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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38670-8.txt b/38670-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3847b5a --- /dev/null +++ b/38670-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11369 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of For Jacinta, by Harold Bindloss + +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: For Jacinta + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: G. W. Hood + +Release Date: January 25, 2012 [EBook #38670] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +FOR JACINTA + + + + +[Illustration: "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT IS RATHER A SERIOUS THING TO +DELAY A SPANISH MAIL-BOAT?"--Page 19] + + + + +FOR JACINTA + +By HAROLD BINDLOSS + +AUTHOR OF "ALTON OF SOMASCO," "THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER," +"THE DUST OF CONFLICT," "WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE," ETC. + +[Illustration] + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +NEW YORK PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1907 +BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +All rights reserved + +Published January, 1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. JACINTA BROWN 1 + II. AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL 13 + III. ON THE VERANDA 26 + IV. A BIG CONTRACT 37 + V. THE TOMATO FINCA 49 + VI. AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW 60 + VII. AT THE BULL FIGHT 72 + VIII. JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN 86 + IX. AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE 98 + X. JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT 111 + XI. THE LAND OF THE SHADOW 121 + XII. NOCTURNAL VISITORS 132 + XIII. TOIL 142 + XIV. JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE 152 + XV. STARTING THE PUMP 163 + XVI. ELUSIVE GUM 174 + XVII. AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER 183 + XVIII. JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT 194 + XIX. CONDEMNED UNHEARD 204 + XX. JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE 215 + XXI. THE PICTURES 225 + XXII. FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION 236 + XXIII. FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN 245 + XXIV. AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE 256 + XXV. HOVE OFF 267 + XXVI. JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM 277 + XXVII. AUSTIN'S TOAST 288 + XXVIII. IN COMMAND 299 + XXIX. AUSTIN IS MISSING 310 + XXX. JACINTA CAPITULATES 322 + + + + +FOR JACINTA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JACINTA BROWN + + +It was about seven o'clock in the evening when sobrecargo Austin boarded +the little mail-boat _Estremedura_ as she lay rolling at anchor on the +long, moon-lit heave that worked into the roadstead of Santa Cruz, +Palma. Sobrecargo means much the same thing as purser, and Austin was an +Englishman, though the _Estremedura_ was to all intents and purposes a +Spanish steamer. She traded round the islands of the Canary archipelago +with mules and camels, tomatoes, bananas, onions, and seasick English +tourists, as fortune favoured her. Now, as the heavily sealed document +Austin carried in his pocket declared, she was to sail for Las Palmas, +Grand Canary, with the Cuban mail, by the gracious permission of the +young King of Spain. + +He had trouble on getting on board of her, for there were a good many +bullocks swimming about her side waiting until the red-capped crew +should heave them on board beneath the derrick-boom by means of a rope +twisted round their horns. It probably hurt the bullocks, and now and +then one succumbed to a broken neck during the operation; but the +Castilian, who can face his losses placidly, is not, as a rule, +particularly merciful to his beast. There were also stray sheep, goats, +and donkeys, as well as olive-faced peasants with blankets strapped +about their shoulders, wandering about the after portion of the main +deck, which was supposed to be reserved for the second-class passengers, +when Austin stopped a moment by the covered hatch. A big electric light +hung from the spar-deck beams above his head, and he looked about him +with a little ironical smile. + +He was a young man of average stature, and there was nothing especially +distinguished in his appearance, though he had good grey eyes, and a +pleasant bronzed face. He was somewhat lightly made, though he looked +wiry, and held himself well, and there was a certain languidness in his +smile which seemed to suggest that he was not addicted to troubling +greatly about anything. Because the Scotchman who ran the +_Estremedura_'s engines had sold his white uniform jacket with the +resplendent buttons a day or two before, he was just then attired +somewhat incongruously in a white cap with the very large and imposing +badge of the Spanish mail service clasped into the front of it, a brown +alpaca jacket, white duck trousers, and pipe-clayed shoes. The latter +two items were, however, by no means immaculate, since he had, as a +special favour to the mate, brought off certain sheep and goats in his +despatch-boat, as well as a camel tied astern of it. Spaniards and +Englishmen do not invariably agree, but they lived like brothers on +board the _Estremedura_, which, however, had its disadvantages. Austin +objected in particular to the community of property. + +That evening the steamer hummed with life, and the clatter of polyglot +tongues. Parsee dealers in silver-thread embroideries, German commercial +travellers, Madeiran Portuguese, Canario hillmen, and Peninsular +Spaniards, moved amidst the straying livestock, while a little group of +Anglo-Saxons naturally sat apart upon the hatch. There were, as is +usual when Englishmen foregather in a country where wine is cheap, empty +bottles scattered about. The engineer from the sister ship and an +athletic tourist, stripped, at least as far as was permissible, were +wrestling in Cumberland fashion on the hatch, with much delicate +manœuvring of their feet and futile clutches at each other's waists. +Macallister, who, when he felt inclined, superintended the +_Estremedura_'s machinery, alternately encouraged them sardonically and +solaced himself with one of the bottles. He was a big, gaunt man, and +just then extremely dirty, and when he saw Austin he looked up with a +mischievous twinkle in his eyes. + +"I have been waiting for ye anxiously," he said. "Ye may now have the +pleasure of lending me five dollars." + +"I'm afraid not!" said Austin decisively. "For one thing, I haven't got +them. I very seldom have--as you ought to know." + +Macallister made a little gesture of resignation. "Well," he said, "ye +have always your clothes, and if ye had known us better ye would not +have brought so many of them on board the _Estremedura_. I'm half +expecting yon Jackson o' Las Palmas, who gave us two dollars for the +last white suit, to come round for some more o' them when we get in." + +Austin tried the door of his room close by, and was consoled to find it +locked, as he had left it. + +"They cost me five, and I naturally never saw a peseta of the money. I +suppose you kept the Correo buttons?" + +"I did not," said Macallister, unabashed. "Ye may observe Miguel, the +quartermaster, walking round in them. It was no a bad bargain--a basket +o' big grapes an' a watermelon." + +Austin bore it patiently. There was, in fact, nothing to be gained by +protesting, and he knew that it was useless to expostulate with +Macallister when he spoke his own tongue, which was not an invariable +custom with him. Then the engineer turned and glanced at the wrestlers, +who were still stamping up and down the hatch with feet spread well +apart, compassionately. + +"They've been at it the whole o' a half hour, an' no a fall to cheer a +body yet. One would think it was dancing they were," he said. "It wasn't +to see that I wasted a tumblerful o' anisow on them." + +Now, anisado is a preparation of spirit and extract of anise seed, which +is esteemed in that country, and Austin looked hard at his comrade, +because he had a jar of it, intended for a Spanish friend, in his room. +He was a trifle uneasy, since a lock is not an insuperable obstacle to +an engineer. The latter, however, changed the subject. + +"It's a kind o' pity about your clothes," he said. "Miss Jacinta Brown +is going across with us to-night, an' she was enquiring kindly after +ye." + +Austin had a good deal of composure, and he often needed it, but the +shrewd Scottish eyes saw the momentary pleasure in his face. Then, +because he did not appreciate Macallister's badinage on that subject, he +went into his room and bolted the door behind him before he switched on +the light and examined the anisado jar. It seemed quite full when he +shook it, and the seal was intact, but on looking closer he saw that the +impression on the latter was not what it had been when he left it. He +was aware that a certain proportion of sea-water may be added to rum +without the average consumer noticing any great difference, but he had +suspicions that a blend of brine and anise was not likely to be +appreciated by its recipient, and he was for a moment or two consumed +with righteous indignation. This, however, passed, for he realised that +his expostulations would be heard with laughter. It was all a part of +the happy-go-lucky life he led, and nobody concerns himself unduly about +anything under the flag of Spain. The Castilian, as a rule, bears his +troubles patiently, which is, perhaps, just as well, since he rarely +sees them coming or makes any attempt to get out of the way of them. + +Austin accordingly busied himself with his papers, and it was an hour +later when he went on deck. The _Estremedura_ had gone to sea by then, +and the lights of the little Spanish town blinked above the broad fringe +of surf astern. High above her the great black cordillera cut hard and +sharp against the luminous blueness of the night, and the long heave of +the Atlantic flashed, white-topped, beneath the moon ahead. She swung +over it with slanted spars and swaying funnel, while the keen +trade-breeze sang in her rigging, and now and then a flying-fish +ricocheted, gleaming, from sea-top to sea-top beneath her side. She was +very well kept above decks, a trim, yacht-like vessel, and for a while +Austin leaned over her quarter-rails, smoking a cigarette, and wondering +when Miss Jacinta Brown would come up on deck. There was a very deaf +Englishman, who insisted on conversing with him in stentorian tones in +the saloon, and he had no desire for his company. In the meanwhile, it +was pleasant to lounge there and watch the moonlight gleam upon the +tumbling seas. + +There were, he admitted, a good many compensations in the life he led. +The warmth and colour of the South appealed to him, and, though they are +not particularly numerous, there are men like him who retain a somewhat +chastened affection for the sea they earn their bread upon. It is true +that he earned very little more than that on board the _Estremedura_, +and he had once had his aspirations like other men, as well as a +prospect of realising them; but when financial disaster overtook the +family firm nobody seemed anxious to secure the services of a young man +without specialised training, who had artistic and somewhat expensive +tastes, which was, perhaps, not altogether astonishing. That was how +Austin eventually came on board the _Estremedura_, and stayed there, +though there were odd hours when he took himself to task for doing so. +Still, he did not exactly know where he could go if he left her, and the +indifference of the Latins was already infecting him. Men in Spain +believe that the future is quite able to take care of itself. + +By and by, however, a slim, white-clad figure appeared in the entrance +to the saloon companion, and he moved in that direction with evident +alacrity. As one result of being the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, he was +acquainted with everybody of importance in the archipelago, and among +them all there was nobody who figured more prominently than Miss Jacinta +Brown. She was English on both sides, though she had lived in those +islands most of her twenty-five years, and understood the Spaniards, +probably better than they understood themselves, for they are rather an +impulsive than an introspective people. She also understood her +countrymen, and ruled over them, as well as Spanish artillery officers +and Commandantes. It was not very evident how she did it, for there were +a good many Spanish women, at least, almost as pretty, and of much +better birth than she, and she apparently received no great assistance +from her father, for Pancho Brown was a merchant of an unusually solid +and unimaginative description. The wives of the English visitors, +however, did not, as a rule, like Jacinta. They said she was forward, +and it was a pity she had no mother; but when any of them received an +invitation from her it was immediately proclaimed all over the hotel. + +She smiled at Austin graciously, and allowed him to place her a deck +chair beneath a big lifeboat, where it was out of the wind, after which +he procured himself another, and sat down and looked at her. Jacinta did +not seem to mind it, and most men would probably have found it difficult +to keep their eyes off her. She was little, shapely, and very dainty, +though she could, as Austin knew, on occasion be essentially dignified. +She had brown hair and eyes, with a little scintillating gleam in them, +and her face was slightly tinted with the warm Andalusian olive, though +there was only English blood in her. She was dressed in white, as usual, +with a simplicity that suggested perfect taste, while, as he watched +her, Austin wondered again exactly where her compelling attractiveness +lay. He had met women with more delicate complexions, finer features, +softer voices, and more imposing carriage; that is, women who possessed +one or two of these advantages, but he had not as yet met any one to be +compared to Jacinta, as he expressed it, in the aggregate. Then it +seemed that she read his thoughts, which was, as he had noticed, a habit +of hers. + +"Yes, the dress is a new one. I am rather pleased with it, too," she +said. + +Austin laughed. "If I hadn't had the pleasure of making your +acquaintance some time ago, you would have astonished me. As it is----" + +"Never mind," said Jacinta. "After all, there is no great credit in +telling people of your kind what they are thinking, though I can't help +it now and then. You were wondering what anybody saw in me." + +Now Austin was too wise to fancy for a moment that Jacinta was fishing +for compliments. She knew her own value too well to appreciate them +unless they were particularly artistic, and he surmised that she had +merely desired to amuse herself by his embarrassment. + +"If I was, it was very unwise of me," he said. "You are Jacinta--and one +has to be content with that. You can't be analysed." + +"And you?" + +"I am the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, which is, perhaps, a significant +admission." + +Jacinta nodded comprehension. "I think it is," she said. "Still, since +you considered yourself warranted in approving of my dress, what are you +doing in that jacket on a mail run?" + +"As usual, there is a reason. When I was across at Arucas my comrades +laid hands upon my garments, and disposed of them at a bargain. They had +naturally squandered the money by the time I came back. I am now longing +for a few words with the man who, I understand, is coming down to +purchase some more at an equally alarming sacrifice." + +Jacinta laughed, but she also looked at him with a little gleam in her +eyes. "Don't you think it's rather a pity you--are--the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo?" + +"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I won't pretend to misunderstand +you, but the trouble is that I don't quite see what else I could be. I +cannot dig, and I'm not sure that it would be very pleasant to go round +borrowing odd dollars from my friends, even if they were disposed to +lend them to me, which is scarcely probable. Most of them would, +naturally, tell me to look at them, and see what I might have been if +I'd had their diligence and probity. Besides, I have time to paint +little pictures which rash tourists buy occasionally, and the life one +leads here has its compensations." + +The _Estremedura_'s whistle hooted just then, and as Jacinta looked +round a lordly four-masted ship, carrying everything to her royals, +swept up out of the night. She was driving down the trade-breeze a good +twelve knots an hour, and the foam flew up in cascades as her bows went +down, swirled in a broad, snowy smother along the slender streak of +rushing hull. Above it four tapered spires of sailcloth swung back +against the moonlight at every stately roll, and she showed as an +exquisite cameo cut in ebony on a ground of silver and blue. Still, it +was not the colour that formed the strength of that picture, but the +suggestion of effort and irresistible force that was stamped on it. She +drove by majestically, showing a breadth of wet plates that flashed in a +leeward roll, and Jacinta's eyes rested on the bent figure high on the +lifted poop grappling with her wheel. + +"Ah!" she said. "I suppose it's sometimes brutal, but that is man's +work, isn't it?" + +Austin laughed again, though there was a faint warmth in his cheek. "Of +course, I see the inference," he said. "Still, it really isn't necessary +for everybody to hold a big vessel's wheel, and I would a good deal +sooner you said something nice to me. Nobody likes to be told the truth +about themselves, you know, and I understand now why folks threw big +stones at the goat-skinned prophets long ago." + +"Well," said Jacinta, "we will talk of somebody else. I wonder if you +know that Jefferson has been left a fortune, or, at least, part of one?" + +"I didn't. Still, I'm glad to hear it. I like the man. In fact, he's the +straightest one I've come across in his occupation, which, by the way, +is, perhaps, somewhat of an admission, considering that he's an +American." + +"I like most Americans. For one thing, they're usually in earnest." + +"And you like Spaniards, who certainly aren't." + +"We will waive the question. It's rather a coincidence that Jefferson +should have fallen in love about the same time." + +"Do I know the lady, who is, presumably, in earnest, too? I don't like +women who have a purpose openly, though that does not apply to you. You +have usually a good many, but nobody knows anything about them until you +have accomplished them." + +Jacinta ignored the compliment. "I don't think you know her, but she is +a friend of mine. I went to school with her for two years in England." + +"Then, of course, she's nice." + +"That," said Jacinta, "is naturally a matter of opinion. She is, +however, not in the least like me." + +"In that case it's difficult to see how she can be nice at all." + +Jacinta smiled somewhat sardonically. "Well," she said, "Muriel is +bigger than I am, and more solid--in every way--as well as quiet and +precise. Being the daughter of the clergyman of a forlorn little place +in England, she has, of course, had advantages which have been denied to +me. There are people who have to undertake their own training, or do +without any, you know. She very seldom says anything she does not mean, +and always knows exactly what she is going to do." + +"I'm not sure that sounds particularly attractive." + +Jacinta lifted her head and looked at him. "Still, she is worth--oh, +ever so much more--than a good many such frivolous people as you or I. +You will see her yourself to-morrow. She is coming across with us to Las +Palmas, and, of course, if you would like to please me----" + +"That goes without saying. To-morrow we will endeavour to turn this ship +upside down. It usually has to be done when we have the honour of +carrying a lady from any part of provincial England." + +"I really don't want very much," and Jacinta smiled, at him. "Just the +big forward room for her, and the seat next me at the top of your table. +The nicest things have a way of getting there. Then she is fond of +fruit--and if you could get any of the very big Moscatel, and some of +that membrillo jelly. A few bunches of roses would look nice at our end +of the table, too." + +"Well," said Austin, with a little whimsical gesture of resignation, +"there is, as you know, a Spanish Commandante and his wife in that +forward room, but I suppose we shall have to turn them out. The other +things will naturally follow, but I'm afraid Major-domo Antonio will +call us dreadful names to-morrow." + +Jacinta rose. "You are as nice as I expected you would be," she said. +"Now it is getting chilly, and I have a letter to write." + +She smiled at him and went forward, walking, though she was English, +with a curious buoyant gracefulness as Spanish women do, while Austin +sat still and considered the position. He was quite aware that he would +have trouble with the Spanish Commandante as well as his Major-domo on +the morrow, but that was, after all, of no great importance. When +Jacinta wanted anything she usually obtained it, and it was not a little +to be counted among her friends, since she frequently contrived to do a +good deal for them. There were men as well as women in those islands who +owed more than they were aware of to Jacinta Brown. + +Austin sighed as he remembered it, for he was a penniless sobrecargo, +and she, in those islands, at least, a lady of station. It must be +sufficient for him to do what little he could to please her, and he had, +in fact, once or twice done a good deal. He took life easily, but there +was in him a vein of chivalry, which for the most part, however, found +somewhat whimsical expression. Then he recollected that he had still +certain documents to attend to, and going down again locked himself into +his room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL + + +The _Estremedura_ lay rolling gently off the quaint old Spanish city of +Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, most of the following day. It was, indeed, late +in the afternoon when she went to sea, and while the jumble of white +walls and red-tiled roofs faded astern Austin sat in a deck-chair under +a lifeboat, while Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and Miss Muriel Gascoyne, to +whom he had been duly presented, occupied a seat close by. He was not +particularly charmed with the latter's company, and decided that she was +certainly as unlike Jacinta as she very well could be. + +Miss Gascoyne was a clear-complexioned, blue-eyed young Englishwoman, +solidly put together, and endued with a certain attractiveness; but she +was quiet, and had a disconcerting way of looking at him in a fashion +which vaguely suggested disapproval. There was also what he felt to be a +slightly irritating air of authority about her, which seemed to suggest +that she recognised the responsibility of her station, as one who was +looked up to in a remote corner of rural England. Mrs. Hatherly, her +aunt, was a little, withered old lady, with ruddy cheeks and the stamp +of vigorous health upon her, though she had apparently been ordered +south for the winter. She became visibly interested when Jacinta +contrived to mention that Austin was in charge of the _Estremedura_'s +medicine chest. + +"It really isn't my fault, and I don't do more harm with it than I can +help," he said. + +"Then you have a knowledge of medicine?" asked the red-cheeked lady. + +"No," said Austin, "not in the least. I had to get a sixpenny book from +England to tell me the difference between a scruple and a drachm, and +I'm not sure about some of the measures yet. You see, I entered the +profession quite by accident. The manual in the drug chest was, +naturally, in English, as it was sent on board a Spanish ship, and the +skipper, who couldn't read it, passed it on to me. My first case was a +great success, unfortunately. We were loading pine, and one of the men +contrived to get a splinter into the inner side of his eyelid. I suppose +it was a weakness, but I really couldn't watch him going about in +agony." + +"Is the desire to relieve a fellow creature's suffering a weakness?" +asked Miss Gascoyne. + +Austin appeared to reflect. "I almost think it is when the chances are +tolerably even that you're going to blind him. Still, I got the thing +out, and that man never quite knew the risks he ran. The next week +another of them dropped a hogshead on to his foot, and smashed it +badly--they don't wear boots, you know. He seemed quite convinced that I +could cure him, and, as the risk was his, I undertook the thing. You can +see him on the forecastle yonder, and he isn't limping. After that my +fame went abroad, and they send their cripples off to me at several of +the desolate places we call at. I always give them something, but +whatever quantity of water the manual recommends I put in twice as +much." + +Miss Gascoyne looked at him curiously. She had not met a young man of +this type before, and was not sure that she approved of him. She also +fancied that he was a trifle egotistical, which he certainly was not, +and it never occurred to her that he was merely rambling on for her +entertainment because he felt it his duty. + +"Don't you think that one should always have faith in one's +prescriptions and act upon it?" said her aunt. "I endeavour to do so +when I dose the village people who come to me." + +Austin laughed. "Well," he said, "you see, I haven't any, and, perhaps +if I had, it would be a little rough on others. Still, as a matter of +fact, they do get better--that is, most of them." + +Miss Gascoyne looked startled. "Is it right to abuse the ignorant +people's credulity like that?" she said, and stopped a trifle awkwardly, +while a little twinkle crept into Jacinta's eyes. + +"Mr. Austin hasn't really killed anybody yet," she said. "You haven't +told us what you think of Teneriffe, Muriel." + +Miss Gascoyne turned her face astern, and there was appreciation, and +something deeper than that, in her blue eyes, which had seen very little +of the glory of this world as yet. High overhead the great black wall of +the Cañadas cut, a tremendous ebony rampart, against the luminous blue, +and beyond it the peak's white cone gleamed ethereally above its +wrappings of fleecy mist. Beneath, the Atlantic lay a sheet of +glimmering turquoise in the lee of the island, and outside of that there +was a blinding blaze of sunlight on the white-topped sea. + +"It is beautiful--wonderfully beautiful," she said, with a little +tremble in her voice. "Isn't it sad that such a country should be +steeped in superstition?" + +Austin felt the last observation jar upon him, for he knew that the +inhabitants of that land would, in respect of sobriety and morality, +compare very favourably with those of several more enlightened places he +was acquainted with at home, and that was going far enough for him. +Still, he could defer to another's convictions when they were evidently +sincere, and it seemed to him that Jacinta's warning glance was a trifle +unnecessary. There was, however, an