in frequent flights towards the bow, but no bottom was reported. -This went on till the yawn of the lagoon was upon our starboard quarter, -with the trend of the land covered with bushes opening out as it ran -into the south-east, and then came a shout from the port main chains. -The water now shoaled rapidly; a man stood forward ready to let go the -anchor; down thundered the topsail yards to the cry of the carpenter to -let go the halliards; the barque lost way; the sharp clank of a hammer -rang through the vessel, followed by a mighty splash, and the roar of -iron links torn in fury through the hawse-pipes. - -In a few moments the _Lady Blanche_ was at rest, with the western spur -of the lagoon within half a mile of her. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX - THE ISLAND - - -The men now went to work to get tackles on to the yards, in order to -hoist the long-boat over. This again ran into time, for the boat stood -in chocks, and was stoutly lashed to the deck; and before they could -remove her, they had to clear away the spare booms which were stowed on -top of her and clean her out. When they had her alongside, they passed -water and provisions and several gallons of rum into her, with other -matters of this sort, of which I hardly took notice. They also handed -down the shovels used for the little stock of coal that was carried in -the fore-peak, and several crows, handspikes, and whatever else they -could lay their hands upon that would enable many of them at a time to -dig up the soil. - -Whilst all this was doing, I remained seated on the poop with Miss -Temple. I was now feeling better and stronger again, could think -rationally, and astonishment was worn out. - -‘It is most unmistakably the island that Captain Braine named,’ I said -to the girl, speaking with my eye at the telescope. ‘I remember he spoke -of a clump of trees at the foot of which the treasure lies hidden. -Yonder are several clumps. Which one of them will it be, I wonder? and -will the money be there? What an astonishing romance will it prove, -should those sailors fall in with a booty of nearly two hundred thousand -pounds!’ - -‘What are they going to do, do you think, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘It looks to me as if the whole body of them were going ashore to dig.’ - -‘Are they not taking a deal of provisions with them?’ - -‘They may mean to make merry. After months of shipboard life, the touch -of the land will be grateful to the soles of their feet. Let them find -the gold! their transports will know no bounds; there will be some wild -skylarking amongst them before they come off, or I am greatly mistaken. -Would to God they would make themselves drunk, that I might run away -with the ship.’ - -‘Cannot that be done when they are on shore?’ she cried with an air of -exultant entreaty in her sudden leaning towards me as she spoke. - -‘Yes, were an off-shore gale to come on to blow, I might contrive to -slip and let the barque storm out to sea before it. But in this weather! -They would be after me in a jiffy in their boat, and then God help me -when they got hold of me!’ - -A shade of paleness overspread her face, and she regarded me with a look -of consternation, as though violently affected by the fancies my simple -sentence had put before her. I sprang on the top of the hencoop to sweep -the sea-line with the telescope, but could nowhere discern the least -shadow of land. As I put down the glass, the carpenter came off the -quarter-deck, where, at the gangway, he had been busily shouting out -instructions and overseeing the work of preparing the boat, and -approached me. He held Captain Braine’s parchment chart, at which he -stopped to look for a moment when he was yet some paces distant. - -‘Will ye tell me what’s your opinion of the weather, sir?’ he exclaimed, -in a voice whose natural gruffness and surliness were not to be -sweetened by the satisfaction that was merely visible in a small symptom -of respectfulness in his bearing. - -‘I do not know, I am sure. This cloudless sky should be full of promise. -The mercury in the captain’s cabin promises fair weather.’ - -‘What do ‘ee think of letting them sails hang?’ said he, sending his -malevolent gaze aloft; ‘or shall we tarn to and roll ’em up afore we go -ashore?—though it’ll be a long job,’ he added, directing his eyes -thirstily at the island. - -‘The ship is in your hands,’ said I. - -‘Oh well,’ he exclaimed, as though gratified by my admission, and -sending a slow look round the sea; ‘we’ll let ’em be as they are for the -present. The anchor’s got a good grip, I allow; if so be as a breeze -should come along, we can send some of the men aboard to furl the -sails.’ - -_We!_ thought I, as I regarded him in silence. - -‘My sight ain’t what it used to be,’ he continued; ‘yet I can see enough -of that there island’—and here he began to fumble with the chart he -held—‘to guess that this here’s a first-rate likeness of it. This,’ said -he, pointing with his square thumb at the mark in the middle of the -lagoon on the parchment, ‘is one of the bearings we’ve got to have in -mind to find out where we’re to begin to dig, ain’t it?’ - -‘I believe so,’ said I. - -‘Didn’t ye put down the particulars of the spot in writing?’ he -inquired, looking up at me from the chart. - -‘No,’ I answered shortly. - -‘How many feet was the money hid away from the wash of the water?’ he -demanded. - -‘It was in paces, I remember,’ I returned, ‘but the figure is entirely -gone out of my head. Wilkins should be able to recollect.’ - -He ran with a sort of dismay to the break of the poop and bawled for -Wilkins. The lad came half-way up the steps. The carpenter spoke to him -and then returned. - -‘The young scowbanker don’t recall,’ he exclaimed. ‘He believes—a curse -on his believes!—that the captain spoke of four hundred feet. Was that -it, sir?’ - -‘I remember enough to make sure that it was not four hundred feet,’ I -answered. - -He picked up the glass and levelled it at the island. - -‘Which of them clumps of trees was it that the capt’n talked to ye -about?’ he asked whilst he looked. - -‘He did not describe any particular clump. It was to be found by -measuring so many paces from the edge of the water of the lagoon yonder, -the pillar bearing something west, but what I can’t tell you. I treated -the story as a madman’s dream, and dismissed all the particulars of it -from my mind.’ - -‘We’ll have to try all them clumps, then, that’s all,’ said he, with a -hard face and a voice at once sharp and coarse with ill-subdued temper. -‘We’ll get the money, though it comes to having to dig up the whole -island. And now, sir, there’s nothen to stop us—the boat’s ready—if -you’ll be pleased to come along.’ - -‘I can be of no good to you,’ I exclaimed with an involuntary recoil; -‘you have hands enough to dig. I’ll stop here.’ - -‘No, if you please; we shall want you,’ he said, with a stare of dogged -determination. - -‘I must not be left alone, Mr. Lush,’ cried Miss Temple, with a painful -expression of fear in her bloodless face. ‘If Mr. Dugdale goes, I must -accompany him.’ - -‘No, mem. You’re safe enough here. We must have Mr. Dugdale along with -us to show us what to do. For Lord’s sake, no arguments, sir! The -impatience of the men’ll be forcing them to taking you up in their arms -and lifting you over the side, if you keep ’em waiting.’ - -‘But am I to understand,’ I exclaimed, ‘that all hands of you intend to -quit the ship, leaving this lady alone on board?’ - -‘Joe Wetherly and Jim Simpson’ll remain,’ he replied; ‘they’ll keep a -lookout, and two’s enough with us men in hail of their voices. Now, sir, -if you please.’ - -The crew standing in the gangway were looking my way with signs of -irritation in their bearing. I merely needed to give one glance at the -carpenter’s face to satisfy me that temper, protest, appeal, would be -hopeless; that refusal must simply end in my being bodily laid hold of. -I was urged by every instinct in me to a policy of conciliation. To -irritate the fellows would be the height of folly; to provoke the -indignity of being seized and roughly thrust into the boat, the utmost -degree of madness. My resolution was at once formed. - -‘I will accompany you, Mr. Lush,’ I said. ‘Get you gone on to the -quarter-deck whilst I say a few words to comfort my companion.’ - -He walked away to the gesture with which I accompanied this request. - -‘Miss Temple, pray take heart. Wetherly is one of the two men who are to -be left. You will feel safe here with him on board until I return.’ - -‘Until you return!’ she cried, with her eyes full of misery and horror. -‘I shall never see you more!’ - -‘Oh no; do not believe such a thing. The men imagine I shall be of -service to them in lighting upon the spot where the gold is. They cannot -do without me as a navigator. They will bring me off with them when they -leave the island.’ - -‘I shall never see you again,’ she repeated in a voice of exquisite -distress. ‘Why could they not have left us together here?’ - -‘Now, Mr. Dugdale, if _you_ please,’ bawled the carpenter from the head -of the poop ladder. - -I took and pressed her hand between mine, and then broke away from her. -What had I to say, what to offer, that she could convert into a hope? I -felt the danger of continuing to view her in her despair and -helplessness, for already it was producing in me a rage against the men -that must be suppressed at all costs. I turned to smile and to wave my -hand, and found her with her back upon me and her face buried. - -Wetherly and the man who was to be left with him stood a little forward -of the main-hatch looking on. As I stepped to the gangway I called out: -‘Wetherly, and you, Simpson: I leave the lady behind me; she is alone. -You will see to her, men, I beg.’ - -Simpson gazed stolidly, as though not understanding me; indeed, there -was no countenance amongst the sailors from which all meaning appeared -to have been so entirely discharged as his. Wetherly smiled, and -flourished his hand with a significant glance. He would perfectly -comprehend that I had included Simpson as an excuse to appeal to him -only. Without another word I dropped into the main-chains and jumped -into the long-boat. - -When the men had entered, there were ten of us in all. The boat was a -roomy, stoutly-built fabric, and her oars were almost as long as sweeps. -The barque’s quarter-boats would have been too small for this service; -for the ten of us made a body, and they had handsomely stowed her -besides with water and rum and provisions (as you are aware), not to -mention the sundries with which they proposed to dig the soil. I rather -wondered that they should have supplied themselves so hospitably, till I -recollected that Captain Braine had said there was no fresh water and -nothing to eat upon the island. The carpenter had no doubt remembered -this as a passage in the story which Wilkins had overheard and repeated. -It might be also that they intended to stay awhile on this island when -they had dug up the gold, to refresh themselves, with the substantiality -of land under their feet, for a day or two after their long months of -the heaving sea; in which case they would naturally convey what they -required at once, to spare themselves the trouble of a trip to the ship. - -Their leaving Wetherly behind was due, I took it, to the indifference -and doubt he had exhibited from the commencement; possibly, they might -also have some notion, by requiring him to remain on board, to cheat him -of a portion of his share; and since they considered that two were -necessary to watch the barque, they would find a willingness to remain -in her only in the stupidest man amongst them, who, to be sure, was -Simpson. These were thoughts which hurriedly passed through my mind even -whilst the fellows were in the act of shoving off. There was neither -sail nor mast in the boat. Probably they considered that those things -would encumber the thwarts, whilst, in fact, there was no real need for -them, since the vessel lay within a very easy pull. Four fellows threw -their oars over, and the boat clumsily broke the smooth water to the -impulse of their blades. - -When we were clear of the shadow of the barque’s side, I turned to look -for Miss Temple, and observed her seated in a posture of utter -despondency upon the skylight. I stood up and flourished my hat; but she -made no sort of response. She remained motionless, as though stupefied -and insensible. I resumed my seat, breathing hard with the wild mood -that possessed me; but I was not to be suffered to sit in silence. The -carpenter plied me with questions, which he only ceased that the others -might have a chance of making inquiries. Couldn’t I remember how many -paces it was that the captain had said? Would it be one hundred? Would -it be two hundred? Would I turn to and think a bit? A gent’s eddicated -memory was always better than plain men’s, who weren’t no scholards. If -the right number of paces wasn’t hit upon, it might take ’em a week to -find the spot. And what about the bearings? Couldn’t I recollect exactly -how the trees bore from that there pillar? Wherever the gold was, it -couldn’t lie deep hid, for there was but two men to bury it, and them -weak with shipwreck, and they wasn’t going all the way down to hell to -make sartin of a secret nook. - -To all this I had to listen and reply as I best could. Yet it was talk -to put a fancy that had long haunted me—that had haunted me, I may say, -from the time of some of my earliest conversations with the -carpenter—into shape, out of which arose one instantly present keen -perception: that gold or no gold, they must be kept hunting for it! - -It was a cloudless day; the sky a true Pacific blue, a mild breathing of -wind off the island; and the sun, that was already at his meridian, -flung a wide splendour upon the air that was without an insufferable -excess of heat. The long-boat floated into the lagoon, the bottom of -which showed like a pavement of white marble trembling through the blue, -glass-like translucency. I looked carefully about me, but could see no -signs of the hut which Captain Braine told me he had built, and out of -which he had crawled to find the Yankee surveying craft hove-to abreast -of the island. Neither were there any other relics of his shipwreck -visible: such as the bottles, casks, tins, and so on, which, according -to his account, he and his companion had landed from the brigantine. It -is true that a good many years had elapsed since the date of the wreck -as he had given it me, and in that time the island might have been -visited or swept by seas and hurricanes. The sailors did not appear to -heed the absence of all memorials of Captain Braine’s having landed -here. - -‘The Spanish craft’ll have come ashore yonder,’ said the carpenter, -standing erect, referring to Braine’s story, and indicating by an eager -nod of the head the position of the stretch of lustrous beach that -looked northwards, but that was now invisible to us. ‘Where’ll be a good -place to land here?’ - -All hands were staring about them. The fellow named Forrest said: -‘There’s a bit of a tree there that’ll hold the boat secure. Better let -her lay afloat, Mr. Lush, ‘case of a change o’ weather and having to -shove off in a hurry.’ - -‘Ay, she’ll lie all right off that tree,’ exclaimed the carpenter. ‘In -oars, lads! Let her slide quietly stem on. I’ve heard of coral spikes -a-tearing of boats’ bottoms out.’ - -A few minutes later most of us were ashore, the boat lying quietly -secured by a line to a small but solidly rooted tree, and two or three -fellows in her handing out her freight of odds and ends to the others. - -The feel of solid land under my feet was a singular sensation. I had now -been incessantly at sea for a time that was growing rapidly into six -months, and after those interminable weeks of heaving shipboard, the -immovability of this coral rock affected me as something in the greatest -degree novel. I sent a hurried glance around; but the eyes I had -strained from over the rail of the barque had acquainted me with every -material point of the island, and this closer survey yielded nothing -fresh. The margin of the beach of the lagoon went gently sloping up from -hard coral to a species of soil that appeared to possess some qualities -of fertility, for the tall coarse grass was very plentiful and of a most -vivid green. The few groups of trees were also richly clad, and the -bushes extraordinarily abundant. There were no signs of life of any sort -saving birds, of which a score or two were wheeling about in the air -over the northward fronting beach. The inland rise was a mere small -green acclivity probably not above thirty feet to the summit. All was -silent, desolate, lifeless; nothing to hear amid the brief intervals of -stillness among the men save the delicate noise of the soft wind amongst -the foliage, and the melancholy moaning of surf from the other side of -the island. - -Everything was landed; the men seized hold of the various implements -they had brought with them to dig up the soil; the carpenter flourished -a shovel and called to me: ‘Mr. Dugdale, have ye no recollection of the -number of paces?’ - -‘None whatever,’ I responded. - -‘What d’ye advise, sir?’ - -‘Measure a hundred paces, keeping yonder pillar on a line with that -clump of trees there, and then dig.’ - -‘Ay, but Wilkins overheard the capt’n say that the money was buried at -the foot of some trees,’ said Forrest. ‘A hundred paces ain’t going to -bring us near a tree.’ - -‘I remember nothing about the foot of some trees,’ I exclaimed. - -‘What do _you_ recall?’ the carpenter shouted to Wilkins. - -‘I thought I heerd something about the foot of trees,’ answered the -fellow, turning his pale meaningless countenance upon Lush. But Mr. -Dugdale’ll know best, of course.’ - -‘If the money be here at all,’ said I, ‘you may take it as lying hidden -somewhere in this space,’ and with pointing finger I indicated an oblong -surface one end of which went a little beyond the fourth group of trees, -whilst I defined the other as starting from about a hundred paces away -from the edge of the beach where the boat was. - -Ten minutes were now expended in heated discussion. Where should they -begin? One or two were for leaving it to me and carrying out my -suggestions; others were for measuring two hundred paces and starting -there; whilst others were for digging at the roots of the clumps of -trees, taking them one after another. - -‘See here, lads,’ cried the carpenter; ‘we han’t had anything to eat -yet. Better tarn to and get some dinner and grog. By that time we shall -ha’ settled what to do and be the fitter to go to work.’ - -This was a proposal which all hands found perfectly agreeable. They -flung down the implements they held, and in a very short time were -seated about the grass, sheath-knives in hand, making a hearty meal off -salt beef and biscuit and cheese, and tossing down pannikins of -rum-and-water. They invited me to join them, and treated me with all the -respect I could desire. Again and again, whilst we thus sat, I would -direct looks at the barque as she lay as it might seem almost within -musket-shot of us. The figure of a man paced the forecastle; but Miss -Temple was not to be seen. Once the carpenter, catching me looking, -exclaimed with a sort of enthusiasm in his voice: ‘Well, the little -hooker _is_ a beauty and no mistake. What a slaver she’d make!’ -Commendation probably could not go higher in such a man. A beauty, -indeed, she looked; the reflection of her white sides floated under her -like a wavering sheet of silver; her canvas hanging in festoons showed -with the milk-white softness of streaks of clouds against the blue sky -past her; her rigging had the exquisite minuteness of hair. Would to -God, I thought to myself with a sudden heavy sinking of my heart, that I -were on board of her alone with Miss Temple, ay, with no other hands -than mine to work the ship! I should find the strength of half-a-dozen -seamen in me for her sake. Poor girl! and there arose before me a vision -of the Indiaman—a recollection of the proud Miss Temple scarcely -enduring to send a glance my way—— But this was a reverie that must be -speedily disturbed by the company I was in. - -They had hoarsely debated until they had come to an agreement, and, -having concluded their meal, each man lighted his inch of sooty clay, -picked up his shovel or his crow, or whatever else had been brought off -from the barque, and marched to the nearest of the clump of trees, at -the foot of which they fell to digging. Every man was in motion: they -laboured with incredible activity, and with such faces of rapturous -expectation as again and again forced a smile from me, depressed, -anxious, miserable as I was. With my hands clasped behind me, I paced to -and fro, watching and waiting. Now that the island had proved an -absolute fact, I could no longer feel certain that the gold was a -madman’s fancy. Nay, I was now indeed imagining that it was all true, -and that Braine had fallen crazy through possession of his -incommunicable secret acting upon a mind congenitally tinctured with -insanity, and irremediably weakened yet by the horrible sufferings he -had undergone before he was cast away upon this spot. Yet never did I -glance at the barque without a prayer trembling from my heart to my lips -that the wretches might not find the gold. An old scheme, that this -unexpected lighting upon the island had quickened and given shape to, -was fast maturing in my mind, even while I paced that stretch of grass; -but the discovery of the money would render it abortive. - -I watched the seamen with an interest as keen as their own, but with -hopes diametrically opposite. The soil was dry, stubborn, perhaps -through the intermingling of coral-grit and the coarse fibres of its -herbage. Yet there were many of them, and every man worked with -desperate energy, and presently they had dug up a good space to some -little depth. I awaited with a beating heart the exultant shout which I -might be sure the first man who turned up one of the yellow pieces would -raise. They continued to toil in silence. Presently the carpenter, -resting his chest upon his shovel, with the sweat falling in rain from -his crimson face, bawled out to me: ‘How fur down, d’ye think, we ought -to keep on a-digging?’ - -‘I would give up at two feet,’ said I. ‘Captain Braine and his friend -would not find strength to go much beyond two feet.’ - -One of the fellows plumbed with his crow, and, bringing it out, with his -thumb at the height of the level, cried: ‘It’s more’n two feet already.’ - -They dug a little longer, nevertheless; then a few curses ran among -them, and the carpenter, with a note of irritation in his voice, roared -out: ‘No good going on here. Try this clump.’ He walked over to it and -drove his shovel into the soil. The men gathered about him, and in a -trice were all in motion again. - -This was a severity of toil that I knew must force them to break off -presently. Although I could not distinctly recollect the bearings of the -treasure as given by Captain Braine, I felt persuaded that he had named -the base of the group of trees which the fellows had just quitted as the -hiding-place of the money. If it were not there, then I might feel -perfectly satisfied it was nowhere else, and hope began to dawn in me -afresh. Their labour at the base of the second clump resulted in -nothing. They exposed a wide space, and went deep, but to no purpose. -The time had passed rapidly; I looked at my watch, and was astonished to -find it hard upon five o’clock. - -All this while the sky had remained cloudless, and there was no hint -visible in any part of its countenance of a change in this softness and -tranquillity of weather. The light off-shore draught, however, had -shifted into the west, and at this hour there was a cool and pleasant -breeze, that brushed the breast of the sea into a surface of twinkling -ripples. The water of the lagoon trembled to it as it breathed laterally -athwart its face, and already the coral beach of this graceful -wide-mouthed inlet bore on the lee-side its stress of tiny breakers. - -The sailors by this time were pretty well exhausted. The expressions -their faces wore, so far as they might be determinable amid the purple, -and perspiration, and hair of their dripping and fire-hot visages, -showed them full of irritability and disappointment. The carpenter -addressed them; I did not catch what he said, but as they came in a body -towards the part of the beach where I had been pacing or sitting whilst -they worked, I could hear them swearing and cursing, whilst they -grumbled and growled out their surmises as to where the money was -hidden, their eyes roving over the soil as they talked. Lush’s face was -hard with temper. - -‘We’re agoing to send off some men to furl the lighter canvas,’ said he. -‘Ha’n’t got much opinion of this soil as holding-ground, and she’ll drag -with that weight of canvas loose, and blow away out of soundings, if we -don’t see to it.’ - -‘A very proper precaution,’ said I coolly. ‘You don’t mean to give up -digging yet, I suppose?’ - -‘Give up?’ he cried with his coarse sarcastic air, and frowning upon me -out of the rage my inquiry excited. ‘No; not if we has to dig the whole -island up, as I told ye.’ - -‘Very well. I’ll go aboard with the men in the boat. The money, if it is -hidden at all, will be hereabouts,’ said I, with a wave of my arm, ‘and -I can be of no further use to you.’ - -‘No, no; you’ll stop along with us, if you please,’ said the fellow. -‘Your recollection of the number of paces may come back to ye, and we -can’t do without you.’ - -I sent a look from him to the faces of the fellows who stood listening -near us, and without another word folded my arms, and with a spin of my -heel started off on a walk to and fro. - - - - - CHAPTER XL - I ESCAPE - - -If I had witnessed the idleness of protest and remonstrance and appeal -on board the barque, I must have held entreaty to be tenfold more -useless in the face of the mortification of the carpenter and his crew, -increased as their temper was by the irritation and the fatigue of hard -and useless work. I might at once be sure that they had no intention of -suffering me to leave the island until they quitted it themselves for -good. There would be also distrust; the fear that I might contrive to -run away with the ship. Yet I had still to find out what they meant to -do; what their plans were for the night. I knew what I wanted, and I -remember what I prayed for as I tramped solitarily backwards and -forwards upon the edge of the herbage where it came thin to the beach. - -Seven men entered the long-boat and shoved off. The carpenter remained; -with him was the sailor named Woodward. They flung themselves down upon -the ground with an air of exhaustion, and so lay smoking their pipes. -After awhile, the carpenter called to me. I approached him leisurely. He -asked me if I remembered the number of paces from the beach, and eyed me -so surlily as he put the inquiry that I began to think he suspected I -could tell if I chose. - -‘If Wilkins can’t remember,’ I exclaimed, ‘why should I be able to do -so—I, whose opinion of this business you well know? I do not recollect -the number of paces. I wish I did, for I am more anxious than ever you -can be that you should come at this gold, that we may sail away, and end -the most cursed adventure that ever a man was forced into.’ - -The heat and the evident sincerity with which I spoke these words -slightly subdued him, and his ugly face relaxed its threatening look. -Finding him silent I said: ‘What do you mean to do?’ - -‘Stop here all night,’ he answered shortly. ‘Stop here, I’ve told ye, -till we’ve found the money.’ - -‘You will leave some men aboard the ship to look after her?’ - -‘Two’ll be quite enough,’ he answered. ‘How much looking after do she -want in weather of this pattern? If we don’t meet with the gold afore -dark—and there’ll be no chance of _that_, I allow—we must all be at hand -to tarn to at daybreak.’ - -I asked no further questions; and the fellow sank into silence, both he -and the other sucking at their pipes, whilst they seemed to hunt with -their eyes over the ground as they lay with their heads propped on their -elbows. - -I saw Miss Temple on the poop watching the approaching boat. Very well -could I imagine the feeling which would possess her when she perceived -that I was not among the occupants of the little craft! The boat -clumsily drove alongside, and the men sprang on board over a short rope -gangway ladder that had been dropped. They went to work at once, as -though in a hurry to get the furling job over, that they might return; -and with a swiftness that was surprising in fellows almost exhausted by -previous labour, they furled the mainsail, foresail, and lighter canvas, -leaving the topsails hanging, and the spanker loosely brailed in to the -mast. This done, they descended, and came to a pause at the gangway, as -though giving what news they had to the two seamen that had been left -behind. They then entered the boat afresh and leisurely made for the -island. As they jumped on to the beach, I noticed that the man Simpson -had taken the place of Forrest, who had been left to keep a lookout with -Wetherly. I felt instantly very uneasy on observing this. There was no -other man of all the crew whom I would not sooner have wished to be -Wetherly’s associate than that impudent, mutinous, bold-faced young -seaman. To think of Miss Temple alone with those two men! one to be -trusted, as I hoped and believed; but the other as insolent and defiant -a rascal as could be imagined of any forecastle blackguardly hand! I -gazed eagerly at the barque, and was glad to find that the girl had gone -below. I earnestly prayed that she would have the sense to keep in -hiding. There was the long night before her, and Wetherly might sleep. - -Never since the hour of our losing sight of the Indiaman had I felt half -so worried, half so distracted with fears and forebodings. I withdrew to -a distance from that part of the beach where I had been walking, that -the workings of my mind might not be seen in my face; and thankful was I -afterwards, when I had somewhat cooled down, that the carpenter did not -offer to approach or speak to me; for such was the passion my anxiety -for Miss Temple had raised, that I believe a single syllable of rudeness -would have caused me to fall upon him—with what result it would be -useless here to imagine. - -There was about an hour and a half of daylight remaining. When the -sailors had secured their boat, they went to supper. In lieu of tea they -drank rum-and-water, and this pretty plentifully. - -‘Won’t ye jine us, Mr. Dugdale?’ called out the carpenter. ‘No call to -eat along with us if you object to our company. Ye can have your food -separate; but you’ll be wanting to eat anyhow.’ - -‘He must be a poor sailor who is not good enough company for me,’ I -exclaimed, having by this time mastered myself; and forthwith I took my -seat amongst them and fell to upon a piece of salt beef, whilst I got a -stronger beat for my pulse out of the pannikin of grog that I drained. - -The men’s talk was all about the gold. ‘If it ain’t under them trees,’ -said one of them, ‘it’ll ha’ to come to doing what the gent told us; -starting at a hundred paces from the wash of the water there and digging -in a line till we strikes it.’ - -‘What’ll them as hid it have wrapped it up in?’ exclaimed another. - -‘Canvas,’ answered the carpenter shortly. - -‘Which’ll have rotted by this time, I allow, and the money’ll be lying -loose,’ said a sailor. - -‘Who’ll get the first chink of it?’ cried Wilkins. - -Exclamations of this sort I observed worked a general sense of elation -in them; and the rum helping their spirits, they began to crack jokes, -and their laughter was loud and frequent. The scene, to any one who -could have viewed it without distress, must have been thought admirable -for its character of soft romantic beauty. The western atmosphere was -brimful of the reddening light of the descending sun; under it, the -smooth ocean lay in dark gold that came sifting out into a cool azure, -which then ran with an ever-deepening tint of blue into the clear liquid -distance. The trembling of the sea to the breeze put a weak coming and -going of light and shadow into these dyes, and freshened the western -light upon the surface into a very glorious scintillation. The barque -floated like a shape of marble in the cerulean water that lay betwixt -the reflection of the sun and the darker tints of the east. Her rigging -resembled wires of gold, her masthead vane lay like a little flame -against the sky, her white shadow fluctuated in dissolving quicksilver -under her, and as she slightly leaned with the delicate heave of that -wide Pacific breast, stars of crimson flashed off her deck, and her -bright lower-masts showed as though they were on fire. The water in the -lagoon floated in a tender blue to the coral beach on which it rippled. -There was a subtle aroma as of sweet and secret inland vegetation upon -the atmosphere. The long grass stirred, and the silken brushing of the -leaves of the trees against one another produced the most refreshing -sound that could be imagined to ears which for months had received no -pleasanter noises than the straining of timbers, the flapping of sails, -and the sobbing and washing of the ocean surge. There was nothing in the -wildness and rugged looks of the fiery-faced recumbent seamen to impair -the tenderness of this picture. On the contrary, their roughness seemed -to accentuate its gentle beauty, as the silence of a calm midnight at -sea may be heightened by some gruff human voice speaking at a distance, -or by some rude sound that assists the hearing as a contrast. - -The carpenter looked towards the sun. - -‘Don’t let’s waste no more time,’ he cried; ‘let’s attack that third -clump there afore it falls dark.’ - -They sprang to their feet, seized their several tools, and in a few -moments were hard at it, digging, boring, but in silence, for their -efforts were too heavy for talk or for laughter. The sun went down -whilst they were still toiling. They had discovered nothing, and the -first to give up was the carpenter. He sent his shovel flying through -the air with a loud curse. - -‘I’m done for to-night,’ he roared. ‘Where did them scowbankers hide it? -It’ll have to be as Mr. Dugdale says. ‘Morrow marning we’ll start at a -hundred paces from the beach. We’re not here to miss it, and we’ll have -it if we rip the guts of this island out of her forty fathom deep!’ - -He was furious with temper and exhaustion, and stepping to a kettle that -was full of rum and water, he half-filled a hook-pot and swallowed the -contents to the dregs, afterwards pitching the vessel from him with an -air of loathing and passion. The men, throwing their implements into a -heap, came slowly to where the rum and provisions were, cursing very -freely indeed, some of them groaning with weariness, smearing the sweat -off their foreheads along their naked arms, and stretching their -clenched fists above their heads in postures of yawning. Every man of -them took a long drink, and then they slowly fell to filling their pipes -whilst they continued to heap curses upon Captain Braine and his -companion for not having buried the money in a place where it might be -easily got at. - -My heart was now beating quickly with anxiety. What was the next step -they meant to take? Would the carpenter change his mind and carry all -hands of us aboard? I observed him light his pipe, and take a look -around with as evil an expression on his face as ever I had witnessed in -it. He then trudged with a deep sea-roll in his walk down to the tree to -which the boat was attached, and having carefully examined the knot, as -though to make sure that the line was securely fastened, he stood gazing -awhile at the little craft, as though considering, afterwards sending -his eyes in another rolling stare round the horizon as far as it lay -visible. I watched him furtively, but with consuming anxiety. - -‘Tell ye what, mates,’ he suddenly sung out, rounding upon the men and -approaching them, ‘there’s nothen to hurt in this weather, and the -barque’s going to lie as quiet as if she was laid up. We’ll just stop -where we are; but a lookout’ll ha’ to be kept, and the boat must be -watched. Better settle the order at once. The lookout will sit in the -boat, case’—he added with a sarcastic leer in my direction—‘there might -be savages about unbeknown to us with a settlement aback of that hill -amidships there. What d’ye say, Mr. Dugdale?’ - -‘I have no longer command,’ I answered; ‘it is for you to arrange as you -will. Why you desire to keep me here, I cannot imagine. Why not put me -aboard, that the young lady may have the comfort of my presence?’ - -‘She don’t want no comfort,’ he answered coarsely; ‘she’s all right. The -number of paces the capt’n talked of may come to ye by daybreak, and -we’re all at hand to tarn to.’ - -I made no answer. - -The night came down dark and clear, with a noise of rippling waters in -the quiet steady wind. The barque faded into a phantasm, and inland it -was all black as ink, with the stars which rimmed the outline of the -central rise winking there like sentinel beacons burning upon some giant -mountain leagues distant. But where the boat lay the space of coral grit -showed pallid, of the hue of ordinary soil bathed in moonlight, and the -figure of the little fabric, with her nose pointing at the tree to which -the rope that secured her was fastened, blended shadowily with the -darkling surface of the water of the lagoon, over whose tiny ripples the -clear reflection of the larger stars were riding. - -The men roamed about in twos and threes, but never very far. I believed -I could trace an uneasiness in their behaviour, as though they had -consented to sleep out of the ship in obedience only to the carpenter’s -wishes, and were now reconsidering their acquiescence with some -indecision of mind. I earnestly hoped that this might not prove so, and -watched and listened to them with my heart full of wretchedness. The -carpenter was seated with another man, and conversed with him in low -notes, which trembled to my ears like the subdued growling of a dog. I -strolled away to a distance, but was neither followed nor called to. - -The time passed very slowly. The men grew weary of moving about, though -for some while the mere sensation of the hard soil was a delight to -them, now that the air was deliciously cool and they had no work to do -and could roam at will. They came in a body together and seated -themselves round about the carpenter and his companion, drinking by the -starlight, with the frequent glare of the lighting of pipes throwing out -the adjacent faces, till it was like looking into a camera obscura. They -talked much, but my attentive ear detected a drowsy note stealing into -the sound of grumbling that stood for their conversation. - -It was drawing on to the half-hour past ten when I stepped leisurely up -to the huddle of shadows, and looking over them as they lay in all sorts -of postures, I exclaimed: ‘Which is the carpenter?’ - -‘Here he is,’ answered the voice of Lush. - -‘Are the men going to make a bedroom of this spot?’ said I. - -‘Ay,’ he answered. ‘Where else? Ye han’t surely come across a hotel in -your lonely rambles?’ - -These words he pronounced without intending offence, though such was the -coarseness of the ruffian that he could say little which was not -offensive. One or two of the fellows laughed. - -‘I shall look out for comfortable quarters for myself,’ said I. ‘I have -no fancy for lying amidst all this high grass. There may be snakes -about.’ - -‘No, no!’ exclaimed one of the men; ‘there’s no snakes here, sir. I’ve -kept a bright lookout. There’s nothen to be afeerd of.’ - -‘Ye’ll find the grass a soft bed,’ exclaimed the carpenter. - -‘Thank you,’ I answered; ‘but since I am detained here against my will, -allow me at least to choose my own mattress. Should you want me, you’ll -find me about eighty paces yonder, where there’s some clean sand betwixt -the bushes.’ I pointed to a spot a little distance past the curve of the -lagoon. - -‘It don’t signify to us where ye sleep, sir, exclaimed Lush; ‘we shan’t -be wanting ye till the morning, by which time I hope you’ll have -recollected the distance Capt’n Braine named. If you should feel a-dry -in the night ye’ll find a kettle-full of rum-and-water alongside yon -breaker that’s standing upright.’ - -‘Thanks,’ said I; ‘good-night.’ - -There was a rumbling sleepy answer of ‘good-night’ from amongst them. - -The spot I had chosen gave me a clear view of the lagoon, and by -consequence of the boat. There was no grass here, and the bushes were -small and stunted, as though starved by the sandy character of the soil. -Yet they furnished a dark surface, amid which I could crawl on my hands -and knees without risk of being seen from the place occupied by the men. -I sat down to wait and watch. Over the tops of the bushes alongside of -me I could just distinguish the figures of the sailors when one or -another of them rose apparently to obtain a drink from the kettle. After -I had been seated some twenty minutes or so, I spied one of them walking -towards the boat. His dark shape showed with tolerable distinctness when -he emerged from the comparative obscurity of the herbage into the dull -gleam of the stretch of coral foreshore. He entered the boat, and then I -lost sight of him, for the water past him lay in a trembling sheet of -gloom, and his outline was absorbed in it. From time to time I could -hear the voices of the seamen conversing; but shortly after eleven all -was silent amongst them, and then the indescribable hush of the great -ocean night settled down upon the lonely rock. - -There was nothing in the stirring of the bushes to the wind, in the dim -and delicate seething in the lagoon, in the hollower note of surf -lightly tumbling at the back of the island, to vex this vast oppressive -stillness. I thanked God that there was no moon; yet could have -earnestly prayed for more wind and for a few clouds to obscure something -of the small fine spangling of the atmosphere by the stars. I could see -no light upon the barque; she lay in a little heap of faintness, what -with her white sides and hanging white topsails, out in the gloom. - -Presently, when I had supposed that all hands saving the fellow in the -boat were sleeping, I saw a figure slowly coming my way. I gathered by -his posture, as I dimly discerned it, that he was staring among the -bushes as he advanced. He slightly lurched as he stepped, and it was not -until he was within twenty feet of me that I perceived he was the -carpenter. I pillowed my head on my arm, drew my feet up, and feigned to -be in a sound slumber. He arrived abreast of me, stood looking a little, -and then went slowly back to the others. - -The scheme I had made up my mind to adventure was one of extraordinary -peril. Yet I was quite certain that the dreadful risk would provide me -with my last, indeed my only chance. I was now immovably convinced that -though Captain Braine’s story of the existence of the island was a fact, -his assurance of a large fortune in hidden gold was a madman’s fancy. -The men would be finding this out; what they would then do, I could not -conjecture; but the menace involved in their lawlessness, their rage of -disappointment, their determination (certain to follow) to find their -account in the barque and her cargo at all costs, was so heavy, so -fraught with deadly peril to Miss Temple and myself, that I was resolved -that night to make one prodigious dash for liberty, leaving the rest to -fate. Once during that day it had occurred to me to make a rush for the -boat and shove off, leaving the men without any means of pursuing me; -but a little consideration showed me that the risks of such an attempt -were all too fearfully against me. If I valued my life for my own as -well as for the girl’s sake, I must not fail; and yet failure seemed -almost certain. Before I could have liberated the line that secured the -boat, sprung into her, lifted one of her heavy oars to shove her off -with, the men, who had always been working within a hundred and fifty -yards of the beach, would have been upon me. Or supposing I had managed -to slide the boat a few fathoms away before they arrived, half of them -would have been probably able to swim faster than I could scull the -clumsy fabric, whilst my erect figure must have supplied an easy mark -for the stones which those remaining on shore would have hurled at me. -No! I had mused upon and then utterly dismissed that scheme, coming back -to my first resolution, which I now lay waiting for the right moment to -execute. - -At half-past twelve by my watch, which the starlight enabled me to read, -the man who had first entered the boat came out of it, and was replaced -by another, whose figure I followed with my sight as he passed across -the beach and disappeared in the little structure. For another hour I -continued to watch, to wait, to hearken with every sense in me strained -to its acutest limit; during which time the island continued sunk in the -profoundest stillness of this midnight, saving always the noise of the -rippling of waters and of the breezy stirring of the bushes. Then with a -few words of appeal to God for courage and support, I started to crawl -round past the spot where the men were sleeping, that I might arrive at -the beach under cover of the tall grass, which would hinder them from -observing my form as I approached the tree to which the boat’s line was -secured. - -The soil ran in a sandy trail through the bushes hereabouts, and I got -along pretty nimbly, crawling noiselessly, feeling ready to burst at -times, owing to the almost unconscious holding of my breath, forced upon -me by my apprehension lest I should be observed or overheard. Presently, -coming to the trees at whose base the men had dug, I stood up, not -fearing detection here, and very rapidly gained the growth of bushes -which darkened a space of land to the north, betwixt the place where the -men lay and the broad shelf of white beach where, as the fellows had -supposed, the Spanish brigantine had driven ashore. I now dropped on my -knees and hands again, and in this posture skirted the high herbage that -grew down to where the coral grit provided no soil for such vegetation, -until I came to the tree, close up against which I rose, that my shape -might appear as a part of the trunk. Then, with an eager, trembling -hand, I cast the line adrift, and sinking again on my knees and hands, -crawled upon the dark surface of the verdure to where it went nearest to -the northern horn of the lagoon, where, still crouching, I remained for -a little space watching. - -In a few minutes the liberated boat, feeling the action of the wind, -slowly floated off. - -At every instant I was prepared to hear a shout from the shore or from -the fellow who was supposed to be at watch in the boat. Yet it soon grew -plain that my utmost hopes were to be confirmed by the heavy -rum-influenced slumber that had overtaken the watchman, and that lay in -lead upon the closed lids of the wearied sailors upon the grass. My -heart was loud in my ears as I crouched watching. Presently the boat had -slipped to some considerable distance from the shore, and was sliding -seawards out to the wide yawn of the lagoon broadside to the ripples and -the breeze. Then, pulling off my coat and waistcoat, and shoes and -smallclothes, I crawled down on to the clear gleam of the beach, waded -into the water, and struck out for the barque. - -I was a fairly good swimmer; of old the exercise had been one of delight -to me. The water was cool, but not chilling; I seemed to find a buoyancy -in me, too, as from excess of brine in the dark surface, through which I -gently pushed at first, lest I should raise a light of phosphorescence -about me. At intervals I would pause, faintly moving my arms that I -might keep myself afloat, and hearkening in a very agony of expectation. -But all continued silent ashore. Now and again I caught sight of the -boat as she went drifting seawards; but the shadow of the night lay -thick upon the breast of the sea, and the small structure was sunk in it -in a blending that eluded the gaze. - -When I considered I had swum far enough to render any such sea-glow as -my movements would kindle about me invisible from the island, I put my -whole strength into my arms and legs and swam with a vigour that -speedily began to tell. The dim heap of faintness which the barque had -made grew definable with the stealing out of its proportions. The -outline of the hull shaped itself; then I could see the clear line of -the yards and spars ruling the starry sky with the vaporous-like folds -of the topsails hanging. I felt no fatigue, no cold; the silence on the -land filled me with a spirit of exultation, and the animation of that -emotion acted upon me like a cordial of enduring virtue. Gradually and -surely I neared the barque; the swim was but a short one in reality, and -I needed no rest, though rest I could easily have obtained by floating -on my back for a while. Within twenty minutes from my first cautious -taking of the water, my hand was upon the lowest rung of the rope -gangway ladder that lay over the side. - -I held by it a little, to take breath and to listen. I had seen no -figures on the vessel as I approached: but I knew that Forrest was on -board, that the very piratical cast of the rogue’s character would -render him alert and perceptive; that the moment he spied me he would -guess a stratagem, and be upon me; and that it was my business to be -before him, or to be prepared for his first spring, armed, as I knew him -to be, with the sailor’s invariable weapon, the sheath-knife. - - - - - CHAPTER XLI - WE SAIL AWAY - - -It did not take me long to recover my breath. The swim had, indeed, -comparatively speaking, been a short one; there was no tide that I had -been in any degree sensible of; and I had lost nothing but breath, -thanks to my eagerness, to the riotous tumult of spirits that had nerved -my limbs with steel and rendered me unconscious of fatigue. I crawled up -the ladder and peered over the rail. The gloom lay heavy upon the -quarter-deck and waist, and objects were hard to distinguish. All was -motionless, however, there and on the forecastle; but I could now -discern two figures walking on the poop on the port side. The -spanker-boom and mizzen-mast and the several fittings of skylight and -companion, and so on, had concealed them from my observation whilst I -swam, approaching the ship as I had on the starboard side. Their shapes -showed tolerably clear against the stars that sparkled over the rail and -betwixt the squares of the rigging, and I stood staring with no more of -me showing over the line of bulwarks than my head till they had come to -the rail that protected the break of the poop, and I then made out that -one of them was Miss Temple. - -This convinced me that the other must be Wetherly, for it was not to be -imagined that the girl would seek refuge from even a more frightful -loneliness than hers was in the society of young Forrest. - -At that instant I heard a long wild halloa dimly coming through the -steady breeze from the shore. The cry was followed by another and yet -another, and then it seemed to me that it was re-echoed from off the -water some distance ahead of us. I sprang in a bound on to the deck, and -in a breath had armed myself with an iron belaying-pin; and now if that -man were Forrest with whom Miss Temple was, I was ready for him! In a -moment I had gained the poop. The cries ashore had brought the pair to a -dead halt, and they stood listening. Now that I was on the poop I -perceived by the build of the figure of the man that it was Wetherly, -and rushed up to him. The girl recoiled with a loud shriek on seeing me, -as well she might; for, having partially undressed myself, I was clothed -from top to toe in white; I was dripping wet besides, which moulded my -attire to my figure and limbs as though I had been cast in plaster of -Paris, and my sudden apparition was as if I had shaped myself out of the -air. - -‘Is that you, Wetherly?’ I cried. - -‘Great God, mum, it’s Mr. Dugdale!’ he roared. - -The girl uttered another shriek, came in a bound to me and flung her -arms round my neck. - -Now the halloaing ashore was incessant, and the wild cries sounding -through the wind were as though the island had been suddenly invaded by -an army of frenzied cannibals. - -‘My dearest!’ I cried, letting forth my heart in that moment of being -clasped and clung to by her whom I had long loved and was risking my -life to save, ‘it is I indeed! But release me now, my darling girl. We -must get the barque under weigh instantly. Wetherly, where is Forrest?’ - -‘Dead, sir.’ - -‘_Dead!_’ I cried. - -‘Shot dead by Miss Temple’s hand, sir,’ he exclaimed. - -The girl let fall her arms from my neck, essayed to speak, struggled a -little with her breath, and fell against me in a dead swoon. - -‘Your coat, Wetherly,’ I shouted; ‘off with it, man, and make a pillow -for the lady’s head. Quick! If the long-boat sculls ashore and the crew -enter her before we can slip, we are both of us dead men.’ - -He instantly pulled off his jacket; and tenderly, but swiftly, I laid -the girl down, first freeing the collar of her dress and no more, for -there was time for no more. - -‘Jump for the cabin lamp, Wetherly,’ I cried; ‘don’t stop to ask any -questions. We must knock out a shackle, and let the chain go overboard. -That is what is now to be done.’ - -He rushed off the poop, I in his wake. The lamp was dimly burning, but -it enabled us to find what we wanted in the carpenter’s chest: and -whilst I held the light to a shackle that was just forward of the -windlass barrel, he let drive, and the cable went with a roar through -the iron hawse-pipe. - -‘We must now get the topsail on her and blow away,’ I cried. - -The conviction that the men would view him as my confederate and have -his life if they got aboard, put an incredible activity into his limbs, -which were habitually slow of motion. My having swum to the ship made -his sailorly mind comprehend without a syllable of explanation from me -how I had contrived the matter. We fled to where the topsail clewlines -were belayed, and let them go, and then hand over hand dragged home the -sheets, which, being of chain, travelled through the sheave-holes very -readily. This done, I sped as fast as my feet would carry me to the -poop, and finding the helm amidships, waited to see how the wind sat -with regard to the position of the ship, meanwhile bawling at the top of -my lungs to Wetherly to let go the maintopsail clewlines and bring the -clews home as far as his strength would enable him. - -The light breeze was off the starboard quarter. I at once starboarded -the helm, and, to my infinite delight, found the barque responsive to -the turn of the spokes, proving that, snail-like as might be her -progress, she at least had steerage way upon her. This brought the land -upon the starboard beam. I then steadied the helm, quite sure that the -craft would steer herself for a few minutes. - -As I ran forward I witnessed Miss Temple in the act of sitting upright. -I sprang to her side and lifted her to her feet, and held her for -perhaps a minute with her face upon my shoulder until she should have -recovered her self. - -‘Sit on this skylight,’ I exclaimed, ‘until you feel equal to assisting -us, and then come to our help, for we greatly need you.’ - -She understood me, but was too weak and dazed as yet to be of use. The -shouts from the shore were incessant. The men had heard the chain cable -as it rattled through the hawse-pipe, and I judged they were yelling to -the ship, as though hailing Forrest; but they were too far distant for -their syllables to reach us. I spent a breathless moment in sweeping the -sea towards the mouth of the lagoon, and on a sudden saw the boat like a -drop of ink on the star-touched shadow of the water; but I heard no -sounds of her being sculled—which would be the fellow’s only chance of -getting ashore—nor could I catch the least sign of his figure. - -My immediate business now was to get the foretopsail mast-headed as best -we could. There was a little winch just abaft the mainmast. Shouting out -my intentions to Wetherly, I bent on the first length of rope I met with -to the hauling part of the topsail halliards and brought it to the -winch, where I took some turns with it. As I did this, Miss Temple -descended the poop ladder. - -‘Have you strength to hold on to this rope?’ I cried to her. - -‘Oh, yes,’ she answered. - -I put it into her hand, bidding her do no more than keep a light strain -upon it, that it might not slip; and in a moment the little winch was -rattling with the chirruping of its pawls going straight up in the air -like an endless cocking of muskets to Wetherly’s and my vigorous arms. - -By this means we contrived to hoist the foretopsail, though not, as will -be supposed, to a ‘taut leech,’ as sailors call it. Yet the cloths -showed a wide surface to the wind, and already the nimble frame of the -little barque, yielding to the summer pressure aloft, was sliding along -very nearly as fast as the men could have urged the heavy long-boat -through the water, supposing them to have recovered her and to be in -pursuit. Whilst Wetherly manœuvred with the maintopsail halliards in -readiness for hoisting the yard, I once again hurried aft to the wheel, -to make sure of the course of the barque. She was drifting dead before -the small breeze with her head at about east-by-north, and already had -brought the island veering upon the quarter, lying down there in a lump -of blackness in the starlit gloom, with just the gleam of the bit of -northern coral sea-board glancing off the dusk of the shelving reef. -From time to time I could hear the fellows shouting, but their voices -were now sounding thin, weak, and remote. The star-flakes in the black -water astern trembled to the mild passage of the wind; and sparks of the -sea-fire, like golden seed, churned up in our wake mingled with those -delicate crystal reflections. With an eager passionate prayer upon my -lip that this steady draught would hold, I regained the main-deck; and -all being ready, Wetherly and I revolved the winch, Miss Temple holding -on as before, and the yards slowly mounted till we could ‘heave and -pawl’ no further. - -‘Now, Wetherly,’ I shouted, ‘jump aloft and loose that foresail. Pass -your knife through the gaskets. Don’t wait to cast them adrift.’ - -Then catching up the girl’s hand, which I pressed to my lips before -speaking, I asked her to accompany me to the wheel, that she might hold -the helm steady and keep the barque straight before the wind. - -‘There is no time,’ I exclaimed as I hastened aft with her, ‘to utter -more than the few syllables necessary to effect our escape. We must heap -all the canvas we can manage to spread upon the ship. We must contrive -to blow away out of sight of that island before the breeze fails, or the -men will be giving chase in the long-boat.’ - -She grasped the spokes in silence. The binnacle lamp was unlighted, and -the card lay in gloom. I bade her take note of a star that stood like a -jewel at the extreme end of the starboard main-yard arm, and swiftly -directed her how to move the wheel, if that star swung from the end of -the spar, so as to bring it back again to its place. I then sprang to -the main-rigging, and climbed with the activity of one to whom the loss -of a minute may mean life or death, to the height of the topgallant -yard, the sail of which I loosed, and then came hand over hand down to -the deck by the stay. The barque was but a toy of a ship at the best, -and after the pyramidal heights reared by the Indiaman, her tops and -crosstrees looked but a leap from the deck. I had sheeted home the -topgallant-sail before Wetherly had let fall the foresail. I summoned -him to the halliards, and when the sail was set, we let go the fore clew -garnets and hauled the sheet aft. Then we hoisted the foretopmast -staysail and other light fore and aft sails; and in order to get as much -weight out of the wind as there blew in it, we braced the yards somewhat -forward, that the fore and aft canvas might draw. When this was done, I -raced aft to the wheel and put it down. - -No sooner did the little barque feel the air off her beam than she -gently sloped her spars to it with a small spitting of froth at her -cutwater, and in a few minutes she was gliding along like a yacht, -reeling off a fair six knots with water smooth as ice to travel over, -small as was the amount of canvas we had made shift to spread. But I -could do no more. My strength had failed me, and I was incapable of -further exertions. It was not the fatigue of the swim merely, nor my -red-hot haste and maddened labours since I had boarded the barque; the -frightful hours of expectation, of anticipation, of hopes and fears, and -of waiting, that I had passed upon the accursed island since sundown -were now heavily telling upon me. - -‘Hold the wheel, will you, Wetherly,’ said I. ‘I am pretty nearly spent. -I must rest a bit. Thanks be to God, we are safe now, I believe;’ and so -saying, I sunk wearily upon the stern gratings. - -Miss Temple went hastily to the cabin, carrying with her the lamp with -which Wetherly had kindled the mesh in the binnacle. In a few minutes -she returned with a tumbler of brandy-and-water, which she put to my -lips. I swallowed the contents greedily, for I was not only parched with -thirst, but my nerves sorely needed the stimulant. I took her hand and -brought her to sit by my side, and continued to caress her hand, -scarcely equal for more just then than a few rapturous exclamations over -our deliverance, the delight I felt in being with her again, the joy in -believing that I should now be able to redeem my promise and restore her -in safety to her mother. Her replies were mere murmurs. Indeed, her own -emotions were overwhelming. I could hear her sobbing; then see her by -the starlight smiling; but she kept her eyes fixed on my face; soaked as -I still was to the skin with salt water, she leaned against me, as -though she needed the assurance of actual contact to convince her that I -was with her once more. - -But by this time the island had melted into the scintillant dusk of the -sky. Nothing showed but the liquid sweep of the indigo line of horizon. -Another hour of such sailing as this would convey us out of all -possibility of reach of the long-boat, supposing the men should recover -her; for she was without mast or sail; the utmost exertion of the rowers -could scarcely get more than three or three and a half miles an hour out -of her; then again I had shifted the barque’s course, and would shift it -again presently. - -‘Tell me now about Forrest?’ I exclaimed, breaking a silence of fatigue -and emotion that had lasted some few minutes. - -I felt the shudder that ran through my companion in the clasp of her -hand. - -‘Did I understand that you shot him?’ - -‘It is too dreadful to speak of,’ she said in a low voice. - -‘It was like this, sir,’ exclaimed Wetherly. ‘Forrest and me had agreed -to keep a four hours’ lookout. He was to stand from eight to twelve. I -lay down on the fo’c’sle, believing the lady safe below, where she’d -been pretty nigh ever since you and the men went ashore. I was awoke by -a noise that sounded to me like the report of a gun. It was then about -six bells, sir. I thought I’d just walk aft to see if all was right with -the lady. Audacious as I knew that there fellow Forrest to be, speaking -of him as a fo’c’sle hand, and capable of any sort of hinsolence and -mutiny and the likes of that, I had no fear of him whilst he was left -alone to keep a lookout with the hentertainment of thinking about the -money him and his mates was to dig up. Well, as I reached the -quarter-deck the lady came out of the cabin. The light was burning dim, -just as you found it when you came aboard. She held a pistol in her -hand, and she says to me quite coolly: “A man came into my cabin just -now. I heard him trying the handle of my door, and I took up this -pistol, and when he walked in, I said: “Who are you? What do you want?” -he answered; and I pointed my pistol at him and fired. I believe I have -killed him. Will you go and see?” I thought she was walking in her -sleep, so quiet she talked. I went to her cabin, and saw Forrest lying -upon the deck. I turned him over, and he was stone dead; shot through -the heart, I reckon. I dragged his body into your cabin, where it’s -a-lying now. The lady then asked to keep company with me on the poop; -and so it was you found us a-walking together, sir.’ - -‘Brave Louise!’ I murmured, moved to the utterance of her Christian -name, though this was the first time I had ever given it her, close and -ceaseless as our association had been. Yet an instant’s reluctance, -regret, or bashfulness followed my pronunciation of it—even at such a -moment as that!