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diff --git a/26514-8.txt b/26514-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2393f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/26514-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9440 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Pirate, by Max Pemberton + +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 Iron Pirate + A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea + +Author: Max Pemberton + +Release Date: September 3, 2008 [EBook #26514] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON PIRATE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +THE IRON PIRATE + + +_UNIFORM WITH THIS WORK._ + +KRONSTADT. By Max Pemberton. + + * * * + +_Other Works by the same Author._ + +RED MORN. +THE GIANT'S GATE. +THE GARDEN OF SWORDS. +A PURITAN'S WIFE. +THE SEA WOLVES. +THE IMPREGNABLE CITY. +THE LITTLE HUGUENOT. + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED. + + + + +[Illustration: THE IRON PIRATE (_p._ 124).] + + + + +THE ... +IRON PIRATE + +A PLAIN TALE OF STRANGE +HAPPENINGS ON THE SEA + + + +MAX PEMBERTON + + +CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED +LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE +MCMV. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +First Edition 1893. +_Reprinted_ 1894, _March and July_ 1895, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1902, 1905. + +Popular Edition _July_ 1899. +_Reprinted August, September and October_ 1899, _February and July_ +1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904. + +Pocket Edition _August_, 1905. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. The Perfect Fool asks a Favour 1 + II. I Meet Captain Black 13 + III. "Four-Eyes" delivers a Message 31 + IV. A Strange Sight on the Sea 43 + V. The Writing of Martin Hall 59 + VI. I Engage a Second Mate 92 + VII. The Beginning of the Great Pursuit 101 + VIII. I Dream of Paolo 114 + IX. I Fall in with the Nameless Ship 123 + X. The Spread of the Terror 140 + XI. The Ship in the Black Cloak 153 + XII. The Drinking Hole in the Bowery 166 + XIII. Astern of the "Labrador" 180 + XIV. A Cabin in Scarlet 193 + XV. The Prison of Steel 198 + XVI. Northward Ho! 205 + XVII. One Shall Live 218 +XVIII. The Den of Death 228 + XIX. The Murders in the Cove 239 + XX. I Quit Ice-Haven 262 + XXI. To the Land of Man 274 + XXII. The Robbery of the "Bellonic" 285 +XXIII. I Go to London 298 + XXIV. The Shadow on the Sea 308 + XXV. The Dumb Man Speaks 329 + XXVI. A Page in Black's Life 345 +XXVII. I Fall to Wondering 371 + + + + +THE IRON PIRATE. + +_A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE PERFECT FOOL ASKS A FAVOUR. + + +"En voiture! en voiture!" + +If it has not been your privilege to hear a French guard utter these +words, you have lost a lesson in the dignity of elocution which nothing +can replace. "En voiture, en voiture; five minutes for Paris." At the +well-delivered warning, the Englishman in the adjoining buffet raises +on high the frothing tankard, and vaunts before the world his capacity +for deep draughts and long; the fair American spills her coffee and +looks an exclamation; the Bishop pays for his daughter's tea, drops the +change in the one chink which the buffet boards disclose, and thinks +one; the travelled person, disdaining haste, smiles on all with a +pitying leer; the foolish man, who has forgotten something, makes +public his conviction that he will lose his train. The adamantine +official alone is at his ease, and, as the minutes go, the knell of the +train-loser sounds the deeper, the horrid jargon is yet more +irritating. + +I thought all these things, and more, as I waited for the Perfect Fool +at the door of my carriage in the harbour station at Calais. He was +truly an impossible man, that small-eyed, short-haired, stooping +mystery I had met at Cowes a month before, and formed so strange a +friendship with. To-day he would do this, to-morrow he would not; +to-day he had a theory that the world was egg-shaped, to-morrow he +believed it to be round; in one moment he was hot upon a journey to St. +Petersburg, in the next he felt that the Pacific Islands offered a +better opportunity. If he had a second coat, no man had ever seen it; +if he had a purpose in life, no man, I hold, had ever known it. And yet +there was a fascination about him you could not resist; in his visible, +palpitating, stultifying folly there was something so amazing that you +drew to the man as to that unknown something which the world had not +yet given to you, as a treasure to be worn daily in the privacy of your +own enjoyment. I had, as I have said, picked the Perfect Fool up at +Cowes, whither I had taken my yacht, _Celsis_, for the Regatta Week; +and he had clung to me ever since with a dogged obstinacy that was a +triumph. He had taken of my bread and eaten of my salt unasked; he was +not a man such as the men I knew--he was interested in nothing, not +even in himself--and yet I tolerated him. And in return for this +toleration he was about to make me lose a train for Paris. + +"WILL YOU COME ON?" I roared for the tenth time, as the cracked bell +jangled and the guards hoisted the last stout person into the only +carriage where there was not a seat for her. "Don't you see we shall be +left behind? Hurry up! Hang your parcels! Now then--for the last time, +Hall, Hill, Hull, whatever your confounded name is, are you coming?" + +Many guards gave a hand to the hoist, and the Perfect Fool fell upon +his hat-box, which was all the personal property he seemed to possess. +He apologised to Mary, who sat in the far corner, with more grace than +I had looked for from him, woke Roderick, who was in his fifth sleep +since luncheon, and then gathered the remnants of himself into a +coherent whole. + +"Did anyone use my name?" he asked gravely, and as one offended. "I +thought I heard someone call me Hull?" + +"Exactly; I think I called you every name in the Directory, but I'm +glad you answer to one of them." + +"Yes, and I tell you what," said Roderick, "I wish you wouldn't come +into a railway carriage on your hands and knees, waking a fellow up +every time he tries to get a minute to himself; I don't speak for +myself, but for my sister." + +The Perfect Fool made a profound bow to Mary, who looked very pretty in +her dainty yachting dress--she was only sixteen, I had known her all +her life--and he said, "I cannot make your sister an apology worthy of +her." + +"If that isn't a shame, Mr. Hall," replied the blushing girl. "I never +go to sleep in railway carriages." + +"No, of course you don't," said Roderick, as he made himself comfortable +for another nap, "but you may go to sleep in _a_ railway carriage;" then +with a grunt, "Wake me up at Amiens, old man," he sank to slumber. + +The train moved slowly over the sandy marsh which lies between Calais +and Boulogne, and the vapid talk of the railway carriage held us to +Amiens, and after. During the second half of the long journey Roderick +was asleep, and Mary's pretty head had fallen against the cushion as +the swing of the carriage gave the direct negative to her words at +Calais station. At last, even the maker of commonplaces was silent; and +as I reclined at greater length on the cushions of the stuffy +compartment, I thought how strange a company we were then being carried +over the dull, drear pasture-land of France, to the lights, the music, +and the life of the great capital. Of the man Martin Hall--I remembered +his true name in the moments of repose--I knew nothing beyond that +which I have told you; but of my friends Roderick and Mary, +accompanying me on this wildaway journey, I knew all that was to be +known. Roderick and I had been at Caius College, Cambridge, together, +friends drawn the closer in affection because our conditions in kith +and kin, in possession and in purpose, in ambition and in idleness, +were so very like. Roderick was an orphan twenty-four years of age, +young, rich, desiring to know life before he measured strength with +her, caring for no man, not vital enough to realise danger, an +Englishman in tenacity of will, a good fellow, a gentleman. His sister +was his only care. He gave to her the strength of an undivided love, +and just as, in the shallowness of much of his life, there was matter +for blame, so in this increasing affection and thought for the one very +dear to him was there the strength of a strong manhood and a noble +work. + +For myself, I was twenty-five when the strange things of which I am +about to write happened to me. Like Roderick, I was an orphan. My +father had left me £50,000, which I drew upon when I was of age; but, +shame that I should write it, I had spent more than £40,000 in four +years, and my schooner, the _Celsis_, with some few thousand pounds, +alone remained to me. Of what was my future to be, I knew not. In the +senseless purpose of my life, I said only, "It will come, the tide in +my affairs which taken at the flood should lead on to fortune." And in +this supreme folly I lived the days, now in the Mediterranean, now +cruising round the coast of England, now flying of a sudden to Paris +with one they might have called a vulgarian, but one I chose to know. A +journey fraught with folly, the child of folly, to end in folly, so +might it have been said; but who can foretell the supreme moments of +our lives, when unknowingly we stand on the threshold of action? And +who should expect me to foresee that the man who was to touch the +spring of my life's action sat before me--mocked of me, dubbed the +Perfect Fool--over whose dead body I was to tread the paths of danger +and the intricate ways of strange adventure? + +But I would not weary you with more of these facts than are absolutely +necessary for the understanding of this story, surpassing strange, +which I judge it to be as much my duty as my privilege to write. Let us +go back to the Gare du Nord, and the compartment wherein Mary and +Roderick slept, while the Perfect Fool and I faced each other, +surfeited with meteorological observations, sick to weariness with +reflections upon the probability of being late or arriving before time. +I would well have been silent and dozed as the others were doing; of a +truth, I had done so had it not become very evident that the man who +had begun to bore me wished at last to say something, relating neither +to the weather nor to the speed of our train. His restless manner, the +fidgeting of his hands with certain papers which he had taken from his +great-coat pocket, the shifting of the small grey eyes, marked that +within him which suffered not show except in privacy; and I waited for +him, making pretence of interest in the great plain of hedgeless +pasture-land which bordered the track on each side. At last he spoke, +and, speaking, seemed to be the Perfect Fool no longer. + +"They're both asleep, aren't they?" he asked suddenly, as he put his +hand, which seemed to tremble, upon my arm, and pointed to the +sleepers. "Would you mind making sure--quite sure--before I +speak?--that is, if you will let me, for I have a favour to ask." + +To see the man grave and evidently concerned was to me so unusual that +for a moment I looked at him rather than at Roderick or Mary, and +waited to know if the gravity were not of his humour and not of any +deeper import. A single glance at him convinced me for the second time +that I did him wrong. He was looking at me with a fitful pleading look +unlike anything he had shown previously. In answer to his request I +assured him at once that he might speak his mind; that, even if +Roderick should overhear us, I would pledge my word for his good faith. +Then only did he unbosom himself and tell me freely what he had to say. + +"I wanted to speak to you some days ago," he said earnestly and +quickly, as his hands continued to play with the paper, "but we have +been so much occupied that I have never found the occasion. It must +seem curious in your eyes that I, who am quite a stranger to you, +should have been in your company for some weeks, and should not have +told you more than my name. As the thing stands, you have been kind +enough to make no inquiries; if I am an impostor, you do not care to +know it; if I am a rascal hunted by the law, you have not been willing +to help the law; you do not know if I have money or no money, a home or +no home, people or no people, yet you have made me--shall I say, a +friend?" + +He asked the question with such a gentle inflexion of the voice that I +felt a softer chord was touched, and in response I shook hands with +him. After that he continued to speak. + +"I am very grateful for all your trust, believe me, for I am a man that +has known few friends in life, and I have not cared to go out of my way +to seek them. You have given me your friendship unasked, and it is the +more prized. What I wanted to say is this, if I should die before three +days have passed, will you open this packet of papers I have prepared +and sealed for you, and carry out what is written there as well as you +are able? It is no idle request, I assure you; it is one that will put +you in the place where I now stand, with opportunities greater than I +dare to think of. As for the dangers, they are big enough, but you are +the man to overcome them as I hope to overcome them--if I live!" + +The sun fell over the lifeless scene without as he ceased to speak. I +could see a crimson beam glowing upon a crucifix that stood on the +wayside by the hill-foot yonder; but the cheerless monotony of plough +land and of pasture, stretching away leafless, treeless, without bud or +flower, herd or herdsman, church or cottage, to the shadowed horizon, +looming dark as the twilight deepened, was in sympathy with the gloom +which had come upon me as Martin Hall ceased to speak. I had thought +the man a fool and witless, flighty in purpose and shallow in thought, +and yet he seemed to speak of great mysteries--and of death. In one +moment the jester's cloak fell from him, and I saw the mail beneath. He +had made a great impression upon me, but I concealed it from him, and +replied jauntily and with no show of gravity-- + +"Tell me, are you quite certain that you are not talking nonsense?" + +He replied by asking me to take his hand. I took it--it was chill with +the icy cold as of death; and I doubted his meaning no more, but +determined to have the whole mystery, then so faintly sketched, laid +bare before me. + +"If you are not playing the fool, Hall," said I, "and if you are +sincere in wishing me to do something which you say is a favour to you, +you must be more explicit. In the first place, how did you get this +absurd notion that you are going to die into your head? Secondly, what +is the nature of the obligation you wish to put upon me? It is quite +clear that I can't accept a trust about which I know nothing, and I +think that for undiluted vagueness your words deserve a medal. Let us +begin at the beginning, which is a very good place to begin at. Now, +why should you, who are going to Paris, as far as I know, simply as a +common sightseer, have any reason to fear some mysterious calamity in a +city where you don't know a soul?" + +He laughed softly, looking out for a moment on the sunless fields, but +his eyes flashed lights when he answered me, and I saw that he clenched +his hands so that the nails pierced the flesh. + +"Why am I going to Paris without aim, do you say? Without aim--I, who +have waited years for the work I believe that I shall accomplish +to-night--why am I going to Paris? Ha! I will tell you: I am going to +Paris to meet one who, before another year has gone, will be wanted by +every Government in Europe; who, if I do not put my hand upon his +throat in the midst of his foul work, will make graves as thick as +pines in the wood there before you know another month; one who is mad +and who is sane, one who, if he knew my purpose, would crush me as I +crush this paper; one who has everything that life can give and seeks +more, a man who has set his face against humanity, and who will make +war on the nations, who has money and men, who can command and be +obeyed in ten cities, against whom the police might as well hope to +fight as against the white wall of the South Sea; a man of purpose so +deadly that the wisest in crime would not think of it--a man, in short, +who is the product of culminating vice--him I am going to meet in this +Paris where I go without aim--without aim, ha!" + +"And you mean to run him down?" I asked, as his voice sank to a hoarse +whisper, and the drops stood as beads on his brow; "what interest have +you in him?" + +"At the moment none; but in a month the interest of money. As sure as +you and I talk of it now, there will be fifty thousand pounds offered +for knowledge of him before December comes upon us!" + +I looked at him as at one who dreams dreams, but he did not flinch. + +"You meet the man in Paris?" I went on. + +"To-night I shall be with him," he answered; "within three days I win +all or lose all: for his secret will be mine. If I fail, it is for you +to follow up the thread which I have unravelled by three years' hard +work----" + +"What sort of person do you say he is?" I continued, and he replied-- + +"You shall see for yourself. Dare you risk coming with me--I meet him +at eight o'clock?" + +"Dare I risk!--pooh, there can't be much danger." + +"There is every danger!--but, so, the girl is waking!" + +It was true; Mary looked up suddenly as we thundered past the +fortifications of Paris, and said, as people do say in such +circumstances, "Why, I believe I've been asleep!" Roderick shook +himself like a great bear, and asked if we had passed Chantilly; the +Perfect Fool began his banter, and roared for a cab as the lights of +the station twinkled in the semi-darkness. I could scarce believe, as I +watched his antics, that he was the man who had spoken to me of great +mysteries ten minutes before. Still less could I convince myself that +he had not many days to live. So are the fateful things of life hidden +from us. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +I MEET CAPTAIN BLACK. + + +The lights of Paris were very bright as we drove down the Boulevard des +Capucines, and drew up at length at the Hôtel Scribe, which is by the +Opera House. Mary uttered a hundred exclamations of joy as we passed +through the city of lights; and Roderick, who loved Paris, condescended +to keep awake! + +"I'll tell you what," he exclaimed, after a period of profound +reflection, "the beauty of this place is that no one thinks here, +except about cooking, and, after all, cooking is one of the first +things worthy of serious speculation, isn't it? Suppose we plan a nice +little dinner for four?" + +"For two, my dear fellow, if you please," said Hall, with mock of +state--he was quite the Perfect Fool again. "Mr. Mark Strong +condescends to dine with me, and in that utter unselfishness of +character peculiar to him insists on paying the bill--don't you, Mr. +Mark?" + +I answered that I did, and, be it known, I was the Mark Strong referred +to. + +"The fact is, Roderick," I explained, "that I made a promise to meet +one of Mr. Hall's friends to-night, so you and Mary must dine alone. +You can then go to sleep, don't you see, or take Mary out and buy her +something." + +"Yes, that would be splendid, Roderick," cried Mary, all the girlish +excitement born of Paris strong upon her. "Let's go and buy a hundred +things"--Roderick groaned--"but I wish, Mark, you weren't going to +leave us on our first night here; you know what you said only +yesterday!" + +"What did I say yesterday?" + +"That there were a lot of bounders in Paris--and I want to see them +bound!" + +I consoled her by telling her that bounders never made display after +six o'clock, and assured her that Roderick had long confessed to me his +intention to buy her the best hat in Paris, at which Roderick muttered +exclamations for my ear only. By that time we were at the hotel, and +the Perfect Fool had much to say. + +"Could any gentleman oblige me with the time, English or French?" he +asked; "my watch is so moved at the situation in which it finds itself +that it is fourteen hours too slow." + +I told him that it was ten minutes to eight, and the information +quickened him. + +"Ten minutes to eight, and half-a-dozen Russian princes, to say nothing +of an English knight, to meet; so ho, my toilet must remain! Could +anyone oblige me with a comb, fragmentary or whole?" + +He continued his banter as we mounted the stairs of the cozy little +hotel, whose windows overlook the core of the great throbbing heart of +Paris, and so until we were alone in my room, whither he had followed +me. + +"Quick's the word," he said, as he shut the door, and took several +articles from his hat-box, "and no more palaver. One pair of +spectacles, one wig, one set of curiosities to sell--do I look like a +second-hand dealer in odd lots, or do I not, Mr. Mark Strong?" + +I had never seen such an utter change in any man made with such little +show. The Perfect Fool was no longer before me; there was in his place +a lounging, shady-looking, greed-haunted Hebrew. The haunching of the +shoulders was perfect; the stoop, the walk, were triumphs. But he gave +me little opportunity to inspect him or to ask for what reason he had +thus disguised himself. + +"It's five minutes from here," he said, "and the clocks are going +eight--you are right as you are, for you are a cipher in the affair +yet, and don't run the danger I run--now come!" + +He passed down the stairs with this blunt invitation, and I followed +him. So good was his disguise and make-pretence that the others, who +were in the narrow hall, drew back, to let him go, not recognising him, +and spoke to me, asking what I had done with him. Then I pointed to the +new Perfect Fool, and without another word of explanation went on into +the street. + +We walked in silence for some little distance, keeping by the Opera, +and so through to the broad Boulevard Haussmann. Thence he turned, +crossing the busy thoroughfare, and passing through the Rue Joubert, +stopped quite suddenly at last in the mouth of a _cul-de-sac_ which +opened from the narrow street. He had something to say to me, and he +gave it with quick words prompted by a quick and serious wit, for he +had put off the _rôle_ of the jester at the hotel. + +"This is the place," he said; "up here on the third, and there isn't +much time for talk. Just this; you're my man, you carry this box of +metal"--he meant the case of curiosities--"and don't open your mouth, +unless you get the fool in you and want the taste of a six-inch knife. +That's my risk, and I haven't brought you here to share it; so mum's +the word, mum, mum, mum; and keep a hold on your eyes, whatever you see +or whatever you hear. Do I look all right?" + +"Perfectly--but just a word; if we are going into some den where we may +have a difficulty in getting out again, wouldn't it be as well to go +armed?" + +"Armed!--pish!"--and he looked unutterable contempt, treading the +passage with long strides, and entering a house at the far end of it. + +Thither I followed him, still wondering, and passing the concierge +found myself at last on the third floor, before a door of thick oak. +Our first knocking upon this had no effect, but at the second attempt, +and while he was pulling his hat yet more upon his eyes, I heard a +great rolling voice which seemed to echo on the stairway, and so leapt +from flight to flight, almost like the rattle of a cannon-shot with its +many reverberations. For the moment indistinct, I then became aware +that the voice was that of a man singing and walking at the same time, +and seemingly in no hurry to give us admission, for he passed from room +to room bellowing this refrain, and never varying it by so much as a +single word:-- + + "There was a man of Boston town, + With his pistols three, + With his pistols three, three, three; + And never a skunk in Boston town + That he didn't chaw but me!" + +When the noise stopped at last, there was silence, complete and +unbroken, for at least five minutes, during which time Hall stood +motionless, waiting for the door to be opened. After that we heard a +great yell from the same voice, with the words, "Ahoy, Splinters, shift +along the gear, will you?" and then Splinters, whoever he might be, was +cursed in unchosen phrases as the son of all the lubbers that ever +crowded a fo'cas'le. A mumbled discussion seemed to tread on the heels +of the hullabaloo, when, apparently having arranged the "gear" to +satisfaction, the man stalked to the door, singing once more in +stentorian tones: + + "There was a man of Boston town, + With his pistols three, + With his pistols----" + +"Hullo--the darned little Jew and his kick-shaws; why, matey, so early +in the morning?" + +The exclamation came as he saw us, putting his head round the door, and +showing one arm swathed all up in dirty red flannel. He was no sort of +a man to look at, as the Scots say, for his head was a mass of dirty +yellow hair, and his face did not seem to have known an ablution for a +week. But there was an ugly jocular look about his rabbit-like eyes and +a great mark cut clean into the side of his face which were a fit +decoration for the red-burnt, pitted, and horribly repulsive +countenance he betrayed. His leer, too, as he greeted Hall, was the +evil leer of a man whose laugh makes those hearing hush with the horror +of it; and, on my part, forgetting the warning, I looked at him and +drew back repelled. This he saw, and with a flush and a display of one +great stump of a tooth which protruded on his left lip, he turned on +me. + +"And who may you be, matey, that you don't go for to shake hands with +Roaring John? Dip me in brine, if you was my son I'd dress you down +with a two-foot bar. Why don't you teach the little Hebrew manners, old +Josfos? but there," and this he said as he opened the door wider, "so +long as our skipper will have to do with shiners to sell and land +barnacles, what ken you look for?--walk right along here." + +The room indicated opened from a small hall, for the place was built +after the Parisian fashion--akin to that of our flats--and was a house +in itself. The man who called himself "Roaring John" entered the +apartment before us, bawling at the top of his voice, "Josfos, the Jew, +and his pardner come aboard!" and then I found myself in the strangest +company and the strangest place I have ever set eyes on. So soon as I +could see things clearly through the hanging atmosphere of tobacco +smoke and heavy vapour, I made out the forms of six or eight men, not +sitting as men usually do in a place where they eat, but squatting on +their haunches by a series of low narrow tables, which were, on closer +inspection, nothing but planks put upon bricks and laid round the four +sides of the apartment. Of other furniture there did not seem to be a +vestige in the place, save such as pertained to the necessities of +eating and sleeping. Each man lolled back on his own pile of dirty +pillows and dirtier blankets; each had before him a great metal +drinking-cup, a coarse knife, which I found was for hacking meat, long +rolls of plug tobacco, and a small red bundle, which I doubt not was +his portable property. Each, too, was dressed exactly as his fellow, in +a coarse red shirt, seamen's trousers of ample blue serge, a belt with +a clasp-knife about his waist, and each had some bauble of a bracelet +on his arm, and some strange rings upon his fingers. In the first +amazement at seeing such an assembly in the heart of civilised Paris, I +did no more than glean a general impression, but that was a powerful +one--the impression that I saw men of all ages from twenty-five years +upwards; men marked by time as with long service on the sea; men +scarred, burnt, some with traces of great cuts and slashes received on +the open face; men fierce-looking as painted devils, with teeth, with +none, with four fingers to the hand, with three; men whose laugh was a +horrid growl like the tumult of imprisoned passions, whose threats +chilled the heart to hear, whose very words seemed to poison the air, +who made the great room like a cage of beasts, ravenous and +ill-seeking. This and more was my first thought, as I asked myself, +into what hovel of vice have I fallen, by what mischance have I come on +such a company? + +Martin Hall seemed to have no such ill opinion of the men, and put +himself at his ease the moment we entered. I had, indeed, believed for +the moment that he had brought me there with evil intent, distrusting +the man who was yet little more than a stranger to me; but recalling +all that passed, his disguise, his evident fear, I put the suspicion +from me, and listened to him, more content, as he made his way to the +top of the room and stood before one who forced from me individual +notice, so strange-looking was he, and so deep did the respect which +all paid him appear to be. We shall meet this man often in our travels +together, you and I, my friends, so a few words, if you please, about +him. He sat at the head of the rude table, as I have said, but not as +the others sat, on pillows and blankets, for there was a pile of +rich-looking skins--bear, tiger, and white wolf--beneath him, and he +alone of all the company wore black clothes and a white shirt. He was a +short man, I judged, black-bearded and smooth-skinned, with a big nose, +almost an intellectual forehead, small, white-looking hands, all ablaze +with diamonds, about whose fine quality there could not be two +opinions; and, what was even more remarkable, there hung as a pendant +to his watch-chain a great uncut ruby which must have been worth five +thousand pounds. One trade-mark of the sea alone did he possess, in the +dark, curly ringlets which fell to his shoulders, matted there as long +uncombed, but typical in all of the man. This then was the fellow upon +whose every word that company of ruffians appeared to hang, who obeyed +him, as I observed presently, when he did so much as lift his hand, who +seemed to have in their uncouth way a veneration for him, inexplicable, +remarkable--the man of whom Martin Hall had painted such a fantastic +picture, who was, as I had been told, soon to be wanted by every +Government in Europe. And so I faced him for the first time, little +thinking that before many months had gone I should know of deeds by his +hand which had set the world aflame with indignation, deeds which +carried me to strange places, and among dangers so terrible that I +shudder when the record brings back their reality. + +Hall was the first to speak, and it was evident to me that he cloaked +his own voice, putting on the nasal twang and the manner of an East-end +Jew dealer. + +"I have come, Mister Black," he said, "as you was good enough to wish, +with a few little things--beautiful things--which cost me moosh +money----" + +"Ho, ho!" sang out Captain Black, "here is a Jew who paid _much_ money +for a few little things! Look at him, boys!--the Jew with much money! +Turn out his pockets, boys!--the Jew with much money! Ho, ho! Bring the +Jew some drink, and the little Jew, by thunder!" + +His merriment set all the company roaring to his mood. For a moment +their play was far from innocent, for one lighted a great sheet of +paper and burnt it under the nose of my friend, while another pushed +his dirty drinking-pot to my mouth, and would have forced me to drink. +But I remembered Hall's words, and held still, giving banter for +banter--only this, I learnt to my intense surprise that the pot did not +contain beer but champagne, and that, by its bouquet, of an infinitely +fine quality. In what sort of a company was I, then, where mere seamen +wore diamond rings and drank fine champagne from pewter pots? + +The unpleasant and rough banter ceased on a word from Captain Black, +who called for lights, which were brought--rough, ready-made oil +flares, stuck in jugs and pots--and Hall gathered up his trinkets and +proceeded to lay them out with the well-simulated cunning of the +trader. + +"That, Mister Black," he said, putting a miniature of exquisite finish +against the white fur on the floor, "is a portrait of the Emperor +Napoleon, sometime in the possession of the Empress Josephine; that is +a gold chain--he was eighteen carat--once the property of Don Carlos; +here is the pen with which Francis Drake wrote his last letter to the +Queen Elizabeth--beautiful goods as ever was, and cost moosh money!" + +"To the dead with your much money," said the Captain with an angry +gesture, as he snatched the trinkets from him, and eyed them to my vast +surprise with the air of a practised connoisseur; "let's handle the +stuff, and don't gibber. How much for this?" He held up the miniature, +and admiration betrayed itself in his eyes. + +"He was painted by Sir William Ross, and I sell him for two hundred +pounds, my Captain. Not a penny less, or I'm a ruined man!" + +"The Jew a ruined man! Hark at him! Four-Eyes"--this to a great lanky +fellow who lay asleep in the corner--"the little Jew can't sell 'em +under two hundred, I reckon; oh, certainly not; why, of course. Here, +you, Splinters, pay him for a thick-skinned, thieving shark, and give +him a hundred for the others." + +The boy Splinters, who was a black lad, seemingly about twelve years +old, came up at the word, and took a great canvas bag from a hook on +the wall. He counted three hundred gold pieces on the floor--pieces of +all coinages in Europe and America, as they appeared to be by their +faces, and Hall, who had squatted like the others, picked them up. Then +he asked a question, while the little black lad, who bore a look of +suffering on his worn face, stood waiting the Captain's word. + +"Mister Captain, I shall have waiting for me at Plymouth to-morrow a +relic of the great John Hawkins, which, as I'm alive, you shouldn't +miss. I have heard them say that it is the very sword with which he cut +the Spaniards' beards. Since you have told me that you sail to-morrow, +I have thought, if you put me on your ship across to Plymouth, I could +show you the goods, and you shall have them cheap--beautiful goods, if +I lose by them." + +Now, instead of answering this appeal as he had done the others, with +his great guffaw and banter, Captain Black turned upon Hall as he made +his request, and his face lit up with passion. I saw that his eyes gave +one fiery look, while he clenched his fists as though to strike the man +as he sat, but then he restrained himself. Yet, had I been Hall, I +would not have faced such another glance for all that adventure had +given me. It was a look which meant ill--all the ill that one man could +mean to another. + +"You want to come aboard my boat, do you?" drawled the Captain, as he +softened his voice to a fine tone of sarcasm. "The dealer wants a cheap +passage; so ho! what do you say, Four-Eyes; shall we take the man +aboard?" + +Four-Eyes sat up deliberately, and struck himself on the chest several +times as though to knock the sleep out of him. He seemed to be a +brawny, thick-set Irishman, gigantic in limb, and with a more honest +countenance than his fellows. He wore a short pea-jacket over the dirty +red shirt, and a great pair of carpet slippers in place of the +sea-boots which many of the others displayed. His hair was light and +curly, and his eyes, keen-looking and large, were of a grey-blue and +not unkindly-looking. I thought him a man of some deliberation, for he +stared at the Captain and at Hall before he answered the question put +to him, and then he drank a full and satisfying draught from the cup +before him. When he did give reply, it was in a rich rolling voice, a +luxurious voice which would have given ornament to the veriest +common-place. + +"Oi'd take him aboard, bedad," he shouted, leaning back as though he +had spoken wisdom, and then he nodded to the Captain, and the Captain +nodded to him. + +The understanding seemed complete. + +"We sail at midnight, tide serving," said the Captain, as he picked up +the miniature and the other things; "you can come aboard when you +like--here, boy, lock these in the chest." + +The boy put out his hand to take the things, but in his fear or his +clumsiness, he dropped the miniature, and it cracked upon the floor. +The mishap gave me my first real opportunity of judging these men in +the depth of their ruffianism. As the lad stood quivering and +terror-struck, Black turned upon him, almost foaming at the lips. + +"You clumsy young cub, what d'ye mean by that?" he asked; and then, as +the boy fell on his knees to beg for mercy, casting one pitiful look +towards me--a look I shall not soon forget--he kicked him with his +foot, crying-- + +"Here, give him a dozen with your strap, one of you." + +He had but to say the words, when a colossal brute seized the boy in +his grip, and held his head down to the table board, while another, no +more gentle, stripped his shirt off, and struck him blow after blow +with the great buckle, so that the flesh was torn while the blood +trickled upon the floor. The brutal act stirred the others to a fine +merriment, yet for myself, I had all the will to spring up and grip the +striker as he stood, but Hall, who had covered my hand with his, held +it so surely, and with such prodigious strength, that my fingers almost +cracked. It was the true sign-manual for me to say nothing, and I +realised how hopeless such a struggle would be, and turned my head that +I should not see the cruel thing to the end. + +When the lad fainted they gave him a few kicks with their heavy boots, +and he lay like a log on the floor, until the ruffian named "Roaring +John" picked him up and threw him into the next room. The incident was +forgotten at once, and Captain Black became quite merry. + +"Bring in the victuals, you, John," he said, "and let Dick say us a +grace; he's been doing nothing but drink these eight hours." + +Dick, a red-haired, penetrating-looking Scotsman, who carried the +economy of his race even to the extent of flesh, of which he was +sparse, greeted the reproof by casting down his eyes into the empty can +before him. + +"Is a body to cheer himself wi' naething?" he asked; "not wi' a bit +food and drink after twa days' toil? It's an unreasonable man ye are, +Mister Black, an' I dinna ken if I'll remain another hoor as meenister +to yer vessel." + +"Ho, ho, Dick the Ranter sends in his resignation; listen to that, +boys," said the Captain, who had found his humour again. "Dick will not +serve the honourable company any longer. Ho, swear for the strangers, +Dick, and let 'em hear your tongue." + +The man, rascal and ill-tongued as I doubt not he was at times, refused +to comply with the demand as the food at length was put upon the table. +It was rich food, stews, with a profuse display of oysters, chickens, +boiled, roast, à la maître d'hôtel, fine French trifles, pasties, +ices--and it was to be washed down, I saw, by draughts from magnums of +Pommery and Greno. I was, at this stage, so well accustomed to the +scene that the novelty of a company of dirty, repulsive-looking seamen +banqueting in this style did not surprise me one whit, only I wished to +be away from a place whose atmosphere poisoned me, and where every word +seemed garnished with some horrible oath. I whispered this thought to +Hall, and he said, "Yes," and rose to go, but the Captain pulled him +back, crying-- + +"What, little Jew, you wouldn't eat at other people's cost! Down with +it, man, down with it; fill your pockets, stuff 'em to the top. Let's +see you laugh, old wizen-face, a great sixty per cent. croak coming +from your very boots--here, you, John, give the man who hasn't got any +money some more drink; make him take a draught." + +The men were becoming warmed with the stuff they had taken, and +furiously offensive. One of them held Hall while the others forced +champagne down his throat, and the man "Roaring John" attempted to pay +me a similar compliment, but I struck the cup from his hand, and he +drew a knife, turning on me. The action was foolish, for in a moment a +tumult ensued. I heard fierce cries, the smash of overturned boards and +lights, and remembered no more than some terrific blows delivered with +my left, as Molt of Cambridge taught me, a sharp pain in my right +shoulder as a knife went home, the voice of Hall crying, "Make for the +door--the door," and the great yell of Captain Black above the others. +His word, no doubt, saved us from greater harm; for when I had thought +that my foolhardiness had undone us, and that we should never leave the +place alive, I found myself in the Rue Joubert with Hall at my side, he +torn and bleeding as I was, but from a slight wound only. + +"That was near ending badly," he said, looking at the skin-deep cut on +my shoulder. "They're wild enough sober, but Heaven save anyone from +them when they're the other way!" + +I looked at him steadily for a moment; then I asked-- + +"Hall, what does it mean? Who are these men, and what business carries +you amongst them?" + +"That you'll learn when you open the papers; but I don't think you will +open them yet, for I'm going to succeed." He was gay almost to +frivolity once more. "Did you hear him ask me to sail with him from +Dieppe to-morrow?" + +"I did, and I believe you're fool enough to go. Did you see the look he +gave you when he said 'Yes'?" + +"Never mind his look. I must risk that and more, as I have risked it +many a time. Once aboard his yacht I shall have the key which will +unlock six feet of rope for that man, or you may call me the Fool +again." + +It was light with the roseate, warm light of a late summer's dawn as we +reached the hotel. Paris slept, and the stillness of her streets +greeted the life-giving day, while the grey mist floated away before +the scattered sunbeams, and the houses stood clear-cut in the finer +air. I was hungry for sleep, and too tired to think more of the strange +dream-like scene I had witnessed; but Hall followed me to my bedroom, +and had yet a word to say. + +"Before we part--we may not meet again for some time, for I leave Paris +in a couple of hours--I want to ask you to do me yet one more service. +Your yacht is at Calais, I believe--will you go aboard this morning and +take her round to Plymouth? There ask for news of the American's +yacht--he has only hired her, and she is called _La France_. News of +the yacht will be news of me, and I shall be glad to think that someone +is at my back in this big risk. If you should not hear of me, wait a +month; but if you get definite proof of my death, break the seal of the +papers you hold and read--but I don't think it will come to that." + +So saying, he left me with a hearty handshake. Poor fellow, I did not +know then that I should break the seal of his papers within three days. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +"FOUR-EYES" DELIVERS A MESSAGE. + + +A warming glare of the fuller sun upon my eyes, the cracking of whips, +the shouting of fierce-lunged coachmen, the hum of moving morning life +in the city, stirred me from a deep sleep as the clocks struck ten. I +sat up in bed, uncertain in the effort of wit-gathering if night had +not given me a dream rather than an experience, a chance play of the +brain's imagining, and not a living knowledge of true scenes and +strange men. For in this mood does nature often play with us, tricking +us to fine thoughts as we lie dreaming, or creating such shows of life +as we slumber, that in our first moments of wakefulness we do not +detect the cheat or reckon with the phantoms. I knew not for some +while, as I lay back listening to the hum of busy Paris, if the Perfect +Fool had or had not told me anything, if we had gone together to a +house near the Rue Joubert, or if we had remained in the hotel, if he +had begged of me some favour, or if I had dreamed it. All was but a +confused mind-picture, changing as a kaleidoscope, blurred, shadowy. It +might have remained so long, had I not, looking about the room, become +aware that a letter, neatly folded, lay on the small table at my +bedside. It was the letter which brought the consciousness of reality; +and in that moment I knew that I had not dreamed but lived the curious +events of the night. But these are the words which Martin Hall wrote:-- + + "Hôtel Scribe. Seven a.m.--I leave in ten minutes, and write you + here my last word. We shall sail from Dieppe at midnight. Do not + forget to cross to Plymouth if you have any friendship for me. I + look to you alone.--MARTIN HALL." + +He had left Paris then, and set out upon his great risk. The man's +awe-inspiring courage, his immense self-reliance, his deep purpose, +were marked strongly in those few simple words, and I had never felt so +great an admiration for him. He looked to me alone, and assuredly he +should not look in vain. I would follow him to Plymouth, losing no +moment in the act; and I resolved then to go farther if the need should +be, and to search for him in every land and on every sea, for he was a +brave man whose like I had not often known. + +I dressed in haste with this intention, and went to déjeûner in our +private room below. Roderick was there, sleepy over his bottle of bad +Bordeaux, and Mary, who insisted on taking an English breakfast, was in +the height of a dissertation on Parisian tea. + +"Did you ever see anything so feeble?" she said, being fond of +Roderick's speech mannerisms and often mimicking them. "Isn't it pretty +awful?" and she poured some from her spoon. + +"'Pretty awful' is not the expression for a polite young woman," +replied Roderick, with a severe yawn; "anyone who comes to Paris for +tea deserves what he gets." + +"Yes, and what he gets 'takes the biscuit.'" + +"Mary!" + +"Well, you always say, 'takes the biscuit'; why shouldn't I?" + +"Because, my child, because," said Roderick, slowly and paternally, +"because--why, here's Mark. Hallo! you're a pretty fellow; I hope you +enjoyed yourself last night." + +"Exceedingly, thanks; in fact, I may say that I had a most delightful +evening with men who suited me to the--tea--thank you, Mary! I'll take +a cup--and now tell me, what has he bought you?" + +I thought that a judicious policy of dissimulation was the wise course +at that time, for I had not then determined to share my secret even +with Roderick, as, indeed, by my word I was bound not to do until Hall +should so wish. In this intent I hid all my serious mood, and continued +the pleasant chatter. + +Mary had soon poured out a cup of the decoction which Frenchmen call +tea, an aqueous product, the fluid of chopped hay long stewed in tepid +water, and then she answered-- + +"Let me see, now, what did Roderick buy me? Oh, yes! I remember, he +bought me a meerschaum pipe and a walking-stick!" + +"A what?" I gasped. + +"A meerschaum pipe, and a walking-stick with a little man to hold +matches on the top of it." + +Roderick looked guilty, and admitted it. + +"You see," he said in apology, "they sold only those things at the +first place we came to, and you don't expect a fellow to walk in Paris, +do you? Now, when I've rested after breakfast, I suggest that we all +make up our minds for a long stroll, and get to the Palais Royal." + +"Well, that's about three hundred yards from here, isn't it? Are you +quite sure you're equal to it?" + +He looked at me reproachfully. + +"You don't want a man to kill himself on his holiday, do you? You're +fatally energetic. Now, I believe that the science of life is rest, the +calm survey of great problems from the depths of an armchair. It's +astonishing how easy things are if you take them that way; never let +anything agitate you--I never do." + +"No, he don't, does he, Mary? But about this excursion to the Palais +Royal; I'm afraid you'll have to go alone, for I have just had a letter +which calls me back to the yacht. It's awfully unfortunate, but I must +go, although I will return here in a week, if possible, and pick you +up; otherwise, you will hear of my movements as soon as I know them +myself." + +Somewhat to my astonishment, they both looked at me, saying nothing, +but evidently very much surprised. Mary's big eyes were wide open with +amazement, but Roderick had a more serious look on his face. He did not +question me, he did not say a word, but I felt his thought--"You hold +something back"--and the mute reproach was keen. Perhaps some +explanation would then have been demanded had not another interruption +broken the unwelcome silence. One of the servants of the hotel entered +to tell me that a man who wished to speak with me was waiting outside, +and asked if I would see him there or in the privacy of our room. As I +could not recall that anyone in Paris had any business with me, I said, +"Send the man here"; and presently he entered, when to my intense +surprise I found him to be no other than one of the ruffians--the one +called "Four-Eyes" by the Captain of the company I had met on the +previous evening. Not that he seemed in any way abashed at the +meeting--he walked into the room with a seaman's lurch, and steadied +himself only when he saw Mary. Then he rang an imaginary bell-rope on +his forehead, and "hitched" himself together, as sailors say, looking +for all the world like some great dog that has entered a house where +dogs are forbidden. His first words were somewhat unexpected-- + +"Oi was priest's boy in Tipperary, bedad," said he, and then he looked +round as if that information should put him on good terms with us. + +"Will you sit down, please?" was my request as he stood fingering his +hat, and looking at Mary as though he had seen a vision, "and permit me +to ask what the fact of your serving a priest in Ireland has to do with +your presence here now?" + +"That brings us to the point av it, and thanking yer honor, it's meself +that ain't aisy on them land-craft which don't carry me cargo on an +even keel at all, so I'll be standin', with no offence to the Missy, +sure, an' gettin' to the writin' which is fur yer honor's ear alone as +me instruckthshuns goes." + +He rang the bell-rope over his right eye again, and gave me a letter, +well written on good paper. I watched him as I read it, and saw that in +a power of eye that was astounding, he had fixed one orb upon Mary and +one upon the ceiling, and that the two objects shared his gaze, while +his body swayed as though he was unaccustomed to balance himself upon a +fair floor. But I read his letter, and write it for you here-- + + "Captain Black presents his compliments to Mr. Mark Strong, whom he + had the pleasure of receiving last night, and regrets the reception + which was offered to him. Captain Black hopes that it will be his + privilege to receive Mr. Strong on his yacht _La France_, now lying + over against the American vessel _Portland_, in Dieppe harbour, at + 11 to-night, and to extend to him hospitality worthy of him and his + host." + +Now, that was a curious thing indeed. Not only did it appear that my +pretence of being Hall's partner in trade was completely unmasked by +this man of the Rue Joubert; but he had my name--and, by his tone in +writing, it was clear that he knew my position, and the fact that I was +no trader at all. Whether such knowledge was good for me, I could not +then say; but I made up my mind to act with cunning, and to shield Hall +in so far as was possible. + +"Did your master tell you to wait for any answer?" I asked suddenly, as +the seaman brought his right eye from the direction of the ceiling and +fixed it upon me; and he said-- + +"Is it for the likes of me to be advisin' yer honor? 'Sure,' says he, +'if the gentleman has the moind to wroite he'll wroite, if he has the +moind to come aboard me--meanin' his yacht--he'll come aboard; and +we'll be swimming in liquor together as gents should. And if so be as +the gentleman' (which is yer honor), says he, 'will condescend to wipe +his fate on me cabin shates, let him be aboard at Dieppe afore seven +bells,' says he, 'and we'll shame the ould divil with a keg, and heave +at daybreak'--which is yer honor's pleasure, or otherwise, as it's me +juty to larn!" + +It needed no very clever penetration on my part to read danger in every +line of this invitation--not only danger to myself, who had been +dragged by the heels into the business, but danger to Hall, whose +disguise could scarce be preserved when mine was unmasked. And yet he +had left Paris, and even then, perhaps, was in the power of the man +Black and his crew! What I could do to help him, I could not think; but +I determined if possible to glean something from the palpably cunning +rogue who had come on the errand. + +"I'll give you the answer to this in a minute," said I; "meanwhile, +have a little whisky? A seaman like yourself doesn't thrive on cold +water, does he?" + +"Which is philosophy, yer honor--for could wather never warmed any man +yet--me respects to the young lady"--here he looked deep into his +glass, adding slowly, and as if there was credit to him in the +recollection, "Oi was priest's boy in Tipperary, bedad"--and he drank +the half of a stiff glass at a draught. + +"Do you find this good weather in the Channel?" I inquired suddenly, +looking hard at him over the table. + +He made circles with his glass, and turned his eyes upon Mary, before +he answered; and when he did, his voice died away like the fall of a +gale which is tired. "Noice weather, did ye say--by the houly saints, +it depends." + +"On what?" I asked, driving the question home. + +"On yer company," said he, returning my gaze, "and yer sowl." + +"That's curious!" + +"Yes, if ye have one to lose, and put anny price on it." + +His meaning was too clear. + +"Tell your master, with my compliments," I responded, "that I will come +another time--I have business in Paris to-day!" + +He still looked at me earnestly, and when he spoke again his voice had +a fatherly ring. "If I make bold, it's yer honor's forgiveness I +ask--but, if it was me that was in Paris I'd stay there," and putting +his glass down quickly, he rolled to the door, fingered his hat there +for one moment, put it on awry, and with the oft-repeated statement, +"Oi was priest's boy in Tipperary, bedad," he swayed out of the room. + +When he was gone, the others, who had not spoken, turned to me, their +eyes asking for an explanation. + +"One of Hall's friends," I said, trying to look unconcerned, "the mate +on the yacht _La France_--the vessel he joins to-day." + +Roderick tapped the table with his fingers; Mary was very white, I +thought. + +"He knows a queer company," I added, with a grim attempt at jocularity, +"they're almost as rough as he is." + +"Do you still mean to sail to-night?" asked Roderick. + +"I must; I have made a promise to reach Plymouth without a moment's +delay." + +"Then I sail with you," said he, being very wide-awake. + +"Oh, but you can't leave Paris; you promised Mary!" + +"Yes, and I release him at once," interrupted Mary, the colour coming +and going in her pretty cheeks, "I shall sail from Calais to-night with +you and Roderick." + +"It's very kind of you--but--you see----" + +"That we mean to come," added Roderick quickly. "Go and pack your +things, Mary; I have something to say to Mark." + +We were alone, he and I, but there was between us the first shadow that +had come upon our friendship. + +"Well," said he, "how much am I to know?" + +"What you choose to learn, and as much as your eyes teach you--it's a +promise, and I've given my word on it." + +"I was sure of it. But I don't like it, all the same--I distrust that +fool, who seems to me a perfect madman. He'll drag you into some mess, +if you'll let him. I suppose there's no danger yet, or you wouldn't let +Mary come!" + +"There can be no risk now, be quite sure of that--we are going for a +three days' cruise in the Channel, that is all." + +"All you care to tell me--well, I can't ask more; what time do you +start?" + +"By the club train. I have two hours' work to do yet, but I will meet +you at the station, if you'll bring my bag----" + +"Of course--and I can rest for an hour. That always does me good in the +morning." + +I left him so, being myself harassed by many thoughts. The talk with +Black's man did not leave me any longer in doubt that Hall had gone to +great risk in setting out with the ruffian's crew; and I resolved that +if by any chance it could be done, I would yet call him back to Paris. +For this I went at once to the office of the Police, and laid as much +of the case before one of the heads as I thought needful to my purpose. +He laughed at me; the yacht _La France_ was known to him as the +property of an eccentric American millionaire, and he could not +conceive that anyone might be in danger aboard her. As there was no +hope from him, I took a fiacre and drove to the Embassy, where one of +the clerks heard my whole story; and while inwardly laughing at my +fears, as I could see, promised to telegraph to a friend in Calais, and +get my message delivered. + +I had done all in my power, and I returned to the Hôtel Scribe; but the +others had left for the station. Thither I followed them, instructing a +servant to come to me at the Gare du Nord if any telegram should be +sent; and so reached the train, and the saloon. It was not, however, +until the very moment of our departure that a messenger raced to our +carriage, and thrust a paper at me; and then I knew that my warning had +come too late. The paper said: "_La France_ has sailed, and your friend +with her." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A STRANGE SIGHT ON THE SEA. + + +It was on the morning of the second day; three bells in the watch; the +wind playing fickle from east by south, and the sea agold with the +light of an August sun. Two points west of north to starboard I saw the +chalky cliffs of the Isle of Wight faint through the haze, but away +ahead the Channel opened out as an unbroken sea. The yacht lay without +life in her sails, the flow of the swell beating lazily upon her, and +the great mainsail rocking on the boom. We had been out twenty-four +hours, and had not made a couple of hundred miles. The delay angered +every man aboard the _Celsis_, since every man aboard knew that it was +a matter of concern to me to overtake the American yacht, _La France_, +and that a life might go with long-continued failure. + +As the bells were struck, and Piping Jack, our boatswain--they called +him Piping Jack because he had a sweetheart in every port from Plymouth +to Aberdeen, and wept every time we put to sea--piped down to +breakfast, my captain betrayed his irritation by an angry sentence. He +was not given to words, was Captain York, and the men knew him as "The +Silent Skipper"; but twenty-four hours without wind enough to "blow a +bug," as he put it, was too much for any man's temper. + +"I tell you what, sir," he said, sweeping the horizon with his glass +for the tenth time in ten minutes, "this American of yours has taken +the breeze in his pocket, and may it blow him to----I beg your pardon, +I did not see that the young lady had joined us." + +But Mary was there, fresh as a rose dipped in dew, and as Roderick +followed her up the companion ladder, we held a consultation, the fifth +since we left Calais. + +"It's my opinion," said Roderick, "that if those men of yours had not +been ashore on leave, York, and we could have sailed at midnight, we +should have done the business and been in Paris again by this time." + +"It's my opinion, sir, that your opinion is not worth a cockroach," +cried the captain quite testily; "the men have nothing to do with it. +Look above; if you'll show me how to move this ship without a hatful of +wind, I'll do it, sir," and he strutted off to breakfast, leaving us +with Dan, the forward look-out. + +Dan was a grand old seaman, and there wasn't one of us who didn't +appeal to him in our difficulties. + +"Do you think it means to blow, Dan?" I asked, as I offered him my +tobacco-pouch: and Mary said earnestly-- + +"Oh, Daniel, I do wish a gale would come on!" + +"Ay, Miss, and so do many of us; but we can't be making wind no more'n +we can make wittals--and excusing me, Miss, it ain't Daniel, not +meaning no disrespect to the other gent, whose papers were all right, I +don't doubt, but my mother warn't easy in larning, and maybe didn't +know of him--it's Dan, Miss, free-and-easy like, but nat'ral." + +"Well, Dan, do you think it will blow? Can't you promise it will blow?" + +"Lor, Miss, I'd promise ye anything; but what is nater is nater, and +there's an end on it--not as I don't say there won't be a hatful o' +wind afore night--why should I? but as for promisin' of it, why I'd +give ye a hurricane willing--or two." + +We went down to breakfast, the red of sea strength on our cheeks; and +in the cosy saloon we made short work of the coffee and soles, the +great heaps of toast, and the fresh fruit. I could not help some gloomy +thoughts as I found myself on my own schooner again, asking how long +she would be mine, and how I should suffer the loss of her when all my +money was spent. These were cast off in the excitement of the chase, +and came only in the moments of absolute calm, when all the men aboard +fretted and fumed, and every other question was: "Isn't it beginning to +blow?" + +The morning passed in this way, a long morning, with the sea like a +mirror, and the sun as a great circle of red fire in the haze. Hour +after hour we walked from the fore-hatch to the tiller, from the tiller +to the fore-hatch, varying the exercise with a full inspection of every +craft that showed above the horizon. At eight bells we lay a few miles +farther westward, the island still visible to the starboard, but less +distinct. At four bells, when we went to lunch, the heat was terrible +below, and the sun was terrible on deck; but yet there was not a +breeze. At six bells some dark and dirty clouds rose up from the south, +and twenty hands pointed to them. At "one bell in the first dog" the +clouds were thick, and the sun was hidden. Half-an-hour later there was +a shrill whistling in the shrouds, and the rain began to patter on the +deck, while the booms fretted, and we relieved her in part of her press +of sail. When the squall struck us at last, the Channel was foaming +with long lines of choppy seas; and the sky southward was dark as ink. +But there was only joy of it aboard; we stood gladly as the _Celsis_ +heeled to it, and rising free as an unslipped hound, sent the spray +flying in clouds, and dipped her decks to the foam which washed her. + +During one hour, when we must have made eleven knots, the wind blew +strong, and was fresh again after that; so that we set the foresail +unreefed and let the great mainsail go not many minutes later. The +swift motion was an ecstasy to all of us, an unbounded delight; and +even the skipper softened as we stood well out to sea, and looked on a +great continent of clouds underlit with the spreading glow of the +sunset, their rain setting up the mighty arched bow whose colours stood +out with a rich light over the wide expanse of the east. Nor did the +breeze fall, but stiffened towards night, so that in the first bell, +when we came up from dinner, the _Celsis_ was straining and foaming as +she bent under her pressure of canvas, and it needed a sailor's foot to +tread her decks. But of this no one thought, for we had hardly come +above when we heard Dan hailing-- + +"Yacht on the port-bow." + +"What name?" came from twenty throats. + +"_La France_," said Dan, and the words had scarce left his lips when +the skipper roared the order-- + +"Stand by to go about!" + +For some minutes the words "'bout ship" were not spoken. The schooner +held her course, and rapidly drew up with the yacht we had set out to +seek. From the first there was no doubt about her name, which she +displayed in great letters of gold above her figure-head. Dan had read +them as he sighted her; and we in turn felt a thrill of delight as we +proved his keen vision, watching the big cutter, for such she was, +heading, not for Plymouth, but for the nearer coast. But this was not +the only strange thing about her course, for when she had made some few +hundred yards towards the coast, she jibbed round of a sudden, with an +appalling wrench at the horse; and there being, as it appeared, no hand +either at the peak halyards or the throat halyards, the mainsail +presently showed a great rent near the luff, while the foresail had +torn free from the bolt-ropes of the stay, and was presenting a sorry +spectacle as the yacht went about, and away towards France again. + +Such a display of seamanship astounded our men. + +"Close haul, you lubbers; close haul!" roared Dan, in the vain delusion +that his voice would be heard a quarter of a mile away. "Keep down yer +'elm and close haul--wash me in rum if he ain't comin' up again, and +there she goes right into it. Shake up, you gibbering fools; luff her a +bit and make fast. Did ye ever see anythin' like it this side of a +Margit steamer?" + +The skipper said nothing, but as the yacht luffed right up into the +wind again, he groaned as a man who is hurt. Piping Jack looked +sorrowful too, and said, almost with tears in his eyes-- + +"Axin' yer pardon, sir, but hev you got a pair of eyes in your head +which can make out anything unusual aboard there?" + +"They're a queer lot, if that's what you mean, and they haven't got +enough seamanship amongst them to run a washing tub. Is there anything +else you make out?" + +"A good deal, sir; and look you, there ain't a living soul on her deck, +or may I never see shore again." + +"By all that's curious, you're right. There isn't a man showing!" + +"'Bout ship," roared the skipper, and every man ran to his post, while +I touched Captain York on the shoulder and pointed to the seemingly +deserted and errant yacht. + +But the skipper's eyes were not those of a ground-gazer; he needed no +aid from me; what others had seen, he had seen, and he nodded an +affirmative to my unspoken question. + +"What do you think it means?" I asked, as we came up into the wind, and +the men were belaying after close hauling for the beat; "are they +hiding from us, or is she deserted?" + +But the only answer I got was the one word "Rum," uttered with a jerky +emphasis, and taken up by Dan, who said-- + +"Very rum, and a good many drunk below, or I don't know the taste of +it." + +The obvious thought that the yacht we had sought and run down was +without living men upon her decks had taken the lilt from the seamen's +merry tongues, and a gloom settled on us all. Perhaps it was more than +a mere surmise, for an uncanny feeling of something dreadful to come +took hold of me, and I feared that, finding the yacht, we had also +found the devil's work; but I held my peace on that, and made up my +mind to act. + +"Skipper," said I, "order a boat out; I'm going aboard her." + +He looked at me, and shook his head. + +"When the wind falls, perhaps; but now!" and he shrugged his shoulders. + +"Is there any sign that the breeze will drop?" + +"None at present; but I'll tell you more in an hour. Meanwhile," and +here he whispered, "get your pistols out and say nothing to the men. I +shall follow her." + +His advice was wise; and as the dark began to fall and the night breeze +to blow fresh, while the yacht ahead of us swung here and there, almost +making circles about us, we hove to for the time and watched her. I +begged Mary to go below, but she received the suggestion with +merriment. + +"Go below, when the men say there's fun coming! Why should I go below?" + +"Because it may be serious fun." + +She took my arm, and linking herself closely to me as to a brother, she +said-- + +"Because there's danger to you and to Roderick; isn't that it, Mark?" + +"Not to us any more than to the men; and there may be no danger, of +course. It's only a thought of mine." + +"And of mine, too. I shall stay where I am, or Roderick will go to +sleep." + +"What does Roderick say?" + +He had joined us on the starboard side, and was gazing over the sea at +the pursued yacht, which lay shaking dead in the wind's eye, but Mary's +question upset whatever speculation he had entered upon. + +"I've got an opinion," he drawled, with a yawn. + +"You don't say so----" + +"The wind's falling, and it's getting beastly dark." + +"Two fairly obvious conclusions; do you think you could keep +sufficiently awake to help man the boat?--in another ten minutes we +shall see nothing." + +"Do you think I'm a fool, that I'm going to stop here?" + +"Forgive me, but I'm getting anxious. Martin Hall sailed on that yacht; +and I promised to help him--but there's no need for you to do anything, +you know." + +"No need when you are going--pshaw, I'll fetch my Colt, and Mary shall +watch us. I don't think she is afraid of much, are you, Rats?"--he +called her "Rats" because they were the one thing on earth she +feared--and then he went below, and I followed him, getting my revolver +and my oil-skins, for I knew that it would be wet work. I had scarce +reached the deck again when I felt the schooner moving; but no break of +light showed the place where the other was, and the skipper called +presently for a blue flare, which cast a glowing light for many hundred +yards, and still left us uncertain. + +"She's gone, for sure," said Dan to the men around him, for every soul +on board, even including old Chasselot--called by the men +"Cuss-a-lot"--our cook, was staring into the thick night; "and I +wouldn't stake a noggin that her crew ain't cheated the old un at last +an' gone down singing. It's mighty easy to die with your head full o' +rum, but I don't go for to choose it meself, not particler." + +Billy Eightbells, the second mate, was quite of Dan's opinion. The +looks of the others told me then that they began to fear the adventure. +Billy was the first really to give expression to the common sentiment. + +"Making bold to speak," he said, "it were two years ago come Christmas +as I met something like this afore, down Rio way----" + +"Was it at eight bells, Billy?" asked Mary mischievously. She knew that +all Billy's yarns began at eight bells. + +"Well, I think it were, mum, but as I was saying----" + +"Flash again," said the skipper, suddenly interrupting the harangue, +and as the blue light flashed we saw right ahead of us the wanderer we +sought; but she was bearing down upon us, and there was fear in the +skipper's voice when he roared-- + +"For God's sake, hard a-starboard!" + +The helm went over, and the yacht loomed up black, as our own light +died away; and passed us within a cable's length. What lift of the +night there was showed us her decks again; but they were not deserted, +for as one or two aboard gave a great cry, I saw the white and horridly +distorted face of a man who clung to the main shrouds--and he alone was +guardian of the wanderer. + +The horrid vision struck my own men with a deadly fearing. + +"May the Lord help us!" said Dan. + +"And him!" added Piping Jack solemnly. + +"Was he alive, d'you think?" asked Dan. + +"It's my opinion he'd seen something as no Christian man ought to see. +Please God, we all get to port again!" + +"Please God!" said half-a-dozen; and their words had meaning. + +For myself, my thoughts were very different. That vision of the man I +had left well and hopeful and strong not three days since was terrible +to me. A brave man had gone to his death, but to what a death, if that +agonised face and distorted visage betokened aught! And I had promised +to aid him, and was drifting there with the schooner, raising no hand +to give him help. + +"Skipper," I cried, "this time we'll risk getting a boat off; I'm going +aboard that vessel now, if I drown before I return." Then I turned to +the men, and said: "You saw the yacht pass just now, and you saw that +man aboard her--he's my friend, and I'm going to fetch him. Who amongst +you is coming with me?" + +They hung back for a moment before the stuff that was in them showed +itself; then Dan lurched out, and said-- + +"I go!" + +Billy Eightbells followed. + +"And I," said he, "if it's the Old One himself." + +"And I," said Piping Jack. + +"And I," said Planks, the carpenter. + +"Come on, then, and take your knives in your belts. Skipper, put about +and show another light." + +He obeyed mechanically, saying nothing; but he was a brave man, I knew. +It was our luck to find that the boat went away from the davits with no +more than a couple of buckets of water in her; and in two minutes' time +the men were giving way, and we rose and fell to the still choppy sea, +while the green spray ran from our oilskins in gallons. In this way we +made a couple of hundred yards in the direction we judged the yacht +would turn, and lit a flash. It showed her a quarter of a mile away, +jibbing round and coming into the wind again. + +"We shall catch her on the tack if she holds her bearing," said Dan, +"and be aboard in ten minutes." + +"What then?" said Billy. + +"Ay, what then?" echoed the others. + +"But it's a friend of the guv'nor's," repeated Dan, "and he's in +danger--no common danger, neither. Please God, we all get to port +again." + +"Please God!" they responded, and Roderick, who sat at the tiller with +me, whispered-- + +"I never saw men who liked a job less." + +As the good fellows gave way again, and the boat rode easily before the +wind, I noticed for the first time that the clouds were scattering; and +we had not made another cable's length when a great cloud above us +showed silver at its edges, and opaquely white in its centre, through +which the moon shone. Anon it dissolved, and the transformation on the +surface of the water was a transformation from the dark of storm to the +chrome light of a summer moon. There, around us, the panorama stretched +out: the sea, white-waved and rolling; the lights of a steamer to port; +of a couple of sailing vessels astern; of a fishing fleet away ahead, +and nearer to the shore. But these we had no thought for, since the +deserted yacht was beating up to us, and we stood right in her track. + +"Get a grapnel forward, and look out there," cried Dan, who was in +command; and Billy stood ready, while we could hear the swish of the +waves against the cutter's bows, and every man instinctively put his +hand on his pistol or his knife. + +As if to help us, the wind fell away as the schooner came up, and she +began to shake her sails; making no way as she headed almost due east. +It seemed a fit moment for effort, and Dan had just sung out "Give +way," when every man who had gripped an oar let go the handle again and +sat with horror writ on his countenance. For, almost with the words of +the order, there was the sound as of fierce contest, of the bursting of +wood, and the spread of flame; and in that instant the decks of the +yacht were ripped up, and sheets of fire rose from them to the rigging +above. The light of this mighty flare spread instantly over the sea +about her, and far away you could look on the rolling waves, red as +waves of fire. A terrible sight it was, and terrible sounds were those +of the wood rending with the heat, of the stays snapping and flying, of +the hissing of the flame where it met the water. But it was a sight of +infinite horror to us, because we knew that one who might yet live was +a prisoner of the conflagration--the one passenger, as it seemed then, +of the vessel which was doomed. + +"Give way," roared Dan again, for the men sat motionless with terror. +"Are you going to let him burn? May God have mercy on him, for he needs +mercy!" + +The words awed them. They shot the long-boat forward; and I stood in +her stern to observe, if I could, what passed on the burning decks. And +I saw a sight the like to which I pray that I may never see again. +Martin Hall stood at the main shrouds, motionless, volumes of flame +around him, his figure clear to be viewed by that awful beacon. + +"Why doesn't he jump it?" I called aloud. "If he can't swim, he could +keep above until we're alongside"; and then I roared "Ahoy!" and every +man repeated the cry, calling "Ahoy!" each time he bent to his oar, his +voice hoarse with excitement. But Martin Hall never moved, his gaunt +figure was motionless--the flames beat upon it, it did not stir; and we +drew near enough anon and knew the worst. + +"Devils' work, devils' work!" said Dan; "he's lashed there--and he's +dead!" But the men still cried "Ahoy!" as they rushed their oars +through the water, and were as those mad with fiery drink. + +"Easy!" roared Dan. "Easy, for a parcel of stark fools! Would you run +alongside her?" + +There they lay, for any nearer approach would have been perilous, and +even in that place where we were, twenty feet on the windward side, the +heat was nigh unbearable. So near were we that I looked close as it +might be into the dead face of Martin Hall, and saw that the fiends who +had lashed him there had done their work too well. But I hoped in my +heart that he had been dead when the end of the ship had begun to come, +and that it were no reproach to me that he had perished: for to save +his body from that holocaust was work no man might do. + +So did we watch the mounting fire, and the last tack of the yacht _La +France_. Saucily she raised her head to a new breeze, shook her great +sail of flame in the night, and scattered red light about her. Then she +dipped her burning jib as if in salute, and there was darkness. + +"Rest to a good ship," said Dan, in melancholy mood; but I said-- + +"Rest to a friend." I had known the man whose death had come; and when +his body went below I hungered for the grip of the hand which was then +washed by the Channel waves. + +"Give way," I cried to the men, who sat silent in their fear of it, and +when they rowed again they cried as before, "Ahoy": so strong and vivid +was the picture which the sea had then put out. + +As we neared our own ship, Roderick endeavoured to speak to me, but his +voice failed, and he took my hand, giving it a great grip. Then we came +on board, where Mary waited for us with a white face, and the others +stood silent; but we said nothing to them, going below. There I locked +myself in my own cabin, and though fatigue lay heavy on me, and my eyes +were clouded with the touch of sleep, I took Martin Hall's papers from +my locker, and lighted the lamp to read them through. + +But not without awe, for they were a message from the dead. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE WRITING OF MARTIN HALL. + + +The manuscript, which was sealed on its cover in many places, consisted +of several pages of close writing, and of sketches and scraps from +newspapers--Italian, French, and English. The sketches I looked at +first, and was not a little surprised to see that one of them was the +portrait of the man known as "Roaring John," whom I had met at Paris in +the strange company; while there was with this a blurred and faint +outline of the features of the seaman called "Four-Eyes," who had come +to me at the Hôtel Scribe with the bidding to go aboard _La France_. +But what, perhaps, was even more difficult to be understood was the +picture of the great hull of what I judged to be a warship, showing her +a-building, with the work yet progressing on her decks. The newspaper +cuttings I deemed to be in some part an explanation of these sketches, +for one of them gave a description of a very noteworthy battleship, +constructed for a South American Republic, but in much secrecy; while +another hinted that great pains had been taken with the vessel, which +was built at a mighty cost, and on so new a plan that the shipwrights +refused to give information concerning her until she had been some +months at sea to prove her. + +All this reading remained enigmatical, of course, and as I could make +nothing of it to connect it with the events I have narrated, I went on +to the writing, which was fine and small, as the writing of an exact +man. And the words upon the head of it were these:-- + + SOME ACCOUNT OF A NAMELESS WARSHIP, + + OF HER CREW, AND HER PURPOSE. + + _Written for the eyes of Mark Strong, by Martin Hall, sometime + his friend._ + +I put from me the sorrow of the thought which the last three words +brought to me, and read therefrom this history, which had these few +sentences as its preface:-- + + "You read these words, Mark Strong, when I am dead; and I would ask + you before you go further with them to consider well if you would + wish, or have inclination for, a pursuit in which I have lost all + that a man can lose, and in which your risk, do you take the work + upon you, will be no less than mine was. For if you read what is + written here, and have in you that stuff which cannot brook + mystery, and is fired when mystery also is danger, I know that you + will venture upon this undertaking at the point where death has + held my hand; and that by so doing you may reap where I have sown. + And with this, think nor act in any haste lest you lay to my charge + that which may befall you in the pursuit you are about to begin." + +I read on, for the desire to do justice to Martin Hall was strong upon +me at the very beginning of it. + +From that place the story was in great part autobiographical, but in no +sense egotistical. It was, as you shall see, the simple narration of a +man sincere in his dreaming, if he did dream; logical in his madness, +if he were mad. And this was his story as first I read it:-- + + "Having well considered the warning which is the superscription of + this record, you have determined to continue this narrative, I do + not doubt; for I judge you to be a man who, having tasted the + succulent dish of curiosity, will not put it away until you have + eaten your fill. I will tell you, therefore, such a part of my life + as you should know when you come to ask yourself the question, 'Is + this man a fool or an imbecile, a crack-brained faddist or the + victim of hallucination?' This question should arise at a later + stage, and I beg you not to put it until you have read every word + that I have written here. + +"I was born in Liverpool, thirty-three years ago, and was educated for +a very few years at the well-known institute in that city. They taught +me there that consciousness of ignorance which is half an education; +and being the son of a man who starved on a fine ability for modelling +things in clay, and plaster-moulding, I went out presently to make my +living. First to America, you doubt not, to get the experience of +coming home again; then to the Cape, to watch other men dig diamonds; +to Rome, to Naples, to Genoa, that I might know what it was to want +food; to South America as an able seaman; to Australia in the +stoke-hole of a South Sea liner; home again to my poor father, who lay +dead when I reached Liverpool. + +"I was twenty-two years old then, and glutted with life. I had no +relation living that I knew of; no friend who was not also a plain +acquaintance. By what chance it was I cannot tell, but I drifted like a +living log into the detective force of my city, and after working up +for a few years through the grades, they put me on the landing stage at +Liverpool to watch the men who wished to emigrate because they had no +opinion of the police force here. It was miserable employment, but +educating, for it taught me to read faces that were disguised, old men +became beardless, young men made old at the touch of a _coiffeur_. I +suppose I had more than common success, for when I had been so employed +for five years, I was sent to London by our people and there commanded +to go to the Admiralty and get new instructions. Regard this, please, +as the first mark in this record I am making. Of my work for our own +people I may not tell even you, since I engaged upon it under solemn +bond of secrecy; but I can indicate that I was sent to Italy to pick up +facts in the dockyards there, and that our people relied on my gifts of +disguise, and on my knowledge of Italian, learnt upon Italian ships and +in Italian ports. In short, I was expected to provide plans and +accounts of many things material to our own service, and I entered on +the business with alacrity, gained admittance to the public dockyards, +and knew in a twelve-month all that any man could learn who had his +wits only to guide him, and as much of those of other men as he could +pick up. + +"But I imagine your natural impatience, and your mental exclamation, +'What has all this rigmarole to do with me--how does it affect this +pretended narrative?' Bear with me a moment when I tell you that it is +vital to my story. It was in Italy during my second year of work that I +had cause to be at Spezia, inspecting there a new type of gun-boat +about which there was much talk and many opinions. I have no need to +tell you, who have not the bombastic knowledge of a one-city man, that +at Spezia is to be found all that is great in the naval life of Italy; +on the grand forts of the bay which received the ashes of Shelley are +her finest guns; on the glorious hills which arise above her limpid +blue waters are her chief fortifications. There, at the feet of the +hills where grows the olive, and where the vine matures to luxurious +growth, you will find in juxtaposition with Nature's emblems of peace +the storehouses of the shot and shell which one day shall sow the sea +and the land with blood. Amongst these fortifications, amidst these +adamantine terraces and turrets, my work lay; but the most part of it +was done in the dockyards, both in the yards which were the property of +the Government and in the private yards. My recreation was a rare +cruise to the lovely gulfs which the bay embosoms, to the Casa di Mare, +to Fezzano, to the Temple of Venus at the Porto Venere; or a walk when +there was golden-red light on the clustering vines, and the Apennines +were capped with the spreading fire which falls on them when the sun +passes low at twilight. Many an hour I stood above the old town, asking +why a common cheat of a spy, as I reckoned myself, should presume to +find other thoughts when breathing that air laden of solitude; but they +came to me whether I would or no; and it was often on my mind to throw +over the whole business of prying; and to set out on a work which +should achieve something, if only a little, for humanity. That I did +not follow this impulse, which grew upon me from day to day, is to be +laid to the charge of one of those very walks upon the hillside about +which I have been telling you. It was an evening late in the year, and +the sun was just setting. I watched the changing hues of the peaks as +the light spread from point to point; watched it reddening the sea, and +leaving it black in the shadows; watched it upon the church spires of +Spezia, upon the castle roof, upon the steel hulls of great ships. And +then I saw a strange thing, for amongst all the vessels which were so +burnished by the invisible hand of Heaven, I saw one that stood out +beyond them all, a great globe, not of silver, but of golden fire. +There was no doubt about it at all; I rubbed my eyes, I used the glass +I always carried with me; I viewed the hull I saw lying there from +half-a-dozen heights, and I was sure that what I saw was no effect of +evening light or strange refraction. The ship I looked on was built +either of brass, or of some alloy of brass, as it seemed to me, for the +notion that she could be plated with gold was preposterous; and yet the +more I examined her, the more clearly did I make out that her hull was +constructed of a metal infinitely gold-like, and of so beautiful a +colour in the reddened stream which shone upon it that the whole ship +had the aspect of a mirror of the purest gold I had ever seen. + +"The sudden fading of the light behind the hills shut the vision--I +could not call it less--from my eyes. The dark fell, and the vines +rustled with the cold coming of night. I returned to the town quickly, +and neglecting any thought of dinner, I went straight to the sea-front +and began, if I could, to find where the water lay wherein this +extraordinary steamer was docked. I had taken the bearings of it from +the hills, and I was very quickly at that spot where I thought to have +seen the strange vessel. There, truly enough, was a dock in which two +small coasting steamers were moored, but of a sign of that which I +sought there was none. I should have had the matter out there and then, +searching the place to its extremity; but I had not been at my work ten +minutes when I knew that I was watched. A man, dressed as a rough +sailor, and remarkable for the hideousness of his face and a curious +malformation of one tooth, lurked behind the heaps of sea lumber, and +followed me from point to point. I did not care to have any +altercation, so I left the matter there; but, being determined to probe +the mystery to the very bottom, I returned in a good disguise of a +common English seaman on the following evening, and again entered the +dockyard. The same man was watching, but he had no suspicion of me. + +"'Any job going?' I asked, and the question seemed to interest him. + +"'I reckon that depends on the man,' he replied, sticking his hands +deep into his pockets, and squirting his filthy tobacco all over the +timber about. 'What's a little wizen chap like you good for, except to +get yer neck broken?' + +"'All in my line,' I answered jauntily, having fixed my plan; 'I'm +starving amongst these cursed cut-throats here, and I'm ready for +anything.' + +"'Starving, are you! Then blarm me if you shan't earn your supper. +D'y'see that four feet of bullock's fat and nigger working at them iron +pins in the far corner?'--he pointed to a thick-set, dark and burly +seaman working in the way he had described--'go and stick yer knife in +him, and I'm good for a bottle--two, if you like, you darned little +shootin' rat of a man'; and he clutched me with his great paw and shook +me until my teeth chattered again. But his look was full of meaning, +and I believe that he wished every word that he said. + +"'Stick your knife into the man yourself,' I replied, when I was free +of him, 'you great Yankee lubber--for another word I'd give you a taste +of mine now.' + +"He looked at me as I stood making this poor mock of a threat, and +laughed till he rang up the hill-sides. Then he said-- + +"'You're my sort; I reckon I know your flag. Out with it, and we'll +pour liquor on it, I guess; for there ain't no foolin' you--no, by +thunder! You're just a daisy of a man, you are; so come along and let +the nigger be. As for hurtin' of 'im--why, so help me blazes, he's my +pard, he is, and I love him like my own little brother what died of +lead-poisonin' down Sint Louis way. You come along, you little cuss, +and see if I don't make you dance--oh, I reckon!' + +"I take these words from my note-book, and write them out for you, to +give you some idea of the class of man I met with first on this +adventure. More of his nice language I do not intend to trouble you +with; but will say that I drank with him, and later on with his +companions, about as fine a dozen of self-stamped rascals as ever I +wish to see. Next day, I came again to the dockyard, for the +conversation of the previous evening had convinced me beyond doubt that +I was at the foot of a mystery, and, to my delight, I got employment +from the chief of the gang, named 'Roaring John' by his friends; and +was soon at work on the simple and matter-of-fact business of cutting +planks. This gave me an entry to the dockyard--all I wished at the +moment. + +"Now, you may ask, 'Why did you take the trouble to do all this from +the mere motive of curiosity engendered by the strange ship you thought +you saw from the hills?' I will tell you briefly. The fact of my being +watched when I entered the dock convinced me that there was something +there which no stranger might see. That which no stranger may see in a +foreign yard spells also the word money. If there was any information +to be got in that dock, I could sell it to my own Government, or to the +first Government in Europe I chose to haggle with. This reason alone +made me a hewer of wood amongst foul-mouthed companions, a tar-bedaubed +loafer in a crew of loafers. + +"You see me, then, at the stage when I had got admission to the dock, +but had learnt nothing of the vessel. It is true that I was admitted +only to the outer basin, where the coasting steamers lay, and that the +man 'Roaring John' threatened me with all the curses he could command +if I passed the gate which opened into the dock beyond; but such +threats to a man whose business it was to lay bare mystery had no more +effect on me than the braying of an ass in a field of clover. Minute by +minute and hour by hour, I waited my opportunity. It came to me on the +morning of the eighth day, when, in the poor hope of getting something +by the loss of sleep, I reached the yard at four o'clock; and the gate +being unopen, I lurked in hiding until the first man should come. He +was no other than the one who had engaged me; and when he had gone in, +about five minutes after I had come, he did not close the second door +after him, there being no men then at their work. I need not tell you +that I used my eyes well in those minutes, and while he was away--this +was no more than a quarter of an hour--I had seen all I wished to see. +There, sure enough, lay the most remarkable warship I had ever +beheld--a great, well-armed cruiser, whose decks were bright with +quick-firing guns, whose lines showed novelty in every inch of them. +More remarkable than anything, however, was the confirmation of that +which I had seen from the hills. The ship, seemingly, was built of the +purest gold. This, of course, I knew could not be; but as the sun got +up and his light fell on the vessel, I thought that I had never seen a +more glorious sight. She shone with the refulgent beauty of a thousand +mirrors; every foot of her deck, of her turrets, of her upper house +made a sheen of dazzling fire; the points of her decklights were as +beacons, all lurid and a-gold. So marvellous, truly, was her aspect, +that I forgot all else but it, and stood entranced, marvelling, +forgetful of myself and purpose. The flash of a knife in the air and a +fearful oath brought me to my senses to know that I was in the grasp of +the man 'Roaring John.' + +"'Curse you for a small-eyed cheat! what are you doing here?' he asked, +shaking me and threatening every minute to let me feel his steel; 'what +are you doing here, you little cat of a man? Spit it out, or I'm darned +if I don't spit you; oh, I guess!' + +"I should have made some answer in the rough voice I always put on in +this undertaking, but a bad mishap befel me. The best of my disguise +was the thick, bushy black hair I wore about my face. As the ruffian +went to take a firmer hold of my collar, he pulled aside a portion of +my beard, and left my chin clean-shaven beneath as naturally it was. +The intense surprise of this discovery seemed to hit him like a blow. +He stepped back with a murderous look in his eyes--a look which meant +that, if I stayed there to deal with him alone, I had not another +minute to live. But I cheated him again, and, turning on my heel, I +fled with all the speed I possessed, and got into the street with +twenty ruffians at my heels, and a hue and cry such as I hope never to +hear again. + +"The escape was clever, but I reached my hotel and sat down to find +expressions equal in power to my folly. The thought that I, who was a +vulgar spy by profession, had committed a mistake worthy of a +novelist's policeman, was gall and wormwood to me. Yet I was sure that +I had cut off all hope of returning to the yard; and what information I +was to get must come by other modes. The nature of these I knew not, +but I was determined to set out upon a visit to Signor Vezzia, who was +the builder to whom the docks wherein I worked belonged. To him I came +as the pretended agent of a shipping firm in New York, with whom I had +some little acquaintance, and he gave me audience readily. He was very +willing to hear me when he learnt that I was in quest of a builder to +lay down steamers for the American trade with Italy; and some while we +passed in great cordiality, so ripe on his part that I ventured the +other business. + +"'By-the-by, Signor Vezzia, that's a marvellous battleship you have in +your second dock; I have never seen anything like her before.' + +"I spoke the words, and read him as one reads a barometer. He shrank +visibly into his bulb, and the tone of his conversation marked a storm. +I heard him mutter 'Diavolo!' under his breath, and then the mercury of +his conversation mounted quickly. + +"'Yes, yes; a curious vessel, quite a special thing, for a South +American Republic, an idea of theirs--but you will extend me the favour +of your pardon, I am busy'--and in his excitement he put his spectacles +off and on, and called 'Giovanni, Giovanni!' to his head clerk, who +made business to be rid of me. Clearly, as a piece in the game I was +playing, Signor Vezzia had made his solitary move. He was no more upon +my board, miserably void as it was, and in despair I mounted to my +hill-top again; and spent the morning where the vines grew, looking +down upon the golden ship which was built for a 'South American +Republic.' That tale I never believed, for the man's face marked it as +a lie as he gave it to me; but the mere telling of it added piquancy to +the dish I had tasted of, and I resolved in that hour to devote myself +heart and soul to the work of unravelling the slender threads, even if +I lost my common employment in the business. The reverie held me long. +I was roused from it by the sight of a dull vapour mounting from the +funnel of the nameless ship. She was going to sail then--at the next +tide she might leave Spezia, and there would be no more hope. I threw a +word at my dreaming, and hurried from the vines to my hotel in the town +below. + +"Now you may form opinion that my prospects in this abstruse and +perplexing chase were not at that time much to vaunt. My theories and +my acts had led me into a mental _cul-de-sac_, a blind alley, where, in +lack of exit, I took hold of every straw that the wind of thought set +flying. Here was the problem at this stage as it then appeared to +me:--Item (1): A ship built of some metal I had no knowledge of. Item +(2): A ship that shone like a rich sunset on a garden lake. Item (3): A +ship that was armed to the full, as a casual glance told me, with every +kind of quick-firing guns, and with two ten-inch guns in her turret. +Item (4): A ruffianly blackguard, to whom the cutting of a throat +seemed meat and drink, with ten other rogues no less deserving, from a +murderous point of view, put to watch about the ship that no strange +eye might look upon her. Item (5): The confusion of Signor Vezzia, who +made a fine tale and said at the same time with his eyes 'This is a +lie, and a bad one; I'm sorry that I have nothing better ready.' Item +(6): My own adamantine conviction that I stood near by some mystery, +which was about to be a big mystery, and which would pay me to pursue. +'A fine bundle of nonsense,' I hear you say; 'as silly a flight of a +vaporous brain as ever man conceived'--but stay your words awhile; +remember that one who is bred up at the keyhole lets himself, if he be +wise, be moved by his impulses, and first opinions. He does not quit +them until he knows them to be false. Instinct told me to go on in this +work, if I lost all other, if I starved, if I drowned, if I died at it. +And to go on I meant. + +"This was my musing at the Albergo, and when it was over I laughed +aloud at its quixotic folly. 'Oh, poor fool,' I said, 'miserable, +brain-blinded, groping fool, to talk of going on when the ship sails +this night, this very night; and unless you put agents on in every part +of the globe, you will never hear of her again. What a fine piece of +dreamer's wit is yours! what a bar-parlour yarn to tell rustics in +Somerset! Get up, and mind your own business, go on with your common +labour, and let the ship and her crew go to the devil if they like.' +For the matter of that, this advice perforce I had to follow, for I did +not possess one single clue at that moment; and although I racked my +brains for one all the afternoon, and went often to the hill-top to see +if the nameless ship yet lay in the dock, I could pick up no new +thread, nor light upon any infinitesimal vein of material. The very +want of a _point d'appui_ irritated a brain already excited to a fine +condition of unrest. Any hour the ship might sail; any hour something +which would give me the name of her owner might come to me--but the +hours went on and nothing came. I dined, and was no step advanced; I +smoked cigars in three cafés, and was again at the beginning; I visited +half-a-dozen folk I knew, and drew no word to help me. At last, mocking +the whole mystery with a fine English phrase, I said, 'Let her go'; and +I returned to the Albergo and to bed. I had hunted a marine covert for +two days and had drawn blank. + +"I have said that I went to bed, but it was a poor folly of a process, +you do not doubt. I lay down, indeed, and read Poe's tales, which I +love, an hour or more; then I went over the whole business again, +raised every point; made my brain aflame with speculation; put out the +candle; lit it again; read more mystery; held out the hand to sleep; +told sleep I did not want her. You who know me will know also how +useless are such gamings of man with Nature. I could not have slept if +a king's ransom went with the sleeping; and so I lay fretful, blameful, +scolding myself, condoling with myself, vowing the whole problem a +plague and a cheat. This idle wandering might have lasted until dawn, +had it not been for my neighbour in the room to my left, who began to +talk with a low buzz as of a night-insect humming in a bed-curtain. The +surging of the voice amused me; I lay quite still and listened to it. +Now it rose loud--I gleaned a word, and was pleased; now it fell--and I +fretted; but anon another voice was added to the first, and, if the one +had pleased me, the second thrilled me. It was the voice of my friend +who wished to stab me at the dock. + +"Two words spoken by this man brought me to my feet; two more to the +thin wooden door which divided our rooms, as oft you'll find them +divided in cafés through Italy. With feverish impatience, I knelt to +pry through the keyhole; and muttered a big oath when I saw that it was +stuffed with paper, and that the sight of the two men was hidden from +me. But I listened with an ear long trained to listening, and, although +the men spoke so that few words reached me, I remained a whole hour +upon my knees, amazed that the man should thus be sent by Providence to +my very hotel; excited with the new sensation of a foot upon the trail. +The ship had not sailed, then, for here was the ruffian, who watched +her, wasting rest in the first hours to hold a parley; and if a parley, +with whom? Why, with those who paid him for the work, I did not doubt. + +"At the end of an hour the voices ceased, but there was still a +movement in the room. That was hushed too; and I judged that my +neighbour had gone to bed. For myself I had one of two courses before +me: either to court sleep and wait luck, with the sun, or to see there +and then what was in the room, and by whom it was occupied. You ask, +How was that possible? but you forget my scurvy trade again. In my bag +were forbidden implements sufficient to stock Clerkenwell. I took from +that a brace and bit, and an oiled saw. In ten minutes I cut a hole in +the partition and put my eye to it, waiting first to see if any man +moved. For the moment my heart quaked as I thought that both the +fellows had gone, but one look reassured me. A burly, black-bearded man +sat in a reverie before a dressing-table, and I saw that there was +spread upon the table a great heap of jewels which, at the lowest +valuation, must have been worth a hundred thousand pounds. And beside +the jewels was a big bull-dog revolver, close to the man's hand. + +"The tension of the strange situation lasted for some minutes. I had no +clear vision through my spy-hole, and knew not at the first watching +whether the man I saw was asleep or awake. A finer inspection of him, +made with a catlike poise as I knelt crouching at the door, showed me +that he slept: had fallen to sleep with his fingers amongst the +jewels--a great rough dog of a man clutching wealth in his dreaming. +And he was, then, one of those connected with the golden ship in the +harbour--the strange ship manned by cut-throats, and built for a 'South +American Republic.' Indeed did the mystery deepen, the problem became +more profound, every moment that I worked upon it. Who was this man? I +asked, and why did he sit in an Italian hotel fingering jewels, and +giving a meeting-place at midnight to a common murderer from a +dockyard? Were the jewels his own? Had he stolen them? Suggestions and +queries poured upon me; I felt that, whatever it might be, I would know +the truth; and I resolved to dare beyond my custom, and to learn more +of the bearded man and of his gems. + +"Watch me, then; as I knelt for a whole hour at the place of +observation, and waited for the fellow to awake. It must have been well +on towards morning when he stirred in his chair, and then sat bolt +upright. I thought he looked to have some tremor of nervousness upon +him; clutching hastily at the jewels to put them in a great leather +case, which again he shut in a large iron box, locking both, and +placing the key under his pillow. After that he threw off his clothes +with some impatience, and, leaving the lamp which burned upon his +dressing-table, he dropped upon his bed. For myself my plan was already +contrived; I had determined to go to great risk, and to enter the +room--playing the common cheat again, yet more than the common cheat, +for that was an enterprise which needed all the fine caution and daring +which long years of police work had taught me. I had not only to ape +the housebreaker, but also to get the good cunning of a jewel +robber--and yet I knew that the things I had seen warranted me, from my +point of view, in doing what I did, and that desperate means alone were +fit to cope with the situation. + +"Now the new work was quick. Being assured that my man slept, I put +back with some cold glue, which was always in my tool chest, the piece +I had cut from the door, and then picked the lock with one grip of my +small pincers. My revolver I carried in the belt at my waist, for my +hands were occupied with a soft cloth and a bottle of chloroform. I had +big felt slippers upon my feet; and went straight to his bed, where I +let him breathe the drug for a few moments, and deepened his light +sleep until it became heavy unconsciousness. In this state I did what I +would with him, and, having no fear of his awaking, I got at his keys +and his jewels, and saw what I wished. There, true enough, were +precious stones of all values: Brazilian diamonds, Cape stones tinged +with yellow, yet big and valuable, the finer class of Indian turquoise, +pink pearls, black pearls--all these loosely wrapped in tissue paper; +but a magnificent parcel such as you would see only in a West End house +in London. I must confess, however, that these stones interested me but +little, for as I delved amongst his treasures I brought up at last a +necklace of opals and diamonds, the first set gems I had discovered; +and as I held them to the lamp and examined the curious grouping of the +stones, and the strange Eastern form of the clasp, I knew that I had +seen the bundle before. The conviction was instantaneous, powerful, +convincing; yet even with my aptitude for recalling names, places, and +things, I could not in my mind place those jewels. None the less was I +assured that the one solid clue I had yet taken hold of was in my +keeping; and, as a quick glance round the chamber told me no more, I +put up the baubles in their case again, replaced the key, and quitted +the chamber. Do not think, however, that I had neglected to mark my +man; every line of his face was written in my mental notebook, every +peculiarity of head and countenance, the shape of his arms, above all, +the mould of the hands, that wonderful index to recognition; and +henceforth I knew that I could pick him from a hundred thousand. + +"When I had done with this business, I lay upon my bed, and brought the +whole of my recollection back upon the jewels. Where had I seen them; +in what circumstances; in whose hands? Again and again I travelled old +ground, exhumed buried cases, dwelt upon names of forgotten criminals, +and of big world people. An hour's intense mental concentration told me +nothing; the dark of the hour before dawn gave way to the cold breaking +of morning light, and yet I tossed in an agony of blank and futile +reasoning. I must have slept from the sheer blinding of the brain +somewhere about that hour; and in my dreaming I got what wakefulness +had denied to me. There in my sleep was the whole history of the stones +written for me. I remembered the Liverpool landing-stage; the departure +of the Star liner, _City of St. Petersburg_, for New York; the arrest +of the notorious jewel-thief, Carl Reichsmann; the discovery of the +opal and diamond necklace upon him; the restoration of it to--to--the +brain failed for a moment--then with a loud cry of delight, which +roused me, I pronounced the words; to Lady Hardon, of 202A, Berkeley +Square, London. + +"It is a ridiculous situation to sit up in bed asking yourself if your +dream be reality, or your reality be a dream; but when I awoke with +that name on my lips, the joy of the thing was so surpassing that I +repeated the name again and again, muttering it as I got into my +clothes, using it all the time I washed, and speaking it aloud when I +stood before the glass to tie my cravat. Here, I suppose the folly of +the whole repetition dawned upon me, for, of a sudden, I shut my lips +firm and close, and bethought me of the man in the next room. What of +him? Was he still there? I listened. There was no sound, not so much as +of a heavy sleeper. He had gone then, and had Lady Hardon's jewels--yet +Lady Hardon, Lady Hardon----nay, but you could never know the sudden +and awful emotion of that great awakening which came to me in that +moment when my memory travelled quickly on to Lady Hardon's end; for I +remembered then that she went down in the great steamer _Alexandria_, +which was lost in the Bay of Biscay twelve months before I discovered +the golden ship in the dockyard at Spezia; and I recalled the fact, +known worldwide, that her famous jewels, this necklace amongst them, +had gone with her to her end. Lost, I say; yet that was the account at +Lloyd's; lost with never a soul to give a word about her agony; lost +hopelessly in the broad of the bay. How came it, then, that this man +who knew the ruffians in the dockyard below; who seemed a common +fellow, yet possessed a hundred thousand pounds' worth of jewellery, +how came it that he had got that which the world thought to be lying on +the sands of the bay? You say, 'Pshaw, it was not the same bauble'; +that is the obvious answer to my theorising, but in the recognition of +historic gems a man trained as I was never makes an error. I would have +staked my life that the jewels were those supposed to be under the sea; +and, moved to a state of deep excitement, I left my hotel without +breakfast, and mounted to the hill-top for tidings of the great vessel. + +"But she had sailed, and the dock which had held her was empty. + +"This discovery did not daunt me, for I had expected it. I should have +been surprised if she had been at her berth; and the fact that she had +weighed under cover of night fell in so well with my anticipation that +I waited only to ascertain officially what ships had left Spezia during +the past twenty-four hours. They told me at the Customs that the +Brazilian war-vessel built by Signor Vezzia weighed at three a.m.; but +more I could not learn, for these men had evidently been well bribed, +and were as dumb as unfee'd lawyers. I knew that their information was +not worth a groat, and hurried back to the Albergo to assure myself +that my neighbour with the necklace had sailed also. To my surprise, he +was at breakfast when I arrived at the hotel; and so one great link in +my theoretic chain snapped at the first test. As he had not sailed with +the others, he could have no direct connection with the nameless ship, +no nautical part or lot with her. But what was he, then? That I meant +to know as soon as opportunity should serve. + + * * * * * + +"I have led you up, Strong, step by step, through the details of this +work to this point, that you may have the facts unalloyed as I have +them; and may construct your history from this preamble as I have +constructed mine. I am now about to move over the ground more quickly. +I will quit Spezia, and ask you to come with me, after the interval of +nigh a year--during which no man had known that which I now tell +you--to London, where, in an hotel in Cecil Street, Strand, I was again +the neighbour of the man with the jewels whom I had taken so daring an +advantage of in Italy. Let me tell you briefly what had happened in the +between-time. The day on which the nameless ship left the dock, this +man--whom, I may say at once, I have always met under the name of +Captain Black--quitted the town and reached Paris. Thither I followed +him, staying one day in the French capital, but going onward with him +on the following morning to Cherbourg. There he went aboard a small +yacht, and I lost him in the Channel. I returned at once to Italy, and +wired to friends in the police force at New York, at London, and San +Francisco, and at three ports in South America for news (_a_) of a new +war-ship lately completed at Spezia for the Brazilian republic; (_b_) +of a man known as Captain Black, who left the port of Cherbourg in the +cutter-yacht _La France_ on the morning of October 30th. For nearly +twelve months I waited for an answer to these questions; but none came +to me. To the best of my knowledge, the nameless war-ship was never +seen upon the high seas. I began to ask myself, if she existed, how +came it that a vessel, burnished to the beauty of gold, had been spoken +of none, seen of none, reported in no harbour, mentioned in no +despatch? Yet she remained known but to her crew and to me: and my +study of shipping lists, gazettes, and papers in all tongues, never +gave me clue to her. Only this, I had such a record of navigation as I +think man never kept yet before; and I marked it as curious, if nothing +more, that in the month when the cruiser quitted Spezia three +ocean-going steamers, each carrying specie to the value of more than +one hundred thousand pounds, went down in fair weather, and were paid +for at Lloyd's. What folly! you say again; what are you going to +conclude? I answer only--God grant that I conclude falsely--that this +terrible thing I suspect is the phantom of a too-keen imagination. + +"Now, when no tidings came, either of the ship I sought or of the +man Black, I did not lose all hope. Indeed, I was much occupied +making--during a month's leisure in London--a list, as far as that were +possible, of all the gems and baubles which the dead men and women on +the sunken steamers had owned. This was a paltry record of bracelets, +and rings, and tiaras, and clasps, such stuff as any fellow of a +jeweller may sell; unconvincing stuff, worth no more than a near +relation for purposes of evidence. There was but one piece of the whole +mass that did not come in my category--a great box with a fine painting +by Jean Petitot upon its lid, and a curious circle of jasper all about +the miniatures. This was a historic piece of _bijouterie_ mentioned as +having once been the property of Necker, the French financier; then +lost by a New York dealer, who was taking it from Paris to Boston in +the steamship _Catalania_; the ship supposed to have foundered, with +the loss of all hands, off the Banks of Newfoundland, sixteen days +after the nameless ship left Spezia. I made a record of this trifle, +and forgot it until, many months later, a private communication from +the head of the New York Secret Service told me that the man I wanted +was in London; that he was an American millionaire, who owned a house +on the banks of the Hudson River; who had great influence in many +cities, who came to Europe to buy precious stones and miniature +paintings, a man who was considered eccentric by his friends. I kept +the notes, and hurried to England--for I had been to Geneva some +while--and took rooms in the hotel where Captain Black was staying. +Three days after I was disguised as you have seen me, selling him +miniatures. Within a week, by what steps I need not pause to say, I +knew that the jasper box, lost, by report, in the steamer _Catalania_, +was under lock and key in his bedroom. + +"I cannot tell you how that discovery agitated me. Here, indeed, was my +second direct link. The man had in his possession an historic and +unmistakable casket, which all the world believed to be lost in a +steamer from which no soul had escaped. How I treasured that knowledge! +Three months the man remained in London; during three months he was not +thirty hours out of my sight or knowledge. Day by day when with him, I +consulted such shipping information as I could get; and scored another +mark upon my record when I made sure that no inexplicable story from +the sea was written while he remained ashore. This was perplexing for a +surety. I could not in any way connect the man with the nameless ship, +and yet he knew her crew; he was the one in whose possession the jewels +were; above all, while he was ashore there were no disasters which +could not be set down to ocean peril or the act of God, as the policies +say. This further knowledge held me to him with the magnetic attraction +of a mystery such as I have never known in my life. I resigned my work +for the Government; and henceforth gave myself heart and soul to the +pursuit of the man. I followed him to Paris, to St. Petersburg; I +tracked him through France to Marseilles; I watched him embark, with +three of the ruffians I had seen at Spezia, in his yacht again; and +within a month the yacht was in harbour at Cowes without him; while a +steamer, bound from the Cape to Cadiz, and known to have specie aboard +her, went out of knowledge as the others had done. Then was I sure, +sure of that awful dream I had dreamed, conscious that I alone shared +with that man and his crew one of the most ghastly secrets that the +deep has kept within her. + +"The end of my story I judge now that you anticipate. Though absolutely +convinced myself, I had still lack of the one direct link to make a +legal chain. I had positively to connect the man Black with the +nameless ship, for this I had only done so far by pure circumstance. +For many months I have made no gain in this attempt. Last year in +Liverpool I sketched in yet another point in my picture. I received +tidings of the man in that city, and there I did trade with him in my +old disguise; but he was not alone--the crew of ruffians you have known +by this time kept company with him in that bold and bestial Bohemianism +you will have witnessed with me. I kept vigil there a week, but lost +him at the end of that time. When he reappeared in the circles of +civilisation it was in Paris, but two days ago, when I asked you to +accompany me. You know that I attempted to sail with him on his cruise, +and your instinct tells you why. If I could, by being two days afloat +in his company, prove beyond doubt that he used his yacht as a +pretence; if I could prove that when he left port in her he sailed out +to sea, and was picked up by the nameless ship, my chain was forged, my +book complete, and I had but to call the Government to the work! + +"But I have failed, and the labour I have set myself shall be done by +others, but chiefly, Mark Strong, by you. From the valley of the dead +whence soon I must look back, if it is to be on a life that has no +achievement before God in it, I, who have laid down such a life as mine +was in this cause, urge you upon it. You have youth, and money +sufficient for the enterprise; you will get money in its pursuit. You +have no fear of the black After, which is the end of life; but, after +all, it may come to you as it came to me, that there is the finger of +the Almighty God pointing to your path of duty. I have lived the life +of a common eavesdropper; but believe me that in this work I have felt +the call of humanity, and hoped, if I might live to accomplish it, that +the Book of the Good should find some place for my name. So may you +when my mantle falls upon you. What information I have, you have. The +names of my friends in the cities mentioned I have written down for +you; they will serve you for the memory of my name; but be assured at +the outset that you will never take this man upon the sea. And as for +the money which is rightly due to the one who rids humanity of this +pest, I say, go to the Admiralty in London, and lay so much of your +knowledge before them as shall prevent a robbery of your due; claim a +fit reward from them and the steamship companies; and, as your +beginning, go now to the Hudson River--I meant to go within a +month--and learn there more of the man you seek; or, if the time be +ripe, lay hands there upon him. And may the spirit of a dead man +breathe success upon you!" + + _On the yacht "Celsis" lying at Cowes, written in the month of + August, for Mark Strong._ + +When I put down the papers, my eyes were tear-stained with the effort +of reading, and the cabin lamp was nigh out. My interest in the writing +had been so sustained that I had not seen the march of daylight, now +streaming through the glass above, upon my bare cabin table. But I was +burnt up almost with a fever; and the oppressive fumes from the +stinking lamp seemed to choke me, so that I went above, and saw that we +were at anchor in the Solent, and that the whole glory of a summer's +dawn lit the sleeping waters. And all the yacht herself breathed sleep, +for the others were below, and Dan alone paced the deck. + +The first knowledge that I had of the true effect of Martin Hall's +narrative was the muttered exclamation of this old sailor-- + +"Ye haven't slept, sir," said he; "ye're just the colour of yon +ensign!" + +"Quite true, Dan--it was close down there." + +"Gospel truth, without a hitch! but ye're precious bad, sir; I never +seed a worse figger-'ed, excusing the liberty. I'd rest a bit, sir." + +"Good advice, Dan. I'll sleep here an hour, if you'll get my rug from +below." + +I stretched myself on a deck-chair, and he covered my limbs almost with +a woman's tenderness, so that I slept and dreamt again of Hall, of +Captain Black, of the man "Four-Eyes," of a great holocaust on the sea. +I was carried away by sleep to far cities and among other men, to great +perils of the sea, to strange sights; but over them all loomed the +phantom of a golden ship, and from her decks great fires came. When I +awoke, a doctor from Southsea was writing down the names of drugs upon +paper; and Mary was busy with ice. They told me I had slept for thirty +hours, and that they had feared brain-fever. But the sleep had saved +me; and when Mary talked of the doctor's order that I was to lie +resting a week, I laughed aloud. + +"You'd better prescribe that for Roderick," said I; "he'd rest a month; +wouldn't you, old chap?" + +"I don't know about a month, old man, but you mustn't try the system +too much." + +"Well, I'm going to try it now, anyway, for I start for London +to-night!" + +"What!" they cried in one voice. + +"Exactly, and if Mary would not mind running on deck for a minute, I'll +tell you why, Roderick." + +She went at the word, casting one pleading look with her eyes as she +stood at the door, but I gave no sign, and she closed it. I had fixed +upon a course, and as Roderick, dreamingly indifferent, prepared to +talk about that which he called my "madness," I took Hall's manuscript, +and read it to him. When I had finished, there was a strange light in +his eyes. + +"Let us go at once," he said; and that was all. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +I ENGAGE A SECOND MATE. + + +We caught the first train to London; and were at the Hotel Columbia by +Charing Cross in time for dinner. Mary had insisted on her right to +accompany us, and, as we could find no valid reason why she should not, +we brought her to the hotel with us. Then by way of calming that +trouble, excitement, and expectation which crowded on us both, we went +to Covent Garden, where the autumn season of opera was then on, and +listened to the glorious music of _Orfeo_ and the _Cavalleria_. Nor did +either of us speak again that night of Hall or of his death; but I +confess that the vision of it haunted my eyes, standing out upon all +the scenes that were set, so that I saw it upon the canvas, and often +before me the wind-worn struggle of a burning ship; while that awful +"Ahoy!" of my own men yet rang in my ears. + +When I returned to the hotel I wrote two letters, the beginning of my +task. One was to the Admiralty, the other to the office of the Black +Anchor Line of American Steamships. I told Roderick what I had done, +but he laughed at the idea; so that I troubled him no more with it, +awaiting its proof. On the next morning, in a few moments of privacy +between us, he agreed to let me work alone for two days, and then to +venture on suggestion himself. So it came to be that on the next day I +found myself standing in a meagrely furnished anteroom at the +Admiralty, and there waiting the pleasure of one of the clerks, who had +been deputed to talk with me. He was a fine fellow, I doubt not: had +much merit of his faultless bow, and great worth in the nicety of his +spotless waistcoat, but God never made one so dull or so preposterous a +blockhead. I see him now, rolling up the starved hairs which struggled +for existence upon his chin, and letting his cuffs lie well upon his +bony wrists as he asked me, with a floating drawl-- + +"And what service can I do for you?" + +For me! What service could _he_ do for me? I smiled at him, and did not +disguise my contempt. + +"If there is any responsible person here," I said, with emphasis upon +the word responsible, "I should be glad to impart to him some very +curious, and, as it seems to me, very remarkable, information +concerning a war-ship which has just left Spezia, and is supposed to be +the property of the Brazilian Government." + +"It's very good of you, don't you know," he replied, as he bent down to +arrange his ample trousers; "but I fancy we heard something about her +last week, so we won't trouble you, don't you know"; and he felt to see +if his bow were straight. + +"You may have heard something of the ship," I answered with warmth, +"but that which I have to communicate is not of descriptive, but of +national, importance. You cannot by any means have learnt my story, for +there is only one man living who knows it." + +He looked up at the clock a moment as though seeking inspiration, but +his mind was quite vacant when he replied-- + +"It's awfully good of you, don't you know; we're so frightfully busy +this month; if you could come up in a month's time----" + +"In a month's time," I said, rising with scorn, "in a month's time, if +you and yours don't stand condemned before Europe for a parcel of fools +and incompetents, then you'll send for me, but I'll see you at blazes +first--good-morning!" + +I was outside the office before his exclamation of surprise had passed +away; and within half an hour I sat in the private room of the +secretary to the Black Anchor Steamship Company. He was a sharp man of +business, keen-visaged as a ferret, and restless as a nervous horse +long reined in. I told him shortly that I had reason to doubt the truth +of the statement that a warship recently built at Spezia was intended +for the purposes set down to her; that I believed she was the property +of an American adventurer whose motives I scarce dared to realise; that +I had proof, amounting to conviction, that this man possessed jewels +which were commonly accounted as lost in his firm's steamer, _Catalania_; +and that if his company would agree to bear the expense, and to give me +suitable recompense if I succeeded in supporting my conjectures, I +would undertake to bring him the whole history of the nameless ship +within twelve months; and also to give him such knowledge as would +enable him to lay hands on the man called "Captain Black," should this +man prove the criminal I believed him to be. To all which tale he +listened, his searching eye fixing its stare plump upon me, from time +to time; but when I had done, he rang the bell for his clerk, and I +could see that he felt himself in the company of a maniac. So I left +him, and breathed the breath of liberty again as I went back to the +hotel, and told Roderick of the utter and crushing failure waiting upon +the very beginning of the task which Martin Hall had left to me. + +Roderick was not at all surprised--it seemed to me rather that he was +glad. + +"What did I tell you?" he said, as he sat up on the couch, and took the +tube of his hookah from his mouth; "who will believe such a tale as we +are hawking in the market-place--selling, in fact, to the highest +bidder? If a man came to you with the same account, and with no more +authority to support him than the story of a dead detective--who may +have lost his wits, or may never have had any to lose--would you put +down a shilling to see him through with the business? Pshaw! my dear +old Mark, you, with your long head and that horribly critical eyes of +yours, you wouldn't give him a groat." + +"Exactly, I should consider him a dupe or a stark-staring madman; but +the case is different as it stands. I know--I would stake my life on +it--that every word Martin Hall wrote is true, true as my life itself. +I am not so sure that you are convinced, though." + +I awaited his answer, but it did not come for many minutes. He had +passed through his momentary enthusiasm and lay at full length upon the +couch, making circles, parabolas, and ellipses of fine white smoke, +while he fixed his gaze upon the frieze of the wall, as if he were +counting the architraves. + +"Mark," he said at last, "when we were at Harrow together an aged sage +impressed upon us the meaning of Seneca's line, '_Veritas odit moras_.' +I regard myself at the moment in a position of truth; but whether on +calm reflection I believe the whole of your dead friend's story, I'm +hanged if I know, and therefore"--here he made a long pause and smoked +violently--"and therefore I have bought a steamer." + +"You have done what?" + +"At two o'clock to-day, in your absence, I bought the steam-yacht +_Rocket_, lately the property of Lord Wilmer, now the property of +Roderick Stewart, of the Hotel Columbia, London." + +I think I must have laughed sorrowfully at him, as a man laughs at a +drawing-room humorist, for he continued quickly-- + +"Before we go on board her, the yacht will be re-christened by +Mary--who will stay with her dear maiden aunt in our absence--and will +be named after your vessel _Celsis_. Her crew will consist of our +silent friend, Captain York, of his brother as chief mate, and of your +men now at Portsmouth, with half a dozen more. We shall need eight +firemen, whom the agents will engage, and three engineers, already +found, for I have taken on Lord Wilmer's men. Your cook, old +'Cuss-a-lot,' will serve us very well during the fourteen or fifteen +days we shall need to go across the Atlantic, and we want now only a +second and third officer. As these men will be mixed up with us on the +quarter-deck, I have told the agents to send them up to see you +here--so you'll run your eye over them and tell me if they'll do. I +hate seeing people; they bore me, and I mean you to take the charge of +this enterprise from the very beginning--you quite understand?" + +"Roderick, my old friend, I'm as blank as a drawing-board--would you +mind giving me that yarn from the beginning again--and tell me first, +why are we going; then, where are we going; and after that, what has +your steamer to do with the business of Martin Hall--and, well, and +what we know?" + +He spoke quickly in answer, and seemed disappointed. + +"I hate palaver," he said, "and didn't think to find you dense, but +you're growing silly at this business anyway. Now, look here; until you +read me that paper in your cabin, I don't know that I ever felt anger +against any man, but, before God, I'll bring the man who murdered +Martin Hall, and Heaven knows how many others, to justice or I'll never +know another hour's rest. You have been talking of Governments and +ship-owners for twenty-four hours; but what have Governments and +ship-owners to do with us? Is it money you want? Well, what's mine is +yours; and I'm worth two hundred and fifty thousand pounds if I'm worth +a shilling. Is it profit of a dead man's work you're after? Well then, +mark your man, learn all about him, run him to his hole; and then, when +other people besides yourself know his story, as it must be known in a +few months' time, put your price on what is your own, and don't fear to +recompense yourself. What I want you to see is this:--For some months, +at any rate, we shall get no outside help in this matter from any +living creature; what we're going to do must be done at our cost, which +is my cost. And what we're going to do isn't to be done at this hotel, +or on this couch, or in the City: it's going to be done on the high +seas, and after that in America on the Hudson River, where, if Hall be +right, is the home of Captain Black. It is to the Hudson River that I +mean to go now--at once, as soon as money and the devil's own number of +men can get the steam-yacht _Celsis_ ready for sea. And at my cost, +don't forget that; though I'm a fool in the game, which is yours to +make and yours to play, as it has been from the beginning, when the +dead man chose you to finish it and to reckon with the scoundrels now +afloat somewhere between here and the Banks. In his name I ask you now +to close your hand with me on this bargain, to ask no question, to make +no protests, and to remember that we sail in three days, if possible, +and if not in three, then, in as small a number as will serve to get +the steamer ready." + +What could I say to a story such as this one? I could only wring his +hand, and feel how hot it was, knowing that the same haunting wish to +be up and off in pursuit was about him as about me. For half-an-hour we +sat and smoked together. In three-quarters I was closeted in the room +below with Francis Paolo, who had come from the agents to seek the +berth of second officer to the new yacht _Celsis_. When the servant +gave me this man's name, I had some misgiving at its Italian sound, but +I remembered that Italy is breeding a nation of sailors; and I put off +the prejudice and hurried down to see him. I found him to be a +sprightly, dark-faced, black-haired Italian, apparently no more than +twenty-five years old; and he greeted me with much smoothness of +speech. He had served three years as third officer to the big +steam-yacht owned by the noted Frenchman, the Marquis de Cluneville; +and, as he was unmistakably a gentleman, and his discharges were in +perfect order, I engaged him there and then for the post of second +officer to the _Celsis_, and gave him orders to join her at Plymouth, +where she lay, as soon as might be. + +But had I known him then as I know him now, I would have paid a +thousand pounds never to have seen him! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PURSUIT. + + +It was our last day in London. Roderick and I sat down to dinner in the +hotel, the touch of depression upon us both. Mary had left us early in +the morning to go to Salisbury, where her kinsfolk lived, and I confess +that her readiness to quit us without protest somewhat hurt me. I +imagine that I was thinking of it, for I blurted out at last, when we +had been silent for at least a quarter of an hour-- + +"I suppose she's arrived by this." + +"No, I didn't post her till three," Roderick replied in equal +reflective mood. + +"Didn't post who?" I asked indignantly. + +"Why, old Belle, of course. I sent her down with the guard to get her +out of the way." + +"Oh," I replied, "I was thinking of Mary, not of your dog." + +"You always are," he said; "but, between ourselves, I'm glad she went. +I thought there'd be a fuss; and if it comes to a row, as it most +probably will, girls are in the way. Don't you think so? But, of +course, you don't." + +I didn't, and made no bones of pretence about it. Mary was a child; +there was no doubt about that; but as I girded up my courage for this +undertaking, I thought how much those pretty eyes would have encouraged +me, and how sweet that childish laugh would have been in mid-Atlantic. +But there--that's no part of this story. + +We were going down to Plymouth by the nine o'clock mail from +Paddington, and there was not a wealth of time to spare. So soon as we +had dined, I went up to my room to put the small things of need away, +meaning to be no more than five minutes at the work; but, to my +amazement, the whole of the place had been turned utterly inside out by +one who had been there before me. My trunk lay upside down; my +writing-case was unlocked and stripped, my diary was torn and rent, my +clothes were scattered; I thought at first that a common cheat of a +hotel thief had been busy snapping up trifles; but I got a shock +greater than any I had known since Martin Hall's death when I felt for +his writing, which lay secure in its case, and found that, while the +main narrative was intact, his letters to the police at New York, his +plans, and his sketches had been taken. For the moment the discovery +made me reel. I could not realise its import, and almost mechanically I +rang for a servant, who sent the manager to me. + +His perplexity and dismay were no less than mine. + +"No one has any right to enter your rooms," he said; "and I will +guarantee the honesty of my servants unhesitatingly. Let us ring and +ask for the porter." + +The porter was emphatic. + +"No one has been here after you since yesterday, sir, when the Italian +gentleman came," he pleaded. "To-day he sent a man for a parcel he left +here, but I know of no one else who has even mentioned your name." + +"What is the amount of your loss?" asked the manager, as he began to +assist me to make things straight, and the question gave me +inspiration. I made a hurried search, and I must have shown feeling, +for I was conscious of pallor of face and momentary giddiness. + +"You have lost something of great value, then?" he continued, as he +watched. And I replied-- + +"Yes, but to myself only. Nothing has been taken from the room but +papers, which may be worth ten thousand pounds to me. They are not +worth a penny to anyone else." + +"Oh! papers only--that is fortunate; it is, perhaps, a case for your +own private detective." + +"Quite so; I shouldn't have troubled you had I made a search before. I +will see to it myself--many thanks." + +He withdrew with profuse apologies, but I remained standing, with all +the heart out of me. What, in Heaven's name, did it mean? Who had +interest to rifle my portfolio and take the papers? Who could have +interest? Who but the man I meant to hunt down? And what did he know of +me--what? I asked, repeating the words over again, and so loudly that +those in the neighbouring rooms must have heard them. + +Was I watched from the very beginning? Had I to cope, at the very +outset, with a man worth a million, the captain of a band of +cutthroats, who stood at no devil's deed, no foul work, no crime, as +Martin Hall's death clearly proved? My heart ached at the thought; I +felt the sweat dropping off me; I stood without thought of any man; the +one word "watched" singing in my ears like the surging of a great sea. +And I had forgotten Roderick until he burst into my room, a great laugh +on his lips, and a telegram in his hand; but he stood back as he saw +me, and went pale, as I must have been. + +"Great Scott!" he said; "what's the matter?--what are you doing? We +leave in ten minutes; why aren't you ready?" + +The excuse gurgled in my throat. I stammered out something, and began +to pack as though pursued by Furies. Then I put him off by asking what +his humour was about. He laughed again at the question-- + +"What do you think?" he said; "Mary's arrived all right." + +"Oh, that's good; I hope she'll like Salisbury," I replied, bundling +shirts, collars, and coats into my trunk with indiscriminate vigour. + +"Yes, but you don't wait to hear the end," he continued, with a great +roar of laughter; "she isn't at Salisbury at all; she's at Plymouth, on +board the _Celsis_. She went straight down there, and devil a bit as +much as sent her aunt a telegram!" + +I rose up at his word, and looked him in the face. + +"Well," he said, "what do you think?--you don't seemed pleased." + +"I'm not pleased," I said, going on with my packing. "I don't think she +ought to be there." + +"I know that; we've talked it all over, but when I think of it, I don't +see where the harm comes in; we can't meet mischief crossing the +Atlantic, and when the danger does begin in New York I'll see she's +well on the lee-side of it." + +I did not answer him, for I knew that which he did not know. Perhaps he +began to think that he did not do well to treat the matter so lightly, +for he was mute when we entered the cab, and he did not open his lips +until we were seated in the night mail for Plymouth. The compartment we +rode in was reserved for us as he had wished; and, truth to tell, we +neither of us had much liking for talk as the train rolled smoothly +westward. We had entered upon this undertaking, so vast, so shadowy, so +momentous, with such haste, and moved by such powerful motives, that I +know not if some thought of sorrow did not then touch us both. Who +could say if we should live to tell the tale, if our fate would not be +the fate of Martin Hall, if we should ever so much as see the nameless +ship, if chance would ever bring us face to face with Captain Black? +And whither did we go? When should we set foot again in that England we +loved? God alone could tell; and, with one great hope in a guiding and +all-seeing Providence, I covered myself up in my rug, and slept until +dawn came, and the fresh breezes from the Channel waves brought new +strength and men's hearts to us again. + +It was full day when we went on board the yacht, and I did not fail to +cast a quick glance of admiration on her beautiful lines and perfect +shape as I clambered up the ladder, at the top of which stood Captain +York. + +"Welcome aboard," he said, giving us hearty hand-shakes; and without +further inspection at that hour we followed him to the cabin, where +steaming coffee brought the blood to our hands and feet, and put us in +better mood. + +"So my sister's here," said Roderick, as he filled his cup for the +third time. + +"Yes, last night, no orders," jerked the skipper with his usual +brevity. + +"Ah, we must see to that--and the second officer----" + +"Still ashore; he left a bit of writing; he'll be aboard midday!" + +He had the writing in his hand, and was about to crumple it, but I +caught sight of it, and snatched it from him. It was in the same +handwriting as the letter which Captain Black had sent to me at the +Hôtel Scribe in Paris. + +"What's the matter?" said Roderick, as he heard me exclaim; but the +skipper looked hard at me, and was much mystified. + +"Do you know anything of the man?" he asked very slowly, as he leant +back in his chair, but I had already seen the folly of my ejaculation, +and I replied-- + +"Nothing at all, although I have seen that handwriting before +somewhere; I could tell you where, perhaps, if I thought." + +Roderick nodded his head meaningly, and deftly turned the subject. I +yawned with a great yawn, and the episode passed as we both rose to go +to our cabins. It is not well to greet the waking day with eyes that +are half-closed in sleep; and, although the skipper seemed to desire +some fuller knowledge as to the ends of our cruise and the course of +it, we put him off, and left him to the coffee and the busy work of the +final preparation. But Roderick followed me to my berth and had the +matter of the handwriting out. I told him at once of the robbery of +some of the papers, and the coincidence of the letter which the second +mate had left with the skipper. He was quick-witted enough to see the +danger; but he was quite reckless in the methods he proposed to meet +it. + +"There's no two thoughts about this matter at all," he said; "we've +evidently run right into a trap, but luckily there's time to get out +again--of course, we shall sail without a second mate?" + +"That's one way out of the hole, no doubt, but it's very serious to +find that our very first move in the matter is known to others. Hall +said well that his diamond-buyer could command and be obeyed in ten +cities: and there isn't much question that we've got one of his men +aboard this ship--but I don't know that we shouldn't keep him." + +"Keep him! What for?--to watch everything we do, and hear everything we +say, and arrange for the cutting of our throats when we land at New +York? You've a fine notion of diplomacy, Mark!" + +"Perhaps so; but we won't quarrel about that. There's one thing you +forget in this little calculation of yours--our men are as true as +steel; this rogue couldn't turn one of them if he staked his life on +it. Suppose he has come here to use his eyes, and hang about keyholes; +well, we know him, fortunately; and what can he learn unless he learns +it from you or me? There's not another soul aboard knows anything. You +will tell the skipper that we cross to America for a pleasure trip; you +will help me to keep so close an eye on Master Francis Paolo, second +mate, that if he lose a hair of his head we shall know it. In that way +it may turn out that we shall get from him the link which is lost in +the chain; and when he would draw us, we shall pump him as dry as a +sand-pit. At least, that's my way of thinking, and I don't think it's +such a poor notion, after all." + +"It's not poor at all--it never came to me like that. Of course, you're +right; let's take the man aboard, but I wish we could have left Mary +behind--don't you?" + +That I did, but what could I tell him? It was bad enough to be hugging +all those fears and thoughts of danger to my own heart, without setting +him all a-ferment with apprehension and unrest; so I laughed off his +question, and after a six hours' sleep I went aft to the quarter-deck, +to take stock of the yacht and get some better acquaintance with her. + +She was a finely-built ship of some seven hundred tons, and was +schooner-rigged, so that she could either sail or steam. Her engines +were unusually large for so small a vessel, being triple-compound; +while the main saloon, aft, and the small library attached to it, +showed in the luxurious fitting that her late owner had been a man of +fine taste. In the very centre of her there was a deck-house for the +chart-room, the skipper's and engineers' quarters, and a couple of +spare cabins; but generally the accommodation was below, there being +three small cabins with two berths apiece each side the saloon, and +room for the steward and his men amidships. The fo'castle was large, +and airy, giving ample berthing for the stokers and seamen; while the +whole ornament of the deck was bright-looking with brass, and smart +rails, and pots of flowers, these last showing clearly that Mary had +been at work. Indeed, I had scarce made my inspection of our new ship +when she burst up from below, and began her explanation, standing with +flushed cheeks, while the wind played in her hair, and her eyes danced +with the merriment of it. + +"Come aboard," she said, mocking the seaman's "_Adsum_," and I said-- + +"That's evident; the question is, when are you going ashore again?" + +"I don't know, but I guess I'll get ashore at New York, because I mean +to go to Niagara----" + +"You think you'll go ashore at New York, not 'you guess,' Mary." + +"But I do guess, and I don't think, and I wish you wouldn't interrupt +me with your perpetual grammar. What's the good of grammar? No one had +a good time with grammar yet." + +"That's not exactly the purpose of grammar----" + +"No, nor of orthography, nor deportment; I learnt all these at a guinea +a quarter extra when I was at school, so you're just wasting your time, +because I'm finished." + +"Finished?" + +"Yes, didn't Roderick tell you that I went to a finishing school? You +wouldn't finish me all over again, would you?" + +"Not for anything--but the question is, why did you come aboard here, +and why didn't you go to Salisbury? What is your old aunt thinking +now?" + +She laughed saucily, throwing back her head so that her hair fell well +about her shoulders; and then she would have answered me, but I turned +round, hearing a step, and there stood our new second mate, Francis +Paolo. Our eyes met at once with a long, searching gaze, but he did not +flinch. If he were a spy, he was no poor actor, and he stood his ground +without the movement of a muscle. + +"Well?" I said. + +"Is Mr. Stewart awake yet, sir?" he said, asking for Roderick. + +"I don't know, but you may wake him if he isn't." + +"The skipper wants a word with him when he gets up," he continued; "we +are all ready to heave anchor when he speaks." + +"That's all right: I'll give you the word, so you can weigh now; +perhaps, Mary, you'll go and hammer at Roderick's door, or he'll sleep +until breakfast time to-morrow." + +She ran at the word, and the new second mate turned to go, but first he +followed the girl with his eyes, earnestly, as though he looked upon +some all-fascinating picture. + +I watched him walk forward, and followed him, listening as he directed +the men; and a more seaman-like fellow I have never seen. If he were an +Italian, he had left all accent of speech in his own country, and he +gave his orders smartly and in a tone which demanded obedience. About +his seamanship I never had a doubt from the first; and I say this now, +a more capable officer than Francis Paolo never took a watch. + +Yet he was a man of violent temper, soon displayed before me. + +As I watched him from the hurricane deck, I heard a collier who had not +yet left the ship give him some impudence, and look jauntily to the men +for approval; but the smile was not off his cheeks when the new mate +hit him such a terrific blow on the head with a spy-glass he held that +the fellow reeled through the open bulwarks right into his barge, which +lay along-side. + +"That's to set your face straight," cried the mate after him; "next +time you laugh aboard here I'll balance you on the other side." + +The men were hushed before a display of temper like this; the skipper +on the bridge flushed red with disapproval, but said nothing. + +The order "Hands, heave anchor!" was sung out a moment after as +Roderick joined me aft, the new _Celsis_ steamed away from Plymouth, +and the episode was forgotten. + +For truly, as we lost sight of the town and the beautiful yacht moved +slowly upon the broader bosom of the Channel, thoughts of great moment +held us; and I, for my part, fell to wondering if I should ever see the +face of my country again. + +And in that hour the great pursuit began. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +I DREAM OF PAOLO. + + +We had left the Scilly Light two days; the _Celsis_ steamed steadily on +the great broad of the Atlantic. Night had fallen, and Mary had gone +below, leaving me with Roderick upon the aft-deck, watching the veriest +rim of a moon which gave no pretence of a picture, no ornament to the +deck. + +It was Paolo's watch; and the skipper had turned in, so that, save for +the occasional ringing of a bell, or a call from the look-out, no sound +but the whirring of the screw and the surge of the swell fell upon our +ear. A night for dreamy thoughts of home, of kinsfolk, of the more +tender things of life; but for us a night for the talk of that great +"might be" which was then so powerful a source of speculation for both +of us. And we were eager to talk, eager then as ever since the +beginning of it all; eager, above all things for the moment, to know +when we should next hear of Captain Black or of the nameless ship. + +"I shouldn't wonder," said Roderick, after twenty surmises of the sort, +"if we heard something of her as we cross. I have given York orders to +keep well in the track of steamers; and if your friend Hall be right, +that is just where the unknown ship will keep. I would give a thousand +pounds to know the story of the man Black. What can he be? Is he mad? +Is it possible that a man could commit piracy, to-day, in the Atlantic, +where is the traffic of the world; where, if the Powers once learnt of +it, they could hunt him down in a day? And yet, put into plain English, +that is the tale your friend tells." + +"It is; I have never doubted that from the first. Captain Black is +either the most original villain living, or the whole story is a silly +dream--besides, we have yet to learn if he is the commander of the +nameless ship: we have also to learn if the nameless ship is not a +myth. Time alone will tell, and our wits." + +"If they are not knocked out of us in the attempt, for, see you, Mark, +a man with a hole in his head is a precious poor person, and, of +course, you are prepared either way, success or the other thing." + +"For either; but I trust one of us may come out of it, for Mary's +sake." + +The thought made him very silent, and presently he turned in. I +remained above for half an hour, gazing over the great sweep of the +Atlantic. Paolo was on the bridge, as I have said, and, in accordance +with my design, I took all opportunity of watching him. That night some +inexplicable impulse held me awake when all others slept. I made +pretence, first of all, to go to my cabin; and bawled a good-night to +the mate as I went; but it was only to put on felt slippers and to get +a warm coat, and, with these secured, I made my way stealthily +amidships; and took a stand aft of the skipper's cabin, where I could +pry, yet not be seen. Not that I got much for my pains; but I heard +Paolo address several of the men forward, and it seemed to me that his +mode of speech was not quite that which should be between officer and +seaman. Perchance he was guilty of nothing more than common affability; +but yet I would rather have had him gruff and meddlesome than free and +intimate. + +It chanced that in this watch the new men were on deck, my old crew +being in the port watch, or I would have questioned them there and +then. As it was, I let the matter go, and smoked; and, indeed, when +another bell had struck, I was more than rewarded for my pains. +Suddenly, on the far horizon over the starboard bow, I saw the flare of +a blue light, bright over the water; and showing as it flared, the dark +hull of a great ship. The light was unmistakably, I thought, the signal +of an ocean-going steamer which had sighted another of her company +still far away from us; but I had no more than time to come to this +conclusion when, to my profound amazement, Paolo himself struck light +to a flare which he had with him on the bridge, and answered the +signal, our own light showing far out, and lighting the great moving +sea on which we rode so that one could count every crest about it. + +The action completely staggered me. Without a thought I rushed up the +ladder to the hurricane deck and stood beside him. He started as he saw +me, and I could see him biting his lips, while an ugly look came into +his eyes. But I charged him at once. + +"Good-evening, Mister Mate," I said; "will you kindly tell me why you +burnt that blue light?" + +His excuse came readily. + +"I burnt it to answer the signal yonder." + +"But that was no affair of ours!" + +He shrugged his shoulders, and muttered something about custom and +something else, which he meant to be impudent. Yet in another moment he +made effort to recall himself, and met me with an open, smiling face +which covered anger. I began to upbraid myself for the folly of it, +bursting out thus when there was no call for show; and I turned the +talk to other things, searching to learn about him and his past; yet it +was without reward, for he fenced in speech with all the point of a +close Scotsman. But we came down the bridge together when the new watch +was set; and he took a glass of wine with me in the saloon. + +It was all well acted, a fine pretence of common civility, yet I +believe that we two then took acquaintance of each other in the fullest +measure; and he learnt, though he did not show it, that in the game of +eavesdropping there may be two that play. + +When I turned in at last, the little wind there was had fallen away, so +that the yacht was almost without motion; save, indeed, that long roll +from which an ocean-going ship is rarely free. I had the electric light +in my cabin with a tap on the end of my bunk, mighty convenient for +reading and waking; but I was full of sleep in spite of what had been +above, and I turned out the lamp directly I fell upon my bed. + +I think I must have slept very heavily for an hour, when a great sense +of unrest and waking weariness took me, and I lay, now dozing, now +dreaming, so that in all my dreams I saw the face of Paolo. I seemed to +walk the deck of the _Celsis_, yet was Paolo there more strong and +masterful than I; again I went to the stoke-hole, and he was charging +the men with much authority; I hurried thence to the saloon, and in my +silly dream I thought to see Captain Black upon the one hand and Paolo +on the other, and a great friendship of manner and discourse between +them. + +Again I slept the black sleep; but it passed into other visions, so +that in one of them I seemed to be lying awake in my own cabin, and the +man Paolo stood over me, looking straight into my eyes; and when I +would have risen up to question him I was powerless, held still in +every limb, living, yet without life or speech--a horrid dream from +which I seemed to rouse myself only at the touch of something cold upon +my outstretched hand; and then at last I opened my eyes and saw, during +the veriest reality of time, that others looked down into mine. I saw +them for some small part of a second, yet in the faint light that came +from the port I recognised the face and the form, and was certain of +them; for the man who had been watching me as I slept was Paolo. + +A quick sense of danger waked me thoroughly then. I put my hand to the +tap of the electric light and the white rays flooded the cabin. But the +cabin was empty and Roderick's dog sat by my trunk, and had, I could +see, been licking my hand as I lay. + +I knew not how to make out the meaning of it; but I was trembling from +the horror of the dream, and went above in my flannels. It was dawn +then; and day was coming up out of the sea, cold and bearing mists, +which lay low over the long restful waves. Dan was aft on the +quarter-deck, and the first officer was on the bridge, but I looked +into Paolo's bunk, and he slept there, in so heavy a sleep that I began +to doubt altogether the truth of what I had believed. How could this +man have left my cabin as he had done, and yet now be berthed in his +own? The dream had cheated me, as dreams often do. + +But more sleep was not to be thought of. I fell to talk with Dan, and +paced the deck with him, asking what was his opinion of our new second +mate. + +He scratched his head before he answered, and looked wise, as he loved +to look-- + +"Lord, sir, it's not for me to be spoutin' about them as is above me; +but you ask me a fair question, and I'll give you a fair answer. In +course, I ain't the party to be thinking ill of any man--not Dan, which +is plain and English, though some as is scholars say it should be +Dan'el; but what I do know, I know--you won't be contradictin' that, +will you?" + +I told him to get on with it; but he was woefully deliberate, cutting +tobacco to chew, and hitching himself up before he was under weigh +again. + +"Now," he said at last, "the fact about our second is this, in my +opinion--which ain't mine, but the whole of 'em--he's no more'n a ship +with a voice under the fore-hatch----" + +I laughed at him as I asked, "And what's the matter with a ship like +that? Why shouldn't there be a voice under the fore-hatch, Dan?" + +He lit his pipe behind the aft skylight, and then answered, as he +puffed clouds of smoke to the lee-side-- + +"Well, you see, sir, as there ain't nobody a-livin' in that perticler +place, you don't go for to look to hearin' of voices, or, in plain +lingo, there's something queer about it." + +"And that's your opinion, Dan?" + +"As true as this fog's a-liftin' to windward." + +I looked as he jerked his thumb to port, and, sure enough, the curtain +of the fog was drawn up from the sea as the wind's wand scattered it. +Glorious and joy-giving the sun arose, and the whole horizon-bound +expanse of rolling, green water lay beneath us. There is something of +God in every daybreak, as most men admit, but I know nothing against +the glory of a morn upon the Atlantic for bringing home to a man the +delight in mere existence. The very sense of strength which the breeze +bears, the limitless deep green of the unmeasured seas, the great arch +of the zenith, the clear view of the sun's march, the purity and the +stillness and the mastery of it all, the consciousness of the puny +power of man, the mind message recalling the sublimity and the awe of +the unseen Power beyond--all these things impress you, move in you the +deepest thoughts, turn you from the little estimates of self as Nature +only can in the holiest of her moods, which are sought yet never found +in the cities. Nor can I ever welcome the breath of the great sea's +vigour and refuse to listen to her voice, which comes with so powerful +a message, even as a message from the great Unknown, whose hand +controls, and whose spirit is on, the waters. + +The sound of a gun-shot to leeward awoke me from my thoughts. The fog +was yet lying there upon the sea, and for some while none of us, +expectant as we were, could discern aught. But, fearing that some +vessel lay in distress, we put the helm up and went half-speed for a +time. We had cruised thus for five minutes or more when a terrific +report burst upon our ears, and this time to the alarm of every man who +trod deck. For this second report was not that of a small gun such as +crippled ships may use, but the thunderous echoing of a great weapon +which a man-of-war only could carry. + +The sound died away slowly; but in the same minute the fog lifted; and +I saw, away a mile on the starboard bow, a spectacle which brought a +great flush upon my face, and let me hear the sound of my own heart +beating. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +I FALL IN WITH THE NAMELESS SHIP. + + +There were two great ships abreast of each other, and they were +steaming with so great a pressure of steam that the dark green water +was cleaved into two huge waves of foam before their bows; and the +spray ran right over their fo'castles and fell in tons upon their +decks. + +The more distant of the two ships was long in shape and dark in colour; +she had four masts upon which topsails and staysails were set, and two +funnels painted white, but marked with the anchor which clearly set her +down to be one of the famous Black Anchor fleet. My powerful spyglass +gave me a full view of her decks, which I saw to be dark with the +figures of passengers and crew all crowding to the port side, wherefrom +the other ship was approaching her. + +Yet was it this other ship which drew our gaze rather than the great +steamer which seemed to be pursued. Almost of the same length as the +passenger steamer, which she now approached obliquely, she rode the +long swell with perfect grace, and many of her deck-houses and part of +her prow shone with the brightness of pure gold. Full the sun fell +upon her in a sheen of shimmering splendour, throwing great reflected +lights which dazzled the eye so that it could scarce hold any continued +gaze upon her. And, indeed, every ornament on her seemed to be made of +the precious metal, now glowing to exceeding brilliance in the full +power of the sunlight. + +She was a very big ship, as I have said, and she had all the shape of a +ship of war, while the turrets fore and aft of her capacious funnel +showed the muzzles of two big guns. I could see by my glass a whole +wealth of armament in the foretop of her short mast forward; and high +points in her fo'castle marked the spot where many other machine guns +were ready for action. At her towering and lofty prow there was +indicated clearly the curve of the ram which now ploughed the dark +water and curdled it into the fountains of foam which fell upon her +decks; while amidships, the outline of a conning-tower showed more +clearly for what aggressive purpose she had been designed. There was at +this spot, too, a great deck erection, with a gallery and a bridge for +navigation; but no men showed upon the platform, and, for the matter of +that, no soul trod her decks, so far as our observation went. Yet her +speed was such as I do not believe any ship achieved before. I have +spent many years upon the sea; have crossed the Atlantic in some of the +most speedy of those cruisers which are the just pride of a later-day +shipbuilding art; I have raced in torpedo-boats over known miles; but +of this I have no measure of doubt, that the speed of which that +extraordinary vessel then proved herself capable was such as no other +that ever swam could for one moment cope with. Now rising majestically +on the long roll of the swell, now falling into the concave of the sea, +she rushed onward towards the steamer she was evidently pursuing as +though driven by all the furies of the deep. + +As we watched her, held rooted to our places as men who are looking +upon some strange and uncanny picture, the gun in her foremost turret +belched out flame and smoke, and we observed the rise and fall of a +shell, which cut the water a cable's length ahead of the straining +steamer and sank hissing beneath the sea. At that moment she ran up a +flag upon her signal mast, and, as I read it with my glass, I saw that +it was the flag of the Chilian Republic. + +Now, indeed, the pursuit became so engrossing that my own men began to +sing out, and this reminded me that every soul aboard the _Celsis_ had +watched with me when I first set eyes on the nameless ship. I turned to +our skipper, who stood near on the hurricane deck, and saw that he in +turn was looking hard at me. Roderick had come up from his cabin, but +rested at the top of the companion ladder in so dazed a mood that no +speech came from him. The first officer had scarce his wits about him +to steer our own course, and the whole of the hands forward in a little +group upon the fo'castle now called out their views, then turned to ask +what it meant. + +It was a matter of satisfaction to me that Mary still slept, and I +looked for the appearance of Paolo with some question. But he remained +below through it all. And at that I wondered more. + +The skipper was the first to speak. + +"That ship yonder," said he, jerking his thumb to starboard; "is it any +business of ours?" + +"None that I know of," I replied; "but it's a mighty fine sight, +skipper, don't you think, a Chilian warship running after a liner in +broad daylight? What's your opinion?" + +He shrugged his shoulders disdainfully, and took another sight through +his glass. Then he answered me-- + +"It's a fine sight enough, God knows, but I would give half I'm worth +to be a hundred miles away from it"; and here he suddenly wheeled, and, +facing me roughly, he asked-- + +"Do you want me to get this boat into port again?" + +"Of course. Is there any great need to answer a question like that?" + +"At the moment, yes; for, with your pleasure, I'm going to put up the +helm and sheer off. I'm not a man that loves fighting myself, and, with +a ship and crew to look after, I've no business in any affair of that +sort; but it's for you to say." + +Before I could answer him, Roderick moved from his place and came up on +the bridge where we stood. + +"Hold on a bit, skipper," he cried, "as we are, if you please; why, +man, it's a sight I wouldn't miss for a fortune." + +The skipper searched him with his eyes with a keen, lasting gaze, that +implied his doubt of the pair of us. His voice had a fine ring of +sarcasm in it when he replied after the silence; but all he said was, +"It's your affair," and then turned to the first officer. + +"Don't you think he was right?" I asked Roderick in a low voice, when +the chief's back was turned, but he whispered again-- + +"Not yet--we must see more of it; and they're too much occupied to hunt +after us. We'll be away long before those two have settled accounts; +and, look now, I can see a man on the bridge of the yellow ship. Do you +mark him?" + +I had my glass to my eye in a moment, and the light was so full upon +the vessel, which must then have been a mile and a half away from us, +that I could prove his words; for, sure enough, there was now someone +moving upon the bridge, and, as I fixed my powerful lens, I thought +that I could recognise the shape of a man; but I would not speak my +mind to Roderick until I had a nearer view. + +"You are right," I answered; "but what sort of a man I will tell you +presently. Did you ever see anything like the pace that big ship is +showing? She must be moving at twenty-five knots." + +"Yes, it's amazing; and what's more, there isn't a show of smoke at her +funnel." + +This was true, but I had not noticed it. Throughout the strange scene +we saw, this vessel of mystery never gave one sign that men worked at +her furnaces below. Neither steam nor smoke came from her, no evidence, +even the most trifling, of that terrible power which was then driving +her through the seas at such a fearful speed. + +But of the activity of her human crew we had speedily further sign; +for, almost as I answered, there was some belching of flame from her +turret, and this time the shell, hurtling through the air with that +hissing song which every gunner knows so well, crashed full upon the +fore-part of the great liner, and we heard the shout of terror which +rose from those upon her decks. The men appeared at the signal-mast of +the pursuer, and rapidly made signals in the common code. + +"Skipper, do you see that?--they're signalling," I cried out. "Get your +glass up and take a sight"; but he had already done so. + +"It's the signal to lie to, and wait a boat," he said; "there's someone +going aboard." + +The fulfilment of the reading was instant. While yet we had not +realised that the onward rush of the two boats was stayed the foam fell +away from their bows; and they rode the seas superbly, sitting the long +swells with a beautiful ease. But there was activity on the deck of the +nameless ship, the men were at the davits on the starboard side +swinging off a launch, which dropped presently into the sea with a crew +of some half-a-dozen men. For ourselves, we were now quite close up to +them, but so busily were they occupied that I believed we had escaped +all notice. Yet I got my glass full upon the man who walked the bridge; +and I knew him. + +He was the man I had met in the Rue Joubert at Paris, the one styled +Captain Black by my friend Hall. + +The last link in the long chain was welded then. The whole truth of +that weird document, so fantastical, so seemingly wild, so fearful, was +made manifest; the dead man's words were vindicated, his every +deduction was unanswerable. There on the great Atlantic waste, I had +lived to see one of those terrible pictures which he had conceived in +his long dreaming; and through all the excitement, above all the noise, +I thought that I heard his voice, and the grim "Ahoys!" of my own +seamen on the night he died. + +This strange recognition was unknown to Roderick, who had never seen +Captain Black, nor had any notion of his appearance. But he waited for +some remark from me; yet, fearing to be heard, I only looked at him, +and in that look he read all. + +"Mark," he said, "it's time to go; we'll be the next when that ship's +at the bottom." + +"My God!" I answered, "he can't do such a thing as that. If I thought +so, I would stand by here at the risk of a thousand lives----" + +"That's wild talk. What can we do? He would shiver us up with one of +his machine guns--and, besides, we have Mary on board." + +Indeed, she stood by us as we spoke, very pale and quiet, looking where +the two ships lay motionless, the boat from the one now at the very +side of the black steamer, whose name, the _Ocean King_, we could +plainly read. She had, unnoticed by us, seen the work of the last +shell, which splintered the groaning vessel, and made her reel upon the +water, and Mary's instinct told her that we stood where danger was. + +"Don't you think you're better below, Mary?" asked Roderick; but she +had her old answer-- + +"Not until you go; and why should I make any difference? I overheard +what you said. Am I to stand between you and those men's lives?" + +She clung to my arm as she spoke, and her boldness gave us new courage. + +"I am for standing by to the end," said I; "if we save one soul, it's +an English work to do, anyway." + +Roderick looked at Mary, and then he turned to the skipper-- + +"Do you wish to go on the other tack now?" he asked; but the skipper +was himself again. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "it's your yacht, and these are your men; if you +care to keep them afloat, keep them. If it's your fancy to do the other +thing, why, do it. It's a matter of indifference to me." + +His words were heard by all the hands, and from that time there was +something of a clamour amongst them; but I stepped forward to have out +what was in my mind, and they heard me quietly. + +"Men," I said, "there's ugly work over there, work which I make nothing +of; but it's clear that an English ship is running from a foreigner, +and may want help. Shall we leave her, or shall we stand by?" + +They gave a great shout at this, and the skipper touched the bell, +which stopped the engines. We lay then quite near both to the pursued +and the pursuer, and there was no longer any doubt that we had been +seen. + +Glasses were turned upon us from the decks of the yellow ship, and from +the poop of the _Ocean King_, whose men were still busy with the signal +flags, and this time, as we made out, in a direct request to us that we +should stand by. + +I doubt not that the excitement and the danger of the position alone +nerved us to this work of amazing foolhardiness, which was so like to +have ended in our complete undoing; and, as I watched the captain of +the steamer parleying with the men in the launch below him, I could but +ask--What next? when will our turn be? + +But the scene was destined to end in a way altogether different from +what we had anticipated. + +While a tall man with fair hair--my glass gave me the impression that +he was the fellow known as "Roaring John"--stood in the bows of the +launch, and appeared to be gesticulating wildly to the skipper of the +_Ocean King_, the nameless ship set up of a sudden a great shrieking +with her deck whistle, which she blew three times with terrific power; +and at the third sound of it the launch, which had been holding to the +side of the steamer, let go, running rapidly back to the armed vessel, +where it was taken aboard again. + +The whole thing was done in so short a space of time that our men had +scarce an opportunity to express surprise when the launch was hanging +at the davits again. The great activity that we had observed on the +decks of the war-vessel ceased as mysteriously as it had begun. Again +there was no sign of living being about her; but she moved at once, and +bounded past us at a speed the like of which I had never seen upon the +deep. + +So remarkable a face-about seemed to dumbfound our men. They stood +staring at each other like those amazed, and seeking explanation. But +the key to the riddle was given, not by one of them, but by Paolo, whom +I now found at my elbow, his usually placid face all aglow with +excitement. + +"Ha!" he cried, "she's American!" + +He made a wild point at the far horizon over our stern; and then I saw +what troubled him. There was a great white steamer coming up at a high +speed, and I knew the form of her at once, and of two others that +followed her. She was one of the American navy, crossing to her own +country from Europe, whither she had been to watch the British +manoeuvres. The secret of the flight was no longer inexplicable; the +yellow ship had fled from the trap into which she was so nearly +falling. + +"You have sharp eyes, Paolo," said I; "I imagine it's lucky for the +pair of us." + +He shrugged his shoulders angrily, and then said very meaningly-- + +"Perhaps." + +I had no time to reckon with him, for I was as much absorbed as he was +in the scene which followed. The nameless ship, of a sudden, ceased her +flight, and came almost to a stand some half a mile away on our +port-bow. For a moment her purpose was hidden, yet only for a moment. +As she swung round to head the seas, I saw at once that another +cruiser, long and white, and seemingly well-armed had come up upon that +side, and now barred her passage. At last, she was to cope with one +worthy of her, and at the promise of battle, a hush, awful in its +intensity, fell upon all of us. + +For some minutes the two vessels lay, the one broadside to the other, +the Americans making signals which were unanswered; but the nameless +ship had now hundreds of men about her decks, and these were at the +machine-guns and elsewhere active in preparation. It became plain that +her captain had made up his mind to some plan, for the great hull swung +round slowly, and passed at a moderate speed past the bow of the other. +When she was nearly clear, her two great guns were fired almost +simultaneously, and, as the shells swept along the deck of the cruiser, +they carried men and masts and deck-houses with them, in one devilish +confusion of wreckage and of death. To such an onslaught there was no +answer. The cruiser was utterly unprepared for the treachery, and lay +reeling on the sea; screams and fearful cries coming from her decks, +now quivering under a torrent of fire as her opponent treated her to +the hail of her machine-guns. + +The battle could have ended but in one way, had not the other American +warships now come so close to us that they opened fire with their great +guns. The huge shells hissed over our heads, and all about us, plunging +into the sea with such mighty concussions that fountains of green water +arose in twenty places, and the near surface of the Atlantic became +turbulent with foam. Such a powerful onslaught could have been resisted +by no single vessel, and, seeing that he was like to be surrounded, the +captain of the nameless ship, which had already been struck three times +in her armour, fired twice from his turrets, and then headed off at +that prodigious speed he had shown in the beginning of his flight. In +five minutes he was out of gun-shot; in ten, the American vessels were +taking men from their crippled cruiser, whose antagonists had almost +disappeared on the horizon! + +Upon our own decks the noise and hubbub were almost deafening. From a +state of nervous tension and doubt our men had passed to a state of +joy. Half of them were for going aboard the damaged vessels at once; +half for getting under weigh and moving from such dangerous waters. Our +talk upon the quarter-deck soon brought us to the first-named course, +and we put out a boat with ease upon the still sea, and hailed the +passenger steamer after twenty minutes' stout rowing. She was yet a +pitiful spectacle; for as we drew near to her, I could see women +weeping hysterically on the seats aft, and men alternately helping them +and looking over in the direction whence the three American ironclads +steamed. Indeed, it was a picture of great confusion and distress, and +we hailed those on her bridge three times before we got any answer. +When we did get up on her main-deck, Captain Ross, her commander, +greeted us with great thanks; but he was a sorry spectacle of a man, +being white as his own ensign with anger, and his voice trembled as the +voice of a man suffering some great emotion. He took us to his +chart-room, for he would have all particulars about us, both our names +and addresses, with those of our officers, for a witness when he should +call the British Government to take action. + +"Twenty years," he said, with tears of anger in his eyes, "twenty years +I have crossed the Atlantic, but this is the first time that I ever +heard the like. Good God, sirs! it's nothing less than piracy on the +high seas; and they shall swing, every man Jack of them, as high as +Haman! What think ye? They signal me to lie to--me that has the mails +and a hundred thousand pounds in specie aboard; they fire a shot across +my bows, and when I signal that I'll see them in hell before I bate a +knot, why--you watched it yourselves--they struck me in the fo'castle, +and there's two of my dead men below now; but they shall swing"--and he +brought his fist upon the table with a mighty thud--"they shall swing, +if there's only one rope in Europe." + +I had sorrow for the man who was thus moved--for the most part, I could +see, at the loss of his two men. Then I went forward with the others to +the place of wreckage, and for the first time in my life I observed the +colossal havoc which a shell may leave in its path. The single shot +which had struck the steamer had cut her two skins of steel as though +they had been skins of cheese: had splintered the wood of the men's +bunks, so that it lay in match-like fragments which a fine knife might +have hewed; had passed again through the steel on the starboard side, +and so burst, leaving the fo'castle one tumbled mass of torn blankets, +little rags of linen, fragments of wood, of steel, of clothes which had +been in the men's chests; and, more horrible to recount, particles of +human flesh. Three men were below when the crash came, and two of them +had their limbs torn apart; while, by one of the miracles which oft +attend the passage of a shot, the third, being in a low bunk when the +shell struck, escaped almost uninjured. This desolate and wrecked cabin +was shown to us by Captain Ross, whose anger mounted at every step. + +"What does it mean?" he kept asking. "Are we at war? You saw the +Chilian flag. Is there no Treaty of Paris, then? Does he go out to +filch every ship he meets? Will he do this, and our Government take no +steps? Can't you answer me that?" But he poured out his questions with +such rapidity, and he was so overcome, that we followed him in silence +as he walked beneath the awnings of the upper decks, and showed us +women still talking hysterically, men unnerved and witless as children, +seamen yet finding curses for the atrocity that had been. By this time, +the first of the American ships had come up with us, and the commander +of her put out a boat, and having gone aboard the maimed cruiser, he +came afterwards to the Black Anchor ship, and joined us in the +chart-room. I will make no attempt to set down for you his surprise nor +his incredulity. I believe that the scene in the fo'castle alone +convinced him that we were not all raving madmen; but, when once he +grasped our story, he was not a whit behind us, either in intensity of +expression or of sympathy. + +"It's an international question, I guess," he said; "and if he doesn't +pay with his neck for the twenty men dead on my cruiser, to say nothing +of the twenty thousand pounds or more damage to her, I will--why, we'll +run her down in four-and-twenty hours. You took his course?" + +"West by south-west, almost dead," said the captain; and I heard it +agreed between them that the second cruiser of the American fleet +should start at once in pursuit, while the iron-clads should accompany +us to New York, so making a little convoy for safety's sake. + +With this arrangement we left the ship and regained the _Celsis_. Paolo +stood at the top of the ladder as I came on deck, and listened, I +thought, to our protestations that the danger was over with something +of a sneer on his face. + +Indeed, I thought that I heard him mutter, as he went to his cabin, +"_Vedremo_--" but I did not know then how much the laugh was to be +against us, and that we should leave the convoy long before we reached +New York. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SPREAD OF THE TERROR. + + +For full five days we steamed with the other vessels, under no stress +to keep the sea with them, since they made no more than twelve knots, +for the sake of the cruiser which had been so fearfully maimed in the +short action with the nameless ship. During this time there was little +power of wind; and the breeze continuing soft from the north-east, it +was easy business to hold sight of the convoy, which we did to the +satisfaction of every man aboard us. But I could not put away from +myself the knowledge that the events of the first three days had made +much talk in the fo'castle and that a feeling akin to terror prevailed +amongst the men. + +This came home to me with some force on the early morning of the fifth +day. I found myself unable to sleep restfully in my bunk, and went +above at daybreak, to see the white hulls of the American war-vessels a +mile away on the port-quarter and the long line of the Black Anchor +boat a few cables'-lengths ahead of them. Paolo was on the bridge, but +I did not hail him, thinking it better to give the man few words until +we sighted Sandy Hook. He, in turn, maintained his sullen mood; but he +did not neglect to be much amongst the hands, and his intimacy with +them increased from day to day. + +Now, when I came on deck this morning, I found that the breeze, strong +and fresh though it was, put me in that soporific state I had sought +unavailingly in my bunk. There was a deck-chair well placed behind the +shelter of the saloon skylight, and upon this I made myself at ease, +drawing my peaked hat upon my eyes, and getting the sleep-music from +the swish of the sea, as it ran upon us, and sprinted from the tiller +right away to the bob-stay. But no sleep could I get; for scarce was I +set upon the chair when I heard Dan the other side of the skylight, and +he was holding forth with much fine phrase to Roderick's dog, Belle. + +"Yes," he said, apparently treating the beast as though possessed of +all human attributes. "Yes, you don't go for to say nothing, but you're +a Christian dog, I don't doubt; and yer heart's in the right place; or +it's not me as would be wasting me time talking to yer. Now, what I +says is, you're comfortable enough, with Missie a-makin' as much of yer +as if good fresh beef weren't tenpence a pound, and yer mouth warn't +large enough to take in a hundredweight; but that ain't the way with +the rest of us--no, my old woman, not by a cable's-length; we're afloat +on a rum job, old lady; and some of us won't go for to pipe when it's +the day for payin' off--not by a long way. So you hear; and don't get +answerin' of me, for what I spoke's logic, and there's an end of it." + +I called him to me, and had it out with him there and then. + +"What's in the wind now, Dan," I asked, "that you're preaching to the +dog?" + +"Ay, that's it," he replied, putting his hand into his pocket for his +tobacco-box. "What's in the wind?--why, you'd have to be askin' of it +to learn, I fancy." + +"Is there any more nonsense amongst the men forward?" + +"There's a good deal of talk--maybe more than there should be." + +"And what do they talk about? Tell me straight, Dan." + +"Well, I've got nothing, for my part, to hide away, and I don't know as +they should have; but you know this ship is a dead man's!" + +"Who told you that stuff?" + +"No other than our second mate, sir, as sure as I cut this quid. Not as +yarns like that affect me; but, you see, some skulls is thick as +plate-armour, and some is thin as egg-shells: and when the thin 'uns +gets afloat with corpses, why, it's a chest of shiners to a handspike +as they cracks--now, ain't it?" + +"Dan, this is the most astounding story that I have yet heard. Would +you make it plainer? for, upon my life, I can't read your course!" + +He sat down on the edge of the skylight--long service had given him a +claim to familiarity--and filled his pipe from my tobacco-pouch before +he answered, and then was mighty deliberate. + +"Plain yarns, Mister Mark, is best told in the fo'castle, and not by +hands upon the quarter-deck; but, asking pardon for the liberty, I feel +more like a father to you gentlemen than if I was nat'ral born to it; +and this I do say--What's this trip mean; what's in yer papers? and why +ain't it the pleasure vige we struck flag for? For it ain't a pleasure +vige, _that_ a shoreman could see; and you ain't come across the +Atlantic for the seein' of it, nor for merchandise nor barter, nor +because you wanted to come. That's what the hands say at night when the +second's a-talkin' to 'em over the grog he finds 'em. 'Where's it going +to end?' says he; 'what is yer wages for takin' yer lives where they +shouldn't be took? and,' says he, 'in a ship what the last skipper died +aboard of it,' says he, 'died so sudden, and was so fond of his old +place as who knows where he is now, afloat or ashore, p'r'aps a-walking +this very cabin, and not bringing no luck for the vige, neither,' says +he. And what follows?--why, white-livered jawings, and this man afeard +to go here, and that man afeard to go there, and the Old One amongst +'em, so that half of 'em says, 'We was took false,' and the other half, +'Why not 'bout ship and home again?' No, and you ain't done with it, +not by a long day, and you won't have done with it until you drop +anchor in Yankee-land, if ever you do drop anchor there, which I take +leave to give no word upon." + +"It's a curious state of things. You mean to say, I suppose, that +there's terror amongst them--plain terror, and nothing else?" + +"Ay, sure!" + +"Then it remains for us to face them. What's your opinion on that?" + +"My opinion is, as you won't go for to do it, but will take your +victuals, and play your music in the aft parlour, and skeer away the +Old One with the singing, as ye've skeered him already--that's what +ye'll do afore Missie and the skipper--but by yourself, you won't have +two eyes shut when you sleep, and you won't have two eyes open when +you're above; and when you're wanted you won't be an hour getting +yourself nor Mr. Roderick under weigh--and that's the end of it, for +there goes the bell." + +The watch changed as he spoke, and I went below to the bathroom; +thence, not thinking much of Dan's terror, nor of the men's petty +grumbling, I joined the others at breakfast. We were now well towards +the end of the journey, and I itched to set foot in America. The new +safety in the presence of the warships had given us light hearts; and +that fifth day we passed in great games of deck-quoits and cricket, +with a soft ball which the bo'sun made for us out of tow and linen. The +men worked cheerfully enough, giving the lie direct to Dan; and when +Mary played to us after dinner at night I began to think that, all said +and done, we should touch shore with no further happening; and that +then I could make all use of the man Paolo and his knavery. So I went +to bed at ten o'clock, and for an hour or two I slept with the deep +forgetfulness which is the reward of a weary man. + +At what hour Dan awoke me I cannot tell you. He shook me twice in the +effort, he said, and when I would have turned up the electric light, he +seized my hand roughly, muttering in a great whisper, "Hold steady." I +knew then that mischief was afloat, and asked him what to do. + +"Crawl above," he said, "and lie low a-deck"; and he went up the +companion ladder when I got my flannels and rubber-shod shoes upon me. +But at the topmost step he stood awhile, and then he fell flat on his +hands, and backed again down the stairway, so that he came almost on +top of me; but I saw what prompted his action, for, as he moved, there +was a shadow thrown from the deck light down to where we lay; and then +a man stepped upon the stair and descended slowly, his feet naked, but +in his hand an iron bar; for he had no other weapon. At the sight of +him, we had backed to the foot of the stairway; and, as the man crept +down, we lay still, so that you could hear every quiver of the glass +upon the table of the saloon; and we watched the fellow drop step by +step until he was quite close to us in the dark, and his breath was hot +upon us. Swiftly then and silently he entered the place; and, going to +my cabin door, he slipped a wedge under it, serving the other doors +around the big cabin in the same way. The success seemed to please him; +he chuckled softly, and came again to the ladder, where, with a quick +motion, Dan brought his pistol-butt (for I had armed him) full upon the +fellow's forehead, and he went down like a dead thing at the foot of +the swinging table. + +There we left him, after we had bound his hands with my scarf; and with +a hurried knock got Roderick from his berth. He, in turn, aroused his +sister, and in five minutes we all stood in the big saloon and +discussed our plan. + +Dan's whispered tale was this. The watch was Paolo's, who had persuaded +four stokers and six of the forward hands to his opinion. These men, +the dupes of the second officer, had determined on this much--that the +voyage to New York should be stopped abruptly, come what might, and +that our intent should go for nothing. We, being locked in our cabins, +were to have no voice in the affair; or, if waked, then we should be +knocked on the head, and so quieted to reason. + +It was a desperate endeavour, wrought of fear; but at that moment the +true hands of the fo'castle were battened down, and Dan, who had seen +the thing coming, escaped only by his foresight. That night he had felt +danger, and had wrapped himself up in a tarpaulin, and lain concealed +on deck. + +As it was, Paolo stood at the door of the skipper's room; there were +three men guarding the fo'castle, and five at the foot of the hurricane +deck. One man we had settled with; but we were three, and eight men +stood between us and the true hands. + +Roderick was the first to get his wits, and plan a course. + +"We must act now," he said, "before they miss their man. They've +stopped the engines, and we shall drop behind the others. There's only +one chance, and that is to surprise them. Let's rush it and take the +odds." + +"You can't rush it," I replied; "they're looking for that; and if one +now went forward they would shoot him down straight--and what's to +follow? They come aft, and how can we hold them? But we must get the +skipper awake, or they'll knock him on the head while he sleeps." + +Mary had listened, shivering with the night cold; but she had a word to +add, and its wisdom was no matter for dispute. + +"If I went," she said, "what could they do to me?" + +We were all silent. + +"I'm going now," she said; "while I'm talking to them they won't be +looking for you." + +"Certainly, we could follow up," I added, "and might get them down if +you held them in talk; but don't you fear?" + +She laughed, and gave answer by running up the companion-way, and +standing at the top; while we cocked our pistols, and crept after her. +Then we lay flat to the deck, as she ran noiselessly amidships, and +into the very centre of the five men. To our astonishment, they gave a +great howl of terror at the sight of her--for it lay so dark that she +seemed but a thing of shadow hovering upon the ship--and bolted +headlong forward; while we rushed in a body to the hurricane deck, and +faced Paolo. He turned very white, and would have opened his lips; but +Dan served him as the other; and hit him with his pistol, so that he +rolled senseless off the narrow bridge, and we heard the thud of his +head against the iron of the engine-room hatch. He had scarce fallen +when Mary, with the laugh still upon her lips, reeled at the sight of +him, and fell fainting in my arms. I knocked at the skipper's door, but +he was already on his feet, and passed me to the bridge, where I laid +the swooning girl on the sofa in the chart-room. + +The skipper got the whole situation at the first look, and acted in his +usual silence. He re-entered his own cabin, and came to us again with a +couple of rifles, which he loaded. We were now all crouching together +by the wheel amidships, for Mary had recovered, and insisted that I +should leave her, and we waited for the heavy black clouds to lift off +the moon; but the fore-deck lay dark ahead of us; and we could not tell +whether the men who had fled had gone below, or were crouching behind +the galley, and the skylights of the fore-cabins. Nor could we hear any +sound of them, although the skipper hailed them twice. He was for going +forward at once; but we held back until the light came, and then by the +full moon we saw dark shadows across the hatch. The men were behind the +galley, as we thought--the eight of them. + +The skipper hailed them again. + +"You, Karl, Williams--are you coming out now, for me to flog you; or +will you swing at New York?" + +I could see their whole performance in shadow, as they heard the hail. +One of them cocked a pistol, and the rest huddled more closely +together. + +"Very well," continued the skipper, ironically deliberate. "You've got +a couple of planks between you and eternity. I'm going to fire through +that galley." + +He raised his rifle at the word, and let go straight at the corner of +the light wood erection. A dull groan followed, and by the shadow on +the deck I saw one man fall forward amongst the others, who held him up +with their shoulders; but his blood ran in a thick stream out to the +top of the hatchway, and then ran back as the ship heaved to the seas. + +For the fifth time the skipper hailed them. + +"There's one down amongst you," he said; "and that's the beginning of +it; I'm going to blow that shanty to hell, and you with it." + +He raised his rifle, but as he did so one of them answered for the +first time with his revolver, and the bullet sang above our heads. The +skipper's shot was quick in reply; and the wood of the shanty flew in +splinters as the bullet shivered it. A second man sprang to his feet +with a shout, and then fell across the deck, lying full to be seen in +the moonlight. + +"That's two of you," continued the skipper, as calm as ever he was in +Portsmouth harbour; "we'll make it three for luck." But at the +suggestion they all made a run forward, and lay flat right out by the +cable. There we could hear them blubbering like children. + +The skipper was of a mind to end the thing there and then. He sprang +down the ladder to the deck, and we followed him. They fired three +shots as we rushed on them; but the butt ends of the two muskets did +the rest. Three of them went down straight as felled poplars. The +others fell upon their knees and implored mercy; and they got it, but +not until the skipper, who now seemed roused to all the fury of great +anger, set to kicking them lustily, and with no discrimination--for +they all had their full share of it. + +We had the other hands up by this, and, despite the tragedy and horror +of the thing, a smile came to me as the true men set to binding the +others at the skipper's order; for Piping Jack and Planks, and the +whole ten of them, fell into such a train of swearing as would have +done your heart good to hear. They got them below at the first break of +dawn, and the dead they covered; while Paolo, who lay groaning, we +carried to a cabin in the saloon, and did for his broken head that +which our elementary knowledge of surgery permitted us. + +As the day brought light upon the rising sea, I looked to the far +horizon, but the rolling crests of an empty waste met my gaze. Again we +were alone. The night's work had lost us the welcome company. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SHIP IN THE BLACK CLOAK. + + +The day that broke was glorious enough for Nature's making, but sad +upon our ship, in that the folly of eight poor fellows should have cost +the life of two, with three more lying near to death in the fo'castle. +The sea had risen a good deal when we got under steam again, and clouds +scudded over the sun; but we set stay-sails and jibs, and made a fine +pace towards the shores of America. It was near noon when we had buried +the two stokers shot by the skipper, and more on in the afternoon +before the decks were made straight, and the traces of the scuffle +quite obliterated. But Paolo lay all day in a delirium, and Mary went +in and out, bearing a gentle hand to the wounded, who alternately cried +with the pain of it, and begged grace for their insanity. The second +officer's case was worse than theirs, and I thought at noon that the +total of the dead would have been three; for he raved incessantly, +crying "Ice, Ice!" almost with every breath, while we had all +difficulty possible to hold him in his bunk. His words I could not get +the meaning of; but I had them later, and in circumstances I had never +looked for. + +After the hour of lunch the skipper called Roderick and me into his +cabin, and there he discussed the position with us. + +"One thing is clear," he said; "you've brought me on more than a +pleasure trip, and, while I don't complain, it will be necessary at New +York for me to know something more--or, maybe to leave this ship. Last +night's work must be made plain, of course; and this second officer of +yours must stand to his trial. The men I would willingly let go, for +they're no more than lubberly fools whose heads have been turned. But +one thing I now make bold to claim--I take this yacht straight from +here to Sandy Hook; and we poke our noses into no business on the way." + +"Of course," said Roderick somewhat sarcastically, "you've every right +to do what you like with my ship; but I seem to remember having engaged +you to obey my orders." + +"Fair orders and plain sailing," replied Captain York, bringing his +fist down on the table with emphasis; "not running after war-ships that +could blow us out of the water without thinking of it. Fair orders I +took, and fair orders I'll obey." + +"That's quite right, Roderick," I said; "there's no reason now why we +shouldn't go straight on--if we don't meet with anyone to ask questions +on the way; of that I'm not so sure, though." + +"Nor I," said the skipper meaningly, and waiting for me to add more; +but I did not mean to gratify him, and we all went out on deck again +after we had agreed to let him have his will. We found the first +officer on the bridge, looking away to the south-east, where the black +hull of a steamer was now showing full. I do not know that the distant +sight of a ship was anything to cause remark, but as I looked at her, I +noticed that she steamed at a fearful speed, and she showed no smoke +from her funnels. + +"Skipper," I said, "will you look at that hull? Isn't the boat making +uncommon headway?" + +He took a long gaze, and then he spoke-- + +"You're right. She's going more than twenty knots." + +"And straight towards us." + +"As you say." + +"Is there anything remarkable about that?" + +He took another sight, and when he turned to me again he had no colour +in his face. + +"I've seen that ship before," he said. + +"Where?" asked Roderick laconically. + +"Five days ago, when she fired a shell into the _Ocean King_." + +"In that case," said I, "there isn't much doubt about her intentions: +she's chasing us!" + +"That may or may not be," he replied, as he raised his glass again, +"but she's the same ship, I'll wager my life. Look at the rake of +her--and the lubbers, they've left some of their bright metal showing +amidships!" + +He indicated the deck-house by the bridge, where my glass showed me a +shining spot in the cloak of black, for the sun fell upon the place, +and reflected from it as from a mirror of gold. There was no longer any +doubt: we were pursued by the nameless ship, and, if no help fell to +us, I shuddered to think what the end might be. + +"What are you going to do, skipper?" asked Roderick, as gloom fell upon +the three of us; and we stood together, each man afraid to tell the +others all he thought. + +"What, am I going to do?" said he. "I'm going to see the boats cleared, +and all hands in the stoke-hole that have the right there"; and then he +sang out, "Stand by!" and the men swarmed up from below, and heard the +order to clear the boats. They obeyed unquestioningly; but I doubt not +that they were no less uneasy than we were; and, as these things cannot +be concealed, the whisper was soon amongst them that the danger lay in +the black steamer, which had been five days ago the ship of gold. Yet +they went to the work with a right good will; and presently, when a +canopy of our own smoke lay over us, and the yacht bounded forward +under the generosity of the stoking, they set up a great cheer +spontaneously, and were ready for anything. Yet I, myself, could not +share their honest bravado. The black ship which had been but a mark on +the horizon now showed her lines fully; there could be no two opinions +of her speed, or of the way in which she gained upon us. Indeed, one +could not look upon her advance without envy of her form, or of the +terrifying manner in which she cut the seas. Churning the foam until it +mounted its banks on each side of her great ram, she rode the Atlantic +like a beautiful yacht, with no vapour of smoke to float above her; and +not so much as a sign that any engines forced her onward with a +velocity unknown, I believe, in the whole history of navigation. And so +she came straight in our wake, and I knew that we should have little +breathing time before we should hear the barking of her guns. + +The skipper did not like to see my idleness or this display of inactive +indifference. + +"Don't you think you might help?" he asked. + +"Help--what help can I give? You don't suppose we can outsteam them, do +you?" + +"That's a child's question; they'll run us to a stand in four +hours--any man with one eye should see that; but are you going down +like a sheep, or will you give them a touch of your claws? I will, so +help me Heaven, if there's not another hand breathing!" + +"The skipper's right, by Jove!" said Roderick; "if it's coming to close +quarters, I'll mark one man anyway," and with that he tumbled down the +ladder, and into his cabin. I followed him, and got all the arms I +could lay hands on, a couple of revolvers and a long duck-gun amongst +the number. There were two rifles--the two we had used in the trouble +with the men--in the chart-room, and these we brought on deck, with all +the other pistols we had amongst us. We made a distribution of them +amongst the old hands, giving Dan the duck-gun, which pleased him +mightily. + +"I generally shoots 'em sittin'," he said, "but I'll go for to make a +bag, and willin'. You're keepin' the Missie out of it, sir?" + +"Of course; she's looking after the sick hands downstairs. You go +forward, Dan, and wait for the word, then blaze away your hardest." + +"Ay, ay," replied he; and I took myself off to see after the others, +whom we posted in the stern to keep a closer look-out; while Roderick, +the first officer, and myself went above to the bridge. + +The men now fell to work in right good earnest. They had all the grit +of the old sea-dogs in them--how, I know not, except in this, that +their lives had been given to the one mistress. The thought of a +brush-up put dash and daring into them; they had the boats cleared, the +water-barrels filled, and the life-belts free, with an activity that +was remarkable. Then they stood to watch the oncoming of the nameless +ship; and when we hoisted our ensign, they burst again into that hoarse +roar of applause which rolled across the water-waste, and must have +sounded as a vaunting mockery to the men behind the walls of metal. But +they answered us in turn, running up an ensign, and a cry came from all +of us as we saw its colour, for it was the blue saltire on a white +ground. + +"Russian, or I'm blind," said the skipper, and I looked twice and knew +that his sight was safe to him; for the nameless ship, which five days +ago showed her heels under a Chilian mask, now made straight towards us +in Russian guise. + +"Are you sure she's the same ship?" asked Roderick, when his amazement +let him speak. + +"Am I sure that my voice comes out of my throat?" said the old fellow +testily. "Did you ever see but one hull shaped like that? And now she +signals." + +So rapidly had she drawn towards us that she was, indeed, then within +gun-shot of us. After the first enthusiasm the men had stood, held +under the spell of her amazing approach, and no soul had spoken. Even +with their plain reckoning and hazy notion of it all, they seemed +conscious of the peril; but not as I was conscious of it, for in my own +heart I believed that no man amongst us would see to-morrow. There we +stood alone, with no prospect but to face the men who openly declared +war against us. I turned my eyes away to the crimson arch which marked +the sun's decline; I looked again to the east, whence black harbingers +of night hung low upon the darkened sea; I searched the horizon in +every quarter, but it lay barren of ships, and soon the last light +would leave us, and with the ebb of day there was no security against +an enemy whose intentions were no longer disguised. I say no longer +disguised--but of this the skipper made me cognisant. He pointed to the +mast on the nameless ship, where the Russian ensign had hung ten +minutes before. It was there no longer; the black flag took its place. + +"Pirates, by the very devil!" said the skipper; and then he whistled +long and loud and shrilly as a man who has solved a sum. + +"Gentlemen," he added very slowly, "I said I would resign this ship at +New York: with your permission I will withdraw that. I will sail with +you wherever you go." + +He shook our hands heartily, as though the discovery of our purpose had +unclouded his mind. But we had no time for fuller understanding, for at +that moment the air itself seemed torn apart by a great concussion, and +a shell burst in the water no more than fifty yards ahead of us. When +the knowledge that we were not hit was sure on the men's part, they +bellowed lustily; and old Dan fired his gun into the air with a great +shout. Yet we knew that all this was the cheapest bravado; and when the +skipper touched the bell to stop our engines, I was sure that he was +wise. + +"That's the end of it, then," I said. "Well, it's pretty ignominious, +isn't it, to be shot down like fools on our own quarter-deck?" + +"Wait awhile," he answered, looking anxiously behind him, where a mist +gathered on the sea; "let 'em lower a boat, the lubbers!" + +By this time the great vessel rode still some quarter of a mile away +from us; but the glass showed me the men upon her decks, and +conspicuous amongst them I saw the form of Captain Black standing by +the steam steering gear. Others below were moving at the davits, so +that in a small space a launch was riding in a still sea, and was +making for us. I watched her with nerves strained and lips dry; she +seemed to me the message boat from Death itself. + +"Stand steady, and wait for me!" suddenly yelled the skipper, his +fingers moving nervously, and his look continually turning to the banks +of mist behind us. "When I sing 'Fire!' pick your men!" + +The boat was so near that you could see the faces in it; and three of +the five I recognised, for I had seen them in the room of the Rue +Joubert. The others were not known to me, but had rascally +countenances; and one of them was a Chinaman's. The man who was in +command was the fellow "Roaring John"; and when he was within hail he +stood and bawled-- + +"What ship?" + +"My ship!" roared back the skipper, again looking at the mist-clouds, +and my heart gave a bound when I read his purpose: we were drifting +into them. + +"And who may you be?" bawled the fellow again, growing more insolent +with every advance. + +"I'm one that'll give you the best hiding you ever had, if you'll step +up here a minute!" yelled the skipper, as cool as a man in Hyde Park. + +"Oh, I guess," said the man; "you're a tarnation fine talker, ain't +you? But you'll talk less when I come aboard you, oh, I reckon!" + +They came a couple of oars' lengths nearer, when Captain York made his +reply. There was a fine roll of confidence in his voice; and he almost +laughed when he cried-- + +"You're coming aboard, are you? And which of you shall I have the +pleasure of kicking first?" + +The hulking ruffian roared with pleasant laughter at the sally. + +"Oh, you're a funny cuss, ain't you, and pretty with your jaw, by +thunder! But it's me that you'll have the pleasure of speaking to, and +right quick, my mate, oh, you bet!" + +"In that case," said the skipper, with his calmness well at zero; "in +that case--you, Dan! introduce yourself to the gentleman." + +Dan's reply was instantaneous. He leant well over the bulwark, and his +cheery old face beamed as he bellowed-- + +"Ahoy, you there that it's me pleasure to be runnin' against so far +from me old country. Will you have it hot, or will you have it the +other way for a parcel of cold-livered lubbers? By the Old 'Un, how's +that for salt 'oss!" + +He had up with his shot gun, and the long ruffian, who had reached +forward with his boat-hook, got the dose full in his face as it seemed +to me. At the same moment the skipper called "Fire!" and the heavy +crack of the rifles and the sharp report of the pistols rang out +together. The very launch itself seemed to reel under the volley; but +the Chinaman gave a great shout, and jumped into the sea with the agony +of his wound; while two of the others were stretched out in death as +they sat. + +"Full steam ahead!" roared Captain York, as the nameless ship replied +with a shell that grazed our chart-room. "Full speed ahead!" Then, +shaking his fist to the war-ship, he almost screamed--"Bested for a +parcel of cut-throats, by the Powers!" + +There was no doubt about it at all. The moment the yacht answered to +the screw the fog rolled round us like a sheet, in thick wet clouds, +steaming damp on the decks; and twenty yards ahead or astern of us you +could not see the long waves themselves. But the sensations of that +five minutes I shall never forget. Shot after shot hissed and splashed +ahead of us, behind us; now dull, heavy, yet penetrating, and we knew +that the ship lay close on our track; then farther off and deadened, +and we hoped that she had lost us. Again dreadfully close, so that a +shell struck the chart-room full, and crushed it into splinters not +bigger than your finger, then dying away to leave the stillness of the +mist behind it. An awful chase, enduring many minutes; a chase when I +went hot and cold, now filled with hope, then seeming to stand on the +very brink of death. But at last the firing ceased. We left our course, +steaming for some hours due south across the very track of the nameless +ship; and we went headlong into the fog, the men standing yet at their +posts, no soul giving a thought to the lesser danger that was begotten +of our speed; every one of us held in that strange after-tension which +follows upon calamity. + +When I left the bridge it was midnight. I was soaked to the skin and +nigh frozen, and the water ran even from my hair; but a hot hand was +put into mine as I entered the cabin, and then a thousand questions +rained upon me. + +"I'll tell you by-and-by, Mary. Were you very much afraid?" + +She tossed her head and seemed to think. + +"I was a bit afraid, Mark--a--a--little bit!" + +"And what did you do all the time?" + +"I--oh, I nursed Paolo--he's dying." + +The man truly lay almost at death's door; but his delirium had passed; +and he slept, muttering in his dream, "I can't go to the City--Black; +you know it--let me get aboard. Hands off! I told you the job was +risky"; and he tossed and turned and fell into troubled slumber. And I +could not help a thought of sorrow, for I feared that he would hang if +ever we set foot ashore. + +I returned to the saloon sadly, though all was now brightness there. We +served out grog liberally for the forward hands, and broke champagne +amongst us. + +"Gentlemen," said the skipper, giving us the toast, "you owe your lives +to the Banks; and, please God, I'll see you all in New York before +three days." + +And he kept his word; for we sighted Sandy Hook, and harm had come to +no man that fought the unequal fight. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE DRINKING HOLE IN THE BOWERY. + + +The beauty of the entrance to the bay of New York, the amazing medley +of shipping activity and glorious scenery, have often been described. +Even to one who comes upon the capital of the New World, having seen +many cities and many men, there is a charm in the sweeping woods and +the distant heights, in the group of islets, and the massive buildings, +that is hardly rivalled by the fascinations of any other harbour, that +of San Francisco and the Golden Gates alone excepted. If you grant that +the mere material of man's making is all very new, its power and +dignity is no less impressive. Nor in any other city of the world that +I know does the grandeur of the natural environment force itself so +close to the very gates, as in this bay which Hudson claimed, and a +Dutch colony took possession of so long ago as 1614. + +It was about six o'clock in the evening when we brought the _Celsis_ +through the Narrows between Staten and Long Islands, and passed Forts +Wandsworth and Hamilton. Then the greater harbour before the city +itself rolled out upon our view; and as we steamed slowly into it the +Customs took possession of us, and made their search. It was a short +business, for we satisfied them that Paolo suffered from no malignant +disease, although one small and singularly objectionable fellow seemed +suspicious of everything aboard us. I do not wonder that he made the +men angry, or that Dan had a word with him. + +"Look here, sir," he whispered, making pretence to great honesty; "I +won't go for to deceive you--p'r'aps that dog's stuffed wi' di'monds." + +"Do you reckon I'm a fool?" asked the man. + +"Well," said old Dan, "I never was good at calcerlations; but you +search that dog, and p'r'aps you'll find somethin'." + +The man seemed to think a moment; but Dan looked so very solemn, and +Belle came sniffing up at the officer's legs; so he passed his hand +over her back, and lost some of his leg in return. + +"Didn't I tell you," said Dan, "as you'd get something if you searched +that dog?--well, don't you go for to doubt me word next time we're +meetin'. Good-day to yer honour. Is there any other animal as I could +oblige you with?" + +The officer went off, the men howling with laughter; and a short while +after we had made fast at the landing-stage, and were ready to go +ashore. + +Paolo still lay very sick in his cabin, and we determined in common +charity to take no action until he had his health again; but we set the +men to keep a watch about the place, and for ourselves went off to dine +at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. There, before a sumptuous dinner, and with +all the novelty of the new scene, we nigh forgot all that happened +since the previous month; when, without thought of adventure or of +future, we had gone to Paris with the aimless purpose of the idle +traveller. And, indeed, I did my best to encourage this spirit of +forgetfulness, since through all the new enjoyment I could not but feel +that danger surrounded us on every hand, and that I was but just +embarked on that great mission I had undertaken. + +In this mood, when dinner was done, I suggested that Roderick should +take Mary through the city awhile, and that I should get back to the +_Celsis_, there to secure what papers were left for me, and to arrange, +after thought, what my next step in the following of Captain Black +should be. The skipper had friends to see in New York, and agreed that +he would follow me to the yacht in a couple of hours, and that he would +meet the others in the hotel after they had come from their excursion. +This plan fell in with my own, and I said "Good-bye" cheerfully enough +to the three men as I buttoned up my coat; and sent for a coach. If I +had known then that the next time I should meet them would be after +weeks of danger and of peril, of sojourn in strange places, and of life +amongst terrible men! + +I was driven to the wharf very quickly, and got aboard the yacht with +no trouble. There was a man keeping watch upon her decks; and Dan had +been in the sick man's cabin taking drink to him. He told me that he +was more easy, and spoke with the full use of his senses; and that he +had fallen off into a comfortable sleep "since an hour." I was glad at +the news, and went to my own cabin, getting my papers, my revolver, and +other things that I might have need of ashore. + +This work occupied me forty minutes or more; but as I was ready to go +back to the others I looked into Paolo's cabin, and, somewhat to my +surprise, I saw that he was dressed, and seemingly about to quit the +yacht. This discovery set me aglow with expectation. If the man were +going ashore, whither could he go except to his associates, to those +who were connected with Black and his crew? Was not that the very clue +I had been hoping to get since I knew that we had a spy aboard us? +Otherwise, I might wait a year and hear no more of the man or of his +work except such tidings as should come from the sea. Indeed, my mind +was made up in a moment: I would follow Paolo, at any risk, even of my +life. + +This thought sent me forward again into the fo'castle, where Dan was. + +"Hist, Dan!" said I, "give me a man's rig-out--a jersey and some +breeches and a cap--quick," and, while the old fellow stared and +whistled softly, I helped to ransack his box; and in a trice I had +dressed myself, putting my pistols, my papers, and my money in my new +clothes; but leaving everything else in a heap on the floor. + +"Dan," I said, "that Italian is going ashore, and I'm going to follow +him. No, you mustn't come, or the thing will be spoilt. Tell the +forward lookout to see nothing if the fellow passes, and get my rubber +shoes from my trunk." + +Dan scratched his head again, and must have thought that I was +qualifying in lunacy; but he got the shoes, and not a moment too soon, +for, as I came on deck, I saw a shadow on the gangway. The man was +leaving the yacht at that moment, and I followed him, drawing my cap +right over my eyes, and lurking behind every inch of cover. + +Once out into the city, and having turned two or three times to satisfy +himself that he had no one after him, Paolo struck for Broadway; thence +with staggering gait, the result of his weakness, he made straight for +the City Hall, at which point he turned and so got into Chatham Street +and the Bowery. At last, after a long walk, and when the man himself +was almost failing from the exertion of it, he stopped before an open +door in the dirtiest of the streets through which we had come, and +disappeared instantly. I came up to the door almost as soon as he had +passed through; and found myself before a steep flight of steps, at the +bottom of which through a glass partition I could see men smoking and +drinking, and hear them bawling uncouth songs. + +It was a fearful hole, peopled by fearful men; all nations and all +sorts of villains were represented there: low Englishmen, Frenchmen, +Russians, even niggers and Chinamen; yet into that hole must I go if I +would follow Paolo to the end. + +You may forgive me if I hesitated a moment; waited to balance up the +odds upon my recognition. I might have decided even then that the risk +was too great, the certainty of discovery too palpable; but at that +moment a party of six hulking seamen descended the steps before me, +and, taking advantage of the cover of their shoulders, I pulled my cap +right over my face and passed through the swinging door with them into +the most dangerous-looking place I have ever set foot in. + +The room was long and narrow; banked its whole length by benches that +had once been covered with red velvet, but now showed torn patches and +the protruding wool of the stuffing. Mirrors were raised from the dado +of the ragged seats to the frieze of the smoke-blackened ceiling; but +they were for the most part cracked, and some had lost much of their +glass. The accommodation for drinkers consisted of marble-topped +tables, old and worn and stained with the dirt which was characteristic +everywhere of the foul den; but there was nothing but boards beneath +one's feet; and the wretched bar at the uppermost end of the chamber +was no more than a plain deal bin with a high stool behind it for the +serving man; he being a great negro, grotesquely attired as a man of +fashion. Indeed, had not the whole place been so threatening, I should +have paused to laugh at this dusky scoundrel, whose white hat sat +jauntily on the side of his woolly head, and whose well-cut black coat +was ornamented with a great bunch of white flowers. But there was evil +in this man's face, and in the faces of the others who sat close-packed +on the faded couches; and when I had paused for a moment to take +reckoning of the room, I passed quickly to a bench near the door, and +there sat wedged against a fair-haired seaman, whose look stamped him +to be a Russian. + +The scene was very new to me. I had heard of these drinking dens in +that low quarter of New York called the Bowery; but my American friends +had cautioned me often to have no truck with them should I visit their +city. They spoke of the poor regard for life which prevailed there; of +murders committed with an impunity which was as astounding as it was +impossible for the police to suppress; of mysterious disappearances, +mysterious alone in the lack of knowledge as to the victim's end; and +they conjured me, if I would see such things, at least to go under the +escort of the police. All this I had paid scant attention to at the +time; but the reality was before me with its grim terror. The room was +filled with the scum of sea-going humanity; foul smoke from foul pipes +floated in choking clouds to the dirt-begrimed ceiling; great brown +pots of strong drink were emptied as though their contents had been +milk; horrid blasphemies were uttered as choice dishes of speech; +ribald songs rose in giant discord as the spirit moved the singers. Now +and again, betwixt the shouting and the singing, a young girl, whose +presence in such a company turned my heart sick, played upon a harp, +while to serve the crew with liquor there was a mahogany-faced hag whom +the men addressed as "Mother Catch." An old crone, bent and doubled +like a bow, yet vigorous in her work, and shuffling with quick steps as +she laid down the jugs, or took the uncouth orders so freely given to +her, she seemed to have the eye of a hawk; nor did I escape her glance, +for I had not been seated before the marble table a moment when she +shuffled up to me and stood glaring with her shining eyes, the very +presentment of an old-time witch. + +"Ha!" she said sharply, "ha! a sailor boy in proper sailor clothes; ho, +little man, will ye wet yer throat for a pretty gentleman?" + +I did not like her mock courtesy, or the way in which she pronounced +the word "gentleman"; but I called for some beer to get her away, and +when she brought it I remembered that I had no American money; but I +put an English florin before her and waited for the change. She hissed +at the sight of it like a serpent about to strike. + +"Ha! Englishman! and no money; ho! ho! ye've got to find it, little +man. Mother Catch likes you; but she spits on it!" + +She spoke the last words in such a loud voice that several men near me +turned to look, and I feared to become the centre of a brawl. This +would have defeated everything, so I threw her a half-sovereign, and, +feigning her own savage merriment, I said-- + +"Gold, little woman, English gold; spit on it for luck, little woman"; +and I am bound to say that she did so, hobbling out of the room with +the gold piece clenched in her nut-cracker jaws. Then I began to search +with my eyes for Paolo; and, although the smoke was very thick, I saw +him seated near the drinking-bar, a tumbler of brandy before him, his +arms resting on the edge of the counter where the liquor was sold. I +judged then that he had made no idle visit to this place; and in a +quarter of an hour or so my surmise was proved. The glass door again +swung open; three men entered through it, and I recognised the three of +them in a moment. The first was the Irishman, "Four Eyes"; the +second-was the lantern-jawed Scotsman, who had been addressed in Paris +as "Dick the Ranter"; the third was "Roaring John," into whose face Dan +had emptied the contents of his duck-gun three days before. The ruffian +had his mouth all bound in a bloody rag, so I hugged myself with the +knowledge that he had been well hit; but he was in nowise depressed; +and, although the gun had stopped his speech, he smacked Paolo on the +back when he greeted him, and the others soon had their faces in the +great brown jugs. + +The sight of this company warmed me to the work. I seemed to stand on +the threshold of discovery. If only I could follow them hence to +Black's house the whole aim of my journey would be fulfilled. And why +not? I said; they will leave this place and go to their leader some +time--if not now, at least to-morrow; and why should I lose touch with +them? So far it was certain that my presence was undiscovered. The hag +had suspicion of me, but not in their way; the men were too busy, I +thought, talking of their own affairs to meddle even with their +neighbours. Dan knew on what business I had left the ship, and would +quieten Roderick's alarm for me. It was plain that fortune had turned +kindly eyes on me. + +I sat sipping the beer and smoking an old clay pipe, which I found in +the breast-pocket of Dan's garment, doing these things to escape the +remarks which the neglect of them would have occasioned, when there was +some change in the bibulous entertainment as yet provided for us in the +drink-hole. The hag raised her voice, worn to a croak with long +scolding, and shrieked-- + +"Jack's a-going to dance for ye! Silence, pretty boys. Ho! ho! Jack the +Fire-Devil, will ye listen, then? And it's help me move the tables ye +will, Master Dick, or ye're no minister that I took ye for. Back, my +pretty gentlemen, lest I throw me vitriol on ye. Ha! but they love me +like their own mother!" + +She poked round with her stick at the seamen's feet, compelling them to +fall back, and to make a ring for the dancer in the centre; and I saw +with no satisfaction that the foul-mouthed villain who was called the +"Ranter" came to give her his help to the work. + +"Hoots, mither," he cried in his broadest Scots, "did ye mistake that I +was a gentleman frae the Hielands o' bonnie Scotland? And I'll be verra +glad to throttle some for a wee cup o' yer pretty poison. So ho! ye +lubbers, it's an ower-fine discoors for a summer Sawbath that my boot +will teach you. Mak' way, mak' way!" + +Thus, with unctuous mockery and rough menace, the fellow followed the +fury round the room, and forced the drunken crew to the wall. He came +to my seat; but I buried my head in my hands, lest he should have +carried the memory of my face from Paris; and he passed, having taken +no notice of me as I hoped. Soon he had made a great ring for the +dancing; and one of the long mirrors opened, showing a door, whose +existence I had not suspected; and a great negro with a flaming firepot +entered the room. His entry brought applause; but he was a common quack +of a performer at the beginning, for he made pretence to eat the fire, +and to bring it up again from his vitals. Then, to some wild music from +a fiddler, he bound coils of the flaming stuff about his head; and, the +lamps being lowered, he gave us a weird picture of a man dancing, all +circled with flame; working himself up until I recalled pictures of the +dervishes I had seen in the old quarter of Cairo. It was an +extraordinary exhibition, and it pleased the men about so that they +roared with delight. I was watching it at last as intent as they were; +but my attention was suddenly diverted by the sense that something +under the marble table at which I was sitting was pulling at my leg. I +looked down quickly, and saw a strange sight: it was the black face of +the lad Splinters, who had been treated so brutally in Paris. He, +crouching under the table, was making signs to me, earnest, meaning +signs, so that without any betrayal I leant my head down as though upon +my hands, and spoke to him-- + +"What is it, lad?" I asked in a whisper. "What do you want to say?" + +"Don't stop here, sir!" he answered in a state of great agitation. +"They know you, and are going to kill you!" + +He said no more, crawling away at once; but he left me hot with fear. +The mad dance was still going on, and the room was quite dark save for +the glow cast by the spirit flames about the huge negro. It occurred to +me at once that the darkness might save me if only I could reach the +door unobserved; and I left my seat, and pushed amongst the men, +passing nearer and nearer to the street, until at last I was at the +very portal itself. Then I saw that a change had been made while I had +been sitting. The doors of glass were wide open, but the way to the +street without was no longer clear--an iron curtain had been drawn +across the entrance, and a hundred men could not have forced it. + +This was a terrible discovery. It seemed to me that the iron door had +been closed for an especial purpose. I knew, however, that when the +dance was over some of the audience would wish to go out, and so I +waited by the curtain until the lamps were turned up, and the negro had +disappeared. The men were then about to push their tables to the centre +again, but the hag raised her voice and cried-- + +"As you are, my pretty gentleman; it's only the first part ye've been +treated to. No, no; ye don't have the door drawn till ye've seen yer +mother dance awhile. Good boys, all of ye, there's work to do; ho! ho! +work to do, and Mother Catch will do it!" + +At the words "work to do" a strange silence, which I did not then +understand, fell on the company. Somehow, all the men immediately +around me slunk away, and I found myself standing quite alone, with +many staring at me. The four men whom most I feared had turned their +backs, and were busy with their mugs; but the rest of the assembly had +eyes only for the terrible woman and for myself. Presently the +discordant music began again. The hag, who had been bent double, reared +herself up with a "Ho!" after the fashion of a Scottish sword-dancer, +and began to make a wretched shuffle with her feet. Then she moved with +a hobble and a jig to the far end of the room; and she called out, +beginning to come straight down to the door whereby I stood. I know not +what presentiment forewarned me to beware as the creature drew near; +but yet I felt the danger, and the throbbing of my heart. That I could +hope for help amongst such a crew was out of the question. I had my +revolver in my pocket, but had I shown it twenty barrels would have +answered the folly. There was nothing to do but to face the screeching +woman; and this I did as the unearthly music became louder, and the +stillness of the men was speaking in its depth. + +At the last, the old witch, who had danced for some moments at a +distance of ten paces from the spot where I stood, became as one +possessed. She made a few dreadful antics, uttered a piercing shriek, +and hurled herself almost on me. In that instant I remember seeing the +three men with Paolo suddenly rise to their feet, while the others in +the room called out in their excitement. But the hag herself drew from +her breast something that she had concealed there; and, as she stood +within a yard of me, she brought it crash upon my head, and all my +senses left me. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ASTERN OF THE "LABRADOR." + + +Complete unconsciousness is a blessing, I think, which comes rarely to +us. Sleep, they say, is akin to death; yet I have often questioned if +there be an absolute void of existence in sleep; and I am sure that in +few cases where a blow robs us of sense does the brain cease to be +active or to bring dreams in its working. I have been struck down +unconscious twice in my life; but in each instance I have suffered much +during the after-days from that trouble of mind which is akin to the +feverish dream of an exhausted system. Horrid sights does the brain +then bear to us; terrible situations; weird phantoms known to the +opium-eater; wild struggles with unnatural enemies; wrestlings even for +existence itself. All these I knew during the days that followed my +rash visit to the drinking den. How long I lay, or where, I know not to +this hour; but my dreams were very terrible, and there was a fever at +my head which the ice of a great lake scarce could have cooled. Often I +would know that I had consciousness, and yet I could not move hand or +foot, so that the terror moved me to frenzies of agony, though my lips +were sealed, and I felt myself passing to death. Or I would live again +through the night when Martin Hall died, and from the boat where I +watched the holocaust, I climbed to the shrouds of the cutter, and +stood with my poor friend in the very shelter of the spreading flames. +Or I struggled with Black, having hunted him to his own quarter-deck, +and there with great force of men I sought to lay hands on him; but he +escaped me with a mocking laugh, and when I looked again the deck was +empty. + +For short moments the delirium must have left me. Once I opened my +eyes, and knew that the sun shone upon me, and that the breeze which +cooled my forehead blew from the sea; but my fatigue was so great that +I fell asleep in the next instant, and enjoyed pure rest during many +hours. When I regained consciousness for the second time, it was +because rain beat upon my face, a drizzling warm rain of late summer, +and there was spray from a fresh sea. For some minutes I set myself to +ask where I was; but I knew that I was bound at the left hand and at my +feet, and, to my unutterable astonishment, when I raised my head, I saw +that I lay in an open boat which was moving very slowly, but my feet +were towards the stern of it, and, as my head lay below the level of +the gunwale, I could see nothing of the power which moved the boat or +of the scene about us. + +It was a long time before my throbbing head let me put together a chain +of thought to account for my position. The scene at the drinking den +would not at first come back to me, think as I would; but when it did, +the clue which was lacking came with it. There could be no doubt that I +had walked into a trap, and that the hag who had struck me had been in +the pay of Paolo and his crew. These men must have taken me as I lay, +and so brought me to this boat; but what time had intervened, or where +I was, I knew no better than the dead. Only this was sure, that I was +in the hands of one of the greatest scoundrels living, and that, if his +past were any precedent, my hours of life would be few. + +I cannot tell you why it was, but, strange to say, this reflection did +not give me very great alarm at the moment. Perhaps I suffered too much +from bodily weakness, and would have welcomed any release, even death; +perhaps I was buoyed up with that eternal hope which bears its most +generous blossom in the springtime of life. In either case, I put away +the thought of danger, and set to the task of conning my position a +little more closely. The boat in which I lay was painted white, and was +of elegant build. She had all the fine lines of a yacht's jolly-boat; +and when I raised my head I could see that her fittings had been put in +only at great expense. She was not a large boat, but the centre seat +had been removed from her to let me lie on a tarpaulin which covered +her keel, and the stern seat had been used to bind my feet. A second +tarpaulin, folded twice, had been propped under my head, but my left +hand was bound close to the boat thwart, and there was a rope doubled +round my right forearm so that I could not raise myself an inch, though +my right hand was free. The meaning of this apparent neglect I soon +learnt. There was a flask on the edge of the tarpaulin which supported +my head, and by it half a dozen rather fine captain's biscuits. I had a +prodigious thirst on me, and I drank from the flask; but found it to +contain weak brandy, and would willingly have exchanged thrice its +contents for a long draught of pure water. But the biscuits I could not +touch; and I began to be chilled with the rain which fell copiously, +and with the sea which sent spray in fountains upon my body. + +Up to this time, I had heard no sound of human voices, but the silence +was broken at last by a shout, and the boat ceased to move. + +"All hands, make sail!" cried someone, apparently above me; and after +that I heard the "yo-heave" of the men hauling, as I judged, at a +main-sail. The second order, "Sheets home!" proved to me that I was +behind a sailing ship, perhaps a yacht which these men had secured, as +they got _La France_--and burnt her. I shuddered at the second thought, +and my head began to burn again despite the wet. Did they mean to leave +me there until the end of it, when the cold and my wound should do +their work? Had they forgotten me? Had they any reason for keeping me +alive? My questions were in part answered by a sudden shout from the +deck of the ship. + +"Ho, Bill, is the young un gone?" + +"No, my hearty, he's gone about!" + +"Getting his spirits damped, I reckon." + +"Some, you bet." + +And then I heard a voice I knew, the voice of the Irishman, +"Four-Eyes." + +"Is it the boi ye're mindin', bedad?" + +"Ay, sir, he's moved a point." + +"The poor divil. Throw him a sheet, one av yer; it's meself that's not +bringing the guv'ner a dead body when he wants a live one, be Saint +Pathrick!" + +They tried to throw me a sheet as the man had ordered, but we had begun +to move rapidly again, and I heard it fall in the water by my head. +Though there was more hailing, the thud of the choppy sea against the +boat forbade any more hearing, and the sheet never reached me. Yet the +men had told me something with their words, and I pondered long on the +remark of the Irishman, that the "guv'ner" wanted me alive. It +explained much; and it put beyond doubt the reason why I had not been +killed in the drinking den. It was quite clear that my life was safe +from these men until they reached their chief; but where he was I had +no notion, except he were on the nameless ship; and, if that were so, +to the nameless ship I was going--that ship of horror and of mystery. +Nor could I remember anything in what I knew of Captain Black to lead +me to the hope that such a voyage was other than one to death, and +perhaps to that which might be worse than death itself. + +When this strange procession had lasted about an hour, the rain ceased +and the sun shone again with renewed power, drying my clothes upon me +and giving me prodigious thirst. I struggled to reach the flask, and in +doing so I found that the ropes binding my right arm were tied with +common hitches, such as any sailor could force; and my experience as a +yachtsman let me get free of them with very little trouble. I did not +sit up at once, for I feared to be seen from the decks; but I turned my +head to look at the boat which towed me, and saw that she was a +barque-rigged yacht after the American fashion; her name _Labrador_ +being conspicuous across her stern. My boat, which was no larger than I +had thought, was towed by a double hawser; but no man watched me from +the poop, and I lay down again reassured. The hope of escape was +already in my head, for I judged that we could not be far out from New +York, although no land was visible on the horizon. It occurred to me +that if they would only let me be until night I could get my left hand +and my feet free; and, as the hawser was passed through a ring at the +bow, I needed but a knife to complete the business. But I had no knife, +for a search in my pockets proved that I had been relieved of all my +valuables and trifles; and I knew that another way must be found, and +that ingenuity alone would help me. So I sat thinking; and all the long +afternoon--I knew it was afternoon, as I saw the sun sinking in the +horizon and heard the bells, moreover--I examined such devices as came +to me, only to reject them and to seek for others. + +Towards the second bell in the second "dog" there was a change in the +monotony of the scene. I heard an order to heave the barque to, and +presently I made haste to put the ropes back in their places and to +await the happening. I felt all motion cease, and then someone hauling +at the hawser, so that the jolly-boat was pulled against the side of +the bigger ship; and, looking up, I saw half-a-dozen of Black's gang +watching me from the quarter-deck. Then a ladder was put over the +bulwark, and Four-Eyes himself cried out not in an unkindly tone-- + +"Gi-me the soop, bhoys, and let's get it in him; begorra, the divil 'll +have him afore the skipper if it's no mate you're givin' him!" + +He came down the ladder with a great can of steaming stuff; and the sea +having fallen away with the sun to a dead calm, he stepped off the +ladder to the stern seat, and then bent over me. But I saw this only, +that he had a knife in his belt; and I made up my mind in a moment to +get it from him. + +"The young 'un from Paris," he cried, as he took a long look at me, +"and near to axin' for a priest, by the houly saints; but I was tellin' +ye to stop where ye was, and it's no thanks ye were giving me. Bedad, +and a pretty place ye're going to, sorr, at your own wish--the divil +knows what's the end av it--but sup a bit, for it's fastin' ye are by +the luk av ye, and long gone at that!" + +Kindly words he gave me; and he held to the rope with one hand while he +put the can of hot stuff to my lips with the other. I drank half of it +with great gulps, feeling the warmth spread through my body to my very +toes as the broth went down; and a great hope consoled me, for I had +his knife, having snatched it from him when first he stooped, and it +lay in the tarpaulin beneath me. The good luck of the theft made me +quick to empty the pot of gravy; and when I had returned the can, +Four-Eyes went over the side again, and the yacht moved onward lazily +in the softest of breezes from the west. But my boat lay behind her +again; and I did not stir from my restful position until it was full +dark; though the going down of the sun had left a clear night and a +zenith richly set with a shimmer of stars, which did not give any great +promise to my thoughts of coming freedom. + +When I deemed that I had waited long enough, and had assured myself +that the later night would not be more auspicious for the attempt, I +cut away the remaining ropes at my feet, and crouched unbound in the +boat. There was good watch upon the ship, I knew, for I could hear the +"All's well!" as the bells were struck, and the passing of the orders +from the poop to the fo'castle. This did not deter me; and, being +determined to stake all rather than face the terrors of the nameless +ship, I crawled to the bow, and began to cut the strands of the hawser +one by one. The rope was very thick and hard, and the knife which I had +stolen was blunt, so that the work was prodigiously slow and difficult; +and when I had been at it for half an hour or more, I was interrupted +in a way that sent my heart almost into my mouth. There was a man +standing on the poop of the _Labrador_, and he seemed to be watching my +occupation. I threw myself flat instantly, and listened to his hail. + +"Ahoy, there, young 'un, are you getting a chill?" cried a bluff voice, +which I did not recognise; but presently the man Four-Eyes hailed also, +and I heard him say-- + +"If it's dead ye are, will ye be sending word up to us?" and, seeing +the mood, I bawled with all my strength-- + +"I'm all right; but I'll call out for some more of that soup of yours +just now." + +They gave a great shout, and one of them said-- + +"You ken calcerlate ez you will be gettin' it all nice en' hot when you +meet the old 'un in the mornin'"; and the crew roared with laughter at +the sally, and disappeared one by one from the poop. Then I whipped out +my knife again, and with a few vigorous strokes I cut the rope clean +through, and felt my boat go swirling away on the backwash. It was a +moment of supreme excitement, and I lay quite flat, waiting to hear if +I were missed; but I heard no sound, and looking round presently, I saw +the yacht away a mile, and I knew that I was a free man. + +The delight of the enterprise would have been intense if my unexpected +success had not allowed me to forget one thing when I had made my hasty +plans. _There were no oars in the boat._ The terrible truth came to me +as I fixed the seat and prepared to put greater distance between the +_Labrador_ and myself. But one look round convinced me that the +position was hopeless. With the exception of the tarpaulins, the seats, +and the tiller, the boat was unfurnished. As I thought of these things, +and remembered that I was some hundreds of miles from land, that I had +a couple of biscuits for food, and a half a flask of brandy and water +for drink, I experienced a terror greater than any I have known; and so +weak was I with sickness and so low with the disappointment of it, that +I put my head between my hands and sobbed like a great child who had +known a childish sorrow. Only when the tears had dried upon my face, +and there was that after-sense of resignation which follows a nervous +outbreak, did I upbraid myself for a weakling, and set to think out +plans for my release. I had no compass, but, taking the north through +the "pointers," I tried to make out the course in which I was drifting; +yet this, I must confess, was a hopeless task. I thought that the boat +was being carried by a steady current; yet whether the current set +towards the land or away from it, I could not tell. + +When a couple of hours had passed, and I could see the yacht no longer, +I took a new consolation in the thought that I must, after all, be in +the track of steamers bound out from, or to, New York; and in this hope +I covered myself in the tarpaulins and lay down again to shield myself +from the wind which blew with much sharpness as the night grew. I did +not sleep, but lay half-dazed for an hour or more, and was roused only +at a curious light which flashed above me in the sky. Its first aspect +led me to the conclusion that I saw a reflection of the Aurora; but the +second flash altered the opinion. The light was clearly focussed, being +a volume of intensely bright, white rays which passed right above me +with slow and guided motion, and then stopped altogether, almost fixed +upon the jolly-boat. I knew then what it was, and I sat up to see the +great beams of a man-of-war's search-light, showing an arc of the water +almost as clear as by the sun's power. The vessel itself I could not +make out; but I feared at once that fate had sent me straight to the +nameless ship; and that the very misfortune I had thought to have +undone was brought home to me. Yet I could not take one step to defend +myself, and must perforce drift on, to what end I knew not. + +The light shone in all its brightness for some five minutes; then it +died away suddenly, and on the spot whence it had come I could just +distinguish the dark hull of a steamer. To my vast consolation, she had +two funnels and three masts, and I remembered that Black's boat had but +one funnel and two masts, so that good fortune seemed to have come to +me at last. Over-delighted with the discovery, I stood up at my risk in +the jolly-boat and waved my arms wildly; when, as if in answer, the +search-light flashed out again and bathed me in its refulgent beams. +Some moments, long moments to me, passed in feverish conjecture; and +then in the pathway of the light I saw in all distinctness the outline +of a long-boat, fully manned, and she was coming straight to me. There +could be no more doubt of it; I had passed through much suffering, but +it was all child's play to the "might have been"; and in the reaction I +laughed aloud like an hysterical woman, and blushed to remember those +great tears which had rolled over my face not an hour gone. And all the +time I never took my eyes from the boat; but feasted on it as a +beggar-child feasts in imagination on the gauds of a groaning table. +Its progress seemed slow, wofully slow; the men in it made me no manner +of signal, never gave an answer to my erratic hand-waving; but, what +was of more consequence, they came in a bee-line towards me, and the +radiating light never moved once whilst they rowed. In the end, I +myself broke the silence, shouting lustily to them, but getting no +answer until I had repeated the call thrice. The fourth cry, loud and +in something desperate, brought the response so eagerly awaited; but +when I recognised the voice of him who then hailed me I fell down again +in my boat with a heart-stricken burst of sorrow, for the voice was the +Irishman's, and Four-Eyes spoke-- + +"Avast hailin', young 'un," he cried; "we ain't agoin' to part along o' +your society no more, don't you be frettin'." + +They dragged me into their boat, and taking my own in tow, they rowed +rapidly to the distant steamer, on whose deck I stood presently; but +not without profound fear, for I knew that at last I was a prisoner on +the nameless ship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CABIN IN SCARLET. + + +There was light from six lanterns, held by giant negroes, to greet me +when I had mounted the ladder and was at last on the deck of the great +ship; but none of the men spoke a word, nor could I see their faces. Of +those who had brought me from the jolly-boat, I recognised two besides +"Four-Eyes" as men whom I had seen in Paris, but the Irishman appeared +to be the captain of them; and, in lack of other leader, he spoke when +all were aboard, but it was in a monosyllable. "Aft!" he said, looking +round to see if anyone else were near; and one of them silently touched +me upon the shoulder, and I followed him along a narrow strip of iron +deck, past a great turret which reared itself above me, and again by +the covered forms of quick-firing guns. We descended a short ladder to +a lower deck; and so to the companion way, and to a narrow passage in +which were many doors. One of these he opened, and motioned me to +enter, when the door was closed noiselessly behind me, and I found +myself alone. + +My first feeling was one of intense surprise. I had looked to enter a +prison; but, if that were a prison, then were lack of liberty shorn of +half its terrors. The cabin was not large, but one more artistic in +effect was never built. Hung all round with poppy-coloured silk, the +same material made curtains for the bunk--which seemed of unusual size, +and furnished with sleep-bespeaking mattresses. It was employed also +for the cushions and covering of the armchair and the couch, and to +drape the dressing-glass and basin which were in the left-hand corner. +It seemed, indeed, that the whole room was a harmony in scarlet, with a +scarlet ceiling and scarlet hangings; but the luxury of it was +unmistakable, and the feet sank above the ankles in the soft Indian +rug, which was ornate with the quaint mosaic-like workings and +penetrating colours of all Eastern tapestry. For light, there was an +arc-lamp, veiled with gauze of the faintest yellow; and upon the table +in the centre stood a decanter of wine and a box of cigars. The room +would have been perfect but for a horrid blot upon it--a blot which +stared at me from the outer wall with bloodshot eyes and hideous +visage. It was the picture of a man's head that had been severed from +the body; and was repulsive enough to have been painted by Wiertz +himself. The picture almost terrified me, but I thought, if no worse +harm befall me what odds? and I sat down all wondering and dazed, and +drew a cigar from the box upon the table. The wine, of which I drank +nearly a tumblerful, put new courage of a sort into me; and so, +troubled and amazed, I began to ask myself what the proceeding meant, +or what the portent of it all could possibly be. + +My conclusion was, when I thought the whole thing out, that the man +Black could be showing me this marked consideration only for some +motive of self-interest. It was evident that he had been aware of my +intention to follow him from the moment when Roderick purchased our new +steam-yacht. He had put one of his own men craftily upon the ship to +watch us, and had made a bold attempt to deal with us in mid-Atlantic. +Foiled there, he had taken advantage of my folly in entering such a +place as the Bowery, and had given orders that I should be carried to +his own ship--for I knew then that the strange craft he owned was +capable of many disguises--and should be carried alive. Why alive, if +not that he might learn all about me, or that a more dreadful fate than +mere death should be mine? I had seen the appalling end of poor Hall, +the merciless severity with which his death had been compassed: why +should I expect more gentle usage or other recompense? If ever man had +been trapped, I had been; and, beneath all my placid self-restraint, I +felt that my life was not worth an hour's--nay, perhaps ten +minutes'--purchase. It was as if I had been taken clean out of the +world with no man to extend me a helping hand. Roderick, truly, would +move heaven and earth to reach me, but what could he hope for against +such a crew; or how should I expect to be alive when he brought his +attempts to a head? And I thought of him with deep feelings of +friendship at that moment, and wondered what Mary would say. She will +be serious, I argued, for the first time in her life, and they will +know much anxiety. Yet that must be--in the floating tomb where I lay I +could hope to send no word to the living world which I had left. + +I had smoked one cigar in the cabin, listening to the tremendous throb +of the ship's screws, and the swish of the sea as we cleaved it, when +the electric light went out, and I was left in darkness. The sudden +change gave me some alarm, and I cocked my revolver, being resolute to +account for one man at least, if any attempt were made upon me; but +when I had sat quite still for some half-an-hour there was no noise of +movement save on the deck above, and my own cabin remained as still as +the grave. It appeared that I was to be left unmolested for that night +at any rate; and, being something of a philosopher, I waited for +another hour or so, and finding that no one came near me, I undressed +and lay down in one of the most seductive beds I have met with at sea. +I did, indeed, take the precaution of putting my Colt under the pillow; +but I was so weary and fatigued with my sufferings in the open boat +that I fell asleep at once, and must have slept for many hours. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PRISON OF STEEL. + + +I awoke in the day, but at what hour of it I know not. The red curtains +opposite to my bunk were drawn back, admitting dull light from a +port-hole through which I could look upon a tumbling sea, and a sky all +girt with rain-clouds. But I had not been awake five seconds when I saw +that my arm-chair was occupied by a man who did not look more than +thirty-years old, and was dressed with all the scrupulous neatness of a +thorough-going yachtsman. He was wearing a peaked cloth cap with a gold +eagle upon it, a short jacket of blue serge, with ample trousers to +match, and a neat pair of brown shoes; while his linen would have +touched the heart even of the most hardened _blanchisseuse_ of the +city. He had a bright, open face, marred only by a peculiarly +irritating movement of the eye, which told of a nervous disposition; +and there was something refined and polished in his voice, which I +heard almost at once. + +"Good-morning to you," he said; "I hope you have slept well?" + +"I have never slept better; it must be twelve o'clock, isn't it?" + +"It's exactly half-past three, American time. I didn't wake you before, +because sleep is the best medicine in your case. I'm a doctor, you +know." + +"Oh! you're the physician-in-ordinary to the crew, I suppose; you must +see a good deal of practice." + +He looked rather surprised at my meaning remark, and then said quite +calmly, "Yes, I write a good many death certificates; who knows, I may +even do that service for you?" + +It was said half-mockingly, half-threateningly; but it brought home to +me at once the situation in which I was; and I must have become +serious, which he saw, and endeavoured to turn me to a lighter mood. + +"You must be hungry," he continued; "I will ring for breakfast; and, if +you would take a tub, your bathroom is here." + +He opened the door in the passage, and led the way to a cabin furnished +with marble and brass fittings, wherein was a full-sized bath and all +the appurtenances for dressing. I took a bath, and found him waiting +for me when I had finished. We returned to the scarlet room, and there +spread upon the table was a meal worthy of Delmonico's. There was +coffee served with thick cream; there were choice dishes of meat, game +pies, new rolls, fruit, and the whole was finished with ices and +bon-bons in the true American fashion. My new friend, the doctor, said +nothing as I ate; but when the repast was removed he pushed the cigars +to me, and, taking one himself, he began to talk at once. + +"I regret," he said, "that I cannot supply you with a morning +newspaper; but the latest journal that I can lend you is a copy of the +_New York World_ of Saturday last. There is a passage in it which may +interest you." + +The paper was folded and marked in a certain spot. I read it with blank +amazement, for it was a full account of the nameless ship's attack upon +the American cruiser and the _Ocean King_. The paper stated shortly +that both ships had been impudently stopped in mid-Atlantic by a big +war-vessel flying the Chilian flag; that the cruiser had been seriously +damaged and had lost twenty of her men; while a shell had been fired +into the fo'castle of the passenger ship and two of her men killed, +with other such details as you know. The matter was the subject of a +profound sensation, not only in America, but throughout the world. The +Chilian Government had been approached at once, but had repudiated all +knowledge of the mysterious ship. Meanwhile war-vessels from England, +America, and from France had set out to scour the seas and bring such +intelligence as they could. The whole account concluded with the rumour +that a gentleman in New York had knowledge of the affair, and would at +once be interviewed, with the result, it was hoped, of disclosing that +which would be one of the sensations of the century. + +When I had put the paper down, the doctor, who followed me with his +eyes, said laughingly-- + +"You see that interview was unfortunately interrupted. You are the +gentleman with the full particulars, for we know that your friend +Stewart plays a very small part in the affair. Without your energy, I +think I may say that he is little less than a fool." + +"Hardly that, as you may yet discover," I said, seeing instantly which +way safety lay; "he knows as much as I know." + +"Which is not very much after all, is it?--but that we must have fuller +knowledge of. I am here to ask you to write accurately for us a +complete account of every step you have taken in this matter since you +were fool enough to follow Martin Hall, and poke your nose into +business which did not concern you. As you know, Hall was punished in +the Channel: you saw his end, as I hear from my comrade Paolo. We have +spared you, and may yet spare you, if you do absolutely what we tell +you." + +"And otherwise?" + +He smiled cruelly, and his eyes danced when he answered-- + +"Otherwise, you would give all you possessed if I would shoot you now +as you sit; but don't let us look at it that way. You must see that +your case is utterly hopeless; you will never look again on any +civilised city, or see the face of a man you have known. For all +purposes you are as dead as though twenty feet of earth covered you. If +you would still have life, not altogether under unfavourable +conditions, you have but to ask for pen, ink, and paper--and to make +yourself one of us." + +"That I will never do!" + +"Oh, you say that now; but we shall give you some days to think of it. +Let me advise you to be a man of common sense, and not to run your head +against a stone wall. Believe me, we are a curious company; I don't +suppose there is a man aboard us who has not some deaths to his +account. I am wanted for a murder in Shropshire; but I am giving your +people a little trouble. Ha! ha!" + +This was said with such a fearful laugh that I shrank back from the +man, who restrained himself with an effort as he rose to go; but as he +stood at the door, he said-- + +"We are now bound on a four-days' voyage. During these four days, you +need fear nothing. We should have paid off our score in the Atlantic, +and sent you and your fellows to join other intrusive friends of ours, +if we had not wished to get this little account of yours. So don't +disturb yourself unnecessarily until Captain Black puts the question to +you. Then, if you are foolish, you had better feed your courage. I have +seen stronger men than you who have cried out for death when we had but +put our fingers on them; and we shall do you full honour--in fact, we +shall treat you royally." + +When he was gone, I thought that he had spoken with truth. To all my +friends I was as dead as though twenty feet of earth lay on my body. +What hope had I, shut in that grave of steel? What friend could hear +me, battened in that prison on the sea? Should I tell the men frankly +all I knew, and crave their mercy, or should I seek hope in the +pretence that Roderick had information which might yet be fatal to +them? I thought the position out, and this was the sum of it. These men +had a home somewhere. If I had known where that home was, and had +communicated the knowledge to Roderick, then the Governments of Europe +could bring the ruffian crew to book with little difficulty. That, +without a doubt was the question Black would put to me. He would wish +to know all I knew; but, if I refused to tell him, he would proceed to +extremes, and I shuddered when I remembered what his extremes had been +in the case of Hall. The man undoubtedly had conceived a scheme daring +beyond any known in the nineteenth century. The knowledge of his +hiding-place was the key to his safety. If Roderick had it, then, +indeed, I might have looked for life; but I knew that Hall had never +discovered it, and what hope had Roderick where the greater skill had +failed? + +This consideration led me to one conclusion. I would pretend that I had +some knowledge, and that my friends had it too. If that did not save my +life, God alone could help me, and the home of Captain Black would be +my grave. Nor did I know in any case that I had much expectation of +life in such surroundings or in such company. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +NORTHWARD HO! + + +During some days I saw no more of the doctor, or of anyone about the +ship save an old negro, who became my servant. He was not an +unkindly-looking man, being of a great age, and somewhat feeble in his +actions; but he never opened his lips when I questioned him, and gave a +plain "Yes" or "No" to any demand. Those days would have been +monotonous, had it not been for the ever-present sense of coming +danger, of a future dark and threatening, likely to be fruitful in +trial and in peril. Each morning at an early hour the age-worn black +entered my cabin and told me that my bath was ready. When I was +dressed, a breakfast, generous in quality and in quantity, was set upon +my cabin table. At one o'clock luncheon of like excellence was served; +and again at five o'clock and at eight, tea and dinner. Some thought +evidently was given to my condition, for on the second morning I found +clean linen with a neat suit of blue serge awaiting me in the bathroom, +and when I had breakfasted, the black brought a parcel of books to me; +I found amongst them, to my satisfaction, several light works by Bret +Harte, Mark Twain, and Max Adeler, as well as more solid literary food. +The books saved me from much of that foreboding which I should have +known wanting them, and after the first fears had passed I spent the +hours in reading or looking through the port-hole over the deserted +waste of a fretful sea. I had hoped to learn something of our +destination from this diligent watching of the waves; but for the first +forty hours, at any rate, I saw nothing--not so much as a small +ship--though it felt much colder; and again on the third day the lower +temperature was yet more marked, so that I welcomed fresh and warmer +clothing which the negro brought me for my bed; and observed with +satisfaction that there were means within the ship for heating the +cabin during the daytime. + +It must have been on the fourth day after my capture that the nameless +ship, which hitherto had not been speeding at an abnormal pace, began +to go very fast, the rush of water from the head of her rising +frequently above my port, and permitting but rare views of the distant +horizon. The greater speed was sustained during that day until the +first dog-watch, when I was disturbed in my reading by the +consciousness that the ship had stopped, and that there was great +agitation on deck. I looked from my window and observed the cause of +the confusion, for there, ahead of us a mile or more, was one of the +largest icebergs I have ever seen. The mighty mass, from whose sides +the water was rushing as in little cataracts, towered above the sea to +a height of four or five hundred feet, rising up in three snow-white +pinnacles which caught the crimson light of the sinking sun and gave it +back in prismatic hues, all dazzling and beautiful. As a great island +of ice, all rich in waving colour and superb majesty, the berg passed +on, and the screw of the steamer was heard again. I watched intently, +hoping to see other bergs, or, indeed, any ships that should tell me +how far we had gone towards the north; but the night fell suddenly, and +the negro served dinner, asking me if I had warmth enough? My curt +answer seemed to astonish him; but the truth was that I was thinking of +the man Paolo's words when sick upon my own ship. He had cried, "Ice, +ice," more than once in his delirium; but none of us then had the +meaning of his cry. Yet I had it, and with it a notion of the second +secret of Captain Black. For surely he was running to hiding; and his +hiding-place lay to the north, far above the course even of +Canadian-bound vessels, as I knew by the number of days we had been +steaming. + +This new surmise on strange openings did not in any way combat the +terror which visited me so often in that floating prison. Every day, +indeed, seemed to take me farther from humanity, from friends, from the +lands and the peoples of civilisation. Every day confirmed me in the +thought that I was hopelessly in this man's grip, the victim of his +mercy, or his rigour; that none would know of my end when that end +should come; no man say "God help you!" when at last the fellow should +show his teeth. Such dire communings robbed me of my sleep at night; +led me to books whose pages passed blurred before me; made me start at +every rap upon the cabin door; brought me to fear death even in the +very food I ate. Yet during the week I was a prisoner on the ship no +harm of any sort befell me. I was treated with the hospitality of a +great mansion, served with all I asked, unmolested save for the +doctor's threat. + +And so the time passed, the weather growing colder day by day, the +bergs more frequent about my windows; until on the evening of the +seventh day the ship stopped suddenly, and I heard the anchor let go. +This was late in the watch, at the time when I was in the habit of +going to bed; but hearing great movement and business on the deck I sat +still, waiting for what should come; and after the lapse of an hour or +more I found that we were moving very slowly again, and with but +occasional movements of the screw. I opened my port, and could hear +loud shoutings from above, and although there was no light of the moon, +I could see enough to conclude that we were passing by a great wall of +rock, and so into some harbour or basin. + +The work of mooring the ship was not a long one when once we had come +to a stand. When all was done the noise ceased, and no one coming to me +I went to bed as usual. On the next morning I got up at daybreak, and +looked eagerly from my spying place; but I could discern only a blank +cliff of rock, the ship being now moored against the very side of it. +The negro came to me at the usual hour, but he brought a note with my +breakfast; and I read an invitation to dine with Captain Black at eight +o'clock on that evening. You may be sure that I welcomed even such a +prospect of change, for the monotony of the cabin prison had become +nigh unbearable; and when at a quarter to eight that evening the old +man threw open the door and said, "The Master waits!" I went with him +almost joyfully, even though the next step might have been to my open +grave. + +He led the way up the companion ladder, which was, in fact, a broad +staircase, elaborately lit with the electric light; and so brought me +to the deck, where there was darkness save in one spot above the +fore-turret. There a lantern threw a great volume of white light which +spread out upon the sea, and showed me at once that we were in a cove +of some breadth, surrounded by prodigiously high cliffs; and the light +being focussed right across the bay, disclosed a cleft in these rocks +leading apparently to a farther cove beyond. I had scarce time to get +other than a rough idea of the whole situation, for a boat was waiting +at the gangway, and the negro motioned to me to pass down the ladder +and take my seat in the stern. The men gave way at once, keeping in the +course of the searchlight, and rowing straight to the cleft in the +cliffs, through which they passed; and so left the light and entered a +narrower fjord, which was ravine-like in the steepness of its sides, +and so dark, that one could see but a narrow vista of the sky through +the overhanging summits of the giant rocks. This second cove opened +after a while into a lake; above whose shores, at a high spot in the +side of the precipice on the left hand, I observed many twinkling +lights, which seemed to come from windows far up the face of the cliff. +These lights marked our destination, the men rowing straight to them; +and I found, when we came near the precipitous shore which bound the +fjord, that there was a rough landing-stage, cut in the rock, and that +an iron stairway led thence to the chambers which evidently existed +above. + +When we had come to shore, and had been received there by several men +who held lanterns, and had the look of Lascars, the negro conducting me +pointed to the iron stairway and told me to mount: he following me to +the summit, where there was a platform and an iron door. The door +opened as we arrived before it, and there standing by it I found the +young doctor, who greeted me very heartily and appeared to be +altogether in a merry mood. + +"Come in," he said, "they're waiting for you; and this infernal cold +gives men appetites. This way--but it isn't very dark, is it?" + +We were in a broad passage lit by electric light--a passage cut in a +crystal-like rock, whose surface had almost the lustre of a mirror. At +intervals facing the cove were incisions for windows, but these were +now hung with heavy curtains; and there were cupboards and pegs against +the rock wall on the opposite side to make the place serve the purposes +of a hall. The passage led up to a second door--this one built of fine +American walnut; and we passed through it at once into a room where I +was astounded to see indisputable evidence of civilisation and of +refinement. The whole chamber was hung round with superb skins, the +white fur of the Polar bear predominating; but there were couches +cushioned with deep brown seal; and the same glossy skin was laid upon +the floor in so many layers that the footfall was noiseless and +pleasantly luxuriant. The furniture otherwise was both modern and +artistic. A heavy buhl-work writing-table opposite the door was +littered with maps, books and journals; there was a sécretaire +book-case in Chippendale by the side of the enormous fire-place, in +which a great coal fire burned; and above this was an ivory overmantel +of exquisite work. A grand piano, open and bearing music, was the chief +ornament of the left-hand corner; while another Chippendale cabinet, +filled with a multitude of rare curiosities, completed an apartment +which had many of the characteristics of a salon and not a few of a +study. + +But I had not eyes so much for the room as for the solitary occupant of +it, who sat before the writing-table, but rose after I had entered. One +glance assured me that I was face to face with Captain Black--the +Captain Black I had seen at the drunken orgie in Paris; but yet not the +same, for all the bravado and rough speech which then fell from his +lips was wanting; and his "Come in!" given in answer to the young +doctor's knock, was spoken melodiously in a rich baritone voice that +fell very pleasantly upon the ear. When he stepped forward and held out +his hand to me, I had the mind almost to draw back from him, for I knew +that the man had crime heavy upon him; but a second thought convinced +me of the folly of making a scene at such a moment; so I took the great +hard hand and looked him full in the face. He was not so tall as I was, +but a man who appeared to possess colossal strength in his enormous +arms and shoulders; and one not ill-looking, though his black beard +fell upon his waistcoat, and his jacket of seal was loose and +ill-fitting. The strange thing about our meeting was this, however. +When he had taken my hand, he held it for a minute or more, looking me +straight in the face with an interest I could not understand; and, +indeed, he then forgot himself entirely, and continued to gaze upon me +and to shake my hand until I thought he would never let it go. + +When at last he recovered himself it was with a quick start. + +"I am glad to see you," said he; "dinner waits us;" and with that we +passed into another chamber, hung with skins as the first was, but +containing a dining-table laid for four persons in a very elegant +manner, with cut glass, and silver epergnes laden with luscious-looking +fruit and the best of linen. The light came from electric lamps in the +ceiling, and from other lamps cunningly placed in a great block of ice, +which formed the central ornament. Nor have I eaten a better dinner +than the one then served. The only servant was a black giant, who +waited with a dexterity very singular in such a place; and the guests +of the captain were the young doctor, the Scotsman known as Dick the +Ranter, and myself. The Scotsman alone displayed signs of that +rollicking spirit of dare-devil which had characterised the meeting in +Paris; but the captain soon silenced him. + +"D'ye ken that we've no said grace?" remarked the lantern-jawed fellow, +as we sat to table; and then, raising his hands in impudent mockery, he +began to utter some blasphemy, but Black turned upon him as with the +growl of a wild beast. + +"To the devil with that," said he. "Hold your tongue, man!" + +The Scotsman looked up at the rebuke as though a thunderbolt had hit +him. + +"Verra weel, mon; verra weel," he muttered; "but ye're unco melancholy +the nicht, unco melancholy." And then he fell to the silence of +consumption, eating prodigiously of all that was set before him; but in +high dudgeon, as a man rebuked unworthily. Of the others, the doctor +alone talked, chatting fluently of many European cities, and proving +himself no mean _raconteur_. I listened in the hope of getting some +idea of what was intended in my case; also, if that could be, of the +situation of this strange place in which I found myself; for as yet I +knew not if it were to the North of America; or, indeed, in what part +of the Arctic Sea it might be. To my satisfaction the captain made no +attempt to conceal the information from me. The first occasion of his +speaking during dinner was in answer to a remark of mine that I found +the room very pleasantly warm. + +"Yes," he said, "you must feel the change, although you will feel it +more when we get winter here. You know where you are, of course." + +I said unsuspectingly that I had not the faintest idea, when he cast a +quick glance at the doctor, and the latter slapped me on the back quite +joyously. + +"Bravo!" he cried. "That prevents our putting one unpleasant question +to you, anyway. I knew that your innuendo in the cabin was all +make-believe." + +"Of course it was," added the captain; "but the knowledge of it saves +our bustling you. However, this isn't the time for talk of that sort. I +may tell you, since you do not know, that you are on the west coast of +Greenland, and that there is a Danish settlement not fifty miles from +you--although we don't leave cards on our neighbours." + +He called for champagne then, and gave a toast--"The new recruit!" I +did not raise my glass with the others, which he saw, and became stern. + +"Well," said he, "I won't have you hurried, and you're my guest until I +put the straight question to you. When that happens you won't think +twice about the answer, for we can be very nasty, I assure you. Now try +a cigar. These are good. They came from the collection of Lord +Remingham, who was on his way to America a few weeks ago." + +"And met with an unfortunate accident," said the doctor, with mock +seriousness, which was taken up by the Scotsman, who remarked in his +best drawl--"May his soul ken rest!" and they all shouted with infamous +laughter, but I listened with a morbid interest when the doctor +continued-- + +"It's astonishing how good the quality of the tobacco and the champagne +is on board the ocean-going steamers; now this Bolinger '84 was the +special pride of the skipper of the _Catalania_, which unhappily sank +in the Atlantic through the sheer impudence of the man who commanded +her. As he liked it so much, I broke a bottle over his head before we +sent him to the devil, with five hundred others." + +"You may say, in fact, that he made the acquaintance o' the auld man +wi' the flavour o' this gude stuff on him," said the Scotsman, which +made them laugh again; but Black was satiated with the banter, and he +rose from the table suddenly as the man Four-Eyes entered. + +"This pleasant party must disperse," he said to me; "you can go to the +quarters we have provided for you, unless you would like to see more of +us. We are well worth seeing, I think, and we may give you some idea of +our other side." + +"I should like to see everything you can show me," I replied, being +aflame with curiosity to know all that the strange situation could +teach me; and then he made a motion for the others to follow, and we +passed from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +ONE SHALL LIVE. + + +The way from the dining-room was through a long passage, lighted with +arc lamps at intervals, and having the doors of many rooms on the +right-hand side of it. Several of these doors were open; and I saw the +interiors of well-furnished bedrooms, of smaller sitting-rooms, and of +a beautifully-furnished billiard-room. At the end of the passage, we +descended a flight of stairs to another landing, where there was a +steep rock-slope leading right through the cliff almost to the level of +the water. This proved the way to a small stretch of beach which was at +the uppermost end of the fjord; and here I found several substantial +buildings of stone, evidently for the use of Black's company. The +largest of the houses seemed to be a kind of a hall, well lighted by +arc lamps. Into this we passed, lifting a heavy curtain of skins; and +seated there, on all sorts of rough lounges and benches, were the men I +had seen in Paris, with fifty or sixty others, no less ferocious-looking +or more decently clad. There were negroes in light check suits and red +flannel shirts; Americans in velveteen coats and trousers; Italians +muffled up in jerseys; Spaniards playing cards before the roaring fire; +half-castes smoking cheroots and drinking from china pots; Englishmen +lying wrapped in rugs, asleep, or bawling songs to a small audience, +which gave a chorus back in mellifluous curses; Russians drunk with +spirits; Frenchmen chattering; Chinese mooningly silent; over all an +atmosphere of smoke and foul odours, of fetid warmth and stifling +heaviness. + +As we entered the place the din was deafening, a medley of shouts and +oaths, of songs and execrations; but it ceased when the captain bawled +"Silence!" and an unusual stillness prevailed. The man Four-Eyes, who +was always the immediate "go-between" so far as the captain and crew +were concerned, at once put chairs for us near the huge fireplace, +setting a great armchair for the skipper, with a small table whereon +were many papers, and a small wooden hammer such as the chairman of a +meeting commonly uses. Black took his seat in the great chair, with the +doctor, the Scotsman, and myself around him; and then he harangued the +men. + +"Boys," he said, "we're home again. I give you luck on it--and swill it +down in liquor." + +I noticed that he had put on with his entry into the room all his old +fierceness of manner and coarseness. He shouted out his words whenever +he spoke, and emphasised them with bangs of the hammer upon the table. +The call for wine was answered by some of the niggers fetching in cases +of champagne, and soon the stuff was running in every part of the hall. +The captain waited until the men were drinking, and then he continued-- + +"I guess, boys, the next thing to do is to make our calculations. We've +had a smart month's work, and there's a matter of two hundred and fifty +pounds a man waiting for you when next you foot it in New York. That's +my calculation; and if there's one of you doubts it, he can see the +figures." + +He waited for them to speak, but they gave him only a great shout of +approval, when he became more serious. + +"You know, lads, there'll be a spell of holiday here for you, which you +may reckon that I regret as much as any of you. The skipper of the +American cruiser has made hell in Europe, and there's twenty cruisers +out after us if there's one. That I snap my fingers at; but fighting +isn't the game for you and me, who are looking for dollars; and we +won't hurt to lie low until the spring. Has any man got anything to say +against that?" + +There was not a word in answer to the threatening question; and then +Black, bracing himself up to anger, went on-- + +"I now come to speak of a bit of business which you all want to hear +about. There was two of you refused a double watch when we left the +Yankee cruiser. Let 'em step forward." + +One man, a dark-visaged Russian, with a yellow beard, stepped to the +table at the words, but he was alone. + +"Where is Dave Skinner?" asked the captain in a calm, but horridly +meaning, voice. + +"I guess he's sleeping on it," said the man Roaring John, whom I +noticed for the first time, curled up on a bench in the corner, the +bandages still upon his face. + +"Kick him awake, the blear-eyed bullock," said Black, and the kicking +was done right heartily; the subject, a huge man with dark hair, +closely cropped, and a stubbly beard, rising to his feet and looking +round him like one dazed with strong drink. + +"Wall," said he, speaking to Roaring John, "you big-booted swine, what +d'ye reckon ez you want along o' me?" + +"Ask the skipper, cuss," replied the other, pushing the sleepy man +forward to the chair where the Russian stood; and then Black began to +speak to them quite calmly-- + +"Boys," he said, "I got it agen you that you refused my orders, and +refused them at a pinch when me and the rest of 'em ran for our lives. +Each of you lays the blame for this on the other, and I'm not going to +haggle about that. You know what we're bound by, and that I can't go +beyond what's written any more than you can go beyond it. There are two +of you in this, and you settle your own differences--one of you lives. +John, give 'em knives!" + +As I heard these words, amazed and doubting, the men, without any other +incitement, and uttering no remark, stripped off their coats and stood +naked to the waists. The crew about left off their games and drew near, +forming a ring round the men, who had taken up great clasp-knives, and +were evidently to fight for their very lives. I knew then the meaning +of the words "One of you lives;" and an excitement, strange and full of +morbid interest, took possession of me. + +That the men were to fight, and fight to the death, was sufficiently +terrible; but a savour of horror was added to the dish by the flagrant +unfairness of the conditions under which they fought. The American, +Skinner, was thickly built, and of a sturdy physique. He had the better +of his man in height, in reach, in physical strength; for Tovotsky, as +I heard the Russian called, was a man of small stature, rather a shred +of a man, full hairy about his breast, yet giving small signs of +hardihood, or of power. It seemed to me that he might well have +protested against the manner of the contest, and urged that a fight +with knives would go to the stronger, skill being no part of it; but he +said nothing, wearing an air of sullen determination, while his +antagonist bellowed at him as though to overawe him by cheap bravado. + +"Stand up right here, so ez I ken stick you, boss," he cried, when they +faced each other; adding as the Russian dodged him: "What, my hearty, +have ye got the taste of it already?--now steady, ye yellow-haired +buzzard; steady, ye skunk, while I make hog's meat of you." + +They stood crouched like beasts, or revolved about each other, the +gleaming blades poised in the air, their left hands seeking +holding-place. Skinner struck first, his knife shining bright against +the light as he slashed at Tovotsky's throat, but the Russian doubled +down between his legs, and the pair fell heavily a yard away from each +other. + +"Slit him as he lies, Dave!" "End him, Tov!" "Do you reckon you're +abed?" These and other equally elegant exclamations fell from the lips +of the crew, as the men lay dazed, fearful of mischief if they rose. +But the Russian was first up, and springing at the other, who rolled +aside as he came, he sent his knife home in his opponent's back, and a +great shout of "First blood!" turned me sick with the terror of it. Nor +could I look at them for some minutes, fearing to see a more repulsive +spectacle; but when next I saw them, they were crouching again, and the +American was silent, undoubtedly suffering from his wound, which bled +freely. Presently he made another spring at Tovotsky, who ducked down, +but got a slit across his shoulder, whereon he set up a howl of pain, +and ran round and round the ring; while the other followed him, making +lunges terrible to see, but doing no more mischief. The effort took the +breath out of both of them, and they paused at last, panting like dogs, +and drinking spirits which their friends brought them. When they +resumed again, it was by mutual agreement, rushing at each other and +gripping. Each man then had got hold of the right hand of his +antagonist, so that the deadly knives were powerless, while the pair +struggled, trying to "back-heel" each other. Round and round they went, +bumping against their fellows in the circle, straining their muscles so +that they cracked, uttering fierce cries in the agony of the struggle +for life. But the American had the strength of it, and he forced +Tovotsky's hand back upon him, stabbing him with his own knife again +and again, so that the man's breast was covered with wounds, and he +seemed like soon to faint from weakness. It might have been that he +would have died where he stood, but by some terrible effort he forced +himself free; and with the howl of a wild beast, he thrust his own +knife to the hilt in the American's side. It broke at the handle; but +the long blade was left embedded in the flesh, and the force of the +blow was so overwhelming that Skinner drew himself straight up with +death written in his protruding eyes and distorted features. Yet he had +strength to seek vengeance, for his antagonist had now no weapon left +to him, which the American saw, and ran after him with a scream of +rage; when Tovotsky fled, breaking the ring, and scudding round the +great room like a maniac. There Skinner followed him, crying with pain +at every movement, almost foaming at the mouth as his wiry enemy eluded +him. At last the Russian approached the door, his opponent being within +a few feet of him, but the smaller man fell headlong through the +curtain, and at that the death-agony came upon Skinner. He stopped as +though held in a vice, hurled his knife at the Russian, and fell down +dead. The men gave a great shout, and rushed from the place to find the +other; but they brought him in dead as he had fallen, and far from +being moved at the ghastly sight, they holloaed and bellowed like +bulls, coming to reason only at the skipper's cry. + +"Take 'em up to the cavern, some of you there, and lay 'em side by side +to cool," he said brutally, and his orders were instantly obeyed. +Others of the crew brought buckets and swabs unbidden, and cleansed the +place, after which Black addressed the men again as though the terrible +scene was a thing of common happening. + +"Before I give you good-night," he said, "I want to tell you that we've +got a stranger with us; but he's here to stay, and he's my charge." + +"Has he jined?" asked the blear-eyed Yankee, who had eyed me with much +curiosity; but the captain answered-- + +"That's my affair, and you keep your tongue still if you don't want me +to cut it out; he'll join us by-and-by." + +"That's agen rules," said the man Roaring John, loafing up with others, +who seemed to resent the departure. + +"Agen what?" asked Black in a tone of thunder, turning on the fellow a +ferocious gaze; "agen what, did you remark?" + +"Agen rules," replied Roaring John; "his man broke my jaw, and I'll pay +him, oh, you guess; it's not for you to go agen what's written no more +than us." + +Black's anger was evident, but he held it under. + +"Maybe you're right," he said carelessly; "we've made it that no +stranger stays here unless he joins, except them in the mines--but I've +my own ideas on that, and when the time comes I'll abide by what's +done. That time isn't yet, and if any man would like to dictate to me, +let him step out--maybe it's you, John?" + +The fellow slunk away under the threat, but there were mutterings in +the room when we left; and I doubt not that my presence was freely +discussed. This did not much concern me, for Black was master beyond +all question, and he protected me. + +We went back with him to the long passage where I had seen the doors of +bed-chambers, and there he bade me good-night. The doctor showed me +into a room in the passage, furnished both as a sitting-room and a +bedroom, a chamber cut in the solid rock, but with windows towards the +sea; and when he had seen to the provisions for my comfort, he, too, +went his way. But first he said-- + +"You must have been born under a lucky star: you're the first man to +whom Black ever gave an hour's grace." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE DEN OF DEATH. + + +The bed in which I lay was wondrous soft and downy; and the cold gave +me deep sleep, so that I awoke at a late hour to find the sun streaming +through my rock window, and the negro telling me, as he was wont to do +in the ship, that my bath was ready. The bath-room lay away a few paces +from my chamber; but the water that flowed from the silver taps was +icily cold; and I shivered after my plunge, though the beauty and +luxury of the place compelled my admiration. It was no ordinary +bath-room, even in its arrangement, the great well of water being large +enough to swim in, and the basin of pure white marble; while soft and +brightly-coloured rugs were laid on the couches around, and the arched +roof was Eastern in design and decoration. When we returned to my +sleeping-place, I found the bed curtained off, leaving a commodious +apartment, with books, armchairs, a writing-table, and a fireplace, in +which a coal fire burned brightly. But the greater surprise was the +view from my window, a view over a sunlit fjord, away to mountain +peaks, snow-capped and shining; and between them to a vista of an +endless snow-plain, white, dazzling, and not altogether unmonotonous, +yet relieved by the nearer patches of green and almost garden-land +which seemed to stretch towards the sea. + +My new home was, as I had thought, upon the side of a fjord which led +through a cañon to the outer basin. There was beach at the upper end of +it, and grass-land where several canoes and kayaks lay; and I saw that +many of the men who had watched the horrors of the night were working +lustily now, dragging stores and barrels from a heavily-charged screw +steamer which was anchored near the beach. The rocks which bound the +opposite side of the bay did not appear to be cut for dwellings as on +our side: but I saw trace of several passages in them; and away above +them there was a small mountain peak by which a river of ice ran into +the sea. But of the outer cave I could observe nothing; or of the shore +itself, though away at a greater distance, over some of the ravines, I +made out the clear blue of the Atlantic, and a waste of peaceful water. + +The doctor came to me while I was at breakfast. He was very cheerful, +and began to talk at once. + +"The captain sends you his compliments," he said; "and hopes you have +slept. _Entre nous_, you know, he doesn't care a brass button for such +things as we saw last night; but if we didn't keep discipline here, we +should have our throats cut in a week." + +I gave him civil words in return, and he went on to speak of personal +matters. + +"The men are inclined to resent the exception that has been made in +your case. I am afraid it will lead to trouble by-and-by, unless, of +course, you choose to close with the offer that Black makes to you." + +"You speak of an 'exception,' and an 'offer,'" said I; "but for the +life of me, I don't quite know what you mean. How has an exception been +made in my case, and what is the offer?" + +"I will tell you in a minute; Captain Black has brought thirty or forty +Englishmen of your position, or better, to this place within the last +three years; not one of them has lived twenty hours from the time he +set foot in the rock-house. As for the offer, it is evident to you that +we could not permit any man to share our privileges, and to be one of +us, unless he shared also our dangers and our risks. In other words, +the time will come when you must sign an agreement such as I have +signed, and these men have signed--and I don't believe that you will +refuse. It is either that, which means full liberty, plenty of money, a +life which is never monotonous, often amusing, and sometimes dangerous; +or an alternative which I really won't dilate on." + +"You lay it all down very clearly," I replied, "but you can have my +answer now if you like." + +He raised his hand laughingly. + +"Curse all emotion," he said, "it affects digestion. Black won't hurry +you--why, for the life of me, I can't tell, but he won't. You can't do +better than take things easy, and see the place. I've brought you a +'Panama,' for the sun can advertise himself at eight bells still; and +if you have nothing better to do, put it on, and light a cigar as we +stroll round." + +The idea of inspecting the place pleased me. I followed Doctor +Osbart--for such his name was--down the rock slope we had trodden on +the previous evening; and thence to the beach, hard and baked with the +sun. The men, who had ceased the labour of discharging the steamer, +were lying about on the grassy knolls, smoking and dozing, and they +cast no friendly glances on me as we passed along the shore round the +edge of the bay, and mounted a soft grass slope which led to the +cliff-head on the other side. It was a long walk, but not unpleasant, +in the crisp, sweet, odour-bearing air; and when we had attained the +summit, a glorious seascape was spread before us. All about were the +white peaks and the basaltic rocks, towering above ravines where ice +flowed, or falling away to bright green pastures where reindeer trod. +The coast-line was lofty and awe-inspiring, often showing a precipitous +face to the sea, which beat upon it with the booming of heavy breakers; +and spread surf all foaming upon its ridges and promontories. I stood +entranced with the vigour born of that life-giving breeze; and the +young doctor stood with me watching. At last he touched me upon the +shoulder, and pointed to the first cave, where the nameless ship lay +snugly moored in the creek, with many seamen at work upon her. + +"Look," he said, "look there, where is the instrument of our power. Is +not she magnificent? Do you wonder at my warmth--yet why? for without +her we here are helpless children, victims of poverty, of law, of +society. With her we defy the world. In all Europe there is no like to +her; no ship which should live with her. Ask her for speed, and she +will give you thirty knots; tell her that you have no coal, and she +will carry you day after day and demand none. Aboard her, we are +superior to fleets and nations; we ravage where we will; we laugh at +the fastest cruisers and the biggest warships. Are you surprised that +we love her?" + +He spoke with extraordinary enthusiasm--the enthusiasm of a fanatic or +a lover. The great ship reflected the sun's glow from her many bright +parts, and was indeed a beauteous object, yet swan-like, the guns +uncovered as the men worked at them, and a newer lustre added to her +splendour. + +"She is a wonderful ship," said I, "and built of metal I never met +with." + +"Her hull is constructed of phosphor-bronze," he answered, "and she is +driven by gas. The metal is the finest in the world for all +shipbuilding purposes, but its price is ruinous. None but a man worth +millions could build the like to her." + +"Then Captain Black is such a man?" I said. + +"Exactly, or he wouldn't be the master of her--and of Europe. Doesn't +it occur to you that you were a fool ever to set out on the enterprise +of coping with him?" + +I did not answer the taunt, but looked seaward, away across the west, +where Roderick and Mary were. The boundless spread of water reminded me +how small was the hope that I should ever see them again; ever hear a +voice I had known in the old time, or clasp a hand in fellowship that +had oft been clasped. They thought me dead, no doubt; and to take the +grief from them was forbidden, then and until the end of it, I felt +sure. + +But the doctor was still occupied with the great ship, looking down +upon her as she lay, and he called my attention to a fact I had not +been cognisant of. + +"We are coaling here, do you see?" he said. "It was one of Black's +inspirations to choose Greenland for his hole; it is one of the few +comparatively uninhabited countries in the world where coal is to be +had, somewhat of a poorer quality than the anthracite we are accustomed +to use, but very welcome when we are close pressed. He is filling his +bunkers now, in case we should decide to break up this party before the +end of the winter. That will depend on our friends over in Europe. We +have given them a nightmare, but it won't last, and they'll go to bed +again to get another." + +"Who are your miners?" I asked suddenly, interrupting him, for I saw +that the rock above the nameless ship was pierced with tunnels leading +down to the shafts, and that forty or fifty coal-black fellows were +shooting the stuff into the bunkers. + +"These are our guests," he said lightly, "honest British seamen whose +voyages have been interrupted. We give them the alternative of work in +the mine, or their liberty on the snow yonder." + +"But how can they live in such a place?" + +He laughed as though the whole thing were a joke. + +"They don't live," said he. "They die like vermin." + +"I'm evidently afloat with a lot of fine-spirited fellows," said I; +"or, to put it in plain English, with a beautiful company of +blackguards." + +"Why not say with a lot of devils--that would be more accurate? But you +can't forget that you came to us unasked, and now you must stop." + +His leer at this sally was terribly expressive, and I showed all the +contempt I felt for him, turning away to the sea fondly, as the hope of +my liberty, since thence only should it come. He read my thoughts, +perhaps, taking me by the arm with unsought pretence of kindness, and +he said-- + +"Don't let's dissect each other's morals; we have the place to see, and +you must be getting hungry. I will show you only one thing before we +go--it is our cemetery." + +It was not a fascinating prospect, yet I followed him across the high +plateau to the creek wherein the rock-house was, but to the side which +was opposite to my bedroom window. There he descended the face of the +cliff by rough steps; and entered one of the passages which I had +observed from my chamber. The passage was long and low, lighted by +ships' lanterns at intervals, and I discovered that it led to a great +cavern which opened to the face of one of the glaciers going down to +the sea on the farther side. Nor have I entered a sepulchre which ever +gave me such an infinite horror of death, or such a realisation of its +terrors. + +The end of the cavern was nothing but a wall of ice, clear as glass, +admitting a soft light which illuminated the whole place with dim rays, +making it a place of mystery and awe. Yet I had not noticed its more +dreadful aspect at the first coming; and, when I did so, I gave a cry +of horror and turned away my face, fearing to see again that most +overwhelming spectacle. For blocks had been cut from the clear ice, and +the dead seamen had been laid in the frozen mass just as they had died, +without coffin or other covering than their clothes. There they lay, +their faces upturned, many of them displaying all the placid +peacefulness of death; but some grinned with horrible grimaces, and the +eyes of some started from their heads, and there were teeth that seemed +to be biting into the ice, and hands clenched as though the fierce +activity of life pursued them beyond the veil. Yet the frightful +mausoleum, the den of death, was pure in its atmosphere as a garden of +snow, cool as grass after rain, silent as a tomb of the sea. Not a +sound even of dripping water, not a motion of life without, not a sigh +or dull echo disturbed its repose. Only the dead with hands uplifted, +the dead in frozen rest, the dead with the smile of death, or the hate +of death, or the terror of death written upon their faces, seemed to +watch and to wait in the chamber of the sepulchre. + +I have said that the sight terrified me; yet the whole of my fear I +could not write, though the pen of Death himself were in my hands. So +profoundly did the agony of it appeal to me that for many minutes +together I dare not raise my eyes, could scarce restrain myself from +flying, leaving the dreadful picture to those that should care to gaze +upon it. Yet its spell was too terrible, the morbid magnetism of it too +potent; and I looked again and again, and turned away, and looked yet +once more; and went to the ice to gaze more closely at the dead faces, +and was so carried away with the trance of it that I seemed to forget +the dead men, and thought that they lived. When I recalled myself, I +observed Doctor Osbart watching me intently. + +"A strange place, isn't it?" he said. "Observe it closely, for some day +you will be here with the others." + +I shuddered at his thought, and muttered, "God forbid!" + +"Why?" he asked, hearing it. "It's not a very fearful thing to +contemplate. I would sooner lie in ice than in earth--and that ice is +not part of the glacier; it never moves. It is bound by the rock there +which cuts it off from the main mass." + +"It's a horrible sight!" I exclaimed, shivering. + +"Not at all," he said. "These men have been our friends. I like to see +them, and in a way one can talk to them. Who can be sure that they do +not hear?" + +It was almost the thought of a religious man, and it amazed me. I was +even about to seek explanation, but a sudden excitement came upon him, +and he raved incoherent words, crying-- + +"Yes, they hear, every one of them. Dick, you blackguard, do you hear +me? Old Jack, wake up, you old gun! Thunder, you've killed many a one +in your day. Move your pins, old Thunder! There's work to do--work to +do--work to do!" + +His voice rang out in the cavern, echoing from vault to vault. It was +an awful contrast to hear his raving, and yet to see the rigid dead +before him. My surmise that Doctor Osbart was a madman was undoubtedly +too true; and, horrified at the desecration, I dragged him from the +cavern into the light of the sun, and there I found myself trembling +like a leaf, and as weak as a child. The cold crisp breeze brought the +doctor to his senses; but he was absent and wandering, and he left me +at the door of my room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE MURDERS IN THE COVE. + + +For some days I saw no more of Doctor Osbart or of Captain Black. My +existence in the rock house seemed to be forgotten by them, and where +they were I knew not; but the negro waited on me every day, and I was +provided with generous food and many books. I spent the hours wandering +over the cliffs, or the grass plains; but I discovered that the place +was quite surrounded by ice-capped mountains and by snowfields, and +that any hope of escape by land was more than futile. Once or twice +during these days I saw the man "Four-Eyes," and from him gained a few +answers to my questions. He told me that Captain Black kept up +communication with Europe by two small screw steamers disguised as +whalers; that one of them, the one I saw, was shortly to be despatched +to England for information; and that the other was then on the American +coast gleaning all possible news of the pursuit; also charging herself +with stores for the colony. + +"Bedad, an' we're nading 'em," he said in his best brogue, "for, +wanting the victuals, it's poor sort av order we'd be keepin', by the +Saints. Ye see, young 'un, it's yerself as is at once the bottom an' +the top av it. 'Wot's he here for?' says half av 'em, while the other +half, which is the majority, they says, 'When's the old 'un a-sending +him to Europe to cut our throats?' they says; and there's the divil +among 'em--more divil than I ever seed." + +"It must be dull work wintering here," I said at hazard; and he took up +the words mighty eagerly. + +"Ay, an' ye've put yer finger on it; sure, it's just then that there's +work to do combing ov 'em down, young 'un. If I was the skipper, I +wudn't sit here with my feet in my pockets as it was, but I'd up an' +run for it. Why, look you, we're short av victuals already; and we turn +fifty av the hands in the mine ashore to-morrow!" + +"Turn them ashore--how's that?" + +"Why, giv' 'em their liberty, I'm thinking: poor divils, they'll die in +the snow, every one av them." + +I made some poor excuse for cutting short the conversation, and left +him, excited beyond anything by the thought which his words gave me. If +fifty men were to be turned free, then surely I could count on fifty +allies; and fifty-one strong hands could at least make some show even +against the ruffians of the rock-house. Give them arms, and a chance of +surprise, and who knows? I said. But it was evident beyond doubt that +the initiative must be with me, and that, if arms and a leader were to +be found, I must find them. + +It might have been a mad hope, but yet it was a hope; and I argued: Is +it better to clutch at the veriest shadow of a chance, or to sit down +and end my life amongst scoundrels and assassins? Unless the man +"Four-Eyes" deliberately deceived me, Black would connive at the murder +of fifty British seamen before another twenty-four hours had sped. +These men would have all the anger of desperation to drive them to the +attack; and I felt sure that if I could get some arms into their hands, +and help them to wise strategy, the attempt would at the least be +justifiable. It remained only to ascertain the probability of getting +weapons, and of joining the crew without molestation; and to this task +I set myself with an energy and expectation which caused me to forget +for the time my rascally environment, and the peril of my very +existence in the ice-haven. + +During the remaining hours of the day I engaged myself in searching the +houses on the beach; but, although I looked into many of them, I found +no sign of armoury, or, indeed, of anything but plain accommodation for +living. Here and there in some rude dormitories I encountered lazy +loafers, who cursed at the sight of me; and I did not approach the +great common-room, for I knew the danger of that venture. But I made +such a tour of the block of buildings as convinced me of the futility +of any attempt to get arms from them; for such as were storehouses had +iron doors and heavy locks upon them, and elsewhere there was scarce so +much as a pistol. The discouragement of the vain search was profound, +and in great gloom and abandoned hope I mounted the steep passage to my +own apartment, and sat down to ask myself, if I should not at once +surrender the undertaking, and preserve my own skin. That, no doubt, +was the counsel of mere prudence; yet the knowledge that fifty men +would stand by me to the assault on the citadel of crime and cruelty +haunted me and drove me from the craven prompting. I remembered in a +welcome inspiration that Black had a stand of Winchester rifles in his +study; I had seen them when I dined with him; and although there were +not more than half-a-dozen of them, I had hopes that they would +suffice, if I could get them, with knives and any revolvers I might lay +hands upon, to hold a ring of men against the company, or at least to +warrant a covert attack on the buildings below. This thought I hugged +to me all day, going often to the iron platform above the creek to know +if there were any sign of the release of the men, or of preparation for +getting rid of them; but I could see none, and I waited expectantly, +for it were idle to move a hand until those who should be my allies had +their so-called liberty. + +Towards evening, when I was weary with the watching, I returned to my +room and found that the negro had spread the tea-table as usual; and I +drank a refreshing draught, and began to question him, if he knew +anything of that which was going on below. He shook his head stupidly; +but presently, when I had repeated the question, he said, laughing and +showing his huge teeth-- + +"Begar, you wait--plenty fire jess now--plenty knock and squeal; oh +yes, sar." + +"Are they going to murder the men?" I asked aghast. + +"No murder; oh no, sar, no murder, but plenty fight--ah, there he goes, +sar!" + +There was the sound of a gun-shot below in the creek; and I went to my +window, and getting upon a chair, I saw the whole of a cruel scene. +Some twenty of these seamen, black as they had come from the +coal-shaft, were going ashore from a long-boat; while an electric +launch was bringing twenty more from the outer creek where the nameless +ship lay. But the men who had first landed were surrounded by the +others of Black's company, and were being driven towards the hills at +the back; and so to the great desolate plain of snow where no human +being could long retain life. From my open window, I could hear the +words of anger, the loud oaths, the shouts, could see the blows which +were received, and the blows which were given. Anon the fight became +very general. The pirates hit lustily with the butt-ends of their +pistols; the honest fellows used their fists, and many a man they laid +his length upon the rock. Yet there was no question of the sway of +victory, for the prisoners were unarmed, and the others outnumbered +them hopelessly. Inch by inch they gave way, were driven towards the +ravines and the countless miles of snow-plain; and as the battle, if +such you could call it, raged, the armed lost control of themselves and +began to shoot with murderous purpose. Death at last was added to the +horrors, and, as body after body rolled down the rocky slope and fell +splashing into the water, those unwounded took panic at the sight, and +fled with all speed away up the side of the glacier mount; and so, as I +judged it must be, to their death in that frozen refuge beyond. + +When all was quiet I shut my window, and sat in my chair to think. The +negro had left me, and the whole place was very still. Neither Black +nor the doctor had showed during the scene of the massacre (for I could +call it nothing else); and in the rock-house itself there was not so +much as a footfall. I began to hope that the master of the place might +chance to be away; and when darkness had fallen I went into the long +passage then deserted, and found the door of his sitting-room ajar, but +the place was dim within; and I feared to make an attempt to get the +arms until I knew that all slept. But one misfortune could lie between +myself and the aid which I should bear to these men--it was the chance +that Black locked the door of his study when he slept. If he did not, I +could get the rifles, and convey them across the bay to the other +fellows; if he did, all hope were gone. + +At seven o'clock I dined as usual, no one coming to me; and at eight +the negro had cleared away the repast, and had left me for the night. I +closed my own door, and for three hours or more I paced my chamber, the +fever of anticipation and of design burning me as with fire. It must +have been eleven o'clock when at last I put out my light, and listened +in the passage; yet heard nothing, not even the echo of a distant +sound. + +Of the doors about, the majority were closed; but the doctor's was +open, and his room was in darkness, so that I began to fear that he was +closeted with Black; and I went very stealthily, having left my boots +behind me, to the man's study, and found that door ajar as it had been +when I had come to it some hours before. This discovery set me almost +drunk with hope. There was no doubt that both the men were away from +their rooms, so that my time could not have been better chosen; and, +more fearless in their absence, I pushed the door wide open and began +to feel my way in the blinding dark. + +My first proceeding was to run upon some slight article of furniture, +and to overturn it. The crash that followed echoed through the vaulted +passages, and I stood quite still, thinking that all chance of success +had gone with the mishap. But no sound followed, and after many minutes +I went on again with great care, feeling my way as a cat, quite sure +that at last I should succeed. Twice I went round the room, and could +not put my hand upon the rifles; but at the third attempt I found them, +and gave a sigh of relief. Then an overwhelming terror struck me chill +and powerless. My sigh was echoed from the corner by the window; and a +low chuckle of laughter followed it. I stood as a man petrified, my +hand upon a gun, but my nerves strained to a tension that was horrible +to bear. Who was there with me? By whom was I watched? + +Alas! I knew in another moment, when the electric light flooded the +chamber, and I saw Black sitting at his writing-table, observing me, a +jeer upon his lips, and all the terrible malice of his nature written +in his keen and mocking eyes. I stood transfixed by that searching +gaze, held spellbound by the fascination of the obvious danger, my hand +still upon one of the rifles, yet trembling with the agitation of +discovery. Words rose to my lips--excuses, pleadings; but they died +away in my throat, and I could not utter them. Plans for the undoing of +that which had been done, ways of escape, efforts to gain time, +suggested themselves to me, but remained suggestions. I could do +nothing but stand and sway my body as a victim before a python--the +prey before a snake that is about to strike. + +We must have watched each other thus for a minute or more. I saw during +those moments when I was bereft of all power that the man had a +revolver cocked at his left hand, but a pen in his right; while +manuscript lay before him, so that he must have been in the room for +some time, and had extinguished his light only at my coming. And he had +heard me quit my own chamber, I did not doubt; yet this surprised me, +for I had no shoes upon my feet, and had walked with the stealth of a +cat. Indeed, he appeared to read the fleeting speculations of my +thought, and at last to take pity on my position, for he leant over the +table, and drew near to it a lounge on which the skin of a polar bear +was spread. + +"Sit here," he said, and at the bluff word my nerve came back to me. I +sat before him, facing him with less fear. Yet it was humiliating to be +treated almost as a child, and I knew from the inflexion of his voice +that he spoke to me then as one would speak to a school-lad who had +played truant. And in this tone he continued-- + +"You're a smart boy, and have ideas; but, like all little boys, your +ideas don't go far enough. I was just the same when I was your age, +always trying to climb perpendicular places, and always falling down +again. When you're older, you look to see what your hold's like before +you begin. Meanwhile, you're like a little dog barking at a bull, and +you're precious lucky not to be over the hedge by this time--maybe the +bull doesn't mind you, maybe he's waiting a day--but take his advice +and go to kennel awhile." + +He said this half-laughing, and in no sense fiercely; but his words +angered me beyond restraint, and I could have struck him as he sat. He +saw my anger, and ceased his provocation. + +"Silly lad," he said again, "silly beyond expression to put your head +into a business which never concerned you, and to stake your life on a +struggle which must have only one end. Don't you think so?" + +At this I plucked up courage and answered him-- + +"I came here to-night to stop your devilry in murdering fifty innocent +men;" but he started up at the words and raved like a maniac. + +"And who made you judge, you puppy?" he cried. "Who set you to watch +me, or give your opinions on what I do or what I don't do? Who asked +you whether you liked it or didn't like it, you sneaking little brat? I +wonder I let you live to spit your dirty words in my face?" + +His anger was fierce, terrible as a tornado. His teeth gnashed, his +hands shook, he rolled in his chair like a great wounded beast; but +when he saw that I was unmoved, he fell quiet again, and wiping his +forehead, where the sweat had gathered thickly, he said in a low, +coaxing voice-- + +"Don't compel me, lad, to do what I have meant not to do. You're here +for good or ill, and if you wish to keep your life, put a control on +your tongue. These men are nothing to you; they're lazy hogs that the +world's well rid of--let 'em die, and save your own carcass. You've +been here days now--the first man that ever lived among us without +signing our papers. But you can't stay that way any longer. You know +this business. You've a straight notion that my hand's agen Europe, +and, for the matter of that, agen the world, too; those that share with +me shall swing with me, and if I burn when it's done, by the devil +himself they shall burn too. It isn't of my asking that you're amongst +us, or that you took up the work of the hound Hall, who put the first +nail in his coffin that night he came to my bed at Spezia. I saw him +there, though he thought me sleeping; and that night I wrote death +against his name, as I wrote it against yours when you entered my room +in Paris. There's reasons why I've broken my word in your case, though +you'll never know 'em; but there's no reason why you shouldn't swear to +go through it with me and mine, man for man, life with life, be it +rope's-end or bullet, to rot among the fish, or to share every mate +among us what's got upon the sea. That's my question, and you'll answer +it now, yes or no, plain word and no shuffle; meaning to you whether +you go on as you've gone on in the past, or freeze amongst the others +lying up there in the cavern; whether you swim in money, as my lot swim +in it, or get bullets in you thick as hail from northward. That's my +question, I say again, and there's my papers. Sign 'em now, or you lie +a corpse before an hour on the clock." + +He leant over his writing-table and put the paper into my hands, a +rough sheet of parchment, which he wished me to read. But my eyes were +dimmed with the restless excitement of the situation, with the dread +terror of the alternative put to me; and I saw nothing but lines of +writing which swam before me. The silence of the room was terrible to +bear; and it was as though I struggled for life while already in the +tomb. My thoughts went hurriedly to Europe, to my home, to my friends; +above all I recalled the night when Martin Hall went to his death, and +his shadow seemed by me, his face beseeching me, his hand holding mine +back from the pen that it would have clutched. During this time the man +Black leant towards me, and watched me, expectancy in his face, +threatening in his pose. Yet he did not speak, and my eyes left the +paper and I gave him look for look, and from his face my glance passed +to his right hand which held the pistol; and in that instant I took +heart for a step which was the last mad design of a driven man. + +"Give me the pen!" I said suddenly, rising and bending over the table. + +He put the pen into my hands, and leant back with a chuckle of +satisfaction; but the movement cost him the game. I clutched his pistol +with a lightning grasp, and covered him with it-- + +"If you raise a finger I'll shoot you like a dog," I cried. + +Then the man, who was no craven, sat motionless in his chair; and I saw +the beads of terror falling from his forehead, but he betrayed no +emotion, and his face might have been cut from marble. I had the muzzle +of the pistol upon him, and I continued with greater confidence-- + +"If you raise your voice to call out, or if anyone comes to this room, +you die where you sit." + +He heard me then more calmly, and replied deliberately-- + +"Boy, you are the first that's bested Black." + +"I'll take your word for that," I said; "but take care--you are moving +your hand." He held it still at once and continued-- + +"I'm caught like a rat in the hole. What do ye want? Name it, and I'll +know how we stand!" + +"I want my life--my life, now that I refuse to sign that paper." + +"Yes," he said, "that's a fair request, though I can't say it's in my +power to make it that way." + +"It's in your power to stand with me--you can give the order that no +man's to lay a finger on me, and you will?" + +He thought a moment, looking straight down the barrel of the Colt. Then +he said-- + +"Yes, I can't avoid that--I'll give you that." + +"And my liberty on the first occasion offering." + +"No," he replied very slowly and sternly; "that's more than the devil +himself could offer you; they'd tear me to pieces." + +There was no doubt that he had right in this; and I reflected that I +could gain nothing whatever by holding out. There was just the hope +that he would abide by his word in the matter of my personal safety, +but more I could not look for. The man could only die, and, if he gave +me freedom, his own men would requite him as he said. I thought of this +and put the pistol down; then I offered him my hand, and he jumped up +from his seat, grasping it with a great clutch altogether painful to +bear, while he dragged me to the light and looked at me with that +curious expression I had noticed when first I met him in the room. + +"You're a sound plank of a boy," he said: "shake my hand, young 'un, +shake it hearty; go on, don't you think I mind; shake it right so, you +beauty of a boy!" + +What else he would have said or done, what new token of his repulsive +favour he would have bestowed on me, I know not; but his wild antics +were cut short by the sound of firing, rapid and oft repeated, which +came to us from the shore of the cove below. At the first report he let +go my hand and went to his window, from which he drew the curtain, so +that I saw the whole bay lit with silver light from a full-risen moon, +and the distant peaks as grim beacons above a land of rest; a land +which once, perchance, flowered with exotic luxuriance, but which now +wore the snow-silk mantle that had fallen upon countless centuries of +its past. Yet the whole glory and enhancement of the perfect peace were +for the moment ruined, for out on the snow there was a hungry crowd of +starving souls, crying, I doubt not, for bread; and those to whom they +cried answered them with their muskets, dyeing the glittering white +with many a red stream, bringing many a hungered wretch to his last +sleep in the frozen night of death. And out over the silence of the +hills the cries for mercy rang as in bitterness to God, the dreadful +cries of the weak, down trodden beneath the feet of those who knew not +God, the last scream of perishing souls, the sobs of strong men in +their agony. In vain I closed my ears, shut out the sight from my eyes. +The picture came to me again and again, the sound of the voices would +not be hushed, and in turn I cried to Black-- + +"For God's sake, help those men, if you have anything but the instincts +of a brute in you!" + +He shrugged his shoulders defiantly. "What am I to do?" he asked. + +"Stop the devil's work, and give the men bread, as I've just given you +your life!" + +There was a pause before he answered me, and I could see that an old +nature and a new impulse fought within him. He did not give me any +direct answer to my earnest appeal, but he snatched a rifle from a case +and said-- + +"Take that pistol, and come on; you've fooled me once, and we'll make +it even numbers. But it ain't as easy as cutting cheese, and there's +blood to let." + +I followed him down the passage to the beach, where he blew a whistle +sharp and shrill, and the note had a strange ring as it echoed through +the cañon. + +"That'll wake 'em on the ship," he explained. "I'm not afeard of these, +but there's fighting to be done--now lie behind me, and don't show till +you're wanted." + +He advanced towards the snow-plain and sang out-- + +"John, you there, Dick--hands to quarters, do you hear me! Move right +quick, or I'll move you, by thunder!" + +They put down their arms from their shoulders in blank amazement, and +listened to him as he went on-- + +"There's enough down for one night, I reckon, and I'm not going to be +kept awake by your cursed firing--what's to be done can be done in the +morning; why, you boat-load of night rats, ain't any of you got sleep +in you?" + +They came round him slowly and sulkily, and he drove them to the big +houses with pleasant oaths and fine round phrases. I lurked near him, +but an American saw me and cried-- + +"Say, Cap'en, hev ye took to nursin' that boy ez ye seems so fond of?" + +"Shut your jaw, or I'll shut it for you!" replied Black. "Is the boy +your affair?" + +"He's the affair of all of us, I calcerlate, an' some of us wishes to +know particler if he's signed or no." + +Black was smothered in anger, but he showed it only with that terrible +growling of the voice and his horrid calmness. + +"Oh, you want to know, do you? Which of you, might I ask, is particler +anxious about my business?" + +There were thirty or forty of them round, and they pressed the closer +at the question, as he continued-- + +"Let them as makes complaint step right here." + +Only four joined the leader; but the captain suddenly snatched my +revolver from me, and fired four shots; and for each shot a man dropped +dead on the beach; but the American stood untouched. The appalling +brutality of the action seemed to awe the rest of the crew. They stood +motionless, dumb with their rage; but when they recovered themselves +they rushed upon us with wild ferocity; and the Yankee fired at Black +point-blank. I thought, truly, that the end was then; but I heard a +shout from the water, and, looking there, I saw Dr. Osbart in the +launch; and there was a Maxim gun in the bows of her. + +"Clear that beach!" roared Black in awful passion; and instantly, as he +dropped flat and I imitated him, there was a hail of bullets, and the +main part of the crowd fell shrieking; but some threw themselves down, +while many stiffened and rolled in death, and blood spouted from scores +of wounds. + +The victory was awful, instantaneous. As the men fled towards the +hills, Black called after them-- + +"Bring to, you limp-gutted carrion, or I'll wipe you out, every one of +you! Any man who'll save his throat, let him come here!" + +At these words they turned back to a man, and came cowering to the +water's edge. Thirty of their fellows lay dead or wounded on the +stones, and many of those crawling towards us had bullets in their +limbs. Yet Black had no thought for them. + +"Where's your leader?" he asked, and they pointed to the American, who +lay with the blood pouring from a wound in his left thigh. + +"He's there, is he?" screamed the infuriated man. "The darned skunk's +down, is he? Well, I'll cure him like a ham. Get torches, some of you +and ice him in." + +He was swaying with passion; yet, even regarding it, I could not +understand what his order meant, and I asked-- + +"What are you going to do with that man?" + +"What am I going to do with him?" he yelled, scarce noticing who spoke +to him; "I'm going to bury him." + +It was wonderful in that moment to see how the men, who had before +defied him, then became as slaves at his command. A silence deep and +profound rested upon them; even those with the captain watched him in +his outrageous anger and were dumb; but all helped him in his ghastly +work, and brought shovels and picks, which they carried to the higher +plane of snow. As for the American, who sat upon the beach groaning +with the pain of his wound, I do not know how any man could have wished +to add to his hurt; yet he asked for no sympathy, and it was plain that +he knew what they meant to do with him. At one time feverish ravings +seized him, and he shook his fist at all around him; then he poured his +anger upon Black, who listened to him, gratified that he should provoke +it. And the more the man cursed, the greater satisfaction did the other +show. + +"We've got to die, both of us," said the American at last, ceasing his +wilder oaths; "you en me, Black, en there isn't much ez we kin look +for; but, if there's en Almighty God, I reckon ez He'll place this yere +off my score, and lay it on yours, or there ain't no hell, an' there +ain't no justice, and what seamen dreams of is lies--lies as your word +is lies, en everything about your cursed ship. Go on, lay me right here +as I lay now; but I'll rize agen you, and the day'll come when you'd +give every dollar ye're worth to dig me up, and give me life agen." + +The softer speech availed the poor fellow as little as the other. I +felt then an exceeding pity for him, and I touched Black on the arm and +was about to plead with him; but at the sight of me he raised his fist, +and I moved away, seeing by the light of his eyes that he was as much a +madman in that moment as any maniac in Bedlam. For he stood foaming and +muttering, his hands clenched, his hat upon the snow, great drops of +sweat on his bronzed forehead. The haste of the men to get the picks +was not half haste enough for him; and when they began to dig he +hurried them the more, until a great pile of snow had been thrown out. + +It was a weird scene--the most weird I have ever known. We stood in a +snow-pit amongst the hills, and above us rose in grandeur the great +pyramids of basalt and gneiss. There was no sign of living green thing, +even of lichens or of moss, in that elevated plain above the sea; and +the shrill call of the gulls was hushed in the greater stillness of the +night. The moon, high in the unclouded sky, gave light far down into +the crevasses--clear, silvered light that made a jewel of every higher +point, and sprinkled the crests of the breakers as with floss of fire. +Nor was there wind, even a breath of the night's breeze, but only the +melancholy silence of the omnivorous frost, the boom of falling +avalanche echoing in the ravines and the ice-caverns, the groans of the +doomed man--a very _Miserere_ amongst the hills, as down below amongst +the dead upon the shore. + +In the snow-plain, which was the centre of this northern desolation, +they dug the grave of the living man. I watched from afar--held by what +hideous power I knew not--and I saw them roll him over into the trench +they had dug, and shovel the snow quickly upon him. He watched them, +silent in his terror; but when his head only was uncovered he gave a +shriek of agony, which rose like the great cry of a man going before +his God, and ceased not to echo from height to height until long +minutes had passed. Then all was hushed, for the cold mantle of death +fell upon him. Slowly those who had done their work took up their tools +and returned doggedly to the beach; but Captain Black was unable to +move from the man who had put that last great curse upon him not five +minutes gone. Bare-headed and alone, he stood at the snow-grave, and +looked down upon the mound now sparkling with the crystals of the frost +that bound it. And as he looked there came a great weird wailing from a +distant hill, a piercing cry, as of another soul passing, and it echoed +again and again from peak to peak and ravine to ravine--a wild +"ochone," that had sadness and grief and misery in it; and I knew that +it was the cry from one of the seamen who had been turned from the +mines--from one who mourned, perchance, the death of a friend or of a +brother. Yet, at the cry, Black gave a great start, and shivering as a +man struck down with a deadly chill, he passed from the grave to the +beach. And this was the agony of his returning reason. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +I QUIT ICE-HAVEN. + + +It was on the next afternoon, near to the setting of the sun, there +having been unusual activity about the creek during the forenoon, that +Doctor Osbart came to my room with great news for me. + +"This business with the men has completely upset our plans," said he. +"Black hoped to winter here; and to let the hubbub in Europe quite +subside before he put to sea again. Now he can't do that, for there'll +be trouble just as long as the crew eats its head off in this +wilderness. There's only one thing that will keep the hands quiet, and +that's excitement. After all, it's the same motive with most of us, +from the gutter-beggar who lives on the hope of the next penny to the +democrat who supports existence on a probable revolution. If we once +get them away to sea, with money to win, and towns to riot in, we shall +hear no more of this folly, and Black knows it. He has determined to +sail to-night; and he'll take some of the men he put out of the mines +to do the work of those who went down yesterday. I'm very glad, for I +should have cut my throat if I'd been here the winter through, and I +dare say you won't be displeased to get a change of quarters; but, +before we talk of that, we must have the conditions." + +"I won't sign that paper, and Black has been told so," cried I at once; +"it's no good coming here again with that." + +"You're premature," he replied, with a smile, "premature, as you always +are. Isn't it time enough to discuss the paper when I bring it to you?" + +"Then what have you to ask?" said I, prepared to hear of something +which I must refuse, but longing with a great hope for the freedom of +the sea. + +"Simply this," he answered, "and, for the life of me, I don't see what +the guv'nor is driving at in your case; for he asks only that, if he +take you from here, where you'd starve in a month if he left you, you +shall give him your word, as a man of honour, that you will make no +attempt to leave his ship without permission. Under no pretence or plea +will you try to escape, and, whatever you see, you will not complain +about when aboard with him. You are to hold no converse with the men, +nor will you interfere with them in any work they do; and you will +carry out this contract not only in the letter but in the spirit. If +you will give me your word on that now, you can pack your trunk and +come aboard without any fuss; but I don't disguise it from you, that +any folly after this may cost you your life, and that if you have half +a thought of playing us false, you'd better stop where you are." + +I debated on the whole extent of his proposition, and made up my mind +on it in a few moments. I was aware that, if I remained at the station, +I could expect nothing but speedy death upon the ice, since the doctor +had told me that the place would be deserted during the winter. Against +this I had to ask myself if my going aboard the nameless ship meant in +any way approval of the occupation of those who sailed it; but this +suggestion was too trivial, and I dismissed it in a moment; while the +thought flashed across my mind that if I could but once be taken to +European or American waters, there would be at least the probability +that this man might fall into the hands of those who were seeking him. +In that case liberty would come with his undoing; which was even more +pleasant to think upon than to contemplate it with him yet free as a +voracious beast of the seas. + +"You accept?" said the doctor, who sat watching me as I thought these +things; and I answered him without hesitation-- + +"I accept." + +"The captain has your word of honour as between gentlemen?" + +"As between--well, if you like it so--as between gentlemen." + +The satire of the last word was too much for him, for he was one of the +pleasantest fellows in his saner moments that I have ever met. We both +laughed heartily, and then he said-- + +"But I'm forgetting, you've got no trunk, and I must lend you one. +You're rather short of duds, I know, but we can rig you out until we +get to Paris, and there the skipper will see to it--any way, so long as +you've a coat thick enough, we won't criticise you in these parts; and +I don't suppose you're thinking of garden parties." + +"Anything but," I answered, as pleased as he was at the prospect of it +all, and especially at the thought of quitting the ice-prison, if only +for the winter; "I have neither clothes nor cash." + +"Well, I don't see what you're going to do with the latter, just yet; +but, man, you can just help yourself from the first Cunarder we +stop--pshaw! don't look like that; wait until you feel the excitement +of it all. Why, what is but one ship against the world, big men on +their knees to you, money enough to wade in, and a fig for all the +navies and all the fleets that ever left a port? I defy 'em to put a +hand on the ship if they spend a million in the process. Come with us +and see it all, and you'll say it's the most daring, the grandest, the +most stupendous enterprise that man ever conceived." + +It was no good to lift up one's voice against enthusiasm of this sort, +so I let him lead me to his room, and took from him a trunk with some +linen. As he said, it was more convenient to have my own things, and we +were much of a build, so that his clothes were no ill-fit; and he was +ridiculously generous, pressing all that he had upon me, and lending me +a great gold watch and gold studs that were illicitly gotten, I felt +sure. + +In the end I had quite a store of clothing; and I waited while he +finished his own work that we might go down together to the launch +awaiting us. There we found Black, watching men who were putting large +bales of goods into the screw steamer, and everywhere there was sign of +the break-up of the settlement. The captain merely nodded when I gave +him a word, and I thought that he was sore depressed, with scarce +energy enough to be irritable. He seemed to doubt the wisdom of the +departure even then; and he often hesitated in his walk, looking up to +the windows of his home behind him. At the last, when the negro +servants had come down the iron stairway, he locked the great door +after them; and then he stood and cast his gaze over to the hills and +the desolate land, which I believed he had a great kindness for. When +he did join us, he gave the word, "Let her go!" with a dogged sort of +indifference; and at his command the launch ploughed ahead, and passed +through the cañon to the outer basin. + +The sun was almost in the horizon then, and the northern lights were +playing in the heavens, so that all the water was then alight with the +glory of a hundred colours. Now orange, or a lighter golden, or blue as +the Corsican Sea, or flaming scarlet, or emerald green, or all shades +of yellow, with the pink and pearl and fainter green as of a colossal +opal, the light fell and spread from bight to bight, and crag to crag; +and above there were sheets of eruptive flame and great rumblings, and +mighty arcs of fire spanning the whole heavens, and gripping them as +with the glittering jewelled hand of some monstrous keeper of the skies +whose mutterings came to us below. Or the scene changed again, and it +was as though elves of the zenith had brought their golden caskets +above the firmament, and there had burst them open, so that all the +jewels of the light rained upon sea and land, and burnt each other with +their own beauty as they fell; and the earth answered them back with +her shining face. One of the supreme moments of life, truly, to bathe +in this shower of multi-coloured splendour, to follow it in its golden +path, where rocks took shape, and snow-forms lived, and the seas danced +to its accompanying music, and one stood nearer to the great mysteries +while yet farther from the homes of man. + +Black watched the aurora as we watched it, but chiefly as it played +upon his ship, lying moored in the very centre of the outer basin. They +had made a great change in her since I had seen her but two days +before; for she was now given bulwarks of white canvas, and her funnel +was painted white, while covers hid away the bright points of her +deck-houses and her turrets. She had become a white ship; and her +transformation had been made with vast skill, so that I felt I should +not have known her had I met her in the Atlantic. From her position +away from the shaft of the mine, it was evident that she was ready to +weigh, and I was reminded grimly of her mission by seeing a streamer of +black at her mast-head instead of the Blue Peter. This time, too, there +was a faint haze above her funnel, as though coal was being burnt in +her furnaces; yet I had no wonder that I did not see steam coming from +her, for I knew that she was driven by gas, and was in many ways a ship +of mystery. + +We boarded her at a ladder amidships, for the most part of her +accommodation was contained in a towering deck erection round her +funnel. Here there were two stages of cabins with a wide gallery +running between them, and protruding so that it was directly above the +water. There was, indeed, a companion-way aft of this which led to the +cabin I had occupied when a prisoner in the ship, and I found at a +later time that the library of the vessel, with the store-rooms and a +number of private cabins, was built in the 'tween decks abaft the +funnel. Yet the great saloon I was to use during so many months, the +quarters which Black occupied, the doctor's room, the rooms for the +engineers, and for certain of the others who were privileged, were all +ranged amidships; and I learned that while there was a big fo'castle, +it was given over entirely to the niggers, with whom the white men +would not serve. These superior fellows, as they thought themselves, +had accommodation in the poop, where there was a big cabin with berths +all round it; yet with all this, the small part of the whole vessel +devoted to quarters was noteworthy, and was designed, I did not doubt, +for some purpose which I should learn presently. + +These things I did not ascertain, you may be sure, on first boarding +the ship. Although they left me to myself upon the high gallery whence +I could see all the life on the decks below, they were so busy with the +preparation for weighing anchor that no man spoke a word to me. The +hands themselves, the moment they were afloat, settled down to work +with surprising steadiness. Black upon the bridge now wore a smart +uniform with gold buttons and much show of lace; and the self-command +of the man, the perfect knowledge of all things nautical which he +displayed, and his all-absorbing love of his child, the ship, accounted +for much that I had not understood in him before. I found to my +amazement that Doctor Osbart acted not only as surgeon to the crew, but +also as second officer; "Four-Eyes" being first officer; and the bully, +"Roaring John," third. The coarse-mouthed Scotsman who assumed the +title of "meenister" was, they told me, as good a seaman as any of +them, and a wonderful gunner, so that he was in charge of the armament, +with a big staff of men at his back. Of the engineers I saw nothing on +first coming aboard; but later I heard the sound of pumping below, and +there came up to the bridge where Black and the others were, a little, +thin, wizened, and spectacled man, quite bald, very ragged and black, +yet with a head on him that could have stamped him "First-Class" in any +assembly of the learned. I thought at the first glance that he was a +German, and my surmise was confirmed by the doctor, who remembered me +at last, and said-- + +"Do you see that little fellow?--well, he's the genius of this ship. +He's deaf and dumb, and no man has ever heard a word from his lips; but +he designed our engines, and he runs them with his three sons. It's +almost pitiable to see the man's disregard for anything but that +infernal machinery. He never leaves it; it's meat and drink to him. If +we make money, he doesn't want it; if we're going for a spell ashore, +he won't come, but stays here poking about the wheels. He was the first +man in all Europe to see that gas would finally supplant steam for +maritime vessels; and Black gave him _carte blanche_ to carry out his +ideas on this ship. You may be surprised to hear it, but fore and aft +in those great cigar-shaped ends of ours we have nothing but gas--three +million feet, at a pressure of between two and three atmospheres. Why, +man, it's the idea of the century; for every four pounds of coal burnt +by an Atlantic liner, we don't burn a pound. We can steam for ten days +without lighting a fire; and all the coal we need to go round the world +will go in our bunkers. Save for that, and Karl Remey's genius, there +wouldn't be a man jack of us with a neck to call his own to-day. Now, +we snap our fingers at the best of them; there isn't a cruiser that can +live with the thirty knots we can show; and there isn't a +line-of-battle ship swimming that could get the better of us while our +engines are moving. It's a big claim you think, but wait until you see +us in action, then you'll know how much we owe to the little man in +rags, but who has one of the clearest brains that ever was put into +human being." + +I was silent under this revelation, for it came to me that, with all +the terrors of the great ship, there was also a scientific side, which +marked the presence of a mighty intellect. The doctor saw the +impression he had made upon me, and he said-- + +"To-morrow we will show you more; you shall meet the ragged man----" + +"Which is mysel'," said the Scotsman, who had joined us silently, +"mysel' that has'na a dud to my back. D'ye ken that when there's ony +distribution o' the gudes I get a' the female apparel; which is no +justice ava for a meenister, let alone a sea-faring man." + +"Never mind, Dick," said the doctor laughing, as I did; "we'll beg a +skirt for you the first time we say how-d'ye-do to a passenger +vessel----" + +"Hands, heave anchor!" roared Black at that moment; and our +conversation stopped suddenly at the cry. Then slowly, as the bell rang +out, the great engines began their work, and we swept out to the open +sea. Night had fallen, but the aurora still gave her changing light; +and as we felt the first oscillations of the rolling breakers, Black +took a long look behind him to his Arctic home. There before us was the +black, towering, indented coast of Greenland, the bluff headlands of +gneiss, the beacons of snow all crimson in the playing colours of the +mighty arc; and away beyond them, the vista of the eternal stillness, +and the plain of death. A long look it was that the man of iron cast +then upon his wild habitation; a look almost prophetic in its sadness, +as if he knew that he should look upon it no more. A great farewell of +an iron heart, and the breakers sang the "Vale!" as the ship sped +onward to her deadly work. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +TO THE LAND OF MAN. + + +We dined that night in the saloon upon the deck, a commodious place +lighted by electricity, and in every way luxuriously fitted. The walls +of it were panelled in white and gold, and were covered with curious +designs, old heroes fighting, old gods drawn by lions at their +chariots; Bacchantes revelling, Jason seeking the fleece in a golden +barque; Orestes fleeing the Furies. The long seats were covered in +leather of a deep crimson, and there was a small piano, with many other +appointments that were significant. The dinner itself was admirably +served, and was partaken of by the deaf-and-dumb engineer, by the +doctor, the Scotsman, and myself. We were waited on by a couple of +negroes; and when the meats were removed we went above to an +exquisitely-furnished little smoking-room, and there drank rich brown +coffee and enjoyed some very fine cigars. I was all ears then to learn, +if I could, what was the destination of the ship; and I found that +Black talked without reserve before me, knowing well that I could do +him no injury. He relied mostly on the doctor for advice, and discussed +everything with him in the best of tempers. + +"My plan is this," he said: "we're short of oil, and Karl here is +beginning to get uneasy. I shall knock over a couple of whalers in +these seas, and fill the tanks. Then, as they're looking for us in +mid-Atlantic, we'll get south of Madeira, and run against two or three +of the big ones making for Rio or Buenos Ayres. We shall pick up a good +bit of money; and it'll be a month before they get on our course that +way, for I mean to let 'em down light when it's not a case of saving +our own skin." + +The Scotsman gave a deep sigh at this, and said in a melancholy voice-- + +"Hoot, mon, the deid frichtened you." + +"You're a liar," continued Black quite quietly, and then continued: "As +Europe knows my game, it doesn't matter how often she hears of me. Let +her hear, and come agen me, and I'll show my teeth. What we're out for +this journey is money, specie, pieces in piles, and we'll get that on +the lay of Rio-bound ships better than in any waters. It'll be quick +work, one against the rest of 'em; but I built this ship to fight, and +fight she shall--you agree on that, doctor?" + +"Of course. The more fighting the men see the less trouble we shall +have with them." + +"That's what I say--give 'em work to do, and they'll sleep like dogs +when it's done; give 'em money and drink, and you've got hogs to drive. +Now, let me get through the winter, and I'll run south a spell in +hiding, and then make northward with ten thousand pounds a man when the +fall comes. But first we'll have a week in Paris, I reckon, and stretch +our legs amongst them as is most anxious to shake with us--what do you +say, Dick?" + +"Man," said the Scotsman deliberately, "if there's nae killing, I +misdoubt me o't a' thegither." + +"You're a fool," replied the skipper testily, "and if you don't go to +bed, I'll kick you there." + +The fellow rose at this, and coolly emptied half a tumbler of whisky; +but before he could leave "Four-Eyes" came off the bridge and said +laconically-- + +"Whaler on the port-bow." + +"Signal 'em to come to, and drop a shot," cried Black rising; and then +he called to the Scotsman and gave his orders-- + +"Stand by the gun!" and with that we all went out to the gallery, and +saw by the clear power of the moon a full-rigged ship not a mile from +the shore. She was homeward bound, and seemed by her build to be a +Dane. + +Upon our own deck there was already activity, some of the men getting +away the launch, and others putting empty barrels into it before they +swung it out over the sea. There was a method and quietness about it +all which showed long habit at the same practice; and when at last the +great gun before the funnel boomed out, the fine accuracy of the +shooting scarcely caused comment. The shot appeared to drop into the +water almost under the whaler's bob-stay, and sent up a cloud of foam +and spray, glistening in the moonlight; but the ship answered to it as +to a deadly summons; and the tide and wind setting off shore, she went +into the breeze easily, and lay to at the first demand. Then Black gave +his orders-- + +"You, John, go aboard and buy their oil up--I'm getting you notes from +my chest." + +At the word _buy_, the man John seemed astounded. + +"Oh, I reckon," he said, "we'll pay 'em hard cash with a clout on the +skull, cap'n; come right along, boys, and bring your shootin' irons. +Oh, I guess we'll pay 'em, money down, and men a-top of it." + +"You'll do nothing of the sort, you lubber!" roared Black; "but what +you take you'll pay for, d'ye hear me?--then shut your mouth up and go +aboard." + +John was not the only man who was struck by the skipper's whim. There +were mutterings on the deck below, and Dick, who had come from the +conning-tower, was bold enough to make remark. + +"It's a'most sinfu'," he said, "to be sae free wi' the siller; why man, +ye could verra weel buy me a hundred pairs o' breeks wi' the same, and +no be wanting it." + +But Black was watching the launch, now speeding in the moonlight +towards the rolling whaler. I watched it too, remembering how, not many +weeks before, I had stood on the deck of my own yacht, and awaited the +coming of the same craft with my heart in my mouth. Now the danger was +not mine, but I felt for the men who had to face it, since Black's talk +about purchase could scarcely soften the native ferocity of those who +served him; and I feared that the scene would end in bloodshed. + +Happily the surmise was quite incorrect. That which promised a tragedy +gave us but a comedy. We saw from the platform that our men were taken +aboard the ship, and we watched to see them hoist their barrels after +them. But they did not, making no sign of having the oil, although +there came shouts and sounds of altercation from the anchored vessel; +and we saw the flash of pistols, and dark objects presently in the sea. +To the surprise of us all, the launch returned after that; and when our +men came aboard, they presented a shocking spectacle. "Roaring John" +was covered from head to feet with a thick, black, oleaginous matter; +two of the others had their faces smeared in tar; the rest were like +drowned rats, and were chattering until their teeth clashed with the +cold. Nor could they for some time, what with their spluttering and +their anger, tell us what misfortune had overtaken them. + +"The darned empty skunks," gasped John at last--"they haven't got a +barrel aboard, not a barrel, I guess; and when I gave 'em play with my +tongue, they put me in the waste-tub--oh, I reckon, up to my eyes in +it----" + +"Do you mean to say," asked Black, "that they've took no whales?" + +"Except ourselves, yer honour," said a little Englishman, who was +cowering like a drowned rat, "which they throw'd overboard, like the +whales in the Scriptures, never a fish." + +"Then we've wasted our time!" cried the skipper, stamping his great +foot; "and you're lazy varmin to stop so long aboard parleying with +'em. I'm going on; you can settle your scores among you." + +He gave the order "Full steam ahead!" at which the third officer showed +the temper of a whipped beast. + +"You're going ahead leaving them swimming? Then darn me if I serve," +said he. "What? They pitch me in their dirty tub, and you laugh! By +thunder! I'll teach you." + +Captain Black watched his anger with a pitying leer; but "Dick the +Ranter" and "Four-Eyes" were overcome with laughter, and roared until +the ship echoed. + +"Houly Moses, it's a fine picture ye are, my beauty," said the mate; +"and if oi'll be scraping ye down with a shovel, it's yer own fayther +wouldn't know ye, so clane ye'll be." + +"To the which I would add, man," said Dick, "that if ye'd let yersel' +drip into the lubricators you'd be worth siller to us; not to say +onything o' the discoorse I micht verra weel preach on Satan from yer +present appearance." + +The banter turned the man from his more meaning purpose. He stood +gibbering for a moment, while the crowd pressed on him with gibes and +jeers; but he had his revenge, after all, for there was a tar-bucket at +the foot of the upper-deck ladder, and with this he armed himself. The +brush was well-charged and dripping, the tar yet liquid, the Scotsman's +face was all-inviting. With a fierce shout the enraged man went to the +attack, and painted his lantern-jawed opponent merrily. In less time +than I can tell of it, the Ranter dripped from head to foot; the black +stuff poured from his hemp-like hair, from his ears; it oozed down his +neck, it even ran through to his boots; and when his enemy could no +longer wield the brush from fatigue, he emptied the bucket on the man's +head as a last triumphant vindication of his strength. + +"Now we're a pair!" he said, pausing for breath, and surveying his work +as an artist surveys a finished picture; "and I guess you ain't going +to take the biscuit in this beauty show." + +"Man, I could hae weel dispensed wi't," spluttered the Scotsman; "but I +thank ye for dyeing my breeks. They've been wanting colour since New +Year." + +The laughter had not yet died away when the men went to their cabins, +and we posted the watches before turning in. We were at that time in +Lat. 65° N. at a rough calculation, and we passed the Danish settlement +of Godthaab early on the next morning, though so far out at sea that I +could make nothing of it; while we lost the coast of Greenland +altogether before the day had passed, a hazy shower of dust-like snow +greeting our coming to the Atlantic and to a perceptibly warmer +latitude. During this day, and until we sighted the Shetlands, the +small screw tender kept our course, and we exchanged signals with her +every morning, her purpose being explained to me by "Four-Eyes," on the +fourth morning out, in his child-like phraseology. + +"Faith, she's Liverpool bound, and we'll pick her up again south of the +Scilly when she's tidings of ships out. Bedad, sir, there's fine times +coming; what wi' the say full av big ones, and we one agen 'em, I'm +like to believe as we'll step ashore with our throats cut, ivery man av +us, and on the shore av me own counthry, which sorra a day I left for +this job." + +"Why did you leave it, 'Four-Eyes'?" I asked cheerfully; and he said-- + +"'Twas this way, sorr, but it's a long yarn, and ye don't nade more +than the p'ints av it. When I was priest's bhoy in Tipperary, me and +Mike Sullivan had atween us what you gents call a vendeny, and coming +out av church--'twas Sunday mornin' five year ago--I met Mike, an' he +puts coals av fire on me head. 