interruption just then, for a +steward appeared with a laden tray at the door of the captain's room. + +"Doesn't Don Erminio take his comida in the saloon?" asked Jacinta. + +"No," said Austin. "Not when we have English ladies on board. He's a +different man, you know, and some of them will insist on talking Spanish +to him. It's a little trying to have to admit you don't understand your +own language." + +"Vaya!" said a deep voice beyond the open door. "Eso no me gusta," and +while the steward backed out in haste, a couple of plates went flying +over the rail. + +"Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently doesn't approve of his dinner." + +Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, and looked at Austin gravely. + +"Does he often lose his temper in that fashion?" she asked. "Isn't it +very childish to throw--good food into the sea?" + +"The captain is, when you come to know him, really a very good-natured +man," said Austin. Then he stopped, and stood up suddenly as two figures +came towards them along the deck, and another from the opposite +direction. "It's Monsignor--I wonder what Macallister wants with him." + +A little, portly priest moved forward with a smile of good-humoured +pride, and an ecclesiastic of a very different stamp walked at his side. +The latter was a great man, indeed, a very great man, though he had once +toiled in comparative obscurity. Even Miss Gascoyne had apparently +heard of him. + +"If one could venture, I should like to speak to him," she said. + +Neither Jacinta nor Austin seemed to hear her. They were both watching +Macallister, and he, at least, clearly intended to accost the clerics. +He was now dressed immaculately in blue uniform, and in that condition +he was a big, handsome man, but he was also a North British Calvinist, +so far as he had any religious views at all, and accordingly not one who +could reasonably be expected to do homage to a dignitary of Rome. Still, +the little fleshy priest was a friend of his, and when the latter +presented him he bent one knee a trifle and gravely took off his uniform +cap. The ecclesiastic raised two fingers and spoke in Latin. Macallister +smiled at him reassuringly. + +"That isn't exactly what I meant, but it can't do me any harm coming +from a man like you, while if it does me any good I daresay I need it. +You see, I'm one of the goats," he said. + +The great man glanced at his companion, who translated as literally as +he could, though he also explained that the Señor Macallister not +infrequently made things easier for some of the peasants who travelled +third class on board the _Estremedura_. Then a whimsical but very kindly +twinkle crept into the great man's eyes, and he laid a beautiful, +olive-tinted hand on the shoulder of the mechanic who had graciously +approved of him. + +"If he is kind to these poor hill men he is a friend of mine. The +charity it covers many--differences," he said. + +Then, as they came aft together, Austin also took off his cap, and +touched Miss Gascoyne's arm as he turned to the cleric. The girl rose +gravely, with a tinge of heightened colour in her face and a little +inclination, and, though nobody remembered exactly what was said, unless +it was the eminent cleric, who was, as usual with his kind, a polished +man of the world as well, he moved on with the girl on one side of him +and Macallister talking volubly in a most barbarous jargon on the other. +Mrs. Hatherly and the little priest took their places behind them, and +Austin gathered that as a special favour Macallister was going to show +them all his engines. Jacinta leaned back in her seat and laughed +musically. + +"Macallister," she said, "is always unique, and he will probably finish +the entertainment by offering Monsignor a glass of whiskey. It is to be +hoped he doesn't apostrophise his firemen with his usual fluency. Still, +do you know, I am rather pleased with you? You have made Muriel happy." + +"If I have pleased you it is rather more to the purpose," said Austin, +reflectively. "I have, however, noticed that when you express your +approbation there is usually something else to be done." + +Jacinta smiled. "It is very little, after all, but perhaps I had better +explain. Muriel met Jefferson, who had been to London to see somebody, +on board the _Dahomey_, and--I'm telling you this in confidence--there +are reasons for believing the usual thing happened. She is really good, +you know, while Jefferson is a somewhat serious man himself, as well as +an American. They treat women rather well in his country--in fact, they +seem to idealise them now and then. Besides, I understand it was +remarkably fine weather." + +"Yes," said Austin, who glanced suggestively across the sunlit heave +towards the dim, blue heights of Grand Canary, "it is, one would +believe, quite easy to fall in love with any one pretty and clever +during fine weather at sea. That is, of course, on sufficient +provocation. There are also, I think, Englishmen with some capacity for +idealisation--but hadn't you better go on?" + +Jacinta pursed her lips as she looked at him with an assumption of +severity, but she proceeded. "Now, I had arranged for Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel to spend the winter in Grand Canary, but she has heard of a +doctor in one of the hotels at Madeira, and is bent on going there. +There is, of course, nothing the matter with her; but if she approves of +the doctor in question it is very probable that she will stay in that +hotel until the spring. Still, she is changeable, and if she doesn't go +at once it is possible that she will not go at all. The Madeira boat +leaves Las Palmas about half an hour after we get there, and I don't +want Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel to catch her. Muriel doesn't want to, +either." + +Austin shook his head. "Don't you know that it is rather a serious thing +to delay a Spanish mailboat?" he said. "Still, I suppose you have +decided that it must be done?" + +"I think so," said Jacinta sweetly. "I also fancy you and Macallister +could manage it between you. You have my permission to tell him anything +you think necessary." + +She rose and left him, with this, and Austin, who was not altogether +pleased with his commission, waited until after the four o'clock comida, +when, flinging himself down on a settee in the engineer's room, cigar in +hand, he put the case to Macallister, who grinned. The latter, as a +rule, appeared to find his native idiom more expressive in the evening. + +"I'm no saying Jacinta's no fascinating, an' I've seen ye looking at her +like a laddie eyeing a butterscotch," he said. "Still, it can no be +done. Neither o' our reputations would stand it, for one thing." + +"We have nothing to do with the Madeira boat, and the Lopez boat for +Cuba doesn't sail until an hour after her," said Austin. "Besides, +Jacinta wants it done." + +Macallister looked thoughtful. "Weel," he said, "that is a reason. +Jacinta thinks a good deal of me, an' if I was no married already I +would show ye how to make up to her. I would not sit down, a long way +off, an' look at her. She's no liking ye any the better for that way of +it." + +"Hadn't you better leave that out?" said Austin stiffly. "I'm the +_Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, which is quite sufficient. Can't you have a +burst tube or something of the kind?" + +"A burst tube is apt to result in somebody getting scalded, an' stepping +into boiling water is sore on a Primera Maquinista's feet. Ye'll just +have to make excuses to Jacinta, I'm thinking." + +Austin, who knew he could do nothing without Macallister's co-operation, +was wondering what persuasion he could use, when he was joined by an +unexpected ally. A big, aggressive Englishman in tourist apparel +approached the mess-room door and signed to him. + +"You were not in your room," he said, as though this was a grievance. + +Austin looked at him quietly. "I'm afraid I really haven't the faculty +of being in two places at once. Is there anything I can do for you?" + +"There is. I particularly want to catch the Liverpool boat _via_ Madeira +to-night, and the time you get in cuts it rather fine. It occurred to me +that you might be able to hurry her up a little." + +"I'm sorry that's out of the question," said Austin, languidly. "You +see, I'm not expected to interfere with this steamer's engines." + +He was wondering how he could best favour the Englishman with a delicate +left-handed compliment, when Macallister, who was once more very dirty, +and wore only a dungaree jacket over his singlet, broke in: + +"I would," he said, "like to see him try." + +"May I ask who you are?" said the passenger, who regarded him +superciliously. + +"Ye may," and there was a portentious gleam in Macallister's eyes. "I'm +only her chief engineer." + +"Ah!" said the other, who did not consider it advisable to mention that +he had supposed him to be a fireman. "Well, there are, I believe, means +of obtaining a favour from a chief engineer. You naturally don't get +many pickings in this kind of boat." + +Austin laughed softly, for he knew his man. It is now and then +permissible to bestow an honorarium upon a chief engineer over a deal in +coals, but it requires to be done tactfully, and when the stranger +suggestively thrust his hand into his pocket, Macallister hove his six +feet of length upright, and looked down on him, with a big hand clenched +and blazing eyes. + +"Out o' this before I shake some manners intil ye, ye +fifteen-pound-the-round-trip scum!" he said. + +The stranger backed away from him, and then bolted incontinently as +Macallister made for the door. Austin laughed softly when he heard him +falling over things in the dark alleyway, and Macallister sat down +fuming. + +"A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one thing, but yon was--insultin'," +he said, and then looked up with a sudden grin. "I'll fix the waster. +Can ye no smell a crank-pin burning?" + +"I can't," said Austin. "Still, under the circumstances, I'm quite +willing to take your word for it." + +He went up on deck. It was dark now, but the moon was shining, and he +was not surprised to see a sooty fireman clambering in haste up the +bridge ladder. Then the throb of the propeller slackened, and when the +_Estremedura_ lay rolling wildly athwart the long, moonlit heave, an +uproar broke out in the engine room below. The Castilian is excitable, +and apt to lose his head when orders which he cannot understand are +hurled at him, while Macallister, when especially diligent, did not +trust to words alone, but used lumps of coal and heavy steel spanners. +He was just then apparently chasing his greasers and firemen up and down +the engine room. There was a rush of apprehensive passengers towards the +open skylights, from which steam as well as bad language ascended, and +Austin, who went with them, found Jacinta by his side. + +"I suppose it's nothing dangerous?" she said. + +Austin laughed. "If it were Macallister would not be making so much +noise. In fact, I don't think you need worry at all. When Miss Jacinta +Brown expresses her wishes, things are not infrequently apt to happen." + +Jacinta smiled at him. "I have," she said, "one or two faithful +servants. Shall we move a little nearer and see what he is doing?" + +"I'm afraid the conversation of one of them is not likely to be of a +kind that Miss Gascoyne, for example, would approve of." + +"Pshaw!" said Jacinta, and followed when Austin made way for her to one +of the skylights' lifted frames. + +The _Estremedura_ was rolling wickedly, and very scantily attired men +were scrambling, apparently without any definite purpose, beneath the +reeling lights which flashed upon the idle machinery. They, however, +seemed to be in bodily fear of Macallister, who held a spouting hose, +while a foamy, soapy lather splashed up from the crank-pit on the big, +shining connecting-rod. Austin could see him dimly through a cloud of +steam, though he could think of no reason why any of the latter should +be drifting about the engine room. There were several English passengers +about the skylights, and the one with the aggressive manner was +explaining his views to the rest. + +"The man is either drunk or totally incapable. He is doing nothing but +shout," he said. "You will notice that he spends half the time washing +the connecting-rods, which, as everybody knows, cannot get hot. If we +miss the Madeira boat I shall certainly call upon the company's +manager." + +Perhaps he spoke too loudly, or it may have been an accident, though +Austin, who saw Macallister flounder on the slippery floor-plates as the +steamer rolled, did not think it was. In any case, he drew Jacinta back, +and a moment later a jet from the spouting hose struck with a great +splashing upon the glass. The aggressive passenger, who was looking down +just then, got most of it in his face, and he staggered back, dripping, +and gasping with anger. When he once more became vociferous, Austin led +Jacinta away. + +"I'm afraid we will not catch that boat, but I really don't think you +ought to hear Mack's retort," he said. + +It was not quite half an hour later when the _Estremedura_ moved on +again, and Macallister informed Austin that he could not allow two +journals to become overheated in the same voyage. It would, he said, be +too much of a coincidence, and some of his subordinates did know a +little about machinery. They had accordingly some few minutes yet in +hand when they swung round the high Isleta cinder heap into sight of Las +Palmas. It gleamed above the surf fringe, a cluster of twinkling lights +at the black hills' feet, and there were other lights, higher up, on +ships' forestays, behind the dusky line of mole. In between, the long +Atlantic heave flashed beneath the moon, and there was scarcely two +miles of it left. Austin, standing forward with a pair of night-glasses, +and Jacinta beside him, watched the lights close on one another +dejectedly. + +"We'll be in inside ten minutes, and I think the Madeira boat has still +her anchor down," he said. "I had to give the quartermaster orders to +have our lancha ready, and he'll take any passengers straight across to +her." + +"I believe you did what you could," said Jacinta. "Still, you see----" + +"Oh, yes," said Austin. "You like success?" + +Jacinta looked at him with a little enigmatical smile. "When any of my +friends are concerned, I believe I do." + +Austin went aft, and a little while later found Macallister standing by +the poop, which was piled with banana baskets, among which seasick +Canary peasants lay. The big crane on the end of the mole was now on the +_Estremedura_'s quarter, and they were sliding into the mouth of the +harbour. Close ahead, with white steam drifting about her forecastle, +lay the Madeira boat. + +"They're heaving up," said the engineer. "Jacinta will no' be pleased +with ye, I'm thinking." + +"There's only one thing left," said Austin. "One of us must fall in." + +Macallister grinned. "Then I know which it will be. It was not me who +swam across the harbour last trip. But wait a moment. There's a dozen or +two Spaniards among the baskets, an' I'm thinking nobody would miss one +of them." + +Austin, who knew what his comrade was capable of, seized hold of him, +but Macallister shook his grasp off and disappeared among the baskets. +Then there was a splash in the shadow beneath the ship, a shout, and a +clamour broke out from the crowded deck. A gong clanged below, the +captain shouted confused orders from his bridge, and the _Estremedura_ +slid forward, with engines stopped, past a British warship with her +boats at the booms. Then in the midst of the confusion, Austin, who was +leaning on the rail, wondering what had really happened, felt himself +gripped by the waist. They had slid into the shadow of the Isleta, which +lay black upon the water just there. + +"Noo's your chance," said a voice he knew. "It's a hero she'll think ye. +In ye go to the rescue!" + +Austin, who was by no means certain that there was a man in the water at +all, had no intention of going if he could help it, but, as it happened, +he had no option. The _Estremedura_ rolled just then, he felt himself +lifted, and went out, head foremost, over the rail. The steamer had gone +on and left him when he rose to the surface, but there was nobody either +swimming or shouting in the water behind him. He knew it would be a +minute or two yet before they got the big passenger lancha over, but the +_Estremedura_'s propeller was thrashing astern, and when she came back +towards him he seized the boat-warp already lowered along her side. +Nobody appeared to notice him, for one of the British warship's boats +was then approaching. She flashed by as he crawled in through the opened +gangway, and a man stood up in her. + +"Spanish mail ahoy!" he cried. "Anybody speaking English aboard of you? +If so, tell your skipper to go ahead. We have got the banana basket he +dropped over. He can send for it to-morrow." + +Austin slipped, unnoticed, into his room, but he laughed as he heard the +roar of a whistle, and saw a long, black hull ringed with lights slide +by. It was the Madeira boat, steaming down the harbour. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ON THE VERANDA + + +It was a clear, moonlight night when Pancho Brown, Mrs. Hatherly, and +Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremedura_'s captain, sat in big cane chairs on +the veranda of the Hotel Catalina, Las Palmas. The Catalina is long and +low, and fronted with a broad veranda, a rather more sightly building +than tourist hotels usually are, and its row of windows blazed that +night. They were, most of them, wide open, and the seductive strains of +a soft Spanish waltz drifted out with the rhythmic patter of feet and +swish of light draperies, for the winter visitors had organised a +concert and informal dance. A similar entertainment was apparently going +on in the aggressively English Metropole, which cut, a huge, square +block of building, against the shining sea a little further up the +straight white road, while the artillery band was playing in the alameda +of the town, a mile or two away. The deep murmur of the Atlantic surf +broke through the music in a drowsy undertone. + +Pancho Brown was essentially English, a little, portly gentleman with a +heavy, good-humoured face. He was precise in dress, a little slow in +speech, and nobody at first sight would have supposed him to be +brilliant, commercially or otherwise. Still, he had made money, which +is, perhaps, the most eloquent testimony to anybody's business ability. +He was then meditatively contemplating his daughter, who was strolling +in the garden with a young English officer from the big white warship +in the harbour. A broad blaze of silver stretched back across the sea +towards the hazy blueness in the east beyond which lay Africa, and it +was almost as light as day. Mrs. Hatherly followed his gaze. + +"An only daughter must be a responsibility now and then," she said. "I +have never had one of my own, but for the last few months my niece has +been living with me, and I have had my moments of anxiety." + +Pancho Brown, who fancied she was leading up to something, smiled in a +fashion which suggested good-humoured indifference, though he was quite +aware that his daughter was then talking very confidentially to the +young naval officer. + +"I am afraid I do not deserve your sympathy," he said. "Jacinta's mother +died when she was eight years old, but ever since she came home from +school in England Jacinta has taken care of me. In fact, I almost think +it is Jacinta who feels the responsibility. I am getting a little old, +and now and then my business enterprises worry me." + +"And does that young girl know anything about them?" + +"Jacinta," said Brown, "knows a good deal about everything, and it +really doesn't seem to do her any harm. In fact, I sometimes feel that +she knows considerably more than I do. I make mistakes now and then, but +if Jacinta ever does I am not aware of them." + +"Still, a girl with Miss Brown's appearance--and advantages--must +naturally attract a good deal of attention, and, of course, one has----" + +Brown smiled at her indulgently. "When Jacinta chooses her husband I +shall, no doubt, approve of him. I am not sure," he added, with an air +of reflection, "that it would make any great difference if I didn't." + +"You are to be envied," said his companion, with a little sigh. "I feel +the responsibility circumstances have placed on me is unpleasantly +heavy, and I am almost sorry I missed the Madeira boat two or three +weeks ago. If we had gone in her we should not, of course, have been in +Las Palmas now." + +"It is almost as evident that I should have been left forlorn to-night," +said Brown, with cumbrous gallantry. + +Mrs. Hatherly appeared to reflect. "It is a curious thing that Miss +Brown assured me we should not catch the steamer that night, though we +had apparently half an hour to spare; but in one respect it was perhaps +fortunate, after all. If we had gone to Madeira I should not have +consulted Dr. Lane, who seems to understand my case so thoroughly; but, +on the other hand, we should have seen no more of Mr. Jefferson." + +"It is not such a long way to Madeira, and there is a steamer every week +or so. From what I know of Mr. Jefferson, I think it is possible he +would have gone there, too." + +"You are well acquainted with him?" + +Brown glanced at her with a faint twinkle in his eyes. "I know a little +about everybody in these islands, madam. Mr. Jefferson is considered a +straight man, and I may mention that he meets with Jacinta's approval. I +almost think I could vouch for his character. I wonder," and he smiled +genially, "if it would be as much to the purpose if I said that he had +just been left eight thousand pounds?" + +"Eight thousand pounds is not very much," and Mrs. Hatherly turned to +him as if for guidance. "Mr. Jefferson called on me this afternoon, and +it would be almost three weeks before I could get a letter from Muriel's +father, who trusted her to me. Of course, a good deal would depend upon +what I said about him; but, after all, Muriel has not a penny of her +own." + +"The sum in question is apt to go a long way when the man who has it is +an American, and I really think you could leave him and Miss Gascoyne to +settle the affair between them." Brown stopped a moment, and then added, +as if by an afterthought: "It is, of course, quite possible that they +have done so already; and, in any case, I am not sure, my dear madam, +that Jefferson would be very greatly discouraged by your opposition. He +is--as has been said--an American." + +The little, red-cheeked lady made a gesture of resignation, but just +then Captain Oliviera, who spoke a little English, and appeared to feel +himself neglected, broke in: + +"You come here for your healt, señora?" he said. "Bueno! My sobrecargo +go by the step, and he is savvy much the medsin. Me, he cure, +frecuentemente, by the morning. Ola, I call him!" + +"Otra vez," said Brown, restrainingly, and Mrs. Hatherly favoured the +captain, who was big and lean and bronzed, with a glance of interested +scrutiny. + +"You are an invalid, too?" she said. "One would scarcely fancy it. In +fact, you seem very robust to me. What do you suffer from?" + +Brown made this a trifle plainer, and Don Erminio smiled. He had no +great sense of fitness, and was slightly reckless in his conversation. + +"Mi t'roat, and the head of me--by the morning," he said, and made a +curious gurgling to give point to the explanation. "El sobrecargo he +laugh and say, 'Aha, mi captain, you want a peek-a-up again.' It is of +mucho effecto. I go call him. He make some for you." + +"Peek-a-up!" said Mrs. Hatherly, and Brown laid his hand restrainingly +upon the gallant skipper's arm. + +"It is a preparation they find beneficial at sea, though I do not think +it would suit your case," he said, and Oliviera roused himself to a +further effort. + +"Good man, mi sobrecargo. Much education. Also friend of me. I say him +often: 'Carramba! In Spain is no dollar. Why you stay here?' Aha, Señor +Austin savvy. By and by he marry a rich English señorita." + +It occurred to Mrs. Hatherly that Brown's face lost a trifle of its +usual placidity as his eyes rested on his daughter, who was, however, +still apparently talking to the naval officer. The Catalina did not +possess a particularly attractive garden then, but there were a few +dusty palms in it, and any one strolling in their shadow that moonlight +night could see the filmy mists drifting athwart the great black +cordillera, and the wisp of lights that twinkled above the hissing surf +along the sweep of bay until they ended in a cluster where the +white-walled city rose above the tossing spray. There were several pairs +of young men and women who apparently found the prospect attractive, but +Brown did not notice Austin among them. He and Mrs. Hatherly sat in the +shadow, but Oliviera was in the moonlight, which was probably how it +happened that a man who appeared in the lighted doorway close by turned +towards him, evidently without noticing the others. + +"That you, Don Erminio? Then come right along," he said. "I've got to +give somebody a good time, and you have so much human nature it's easy +pleasing you. Get up on your hind feet, and have some champagne--enough +to make your throat bad for a month, if you feel like it." + +Oliviera rose with alacrity. "Aha!" he said. "I come." + +He wasted no time in doing it, though he reluctantly spared a moment to +make his companions a little grave inclination, for Don Erminio was, +after all, a Castilian, and when he had gone the two who were left +looked at one another. The joyous satisfaction in the voice and +attitude of the man at the door had its significance for both of them. +Mrs. Hatherly looked troubled, but there was a faint twinkle in her +companion's eyes. + +"I wonder if Mr. Jefferson often gives his friends invitations of that +kind?" she said. + +Brown smiled reassuringly. "I almost think I could answer for his +general abstemiousness. Still, there are occasions upon which even the +most sedate of us are apt to relax a little, and wish to share our +satisfaction with our friends." + +"Then," said Mrs. Hatherly, with evident anxiety, "you fancy----" + +"I should almost fancy this is one of the occasions in question." + +The little, red-cheeked lady rose with a sigh. "I have tried to do my +duty," she said. "Now, I think I must find Muriel, if you will excuse +me." + +She left him, and when Brown also sauntered into the hotel the veranda +remained empty until Jacinta came up the broad stairway just as it +happened that Austin came out of the door. She was attired diaphanously +in pale-tinted draperies, and seemed to Austin, almost ethereal as she +stopped a moment at the head of the stairway with the moonlight upon +her. He was, however, quite aware that material things had their value +to Jacinta Brown, and that few young women had a more useful stock of +worldly wisdom. In another moment she saw him, and made him a little +sign with her fan. He drew forward a chair, and then leaned against the +balustrade, looking down on her, for it was evident that Jacinta had +something to say to him. + +"As I haven't seen you since that night on board the _Estremedura_, I +naturally haven't had an opportunity of complimenting you," she said. + +"May I ask upon what?" and Austin looked a trifle uneasy. + +"Your discretion. It would, perhaps, have been a little cold for a +moonlight swim, and one's clothing would also be apt to suffer. After +all, there was, of course, no reason why it should afford you any +pleasure to display your gallantry." + +Austin's face flushed. "There have been other occasions when it would +have pleased me to twist Macallister's neck," he said. "No doubt you +overheard what he said to me?" + +"I did," said Jacinta, who looked at him quietly over her fan. "It is a +little astonishing that neither of you noticed me. Still, of course, +your attitude was, at least, sensible. What I do not understand is why +you saw fit to change it a minute or two later. I had, I may mention, +left the poop then." + +"I'm not sure I understand." + +Jacinta laughed musically. "Now," she said, "I really believe you do." + +"Well," said Austin, with a doubtful smile, "if you think I went +overboard of my own will to win your approbation, you are mistaken. I +did not go at all. I was, in fact, thrown in. Macallister is, as you +know, a somewhat persistent person." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta. "That explains a good deal. Well, I feel almost +tempted to be grateful to him for doing it, though you were, of course, +sensible. There was really no reason why you should wish me to credit +you with courage and humanity--especially when you didn't possess them." + +Austin hoped she did not see that he winced, for although he had borne a +good deal of her badinage, he felt his face grow hot. He was quite aware +that this girl was not for him, and he had, he believed, succeeded in +preventing himself falling in love with her. It seemed quite fitting +that she should regard him as one of her servants, and since he could +look for nothing more, he was content with that. He had, however, a +spice of temper, and sometimes she drove him a trifle too hard. + +"Still," he said, "if I ever did anything really worth while, I think I +should insist upon your recognising it, though it is scarcely likely +that I shall have the opportunity." + +"No," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I scarcely think it is; but, after +all, I have a little to thank you for. You see, you did delay the +_Estremedura_. I suppose you have not seen Mr. Jefferson during the last +half hour?" + +"No," said Austin, with a little start of interest. "Has he----" + +"He has. Muriel, at least, has evidently arrived at an understanding +with him. I am not sure they saw me, but I came across them a little +while ago--and they looked supremely happy." + +There was satisfaction in her voice, but it was with a mildly ironical +and yet faintly wistful expression she gazed at the shining sea. It +somewhat astonished Austin, though there was so much about Jacinta that +was incomprehensible to him. + +"Well," he said, "I'm glad; but I should scarcely have fancied Miss +Gascoyne would have attracted Jefferson. After all, one would hardly +consider her a young woman who had very much in her. Indeed, I have +wondered why you were so fond of her." + +Jacinta smiled curiously as she looked at him. "She is wonderful to +Jefferson. There is no grace or goodness that she is not endued with in +his estimation." + +"But if she doesn't possess them?" + +"Then," said Jacinta, decisively, "because he believes she does, she +will acquire them. There are women like that, you know, and I am not +sure that sensible people like you and I don't lose the best of life +occasionally. If a man believes a girl of Muriel's kind angelic she is +very apt to unfold shining wings, though nobody else ever fancied that +she had anything of the kind about her." + +"Ah!" said Austin, who was a little stirred, though he would not admit +it. "No doubt you know. A good many men must have thought that of you." + +Jacinta laughed again. "No, my friend," she said. "I have met men who +thought me amusing, and two or three who thought me clever--but that is +a very different thing--while it is possible that the others remembered +I was Pancho Brown's daughter. So, you see, my wings have not unfolded. +In fact, I sometimes think they are in danger of shrivelling away." + +There was nothing that Austin could say, for he was the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo, and had never forgotten that Pancho Brown was reputed to be +making several thousand a year. Still, he found silence difficult, and +changed the subject. + +"Well," he said, "you haven't told me yet why you are so fond of Miss +Gascoyne." + +"She--is--good, and, after all, goodness really does appeal to some of +us. Besides, when I went to an English school, a stranger, more Spanish +than English in thought and sentiment, and most of the others held aloof +from me, she saw I was lonely, and came and made friends with me. I was +glad to cling to her then, and you see I haven't forgotten it." + +There was a tone in the girl's voice which sent a little thrill through +the man. It was very clear that Jacinta did not forget a kindness, and +he had once or twice already had glimpses of her deeper nature. While he +stood silent, and, as it happened, in the shadow, Miss Gascoyne came +out of the door and approached Jacinta with the moonlight on her face. +Austin was almost startled as he glanced at her. + +When he had last seen Muriel Gascoyne he had considered her a comely +English girl without imagination or sensibility. She had, in fact, +appeared to him narrow in her views, totally unemotional, and more than +a little dull, certainly not the kind of young woman to inspire or +reciprocate passionate admiration in any discerning man. Now, as she +came towards him with her eyes shining and the soft colour in her face, +which was very gentle, she seemed transfigured and almost radiant. She +stooped and kissed Jacinta impulsively. + +"I am so happy, my dear," she said. "We owe ever so much to you." + +Austin had the grace to wish himself somewhere else, though he did not +see how he could get away, but Jacinta, with her usual boldness, turned +in his direction. + +"Well," she said, "I almost think you owe Mr. Austin a little, too. If +he hadn't stopped the _Estremedura_ you would probably have been in +Madeira now." + +Again Muriel Gascoyne astonished Austin, for though it was evident she +had not been aware of his presence, she showed no embarrassment, and +smiled at him with a simplicity which, though he had not expected it +from her, had in it the essence of all womanly dignity. + +"Yes," she said, "I realise that. Mr. Austin, Harry has been looking for +you everywhere." + +Austin made her a little grave inclination, and then, because she seemed +to expect it, shook hands with her. + +"I am glad that the man you have promised to marry is one of my +friends," he said. "There is not a better one in these islands." + +He did not remember what Miss Gascoyne said, and perhaps it was not of +any particular consequence, but when she left them it happened that he +and Jacinta did not look at one another. There was, in fact, an almost +embarrassing silence, and through it they heard the rhythmic swing of a +soft Spanish waltz, and the deep-toned murmur of the sea. Then Jacinta +laughed. + +"I wonder what you are thinking?" she said. + +Austin smiled, somewhat drily. "I was endeavouring to remember that +there are a good many things the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo must +dispense with. It is exceedingly unlikely that anybody will ever leave +me eight thousand pounds." + +"I fancy there are a good many of us who would like to have a good deal +more than we will probably ever get," said Jacinta. "It can only be a +very few who ever hear the celestial music at all, and to them it comes +but once in their life." + +Austin looked at her quietly. "A little while ago I should not have +considered Miss Gascoyne capable of hearing it; but now, and because I +know the man she has promised to marry, I almost think she will, at +least occasionally, be able to catch an echo of it. It must be difficult +to hear that orchestra once and forget it." + +Jacinta turned to him with a curious little smile in her eyes. "You and +I are, of course, sensible people, and fancies of that kind have nothing +to do with us. In the meanwhile, it is really necessary that I should +appear in one or two of the dances." + +Austin made a little gesture that might have expressed anything, and she +rose and left him standing on the veranda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A BIG CONTRACT + + +It was the day after the dance at the Catalina, and Austin was running +into Las Palmas harbour in a powerful steam launch which had been lent +him to convey certain documents to a Spanish steamer. The trade-breeze +had veered a little further east that day, as it sometimes did, and the +full drift of the long Atlantic sea came rolling inshore. The launch was +wet with spray, which flew up in clouds as she lurched over the +white-topped combers that burst in a chaotic spouting on a black +volcanic reef not far away from her. It also happened that the coaling +company's new tug had broken down a few minutes earlier, and when the +launch drove past the long mole the first thing Austin saw was a +forty-ton coal lighter, loaded to the water's edge, drifting towards the +reef. There was a boat astern of her, out of which a couple of Spanish +peons seemed to be flinging the water, preparatory to abandoning the +lighter to her fate, but Austin could see very little of the latter. The +sea washed clean across her, and she showed no more than a strip of +sluicing side amidst the spray. + +What became of her was no business of his, but when the whistle of a big +grain tramp rolling across the mouth of the harbour, and apparently +waiting for her coal, roared out a warning, it occurred to Austin that +the Spaniards in the boat might have considerable difficulty in pulling +her clear of the reef against the sea. Accordingly, he unloosed the +launch's whistle, and while it screeched dolefully, put his helm over +and ran down upon the lighter. She was wallowing sideways towards the +reef when he rounded up close alongside and saw, somewhat to his +astonishment, that there was a man still on board. He was very black, +though the spray was dripping from his face, and the seas that swept +over the lighter's deck wet him to the knees. Austin shouted to him: + +"I'll run round to leeward, Jefferson, so you can jump!" he said. + +The wet man swung an arm up. "Stand by to take our rope. I'm not going +to jump." + +Austin considered. He was by no means sure that the launch had power +enough to tow the lighter clear, and the long white seething on the +jagged lava astern of her suggested what would happen if she failed to +do it. + +"Come on board. I haven't steam to pull her off," he said. + +Jefferson made an impatient gesture. "If you want me, you have got to +try." + +Austin wasted no more time. It was evidently valuable then, and he knew +his man. He signed to the Spanish fireman to back the launch astern, and +clutched the rope Jefferson flung him as she drove across the lighter's +bows. + +"I can tow her just as well with you on board here," he roared. + +"I guess you can," and a sea wet Jefferson to the waist as he floundered +aft towards the lighter's stern. "Still, you're going to find it awkward +to steer her, too." + +This was plain enough, and Austin decided that if Jefferson meant to +stay on board it was his affair, while he was far from sure that he +would gain anything by attempting to dissuade him, even had there been +time available. As it was, he realised that the lighter would probably +go ashore while they discussed the question, and he signed to the +Spanish fireman, who started the little engine full speed ahead, and +then opened the furnace door. There was a gush of flame from the funnel, +and the tow-rope tightened with a bang that jerked the launch's stern +under. Then, while she was held down by the wallowing lighter a big, +white-topped sea burst across her forward, and for a few seconds Austin, +drenched and battered by the flying spray, could see nothing at all. +When it blew astern he made out Jefferson standing knee deep in water at +the lighter's helm, though there was very little else visible through +the rush of white-streaked brine. Austin shouted to the fireman, who +once more opened the furnace door, for that cold douche had suddenly +made a different man of him. + +He did, for the most part, very little on board the _Estremedura_, and +took life as easily as he could, but there was another side of his +nature which, though it had been little stirred as yet, came uppermost +then, as it did occasionally when he brought his despatches off at night +in an open roadstead through the trade-wind surf. It was also known to +the _Estremedura_'s skipper that he had once swum off to the steamer +from the roaring beach at Orotava when no fishermen in the little port +would launch a barquillo out. Thus he felt himself in entire sympathy +with Jefferson as every big comber hove the launch up and the spray +lashed his tingling skin, while for five anxious minutes the issue hung +in the balance. Launch and lighter went astern with the heavier seas, +and barely recovered the lost ground in the smooths when a roller failed +to break quite so fiercely as its predecessors. + +Then the Spanish fireman either raised more steam, or the heavy weight +of coal astern at last acquired momentum, for they commenced to forge +ahead, the launch plunging and rolling, with red flame at her funnel, +and the smoke and spray and sparks blowing aft on Austin, who stood, +dripping to the skin, at the tiller. Ahead, the long seas that hove +themselves up steeply in shoal water came foaming down on him, but there +was a little grim smile in his eyes, and he felt his blood tingle as he +watched them. When he glanced over his shoulder, which it was not +advisable to do unguardedly, he could see Jefferson swung up above him +on the lighter's lifted stern, and the long white smoother that ran +seething up the reef. + +It, however, fell further behind them, until he could put the helm over +and run the lighter into smoother water behind the mole, when Jefferson +flung up his arm again. + +"Swing her alongside the grain boat, and then hold on a minute. I'll +come ashore with you," he said. + +Austin stopped the launch and cast the tow-rope off, and the lighter, +driving forward, slid in under the big grain tramp's side. A few minutes +later Jefferson appeared at her gangway, and when Austin ran in jumped +on board. He was a tall man, and was just then very wet, and as black as +any coal heaver. This, however, rather added to the suggestion of +forcefulness that usually characterised him. + +"That fellow has been waiting several hours for his coal, and as I +couldn't get a man worth anything on to the crane, I ran the thing +myself," he said. "The way the wind was it blew the grit all over me, +and I'm coming across for a wash with you. I'm 'most afraid to walk +through the port as I am just now." + +He laughed happily, and Austin fancied that he understood him, since he +felt that if he had held Miss Gascoyne's promise he would not have liked +to run any risk of meeting her in the state in which Jefferson was just +then. As it happened, it did not occur to either of them that they had +done anything unusual, which had, perhaps, its significance. + +Austin took him on board the _Estremedura_, and when he had removed most +of the coal-dust from his person they sat down with a bottle of thin +wine before them in the sobrecargo's room. Jefferson was lean in face +and person, though he was largely made, and had dark eyes that could +smile and yet retain a certain intentness and gravity. His voice had a +little ring in it, and, big as he was, he was seldom altogether still. +When he filled his glass his long fingers tightened on it curiously. + +"I owe you a little for pulling us off just now, but that's by no means +all," he said. "Miss Gascoyne told me how you stopped the boat that +night three weeks ago. Now----" + +Austin laughed. "We'll take it item by item. When you get started you're +just a little overwhelming. In the first place, what are you coaling +grain tramps for when somebody has left you a fortune?" + +"It's not quite that," said Jefferson. "Forty thousand dollars. They're +busy at the coal wharf, and wanted me to stay on until the month was up, +any way." + +"I don't think you owe them very much," said Austin. "In fact, I'm not +sure that if I'd been you I'd have saved that coal for them; but we'll +get on. I want to congratulate you on another thing, and I really think +you are a lucky man." + +The smile sank out of Jefferson's eyes. "I'm quite sure of it," he said +gravely. "I get wondering sometimes how she ever came to listen to such +a man as I am, who isn't fit to look at her." + +Austin made a little gesture of sympathy. This was not what he would +have said himself, but he was an insular Englishman, and the reticence +which usually characterises the species is less highly thought of across +the Atlantic. The average American is more or less addicted to saying +just what he means, which is, after all, usually a convenience to +everybody. Before he could speak Jefferson went on: + +"I've been wanting to thank you for stopping that steamer," he said. +"It's the best turn anybody ever did me, and I'm not going to forget it. +Now----" + +"If you're pleased, I am," said Austin, who did not care for +protestations of gratitude, a trifle hastily. "Any way, you have got +her, and though it's not my business, the question is what you're going +to do. Eight thousand pounds isn't very much, after all, and English +girls are apt to want a good deal, you know." + +Jefferson laughed. "Forty thousand dollars is quite a nice little sum to +start with; but I've got to double it before I'm married." + +"There are people who would spend most of their life doing it," said +Austin, reflectively. "How long do you propose to allow yourself?" + +"Six months," and there was a snap in Jefferson's voice and eyes. "If I +haven't got eighty thousand dollars in that time I'm going to have no +use for them." + +"When you come to think of it, that isn't very long to make forty +thousand dollars in," said Austin. + +He said nothing further, for he had met other Americans in his time, and +knew the cheerful optimism that not infrequently characterises them. + +Jefferson looked at him steadily with the little glow still in his eyes. +"You stopped the _Estremedura_, and, in one respect, you're not quite +the same as most Englishmen. They're hide-bound. It takes a month to +find out what they're thinking, and then, quite often, it isn't worth +while. Any way, I'm going to talk. I feel I've got to. Wouldn't you +consider Miss Gascoyne was worth taking a big risk for?" + +"Yes," said Austin, remembering what he had seen in the girl's face. "I +should almost think she was." + +"You would almost think!" and Jefferson gazed at him a moment in +astonishment. "Well, I guess you were made that way, and you can't help +it. Now, I'm open to tell anybody who cares to listen that that girl was +a revelation to me. She's good all through, there's not a thought in her +that isn't clean and wholesome. After all, that's what a man wants to +fall back upon. Then she's dainty, clever, and refined, with sweetness +and graciousness just oozing out of her. It's all round her like an +atmosphere." + +Austin was slightly amused, though he would not for his life have shown +it. It occurred to him that an excess of the qualities his companion +admired in Miss Gascoyne might prove monotonous, especially if they +were, as in her case, a little too obtrusive. He also fancied that this +was the first time anybody had called her clever. Still, Jefferson's +supreme belief in the woman he loved appealed to him in spite of its +somewhat too vehement expression, and he reflected that there was +probably some truth in Jacinta's observation that the woman whose lover +credited her with all the graces might, at least, acquire some of them. +It seemed that a simple and somewhat narrow-minded English girl, without +imagination, such as Miss Gascoyne was in reality, might still hear what +Jacinta called the celestial music, and, listening, become transformed. +After all, it was not mere passion which vibrated in Jefferson's voice +and had shone in Muriel Gascoyne's eyes, and Austin vaguely realised +that the faith that can believe in the apparently impossible and the +charity that sees no shortcomings are not altogether of this earth. +Then he brushed these thoughts aside and turned to his companion with a +little smile. + +"How did you ever come to be here, Jefferson?" he asked, irrelevantly. +"It's rather a long way from the land of progress and liberty." + +Jefferson laughed in a somewhat curious fashion. "Well," he said, +"others have asked me, but I'll tell you, and I've told Miss Gascoyne. I +had a good education, and I'm thankful for it now. There is money in the +family, but it was born in most of us to go to sea. I went because I had +to, and it made trouble. The man who had the money had plotted out quite +a different course for me. Still, I did well enough until the night the +_Sachem_--there are several of them, but I guess you know the one I +mean--went down. I was mate, but it wasn't in my watch the Dutchman +struck her." + +"Ah!" said Austin softly, "that explains a good deal! It wasn't exactly +a pleasant story." + +He eat looking at his companion with grave sympathy as the details of a +certain grim tragedy in which the brutally handled crew had turned upon +their persecutors when the ship was sinking under them came back to him. +Knowing tolerably well what usually happens when official enquiry +follows upon a disaster at sea, he had a suspicion that the truth had +never become altogether apparent, though the affair had made a sensation +two or three years earlier. Still, while Jefferson had not mentioned his +part in it, he had already exonerated him. + +"It was so unpleasant that I couldn't find a shipping company on our +side who had any use for the _Sachem_'s mate," he said, and his voice +sank a little. "Of course, it never all came out, but there were more +than two of the men who went down that night who weren't drowned. Well, +what could you expect of a man with a pistol when the one friend he had +in that floating hell dropped at his feet with his head adzed open. That +left me and Nolan aft. He was a brute--a murdering, pitiless devil; but +there were he and I with our backs to the jigger-mast, and a few of the +rest left who meant that we should never get into the quarter-boat." + +Austin was a trifle startled. "You told Miss Gascoyne that?" he said. +"How did she take it?" + +Jefferson made a curious little gesture. "Of course," he said simply. "I +had to. She believed in me; but do you think I'm going to tell--you--how +it hurt her?" + +It was borne in upon Austin that, after all, he understood very little +about women. A few days earlier it would have seemed impossible to him +that a girl with Muriel Gascoyne's straitened views should ever have +linked her life with one who had played a leading part in that revolting +tragedy. Now, however, it was evident that there was very little she +would not do for the man who loved her. + +"I'm sorry! You'll excuse it," he said. "Still, that scarcely explains +how you came to Las Palmas." + +"I came as deck-hand on board a barque bringing tomato boxes over. They +were busy at the coaling wharf just then, and I got put on. You know the +rest of it. I was left forty thousand dollars." + +"You haven't told me yet how you're going to turn them into eighty +thousand." + +"I'm coming to it. You know we coaled the _Cumbria_ before she went out +to West Africa. A nearly new 1,500-ton tramp she was, light draught at +that, or she'd never have gone where she did. You could put her down at +£15,000 sterling. She went up into the half-charted creeks behind the +shoals and islands south of Senegal, and was lost there. Among other +things, it was a new gum she went for. It appears the niggers find gums +worth up to £5 the hundredweight in the bush behind that country. A +Frenchman chartered her, but he's dead now, as is almost everybody +connected with the _Cumbria_. They've fevers that will wipe you out in a +week or two yonder--more fever, in fact, than anywhere else in Africa. +Well, as everybody knows, they got oil and sundries and a little gum, +and went down with fever while they crawled about those creeks loading +her. She got hard in the mud up one of them, and half of the boys were +buried before they pulled her out at all, and then she hit something +that started a plate or two in her. They couldn't keep the water down, +and they rammed her into a mangrove forest to save her. More of them +died there, and the salvage expedition lost three or four men before +they turned up their contract." + +"That," said Austin, "is what might be termed the official version." + +Jefferson nodded. "What everybody doesn't know is that the skipper +played the Frenchman a crooked game," he said. "There was more gum put +into her than was ever shown in her papers; while they had got at the +trade gin before she went ashore. In fact, I have a notion that it +wasn't very unlike the _Sachem_ affair. I can't quite figure how they +came to start those plates in the soft mud of a mangrove creek. Any way, +the carpenter, who died there, was a countryman of mine. You may +remember I did a few things for him, and the man was grateful. Well, the +result is I know there's a good deal more than £20,000 sterling in the +_Cumbria_." + +Austin surmised that this was possible. It was not, he knew, seafarers +of unexceptional character who usually ventured into the still little +known creeks of Western Africa, which the coast mailboats' skippers left +alone. He was also aware that more or less responsible white men are +apt to go a trifle off their balance and give their passions free rein +when under the influence of cheap spirits in that land of pestilence. + +"Well?" he said. + +"I've bought her, as she lies, for £6,000." + +Austin gasped. "You will probably die off in two or three weeks after +you put your foot in her." + +"I'm not quite sure. I was at Panama, and never had a touch of fever. +Any way, I'm going, and if you'll stand in with me, I'll put you down a +quarter-share for a dollar." + +It was in one respect a generous offer, but Austin shook his head. "No," +he said decisively. "Have you forgotten that Miss Gascoyne expects you +to marry her?" + +Jefferson's eyes glowed. "I'm remembering it all the time. That's why +I'm going. Would you take a refined and cultured girl and drag her +through all the hard places men of my kind make money in up and down the +world? Has she to give up everything and come down to me? No, sir! It +seems to me, the man who wants to marry a girl of that kind has got to +do something to show he knows her value before he gets her, and it would +be way better for both of us that she should be sorry for me dead than +that I should live to drag her down." + +It seemed to Austin that there was a good deal to be said for this point +of view, and it also occurred to him that there was in this latter-day +American, who had still the grime of the coaling wharf upon him, +something of the spirit which had sent the knight-errant out in the days +of chivalry. Still, he naturally did not say so, for he was, after all, +what Jefferson called a hide-bound Englishman. + +"Well," he said, "you're taking a big risk, but perhaps you are right." + +Jefferson rose with the abruptness which usually characterised his +movements. + +"You're not coming?" + +"No. I haven't your inducement, and I'm afraid the contract's too big +for me." + +"You have a week to consider it in," said Jefferson, who opened the +door. "In the meanwhile there's another fellow ready for his coal, and +I'm going along." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TOMATO FINCA + + +Three weeks had passed since his interview with Austin before Jefferson +was ready to sail, and he spent most of the time in strenuous activity. +He had cabled to England for a big centrifugal pump and a second-hand +locomotive-type boiler, while, when they arrived, Macallister said that +five hundred pounds would not tempt him to raise full steam on the +latter. He also purchased a broken-down launch, and, though she was +cheap, the cost of her and the pump, with other necessaries, made a +considerable hole in his remaining £2,000. It was for this reason he +undertook to make the needful repairs himself, with the help of a +steamer's donkey-man who had somehow got left behind, while Austin and +Macallister spent most of the week during which the _Estremedura_ lay at +Las Palmas in the workshop he had extemporised. He appeared to know a +little about machinery, and could, at least, handle hack-saw and file in +a fashion which moved Macallister to approbation, while Austin noticed +that the latter's sardonic smile became less frequent as he and the +American worked together. + +Jefferson was grimly in earnest, and it was evident that his +thoroughness, which overlooked nothing, compelled the engineer's +admiration. It also occurred to Austin that, while there are many ways +in which a lover may prove his devotion, few other men would probably +have cared for the one Jefferson had undertaken. He was not a very +knightly figure when he emerged, smeared with rust and scale, from the +second-hand boiler, or crawled about the launch's engines with blackened +face and hands; but Austin, who remembered it was for Muriel Gascoyne he +had staked all his little capital in that desperate venture, forebore to +smile. He knew rather better than Jefferson did that it was a very +forlorn hope indeed the latter was venturing on. One cannot heave a +stranded steamer off without strenuous physical exertion, and the white +man who attempts the latter in a good many parts of Western Africa +incontinently dies. + +At last all was ready, and one night Jefferson steamed off to the +African liner from Las Palmas mole, taking with him the steamboat +donkey-man and another English seafarer, who were at the time +disgracefully drunk, as well as six Spaniards from the coasting +schooners. He said that when he reached the _Cumbria_ he would hire +niggers, who would be quite as reliable, and considerably cheaper. As it +happened, the _Estremedura_ was going to sea that night, bound for the +eastern islands, and Mrs. Hatherly, who was never seasick, and had heard +that the climate of one of them where it scarcely ever rained was good +for rheumatic affections, had determined to visit it in her. Jacinta, +for no very apparent reason, decided to go with her, and it accordingly +came about that most of her few acquaintances were with Muriel Gascoyne +when she said good-bye to Jefferson at the head of the mole. She kissed +him unblushingly, and then, when the launch panted away across the +harbour, turned, a little pale in face, but with a firm step, towards +the _Estremedura_, and an hour later stood with Jacinta on the saloon +deck, watching the liner's black hull slide down the harbour. Then as +the steamer lurched out past the mole, with a blast of her whistle +throbbing across the dusky heave, Muriel shivered a little. + +"I don't know whether we shall ever meet here again, but I think I could +bear that now, and it really couldn't be so very hard, after all," she +said. "It would have been horrible if he had gone and had not told me." + +Jacinta looked thoughtful, as in fact she was. She was of a more +complex, and, in some respects, more refined nature than her companion, +while her knowledge of the world was almost startlingly extensive; but +wisdom carries one no further than simplicity when one approaches the +barriers that divide man's little life from the hereafter. Indeed, there +is warrant for believing that when at last they are rolled away, it is +not the wise who will see with clearest vision. + +"I am not--quite--sure I understand," she said. + +There was a trace of moisture on Muriel Gascoyne's cheek, but she held +herself erect, and she was tall and large of frame, as well as a +reposeful young woman. Though she probably did not know it, there was a +suggestion of steadfast unchangeableness in her unconscious pose. + +"Now," she said, very simply, "he belongs to me and I to him. If he dies +out there--and I know that is possible--it can only be a question of +waiting." + +Jacinta was a little astonished. She felt that there had been a great +and almost incomprehensible change in Muriel Gascoyne since she fell +very simply and naturally in love with Jefferson. It was also very +evident that she was not consoling herself with empty phrases, or +repeating commendable sentiments just because they appealed to her +fancy, as some women will. She seemed to be stating what she felt and +knew. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "you knew he might die there, and you could let him +go?" + +Muriel smiled. "My dear, I could not have stopped him, and now he is +gone I think I am in one way glad that it was so. I do not want money--I +have always had very little--but, feeling as he did, it was best that he +should go. He would not have blamed me afterwards--of that I am +certain--but I think I know what he would have felt if hardship came, +and I wanted to spare it him." Then, with a faint smile, which seemed to +show that she recognised the anti-climax, she became prosaic again. "One +has to think of such things. Eight thousand pounds will not go so very +far, you know." + +Jacinta left her presently, and, as it happened, came upon Austin soon +after the _Estremedura_ steamed out to sea. He was leaning on the +forward rails while the little, yacht-like vessel--she was only some 600 +tons or so--swung over the long, smooth-backed undulations with slanted +spars and funnel. There was an azure vault above them, strewn with the +lights of heaven, and a sea of deeper blue which heaved oilily below, +for, that night, at least, the trade breeze was almost still. + +"The liner will be clear of the land by now," she said. "I suppose you +are glad you did not go with Jefferson? You never told me that he had +asked you to!" + +Austin, who ignored the last remark, laughed in a somewhat curious +fashion. + +"Well," he said, reflectively, "in one respect Jefferson is, perhaps, to +be envied. He is, at least, attempting a big thing, and if he gets wiped +out over it, which I think is quite likely, he will be beyond further +trouble, and Miss Gascoyne will be proud of him. In fact, it is she I +should be sorry for. She seems really fond of him." + +"Is that, under the circumstances, very astonishing?" + +"Jefferson is really a very good fellow," said Austin, with a smile. "In +fact, whatever it may be worth, he has my sincere approbation." + +Jacinta made a little gesture of impatience. "Pshaw!" she said. "You +know exactly what I mean. I wonder if there is one among all the men I +have ever met who would--under any circumstances--do as much for me?" + +She glanced at him for a moment in a fashion which sent a thrill through +him; but Austin seldom forgot that he was the _Estremedura_'s purser. He +had also a horror of cheap protestations, and he avoided the question. + +"You could scarcely expect--me--to know," he said. "Suppose there was +such a man, what would you do for him?" + +There was just a trace of heightened colour in Jacinta's face. "I think, +if it was necessary, and he could make me believe in him as Muriel +believes in Jefferson, I would die for him." + +Austin said nothing for a space, and looked eastwards towards Africa, +across the long, smooth heave of sea, while he listened to the throbbing +of the screw and the swash of the water beneath the steamer's side. He +was quite aware that while Jacinta, on rare occasions, favoured her more +intimate masculine friends with a glimpse of her inner nature, she never +permitted them to presume upon the fact. He had, he felt, made some +little progress in her confidence and favour, but it was quite clear +that it would be inadvisable to venture further without a sign from her. +Jacinta was able to make her servants and admirers understand exactly +what line of conduct it was convenient they should assume. If they +failed to do so, she got rid of them. + +"Whatever is Mrs. Hatherly going to Fuerteventura for?" he asked. + +"Dry weather," said Jacinta, with a little smile. + +Austin laughed. "One would fancy that Las Palmas was dry and dusty +enough for most people. I suppose you told her there is nowhere she can +stay? They haven't a hotel of any kind in the island." + +"That," said Jacinta, sweetly, "will be your business. You are a friend +of Don Fernando, and he has really a comfortable house. Still, I expect +three days of it will be quite enough for Mrs. Hatherly. You can pick us +up, you know, when you come back from Lanzarote." + +Austin made a little whimsical gesture of resignation. "There is, +presumably, no use in my saying anything. After all, she will be company +for Confidencia." + +"Who is, by the way, a friend of yours, too." + +"I have artistic tastes, as you know. Confidencia is--barring one or +two--the prettiest girl in these islands." + +He moved away, but he turned at the top of the ladder, and Jacinta +smiled. + +"It is almost a pity a taste of that kind does not invariably accompany +an artistic talent," she said. + +Austin went down to his little room, which was almost as hot as an oven, +and strove to occupy himself with his papers. The attempt, however, was +not a success, for his thoughts would follow Jefferson, who was on his +way to Africa with a big centrifugal pump, a ricketty steam launch, and +a second-hand boiler of the locomotive type. In view of his ulterior +purpose, there was, it seemed to Austin, something ludicrously +incongruous about this equipment, though he realised that the gaunt +American possessed in full degree the useful practical point of view in +which he himself fell short. Jefferson was, in some respects, primitive, +but that was, after all, probably fortunate for him. He knew what he +desired, and set about the obtaining of it by the first means available. +Then he dismissed the subject, and climbing into his bunk went to sleep. + +Next morning he took Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and Muriel Gascoyne +ashore, and afterwards went on with the _Estremedura_ to the adjoining +island. It was three days later, and the steamer had come back again, +when he and her captain rode with the three ladies towards the coast, +after a visit to the black volcanic hills. Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel sat +in a crate-like affair upon the back of a camel, with distress in their +faces, for there is probably no more unpleasant form of locomotion to +anyone not used to it than camel-riding. The beast possesses a gait +peculiarly its own, and at every lurch of its shoulders the two women +jolted violently in the crate. The camel, however, proceeded +unconcerned, with long neck moving backwards and forwards like a +piston-rod. The rest rode horses, and a gun and several ensanguined +rabbits lay across the Captain's saddle. He rode like a Castilian, and +not a sailor, and Jacinta had noticed already that Austin was equally at +home in the saddle. The fact had, naturally, its significance for her. + +It was then about two o'clock in the afternoon, and very hot, though the +fresh trade breeze blew long wisps of dust away from under the horses' +feet. Nobody could have called that part of Fuerteventura a beautiful +country, but it had its interest to two of the party, who had never seen +anything quite like it before. Behind them rose low hills, black with +streams of lava, red with calcined rock, and every stone on them was +outlined in harsh colouring in that crystalline atmosphere. In front lay +a desolation of ashes and scoriæ, with tracts of yellow sand, blown +there presumably from Africa, which swirled in little spirals before the +breeze. It was chequered with clumps of euphorbia and thorn, but they, +too, matched the prevailing tones of grey and brown and chrome, and +there was not in all the waste a speck of green. Further still in front +of them the sea flamed like a mirror, and a vault of dazzling blue hung +over all. + +They wound down into a hollow, through which, as one could see by the +tortuous belt of stones, a little water now and then flowed, and +dismounted in the scanty shadow of a ruined wall. It had been built high +and solid of blocks of lava centuries ago, perhaps by the first of the +Spanish, or by dusky invaders from Morocco. As it was not quite so hot +there, Austin and the Captain made preparations for a meal when a +bare-legged peon led the beasts away. Then the Captain frowned darkly at +the prospect. + +"Ah, mala gente. Que el infierno los come!" he said, with blazing eyes, +and swung a brown hand up, as though appealing to stones and sky before +he indulged in another burst of eloquence. + +"What is he saying?" asked Muriel Gascoyne. "He seems very angry." + +Austin smiled. "I scarcely think it would be altogether advisable to +enquire, but it is not very astonishing if he is angry," he said. "Don +Erminio is not, as a rule, a success as a business man, and this is a +farm he once invested all his savings in. I am particularly sorry to say +that I did much the same." + +Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, which was, perhaps, not altogether +unnatural, as she gazed at the wilderness in front of her. There were, +she could now see, signs that somebody had made a desultory attempt at +building a wall which was nearly buried again. A few odd heaps of lava +blocks had also been piled up here and there, but the hollow was strewn +with dust and ashes, and looked as though nothing had ever grown there +since that island was hurled, incandescent, out of the sea. It was very +difficult to discover the least evidence of fertility. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "so this is the famous Finca de La Empreza +Financial?" + +Oliviera overheard her, and once more made a gesture with arms flung +wide. + +"Mira!" he said. "The cemetery where I bury the hopes of me. O much +tomate, mucho profit. I buy more finca and the cow for me. Aha! There is +also other time I make the commercial venture. I buy two mulo. Very good +mulo. I charge mucho dollar for the steamboat cargo cart. Comes the +locomotura weet the concrete block down Las Palmas mole. The mole is +narrow, the block is big, the man drives the locomotura behind it, he +not can look. Vaya, my two mulo, and the cart, she is in the sea. That +is also ruin me. I say, 'Vaya. In fifty year she is oll the same,' but +when I see the Finca de tomate I have the temper. Alors, weet +permission, me vais chasser the conejo." + +"The unfortunate man!" said Jacinta, when he strode away in search of a +rabbit. "Still, the last of it wasn't quite unexceptional Castilian." + +Austin laughed. "Don Erminio speaks French almost as well as he does +English. In fact, he's a linguist in his way. Still, I'm not sorry he +didn't insist upon me going shooting with him. It's risky, and I would +sooner he'd borrowed somebody else's gun." + +They made a tolerable lunch, for the _Estremedura_'s cook knew his +business, and, though it very seldom rains there, some of the finest +grapes to be found anywhere grow in the neighbouring island of +Lanzarote. Then Mrs. Hatherly apparently went to sleep with her back +against the wall, while Muriel sat silent in the shadow, close beside +her. Perhaps the camel ride had shaken her, and perhaps she was thinking +of Jefferson, for she was gazing east towards Africa, across the flaming +sea. Jacinta, as usual, appeared delightfully fresh and cool, as she +sat with her long white dress tucked about her on a block of lava, while +Austin lay, contented, not far from her feet. + +"You never told me you had a share in the Finca," she said. + +"Well," said Austin, "I certainly had. I also made a speech at the +inaugural dinner, and Don Erminio almost wept with pride while I did it. +I had, though he did not mention it, a share in his mule cart, too, and +once or twice bought a schooner load of onions to ship to Havana at his +suggestion. You see, I had then a notion that it was my duty to make a +little money. Somehow, the onions never got to Cuba, and our other +ventures ended--like the Finca." + +"Then you have given up all idea of making money now?" + +"It really didn't seem much use continuing, and, after all, a little +money wouldn't be very much good to me. A chance of making twenty +thousand pounds might, perhaps, rouse me to temporary activity." + +"Ah," said Jacinta, looking at him with thoughtful eyes, "you want too +much, my friend. You are not likely to make it by painting little +pictures on board the _Estremedura_." + +A faint trace of darker colour showed through the bronze in Austin's +cheek. "Yes," he said, "that is exactly what is the matter with me. +Still, as I shall never get it, I am tolerably content with what I have. +Fortunately, I am fond of it--I mean the sea." + +"Of course," said Jacinta, with a curious little sparkle in her eyes, +"contentment is commendable, though there is something that appeals to +one's fancy in the thought of a man struggling against everything to +acquire the unattainable." + +"So long as it is unattainable, what would be the good? Besides, I am +almost afraid I am not that kind of man." + +Jacinta said nothing further, and half an hour slipped by, until a trail +of smoke with a smear of something beneath it, crept up out of the +glittering sea. + +"The _Andalusia_," said Austin. "She takes up our western run here under +the new time-table. I hope she's bringing no English folks from Las +Palmas to worry us." + +As it happened, there was a man on board the _Andalusia_ who was to +bring one of the party increased anxiety and distress of mind, but they +did not know that then, and in the meanwhile the peon with the horses +and Don Erminio came back again. He brought no rabbits, but he had +succeeded in badly scratching one of the Damascene barrels of Austin's +gun. + +"The conejo he no can eat the stone, and here there is nothing else," he +explained. "Otra vez--the other time, comes here a señor Engleesman, and +we have the gun, but there is no conejo. Me I say, 'Mira. Conejo into +his hole he go!' Bueno! The Engleesman he put the white rat into that +hole, and wait, oh, he wait mucho tiempo. Me, away I go. I come back, +the Engleesman has bag the Captain of puerto." + +Then he turned with a dramatic gesture to the camel, which stretched out +its little head towards his leg. "Bur-r-r. Hijo de diablo. Aughr-r-r. +Focha camello! Me, I also spick the Avar-r-ack. The condemn camello he +comprehend." + +The long-necked beast at least knelt down as though it did, and Mrs. +Hatherly climbed into the crate with a somewhat apprehensive glance at +the gallant captain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW + + +Mrs. Hatherly decided during the ride to the beach that she had seen +quite enough of that island in the three days she had spent there, and +she had already gone off to the _Estremedura_ with Muriel and Jacinta +when Austin stood smoking on the little mole. Long undulations of +translucent brine seethed close past his feet to break with a drowsy +roar upon the lava reefs, and the _Estremedura_ lay rolling wildly a +quarter of a mile away. A cluster of barefooted men were with difficulty +loading her big lancha beneath the mole with the barley-straw the row of +camels, kneeling in the one straggling street behind him, had brought +down. The men were evidently tired, for they had toiled waist-deep in +the surf since early morning, and Austin decided to spare them the +journey for his despatch gig. + +Accordingly, when the lancha was loaded high with the warm yellow bales +he clambered up on them and bade the crew get under way. The long sweeps +dipped, and the craft went stern first towards the reef for a moment or +two before she crawled out to sea, looking very like a cornstack set +adrift as she lurched over the shining swell. Austin lay upon the straw, +smoking tranquilly, for everybody leaves a good deal to chance in Spain, +and now and then flung a little Castilian badinage at the gasping men +who pulled the big sweeps below. As it happened, they could not see him +because the straw rose behind them in a yellow wall. They were cheerful, +inconsequent fishermen, who would have done a good deal for him, and not +altogether because of the bottle of caña he occasionally gave them. + +They had traversed half the distance, when, opening up a point, they met +a steeper heave, and when the dripping bows went up after the plunge +there was a movement of the barley-straw. Austin felt for a better hold, +but two or three bales fetched away as he did so, and in another moment +he plunged down headforemost into the sea. When he came up he found a +straw bale floating close beside him, and held on by it while he looked +about him. The lancha was apparently going on, and it was evident that +although the men must have heard the straw fall, they were not aware +that he had gone with it. There was, he surmised, no room for the lost +bales, and the men could not have heaved them up on top of the load. It +therefore appeared probable that they purposed unloading the lancha +before they came back for them, and he decided to climb up on the bale. + +He found it unexpectedly difficult, for when he had almost dragged +himself up the bale rolled over and dropped him in again; while, when he +tried to wriggle up the front of it, it stood upright and then fell upon +him. After several attempts he gave it up, and set out for the steamer +with little pieces of barley-straw and spiky ears sticking all over him. +He could swim tolerably well, and swung along comfortably enough over +the smooth-backed swell, for his light clothing did not greatly cumber +him. Still, he did not desire that any one beyond the _Estremedura_'s +crew should witness his arrival. + +He was, accordingly, by no means pleased to see Jacinta and Miss +Gascoyne stroll out from the deck-house as he drew in under the +_Estremedura_'s side, especially as there were no apparent means of +getting on board quietly. The lancha had vanished round the stern, the +ladder was triced up, and the open cargo gangway several feet above the +brine. The steamer also hove up another four or five feet of streaming +plates every time she rolled. Still, it was evident that he could not +stay where he was on the chance of the ladies not noticing him +indefinitely, and as he swam on again Miss Gascoyne broke into a +startled scream. + +"Oh!" she said, "there's somebody drowning!" + +The cry brought Macallister to the gangway, and he was very grimy in +engine-room disarray. Austin, in the water, saw the wicked twinkle in +his eyes, and was not pleased to hear Jacinta laugh musically. + +"I really don't think he is in any danger," she said. + +Austin set his lips, and swam for the gangway as the _Estremedura_ +rolled down. His flung up hand came within a foot of the opening, and +then he sank back a fathom or more below it as the _Estremedura_ hove +that side of her out of the water. When he swung up again Macallister +was standing above him with a portentiously sharp boat hook, while two +or three grinning seamen clustered round. The girls were also leaning +out from the saloon-deck rails. + +"Will ye no keep still while I hook ye!" said the engineer. + +"If you stick that confounded thing into my clothes I'll endeavour to +make you sorry," said Austin savagely. + +Macallister made a sweep at him, and Austin went down, while one of the +seamen, leaning down, grabbed him by the shoulder, when he rose. + +"Let go!" he sputtered furiously. "Give me your hand instead!" + +He evidently forgot that the seaman, who held on, was not an Englishman, +and next moment he was hove high above the water. Then there was a +ripping and tearing, and while the seaman reeled back with a long strip +of alpaca in his hand, Austin splashed into the water. He came up in +time to see Macallister smiling in Jacinta's direction reassuringly. + +"There's no need to be afraid," he said. "Though I'm no sure he's worth +it, I'll save him for ye." + +Now, Jacinta was usually quite capable of making any man who offended +her feel sorry for himself, but the sight of Austin's savage red face as +he gazed at Macallister, with the torn jacket flapping about him in the +water and the barley-straw sticking all over him, was too much for her, +and she broke into a peal of laughter. + +In another moment Macallister contrived to get his boat hook into the +slack of Austin's garments, and when two seamen seized the haft they +hove him out, wrong side uppermost, and incoherent with wrath. When they +dropped him, a tattered, dripping heap, on the deck, Miss Gascoyne +leaned her face upon her hands, and laughed almost hysterically, until +Jacinta touched her shoulder. + +"Mr. Austin evidently believes he has a good deal to thank his comrade +for. I think you had better come away," she said. + +Austin put himself to some trouble in endeavouring to make Macallister +understand what he thought of him, when they had gone, but the engineer +only grinned. + +"Well," he said, "I'll forgive ye. If I had looked like ye do with two +ladies watching me, I might have been a bit short in temper myself, but +come away to your room. The _Andalusia_'s boat came across a while ago, +and there's business waiting ye." + +Austin went with him, but stopped a moment when he approached his room. +The door was open, as usual, and a stranger, in grey tourist tweed, upon +whom Englishman and clergyman was stamped unmistakably, sat inside the +room. Austin felt that he knew who the man must be. + +"Does he know Miss Gascoyne is on board?" he asked. + +"No," said Macallister. "The boat came round under our quarter, and we +landed him through the lower gangway. He said he'd stay here and wait +for ye. He's no sociable, anyway. I've offered him cigars and anisow, +besides some of my special whisky, but he did not seem willing to talk +to me." + +Austin fancied he could understand it. Macallister, who had discarded +his jacket, was very grimy, and his unbuttoned