—to the memory that arose in me with the velocity of -thought of the proud eyes, the haughty coldness of the lofty, -disdainful, elegant Miss Temple of the _Countess Ida_. - -But what she had done was a thing not to be referred to again now. I -felt the piteousness of her distress, shame, and horror in her silence: -by-and-by she would be able to speak of it collectedly, if there were -need indeed to recur to it at all. - -‘No fear of the boat overhauling us, now, I think, Wetherly?’ I -exclaimed. - -‘Lord, no, sir; without e’er a sail to spread either. That swim of yourn -was a bold venture, Mr. Dugdale. Ye must ha’ managed the job in -first-rate style. Wasn’t no lookout kept?’ - -His questions led me into telling the story. Miss Temple listened -eagerly, our hands remaining locked; again and again she broke into an -exclamation with some cry of alarm, some ejaculation of sympathy. ‘You -called me brave just now,’ she said; ‘but how is your behaviour to be -expressed?’ - -‘D’ye think there’s any chance of the men recovering that boat?’ -inquired Wetherly. ‘The chaps told me when they came aboard to furl the -canvas that there was nothen to eat or drink upon the island saving what -they’d taken. If they should lose the boat, it must go hard with them, -sir.’ - -‘They will not lose their boat unless the fellow who was in charge of -her lay dead drunk in her bottom: an improbability; for I saw him walk -on steady legs to her. My one chance lay in his being asleep. Make your -mind easy: he was awakened long ago by the yells of the men, and by this -time the boat lies snug at the beach of the lagoon. But why should you -have any feeling for the brutes? They would have cut your throat had -they succeeded in boarding us. What happened when you were asleep should -be indication enough for you of the character of the ruffians, a pretty -good warrant of the sort of treatment we might have expected at their -hands later on, gold or no gold.’ - -‘Mr. Dugdale,’ he answered, ‘all I can say is I’m thankful to the Lord -to be where I am. I shall be desperate glad, I shall, when this here -woyage is over. I should only just like to see my way to getting enough -out of it to set up for myself ashore, for this here’s been a job as has -properly sickened me of the sea, and so I don’t mind telling ye, sir.’ - -‘There’ll be the salvage of this craft,’ said I; ‘you can have my share, -and I’m sure Miss Temple will give you hers.’ - -‘Oh, certainly,’ she exclaimed. - -‘Then there’ll be your own share,’ I went on. ‘We have to carry the ship -in safety to a port first of all. If we can’t pick up hands as we go -along, we three will have to manage as best we can. I don’t doubt we -shall contrive it; and then you will easily see your way to a few -hundreds.’ - -I saw him grin broadly by the mingled light of the binnacle and -star-shine. It was proper to fill him with hope, and to present to his -limited understanding some thing definite to work upon. There had been -nothing in his behaviour to render me much obliged to him. He had chosen -neutral ground in this business, with a little inclination to the safer -side: and though he had ventured upon several promises, I had never -secretly regarded him as a man who would prove heroically useful at a -pinch. However, he was absolutely essential to our safety now, and it -was politic that I should seem grateful; though, to be sure, there was -always the instinct of self-preservation to keep him straight; by which -I mean that he was as eager to end this extraordinary ramble as I was. - -He asked me several questions about the gold, and talked as if he -believed that the men might yet meet with it; but my answers seemed to -convince him after a little, and I saw him wagging his head whilst he -exclaimed: ‘It was at the foot of a clump of trees, I know; I clearly -recollect the yarn as Wilkins gave it, and his memory couldn’t have gone -wrong, for he arrived fresh with it from the cabin. If they’ve dug at -the roots of all the trees abreast of the beach, as you say, sir, and -the money ain’t there, then good-night! It’s the hallucination I always -said it was; and for my part give me two pound of honest salvage afore -two hundred thousand pound of lunatic dreamings.’ - -The breeze seemed to freshen as we drew away. The barque was now heeling -prettily, throwing the water in a white curl of sea off her weather bow, -and her wake ran far into the liquid gloom astern, into which I would -again and again send a glance, governed yet by an agitation of spirits -and an animation of alarm which my judgment pronounced ridiculous. I -cannot express the caressing character of Miss Temple’s manner as she -continued seated close beside me. The astonishment, the rapture, the -wildly contending sensations and emotions which had possessed her were -now giving way to a mood of happiness, of triumphant hope, that put an -indescribable note of tender elation and grateful, joyous sweetness into -her words. If I had yet to wonder whether she loved me, I might feel -sure that my return to her, that my presence, filled her with emotions -which came very near to the passion of love. - -But I was wet through; and now that we were safe, the vessel sliding -with swiftness through the clear shadow of the night, and my shipmate -Louise tranquil in the full realisation of our sudden and complete -deliverance, I could find leisure to feel a little chilly. So, leaving -her with a promise that I should shortly return, and telling Wetherly to -keep the barque steady as she was going, I picked up the cabin lamp, -that was still feebly burning upon the deck, and descended the companion -steps. I paused to look around me upon the familiar interior in which -Miss Temple and I had passed so many hours of distress and wretchedness -with an exclamation of gratitude to God for his merciful preservation of -us, and then went to my cabin to habit myself in such dry garments as I -might find in Captain Braine’s locker. I opened the door, but recoiled -with an involuntary cry. I had forgotten Forrest! and there lay the dead -body of the man right in front of me. Twice, now, had that little square -of carpet been stained by human blood. I was horribly shocked by the -spectacle of the corpse; but it was necessary that I should change my -clothes, and I had to undergo the torture of being watched by those -half-closed ghastly eyes, to which twenty expressions of life were -imparted by the stirring of the dim flame in the lantern whilst I sought -for and attired myself in dry apparel. This done, I made a brighter -flame, and then held the light to the dead face, that I might be sure -the villain had no life in him. No gibbeted body that had been swinging -in chains for a month could be deader. I entered the cuddy, hung up the -lamp, and went on deck. - -‘Miss Temple,’ I exclaimed, ‘will you kindly hold the wheel for a few -minutes?’ - -She rose and grasped the spokes. Wetherly understood me, and followed me -below in silence. - -‘We must toss the body overboard,’ said I; ‘there can be no luck for the -ship with such an object as that as a part of her freight, and Miss -Temple must be helped to forget the horror of the night that’s going.’ - -Between us we picked up the corpse, very quickly conveyed it through the -companion hatch, went forward with it where the darkness lay heavy, and -dropped it over the bulwarks. - -‘That’s how they would have served you, sir,’ said Wetherly. - -‘And you,’ said I. - -‘Yes, my God, I know it!’ he answered in a voice of agitation. - -We returned to the wheel, which Wetherly took from Miss Temple, who -seated herself with me just behind it on the gratings, and there we held -a council. Our business must be to get to a port as soon as possible. -Should we head away for the Islands of the Low Archipelago, bearing -north-west with a chance of falling in with a vessel cruising amongst -them who would lend us two or three men to help us in navigating the -barque, or should we steer a due east course for Valparaiso, that lay -about two thousand six hundred miles distant? - -Our resolution was rapidly formed. The islands might yield us no help; -there was also the risk of running ashore upon the hundred reefs of that -then little known navigation; abundance of the natives of the groups -were man-eaters, and we certainly had not delivered ourselves from the -perils we ran through enforced association with the carpenter and his -crew merely to ingloriously terminate our adventures by serving to -appease the appetite of a little population of blacks. - -No; it must be Valparaiso. There we should find a city with every -species of convenience: a consul to advise and assist us; shops where -Miss Temple could make all necessary purchases; a choice of large ships -for the passage home. The ocean we were traversing was the Pacific, and -the time of year in it summer; there was nothing greatly to alarm us -then in the contemplation of the possibility of our having to work the -barque to the South American coast without more help than the three of -us could provide. It would be necessary to keep the vessel under easy -canvas, that we might always be equal to the occasion of a sudden change -of weather, and that, to be sure, would protract the run. But a few -weeks more or less of old ocean would be as nothing to us now that we -were masters of our lives and liberty, now that we should know every day -was bringing us something nearer to our distant home, that all the -horrors with which our future had but a few hours before been crowded -were gone. As we conversed, talking with exultation of our escape, -arranging for keeping watches, planning about the cooking of the food, -and concerting twenty other measures of a like sort, the day broke; the -stars died out in the east; the pale green of dawn went lifting like a -delicate smoke into the shadow of the zenith; the light broadened fast, -and the sun soared into a flashing day of cloudless heaven and of -dark-blue ocean wrinkled by the breeze. With a telescope in my hand I -sprang on to the grating and slowly circled the sea-line with the -lenses. The water brimmed bare to the sky on all sides. - -‘We are alone,’ said I, dismounting and taking Miss Temple by the hand -whilst I looked fondly into her face. ‘When we were on the wreck, it was -our misery to hunt the ocean with our gaze and find ourselves alone; and -now, though we are still at sea, loneliness is delightful—for it is -escape, freedom, the promise of home.’ - -Her eyes filled with tears. - - - - - CHAPTER XLII - CONCLUSION - - -I have kept you long at sea. With my escape in the barque from Captain -Braine’s island in company with my shipmate Louise, the story of my -adventure—the narrative, indeed, of the romance of the wreck—virtually -ends. Yet you will wish to see Miss Temple safely home; you will desire -to know whether I married her or not; you will also want to hear the -latest news of the people of the _Countess Ida_, to learn the fate of -the Honourable Mr. Colledge, of the crew of the _Magicienne’s_ cutter, -and of the carpenter Lush and his merry gold-hunting men. All may be -told in the brief limits of a chapter. - -For five days Wetherly and Miss Temple and myself navigated the barque -without assistance. We managed it thus: the girl took her turn in -steering the vessel, and after a very few trials steered with the -expertness of a trained hand. I can see her now as she stands at the -wheel: her fine figure clear cut against the soft Pacific blue over the -stern; her dark and shining eyes bent upon the compass card, or lifting -in the beauty of the shadow of their lashes to the white canvas; her -hands of ivory delicacy grasping the spokes, and always a smile of -sweetness and gladness and hope for me when our glances met. To think of -the haughty, aristocratic Miss Louise Temple reduced to it! But she did -a deal more than that: she helped us to pull and haul; she cooked for -us, she kept a lookout, walking the weather-deck whilst Wetherly steered -and I was resting. No complaint ever left her lips; she was gentle and -happy in all she did. The sea had dealt with her to some purpose; and -she was now as sweet, tender, compliant, as she was before self-willed, -insolent, and objectionable in all things but her beauty. - -The struggle, indeed, would have been a desperate one for us but for the -weather. The small but steady sailing breeze that had blown us away from -the island continued with a shift of three points only in those five -days, and a trifling increase one night, so that we had never occasion -to start a sheet or let go a halliard; nothing more were we called upon -to do with the gear than to slacken away the braces. - -It was on the afternoon of the fifth day that we fell in with a Peruvian -man-of-war brig. She backed her topsail and sent a boat. The young -officer in command spoke French very fluently, and Miss Temple and I -between us were able to make him understand our story. He returned to -his ship to report what I had said, and presently came back with a -couple of Irish seamen, to whose services to help us to carry the barque -to Valparaiso we were, he said, very welcome. This I considered an -extraordinary stroke of fortune, for in so slender a ship’s company as -we should still make it was of the utmost consequence that all orders -given should be perfectly