'Begorra,' says I, 'it's lucky for ye +I'm in the grace, but plase God I'll not be to-morrow;' but the +spalpeen went to Cork next day, and it wasn't till a year that I run +agen him, prepared to do my dooty." + +"And you did it, I'll be bound!" + +"Sorra a bit; I just fell in with the divil, being an aisy sort av +sowl, and he made me as drunk as a gentleman--that's why I'm here, +sorr. He shipped me aboard and got five pounds from me, me that meant +to thread on his head, the dirty skunk--but it's the way av the world, +sorr; help a man that's down, an' the moment the spalpeen's on his fate +he'll dance on ye." + +"Which is verra true," said Dick the Ranter, who after two days had +still tar upon him, and was wrapped in a woman's shawl; "but will ye +postpone your thirdly, and go below to the doctor, who's wanting ye to +see the gear?" + +They had not yet shown me the engines of the nameless ship, and I +welcomed the opportunity, grown weary with watching the dull green of +the sea, and the monotony of the sky-laden clouds. Dick led the way +quickly from the gallery to the lower deck, and thence down an iron +ladder to the great engine-room. Here truly was a wondrous sight; the +sight of three sets of the most powerful engines that have yet been +placed in a battle-ship. Each of them had four cylinders, eighty inches +in diameter; and all were driven by the hydrogen from the huge +gasometers which our holds formed. The gas itself was made by passing +the steam from a comparatively small boiler through a coke and +anthracite furnace, the coke combining with the oxygen and leaving pure +hydrogen. The huge cylinders drove upwards with a double crank to carry +their motion to the screw; and I found that the difficulty of starting +and reversing was overcome by an intermediate bevel-wheel gearing and +friction clutch, which could throw the motion off the shaft, and allow +that instantaneous going astern otherwise impossible in a gas-engine. +That day there was a huge fire in the furnace, emitting terrific heat +and crackling sparks, for the men were making gas, in view of a run or +two off the coast of Ireland. It was more pleasant than I can tell you +to watch the entire absorption of the gifted engineer, in the maze of +machinery which surrounded him, to paint the paternal pathos of his +look as he watched every motion and eyed every bearing. The maker of an +empire certainly he was; the man of mind who, for the time, had given +these ruffians the kingship of the sea; had made mockery of the +opposition of the nations; and, I could not help but reflect as I +turned away sick at heart at the sight of so much power, had caused me +to be a prisoner, perhaps for life, in that citadel of metal. Yet, he +was a genius; and to the end of my days I shall think, as I thought +then, of the superb gifts so wasted in their channel, of the masterful +intellect devoted only to pillage and plunder. + +In such a frame of mind I left the engine-room and mounted to the upper +deck, to hear the cry, "Land on the port-bow." + +It was the coast of Ireland, they told me; and I know not if I have +ever had a greater pleasure than that distant view of my own country +gave to me. For it was as though I had passed from a dead land to the +land of man, from the silent ways of night to the first breaking of the +God-sent day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE ROBBERY OF THE "BELLONIC." + + +Our view of the distant shore of Ireland was a fleeting one; and we +passed thence almost immediately to the open sea, steaming due S.W. for +some hours, but at no great pace. It was not until daybreak on the +following morning that we reached the track of ocean-bound ships; but +our voyage was altogether in favour of Black, for the sun had scarce +risen when Doctor Osbart got me from my bed to see what he called my +first introduction to business. + +"There's the Red Cross Line's _Bellonic_ not a mile off on the +starboard quarter," cried he exultingly, "and we're going to clear her. +Come out, man, and get the finest breakfast you ever tasted." + +I dressed anyhow, almost as excited as he was, and stepped on to the +gallery, to see a rolling waste of dull-green breakers, and a sky +washed with broken thunder-clouds, through which the risen sun was +struggling. The wind was keen from the south, and drove a fine rain, +which lashed the face as with a whip; while much spray broke upon us +and there was moaning of the cowls and the shrouds, and many signs of +more wind to come. These atmospheric difficulties troubled no one, +however, for all eyes were turned to the north, where, now almost +abreast of us, at a distance of half a mile or less, there was the long +and magnificent hull of the great liner. She was then in the full +sunlight, a fine spectacle; and I could see her bare decks, trodden +only by the watch, while a solitary officer paced the bridge. The +contrast between her sleepy inactivity and our keen alertness was very +marked, for all hands trod our decks, and there was a restlessness and +an evident ferocity amongst the little group upon the bridge which +marked a purpose brooking no delay. + +I had begun to ask myself when the work would be done, for the liner +went at a tremendous pace and was rapidly leaving us, when I got my +answer with the crash of the great gun forward, and the sight of a +shell ploughing the sea fifty yards ahead of the _Bellonic_. The cries +of "Well shot, Swearing Dick!" had not died away before the effect of +the call was seen upon the great vessel, whose decks were soon dotted +with black objects, while three more men appeared on the bridge, and +the signal flags ran up, and were answered by us. "Four-Eyes" was at +our mast, and interpreted the message to Black, who followed all that +was done without betrayal of emotion, but only with the savage +anticipation of the predatory instinct. + +"Signal to 'em to lie to, if they don't want to go to hell," he said +between his teeth, and "Four-Eyes" answered: + +"Ay, ay, sorr"; then, as the signal came, "He sez uz he'll say us at +blazes afore he bates a knot." + +"Give it him for'ard then, and teach him," roared Black; and the shot +that answered his command struck the quivering hull not twenty feet +from the windlass, and you could see the splinters carried fifty feet +in the air, while the shrieks of terror came over the sea to us, and +were piercing then. + +"What's he say now?" asked the Captain, cooler than even at the +beginning of the work. + +"Says as he'll make it warm for ye at New York, and if ye come aboard, +it's on yer own head, an' ye swing fer it--he'll not stop till ye +disable him." + +"The thick-headed vermin," hissed Black; "give him another, amidships +this time." + +The second shot made us reel and shiver as she left us; but there was +no hit, for we rolled much, and saw the shell burst on the far side of +the liner. At this, and at the failure of a second attempt, the Captain +lost patience, and gave the order-- + +"Full steam ahead, and clear the machine-guns." + +It was almost superb, I admit now, and the excitement of it was then +upon me, to feel our great ship quiver at the touch of the bell, and +bound forward with waves of foam and spray running from her decks, and +each plate on her straining as though the mighty force of the engines +below would rend it from its fellows. + +I had not before known the limit of her speed, or what she could do +when driven as she then was; and the truth amazed me, while it filled +me with a strange exultation. For we, who had dallied heretofore behind +the other, sped beyond her as an express train passes the droning +goods; and coming about, in a great circle, we descended upon her as a +goshawk upon the quarry. + +The machine-guns upon our decks were already cleared; the men were +stripped, ready for the fray, as tigers for their food. Indeed, before +I quite understood the purport of the manoeuvre, we were passing the +_Bellonic_ at a distance of not more than fifty yards; and at that +moment it seemed as if all the furies of hell were let loose upon our +decks. + +Screaming like wild beasts, the men turned the handles of the Maxim +guns; the balls rained upon the defenceless liner as hail upon a +sheepfold. I heard fierce curses and dull groans; I saw strong men reel +and fall their length as death took them; the breeze bore to me the +wailing of women and the sobs of children. + +But we had done the foul work in the one passage, for the flag dropped +at once upon the liner, and the signal was made to us to come aboard. +We had gained a horrid triumph, if such you could call the murders, and +it remained but to divide the spoil. + +"Lower away the launch, you John!" cried Black, "and take every +shilling you can lay hands on. You hear me?--and hang up that skipper +for a thin-skinned fool." + +"By thunder, I'm yours all along," replied "Roaring John "; and then he +sang out, "Hands for the launch!" + +"You'd better go as cox," said Osbart to me, "you'll be amused"; and +suggested it to Black, who turned upon me a look almost of hate. + +"Yes, he shall go," he cried; "if we swing, he shall swing, the +preaching lubber! Let him get aboard, or I'll kick him there." + +I had loathing at the thought of it, but might as well have put a +pistol to my head there and then as to have refused. They bundled me +into the launch, and I sat shivering at the prospect of the terrors on +the deck; but they would not leave me when they came alongside, and +"Roaring John" himself drove me up the ladder which was put out +amidships. Seven of us at last stood on the bridge, and were face to +face with the captain of the _Bellonic_, and four of his officers. + +I have said that I feared the terrors of that deck, but the reality +surpassed the conception. + +It was a very babel of sounds, of groans, of weeping. The ship's +surgeon himself seemed paralysed before the sight of the carnage around +him. You looked along the length of the vessel, and it was as though +you looked upon the scene of a bloody battle, for there were dead +almost in heaps, and wounded screaming, and streams of blood, and +fragments of wreckage as though the ship had been under fire for many +hours. But above all this terror, I know of nothing which struck me +with such fearful sorrow as the sight of a fair young English girl +lying by the door of the great saloon, her arms extended, her nut-brown +hair soaked in her own blood, while a man knelt over her, and you could +see his tears falling upon her dead face, and his ravings were +incoherent and almost those of a maniac. At the sight of us he jumped +to his feet, and shrieked "Murderers!" so continuously that the echo of +his cry rang in my ears that day and for many days. + +Meanwhile another scene was passing on the bridge between the man John +and the captain of the _Bellonic_. + +"What do you want aboard of my ship?" cried the latter; and "Roaring +John" answered him with a mocking leer: + +"We've come aboard to hang you, to begin on!" + +The men with the young officer cocked their revolvers at this, and I +said in a mad frenzy which would not brook silence-- + +"You scoundrel, if you touch another soul here I'll shoot you myself!" +for I had my revolver on me. "Do you make a business of killing +children?" I cried again, and pointed to the dead body of the +girl-child. + +I don't know who was more surprised, the captain of the _Bellonic_, +listening, or the man John. + +"You cub," he cried; "if you talk to me I'll skin you alive!" But I +said quickly-- + +"Gentlemen, these men want every shilling on this ship. Give it them +now and save your lives, for you have no alternative. If you give the +money up, you have my word that they won't touch you." + +"If there's a God above," exclaimed the young captain, "they shall pay +for this day's work with their lives. I hand my specie over under this +protest; but don't deceive yourselves--half the war-ships in Europe +shall follow you within a week." + +He turned away, and presently the ruffians with me had lowered money to +the value of a hundred and fifty thousand pounds into their launch. The +third mate seemed then somewhat cowed by my interference, and though he +went round the ship and cried "Bail up!" every time he met a passenger, +he did not touch one of them. I remained on the bridge a silent +spectator of it all; and when at last we put off again, and the launch +was full of the jewels and the money, it seemed that I had passed +through a hideous dream. + +At the time, I shrank from the ruffians in the boat as from men who +were savage fiends and a hundred times assassins; and their brutality +of speech and threat fell upon ears that would not hear; nor did their +pretence of doing me violence then and there move me one jot. I +maintained a stubborn indifference, my pistol still in my hand, my +teeth shut in the defiance of them, until we reached the great craft, +and joined Black upon the gallery. There, the man John explained that I +had stood between him and his purpose of hanging the skipper of the +_Bellonic_; indeed, with such warmth and anger, that I thought my end +had come upon the spot. + +"You barking cub," said Black, more quietly than usual, but none the +less to be feared for that, "what d'ye mean by interfering with my men +and my orders?" + +"To save you from yourself," I answered, looking him full in the face; +"you've killed children on that ship, if that's news to you!" + +He had a spy-glass in his hand, and he raised it as though to strike +me; but I continued to look him full in the face, and he remained +swaying his body slightly, his arm still above his head. Then, suddenly +it dropped at his side, as though paralysed; and he turned away from +me. + +"Get to your kennel," said he; "and don't leave it till I fetch you." + +I was glad to escape, if only for a few moments, from the danger of it; +and I went to my cabin in the upper gallery, but not before the angry +shouts of the men convinced me that Black had risked much on my behalf +for the second time. Even when my own door was locked upon me, such +cries as "You're afeared of him!" "Is he going to boss you, skipper!" +and other jeers were audible to me; and the uproar lasted for some +time, accompanied at last by the sound of blows, and cries as of men +whipped. But no one came to me except the negro who brought my meals; +and whatever danger there was of a mutiny was averted, as Dr. Osbart +told me later in the day, by the appearance of a second passenger ship +on the horizon. The report of the single shot, by which we brought her +to, shook me in my berth, where I lay thinking of the horrid scenes of +the morning; and for some time I scarce dared look from my window, lest +they should be repeated. Only after a long silence did I open the port, +and see a majestic vessel, not a hundred yards from us, with our launch +at her side; and I could make out the forms of our men walking amongst +the passengers and robbing them. + +The details of this attack Osbart told me with keen relish when he came +in to smoke a cigar with me after my dinner. + +"We stripped them without killing a man," said he with hilarious +satisfaction, "and took fifty thousand. Black's pleased; for, to tell +you the truth, there's an ugly spirit aboard amongst the men, and you +upset them altogether this morning. I never saw another who could have +said what you said to the skipper and have lived; but you mustn't show +on deck for a day or two--they'd murder you to pass time; and, as it +is, we've had to post a man at your door, or I doubt if you'd save your +skin in here." + +"You seem to be making a paying cruise," I said sarcastically. + +"Yes; and it's funny, for the sea is swarming with war vermin. Don't +you feel the pace we're going now? I expect we're showing our heels to +one of them, and shall show them a good many times between this and the +first of next month, though Karl below is grumbling about the oil +again: you want gallons of it with gas-engines. If we don't pick up the +tender to-morrow, it's a bad look-out." + +He did not come to me again for three days, but I saw from my port +early the following morning that the tender was with us; and I +concluded regretfully that the difficulty of the oil was overcome. On +the second day after the robbery of the _Bellonic_, we stopped a third +ship; though I saw nothing of it, as all the fighting was on the +starboard side, and my cabin was to port; but there was a sharp fight +on the third morning with a Cape-bound vessel, and again towards the +afternoon with one of the North-German Lloyd boats homeward bound to +Bremerhaven: as before, Osbart, coming to my rooms, delighted to give +me the details of the captures; and that night he was unusually +frivolous. + +"Poor business to-day," he said, throwing himself into a lounge and +lighting a cigar; "not an ounce of specie, and no jewellery to +mention--and there was no killing, so don't put on that face of yours. +Why, my dear boy, it was a perfect farce! I, myself, argued for twenty +minutes with an old woman, who sat mewing like a cat on her box, and +when I got her off it, thinking she had a thousand in diamonds, it was +full of baby linen. And I'll tell you a better thing. An old Dutch Jew +threw a two-penny-halfpenny bundle into the sea, and then he was so +sick with himself that he went in after it. We hooked him out by the +breeches with a boat-hook; but I believe he wished himself dead with +the bundle. As for 'Four-Eyes,' he took what he thought was five +hundred in notes from a card-player, but they're bad, dear boy, +bad--every one of them." + +"You don't seem very depressed about it," said I. + +"Don't I?" replied he. "Well, things aren't all they should be. The +tender we sent to Liverpool came out in a hurry, as they began to watch +her, with a mere bucketful of oil aboard. We must get oil from +somewhere or we shall all swing as sure as we're doing twenty-eight +knots now. That's what I've come to tell you about to-night. The +skipper can't stand it any more, and is going to run to England +himself, and see what those mighty smart naval people of yours are +doing. He'll take you with him, for it would be as good as signing your +death-warrant to leave you here. Don't count upon it, though, for we +shan't let you out of our sight, and you've got to swear a pretty big +oath not to give us away before you set foot on the tender." + +I was overjoyed at his saying, but I feared to let him see it, and +asked with nonchalance--"How do you pick up this ship again?" + +"Oh, we fix a position," he replied, "and they'll keep it every day at +mid-day after ten days. Meanwhile we're running north out of the track +of the cruisers." + +"I can't quite understand why the skipper takes me with him this time," +I remarked, endeavouring to draw him, but he answered-- + +"No more can I; between ourselves, he's been half daft ever since you +came aboard. Do you know that the man's more fond of you, in his way, +than of any living thing? I know it. I'm the only man on the ship who +does know it, and why it is I can't tell you. I didn't think he was +capable of a human feeling." + +"It's very good of him to waste so much affection on me," said I, +meaning to be derisive, but Osbart checked me. + +"Don't laugh," he exclaimed; "you owe your life to him alone." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +I GO TO LONDON. + + +It was a week after this conversation that Captain Black, Dr. Osbart, +and myself entered the 7.30 train from Ramsgate; leaving in the outer +harbour of that still quaint town the screw tender, now disguised, with +the man John and eight of the most turbulent among the crew of the +nameless ship aboard her. We had come without hindrance through the +crowded waters of the Channel; and, styling ourselves a Norwegian +whaler in ballast, had gained the difficult harbour without arousing +suspicion. At the first, Black had thought to leave me on the steamer; +but I, who had an insatiable longing to set foot ashore again, gave him +solemn word that I would not seek to quit him, that I would not in any +way betray him while the truce lasted, and that I would return, +wherever I was, to the tender in the harbour at the end of a week. He +concluded the conditions with the simple words, "I'm a big fool, but +you can come." The others opened their eyes and tapped their foreheads, +for they believed him to be a maniac. + +I will not pause to tell you my own thoughts when I set foot on shore +again. So great was my amazement at it all that I went some time +without collecting myself to see that the invisible hand of God, which +had led me all through, was leading me again--even, as I hoped, to the +consummation of it. Fearless in this new thought, I sat in the corner +of the first-class carriage reserved for us in such a state of +exultation and of hope as few men can have known. Before me were the +downs of Kent, the open face of an English landscape, the orchard-bound +homesteads, the verdurous pasture-land. The hedges were bedecked with +their late autumn flowers; the teams and smock-frocked men were going +home to the gabled houses, and the warm-lit cottages. There was odour +of the harvest yet in the air and the distant chiming of bells from the +Gothic tower which rose above the hamlet and the knoll of green. Each +little town we passed cast from its windows bright rays upon the +tremulous twilight; a great bar of fiery redness cut the lower black of +the coming night, showing me in shadow the rising of land towards +Chatham and towards London. Yet it was the peace of the scene that came +to me with the greatest power; the many tokens of home--above all, the +thought "I am in England." I could not help but carry my memory at this +time to the last occasion when, with Roderick and Mary, I had come to +London in the very hope of getting tidings of this man who now sat with +me in a Kent-Coast express. Where were the others then--the girl who +had been as a sister to me, and the man as a brother; how far had the +fear of my death made sad that childish face which had known such +little sadness in its sixteen years of life? It was odd to think that +Mary might be then returned to London, and that I, whom perchance she +thought dead, was near to her, and yet, in a sense, more cut off from +her than in the grave itself. And Black, whom all the Governments were +pursuing so lustily, was at my side smoking a great cigar, apparently +oblivious to all sense of danger or of hazard. Life has many contrasts, +but it never had a stranger than that, I feel sure. + +It was after ten o'clock that the ride terminated; and, following Black +and Osbart into a closed carriage that awaited us, I was driven from +the station. I should say that we drove for fifteen minutes or more, +staying at last before a house in a narrow _cul-de-sac_, where we went +upstairs to a suite of rooms reserved for us. After an excellent supper +Osbart left us, but Black took me to a double-bedded room, saying that +he could not let me out of his sight, and that I must share the +sleeping-place with him. + +"Boy, if you make one attempt to play me false," said he, "I'll blow +your brains out, though you were my own son." + +Then he went to bed at once in a morose and foreboding mood, and I +followed his example quickly. + +On the next morning Black quitted the house at an early hour after +breakfast, but he locked the door of the room upon Osbart and myself. +"Not," as he said, "because I can't take your word, but because I don't +want anyone fooling in here." He returned in the evening, at seven +o'clock, and found me as he had left me, reading a later novel of Paul +Bourget's; for Osbart had slept all the afternoon, and was always +complaining when on shore. + +The view from the window upon a balcony of lead and the back windows of +near houses was not inviting, and my bond had held me back from all +idle thoughts of eluding him. Life in London under such conditions was +little preferable to life on the ship, and I had no heart to hear +Black's stories of things doing in town; or to examine the many +purchases of miniatures and quaint old jewels, which he had laid on the +dinner-table. + +The day following was Thursday. I shall always remember it, for I +regard it as one of the most memorable days in my life. Black went out +as usual early in the morning; his object being, as on the preceding +day, to find out, if he could, what the Admiralty were doing in view of +the robbery of the _Bellonic_; and Osbart, refusing to get up to +breakfast, lay in bed reading the morning papers. We had been left thus +about the space of an hour when there came a telegram for the doctor, +who read it with a fierce exclamation. + +"The Captain wants me urgently," said he, "and there's nothing to do +but to leave you here. We are trusting absolutely to you, now; but be +quite sure, if you make half a move to betray us, it will be the last +you will ever make. I may return here in ten minutes. You must put up +with the indignity of being locked in; and, dear boy, don't trouble +yourself to look for sympathy in this place, for the man who owns this +house is one of us, and, if you call out, you'll get a rap on the head +pretty quickly." + +He went out jauntily, and I watched him, little thinking that I should +never see him again. When he was gone I sat in the great armchair, +pulling it to the window, and taking up my book. The sensation of being +alone in the centre of London, and unable by my oath to make the +slightest attempt to help myself, was most curious; yet with it all I +could not but think that I had touched the culminating point, and was +near to the ending of it for good or for ill. From the window of my +room I could hear the hum of town, the rumbling of 'buses, and the +subdued roar of London awake. I could even see people in the houses at +the other side of the leads, and it occurred to me, What if I open that +casement and call for help? I had given a pledge, it is true; but +should a pledge bind under such conditions? The sanctity of an oath is +a fine thing for theological subtlety. I had no such subtlety. I knew +that the argument in favour of wrong is pleasing to the mental palate; +and I put it from me, believing that the breaking of my bond would put +me upon the immoral plane of the men to whom it had been given. + +I was in the very throes of such a mental struggle when the strange +event of the day happened. I chanced to look up from the book I had +been trying to read, and I saw a remarkable object upon the leads +outside my window. It was the figure of a man with a collapsible neck, +a wonderful neck, which expanded appallingly, and again was withdrawn +into a narrow and herring-like chest. The fellow might have been thirty +years of age; he might have been fifty; there was no hair on his face, +no colour in his hollow cheeks; only a nervous movement of the +bony-fingers, and that awful craning of the collapsible neck. I saw in +a moment that he was looking into my room; and presently, when he had +given me innumerable nods and winks, he took a knife from his pocket, +and opened the catch, stepping into the chamber with the nimble foot of +a goat upon a crag-path. Then he drew a chair up to mine, and, making +more signs and inexplicable motions of the eye, he slapped me upon the +knee, and said-- + +"In the name of the law!" + +This was uttered with such ridiculous levity that I laughed at him. + +"Yes," he went on, unmoved, "I take you by surprise; but business, Mr. +Mark Strong," and he became very serious, while his neck went out like +a yard-measure and he cast a quick glance round the room. + +"Business," he said, when he had satisfied himself that we were alone, +"and in two words. In the first place I have wired to your friend, Mr. +Roderick Stewart, and I expect him from Portsmouth in a couple of +hours; in the second, your other friend, the doctor, is under lock and +key, on the trifling charge of murder in the Midlands, to begin with. +When we have Captain Black, the little party will be complete." + +I looked at him, voiceless from the surprise of it. The magical neck +was absorbed in the chest again, and he went on-- + +"I needn't tell you who I am; but there's my card. We have six men in +the street outside, and another half dozen watching the leads here. You +will be sensible enough to follow my instructions absolutely. Black, we +know, leaves the country to-night in his steamer--yesterday at +Ramsgate; to-day we do not know where. The probability is that he will +come to fetch you at seven o'clock--I have frightened it all out of the +people down-stairs--if he does, you will go with him. Otherwise, he's +pretty sure to send someone for you, and, as you at the moment are our +sole link between that unmitigated scoundrel and his arrest, I ask you +to risk one step more, and return at any rate as far as the coast, that +we may follow him for the last time. You'll do that for us?" + +I looked at his card, whereon was the inscription, "Detective-Inspector +King, Scotland Yard"; and I said at once-- + +"I shall not only go to the coast, but to his tender, for I've given my +word. What you may do in the meantime is not my affair; but----" + +"Yes," he said eagerly, craning his neck again, "'for God's sake keep +your eye on me,' that's what you were going to say. Well, we shall do +it. We owe it to you that we've got any clue to the man, and you're not +likely to lose anything from the Government by what you've done." + +"I suppose he's made a sensation?" I asked, in simplicity, and he +looked as a man who has yesterday's news. + +"Sensation! There's been no such stir since the French war. There isn't +another subject talked of in any house in Europe--but, read that; and +whatever you do, don't make a sign until we give you the cue. It's not +safe for me to stay here; he may return any minute. I wish you luck of +it; and it's ten thousand in my pocket, any way!" + +Detective-Inspector King went as he had come, craning his neck and +passing noiselessly over the leads; but he left me a newspaper, wherein +there was column after column concerning the robbery of the _Bellonic_, +and a dish worthy of all journalistic sensation-mongering. I read this +with avidity; with sharp appetite for the extraordinary hope which had +come so curiously into my life. At last, the police were on the trail +of Captain Black; yet I saw at once that, lacking my help, he would +elude them. It was strange that, after all, I, who had seemed to fail +so hopelessly in my enterprise, should at last bring this giant in +crime to justice. For, if he had not burdened himself with me, he would +then have left in the tender, and, once on the nameless ship, would +have defied the world. But now they watched him; and from the solitude +of my imprisonment I seemed to be lifted in a moment to a joyous state +of expectation and excitement. + +It was then about three o'clock in the afternoon. I heard the hour from +a neighbouring church; and I recalled the detective's words, "I have +telegraphed for your friend, Roderick." If his anticipations were +correct, I should see the one man I had the greatest love for within an +hour. Yet, on recollection, I would have had it otherwise. If once I +looked on Mary's face again, I knew that the task would be almost +beyond my strength; and as it happened, it was well I had not this +burden to bear in the last hours of the great struggle. For four +o'clock struck, and five, and no one came; and it was half-past six +when at last a man unlocked the door of my room and entered. He was one +of Black's negroes. + +"Sar will come quick," said he, "and leave his luggage. The master +waits." + +He gave me no time for any explanations, but took me by the arm, and, +passing from the house by a back door, he went some way down a narrow +street, and turned into Piccadilly. There a cab waited for us, and we +drove away, but not before one, who stood on the pavement, had made a +slight signal to me, and called another cab. + +In him I recognised Detective-Inspector King, and I knew that we were +followed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE SHADOW ON THE SEA. + + +We drove rapidly, passing the Criterion, so into the Strand, and along +the Thames Embankment. Thence, we went through Queen Victoria Street, +past the Mansion House, and to Fenchurch Street Station, where we took +a train for Tilbury. + +The journey was accomplished in something under an hour; and when we +alighted and got upon the bank of the river, I saw a steam-launch with +the man John in the bows of her. I thought it strange that there was no +sign of any watchers at this place; but I entered the launch without a +word, and we started immediately, going at a great pace towards +Sheerness; and reached the Nore after some buffet with the seas in the +open. At this point we sighted the tender, and went aboard her, while +they hauled up the launch, when we made full speed towards the North +Foreland. + +It was then quite dark, with a stiff breeze blowing right abaft. The +night, a moonless and very black one, favoured us altogether for the +run which, I did not doubt, we had to make against some Government +vessel that would follow us. But I found to my surprise that the men on +the ship knew nothing of the dangerous position in which they were, and +worked with a calm disregard to the blackness of the night, and to the +hazard of the moment. Black I did not meet, for they put me into a +cabin aft, of which I was the sole occupant; and, being ordered by the +man John, who was half-drunk and very threatening, to get below, I +turned in shortly after coming aboard, and lay down to reckon with the +strange probabilities of the hour. + +One thing was very evident. Black had made a colossal mistake, from his +point of view, in setting foot in England; but the crowning blunder of +his life was that fatal act of folly by which he had sought to shield +me from the men. How long the Government had been watching for him, or +for tidings of me, I could not tell, but it must have been since +Roderick had reached New York, and had told all he knew of the ship of +mystery and of her owner. + +Now the object of letting Black reach his vessel again was as clear as +daylight; it was not so much the man as his ship which they wished to +take, and, by following him to the Atlantic, they were giving him rope +to hang himself. + +But were we followed? I had seen nothing to lead me to that conclusion +as I came down the Thames; and now, favoured by an intensely dark +night, we promised, if nothing should intervene, to gain the Atlantic +in two days, and to be aboard that strange citadel which was our +stronghold against the nations. + +This thought troubled me very much, so much that sleep was out of the +question, and I went above again, undeterred by the probability of a +difference with the men. The night was somewhat clearer when I reached +the poop, and I could make out the fine flood of light that came from +the North Foreland; while it was evident that we had taken the outer +passage and should pass on the French side of the Goodwins. There were +no men aft as I took my stand by the second wheel, but I heard the bawl +of the watch forward, and a man who wore oilskins was pacing the +bridge. I was able, therefore, to get a good notion of all things about +us; and when the moon showed later, the Channel seemed full of ships. +Away towards the Foreland I made out a fleet of French luggers standing +in close to shore; there were two or three colliers returning to the +Thames on our port-bow, and some English smacks lying-to right ahead of +us, the moon showing them brightly in a lake of light, their men busy +at the nets, or huddled at the tiller as the smacks rolled to a choppy +sea. But there was no sign of any war-ship pursuing; no indication +whatever that the tender, then steaming at thirteen knots towards +Dover, was watched or observed by any living being. + +I had just satisfied myself of this, and had become depressed +accordingly, when I heard a step behind me. I turned round quickly, to +find that the man John had come up to the poop. He was in his oilskins, +for there was some sea shipped for'ard, and he greeted me with a savage +ferocity which was meant to be pleasant. + +"Keeping a watch on your own hook, my fine gentleman, eh?" said he; +"and after my orders for you to be abed--that's pretty discipline, I +reckon." + +I made no sort of answer, but turned my back on him, and continued to +watch the twinkling lights of Deal. This appeared to irritate him, for +he put his hand on my shoulder roughly, and hissed savagely-- + +"Oh, I guess; you've got your fine coat, ain't you, and your pretty +airs! Darn me if I don't take you down a peg, skipper or no skipper!" + +His great hand was almost on my throat, and he shook me with fearful +grip, so that I hit him with my right hand just below his heart, and +bent him double like a reed. His terrible gasps for breath were so +alarming that I thought at first he would never recover his wind; but +when he did he drew his knife, and raised his arm to take aim at my +throat. It is probable that my life had been ended there and then had +not another watched the scene and suddenly clutched the extended wrist. +Captain Black had come to us with noiseless step; and he gave me then +my first knowledge of his prodigious physical strength, for he held +John's arm as in a vice, and, giving the ruffian's wrist a peculiar +turn, he sent the knife flying in the air, and it stuck quivering in +the deck twenty feet from where we stood. + +"You long-jawed bully, what d'ye mean by that?" cried the skipper, +white with anger; and then he twisted the fellow's arm until I thought +he would have broken it. Nor did he let him go until he had kicked him +the length of the poop, and tumbled him, torn and bleeding, upon the +main hatch below. + +"Lay your finger on the boy again, and I'll give you six dozen," he +said quietly; and then he came to my side, and he stood for a long +while leaning on the bulwarks and gazing over towards the receding +shore. He spoke to me at last, but in a more gentle tone than I had +ever heard from him--indeed, there was almost kindliness in his voice. + +"Do you make out anything of a big ship yonder?" he asked, pointing +almost abaft. + +"I see nothing but the hull of a collier?" said I. + +"Then it's my sight that's plaguing me again," and he continued to look +as though he had some great purpose in satisfying himself, while from +the fo'castle there came shouts of laughter and singing. When he heard +this he spoke again, but almost to himself. + +"Shout away, you scum," he muttered; "shout while you can. It'll be a +different tune to-morrow." + +I was leaning then on the bulwarks almost at his side, and presently he +addressed himself directly to me, and earnestly. + +"We had a narrow shave to-night. It's put me out to leave the doctor, +for he was the best of them--one of the only men that I could reckon +on. If it hadn't been for him and the Irishman, this lot would have +swung long ago--maybe they'll swing now. The hounds have got the scent; +and, God knows, they will follow it! It's lucky for some of them that I +had twenty pairs of eyes open for me in London, and knew the +Government's game in time to get this tender out of Ramsgate; but you +mark me, boy, there's trouble coming, and thick. I've gone out without +a gallon of oil again, and by-and-by we're going to run for our necks, +every man of us." + +"What makes you think that?" I asked. + +"What makes me think that?--why, my senses. They'll follow us from some +port here, as sure as the wind's rising; maybe they'll let us get +aboard the ship, and then that'll be the beginning of it. But if we +only hold out with the oil, then let 'em take care of themselves----" + +"And if not?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and was silent; but anon he asked again what +I thought of a long, rakish-looking steamer lying some miles away on +the starboard quarter, and when I had satisfied him he said-- + +"Come downstairs and get some wine into you, boy"; and I went below to +his small and not very elegant cabin, where he put champagne and +glasses on the table. + +"Let's drink against the thirst we'll have to-morrow," cried he, +getting quite jovial, and pouring the Pommery down his throat as though +it had been beer. "This is an occasion such as we shan't often +know--the old ship against Europe, and one man against the lot of them! +Why, lad, if it wasn't for the thought of the oil, I'd get up and +dance. The lubbers could no more lay a finger on me, given fair fight, +than they could touch the moon. You see, it's just the oil that Karl's +feared all along; drive by gas, and you want twenty times the grease in +your cylinders that you'll ever need in a steam-ship. If there hadn't +been that break-up north, we'd never have been in this hole; but that's +one of the risks of a game like this, and I'll play my hand out." + +He went on to talk of many other things, but as he did not speak of his +own past, or of the ship, I began to nod with sleep; and presently I +found him covering me up with a rug and turning out the lamp. I was +dead worn-out then, and must have slept twelve hours at the least, for +it was afternoon when I awoke, and the sun streamed in through the +skylight upon a table whereon dinner was set. But Black was not in the +cabin, and I went above to him on the bridge, which he paced with a +restless step and a betraying haste. There was no land then to be seen; +but the clear play of sparkling waves shone away to the horizon over a +tumbling sea, upon which were a few ships. Upon one of these he +constantly turned his glass; she was a long screw steamer, showing two +funnels and three masts, away some miles on the port quarter, and I saw +at once that from this ship the Captain got all his fear. + +"Do you make her out?" he said in a big whisper directly I came up to +him, and then, hushing me, he added--"Keep your tongue still, and say +nothing. That's a British cruiser in passenger paint. She's come out +from Southampton." + +This was about the very best bit of news he could have given me; but I +did not let him see that I thought so, for I had eyes only for the ship +in our wake. She was a long boat of the _Northumberland_ class; but +there was nothing whatever about her to betray her disguise, since she +had all the look of an Orient, or a P. and O. liner, and was too far +away from us to permit a reading of her flag. The men evidently had not +seen her, or took no notice of her if they had; but John upon the +bridge followed the movements of Black with curiosity, and once or +twice turned his own glass on the black hull just visible above the +horizon. He had forgotten the episode of the previous night--when, +undoubtedly, he was full of drink--and was almost as troubled as the +skipper. + +"What's he up to?" he asked me in a whisper, as Black kept turning his +glass towards the hull of the other ship. "Did he get any liquor in him +last night? I never saw him this way before." + +And again, after a pause-- + +"Have you got any eyes for that ship? What's he fixing her like that +for? She's no more than an Orient boat by her jib, and if she lays on +her course we'll make it warm for her outside." + +Black heard his last words, and turned round upon him savagely-- + +"Yes," he said, "it'll be warm enough out there for them as lives as +well as for the dead. Ring down for more firing; what's the lubber +at?--he's not giving her thirteen knots." + +By-and-by all the crew began to observe Black's anxiety and to crowd to +the starboard side; but he told them nothing, although he never left +the bridge, and cursed fiercely whenever the speed of the tender +slacked at all. It was somewhat perplexing to me to observe that, while +the great ship was undoubtedly following us, she did not gain a yard +upon us. During the whole of that long afternoon, and through the +watches of that early night, when I remained upon the bridge with +Black, we kept our relative distances; but, do all we could, the other +would not be shaken off; and when, after a few hours' sleep, I came on +deck at the dawn of the second day, she was still on our quarter, +following like the vulture follows the living man whose hours are +numbered. + +"There's no humbug about her game," cried Black, whose face was lined +with the furrows of anxiety and pale with long watching; "she means to +take us on the open sea, and she's welcome to the course. If I don't +riddle her like a sieve, stretch me!" + +This strange pursuit lasted three days and into the third night; when I +was awakened from a snatch of sleep by the firing of a gun above my +head. I dressed hurriedly and got on deck, where my eyes were almost +blinded by a great volume of light which spread over the sea from a +point some two miles away on our starboard bow. We had been in the +Atlantic then for twenty-four hours, and I did not doubt for a moment +that we had reached the nameless ship. Had there been any uncertainty, +the wild joy of the men would have banished it. From windlass to wheel +our decks presented a scene of wild excitement. Above all the shouting, +the raucous laughter, and the threats against the cruiser--whose lights +showed then less than a mile away--I heard the voice of Black, singing: +"Hands, stand by to lower boats!" and the yelping of "Roaring John." It +seemed at that moment that we should gain the impregnable citadel +without suffering one shot, and while I should have been happier if the +attack had been upon the tender, and my chances of gaining the +Government ship thus more sure, I was in a measure carried away by the +excitement of the position, and I verily believe that I cheered with +the others. + +At that moment the cruiser showed her teeth. Suddenly there was a rush +of flame from her bows, and a shell hissed above us--the first sign of +her attempt to stop us joining our own ship. The poor shooting excited +only the derision of the men, who set up their wild "halloas!" at it; +and again, when a second shot struck the aft mast and shivered it, they +were provoked to boisterous merriment. But we could make no reply, and +those on the nameless ship could not fire, for we lay right between +them and the other. + +"Hands, lower boats!" yelled Black at this moment, and then, leaving no +more than ten or fifteen men in the steamer, he led the way to the +launch. + +We were now no more than a quarter of a mile from safety, but the run +was full of peril, and, as the launch stood out, the nameless ship of a +sudden shut off her light, if possible to shield us in the dark. But +the pursuer instantly flooded us with her own arc, and, following it +with quick shots, she hit the jolly-boat at the third. Of the eight men +there, only two rose when the hull had disappeared. + +"Fire away, by thunder!" cried Black, shaking his fist, and mad with +passion; "and get your hands in: you'll want all the bark you've got +just now." + +But we had hauled the men aboard as he spoke, and, though two shells +foamed in the sea and wetted us to the skin in the passage, we were at +the ladder of the nameless ship without other harm, and with fierce +shouts the men gained the decks. + +For them it was a glorious moment. They had weathered the perils of a +city, and stood where they could best face the crisis of the pursuit. +It was a spectacle to move the most stolid apathy: the sight of a +couple of hundred demoniacal figures lighted by the great white wave of +light from the enemy's ship, their faces upturned as they waited +Black's orders, their hands flourishing knives and cutlasses, their +hunger for the contest betrayed in every gesture. I stood upon the +gallery high above the seas, and looked down upon the motley company, +or along the space of the hazy arc to the other vessel, and I asked +myself again and again, What if we shall win--what if this desperate +adventurer shall again outwit those who have coped with him, and hold +his mastery of the sea? + +Nor did it seem so improbable that he would. Those upon the Government +cruiser betrayed their uneasiness every moment by casting the beams of +their searchlight on every point of the horizon; but their signal was +unanswered, no assuring rays shone out in the distant blackness of the +night. We two were alone upon the Atlantic, there to fight the duel of +the nations; and I confess that in the unparalleled excitement of the +moment I rejoiced that it was so; I hoped, even, that the nameless ship +would carry the hour, so much had she fascinated me, so astounding were +her achievements. + +This truly was the critical moment in Black's career. He stepped on the +bridge to find Karl wringing his hands, and "Four-Eyes" was no less +uneasy. + +"Faith, sorr," said he, as soon as we had come aboard, "it's bad times +intoirely if ye've no oil--we've been working two engines for three +days, and we'll be sore put to ut to kape the third going, if ye can't +mend us." + +Karl emphasised the words with stamps and tears and frantic +gesticulation--not lost upon Black, who advanced to the front of the +bridge, and called for silence in a voice that would have split a berg. +A deathlike stillness succeeded; you could hear the wash of the waves +and the moaning of the wind: two hundred upturned faces shone ghastly +white under the spreading beams which the cruiser's lantern cast upon +them. + +"Boys," cried Black, "yonder's a Government ship. You know me, that I +don't run after war-scum every day, for that's not my business. But +we're short of oil, and the cylinders are heating. If we don't get it +in twenty-four hours, there'll be devil's work, and we shan't do it. +Boys, it's swing or take that ship and the oil aboard her--which'll you +have?" + +There was no doubt about their answer--there could be none. In one way +it was almost as if the cruiser herself gave reply, for there was the +roar of a great gun when Black had finished speaking, and a shot hissed +from above our poop and burst in the seas beyond us. A mighty shout +followed, but was converted instantly into a cry of warning, as the +forward hands sang out-- + +"Look out aft--the torpedo!" and other hands took up the cry, yelling +"The torpedo! The torpedo!" + +The tiny line of foam was just visible for a second in the way of the +light; but, the moment the cruiser had shot it from her tube, she +extinguished her arc, leaving us to light the waters with our own. +There was no difficulty whatever in following the line of the deadly +message, and for a moment every heart, I doubt not, almost stood still. + +"Full speed astern!" roared Black, forgetting himself, but instantly +ringing the bell, and the nameless ship moved backwards, faster and yet +faster. But the black death-bearer followed her, as a shark follows a +death-ship; we seemed even to have backed into its course--it came on +as though to strike us full amidships. + +The excitement was almost more than I could bear; I turned away, +waiting for the tremendous concussion; I heard awful curses from the +men, the cowardly shouting of "Roaring John," the blasphemies of "Dick +the Ranter." I knew that Black alone was calm; and at the last I fixed +my eyes upon him when the head of the torpedo's foam was not thirty +yards away from us. In that supreme moment the power of the man rose to +a great height. He grasped the situation with the calmness of one +thinking in bed; and waiting motionless for some seconds, which were +seconds almost of agony to the rest of us, he cried of a sudden-- + +"Hard a-starboard!" and the helm went over with a run. + +The movement was altogether superb. The great ship swung round with a +majestic sweep, and as we waited breathlessly, the torpedo passed right +under our bow, missing the ram by a hair's-breadth. The reaction was +nigh intolerable; the men waited for some seconds silent as the +voice-less; then their cheers rang away over the seas in a great volume +of sound, which must have re-echoed down in the caverns of the +Atlantic. + +"You, Dick," ordered Black, "return the lubbers that, or I'll whip +you;" and Dick, who had got his wits back, replied-- + +"Skipper, if I dinna dive into their internals, gie me sax dozen." + +"Hands to quarters," continued the skipper; "let no man show himself +till I call, then him as doesn't fight for all he's worth, let him +prepare to swing." + +With this there fell a great busyness, the men going, some to the +turrets, some to the magazines below. + +Black had not noticed me during the episode of the torpedo, but he +turned round now, and, seeing that I stood near him, he beckoned me +into the conning-tower with him. It was a chamber lined with steel with +a small glass for the look-out, and electric knobs which allowed +communication with the engine-rooms, the wheel, the turrets, and the +magazines. From that pinnacle of metal you could navigate the ship, and +there Black fought the battle of that night and of the days following. +And as I stood at his side I learned from his running comments much of +the course of the fight. + +"Boy," he said, "what I'm worth I'm going to show this night; and, as +your eyes are younger than mine, I'm going to borrow the loan of them. +That hen-coop yonder with the Government flag on her isn't far from +company, you may be pretty sure. She's help near, and from that help +I'm going to cut her off, and quick. Take your stand here by me, and +watch the seas while I manage the light." + +He had his hand upon a little tap which enabled him to throw the arc +upon every point of the horizon, and, as the light travelled, he asked +me-- + +"Do you make out anything? Is there more of 'em at her heels?" + +"Nothing that I can see; she seems alone." + +"Then God help her, though we're only running two engines. Now watch +the shot." + +The focus was then upon the cruiser, whose own light kept playing upon +the horizon as though searching for a convoy she awaited. But when the +conning-tower shook with the thunder of our fore gun, the other reeled, +and her arc light went out with a great flash. + +"That's a hit," I exclaimed with ridiculous want of control; "I believe +you've hit her abaft the funnel. Yes, I can see the list on her; you've +hit her clean." + +His face never moved at the intelligence, but he rang the order "Hard +to port!" and we weathered round, showing our aft turret to the enemy, +whose bark for the moment was stilled. + +"Watch again," said Black, as he rang to the turret chamber, and the +aft gun roared; but I could not see that the shot struck, and I told +him so. + +"I'll give that parson a dozen if he does that again," he remarked, +unmoved by the crash of a shot which struck us right under our turret. +Then he took a cigar and spoke between his teeth when he had lighted +it-- + +"There's twelve inches of steel there," he said with a laugh; "let 'em +knock on it and welcome. Don't you smoke?--I always do; it keeps my +head clear." + +Two more shots, one right above the engine-room and the second at the +ram, answered his levity. + +"Come on, you devils!" he blurted out with glee. "Come in and dance, by +thunder, while I play ye the tune! Now hearken to it." + +We came up again, and fired at the cruiser, hitting her right under the +funnel, and a second time near her fore gun, so that you could see her +reel and shiver even under the rays of the search-light. Nor did she +answer our firing, but rolled to the swell apparently out of action. +All this I could see, and I answered the skipper's hurried and anxious +questions as every fresh movement was visible. + +"What's she doing, eh?" he asked. "Did that stop her? Is she coaling +up, or does she signal? Lord, if I had the oil I'd sweep the sea from +New York to Queenstown. What is it, boy?--why don't you answer me?" + +"You don't give me time; but I can see now. She's coaling up, and there +are men forward working with oars." + +"Do you say that?" he said, pushing me away from the glass. "Do you say +that she's coaling? By thunder, you're right! We'll have her oil yet; +and then let them as come after me look to themselves!" + +As he said the last word he stepped from the conning-tower on to the +bridge, and I followed him. + +There, at the distance of a third of a mile away on the starboard bow, +was the crippled cruiser, helpless by her look; and our light fell full +upon her, showing men in great activity upon her decks, and others +running forward as though there were danger also in the fo'castle. The +night around us was very dark, and the huge, heaving swell shone black +as pitch in mountains and cavities below the gallery. We two were alone +there upon the ocean, finishing that terrible duel--if, indeed, the end +had not come, as I thought from the silence of the other. + +"Skipper, are you going aboard her now?" asked the man "Roaring John," +who came to us on the bridge. "She's done by her looks, and you'll get +no oil if ye delay. Karl there, he ain't as comfortable as if he were +in his bed." + +The little German was very far from it. He was almost desperate when +minute by minute his stock of oil grew less; and he ran from one to the +other, as though we had grease in our pockets, and could give it to +him. + +Black took due notice, but did not lose his calm. His cigar was now +glowing red, and he took it often from his mouth, looking at the +lighted end of it as a man does who is thinking quickly. + +"You're quite sure she's done, John?" he asked, turning to the big man. + +"She's done, I guess, or why don't she spit? If she's got another kick +in her, send me to the devil!" + +The words had scarce left his lips when the cruiser's aft guns +thundered out almost together, and one shell passed through the very +centre of our group. It cut the man John in half as he might have been +cut by a sword, and his blood and flesh splashed us, while the other +half of him stood up like a bust upon the deck, and during one horrible +moment his arms moved wildly, and there was a horrid quivering of the +muscles of his face. The second shot struck the roof of the turret +obliquely, and glanced from it into the sea. The destruction seemed to +move Black no more than a rain shower. He simply cried: "All hands to +cover; I'm going to give 'em a taste of the machine-guns;" and we +re-entered the conning-tower. Then, as we began to move again, I swept +the horizon with our light; but this time, far away over the black +waste of water, the signal was answered. + +"Number two!" said Black quite calmly, when I told him, "and this time +a battle-ship. Well, boy, if we don't take that oil yonder in ten +minutes you may say your prayers." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE DUMB MAN SPEAKS. + + +He put up the helm as he spoke, and brought our head round so that we +were in a position to have rammed the cruiser had we chosen. This was +not Black's object. He desired first to cripple her completely, then to +finish her with the Maxim guns. + +"Now, let's see what that Scotsman's worth," he cried, as he laid down +his cigar, and spoke through one of the tubes. Almost with his words +the tower shook with the thunder, the twenty-nine ton gun in the fore +turret belched forth flame, and the hissing shell struck the steamer +over her very magazine. We waited for a response, but none came. She +had received the shot, as it proved, right on her great gun; and the +weapon lay shivered and useless, cast quite free from its carriage, +while dead men were around it in heaps. + +"Dick's earned his dinner," said Black, taking up his cigar again, as +he rang twice, and the men rushed to the small guns, and prepared to +get them into action. "We'll give 'em a little hail this time, for they +haven't the cover we have. If we don't get aboard before the other +comes up, they get the trick." + +The nameless ship bounded forward into the night as he spoke, and, soon +coming up with the helm a-starboard, she was not fifty yards away from +her long opponent when the deadly steel storm began its havoc. For our +part, the men had cover of a sort in the fore-top, and there were steel +screens round the deck-guns; but when the cruiser replied with her own +small arms many fell; and groans, and shrieks, and curses rose, and +were audible even to us in the tower. Never have I known anything akin +to that terrible episode when bullets rang upon our decks in hundreds, +and the dead and the living in the other ship lay huddled together, in +a seething, struggling, moaning mass. For she had little cover, being a +cruiser, and we had opened fire upon her before such of her men as +could be spared had got below. + +"Let 'em digest that!" cried Black, as he watched the havoc, and puffed +away with serene calmness amidst the stress of it all; "let 'em swallow +lead, the vultures. I'd sink 'em with one shot if it wasn't for their +oil; but they ain't alone!" + +It was true. I, who had not ceased to watch that distant light which +marked another warship on the horizon, knew that a second light had +shone out as a star away over the sea; and now, when I looked again at +his words, I saw a third light, but I had no courage to tell him of it. +Indeed, we were being surrounded, and the danger was the greater for +every minute of delay. The cruiser, although she suffered so grievously +from the storm of lead which we rained upon her, had not hurled down +her flag, and still replied to our fire, but more feebly. And the +search-lights of the distant ships were clearer to my view every +moment, so that I watched them alone at the last; and Black saw them, +and took a sight from the glass. Then for the first time his cigar fell +from his lips, and he muttered an exclamation which might have been one +of fear. + +"Boy," he said, "you should have told me of this. I see three lights, +and that means a fleet of the devils to come. Well, I'll risk it, as +I've risked it before. If I can stop 'em now with a shot, the game's +ours; if she sinks, they trump us." + +He gave a long order in careful words down through the tube to the +turret; and, coming up to position, we fired at the cruiser for the +last time, hitting her low down in the very centre of her engine-room. +A great volume of steam gushed up from her deck, with clouds of smoke +and fire; and as all shooting from her small arms ceased, we went out +to the gallery, and the boats were cast free. A minute after, the +ensign of the other was lowered, and we had beaten her. + +"You, 'Four-Eyes,' take the launch, and get her oil," Black sang out at +the sight; "you'll have five hands, that's all you want. Go sharp, if +you'd save your skins!" + +I stood on the gallery, and watched the passage of the small boat, +which was at the side of the maimed cruiser almost in a moment. There +was no longer any resistance to our men, for the hands of the other +ship had too much work of their own to do. I saw some running quickly +to the aft boats, while some were bearing wounded from below, and +others stood beneath the bridge taking orders from a very young +officer, who had no colleagues in the work. Not that there was any +confusion, only that awful crying of strong men in their agony, of the +dying who feel death's hand upon them, of the wounded who had pain +which was hardly to be endured. For a long time it seemed as though no +one heard the hail of "Four-Eyes" to be taken aboard; and when at last +we watched him get on deck, he met with no resistance, but did as he +would. Under the spreading rays of our great arc you could follow the +whole scene as though by day--the hurrying crowd of seamen, the work at +the boat, the fear and terror of it all. And you could see at the last +a sight which to Black had more import than anything else in that +picture of distress and desolation. + +The great ship began to heel right over. Her stern came high out of the +water, so that her screws were visible. She dipped her foc's'le clean +under the breaking sea; and so she rode during some terrible minutes. +Her own men now cast off their boats anyhow, leaving the wounded, who +cursed, or implored, or prayed, or shrieked; but "Four-Eyes" did not +come, and Black raved, looking away where the search-lights of the +other ships now showed their rapid approach. To this extraordinary man +it was the great cast of life. If the cruiser went down and his men got +no oil, we should infallibly be taken by the warships then coming upon +us; and I wonder not that in that moment he lost something of his old +calm, pacing the bridge with nervous steps, and alternately cursing or +imploring the men who could not hear. + +"Why don't they come?" he asked desperately. "The lazy, loitering +snails! What are they doing there? Do you see her heeling? She can't +weather that list another five minutes. Dick! for God's sake signal to +them--the creeping vermin! Ahoy, there! Do you hear me? You aboard, are +you looking to live to-morrow, or will you lay a hundred fathoms +under--look, boys! Do you see them lights? They're warships, three of +'em! We've got to show 'em our heels, and we can't--we've no oil, not a +gallon! And they're taking their ease like fine gentlemen aboard +there--the guzzling swine--but I'll stir 'em! You Dick, fire a shot at +'em!" + +Dick had just answered him, saying, "Ay, Captain, I'll gie him a wee +bit o' iron in his gizzard," when his further words were broken on his +lips, for our hands appeared at the ladder of the doomed steamer, and +they tumbled into the launch anyhow, flying madly from her side as she +plunged to a huge sea, and with one mighty roll went headlong under the +surface of the Atlantic. At that moment day broke, and, as the silver +light of the dawn spread over the dark of the sea, we saw three +ironclads approaching us at all their speed, and then not three miles +distant from us. But the launch was at our side, and as Black leant +over, and the new light lit up his bloodshot eyes and haggard face, he +asked, with hoarseness in his voice-- + +"Have ye got the oil?" + +"Not a drop!" replied the cox. + +The strong man reared himself straight up, and he turned to Karl, at +his side. In that moment he was really great, and I shall never forget +the nonchalance with which he drew another cigar from his case and +lighted it. The two men, who had found their calm as the danger +thickened, were in perfect accord; and, as one descended the ladder to +the engine-room with slow steps, the other went again to the tower, +where I followed him. + +"Boy," he said, "I've often wondered how this old ship would break up; +now we'll see, but she's going to bite some of 'em yet, if she can't +last." + +"Are you going to run for it?" I asked. + +"Run for it, with two engines, yes; but it's a poor business. And we'll +have to fight! Well, who knows? There's luck at sea as well as on +shore. If I run, they'll catch me in ten miles; but we'll all do what +we can. Now smoke and have a brandy-and-soda. You may not get another." + +The drink I took, but his calm I could not share. If the nameless ship +were trapped at last I had freedom; but of what sort? The freedom of a +bloody fight, the lottery of life, the remote possibility that, the +ship being taken, I should get to the shelter of the war-vessels. The +man soon undeceived me on both points. + +"If we're out-manoeuvred and crippled in what's coming," said he, "I +have given Karl my orders. This ship I've built and loved like a child +isn't going to knuckle under to any man living. She's going to sink, +lad, and we're all going to blazes with her! What's the odds? A man +must die! Let him die on his own dunghill, say I, and a fig for the +reckoning! We shall last out as long as we can, and then we'll let the +cylinders fill with hydrogen, and blow her up. But you're not smoking." + +The threat, so jaunty yet so terrible, was almost like a sentence of +death to me. I looked from the glass of the tower, and saw the foremost +ironclad but two miles away from us, and the others were sweeping round +to cut us off if we attempted flight. In the old days, with the +nameless ship at the zenith of her power, we should have laughed at +their best efforts--have flown from them as a bird from a trap. But we +lay with but two engines working, and a speed of sixteen knots at the +best. Nor did we know from minute to minute when another engine would +break down. + +At the beginning of this flight we almost held our own, shaping a +curious course, which, if pursued, would have brought us ultimately to +the Irish coast again. For some hours during the morning I thought that +we gained slightly, and those following evidently felt that it would be +a waste of shell to fire at us, for they were silent: only great +volumes of smoke came from the funnels of the battleships, and we knew +that their efforts to get greater speed were prodigious. + +We ran in this state all the morning, our men silent and brooding; +Black smoked cigar after cigar with a dogged assumption of +indifference; the German came to us often with his desperate gestures +and his woe-begone face. It was well on in the afternoon before the +position changed in any way, and I had gone down with the Captain to +the lower saloon to make the pretence of lunching. There we +sat--"Four-Eyes" with us--a miserable trio, cracking jokes, and +expressing desperate hopes; sending up the nigger every other moment to +learn how the ironclad lay, and much comforted when at the fifth coming +he said-- + +"You gain, sar, plenty sar; you run right away, sar." + +"We do?" cried Black, who jumped from his seat and ran up the +companion-way to confirm the tale, and he shouted down to us, "Crack +another bottle, if it's the last, and give it to the nigger; we're +leaving them!" + +His elation was contagious. "Four-Eyes" awoke from his lethargy, and +drank a pint of the wine at a draught. The nigger put out a glass with +a satisfied leer. The Captain took a bottle and laid his hand on the +cork. But there it stayed, for at that moment there came a horrible +sound of grating and tearing from the engine-room, and it was succeeded +by a moment of dead and chilling silence. + +"The second engine's gone," said a man above, quite calmly, and we knew +the worst, and went on deck again. + +We found the crew sullen and muttering, but Friedrich, the engineer's +eldest son, sat at the top of the engine-room ladder, and tears rolled +down his face. The great ship still trembled under the shock of the +breakdown and was not showing ten knots. The foremost ironclad crept up +minute by minute; and before we had realised the whole extent of the +mishap, she was within gunshot of us; but her colleagues were some +miles away, she outpacing them all through it. + +"Bedad, she signals to us to let her come aboard," said "Four-Eyes," +who watched her intently. + +"Answer that we'll see her in chips first," said Black, and he called +for Karl and made signs to him. + +"If so be as ye don't come to, he'll be about to fire upon ye," cried +"Four-Eyes," again, who stood at the flag-line, and this time Black +thought before he answered-- + +"Then parley with 'em; we'll come alongside and hear their jaw." + +There was a leer of positive devilry on his face as he said this, and +he beckoned me into the conning-tower, when he closed the tower and +bade me watch. Those on the battle-ship made quite sure of us now, for +they steamed on and came within three hundred yards of us. Black +watched them as a beast watches the unsuspecting prey. He stood, his +face knit in savage lines, his hand upon the bell. I looked from the +glass, and saw that no man was visible upon our decks, that our engines +had ceased to move. We were motionless. Then in a second the bells rang +out. There was again that frightful grating and tearing in the +engine-room. The nameless ship came round to her helm with a mighty +sweep: she foamed and plunged in the seas; she turned her ram straight +at the other; and, groaning as a great stricken wounded beast, she +roared onward to the voyage of death. I knew then the fearful truth: +Black meant to sink the cruiser with his ram. I shall never forget that +moment of terror, that grinding of heated steel, that plunge into the +seas. Holding with all my strength to the seat of the tower, I waited +for the crash, and in the suspense hours seemed to pass. At last, there +was under the sea a mighty clap as of submarine thunder. Dashed +headlong from my post, I lay bruised and wounded upon the floor of +steel. The roof above me rocked; the walls shook and were bent; my ears +rang with the deafening roar in them; seas of foam mounted before the +glass; shrieks and the sound of awful rending and tearing drowned other +shouts of men going to their death. And through all was the hysterical +yelling of Black, his cursing, his defiance, his elation. + +"Come and see," he roared, dragging me by the collar to the gallery; +"come and see. They sink, the lubbers! They go to blazes every one of +them. Look at their faces, the crawling scum. Ha! ha! Die, you vermin! +as you meant me to die; fill your skins with water, you sharks! I spit +on you! Boys, do you hear them crying to you? Music, fine music! Who'll +dance when the devil plays? Dance, you lazy blacklegs; dance on +nothing! Ha, ha!" + +No man has ever looked on a more awful sight. We had struck the +battleship low amidships--we had crashed through the thinnest coat of +her steel. She had heeled right over from the shock, so that the guns +had cast free from the carriages, and the sea had filled her. Thus for +one terrible minute she lay, her men crowding upon her starboard side, +or jumping into the sea, or making desperate attempts to get her boats +free; and then, with a heavy lurch, she rolled beneath the waves; and +there were left but thirty or forty struggling souls, who battled for +their lives with the great rollers of the Atlantic. Of these a few +reached the side of our ship and were shot there as they clung to the +ladder; a few swam strongly in the desperate hope that the brutes about +me would relent, and sank at last with piercing and piteous cries upon +their lips; others died quickly, calling upon God as they went to their +rest. + +For ourselves we lay, our bows split with the shock, our engine-room in +fearful disorder, our men drunk with ferocity and with despair. The +other warships were yet some distance away; but they opened fire upon +us at hazard, and, of the first three shells which fell, two cut our +decks; and sent clouds of splinters, of wood, and of human flesh flying +in the smoke-laden air. At the fifth shot, a gigantic crash resounded +from below, and the stokers rushed above with the news that the fore +stoke-hold had three feet of water in it. The hands received the news +with a deep groan; then with curses and recriminations. They bellowed +like bulls at Black; they refused all orders. He shot down man after +man, while I crouched for safety in the tower; and they became but +fiercer. Our end was evidently near; and, knowing this, they fell upon +the liquor, and were worse than fiends. Anon they turned upon the +captain and myself, and fired volleys upon the conning-tower; or, in +their terrible frenzy, they pitched themselves into the sea, or raved +with drunken songs, and vented their vengeance upon the Irishman, +"Four-Eyes," chasing him wildly, and stabbing him with many cuts, so +that he dropped dying at our door, with no more reproach than the +simple words-- + +"God help me! but had I died in me own counthry I would have known more +pace." + +Through all this our one engine worked; and so slowly did the great +ironclad draw upon us that the end of it all came before they could +reach us. Suddenly the men rushed to the boats and cast them loose. +Fighting with the dash of madmen, they crowded the launch, they swarmed +the jolly-boat and the life-boat. Even the engineer's son felt the +touch of contagion, and joined the _mêlée_. We watched their insane +efforts as boat after boat put away and was swamped, leaving the +devilish men to drown as the worthier fellows had drowned before them; +and amongst the last to die was "Dick the Ranter," who went down with +blasphemies gurgling upon his lips. When six o'clock came, Black and +Karl and myself were alone upon the great ship; and in the stillness +which followed there came another weird and wild and soul-stirring +shriek--the cry of the dumb engineer, who found speech in the great +catastrophe. Then Black pulled me by the arm and said-- + +"Boy, they've left nothing but the dinghy. The old ship's done; and +it's time you left her." + +"And you?" I asked. + +He looked at me and at Karl. He had meant to die with the ship, I knew; +but the old magnetism of my presence held him again in that hour. He +followed me slowly, as one in a dream, to the davits aft, and freed the +last of the boats, overlooked by the hands in their frenzy and their +panic. Then he went to his cabin, and to the rooms below; and I helped +him to put a couple of kegs of water in the frail craft, with some +biscuit, which we lashed, and a case of wine which he insisted on. + +The preparation cost us half-an-hour of time, and when all was ready, +the captain went to the engine-room and brought Karl to the top of the +ladder; but there the German stayed, nor did threats or entreaties move +him. + +"He'll die with the ship," said Black, "and I don't know that he isn't +wise;" but he held out his hand to the genius of his crime, and after a +great grip the two men parted. + +For ourselves, we stepped on the frailest craft with which men ever +faced the Atlantic, and at that moment the first of the ironclads fired +another shell at the nameless ship. It was a crashing shot, but it had +come too late to serve justice, or to wreck the ship of mystery; for +Karl had let the hydrogen into the cylinders unchecked, and with a +mighty rush of flame, and a terrific explosion, the craft of gold gave +her "Vale!" And in a cascade of fire, lighting the sea for many miles, +and making as day the newly-fallen night, the golden citadel hissed +over the water for one moment, then plunged headlong, and was no more. + +A fierce fire it was, lighting sea and sky--a mighty holocaust; the +roar of a great conflagration; the end of a monstrous dream. And I +thought of another fire and another face--the face of Martin Hall, who +had seen the finger of Almighty God in his mission; and I said, "His +work is done!" + +But Black, clinging to the dinghy, wept as a man stricken with a great +grief, and he cried so that the coldest heart might have been moved-- + +"My ship, my ship! Oh God, my ship!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A PAGE IN BLACK'S LIFE. + + +I know not whether it was the amazing spectacle of the nameless ship's +end, or the sudden coming down of night, that kept attention from our +boat when the great vessel had sunk; but those on the ironclads, which +were at least two miles from us when we put off, seemed to be unaware +that any boat from the ship lived; and, although they steamed for some +hours in our vicinity, they saw nothing of us as we lay in the plunging +dinghy. When night fell, and with it what breeze that had been blowing, +we lost sight of them altogether, and knew for the first time the whole +terror of the situation. Black had indeed recovered much of his old +calm, and drank long draughts of champagne; but he sat silent, and +uttered no word for many hours after the end of that citadel which had +given him such great power. As for the little boat, it was a puny +protection against the sweeping rollers of the Atlantic, and I doubt +not that we had been drowned that very night if a storm of any moment +had broken upon us. + +About midnight a thunderstorm got up from the south, and the sea, +rising somewhat with it, wetted us to the skin. The lightning, terribly +vivid and incessant, lighted up the whole sea again and again, showing +each the other's face, the face of a worn and fatigue-stricken man. And +the rain and the sea beat on us until we shivered, cowering, and were +numbed; our hands stiffened with the salt upon them, so that we could +scarce get the warming liquor to our lips. Yet Black held to his +silence, moaning at rare intervals as he had moaned when the great ship +sank. It was not until the sun rose over the long swell that we slept +for an hour or more; and after sleep we were both calmer, looking for +ships with much expectation, and that longing which the derelict only +may know. The Captain was then very quiet, and he gazed often at me +with the expression I had seen on his face when he saved me from his +men. + +"Boy," he said, "look well at the sun, lest you never look at it +again." + +"I am looking," I replied; "it is life to me." + +"If," he continued, very thoughtful, "you, who have years with you, +should live when I go under, you'll take this belt I'm wearing off me; +it'll help you ashore. If it happen that I live with you, it'll help +both of us." + +"We're in the track of steamers," said I; "there's no reason to look at +it that way yet. Please God, we'll be seen." + +"That's your way, and the right one," he answered; "but I'm not a man +like that, and my heart's gone with my ship: we shall never see her +like again." + +"You built her?" I said questioningly. + +"Yes," he responded. "I built her when I put my hand against the world, +and, if it happened to me to go through it again, I'd do the same." + +"What did you go through?" I asked, as he passed me the biscuits and +the cup with liquor in it, and as he sat up in the raft I saw that the +man had death written on his face. + +But at that time he told me nothing in answer to my question; and sat +for many hours motionless, his glassy eyes fixed upon the bottom of the +boat. In the afternoon, however, he suddenly sat up, and took up his +thread as if he had broken it but a minute before. + +"I went through much," said he, gazing over the mirror-like surface of +the trackless water-desert, "as boy and man. I lived a life which was +hell; God knows it." + +I did not press him to tell me more, for in truth I shivered so and was +so numbed that even my curiosity to know of this life of crime and of +mystery was not so paramount as to banish that other thought: Shall we +live when the sun sinks this night? But he found relief in his talk, +and, as the liquor warmed him, he continued faster than before-- + +"I was a stepson, boy; bound to a brute with not as much conscience as +a big dog, and no more human nature in him than a wild bull. My mother +died three months after he took her, and I'm not going to speak about +her, God help me; but if I had the man under my hands that treated her +so, I'd crush his skull like I crush this biscuit. Well, that ain't my +tale; you ask me what I went through, and I'm trying to tell you. Have +you ever wanted a meal? No, I reckon not; and you can't get it in your +mind to know what living on bones and bits for more than a couple of +years means, can you, as I lived down in my home at Glasgow, and often +since out West and at Colorado? I'd come out from Scotland as a bit of +a lad not turned thirteen, and I sailed aboard the _Savannah City_ to +Montreal, and then to Rio, and in Japan waters; and for three years, +until I deserted at 'Frisco, no devilry that human fiends could think +of was unknown to me. But they made a sailor of me; and full-rigged +ship or steamer I'd navigate with the best of 'em. After that, I went +aboard a brig plying between 'Frisco and Yokohama, and there I picked +up much, leaving her after two years to get across to Europe, and do +the ocean trade with the Jackson line between Southampton and Buenos +Ayres. It was in that city I met my wife. I married her in Mendoza; for +she came of rich folk, who spat on me, and was only a bit of a girl +who'd never wanted a comfort on this earth until that time, and who +starved with me then and for years. My God! my whole body burns when I +think of it--that bit of a creature who'd never known the lack of a +gratification and who was dragged down to every degradation by my +curse." + +I looked at him in surprise, and he answered me instinctively. + +"Yes, by my curse. Maybe you don't know what it was, for I've held it +under a bit since she died, but I was a drunkard then--a maniac when I +had the liquor on me, a devil from whom all men fled. Not that there +isn't work for any man in that country--work, and well paid--but I had +the fever on me, and--well, we sank very low. How I lived I can't tell +you; but after a couple of years of it I worked a passage to New York, +and there my son was born. When he grew up he was the very image of +you. That's why I gave you your life when you came on my ship." + +The words were spoken in that gentle voice he could command sometimes, +and, as he uttered them, he took my hand and gave it a great grip. I +understood then that curious look he had given me at our first meeting; +his partisanship for me against the men; and that last great risk which +had brought the end of it all, if it had not brought death to both of +us. Somewhere down in that human well of crime and ferocity there was a +spring of purer water. I had set it free when I brought old memories to +him, and I owed it to him that amazing chance that I lived through the +frenzies of Ice-haven. + +"Yes," said Black, observing my surprise, and passing me the liquor +which he compelled me to drink; "my boy was your height, and your +build, and he had your eyes. What's more, he had your grit, and there +was no cooler hand living. Not that he owed much to me, for I was mad +drunk half his life; and, when sober, I lived as often as not in prison +for what I had done in liquor. It was when he was nearly twenty that +the change came; for he began to bring home money, do you see? and what +with his work and the way he talked to me, I set myself to get the +craving under; and I was a new man in one year, and in two my brain +came back to me, and I made the discovery that I was not born a fool. +You may reckon I worshipped the lad! God knows, he and his mother did +for me more than man or woman ever did for a breathing body. And when +my wits came back to me, and I thought what I might have done, and what +I had done, and that my boy had borne it all only to drag me to my +reason at last, I could have ended it there and then. Maybe I should +have done it if a new turn hadn't come in my life's road. It was when I +was at my lowest, and we were sore put to it to get food in New York, +that I was taken up by a man who was going to Michigan seeking copper. +My lad was then working with a Mike Leveston in the city--a land-agent +for the up-country work, and the owner of a line of small brigs running +between Boston and the Bahamas; but times had gone bad with him, and +the boy, who had been getting good money, found himself with no more +than enough to keep him, let alone his mother. Well, I thought the +thing out, and, as my partner had some capital and agreed to let me +have ten dollars a week any way, I made an agreement with Leveston that +he should allow the wife and the boy enough to live on for six months, +and I set out for the State where the copper find was beginning to +attract notice, and in a year I was a made man. We found the ore as +thick as clay, and, under the excitement of it, I kept my head, and the +drink craze never touched me. When the money came in, I made Leveston +my New York agent, and sent him enough to set up the woman who'd stood +by me all through in more luxury than she'd known since she married me. +For awhile her letters told me of her new life, and I kept them under +my shirt as I would have kept leaves of gold. In the spring, I sent the +agent twenty thousand dollars for her; and I got his acknowledgment, +saying she'd gone down to Charleston to see about the boy's work there, +and I should hear from her on her return. + +"I think this was about eighteen months after I left New York, and from +that time my wife ceased to write to me, and I heard nothing more from +the lad. We'd been doing such work in the mine that we had enough money +to pay our way for life, and we hoped to make an almighty pile before +many years had gone; but I couldn't bear not hearing from them as I +worked for, and in the fall of the year I went back to New York--under +protest from my partner, who could do nothing without me--and I never +rested until I reached my house in Fifty-Fourth Street. I found it shut +up, the furniture gone, not a sign of living being in it; and when I +went to make inquiries amongst my neighbours, they told me what came to +this. My wife had died of starvation--nothing less, boy, for the devil +I'd sent the money to had doled out to her and the lad a few dollars +for the first year, but had cut and run when the big sums reached him; +and he took the boy with him on the pretence of a job in the Southern +city. My son, you see, had turned naturally to architect's work, and +was induced by this long-toothed vulture to quit New York, because they +heard from the mine that I was dead--that I died, as Leveston had told +them, of small-pox--and left not a shilling for them. God! if only I +could bring him to life to clutch his cursed throat again!" + +"But what became of your son?" I asked, as he ceased speaking, and we +lay riding gently over the long rollers, with a great flood of sunlight +making the sea as a sheet of beaten gold, touched with diamond points +where the spray broke. Then he went on with it; but you could see some +awful emotion moving him, and he kept plying himself with drink, which +made his words the fiercer. + +"What became of the boy?" he repeated after me. "Why, he went south in +the hope of sending money to his mother; and directly he reached +Charleston, Leveston shipped him on a brig, knowing that I must hear of +his doings in a month or more. He sent the lad to Panama, and there he +died, one of the first to be stricken in the fever land. They buried +him in the country, as the Lord is my witness. Then I came home--rich, +my trunks stuffed with notes, able, if I cared, to buy up half the +land-agents in New York City; and the money I'd got seemed to turn +black in my hands when I found that those it was made for needed it no +more. Not as I knew then of the lad's death--that I was to hear of +later; but, free from the drink, I had loved the woman who was gone; +and I was a madman for days and weeks. When I got my head again I +changed as I don't believe any man ever changed before; there was +something in my mind which I could not cope with. I can't lay it down +any clearer than this: it was a hatred of all men that took possession +of me--a fierce desire to make mankind pay for the wrongs I had +suffered. I gave myself up to the drink again, but not as I did when +they named me a drunkard. This time I was the master of it; I used it +for my purpose; I fed my thoughts of vengeance on it; and, while my +partner was sending me more than a thousand pounds a week from +Michigan, I remained in New York with the double purpose in my head--to +get my boy back to me, and to crush the life out of the man who had +left my wife to die. + +"All the news I could get at that time was this: the boy had left +Charleston, ostensibly for the Bahamas, three months before I reached +New York City; but nothing more had been heard of him or the ship. I +put the best detectives in the city on Leveston's trail, raining the +money into their pockets to keep them to the work; and they got it out +of some of Leveston's seamen in Savannah that he had gone a long cruise +in one of his barques to Rio, and even farther south. This news was +like red-hot iron to my head. I knew that I couldn't touch the man by +law, except for the robbery of the bit of money, and _that_ I didn't +care a brass button about. What I meant to have was his life, and I +swore that no man should take it but me. Then I went into every low +haunt in New York. I searched the drinking dens of the Bowery; I made +friends with all the thieves, picked up the loafers, and the starving. +The parson who's gone I found running a gambling hell in New Jersey; +the man 'Four-Eyes' I took from a crimp at Boston; John we got later on +at Rio, where we bought him from the police. I had as fine a crew of +scoundrels in a month as ever cursed in a fo'castle; and I shipped them +all on the screw-steamer, _Rossa_, which I bought for six thousand +pounds from the Rossa Company. She was just on six hundred tons, an +iron boat built for the meat trade; but we knocked her about quick +enough, setting three machine-guns for'ard, and fifty Winchester rifles +among her stores. We put out from Sandy Hook, it must be nearly six +years ago; and we steamed straight ahead for Rio, where we got tidings +of Leveston's barque. She had sailed for Buenos Ayres, but they looked +for her return within the month, and we left again next day, cruising +near shore as far as Desterro, where luck was with us. + +"I remember that morning as if it was yesterday. We had struck +eight-bells, and the men were going down to dinner, when the mate +sighted a ship on the port-bow. We put straight out to sea at the hail, +and within half-an-hour we stood alongside her; and the man who +answered my call was Mike Leveston. When he saw me hailing him from the +poop of a steamer, he turned green as the sea about him; and he yelled +to me to stand off if I didn't want a bullet in me. The sight of him +maddened me; I turned the machine-gun on his decks, and swept them +clear as a grass field, but he lay flat on his face by the taffrail, +and he bellowed for mercy like a woman. And he got it. I ran the +steamer alongside him, smashing in his quarter, and when we had +gripped, I got aboard. Then he grovelled at my feet, and, as I held my +pistol at his head, he gabbled out the news that my son was dead--told +me that he died at Panama, and he screamed for mercy like a hog at the +block. But I cut his throat from ear to ear with my own knife, and I +threw his body to the sharks limb by limb as you would throw a dead +sheep to the dogs. God knows, I was mad then, as I have been often +since, and am now. My poor son!" + +"The man told you the truth, then?" + +"Yes. When I had made chips of his ship I went back to Panama, and +there got news of the boy. They had buried him at Porto Bello, and I +stopped there long enough to make his grave decent, and then returned +up the coast to New York. Coming back, the vermin with me took a fancy +on the third day out, when three parts of them were drunk, to do with a +strange brig as they had done with Leveston's. They stopped her with +the guns, and cleared her of every dollar aboard, sending her to the +bottom out of pure devilry. I didn't stop 'em; for I had the madness of +the drink on me again, and I led 'em at the work then, and when they +sent a dozen more coasters after the two that had gone on the voyage to +Sandy Hook. By the time we were in New York again, I had got a taste +for the new work which nothing could cure. It seemed as if I was to +revenge on mankind the wrong I had suffered from one man; and, more +than that, I saw there was money in heaps in it. They said at home that +piracy was played out, but I asked myself, 'How's that? Give me a ship +big enough,' said I, 'and under certain conditions I'll sweep the +Atlantic.' There was danger in the job, and it was big enough to tempt +that curious brain of mine, which had always dreamed of big jobs since +I'd been a bit of a boy; and I was fascinated with this big idea until +I couldn't hold myself. That's what led me to keep the crew together at +New York, and to return to Michigan, where I found that the mine was +making money faster almost than they could bank it, and if I was worth +a penny, I was worth a million sterling at that very time; for my +partner behaved square all through, and paid my share to the last +penny. I stayed with him about a couple of months then, giving my wits +to the job, and it was there I met Karl, the German engineer, who had +got it into his head that gas was the motor of the near future. He +talked of using it for the copper work, and then of building gas +launches for transport; but he didn't know that he'd set me all aglow +with another thought, which was nothing less than this--that I should +build a steamer driven by gas, and run a game of piracy on the Atlantic +with her. Do you call it lunacy? Well, other men have made good company +for such lunatics, the Corsican murderer at Moscow among 'em. And what +was it to be but a fight of one man against the world--a fight to set +your best blood running fast in your veins, to brace every nerve in +your body? Boy, I lived for a year on that excitement, which was more +even than the drink to me. I left the mine to cruise again in the +_Rossa_ with the old hands; but we had added a long 'chaser' to our +list of guns, and in the three months out we took twenty ships and over +two hundred thousand in specie. I saw from the beginning of it that the +one thing we couldn't stand against with a coal steamer was the +constant putting into port to fill her bunkers: and I knew that if we +didn't find some haven of refuge out of the common run, the day would +come when we should swing like common cut-throats. I had taken Karl on +board with me for the trip, and he was the man to set both things +square. He ran me north of Godthaab, in Greenland, and put me into the +fjord you have known; and he drew the plans of my ship, which I made +the Italians at Spezia build for me--for I had the money, and, as for +the metal, the phosphor bronze of which I built her--well, that was +Karl's idea, too. You may know that phosphor bronze is the finest +material for ship-building in the world, but the majority of 'em can't +use it on account of the cost of the copper. Well, the copper I had, +any amount of it; and I shipped it to Italy, and the great vessel which +your friend Hall thought was all of gold had the look of it, and was +the finest sight man ever saw when under her own colours. + +"Once the ship was built, our game was easy. She was armoured heavily +amidships; she had two ten-inch guns in her turrets, and machine-guns +thick all over her; and she was the best-fitted ship in her quarters +swimming. It's a rum thing, but I always had a bit of a taste for nice +things--fine painting, gold work, and stones--and my only hobby to +speak of has been the buying of 'em. This led me to meet your friend +Hall. Not that I didn't know him from the first, for my men saw him in +the yards at Spezia, and from that day I never left him unwatched. I +followed him to Paris, to Liverpool, to London, when I was ashore; but +I never brought my ship within a hundred miles of any port: and I used +to hire yachts and sink 'em in mid-ocean when I wanted to reach her. +Your friend would be alive now if he hadn't sought to find out where I +got to when I left port in the _La France_. But I took him aboard to +end him, and they shot him off the Needles and lashed him to the +shrouds of the yacht when we fired her. He was a brave man, and +indirectly he brought me to this--him and you----" + +"And the justice of God," I said, thinking hatred towards him again as +I remembered Hall's death. + +"Perhaps," he answered, "but you know my history; and what's done can't +be undone. Yet I say again that, if my son was alive, and was taken +from me as he was taken seven years ago in Panama, I'd do what I did, +though they burnt me alive for it. I've been agen Europe, and I've +licked 'em, by Heaven; for what they've took is only my ship, and agen +that I've a million of their money to put. One man with his hand agen +the world's a fine sight, and what I've claimed I've done. Is piracy +not worth a cent? Is it played out, do you tell me? I reckon them as +says it lies. Give me a ship like mine that can show 'em twenty-nine +knots; give me the harbour to coal once in six months; and I'll live +against the lot of them, fight 'em one by one, rule this ocean more +sure than any man ruled a people. I say I'd do it; I should have said I +could have done it, for it's over now, and the day's gone. Before +another twenty-four hours you'll be alone in this dinghy, boy. I've +death on me, and I wouldn't live without the ship; no, I'll go under as +she went under--the Lord have mercy on me!" + +The firmness of the captain was near to leaving him in that moment, but +he pulled himself together with a great effort, and sat aft, sculling +with the short oar in a mechanical and altogether absent way. The long +talk with me about his past had exhausted him, I thought; and he did +not seem disposed to speak again. It was then near mid-day, and the +sun, being right above us, poured down an intolerable heat, so that the +paint of the dinghy was hot to the hand, and we ourselves were consumed +with an unquenchable thirst. Nor could I restrain myself, but drank +long draughts from the water-kegs, while Black kept to liquor; and was, +I saw with fear, rapidly working himself up to a state of intoxication. +You may ask if the terrors of the position came home to us thoroughly +in that long day when we rode in a bit of a cockle-shell on the +sweeping rollers of the Atlantic, but I answer you, I do not think that +they did. The fear of such a position is the after-recollection of it. +We were in a sense numbed to mental apprehension by the vigour of the +physical suffering we endured, by that overwhelming thirst, by the +devouring heat, by the cutting spray which drove upon our faces, by the +stiffening of our clothes when the sun scorched them. Seethed in the +brine one hour, we were nigh burnt up the next; and yet we knew that +water would soon fail us--that we could not hope for life for many days +unless we should sight some ship, and she in turn should sight us. + +It is, perhaps, only in a small boat that one appreciates the magnitude +of an Atlantic wave, even when the ocean seems comparatively still. +Sometimes on a steamer's deck, when there is heavy wind and the sea is +driven before it, you may watch a huge roller sweeping the great vessel +as a pond wave will sweep a match; but at any time from a boat, which +is, as it were, right down upon the water, you cannot fail to be +impressed by the onward flow of those mighty translucent billows, which +rush forward in their course and thunder at last upon the granite rocks +of the western face of Europe. High above you in one moment as hills of +emerald and silver, you wait with nerves all braced up as they come +upon you, giving promise that you will be engulfed in the liquid bosom +of the towering mountain; and you breathe again as your boat is taken +in their swift embrace, and you are borne far above the darker ravine +of the sea to a pinnacle of spreading foam, whence you may look to the +distant horizon in that search for other ships; which may be pastime, +or may be, as in our case, a search on which your very life depends. + +How often during that long afternoon, when my hair was matted with the +salt of the spray, and my hands were burnt with a consuming fire, and +my body was chill or hot with the fever of the long exposure, did I, +from such a pinnacle, cast my eyes around the foam-decked waste, and +finding it all barren, feel my heart sink as the dinghy swept again +into the dark-green abyss, and all around me were the walls of water! +How many prayers did not I send up in the silence of my heart: how many +thoughts of Roderick and of Mary, how many farewells to them! And when +I prayed for life, and no answer seemed to come, and I remembered the +years that might have been before me--years now to be unknown in the +silence of the grave--I had a great bitterness against all fate and all +men, and I crouched in the boat with my suffering heavy upon me. But +Black continued to drink, and when the sun fell low in the west, and +the whole heavens were as mountains and peaks of the crimson fire, I +knew by his mutterings that the frenzy of the old madness was upon him. + +At one time he called upon his wife, I doubt not, and gave mad words of +self-reproach and of regret. And then he would mutter of his son, as +though the lad could help him; and many times he cried out: "My God! +the ship's going--hands, lower boats!" Or he raved with fierce threats +and awful cries at the American he had buried, or made desperate +appeals to some apparition that came to him in his dreadful dream. But +at the last he grew almost incoherent, thinking that I was the dead +lad; and he set himself wildly to chafe my hands, and put spirit at my +lips. I was then nigh dead with want of sleep and fatigue, for I had +not rested during the fight with the ironclads; and when he covered me +with the small tarpaulin, and made a rough pillow in the bow, I went to +sleep almost at once; and was as one drunk with the torpor of the rest. + +Twice during that long night I must have roused myself. I recall well a +heaven of stars, and a moonlit sea glowing with the pale light; while +looking down upon me were the eyes of a madman, who clutched the sides +of the dinghy with trembling and claw-like hands, and had a scream upon +his lips. And again at the second time I looked upward to behold a +faint break of grey in the leaden sky, and to feel warm raindrops +beating upon me. But I heard no sound, and scarce turning in my +heaviness, I slept again; and all through my sleep I dreamed that there +was the echo of a voice, as of the voice of the damned, calling to me +from the sea, and that, though I would have helped the man whose hand +was above the waters, I could not move, for an iron grip, as the grip +of Fate, held me to my place. + +When I awoke for the third time, the dinghy was held firmly by a +boat-hook, and was being drawn towards a jolly-boat full of seamen. I +rose up, rubbing my eyes as a man seeing a vision; but, when the men +shouted something to me in German, I had another exclamation on my +lips; for I was alone in the boat, and Black had left me. + +Then I looked across the sea, and I saw a long black steamer lying-to a +mile away, and the men dragged me into their craft, and shouted hearty +words of encouragement, and they put liquor to my lips, and fell to +rowing with great joy. Yet I remembered my dream, and it seemed to me +that the voice I had heard in my sleep was the voice of Black, who +cried to me as he had cast himself to his death in the Atlantic. + + * * * * * + +Was the man dead? Had he really ended that most remarkable life of evil +enterprise and of crime; or had he by some miracle found safety while I +slept? As the Germans rowed me quickly towards their steamer, and +comforted me as one would comfort a child that is found destitute by +the way-side, I turned this thought over again and again in my mind. +Had the man gone out of my life wrapped in the mystery which had +surrounded him from the first? Did he still live to dream dreams of +vengeance and of robbery? Or had he simply cast himself from the dinghy +in a fit of insanity, and died the terrible death of the suicide? I +could not answer the tremendous question; had no clue to it; but I had +not reached the shelter of the steamer which had saved me before I made +the discovery that the belt of linen which had been about Black's waist +was now about mine, tied firmly with a sailor's knot, and when I put my +hand upon the linen I found that it was filled with some hard and sharp +stones, which had all the feel of pebbles. Instinctively I knew the +truth: that in his last hour the master of the nameless ship had +retained his curious affection for me; had made over to me some of that +huge hoard of wealth he must have accumulated by his years of pillage; +and I restrained myself with difficulty from casting the whole there +and then into the waters which had witnessed his battles for it. But +the belt was firmly lashed about me, and we were on the deck of the +steamer before my benumbed hands could set the lashing free. + +It would be idle for me to attempt to describe to you all I felt as the +captain of the steamship _Hoffnung_ greeted me upon his quarterdeck, +and his men sent up rounds of cheers which echoed over the waters. I +stood for some minutes forgetful of everything, save that I had been +snatched from that prison of steel; brought from the shadow of the +living death to the hope of seeing friends, and country, and home +again. Now one man wrung my hand, now another brought clothes, now +another hot food; but I stood as one stricken dumb, holding nervously +to the taffrail as though none should drag me down again to the horrors +of the dinghy, or to that terrible loneliness which had hung over my +life for so many weeks. And then there came a great reaction, an +overpowering weakness, a great sense of thankfulness, and tears +gushed up in my eyes, and fell upon my numbed hands. The good fellows +about me, whose German was for the most part unintelligible to me, +appreciated well the condition in which I was; and, with many +encouraging pats on the back, they forced me down their companion way +to the skipper's cabin, and so to a bunk, where I lay inanimate, and +deep in sleep for many hours. But I awoke as another man, and when I +had taken a great bowl of soup and some wine, my strength seemed to +return to me with bounds, and I sat up to find they had taken away my +clothes, but that the belt which Black had bound about me lay at the +foot of the bunk, and was unopened. + +For some minutes I held this belt in my hand with a curious and +inexplicable hesitation. It was not heavy, being all of linen finely +sewed; but when at last I made up my mind to open it, I did so with my +teeth, tearing the threads at the top of it, and so ripping it down. +The action was followed by a curious result, for as I opened the seams +there fell upon my bed some twenty or thirty diamonds of such size and +such lustre that they lay sparkling with a thousand lights which +dazzled the eyes, and made me utter a cry at once of surprise and of +admiration. White stones they were, Brazilian diamonds of the first +water; and when I undid the rest of the seam, and opened the belt +fully, I found at least fifty more, with some superb black pearls, a +fine emerald, and a little parcel of exquisite rubies. To the latter +there was attached a paper with the words, "My son, for as such I +regard you, take these; they are honestly come by. And let me write +while I can that I have loved you before God. Remember this when you +forget Captain Black." + +That was all; and I judged that the stones were worth five thousand +pounds if they were worth a penny. I could scarce realise it all as I +read the note again and again, and handled the sparkling, glittering +baubles, which made my bunk a cave of dazzling light; or wrapped them +once more in the linen, using it as a bag, and tying it round my neck +for safety. It seemed indeed that I had come to riches as I had come +again to freedom; and in the strange bewilderment of it all, I dressed +myself in the rough clothes which the skipper had sent to me, and +bounded on deck to greet a glorious day and the fresh awakening breezes +of the sun-lit Atlantic. It was difficult to believe that there was not +a reckoning yet to come: that the nameless ship had gone to her doom. +Had I in reality escaped the terrors of the dinghy? This question I +asked myself again and again as the soft wind fanned my face; and I +went to the bulwarks, looking away where soon we should sight the +Scillies, while the honest fellows crowded round me, and showered every +kindness upon me. Yet for days and weeks after that, even now sometimes +when I am amongst my own again, I wake in my sleep with troubled cries, +and the dark gives me back the life which was my long night of +suffering. + +The _Hoffnung_ was bound for Königsberg, but when the skipper and I had +come to understand each other by signs and writing, he, with great +consideration, offered to put into Southampton and leave me there. This +took a great weight from my mind, for I was burning with anxiety to +hear of my friends again; and when we entered the Channel on the third +night, I found sleep far from my eyes, and paced the deck until dawn +broke. We dropped anchor off Southampton at three in the afternoon, and +when I had insisted on Captain Wolfram taking one of my diamonds as a +souvenir for himself, and one to sell for the crew, I put off in his +long-boat with a deep sense of his humanity and kindness, and with +hearty cheers from his crew. + +I should have gone to the quay at once then, but crossing the roads I +saw a yacht at anchor, and I recognised her as my own yacht _Celsis_, +with Dan pacing her poop. To put to her side was the work of a moment, +and I do not think that I ever gave a heartier hail than that "Ahoy, +Daniel!" which then fell from my lips. + +"Ahoy!" cried Dan in reply, "not as it oughtn't to be Daniel, but with +no disrespect to the other gent--why, blister my foretop, if it ain't +the guvnor!" + +And the old fellow began to shout and to wave his arms and to throw +ropes about as though he were smitten with lunacy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +I FALL TO WONDERING. + + +I had sprung up the ladder, which was always at the side of the _Celsis_, +before Dan had gathered his scattered wits to remember that it was +there. It was worth much to watch that honest fellow as he gripped my +hand in his two great paws: and then let it go to walk away, and survey +me at a distance; or drew nearer again, and seemed to wish to give me a +great hug as a bear hugs its cub. But I cut him short with a gesture, +and asked him if Roderick and Mary were aboard. + +"They're down below, as I'm alive, and the hands is ashore, but they'll +come aboard for this, drunk or sober. Thunder! if I was ten years +younger--but there, I ain't, and you'll be waking 'em; do you see, +they're resting after victuals down in the saloon. Shall I tell 'em as +you've called in passing like? Lord, I can hardly see out of my eyes +for looking at you, sir." + +Poor old Dan did not quite know what he was doing. I left him in the +midst of his strange talk, and walked softly down the companion way to +the door of the saloon, and I opened it and stood, I doubt not, before +them as one come from the dead. Mary, whose childish face looked very +drawn, was seated before a book, open upon the table, her head resting +upon her hands, and a strange expression of melancholy in her great +dark eyes. But Roderick lay upon a sofa-bunk, and was fast asleep, with +the novel which he had been reading lying crumpled upon the floor. + +I had opened the door so gently that neither of them moved as I entered +the room. It was to me the best moment of my life to be looking again +upon them, and I waited for one minute till Mary raised her head, and +our eyes met. Then I bent over the cabin table and kissed her, and I +felt her clinging to me, and though she never spoke, her eyes were wet +with hot tears; and when she smiled through them, it was as a glimpse +of bright sunlight shining through a rain-shower. In another moment +there was nothing but the expression of a great childish joy on her +face, and the old Mary spoke. + +"Mark, I can't believe it," she said, holding me close lest I might go +away again, "and I always guessed you'd come." + +But Roderick awoke with a yawn, and when he saw me he rubbed his eyes, +and said as one in a dream-- + +"Oh, is that you?" + + * * * * * + +The tea which Mary made was very fragrant, and Roderick's cigars had a +fine rich flavour of their own, to which we did justice, as we sat long +that afternoon, and I told of the days in Ice-haven. It was a long +story, as you know, and I could but give them the outline of it, or, in +turn, hear but a tenth part of their own anxieties and ceaseless +efforts in my behalf. It appeared that when I had failed to return to +the hotel on that night when I followed Paolo to the den in the Bowery, +Roderick had gone at once to the yacht, and there had learnt from Dan +of my intention. He did not lose an instant in seeking the aid of the +police, but I was even then astern of the _Labrador_, and the keen +search which the New York detectives had made was fruitless even in +gleaning any tidings of me. Paolo was followed night and day for +twenty-four hours; but he was shot in a drinking-den before the +detectives laid hands on him, and only lived long enough to send Mary a +message, telling her that her pretty eyes had saved the _Celsis_ from +disaster in the Atlantic. On the next day both the skipper and Roderick +made public all they knew of Black and his crew, and a greater +sensation was never made in any city. The news was cabled to Europe +over half-a-dozen wires, was hurried to the Pacific, to Japanese +seas--it shook the navies of the world with an excitement rarely known, +and for some weeks it paralysed all traffic on the Atlantic. Cruisers +of many nations were sent in the course of the great ocean-going +steamers; arms were carried by some of the largest of the passenger +ships, and the question was asked daily before all other questions, "Is +the nameless ship taken?" Yet, it was no more than a few weeks' wonder; +for we had fled to Ice-haven, and people who heard no more of the new +piracy asked themselves, "Are not these the dreams of dreamers?" + +Meanwhile Roderick and Mary, who suffered all the anguish of suspense, +returned to Europe, and to London, there to interview the First Lord of +the Admiralty, and to hear the whole matter discussed in Parliament. +Several warships and cruisers were despatched to the Atlantic, but +returned to report the ill result of their mission, which could have +had but this end, since Black was then in the shelter of the fjord at +Greenland, and none thought of seeking him there. Nor was my oldest +friend content with this national action and the subsequent offer of a +reward of £50,000 for the capture of the nameless ship or of her crew, +for he put the best private detectives in the city at the work, sending +two to New York, and others to Paris and to Spezia. These fathomed +something of the earlier mystery of Captain Black's life, but the man's +after-deeds were hidden from them; and when the weeks passed and I did +not come, all thought that I had died in my self-appointed +mission--another of his many victims. + +It was but a few days after this sorrowful conviction that Black and I +went to London, and were seen by Inspector King, who had watched night +and day for the man's coming. The detective had immediately telegraphed +to the Admiralty, and to Roderick, who had reached my hotel to find +that I had already left. Then he hurried back to Southampton, there to +hear of the going of the warships and to wait with Mary tidings of the +last great battle, which meant life or death to me. + +Long we sat discussing these things, and very bright were a pair of +dark eyes that listened again to Roderick's story, and then to more of +mine. But Roderick himself had awoke from his lethargy, and his +enthusiasm broke through all his old restraint. + +"To-morrow, why, to-morrow, by George, you'll astound London. My dear +fellow, we'll go to town together to claim the £50,000 which the +Admiralty offered, and the £20,000 from the Black Anchor Line, to say +nothing of American money galore. You're made for life, old man; and +we'll take the old yacht north to Greenland, and hunt up the place and +Black's tender, which seems to have escaped the ironclads, and it'll be +the finest trip we ever knew." + +"What does Mary say?" I asked as she still held my hand. + +"I don't mean to leave you again," she answered, and as she spoke there +was a great sound of cheering above, and a great tramp of feet upon the +deck; and as we hurried up, the hands I loved to see crowded about me, +and their shouting was carried far over the water, and was taken up on +other ships, which threw their search-lights upon us, so that the night +was as a new day to me, and the awakening from the weeks of dreaming as +the coming of spring after winter's dark. Yet, as the child-face was +all lighted with radiant smiles, and honest hands clasped mine, and the +waters echoed the triumphant greeting, I could not but think again of +Captain Black, or ask myself--Is the man really dead, or shall we yet +hear of him, bringing terror upon the sea, and death and suffering; the +master of the nations, and the child of a wanton ambition? Or is his +grave in the great Atlantic that he ruled in the mighty moments of his +power? Ah, I wonder. + + +THE END. + + +Printed by CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Pirate, by Max Pemberton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON PIRATE *** + +***** This file should be named 26514-8.txt or 26514-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/5/1/26514/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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