uniform vest failed to +conceal the grease stains on his shirt. Then he remembered that his own +jacket was torn to rags, and he was very wet; but Macallister raised his +voice: + +"Here's Mr. Austin, sir," he said. + +The clergyman, who said nothing, gazed at him, and Austin, who realised +that his appearance was against him, understood his astonishment. He +also fancied that the stranger was one with whom appearances usually +counted a good deal. + +"If you will wait a minute or two while I change my clothes, I will be +at your service, sir," he said. "As you may observe, I have been in the +sea." + +"Swum off to the steamer," said Macallister, with a wicked smile. "It +saves washing. He comes off yon way now and then." + +Austin said nothing, but stepped into the room, and, gathering up an +armful of clothing, departed, leaving a pool of water behind him. The +clergyman, it was evident, did not know what to make of either of them. +A few minutes later Austin, who came back and closed the door, sat down +opposite him. + +"My name is Gascoyne," said the stranger, handing him an open note. +"Mr. Brown of Las Palmas, who gave me this introduction, assured me that +I could speak to you confidentially, and that you would be able to tell +me where my daughter and Mrs. Hatherly are staying." + +Austin glanced at him with misgivings. He was a little man, with pale +blue eyes, and hair just streaked with grey. His face was white and +fleshy, without animation or any suggestion of ability in it, but there +had been something in the tone which seemed to indicate that he had, at +least, been accustomed to petty authority. Austin at once set him down +as a man of essentially conventional views, who was deferred to in some +remote English parish; in fact, just the man he would have expected +Muriel Gascoyne's father to be; that is, before she had revealed her +inner self. It was a type he was by no means fond of, and he was quite +aware that circumstances were scarcely likely to prepossess a man of +that description in his favour. Still, Austin was a friend of +Jefferson's, and meant to do what he could for him. + +"I know where Miss Gascoyne is, but you suggested that you had something +to ask me, and I shall be busy by and by," he said. + +Gascoyne appeared anxious, but evidently very uncertain whether it would +be advisable to take him into his confidence. + +"I understand that you are a friend of Mr. Jefferson's?" he said. + +"I am. I may add that I am glad to admit it, and I almost fancy I know +what you mean to ask me." + +Gascoyne, who appeared grateful for this lead, looked at him steadily. +"Perhaps I had better be quite frank. Indeed, Mr. Brown, who informed me +that you could tell more about Jefferson than any one in the islands, +recommended it," he said. "I am, Mr. Austin, a clergyman who has never +been outside his own country before, and I think it is advisable that I +should tell you this, because there may be points upon which our views +will not coincide. It was not easy for me to get away now, but the +future of my motherless daughter is a matter of the greatest concern to +me, and I understand that Mr. Jefferson is in Africa. I want you to tell +me candidly--as a gentleman--what kind of man he is." + +Austin felt a little better disposed towards Gascoyne after this. His +anxiety concerning his daughter was evident, and he had, at least, not +adopted quite the attitude Austin had expected. But as Austin was not by +any means brilliant himself, he felt the difficulty of making Gascoyne +understand the character of such a man as Jefferson, while his task was +complicated by the fact that he recognised his responsibility to both of +them. Gascoyne had put him on his honour, and he could not paint +Jefferson as he was not. In the meanwhile he greatly wished to think. + +"I wonder if I might offer you a glass of wine, sir, or perhaps you +smoke?" he said. + +"No, thanks," said Gascoyne, with uncompromising decision. "I am aware +that many of my brethren indulge in these luxuries. I do not." + +"Well," said Austin, "if you will tell me what you have already heard +about Jefferson it might make the way a little plainer." + +"I have been told that he is an American seafarer, it seems of the usual +careless type. Seafarers are, perhaps, liable to special temptations, +and it is generally understood that the lives most of them lead are not +altogether----" + +Austin smiled a little when Gascoyne stopped abruptly. "I'm afraid that +must be admitted, sir. I can, however, assure you that Jefferson is an +abstemious man--Americans are, as a rule, you see--and, though there are +occasions when his conversation might not commend itself to you, he has +had an excellent education. Since we are to be perfectly candid, has it +ever occurred to you that it was scarcely likely a dissolute sailor +would meet with Miss Gascoyne's approbation?" + +Gascoyne flushed a trifle. "It did not--though, of course, it should +have. Still, he told her that he was mate of the _Sachem_, which was a +painful shock to me. I, of course, remember the revolting story." + +He stopped a moment, and his voice was a trifle strained when he went on +again. "I left England, Mr. Austin, within three days of getting my +daughter's letter, and have ever since been in a state of distressing +uncertainty. Mr. Jefferson is in Africa--I cannot even write him. I do +not know where my duty lies." + +Had the man's intense anxiety been less evident, Austin would have been +almost amused. The Reverend Gascoyne appeared to believe that his +affairs were of paramount importance to everybody, as, perhaps, they +were in the little rural parish he came from; but there was something in +his somewhat egotistical simplicity that appealed to the younger man. + +"One has to face unpleasant facts now and then, sir," he said. "There +are times when homicide is warranted at sea, and man's primitive +passions are very apt to show themselves naked in the face of imminent +peril. It is in one respect unfortunate that you have probably never +seen anything of the kind, but one could not expect too much from a man +whose comrade's head had just been shorn open by a drink-frenzied +mutineer. Can you imagine the little handful of officers, driven aft +away from the boats while the ship settled under them, standing still to +be cut down with adze and axe? You must remember, too, that they were +seafarers and Americans who had few of the advantages you and your +friends enjoy in England." + +He could not help the last piece of irony, but Gascoyne, who did not +seem to notice it, groaned. + +"To think of a man who appears to hold my daughter's confidence being +concerned in such an affair at all is horribly unpleasant to me." + +"I have no doubt it was almost as distressing to Jefferson at the time. +Still, as you have probably never gone in fear of your life for weeks +together, you may not be capable of understanding what he felt, and we +had perhaps better get on a little further." + +Gascoyne seemed to pull himself together. "Mr. Jefferson has, I +understand, no means beyond a certain legacy. It is not, after all, a +large one." + +"If he is alive in six months I feel almost sure he will have twice as +much, which would mean an income of close upon £600 a year from sound +English stock, and that, one would fancy, would not be considered abject +poverty in a good many English rural parishes." + +Gascoyne sighed. "That is true--it is certainly true. You said--if he +were alive?" + +"As he is now on his way to one of the most deadly belts of swamp and +jungle in Western Africa, I think I was warranted. Knowing him as I do, +it is, I fancy, certain that if he does not come back with £16,000 in +six months he will be dead." + +"Ah," said Gascoyne, with what was suspiciously like a sigh of relief. +"One understands that it is a particularly unhealthy climate. Still, +when one considers that all is arranged for the best----" + +Austin, who could not help it, smiled sardonically, though he felt he +had an almost hopeless task. It appeared impossible that Gascoyne should +ever understand the character of a man like Jefferson. But he meant to +do what he could. + +"It is naturally easier to believe that when circumstances coincide with +our wishes, sir," he said. "Now, I do not exactly charge you with +wishing Jefferson dead, though your face shows that you would not be +sorry. I am, of course, another careless seafarer, a friend of his, and +I can understand that what you have seen of me has not prepossessed you +in my favour. Still, if I can, I am going to show you Jefferson as he +is. To begin with, he believes, as you do, that Miss Gascoyne is far +above him--and in this he is altogether wrong. Miss Gascoyne is +doubtless a good woman, but Jefferson is that harder thing to be, a good +man. His point of view is not yours, it is, perhaps, a wider one; but he +has, what concerns you most directly now, a vague, reverential respect +for all that is best in womanhood, which, I think, is sufficient to +place Miss Gascoyne under a heavy responsibility." + +He stopped a moment, looking steadily at Gascoyne, who appeared blankly +astonished. + +"Because it was evident to him that a woman of Miss Gascoyne's +conventional upbringing must suffer if brought into contact with the +unpleasant realities of the outside world, he has staked his life +willingly--not recklessly--on the winning of enough to place her +beyond the reach of adversity. He realised that it was, at least, even +chances he never came back from Africa; but it seemed to him better +that she should be proud of him dead than have to pity him and herself +living. I know this, because he told me he would never drag the woman +who loved him down. He fell in love with her without reflection, +instinctively--or, perhaps, because it was arranged so--I do not +understand these things. As surely--conventionalities don't always +count--she fell in love with him, and then he had to grapple with the +position. Your daughter could not live, as some women do, unshocked +and cheerfully among rude and primitive peoples whose morality is not +your morality, in the wilder regions of the earth. It was also evident +that she could not live sumptuously in England on the interest of +£8,000. You see what he made of it. If he died, Miss Gascoyne would be +free. If he lived, she could avoid all that would be unpleasant. Isn't +that sufficient? Could there be anything base or mean in a nature +capable of devotion of that description?" + +Gascoyne sat silent almost a minute. Then he said very quietly: "I have +to thank you, Mr. Austin--the more so because I admit I was a little +prejudiced against you. Perhaps men living as I do acquire too narrow a +view. I am glad you told me. And now where is my daughter and Mrs. +Hatherly?" + +"Wait another minute! Jefferson is, as you will recognise, a man of +exceptional courage, but he is also a man of excellent education, and, +so far as that goes, of attractive presence; such a one, in fact, as I +think a girl of Miss Gascoyne's station is by no means certain to come +across again in England. Now, if I have said anything to offend you, it +has not been with that object, and you will excuse it. Your daughter and +Mrs. Hatherly are on board this ship. It seemed better that you should +hear me out before I told you." + +"Ah," said Gascoyne. "Well, I think you were right, and again I am much +obliged to you. Will you take me to Mrs. Hatherly?" + +Austin did so, and coming back flung himself down on the settee in +Macallister's room. + +"Give me a drink--a long one. I don't know that I ever talked so much at +once in my life, and I only hope I didn't make a consummate ass of +myself," he said. + +"It's no that difficult," said Macallister, reflectively, as he took out +a syphon and a bottle of wine. "Ye made excuses for yourself and +Jefferson?" + +Austin laughed. "No," he said. "I made none for Jefferson. I think I +rubbed a few not particularly pleasant impressions into the other man. I +felt I had to. It was, of course, a piece of abominable presumption." + +Macallister leaned against the bulkhead and regarded him with a sardonic +grin. + +"I would have liked to have heard ye," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT THE BULL FIGHT + + +Austin was writing in the saloon, which was a little cooler than his +room, at about eight o'clock that night, while Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly +made ineffectual attempts to read in the ladies' cabin, for the +_Estremedura_ was on her way south again, with the trade-wind combers +tumbling after her. She rolled with a long, rhythmic swing, and now and +then shook and trembled with the jar of her lifted propeller. Muriel +Gascoyne was accordingly alone with her father on the deck above. She +sat in a canvas chair, while Gascoyne leaned upon the rails in front of +her. There was a full moon overhead, and a fantastic panorama of +fire-blackened hills, wastes of ash and lava, whirling clouds of sand, +black rocks lapped by spouting surf, and bays of deepest indigo, +unrolled itself upon one hand. It is, however, probable that neither of +the pair saw much of it, for their thoughts were not concerned with the +volcanic desolation. + +"It is a pity I did not come a few weeks earlier," said Gascoyne with a +sigh. + +Muriel's eyes were a trifle hazy, but her voice was even. "If you had +come then, and insisted upon it, I might have given him up," she said. + +"That means it is irrevocable now? I want you to make quite sure, my +dear. This man does not belong to our world. Even his thoughts must be +different from ours. You cannot know anything of his past life--I +scarcely think he could explain it to you. He would regard nothing from +the same standpoint as we do." + +"Still, it cannot have been a bad one. I can't tell you why I am sure of +that, but I know." + +Gascoyne made a little, hopeless gesture. "Muriel," he said, a trifle +hoarsely, "it is a terrible risk--and if you marry him you must +inevitably drift away from me. You are all I have, and I am getting old +and lonely, but that is not of the greatest moment. It would be horrible +to think of you drifting away from all you have been taught to believe +in and hold sacred." + +It was a strong appeal, perhaps the strongest he could have made, for +the girl had been without breadth of view when she left home, and the +boundaries of her outlook had coincided with those of the little rural +parish. Still, in some strange fashion she had gained enlightenment, and +she was resolute, though her blue eyes slowly brimmed with moisture. It +was true that he would be very lonely. + +"Ah," she said, and it was a significant sign that she questioned the +comprehension of the man whom she had regarded as almost infallible a +few weeks earlier, "how can I make you understand? There are, perhaps, +many worlds, and we know there are many kinds of men. They must think +differently, but does that matter so very much, after all? There is the +same humanity in all of us." + +"Undoubtedly! In Turks, idolaters, and unbelievers. Humanity in itself +is fallen and evil." + +Muriel smiled. "Father," she said, "you don't believe that there is no +good in all those who have not been taught to believe as we do." + +Gascoyne did not answer her, though it is possible that there were +circumstances under which he would have returned a very slightly +qualified affirmative. + +"There is a perilous optimism abroad," he said. + +"Still," said Muriel, unconscious of the irony of her deprecatory +answer, "Mr. Jefferson is neither a Turk nor an idolater. He is only an +American sailor." + +Gascoyne sighed dejectedly, for there was, it seemed, nothing left for +him to appeal to. The girl's beliefs had gone. The simple, iron-fast +rules of life she had once acknowledged were now apparently discredited; +but even in his concern he was vaguely sensible that an indefinite +something which he did not recognise as the charity that love teaches +was growing up in place of them. Still, he felt its presence as he +watched her, and knew that it could not be altogether born of evil. + +"My dear," he said, "how shall I implore you to consider?" + +Muriel smiled out of hazy eyes. "It is too late. He has my promise, and +I belong to him. Nothing that you could say would change that now. He +has gone out--to Africa--believing in me, and I know that he may never +come back again." + +Gascoyne appeared a trifle startled, and remembered a curious remark +that Austin had made to the effect that there was a heavy responsibility +upon his daughter. He could not altogether understand why this should +be, but he almost fancied that she recognised it now. There was also a +finality and decision in the girl's tone which was new to him. + +"I think you know how hard it was for me to get away, but it seemed +necessary. I came out to implore you to give this stranger up," he said. + +The girl rose, and stood looking at him gravely, with one hand on the +chair arm to steady herself as the steamer rolled, and the moonlight +upon her face. It was almost reposeful in its resolution. + +"Father," she said, "you must try to understand. Perhaps I did wrong +when I gave him my promise without consulting you, but it is given, and +irrevocable. He has gone out to Africa--and may die there--believing in +me. I don't think I could make you realise how he believes in me, but, +though, of course, he is wrong, I grow frightened now and then, and +almost hope he may never see me as I really am. That is why +I--daren't--fail him. If there was no other reason I must keep faith +with him." + +"Then," said Gascoyne, very slowly, "I must, at least, try to resign +myself--and perhaps, my apprehensions may turn out to be not quite +warranted, after all. I was horribly afraid a little while ago, but this +man seems to have the faculty of inspiring confidence in those who know +him. They cannot all be mistaken, and the man who is purser on this +steamer seems to believe in him firmly. His views are peculiar, but +there was sense in what he said, and he made me think a little less +hardly of Mr. Jefferson." + +Muriel only smiled. She realised what this admission, insufficient and +grudging as it was, must have cost her father, and--for she had regarded +everything from his point of view until a few weeks ago--she could +sympathise with him. Still, she was glad when she saw Jacinta and Mrs. +Hatherly coming towards them along the deck. + +It was an hour later when Jacinta met Austin at the head of the ladder, +and stopped him with a sign. + +"I have had a long talk with Mr. Gascoyne, and found him a little less +disturbed in mind than I had expected," she said. "I want to know what +you said to him." + +"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I really can't remember, and if I +could it wouldn't be worth while. Of course, I knew what I wanted to +say, but I'm almost afraid I made as great a mess of it as I usually +do." + +"Still, I think Miss Gascoyne is grateful to you." + +"That," said Austin, "affords me very little satisfaction, after all. +You see, I didn't exactly do it to please Miss Gascoyne." + +"Then I wonder what motive really influenced you?" + +Austin pursed his lips, as if thinking hard. "I don't quite know. For +one thing, very orthodox people of the Reverend Gascoyne's description +occasionally have an irritating effect upon me. I feel impelled to +readjust their point of view, or, at least to allow them an opportunity +of recognising the advantages of mine, which, however, isn't necessarily +the correct one. I hope this explanation contents you." + +Jacinta smiled. "I think I shall remember it," she said. "I believe I +generally do when anybody does a thing to please me. Still, Miss +Gascoyne's gratitude will not hurt you." + +Then she swept away, and left him standing meditatively at the head of +the ladder. He saw no more of her that night, and he was busy when the +_Estremedura_ steamed into Las Palmas early next morning, while it was +nearly three weeks later when he met her again at a corrida de toros in +the bull ring at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, which was, perhaps, the last +place where one would have expected to find an English lady. + +The spacious amphitheatre was open to the sky, and all its tiers of +stone benches packed with excited humanity, for half the inhabitants of +the island had apparently gathered to enjoy the sanguinary spectacle. +Black is the colour affected by men who can afford it on a Spanish +holiday, but the white cotton the bare-legged hillmen wore, and the pink +and chrome of their wives' and daughters' dresses, flecked with luminous +colour the sombre ranks of the close-packed multitude. Blazing sunlight +beat down upon them, for it is only the richer citizens who sit in the +shadow, and the topmost row was projected, a filagree of black and +motley, against the hard glaring blue. Below, the arena shone dazzlingly +yellow, and the smell of blood and fresh sawdust came up from it through +the many-toned murmur of the crowd. When this sank a little one could +hear the deep boom of the Atlantic swell crumbling on the lava beach. + +The revolting picador scene was over. Two or three worn-out and +blindfolded horses had been gored or trampled to death, and one +picador's arm had been broken. The tawny, long-horned bull, which had +shown unusual courage, stood panting in the middle of the arena, with a +crimson smear on one shoulder where a lance had scored it deep, and +while the bugles rang, the vast assembly waited for the banderillero +scene in high good humour. Just then a little party descended one of the +avenues on the shady side, and Austin, who had a note from Pancho Brown +in his pocket, with some difficulty made his way to meet them. He was +quite aware that Brown was probably the only Englishman in those islands +who would have been able to reserve desirable places at a corrida de +toros. + +Jacinta, who accompanied him, was attended by his Spanish housekeeper +and two sunburnt English naval officers, but she made room for Austin on +one side of her, and appeared in no way displeased by his indifferently +veiled approbation. Miss Brown had been dressed by a Castilian modeste, +mostly in black lace, that day, and her clustering brown hair was +ornamented by a little mantilla of the same material. It was not a dress +which would have suited every Englishwoman, especially of substantial +type, but Jacinta was slight, and delicately round, and altogether +sylph-like. + +"You venture to approve of this get-up?" she said. "The tourists were a +little horrified at the hotel." + +Austin, who wore white duck, noticed that she smiled at the Governor, +who sat above them amidst his glittering staff, and that almost sufficed +to spoil his satisfaction, though it was only one of the many little +things that emphasised the difference between them. Still, he contrived +to laugh. + +"I expect they were envious. It's bewilderingly effective, and I am a +bit of an artist, as you know," he said. "I was wondering whether you +would have the courage to come." + +"Jacinta," said Pancho Brown, "has courage enough for anything. Still, +she came because I asked her. I make my living out of these people, and, +perhaps, a little more. It was policy." + +Jacinta laughed. "Well," she said, "I rather like it, and I have been +before. Of course, I mean after they have killed the horses and smashed +the picadores. That part is not only cruel, but ineffective. It's not +inspiriting to see a man padded with leather sit quite still to be +knocked over. They should either wipe it out or give them stuffed +horses. By the way, you don't know my companions." + +The two naval officers acknowledged the introduction with characteristic +brevity. Their eyes were fixed on the arena, and the scene was probably +worth their attention, for there are parts of a bull fight which cannot +be termed revolting, at least, by those who have actually witnessed +them. + +A lithe, well-favoured man, picturesquely attired, skipped into the +ring, holding a crimson cape in one hand, and a couple of little +decorated darts in the other. It was his business to strike them into +the neck or shoulder of the bull, but nowhere else, while their points +were calculated to do no more than exasperate it. The beast watched him +savagely, pawing up the sand, and the chances appeared somewhat against +the man, since to reach its neck he must approach his silk-covered +breast within an inch or two of the gleaming horns, one of which was +suspiciously reddened. + +Austin could not quite see how he did it, for his motions were +bewilderingly rapid, but he saw the wave of the gaudy cloak and heard +its crisp rustle that was lost in the roar. Then the man was running +round the ring for his life, and the bull thundering along with lowered +head and a dart bristling in its neck, a yard or two behind him. He had +no time to swing himself over the barricade, as hard pressed +banderilleros now and then did, for the deadly horns were almost in the +small of his back. It was a frantic test of speed, highly trained human +agility and endurance against the strength of the beast, and there was +dead silence while they went round the arena once, the man running +desperately, with tense, set face, while Austin fancied he could hear +his gasping breath through the roar of the hoofs. Then, with a splendid +bound, he drew a yard ahead, and another man with a green cape hurled +himself through the opening. Somehow he escaped destruction, and the +bull slid onward with hoofs ploughing up the sand, and the gaudy silk +fluttering about its head. There was a roar of plaudits that could have +been heard miles away at sea, and while from tiers of benches the hats +came sailing down, the bull, which shook the cape off, tore the coloured +rags to fragments. + +"That fellow has good nerves," said one of the navy men. "I don't see +anything very brutal in it, after all. They both start level, and take +their chances, you know." + +Jacinta looked at Austin over her fan, and there was a faint flush in as +much of her face as he could see, as well as a little gleam in her +eyes. + +"I'm afraid it--is--a little barbarous," she said. "Everybody says so. +Still, wasn't that banderillero splendid! You see, I have put on +Castilian notions with my clothes. Of course, as an Englishwoman, I +could never venture here." + +Austin was a little annoyed to feel that he was smiling sardonically. +"Well," he said, "I should almost have fancied that you were too +super-refined and ethereal to admire that kind of thing, but I really +believe you do." + +Jacinta waved her fan. "Do not be deceived, my friend. There is a good +deal of the primitive in us all, and it shows up now and then." Then she +laughed. "I wonder how they all get their right hats back again." + +Austin could not tell her, for it was a thing he could never understand; +but while the attendants were still flinging the black sombreros into +the air another banderillero approached the bull. He planted one dart +and then dashed across the ring, but either his nerve failed him, or he +could not trust his speed, for he grasped the top of the barricade and +swung himself over. In another moment the bull struck it with a crash, +and then stood still, half