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diff --git a/716-h/716-h.htm b/716-h/716-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7746b26 --- /dev/null +++ b/716-h/716-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10618 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Cruise of the Jasper B., by Don Marquis +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +PRE { font-size: small ; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cruise of the Jasper B., by Don Marquis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cruise of the Jasper B. + +Author: Don Marquis + +Posting Date: August 12, 2008 [EBook #716] +Release Date: November, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. *** + + + + +Produced by John Gidusko. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +DON MARQUIS +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO ALL THE COPYREADERS ON ALL<BR>THE NEWSPAPERS OF AMERICA +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A BRIGHT BLADE LEAPS FROM A RUSTY SCABBARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE ROOM OF ILLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A SCHOONER, A SKIPPER, AND A SKULL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">A BAD MAN TO CROSS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">BEAUTY IN DISTRESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">LADY AGATHA'S STORY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">FIRST BLOOD FOR CLEGGETT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A FLAME LEAPS OUT OF THE DARK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">MYSTERIES MULTIPLY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">REPARTEE AND PISTOLS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE SECOND OBLONG BOX</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE SOUL OF LOGAN BLACK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CLEGGETT STANDS BY HIS SHIP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">NIGHT, TEMPEST, LOVE AND BATTLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">ROMANCE REGNANT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">MISS PRINGLE CALLS ON MR. CLEGGETT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE MAN IN THE BLUE PAJAMAS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">TWO GREAT MEN MEET</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DETECTIVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">THE THIRD OBLONG BOX ARRIVES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">DANCING ON THE DECK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">CUTLASSES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">THE DUEL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">THE SECRET OF THE VESSEL'S HOLD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">A DOG DIES GAME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">CLEGGETT ACCOMMODATES THE KING</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BRIGHT BLADE LEAPS FROM A RUSTY SCABBARD +</H3> + +<P> +On an evening in April, 191-, Clement J. Cleggett walked sedately into +the news room of the New York Enterprise with a drab-colored +walking-stick in his hand. He stood the cane in a corner, changed his +sober street coat for a more sober office jacket, adjusted a green +eyeshade below his primly brushed grayish hair, unostentatiously sat +down at the copy desk, and unobtrusively opened a drawer. +</P> + +<P> +From the drawer he took a can of tobacco, a pipe, a pair of scissors, a +paste-pot and brush, a pile of copy paper, a penknife and three +half-lengths of lead pencil. +</P> + +<P> +The can of tobacco was not remarkable. The pipe was not picturesque. +The scissors were the most ordinary of scissors. The copy paper was +quite undistinguished in appearance. The lead pencils had the most +untemperamental looking points. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett himself, as he filled and lighted the pipe, did it in the most +matter-of-fact sort of way. Then he remarked to the head of the copy +desk, in an average kind of voice: +</P> + +<P> +"H'lo, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"H'lo, Clegg," said Jim, without looking up. "Might as well begin on +this bunch of early copy, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +For more than ten years Cleggett had done the same thing at the same +time in the same manner, six nights of the week. +</P> + +<P> +What he did on the seventh night no one ever thought to inquire. If any +member of the Enterprise staff had speculated about it at all he would +have assumed that Cleggett spent that seventh evening in some way +essentially commonplace, sober, unemotional, quiet, colorless, dull and +Brooklynitish. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett lived in Brooklyn. The superficial observer might have said +that Cleggett and Brooklyn were made for each other. +</P> + +<P> +The superficial observer! How many there are of him! And how much he +misses! He misses, in fact, everything. +</P> + +<P> +At two o'clock in the morning a telegraph operator approached the copy +desk and handed Cleggett a sheet of yellow paper, with the remark: +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett—personal wire." +</P> + +<P> +It was a night letter, and glancing at the signature Cleggett saw that +it was from his brother who lived in Boston. It ran: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Uncle Tom died yesterday. Don't faint now. He splits bulk fortune +between you and me. Lawyers figure nearly $500,000 each. Mostly easily +negotiable securities. New will made month ago while sore at president +temperance outfit. Blood thicker than Apollinaris after all. Poor +Uncle Tom. +<BR><BR> + Edward.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Despite Edward's thoughtful warning, Cleggett did nearly faint. Nothing +could have been less expected. Uncle Tom was an irascible +prohibitionist, and one of the most deliberately disobliging men on +earth. Cleggett and his brother had long ceased to expect anything +from him. For twenty years it had been thoroughly understood that +Uncle Tom would leave his entire estate to a temperance society. +Cleggett had ceased to think of Uncle Tom as a possible factor in his +life. He did not doubt that Uncle Tom had changed the will to gain +some point with the officials of the temperance society, intending to +change it once again after he had been deferred to, cajoled, and +flattered enough to placate his vanity. But death had stepped in just +in time to disinherit the enemies of the Demon Rum. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett read the wire through twice, and then folded it and put it +into his pocket. He rose and walked toward the managing editor's room. +As he stepped across the floor there was a little dancing light in his +eyes, there was a faint smile upon his lips, that were quite foreign to +the staid and sober Cleggett that the world knew. He was quiet, but he +was almost jaunty, too; he felt a little drunk, and enjoyed the feeling. +</P> + +<P> +He opened the managing editor's door with more assurance than he had +ever displayed before. The managing editor, a pompous, tall, thin man +with a drooping frosty mustache, and cold gray eyes in a cold gray face +that somehow reminded one of the visage of a walrus, was preparing to +go home. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he said, shortly. +</P> + +<P> +He was a man for whom Cleggett had long felt a secret antipathy. The +man was, in short, the petty tyrant of Cleggett's little world. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you spare me a couple of minutes, Mr. Wharton?" said Cleggett. +But he did not say it with the air of a person who really sues for a +hearing. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes—go on." Mr. Wharton, who had risen from his chair, sat down +again. He was distinctly annoyed. He was ungracious. He was usually +ungracious with Cleggett. His face set itself in the expression it +always took when he declined to consider raising a man's salary. +Cleggett, who had been refused a raise regularly every three months for +the past two years, was familiar with the look. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, go on—what is it?" asked Mr. Wharton unpleasantly, frowning +and stroking the frosty mustache, first one side and then the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I just stepped in to tell you," said Cleggett quietly, "that I don't +think much of the way you are running the Enterprise." +</P> + +<P> +Wharton stopped stroking his mustache so quickly and so amazedly that +one might have thought he had run into a thorn amongst the hirsute +growth and pricked a finger. He glared. He opened his mouth. But +before he could speak Cleggett went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Three years ago I made a number of suggestions to you. You treated me +contemptuously—very contemptuously!" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett paused and drew a long breath, and his face became quite red. +It was as if the anger in which he could not afford to indulge himself +three years before was now working in him with cumulative effect. +Wharton, only partially recovered from the shock of Cleggett's sudden +arraignment, began to stammer and bluster, using the words nearest his +tongue: +</P> + +<P> +"You d-damned im-p-pertinent———" +</P> + +<P> +"Just a moment," Cleggett interrupted, growing visibly angrier, and +seeming to enjoy his anger more and more. "Just a word more. I had +intended to conclude my remarks by telling you that my contempt for +YOU, personally, is unbounded. It is boundless, sir! But since you +have sworn at me, I am forced to conclude this interview in another +fashion." +</P> + +<P> +And with a gesture which was not devoid of dignity Cleggett drew from +an upper waistcoat pocket a card and flung it on Wharton's desk. After +which he stepped back and made a formal bow. +</P> + +<P> +Wharton looked at the card. Bewilderment almost chased the anger from +his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh," he said, "what's this?" +</P> + +<P> +"My card, sir! A friend will wait on you tomorrow!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tomorrow? A friend? What for?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett folded his arms and regarded the managing editor with a touch +of the supercilious in his manner. +</P> + +<P> +"If you were a gentleman," he said, "you would have no difficulty in +understanding these things. I have just done you the honor of +challenging you to a duel." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wharton's mouth opened as if he were about to explode in a roar of +incredulous laughter. But meeting Cleggett's eyes, which were, indeed, +sparkling with a most remarkable light, his jaw dropped, and he turned +slightly pale. He rose from his chair and put the desk between himself +and Cleggett, picking up as he did so a long pair of shears. +</P> + +<P> +"Put down the scissors," said Cleggett, with a wave of his hand. "I do +not propose to attack you now." +</P> + +<P> +And he turned and left the managing editor's little office, closing the +door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +The managing editor tiptoed over to the door and, with the scissors +still grasped in one hand, opened it about a quarter of an inch. +Through this crack Wharton saw Cleggett walk jauntily towards the +corner where his hat and coat were hanging. Cleggett took off his worn +office jacket, rolled it into a ball, and flung it into a waste paper +basket. He put on his street coat and hat and picked up the +drab-colored cane. Swinging the stick he moved towards the door into +the hall. In the doorway he paused, cocked his hat a trifle, turned +towards the managing editor's door, raised his hand with his pipe in it +with the manner of one who points a dueling pistol, took careful aim at +the second button of the managing editor's waistcoat, and clucked. At +the cluck the managing editor drew back hastily, as if Cleggett had +actually presented a firearm; Cleggett's manner was so rapt and fatal +that it carried conviction. Then Cleggett laughed, cocked his hat on +the other side of his head and went out into the corridor whistling. +Whistling, and, since faults as well as virtues must be told, +swaggering just a little. +</P> + +<P> +When the managing editor had heard the elevator come up, pause, and go +down again, he went out of his room and said to the city editor: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Herbert, don't ever let that man Cleggett into this office again. +He is off—off mentally. He's a dangerous man. He's a homicidal +maniac. More'n likely he's been a quiet, steady drinker for years, and +now it's begun to show on him." +</P> + +<P> +But nothing was further from Cleggett than the wish ever to go into the +Enterprise office again. As he left the elevator on the ground floor +he stabbed the astonished elevator boy under the left arm with his cane +as a bayonet, cut him harmlessly over the head with his cane as a +saber, tossed him a dollar, and left the building humming: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the Beau Sabreur of the Grande Armee Was the Captain Tarjeanterre!" +</P> + +<P> +It is thus, with a single twitch of her playful fingers, that Fate +will sometimes pluck from a man the mask that has obscured his real +identity for many years. It is thus that Destiny will suddenly draw a +bright blade from a rusty scabbard! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ROOM OF ILLUSION +</H3> + +<P> +That part of Brooklyn in which Cleggett lived overlooks a wide sweep of +water where the East River merges with New York Bay. From his windows +he could gaze out upon the bustling harbor craft and see the ships +going forth to the great mysterious sea. +</P> + +<P> +He walked home across the Brooklyn Bridge, and as he walked he still +hummed tunes. Occasionally, still with the rapt and fatal manner which +had daunted the managing editor, he would pause and flex his wrist, and +then suddenly deliver a ferocious thrust with his walking-stick. +</P> + +<P> +The fifth of these lunges had an unexpected result. Cleggett directed +it toward the door of an unpainted toolhouse, a temporary structure +near one of the immense stone pillars from which the bridge is swung. +But, as he lunged, the toolhouse door opened, and a policeman, who was +coming out wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, received a jab in +the pit of a somewhat protuberant stomach. +</P> + +<P> +The officer grunted and stepped backward; then he came on, raising his +night-stick. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's—it's McCarthy!" exclaimed Cleggett, who had also sprung +back, as the light fell on the other's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett, by the powers!" said the officer, pausing and lowering +his lifted club. "Are ye soused, man? Or is it your way of sayin' +good avenin' to your frinds?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett smiled. He had first known McCarthy years before when he was +a reporter, and more recently had renewed the acquaintance in his walks +across the bridge. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know you were there, McCarthy," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"No?" said the officer. "And who were ye jabbin' at, thin?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was just limbering up my wrist," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis a quare thing to do," persisted McCarthy, albeit good-humoredly. +"And now I mind I've seen ye do the same before, Mr. Cleggett. You're +foriver grinnin' to yersilf an' makin' thim funny jabs at nothin' as ye +cross the bridge. Are ye subjict to stiffness in the wrists, Mr. +Cleggett?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it's writer's cramp," said Cleggett, indulging the pleasant +humor that was on him. He was really thinking that, with $500,000 of +his own, he had written his last headline, edited his last piece of +copy, sharpened his last pencil. +</P> + +<P> +"Writer's cramp? Is it so?" mused McCarthy. "Newspapers is great +things, ain't they now? And so's writin' and readin'. Gr-r-reat +things! But if ye'll take my advise, Mr. Cleggett, ye'll kape that +writin' and readin' within bounds. Too much av thim rots the brains." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll remember that," said Cleggett. And he playfully jabbed the +officer again as he turned away. +</P> + +<P> +"G'wan wid ye!" protested McCarthy. "Ye're soused! The scent av it's +in the air. If I'm compilled to run yez in f'r assaultin' an officer +ye'll get the cramps out av thim wrists breakin' stone, maybe. +Cr-r-r-amps, indade!" +</P> + +<P> +Cramps, indeed! Oh, Clement J. Cleggett, you liar! And yet, who does +not lie in order to veil his inmost, sweetest thoughts from an +unsympathetic world? +</P> + +<P> +That was not an ordinary jab with an ordinary cane which Cleggett had +directed towards the toolhouse door. It was a thrust en carte; the +thrust of a brilliant swordsman; the thrust of a master; a terrible +thrust. It was meant for as pernicious a bravo as ever infested the +pages of romantic fiction. Cleggett had been slaying these gentry a +dozen times a day for years. He had pinked four of them on the way +across the bridge, before McCarthy, with his stomach and his realism, +stopped the lunge intended for the fifth. But this is not exactly the +sort of thing one finds it easy to confide to a policeman, be he ever +so friendly a policeman. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett—Old Clegg, the copyreader—Clegg, the commonplace—C. J. +Cleggett, the Brooklynite-this person whom young reporters conceived of +as the staid, dry prophet of the dusty Fact—was secretly a mighty +reservoir of unwritten, unacted, unlived, unspoken romance. He ate it, +he drank it, he breathed it, he dreamed it. The usual copyreader, when +he closes his eyes and smiles upon a pleasant inward vision, is +thinking of starting a chicken-farm in New Jersey. But Cleggett—with +gray sprinkled in his hair, sober of face and precise of manner, as the +world knew him—lived a hidden life which was one long, wild adventure. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody had ever suspected it. But his room might have given to the +discerning a clue to the real man behind the mask which he +assumed—which he had been forced to assume in order to earn a living. +When he reached the apartment, a few minutes after his encounter on the +bridge, and switched the electric light on, the gleams fell upon an +astonishing clutter of books and arms.... +</P> + +<P> +Stevenson, cavalry sabers, W. Clark Russell, pistols, and Dumas; Jack +London, poignards, bowie knives, Stanley Weyman, Captain Marryat, and +Dumas; sword canes, Scottish claymores, Cuban machetes, Conan Doyle, +Harrison Ainsworth, dress swords, and Dumas; stilettos, daggers, +hunting knives, Fenimore Cooper, G. P. R. James, broadswords, Dumas; +Gustave Aimard, Rudyard Kipling, dueling swords, Dumas; F. Du +Boisgobey, Malay krises, Walter Scott, stick pistols, scimitars, +Anthony Hope, single sticks, foils, Dumas; jungles of arms, jumbles of +books; arms of all makes and periods; arms on the walls, in the +corners, over the fireplace, leaning against the bookshelves, lying in +ambush under the bed, peeping out of the wardrobe, propping the windows +open, serving as paper weights; pictures, warlike and romantic prints +and engravings, pinned to the walls with daggers; in the wardrobe, +coats and hats hanging from poignards and stilettos thrust into the +wood instead of from nails or hooks. But of all the weapons it was the +rapiers, of all the books it was Dumas, that he loved. There was Dumas +in French, Dumas in English, Dumas with pictures, Dumas unillustrated, +Dumas in cloth, Dumas in leather, Dumas in boards, Dumas in paper +covers. Cleggett had been twenty years getting these arms and books +together; often he had gone without a dinner in order to make a payment +on some blade he fancied. And each weapon was also a book to him; he +sensed their stories as he handled them; he felt the personalities of +their former owners stirring in him when he picked them up. It was in +that room that he dreamed; which is to say, it was in that room that he +lived his real life. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett walked over to his writing desk and pulled out a bulky +manuscript. It was his own work. Is it necessary to hint that it was +a tale essentially romantic in character? +</P> + +<P> +He flung it into the grate and set fire to it. It represented the +labor of two years, but as he watched it burn, stirring the sheets now +and then so the flames would catch them more readily, he smiled, +unvisited by even the most shadowy second thought of regret. +</P> + +<P> +For why the deuce should a man with $500,000 in his pocket write +romances? Why should anyone write anything who is free to live? For +the first time in his existence Cleggett was free. +</P> + +<P> +He picked up a sword. It was one of his favorite rapiers. Sometimes +people came out of the books—sometimes shadowy forms came back to +claim the weapons that had been theirs—and Cleggett fought them. +There was not an unscarred piece of furniture in the place. He bent +the flexible blade in his hands, tried the point of it, formally +saluted, brought the weapon to parade, dallied with his imaginary +opponent's sword for an instant.... +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if one of those terrible, but brilliant, duels, with which +that room was so familiar, was about to be enacted.... But he laid the +rapier down. After all, the rapier is scarcely a thing of this +century. Cleggett, for the first time, felt a little impatient with +the rapier. It is all very well to DREAM with a rapier. But now, he +was free; reality was before him; the world of actual adventure called. +He had but to choose! +</P> + +<P> +He considered. He tried to look into that bright, adventurous future. +Presently he went to the window, and gazed out. Tides of night and +mystery, flooding in from the farther, dark, mysterious ocean, all but +submerged lower Manhattan; high and beautiful above these waves of +shadow, triumphing over them and accentuating them, shone a star from +the top of the Woolworth building; flecks of light indicated the noble +curve of that great bridge which soars like a song in stone and steel +above the shifting waters; the river itself was dotted here and there +with moving lights; it was a nocturne waiting for its Whistler; here +sea and city met in glamour and beauty and illusion. +</P> + +<P> +But it was not the city which called to Cleggett. It was the sea. +</P> + +<P> +A breeze blew in from the bay and stirred his window curtains; it was +salt in his nostrils.... And, staring out into the breathing night, he +saw a succession of pictures.... +</P> + +<P> +Stripped to a pair of cotton trousers, with a dripping cutlass in one +hand and a Colt's revolver in the other, an adventurer at the head of a +bunch of dogs as desperate as himself fought his way across the reeking +decks of a Chinese junk, to close in single combat with a gigantic +one-eyed pirate who stood by the helm with a ring of dead men about him +and a great two-handed sword upheaved.... This adventurer was—Clement +J. Cleggett! ... +</P> + +<P> +Through the phosphorescent waters of a summer sea, reckless of cruising +sharks, a sailor's clasp knife in his teeth, glided noiselessly a +strong swimmer; he reached the side of a schooner yacht from which rose +the wild cries of beauty in distress, swarmed aboard with a muttered +prayer that was half a curse, swept the water from his eyes, and with +pale, stern face went about the bloody business of a hero.... Again, +this adventurer was Clement J. Cleggett! +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett turned from the window. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do it," he cried. "I'll do it!" +</P> + +<P> +He grasped a cutlass. +</P> + +<P> +"Pirates!" he cried, swinging it about his head. "That's the +thing—pirates and the China Seas!" +</P> + +<P> +And with one frightful sweep of his blade he disemboweled a sofa +cushion; the second blow clove his typewriting machine clean to the +tattoo marks upon its breast; the third decapitated a sectional +bookcase. +</P> + +<P> +But what is a sectional bookcase to a man with $500,000 in his pocket +and the Seven Seas before him? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SCHOONER, A SKIPPER, AND A SKULL +</H3> + +<P> +It was a few days later, when a goodly number of the late Uncle Tom's +easily negotiable securities had been converted into cash, and the cash +deposited in the bank, that Cleggett bought the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +He discovered her near the town of Fairport, Long Island, one +afternoon. The vessel lay in one of the canals which reach inward from +the Great South Bay. She looked as if she might have been there for +some time. Evidently, at one period, the Jasper B. had played a part +in some catch-coin scheme of summer entertainment; a scheme that had +failed. Little trace of it remained except a rotting wooden platform, +roofless and built close to the canal, and a gangway arrangement from +this platform to the deck of the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +The Jasper B. had seen better days; even a landsman could tell that. +But from the blunt bows to the weather-scarred stern, on which the name +was faintly discernible, the hulk had an air about it, the air of +something that has lived; it was eloquent of a varied and interesting +past. +</P> + +<P> +And, to complete the picture, there sat on her deck a gnarled and brown +old man. He smoked a short pipe which was partially hidden in a tangle +of beard that had once been yellowish red but was now streaked with +dirty white; he fished earnestly without apparent result, and from time +to time he spat into the water. Cleggett's nimble fancy at once put +rings into his ears and dowered him with a history. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett noticed, as he walked aboard the vessel, that she seemed to be +jammed not merely against, but into the bank of the canal. She was +nearer the shore than he had ever seen a vessel of any sort. Some +weeds grew in soil that had lodged upon the deck; in a couple of places +they sprang as high as the rail. Weeds grew on shore; in fact, it +would have taken a better nautical authority than Cleggett to tell +offhand just exactly where the land ended and the Jasper B. began. She +seemed to be possessed of an odd stability; although the tide was +receding the Jasper B. was not perceptibly agitated by the motion of +the water. Of anchor, or mooring chains or cables of any sort, there +was no sign. +</P> + +<P> +The brown old man—he was brown not only as to the portions of his skin +visible through his hair and whiskers, but also as to coat and trousers +and worn boots and cap and pipe and flannel shirt—turned around as +Cleggett stepped aboard, and stared at the invader with a shaggy-browed +intensity that was embarrassing. +</P> + +<P> +It occurred to Cleggett that the old man might own the vessel and make +a home of her. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon if I am intruding," ventured Cleggett, politely, +"but do you live here?" +</P> + +<P> +The brown old man made an indeterminate motion of his head, without +otherwise replying at once. Then he took a cake of dark, hard-looking +tobacco from the starboard pocket of his trousers and a clasp knife +from the port side. He shaved off a fresh pipeful, rolled it in his +palms, knocked the old ash from his pipe, refilled and relighted it, +all with the utmost deliberation. Then he cut another small piece of +tobacco from the "plug" and popped it into his mouth. Cleggett +perceived with surprise that he smoked and chewed tobacco at the same +time. As he thus refreshed himself he glanced from time to time at +Cleggett as if unfavorably impressed. Finally he closed his knife with +a click and suddenly piped out in a high, shrill voice: +</P> + +<P> +"No! Do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—er—do I what?" It had taken the old man so long to answer that +Cleggett had forgotten his own question, and the shrill fierceness of +the voice was disconcerting. +</P> + +<P> +He regarded Cleggett contemptuously, spat on the deck, and then +demanded truculently: +</P> + +<P> +"D'ye want to buy any seed potatoes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—er, no," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" said the brown one, with the air of meaning that it was only +to be expected of an idiot like Cleggett that he would NOT want to buy +any seed potatoes. But after a further embarrassing silence he +relented enough to give Cleggett another chance. +</P> + +<P> +"You want some seed corn!" he announced rather than asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I———" +</P> + +<P> +"Tomato plants!" shrilled the brown one, as if daring him to deny it. +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his back on Cleggett, as if he had lost interest, and began +to wind up his fishing line on a squeaky reel. +</P> + +<P> +"Who owns this boat?" Cleggett touched him on the elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"Thinkin' of buyin' her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps. Who owns her?" +</P> + +<P> +"What would you do with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I might fix her up and sail her. Who owns her?" +</P> + +<P> +"She'll take a sight o' fixin'." +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt. Who did you say owned her?" +</P> + +<P> +The old man, who had finished with the rusty reel, deigned to look at +Cleggett again. +</P> + +<P> +"Dunno as I said." +</P> + +<P> +"But who DOES own her?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's stuck fast in the mud and her rudder's gone." +</P> + +<P> +"I see you know a lot about ships," said Cleggett, deferentially, +giving up the attempt to find out who owned her. "I picked you out for +an old sailor the minute I saw you." He thought he detected a kindlier +gleam in the old man's eye as that person listened to these words. +</P> + +<P> +"The' ain't a stick in her," said the ancient fisherman. "She's got no +wheel and she's got no nothin'. She used to be used as a kind of a +barroom and dancin' platform till the fellow that used her for such +went out o' business." +</P> + +<P> +He paused, and then added: +</P> + +<P> +"What might your name be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett." +</P> + +<P> +He appeared to reflect on the name. But he said: +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me, I'd say her timbers is sound." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," said Cleggett, "was she a deep-water ship? Could a ship +like her sail around the world, for instance? I can tell that you know +all about ships." +</P> + +<P> +Something like a grin of gratified vanity began to show on the brown +one's features. He leaned back against the rail and looked at Cleggett +with the dawn of approval in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"My name's Abernethy," he suddenly volunteered. "Isaiah Abernethy. +The fellow that owns her is Goldberg. Abraham Goldberg. Real estate +man." +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett began to get an insight into Mr. Abernethy's peculiar ideas +concerning conversation. A native spirit of independence prevented Mr. +Abernethy from dealing with an interlocutor's remarks in the sequence +that seemed to be desired by the interlocutor. He took a selection of +utterances into his mind, rolled them over together, and replied in +accordance with some esoteric system of his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Mr. Goldberg's office?" asked Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"You've come to the proper party to get set right about ships," said +Mr. Abernethy, complacently. "Either you was sent to me by someone that +knows I'm the proper party to set you right about ships, or else you +got an eye in your own head that can recognize a man that comes of a +seafarin' fambly." +</P> + +<P> +"You ARE an old sailor, then? Maybe you are an old skipper? Perhaps +you're one of the retired Long Island sea captains we're always hearing +so much about?" +</P> + +<P> +"So fur as sailin' her around the world is concerned," said Mr. +Abernethy, glancing over the hulk, "if she was fixed up she could be +sailed anywheres—anywheres!" +</P> + +<P> +"What would you call her—a schooner?" +</P> + +<P> +"This here Goldberg," said Mr. Abernethy, "has his office over town +right accost from the railroad depot." +</P> + +<P> +And with that he put his fishing pole over his shoulder and prepared to +leave—a tall, strong-looking old man with long legs and knotty wrists, +who moved across the deck with surprising spryness. At the gangplank he +sang out without turning his head: +</P> + +<P> +"As far as my bein' a skipper's concerned, they's no law agin' callin' +me Cap'n Abernethy if you want to. I come of a seafarin' fambly." +</P> + +<P> +He crossed the platform; when he had gone thirty yards further he +stopped, turned around, and shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"Is she a schooner, hey? You want to know is she a schooner? If you +was askin' me, she ain't NOTHIN' now. But if you was to ask me again I +might say she COULD be schooner-rigged. Lots of boats IS +schooner-rigged." +</P> + +<P> +There are affinities between atom and atom, between man and woman, +between man and man. There are also affinities between men and +things-if you choose to call a ship, which has a spirit of its own, +merely a thing. There must have been this affinity between Cleggett +and the Jasper B. Only an unusual person would have thought of buying +her. But Cleggett loved her at first sight. +</P> + +<P> +Within an hour after he had first seen her he was in Mr. Abraham +Goldberg's office. +</P> + +<P> +As he was concluding his purchase—Mr. Goldberg having phoned +Cleggett's bankers—he was surprised to discover that he was buying +about half an acre of Long Island real estate along with her. For that +matter he had thought it a little odd in the first place when he had +been directed to a real estate agent as the owner of the craft. But as +he knew very little about business, and nothing at all about ships, he +assumed that perhaps it was quite the usual thing for real estate +dealers to buy and sell ships abutting on the coast of Long Island. +</P> + +<P> +"I had only intended to buy the vessel," said Cleggett. "I don't know +that I'll be able to use the land." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Goldberg looked at Cleggett with a slight start, as if he were not +sure that he had heard aright, and opened his mouth as if to say +something. But nothing came of it—not just then, at least. When the +last signature had been written, and Clegget's check had been folded by +Mr. Goldberg's plump, bejeweled fingers and put into Mr. Goldberg's +pocketbook, Mr. Goldberg remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"You say you can't use the ship?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; the land. I'm surprised to find that the land goes with the ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it doesn't," said Mr. Goldberg. "It's the ship that goes with +the land. She was on the land when I bought the plot, and I just left +her there. Nobody's paid any attention to her for years." +</P> + +<P> +The words "on the land" grated on Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean on the water, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the mud, then," suggested Mr. Goldberg. +</P> + +<P> +"But she'll sail all right," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose if she was decorated up with sails and things she'd sail. +Figuring on sailing her anywhere in particular?" +</P> + +<P> +Subtly irritated, Cleggett answered: "Oh, no, no! Not anywhere in +particular!" +</P> + +<P> +"Going to live on her this summer?—Outdoor sleeping room, and all +that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm thinking of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You could turn her into a house boat easy enough. I had a friend who +turned an old barge like that into a house boat and had a lot of fun +with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Barge?" Cleggett rose and buttoned his coat; the conversation was +somehow growing more and more distasteful to him. "You wouldn't call +the Jasper B. a BARGE, would you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you wouldn't call her a YACHT, would you?" said Mr. Goldberg. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not," admitted Cleggett, "perhaps not. She's more like a bark +than a yacht." +</P> + +<P> +"A bark? I dunno. Always thought a bark was bigger. A scow's more +her size, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Scow?" Cleggett frowned. The Jasper B. a scow! "You mean a +schooner, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Schooner?" Mr. Goldberg grinned good-naturedly at his departing +customer. "A kind of a schooner-scow, huh?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir, a schooner!" said Cleggett, reddening, and turning in the +doorway. "Understand me, Mr. Goldberg, a schooner, sir! A schooner!" +</P> + +<P> +And standing with a frown on his face until every vestige of the smile +had died from Mr. Goldberg's lips, Cleggett repeated once more: "A +schooner, Mr. Goldberg!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir—there's no doubt of it—a schooner, Mr. Cleggett," said Mr. +Goldberg, turning pale and backing away from the door. +</P> + +<P> +The ordinary man inspects a house or a horse first and buys it, or +fails to buy it, afterward; but genius scorns conventions; Cleggett was +not an ordinary man; he often moved straight towards his object by +inspiration; great poets and great adventurers share this faculty; +Cleggett paid for the Jasper B. first and went back to inspect his +purchase later. +</P> + +<P> +The vessel lay about two miles from the center of Fairport. He could +get within half a mile of it by trolley. Nevertheless, when he reached +the Jasper B. again after leaving Mr. Goldberg it was getting along +towards dusk. +</P> + +<P> +He first entered the cabin. It was of a good size and divided into +several compartments. But it was in a state of dilapidation and +littered with a jumble of odds and ends which looked like the ruins of +a barroom. As he turned to ascend to the deck again, after possibly +five minutes, intending to take a look at the forecastle next, he heard +the sound of a motor. +</P> + +<P> +Looking out of the cabin he saw a taxicab approaching the boat from the +direction of Fairport. It was a large machine, but it was overloaded +with seven or eight men. It stopped within twenty yards of the vessel, +and two men got out, one of them evidently a person who imposed some +sort of leadership on the rest of the party. This was a tall fellow, +with a slouching gait and round shoulders. And yet, to judge from his +movements, he was both quick and powerful. The other was a short, +stout man with a commonplace, broad red face and flaxen hair. The two +stood for a moment in colloquy in the road that led from Fairport +proper to the bayside, passing near the Jasper B., and Cleggett heard +the shorter of the two men say: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure I saw somebody aboard of her." +</P> + +<P> +"How long ago, Heinrich?" asked the tall man. +</P> + +<P> +"An hour or so," said Heinrich. +</P> + +<P> +"It was old man Abernethy; he's harmless," said the tall fellow. "He's +the only person that's been aboard her in years." +</P> + +<P> +"There was someone else," persisted Heinrich. "Someone who was talking +to Abernethy." +</P> + +<P> +The tall man mumbled something about having been a fool not to buy her +before this; Cleggett did not catch all of the remark. Then the tall +fellow said: +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go aboard, Heinrich, and take a look around." +</P> + +<P> +With that they advanced towards the vessel. Cleggett stepped on deck +from the cabin companionway, and both men stopped short at the sight of +him, Heinrich obviously a trifle confused, but the other one in no wise +abashed. He made no attempt, this tall fellow, to give the situation a +casual turn. What he did was to stand and stare at Cleggett, candidly, +and with more than a touch of insolence, as if trying to beat down +Cleggett's gaze. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, staring in his turn, perceived that the tall man, ungainly as +he was, affected a bizarre individualism in the matter of dress. His +clothing cried out, rather than suggested, that it was expensive. His +feet were cased in button shoes with fancy tops; his waistcoat, cut in +the extreme of style, revealed that little strip of white which falsely +advertises a second waistcoat beneath, but in his case the strip was +too broad. There were diamonds on the fingers of both powerful hands. +But the thing that grated particularly upon Cleggett was the character +of the man's scarfpin. It was by far the largest ornament of the sort +that Cleggett had ever seen; he was near enough to the fellow to make +out that it had been carved from a piece of solid ivory in the likeness +of a skull. In the eyeholes of the skull two opals flamed with an evil +levin. The man suggested to Cleggett, at first glance, a bartender who +had come into money, or a drayman who had been promoted to an important +office in a labor union and was spending the most of a considerable +salary on his person. And yet his face, more closely observed, somehow +gave the lie to his clothes, for it was not lacking in the signs of +intelligence. In spite of his taste, or rather lack of taste, there +was no hint of weakness in his physiognomy. His features were harsh, +bold, predatory; a slightly yellowish tinge about the temples and cheek +bones, suggestive of the ivory ornament, proclaimed a bilious +temperament. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, both puzzled and nettled by the man's persistent gaze, +advanced towards him across the deck of the Jasper B. and down the +gangplank, hand on hip, and called out sharply: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my friend, you will know me the next time you see me!" +</P> + +<P> +The tall man turned without a word and walked back to the taxicab, the +occupants of which had watched this singular duel of looks in silence. +In the act of getting into the machine he face about again and said, +with a lift of the lip that showed two long, protruding canine teeth of +an almost saffron hue: +</P> + +<P> +"I WILL know you again." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke with a kind of cold hostility that gave his words all the +effect of a threat. Cleggett felt the blood leap faster through his +veins; he tingled with a fierce, illogical desire to strike the fellow +on the mouth; his soul stirred with a premonition of conflict, and the +desire for it. And yet, on the surface of things at least, the man had +been nothing more than rude; as Cleggett watched the machine make off +towards an isolated road house on the bayside he wondered at the quick +intensity of his own antipathy. Unconsciously he flexed his wrist in +his characteristic gesture. Scarcely knowing that he spoke, he +murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"That man gets on my nerves." +</P> + +<P> +That man was destined to do something more than get on Cleggett's +nerves before the adventures of the Jasper B. were ended. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BAD MAN TO CROSS +</H3> + +<P> +The isolated road house on the bay was a nondescript, jumbled, +dilapidated-looking assemblage of structures, rather than one house. +It was known simply as Morris's. It stood a few hundred yards west of +the end of the canal which opened into the bay and was about a quarter +of a mile from the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +The canal itself was broad, straight, low-banked, and about +three-quarters of a mile in length. The town had thrown out a few +ranks of cottages in the direction of the canal. But these were all +summer bungalows, occupied only from June until the middle of +September. The solider and more permanent part of Fairport was well +withdrawn from the sandy, sedgy stretches that bordered on tidewater. +</P> + +<P> +At the north and inland terminus of the quiet strip of water in which +the Jasper B. reposed was a collection of buildings including +bathhouses, a boathouse, and a sort of shed where "soft drinks" and sea +food were served during the bathing season. This place was known as +Parker's Beach and was open only during the summer. +</P> + +<P> +Morris's was of quite a different character from Parker's Beach. One +could bathe at Morris's, but the beach near by was not particularly +good. One could hire boats there and buy bait for a fishing trip. In +one of its phases it made some pretensions to being a summer hotel. It +had an extensive barroom. There was a dancing floor, none too smooth. +There were long verandahs on three sides. That on the south side was +built on piles, people ate and drank there in the summer; beneath it +the water swished and gurgled when the tide was in. +</P> + +<P> +The townspeople of Fairport, or the more respectable ones, kept away +from Morris's, summer and winter. Summer transients, inhabitants of +the bungalows during the bathing season, patronized the place. But +most of the patronage at all seasons seemed to consist of automobile +parties from the city; people apparently drawn from all classes, or +eluding definite classification entirely. In the bleakest season there +was always a little stir of dubious activity about Morris's. In the +summer it impressed you with its look of cheapness. In the winter, +squatted by the cold water amidst its huddle of unpainted outhouses, at +the end of a stretch of desolate beach, the fancy gave Morris's a touch +of the sinister. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was anxious to get the Jasper B. into seaworthy condition as +soon as possible. It occurred to him that the employment of expert +advice should be his first step, and early the next morning he hired +Captain Abernethy. That descendant of a seafaring family, though he +felt it incumbent upon him to offer objections that had to be overcome +with a great show of respect, was really overjoyed at the commission. +He left his own cottage a mile or so away and took up his abode in the +forecastle at once. By nine o'clock that morning Cleggett had a force +of workmen renovating both cabin and forecastle, putting the cook's +galley into working order, and cleansing the decks of soil and sand. +That night Cleggett spent on the vessel, with Captain Abernethy. +</P> + +<P> +By Saturday of the same week—Cleggett had bought the vessel on +Wednesday—he was able to take up his abode in the cabin with his books +and arms about him. To his library he had added a treatise on +navigation. And, reflecting that his firearms were worthless, +considered as modern weapons, he also purchased a score of .44 caliber +Colt's revolvers and automatic pistols of the latest pattern, and a +dozen magazine rifles. +</P> + +<P> +He brought on board at the same time, for cook and cabin boy, a +Japanese lad, who said he was a sailor, and who called himself +Yoshahira Kuroki, and a Greek, George Stefanopolous. +</P> + +<P> +The latter was a handsome, rather burly fellow of about thirty, a man +with a kindling eye and a habit of boasting of his ancestors. +</P> + +<P> +Among them, he declared, was Leonidas, the hero of Thermopylae. George +admitted he was not a sailor, but professed a willingness to learn, and +looked so capable, as he squared his bulky shoulders and twisted his +fine black mustache, that Cleggett engaged him, taking him immediately +from the dairy lunch room in which he had been employed. George's idea +was to work his way back to Greece, he said, on the Jasper B. If she +did not sail for Greece for some time, George was willing to wait; he +was patient; sometime, no doubt, she would touch the shores of Greece. +</P> + +<P> +The hold of the Jasper B. Cleggett and Captain Abernethy found to be in +a chaotic state. Casks, barrels, empty bottles by the hundred, ruins +of benches, tables, chairs, old nondescript pieces of planking, broken +crates and boxes, were flung together there in moldering confusion. It +was evident that after the scheme of using the Jasper B.'s hulk as one +of the attractions of a pleasure resort had failed, all the debris of +the failure had simply been thrown pell-mell into the hold. Cleggett +and Captain Abernethy decided that the vessel, which was stepped for +two masts, should be rigged as a schooner. The Captain was soon busy +securing estimates on the amount of work that would have to be done, +and the cost of it. The pile of rubbish in the hold, which filled it +to such an extent that Cleggett gave up the attempt to examine it, was +to be removed by the same contractor who put in the sticks. +</P> + +<P> +All the activity on board and about the Jasper B. had not gone on +without attracting the attention of Morris's. Cleggett noticed that +there was usually someone in the neighborhood of that dubious resort +cocking an eye in the direction of the vessel. Indeed, the interest +became so pronounced, and seemed of a quality so different from +ordinary frank rustic curiosity, that it looked very like espionage. +It had struck Cleggett that Morris's seemed at all times to have more +than its share of idlers and hangers-on; men who appeared to make the +place their headquarters and were not to be confused with the +occasional off-season parties from the city. +</P> + +<P> +On Sunday morning Cleggett was awakened by Captain Abernethy, who +announced: +</P> + +<P> +"Strange craft lookin' us over mighty close, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"A strange craft? Where is she?" Cleggett was instantly alert. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a house boat, if you was to ask me," said the brown old man—in +a new brown suit and with his whiskers newly trimmed he gave the +impression of having been overhauled and freshly painted. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is she?" repeated Cleggett, beginning to get into his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"She must 'a' sneaked up an' anchored mighty early this mornin'," +pursued Cap'n Abernethy, true to his conversational principles. +</P> + +<P> +"Is she in the bay or in the canal?" +</P> + +<P> +"She looks like a mighty toney kind o' vessel," said Cap'n Abernethy. +"If I was to make a guess I'd say she was one of them craft that sails +herself along when she wants to with one of these newfangled gasoline +engines." +</P> + +<P> +"She wasn't towed here then?" Cleggett gave up the attempt to learn +from the Captain just where the house boat was. +</P> + +<P> +"She lies in the canal," said the Cap'n. Having established the point +that he could not be FORCED to tell where she lay, he volunteered the +information as a personal favor from one gentleman to another. "She +lies ahead of us in the canal, a p'int or so off our port bow, I should +say. And if you was to ask me I'd say she wasn't layin' there for any +good purpose." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think she's up to? What makes you suspicious of her?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir, she wasn't towed in," said Cap'n Abernethy, "or I'd 'a' heard +a tug towin' her. Comin' of a seafarin' fambly I'm a light sleeper by +nature." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett finished dressing and went on deck. Sure enough, towards the +south end of the canal, three or four hundred yards south of the Jasper +B., and about the same distance east of Morris's, was anchored a house +boat. She was painted a slaty gray color. As Cleggett looked at her a +man stepped up on the deck, and, putting a binocular glass to his eye, +began to study the Jasper B. After a few minutes of steady scrutiny +this person turned his attention to Morris's. +</P> + +<P> +Looking towards Morris's himself Cleggett saw a man standing on the +east verandah of that resort intently scanning the house boat through a +glass. Cleggett went into the cabin and got his own glass. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the man on Morris's verandah and the man of the house boat +ceased to scrutinize each other and both turned their glasses upon the +Jasper B. But the moment they perceived that Cleggett was provided +with a glass each turned hastily and entered, the one Morris's place, +and the other the cabin of the house boat. But Cleggett had already +recognized the man at Morris's as the stoop-shouldered man of tall +stature and fanciful dress who had tried to stare him down some days +before. +</P> + +<P> +As for the man on the house boat (which, as Cleggett had made out, was +named the Annabel Lee), there was something vaguely familiar about his +general appearance which puzzled and tantalized our hero. +</P> + +<P> +As the morning wore on Cleggett became certain that the Jasper B. was +closely watched by both the Annabel Lee and Morris's, although the +watchers avoided showing themselves plainly. A slightly agitated blind +at a second story window over the verandah showed him where the tall +man or one of his associates gazed out from Morris's; and from a +porthole of the Annabel Lee he could see a glass thrust forth from time +to time. It was evident to him that the Annabel Lee and Morris's were +suspicious of each other, and that both suspected the Jasper B. But of +what did they suspect Cleggett? What intention did they impute to him? +He could only wonder. +</P> + +<P> +Through the entire morning he was conscious of the continuance of this +watch. He thought it ceased about luncheon time; but at two in the +afternoon he was certain that, if so, it had been resumed. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, innocent and honorable, began to get impatient of this +persistent scrutiny. And in spite of his courage a vague uneasiness +began to possess him. Towards the end of the afternoon he called his +little company aft and spoke to them. +</P> + +<P> +"My men," he said, "I do not like the attitude of our neighbors. To put +it briefly, there may be squalls ahead of the Jasper B. This is a wild +and desolate coast, comparatively speaking. Strange things have +happened to innocent people before this along the shores of Long +Island. It is well to be prepared. I intend to serve out to each of +you two hundred cartridges and a .44 caliber Colt's. In case of an +attempt to board, you may find these cutlasses handy. +</P> + +<P> +"Cap'n Abernethy, in all nautical matters you will still be in command +of the ship, but in case of a military demonstration, all of you will +look to me for leadership. You may go now and rig up a jury mast and +bend the American colors to the peak—and in case of blows, may God +defend the right! I know I do not need to exhort you to do your duty!" +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett spoke the spirit which animated him seemed to communicate +itself to his listeners. Their eyes kindled and the keen joy that +gallant men always feel in the anticipation of conflict flushed their +faces. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a son of Leonidas," said George Stefanopolous, proudly. And he +secreted not merely one, but two, of Cleggett's daggers about his body, +in addition to the revolver given him. As George had already possessed +a dagger or two and an automatic pistol, it was now almost impossible +for him to lay his hand casually on any part of his person without its +coming into contact with a deadly weapon ready for instant use. Cap'n +Abernethy picked up a cutlass, "hefted" it thoughtfully, rolled his +sleeve back upon a lean and sinewy old arm that was tanned until it +looked like a piece of weathered oak, spat upon his hand and whirled +the weapon till it whistled in the air. "I come of a seafarin' +fambly," said the Cap'n, sententiously. +</P> + +<P> +As for Kuroki, he said nothing. He was not given to speech at any +time. But he picked up a Malay kris and ran his thumb along the edge +of it critically like a man to whom such a weapon is not altogether +unfamiliar. A pleased smile stole over his face; he handled the wicked +knife almost affectionately; he put it down with a little loving pat. +</P> + +<P> +"Brave boys," murmured Cleggett, as he watched them. He smiled, but at +the same time something like a tear blurred his eloquent and magnetic +eye for a moment. "Brave boys," he murmured, "we were made for each +other!" +</P> + +<P> +The display of the American flag by the Jasper B. had an effect that +could not have been foreseen. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately the Annabel Lee herself flung an exactly similar +American flag to the breeze. But a strange thing happened at Morris's. +An American flag was first hung from an upper window over the east +verandah. Then, after a moment, it was withdrawn. Then a red flag was +put out. But almost immediately Cleggett saw a man rip the red flag +from its fastenings and fling it to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, resorting to his glass, perceived that it was the tall man +with the stoop shoulders and incongruous clothing who had torn down the +red flag. He was now in violent altercation with the man who had hung +it out—the fellow whom he had called Heinrich some days before. +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett watched, the two men came to blows; then they clinched and +struggled, swaying back and forth within the open window, like a moving +picture in a frame. Suddenly the tall fellow seemed to get the upper +hand; exerting all his strength, he bent the other backward over the +window sill. The two contending figures writhed desperately a moment +and then the tall man shifted one powerful, sinewy hand to Heinrich's +throat. +</P> + +<P> +The binoculars brought the thing so near to Cleggett that it seemed as +if he could touch the contorted faces; he could see the tall man's neck +muscles work as if that person were panting; he could see the signs of +suffocation in Heinrich's countenance. The fact that he saw so plainly +and yet could hear no sound of the struggle somehow added to its horror. +</P> + +<P> +All at once the tall man put his knee upon the other's chest, and flung +his weight upon Heinrich with a vehement spring. Then he tumbled +Heinrich out of the window onto the roof of the verandah. +</P> + +<P> +He stepped out of the window himself, picked Heinrich up with an ease +that testified to his immense strength, and flung him over the edge of +the verandah onto the ground. A few moments later a couple of men ran +out from Morris's, busied themselves about reviving the fellow, and +helped him into the house. If Heinrich was not badly injured, +certainly all the fight had been taken out of him for one day. +</P> + +<P> +With Heinrich thus disposed of, the tall man turned composedly to the +task of putting out the American flag again. Through the glass +Cleggett perceived that his face was twisted by a peculiar smile; a +smile of joyous malevolence. +</P> + +<P> +"A bad man to cross, that tall man," said Cleggett, musingly. And +indeed, his violence with Heinrich had seemed out of all proportion to +the apparent grounds of the quarrel; for it was evident to Cleggett +that Heinrich and the tall man had differed merely about the policy of +displaying the red flag. "A man determined to have his way," mused +Cleggett. "If he and I should meet———" Cleggett did not finish the +sentence in words, but his hand closed over the butt of his revolver. +</P> + +<P> +His musing was interrupted by the noise of an approaching automobile. +Turning, he saw a vehicle, the rather long body of which was covered so +that it resembled a merchant's delivery wagon, coming along the road +from Fairport. +</P> + +<P> +It stopped opposite the Jasper B., and from the seat beside the driver +leaped lightly the most beautiful woman Cleggett had ever seen, and +walked hesitatingly but gracefully towards him. +</P> + +<P> +She was agitated. She was, in fact, sobbing; and a Pomeranian dog +which she carried in her arms was whimpering excitedly as if in +sympathy with its mistress. Cleggett, soul of chivalry that he was, +born cavalier of beauty in distress, removed his hat and advanced to +meet her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BEAUTY IN DISTRESS +</H3> + +<P> +"Can you tell me where I can get some ice? Can you sell me some ice?" +cried the lady excitedly, when she was still some yards distant from +Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Ice?" The request was so unusual that Cleggett was not certain that +he had understood. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ice! Ice!" There was no mistaking the genuine character of her +eagerness; if she had been begging for her life she could not have been +more in earnest. "Don't tell me that you have none on your boat. +Don't tell me that! Don't tell me that!" +</P> + +<P> +And suddenly, like a woman who has borne all that she can bear, she +burst undisguisedly into a paroxysm of weeping. Cleggett, stirred by +her beauty and her trouble, stepped nearer to her, for she swayed with +her emotion as if she were about to fall. Impulsively she put a hand on +his arm, and the Pomeranian, dropped unceremoniously to the ground, +sprang at Cleggett snarling and snapping as if sure he were the author +of the lady's misfortunes. +</P> + +<P> +"You will think I am mad," said the lady, endeavoring to control her +tears, "but I MUST have ice. Don't tell me that you have no ice!" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear lady," said Cleggett, unconsciously clasping, in his anxiety +to reassure her, the hand that she had laid upon his arm, "I have +ice—you shall have all the ice you want!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she murmured, leaning towards him, "you cannot know——" +</P> + +<P> +But the rest was lost in an incoherent babble, and with a deep sigh she +fell lax into Cleggett's arms. The reaction from despair had been too +much for her; it had come too suddenly; at the first word of +reassurance, at the first ray of dawning hope, she had fainted. +High-strung natures, intrepid in the face of danger, are apt to such +collapses in the moment of deliverance; and, whatever the nature of the +lady's trouble, Cleggett gained from her swoon a sharp sense of its +intensity. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was not used to having beautiful women faint and fall into his +arms, and he was too much of a gentleman to hold one there a single +moment longer than was absolutely necessary. He turned his head rather +helplessly towards the vehicle in which the lady had arrived. To his +consternation and surprise it had turned around and the chauffeur was +in the act of starting back towards Fairport. But he had left behind +him a large zinc bucket with a cover on it, a long unpainted, oblong +box, and two steamer trunks; on the oblong box sat a short, squat young +man in an attitude of deep dejection. +</P> + +<P> +"Hi there! Stop!" cried Cleggett to the chauffeur. That person +stopped his machine. He did more. He arose in the seat, applied his +thumb to his nose, and vigorously and vivaciously waggled his outspread +fingers at Cleggett in a gesture, derisive and inelegant, that is older +than the pyramids. Then he started his machine again and made all +speed in the direction of Fairport. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, you, come here!" Cleggett called to the squat young man. "Can't +you see that the lady's fainted?" +</P> + +<P> +The squat young man, thus exhorted, sadly approached. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you see the lady has fainted?" repeated Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Skoits often does," said the squat young man, looking over the +situation in a detached, judicial manner. He spoke out of the left +corner of his mouth in a hoarse voice, without moving the right side of +his face at all, and he seemed to feel that the responsibility of the +situation was Cleggett's. +</P> + +<P> +"But, don't you know her? Didn't you come here with her?" +</P> + +<P> +The squat young man appeared to debate some moral issue inwardly for a +moment. And then, speaking this time out of the right corner of his +mouth, which was now nearer Cleggett, without disturbing the left half +of his face, he pointed towards the oblong box and murmured huskily: +"That's my job." He went and sat down on the box again. +</P> + +<P> +Without more ado Cleggett lifted the lady and bore her onto the Jasper +B. She was a heavy burden, but Cleggett declined the assistance of +Cap'n Abernethy and George the Greek, who had come tardily out of the +forecastle and now offered their assistance. +</P> + +<P> +"Get a bottle of wine," he told Yosh, as he passed the Japanese on the +deck, "and then make some tea." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett laid the lady on a couch in the cabin, and then lighted a +lamp, as it got dark early in these quarters. While he waited for +Yoshahira Kuroki and the wine, he looked at her. In her appealing +helplessness she looked even more beautiful than she had at first. She +was a blonde, with eyebrows and lashes darker than her hair; and, even +in her swoon, Cleggett could see that she was of the thin-skinned, +high-colored type. Her eyes, as he had seen before she swooned, were +of a deep, dark violet color. She was no chit of a girl, but a mature +woman, tall and splendid in the noble fullness of her contours. The +high nose spoke of love of activity and energy of character. The full +mouth indicated warmth of heart; the chin was of that sort which we +have been taught to associate with determination. +</P> + +<P> +The Japanese brought the wine, and Cleggett poured a few spoonfuls down +the lady's throat. Presently she sighed and stirred and began to show +signs of returning animation. +</P> + +<P> +The Pomeranian, which had followed them into the cabin, and which now +lay whimpering at her feet, also seemed to feel that she was awakening, +and, crawling higher, began to lick one of her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Make some tea, Yosh," said Cleggett. "What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +This last was addressed to the lady herself. Her eyes had opened for a +fleeting instant as Cleggett spoke to the Japanese, and her lips had +moved. Cleggett bent his head nearer, while Yosh picked up the dog, +which violently objected, and asked again: "What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Orange pekoe, please," the lady murmured, dreamily. +</P> + +<P> +And then she sat up with a start, struggled to recover herself, and +looked about her wildly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where am I?" she cried. "What has happened?" She passed her hand +across her brow, frowning. +</P> + +<P> +"You fainted, madam," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Suddenly recollection came to her, and her anxieties rushed upon +her once more. "The ice! The ice!" She sprang to her feet, and +grasped Cleggett by both shoulders, searching his face with eager eyes. +"You did not lie to me, did you? You promised me ice! Where is the +ice?" +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have the ice," said Cleggett, "at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" she said. And then: "Where are Elmer and the box?" +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer? Oh, the short man! On shore. I believe that he and your +chauffeur had some sort of an altercation, for the chauffeur went off +and left him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said, simply, as they passed up the companionway to the deck +together, "that man, the driver, refused to bring us any farther." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett must have looked a little blank at that, for she suddenly +threw back her head and laughed at him. And then, sobering instantly, +she called to the squat young man: +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer! Oh, Elmer! You may bring the boxes on board!" She turned to +Cleggett: "He may, mayn't he? Thank you—I was sure you would say he +might. And if one of your men could just give him a lift? And—the +ice?" +</P> + +<P> +"George," called Cleggett, "help the man get the boxes aboard. Kuroki, +bring fifty pounds of ice on deck." +</P> + +<P> +She sighed as she heard him give these orders, but it was a sigh of +satisfaction, and she smiled at Cleggett as she signed. Sometimes a +great deal can happen in a very short space of time. Ten minutes +before, Cleggett had never seen this lady, and now he was giving orders +at her merest suggestion. But in those ten minutes he had seen her +weep, he had seen her faint, he had seen her recover herself; he had +seen her emerge from the depths of despair into something more like +self-control; he had carried her in his arms, she had laughed at him, +she had twice impulsively grasped him by the arm, she had smiled at him +three times, she had sighed twice, she had frowned once; she had swept +upon him bringing with her an impression of the mysterious. Many men +are married to women for years without seeing their wives display so +many and such varied phases; to Cleggett it seemed not so much that he +was making a new acquaintance as renewing one that had been broken off +suddenly at some distant date. Cleggett, like the true-hearted +gentleman and born romanticist that he was, resolved to serve her +without question until such time as she chose to make known to him her +motives for her actions. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," she said, softly and gravely to Cleggett as George and +Elmer deposited the oblong box upon a spot which she indicated near the +cabin, "I have met very few men in my life who are capable of what you +are doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"I?" said Cleggett, surprised. "I have done nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"You have found a woman in a strange position—an unusual position, +indeed!—and you have helped her without persecuting her with +questions." +</P> + +<P> +"It is nothing," murmured Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you think me too impulsive," she said, with a rare smile, "if I +told you that you are the sort of man whom women are ready to trust +implicitly almost at first sight?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett did not permit himself to speak for fear that the thrill which +her words imparted to him would carry him too far. He bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"But I think you mentioned tea?" she said. "Did I hear you say it was +orange pekoe, or did I dream that? And couldn't we have it on deck?" +</P> + +<P> +While Kuroki was bringing a table and chairs on deck and busying +himself about that preparation of tea, Cleggett watched Elmer, the +squat young man, with a growing curiosity. George and Cap'n Abernethy +were also watching Elmer from a discreet distance. Even Kuroki, silent, +swift, and well-trained Kuroki, could not but steal occasional glances +at Elmer. Had Cleggett been of a less lofty and controlled spirit he +would certainly have asked questions. +</P> + +<P> +For Elmer, having uncovered the zinc can and taken from it a hammer and +a large tin funnel, proceeded to break the big chunk of ice which +Kuroki had brought him, into half a dozen smaller pieces. These +smaller lumps, with the exception of two, he put into the zinc bucket, +wrapped around with pieces of coffee sacking. Then he put the cover on +the bucket to exclude the air. +</P> + +<P> +The zinc bucket was thus a portable refrigerator, or rather, ice house. +</P> + +<P> +Taking one of the lumps of ice which he had left out of the zinc bucket +for immediate use, Elmer carefully and methodically broke it into still +smaller pieces—pieces about the size of an English walnut, but +irregular in shape. Then he inserted the tin funnel into a small hole +in the uppermost surface of the unpainted, oblong box and dropped in +twenty or more of the little pieces of ice. When a piece proved to be +too big to go through the funnel Elmer broke it again. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett noticed that there were five of these small holes in the box, +and that Elmer was slowly working his way down the length of it from +hole to hole, sitting astride of it the while. +</P> + +<P> +From the way in which he worked, and the care with which he conserved +every smallest particle of ice, Elmer's motto seemed to be: "Haste +not, waste not." But he did not appear to derive any great +satisfaction from his task, let alone joy. In fact, Elmer seemed to be +a joyless individual; one who habitually looked forward to the worst. +On his broad face, of the complexion described in police reports as +"pasty," melancholy sat enthroned. His nose was flat and broad, and +flat and broad were his cheek bones, too. His hair was cut very short +everywhere except in front; in front it hung down to his eyebrows in a +straggling black fringe or "bang." Not that the fringe would have +covered the average person's forehead; this "bang" was not long; but +the truth is that Elmer's forehead was lower than the average person's +and therefore easily covered. He had what is known in certain circles +as a cauliflower, or chrysanthemum, ear. +</P> + +<P> +But melancholy as he looked, Elmer had evidently had his moments of +struggle against dejection. One of these moments had been when he +bought the clothes he was wearing. His hat had a bright, red and black +band around it; his tweed suit was of a startling light gray, marked +off into checks with stripes of green; his waistcoat was of lavender, +and his hose were likewise of lavender, but red predominated in both +his shirt and his necktie. His collar was too high for his short neck, +and seemed to cause him discomfort. But this attempt at gayety of dress +was of no avail; one felt at once that it was a surface thing and had +no connection with Elmer's soul; it stood out in front of the +background of his sorrowful personality, accentuating the gloom, as a +blossom may grow upon a bleak rock. As Elmer carefully dropped ice, +piece by piece, into the oblong box, progressing slowly from hole to +hole, Cleggett thought he had never seen a more depressed young man. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Abernethy approached Cleggett. There was hesitation in the +brown old man's feet, there was doubt upon his wrinkled brow, but there +was the consciousness of duty in the poise of his shoulders, there was +determination in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The blonde lady laughed softly as the sailing-master of the Jasper B. +saluted the owner of the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +"He is going to tell you," she said to Cleggett, including the Captain +himself in her flashing look and her remark, "he is going to tell you +that you really should get rid of me and my boxes at once—I can see it +in his face!" +</P> + +<P> +Captain Abernethy stopped short at this, and stared. It was precisely +what he HAD planned to say after drawing Cleggett discreetly aside. +But it is rather startling to have one's thoughts read in this manner. +</P> + +<P> +He frowned at the lady. She smiled at him. The smile seemed to say to +the Cap'n: "You ridiculous old dear, you! You KNOW that's what you +were going to advise, so why deny it? I've found you out, but we both +might just as well be good-humored about it, mightn't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ma'am," said the Cap'n, evidently struggling between a suddenly born +desire to quit frowning and a sense that he had a perfect right to +frown as much as he wished, "Ma'am, if you was to ask me, I'd say +ridin' on steamships and ridin' on sailin' vessels is two different +matters entirely." +</P> + +<P> +"Cap'n Abernethy," said Cleggett, attempting to indicate that his +sailing master's advice was not absolutely required, "if you have +something to say to me, perhaps later will do just as well." +</P> + +<P> +"As fur as the Jasper B. is concerned," said the Cap'n, ignoring +Cleggett's remark, and still addressing the lady, "I dunno as you could +call her EITHER a sailin' vessel, OR a steamship, as at present +constituted." +</P> + +<P> +"You want to get me off your boat at once," said the lady. "You know +you do." And her manner added: "CAN'T you act like a good-natured old +dear? You really are one, you know!" +</P> + +<P> +The Cap'n became embarrassed. He began to fuss with his necktie, as if +tying it tighter would assist him to hold on to his frown. He felt the +frown slipping, but it was a point of honor with him to retain it. +</P> + +<P> +"She WILL be a sailin' vessel when she gets her sticks into her," said +the Cap'n, fumbling with his neckwear. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me fix that for you," said the lady. And before the Cap'n could +protest she was arranging his tie for him. "You old sea +captains!———" she said, untying the scarf and making the ends even. +"As if anyone could possibly be afraid to sail in anything one of YOU +had charge of!" She gave the necktie a little final pat. "There, now!" +</P> + +<P> +The Captain's frown was gone past replacement. But he still felt that +he owed something to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me," he said, turning to Cleggett, "whether what I'd +got to say to you would do later, or whether it wouldn't do later, I'd +answer you it would, or it wouldn't, all accordin' to whether you +wanted to hear it now, or whether you wanted to hear it later. And as +far as SAILIN' her is concerned, Mr. Cleggett, I'll SAIL her, whether +you turn her into a battleship or into one of these here yachts. I +come of a seafarin' fambly." +</P> + +<P> +And then he said to the lady, indicating the tie and bobbing his head +forward with a prim little bow: "Thank ye, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't he a duck!" said the lady, following him with her eyes, as he +went behind the cabin. There the Cap'n chewed, smoked, and fished, +earnestly and simultaneously, for ten minutes. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, the blonde lady, from the moment when Elmer began to put ice +into the box, seemed to have regained her spirits. The little dog, +which was an indicator of her moods, had likewise lost its nervousness. +When Kuroki had tea ready, the dog lay down at his mistress' feet, +beside the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear little Teddy," said the lady, patting the animal upon the head. +</P> + +<P> +"Teddy?" said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"I have named him," she said, "after a great American. To my mind, the +greatest—Theodore Roosevelt. His championship of the cause of votes +for women at a time when mere politicians were afraid to commit +themselves is enough in itself to gain him a place in history." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke with a kindling eye, and Cleggett had no doubt that there was +before him one of those remarkable women who make the early part of the +twentieth century so different from any other historical period. And +he was one with her in her admiration for Roosevelt—a man whose +facility in finding adventures and whose behavior when he had found +them had always made a strong appeal to Cleggett. If he could not have +been Cleggett he would have liked to have been either the Chevalier +d'Artagnan or Theodore Roosevelt. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a great man," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +But the lady, with her second cup of tea in her hand, was evidently +thinking of something else. Leaning back in her chair, she said to +Cleggett: +</P> + +<P> +"It is no good for you to deny that you think I'm a horridly +unconventional sort of person!" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett made a polite, deprecatory gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, you do," she said, decidedly. "And, really, I am! I am +impulsive! I am TOO impulsive!" She raised the cup to her lips, +drank, and looked off towards the western horizon, which the sun was +beginning to paint ruddily; she mused, murmuring as if to herself: +"Sir Archibald always thought I was too impulsive, dear man." +</P> + +<P> +After a meditative pause she said, leaning her elbows on the table and +gazing searchingly into Cleggett's eyes: +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to trust you. I am going to reward your kindness by +telling you a portion of my strange story. I am going to depend upon +you to understand it." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett bowed and murmured his gratitude at the compliment. Then he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"You could trust me with———" But he stopped. He did not wish to be +premature. +</P> + +<P> +"With my life. I could trust you with my life," finished the lady, +gravely. "I know that. I believe that. I feel it, somehow. It is +because I do feel it that I tell you——" She paused, as if, after +all, she lacked the courage. Cleggett said nothing. He was too fine in +grain to force a confidence. After a moment she continued: "I can tell +you this," she said, with a catch in her voice that was almost a sob, +"that I am practically friendless. When you call a taxicab for me in a +few moments, and I leave you, with Elmer and my boxes, I shall have no +place to go." +</P> + +<P> +"But, surely, madam——" +</P> + +<P> +"Do not call me madam. Call me Lady Agatha. I am Lady Agatha +Fairhaven. What is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett told her. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard of me?" asked Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was obliged to confess that he had not. He thought that a +shade of disappointment passed over the lady's face, but in a moment +she smiled and remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"How relative a thing is fame! You have never heard of me! And yet I +can assure you that I am well enough known in England. I was one of +the very first militant suffragettes to break a window—if not the very +first. The point is, indeed, in dispute. And were it not for my +devotion to the cause I would not now be in my present terrible +plight—doomed to wander from pillar to post with that thing" (she +pointed with a shudder to the box into which Elmer was still gloomily +poking ice)-"chained to me like a—like a——" She hesitated for a +word, and Cleggett, tactlessly enough, with some vague recollection of +a classical tale in his mind, suggested: +</P> + +<P> +"Like a corpse." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha turned pale. She gazed at Cleggett with terror-stricken +eyes, her beautiful face became almost haggard in an instant; he +thought she was about to faint again, but she did not. As he looked +upon the change his words had wrought, filled with wonder and +compunction, Cleggett suddenly divined that her occasional flashes of +gayety had been, all along, merely the forced vivacity of a brave and +clever woman who was making a gallant fight against total collapse. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," she said, in a voice that was scarcely louder than a +whisper, "I am going to confide everything to you—the whole truth. I +will spare myself nothing; I will throw myself upon your mercy. +</P> + +<P> +"I firmly believe, Mr. Cleggett—I am practically certain—that the box +there, upon which Elmer is sitting, contains the body of Reginald +Maltravers, natural son of the tenth Earl of Claiborne, and the cousin +of my late husband, Sir Archibald Fairhaven." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LADY AGATHA'S STORY +</H3> + +<P> +It was with the greatest difficulty that Cleggett repressed a start. +Another man might have shown the shock he felt. But Cleggett had the +iron nerve of a Bismarck and the fine manner of a Richelieu. He did +not even permit his eyes to wander towards the box in question. He +merely sat and waited. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha, having brought herself to the point of revelation, seemed +to find a difficulty in proceeding. Cleggett, mutely asking +permission, lighted a cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—if you will!" said Lady Agatha, extending her hand towards the +case. He passed it over, and when she had chosen one of the little +rolls and lighted it she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett, have you ever lived in England?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have never even visited England." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you knew England." She watched the curling smoke from her +tobacco as it drifted across the table. "If you knew England you would +comprehend so much more readily some parts of my story. +</P> + +<P> +"But, being an American, you can have no adequate conception of the +conservatism that still prevails in certain quarters. I refer to the +really old families among the landed aristocracy. Some of them have not +changed essentially, in their attitude towards the world in general, +since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They make of family a fetish. They +are ready to sacrifice everything upon the altar of family. They may +exhibit this pride of race less obviously than some of the French or +Germans or Italians; but they have a deeper sense of their own dignity, +and of what is due to it, than any of your more flighty and picturesque +continentals. There are certain things that are done. Certain things +are not done. One must conform or——" +</P> + +<P> +She interrupted herself and delicately flicked the ash from her +cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +"Conform, or be jolly well damned," she finished, crossing one leg over +the other and leaning back in her chair. "This, by the way, is the +only decent cigarette I have found in America. I hate to smoke +perfume—I like tobacco—and most of your shops seem to keep nothing +but the highly scented Turkish and Egyptian varieties." +</P> + +<P> +"They were made in London," said Cleggett, bowing. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! But where was I? Oh, yes—one must conform. Especially if one +belongs to, or has married into, the Claiborne family. Of all the men +in England the Earl of Claiborne is the most conservative, the most +reactionary, the most deeply encrusted with prejudice. He would stop +at little where the question concerned the prestige of the aristocracy +in general; he would stop at nothing where the Claiborne family is +concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"I am telling you all this so that you may get an inkling of the blow +it was to him when I became a militant suffragist. It was blow enough +to his nephew, Sir Archibald, my late husband. The Earl maintains that +it hastened poor Archibald's death. But that is ridiculous. Archibald +had undermined his constitution with dissipation, and died following an +operation for gravel. He was to have succeeded to the title, as both +of the Earl's legitimate sons were dead without issue—one of them +perished in the Boer War, and the other was killed in the hunting field. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon Archibald's death the old Earl publicly acknowledged Reginald +Maltravers, his natural son, and took steps to have him legitimatized. +For all of the bend sinister upon his escutcheon, Reginald Maltravers +was as fanatical concerning the family as his father. Perhaps more +fanatical, because he secretly suffered for the irregularity of his own +position in the world. +</P> + +<P> +"At any rate, supported at first by the old Earl, he began a series of +persecutions designed to make me renounce my suffragist principles, or +at least to make me cease playing a conspicuous public part in the +militant propaganda. As my husband was dead and there were no +children, I could not see that I was accountable to the Claiborne +family for my actions. But the Claibornes took a different view of it. +In their philosophy, once a Claiborne, always a Claiborne. I was +bringing disgrace and humiliation upon the family, in their opinion. +Knowing the old Earl as I do, I am aware that his suffering was genuine +and intense. But what was I to do? One cannot desert one's principles +merely because they cause suffering; otherwise there could be no such +thing as revolution. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers had another reason for his persecution. After the +death of Sir Archibald he himself sought my hand in marriage. I shall +always remember the form of his proposal; it concluded with these +words: 'Had Archibald lived you would have been a countess. You may +still be a countess—but you must drop this suffragist show, you know. +It is all bally rot, Agatha, all bally rot.' I would not have married +him without the condition, for I despised the man himself; but the +condition made me furious and I drove him from my sight with words that +turned him white and made him my enemy forever. 'You will not be my +countess, then,' he said. 'Very well—but I can promise you that you +will cease to be a suffragist.' I can still see the evil flash of his +eye behind his monocle as he uttered these words and turned away." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha shuddered at the recollection, and took a cup of tea. +</P> + +<P> +"It was then," she resumed, "that the real persecution began. I was +peculiarly helpless, as I have no near relations who might have come to +my defense. Representing himself always as the agent of his father, +but far exceeding the Earl in the malevolence of his inventions, +Reginald Maltravers sought by every means he could command to drive me +from public life in England. +</P> + +<P> +"Three times he succeeded in having me flung into Holloway Jail. I need +not tell you of the terrors of that institution, nor of the degrading +horrors of forcible feeding. They are known to a shocked and +sympathetic world. But Reginald Maltravers contrived, in my case, to +add to the usual brutalities a peculiar and personal touch. By +bribery, as I believe, he succeeded in getting himself into the prison +as a turnkey. It was his custom, when I lay weak and helpless in the +semistupor of starvation, to glide into my cell and, standing by my +couch, to recite to me the list of tempting viands that might appear +daily upon the board of a Countess of Claiborne. +</P> + +<P> +"He soon learned that his very presence itself was a persecution. After +my release from jail the last time, he began to follow me everywhere. +Turn where I would, there was Reginald Maltravers. At suffrage meetings +he took his station directly before the speaker's stand, stroked his +long blond mustache with his long white fingers, and stared at me +steadfastly through his monocle, with an evil smile upon his face. +Formerly he had, in several instances, prevented me from attending +suffrage meetings; once he had me spirited away and imprisoned for a +week when it fell to my lot to burn a railroad station for the good of +the cause. He strove to ruin me with my leaders in this despicable +manner. +</P> + +<P> +"But in the end he took to showing himself; he stood and stared. Merely +that. He was subtle enough to shift the persecution from the province +of the physical to the realm of the psychological. It was like being +haunted. Even when I did not see him, I began to THINK that I saw him. +He deliberately planted that hallucination in my mind. It is a wonder +that I did not go mad. +</P> + +<P> +"I finally determined to flee to America. I made all my arrangements +with care and—as I thought—with secrecy. I imagined that I had given +him the slip. But he was too clever for me. The third day out, as one +of the ship's officers was showing me about the vessel, I detected +Reginald Maltravers in the hold. It is not usual to allow women so far +below decks; but I had insisted on seeing everything. Perspiring, +begrimed, and mopping the moisture from his brow with a piece of cotton +waste, there he stood in the guise of a—of—a croaker, is it, Mr. +Cleggett?" +</P> + +<P> +"Stoker, I believe," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Stoker. Thank you. He turned away in confusion when he saw that he +was discovered. I perceived that, designing to cross on the same ship +with me, he had thought himself hidden there. He was not wearing his +monocle, but I would know that sloping forehead, that blond mustache, +and that long, high, bony nose anywhere." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha broke off for a moment. She was extremely agitated. But +presently she continued: "I endeavored to evade him. The attempt was +useless. He found me out at once. The persecution went on. It was +more terrible here than it had been in England. There I had friends. I +had hours, sometimes even whole days, to myself. +</P> + +<P> +"But this was not the worst. A new phase developed. From his +appearance it suddenly became apparent to me that Reginald Maltravers +could not stop haunting me if he wished!" +</P> + +<P> +"COULD not stop?" cried Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"COULD not," said Lady Agatha. "The hunt had become a monomania with +him. It had become an obsession. He had given his whole mentality to +it and it had absorbed all his faculties. He was now the victim of it. +He had grown powerless in the grip of the idea; he had lost volition in +the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"You can imagine my consternation when I realized this. I began to +fear the day when his insanity would take some violent form and he +would endeavor to do me a personal injury. I determined to have a +bodyguard. I wanted a man inured to danger; one capable of meeting +violence with violence, if the need arose. It struck me that if I +could get into touch with one of those chivalrous Western outlaws, of +whom we read in American works of fiction, he would be just the sort of +man I needed to protect me from Reginald Maltravers. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not consider appealing to the authorities, for I have no +confidence in your American laws, Mr. Cleggett. But I did not know how +to go about finding a chivalrous Western outlaw. So finally I put an +advertisement in the personal column of one of your morning papers for +a reformed convict." +</P> + +<P> +"A reformed convict!" exclaimed Cleggett. "May I ask how you worded the +ad.?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ad.? Oh, advertisement? I will get it for you." +</P> + +<P> +She went into the stateroom and was back in a moment with a newspaper +cutting which she handed to Cleggett. It read: +</P> + +<P> +Convict recently released from Sing Sing, if his reform is really +genuine, may secure honest employment by writing to A. F., care Morning +Dispatch. +</P> + +<P> +"Out of the answers," she resumed, "I selected four and had their +writers call for a personal interview. But only two of them seemed to +me to be really reformed, and of these two Elmer's reform struck me as +being the more genuine. You may have noticed that Elmer gives the +appearance of being done with worldly vanities." +</P> + +<P> +"He does seem depressed," said Cleggett, "but I had imputed it largely +to the nature of his present occupation." +</P> + +<P> +"It is due to his attempt to lead a better life—or at least so he +tells me," said Lady Agatha. "Morality does not come easy to Elmer, he +says, and I believe him. Elmer's time is largely taken up by inward +moral debate as to the right or wrong of particular hypothetical cases +which his imagination insists on presenting to his conscience." +</P> + +<P> +"I can certainly imagine no state of mind less enjoyable," said +Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I," replied Lady Agatha. "But to resume: The very fact that I +had employed a guard seemed to put Reginald Maltravers beside himself. +He followed me more closely than ever. Regardless of appearances, he +would suddenly plant himself in front of me in restaurants and +tramcars, in the streets or parks when I went for an airing, even in +the lifts and corridors of the apartment hotel where I stopped, and +stare at me intently through his monocle, caressing his mustache the +while. I did not dare make a scene; the thing was causing enough +remark without that; I was, in fact, losing my reputation. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, goaded beyond endurance, I called Elmer into my apartment one +day and put the whole case before him. +</P> + +<P> +"'I will pay almost any price short of participation in actual crime,' +I told him, 'for a fortnight of freedom from that man's presence. I +can stand it no longer; I feel my reason slipping from me. Have I not +heard that there are in New York creatures who are willing, on the +payment of a certain stipulated sum, to guarantee to chastise a person +so as to disable him for a definite period, without doing him permanent +injury? You must know some such disreputable characters. Procure me +some wretches of this sort!' +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer replied that such creatures do, indeed, exist. He called +them—what did he call them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gunmen?" suggested Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, thank you. He brought two of them to me whom he introduced +as——" +</P> + +<P> +She paused. "The names escape me," she said. She called: "Elmer, just +step here a moment, please." +</P> + +<P> +Elmer, who was still putting ice into the oblong box, moodily laid away +his tools and approached. +</P> + +<P> +"What WERE the odd names of your friends? The ones who—who made the +mistake?" asked Lady Agatha, resuming her seat. +</P> + +<P> +Elmer rolled a bilious eye at Cleggett and asked Lady Agatha, out of +that corner of his mouth nearer to her: +</P> + +<P> +"Is th' guy right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett is a friend of mine and can keep a secret, if that is +what you mean," said Lady Agatha. And the words sent a thrill of +elation through Cleggett's being. +</P> + +<P> +"M' friends w'at makes the mistake," said Elmer, apparently satisfied +with the assurance, and offering the information to Cleggett out of the +side of his mouth which had not been involved in his question to Lady +Agatha, "goes by th' monakers of Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat." +</P> + +<P> +"Picturesque," murmured Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Picture—what? Picture not'in!" said Elmer, huskily. "The bulls got +not'in' on them boys. Them guys never been mugged. Them guys is too +foxy t' get mugged." +</P> + +<P> +"I infer that you weren't always so foxy," said Cleggett, eyeing him +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +The remark seemed to touch a sensitive spot. Elmer flushed and +shuffled from one foot to the other, hanging his head as if in +embarrassment. Finally he said, earnestly: +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't no boob, Mr. Cleggett. It was a snitch got ME settled. I was +a good cracksman, honest I was. But I never had no luck." +</P> + +<P> +"I intended no reflection on your professional ability," said Cleggett, +politely. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's all right, Mr. Cleggett," said Elmer, forgivingly. +"Nobody's feelin's is hoited. And any friend of th' little dame here +is a friend o' mine." The diminutive, on Elmer's lips, was intended as +a compliment; Lady Agatha was not a small woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer," said Lady Agatha, "tell Mr. Cleggett how the mistake occurred." +</P> + +<P> +Oratory was evidently not Elmer's strongest point. But he braced +himself for the effort and began: +</P> + +<P> +"When th' skoit here says she wants the big boob punched I says to +m'self, foist of all: 'Is it right or is it wrong?' Oncet youse got +that reform high sign put onto youse, youse can't be too careful. Do +youse get me? So when th' skoit here puts it up to me I thinks foist +off: 'Is it right or is it wrong?' See? So I thinks it over and I +says to m'self th' big boob's been pullin' rough stuff on th' little +dame here. Do youse get me? So I says to m'self, the big boob ought to +get a wallop on the nut. See? What th' big gink needs is someone to +bounce a brick off his bean, f'r th' dame here's a square little dame. +Do youse get me? So I says to the little dame: 'I'm wit' youse, see? +W'at th' big gink needs is a mont' in th' hospital.' An' the little +dame here says he's not to be croaked, but——" +</P> + +<P> +But at that instant Teddy, the Pomeranian, sprang towards the uncovered +hatchway that gave into the hold, barking violently. Lady Agatha, who +could see into the opening, arose with a scream. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, leaping towards the hatchway, was just in time to see two men +jump backward from the bottom of the ladder into the murk of the hold. +They had been listening. Drawing his pistol, and calling to the crew +of the Jasper B. to follow him, Cleggett plunged recklessly downward +and into the darkness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FIRST BLOOD FOR CLEGGETT +</H3> + +<P> +As his feet struck the top of the rubbish heap in the hold of the +vessel, Cleggett stumbled and staggered forward. But he did not let go +of his revolver. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps he would not have fallen, but the Pomeranian, which had leaped +into the hold after him, yelping like a terrier at a rat hunt, ran +between his legs and tripped him. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn the dog!" cried Cleggett, going down. +</P> + +<P> +But the fall probably saved his life, for as he spoke two pistol shots +rang out simultaneously from the forward part of the hold. The bullets +passed over his head. Raising himself on his elbow, Cleggett fired +rapidly three times, aiming at the place where a spurt of flame had +come from. +</P> + +<P> +A cry answered him, and he knew that at least one of his bullets had +taken effect. He rose to his feet and plunged forward, firing again, +and at the same instant another bullet grazed his temple. +</P> + +<P> +The next few seconds were a wild confusion of yelping dog, shouts, +curses, shots that roared like the explosion of big guns in that +pent-up and restricted place, stinking powder, and streaks of fire that +laced themselves across the darkness. But only a single pistol replied +to Cleggett's now and he was confident that one of the men was out of +the fight. +</P> + +<P> +But the other man, blindly or with intention, was stumbling nearer as +he fired. A bullet creased Cleggett's shoulder; it was fired so close +to him that he felt the heat of the exploding powder; and in the sudden +glow of light he got a swift and vivid glimpse of a white face framed +in long black hair, and of flashing white teeth beneath a lifted lip +that twitched. The face was almost within touching distance; as it +vanished Cleggett heard the sharp, whistling intake of the fellow's +breath—and then a click that told him the other's last cartridge was +gone. Cleggett clubbed his pistol and leaped forward, striking at the +place where the gleaming teeth had been. His blow missed; he spun +around with the force of it. As he steadied himself to shoot again he +heard a rush behind him and knew that his men had come to his +assistance. +</P> + +<P> +"Collar him!" he cried. "Don't shoot, or——" +</P> + +<P> +But he did not finish that sentence. A thousand lights danced before +his eyes, Niagara roared in his ears for an instant, and he knew no +more. His adversary had laid him out with the butt of a pistol. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was not that inconsiderable sort of a man who is killed in any +trivial skirmish: There was a moment at the bridge of Arcole when +Napoleon, wounded and flung into a ditch, appeared to be lost. But +when Nature, often so stupid, really does take stock and become aware +that she has created an eagle she does not permit that eagle to be +killed before its wings are fledged. Napoleon was picked out of the +ditch. Cleggett was only stunned. +</P> + +<P> +Both were saved for larger triumphs. The association of names is not +accidental. These two men were, in some respects, not dissimilar, +although Bonaparte lacked Cleggett's breeding. +</P> + +<P> +When Cleggett regained consciousness he was on deck; George, Kuroki and +Cap'n Abernethy stood about him in a little semicircle of anxiety; Lady +Agatha was applying a cold compress to the bump upon his head. (He +made nothing of his other scratches.) As for Elmer, who had not +stirred from his seat on the oblong box, he moodily regarded, not +Cleggett, but a slight young fellow with long black hair, who lay +motionless upon the deck. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett struggled to his feet. "Is he dead?" he asked, pointing to +the figure of his recent assailant. Cap'n Abernethy, for the first +time since Cleggett had known him, gave a direct answer to a question. +</P> + +<P> +"Mighty nigh it," he said, staring down at the young man. Then he +added: "Kind o' innocent lookin' young fellow, at that." +</P> + +<P> +"But the other one? Was he killed?" asked Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"The other?" George inquired. "But there was no other. When we got +down there you and this boy——" And George described the struggle +that had taken place after Cleggett had lost consciousness. The whole +affair, as far as it concerned Cleggett, had been a matter of seconds +rather than minutes; it was begun and over like a hundred yard dash on +the cinder track. When George and Kuroki and Cap'n Abernethy had +tumbled into the hold they had been afraid to shoot for fear of hitting +Cleggett; they had reached him, guided by his voice, just as he went +down under his assailant's pistol. They had not subdued the youth +until he had suffered severely from George's dagger. Later they learned +that one of Cleggett's bullets had also found him. Cleggett listened to +the end, and then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"But there WERE two men in the hold. And one of them, dead or wounded, +must still be down there. Carry this fellow into the +forecastle—we'll look at him later. Then bring some lanterns. We are +going down into that hold again." +</P> + +<P> +With their pistols in their right hands and lanterns in their left they +descended, Cleggett first. It was not impossible that the other +intruder might be lying, wounded, but revived enough by now to work a +pistol, behind one of the rubbish heaps. +</P> + +<P> +But no shots greeted them. The hold of the Jasper B. was not divided +into compartments of any sort. If it had ever had them, they had been +torn away. Below deck, except for the rubbish heap and the steps for +the masts, she was empty as a soup tureen. The pile of debris was the +highest toward the waist of the vessel. There it formed a treacherous +hill of junk; this hill sloped downward towards the bow and towards the +stern; in both the fore and after parts, under the forecastle and the +cabin, there were comparatively clear spaces. +</P> + +<P> +The four men forced their way back towards the stern and then came +slowly forward in a line that extended across the vessel, exploring +with their lanterns every inch of the precarious footing, and +overturning and looking behind, under, and into every box, cask, or +jumble of planking that might possibly offer a place of concealment. +They found no one. And, until they reached a clearer place, well +forward, on the starboard side of the ship, they found no trace of +anyone. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, who was examining this place, suddenly uttered an exclamation +which brought the others to him. He pointed to stains of blood upon +the planking; near these stains were marks left by boots which had been +gaumed with a yellowish clay. A revolver lay on the floor. Cleggett +examined it and found that only one cartridge had been exploded. The +stains of blood and the stains of yellow clay made an easily followed +trail for some yards to a point about halfway between the bow and stern +on the starboard side. +</P> + +<P> +There, in the waist of the vessel, they ceased; ceased abruptly, +mysteriously. Cleggett, not content, made his men go over the place +again, even more thoroughly than before. But there was no one there, +dead or wounded, unless he had succeeded in contracting himself to the +dimensions of a rat. +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing," said Cleggett, standing by the ladder that led up +to the deck. "Nothing," echoed George; and then as if with one +impulse, and moved by the same eerie thought, these four men suddenly +raised their lanterns head-high and gazed at one another. +</P> + +<P> +A startled look spread from face to face. But no one spoke. There was +no need to. All recognized that they were in the presence of an +apparent impossibility. Yet this seemingly impossible thing was the +fact. There had been two men in the hold of the Jasper B. They had +entered as mysteriously and silently as disembodied spirits might have +done. One of them, wounded, had made his exit in the same baffling way. +Where? How? +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett broke the silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go to the forecastle and have a look at that fellow," he said, +and led the way. +</P> + +<P> +No one lagged as they left the hold. These were all brave men, but +there are times when the invisible, the incomprehensible, will send a +momentary chill to the heart of the most intrepid. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett found Lady Agatha, her own troubles for the time forgotten, in +the forecastle. She had lighted a lamp and was bending over the +wounded man, whose coat and waistcoat she had removed. His clothing was +a sop of blood. They cut his shirt and undershirt from him. Kuroki +brought water and the medicine chest and surgical outfit with which +Cleggett had provided the Jasper B. They examined his wounds, Lady +Agatha, with a fine seriousness and a deft touch which claimed +Cleggett's admiration, washing them herself and proceeding to stop the +flow of blood. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am not an altogether useless person," she said, with a momentary +smile, as she saw the look in Cleggett's face. And Cleggett remembered +with shame that he had not thanked her for her ministrations to himself. +</P> + +<P> +A pistol bullet had gone quite through the young man's shoulder. There +was a deep cut on his head, and there were half a dozen other stab +wounds on his body. George had evidently worked with great rapidity in +the hold. +</P> + +<P> +In the inside breast pocket of his coat he had carried a thin and +narrow little book. There was a dagger thrust clear through it; if the +book had not been there this terrible blow delivered by the son of +Leonidas must inevitably have penetrated the lung. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett opened the book. It was entitled "Songs of Liberty, by +Giuseppe Jones." The verse was written in the manner of Walt Whitman. +A glance at one of the sprawling poems showed Cleggett that in +sentiment it was of the most violent and incendiary character. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he is an anarchist!" said Cleggett in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, really!" Lady Agatha looked up from her work of mercy and spoke +with animation, and then gazed upon the youth's face again with a new +interest. "An anarchist! How interesting! I have ALWAYS wanted to +meet an anarchist." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor boy, he don't look like nothin' bad," said Cap'n Abernethy, who +seemed to have taken a fancy to Giuseppe Jones. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," said Cleggett, and read: +</P> + +<PRE> + "As for your flag, I spit upon your flag! + I spit upon your organized society anywhere and everywhere; + I spit upon your churches; + I spit upon your capitalistic institutions; + I spit upon your laws; + I spit upon the whole damned thing! + But, as I spit, I weep! I weep!" +</PRE> + +<P> +"How silly!" said Lady Agatha. "What does it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means——" began Cleggett, and then stopped. The book of +revolutionary verse, taken in conjunction with the red flag that had +been displayed and then withdrawn, made him wonder if Morris's were the +headquarters of some band of anarchists. +</P> + +<P> +But, if so, why should this band show such an interest in the Jasper +B.? An interest so hostile to her present owner and his men? +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me what it means," said Captain Abernethy, who had +taken the book and was fingering it, "I'd say it means young Jones here +has fell into bad company. That don't explain how he sneaked into the +hold of the Jasper B., nor what for. But he orter have a doctor." +</P> + +<P> +"He shall have a physician," said Cleggett. "In fact, the Jasper B. +needs a ship's doctor." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks to me," said Captain Abernethy, "as if she did. And if you +was to go further, Mr. Cleggett, and say that it looks as if she was +liable to need a couple o' trained nurses, too, I'd say to you that if +they's goin' to be many o' these kind o' goin's-on aboard of her she +DOES need a couple of trained nurses." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," said Cleggett, "you are a humane man—let me shake your +hand. You have voiced my very thought!" +</P> + +<P> +Long ago Cleggett had resolved that if Chance or Providence should ever +gratify his secret wish to participate in stirring adventures, he would +see to it that all his wounded enemies, no matter how many there might +be of them, received adequate medical attention. He had often been +shocked at the callousness with which so many of the heroes of romance +dash blithely into the next adventure—though those whom they have +seriously injured lie on all sides of them as thick as autumn +leaves—with only the most perfunctory consideration of these victims; +sometimes, indeed, with no thought of them at all. +</P> + +<P> +"Something tells me," said Cleggett seriously, "that this intrusion of +armed men is only a prelude. I have little doubt of the hostility of +Morris's; I am sure that the men who hid in the hold are spies from +Morris's. I do not yet know the motive for this hostility. But the +Jasper B. is in the midst of dangers and mysteries. There is before us +an affair of some magnitude. Ere the Jasper B. sets sail for the China +Seas, there may be many wounds." +</P> + +<P> +And then he began to outline a plan that had flashed, full formed, into +his mind. It was to rent, or purchase, the buildings at Parker's +Beach, and fit them up as a field hospital, with three or four nurses +in charge. Lady Agatha, who had been listening intently, interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"But—the China Seas," she said. "Did I understand you to say that +you intend to set sail for the China Seas?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is the ultimate destination of the Jasper B." said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard—it seems to me that I have heard—that it's a very +dangerous place," ventured Lady Agatha. "Pirates, you know, and all +that sort of thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Pirates," said Cleggett, "abound." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," persisted Lady Agatha, "you are going out to fight them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should not be surprised," said Cleggett, folding his arms, and +standing with his feet spread just a trifle wider than usual, "if the +Jasper B. had a brush or two with them. A brush or two!" +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha regarded him speculatively. But admiringly, too. +</P> + +<P> +"But those nurses——" she said. "If you're going to the China Seas +you can't very well take Parker's Beach along." +</P> + +<P> +"I was coming to that," said Cleggett, bowing. "I contemplate a +hospital ship—a vessel supplied with nurses and lint and medicines, +that will accompany the Jasper B., and fly the Red Cross flag." +</P> + +<P> +"But they are frightful people, really, those Chinese pirates, you +know," said Lady Agatha. "Do you think they'll quite appreciate a +hospital ship?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is my duty," said Cleggett, simply. "Whether they appreciate it or +not, a hospital ship they shall have. This is the twentieth century. +And although the great spirits of other days had much to commend them, +it is not to be denied that they knew little of our modern +humanitarianism. It has remained for the twentieth century to develop +that. And one owes a duty to one's epoch as well as to one's +individuality." +</P> + +<P> +"But," repeated Lady Agatha, with a meditative frown, "they are really +FRIGHTFUL people!" +</P> + +<P> +"There is good in all men," said Cleggett, "even in those whom the +stern necessities of idealism sentence to death. And I have no doubt +that many a Chinese pirate would, under other circumstances, have +developed into a very contented and useful laundry-man." +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha studied him intently for a moment. "Mr. Cleggett," she +said, "if you will permit me to say so, a great suffragist leader was +lost when fate made you a man." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," said Cleggett, bowing again. +</P> + +<P> +He dispatched George—a person of address as well as a fighter in whom +the blood of ancient Greece ran quick and strong—on a humanitarian +mission. George was to walk a mile to the trolley line, go to +Fairport, hire a taxicab, and make all possible speed into Manhattan. +There he was to communicate with a young physician of Cleggett's +acquaintance, Dr. Harry Farnsworth. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Farnsworth, as Cleggett knew, was just out of medical school. He +had his degree, but no patients. But he was bold and ready. He was, in +short, just the lad to welcome with enthusiasm such a chance for active +service as the cruise of the Jasper B. promised to afford. +</P> + +<P> +It was something of a risk to weaken his little party by sending George +away for several hours. But Cleggett did not hesitate. He was not the +man to allow considerations of personal safety to outweigh his devotion +to an ideal. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Cleggett, turning to Lady Agatha, who had hearkened to +his orders to George with a bright smile of approval, "we will dine, +and I will hear the rest of your story, which was so rudely +interrupted. It is possible that together we may be able to find some +solution of your problem." +</P> + +<P> +"Dine!" exclaimed Lady Agatha, eagerly. "Yes, let us dine! It may +sound incredible to you, Mr. Cleggett, that the daughter of an English +peer and the widow of a baronet should confess that, except for your +tea, she has scarcely eaten for twenty-four hours—but it is so!" +</P> + +<P> +Then she said, sadly, with a sigh and sidelong glance at the box of +Reginald Maltravers which stood near the cabin companionway dripping +coldly: "Until now, Mr. Cleggett—until your aid had given me fresh +hope and strength—I had, indeed, very little appetite." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett followed her gaze, and it must be admitted that he himself +experienced a momentary sense of depression at the sight of the box of +Reginald Maltravers. It looked so damp, it looked so chill, it looked +so starkly and patiently and malevolently watchful of himself and Lady +Agatha. In a flash his lively fancy furnished him with a picture of +the box of Reginald Maltravers suddenly springing upright and hopping +towards him on one end with a series of stiff jumps that would send +drops of moisture flying from the cracks and seams and make the ice +inside of it clink and tinkle. And the mournful Elmer, now drowsing +callously over his charge, was not an invitation to be blithe. If +Cleggett himself were so affected (he mused) what must be the effect of +the box of Reginald Maltravers upon sensibilities as fine and delicate +as those of a woman like Lady Agatha Fairhaven? +</P> + +<P> +"Could I—if I might——" Lady Agatha hesitated, with a glance towards +the cabin. Cleggett instantly divined her thought; for brief as was +their acquaintance, there was an almost psychic accord between his mind +and hers, and he felt himself already answering to her unspoken wish as +a ship to its rudder. +</P> + +<P> +"The cabin is at your service," said Cleggett, for he understood that +she wished to dress for dinner. He conducted her, with a touch of +formality, to his own room in the cabin, which he put at her disposal, +ordering her steamer trunks to be placed in it. Then, taking with him +some necessaries of his own, he withdrew to the forecastle to make a +careful toilet. +</P> + +<P> +It might not have occurred to another man to dress for dinner, but +Cleggett's character was an unusual blend of delicacy and strength; he +perceived subtly that Lady Agatha was of the nature to appreciate this +compliment. At a moment when her fortunes were at a low ebb what could +more cheer a woman and hearten her than such a mark of consideration? +Already Cleggett found himself asking what would please Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FLAME LEAPS OUT OF THE DARK +</H3> + +<P> +Kuroki announced dinner; Cleggett entered the captain's mess room of +the cabin, where the cloth was laid, and a moment later lady Agatha +emerged from the stateroom and gave him her hand with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +If he had thought her beautiful before, when she wore her plain +traveling suit, he thought her radiant now, in the true sense of that +much abused word. For she flung forth her charm in vital radiations. +If Cleggett had possessed a common mind he might have phrased it to +himself that she hit a man squarely in the eyes. Her beauty had that +direct and almost aggressive quality that is like a challenge, and with +sophisticated feminine art she had contrived that the dinner gown she +chose for that evening should sound the keynote of her personality like +a leitmotif in an opera. The costume was a creation of white satin, +the folds caught here and there with strings of pearls. There was a +single large rose of pink velvet among the draperies of the skirt; a +looped girdle of blue velvet was the only other splash of color. But +the full-leaved, expanded and matured rose became the vivid epitome and +illustration of the woman herself. A rope of pearls that hung down to +her waist added the touch of soft luster essential to preserve the +picture from the reproach of being too obvious an assault upon the +senses; Cleggett reflected that another woman might have gone too far +and spoiled it all by wearing diamonds. Lady Agatha always knew where +to stop. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not been so hungry since I was in Holloway Jail," said Lady +Agatha. And she ate with a candid gusto that pleased Cleggett, who +loathed in a woman a finical affectation of indifference to food. +</P> + +<P> +When Kuroki brought the coffee she took up her own story again. There +was little more to tell. +</P> + +<P> +Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat, it appeared, had mistaken their +instructions. Two nights after they had been engaged they had appeared +at Lady Agatha's apartment with the oblong box. +</P> + +<P> +"The horrid creatures brought it into my sitting-room and laid it on +the floor before I could prevent them," said Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"'What is this?' I asked them, in bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"They replied that they had killed Reginald Maltravers ACCORDING TO +ORDERS, and had brought him to me. +</P> + +<P> +"'Orders!'" I cried. "'You had no such orders.'" Elmer, who lived on the +same floor, was absent temporarily, having taken Teddy out for an +airing. I was distracted. I did not know what to do. "'Your orders,'" I +said, "'were to—to——'" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off. "What was it that Elmer told them to do, and what was +it that they did?" she mused, perplexed. She called Elmer into the +cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer," she said, "exactly what was it that you told your friends to +do to him? And what was it that they did? I can never remember the +words." +</P> + +<P> +"Poke him," said Elmer, addressing Cleggett. "I tells these ginks to +poke him. But these ginks tells th' little dame here they t'inks I has +said to croak him. So they goes an' croaks him. D' youse get me?" +</P> + +<P> +Being assured that they got him, Elmer downheartedly withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +"At any rate," continued Lady Agatha, "there was that terrible box upon +my sitting-room floor, and there were those two degraded wretches. The +callous beasts stood above the box apparently quite insensible to the +ethical enormity of their crime. But they were keen enough to see that +it might be used as a lever with which to force more money from me. +For when I demanded that they take the box away with them and dispose +of it, they only laughed at me. They said that they had had enough of +that box. They had delivered the goods—that was the phrase they +used—and they wanted more money. And they said they would not leave +until they got it. They threatened, unless I gave them the money at +once, to leave the place and get word to the police of the presence of +the box in my apartment. +</P> + +<P> +"I was in no mental condition to combat and get the better of them. I +felt myself to be entirely in their power. I saw only the weakness of +my own position. I could not, at the moment, see the weak spots in +theirs. Elmer might have advised me—but he was not there. The +miserable episode ended with my giving them a thousand dollars each, +and they left. +</P> + +<P> +"Alone with that box, my panic increased. When Elmer returned with +Teddy, I told him what had happened. He wished to open the box, having +a vague idea that perhaps after all it did not really contain what they +had said was in it. But I could not bear the thought of its being +opened. I refused to allow Elmer to look into it. +</P> + +<P> +"I determined that I would ship the box at once to some fictitious +personage, and then take the next ship back to England. +</P> + +<P> +"I hastily wrote a card, which I tacked on the box, consigning it to +Miss Genevieve Pringle, Newark, N. J. The name was the first invention +that came into my head. Newark I had heard of. I knew vaguely that it +was west of New York, but whether it was twenty miles west or two +thousand miles, I did not stop to think. I am ignorant of American +geography. +</P> + +<P> +"But no sooner had the box been taken away than I began to be uneasy. +I was more frightened with it gone than I had been with it present. I +imagined it being dropped and broken, and revealing everything. And +then it occurred to me that even if I should get out of the country, +the secret was bound to be discovered some time. I do not know why I +had not thought of that before—but I was distracted. Having got rid +of the box, I was already wild to get it into my possession again. +</P> + +<P> +"I confided my fears to Elmer, and was surprised to learn from him that +Newark is very near New York. We took a taxicab at once, and were +waiting at the freight depot in Newark when the thing arrived. There I +claimed it in the name of Miss Genevieve Pringle. +</P> + +<P> +"It became apparent to me that I must manage its final disposition +myself. Elmer hired for me the vehicle in which we arrived here, and +we started back to New York. +</P> + +<P> +"But the driver, from the first, was suspicious of the box. His +suspicions were increased when, upon returning to my apartment hotel, +where I now decided to keep the box until I could think out a coherent +plan of action, the manager of the hotel made inquiries. The manager +had seen the box brought in, and taken out again, before. Its return +struck him as odd. He offered to store it for me in the basement. I +took alarm at once. Naturally, he questioned me more closely. I was +unready in my answers. His inquiries excited and alarmed me. I felt +that any instant I might do something to betray myself. I cut the +manager short, paid my bill, got my luggage, and ordered the chauffeur +to drive to the Grand Central Station. But when we had gone three or +four blocks, I said to him: 'Stop!—I do not wish to go to the Grand +Central Station. Drive me to Poughkeepsie!' I wished a chance to +think. I knew Poughkeepsie was not far from New York City, but I +supposed it was far enough to give me a chance to determine what to do +next by the time we arrived there. +</P> + +<P> +"But I could not think coherently. I could only feel and fear. The +drive was longer than I had expected, but when we arrived at +Poughkeepsie and the chauffeur asked me again what disposition to make +of the box, I was unable to answer him. Thereupon he insolently +demanded an enormous fare. +</P> + +<P> +"I could not choose but pay it. For four days we went from place to +place, in and about New York City's suburbs—now in town and now in the +country—crossing rivers again and again on ferryboats—stopping at +hotels, road houses and all manner of places—dashing through Brooklyn +and out among the villages of Long Island—and with the fear on me that +we were being followed. +</P> + +<P> +"Elmer and I were continually on the lookout for some way to dispose of +the box, but nothing presented itself. The driver, who had become more +and more impudent in his attitude and outrageous in his charges, was +now practically a spy upon us. The necessity for ice made frequent +stops imperative; at the same time the increasing fear of pursuit made +it agony for me to stop anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +"Today, at a road house thirty or forty miles from here, I made certain +that I was pursued. The very man from whom I had claimed the box at +the railway goods station in Newark confronted me. It appears, from +what Elmer says, that he is taking a holiday and is visiting his +brother, who is the proprietor of the road house. +</P> + +<P> +"And the person who is pursuing me is—a Miss Genevieve Pringle! +</P> + +<P> +"As fate would have it, there lives in Newark a person who really owns +that name which I thought I had invented. It seems that she had been +expecting a shipment, and had called to inquire for it; upon learning +that a box had been delivered to a person in her name she had taken up +the trail at once. Having somehow traced me to Long Island, she had +actually made inquiries at this very road house some hours earlier. +The railway employee, I am certain, would have denounced me at once—he +would have accused me of theft, and would have endeavored to have me +held until he could get into communication with Miss Pringle or with +the authorities—but I bought from him a promise of silence. It cost +me another large sum. +</P> + +<P> +"A few hours ago the chauffeur, divining from a conversation between +Elmer and me that I was running short of ready money, deserted me here. +You know the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice trailed off into a tired whisper as she finished, and with +her elbows on the table Lady Agatha wearily supported her head in her +hands. Her attitude acknowledged defeat. She was despairingly certain +that she would never see the last of the box which she believed to +contain Reginald Maltravers. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett did not hesitate an instant. "Lady Agatha," he said, "the +Jasper B. is at your service as long as you may require the ship. The +cabin is your home until we arrive at a solution of your difficulties." +</P> + +<P> +His glance and manner added what his tongue left unuttered—that the +commander of the ship was henceforth her devoted cavalier. But she +understood. +</P> + +<P> +She extended her hand. Her answer was on her lips. But at that +instant the jarring roar of an explosion struck the speech from them. +</P> + +<P> +The blast was evidently near, though muffled. The earth shook; a tremor +ran through the Jasper B.; the glasses leaped and rang upon the table. +Cleggett, followed by Lady Agatha, darted up the companionway. +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett reached the deck there was a second shock, and he beheld a +flame leap out of the earth itself—a sudden sword of fire thrust into +the night from the midst of the sandy plain before him. The light that +stabbed and was gone in an instant was about halfway between the Jasper +B. and Morris's. A second after, a missile—which Cleggett later +learned was a piece of rock the size of a man's head—fell with a +splintering crash upon and through the wooden platform beside the +Jasper B., not thirty feet from where Cleggett stood; another splashed +into the canal. The next day Cleggett saw several of these fragments +lying about the plain. +</P> + +<P> +Calling to his men to bring lanterns—for the night had fallen dark and +cloudy—Cleggett ran towards the place. Lady Agatha, refusing to +remain behind, went with them. Moving lights and a stir of activity at +Morris's, and the gleam of lanterns on board the Annabel Lee, showed +Cleggett that his neighbors likewise were excited. +</P> + +<P> +But if Cleggett had expected an easy solution of this astonishing +eruption he was disappointed. Arrived at the scene of the explosion, +he found that its nature was such as to tease and balk his faculties of +analysis. The blast had blown a hole into the ground, certainly; but +this hole was curiously filled. Two large bowlders that leaned towards +each other had stood on top of the ground. These had been split and +shattered into many fragments. A few pieces, like the one that came so +near Cleggett, had been flung to a distance, but for the most part the +shivered crowns and broken bulks had been served otherwise; the force +of the blast had disintegrated them, but had not scattered them; the +greater part of this newly-rent stone had toppled into the fissure in +the ground, and lay there mixed with earth, almost filling the hole. +It was impossible to determine just where and how the blast had been +set off; the rocks hid the facts. But Cleggett judged that the force +must have come from below the bowlders; mightily smitten from beneath, +they had collapsed into the cavern suddenly opening there, as a +building might collapse into and fill a cellar. The pieces that had +been thrown high into the air were insignificant in proportion to the +great bulk which had settled into the hole and made its origin a +mystery. +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett, bewildered, stood and gazed upon the mass of rock and +earth, Cap'n Abernethy gave a cry and pointed at something with his +finger. Cleggett, looking at the spot indicated, saw upon the edge of +this singular fracture in the earth a thing that sent a quick chill of +horror and repulsion to his heart. It was a dead hand, roughly severed +between the wrist and the elbow. The back of it was uppermost; the +fingers were clenched. Cleggett set down his lantern beside it and +turned it over with his foot. +</P> + +<P> +The dead fingers clutched a scrap of something yellow. On one of them +was a large and peculiar ring. +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" murmured Lady Agatha, grasping Cleggett convulsively by the +shoulder, "that is the Earl of Claiborne's signet ring!" +</P> + +<P> +But Cleggett scarcely realized what she had said, until she repeated +her words. Fighting down his repugnance, he took from the lifeless and +stubborn fingers the yellow scrap of paper. +</P> + +<P> +It was a torn and crumpled twenty-dollar bill. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MYSTERIES MULTIPLY +</H3> + +<P> +Directing Kuroki to remove the ring and bring it along, Cleggett gave +his arm to Lady Agatha and led the way back to the Jasper B. Neither +said anything to the point until, seated in the cabin, with the +twenty-dollar bill and the ring before them, Cleggett picked up the +latter and remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"You are certain of the identity of this ring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certain," she said. "I could not mistake it. There is no other like +it, anywhere." +</P> + +<P> +It was a very heavy gold band, set with a large piece of dark green +jade which was deeply graven on its surface with the Claiborne crest. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it," asked Cleggett, "in the possession of Reginald Maltravers?" +</P> + +<P> +"It might have been, readily enough," she said, "although I had not +known that it was. Still, that does not explain...." She shrugged her +shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"There are a number of things unexplained," answered Cleggett, "and the +presence of this ring, and the manner in which it has come into our +possession, are not the most mysterious of them. The explosion itself +appears to me, just now, at least, hard to account for." +</P> + +<P> +"The manner in which people get into and out of the hold of your vessel +is also obscure," said Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor is the motive of their hostility clear," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +He picked up the piece of paper money. Something about the feel of it +aroused his suspicions. He called Elmer, and when that exponent of +reform entered the cabin, asked him bluntly: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever have anything to do with bad money?" +</P> + +<P> +Elmer intimated that he might know it if he saw it. +</P> + +<P> +"Then look at that, please." +</P> + +<P> +Elmer took the torn bill, produced a penknife, slit the yellow paper, +and cut out of it one of the small hair-like fibers with which the +texture of such notes is sprinkled. After wetting this fiber and +mangling it with his penknife he gave his judgment briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"But what does that explain?" asked Lady Agatha. "Perhaps the Earl of +Claiborne came to this country and took to making counterfeit money in +the hold of the Jasper B., into and out of which he stole like a ghost? +Finally he got tired of it and blew himself up with a bomb out there, +leaving his ring with a piece of money intact? Is that the explanation +we get out of our facts? Because, you know," she added, as Cleggett +did not smile, "all that is absurd!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Cleggett, still refusing to be amused, "but out of all this +jumble of mystery, just one certain thing appears." +</P> + +<P> +"And that is?" +</P> + +<P> +"That our destinies are somehow linked!" +</P> + +<P> +"Our destinies? Linked?" +</P> + +<P> +She gave him a swift look, and as suddenly dropped her eyes again. +Cleggett could not tell whether she was offended or not by his +expression of the idea. +</P> + +<P> +"The same people," said Cleggett, after a brief pause, "who are so +persistently hostile to me are also in some manner connected with your +own misfortunes. Their possession of this ring shows that." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said, following his thought, "that is true—whoever set off +that bomb was also wearing this ring, or was very near the person who +was wearing it. And," with a shudder which conveyed to Cleggett that +she was thinking of the box on deck, "it COULDN'T have been Reginald +Maltravers!" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," said Cleggett, "someone was sneaking over from Morris's with +the intention of destroying the Jasper B., and was himself the victim +of a premature explosion as he crouched behind the rocks to await his +opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +"But why," puzzled Lady Agatha, with contracted brows, "should a +dynamiter, anarchistic or otherwise, be holding a counterfeit +twenty-dollar bill in his hand as he went about his work?