and instantly intelligible. The Peruvian brig -was bound on a cruise amongst the islands, and I earnestly entreated the -officer to request his commander to head first of all for the reef upon -which I had left Lush and his men, that they might be taken off, if they -had not recovered their boat. - -Down to this point, the three of us in one fashion and another had -managed so fairly well, that the acquisition of the two Irish seamen -communicated to me a sense of being in command of a very tolerable -ship’s company. Miss Temple and I could now enjoy some little leisure -apart from a routine that had been harassing with its vexations and -incessant demands upon our vigilance. Night after night descended upon -us in beauty; the warm wind blew moist with dew; the reflection of the -rich and trembling stars quivered in cones of an icy gleam amid the -ripples of the breeze-brushed sea; the curl of new moon shone in the -west in the wake of the glowing sun to rise nightly fuller and more -brilliant yet, till for awhile the barque sailed through an atmosphere -that was brimful of the greenish glory of the unclouded planet. There -was scarcely, indeed, a condition of this tender tropic passage to -Valparaiso that was not favourable to sentiment. Yet my pride rendered -it an obligation upon me that before I spoke my love I must make sure of -the girl’s own feelings towards me. I watched her with an impassioned -eye; I listened to every word that fell from her lips with an ear eager -to penetrate to the spirit of her meaning; a smile that seemed in the -least degree ambiguous would keep me musing for a whole watch together. -Then I would inquire whether I could in honour ask her to be my wife -until my protection and care for her had ceased, and she stood to me in -the position she had occupied when we had first met aboard the Indiaman. -But to this very fine question of conscience I would respond with the -consideration that if I did not ask her now, I must continue in a -distracting state of suspense and anxiety for many weeks, running, -indeed, into months—that is to say, until we should reach home; that she -might misconstrue my reserve, and attribute it to indifference; that to -make her understand why I did not speak would involve the declaration -that my honour was supposed to regard as objectionable. - -But all this self-parleying simply signified that I was waiting to make -sure of her answer before addressing her. In one quarter of an hour one -fine night, with a high moon riding over the topsail yardarm and the -breeze bringing an elfin-like sound of delicate singing, out of the -rigging, it was settled! A glance from her, a moment of speaking -silence, brought my love to my lips, and standing with her hand in mine -in the shadow of a wing of sail curving past the main-rigging, with the -brook-like voice of running waters rising, I asked her to be my wife. - -There was hesitation without reluctance, a manner of mingled doubt and -delight. I had won her heart; and her hand must follow; but her mother, -her dearest mother! Her consent must be obtained; and from what she said -in disjointed sentences, with earnest anxiety to say nothing that might -give me pain, with a voice that trembled with the emotions of gratitude -and affection, I gathered that Lady Temple’s matrimonial schemes for her -daughter soared very considerably above the degree of a commoner. - -‘But Louise, I have your love?’ - -‘Yes, yes, yes! my love, my gratitude, and my admiration.’ - -‘And you need but your mother’s consent to marry me?’ - -‘Yes, and she will consent. This long association—this astonishing -adventure’—— - -‘Ay, but there is no obligation of marriage in _that_. I have your love, -and your mother will consent because you love me?’ - -She fixed her eyes on my face, and by the haze of moonlight floating off -the sand-white planks into the shadow in which we stood, I saw such -meaning in them that the sole sequel of my interpretation of it must be -to put my lips to hers. - -‘My first kiss, Louise! My God! how little did I dream of this happiness -when I used to look at you and almost hate you aboard the _Countess -Ida_!’ - -But enough of this. It all happened so many years ago now, that I am -astonished by my memory that enables me to put down even so much of this -little passage of my experiences with Louise as I have written. - -After days of delightful weather and prosperous winds, we came to an -anchor at Valparaiso. I at once waited upon the British consul, related -my story, delivered over the ship, and was treated by him with the -utmost courtesy, consideration, and hospitality. A large English vessel -was sailing for Liverpool eight days after the date of our arrival. I -inspected her, and promptly took berths for myself and Miss Temple; and -the rest of the time we spent in providing ourselves with the necessary -outfit for another long voyage. The consul informed me that the -deposition I made as to the _Lady Blanche_ would suffice in respect of -the legal manœuvring that would have to follow, and that I was at -liberty to sail whenever I chose. I empowered him to hand over any -salvage money that might come to me to Wetherly, whom I also requested -to call upon me when he should arrive in England, that I might suitably -reward him for the very honest discharge of his duties from the time of -our leaving the island in the barque. - -I will not pretend that our passage home was uneventful. Out of it might -readily be spun another considerable narrative; but here I may but -glance at it. The ship was named the _Greyhound_. She was a tall, black, -softwood-built ship, of American birth, with a white figurehead, and -fine lines of planking, and three lofty skysail poles, and an almost -perpendicular bow, and she had, to use the old term, the sailing -qualities of a witch. There went with her a number of passengers, -Spanish and English, who, thanks, I suppose, to the gossip of the -British consul and his wife and family, were perfectly informed of every -article of our story, and in consequence made a very great deal of us—of -Miss Temple in particular. But how great had been the change wrought in -her character! No more supercilious airs, haughty looks, chilling -glances of contemptuous surprise. Her sweetness and cordiality rendered -her as completely a favourite as she had been before disliked and feared -by her fellow-passengers of the Indiaman. - -It took her a long while, however, to recur without exquisite distress -to the man Forrest whom she had shot. But I was never weary of putting -the matter before her in its just light; and at last she suffered me to -persuade her that what she had done it had been her duty to do, that -every law of God and man was at the back of such a deed to justify and -even consecrate it, and that so far from suffering the recollection to -render her wretched, she should proudly honour herself for the instant’s -coolness, courage, and presence of mind she had exhibited at sight of -the scoundrel. Yet it was inevitably a memory to linger darkly with her -for some time. - -Our being incessantly together from the hour of our sailing down to the -hour of our arrival strengthened her love for me, and her passion became -a pure and unaffected sentiment. This I could have by no means sworn it -was when I spoke my love to her in the Pacific. I was sure that she -liked me, that she even had a warm affection for me, inspired by -gratitude and by esteem for as much of my character as she could -understand in my behaviour to her. But I could not satisfy myself that -she loved me, or that, subject to her mother’s approval, she would have -consented to marry me, but for our extraordinary experiences, that had -coupled us together in an intimacy which most people might consider -matrimony must confirm for her sake if not for mine. - -But if that had ever been her mood—she never would own it—it ripened -during this voyage into a love that the most wretchedly sensitive heart -could not have mistaken. And now it remained to be seen what reception -Lady Temple would accord me. She would be all gratitude, of course; she -would be transported with the sight and safety of her daughter; but -ambition might presently dominate all effusion of thankfulness, and she -would quite fail to see any particular obligation on her daughter’s part -to marry merely because we had been shipmates together in a series of -incredible adventures. - -But all conjecture was abruptly ended on our arrival by the news of Lady -Temple’s death. A stroke of paralysis had carried her off. The attack -was charged to her fretting for her daughter, of whose abandonment upon -the wreck she had received the news from no less a person than the -Honourable Mr. Colledge. Let me briefly describe how this had come -about. - -When the cutter containing Mr. Colledge and the men of the _Magicienne_ -had lost sight of the wreck in the sudden vapour that had boiled down -over it, the fellows, having lost their lieutenant and being without a -head, hurriedly agreed to pull dead away before the wind in the -direction of the Indiaman, not doubting that she would be lying hove-to, -and that they must strike her situation near enough to disclose the huge -loom of her amidst the fog. They missed her, and then, not knowing what -else to do, they lashed their oars into a bundle and rode to it. It was -hard upon sunset when a great shadow came surging up out of the fog -close aboard of them. It was the corvette under reefed topsails. The -cutter was within an ace of being run down. Her crew roared at the top -of their pipes, and they were heard; but a few moments later the -_Magicienne_ had melted out again upon the flying thickness. The boat, -however, had been seen, and her bearings accurately taken; and twenty -minutes later, the corvette again came surging to the spot where the -cutter lay. Scores of eyes gazed over the ship-of-war’s head and -bulwarks in a thirsty, piercing lookout. The end of a line was flung, -the boat dragged alongside, and in a few minutes all were safe on board. -Colledge related the story of the adventure to his cousin—how the -lieutenant had fallen overboard and was drowned, as he believed; how -Miss Temple and I were left upon the wreck, and were yet there. But the -blackness of a densely foggy night was now upon the sea; it was also -blowing hard, and nothing could be done till the weather cleared and the -day broke. - -That nothing was done, you know. When the horizon was penetrable, keen -eyes were despatched to the mastheads; but whether it was that the light -wreck had drifted to a degree entirely out of the calculations of Sir -Edward Panton, or that his own drift during the long, black, blowing -hours misled him, no sign of us rewarded his search. For two days he -gallantly stuck to those waters, then abandoned the hunt as a hopeless -one, and proceeded on his voyage to England. - -Mr. Colledge on his arrival immediately thought it his duty to write -what he could tell of the fate of Miss Temple to Lady Temple’s brother, -General Ashmole. The General was a little in a hurry to communicate with -poor Lady Temple. His activity as a bearer of ill tidings might perhaps -have found additional animation in the knowledge that if Miss Temple -were dead, then the next of her kinsfolk to whom her ladyship must leave -the bulk of her property would be the General and his four charming -daughters. Be this as it will, the news proved fatal to Lady Temple. The -uncertainty of her daughter’s fate, doubt of the possibility of her -having been rescued from the wreck, fears of her having met with a slow, -miserable, most dreadful death, preyed upon such poor remains of health -as paralysis and a long term of motionless confinement had left her; and -her maid one morning on entering her room found her dead in her bed. - -The shock was a terrible one to Louise. Again and again she had said to -me that if the news of her having been lost out of the Indiaman reached -her mother before she arrived home, it would kill her. And now she found -her prediction verified! I was a deal grieved for the girl’s sake; but -it was not a thing for me to take very seriously to heart. Indeed it was -not long before I got to hear that her ladyship had been an exceedingly -ambitious woman, with the highest possible notions of her own -importance, and of an insufferable condescension of manner; and I was -assured had she lived, I should have found her a formidable, perhaps an -immovable obstacle to my marriage. But had she been the most amiable of -women, the stroke of her death must have been considerably softened to -my mind by understanding that it made Louise the absolute mistress of a -mansion and large grounds and a clear income of three thousand five -hundred a year. This was very well, and quite worth being shipwrecked -and kidnapped for. - -But if her ladyship’s death cleared the road for me in one way, it -temporarily blocked it for me in another by enforcing delay. Louise must -not now marry for a year. No; anything less than a year was out of the -question. It would be an insult to the memory of an