stunned, apparently endeavouring to make out +where the man had gone. There was a storm of hisses and opprobrious +cries. + +"That banderillero," said Jacinta, sweetly, "should have been driven out +of the ring. He ought never to have undertaken a thing that was too big +for him." + +"Isn't that a little hard upon the man?" said Austin. "He probably +didn't know it was too big until he had undertaken it." + +"That's sensible, Miss Brown," said one of the navy men. "When he found +he couldn't run as fast as the bull could what was he to do?" + +"What did a certain gunboat's men do when they found themselves quite +unexpectedly in front of the African headman's battery?" + +The navy man flushed a little, for he was young. "Oh," he said, "that +was different. They set their lips and went in, though I don't suppose +any of them liked it. Still, you see, that was what they were there to +do." + +"Exactly!" and Jacinta laughed a little, though there was still a gleam +in her eyes, and it was Austin she looked at. "They did the obvious, as +well as the most artistic thing. It fortunately happens that they're +often very much the same." + +"I'm not quite sure I understand you," said the young officer. "People +who want me to have to talk plain. Still, I suppose one has always a +certain sympathy for the fellow who gets himself killed decently." + +Then, for a time, they became absorbed in the play of the banderilleros, +who, flashing here and there, with cloaks of red, and gold, and green, +passed the bull from one to another up and down the trampled arena. Now, +one of them escaped annihilation by a hairsbreadth, while the thundering +vivas went up to the glaring sky, and a comrade turned the tormented +beast again. Now, a silk-clad athlete swept through the two-foot gap +between deadly horns and flying man, and the bull swung round with a +bellow to pursue him, or stood still, temporarily blinded with the gaudy +cloak about its horns. It was a fascinating exhibition of human nerve +and skill, and Austin saw that Jacinta watched it with slightly parted +lips and a gleam in her eyes, until at last the bugles rang, and most of +the men withdrew, leaving the bull alone in the middle of the arena, +with the foam flakes dripping from its muzzle and its brawny neck +bristling with the little darts. Then there was a general movement and a +great hum of voices rose from the close-packed benches. Jacinta waved +her fan, and touched Austin's arm as she looked about her. + +"Surely that is Macallister. But whatever is he doing there?" she said. + +Austin looked up across the long rows of faces, and saw his comrade +sitting, spick and span in the blue Spanish mail uniform, among the +brilliant officers of the Governor's staff. Macallister was a big man, +with a commanding appearance, when he had for the time being done with +the engine room, and Austin, who knew that he could make friends with +anybody, was not astonished to notice that he seemed very much at home. + +"It is rather more than I know," he said. "Still, I should fancy he was +telling them something amusing in execrable Castilian, by the way they +are laughing. I believe Macallister could get anywhere he wanted. He +has, as a matter of fact, dragged me into somewhat astonishing places." + +"I shouldn't wonder," said one of the navy men. "George, isn't that big +fellow in the uniform yonder the one we saw the other night at the +opera?" + +"It is," said his comrade, with a little soft laugh, as though he +remembered something that had afforded him considerable pleasure. + +Jacinta touched Austin with her fan. "I presume you know what he is +referring to?" + +"Well," said Austin, "what I do know is this. Mack and I went to see the +Italian company the other night, and because he, of course, knew +everybody about the place, we went behind the scenes. He, unfortunately, +became interested in the stage machinery, and when he had made spirited +attempts to pull some of it to pieces, I and the improvisatore beguiled +him to a chair in the wings. We gave him a cigar to keep him quiet, as +well as the libretto, which he could not read, and, as he seemed +somewhat sleepy, I was thankful to leave him there. I didn't care about +that opera. He never told me what happened after." + +The young officer laughed again. "I daresay I can enlighten you. In the +middle of the last act one of the wings collapsed, and everybody saw a +big Englishman, who had apparently just kicked it over, sitting, half +asleep, in a folding chair. He didn't appear to have any legitimate +connection with the drama, but he brought the house down when he got up +in a hurry and fell over his chair." + +Then the shrill call of the bugles rang through the great building, and +a tall man, with a scarred face, gorgeously dressed, walked into the +arena, holding a three-cornered hat and a long, straight sword. He stood +still a moment, an imposing and curiously graceful figure, with bright +blade lowered, while a tumultuous shout of "Mæstro!" filled the +building; and then, taking a cloak from an attendant, approached the +bull. It was freely smeared with blood, and as it stood, bellowing, and +pawing the sand in murderous rage, it was evident that the Mæstro's task +was not a particularly pleasant one. There was only one way in which he +could kill the bull, and that was to pass his sword over the horns and +down into the brawny chest, near the base of the neck. Should he strike +elsewhere it was probable that the vast assembly would descend and +trample on him, for this was a duel to the death between man and beast, +in which the latter was secured what seemed an even chance by +punctilious etiquette. The Spaniard displays a good deal of sympathy +with a gallant bull. + +The beast seemed to understand that this man was different from the +banderilleros who had previously tormented it, and backed away from him +until he smote it lightly on the nostrils. Then it swept forward in a +savage rush but though the man's movements were so quick that one +scarcely noticed them, he was not quite where he had been a moment +earlier, when the bull thundered past him. Still, one horn had ripped a +strip of silk from him. He followed the beast, and struck it with his +hand, and for five or six frenzied minutes the vast audience roared. +This man never ran. He stepped backwards, or twisted, always with grave +gracefulness, in the nick of time, until at last the bull stood still, +as though stupefied with rage or uncertain how to attack its elusive +persecutor. + +Then, as the man walked up to it very quietly and unconcernedly, it +seemed to hump itself together for a furious bound and rush with lowered +head, and there was no sound in the great building until the bright +steel flashed. Man's breast and gleaming horns seemed to meet, but +apparently in the same second the gorgeously clad figure had stepped +aside, and in the next the bull plunged forward and came down upon its +knees. + +There was another roar, and once more from all the close-packed benches +came the rain of hats, cigars, and bundles of cigarettes. + +"Ah," said Jacinta, with a little gasp, "I think I have seen enough. +There will be another bull and more picadores now. I never could stand +that part of it. Besides, I have done my duty, and patronised the show." + +They made their way out while the audience waited for another bull, and +certain leather-swathed picadores rode in on decrepit, blindfolded +horses, brought there to be killed; and it was an hour later when, as +they stood beneath the oleanders in a fonda garden looking down upon the +white-walled town, Jacinta mentioned the affair again. + +"Of course, it is a little cruel; but, after all, it appeals to rather +more than the lower passions and lust of slaughter, don't you think?" +she said. + +"I never saw anything to equal that Mæstro's play in my life," said one +of the young officers. "It was cool daring in the superlative degree." + +"I fancy," said Austin, "you want us to make excuses for your being +there." + +Jacinta laughed. "Not exactly! I am rather proud of being a law to +myself--and others--you know. Now, I really think that the qualities the +Mæstro possessed appealed to me, though I naturally mean some and not +all of them. I am, after all, as I admitted, a little primitive in some +respects." + +"You mean that you like a man to be daring?" asked the other officer. + +"Of course!" and once more it was Austin Jacinta looked at. "Still, I +don't necessarily mean that everybody should go bull-fighting. There are +other things more worth while." + +"Even than sailing round the Canaries and painting little pictures?" +said Austin. + +Jacinta glanced at him with a curious smile. "Well," she said, "since +you ask me, I almost think there are." Then she stopped a moment, and +stood looking out from among the oleanders towards the glittering heave +of the Atlantic across the white-walled town. Once more a faint gleam +crept into her eyes. + +"I wonder," she added, "what Jefferson is doing--out yonder in Africa." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN + + +The afternoon was wearing through, but it was still almost insufferably +hot when Jefferson stood with his hand upon the valve of the _Cumbria_'s +forward winch. She lay with her bows wedged into the mangrove forest, +which crawled on high-arched roots over leagues of bubbling mire to the +edge of one of the foulest creeks in Western Africa. It flowed, thick +and yeasty, beneath the steamer's hove-up side, for she lay with a list +to starboard athwart the stream. There was a bend close by, and her +original crew had apparently either failed to swing her round it, which +is an accident that sometimes happens in that country, or driven her +ashore to save her sinking. + +Her iron deck was unpleasantly hot, and the negroes who crossed it +between hatch and surfboat hopped. They, of course, wore no boots, and, +indeed, very little of anything at all beyond a strip of cotton round +their waists. There was not a breath of wind astir, and the saturated +atmosphere, which was heavy with the emanations of the swamps, seemed to +seal the perspiration in the burning skin. Jefferson felt the veins on +his forehead swollen to the bursting point when he stopped the winch and +looked about him while the Spaniards slipped a sling over a palm-oil +puncheon in the hold below. + +He could see nothing but a strip of dazzling water, and the dingy, +white-stemmed mangroves which stretched away farther than the eye could +follow, and sighed as he glanced back at the _Cumbria_. She lay with +deck unpleasantly slanted and one bilge in the mire, a rusty, two-masted +steamer, with the blistered paint peeling off her, and the burnt awnings +hanging from their spars. He did not expect much water in that creek +until the wet season, and in the meanwhile it was necessary to heave the +coal and cargo out of her and send it down stream to a neighbouring +beach. It was very slow work with the handful of men he had, and those +few weeks had set their mark on Jefferson. + +He had never been a fleshy man, and long days of feverish toil under a +burning sun and in the steamy heat of the flooded holds had worn him to +skin and bone. His duck garments hung with a significant slackness about +his gaunt frame, and they were rent in places, as well as blackened and +smeared with oil. His face was grim and hollow, but there was a fierce +steadfastness in his eyes, which seemed filled with curious brilliancy. + +"Are you going to sleep down there? Can't you send up another cask?" he +said. + +A voice came up from the dusky hatch, out of which there flowed a hot, +sour smell of palm oil and putrefying water. "The next tier's jammed up +under the orlop beams," it said. "We might get on a little if we could +break a puncheon out." + +Jefferson laid his hands upon the combing of the hatch and swung himself +over. It was a drop of several yards, and he came down upon the slippery +round of a big puncheon, and reeling across the barrels, fell backwards +against an angle-iron. He was, however, up again in a moment, and stood +blinking about him with eyes dazzled by the change from the almost +intolerable brightness above. Blurred figures were standing more than +ankle deep in water on the slanted rows of puncheons, and Jefferson, +who could not see them very well, blinked again when an Englishman, +stripped to the waist, moved towards him. The latter was dripping with +yellow oil and perspiration. + +"It's this one," he said, and kicked a puncheon viciously. "The +derrick-crabs have pulled the tops of the staves off her. They're soaked +an' soft with oil. The water underneath's jamming them up, an' you'll +see how the tier's keyed down by the orlop-beams." + +Jefferson wrenched the iron bar he held away from him and turned to the +rest. + +"There's a patch of the head clear. Two or three of you get a handspike +on to it," he said. "No, shove it lower down. Mas abajo. Now, heave all +together. Vamos. Toda fuerza!" + +They were barefooted Canary Spaniards, of an astonishing ignorance, but +excellent sailormen, and they understood him. Lean, muscular bodies +strained and bent, the dew of effort dripped from them; and, as he +heaved with lips set, the hollows grew deeper in Jefferson's grim face. +No one spoke; there was only a deep, stertorous gasping, until the +puncheon moved a little, and Jefferson, stooping, drove his bar a trifle +lower. Then, while he strained every muscle and sinew in strenuous +effort, the great, slimy barrel rose again, tilted, and rolled out on +its fellows. For a moment it left a space of oily black water where it +had been, and then the puncheons closed in with a crash again. Jefferson +flung the bar down and straightened himself. + +"Now," he said wearily, "you can get ahead." + +He crawled up the ladder with a curious languidness, and while one of +the Englishmen apostrophised the puncheons the Spaniards went back to +their task. The Castilian is not supposed to be remarkable for +diligence, but there is, at least among the lower ranks of men in whom +the Iberian blood flows, a capacity for patient toil and uncomplaining +endurance which, while not always very apparent, nevertheless shows +itself unmistakably under pressure of circumstances. These were simple +men, who had never been encouraged to think for themselves, and were, +therefore, like other Spaniards of their degree, perhaps, incapable of +undertaking anything on their own initiative, but they could do a great +deal under the right leader, and they had him in Jefferson. + +One of the Englishmen, however, was not quite satisfied. He had been in +the tropics before, and did not like the curious flush in Jefferson's +face or the way the swollen veins showed on his forehead, so he climbed +the ladder after him and leaned upon the winch-drum looking at him +meditatively. The man was very ragged as well as very dirty, and +altogether disreputable, so far as appearance went, while it is probable +that in several respects his character left a good deal to be desired. + +"Here's your hat. It's wet, but that's no harm," he said. "You forgot +it. Hadn't you better put it on quick?" + +Jefferson, who recognised the wisdom of this, did so. + +"That's all right! Well, what--are--you stopping for?" he said. + +The other man still regarded him contemplatively. "I know my place--but +things isn't quite the same aboard this 'ooker as they would be on a +big, two-funnel liner. You couldn't expect it. That's why I come up just +now to speak to you. You're not feelin' well to-day?" + +"It's not worth worrying about. I guess nobody but a nigger ever does +feel well in this country." + +The other man shook his head. "You go slow. I've seen it comin' on," he +said. "You oughtn't to 'a' had your hat off a minute. You see, if you +drop out, how's Bill an' me to get the bonus you promised us?" + +Jefferson laughed, though he found, somewhat to his concern, that he +could not see the man very well. + +"I'm going to hold up until I knock the bottom of this contract out," he +said, good-humouredly. "I can't do it if I stop and talk to you. Get a +move on. Light out of this!" + +The man went back. He had done what he felt was his duty, though he had +not expected that it would be of very much use, and Jefferson started +the winch. It hammered and rattled, and the barrels came up, slimy and +dripping, with patches of whitewash still clinging to them. The glare of +it dazzled Jefferson until he could scarcely see them as they swung +beneath the derrick-boom, but he managed to drop them into the surfboat +alongside and pile the rest on deck, when she slid down the creek with a +row of negroes paddling on either side. The steamer had struck the +forest at the time of highest water, and it was necessary to take +everything out of her if she was to be floated during the coming rainy +season. + +He toiled on for another hour, with a racking pain in his head, and the +Canarios toiled in the stifling hold below, until there was a jar and a +rattle, and a big puncheon that should have gone into the surfboat came +down with a crash amidst them, and, bursting, splashed them with yellow +oil. Then the man who had remonstrated with Jefferson went up the ladder +in haste. The winch had stopped, and Jefferson lay across it, amidst a +coil of slack wire, with a suffused face. The man, who stooped over him, +shouted, and the rest who came up helped to carry him to his room +beneath the bridge. The floor was slanted so that one could scarcely +stand on it, and as the berth took the same list, they laid him where +the side of it met the bulkhead. He lay there, speechless, with +half-closed eyes, and water and palm oil soaking from him. + +"Now," said the man who had given Jefferson good advice, "you'll get +these Spaniards out of this, Bill. Then you'll go on breaking the +puncheons out. Wall-eye, here, can run the winch for you, but you can +come back in half an hour when I've found out what's wrong with the +skipper." + +Bill seemed to recognise that his comrade had risen to the occasion. +"Well," he said, "I s'pose there's no use in me sayin' anything. All I +want to know is, how you're going to do it?" + +"See that?" and the other man pointed to a chest beneath the settee. +"It's full of medicines, an' there's a book about them. Good ole Board +of Trade!" + +"How d'you know those medicines arn't all gorn?" asked Bill. + +"They arn't. I've been in. There's a bottle of sweet paregoricky stuff I +came round for a swigg of when Mr. Jefferson wasn't there now and then. +It warms you up kind of comfortin'." + +Bill went away with the Spaniards, and, in place of improving the +occasion by looking for liquor, as he might, perhaps, have been expected +to do, went on with his task. The English sailorman does not always +express himself delicately, but he is, now, at least, very far from +being the dissolute, unintelligent ruffian he is sometimes supposed to +be. There is no doubt of this, for shipowners know their business, and +while there is no lack of Teutons and cheerful, sober Scandinavians, a +certain proportion of English seamen still go to sea in English ships. +The man who sat in Jefferson's room could, at least, understand the +treatise in the medicine chest, although it was one approved by the +Board of Trade, which august body has apparently no great fondness for +lucid explanations. He was, however, still pouring over it when his +comrade thrust his head into the doorway again, and it is possible that +Jefferson had not suffered greatly from the fact that he had not as yet +quite decided on any course of treatment. + +"Well," said the newcomer, "I s'pose you know what he--has--got?" + +"Come in, an' sit down there," said the other. "It's fever, for one +thing--I've seen it coming on--an' sunstroke for another. What I'm stuck +at is if I'm to treat them both together." + +Bill looked reflective. "I think I'd take them one at a time. Get the +sunstroke out of him, an' then go for the fever. How d' you start on it, +Tom?" + +"Undo his clothes. That's easy. The buttons is mostly off them, an' he +has hardly any on. Then you put cold water on his head." + +"That's not easy, anyway! Where the blazes are you going to get cold +water from?" + +It was somewhat of a paradox, for while there is plenty of water in +Western Africa, none of it is cold. Tom, however, was once more equal to +the occasion. + +"We could get a big spanner from the engine room, an' put it on his +head," he said. "There's plenty of them. S'pose you go an' bring one. +Any way, we'll swill him with the coldest water we can get." + +They laid a soaked singlet upon his head with a couple of iron spanners +under it, and then sat down to watch the effect. Somewhat to their +astonishment, it did not appear to do him any appreciable good. Darkness +closed down as they waited, and it seemed to grow hotter than ever, +while the thick white steam rose from the swamps. Tom stood up and +lighted the lamp. + +"The fever's easier," he said. "I've had it. You give him the +mixture--it's down in the book--though I don't know what the meaning of +all these sign things is. That starts him perspiring, an' then it's +thick blankets. We used to give them green-lime water in the mailboats." + +"Where's the green limes?" said Bill. "Any way, I'd give the sunstroke a +decent chance first. Perhaps he'll come out of it himself. I don't know +that it wouldn't be better if he did." + +Jefferson came out of his limp unconsciousness into a raving delirium +that night, and they rolled him in two blankets, while Bill, being left +on watch, wisely threw away the draught his comrade had concocted. +Jefferson was also very little more sensible during the next few days, +and, though the work went on, before the week was over the two lonely +Englishmen found they had another difficulty to grapple with. The sun +was almost overhead, and the iron deck, insufferably hot, when the +surfboat negroes, who had just finished their meal, came forward +together, eight or nine big, naked men, with animal faces and splendid +muscles. Nobody knew where they came from, but when two or three of them +appeared in a canoe, Jefferson had managed to make them understand that +he was willing to pay them for their services, and they forthwith went +away, and came back with several comrades and a man of shorter stature +who had apparently worked on a steamboat or at a white man's factory. +They had worked tolerably well while Jefferson was about to watch them, +but they had now apparently decided on another mode of behaviour, for +the attitude of their leader was unmistakably truculent. The man called +Bill, sitting on the fore hatch, turned at the patter of naked feet, and +looked at him. + +"Well," he said sharply, "what the ---- are you wanting?" + +"Two bokus them green gin," said the negro. "Two lil' piece of cloff +every boy." + +Tom laughed ironically. "There isn't any green gin bokus in the ship, +for one thing. You'll get your cloth-piece when the work is done. That's +all I've got to say to you. Get out of this!" + +The negro made a little forceful gesture. "You no cappy." + +"Well," said Bill, drily, "he figures he's a bloomin' admiral in the +meanwhile, and that's good enough for you. Go home again, and don't +worry me." + +"Two cloff-piece," said the negro. "Two cloff-piece every boy. You no +lib for get them, we come down too much boy an' take them 'teamboat from +you." + +The white men looked at one another, and it was evident that they were +uncertain how far the negro might be able to make good his threat. There +was, as it happened, very little to prevent him doing it, and stockaded +factories, as well as stranded steamboats, have been looted in Western +Africa. Still, they remembered that they had the prestige of their +colour to maintain. + +"Oh, get out one time!" said Tom. + +The negro turned upon him. "You no cappy. You low, white 'teamboat +bushman. Too much boy he lib for come down one night an' cut you big fat +t'roat." + +Bill, who was big and brawny, rose with an air of sorrowful resignation. +"This ---- nonsense has got to be stopped," he said, and walked +tranquilly towards the negro. "You wouldn't listen to reason, +Black-funnel-paint." + +Then, before the latter quite realised what had happened to him, a grimy +fist descended upon his jaw, and as he staggered backwards somebody +seized his shoulders and whirled him round. In another moment Bill +kicked with all his might, and the negro went out headlong through the +open gangway into the creek alongside. In the meanwhile the Spaniards +came tumbling from the hatch, and, though they were quiet men, they +carried long Canary knives. The sight of them was enough for the +negroes, and they followed their leader, plunging from the gangway or +over the rail. Their canoes still lay beneath the quarter, and though +Tom hurled a few big lumps of coal on them as they got under way, they +were flying up the creek in another minute, with paddles flashing. + +Then Bill explained the affair to the Canarios as well as he could, and +afterward drew his comrade back into the shadow of the deck-house to +hold a council. Both of them felt somewhat lonely as they blinked at the +desolation of dingy mangroves which hemmed them in. There was, so far as +they knew, not a white man in that part of Africa, and the intentions of +the negroes were apparently by no means amicable. + +"Funnel-paint may come back an' bring his friends," said Tom. "I don't +know what's to stop him if he wants to. There's not a gun in the ship +except Mr. Jefferson's pistol, an' those Canary fellows' knives, an' we +can't worry Mr. Jefferson about the thing when he's too sick to +understand. If I'd only begun on him for fever he might have been +better." + +"I'm thankful," said Bill, "as he isn't dead. It wouldn't be very +astonishing, but that don't matter." + +"You'd think it mattered a good deal if you was Mr. Jefferson. If I +wasn't that anxious about him I'd let you try your hand an' see how easy +it is worrying out that book. As it is, one of us is enough." + +"I'm thinking," said Bill sourly, "as it's a ---- sight too much!" + +Tom glared at him a moment, for one of the effects that climate has upon +a white man's nerves is to keep him in a state of prickly irritation; +but he was more anxious than he cared to confess, too anxious, indeed, +to force a quarrel. + +"Well," he said, "I'll ask you what you mean another time. Just now, +we've got to do a little for Mr. Jefferson and a little for ourselves. +Eight pound a month, all found, and a fifty-pound bonus when he gets her +off, isn't to be picked up everywhere, and, of course, there's no +telling when you an' me may get the fever. Now, then, we want a boss who +isn't sick, an' more men, as well as a doctor." + +"Of course. How're you goin' to get 'em?" + +"Not here. They don't grow in the swamps. Somebody's got to go for them, +an' Las Palmas is the best place. You could find a West-coast mailboat +goin' home if you went down the creek in the launch. They've a man or +two sick in the engine room most trips, an' they'd be glad to take you +firin'. Now, before Mr. Jefferson got that sunstroke he showed me two +envelopes. If he was to peg out sudden I was to see the men in Las +Palmas got them, and they'd tell me what to do. Men do peg out at any +time in this country. Well, you look for a liner an' take those letters. +If it's a good boat she'll only be four or five days steaming up the +trades. Mr. Jefferson deserves a chance for his life." + +"What's wrong with takin' him, too; or all of us goin', for that +matter?" asked his companion. + +"Eight pounds a month, an' a bonus! Besides, Mr. Jefferson put all his +money into getting this ship off. If he comes round an' finds it thrown +away he's not going to be grateful to either of us." + +Bill sat silent, evidently thinking hard for a minute or two. "Well," he +said, "there's sense in the thing, an' I'll try it. You'll be all right +with those Canariers. They're nice quiet men, an' if you make 'em say it +over lots of times you can generally understand 'em. Wall-eye can bring +the launch back. I'll get out of this when we've steam up." + +It was two hours later when he and one of the Canarios who had worked on +board the coaling company's tug departed, and the rest, clustering along +the _Cumbria_'s rail, watched them wistfully as the little clanking +craft slid down the creek. They would very much have liked to have gone +in her, and might have done so had not Jefferson had the forethought to +promise them a small share of the profit when the work was done, and fed +them well. There are also men who inspire confidence in those they lead, +and sailormen capable of carrying out a bargain. Thus there were no open +expressions of regret or misgivings when the last of the launch's +smoke-trail melted above the mangroves, though Tom looked very grave as +he clawed the shoulder of an olive-faced Canario seaman who did not +understand him. + +"If that man goes on the loose with what he gets for firin', an' forgets +all about those letters, it won't be nice for us," he said. "In the +meanwhile, we've just got to buck up and lighten the blame old +scrap-iron tank between us." + +He called her a few other names while the Spaniard watched him, smiling, +and, having so relieved himself, went softly into the skipper's room, +where Jefferson lay, a worn-out shadow of a man, wrapped in very dirty +blankets, and babbling incoherently. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE + + +It was late one hot night when Austin first met Captain Farquhar of the +S.S. _Carsegarry_ in a calle of Santa Cruz, and the worthy shipmaster, +being then in a somewhat unpleasant position, was sincerely pleased to +see him. The _Carsegarry_ had reached Las Palmas with three thousand +tons of steam coal some ten days earlier, and, because there are +disadvantages attached to living on board a vessel that is discharging +coal, Farquhar had taken up his abode at the Metropole. He had, as +usual, made friends with almost everybody in the hotel during the first +few days, which said a good deal for his capabilities, considering that +most of them were Englishmen; and then, finding their society pall on +him, went across to Santa Cruz in search of adventure and more congenial +company. + +As it happened, he found the latter in the person of another Englishman +with similar tastes; and one or two of their frolics are remembered in +that island yet. On the night Farquhar came across Austin they had +amused themselves not altogether wisely in a certain café, from which +its proprietor begged them to depart when they had broken one citizen's +guitar and damaged another's clothes. Then, as it was getting late, they +adjourned to the mole, where the Englishman had arranged that a boat at +his command should meet them, and convey Farquhar, who was going back to +Las Palmas next day, on board the _Estremedura_. The boat was not +forthcoming, and the Englishman's temper deteriorated while they waited +half an hour for it, until when at last the splash of oars came out of +the soft darkness he was not only in a very unpleasant humour, but +determined upon showing his companion that he was not a man with whom a +Spanish crew could take liberties. + +There was also a pile of limestone on the mole, and when a shadowy +launch slid into the blackness beneath it he hurled down the biggest +lumps he could find, as well as a torrent of Castilian vituperation. +Then, however, instead of the excuses he had expected, there were +wrathful cries, and the Englishman gasped when he saw dim, white-clad +figures clambering in portentous haste up the adjacent steps. + +"We'll have to get out of this--quick!" he said. "I've made a little +mistake. It's somebody else's boat." + +They set about it without waste of time, but there was a good deal of +merchandise lying about the mole, and the Englishman, who fell over some +of it, lay still until a peon came across him peacefully asleep behind a +barrel next morning. Farquhar, however, ran on, snatching up a handspike +as he went, with odd lumps of limestone hurtling behind him; and as he +and his pursuers made a good deal of noise as they sped across the plaza +at the head of the mole, the citizens still left in the cafés turned out +to enjoy the spectacle. English seafarers are tolerated in that city, +but it is, perhaps, their own fault that they are not regarded with any +particular favour, and when Farquhar turned at bay in a doorway and +proceeded to defy all the subjects of Spain, nobody was anxious to stand +between him and the barelegged sailors, who had nasty knives. It might, +in fact, have gone hard with him had not two civiles, with big revolvers +strapped about them, arrived. + +They heard the crowd's explanations with official unconcern, and then, +though it was, perhaps, their duty to place Farquhar in safe custody in +the cuartel, decided on sending for Austin, who was known to be staying +that night in a neighbouring hotel. He had befriended English skippers +already under somewhat similar circumstances, and the civiles, who knew +their business, were quite aware that nobody would thank them for +forcing the affair upon the attention of the English Consul. Austin +came, and saw Farquhar gazing angrily at the civiles and still gripping +his bar, while the crowd stood round and made insulting remarks about +him in Castilian. He at once grasped the position, and made a sign of +concurrence when one of the civiles spoke to him. + +"You take him to his steamer," said the officer. "One of us will come +round in the morning when he understands." + +Austin turned to Farquhar. "Give the man that bar," he said. "Come +along, and I'll send you off to your steamer." + +"I'm going to have satisfaction out of some of them first," and Farquhar +made an indignant gesture of protest. "Then I'll knock up the Consul. +I'll show them if a crowd of garlic-eating pigs can run after me." + +"If you stop here you'll probably get it, in the shape of a knife +between your ribs," said Austin, who seized his arm. "A wise man doesn't +drag in the Consul when he wants to keep his berth." + +He forced Farquhar, who still protested vigorously, along, and, because +the civiles marched behind, conveyed him to the mole, where a boat was +procured to take them off to the _Estremedura_. Farquhar had cooled down +a little by the time they reached her, and appeared grateful when Austin +put him into his berth. + +"Perhaps you did save me some trouble, and I'll not forget you," he +said. "Take you round all the nice people in Las Palmas and tell them +you're a friend of mine." + +"I'm not sure it would be very much of a recommendation," said Austin, +drily. + +Farquhar laughed. "That's where you're mistaken. When I've been a week +in a place I'm friends with everybody worth knowing." + +"If to-night's affair is anything to go by, it's a little difficult to +understand how you manage it," said Austin. + +"It's quite easy to be looked up to, and still have your fun," and +Farquhar lowered his voice confidentially. "When folks think a good deal +of you in one place you have only to go somewhere else when you feel the +fit coming on." + +The _Estremedura_ sailed for Las Palmas next morning, and on arriving +there Austin was somewhat astonished to discover that Farquhar had, in +fact, acquired the good-will of a good many people of consequence in +that city. He was a genial, frolic-loving man, and Austin, who became +sensible of a liking for him, spent a good deal of his leisure on board +the _Carsegarry_, while, when the _Estremedura_ came back there, he also +consented to advise Farquhar about the getting up of a dance to which +everybody was invited. It was a testimony to the latter's capacity for +making friends that a good many of them came, and among the rest were +Pancho Brown, his daughter, Muriel Gascoyne, and Mrs. Hatherly, as well +as the commander of a Spanish warship, and several officers of +artillery. + +The night was soft and still, and clear moonlight shone down upon the +sea. The trade breeze had fallen away, and only a little cool air came +down from the black Isleta hill, while fleecy mists drifted ethereally +athwart the jagged peaks of the great cordillera. An orchestra of +guitars and mandolins discoursed Spanish music from the poop, and there +was room for bolero and casucha on the big after-hatch, while, when the +waltzers had swung round it, the _Carsegarry_'s engineer made shift to +play the English lancers on his fiddle. Everybody seemed content, and +the genial Farquhar diffused high spirits and good humour. + +Austin had swung through a waltz with Jacinta, though the guitars were +still twinging softly when they climbed the ladder to the bridge-deck, +where canvas chairs were laid out. It was a curious waltz, tinged with +the melancholy there is in most Spanish music, but the crash of a gun +broke through it, and while the roar of a whistle drowned the drowsy +murmur of the surf, the long black hull of an African mailboat slid into +the harbour ringed with lights. Then there followed the rattle of cable, +and Austin fancied that the sight of the steamer had, for no very +apparent reason, its effect upon his companion. She had been cordial +during the evening, but there was a faint suggestion of hardness in her +face as she turned to him. + +"I am especially fond of that waltz," she said. "You may have noticed +there's a trace of what one might call the bizarre in it. No doubt, it's +Eastern. They got it from the Moors." + +"It only struck me as very pretty," said Austin, who surmised by her +expression that Jacinta was preparing the way for what she meant to say. +"I'm afraid I'm not much of a musician." + +"You, at least, dance rather well. There are not many Englishmen who +really do, which is, perhaps, no great disadvantage, after all." + +Austin laughed, though he was a trifle perplexed. "Well," he said, +"though you don't overwhelm me with compliments, as a rule, you have +told me that I could dance before. Now, however, one could almost fancy +that the fact didn't meet with your approval." + +Jacinta looked at him reflectively over her fan. "I scarcely supposed +you would understand, and one does not always feel in the mood to +undertake a logical exposition of their views. Still, here's Muriel, and +she, at least, generally seems to know just what she means. Suppose you +ask her what she thinks of dancing." + +Austin did so, and Miss Gascoyne, who was crossing the deck-bridge with +Farquhar, stopped beside them. + +"I don't think there is any harm in dancing, in itself--in fact, I have +just been waltzing with Captain Farquhar," she said. "Of course, the +disadvantage attached to amusements of any kind is that they may +distract one's attention from more serious things. Don't you think so, +Captain Farquhar?" + +Farquhar caught Austin's eye, and grinned wickedly, but Miss Gascoyne, +who failed to notice this, glanced towards the steamer which had just +come in. + +"That must be the African boat, but I suppose there is no use expecting +any news?" she said quietly, though there was a faint suggestive tremour +in her voice. + +She passed on with Farquhar, and Jacinta glanced at Austin with a little +enquiring smile. + +"If I had a sister who persisted in talking in that aggravatingly +edifying fashion, I should feel tempted to shake her," he said. "Still, +one could forgive her a good deal if only for the way she looked at the +West-coast boat. It suggested that she has as much humanity in her as +there is in the rest of us, after all." + +"Still, don't you think there was a little reason in what she said?" + +"Of course. That is, no doubt, why one objects to it. Well, since it's +difficult to keep the personal equation out, I suppose dancing and +sailing about these islands on board the _Estremedura_ is rather a +wasteful life. Painting little pictures probably comes to much the same +thing, too, though there are people who seem to take art seriously." + +Jacinta looked at him steadily. "When one has really an artistic talent +it is different," she said. + +Austin, who hoped she did not notice that he winced, sat silent a space, +gazing out across the glittering sea, and it was not altogether a +coincidence that his eyes were turned eastwards towards Africa, where +Jefferson was toiling in the fever swamps. He wondered if Jacinta knew +his thoughts had also turned in that direction somewhat frequently of +late. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose it is. Some of those pictures must be +pretty, or the tourists wouldn't buy them, but that doesn't go very far, +after all." He stopped a moment, and then went on with a little wry +smile. "No doubt some patients require drastic treatment, and there are +cases where it is necessary to use the knife." + +Jacinta rose, and, dropping her fan to her side, gravely met his gaze. + +"If it wasn't, it would probably not be tried," she said. "One could +fancy that it was, now and then, a little painful to the surgeon." + +Austin walked with her to the ladder, and stopped a moment at the head +of it. "Well," he said, "one has to remember that all men are not built +on the same model, and, what is more to the purpose, they haven't all +the same opportunities. No doubt the latter fact is fortunate for some +of them, since they would probably make a deplorable mess of things if +they undertook a big enterprise." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, who remembered it afterwards, "one never knows when +the opportunities may present themselves." + +She went down the ladder, and it was about an hour later when a boat +slid alongside, and a man came up, asking for Austin. The latter, who +sat on the bridge-deck amidst a group of Farquhar's guests, looked at +him curiously when he handed him an envelope. His garments had evidently +not been made for him, and there were stains of grease and soot on his +coarse serge jacket, while the coal dust had not been wholly washed from +his face. It was not difficult to recognise him as a steamer's fireman. + +"You're Mr. Austin?" he said. + +Austin admitted that he was, and after a glance at the letter turned +round and saw that Muriel Gascoyne, who sat close by, was watching him +with a curious intentness. Then he once more fixed his attention on the +paper in his hand. + +"S.S. _Cumbria_" was written at the top of it, and there followed a +description of the creek, and how the steamer lay, as well as the cargo +in her holds. Then he read: "I'm beginning to understand why those +wrecker fellows let up on the contract, though they hadn't the stake I +have in the game. There are times when I get wondering whether I can +last it out, for it seems to me that white men who work in the sun all +day are apt to drop out suddenly in this country. I make you and Mr. +Pancho Brown my executors in case of anything of that kind happening to +me. If you come across anybody willing to take the _Cumbria_ over as a +business proposition, do what you can, on the understanding that +one-third of the profit goes to Miss Gascoyne, the rest as executors' +and wreckers' remuneration. I don't know how far this statement meets +your law, but I feel I can trust you, any way. In case either party is +not willing to take the thing up, the other may act alone." + +Austin turned to the fireman. "You have another letter for Mr. Brown?" + +"Yes, sir," said the man. "Mr. Jefferson----" + +Austin, who heard a rustle of feminine draperies and what seemed to be a +little gasp of surprise or alarm, made the man a sign. + +"Come into the skipper's room. I've two or three things to ask you," he +said. "Miss Brown, will you please hand that letter to your father?" + +They disappeared into the room beneath the bridge, and it was some time +before they came out again. Then Austin sent the man down the ladder +with a steward to take him to Brown, and leaned against the rail. +Jacinta, Muriel, and Mrs. Hatherly were still sitting there, but the +rest had gone. He told them briefly all he had heard about Jefferson, +and then descended the ladder in search of Brown. The latter met him +with the letter in his hand, and they found a seat in the shadow of the +_Carsegarry_'s rail. Nobody seemed to notice them, though the fluttering +dresses of the women brushed them as they swung in the waltz. + +"You have read it," said Austin. "What do you think?" + +Pancho Brown tapped the letter with the gold-rimmed glasses he held in +his hand. + +"As a business proposition I would not look at it. The risks are too +great," he said. + +"It struck me like that, too. Still, that's not quite the question. You +see, the man isn't dead." + +"I almost think he is by this time," said Brown, reflectively. "Now, he +did not seem quite sure when he wrote those letters that there was +really any gum in her. At least, he hadn't found it, and I understand +that circumstances had made him a little suspicious about the +_Cumbria_'s skipper, who we know is dead. Taking oil at present value, +in view of what we would have to pay for a salvage expedition and +chartering, there is, it seems to me, nothing in the thing." + +"I'm not quite sure of that; but you are still presuming Jefferson +dead." + +Brown turned and looked at him. "The first thing we have to do is to +find out. Somebody will have to go across, and, of course, he must be a +reliable man. I should be disposed to go so far as to meet the necessary +expenses, not as a business venture, but because Jacinta would give me +no peace if I didn't." + +"There would be no difficulty about the man." + +Brown turned to him sharply. "You?" + +"Yes. If Jefferson is dead I should probably also undertake to do what I +can to meet his wishes as executor." + +Brown sat silent a space, and then tapped the letter with his glasses +again. "In that case I might go as far as to find, say, £200. It should, +at least, be sufficient to prove if there is any odd chance of getting +the _Cumbria_ off." + +"I think I shall do that with £80, but I should prefer that you did not +provide it. That is, unless you decide to go into the thing on a +business footing, and take your share of the results, as laid down by +Jefferson." + +Brown seemed to be looking hard at him, but they sat in shadow, and +Austin was glad of it. + +"Ah!" he said quietly, though there was a significance in his tone. +"Well, somebody must certainly go across, and if you fail elsewhere you +can always fall back on me for--a loan. When are you going?" + +"By the first boat that calls anywhere near the creek." + +He rose and turned away, but Pancho Brown sat still, with a curious +expression in his face. If any of the dancers had noticed him, it would +probably have occurred to them that he was thinking hard. Pancho Brown +was a quiet man, but he often noticed a good deal more than his daughter +gave him credit for. Still, when at length he rose and joined Farquhar +there was nothing in his appearance which suggested that he was either +anxious or displeased. + +In the meanwhile Austin came upon Mrs. Hatherly, who was wandering up +and down the deck, and she drew him beneath a lifeboat. + +"Miss Gascoyne is, no doubt, distressed? I am sorry for her," he said. + +The little lady held his arm in a tightening grasp. "Of course," she +said, and there was a tremour in her voice. "Still, after all, that does +not concern us most just now. Somebody must go, and see what can be done +for Mr. Jefferson." + +"Yes," said Austin. "I am going." + +"Then--and I am sure you will excuse me--it will cost a good deal, and +you cannot be a rich man, or----" + +"I should not have been on board the _Estremedura_? You are quite +correct, madam." + +Mrs. Hatherly made a little deprecatory gesture. "I am not exactly poor; +in fact, I have more money than I shall live to spend, and I always +meant to leave it to Muriel. It seems to me that it would be wiser to +spend some of it on her now. You will let me give you what you want, Mr. +Austin?" + +Austin stood silent a moment, with a flush in his face, and then gravely +met her gaze. + +"I almost think I could let you lend me forty pounds. With that I shall +have enough in the meanwhile. You will not think me ungracious if I say +that just now I am especially sorry I have not more money of my own?" + +The little lady smiled at him. "Oh, I understand. That is what made me +almost afraid. It cannot be nice to borrow from a woman. Still, I think +you could, if it was necessary, do even harder things." + +"I shall probably have to," said Austin, a trifle drily. "I don't mind +admitting that what you have suggested is a great relief to me." + +"You would naturally sooner let me lend it you than Mr. Brown?" + +"Why should you suppose that?" and the flush crept back into Austin's +face. + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled again. "Ah," she said, "I am an old woman, and have +my fancies, but they are right now and then. I will send you a cheque +to-morrow, and, Mr. Austin, I should like you to think of me as one of +your friends. Do you know that I told Muriel half an hour ago you would +go?" + +Austin made her a little grave inclination, though there was a smile in +his eyes. + +"I am not sure that any of my other friends has so much confidence in +me, madam," he said. "After all, it is another responsibility, and I +shall have to do what I can." + +The little lady smiled at him as she turned away. "Well," she said +quietly, "I think that will be a good deal." + +It was ten minutes later when Austin met Jacinta, and she stopped him +with a sign. + +"You are going to Mr. Jefferson?" she said. + +"Yes," said Austin, with a trace of dryness. "I believe so. After all, +he is a friend of mine." + +Jacinta watched him closely, and her pale, olive-tinting was a trifle +warmer in tone than usual. His self-control was excellent, to the little +smile, but she could make a shrewd guess as to what it cost him. + +"Soon?" she asked. + +"In two or three days. That is, if the Compania don't get the Spaniards +to lay hands on me. By the way, you may as well know now that I had to +get Mrs. Hatherly to lend me part, at least, of the necessary money." + +Jacinta flushed visibly. "You will not be vindictive, though, of +course, I have now and then been hard on you." + +"I shouldn't venture to blame you. As we admitted, there are occasions +on which one has to resort to drastic remedies." + +Jacinta stopped him with a gesture. "Please--you won't," she said. "Of +course, I deserve it, but you will try to forgive me. You can afford +to--now." + +She stood still a moment in the moonlight, an ethereal, white-clad +figure, with a suggestion of uncertainly and apprehension in her face +which very few people had ever seen there before, and then turned +abruptly, with a little smile of relief, as Miss Gascoyne came towards +them. + +"He's going out, Muriel. You will thank him--I don't seem able to," she +said. + +Muriel came forward with outstretched hands, and in another moment +Austin, to his visible embarrassment, felt her warm grasp. + +"Oh," she said, "Mrs. Hatherly knew you meant to. I feel quite sure I +can trust you to bring him back to me." + +Austin managed to disengage his hands, and smiled a little, though it +was Jacinta he looked at. + +"I think," he said, "I have a sufficient inducement for doing what I +can. Still, you will excuse me. There are one or two points I want to +talk over with Captain Farquhar." + +He turned away, and twenty minutes later Jacinta, standing on the +bridge-deck, alone, watched his boat slide away into the blaze of +moonlight that stretched suggestively towards Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT + + +Darkness was closing down on the faintly shining sea, and the dull +murmur of the surf grew louder as the trade-breeze died away, when +Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat in the stern of a white gig which two +barefooted Canarios pulled across Las Palmas harbour on the evening on +which Austin was to sail. In front of them the spray still tossed in +filmy clouds about the head of the long, dusky mole, and the lonely +Isleta hill cut black as ebony against a cold green transparency, while +skeins of lights twinkled into brilliancy round the sweep of bay. +Jacinta, however, saw nothing of this. She was watching the +_Estremedura_'s dark hull rise higher above the line of mole, and +listening to one of the boatmen who accompanied the rhythmic splash of +oars with a little melodious song. She long afterwards remembered its +plaintive cadence and the words of it well. + +"Las aves marinas vuelen encima la mar," he sang, and then while the +measured thud and splash grew a trifle faster, "No pueden escapar las +penas del amor." + +He did not seem to know the rest of it, and when she had heard the +stanza several times Jacinta, who saw Muriel's eyes fixed upon her +enquiringly, made a little half-impatient gesture. + +"It's the usual sentimental rubbish, though he sings passably well. +'Even the sea birds cannot escape the pains of love,'" she said. +"Absurd, isn't it? like most of the men one comes across nowadays, they +probably spend all their time in search of something to eat. Still, I +suppose--you--would sympathise with the man whose perverted imagination +led him to write that song." + +Muriel looked at her with a hint of reproach in her big blue eyes, which +were very reposeful. "I don't think I ever quite understood you, and I +don't now, but I once went to see an English gullery," she said. "There +were rows of nests packed so close that one could scarcely pick a way +between, with little, half-feathered things in most of them. They all +had their mouths open." + +Jacinta laughed musically. "Of course," she said. "You are delightful. +But never mind me. Go on a little further." + +"It was the big gulls I was thinking of," said Muriel gravely. "They +didn't fly away, but hung just above us in a great white cloud, +wheeling, screaming, and now and then making little swoops at our heads. +It didn't seem to matter what happened to them, but any one could see +they were in an agony of terror lest we should tread upon some of the +little, half-feathered nestlings. I came away as soon as the others +would let me. It seemed a cruelty to frighten them." + +"It seems to me," said Jacinta, "that you are anticipating, or confusing +things considerably, but I'll try not to offend you by making that a +little plainer, though, I should almost like to. I'm in quite a prickly +humour to-night." + +She sat silent a moment or two, while a trace of colour crept in her +companion's face, looking out towards