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett brooded in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"We are in the midst of mysteries," he said finally. "They are +multiplying about us." +</P> + +<P> +He was about to say more. He was about to express again his belief +that they had been flung together by fate. The sense that their +stories were inextricably intertwined, that they must henceforward +march on as one mystery towards a solution, was exhilarating to him. +But how was it possible that she should feel the same sense of pleasure +in the fact that they faced dangers, seen and unseen, together? +</P> + +<P> +Together!—How the thought thrilled him! +</P> + +<P> +On deck, Elmer, before returning to the box of Reginald Maltravers, +suddenly and unexpectedly grasped Cleggett by the hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Bo," he said, "I'm wit' youse. I'm wit' youse the whole way. Any +friend of the little dame is a friend of mine. She's a square little +dame. D' youse get me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," said Cleggett, more affected than he would have cared to +own. "Thank you, my loyal fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett established a watch on deck that night, with a relief every +two hours. Towards morning George returned, with Dr. Farnsworth and a +nurse. This nurse, Miss Antoinette Medley, was a black-eyed, slender +girl with pretty hands and white teeth; she gestured a great deal and +smiled often. She and Dr. Farnsworth devoted themselves at once to the +young anarchist poet, who had come out of his stupor, indeed, but was +now babbling weakly in the delirium of fever. +</P> + +<P> +The night was not a cheerful one, and morning came gloomily out of a +gray bank of mist. Cleggett, as he looked about the boat in the first +pale light, could not resist a slight feeling of depression, courageous +as he was. The wounded man gibbered in a bunk in the forecastle. The +box of Reginald Maltravers stood on one end, leaning against the port +side of the cabin, and dripped steadily. Elmer, wrapped in blankets, +lay on the deck near the box of Reginald Maltravers, looking even more +dejected in slumber than when his eyes were open. Teddy, the +Pomeranian, was snuggled against Elmer's feet, but, as if a prey to +frightful nightmares, the little dog twitched and whined in his sleep +from time to time. These were the apparent facts, and these facts were +set to a melancholy tune by the long-drawn, dismal snores of Cap'n +Abernethy, which rose and fell, and rose and fell, and rose again like +the sad and wailing song of some strange bird bereft of a beloved mate. +They were the music for, and the commentary on, what Cleggett beheld; +Cap'n Abernethy seemed to be saying, with these snores: "If you was to +ask me, I'd say it ain't a cheerful ship this mornin', Mr. Cleggett, it +ain't a cheerful ship." +</P> + +<P> +But Cleggett's nature was too lively and vigorous to remain clouded for +long. By the time the red disk of the sun had crept above the eastern +horizon he had shaken off his fit of the blues. +</P> + +<P> +The sun looked large and bland and friendly, and, somehow, the partisan +of integrity and honor. He drew strength from it. Cleggett, like all +poetic souls, was responsive to these familiar recurrent phenomena of +nature. +</P> + +<P> +The sun did him another office. It showed him a peculiar tableau +vivant on the eastern bank of the canal, near the house boat Annabel +Lee. This consisted of three men, two of them naked except for bathing +trunks of the most abbreviated sort, running swiftly and earnestly up +and down the edge of the canal. He saw with astonishment that the two +men in bathing suits were handcuffed together, the left wrist of one to +the right wrist of the other. A rope was tied to the handcuffs, and +the other end of it was held by the third man, who was dressed in +ordinary tweeds. The third man had a magazine rifle over one shoulder. +He followed about twenty feet behind the two men in bathing suits and +drove them. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett perceived that the man who was doing the driving was the same +who had watched the Jasper B. so persistently the day before from the +deck of the Annabel Lee. He was middle-sized, and inclined to be +stout, and yet he followed his strange team with no apparent effort. +Cleggett saw through the glass that he had a rather heavy black +mustache, and was again struck by something vaguely familiar about him. +The two men in bathing suits were slender and undersized; they did not +look at all like athletes, and although they moved as fast as they +could it was apparent that they got no pleasure out of it. They ran +with their heads hanging down, and it seemed to Cleggett that they were +quarreling as they ran, for occasionally one of them would give a +vicious jerk to the handcuffs that would almost upset the other, and +that must have hurt the wrists of both of them. +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett watched, the driver pulled them up short, and waved them +towards the canal. They stopped, and it was apparent that they were +balking and expostulating. But the driver was inexorable. He went near +to them and threatened their bare backs with the slack of the rope. +Gingerly and shiveringly they stepped into the cold water, while the +driver stood on the bank. The water was up to their waists and he had +to threaten them again with his rope before they would duck their heads +under. +</P> + +<P> +When he allowed them on shore again they needed no urging, it was +evident, to make them hit up a good rate of speed, and back and forth +along the bank they sprinted. But the cold bath had not improved their +temper, for suddenly one of them leaped and kicked sidewise at the +other, with the result that both toppled to the ground. The stout man +was upon them in an instant, hazing them with the rope end. He drove +them, still lashing out at each other with their bare feet, into the +water again, and after a more prolonged ducking whipped them, at a +plunging gallop, upon the Annabel Lee, where they disappeared from +Cleggett's view. +</P> + +<P> +While Cleggett was still wondering what significance could underlie +this unusual form of matutinal exercise, Dr. Farnsworth came out of the +forecastle and beckoned to him. The young Doctor had a red Vandyck +beard sedulously cultivated in the belief that it would make him look +older and inspire the confidence of patients, and a shock of dark red +hair which he rumpled vigorously when he was thinking. He was rumpling +it now. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's 'Loge'?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Loge?" repeated Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know anyone named 'Loge,' or Logan?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whoever he is, 'Loge' is very much on the mind of our young friend in +there," said Farnsworth, with a movement of his head towards the +forecastle. "And I wouldn't be surprised, to judge from the boy's +delirium, if 'Loge' had something to do with all the hell that's been +raised around your ship. Come in and listen to this fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Medley, the nurse, was sitting beside the wounded youth's bunk, +endeavoring to soothe and restrain him. The young anarchist, whose +eyes were bright with fever, was talking rapidly in a weak but +high-pitched singsong voice. +</P> + +<P> +"He's off on the poems again," said the Doctor, after listening a +moment. "But wait, he'll get back to Loge. It's been one or the other +for an hour now." +</P> + +<P> +"I spit upon your flag," shrilled Giuseppe Jones, feebly declamatory. +"'I spit—I spit—but, as I spit, I weep.'" He paused for a moment, +and then began at the beginning and repeated all of the lines which +Cleggett had read from the little book. One gathered that it was +Giuseppe's favorite poem. +</P> + +<P> +"'I spit upon the whole damned thing!'" he shrilled, and then with a +sad shake of his head: "But, as I spit, I weep!" +</P> + +<P> +If the poem was Giuseppe's favorite poem, this was evidently his +favorite line, for he said it over and over again—"'But, as I spit, I +weep'"—in a breathless babble that was very wearing on the nerves. +</P> + +<P> +But suddenly he interrupted himself; the poems seemed to pass from his +mind. "Loge!" he said, raising himself on his elbow and staring, with +a frown not at, but through, Cleggett: "Logan—it isn't square!" +</P> + +<P> +There was suffering and perplexity in his gaze; he was evidently living +over again some painful scene. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a revolutionist, Loge, not a crook! I won't do it, Loge!" +</P> + +<P> +Watching him, it was impossible not to understand that the struggle, +which his delirium made real and present again, had stamped itself into +the texture of his spirit. "You shouldn't ask it, Loge," he said. The +crisis of the conflict which he was living over passed presently, and +he murmured, with contracted brows, and as if talking to himself: "Is +Loge a crook? A crook?" +</P> + +<P> +But after a moment of this he returned again to a rapid repetition of +the phrase: "I'm a revolutionist, not a crook-not a crook—not a +crook—a revolutionist, not a crook, Loge, not a crook——" Once he +varied it, crying with a quick, hot scorn: "I'll cut their throats and +be damned to them, but don't ask me to steal." And then he was off +again to declaiming his poetry: "I spit, but, as I spit, I weep!" +</P> + +<P> +But as Cleggett and the Doctor listened to him the youth's ravings +suddenly took a new form. He ceased to babble; terror expanded the +pupils of his eyes and he pointed at vacancy with a shaking finger. +"Stop it!" he cried in a croaking whisper. "Stop it! It's his +skull—it's Loge's skull come alive. Stop it, I say, it's come alive +and getting bigger." With a violent effort he raised himself before +the nurse could prevent him, shrinking back from the horrid +hallucination which pressed towards him, and then fell prone and +senseless on the bunk. +</P> + +<P> +"God!—his wounds!" cried the Doctor, starting forward. As Farnsworth +had feared, they had broken open and were bleeding again. "It's a +ticklish thing," said Farnsworth, rumpling his hair. "If I give him +enough sedative to keep him quiet his heart may stop any time. If I +don't, he'll thrash himself to pieces in his delirium before the day's +over." +</P> + +<P> +But Cleggett scarcely heeded the Doctor. The reference to "Loge's" +skull had flashed a sudden light into his mind. Whatever else "Loge" +was, Cleggett had little doubt that "Loge" was the tall man with the +stoop shoulders and the odd, skull-shaped scarfpin, for whom he had +conceived at first sight such a tingling hatred—the same fellow who +had so ruthlessly manhandled the flaxen-haired Heinrich on the roof of +the verandah the day before. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE ENEMY'S CAMP +</H3> + +<P> +At seven o'clock that morning five big-bodied automobile trucks rolled +up in a thundering procession. As they hove in sight on the starboard +quarter and dropped anchor near the Jasper B., Cleggett recalled that +this was the day which Cap'n Abernethy had set for getting the sticks +and sails into the vessel. In the hurry and excitement of recent +events aboard the ship he had almost forgotten it. +</P> + +<P> +A score of men scrambled from the trucks and began to haul out of them +all the essentials of a shipyard. Wheel, rudder, masts, spars, +bowsprit, quantities of rope and cable followed—in fact, every +conceivable thing necessary to convert the Jasper B. from a hulk into a +properly rigged schooner. Cleggett, with a pith and brevity +characteristic of the man, had given his order in one sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Make arrangements to get the sails and masts into her in one day," he +had told Captain Abernethy. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the same large and simple spirit that a Russian Czar once +laid a ruler across the map of his empire and, drawing a straight line +from Moscow to Petersburg, commanded his engineers: "Build me a +railroad to run like that." Genius has winged conceptions; it sees +things as a completed whole from the first; it is only mediocrity which +permits itself to be lost in details. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was like the Romanoffs in his ability to go straight to the +point, but he had none of the Romanoff cruelty. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Abernethy had made his arrangements accordingly. If it pleased +Cleggett to have a small manufacturing plant brought to the Jasper B. +instead of having the Jasper B. towed to a shipyard, it was Abernethy's +business as his chief executive officer to see that this was done. The +Captain had let the contract to an enterprising and businesslike +fellow, Watkins by name, who had at once looked the vessel over, taken +the necessary measurements, and named a good round sum for the job. +With several times the usual number of skilled workmen employed at +double the usual rate of pay, he guaranteed to do in ten hours what +might ordinarily have taken a week. +</P> + +<P> +Under the leadership of this capable Watkins, the workmen rushed at the +vessel with the dash and vim of a gang of circus employees engaged in +putting up a big tent and making ready for a show. To a casual +observer it might have seemed a scene of confusion. But in reality the +work jumped forward with order and precision, for the position of every +bolt, chain, nail, cord, piece of iron and bit of wood had been +calculated beforehand to a nicety; there was not a wasted movement of +saw, adze, or hammer. The Jasper B., in short, had been measured +accurately for a suit of clothes, the clothes had been made; they were +now merely being put on. +</P> + +<P> +Refreshed by the first sound sleep she had been able to obtain for +several nights, Lady Agatha joined Cleggett at an eight-o'clock +breakfast. It was the first of May, and warm and bright; in a simple +morning dress of pink linen Lady Agatha stirred in Cleggett a vague +recollection of one of Tennyson's earlier poems. The exact phrases +eluded him; perhaps, indeed, it was the underlying sentiment of nearly +ALL of Tennyson's earlier poems of which she reminded him—those lyrics +which are at once so romantic and so irreproachable morally. +</P> + +<P> +"We must give you Americans credit for imagination at any rate," she +said smilingly, making her Pomeranian sit up on his hind legs and beg +for a morsel of crisp bacon. "I awake in a boatyard after having gone +to sleep in a dismantled barge." +</P> + +<P> +"Barge!" The word "barge" struck Cleggett unexpectedly; he was not +aware that he had given a start and frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy!" exclaimed Lady Agatha, "how the dear man glares! What should +I call it? Scow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Scow?" said Cleggett. He had scarcely recovered from the word +"barge"; it is not to be denied that "scow" jarred upon him even more +than "barge" had done. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," said Lady Agatha, "but what IS the Jasper B., Mr. +Cleggett?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Jasper B. is a schooner," said Cleggett. He tried to say it +casually, but he was conscious as he spoke that there was a trace of +hurt surprise in his voice. The most generous and chivalrous soul +alive, Cleggett would have gone to the stake for Lady Agatha; and yet +so unaccountable is that vain thing, the human soul (especially at +breakfast time), that he felt angry at her for misunderstanding the +Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +"You aren't going to be horrid about it, are you?" she said. "Because, +you know, I never said I knew anything about ships." +</P> + +<P> +She picked up the little dog and stood it on the table, making the +animal extend its paws as if pleading. "Help me to beg Mr. Cleggett's +pardon," she said, "he's going to be cross with us about his old boat." +</P> + +<P> +If Lady Agatha had been just an inch taller or just a few pounds +heavier the playful mood itself would have jarred upon the fastidious +Cleggett; indeed, as she was, if she had been just a thought more +playful, it would have jarred. But Lady Agatha, it has been remarked +before, never went too far in any direction. +</P> + +<P> +Even as she smiled and held out the dog's paws Cleggett was aware of +something in her eyes that was certainly not a tear, but was just as +certainly a film of moisture that might be a tear in another minute. +Then Cleggett cursed himself inwardly for a brute—it rushed over him +how difficult to Lady Agatha her position on board the Jasper B. must +seem. She must regard herself as practically a pensioner on his +bounty. And he had been churl enough to show a spark of temper—and +that, too, after she had repeatedly expressed her gratitude to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am deeply sorry, Lady Agatha," he began, blushing painfully, "if——" +</P> + +<P> +"Silly!" She interrupted him by reaching across the table and laying a +forgiving hand upon his arm. "Don't be so stiff and formal. Eat your +egg before it gets cold and don't say another word. Of course I know +you're not REALLY going to be cross." And she attacked her breakfast, +giving him such a look that he forthwith forgave himself and forgot +that he had had anything to forgive in her. +</P> + +<P> +"There's going to be a frightful racket around here today," he said +presently. "Maybe you'd like to get away from it for a while. How'd +you like to go for a row?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd love it!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"George will be glad to take you, I'm sure." +</P> + +<P> +"George? And you?" He thought he detected a note of disappointment in +her voice; he had not thought to disappoint her, but when he found her +disappointed he got a certain thrill out of it. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going over to Morris's this morning," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"To Morris's? Alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but isn't it dangerous?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett smiled and shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Promise me that you will not go over there alone," she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry. I cannot." +</P> + +<P> +"But it is rash—it is mad!" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no real danger." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am going with you." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that would hardly be advisable." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going with you," she repeated, rising with determination. +</P> + +<P> +"But you're not," said Cleggett. "I couldn't think of allowing it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there IS danger," she said. +</P> + +<P> +He tried to evade the point. "I shouldn't have mentioned it," he +murmured. +</P> + +<P> +She ran into the stateroom and was back in an instant with her hat, +which she pinned on as she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready to start," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"But you're not going." +</P> + +<P> +"After what you've done for me I insist upon my right to share whatever +danger there may be." She spoke heatedly. +</P> + +<P> +In her heat and impulsiveness and generous bravery Cleggett thought her +adorable, although he began to get really angry with her, too. At the +same time he was aware that her gratitude to him was such that she was +on fire to give him some positive and early proof of it. It had not so +much as occurred to her to enjoy immunity on account of her sex; it had +not entered her mind, apparently, that her sex was an obstacle in the +way of participating in whatever dangerous enterprise he had planned. +She was, in fact, behaving like a chivalric but obstinate boy; she had +not been a militant suffragette for nothing. And yet, somehow, this +attitude only served to enhance her essential femininity. +Nevertheless, Cleggett was inflexible. +</P> + +<P> +"You would scarcely forbid me to go to Morris's today, or anywhere else +I may choose," she said hotly, with a spot of red on either cheek bone, +and a dangerous dilatation of her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"That is exactly what I intend to do," said Cleggett, with an intensity +equal to her own, "FORBID you." +</P> + +<P> +"You are curiously presumptuous," she said. +</P> + +<P> +It was a real quarrel before they were done with it, will opposed to +naked will. And oddly enough Cleggett found his admiration grow as his +determination to gain his point increased. For she fought fair, +disdaining the facile weapon of tears, and when she yielded she did it +suddenly and merrily. +</P> + +<P> +"You've the temper of a sultan, Mr. Cleggett," she said with a laugh, +which was her signal of capitulation. And then she added maliciously: +"You've a devil of a temper—for a little man!" +</P> + +<P> +"Little!" Cleggett felt the blood rush into his face again and was +vexed at himself. "I'm taller than you are!" he cried, and the next +instant could have bitten his tongue off for the childish vanity of the +speech. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not!" she cried, her whole face alive with laughter. "Measure +and see!" +</P> + +<P> +And pulling off her hat she caught up a table knife and made him stand +with his back to hers. "You're cheating," said Cleggett, laughing now +in spite of himself, as she laid the knife across their heads. But his +voice broke and trembled on the next words, for he was suddenly +thrilled with her delicious nearness. "You're standing on your tiptoes, +and your hair's piled on top of your head." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you are an inch taller," she admitted, with mock reluctance. +And then she said, with a ripple of mirth: "You are taller than I +am—I give up; I won't go to Morris's." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, to tell the truth, was a bit relieved at the measurement. He +was of the middle height; she was slightly taller than the average +woman; he had really thought she might prove taller than he. He could +scarcely have told why he considered the point important. +</P> + +<P> +But after the quarrel she looked at Cleggett with a new and more +approving gaze. Neither of them quite realized it, but she had +challenged his ability to dominate her, and she had been worsted; he +had unconsciously met and satisfied in her that subtle inherent craving +for domination which all women possess and so few will admit the +possession of. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett started across the sands toward Morris's with an automatic +pistol slung in a shoulder holster under his left arm and a sword cane +in his hand. He paused a moment by the scene of the explosion of the +night before, but daylight told him nothing that lantern light had +failed to reveal. He had no very definite plan, although he thought it +possible that he might gain some information. The more he reflected on +the attitude of Morris's, the more it irritated him, and he yearned to +make this irritation known. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps there was more than a little of the spirit of bravado in the +call he proposed to pay. He planned, the next day, to sail the Jasper +B. out into the bay and up and down the coast for a few miles, to give +himself and his men a bit of practice in navigation before setting out +for the China Seas. And he could not bear to think that the hostile +denizens of Morris's should think that he had moved the Jasper B. from +her position through any fear of them. He reasoned that the most +pointed way of showing his opinion of them would be to walk casually +into Morris's barroom and order a drink or two. If Cleggett had a +fault as a commander it lay in these occasional foolhardy impulses +which he found it difficult to control. Julius Caesar had the same +sort of pride, which, in Caesar's case, amounted to positive vanity. +In fact, the character of Caesar and the character of Cleggett had many +points in common, although Cleggett possessed a nicer sense of honor +than Caesar. +</P> + +<P> +The main entrance to Morris's was on the west side. From the west +verandah one could enter directly either the main dining-room, at the +north side of the building, the office, or the barroom. The barroom, +which was large, ran the whole length of the south side of the place. +Doors also led into the barroom, from the south verandah, which was +built over the water, and from the east verandah, which was visible +from the Jasper B.—and onto the roof of which Cleggett had seen Loge +tumble the limp body of his victim, Heinrich. That had been only the +day before, but so much had happened since that Cleggett could scarcely +realize that so little time had elapsed. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett strolled into the barroom and took a seat at a table in the +southeast corner of it, with his back to the angle of the walls. He +thus commanded a view of the bar itself; a door which led, as he +conjectured, into the kitchen; the door communicating with the office, +and a door which gave upon the west verandah—all this easily, and +without turning his head. By turning his head ever so slightly to his +right, he could command a view of the door leading to the east +verandah. Unless the ceiling suddenly opened above him, or the floor +beneath, it would be impossible to surprise him. Cleggett took this +position less through any positive fear of attack than because he +possessed the instinct of the born strategist. Cleggett was like +Robert E. Lee in his quick grasp of a situation and, indeed, in other +respects—although Cleggett would never under any circumstances have +countenanced human slavery. +</P> + +<P> +There were only two men in the place when Cleggett took his seat, the +bartender and a fellow who was evidently a waiter. He had entered the +west door and walked across the room without looking at them, +withholding his gaze purposely. When he looked towards the bar, after +seating himself, the waiter, with his back towards Cleggett's corner, +was talking in a low tone to the bartender. But they had both seen him; +Cleggett perceived they both knew him. +</P> + +<P> +"See what the gentleman wants, Pierre," said the bartender in a voice +too elaborately casual to hide his surprise at seeing Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +The waiter turned and came towards him, and Cleggett saw the man's face +for the first time. It was a face that Cleggett never forgot. +Cleggett judged the man to be a Frenchman; he was dark and sallow, with +nervous, black eyebrows, and a smirk that came and went quickly. But +the unforgettable feature was a mole that grew on his upper lip, on the +right side, near the base of his flaring nostril. Many moles have +hairs in them; Pierre's mole had not merely half a dozen hairs, but a +whole crop. They grew thick and long; and, with a perversion of vanity +almost inconceivable in a sane person, Pierre had twisted these hairs +together, as a man twists a mustache, and had trained them to grow +obliquely across his cheek bone. He was a big fellow, for a Frenchman, +and, as he walked towards Cleggett with a mincing elasticity of gait, +he smirked and caressed this whimsical adornment. Cleggett, +fascinated, stared at it as the fellow paused before him. Pierre, +evidently gratified at the sensation he was creating, continued to +smirk and twist, and then, seeing that he held his audience, he took +from his waistcoat pocket a little piece of cosmetic and, as a final +touch of Gallic grotesquerie, waxed the thing. It was all done with +that air of quiet histrionicism, and with that sense of +self-appreciation, which only the French can achieve in its perfection. +"You ordered, M'sieur?" Pierre, having produced his effect, like the +artist (though debased) that he was, did not linger over it. +</P> + +<P> +"Er—a Scotch highball," said Cleggett, recovering himself. "And with +a piece of lemon peeling in it, please." +</P> + +<P> +Pierre served him deftly. Cleggett stirred his drink and sipped it +slowly, gazing at the bartender, who elaborately avoided watching him. +But after a moment a little noise at his right attracted his attention. +Pierre, with his hand cupped, had dashed it along a window pane and +caught a big stupid fly, abroad thus early in the year. With a sense +of almost intolerable disgust, Cleggett saw the man, with a rapt smile +on his face, tear the insect's legs from it, and turn it loose. If +ever a creature rejoiced in wickedness for its own sake, and as if its +practice were an art in itself, Pierre was that person, Cleggett +concluded. Knowing Pierre, one could almost understand those cafes of +Paris where the silly poets of degradation ostentatiously affect the +worship of all manner of devils. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later, Pierre, as if he had been doing something quite +charming, looked at Cleggett with a grin; a grin that assumed that +there was some kind of an understanding between them concerning this +delightful pastime. It was too much. Cleggett, with an oath—and +never stopping to reflect that it was perhaps just the sort of action +which Pierre hoped to provoke—grasped his cane with the intention of +laying it across the fellow's shoulders half a dozen times, come what +might, and leaving the place. +</P> + +<P> +But at that instant the door from the office opened and the man whom +he knew only as Loge entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +Loge paused at the right of Cleggett, and then marched directly across +the room and sat down opposite the commander of the Jasper B. at the +same table. He was wearing the cutaway frock coat, and as he swung his +big frame into the seat one of his coat tails caught in the chair back +and was lifted. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett saw the steel butt of an army revolver. Loge perceived by his +face that he had seen it, and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been wanting to talk to you," he said, leaning across the table +and showing his yellow teeth in a smile which he perhaps intended to be +ingratiating. Cleggett, looking Loge fixedly in the eye, withdrew his +right hand from beneath his coat, and laid his magazine pistol on the +table under his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I am at your service," he said, steadily, giving back unwavering gaze +for gaze. "I am looking for some information myself, and I am in +exactly the humor for a little comfortable chat." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +REPARTEE AND PISTOLS +</H3> + +<P> +Loge dropped his gaze to the pistol, and the smile upon his lips slowly +turned into a sneer. But when he lifted his eyes to Cleggett's again +there was no fear in them. +</P> + +<P> +"Put up your gun," he said, easily enough. "You won't have any use for +it here." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you for the assurance," said Cleggett, "but it occurs to me that +it is in a very good place where it is." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if it amuses you to play with it——" said Loge. +</P> + +<P> +"It does," said Cleggett dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's an odd taste," said Loge. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a taste I've formed during the last few days on board my ship," +said Cleggett meaningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ship?" said Loge. "Oh, I beg your pardon. You mean the old hulk over +yonder in the canal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Over yonder in the canal," said Cleggett, without relaxing his +vigilance. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been frightened over there?" asked Loge, showing his teeth in a +grin. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Cleggett. "I'm not easily frightened." +</P> + +<P> +Loge looked at the pistol under Cleggett's hand, and from the pistol to +Cleggett's face, with ironical gravity, before he spoke. "I should +have thought, from the way you cling to that pistol, that perhaps your +nerves might be a little weak and shaky." +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary," said Cleggett, playing the game with a face like a +mask, "my nerves are so steady that I could snip that ugly-looking +skull off your cravat the length of this barroom away." +</P> + +<P> +"That would be mighty good shooting," said Loge, turning in his chair +and measuring the distance with his eye. "I don't believe you could do +it. I don't mind telling you that <I>I</I> couldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"While we are on the subject of your scarfpin," said Cleggett, in whom +the slur on the Jasper B. had been rankling, "I don't mind telling YOU +that I think that skull thing is in damned bad taste. In fact, you are +dressed generally in damned bad taste.—Who is your tailor?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was gratified to see a dull flush spread over the other's face +at the insult. Loge was silent a moment, and then he said, dropping +his bantering manner, which indeed sat rather heavily upon him: "I +don't know why you should want to shoot at my scarfpin—or at me. I +don't know why you should suddenly lay a pistol between us. I don't, +in short, know why we should sit here paying each other left-handed +compliments, when it was merely my intention to make you a business +proposition." +</P> + +<P> +"I have been waiting to hear what you had to say to me," said Cleggett, +without being in the least thrown off his guard by the other's change +of manner. +</P> + +<P> +"If you had not chanced to drop in here today," said Loge, "I had +intended paying you a visit." +</P> + +<P> +"I have had several visitors lately," said Cleggett nonchalantly, "and +I think at least two of them can make no claim that they were not +warmly received." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" said Loge. But if Cleggett's meaning reached him he was too +cool a hand to show it. He persisted in his affectation of a +businesslike air. "Am I right in thinking that you have bought the +boat?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are." +</P> + +<P> +"To come to the point," said Loge, "I want to buy her from you. What +will you take for her?" +</P> + +<P> +The proposition was unexpected to Cleggett, but he did not betray his +surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"You want to buy her?" he said. "You want to buy the old hulk over +yonder in the canal?" He laughed, but continued: "What on earth can +your interest be in her?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a trace of surliness in Loge's voice as he answered: "YOU +were enough interested in her to buy her, it seems. Why shouldn't I +have the same interest?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was silent a moment, and then he leaned across the table and +said with emphasis: "I have noticed your interest in the Jasper B. +since the day I first set foot on her. And let me warn you that unless +you show your curiosity in some other manner henceforth, you will +seriously regret it. A couple of your men have repented of your +interest already." +</P> + +<P> +"My men? What do you mean by my men? I haven't any men." Loge's +imitation of astonishment was a piece of art; but if anything he +overdid it a trifle. He frowned in a puzzled fashion, and then said: +"You talk about my men; you speak riddles to me; you appear to threaten +me, but after all I have only made you a plain business proposition. I +ask you again, what will you take for her?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's not for sale," said Cleggett shortly. +</P> + +<P> +Loge did not speak again for a moment. Instead, he picked up the spoon +with which Cleggett had stirred his highball and began to draw +characters with its wet point upon the table. "If it's a question of +price," he said finally, "I'm prepared to allow you a handsome profit." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett determined to find out how far he would go. +</P> + +<P> +"You might be willing to pay as much as $5,000 for her—for the old +hulk over there in the canal?" +</P> + +<P> +Loge stopped playing with the spoon and looked searchingly into +Cleggett's face. Then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I will. Turn her over to me the way she was the day you bought her, +and I'll give you $5,000." He paused, and then repeated, stressing the +words: "MIND YOU, WITH EVERYTHING IN HER THE WAY IT WAS THE DAY YOU +BOUGHT HER." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett fumbled with his fingers in a waistcoat pocket, drew out the +torn piece of counterfeit money which he had taken from the dead hand, +and flung it on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Five thousand dollars," he said, "in THAT kind of money?" +</P> + +<P> +Loge looked at it with eyes that suddenly contracted. Clever +dissembler that he was, he could not prevent an involuntary start. He +licked his lips, and Cleggett judged that perhaps his mouth felt a +little dry. But these were the only signs he made. Indeed, when he +spoke it was with something almost like an air of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said, "now we're down to brass tacks at last on this +proposition. Mr. Detective, name your real price." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett did not answer immediately. He appeared to consider his real +price. But in reality he was thinking that there was no longer any +doubt of the origin of the explosion. Since Loge practically +acknowledged the counterfeit money, the man who had died with this +piece of it in his hand must have been one of Loge's men. But he only +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you call me a detective?" +</P> + +<P> +Loge shrugged his shoulders. Then he said again: "Your real price?" +</P> + +<P> +"What," said Cleggett, trying him out, "do you think of $20,000?" +</P> + +<P> +The other gave a long, low whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"Gad!" he cried, "what crooks you bulls are." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not so much," said Cleggett deliberately, "when one takes +everything into consideration." +</P> + +<P> +Loge appeared to meditate. Then he said: "That figure is out of the +question. I'll give you $10,000 and not a cent more." +</P> + +<P> +"You want her pretty badly," said Cleggett. "Or you want what's on +her." +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said Loge, with an assumption of great frankness, "between you +and me I don't care a damn about your boat. I think we understand each +other. I'm buying her to get what's on her." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I sell you what's on her for $10,000 and keep the ship," said +Cleggett, wondering what WAS on the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +"Agreed," said Loge. +</P> + +<P> +"Since we're being so frank with one another," said Cleggett, "would +you mind telling me why you didn't come to me at the start with an +offer to buy, instead of making such a nuisance of yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Loge appeared genuinely surprised. "Why should I pay you any +money if I could get it, or destroy it, without that? Besides, how was +I to know you could be bought?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett wondered more than ever what piece of evidence the hold of the +Jasper B. contained. He felt certain that it was not merely +counterfeit bills. Cleggett determined upon a minute and thorough +search of the hold. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll send for it?" said Cleggett, still trying to get a more +definite idea of what "it" was, without revealing that he did not know. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come myself with a taxicab," said Loge. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett rose, smiling; he had found out as much as he could expect to +learn. +</P> + +<P> +"On the whole," he said, "I think that I prefer to keep the Jasper B. +and everything that's in her. But before I leave I must thank you for +the pleasure I have derived from our little talk—and the information +as well. You can hardly imagine how you have interested me. Will you +kindly step back and let me pass?" +</P> + +<P> +Loge got to his feet with a muttered oath; his face went livid and a +muscle worked in his throat; his fingers contracted like the claws of +some big and powerful cat. But, out of respect for Cleggett's pistol, +he stepped backward. +</P> + +<P> +"You have confessed to making counterfeit money," went on Cleggett, +enjoying the situation, "and you have as good as told me that there are +further evidences of crime on board the Jasper B. You can rest assured +that I will find them. You have also betrayed the fact that you +planned to blow my ship up, and there are several other little matters +which you have shed light upon. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a detective. Nevertheless, I hope in the near future to see +you behind the bars and to help put you there. It may interest you to +know that my opinion of your intellect is no higher than my opinion of +your character. You seem to me to have a vast conceit of your own +cleverness, which is not justified by the facts. You are a very stupid +fellow; a—a—what is the slang word? Boob, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +But while Cleggett was finishing his remarks a subtle change stole over +Loge's countenance. His attitude, which had been one of baffled rage, +relaxed. As Cleggett paused the sneer came back upon Loge's lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Boob," he said quietly, "boob is the word. Look above you." +</P> + +<P> +A sharp metallic click overhead gave point to Loge's words. Looking up, +Cleggett saw that a trap-door had opened in the ceiling, and through +the aperture Pierre, who had left the room some moments before with the +bartender, was pointing a revolver, which he had just cocked, at +Cleggett's head. He sighted along the barrel with an eager, +anticipatory smile upon his face; Pierre would, no doubt, have +preferred to see a man boiled in oil rather than merely shot, but +shooting was something, and Pierre evidently intended to get all the +delight possible out of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett's own pistol was within an inch of Loge's stomach. +</P> + +<P> +"I was willing to pay you real money," said Loge, "for the sake of +peace. But you're a damned fool if you think you can throw me down and +then walk straight out of here to headquarters." Then he added, +showing his yellow teeth: "You WOULD bring pistols into the +conversation, you know. That was YOUR idea. And now you're in a devil +of a fix." +</P> + +<P> +The man certainly had an iron nerve; he spoke as calmly as if +Cleggett's weapon were not in existence; there was nothing but the +pressure of a finger wanting to send both him and Cleggett to eternity. +Yet he jested; he laid his strong and devilish will across Cleggett's +mentality; it was a duel in which the two minds met and tried each +other like swords; the first break in intention, and one or the other +was a dead man. Cleggett felt the weight of that powerful and evil +soul upon his own almost as if it were a physical thing. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not altogether safe yourself," said Cleggett grimly, with his +eyes fixed on Pierre's and his pistol touching Loge's waistband. "If +Pierre so much as winks an eye—if you move a hair's breadth—I'll put +a stream of bullets through YOU. Understand?" +</P> + +<P> +How long this singular psychological combat might have lasted before a +nerve quivered somewhere and brought the denouement of a double death, +there is no telling. For accident (or fate) intervened to pluck these +antagonists back into life and rob the gloating Pierre of the happiness +of seeing two men perish without danger to himself. Something of +uncertain shape, but of a blue color, loomed vaguely behind Pierre's +head; loomed and suddenly descended to the accompaniment of a piercing +shriek. Pierre's pistol went off, but he had evidently been stricken +between the shoulders; the ball went wild, and the pistol itself +dropped from his hand, another cartridge exploding as it hit the floor. +The next instant Pierre tumbled headlong through the hole, landing upon +Loge, who, not braced for the shock, went down himself. +</P> + +<P> +As the two men struggled to rise a strange figure precipitated itself +from the room above, feet first, and hit both of them, knocking them +down again. It was a tall man, thin and lank, clad only in a suit of +silk pajamas of the color known as baby blue; he was barefoot, and +Cleggett, with that lucid grasp of detail which comes to men oftener in +nightmares than in real life, noticed that he had a bunion at the large +joint of his right great toe. +</P> + +<P> +If the man was startling, he was no less startled himself. Leaping from +the struggling forms of Pierre and Loge, who defeated each other's +frantic efforts to rise, he was across the barroom in three wild +bounds, shrieking shrilly as he leaped; he bolted through the west door +and cleared the verandah at a jump. +</P> + +<P> +Loge, gaining his feet, was after the man in blue in an instant, +evidently thinking no more of Cleggett than if the latter had been in +Madagascar. And as for Cleggett, although he might have shot down Loge +a dozen times over, he was so astonished at what he saw that the +thought never entered his head. He had, in fact, forgotten that he +held a pistol in his hand. Pierre scrambled to his feet and followed +Loge. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, running after them, saw the man in the blue pajamas sprinting +along the sandy margin of the bay. But Loge, his hat gone, his coat +tails level in the wind behind him, and his large patent leather shoes +flashing in the morning sunlight, was overhauling him with long and +powerful strides. Cleggett saw the quarry throw a startled glance over +his shoulder; he was no match for the terrible Loge in speed, and he +must have realized it with despair, for he turned sharply at right +angles and rushed into the sea. Loge unhesitatingly plunged after him, +and had caught him by the shoulder and whirled him about before he had +reached a swimming depth. They clinched, in water mid-thigh deep, and +then Cleggett saw Loge plant his fist, with scientific precision and +awful force, upon the point of the other's jaw. The man in the blue +pajamas collapsed; he would have dropped into the water, but Loge +caught him as he fell, threw his body across a shoulder with little +apparent effort, and trotted back into the house with him. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett had left his sword cane in the barroom, but he judged it would +be just as well to allow it to remain there for the present. He turned +and walked meditatively across the sands towards the Jasper B. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECOND OBLONG BOX +</H3> + +<P> +When Cleggett returned to the ship he found Captain Abernethy in +conversation with a young man of deprecating manner whom the Captain +introduced as the Rev. Simeon Calthrop. +</P> + +<P> +"I been tellin' him," said the Cap'n, pitching his voice shrilly above +the din the workmen made, and not giving the Rev. Mr. Calthrop an +opportunity to speak for himself, "I been tellin' him it may be a long +time before the Jasper B. gets to the Holy Land." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to go to Palestine?" asked Cleggett of Mr. Calthrop, who +stood with downcast eyes and fingers that worked nervously at the +lapels of his rusty black coat. +</P> + +<P> +"I've knowed him sence he was a boy. He's in disgrace, Simeon Calthrop +is," shrieked the Captain, preventing the preacher from answering +Cleggett's question, and scorning to answer it directly himself. "Been +kicked out of his church fur kissin' a married woman, and can't get +another one." (The Cap'n meant another church.) +</P> + +<P> +The preacher merely raised his eyes, which were large and brown and +slightly protuberant, and murmured with a kind of brave humility: +</P> + +<P> +"It is true." +</P> + +<P> +"But why do you want to go to Palestine?" said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"She sung in the choir and she had three children," screamed Cap'n +Abernethy, "and she limped some. Folks say she had a cork foot. Hey, +Simeon, DID she have a cork foot?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Calthrop flushed painfully, but he forced himself courageously to +answer. "Mr. Abernethy, I do not know," he said humbly, and with the +look of a stricken animal in his big brown eyes. +</P> + +<P> +He was a handsome young fellow of about thirty—or he would have been +handsome, Cleggett thought, had he not been so emaciated. His hair was +dark and brown and inclined to curl, his forehead was high and white +and broad, and his fingers were long and white and slender; his nose +was well modeled, but his lips were a trifle too full. Although he +belonged to one of the evangelical denominations, the Rev. Mr. Calthrop +affected clothing very like the regulation costume of the Episcopalian +clergy; but this clothing was now worn and torn and dusty. Buttons +were gone here and there; the knees of the unpressed trousers were +baggy and beginning to be ragged, and the sole of one shoe flapped as +he walked. He had a three days' growth of beard and no baggage. +</P> + +<P> +When Cap'n Abernethy had delivered himself and walked away, the Rev. +Mr. Calthrop confirmed the story of his own disgrace, speaking in a low +but clear voice, and with a gentle and wistful smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I am one of the most miserable of sinners, Mr. Cleggett," he said. "I +have proved myself to be that most despicable thing, an unworthy +minister. I was tempted and I fell." +</P> + +<P> +The Rev. Mr. Calthrop seemed to find the sort of satisfaction in +confessing his sins to the world that the medieval flagellants found in +scoring themselves with whips; they struck their bodies; he drew forth +his soul and beat it publicly. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett learned that he had set himself as a punishment and a +mortification the task of obtaining his daily bread by the work of his +hands. It was his intention to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, +refusing all assistance except that which he earned by manual labor. +After such a term of years as should satisfy all men (and particularly +his own spiritual sense) of the genuineness of his penitence, he would +apply to his church for reinstatement, and ask for an appointment to +some difficult mission in a wild and savage country. The Rev. Mr. +Calthrop intimated that if he chose to accept rehabilitation on less +arduous terms, he might obtain it; but the poignancy of his own sense +of failure drove him to extremes. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure," said Cleggett sternly, "that you are not making a +luxury of this very penitence itself? Are you sure that it would not +be more acceptable to Heaven if you forgave yourself more easily?" +</P> + +<P> +"Alas, yes, I am sure!" said Mr. Calthrop, with a sigh and his calm and +wistful smile. "I know myself too well! I know my own soul. I am +cursed with a fatal magnetism which women find it impossible to resist. +And I am continually tempted to permit it to exert itself. This is the +cross that I bear through life." +</P> + +<P> +"You should marry some good woman," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not feel that I am worthy," said Mr. Calthrop meekly. "And think +of the pain my wife would experience in seeing me continually tempted +by some woman who believed herself to be my psychic affinity!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are a thought too subtle, Mr. Calthrop," said Cleggett bluntly. +"But I suppose you cannot help that. To each of us his destiny. I am +prepared, until I see some evidence to the contrary, to believe your +repentance to be genuine. In the meantime, we need a ship's chaplain. +If your conscience permits, you may have the post—combining it, +however, with the vocation of a common sailor before the mast. I am +inclined to agree with you that manual labor will do you good. Some +time or another, in her progress around the world, the Jasper B. will +undoubtedly touch at a coast within walking distance of Jerusalem. +There we will put you ashore. Before we sail you can put in your time +holystoning the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"The deck of the Jasper B.," said Cleggett, looking at it, "to all +appearances, has not been holystoned for some years. You will find in +the forecastle several holystones that have never been used, and may +begin at once." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, if his tastes had not inclined him towards a more active and +adventurous life, would have made a good bishop, for he knew how to +combine justice and mercy. And yet few bishops have possessed his +rapidity of decision, when compelled, upon the spur of the moment, to +become the physician of an ailing soul. He had determined in a flash to +make the man ship's chaplain, that Calthrop might come into close +contact with other spiritual organisms and not think too exclusively of +his own. +</P> + +<P> +The Rev. Mr. Calthrop thanked him with becoming gratitude and departed +to get the new holystones. +</P> + +<P> +By three o'clock that afternoon, with such celerity had the work gone +forward, Mr. Watkins, the contractor, announced to Cleggett that his +task was finished, except for the removal of the rubbish in the hold. +Cleggett, going carefully over the vessel, and examining the new parts +with a brochure on the construction and navigation of schooners in his +hand, verified the statement. +</P> + +<P> +"She is ready to sail," said Cleggett, standing by the new wheel with a +swelling heart, and sweeping the vessel from bowsprit to rudder with a +gradual glance. +</P> + +<P> +It was a look almost paternal in its pride; Cleggett loved the Jasper +B. She was an idea that no one else but Cleggett could have had. +</P> + +<P> +"Sail?" said Mr. Watkins. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" said Cleggett, puzzled at his tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing," said Mr. Watkins. "It's none of my business. My +business was to do the work I was hired to do according to +specifications. Further than that, nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"But why did you think I was having the work done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say I thought," said Mr. Watkins. "I took the job, and I done +it. Had an idea mebby you were in the movin' picture game." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Watkins, as he talked, had been regarding Cap'n Abernethy, who in +turn was looking at the mainmast. There seemed to be something in the +very way Cap'n Abernethy looked at the mainmast which jarred on Mr. +Watkins. Mr. Watkins dropped his voice, indicating the Cap'n with a +curved, disparaging thumb, as he asked Cleggett: +</P> + +<P> +"Is HE going to sail her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—nothing; nothing at all," said Mr. Watkins. "It's none o' MY +business." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett began to be a little annoyed. "Have you," he said with +dignity, and fixing a rather stern glance upon Mr. Watkins, "have you +any reason to doubt Cap'n Abernethy's ability as a sailing master?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed," said Mr. Watkins cheerfully, "not as a sailing master. +He may be the best in the world, for all I know. <I>I</I> never seen him +sail anything. I never heard him play the violin, neither, for that +matter, and he may be a regular jim-dandy on the violin for all I know." +</P> + +<P> +"You are facetious," said Cleggett stiffly. +</P> + +<P> +"Meaning I ain't paid to be fresh, eh?" said Mr. Watkins. "And right +you are, too. And there's all that junk down in the hold to pass out +and cart away." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett personally supervised this removal, standing on the deck by +the hatchway and scanning everything that was handed up. The character +of this junk has already been described. Every barrel or cask that was +placed upon the deck was stove in with an ax before Cleggett's eyes; he +satisfied himself that every bottle was empty; he turned over the +broken boxes and beer cases with his foot to see that they contained +nothing. +</P> + +<P> +But the work was three-quarters done before he found what he was +looking for. From under a heap of debris, which had completely hidden +it, towards the forward part of the vessel, the workmen unearthed an +unpainted oblong box, almost seven feet in length. It was of +substantial material and looked newer than any of the other stuff. +Cleggett had it placed on one side of the hatchway and sat down on it. +It was tightly nailed up; all of its surfaces were sound. Cleggett did +not doubt that he would find in it what he wanted, yet in order to be +on the safe side he continued to scrutinize everything else that came +out of the hold. +</P> + +<P> +But finally the hold was as empty as a drum, and Watkins and his men +departed. The oblong box upon which Cleggett sat was the only possible +receptacle of any sort in an undamaged condition, which had been in the +hold. He determined to have it opened in the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +As he arose from it he was struck by its resemblance to the box in +Elmer's charge, the dank box of Reginald Maltravers, which stood on one +end near the cabin companionway, leaning against the port side of the +cabin so that it was not visible from the road, which ran to the +starboard of the Jasper B. But, since all oblong boxes are bound to +have a general resemblance, Cleggett, at the time, thought little +enough of this likeness. +</P> + +<P> +He called to George and Mr. Calthrop, who, with Dr. Farnsworth, were +forward receiving their first lecture on seamanship from Cap'n +Abernethy and Kuroki, to carry the box into the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +But as George and the Rev. Mr. Calthrop lifted the box to their +shoulders, Cleggett was startled by a loud and violent oath; a +veritable bellow of blasphemy that made him shudder. Turning, he saw +than an automobile had paused in the road. In the forward part of the +machine stood Loge, raving in an almost demoniac fury and pointing at +the box. He writhed in the grip of three men who endeavored to restrain +him. One of them was the sinister Pierre. +</P> + +<P> +Hoisting himself, as it were, on a mounting billow of his own +profanity, Loge cast himself with a wide swimming motion of his arms +from the auto. But one of the men clung to him; they came to the +ground together like tackler and tackled in a football game. The +others cast themselves out of the machine and flung themselves upon +their leader; he fought like a lion, but he was finally overpowered and +thrown back into the auto, which was immediately started up and which +made off towards Fairport at a rattling speed. Three hundred yards +away, however, Loge rose again and shook a furious fist at the Jasper +B., and though Cleggett could not distinguish the words, the sense of +Loge's impotent rage rolled towards him on the wind in a roaring, +vibrant bass. +</P> + +<P> +The sight of the box that he had not been able to buy, in Cleggett's +possession, had stirred him beyond all caution; he had actually +contemplated an attempt to rush the Jasper B. in broad daylight. +</P> + +<P> +But while this queer tableau of baffled rage was enacting itself on the +starboard bow of the Jasper B., a no less strange and far less +explicable thing was occurring on the port side. The swish of oars and +the ripple of a moving boat drew Cleggett's attention in that direction +as Loge's booming threats grew fainter. He saw that two oarsmen, near +the eastern and farther side of the canal, had allowed the dainty, +varnished little craft they were supposed to propel to come to a rest +in spite of the evident displeasure of a man who sat in its stern. +This third man was the same that Cleggett had seen on the deck of the +Annabel Lee with a spy glass, and again that same morning driving the +two almost nude figures up and down the canal. +</P> + +<P> +The two oarsmen, Cleggett saw with surprise, rowed with shackled feet; +their feet were, indeed, chained to the boat itself. About the wrists +of each were steel bands; fixed to these bands were chains, the other +ends of which were locked to their oars. They were, in effect, galley +slaves. +</P> + +<P> +All this iron somewhat hampered their movements. But the reason of +their pause was an engrossing interest in the box of Reginald +Maltravers, which stood, as has already been said, on the port side of +the cabin, on one end, and so was visible from their boat. They were +looking at it with slack oars, dropped jaws and starting eyes; the +thing seemed to have fascinated them and bereft them of motion; it was +as if they were unable to get past it at all. Elmer, worn out by his +many long vigils, lay asleep on the deck at the foot of the box, with +an arm flung over his face. +</P> + +<P> +The stout man, after vainly endeavoring to start his oarsmen with +words, took up an extra oar and began vigorously prodding them with it. +Cleggett had not seen this man look towards the Jasper B., but he +nevertheless had the feeling that the man had missed little of what had +been going on there. He seemed to be that kind of man. +</P> + +<P> +His crew responding to the stabs of the oar, the little vessel went +perhaps fifty yards farther up the canal towards Parker's, and then +swung daintily around and came back towards the Jasper B. at almost the +speed of a racing shell, the men in chains bending doggedly to their +work. Cleggett saw that the boat must pass close to the Jasper B., and +leaned over the port rail. +</P> + +<P> +The man in the stern had picked up a magazine and was lolling back +reading it. As the boat passed under him Cleggett saw on the cover +page of the magazine a picture of the very man who was perusing it. It +was a singularly urbane face; both the counterfeit presentment on the +cover page and the real face were smiling and calm and benign. +Cleggett could read the legend on the magazine cover accompanying the +picture. It ran: +</P> + +<P> + Wilton Barnstable Tells In this Issue the Inside Story<BR> + of How he Broke up the Gigantic Smuggling Conspiracy.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +At that instant the man dropped the magazine and looked Cleggett full +in the face. He waved his arm in a meaning gesture in the direction in +which Loge had disappeared and said, with a gentle shake of his head at +Cleggett, as if he were chiding a naughty child: +</P> + +<P> +"When thieves fall out—! When thieves fall out, my dear sir!" +</P> + +<P> +As he swept by he resumed his magazine with the pleased air of a man +who has delivered himself of a brilliant epigram; it showed in his very +shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"And that," murmured Cleggett, "is Wilton Barnstable, the great +detective!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SOUL OF LOGAN BLACK +</H3> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable, the great detective, having witnessed Loge's +outburst of wrath, had thought it signified a quarrel between thieves, +as his words to Cleggett indicated. He had thought Cleggett a crook, +and Loge's ally. +</P> + +<P> +Loge, on the other hand, had thought Cleggett a detective. He had +addressed him as "Mr. Detective" that morning at Morris's. Loge +believed the Jasper B. and the Annabel Lee to be allied against him. +</P> + +<P> +Whereas Cleggett, until he had recognized Wilton Barnstable in the +boat, had thought it likely that the Annabel Lee and Morris's were +allied against the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +Now that Cleggett knew the commander of the Annabel Lee to be Wilton +Barnstable, his first impulse was to go to the Great Detective and +invite his cooperation against Loge and the gang at Morris's. But +almost instantly he reflected that he could not do this. For there was +the box of Reginald Maltravers! Indeed, how did he know that it was +not the box of Reginald Maltravers which had brought the Great +Detective to that vicinity? This man—of world-wide fame, and reputed +to possess an almost miraculous instinct in the unraveling of criminal +mysteries—might be even now on the trail of Lady Agatha. If so, he +was Cleggett's enemy. When it came to a choice between the championship +of Lady Agatha and the defiance of Wilton Barnstable, and all that he +represented, Cleggett did not hesitate for an instant. +</P> + +<P> +There were still some aspects of the situation in which he found +himself that were as puzzling as ever to Cleggett. It is true that he +now knew why Loge's men had been in the hold of the vessel; they had +been there, no doubt, in an attempt to get possession of the oblong, +unpainted box which had caused Loge's explosion of wrath; the box which +was the real thing Loge had tried to buy from Cleggett when he dickered +for the purchase of the Jasper B. But why this box should have been in +the hold of the vessel, Cleggett could not understand. And how Loge's +men had been able to get into and out of the hold without his knowledge +still perplexed him. +</P> + +<P> +The motive behind the attempt to dynamite the vessel was clear. Having +failed to purchase it, having failed to recover the box from it, Loge +had sought to destroy it with all on board. But the strange character +of this explosion still defied his powers of analysis. And then there +was the tenth Earl of Claiborne's signet ring on the dead hand. Beyond +the fact that it was a circumstance which connected his fortunes with +those of Lady Agatha, he could make nothing at all of the signet ring. +What, he asked himself again and again, was the connection of the +criminal gang at Morris's with the proudest Earl in England? +</P> + +<P> +Loge himself was a puzzle to Cleggett. The man was a counterfeiter. +That he knew. The "queer" twenty-dollar bill, which he had practically +acknowledged, left no doubt of that. But he was more than a +counterfeiter. Cleggett believed him to be also an anarchist. At +least he was associated with anarchists. +</P> + +<P> +But counterfeiting and anarchy are not ordinarily found together. The +anarchist is not a criminal in the more sordid sense. He is the enemy +of society as at present organized. He considers society to be built +on a thieving basis; he is not himself a thief. He scorns and hates +society, wishes to see it overturned, and believes himself superior to +it. He will commit the most savage atrocities for the cause and +cheerfully die for his principles. The anarchist is not a crook. He +is an idealist. +</P> + +<P> +Convinced that the unpainted oblong box would furnish a clew to the +man's real personality, Cleggett, assisted by Lady Agatha and Dr. +Farnsworth, opened it in the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +They first took out a number of plates, some broken, some intact, for +the manufacture of counterfeit notes of various denominations. There +was some of the fibrous paper used in this process. There was a +quantity of the apparatus essential to engraving the plates. This +stuff more than half filled the box. Then there were a number of books. +</P> + +<P> +"Elementary textbooks," said Dr. Farnsworth, glancing at them. On the +flyleaf of one of them was written in a bold, firm hand: "Logan Black." +</P> + +<P> +"Loge—or Logan Black," said Dr. Farnsworth, "has been giving himself +an education in the manufacture of high explosives." +</P> + +<P> +"But THESE aren't textbooks," said Lady Agatha, who had pulled out +three long, narrow volumes from the pile. "They're in manuscript, and +they look more like account books." +</P> + +<P> +The first of them, in Loge's handwriting, contained a series of notes, +mostly unintelligible to Cleggett, dealing with experiments in two +sorts of manufacture: first, the preparation of counterfeit money; +second, the production of dynamite bombs. +</P> + +<P> +The second of the manuscript books was in cipher. Cleggett might have +deciphered it without assistance, for he was skilled in these matters, +but the labor was not necessary. The book was for Loge's own eye. A +loose sheet of paper folded between the leaves gave the key. +</P> + +<P> +The book showed that Loge had been employed as an expert operator, in +the pay of a certain radical organization, to pull off dynamiting jobs +in various parts of the country. This was his account book with the +organization. He had done his work and taken his pay as methodically +as a plumber might. And he had been paid well. Cleggett guessed that +Loge was not particularly interested in the work in its relationship to +the revolutionary cause; it was the money to be made in this way, and +not any particular sympathy with his employers, which attracted Loge, +so Cleggett divined. Cleggett was astonished at the number of jobs +which Loge had engineered. The book threw light on mysterious +explosions which had occurred throughout a period of five years. +</P> + +<P> +But it was the third manuscript book which displayed the real Logan +Black. +</P> + +<P> +This was also in cipher. Dr. Farnsworth and Cleggett had translated +but a few lines of it when they perceived that it was a diary. With a +vanity almost inconceivable to those who have not reflected upon the +criminal nature, Loge had written here the tale of his own life, for +his own reading. He had written it in loving detail. It was, in fact, +the book in which he looked when he wished to admire himself. +</P> + +<P> +"It is odd," said Cleggett, "that so clever a man should write down his +own story in this way." +</P> + +<P> +"This book," said Farnsworth, "would be a boon to a psychologist +interested in criminology. You say it is odd. But with a certain type +of criminal, it is almost usual. The human soul is full of strange +impulses. One of the strangest is towards just this sort of record. +Cunning, and the vanity which destroys cunning, often exist side by +side. The criminal of a certain type almost worships himself; he is +profoundly impressed with his own cleverness. He is a braggart; he +swaggers; he defeats himself. A strange idiocy mingles with his +cleverness." +</P> + +<P> +"Even people who are not criminals do just that sort of thing," said +Lady Agatha. "Look at Samuel Pepys. He was one of the most timid of +beings. And he valued his place in the world mightily. But he wrote +down the story of his own disgrace in his diary—it had to come out of +him! And then, timid and cautious as he was, he did not destroy the +book! He let it get out of his possession." +</P> + +<P> +It was an evil, a monstrous personality which leered out of Logan +Black's diary. Boastful of his own iniquity, swaggering in his +wickedness, fatuous with self-love, he recounted his deeds with gusto +and with particularity. They did not read a quarter of this terrible +autobiography at the time, but they read enough to see the man in the +process of building up a criminal organization of his own, with +ramifications of the most surprising nature. +</P> + +<P> +"This man," said Dr. Farnsworth, with a shudder, "actually has the +ambition to be the head of nothing less than a crime trust." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to be something more than an ambition," said Cleggett. "It +seems to be almost an accomplished fact." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Lady Agatha, with a gesture of disgust, "he's like a great +horrid spider spinning webs!" +</P> + +<P> +Interested in anarchy only on its practical side, as the paid dynamiter +of the inner circle of radicals, Logan Black in his diary jeered at and +mocked the cause he served. And more than that, the man seemed to take +a perverted pleasure in attaching to himself young enthusiasts of the +radical type, eager to follow him as the disinterested leader of a +group of Reds, and then betraying them into the most sordid sort of +crime. Cleggett found—and could imagine the grimace of malevolent +satisfaction with which it had been written—this note: +</P> + +<P> +Heinrich is about ready to leave off talking his cant of universal +brotherhood, and make a little easy money in the way I have shown him. +It will be interesting to see what happens in side of Heinrich when he +realizes he is not an idealist, but a criminal. Will he stick to me on +the new lay? But those Germans are so sentimental—he may commit +suicide. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Cleggett recalled the manhandling Heinrich had received. A little +farther along he came upon this entry: +</P> + +<P> +The Italian-American boy is a find. Jones and Giuseppe! Puritan +father, Italian mother—and he worships me! It will be a test for my +personal magnetism, the handling of Gieseppe Jones will. He hates a +thief worse than the devil hates holy water. If I could make him steal +for me, I would know that I could do anything. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"That's our young poet in the forecastle!" said Cleggett. "I wonder if +Loge still held him." And then as the memory of the boy's ravings came +to him he mused: "Yes—he held the boy! That is what the fellow meant +in his delirium. Do you remember that he kept saying: 'I'm a +revolutionist, not a crook!'? And yet he continued to obey Loge!" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it not strange," said Lady Agatha, "that the man should take such +pride in working ruin?" +</P> + +<P> +All three were silent for a space. And then they looked at each other +with a shiver. The sense of the strong and sinister personality of +Logan Black struck on their spirits like a bleak wind. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was the first to recover himself. +</P> + +<P> +"God willing," he said solemnly, "I will bring that man to justice +personally!" +</P> + +<P> +Just then two bells struck. It had taken them more time than they had +realized to make even a partial examination of the contents of the box. +Cleggett, when the bell sounded, looked at his watch to see what time +it was—he was still a little unfamiliar with the nautical system. +</P> + +<P> +"He will go to any length to get this back into his possession," said +Cleggett, as he dumped the heap of incriminating evidence back into the +box and began to nail the boards on again. +</P> + +<P> +"Any length," echoed the Doctor. +</P> + +<P> +Pat upon the thought came the sound of taxicabs without. They went on +deck and saw a sinister procession rolling by. It consisted of three +machines, and there were three men in each cab. Loge and Pierre were +in the foremost one. None of the company vouchsafed so much as a +glance in the direction of the Jasper B. as the cabs whirled past +towards Morris's. It was undoubtedly a reinforcement of gunmen. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Cleggett, pointing to them. "The real battle is about to +begin! They are making ready for the attack!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CLEGGETT STANDS BY HIS SHIP +</H3> + +<P> +Cleggett did not fear (or rather, expect, since there was very little +that Cleggett feared) an attack until well after nightfall. +Nevertheless, he began to prepare for it at once. He called the entire +ship's company aft, with the exception of Miss Medley, who was on duty +with Giuseppe Jones. +</P> + +<P> +"My friends—for I hope we stand in the relation of friends as well as +that of commander and crew—I have every reason to expect that the +enemy will make a demonstration in force sometime during the night," he +said. "We have opposed to us the leader of a dangerous and powerful +criminal organization. He is, in fact, the president of a crime trust. +He will stop at nothing to compass the destruction of the Jasper B. and +all on board her. My quarrel with him has become, in a sense, personal. +I have no right to ask you to share my risk unless you choose to do so +voluntarily. Therefore, if there is anyone of you who wishes to leave +the Jasper B., let him do it now." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett paused. But not a man moved. On the contrary, a little +murmur of something like reproach ran around the semicircle. The +ship's company looked in each other's eyes; they stood shifting their +feet uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +Finally Cap'n Abernethy spoke, clearing his throat with a prefatory hem: +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me, Mr. Cleggett," said the Captain, with less than +his usual circumlocution, "I'd say the boys here ain't flattered by +what you've just said. The boys here DOES consider themselves friends +of yours, and if you was anxious to hear my opinion of it I'd say +you've hurt their feelin's by your way of putting it. Speakin' for +myself, Mr. Cleggett, as the nautical commander of this here ship to +the military commander, I don't mind owning up that MY feelin's is +hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," said George the Greek, addressing the nautical +commander, and the word went from lip to lip. +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," said Dr. Farnsworth, "the Captain speaks for us all." +</P> + +<P> +And the Reverend Mr. Calthrop remarked with a sigh: "You may have +cause to doubt my circumspection, Mr. Cleggett, but you have no cause +to doubt my courage." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was not the sort of man who is ashamed to acknowledge an +error. "Friends," he cried impulsively, "forgive me! I should have +known better than to phrase my remarks as I did. I would not have hurt +your feelings for worlds. I know you are devoted to me. I call for +volunteers for the perilous adventure which is before us!" +</P> + +<P> +The ship's company stepped forward as one man. As if by magic the +atmosphere cleared. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Cleggett, smiling back on the enthusiastic faces before +him, but inexpressibly touched by the fineness of his crew's devotion, +"to get to the point. There are seven of us, but there are at least a +dozen of them. We have, however, the advantage in position, for we can +find cover on the ship, whereas they must attack from the open. More +than that, we will have the advantage in arms; here is a magazine rifle +for each of you, while they, if I am not mistaken, will attack with +pistols. We must keep them at a distance, if possible. If they should +attempt to rush us we will meet them with cutlasses and sabers." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," said Lady Agatha, rising when he had finished, and +speaking with animation, "will you permit me to make a suggestion?" +</P> + +<P> +She went on, without waiting for an answer: "It is this: Choose your +own ground for this battle! The Jasper B. is now a full-rigged +schooner. Very well, then, sail her! At the moment you are attacked, +weigh anchor, fight your way to the mouth of the canal, take up a +position in the bay in front of Morris's within easy rifle range and +out of pistol shot, and compel the place to surrender on your own +terms!" +</P> + +<P> +As the brilliance of this plan flashed upon her hearers, applause ran +around the room, and Kuroki, who spoke seldom, cried in admiration: +</P> + +<P> +"The Honorable Miss Englishman have hit her head on the nail! Let there +be some naval warfares!" +</P> + +<P> +"You are right," cried Cleggett, catching fire with the idea, "a +hundred times right! And why wait to be attacked? Let us carry the +war to the enemy's coast. Crack all sail upon her!—Up with the +anchors! We will show these gentry that the blood of Drake, Nelson, +and Old Dave Farragut still runs red in the veins of their countrymen!" +</P> + +<P> +"Banzai!" cried Kuroki. "Also Honorable Admiral Togo's veins!" +</P> + +<P> +A good breeze had sprung up out of the northwest while the conference +in the cabin was in progress. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was relieved that it was not from the south. There is not +much room to maneuver a schooner in a canal, and a breeze from the +south might have sailed the Jasper B. backwards towards Parker's Beach, +which would undoubtedly have given the enemy the idea that Cleggett was +retreating. The Jasper B.'s bow was pointed south, and Cleggett was +naturally anxious that she should sail south. +</P> + +<P> +At the outset a slight difficulty presented itself with regard to the +anchors—for although, as has been explained before, the Jasper B. was +a remarkably stable vessel, Cleggett had had the new anchors furnished +by the contractor let down. Having the anchors down seemed, somehow, +to make things more shipshape. It appeared that no one of the +adventurers was acquainted with an anchor song, and Cleggett, and, +indeed, all on board, felt that these anchors should be hoisted to the +accompaniment of some rousing chantey. Lady Agatha was especially +insistent on the point. +</P> + +<P> +While they stood about the capstan debating the matter the Reverend +Simeon Calthrop hesitatingly offered a suggestion which showed that, +while he was a novice as far as the nautical life was concerned, he was +also a person of resource. +</P> + +<P> +"How many of those present," inquired the young preacher, "know 'Onward +Christian Soldiers'?" +</P> + +<P> +All were acquainted with the hymn; the pastor grasped a capstan bar and +struck up the song in an agreeable tenor voice; they put their backs +into the work and their hearts into the song, and the anchors of the +Jasper B. came out of mud to the stirring notes of "Onward Christian +Soldiers, marching as to war!" +</P> + +<P> +While they were so engaged the breeze strengthened perceptibly. Looking +towards the west, Cleggett perceived the sun sinking below the horizon. +A long, blue, low-lying bank of clouds seemed to engulf it; for a +moment the top of this cloud was shot through with a golden color; then +a mass of quicker moving, nearer vapors from the north seemed to leap +suddenly nearer still; to extend itself at a bound over almost a third +of the sky; in a breath the day was gone; a storm threatened. +</P> + +<P> +The rising wind made the task of getting the canvas on the poles +extraordinarily difficult. Cleggett was well aware that the usual +method of procedure, in the presence of a storm, is rather to take in +sail than to crack on; but, always the original, he decided in this +case to reverse the common custom. Ashore or at sea, he never +permitted himself to be the slave of conventionalities. The Jasper B. +had lain so long in one spot that it would undoubtedly take more than a +capful of wind to move her. Cleggett did not know when he would get +such a strong wind again, coming from the right direction, and +determined to make the most of this one while he had it. Genius partly +consists in the acuteness which grasps opportunities. +</P> + +<P> +From the struggles of Cap'n Abernethy and the crew with the canvas, +which he saw none too clearly through the increasing dusk from his post +at the wheel, Cleggett judged that the wind was indeed strong enough +for his purpose. Yards, sheets and sails seemed to be acting in the +most singular manner. He could not remember reading of any parallel +case in the treatises on navigation which he had perused. Every now +and then the Cap'n or one of the crew would be jerked clean off his +feet by some quick and unexpected motion of a sail and flung into the +water. When this occurred the person who had been ducked crawled out +on the bank of the canal again and went on board by way of the +gangplank, returning stubbornly to his task. +</P> + +<P> +The booms in particular were possessed of a restless and unstable +spirit. They made sudden swoops, sweeps, and dashes in all directions. +Sometimes as many as three of the crew of the Jasper B. would be +knocked to the deck or into the water by a boom at the same time. But +Cleggett noted with satisfaction that they were plucky; they stuck +valiantly to the job. A doubt assailed Cleggett as to the competence +of Cap'n Abernethy, but he was loyal and fought it down. +</P> + +<P> +Finally Cap'n Abernethy hit upon a novel and ingenious idea. He tied +stout lines to the ends of the booms. The other ends of these ropes he +ran through the eyes of a couple of spare anchors. Taking the anchors +ashore, he made them fast to the wooden platform which was alongside +the Jasper B. Then he took up the slack in the lines, pulling them +taut and fastening them tightly. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the booms were held fast and stiff in position, and the crew could +get the canvas spread without being endangered by their strange and +unaccountable actions. +</P> + +<P> +This brilliant idea of anchoring the booms to the land would not have +been practicable had it not been for a whimsical cessation of the wind, +a lull such as incident to the coming of spring storms in these +latitudes. While the wind was in abeyance the men got the sails +spread. Then the Captain untied the lines, brought the spare anchors +on board, knocked the gangplank loose with a few blows of his ax, and +waited for the wind to resume. +</P> + +<P> +When the wind did blow again it came in a gust which was accompanied by +a twinkle of lightening over the whole sky and grumble of thunder. A +whirl of dust and fine gravel enveloped the Jasper B. For a moment it +was like a sandstorm. A few large drops of water fell. The gust was +violent; the sails filled with it and struggled like kites to be free; +here and there a strand of rope snapped; the masts bent and creaked; +the booms jumped and swung round like live things; the whole ship from +bowsprit to rudder shook and trembled with the assault. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, watchful at the wheel, prepared to turn her nose away from +the bank, but he was astonished to perceive that in spite of her +quaking and shivering the Jasper B. did not move one inch forward from +her position. He was prepared for a certain stability on the part of +the Jasper B., but not for quite so much of it. +</P> + +<P> +With the next gust the storm was on them in earnest. This blast came +with zigzag flashes of lightning that showed the heavens riotous with +battalions of charging clouds; it came with deafening thunder and a +torrential discharge of rain. One would have thought the power of the +wind sufficient to set a steel battleship scudding before it like a +wooden shoe. And yet the extraordinary Jasper B., although she +shrieked and groaned and seemed to stagger with the force of the blow, +did not move either forward or sidewise. +</P> + +<P> +She flinched, but she stood her ground. +</P> + +<P> +Second by second the storm increased in fury; in a moment it was no +longer merely a storm, it was a tempest. Cleggett, alarmed for the +safety of his masts, now ordered his men to take in sail. +</P> + +<P> +But even as he gave the order he realized that it could no longer be +done. A cloudburst, a hurricane, an electrical bombardment, struck the +Jasper B. all at once. One could not hear one's own voice. In the +glare of the lightning Cleggett saw the rigging tossing in an +indescribable confusion of canvas, spars, and ropes. Both masts and +the bowsprit snapped at almost the same instant. The whole chaotic +mass was lifted; it writhed in the air a moment, and then it came +crashing down, partly on the deck and partly in the seething waters of +the canal, where it lay and whipped ship and water with lashing +tentacles of wreckage. +</P> + +<P> +But still the unusual Jasper B. had not moved from her position. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett's men had had warning enough to save themselves. They +gathered around him to wait for orders. More than one of them cast +anxious glances towards the land. Shouting to them to attack the +debris with axes, and setting the example himself, Cleggett soon saw +the deck clear again, and the Jasper B., to all intents, the same hulk +she had been when he bought her. But such was the fury of the tempest +that even with the big kites gone the Jasper B. continued to shake and +quiver where she lay. Speech was almost impossible on deck, but Cap'n +Abernethy signed to Cleggett that he had something important to say to +him. +</P> + +<P> +The whole company adjourned to the cabin, and there, shouting to make +himself heard, the Cap'n cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"Her timbers have been strained something terrible, Mr. Cleggett. She +ain't what I would call safe and seaworthy any more. The' don't seem +to be any danger of her sailin' off, but that's no sign she can't be +blowed over onto her beam ends and sunk with all on board. If you was +to ask me, Mr. Cleggett, I'd say the time had come to leave the Jasper +B." +</P> + +<P> +The anxiety depicted on the faces of the little circle about him might +have communicated itself to a less intrepid nature. The old Cap'n +himself was no coward. Indeed, in owning to his alarm he had really +done a brave thing, since few have the moral courage to proclaim +themselves afraid. But Cleggett was a man of iron. Although the +tempest smote the hulk with blow after blow, although both earth and +water seemed to lie prostrate and trampled beneath its unappeasable +fury, Cleggett had no thought of yielding. +</P> + +<P> +Unconsciously he drew himself up. It seemed to his crew that he +actually gained in girth and height. The soul, in certain great +moments, seems to have power to expand the body and inform it with the +quality of immortality; Ajax, in his magnificent gesture of defiance, +is all spirit. Cleggett, with his hand on his hip, uttered these +words, not without their sublimity: +</P> + +<P> +"Whether the Jasper B. sinks or swims, her commander will share her +fate. I stay by my ship!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NIGHT, TEMPEST, LOVE AND BATTLE +</H3> + +<P> +And, indeed, if Cleggett had been of a mind to abandon the vessel, he +could scarcely have done so now. For his words were no more than +uttered when the sharp racket of a volley of pistol shots ripped its +way through the low-pitched roaring of the wind. +</P> + +<P> +Loge had chosen the height of the storm to mask his approach. He +attacked with the tempest. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word Cleggett put out the light in the cabin. His men +grasped their weapons and followed him to the deck. A flash of +lightning showed him, through the driving rain, the enemy rushing +towards the Jasper B., pistol in hand. They were scarcely sixty yards +away, and were firing as they came. Loge, a revolver in one hand, and +Cleggett's own sword cane in the other, was leading the rush. Besides +their firearms, each of Loge's men carried a wicked-looking machete. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire!" shouted Cleggett. "Let them have it, men!" And the rifles +blazed from the deck of the Jasper B. in a crashing volley. Instantly +the world was dark again; it was impossible to determine whether the +fire of the Jasper B. had taken effect. +</P> + +<P> +"To the starboard bulwark," cried Cleggett, "and give them hell with +the next lightning flash!" +</P> + +<P> +It came as he spoke, with its vivid glare showing to Cleggett the enemy +magnified to a portentous bigness against a background of chaotic +night. Two or three of them stood, leaning keenly forward; several of +the others had dropped to one knee; the rifle discharge had checked the +rush, and they also were waiting for the lightning. Cleggett and his +men threw a second volley at this wavering silhouette of astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +A cartridge jammed in the mechanism of Cleggett's gun. With an oath he +flung the weapon to the deck. A hand thrust another one into his +grasp, and Lady Agatha's voice said in his ear, "Take this one—it's +loaded." +</P> + +<P> +"My God," said Cleggett, "I thought you were in the cabin!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not I!" she cried, "I'm loading!" +</P> + +<P> +Just then the lightning came again and showed her to him plainly. +Drenched, bare-armed, bareheaded, her hair down and rolling backward in +a rich wet mass, she knelt on the deck behind the bulwark. Her eyes +blazed with excitement, and there was a smile upon her lips. Beside +her was the zinc bucket half full of cartridges. George tossed a rifle +to her. She flung him back a loaded one, and began methodically to +fill the empty one with cartridges. +</P> + +<P> +"Agatha," shouted Cleggett, catching her by the wrist, "go to the cabin +at once—you will get yourself killed!