adored parent even -to think of happiness under a twelvemonth. I resigned myself in silence -to the affliction of waiting, leaving it to time to unsettle her -resolution. She had many relatives, and she went from house to house; -but I was never very far off. I loved her too fondly to lose her. I had -won her, and I meant to have and hold the supreme title to her that had -come to me from old ocean. Not that I had a doubt of her own devotion; I -was afraid of her relatives. Some of them were titled people; they were -all of them social star-gazers, with their intellectual eyes rooted upon -objects that shone more splendidly than they and higher in life’s -atmosphere; and there was such an army of them in one shape or another, -such battalions of uncles and aunts, of cousins and connections -spreading out like the tendrils of creepers, that I feared their -influence if I did not take care to keep hovering close by to guard my -Louise’s heart against any relaxation of sentiment. - -Indeed, I was uneasy till I got her down to my mother’s house, and I -could fill a volume in describing the manœuvring I was forced into to -accomplish so simple a matter against the devices and stratagems of her -superior connections. Already there was one young man dying of love for -her. He was the eldest son of a baronet, and his mother was one of the -most intriguing old wretches that ever perplexed the wishes or -confounded the respectable pleasures of her fellow-creatures. -Single-handed I had to fight the battle of my love against this young -man, who was dying of passion, and my lady his mother, both of them -backed by a large proportion of Louise’s relatives; and I say I scarcely -enjoyed an hour’s tranquillity of mind until I had her under my mother’s -roof. - -By this time her grief had abated; the recollection of her past -sufferings lay lightly upon her mind. We were now once more together, as -we had been when at sea. She soon learned to love my gentle old mother, -and was so happy that after awhile her relatives ceased in despair to -attempt to coax her back to them. By that time little more than six -months had elapsed since our return, and, consequently, since she had -received the news of her mother’s death. But our being together in -constant close association from morning till night, almost as much alone -as ever we had been when on the wreck, what with delightful drives, -delicious hand-in-hand rambles, ended in rendering me mighty impatient, -and impatience is usually importunate. I grew pressing, and one day she -consented to our being married at the expiration of a fortnight. - -It was much too plain a wedding for such a heroine as our adventures had -made Louise, but it was her own choosing. A few intimate friends of my -own family, two poor but exceedingly ladylike and well-bred cousins of -her own, the vicar who joined our hands, and his homely agreeable -wife—these formed the company. I sent an invitation to Mr. Colledge, -against the inclination of Louise, who associated him with all our -misfortunes, though for my part I could have strained him to my heart on -my marriage day as the involuntary promoter of all my happiness. He -neither wrote nor presented himself; but this was afterwards explained -by a letter dated from Palestine, in which country he was then -travelling, having made up his mind to trust himself and his fortunes as -little as possible to the ocean in his determination to see the world. -It was a stupid amiable letter, full of good-wishes and kindest regards, -with much rambling on in reference to the wreck and his own narrow -escape. I observed that he did not mention the name of Miss Fanny -Crawley. - -An effusion of the local good-will and sympathy was visible in the -decoration of the church. Never stood any man before the altar more -proud of the girl of his heart’s choice than did I with Louise by my -side. Beautiful she had always shown to me from the first moment of my -gaze resting on her aboard the Indiaman, but never more beautiful in the -eyes of my passion than on that day. The sweetness that had come to her -from suffering was in every smile and look. - -‘We have started on another voyage now,’ I whispered as we passed out of -the church. - -‘There must be no wrecks in it,’ she answered. - -And for years, I thank God, it was all summer sailing with us; but I am -old now, and alone. - -In those times, the round voyage to India averaged a twelvemonth, and I -was unable to obtain news of the _Countess Ida_ until the August that -had followed the June of our arrival at Liverpool in the _Greyhound_. I -was in London when I heard of the Indiaman as having been reported off -Deal. In the course of a few days I despatched a note to old Keeling, -addressed to the East India Docks, asking him to come and dine with me, -that I might tell him of my adventures, and learn what efforts he had -made to recover us from the wreck. He arrived in full shore-going fig, -with the old familiar skewered look, in the long, tightly buttoned-up -coat, and the tall cravat and stiff collars, in which his sun-reddened -face rested like a ball in a cup. - -He was heartily glad to see me, and continued to shake my hand until my -arm ached again. Of my story he had known nothing; for the first time he -was now hearing it from my lips. He listened with acute attention, with -a countenance over which expression chased expression; and when I had -done, seized my hand again, and shook it long and vehemently, whilst he -complimented me on my success in navigating the _Lady Blanche_ to the -island, and on the judgment I had shown in planning and effecting my -escape from Mr. Lush and his crew. - -He had little to tell me, however, that was very interesting. He had -been blown away from the neighbourhood of the wreck; and though, when -the weather cleared, he had luffed up to the spot where he believed she -was to be found, he could see nothing of her. Mr. Prance was looking at -the hull through his glass when the smother came driving down upon her, -and saw the cutter shove off; and he believed that Miss Temple and I -were in her. He had no time to make sure, for the vapour swiftly blotted -the boat out of sight. But his conviction was—and Keeling owned himself -influenced by it—that if they fell in with the wreck they would not find -us aboard her. Poor old Mrs. Radcliffe nearly went crazy with grief and -distress; and to satisfy her mind, he cruised over the supposed -situation of the hull till the night fell; then satisfied that we had -either perished by the capsizal of the cutter, or been picked up by the -corvette, he trimmed sail for his course and proceeded. - -The disaster that had befallen us, he said, had cast a heavy gloom over -the ship, and it was heightened by Mrs. Radcliffe’s serious illness, due -to the poignant wretchedness caused her by the loss of her niece. -Hemmeridge was entreated to prescribe for her, but he sullenly refused, -hoped that her illness might be epidemical, that more might suffer than -she, and could breathe nothing but threats of having the law of Keeling -on the ship’s arrival at Bombay. However, by the time the vessel was up -with the Cape, Mrs. Radcliffe had recovered; and when Keeling last saw -her, she seemed as hopeful as she was before despairful of her niece -being yet accounted for. - -Abreast of the Cape also, the spirits of the passengers had sufficiently -lightened to enable some love-making to proceed briskly amongst them. - -‘Much about twenty degrees of south latitude,’ said old Keeling in his -dry voice, ‘young Mr. Fairthorne, the fellow that lisped, you remember, -Mr. Dugdale, succeeded in tempting that nice young lady, Constance -Hudson, to accept his hand and heart. Old Mrs. Hudson was very well -pleased, sir. About the latitude of the Chagos Archipelago, Mr. Emmett -induced Miss Helen Trevor to betroth herself to him. And off the -Laccadive Islands, Peter Hemskirk, to the astonishment of all hands, -deposited his person and his fortune at the feet of Miss Mary Joliffe.’ - -‘I had thought Mr. Emmett was a married man,’ I said. - -‘Apparently not, sir,’ he answered. - -‘And your friend Hemmeridge?’ - -He replied that the surgeon consulted a solicitor at Bombay, and had no -doubt been advised to take certain proceedings; but three weeks after -the arrival of the ship the doctor had been thrown from a horse, and so -injured in the spine and head, that he died within a fortnight. - -‘What he could have done I’m sure I don’t know, Mr. Dugdale,’ said the -old fellow. ‘I believe I was within my rights. Yet he might have given -me trouble, and I hate law. The two fellows, Crabb and Willett, I handed -over to the police. Mr. Saunders got the drug the scoundrel had used -carefully analysed, and it turned out that he was right: it proved to be -what he’d termed it; and I afterwards heard the stuff was not unknown in -India, where it’s used for some religious purposes; but in what way I -don’t know.’ - -This was all the news that old Keeling had to give me. - -When I left Lush and the sailors of the _Lady Blanche_ upon the reef, I -had little thought of ever hearing of them again. I knew the nature of -sailors. If they came off with their lives, I might be sure they would -disperse and utterly vanish. Great was my surprise, then, one morning -some months after my marriage, to find, on opening my morning newspaper, -a column-long account of the trial of a seaman named Lush for the murder -of a man named Woodward. The evidence was substantially my story with a -sequel to it. The witnesses against Lush were three of the seamen of the -_Lady Blanche_. The counsel for the prosecution related the adventures -of the barque down to the time of my swimming off to her and sailing -away with her. The boat had been in charge of the man Woodward when I -detached the line to let her slip away. He had fallen into a deep sleep, -overcome by fatigue and drink. The yells and roaring of the crew, one of -whom had started up and observed the boat drifting out, had aroused the -sleeper after the uproar had been some time continued. He was thick and -stupid, went clumsily to work to scull the heavy boat ashore, and was a -long time in doing it. The carpenter dragged him on to the beach and -asked him if he had fallen asleep. The unfortunate wretch answered yes; -the carpenter struck him fiercely; Woodward returned the blow; and, mad -with rage, Lush whipped out his sheath-knife and stabbed the man to the -heart. - -By this time the barque had almost faded out in the gloom of the night. -Pursuit was not to be thought of. They waited till daylight; but instead -of putting their remaining provisions and water in the boat and heading -away in search of land or a passing ship, the fools fell to dicing -afresh; and it was not until their little stock of water was almost gone -that, being satisfied that there was no gold in that part of the shore -where Captain Braine had said it lay hidden, they put to sea. - -They were several days afloat before they, or at least the survivors, -were rescued. Their sufferings were not to be expressed. They had been -five days without water when picked up. Four of them had died, and one -of the bodies had been preserved for a use that cannot be dwelt on. They -were fallen in with by an English brig bound home, to the captain of -which one of the sailors, who had been an old ‘chum’ of Woodward, told -the story of the murder of that man by Lush. The skipper, not choosing -to have such a ruffian as the carpenter at large in his little ship, -clapped him in irons, and kept him under hatches until the arrival of -the vessel in the Thames, when he was handed over to the police. I -hardly wished the scoundrel hanged, richly as he deserved making such an -ending; and it was with something of relief that I read when he was -brought to the Old Bailey that the jury had found a verdict of -manslaughter, and that he was sentenced to ten years’ transportation. - -To this hour I am puzzled by Captain Braine and his island. My wife -uniformly believed that the gold was there, and that the poor lunatic -had mistaken the bearings of the spot where it lay. My own fancy, -however, always inclined to this: that from the circumstance of his -having rightly described the island, which he situated on a part of the -sea where no reef or land of any sort was laid down on the charts, he -had actually been wrecked upon it, and suffered as he had related to me; -that by long dwelling upon his terrific experience he had imported -certain insane fancies into it out of his unsuspected madness when it -grew upon him; until the hallucination of the gold hardened in his poor -soul into a conviction. Yet I may be wrong; and, if so, then there must -at this hour be upwards of a hundred and eighty thousand pounds’ worth -of gold coins lying concealed somewhere in the reef whose latitude and -longitude you have. - - - THE END - - - - - PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE - LONDON - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Spelling errors were left uncorrected. - 2. 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