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do nothing of the sort!" she shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"I love you!" cried Cleggett, beside himself with fear for her, and +scarcely knowing what his words were. "Do you hear—I love you, and I +won't have you killed!" +</P> + +<P> +A bullet ripped its way through the bulwark, perforated the zinc +bucket, struck the gun which Lady Agatha was loading and knocked it +from her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Go to the cabin yourself!" she shouted in Cleggett's ear. "As for me, +I like it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you," shouted Cleggett, "I won't have you here—I won't have +you killed!" +</P> + +<P> +He rose to his feet, and attempted to draw her out of danger. She rose +likewise and struggled with him in the dark. She wrenched herself +free, and in doing so flung him back against the rail; it lightened +again, and she screamed. Cleggett turned, and with the next flash saw +that one of the enemy, his face bloody from the graze of a bullet +across his forehead, and evidently crazed with excitement of fight and +storm, was leaping towards the rail of the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett stooped to pick up a gun, but as he stooped the madman vaulted +over the bulwark and landed upon him, bearing him to the deck. As he +struggled to his feet Lady Agatha, who had grasped a cutlass, cut the +fellow down. The man fell back over the rail with a cry. +</P> + +<P> +For a long moment there was one continuous electric flash from horizon +to horizon, and Cleggett saw her, with windblown hair and wide eyes and +parted lips, standing poised with the red blade in her hand beneath the +driving clouds, the figure of an antique goddess. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant all was dark; her arms were around his neck in the +rain. "Oh, Clement," she sobbed, "I've killed a man! I've killed a +man!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ROMANCE REGNANT +</H3> + +<P> +Cleggett kissed her.... +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISS PRINGLE CALLS ON MR. CLEGGETT +</H3> + +<P> +But the rushing onset of events struck them apart. Out of the night +leaped danger, enhancing love and forbidding it. From the starboard +bow Captain Abernethy shrilled a cry of warning, and the heavy, +bellowing voice of Loge shouted an answer of challenge and ferocity. +The wind had fallen, but the lightning played from the clouds now +almost without intermission. Cleggett saw Loge and his followers, +machete in hand, flinging themselves at the rail. They lifted a hoarse +cheer as they came. The fire from the Jasper B. had checked the +assault temporarily; it had not broken it up; once they found lodgment +on the deck the superior numbers of Loge's crowd must inevitably tell. +</P> + +<P> +Loge was a dozen feet in advance of his men. He had cast aside the +light sword which belonged to Cleggett, and now swung a grim machete in +his hand. Cleggett flung down his gun, grasped a cutlass, and sprang +forward, his one idea to come to close quarters with that gigantic +figure of rage and power. +</P> + +<P> +But before Loge reached the bulwark on one side, and while Cleggett was +bounding toward him on the other, this on-coming group of Cleggett's +foes were suddenly smitten in the rear as if by a thunderbolt. Out of +the night and storm, mad with terror, screaming like fiends, with +distended nostrils and flying manes and flailing hoofs, there plunged +into the midst of the assaulting party a pair of snow-white +horses—astounding, felling, trampling, scattering, filling them with +confusion. A rocking carriage leaped and bounded behind the furious +animals, and as the horses struck the bulwark and swerved aside, its +weight and bulk, hurled like a missile among Cleggett's staggered and +struggling enemies, completed and confirmed their panic. +</P> + +<P> +No troops on earth can stand the shock of a cavalry charge in the rear +and flank; few can face surprise; the boarding party, convinced that +they had fallen into a trap, melted away. One moment they were +sweeping forward, vicious and formidable, confident of victory; the +next they were floundering weaponless, scrambling anyhow for safety, +multiplying and transforming, with the quick imagination of panic +terror, these two horses into a troop of mounted men. +</P> + +<P> +This sudden and almost spectral apparition of galloping steeds and +flying carriage, hurled upon the vessel out of the tempest, flung, a +piece of whirling chaos, from the chaotic skies, had almost as +startling an effect upon the defenders. For a moment they paused, with +weapons uplifted, and stared. Where an enemy had been, there was +nothing. So doubtful Greeks or Trojans might have paused and stared +upon the plains of Ilion when some splenetic and fickle deity burst +unannounced and overwhelming into the central clamor of the battle. +</P> + +<P> +But it is in these seconds of pause and doubt that great commanders +assert themselves; it is these electric seconds from which the hero +gathers his vital lightning and forges his mordant bolt. Genius claims +and rules these instants, and the gods are on the side of those who +boldly grasp loose wisdom and bind it into sheaves of judgment. +Cleggett (whom Homer would have loved) was the first to recover his +poise. He came to his decision instantaneously. A lesser man might +have lost all by rushing after his retreating enemies; a lesser man, +carried away by excitement, would have pursued. Cleggett did not relax +his grasp upon the situation, he restrained his ardor. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand firm, men! Do not leave the ship," he shouted. "The day is +ours!" +</P> + +<P> +And then, turning to Captain Abernethy, he cried: +</P> + +<P> +"We have routed them!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at them crazy horses!" screamed the Captain in reply. +</P> + +<P> +The animals were rearing and struggling among the ruins of the broken +gangplank. As the Captain spoke, they plunged aboard the ship, and the +carriage, bounding after them, overturned on the deck—horses and +carriage came down together in a welter of splintering wheels and +broken harness and crashing wood. +</P> + +<P> +A negro driver, whom Cleggett now noticed for the first time, shot +clear of the mass and landed on the deck in a sitting posture. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment, there he sat, and did nothing more. The pole broke loose +from the carriage, the traces parted, and the two big white horses, +still kicking and plunging, struggled to their feet and free from the +wreckage. Still side by side they leaped the port bulwark, splashed +into the canal, and swam straight across it, as if animated with the +instinct of going straight ahead in that fashion to the end of the +world. Cleggett never saw or heard of them again. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring a lantern," said Cleggett to Abernethy. "Let's see if this man +is badly hurt." +</P> + +<P> +But the negro was not injured. He rose to his feet as the Captain +brought the light—the storm was now subsiding, and the lightning was +less frequent—and stood revealed as a person of surprising size and +unusual blackness. He was, in fact, so black that it was no wonder +that Cleggett had not seen him on the seat of the carriage, for unless +one turned a light full upon him his face could not be seen at all +after dark. He was in a blue livery, and his high, cockaded coachman's +hat had stayed on his head in spite of everything. +</P> + +<P> +Even sitting down on the deck he had possessed an air of patience. +When he arose and the Captain flashed the light upon his face, it +revealed a countenance full of dignified good humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you come from?" asked Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +The negro removed the hat with the cockade before answering. He did it +politely. Even ceremoniously. But he did not do it hastily. He had +the air of one who was never inclined to do things hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"From Newahk, sah," he said. "Newahk, New Jehsey, sah." +</P> + +<P> +"But who are you?" said Cleggett. "How did you get here?" +</P> + +<P> +The negro was gazing reflectively at the broken carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah yo' Mistah Cleggett, sah? Mistah Clement J. Cleggett, sah, the +ownah of dis hyeah boat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +The negro fumbled in an inner pocket and produced a card. He gave it +to Cleggett with a deferential bow, and then announced sonorously: +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Genevieve Pringle, sah—in de cah-age, sah—a callin' on Mistah +Clement J. Cleggett." +</P> + +<P> +He completed the announcement with a dignified and courtly gesture, +which seemed to indicate that he was presenting the ruined carriage +itself to Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean in that carriage?" cried Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sah," said the negro. "Leas'ways, she was, sah, some time back. +Mah time an' mah 'tention done been so tooken up wif dem incompatible +hosses fo' some moments past, sah, dat I cain't say fo' suah ef she +adheahed, or ef she didn't adheah." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced speculatively at the carriage again. Cleggett sprang +towards the broken vehicle, expecting to find someone seriously injured +at the very least. But, from the ruin, a precise and high-pitched +feminine voice piped out: +</P> + +<P> +"Jefferson! Kindly assist me to disentangle myself!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yassum," said the negro, moving forward in a leisurely and dignified +manner, "comin', ma'am. I hopes an' trusts, Miss Pringle, ma'am, yo' +ain't suffered none in yo' anatomy an' phlebotomy from dis hyeah +runaway." +</P> + +<P> +With which cheerful wish Jefferson lifted respectfully, and with a +certain calm detachment, the figure of a woman from the debris. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Jefferson," she said. "I fear I am very much bruised and +shaken, but I have been feeling all my bones while lying there, and I +believe that I have sustained no fractures." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle was a woman of about fifty, small and prim. Prim with an +unconquerable primness that neither storm nor battle nor accident could +shake. If she had been killed in the runaway she would have looked +prim in death while awaiting the undertaker. She must have been wet +almost to those unfractured bones which she had been feeling; her black +silk dress, with its white ruching about the neck, was torn and +bedraggled; her black hat, with its jet ornaments, was crushed and hung +askew over one ear; nevertheless, Miss Pringle conveyed at once and +definitely an impression of unassailable respectability and strong +character. +</P> + +<P> +"Which of you is Mr. Cleggett?" she asked, looking about her, in the +lantern light, at the crew of the Jasper B., as she leaned upon the arm +of Jefferson, her mannerly and deliberate servitor. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Mr. Cleggett." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" Miss Pringle inspected him with an eye which gleamed with a hint +of latent possibilities of belligerency. "Mr. Cleggett," she +continued, pursing her lips, "I have sought an interview to warn you +that you are harboring an impostor on your ship." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Lady Agatha joined the group. As the light fell upon her +Miss Pringle stepped forward and thrust an accusing, a denunciatory +finger at the Englishwoman. +</P> + +<P> +"You," she said, "call yourself Lady Agatha Fairhaven!" +</P> + +<P> +"I do," said Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"Woman!" cried Miss Pringle, shaking with the stress of her moral +wrath. "Where are my plum preserves?" +</P> + +<P> +And with this cryptic utterance the little lady, having come to the end +of her strength, primly fainted. +</P> + +<P> +Jefferson picked her up and carried her, in a serene and stately +manner, to the cabin. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAN IN THE BLUE PAJAMAS +</H3> + +<P> +The rain had ceased almost as Miss Pringle was removed to the cabin. +The storm had passed. Low down on the edges of the world there were +still a few dark clouds, there was still an occasional glimmer of +lightning; but overhead the mists were fleecy, light and broken. A few +stars were visible here and there. +</P> + +<P> +And then in a moment more a full moon rose high and serene above the +world. The May moon is often very brilliant in these latitudes, as +sailors who are familiar with the coasts of Long Island can testify. +This moon was unusually brilliant, even for the season of the year and +the quarter of the globe. It lighted up earth and sky so that it was +(in the familiar phrase) almost possible to read by it. Only a few +moments had elapsed since the rout of Logan Black's ruffians, but in +the vicinity of this remarkable island such sudden meteorological +changes are anything but rare, geographers and travelers know. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha had gone into the cabin to resuscitate Miss Pringle and, as +she said, "have it out with her." Cleggett, gazing from the deck +towards Morris's, in the strong moonlight, wondered when the attack +would be renewed. He thought, on the whole, that it was improbable +that Loge would return to the assault while this brightness continued. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly three figures appeared within his range of vision. They were +running. But running slowly, painfully, lamely. In the lead were the +two men whom he had first seen hazed up and down the bank of the canal +by Wilton Barnstable, and whom he had seen the second time chained in +the great detective's boat. +</P> + +<P> +They were shackled wrist to wrist now. To the left leg of one of them +was attached a heavy ball. A similar ball was attached to the right leg +of the other. They had picked these balls up and were struggling along +under their weight at a gait which was more like a staggering walk than +a trot. +</P> + +<P> +They were pursued by the man whom Cleggett had seen attempt to escape +from Morris's. This man still wore his suit of baby blue pajamas. +</P> + +<P> +He wore nothing else. He was stiff. He moved as if the ground hurt +his bare feet. +</P> + +<P> +He especially favored, as Cleggett noticed, the foot on which there was +a bunion. He was lame. He crept rather than ran. But he seemed +bitterly intent upon reaching the two men in irons who labored along +twenty or thirty feet ahead of him. And they, on their part, casting +now and then backward glances over their shoulders at their pursuer. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett divined that the men in irons had escaped from the Annabel +Lee, and that the man in the baby blue pajamas was loose from Morris's. +But why the man in the pajamas pursued and the others fled he could not +guess. +</P> + +<P> +They passed within fifty yards of the Jasper B. But the men in irons +were so intent upon their own troubles, and the pursuer was so keen on +vengeance, that none of them noticed the vessel. As they limped along, +splashing through the pools the rain had left, the pursuer would +occasionally pause to fling stones and sticks and even cakes of mud at +the fugitives, who were whimpering as they tottered forward. +</P> + +<P> +The man in the baby blue pajamas was cursing in a high-pitched, nasal, +querulous voice. Cleggett noticed with astonishment that a +single-barreled eyeglass was screwed into one of his eyes. Occasionally +it dropped to the ground, and he would stop and fumble for it and wipe +it on his wet sleeve and replace it. Had it not been for these stops +he would have overtaken the men in irons. +</P> + +<P> +"Clement!" Lady Agatha laid her hand upon his arm. "Miss Pringle wants +to see you in the cabin." +</P> + +<P> +"Well—imposter!" laughed Cleggett. "Is she able to talk to you yet? +And what on earth did she mean by her plum preserves?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is what she wants to tell, evidently," said Lady Agatha. And she +went aft with him. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle, who had been rubbed dry by Lady Agatha, and was now +dressed in some articles of that lady's clothing, which were much too +large for her, sat on the edge of the bed in Lady Agatha's stateroom +and awaited them. Her appearance was scarcely conventional, and she +seemed to feel it; nevertheless, she had a duty to perform, and her +innate propriety still triumphed over her situation and habiliments. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," she said, pointing to the box which contained the +evidence against Logan Black, which was exactly similar to the box of +Reginald Maltravers, and which had been placed in this inner room for +safe-keeping, "what does that box contain?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was startled. He and Lady Agatha exchanged glances. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think it contains?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That box," she said, "was shipped to me from Flatbush, and was claimed +in my name—in the name of Genevieve Pringle—at the freight depot at +Newark, New Jersey, by this lady here. Deny it if you can!" +</P> + +<P> +"I do deny it, Miss Pringle," said Lady Agatha, accompanying her words +with a winsome smile. But Miss Pringle was not to be won over so +easily as all that; she met the smile with a look of steady +reprobation. And then she turned to Cleggett again. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," she said, "my birthday occurred a few days ago. It +was—I have nothing to conceal, Mr. Cleggett—it was my forty-ninth +birthday. Every year, for many years past, a niece of mine who lives +in Flatbush sends me on my birthday a box of plum preserves. +</P> + +<P> +"These preserves have for me, Mr. Cleggett, a value that they would not +possess for anyone else; a value far above their intrinsic or, as one +might say, culinary value. They have a sentimental value as well. I +was born in Flatbush, and lived there, during my youth, on my father's +estate. The city has since grown around the old place, which my niece +now owns, but the plum trees stand as they have stood for more than +fifty years. It was beneath these plum trees...." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle suddenly broke off; her face twitched; she felt for a +handkerchief, and found none; she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +In another person this action might have appeared somewhat careless, +but Miss Pringle, by the force of her character, managed to invest it +with propriety and dignity; looking at her, one felt that to wipe one's +eyes on one's sleeve was quite proper when done by the proper person. +</P> + +<P> +"I will conceal nothing, Mr. Cleggett. It was under these plum trees +that I once received an offer of marriage from a worthy young man. It +was from one of these plum trees that he later fell, injuring himself +so that he died. You can understand what these plum trees mean to me, +perhaps?" +</P> + +<P> +Lady Agatha impulsively sat down beside the elder woman and put her arm +about her. But Miss Pringle stiffly moved away. After a moment she +continued: +</P> + +<P> +"The preserved plums, as I have said, are sent me every year on my +birthday. This year, when I received from my niece a notification that +they had been shipped, I called for the box personally at the freight +office. +</P> + +<P> +"What was my astonishment to learn that the box had been claimed in my +name, not a quarter of an hour before, and taken away. +</P> + +<P> +"I obtained a description of the person who had represented herself as +Miss Genevieve Pringle, and of the vehicle in which she had carried off +my box. And I followed her. The paltriness of the theft revolted me, +Mr. Cleggett, and I determined to bring this person to justice. +</P> + +<P> +"The fugitive, with my plum preserves in her possession, had left, +goodness knows, a broad enough trail. I found but little difficulty in +following in my family carriage. In fact, Mr. Cleggett, I discovered +the very chauffeur who had deposited her here with the box. Inquiries +in Fairport gave me your name as the owner of this lighter." +</P> + +<P> +"Lighter!" interrupted Cleggett. "The Jasper B., madam, is not a +lighter." +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," said Miss Pringle. "But what sort of vessel is it +then?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Jasper B.," said Cleggett, with a touch of asperity, "is a +schooner, madam." +</P> + +<P> + "I intended no offense, Mr. Cleggett. I am quite willing to<BR> +believe that the vessel is a schooner, since you say that it is. I am +not informed concerning nautical affairs. But, to conclude—I +discovered from the chauffeur that this lady, calling herself Lady +Agatha Fairhaven, had been deposited here, with my box. I learned +yesterday, after inquiries in Fairport, that you were the owner of this +vessel. The real estate person from whom you purchased it assured me +that you were financially responsible. I came to expose this imposter +and to recover my box. On my way hither I was caught in the storm. +The runaway occurred, and you know the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle, during this recital, had not deigned to favor Lady Agatha +with a look. Lady Agatha, on her part, after the rebuff which she had +received, had sat in smiling silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Pringle," she said, pleasantly but seriously, when the other +woman had finished, "first I must convince you that this box does not +contain your plum preserves, and then I will tell you my story." +</P> + +<P> +With Cleggett's assistance Lady Agatha removed the cover from the +oblong box, and showed her its contents. +</P> + +<P> +"That explains nothing," said Miss Pringle, dryly. "Of course you +would remove the plum preserves to a place of safety." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Pringle," said Lady Agatha, "I will tell you everything. I DID +claim a box in your name at the railway goods station in Newark—and if +there had been nothing in it but plum preserves, how happy I should be! +I beg of you, Miss Pringle, to give me your attention." +</P> + +<P> +And Lady Agatha began to relate to Miss Pringle the same story which +she had told to Cleggett. At the first word indicative of the fact the +Lady Agatha had suffered for the cause of votes for women, a change +took place in the expression of Miss Pringle's countenance. Cleggett +thought she was about to speak. But she did not. Nevertheless, +although she listened intently, some of her rigidity had gone. When +Lady Agatha had finished Miss Pringle said: +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that you can prove that you are really Lady Agatha +Fairhaven?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer Lady Agatha went to one of her trunks and opened it. She +drew therefrom a letter, and passed it over without a word. +</P> + +<P> +As Miss Pringle read it, her face lighted up. She did not lose her +primness, but her suspicion seemed altogether to depart. +</P> + +<P> +"A letter from Emmeline Pankhurst!" she said, in a hushed voice, +handling the missive as if it were a sacred relic. "Can you ever +forgive me?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing to forgive," beamed Lady Agatha. "I am willing to +admit, now that you understand me, that the thing looked a bit +suspicious, on the face of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You have suffered for the cause," said Miss Pringle. "I have suffered +for it, too!" And, with a certain shyness, she patted Lady Agatha on +the arm. But the next moment she said: +</P> + +<P> +"But what IS in the box you brought here then, Lady Agatha? Two boxes +were shipped to Newark, addressed to me. Which one did you get? What +is really in the one you have been carrying around? My plum preserves, +or——" +</P> + +<P> +She shuddered and left the sentence unfinished. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us open it," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"No! No!" cried Lady Agatha. "Clement, no! I could not bear to have it +opened." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle rose. It was evident that a bit of her earlier suspicion +had returned. +</P> + +<P> +"After all," said Miss Pringle, indicating the letter again, "how do I +know that——" +</P> + +<P> +"That it is not a forgery?" said Lady Agatha. "I see." She mused a +moment, and then said, with a sigh, "Well, then, let us open the box!" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it best, Agatha," said Cleggett. "I shall have it brought +down." +</P> + +<P> +But even as he turned upon his heel to go on deck and give the order, +Dr. Farnsworth and the Rev. Simeon Calthrop ran excitedly down the +cabin companionway. +</P> + +<P> +"The box of Reginald Maltravers," cried the Doctor, who was in +Cleggett's confidence, "is gone!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWO GREAT MEN MEET +</H3> + +<P> +"Gone!" Lady Agatha, who had emerged from her stateroom, turned pale +and caught at her heart. +</P> + +<P> +They rushed on deck. The young Doctor was right; the box, which had +stood on the larboard side of the cabin, had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"It might have been blown into the canal during the storm," suggested +the Rev. Mr. Calthrop. All of the crew of the Jasper B. knew Lady +Agatha's story, and were aware of the importance of the box. +</P> + +<P> +"It was on the lee side of the cabin," objected Dr. Farnsworth, "and +while it might have been blown flat to the deck, in spite of its +protected position, it would scarcely have been picked up by the wind +again and wafted over the port bulwarks." +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me," said Cap'n Abernethy, who had joined in the +discussion, "I'd give it as MY opinion it's a good riddance of bad +rubbish." +</P> + +<P> +"Rubbish?" said Miss Pringle. "Rubbish, indeed! I am confident that +that box contained my plum preserves!" +</P> + +<P> +"It has been stolen!" cried Cleggett, with conviction. "Fool that I +was, not to have taken it into the cabin!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, if you had, you know," said Lady Agatha, "one would scarcely have +cared to stay in there with it." +</P> + +<P> +"Loge has outgeneraled me," murmured Cleggett, well-nigh frantic with +self-reproach. "While he made the attack in front, he sent some of his +men to the rear of the vessel and it was quietly made off with while we +were fighting." Had the disappearance of the box concerned himself +alone Cleggett's sense of disaster might have been less poignant. But +the thought that his own carelessness had enabled the enemy to get +possession of a thing likely to involve Lady Agatha in further trouble +was nearly insupportable. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands +in impotent rage. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt Loge caught sight of it during the early part of the +skirmish, by a flash of lightning," said Dr. Farnsworth, "and acted as +you suggest, Mr. Cleggett. But does he believe it to be the box which +contains the evidence against him? Or can he, by any chance, be aware +of its real contents?" +</P> + +<P> +"No matter which," groaned Cleggett, "no matter which! For when he +opens it, he will learn what is in it. Don't you see that he has us +now? If he offers to trade it back to us for the other oblong box, how +can I refuse? If we have his secret, Loge has ours!" +</P> + +<P> +But Dr. Farnsworth was not listening. He had suddenly leaned over the +port rail and was staring down the canal. The others followed his gaze. +</P> + +<P> +The house boat Annabel Lee, they perceived, had got under weigh, and +was slowly approaching the Jasper B. in the moonlight. They watched +her gradual approach in silence. She stopped within a few yards of the +Jasper B., and a voice which Cleggett recognized as that of Wilton +Barnstable, the great detective, sang out: +</P> + +<P> +"Jasper B., ahoy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye!" shouted Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Mr. Cleggett on board?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is speaking." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett, have you lost anything from your canal boat?" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett did not answer, and for a moment he did not move. Then, +tightening his sword belt, and cocking his hat a trifle, he climbed +over the starboard rail and walked along the bank of the canal a few +yards until he was opposite the Annabel Lee. The great detective, on +his part, also stepped ashore. They stood and faced each other in the +moonlight, silently, and their followers, also in silence, gathered in +the bows of the respective vessels and watched them. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, Cleggett, with one hand on his hip, and standing with his feet +wide apart, said very incisively: +</P> + +<P> +"Sir, the Jasper B. is NOT a canal boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Wilton Barnstable started at the emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"The Jasper B.," pursued Cleggett, staring steadily at Wilton +Barnstable, "is a schooner." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said the other. "Indeed?" +</P> + +<P> +"A schooner," repeated Cleggett, "indeed, sir! Indeed, sir, a schooner!" +</P> + +<P> +There was another silence, in which neither man would look aside; they +held each other with their eyes; the nervous strain communicated itself +to the crews of the two vessels. At last, however, the detective, +although he did not lower his gaze, and although he strove to give his +new attitude an effect of ease and jauntiness by twisting the end of +his mustache as he spoke, said to Cleggett: +</P> + +<P> +"A schooner, then, Mr. Cleggett, a schooner! No offense, I hope?" +</P> + +<P> +"None at all," said Cleggett, heartily enough, now that the point had +been established. And the tension relaxed on both ships. +</P> + +<P> +"You have lost an oblong box, Mr. Cleggett." The great detective +affirmed it rather than interrogated. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know that?" +</P> + +<P> +The other laughed. "We know a great many things—it is our business to +know things," he said. Then he dropped his voice to a whisper, and said +rapidly, "Mr. Cleggett, do you know who I am?" Before Cleggett could +reply he continued, "Brace yourself—do not make an outcry when I tell +you who I am. I am Wilton Barnstable." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you," said Cleggett. The other appeared disappointed for a +moment. And then he inquired anxiously, "How did you know me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, from your pictures in the magazines," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +The detective brightened perceptibly. "Ah, yes—the magazines! Yes, +yes, indeed! publicity is unavoidable, unavoidable, Mr. Cleggett! But +this box, now——" +</P> + +<P> +The great detective interrupted himself to laugh again, a trifle +complacently, Cleggett thought. +</P> + +<P> +"I will not mystify you, Mr. Cleggett, about the box. Mystification is +one of the tricks of the older schools of detection. I never practice +it, Mr. Cleggett. With me, the detection of crime is a business—yes, +a business. I will tell you presently how the box came into my +possession." +</P> + +<P> +"It IS in your possession?" Cleggett felt a dull pang of the heart. +If the box of Reginal Maltravers were in the hands of Logan Black he +could at least trade the other oblong box to Loge for it, and thus save +Lady Agatha. But in the possession of Wilton Barnstable, the great +detective——! Cleggett pulled himself together; he thought rapidly; +he recognized that the situation called, above all things else, for +diplomacy and adroitness. He went on, nonchalantly: +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you are aware of the contents of the box?" +</P> + +<P> +The other laughed again as if Cleggett had made an excellent jest; +there was something urbane and benign in his manner; it appeared as if +he regarded the contents of the box of Reginald Maltravers as anything +but serious; his tone puzzled Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I bring the box on board the Jasper B.," suggested the great +detective. "It interests me, that box. I have no doubt it has its +story. And perhaps, while you are telling me some things about it, I +may be able to give you some information in turn." +</P> + +<P> +There was no mistaking the fact that the man, whether genuinely +friendly or no, wished to appear so. +</P> + +<P> +"Have it brought into my cabin," said Cleggett, "and we will discuss +it." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Wilton Barnstable, Cleggett, Lady Agatha, Miss +Pringle, and two of Wilton Barnstable's men sat in the cabin of the +Jasper B., with the two oblong boxes before them—the one which had +contained Loge's incriminating diary, and the one which had caused Lady +Agatha so much trouble. +</P> + +<P> +In the light of the cabin the three detectives were revealed as +startlingly alike. Barton Ward and Watson Bard, Barnstable's two +assistants, might, indeed, almost have been taken for Barnstable +himself, at a casual glance. In height, in bulk, in dress, in facial +expression, they seemed Wilton Barnstable all over again. But, looking +intently at the three men, Cleggett began to perceive a difference +between the real Wilton Barnstable and his two counterfeits. It was the +difference between the face which is informed of genius, and the +countenance which is indicative of mere talent. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," began Wilton Barnstable, "as I said before, I will make +no attempt to mystify you. I was a witness to the attack upon your +vessel. Mr. Ward, Mr. Bard, and myself, in fact, had determined to +assist you, had we seen that the combat was going against you. We lay, +during the struggle, in the lee of your—your—er, schooner!—in the +lee of your schooner, armed, and ready to bear a hand. We have our own +little matter to settle with Logan Black. Why Logan Black should +desire possession of this particular box, I am unable to state. +Nevertheless, at the moment when he was leading his assault upon your +starboard bow, two of his men, who had made a detour to the stern of +your vessel, had clambered stealthily aboard, and were quietly pushing +the box over the side into the canal. They let themselves down into +the water, and swam towards the mouth of the canal, pushing it ahead of +them. We followed in our rowboat, Mr. Ward, Mr. Bard, and myself, at a +discreet distance. We let them push the box as far south as the +Annabel Lee. And then——" +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment, and smiled reminiscently. Barton Ward and Watson +Bard also smiled reminiscently, and the three detectives exchanged +crafty glances. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, to be brief, we took the box away from them. They were so +ill-advised as to struggle. They are in irons, now, on board the +Annabel Lee. +</P> + +<P> +"But what I cannot understand, Mr. Cleggett, is why these men should +risk so much to make off with an empty box." +</P> + +<P> +"An empty box!" cried Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Empty!" echoed Lady Agatha and Miss Pringle, in concert. +</P> + +<P> +The detective wrenched the cover from the box of Reginald Maltravers. +</P> + +<P> +"Practically empty, at any rate," he said. +</P> + +<P> +And, indeed, except for a few wads of wet excelsior, there was nothing +in the box of Reginald Maltravers. +</P> + +<P> +"Where, then," cried Lady Agatha, "is Reginald Maltravers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where, indeed," said Wilton Barnstable, "is Reginald Maltravers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where, then," cried Miss Pringle, "are my plum preserves?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where, indeed?" repeated Wilton Barnstable. And Barton Ward and Watson +Bard, although they did not speak aloud, stroked their mustaches and +their lips formed the ejaculation, "Where, indeed?" +</P> + +<P> +"We will tell you everything," said Cleggett. And beginning with his +purchase of the Jasper B. he recounted rapidly, but with sufficient +detail, all the facts with which the reader is already familiar, +weaving into his story the tale of Lady Agatha and the adventures of +Miss Pringle. Wilton Barnstable listened attentively. So did Barton +Ward and Watson Bard. The benign smile which was so characteristic of +Wilton Barnstable never left the three faces, but it was evident to +Cleggett that these trained intelligences grasped and weighed and +ticketed every detail. +</P> + +<P> +While Cleggett narrates, and Wilton Barnstable and his men listen, a +word to the reader concerning this great detective. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DETECTIVE +</H3> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable was the inventor of a new school of detection of +crime. The system came in with him, and it may go out with him for +lack of a man of his genius to perpetuate it. He insisted that there +was nothing spectacular or romantic in the pursuit of the criminal, or, +at least, that there should be nothing of the sort. And he was +especially disgusted when anyone referred to him as "a second Sherlock +Holmes." +</P> + +<P> +"I am only a plain business man," he would insist, urbanely, with a +wave of his hand. "I have merely brought order, method, system, +business principles, logic, to the detection of crime. I know nothing +of romance. Romance is usually all nonsense in my estimation. The +real detective, who gets results in real life, is NOT a Sherlock +Holmes." +</P> + +<P> +The enemies of Wilton Barnstable sometimes said of him that he was +jealous of Sherlock Holmes. When this was reported to Barnstable he +invariably remarked: "How preposterous! The idea of a man being +envious of a literary creation!" +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps his denial of the existence of romance was merely one of those +poses which geniuses so often permit themselves. Perhaps he saw it and +was thrilled with it even while he denied it. At any rate, he lived in +the midst of it. The realism which was his metier was that sort of +realism into which are woven facts and incidents of the most bizarre +and startling nature. +</P> + +<P> +And, certainly, behind the light blue eyes that could look with such +apparent ingenuousness out of his plump, bland face there was the +subtle mind of a psychologist. Barnstable, true to his attitude of the +plain business man, would have been the first to ridicule the idea +publicly if anyone had dubbed him "the psychological detective." That, +to his mind, would have savored of charlatanism. He would have said: +"I am nothing so strange and mystifying as that—I am a plain business +man." But in reality there was no new discovery of the investigating +psychologists of which he did not avail himself at once. His ability +to clothe himself with the thoughts of the criminal as an actor clothes +himself with a role, was marvelous; he knew the criminal soul. That is +to say, he knew the human soul. He refused to see anything +extraordinary in this. "It is only my business to know such things," +he would say. "We know many things. It is our business to know them. +There is no miracle about it." This was the public character he had +created for himself, and emphasized—that of the plain business man. +This was his mask. He was so subtle that he hid the vast range of his +powers behind an appearance of commonplaceness. +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable never disguised himself, in the ordinary sense of the +term. That is, he never resorted to false whiskers or wigs or obvious +tricks of that sort. +</P> + +<P> +But if Wilton Barnstable were to walk into a convention of blacksmiths, +let us say, he would quite escape attention. For before he had been +ten minutes in that gathering he would become, to all appearances, the +typical blacksmith. If he were to enter a gathering of bankers, or +barbers, or bakers, or organ grinders, or stockbrokers, or +school-teachers, a similar thing would happen. He could make himself +the composite photograph of all the individuals of any group. He +disguised himself from the inside out. +</P> + +<P> +This art of becoming inconspicuous was one of his greatest assets as a +detective. Newspaper and magazine writers would have liked to dwell +upon it. But he requested them not to emphasize it. As he modestly +narrated his triumphs to the young journalists, who hung breathless +upon his words, he was careful not to stress his talent for becoming +just like anybody and everybody else—his peculiar genius for being the +average man. +</P> + +<P> +The front which he presented to the world was, in reality, his +cleverest creation. The magazine and newspaper articles which were +written about him, the many pictures which were printed every month, +presented the mental and physical portrait of a knowing, bustling, +extraordinarily candid personality. A personality with a touch of +smugness in it. This was very generally thought to be the real Wilton +Barnstable. It was a fiction which he had succeeded in establishing. +When he addressed meetings, talked with reporters, wrote articles about +himself, or came into touch with the public in any manner, he assumed +this personality. When he did not wish to be known he laid it aside. +When he desired to pass incognito, therefore, it was not necessary for +him to assume a disguise. He simply dropped one. +</P> + +<P> +The two men with him, Barton Ward and Watson Bard, were his cleverest +agents. They were learning from the master detective the art of +looking like other people, and were at present practicing by looking +like the popular conception of Wilton Barnstable. They were clever +men. But Barton Ward and Watson Bard were, as Cleggett had felt at +once, only men of extraordinary talent, while Wilton Barnstable was a +genius. +</P> + +<P> +As Cleggett talked he was given a rather startling proof of Wilton +Barnstable's gift. He was astonished to find a change stealing over +Wilton Barnstable's features. Subtly the detective began to look like +someone else. The expression of the face, the turn of the eyes, the +lines about the mouth, began to suggest someone whom Cleggett knew. It +was rather a suggestion, an impression, than a likeness; it was rather +the spirit of a personality than a definite resemblance. It was a +psychic thing. Barnstable was disguising himself from the inside out; +he had assumed the mental and spiritual clothing of someone else. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett could not think at first who it was that Wilton Barnstable +suggested. But presently he saw that it was himself. He glanced at +Barton Ward and Watson Bard; they still resembled the popular +conception of Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +Gradually the look of Cleggett faded from Wilton Barnstable's face. It +changed, it shifted, that look did; Cleggett almost cried out as he saw +the face of Wilton Barnstable become an impressionistic portrait of the +soul of Logan Black. He looked at Barton Ward. Barton Ward was now +looking like Wilton Barnstable's conception of Cleggett. But Watson +Bard, less facile and less creative, still clung stolidly to the +popular conception of Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +But, even as Cleggett looked, this remarkable exhibition ceased; the +Wilton Barnstable look dominated the faces again. Plump, yet +dignified, smiling easily and kindly, three plain business men looked +at him; respectable citizens, commonplace citizens, a little smug; +faces that spoke of comfort, method, regularity; eyes that seemed to +wink with the pressure of platitudes in the minds behind them; +platitudes that desired to force their way to the lips and out into the +world. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, such was the genius of Wilton Barnstable that he could at will +impose himself upon people as the apotheosis of the commonplace. He +did it often. It was almost second nature to him now. His urbane smile +was the only visible sign of his own enjoyment of this habitual feat. +He knew his own genius, and smiled to think how easy it was to pass for +an average man! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE THIRD OBLONG BOX ARRIVES +</H3> + +<P> +"I think," said Wilton Barnstable, when Cleggett had finished, "that I +may be able to clear up a few points for you. +</P> + +<P> +"The two men whom you saw me hazing up and down the bank of the canal, +and whom you saw again tonight, followed by the man in the baby blue +silk pajamas, were Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat!" +</P> + +<P> +"The wretches!" cried Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"Wretches indeed," said Wilton Barnstable, Barton Ward, and Watson +Bard, in unison, and with conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"And the man in the baby blue silk pajamas, was——" the great +detective paused, as if to make his revelation more effective. And +while he paused, Miss Genevieve Pringle, with pursed lips and averted +face, signified that the very idea of introducing a man in baby blue +silk pajamas into the conversation was intensely displeasing to her. +</P> + +<P> +"The man in pajamas was Reginald Maltravers," finished the great +detective. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers!" cried Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +She opened her mouth again as if to say something more, but words +failed her, and she only stared at the detective, with parted lips and +round eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett went to her and touched her on the arm, and with the touch she +gave a sob of emotion and found her tongue again. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers," she said, "is not dead then! Not dead after +all!" +</P> + +<P> +She endeavored to control herself, but for a moment or two she +trembled. It was evident that it was all she could do to keep from +crying hysterically with relief. The nightmare that had haunted her +for days had vanished almost too suddenly. Presently she began to be +herself again. +</P> + +<P> +"You are sure that he is not dead?" she said with a voice that still +shook. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," said Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +And as if quietly satisfied with the sensation they had produced, the +three detectives smiled at each other urbanely and contentedly. +Barnstable continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers came to my agency some days ago and requested a +bodyguard. Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat had attacked him, no doubt +intending to earn the money which Elmer had promised them. He beat +them off. In fact, he caned them soundly. But they still continued to +dog him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Ward here, who handled the case, soon reported to me that he +believed Reginald Maltravers to be insane." +</P> + +<P> +"Insane he was," cried Lady Agatha. "I have seen the light of insanity +in his eye, gleaming through his accursed monocle." She spoke with +vehemence. Now that she knew the man to be alive, her hatred of him +had flared up again. +</P> + +<P> +"Insane he was," agreed Wilton Barnstable. "And shortly after that +discovery was made, he disappeared. The next day after his +disappearance, Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat were liberally supplied +with money. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course they got the money, Lady Agatha, through the clever trick +they worked upon you." +</P> + +<P> +"A great many people have got money from me since I have been in +America," said Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Yes?" The great detective went on with his masterly summing up. +"Of course they got the money from the trick they worked on Lady +Agatha. But at the time I thought it possible that they had robbed +Reginald Maltravers and then put him out of the way. They are +well-known gunmen. +</P> + +<P> +"I took them into custody and determined to hold them until such time +as Reginald Maltravers would be found, or his fate discovered. +Eventually I brought them with me on my house boat. I was really +holding them without due legal warrant, but I am forced to do that, +sometimes. They complained of lack of exercise, so I gave them +exercise in the manner which you saw the other morning, Mr. Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"One of my agents, shortly after this, picked up the trail of Reginald +Maltravers again. When I learned that he was alive my first impulse +was to release Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat. But I learned that the +two gunmen could, if they would, give me a tip as to certain of the +activities of Logan Black, against whom I have been collecting evidence +for nearly a year. So I kept them on my boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers, most of the time that you were riding about the +country, Lady Agatha, with the box that you thought contained him, was +really following you. He would lose your trail and find it again, but +he was always some hours behind you. Of course, he knew nothing of the +oblong box. He thought that you were running away from him. And all +the time that Reginald Maltravers was following you, agents of mine +were following Reginald Maltravers." +</P> + +<P> +"Lady Agatha," interrupted Cleggett, "was also being pursued by Miss +Pringle here." +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable carefully made a note in a little book which he drew +from his waistcoat pocket. Barton Ward also made a note in a little +book, Watson Bard started to make a note, and then paused; in fact, +Watson Bard did not complete his note until he had gotten a peep into +the notebook of Barton Ward. The notes made, the three detectives once +more smiled craftily at each other, and Wilton Barnstable resumed: +</P> + +<P> +"We knew, of course, that another lady was also following Lady Agatha. +But, until the present moment, we had not identified her with Miss +Pringle. And I should not be at all surprised, not at ALL surprised, +if still another person had been following Miss Pringle." +</P> + +<P> +"With what object?" asked Miss Pringle, looking alarmed at the idea. +</P> + +<P> +"The motive, my dear lady, I must for the present withhold," said +Wilton Barnstable. And again the three detectives exchanged knowing +glances. +</P> + +<P> +"Reginald Maltravers' pursuit of you, Lady Agatha, led him to +Fairport," went on the great sleuth. "No doubt he met the driver of +the vehicle which brought you hither, and learned that you and Elmer +had been set down in this neighborhood, just as Miss Pringle learned +it. No doubt it was well after dark when he arrived in the vicinity of +the Jasper B. And it is to be supposed that, once out here, he went to +Morris's road house, thinking it quite likely that you and Elmer would +stop there, as he had been tracking you from road house to road house. +Logan Black, knowing that the authorities were on his trail, mistook +Reginald Maltravers for a detective, and held him prisoner at Morris's. +Logan Black's men took away his clothes in order to minimize the +possibility of his escape." +</P> + +<P> +"And the Earl of Claiborne's signet ring——" began Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, Reginald Maltravers was wearing it, and of course they took +his valuables from him," said Barnstable. "One of the ruffians was +wearing the ring as he approached your vessel with a bomb. But, Mr. +Cleggett, there are points about that bomb explosion which I do not +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I," admitted Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"We will clear them up later," said the great detective, smiling +benignly at his thumbs, which he was revolving slowly about each other +as he reconstructed the case. +</P> + +<P> +"Later!" smiled Barton Ward. "Later!" murmured Watson Bard. With their +hands clasped over their stomachs, they, too, benignly twirled their +thumbs. +</P> + +<P> +"Tonight," pursued Barnstable, "having finally got all the information +I wished from Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat with regard to Logan Black, +I tossed them the key to their irons and told them to unlock themselves +and clear out. It was just before the storm began, and they were +sitting on the bank of the canal at the time. I allowed them to sit +there in the evenings and get the fresh air. +</P> + +<P> +"But before they could unlock themselves Reginald Maltravers, who had, +we must suppose, escaped from Morris's through the carelessness of one +of Logan Black's subordinates, crawled up the bank of the canal, which +he had swum, and made for the two gunmen, with the water dripping from +his eyeglass. He had recognized them as the men who had dogged and +assaulted him, and every other idea was obliterated in his desire for +vengeance. +</P> + +<P> +"They fled. He pursued. He caught them, and they fought. They +succeeded in dropping one of the iron balls on his foot—on his bunion +foot, Mr. Cleggett—crippling him." +</P> + +<P> +As this mention of the bunion, Miss Genevive Pringle arose with +dignity, and, flinging a shawl about her shoulders, left the cabin, +chin in air. She did not vouchsafe so much as one backward glance at +Cleggett or the three detectives or lady Agatha as she left, but +outraged propriety was expressed in every line of her figure. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm," mused the detective, flushing slightly; and Watson Bard and +Barton Ward also colored a little, and looked hacked. They glanced +furtively at Lady Agatha, to see if she too might be offended. +</P> + +<P> +"Proceed, Mr. Barnstable," she said a little impatiently. "Bunions +don't bother me, either mentally or physically. I am familiar with the +idea of bunions. There are many bunions in the Claiborne family." +</P> + +<P> +"On his bunion foot, crippling him," resumed the detective, reassured. +"The storm came up, and still the gunmen fled, and still Reginald +Maltravers pursued. I suppose, since you saw them on the west side of +the canal, Mr. Cleggett, that they had run around the north end of it. +Probably, while you and Logan Black were fighting, they were running up +and down in the neighborhood, in the storm, intent only upon their own +feud." +</P> + +<P> +"They certainly seemed exhausted when I saw them," said Cleggett, "all +three of them. But if you will permit me to say so, the astuteness +with which you are reconstructing this case compels my admiration." +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable bowed, and Barton Ward and Watson Bard slightly +inclined their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"Your skill," said Lady Agatha, "is equal to that of Sherlock Holmes." +</P> + +<P> +At the name of Sherlock Holmes a shade passed over the face of Wilton +Barnstable. He slightly compressed his lips, and his eyebrows went up +a fraction of an inch. This shade was reflected on the faces of Barton +Ward and Watson Bard. There was a moment of silence, but presently +Wilton Barnstable continued, repressing a sigh: +</P> + +<P> +"I thought at first, Mr. Cleggett, that you were an ally of Logan +Black's, just as you believed me to be his ally, and as he believed you +and me to be working together. It may interest you to know that +smuggling has been one of his side lines. There is, somewhere +hereabouts, a cave in which smuggled goods are stored. These coasts +have a sinister history, Mr. Cleggett. It is possible that your canal +boat—I beg your pardon, your schooner, Mr. Cleggett—played some part +in their smuggling operations. At any rate it is evident that Logan +Black transferred to the hold of this vessel the incriminating evidence +against him, contained in that oblong box, when he learned that my +agents were watching Morris's. The Jasper B. has been lying in her +present position for a long time. In the event that a sudden get-away +from Morris's became necessary, it was an advantage to Logan Black to +be able to leave without being hampered with this matter. No one, for +many years, had paid any attention to the Jasper B., with the exception +of the old truck farmer, Abernethy, who used sometimes to fish from her +deck, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"Truck farmer!" cried Cleggett. "Abernethy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Truck farmer," repeated Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"Is not Abernethy an old sea captain?" asked Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no, I believe not," said Barnstable. "At least I never heard so. +He is well known as a small truck gardener in this neighborhood. It is +true that he comes of a seafaring family—indeed, it is his boast. +But, in a community where nearly everyone knows a little about boats, I +believe that Abernethy is remarkable for an indisposition to venture +far from shore." +</P> + +<P> +"I can scarcely believe it," breathed Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"He does not understand boats," said Barnstable. "That is the reason, I +take it, why he has always fished in the canal from the deck of the +Jasper B." +</P> + +<P> +"Abernethy is a gallant man," said Cleggett, rather sternly. "And even +although he may have had little actual seafaring experience, the +instinct is in him! The inherited love of a nautical life has been +latent in him all along. And at the first opportunity it has come out. +He has shown his mettle aboard the Jasper B." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not doubt it, if you insist upon it," said Wilton Barnstable, +politely. And from revolving his thumbs benignly towards himself he +began to revolve them urbanely from himself. The reversal was imitated +at once by Barton Ward, but Watson Bard was slower in putting this new +coup into execution. +</P> + +<P> +"The resemblance between the two oblong boxes evidently fooled Logan +Black," continued Barnstable, "and his men stole the wrong one, but he +knows by this time that his plan to get the box has failed." +</P> + +<P> +"He knows it?" said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"From the bank of the canal he witnessed our capture of the box, and of +the two men who were making off with it. After you had beaten off his +assault upon the ship, he turned his attention to the canal, to see if +the men whom he had assigned to the job of creeping over the stern of +the Jasper B. had by any chance succeeded in purloining the box. He +was alone, but he attempted to come to the assistance of his two +followers even as we made them prisoners. In fact, we exchanged shots." +</P> + +<P> +The great detective made little of the danger he had encountered. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, his smile became one of amusement as he removed his coat, +rolled up his shirt sleeves, and exhibited a bandaged wound in the +fleshy part of his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only a slight wound," he said, beaming on it as if wounds were +quite delightful affairs, "and scarcely inconveniences me." +</P> + +<P> +Barton Ward and Watson Bard, with their sleeves rolled up, were also +smiling placidly and indulgently at bandages about their left arms. +Whether there were real wounds beneath their bandages also, Cleggett +could not determine. The bandage of Barton Ward was slightly stained +with red, but the bandage of Watson Bard was quite white. All three +replaced their coats at the same time, and Wilton Barnstable went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Our course of procedure is plain, Mr. Cleggett. We have the evidence +against Logan Black. We must have the man himself. I depend upon you +to cooperate with me. I think," he said, beaming at Barton Ward and +Watson Bard with an air of modest triumph, "that the case of Logan +Black is going to prove one of my really GREAT cases. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one point which I have not yet made clear to you, I +believe—and that is how Logan Black's men were able to enter and leave +the hold of your vessel so mysteriously. But I am shaping up my theory +about that! I am shaping it up!" +</P> + +<P> +"Would it be indescreet to inquire just what your theory is?" asked +Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +And Lady Agatha murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"For my part, I can make nothing of it, and I should be glad to hear +your theory." +</P> + +<P> +"It would," said Wilton Barnstable, soberly, "it would be premature, if +I told you my theory at the present moment. You must pardon me—but it +WOULD. In my line of business—and I insist, Mr. Cleggett, that I am a +plain business man, nothing more—I find it absolutely necessary not to +communicate all my information to the layman until the case is quite +perfect in all its points. But do not get the notion, Mr. Cleggett, +that I underestimate the part that you have taken in the case of Logan +Black. You have helped me, Mr. Cleggett. When I have my secretary +prepare the case of Logan Black for magazine and newspaper publication +I shall have your name mentioned as that of a person who has helped me. +Yes, you have helped me." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke he picked from a reading table a magazine, on the cover of +which appeared his own portrait—or rather, the portrait of the popular +conception of Wilton Barnstable—and began to make motions about it +with his finger. He appeared to be marking off the space beside the +portrait into an arrangement of letters and spaces. His lips moved as +he did so; he murmured: "The Case of Logan Black—the Case of Logan +Black!" He seemed to see, with the eye of a typographical expert, the +legend printed there. Barton Ward and Watson Bard, slightly flushed and +a little excited in spite of themselves, seemed also to see it there. +</P> + +<P> +It might have occurred to a person more critical than Cleggett that it +was he himself who had furnished nearly all the real evidence upon +which Wilton Barnstable was constructing this Case of Logan Black. But +Cleggett looked for the gold in men, not the dross; the great qualities +of Wilton Barnstable appealed to his imagination; the best in Cleggett +responded to the best in Wilton Barnstable; if the detective possessed +a certain amount of vanity, Cleggett preferred to overlook it. +</P> + +<P> +"Decidedly," said Wilton Barnstable, laying down the magazine, and +looking at Cleggett kindly and serenely, "I shall see to it that your +name is mentioned in connection with the Case of Logan Black." And +Barton Ward and Watson Bard also bent upon him their bland and friendly +regard. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was about to thank them, but at that moment there was a +commotion of some sort on deck. +</P> + +<P> +Two female voices, one of which they all recognized as that of Miss +Genevieve Pringle, were mingling in a babble of greeting, +expostulation, interjection, and explanation, and presently Miss +Pringle entered the cabin, followed by a younger lady who, except for +her youth, looked much like her. +</P> + +<P> +"My niece, Miss Henrietta Pringle, of Flatbush," said Miss Pringle, +primly presenting her prim relation. "She has just arrived——" +</P> + +<P> +"With the plum preserves!" cried Lady Agatha. +</P> + +<P> +"With the plum preserves," confirmed Miss Genevieve Pringle. +</P> + +<P> +And Captain Abernethy and George the Greek bore into the cabin a third +oblong box, exactly similar in appearance to the box of Reginald +Maltravers and the box which contained the evidence against Logan +Black, and set it on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +The three detectives stood and looked at the three boxes with an air of +great satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"With this addition to our oblong boxes," said Wilton Barnstable, +"their number is now complete. Miss Henrietta Pringle, we will listen +to your story." +</P> + +<P> +There was little to tell, and Miss Henrietta Pringle told it in a +breath. Having received no acknowledgment of the receipt of the plum +preserves from her aunt, an unusual oversight on her aunt's part, she +had journeyed to Newark with a vague fear that there might be something +wrong. +</P> + +<P> +"Arrived in Newark," she said, "I learned that my aunt, with her two +white horses and her family carriage driven by Jefferson, the negro +coachmen, had suddenly left Newark, without giving any explanation to +anyone, or making her destination known. +</P> + +<P> +"The proceeding was very strange; it was very unlike my aunt, and I was +frightened. Everyone who had seen her start testified that she was +laboring under a great nervous strain of some sort. +</P> + +<P> +"I called at the freight depot and got the box of plum preserves which +I had shipped to her. To tell the truth, I feared for her reason. I +thought that if I could find her, and could show her the familiar plum +preserves, which she loved so well, they would be of material +assistance in influencing her to return to her home. So, setting out +to search for her in my Ford auto, I took the box of plum preserves +with me. +</P> + +<P> +"I soon got upon her trail. The negro coachman, the family carriage +and the white horses had excited remark everywhere. Briefly, I traced +her here, and am happy to discover that my worst fears with regard to +her have proved false." +</P> + +<P> +"Henrietta," said her aunt, reproachfully, "your fears do you very +little credit, or me either." +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Genevieve," said the niece, "pray, do not rebuke me." +</P> + +<P> +"I was certain," said Wilton Barnstable, complacently, "that it would +develop that Miss Genevieve Pringle was herself being pursued. I was +confident of it, Cleggett. And now that I have cleared up for you the +mystery of Logan Black, the mystery of the box of Reginald Maltravers, +and the mystery of the box of plum preserves, there only remains the +capture of Logan Black to hold me in this part of the country and to +keep you from your voyage to the China Seas." +</P> + +<P> +"We must get together," said Cleggett, "on a plan of campaign. Logan +Black will certainly attack again. He has only been beaten off +temporarily. In the meanwhile, it is almost breakfast time." +</P> + +<P> +And, indeed, the lights in the cabin were suddenly growing pale. The +sun was rising. Its beams, shining through the cabin skylight, fell +upon the three great detectives, each one of whom, with an air of +ineffable satisfaction, was gloating—but gloating urbanely and with +dignity—over an oblong box. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DANCING ON THE DECK +</H3> + +<P> +It was decided, at a conference of Lady Agatha, Cleggett, and the three +detectives, at the breakfast table, to throw up a line of entrenchments +along the bank of the canal commanding the approach to the Jasper B. +and the Annabel Lee. No one felt the least doubt that Logan Black would +renew the attack sooner or later, unless the two vessels made off. +</P> + +<P> +"And," said Cleggett, "I shall not leave until the Jasper B. has been +rigged as a schooner again. Anything else would have the appearance of +a retreat. Nor will I be hurried. I am on my own property, and I +purpose to defend it at whatever cost." +</P> + +<P> +He set his jaws firmly as he declared this intention, and Lady Agatha's +eyes dwelt upon him in admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"The Annabel Lee could tow you away, you know," demurred Wilton +Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"When the Jasper B. moves," said Cleggett, with finality, "it will be +under her own power." +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly, work was begun at once on the entrenchments. Everyone on +board the Jasper B. was sadly in need of sleep, but Cleggett felt that +the earthworks could not wait. He divided his force into two shifts. +Cleggett, the three detectives, Jefferson the genial coachman, and +Washington Artillery Lamb, the janitor and butler of the house boat +Annabel Lee, a negro as large and black as Jefferson himself, took a +two-hour trick with the spades and then lay down and slept while +Abernethy, Kuroki, Elmer, Calthrop, George the Greek, and Farnsworth +dug for an equal length of time. The two prisoners captured by +Barnstable the night before, one of whom was the smirking and sinister +Pierre, were compelled to dig all the time. Even Teddy, Lady Agatha's +little Pomeranian, dug. The ladies of the party slept throughout the +morning. +</P> + +<P> +During the forenoon Cleggett dispatched Dr. Farnsworth to the city in +Miss Henrietta Pringle's Ford car, and he returned about one o'clock +with four more trained nurses. They were installed on board the +houseboat Annabel Lee, instead of at Parker's Beach as Cleggett had +originally intended, and the Red Cross flag was hoisted over that +vessel. Cleggett felt confident that the next battle would be +sanguinary in character, and, true to his humanitarian ideals, was +resolved to be fully prepared this time to care for as many people as +he might disable. Giuseppe Jones, who was quieter now, although at +times still irrationally babbling incendiary vers libre poems, was +removed to the Annabel Lee, where Miss Medley, quite worn out, turned +him over to a fresh nurse. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the reinforcement of nurses had arrived the earthworks of +the good ship Jasper B. were completed, and, after a double portion of +stiff grog all around, Cleggett ordered all hands to lie down on the +deck for an hour's comfortable nap. He stood watch himself. Cleggett +had not slept much during the past forty-eight hours, but he was a man +of iron. Like King Henry Fifth of England, Cleggett found a certain +pleasure in watching while his troops slumbered. Cleggett and this +lively monarch had other points in common, although Cleggett, even in +his youth, would never have associated with a character so habitually +dissolute as Sir John Falstaff. +</P> + +<P> +The construction of the trench was not without its effect upon the gang +of villains at Morris's. About nine in the morning Cleggett noticed +that he was under observation from the roof of the east verandah of the +road house. Loge and two of his ruffianly lieutenants were +scrutinizing the Cleggett flotilla and fortifications through their +binoculars. Cleggett, through his own glass, returned the compliment. +</P> + +<P> +The three men were conducting an animated discussion. From their +gestures they seemed to be completely nonplussed by the entrenchments. +Watching their pantomime closely, Cleggett gathered that Loge was +endeavoring to enforce some point of view with regard to the Jasper B. +upon his two followers. Finally Loge, making a gesture towards +Cleggett with one hand, tapped himself several times on the forehead +with the other, his lips moving rapidly the while. The two other men +shrugged their shoulders and nodded, as if in agreement with Loge. The +insulting significance of the gesture was only too apparent. As +plainly as if he had heard the accompanying words Cleggett understood +that Loge, out of the depths of his perplexity, had said that he +(Cleggett) was mentally erratic. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you think so, do you?" said Cleggett aloud, laying down his glass +and seizing a rifle. "Well, just to let you know that I have a certain +opinion of you, also, my friend Loge——" And he sent a bullet over +the heads of the three men. They hastily ducked into the house. +Cleggett might have picked Loge off, but he disdained to do so. It was +his purpose to take the man alive, if possible. +</P> + +<P> +But the rifle shot did not end the espionage. All day scouting parties +in taxicabs kept appearing on the sandy plain to reconnoiter the fleet +and fortress. They circled, they swooped, they dashed, they zigzagged +here and there, but always at a high rate of speed, and always at a +prudent distance from the canal. Beyond sending an occasional rifle +ball whistling towards the wheels of the cabs, or over the heads of the +occupants, to remind them to keep their distance, Cleggett paid but +little attention to these parties. If Loge thought him demented, if he +had his enemy guessing, so much the better. The eccentric movements of +these cabs was a circumstance which in itself testified to Loge's +bewilderment and curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett had no idea that there would be an attack before nightfall, +and at two o'clock in the afternoon he awakened all the members of his +crew who were still sleeping, ordered them into bathing suits, a supply +of which he had been thoughtful enough to have the young doctor bring +out along with the nurses, and piped them into the canal. The water +was cold, but they came out refreshed and invigorated by the plunge and +feeling fit for any struggle that might be ahead of them. This +maneuver on the part of Cleggett and his marines and infantrymen seemed +still more to excite the curiosity and contribute to the bewilderment +of Loge and his ruffians. +</P> + +<P> +After the general bath and a substantial lunch, Cleggett called all +hands aft and addressed them. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies and loyal followers and co-workers," he said. "We have passed +some nights and days of peril. And there are, I doubt not, still +parlous times ahead of the Jasper B. before our ship sets sail for the +China Seas. But what is sweeter than pleasure snatched from the very +presence of danger? Courage and gayety should go hand in hand! It is +a beautiful May afternoon, we have a goodly deck beneath our feet, and, +briefly, who is for a dance?" +</P> + +<P> +A huzza showed the popularity of the suggestion. Washington Artillery +Lamb, the janitor and butler of the Annabel Lee, possessed an accordion +on which he was an earnest and artistic performer. Miss Pringle's +Jefferson had with him a harmonica, or mouth organ, which he at once +produced. Jefferson was endowed with the peculiar gift of manipulating +this little musical instrument solely with his lips, moving it back and +forth and round about as he played, without touching it with his hands; +and this left his hands free to pat the time. The negro orchestra +perched itself on the top of the cabin, and in a moment Lady Agatha, +the five nurses, Cleggett, the three detectives, Dr. Farnsworth, and +Captain Abernethy were tangoing on the deck. And this to the still +further perplexity of Logan Black. As the dance started Cleggett saw +that person, almost distracted by his inability to comprehend the +mental processes of the commander of the Jasper B., rise to his feet in +an automobile that had stopped a couple of hundred yards away, and beat +with both hands upon his temples, gnashing his long yellow teeth the +while. +</P> + +<P> +The Rev. Simeon Calthrop turned sadly away from the vessel, and, with a +sigh, went and sat in the trench, where he was soon joined by Elmer. +The disgraced preacher and the reformed convict had struck up a fast +friendship. They sat with their backs towards the Jasper B., and +Cleggett supposed from their attitude that they were sternly +condemnatory of the frivolity and festivity on board ship. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, after the first dance, sought them out. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope," he said to the Rev. Mr. Calthrop, not unkindly, "that you +don't disapprove of us." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't that, Mr. Cleggett," said the ship's chaplain, with sorrow in +his eloquent brown eyes, "it isn't that at all. In fact, I had a tango +class in the basement of my church, every Thursday evening-when I had a +church." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Alas!" sighed the young preacher. "I do not trust myself! Women, as I +have told you, Mr. Cleggett, are apt to become fascinated with me. I +cannot help it. It is in such gay scenes as this that the danger lies, +Mr. Cleggett. As an honorable man, I feel that I am bound to withdraw +myself and my fatal influence." +</P> + +<P> +"You are too subtle—too subtle for moral health," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"But I will not attempt to influence you. Elmer, are you also afraid +of inspiring a hopeless passion?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mister Cleggett," said Elmer gloomily and huskily, out of one corner +of his mouth, "I ain't takin' a chance. D' youse get me? Not a +chancet. Oncet youse reformed, Mr. Cleggett, youse can't be too +careful." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett returned to the vessel. Miss Pringle the elder was leaving +it. Miss Henrietta Pringle was following. Cleggett gathered that the +niece left reluctantly, and under the coercion of the aunt. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Pringle the elder was about to join the Rev. Mr. Calthrop in the +trench. Morality, as well as misery, loves company. But Mr. Calthrop +saw the Misses Pringle coming. He swiftly rose, passed them by with +his face averted, and went aboard the Annabel Lee. It was evident that +he believed that his fatal gift of fascination had attracted these +ladies towards him in spite of himself. Elmer and the Misses Pringle +sat gloomily on a clean plank in the trench while the dance went gayly +on. +</P> + +<P> +"If you was to ask me," said Captain Abernethy, pausing winded from the +tango, strong old man that he was, "I'd give it as my opinion that them +that gits their enjoyment in an oncheerful way don't git nigh as much +of it as them that gits it in a cheerful way. Mrs. Lady Agatha, ma'am, +if you kin fox-trot as well as you kin tango I'll never have another +word to say agin female suffragettes." +</P> + +<P> +But as Cap'n Abernethy spoke the grin froze upon his face. +</P> + +<P> +"My God! Look there!" he shrilled, pointing a long finger towards the +plain. Simultaneously the Misses Pringle, shrieking wildly, leaped +from the trench towards the ship and Elmer fired a pistol shot. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett beheld five taxicabs, filled with Loge's assassins, charging +towards the vessel at the rate of thirty miles an hour. +</P> + +<P> +"To arms! To arms!" shouted the commander of the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +But the enemy, with Logan Black in the lead, had already reached the +trenches. They flung themselves to the ground and swept over the +trench towards the bulwarks, twenty strong, with flashing machetes. So +confident had Cleggett been that Loge would not dare to attack in broad +daylight that he had scarcely even considered the possibility. It was +the one fault of his military and naval career. +</P> + +<P> +"Cutlasses, men, and at them!" he cried. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CUTLASSES +</H3> + +<P> +There was no thought of guns or pistols. There was no time to aim or +fire. Loge's rush had lodged him on the deck. Roaring like a wild +animal, he carried the fight to the defenders. He meant to make a +finish of it this time, and with the edged and bitter steel. +</P> + +<P> +As the women scurried into the cabin the two lines met, with a ringing +clash of blades, on the deck of the Jasper B., and the sparks flew from +the stricken metal. Cleggett strove to engage Loge hand to hand; and +Loge, on his part, attempted to fight his way to Cleggett; they shouted +insults at each other across the press of battle. But in affairs of +this sort a man must give his attention to the person directly in front +of him; otherwise he is lost. As Cleggett cut and thrust and parried, +a sudden seizure overtook him; he moved as if in a dream; he had the +eerie feeling that he had done all this before, sometime, perhaps in a +previous existence, and would do it again. The clangor of the meeting +swords, the inarticulate shouts and curses, the dance of struggling men +across the deck, the whirling confusion of the whole fantastic scene +beneath the quiet skies, struck upon his consciousness with that +strange phantasmagoric quality which makes the hurrying unreality of +dreams so much more vivid and more real than anything in waking life. +</P> + +<P> +In the center of Cleggett's line stood the three detectives shoulder to +shoulder. Their three swords rose and fell as one. They cut and lunged +and guarded with a machine-like regularity, advancing, giving ground, +advancing again, with a rhythmic unanimity which was baffling to their +opponents. +</P> + +<P> +On either flank of the detectives fought one of the gigantic negroes. +Washington Artillery Lamb, almost at once, had broken his cutlass, and +now he raged in the waist of the Jasper B. with a long iron bar in his +hand. Miss Pringle's Jefferson, with his high cockaded hat still +firmly fixed upon his head, laid about him with a heavy cavalry saber; +in his excitement he still held his harmonica in his mouth and blew +blasts upon it as he fought. The Rev. Simeon Calthrop, in a loud +agitated voice, sang hymns as he swung his cutlass. And, among the +legs of the combatants, leapt and snapped Teddy the Pomeranian, biting +friend and foe indiscriminately upon the ankles. +</P> + +<P> +But gradually the weight of superior numbers began to tell. Farnsworth +staggered from the fight with a face covered with blood which blinded +him. Cap'n Abernethy likewise was bleeding from a wound in the head; +George the Greek and Watson Bard were hurt, but both fought on. The +crew of the Jasper B. and their allies of the Annabel Lee were being +slowly forced back towards the cabin, when there came a sudden and +decisive turn in the fortunes of the fight. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, straining to meet Loge, who hung sword to sword with Wilton +Barnstable, saw Giuseppe Jones, deserted by his nurses, tumbling feebly +over the bow of the Jasper B. in the rear of Loge's line. Barelegged, +a red blanket fastened about his throat with a big brass safety pin, a +thermometer in one hand and a medicine bottle in the other, he +tottered, crazily and weakly between Loge and Barnstable, chanting a +vers libre poem in a shrill, insane voice. +</P> + +<P> +Loge, who had extended himself in a vigorous lunge, was struck by the +weight of the young anarchist's body at the crook of the knees, and +came down on the deck at full length, his machete flying from his hand +as he fell. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was upon the criminal in an instant, his hand at the outlaw's +throat. They grappled and rolled upon the deck. But in another second +Wilton Barnstable and Barton Ward, coming to Cleggett's assistance, had +snapped irons upon the president of the crime trust, hand and foot. +</P> + +<P> +His overthrow was the signal of his men's defeat. As he went down they +hesitated and wavered. The two great negroes, taking advantage of this +hesitation, burst among them with mighty blows and strange +Afro-American oaths, Castor and Pollux in bronze. With a shout of +"Banzai!" Kuroki rushed forward with his kris; the other defenders +added weight and fury to the rally. Before the irons were on the +wrists of Loge his men were routed. They leaped the rail and made off +for their fleet of taxicabs, flinging away their weapons as they ran. +</P> + +<P> +Loge writhed and twisted and lashed the deck with his legs and body for +a moment, striving even against the bands of steel that bit into his +wrists and ankles. And then he lay still with his face against the +planks as if in a vast and overwhelming bitterness of despair. +</P> + +<P> +It had been Cleggett's earlier thought to take the man alive, if +possible, and turn him over to the authorities. But now that Loge was +taken he burned with the wish for personal combat with him. He desired +to be the agent of society, and put an end to Logan Black himself. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, as he gazed at the fellow lying prone upon the deck, could +not repress a murmur of dissatisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"We never fought it out," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Whether Loge heard him or not, the same thought was evidently running +is his mind. He lifted his head. A slow, malignant grin that showed +his yellow canine teeth lifted his upper lip. He fixed his eyes on +Cleggett with a cold deadliness of hatred and said: +</P> + +<P> +"You are lucky." +</P> + +<P> +Outwardly Cleggett remained calm, but inwardly he was shaken with an +intensity of passion that matched Loge's own. +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky?" he said quietly. "That is as may be. And if, as I infer, you +desire a settlement of a more personal nature than the law recognizes, +it is still not too late to accommodate you." +</P> + +<P> +"Desire!" cried Loge, with a movement of his manacled hands. "I would +go to Hell happy if I sent you ahead of me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Cleggett. "Since you have challenged me I will fight +you. I will do you that honor." +</P> + +<P> +Loge was about to answer when Wilton Barnstable broke in: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Cleggett," he said, "I scarcely understand you. Are you +consenting to fight this man?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," said Cleggett. "He has challenged me." +</P> + +<P> +"A duel?" said Wilton Barnstable in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"A duel." +</P> + +<P> +"But that is impossible. His life is forfeit to the law. I hope, +before the year is out, to send him to the electric chair. Under the +circumstances, a duel is an absurdity." +</P> + +<P> +"An absurdity?" Cleggett, with his hands on his hips, and a little +dancing light in his eyes, faced the great detective squarely. "You +permit yourself very peculiar expressions, Mr. Barnstable!" +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," said Wilton Barnstable. "I withdraw 'absurdity.' +But you must see yourself, Mr. Cleggett, that a duel is useless, if +nothing else. The man is our prisoner. He belongs to the law." +</P> + +<P> +Loge had struggled to a sitting posture, his back against the port +bulwark, and was listening with an odd look on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"The law?" said Cleggett. "I suppose, in one sense, that is true. But +the matter has its personal element as well." +</P> + +<P> +"I must insist," said Wilton Barnstable, "that Logan Black is my +prisoner." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was silent a moment. Then he said firmly: "Mr. Barnstable, +it is painful to me to have to remind you of it, but your attitude +forces me to an equal directness. The fact that Logan Black is now a +captive is due to his efforts to recover certain evidence which may be +used against him. This evidence I discovered and defended, and this +evidence I now hold in my possession." +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable was about to retort, perhaps heatedly, but Cleggett, +generous even while determined to have his own way, hastened to add: +"Do not think, Mr. Barnstable, that I minimize your work, or your +assistance—but, after all, what am I demanding that is unreasonable? +If Logan Black dies by my hand, are not the ends of justice served as +well as if he died in the electric chair? And if I fall, the law may +still take its course." +</P> + +<P> +Loge had listened to this speech attentively. He lifted his head and +glanced about the deck, filling his lungs with a deep draft of air. +Something like a gleam of hope was visible in his features. +</P> + +<P> +"It is irregular," said Wilton Barnstable, frowning, and not half +convinced. "And, in the name of Heaven, why imperil your life +needlessly? Why expose yourself again to the power of this monstrous +criminal?" +</P> + +<P> +"The fellow has challenged me, and I have granted him a meeting," said +Cleggett. "I hope there is such a thing as honor!" +</P> + +<P> +"Clement!" It was Lady Agatha who spoke. As she did so she laid her +hand on Cleggett's arm. She had hearkened in silence to the colloquy +between him and Barnstable, as had the others. She drew him out of +sight and hearing behind the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"Clement," she said with agitation, "do not fight this man!" +</P> + +<P> +"I must," he said simply. It cut him to the heart to refuse the first +request that she had asked of him since his avowal of his love for her +and her tacit acceptance. But, to a man of Cleggett's ideas, there was +no choice. +</P> + +<P> +"Clement," she said in a low tone, "you have told me that you love me." +</P> + +<P> +"Agatha!" he murmured brokenly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you know——" she paused, as if she could not continue, but her +eyes and manner spoke the rest. In a moment her lips spoke it too; she +was not the sort of woman who is afraid to avow the promptings of her +heart. "You know," she said, "that I love you." +</P> + +<P> +"Agatha!" he cried again. He could say no more. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Clement," she said, "if you were killed—killed uselessly!—now +that I have found you, I could not bear it. Dear, I could not bear it!" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was profoundly moved. He yearned to take her in his arms to +comfort her, and to promise anything she wished. And the thought came +to him too that, if he should perish, the one kiss, given and received +in the darkness and danger of fight and storm, would be all the brave +sweetness of her that he would know this side of the grave; the thought +came to him bitterly. For an instant he wavered. +</P> + +<P> +"Agatha!" he said with dry lips. "I have already accepted the fellow's +challenge." +</P> + +<P> +"And what of that?" she cried. "Would you cling to a barren point of +honor in despite of love?" +</P> + +<P> +"Even so," he said, and sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Clement," she said, "I cannot bear it! I cannot bear to lose you! +I always knew you were in the world somewhere—and now that I have +found you it is only to give you up! It is too much!" +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was silent for a moment. When he spoke it was slowly and +gently, but earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"No point of honor is a barren one, dear," he said. "What the man +lying there may be matters nothing. It is not to him that I have given +my word, but to myself. In our hurried modern life we are not +punctilious enough about these things. Perhaps, in the old days, the +men and women were worse than we in many ways. But they held to a few +traditions, or the best of them did, that make the loose and tawdry +manners of this age seem cheap indeed. All my life I have known that +there was something shining and simple and precious concealed from the +common herd of men in this common age, which the brighter spirits of +the old days lived by and served and worshiped. I have always seen it +plainly, and always tried to live by it, too. Perhaps it was never, in +any period, more than a dream; but I have dreamed that dream. And +anyone who dreams that dream will have a reverence for his spoken word +no matter to whom it is passed. I may be a fool to fight this man; +well then, that is the kind of fool I am! Indeed, I know I am a fool +by the judgments of this age. But I have never truly lived in this +age. I have lived in the past; I have held to the dream; I have +believed in the bright adventure; I have walked with the generous, +chivalric spirits of the great ages; they have come to me out of my +books and dwelt with me and been my companions, and the realities of +time and place have been unreal in their presence. I see myself so +walking always. It may be that I am a vain ass, but I cannot help it. +It may be that I am a little mad; but I would rather be mad with a Don +Quixote than sane with an Andrew Carnegie and pile up platitudes and +dollars. +</P> + +<P> +"And all this foolishness of mine is somehow bound up with the thought +that I have engaged to fight that evil fellow, and must do it; all the +bright, sane madness in me cries out that he is to die by this hand of +mine. +</P> + +<P> +"I have opened my heart to you, as I have never done to anyone before. +And now I put myself into your hands. But, oh, take care—for it is +something in me better than myself that I give you to deal with! And +you can cripple it forever, because I love you and I shall listen to +you. Shall I fight him?" +</P> + +<P> +She had listened, mute and immobile, and as he spoke the red sun made a +sudden glory of her hair. She leaned towards him, and it was as if the +spirit of all the man's lifelong, foolish, romantic musings were in her +eyes and on her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Fight him!" she said. "And kill him!" +</P> + +<P> +And then her head was on his shoulder, and his arms were about her. +"Don't die!" she sobbed. "Don't die!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't fear," he said, "I feel that I'll make short work of him." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled courageously back at him; with her hands upon his shoulders +she held him back and looked at him with tilted head. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are killed," she said, "it will have been more than most women +ever get, to have known and loved you for two days." +</P> + +<P> +"Two days?" he said. "Forever!" +</P> + +<P> +"Forever!" she said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DUEL +</H3> + +<P> +Cleggett took Wilton Barnstable by the sleeve and drew him towards +Loge, who, still seated on the deck with his long legs stretched out in +front of him, was now yawning with a cynical affectation of boredom. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you to act as my second in this affair," said Cleggett to the +detective, "and I suggest that either Mr. Ward or Mr. Bard perform a +like office for Mr. Black." +</P> + +<P> +Loge shrugged his shoulders, and said with a sneer: +</P> + +<P> +"A second, eh? We seem to be doing a great deal of arranging for a +very small amount of fighting." +</P> + +<P> +"I suggest," said Wilton Barnstable, "that a night's rest would be +quite in order for both principals." +</P> + +<P> +Loge broke in quickly, with studied insolence: "I object to the delay. +Mr. Cleggett might find some excuse for changing his mind overnight. +Let us, if you please, begin at once." +</P> + +<P> +"It was not I who suggested the delay," said Cleggett, haughtily. +</P> + +<P> +"Then give us the pistols," cried Loge, with a sudden, grim ferocity in +his voice, "and let's make an end of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"We fight with swords," said Cleggett. "I am the challenged party." +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! Swords!" cried Loge, with a harsh, jarring laugh. "A bout with +the rapiers, man to man, eh? Come, this is better and better! I may +go to the chair, but first I will spit you like a squab on a skewer, my +little nut!" And then he said again, with a shout of gusty mirth, and +a clanking of his manacles: "Swords, eh? By God! The little man says +SWORDS!" +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable drew Cleggett to one side. +</P> + +<P> +"Name pistols," he said. "For God's sake, Cleggett, name pistols! If +I had had any idea that you were going to demand rapiers I should have +warned you before." +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett was amused at the great detective's anxiety. "It appears that +the fellow handles the rapier pretty well, eh?" he said easily. +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett——" began Barnstable. And then he paused and groaned and +mopped his brow. Presently he controlled his agitation and continued. +"Cleggett," he said, "the man is an expert swordsman. I have been on +his trail; I know his life for years past. He was once a maitre +d'armes. He gave lessons in the art." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" said Cleggett, laughing and flexing his wrist. "I am glad to +hear that! It will be really interesting then." +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett," said Barnstable, "I beg of you—name pistols. This is the +man who invented that diabolical thrust with which Georges Clemenceau +laid low so many of his political opponents. If you must go on with +this mad duel, name pistols!" +</P> + +<P> +"Barnstable," said Cleggett, "I know what I am about, believe me. Your +anxiety does me little honor, but I am willing to suppose that you are +not deliberately insulting, and I pass it over. I intend to kill this +man. It is a duty which I owe to society. And as for the +rapier—believe me, Barnstable, I am no novice. And my blood tingles +and my soul aches with the desire to expunge that man from life with my +own hand. Come, we have talked enough. There is a case of swords in +the cabin. Will you do me the favor to bring them on deck?" +</P> + +<P> +Loge's irons were unlocked. He rose to his feet and stretched himself. +He removed his coat and waistcoat. Then he took off his shirt, +revealing the fact that he wore next his skin a long-sleeved undershirt +of red flannel. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett began to imitate him. But as the commander of the Jasper B. +began to pull his shirt over his head he heard a little scream. +Everyone turned in the direction from which it had emanated. They +beheld Miss Genevieve Pringle perched upon the top of the cabin, +whither she had mounted by means of a short ladder. This lady, perhaps +not quite aware of the possibly sanguinary character of the spectacle +she was about to witness, had, nevertheless, sensed the fact that a +spectacle was toward. Miss Pringle had with her a handsome lorgnette. +</P> + +<P> +"Madam," said Cleggett, hastily pulling his shirt back on again and +approaching the cabin, "did you cry out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr.—er—Cleggett," said Miss Pringle, pursing her lips, "if you will +kindly hold the ladder for me I think I will descend and retire at once +to the cabin." +</P> + +<P> +"As you wish," said Cleggett politely, complying with her wish, but at +a loss to comprehend her. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg you to believe, Mr. Cleggett," said Miss Pringle, averting her +face and flushing painfully, while she turned the lorgnette about and +about with embarrassed fingers, "I beg you to believe that in electing +to witness this spectacle I had no idea of its exceedingly informal +nature." +</P> + +<P> +With these words she passed into the cabin, with the air of one who has +sustained a mortal insult. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef you was to ask me what she's tryin' to get at," piped up Cap'n +Abernethy, "I'd say it's her belief that it ain't proper for gents to +sword each other with their shirts off. She's shocked, Miss Pringle +is." +</P> + +<P> +"In great and crucial moments," said Cleggett soberly, pulling off his +shirt again and picking up a sword, "we may dispense with the minor +conventions without apology." +</P> + +<P> +Loge chose a weapon with the extreme of care and particularity, trying +the hang and balance of several of them. He looked well to the weight, +bent the blade in his hands to test the spring and temper, tried the +point upon his thumb. He handled the rapier as if he had found an old +friend again after a long absence; he looked around upon his enemies +with a sort of ferocious, bantering gayety. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Loge, "if this is to be a duel indeed, Mr. Cleggett and +I will need plenty of room, I suggest that the rest of you retire to +the bulwarks and give us the deck to ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +"For my part," said Cleggett, "I order it." +</P> + +<P> +"And," said Wilton Barnstable, drawing his pistol, "Mr. Black will +please note that while I am standing by the bulwarks I shall be +watching indeed. Should he make an attempt to escape from the vessel I +shall riddle him with bullets." +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come," said Loge, "all this conversation is a waste of time!" +</P> + +<P> +"That is my opinion also," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +They saluted formally, and engaged their blades. +</P> + +<P> +With Cleggett, swordsmanship was both a science and an art. And +something more. It was also a passion. A good swordsman can be made; +a superior swordsman may be born; the real masters are both born and +made. It was so with Cleggett. His interest in fencing had been keen +from his early boyhood. In his teens he had acquired unusual practical +skill without great theoretical knowledge. Then he had recognized the +art for what it is, the most beautiful game on earth, and had made a +profound and thorough study of it; it appealed to his imagination. +</P> + +<P> +He became, in a way, the poet of the foil. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett seldom fenced publicly, and then only under an assumed name; +he abhorred publicity. But there was not a teacher in New York City +who did not know him for a master. They brought him their half worked +out visions of new combinations, new thrusts; he perfected them, and +simplified, or elaborated, and gave back the finished product. +</P> + +<P> +They were the workmen, the craftsmen, the men of talent; he was the +originator, the genius. +</P> + +<P> +And he was especially lucky in not having been tied down, in his +younger years, to one national tradition of the art. The limitations +of the French, the Spanish, the Italian, or the Austrian schools had +not enslaved him in youth and hampered the free development of his +individuality. He had studied them all; he chose from them all their +superiorities; their excellences he blended into a system of his own. +</P> + +<P> +It might be called the Cleggett System. +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman is an intellectual swordsman; the basis of his art is a +thorough knowledge of its mathematics. Upon this foundation he +superimposes a structure of audacity. But he often falls into one +error or another, for all his mental brilliancy. He may become rigidly +formal in his practice, or, in a revolt from his own formalism, be +seduced into a display of showy, sensational tricks that are all very +well in the studio but dangerous to their practitioner on the actual +dueling ground. +</P> + +<P> +The Italian, looser, freer, less formal, more individual in his style, +springing from a line of forbears who have preferred the thrust to the +cut, the point to the edge, for centuries, is a more instinctive and +less intellectual swordsman than the Frenchman. It is in his blood; he +uses his rapier with a wild and angry grace that is feline. +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchman, even when he is thoroughly serious in his desire to +slay, loves a duel for its own sake; he is never free from the thought +of the picture he is making; the art, the science, the practical +cleverness, appeal to him independently of the bloodshed. +</P> + +<P> +The Italian thinks of but one thing; to kill. He will take a severe +wound to give a fatal one. The French are the best fencers in the +world; the Italians the deadliest duelists. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, as has been said, knew all the schools without being the +slave of any of them. +</P> + +<P> +He brought his sword en tierce; Loge's blade met his with strength and +delicacy. The strength Cleggett was prepared for. The delicacy +surprised him. But he was too much the master, too confident of his +own powers, to trifle. He delivered one of his favorite thrusts; it +was a stroke of his own invention; three times out of five, in years +past, it had carried home the button of his foil to his opponent's +jacket. It was executed with the directness and rapidity of a flash of +lightning. +</P> + +<P> +But Loge parried it with a neatness which made Cleggett open his eyes, +replying with a counter so shrewd and close, and of such a darting +ferocity, that Cleggett, although he met it faultlessly, nevertheless +gave back a step. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," cried Loge, showing his yellow teeth in a grin, "so the little +man knows that thrust!" +</P> + +<P> +"I invented it," said Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +With the word he pressed forward and, making a swift and dazzling +feint, followed it with two brilliant thrusts, either of which would +have meant the death of a tyro. The first one Loge parried; the second +touched him; but it gave him nothing more than a scratch. +Nevertheless, the smile faded from Loge's face; he gave ground in his +turn before this rapid vigor of attack; he measured Cleggett with a new +glance. +</P> + +<P> +"You are touched, I think," said Cleggett, meditating a fresh +combination, "and I am glad to see you drop that ugly pretense at a +grin. You have no idea how the sight of those yellow teeth of yours, +which you were evidently never taught to brush when you were a little +boy, offends a person of any refinement." +</P> + +<P> +Loge's answer was a sudden attempt to twist his blade around +Cleggett's; followed by a direct thrust, as quick as light, which +grazed Cleggett's shoulder; a little smudge of blood appeared on his +undershirt. +</P> + +<P> +"Take care, take care, Cleggett!" warned Wilton Barnstable, from his +post by the starboard bulwark. +</P> + +<P> +"Make yourself easy," said Cleggett, parrying a counter en carte, "I am +only getting warm." +</P> + +<P> +And both of them, stung by the slight scratches which they had +received, settled to the business with an intent and silent deadliness +of purpose. +</P> + +<P> +To all appearances Loge had an immense advantage over Cleggett; his +legs were a good two inches longer; so were his arms. And he knew how +to make these peculiarities count. He fought for a while with a calm +and steady precision that repeatedly baffled the calculated impetuosity +of Cleggett's attack. But the air of bantering certainty with which he +had begun the duel had left him. He no longer wasted his breath on +repartee; no doubt he was surprised to find Cleggett's strength so +nearly equal to his own, as Cleggett had been astonished to find in +Loge so much finesse. But with a second slight wound Loge began to give +ground. +</P> + +<P> +With Cleggett a bout with the foils had always been a duel. It has +been indicated, we believe, that he was of a romantic disposition and +much given to daydreaming; his imagination had thus made every set-to +in the fencing room a veritable mortal combat to him. Therefore, this +was not his first duel; he had fought hundreds of them. And he fought +always on a settled plan, adapting it, of course, to the idiosyncrasies +of his adversary. It was his custom to vary the system of his attack +frequently in the most disconcerting manner, at the same time steadily +increasing the pace at which he fought. And when Loge began to give +ground and breathe a little harder, Cleggett, far from taking advantage +of his opponent's growing distress to rest himself, as a less +distinguished swordsman might have done, redoubled the vigor of his +assault. Cleggett knew that sooner or later a winded man makes a +fault. The lungs labor and fail to give the blood all the oxygen it +needs. The circulation suffers. Nerves and muscles are no longer the +perfect servants of the brain; for a fraction of a second the sword +deviates from the proper line. +</P> + +<P> +It was for this that Cleggett waited, pressing Loge closer and closer, +alert for the instant when Loge would fence wide; waxing as the other +waned; menacing eyes, throat, and heart with a point that leaped and +dazzled; and at the same time inclosing himself within a rampart of +steel which Loge found it more and more hopeless to attempt to +penetrate. It was as if Cleggett's blade were an extension of his will; +he and his sword were not two things, but one. The metal in his hand +was no longer merely a whip of steel; it was a thing that lived with +his own life. His pulse beat in it. It was a part of him. His +nervous force permeated it and animated it; it was his thought turned +to tempered metal, and it was with the rapidity, directness and +subtlety of thought that his sword responded to his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" said Cleggett, as Loge broke ground, scarcely aware that he +spoke aloud. "At this rate we shall be at home thrusts soon!" +</P> + +<P> +Loge must have thought so too; a shade passed over his face, his upper +lip lifted haggardly. Perhaps even that iron nature was beginning to +feel at last something of the dull sickness which is the fear of death. +He retreated continually, and Cleggett was smitten with the fancy to +force him backward and nail him, with a final thrust, to the stump of +the foremast, which had been broken off some eight feet above the deck. +</P> + +<P> +But Loge, gathering his power, made a brilliant and desperate rally; +twice he grazed Cleggett, whose blade was too closely engaged; and then +suddenly broke ground again. This time Cleggett perceived that he had +been retreating in accordance with a preconceived program. He was +certain the man contemplated a trick, perhaps some foul stroke. +</P> + +<P> +He rushed forward with a terrible thrust. Loge, whose last maneuver +had taken him within a yard of the hatchway opening into the hold, +grasped Cleggett's blade in his left hand, and at the same instant +flung his own sword, hilt first, full in Cleggett's face. As Cleggett, +struck in the mouth with the pommel, staggered back, Loge plunged feet +foremost into the hold. It was too unexpected, and too quickly done, +for a shot from Barnstable or any of Cleggett's men. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, with the blood streaming from his mouth, recovered himself +and leaped through the aperture in the deck. He landed upon his feet +with a jar, and, shortening his sword in his hand, stared about him in +the gloom. +</P> + +<P> +He saw no one. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later Wilton Barnstable and Cap'n Abernethy were beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone!" said Cleggett simply. +</P> + +<P> +Barnstable drew from his pocket a small electric lantern and swept the +beam in a circle about the hold. Again and again he raked the darkness +until the finger of light had rested upon every foot of the interior. +</P> + +<P> +But Loge had vanished as completely as a snowflake that falls into a +tub of water. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SECRET OF THE VESSEL'S HOLD +</H3> + +<P> +"Idiot that I am," cried Cleggett, "not to have covered that hole!" +His chagrin was touching to behold. +</P> + +<P> +"There, there, Cleggett," said Wilton Barnstable kindly, "do not +reproach yourself too bitterly." +</P> + +<P> +"But to let him escape when I had him——" Cleggett finished the +sentence with a groan. +</P> + +<P> +But Wilton Barnstable was thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"Please have some lights brought down here if you will, Captain," he +said to Abernethy, "and ask Mr. Bard and Mr. Ward to come." +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes the interior of the hold was illuminated with +lanterns; it was as bright as day. But the detectives did not proceed +at once to a minute examination of the hold as Cleggett had supposed +they would. +</P> + +<P> +Instead, they stood in the waist of the vessel and thought. +</P> + +<P> +Visibly they thought. Wilton Barnstable thought. +</P> + +<P> +Barton Ward thought. Watson Bard thought. They thought in silence. +Cleggett could almost feel these three master brains pulsating in +unison, working in rhythmic accord, there in the silence; the sense of +this intense cerebral effort became almost oppressive.... +</P> + +<P> +Finally Wilton Barnstable began to stroke his mustache, and a pleased +smile stole over his plump and benign visage. Barton Ward also began +to stroke his mustache and smile. But it was twenty seconds more +before Watson Bard's corrugated brow relaxed and his eyes twinkled with +the idea that had come so much more readily to the other two. +</P> + +<P> +"Cleggett," said Wilton Barnstable, "you have heard of the deductive +method as applied to the work of the detective?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have," said Cleggett. "I have read Poe's detective tales and +Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Sherlock Holmes!" The three detectives looked at each other with +glances in which were mingled both bitterness and amusement; the look +seemed to dispose of Sherlock Holmes. Once again Cleggett had a +fleeting thought that Wilton Barnstable might possibly be a vain man. +</P> + +<P> +"Sherlock Holmes," said Barnstable, "never existed. His marvelous +feats are not possible in real life, Cleggett. But the deductive +method which he pretended to use—mind you, I say PRETENDED, +Cleggett!—is, nevertheless, sound." +</P> + +<P> +And then the three detectives gave Cleggett an example of the +phenomenal cleverness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Ward," said Wilton Barnstable, "Logan Black entered this hold." +</P> + +<P> +"He did," said Barton Ward. +</P> + +<P> +"He is not here now," said Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"He is not," said Watson Bard. +</P> + +<P> +"Therefore he has escaped," said Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"But how?" said Barton Ward. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a ghost or an insect could leave this hold otherwise than by the +hatchway, to all appearances," said Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"Logan Black is not a ghost," said Barton Ward firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Logan Black is not an insect," said Watson Bard with conviction. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said Barnstable, "that eliminates the supernatural and +the—the——" +</P> + +<P> +"The entomological?" suggested Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +The three detectives stared at him fixedly for a moment, as if +surprised at the interruption. But if they were miffed they were too +dignified to do more than hint it. Barnstable continued: +</P> + +<P> +"There is no such thing as magic." +</P> + +<P> +"There is not," said Ward. +</P> + +<P> +"The fourth dimension does not exist," said Bard. +</P> + +<P> +"Therefore Logan Black's exit," said Barnstable, "was in accordance +with well-known physical laws. We are forced to the conclusion that he +made his escape through a secret passageway." +</P> + +<P> +"A tunnel," said Barton Ward. +</P> + +<P> +"With a concealed door opening into the hold," said Watson Bard. +</P> + +<P> +"A ship with a secret tunnel!" cried Cleggett. "Who ever heard of the +like? Why, the thing is——" +</P> + +<P> +But he broke off. He had been leaning against the starboard side of +the hold. Even as he spoke he felt the wall behind him moving. He +turned. A door was opening. It was built into the side of the Jasper +B. and the joints were cleverly concealed. He had inadvertently found, +with his elbow, the nailhead which was in reality the push button that +released the spring. The black entrance of a subterranean passage +yawned before him. +</P> + +<P> +He stared in astonishment. The three detectives were pointing at the +tunnel with plump forefingers and bland, triumphant smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing is impossible, my dear Cleggett," said Barnstable. "The +tunnel HAD to be there!" +</P> + +<P> +"It explains everything," said Cleggett. "But a tunnel into MY ship!" +</P> + +<P> +And, in truth, for a moment he felt disappointed in the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +A tunnel is all very well leading from the basement of a house, or +extending backward from a cave; but Cleggett felt that it was scarcely +a dignified sort of arrangement, nautically speaking, for a ship to +have leading from its hold. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed, somehow, to stamp the Jasper B. indelibly as a thing of the +land rather than as the gallant creature of piping winds and following +seas. Could the Jasper B., a bone in her teeth and her tackle humming, +ever again sail through Cleggett's dreams? For a moment, if the worst +must be known, he was almost disgusted with the Jasper B., considered +as a ship. For a moment he was willing to believe that Cap'n Abernethy +was nothing but a Long Island truck farmer, and NOT of a seafaring +family at all. For a moment he felt himself to be a copyreader again +on the New York Enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +But only for a moment! The star of romance, clouded temporarily by +fact, rose serene and bright again in the wide heaven of the unusual +spirit, the barber's basin gleamed once more the helmet of Mambrino. +Cleggett began to see the matter in its proper light. +</P> + +<P> +"A tunnel!" he cried, brightening, and looking at it with his legs +spread a little wide and his hands on his hips. "A tunnel! Eh, by gad! +Who could have prophesied a tunnel? Barnstable, never tell me again +there is no romance in real life! I tell you, Barnstable, she's a good +old ship, the Jasper B.! I don't suppose there was ever another +schooner in the world with a secret passageway leading out of her hold!" +</P> + +<P> +"She IS a remarkable vessel," agreed Wilton Barnstable gravely. "But, +come, we are wasting time! The other end of this passage is at +Morris's, that is plain. Loge Black has only a few minutes' start of +us. Therefore, to Morris's!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DOG DIES GAME +</H3> + +<P> +Clambering out of the hold, the three detectives and Cleggett briefly +made their followers acquainted with the extraordinary turn of events. +The Rev. Mr. Calthrop, Miss Pringle's Jefferson, and Washington +Artillery Lamb were detailed to guard the Jasper B. end of the tunnel. +The others, seizing their rifles, raced across the sands towards +Morris's. +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the place was invested, with riflemen on every side +except the south, which fronted on the bay. The steel-jacketed bullets +from the high-power guns tore through and through the flimsy walls. +Nevertheless the defenders replied pluckily, and the siege might have +dragged on for hours had it not been for the courage and resource of +Kuroki. Gaining the stable, Kuroki found an old pushcart there. He +piled three bales of hay upon it, and then set fire to the hay. +Pushing the cart before him, and crouching behind the bales to protect +himself from revolver shots, he worked his way to the east verandah of +the building and left the hay blazing against the planks. Then he ran +as if the devil were after him, and was almost out of pistol shot +before he got a bullet in the calf of his leg. +</P> + +<P> +The blaze caught the wood and spread. In two minutes the east verandah +was in flames. Loge and his men attempted to pour water on the blaze +from above. But Cleggett's party directed so hot a fire upon the +windows that the defenders were forced to retire. +</P> + +<P> +The main building caught. The road house was old, and was of very +light construction; the fire spread with rapidity. Loge was in a trap. +</P> + +<P> +But that evil and indomitable spirit refused to yield. Even when his +remaining ruffians came out and gave themselves up Loge still fought on +alone in a sullen fury of despair. +</P> + +<P> +Reckless of bullets, he leaned from an open window, a figure not +without its grandeur against the background of smoke and flame, and +shouted a savage and obscene insult at Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +"Give yourself up," cried Wilton Barnstable. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn it, man, anything's better than roasting to death!" +</P> + +<P> +Loge raised his hand and sped a last bullet at the detective, grazing +Barnstable's temple. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in and get me!" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +Barnstable fired, just as a whirl of smoke blew in front of Loge. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett thought the outlaw staggered, but he was not certain. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later a portion of the roof fell; then the east wall crashed +in. Morris's was a blazing ruin. +</P> + +<P> +"He has perished in the flames," said Wilton Barnstable. "So ends +Logan Black!" +</P> + +<P> +"More like he's blowed his head off," said Cap'n Abernethy. "If you +was to ask me, that's what I'd do." +</P> + +<P> +"He has done neither!" cried Cleggett. "He has taken to the tunnel. +That man will fight to the last breath." +</P> + +<P> +And without waiting to see whether the others followed him or not +Cleggett set off at top speed for the Jasper B. +</P> + +<P> +With a dagger between his teeth, his pistol in its holster, and his +electric, watchman's lantern in his pocket he entered the tunnel and +crawled forward on his hands and knees. If Loge were in there indeed +he had the fire at one end and Cleggett at the other. But even at +that, escape was possible, for all Cleggett knew. What ramifications +this peculiar passageway might have he could not guess. +</P> + +<P> +The place was narrow, and in spots so low that it was necessary for a +man to crouch almost to the ground. Cleggett, because he did not wish +to reveal his presence, did not flash his lantern; there were stretches +where he might have stood almost erect and made quicker progress, if he +had found them with the light. The earth beneath him was beaten hard +and smooth. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett thought possibly that the tunnel had originally led from +Morris's basement to the smuggler's cave which Wilton Barnstable had +spoken of, and that it had been extended later to the ship. He learned +afterwards that this was true from the men who had surrendered. The +Jasper B. had been abandoned for so long, and was so completely +abandoned except for the visits of Cap'n Abernethy, who fished from it +now and then, that Loge had conceived the idea of making it the +back-door, so to speak, of Morris's. In the event of a raid upon +Morris's his "get-away" through the hulk was provided for. He had +intended buying the ship himself; but Cleggett had forestalled him. +</P> + +<P> +From the prisoners Cleggett also learned later that two men had been +concerned in the explosion which had broken the big rocks on the plain. +One of them had won the Claiborne signet ring at poker after Reginald +Maltravers had been stripped of his valuables, and had worn it. They +had been dispatched with a bomb each, which they were to introduce into +the hold of the Jasper B., retiring through the tunnel after they had +started the clockwork mechanism going. It was known that one of them +owed the other money; they had been quarreling about it as they entered +the tunnel from the cellar of Morris's. It was conjectured that the +quarrel had progressed and that the debtor had endeavored, by the light +of his pocket lantern in the tunnel, to palm off a counterfeit bill in +settlement of the debt. This may have led to a blow, or more likely +only to an argument during which a bomb was dropped and exploded, +followed quickly by the other explosion. Dead hand, counterfeit bill +and ring were flung whimsically to the surface of the earth together, +and the leaning rocks had been astonishingly broken from beneath +through this trivial quarrel. Had it not been for this squabble the +Jasper B. and all on board must have been destroyed. Verily, the minds +of wicked men compass their own downfall, and retribution can sometimes +be an artist. +</P> + +<P> +But Cleggett, as he crawled forward through the darkness and the damp, +thought little of these things that had so mystified him at the time. +He was alert for what the immediate future might hold, not doubting +that Loge had retreated to the tunnel. He had too strong a sense of +the man's powerful and iniquitous personality to suppose that Loge +would kill himself while one chance remained, however remote, of +injuring his enemies. Loge was the kind of dog that dies biting. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, after pressing forward for several minutes, he ran against an +obstruction. The tunnel seemed to come to an end. He did not dare +show his light. But he felt with his hands. It was rock that blocked +his way. Cleggett understood that this barrier was the result of the +explosion. Groping and exploring with his hands, he found that the +passage turned sharply to the left. It was more narrow and curving, +for the distance of a few yards, and the earth beneath was fresher. +When the tunnel had been blocked by the explosion, Loge and his men had +burrowed around the obstruction. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett judged that he must be at about the middle of the tunnel. He +felt the more solid earth beneath his hands again, and knew that he had +passed the rock. The passage now descended deeper into the ground, +slanting steeply downward. This incline was twenty feet in length; +then the floor became horizontal again on the lower level. At the same +time the passage widened. Cleggett stretched one arm out, then the +other; he could not touch the wall on either hand. He stood erect and +held his hand up; the roof was six inches above his head. He was in a +room of some sort. Wishing, if possible, to learn the extent of this +subterranean chamber, which he did not doubt had at one time been used +as a cave and storehouse of smugglers, Cleggett began to sidle around +walls, feeling his way with his hands. +</P> + +<P> +He dislodged a pebble. It rolled to the ground with what was really a +slight sound. +</P> + +<P> +But to Cleggett, who had been getting more and more excited, it was +loud as an avalanche. He stopped and held his breath; he fancied that +he had heard another noise besides the one which his pebble made. But +he could not be sure. +</P> + +<P> +The sensation that he was not alone suddenly gripped him with +overwhelming force. His heart began to beat more quickly; the blood +drummed in his ears. Nevertheless, he kept his head. He took his +pocket lantern in his left hand, and his pistol in his right, and +leaned with his back against the wall. He listened. He heard nothing. +</P> + +<P> +But the eerie feeling that he was watched grew upon him. Presently he +fancied that the darkness began to vibrate, as if an electrical current +of some sort were being passed through it, and it might forthwith burst +into light. Cleggett, as we know, was not easily frightened. But now +he was possessed of a strange feeling, akin to terror, but which was at +the same time not any terror of physical injury. He did not fear Loge; +in dark or daylight he was ready to grapple with him and fight it out; +nevertheless he feared. That he could not say what he feared only +increased his fear. +</P> + +<P> +Children say they are "afraid of the dark." It is not the dark which +they are afraid of. It is the bodiless presences which they imagine in +the dark. It was so with Cleggett now. He was not daunted by anything +that could strike a blow. But the sense of a personality began to +encompass him. It pressed in upon him, played upon him, embraced him; +his flesh tingled as if he were being brushed; he felt his hair stir. +One recognizes a flower by its odor. So a soul flings off, in some +inexplicable way, the sense of itself. This force that laid itself +upon Cleggett and flowed around him had an individuality without a +body. Not through his senses, but psychically, he recognized it; it +was the hateful and sinister individuality of Loge. +</P> + +<P> +With choking throat and dry lips Cleggett stood and suffered beneath +the smothering presence of this terror while the slow seconds mounted +to an intolerable minute; then there burst from him an uncontrollable +shout. +</P> + +<P> +"Loge!" he roared, and the cavern rang. +</P> + +<P> +And with the word he pressed the button of his electric pocket lamp and +shot a beam of light straight in front of him. It fell upon the +yellowish brow and the wide, unwinking eyes of Loge. The eyes stared +straight at Cleggett's own from across the cave, thirty feet away. +Loge's teeth were bared in his malevolent grimace; his head was bent +forward; he sat upon a rock. Cleggett, unable to withdraw his eyes, +waited for Loge's first movement. The man made no sign. Cleggett +slowly raised his pistol.... +</P> + +<P> +But he did not fire. The open, staring eyes, unchanging at the menace +of the lifted pistol, told the story. Loge was dead. Cleggett crossed +over and examined him. Clutched on his knees was a bomb. He had been +wounded by Barnstable's last shot, but he had crawled through the +tunnel with a bomb for a final attempt on the Jasper B. His strength +had failed; he had rested upon the rock and bled to death. +</P> + +<P> +As for his last thought, Cleggett had felt it. Loge had died hating and +lusting for his blood. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CLEGGETT ACCOMMODATES THE KING +</H3> + +<P> +There was a wedding next day on the deck of the Jasper B. The Rev. +Simeon Calthrop performed the ceremony, and Wilton Barnstable insisted +upon lending his vessel for a bridal cruise. Washington Artillery Lamb, +engineer, janitor, cook and butler of the Annabel Lee, went with the +vessel. +</P> + +<P> +As for the Jasper B., although his wife urged him to keep the ship for +the sake of old associations, Cleggett had the hole in its side built +in and gave it to the Rev. Simeon Calthrop for a gospel ship. George +the Greek, who married Miss Medley, shipped with the preacher in his +cruise around the world, and he and his wife eventually reached Greece, +as he had originally intended. Elmer went with the Rev. Mr. Calthrop to +assist him in his missionary work. +</P> + +<P> +But it was some time before the Jasper B. sailed. Besides the hole +which was the entrance to the tunnel it was discovered that the vessel +rested on a brick foundation. The man who had used her for a saloon +and dancing platform in years past had dug away part of the bank of the +canal to fit the curve of her starboard side and had then jammed her +tight into the land. Even then she would move a trifle at times, so he +had built a dam around her, pumped the water out of the inclosed space, +jacked the hulk up, built the brick foundation, and let her down +solidly on it again. +</P> + +<P> +With the dam removed the water covered this masonry work, and she +looked quite like a real ship. Mr. Goldberg had known about this +foundation, but he had forgotten it, he explained to Cleggett. +</P> + +<P> +The Rev. Mr. Calthrop fitted her out as a floating chapel and filled +her with Bibles printed in all languages, which he distributes in many +lands. When his fatal attractiveness for women threatens to involve +him in trouble he hastily puts to sea. He has never become a really +accomplished sailor, and the Jasper B. is something of a menace to +navigation in the ports and harbors of the world. The suggestion has +frequently been made that she should be set ashore permanently and put +on wheels. But she has her features. She is, possibly, the only ship +extant with a memorial skylight to her cabin. Cleggett wished her to +carry some sort of memorial to the faithful Teddy, the Pomeranian dog, +who perished of a stray shot in the fight at Morris's. And as a +memorial window did not seem feasible a compromise was made on the +memorial skylight. The glass is by Tiffany. +</P> + +<P> +Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat, still followed by Reginald Maltravers, +made their way to Brooklyn, where all three were arrested and lodged in +the observation ward of the Kings County Hospital on the suspicion that +they were insane. The two gunmen were able to get free through +political influence, but Maltravers was sent to England. He was +maintained for some time in a private institution through the +generosity of the Cleggetts, but finally went on a hunger strike and +died. +</P> + +<P> +Wilton Barnstable smiles and prospers. He gained great additional fame +for his clever work in the Case of Logan Black. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, in 1925, was the father of four boys named D'Artagnan, Athos, +Porthos, and Aramis Cleggett; and the owner of the Claiborne estates. +</P> + +<P> +He is now immensely wealthy. It never would have occurred to him, +perhaps, to attempt to increase his modest fortune of $500,000 by +speculating on the Stock Exchange, had it not been for a fortunate +meeting with a barber in Nassau Street. +</P> + +<P> +This barber, whose Christian name was Walter, was, indeed, a mine of +suggestion and information of all sorts. And being a good-natured +fellow, who wished the world well, Walter delighted to impart his +original ideas and the fruits of his observation to his patrons while +shaving them. Some of these received his remarks coldly, it is true, +but Walter was so charged with a sense of friendliness towards all +mankind that he was never daunted for long by a rebuff. +</P> + +<P> +His interests were wide and varied; Walter found no difficulty in +talking pleasantly upon any subject; he could touch it lightly, or deal +with it in a more serious vein, as the mood of his customer seemed to +require; and he had the art of making deft and rapid transitions from +topic to topic. But there were two things in particular concerning +which Walter had thought deeply: racehorses and the stock market. +</P> + +<P> +It was the settled grief of Walter's life that he had never been able +to persuade any person with money to take his advice concerning the +races, or follow any of the dazzling stock market campaigns which he +was forever outlining. +</P> + +<P> +"They listen to me," said Walter, a little wistfully, but with a brave +smile, "or else they do not listen—but no one has ever yet taken my +advice! Do you wet your hair when you part it, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"What," said Cleggett, carefully concealing from Walter the fact that +he spoke of himself, "would be your advice to a man with $100,000 who +wished to double it in a few weeks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Double it!" cried Walter. "Why, I could show such a person how to +multiply it by ten inside of two months." And he rapidly outlined to +Cleggett a scheme so audacious and so brilliant that it fairly took our +hero's breath away. Moreover, it stood the test of reflection; it was +sound. Not to descend to the sordid details, in three weeks Cleggett +found himself possessed of a million dollars' gain. Half of this he +gave to the excellent Walter, and in three months ran the other half +million up to twenty millions. +</P> + +<P> +Then he withdrew permanently from business, as Lady Agatha complained +that it took too much of his time; moreover, he shrank from notoriety, +which his stock market operations were beginning to bring upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Giuseppe Jones, who recovered of his wounds, forswore anarchy and +became a newspaper reporter, and grew to be a fast friend of Cleggett, +who discovered that he was a lad of parts. Cleggett eventually made +him president of a college of journalism which he founded. While he +was establishing the institution the man Wharton, his old managing +editor, broken, shattered, out of work, and a hopeless drunkard, came +to him and begged for a position. The man had sunk so low that he was +repeatedly arrested for pretending to be blind on the street corners, +and had debauched an innocent dog to assist in this deception. +Cleggett forgave him the slights of many years and made him an +assistant janitor in the new college of journalism. +</P> + +<P> +The post is a sinecure, and well within even the man Wharton's powers. +</P> + +<P> +Cap'n Abernethy travels with the Cleggetts a great deal, under the +hallucination, which they humor, that he is of service to them. The +children are very fond of him. At Claiborne Castle Cleggett has had a +shallow lake constructed for him. There the Captain, still firm in the +belief that he is a sailor, loves to potter about with catboats and +rafts. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Farnsworth enjoys a lucrative position as physician to the Cleggett +family, and Kuroki is their butler. +</P> + +<P> +By 1925 the prejudice against militants had abated in certain exalted +circles in England, and Lady Agatha Cleggett and her husband were much +at court. +</P> + +<P> +Cleggett, hating notoriety, had endeavored to conceal the story of his +adventures along the dangerous coasts of Long Island; but concealment +was impossible. After the death of the old Earl of Claiborne, and the +demise of Reginald Maltravers, and Cleggett's purchase of the Claiborne +estate, the King wished Cleggett to take the title of Earl of Claiborne. +</P> + +<P> +His Majesty sent the Premier to sound Cleggett upon the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no," said Cleggett affably. "I couldn't think of it. I am quite +democratic, you know." +</P> + +<P> +The second time the King sent one of the Royal Dukes to see Cleggett. +They were at a house party in Wales, and Cleggett was a little +disturbed that this business affair should be brought up at a gathering +so distinctly social in its nature. He was too tactful to let it be +seen, but secretly he felt that in approaching the matter in that +fashion the Duke had erred in taste. +</P> + +<P> +"But we need men like you in the House of Lords," pleaded the Duke. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot think of it," said Cleggett. And then, not wishing to hurt +the Englishman's feelings, he said kindly: "But I will promise you +this: if I should change my mind and decide to become a member of any +aristocracy at all, it will be the English aristocracy." +</P> + +<P> +The Duke thanked Cleggett for the compliment; and Cleggett thought he +had heard the end of it. +</P> + +<P> +He was, therefore, surprised, a few weeks later, as he was conversing +with the King at Buckingham Palace, when His Majesty himself, laying +his hand familiarly on Cleggett's shoulder, renewed the petition in +person. It is hard to refuse things continually without seeming +unappreciative. In fact, Cleggett felt trapped; if the truth must be +known, he was a little angry. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come, Cleggett," said the King, "lay aside your prejudices and +oblige me. After all, it is not the sort of thing I run about offering +to every American in London!" +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty," said Cleggett, politely but with a note of firmness and +finality in his voice, "since you mention the word American you force +me to speak plainly. I would not willingly wound your sensibilities in +any particular, but—pardon me if I am direct—you have been very +persistent. I AM an American, your Majesty, and I consider the honor +of being an American citizen far above any that it is within your power +to bestow. If I have not mentioned this before, it was because I did +not wish to hurt you. I hope our friendship will not cease, but I must +tell you flatly that I desire to hear no more of this. You will oblige +me by not mentioning it again, Your Majesty." +</P> + +<P> +The King begged Cleggett's pardon with a becoming sincerity, and was +about to withdraw. Cleggett, who liked him immensely, was sudden +smitten with a regret that it had been so impossible to oblige him. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty," he cried impulsively, "I BEG of you not to get the idea +that there is anything personal in this refusal." +</P> + +<P> +"I respect principle," said the King gravely. But he WAS hurt and +could not help showing it, and he was a little stiff. +</P> + +<P> +"We will compromise," said Cleggett, with a flash of inspiration. +</P> + +<P> +"I will let you have my second son, Athos Cleggett. You may make him +Earl of Claiborne, if you choose. After all, HE is half English!" +</P> + +<P> +"That is like your generosity, Cleggett," said the King, smiling, and +giving Cleggett his hand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Jasper B., by Don Marquis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. *** + +***** This file should be named 716-h.htm or 716-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/716/ + +Produced by John Gidusko. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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