the eastern haze, as she had done +of late somewhat frequently. + +"Yes," she said, reflectively, "I feel that it would be a relief to make +you upset and angry. You are so aggravatingly sure of everything, and +serene. Of course, that is, perhaps, only natural, after all. You have, +in one respect, got just what you wanted, and have sense enough to be +content with it." + +Muriel turned and looked at her with a trace of bewilderment, for there +was an unusual hardness in Jacinta's tone. + +"Wouldn't everybody be content in such a case?" she asked. + +"Oh, dear no!" and Jacinta laughed. "I, for one, would begin to look for +flaws in the thing, whatever it was, and wonder if it wouldn't be wiser +to change it for something else. In fact, I don't mind telling you I +feel like that to-night. You see, for a year at least, I have been +trying to bring a certain thing about, and--now I have succeeded--I wish +I hadn't. Of course, you won't understand me, and I don't mean you to; +but you may as well remember that it's a somewhat perilous thing to keep +on giving people good advice. Some day they will probably act upon it." + +"But that ought to please one." + +Jacinta glanced once more into the soft darkness that crept up from the +East with a little shiver. "Well," she said sharply, "in my case it +certainly doesn't." + +They were alongside the _Estremedura_ in another minute, but the seaman +they found on deck did not know where Austin was, and led them down to +Macallister's room. It was beneath the spar-deck, and very hot, for the +dynamo was not running that night, and a big oil lamp lighted it. It was +also full of tobacco smoke, and--for the port was open--the rumble of +the long swell tumbling against the mole came throbbing into it. A big +man in very shabby serge, with a hard face, sat opposite the engineer, +until the latter, seeing the two women, laid a hand upon his shoulder. + +"Out ye get!" he said, and his guest was projected suddenly into the +dimly-lighted space about the after-hatch. + +Then he smiled upon the newcomers affably. "Come away in," he said. "Was +it me or Mr. Austin ye came to see?" + +"On this occasion it was Mr. Austin," said Jacinta, who found a place +opposite him, beside Muriel, on a settee. "Of course, that was because +he is going away. Isn't he here?" + +"He is not," and Macallister beamed at her. "In one way, it's not that +much of a pity. There's twice the light-heartedness in me that there is +in Mr. Austin." + +"I can quite believe it. Still, light-heartedness of one kind is now and +then a little inconvenient. Where has he gone?" + +"To the town. I don't expect him until he calls for his man--the one +I've just hove out--when the West-coast mailboat comes in. She won't +stop more than half an hour, but there's no sign of her yet." + +Jacinta sighed whimsically, perhaps to hide what she felt. + +"Then I'm afraid we shall not see him, which is a pity, because I've +been thinking over the nice things I meant to say to him, and now +they're all wasted," she said. "You will tell him that we came to say +good-bye to him, won't you, and that I'm just a little vexed he never +called to tell us anything about his expedition." + +Macallister grinned sardonically, and though Jacinta was usually a very +self-possessed young woman, she appeared to find his gaze a trifle +disconcerting. + +"Well," he said, "I know all about it. He has sold everything he had, +and he borrowed £40. One way or another he has another £60 of his own." + +Jacinta looked up sharply. "He has no more than that?" + +"It's not likely," and Macallister watched her with a faint twinkle in +his eyes. "I do not know why he would not have the £200 Mr. Brown +offered him. Maybe ye do." + +There was a just perceptible trace of colour in Jacinta's cheek. "I +hardly see how you could expect me to when I never heard of it until +this moment," she said. "Would £100 be enough for Mr. Austin?" + +"I'm thinking it would. No for everybody under the same circumstances, +but enough for him. There are folks in these islands who have only seen +the outside of Mr. Austin, which, ye may observe, is in one sense quite +a natural thing." + +He stopped a moment, and smiled upon her genially. "It's not his fault +that he's no quite so well favoured as I am. What would ye expect of an +Englishman? Still, there are men aboard here who have seen what's +underneath--I mean the other side of him--at nights when he brought the +dispatch off through the surf, and once--though that was not his +business--when I was sick, an' they let water down in the starboard +boiler." + +"Still," said Jacinta, "he would naturally have to have so many things." + +"He has four good men, a little box o' drugs, and a case o' dynamite. +Farquhar's going on to Australia with mining stores, and he gave it +him." + +It seemed absurdly insufficient, and Jacinta struggled with an almost +hysterical inclination to laugh. It was, she realised, a very big thing +Austin had undertaken, and his equipment consisted of a case of dynamite +and a box of drugs, which, on his own confession, he knew very little +about. Still, she saw that Macallister, who, she fancied, ought to +know, rated manhood far higher than material. It was Muriel who broke +the silence. + +"But they will want a doctor," she said, with a little tremour in her +voice. + +Macallister shook his head. "Ye would not get one to go there for £500, +and he would be no use if he did," he said. "Ye will remember that +malaria fever does not stay on one long. It goes away when it has shaken +the strength out o' ye--and now and then comes back again--while by the +time Austin gets there Mr. Jefferson will be----" + +He stopped with some abruptness, but though she shivered, Muriel looked +at him with steady eyes. + +"Ah!" she said, "you mean he will either be better, or that no doctor +could cure him then?" + +Macallister made her a little inclination, and it was done with a grave +deference that Jacinta had scarcely expected from him. + +"Just that," he said. "I'm thinking ye are one of the women a man can +tell the truth to. It is a pity there are not more o' them. It is no a +healthy country Mr. Austin is going to, but I have been five years on +the coast o' it, and ye see me here." + +"I wonder," said Jacinta, "whether you, who know all about ships and +engines, did not feel tempted to go with Mr. Austin?" + +The engineer smiled curiously. "Tempted!" he said. "It was like trying +to be teetotal with a whisky bottle in the rack above one's bunk; but I +am a married man, with a wife who has a weakness for buying dining-room +suites." + +"Dining-room suites! What have they to do with it?" + +"Just everything," and Macallister sighed. "She will only have the +biggest ones the doors will let in, and she has furnished a good many +dining-rooms altogether. Ye will mind that we lived here and there and +everywhere, while she's back in England now. Ye would not meet a better +woman, but on £20 a month ye cannot buy unlimited red-velvet chairs and +sideboards with looking-glasses at the back o' them." + +Jacinta laughed as she rose. "You will tell Mr. Austin we are sorry we +did not see him." + +"I will," and Macallister stood up, too. "Perhaps ye mean it this time, +and I'm a little sorry for him myself. There are men who get sent off +with bands and speeches and dinners to do a smaller thing, but Mr. +Austin he just slips away with his box o' dynamite and his few +sailormen." + +He stopped and looked hard at her a moment before he turned to Muriel. +"Still, we'll have the big drum out when he brings Mr. Jefferson and the +_Cumbria_ back again, and if there's anything that can be broken left +whole in this ship that night it will be no fault o' mine." + +They went out and left him, but Jacinta stopped when they came upon the +man he had ejected from his room, sitting on the companion stairway and +smoking a very objectionable pipe. She also held a little purse +concealed beneath her hand. + +"You are going back with Mr. Austin to the _Cumbria_?" she said. + +The man stood up. "In course," he said. "It's eight pound a month, all +found, an' a bonus." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta. "I suppose there is nothing else?" + +The man appeared to ruminate over this, until a light broke in on him. + +"Well," he said, "Mr. Jefferson does the straight thing, an' he fed us +well. That is, as well as he could, considering everything." + +Jacinta smiled at Muriel. "You will notice the answer. He is a man!" +Then she held out a strip of crinkly paper. "That will make you almost a +month to the good, and if you do everything you can to make things +easier for the man who wants to get the _Cumbria_ off, there will +probably be another waiting for you when you come back again." + +The man, who took the crinkly paper, gazed at it in astonishment, and +then made a little sign of comprehension. "Thank you kindly, miss, but +which one am I to look after special? You see, there's two of them." + +Jacinta was apparently not quite herself that night, for the swift +colour flickered into her face, and stayed there a moment. + +"Both," she said decisively. "Still, you are never to tell anybody about +that note." + +The man once more gazed at her with such evident bewilderment that +Muriel broke into a little half-audible laugh. Then he grinned suddenly, +and touched his battered cap. + +"Well, we'll make it--both," he said. + +They went up the companion, and left him apparently chuckling, but +Jacinta appeared far from pleased when she got into the waiting boat. + +"That was to have gone to England for a hat and one or two things I +really can't do without--though I shall probably have to now," she said. +"Oh, aren't they stupid sometimes--I felt I could have shaken him." + +In the meanwhile the man in the fireman's serge went back to +Macallister's room. + +"Give me an envelope--quick!" he said. + +Macallister got him one, and he slipped a strip of paper inside before +he addressed it and tossed it across the table. + +"You'll post that. There's a Castle boat home to-morrow, and I'd sooner +trust you with it than myself," he said, with a little sigh, which, +however, once more changed to a chuckle. + +"If there's money inside it ye're wise," said Macallister drily. "Still, +what are ye grinning in yon fashion for?" + +"I was thinking it's just as well I've only--one--old woman. It would +make a big hole in eight pounds a month--an' a bonus--if I had any more +of 'em. But you get that letter posted before I want it back." + +"Wanting," said Macallister, reflectively, "is no always getting. Maybe, +it's now and then fortunate it is so, after all." + +It was two hours later, and Jacinta stood on the flat roof of Pancho +Brown's house looking down upon the close-packed Spanish town, when the +crash of a mail gun rose from the harbour and was lost in the drowsy +murmur of the surf. Then the other noises in the hot streets below her +went on again, but Jacinta scarcely heard the hum of voices and the +patter of feet as she watched a blinking light slide out from among the +others in the harbour. It rose higher and swung a little as it crept +past the mole, then a cluster of lower lights lengthened into a row of +yellow specks, and she could make out the West-coast liner's dusky hull +that moved out with slanting spars faster into the faintly shining sea. +Jacinta closed one hand as she leaned upon the parapet and watched it, +until she turned with a little start at the sound of footsteps. She was, +one could have fancied, not particularly pleased to see Muriel Gascoyne +then. + +"We were wondering what had become of you, and Mrs. Hatherly is waiting +to go home," said the latter. Then she turned and caught a glimpse of +the moving lights that were closing in on one another and growing dim +again. "That must be the African boat?" + +"It is. She is taking out six careless sailormen whose lives are, +perhaps, after all, of some value to them." + +Muriel looked at her, and wished she could see her face. "Every one of +them may be of some value to somebody else." + +"I suppose so," and Jacinta laughed curiously. "You obvious people are +now and then to be envied, Muriel." + +"If there is anything you would like to tell me----" and Muriel laid a +hand upon her arm with a gesture of sympathy. + +"There isn't. We all have our discontented fits, and mine is, no doubt, +more than usually unreasonable since everything has turned out as I +wanted it." + +Then she rose and turned towards the stairway with a little laugh which +Muriel fancied had a hint of pride in it. "I really don't think I would +have had anything done differently, after all, and now I must not keep +Mrs. Hatherly waiting." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LAND OF THE SHADOW + + +It was towards the end of the afternoon when the skipper of the +West-coast mailboat, peering through his glasses, made out two palms +that rose apparently straight out of the sea. He watched them for some +minutes, and then took their bearing carefully upon the compass, before +he rang for half speed and called Austin to the bridge. + +"That's your island, and we'll run in until I get under six fathoms," he +said. "After that it will have to be the surfboat, and I fancy you will +be very wet when you get ashore." + +It seemed to Austin that this was more than probable, for although there +was not an air of wind to wrinkle it, a long heave came up in vast, slow +undulations out of the southern horizon, and the little mailboat swung +over them with sharply slanted spars and funnel. She stopped once for a +few moments while the deep-sea lead plunged from her forecastle, and +then, with propeller throbbing slowly, crept on again. She had come out +of her course already under the terms of the bargain Austin had made +with the Las Palmas agent, for some of those steamers have the option of +stopping for odd boatloads of cargo and passengers wherever they can be +found along the surf-swept beaches, and since no offer he could make +would have tempted her skipper to venture further in among the shoals, +Austin had fixed upon that island as the nearest point of access to the +_Cumbria_. He did not, however, know how he was to reach her when he got +there. + +In the meanwhile they were slowly raising the land, or the nearest +approach to it to be found in that part of Africa, which consists of +mire and mangroves intersected everywhere by lanes of water. It lay +ahead, a grey smear streaked with drifting mist against which the palms +that had now grown into a cluster rose dim and indistinct, and a thin +white line stretched between themselves and it. The skipper appeared to +watch the latter anxiously. + +"There's considerable surf running in on the beach, and I'm a little +uneasy about my boat," he said. "I suppose it wouldn't suit you to go on +with us, and look for a better place to get ashore to-morrow?" + +"No," said Austin, decisively. "I'm far enough from where I'm going +already, and one would scarcely fancy that there are many facilities for +getting about in this country." + +The skipper made a little gesture of resignation. "That's a fact," he +said. "Well, I can't go back on the agent, but if the boat turns you and +the boys out before you get there you can't blame me." + +Austin laughed. He had got many a wet jacket, and had once or twice had +to swim for it, in the surf of the Canary beaches, though he was quite +aware that there are very few places where the sea runs in and breaks as +it does on the hammered coast of Western Africa. Indeed, as he watched +the blur of steamy mangroves grow clearer, and the filmy spouting +increase in whiteness, he could have fancied that nature, in placing +that barrier of tumbling foam along its shore, had meant it as a warning +that the white man was not wanted there. The air was hot and heavy, the +sky a dingy grey, the sea a dim, slatey green, and there came off +across the steep heave a dull booming like the sound of distant thunder. + +It was not an encouraging prospect, and Austin knew from what he had +heard about the country that he was not likely to be more favourably +impressed with it upon closer acquaintance. He also felt that if there +was not quite so much at stake he could very willingly leave the salving +of the _Cumbria_ to Jefferson and take the next steamer back again. He +could fix upon no sufficient reason for his being there at all, since +the very uncertain profits on a quarter share in the venture did not +account for it. In one respect, also, Jacinta's favourable opinion could +scarcely be of any practical value to him, since she would naturally +marry a man of means by and by, and forget all about him. Still, she +had, dropping now and then a barbed word which rankled in his memory, +striven to stir him to endeavour; and now he was watching the spray +drive across a beach of Western Africa, while he wondered what the +result of it all would be, and whether he or the men he had brought with +him would escape the fever. So far as he was concerned, it did not seem +to greatly matter. He had taken life easily, but he realised that it had +very little to offer him, and it was, perhaps, fortunate that he did so, +since it is, as a rule, broken men and those who have nothing to fall +back upon who accomplish what is most worth doing in the lands that lie +beneath the shadow. + +In any case, it was clear that he had broken down the last bridge behind +him when the mailboat stopped and lay rolling more wildly than ever +athwart the long swell. A big surfboat sank down her side amidst a +clatter of blocks and complaining of davit-falls, down which a cluster +of almost naked black men slid on board. It was not an easy matter to +descend after them. The steamer rolled one way, the boat another, while +the latter swung up one moment almost level with her rail and swooped +down beneath a fathom of streaming side the next. Austin, Bill, the +fireman, and the Canarios, however, accomplished it, and there was a +waving of hats among the cluster of passengers who watched them above. +Then the negroes, perched six or seven on either side, took up the +paddles, and Austin was sensible of a momentary sinking of his heart as +the boat slid out from the rolling steamer. She was a part of the +civilisation he had been accustomed to, and when a sonorous blast of her +whistle came throbbing after him in farewell he sighed. + +He would, however, at least not look behind, and sitting in the +stern-sheets, out of the paddlers' way, he tossed the Canarios a bundle +of maize-husk cigarettes, and passed one to Bill, the fireman, who +glanced at it scornfully. Then he made himself as comfortable as he +could upon the box of dynamite while he lighted another, for that +compound of nitro-glycerine is supposed to require a detonator, and +nobody is very particular who has lived in Spain. The black men wanted +cigarettes, too, but Austin did not hand them any. The island was still +a good way off, and it seemed to him advisable that they should devote +their attention to their paddling. + +They did it, swaying rhythmically, with toes in a loop of fibre, and +naked black bodies that straightened suddenly and bent again, while some +kept up a measured hissing and the rest broke into a little doleful +song. A brawny man, with a blue stripe down his forehead, stood upright +grasping the sculling oar astern, and the boat swung along smoothly, +with big, dim slopes of water rolling up astern of her. They, however, +grew steeper as she drew in with the shore, and the easy dip and swing +became a succession of fierce rushes, during which she drove onwards, +lifted high, with the foam seething to her gunwale, and then swooped +suddenly into the hollow. When she did so Austin, glancing aft, could +see a great slope of water that grew steeper and steeper as it came +speeding after her. + +Then the slopes became ridges that frothed above and roared, and the +paddles whirled faster, while the big muscles bunched beneath the +helmsman's skin, and the veins began to stand out on his sable forehead. +The boat no longer sailed inshore. She sped like a toboggan on an icy +slide, though it seemed to Austin that the comparison was faulty, +because she went fastest uphill, while when he rose upright for a moment +he could see no shore at all. There was only a succession of parallel +white ridges in front of them and a filmy cloud of spray. The afternoon +was also wearing through, and the vapours from the steaming swamps +obscured the dingy heavens. + +It was even less consoling to glance astern, for the surf that sweeps +the fever coast was evidently rather worse than usual that day, as it is +now and then for no very apparent reason. The ridges had become walls, +with great frothing crests and sides that were smeared with spumy lines. +They had the vast, slow lift and fall of the ocean behind them, and were +running up a smoothly slanted plane of shoals. + +The black men paddled faster, and they no longer sang. They hissed and +shrieked and whistled, while the thud of their paddles rose in a +strenuous rhythm like the tapping of a great drum, and the craft +careered at furious speed beneath them, driven by the sea. The foam +stood feet above her now when she sped along, very like an arrow, and +boiled in over her high, pointed stern every now and then. There was a +foot of brine inside her that swilled to and fro, and every man was +dripping, while the roar of the tumbling rollers had grown bewildering. +They appeared to be crumbling upon hammered sand not very far away. + +How the negroes meant to beach her, Austin did not know, and he was +content that it was their business and not his. The Canarios were +evidently uneasy, for, sailormen as they were, they had never run +through surf like this; but they were also of Iberian extraction, and, +when discussion is clearly useless, and the last crisis must be faced, +the Spaniard is, at least, as capable of calm resignation as most other +men. In any case, there is certainly no better boat-boy than the West +African Kroo, and Austin left the affair to the helmsman, when there was +a sudden horrifying crash that threw three or four of the paddlers down +together. It was evident that they had touched bottom, but, fortunately +for them, the swirl of the shore-running sea dragged them off again, and +they went up, not more than half swamped, sideways, with the foam +seething into her, on the next roller. Then the spouting chaos about +them seemed to suddenly melt away, and Austin, wiping the water from his +eyes, saw that they were sliding round a sandy beach into a little bay. + +In another few minutes they were out on the sand, though they toiled for +the next half hour helping the negroes to tilt the great boat and run +her in again when they had emptied the water out of her. It was done at +last, and Austin felt almost sorry, while he was once more sensible of +vague but unpleasant misgivings when the negroes drove her lurching out +into the spray. Night was not very far away, and he had no notion of +where he was to sleep, or what he was to eat, for that matter, since the +provisions the steward had given him were, for the most part, saturated. +A little muddy creek oozed down amidst the mangroves across the bay, and +there were a few huts, apparently made of rammed soil, beside it, as +well as a canoe. The light was going when they reached them, and Bill, +who went into the nearest, came out suddenly. + +"There's a dead nigger inside," he said. + +Austin looked at him with a little smile. He had reasons for surmising +that the man's nerves were good, but his voice had an uncertain tone in +it, and his eyes were anxious. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose one must expect to come across a dead nigger +now and then in this country." + +Bill glanced furtively over his shoulder towards the hut, as though he +desired to be rather farther away from it. + +"That one wasn't nice to look at," he said. "What did they leave him +there for when there's a creek just outside the door, and where are the +rest of them? I'd like to know what he died of. It might be catchin'." + +Austin was once more sensible of a little thrill of apprehension as he +looked about him and considered the question. On the one side a tuft of +palms dominated the narrow strip of sand, but the little ridge of high +land behind it was covered with apparently impenetrable jungle. +Elsewhere the dingy mangroves rose from black depths of mire on slimy +roots and pale stems that glimmered, blanched, amidst the drifting steam +that clung about them. Night was close at hand, and, though there was no +sign of the land breeze yet, the air was thick and heavy with a hot, +sour smell. The clamour of the surf made the deep silence more apparent, +for there was no sound of life about the clustered huts. Austin knew +that the black man is frequently stricken by the pestilence, and as he +stood there on the little strip of desolate beach he felt his courage +melting away from him. The Canarios he also saw were standing close +together and murmuring excitedly, while every now and then one of them +would glance askance at the huts. + +"If there was any niggers but dead ones in the place they'd have been +out by now," said Bill. + +"The _Cumbria_ should lie about north from here up the biggest creek," +said Austin. "If we borrowed the canoe yonder you could find your way to +her?" + +"I'd try that, or anything, so long as it was to get out of this." + +He glanced towards the hut again, and Austin, who could not quite +explain it, then or afterwards, became sensible that if he waited much +longer he would say or do something that would not be seemly in one who +was there as leader. He felt that had he been alone he would probably +have turned and run. + +"Well," he said, as quietly as he could contrive, "we will run the canoe +down. I believe some of the things they get are infectious now and +then." + +He had no need to repeat the order. The Canarios jumped at the word, and +in another few minutes they had launched the canoe and were paddling her +out of the creek clumsily, as men unaccustomed to the oar might do. It +opened into a wider one, through which the heave of the sea pulsed +languidly, until they crawled round a point and the streamy mangroves +closed in on them. Then suddenly the thick, hot darkness fell. + +They moored the canoe to a slimy stem, and lay down in her, packed like +herrings; but in spite of the mosquitoes Austin slept a little of the +night. He was glad when all the swamps steamed again as the dawn broke +suddenly upon them; and when they had eaten they took up the paddles. +The mists thinned and melted, the sun that sucked the damp from their +dew-soaked clothing scorched their skin, and the glare from the yellow +water became intolerable. Still, it was evident that it would not be +advisable to waste any time, and through the long hot hours the canoe +crept on. + +Now she slid into steamy shadow among the mangrove islets, skirting +belts of mire, and now crept, a slender strip of hull, packed with +wearied and perspiring humanity, across broad reaches of flaming water +that moved on inland under her, streaked with smears of yellow foam. It +was evident to Austin that the flood tide ran longer than usual there, +as it sometimes does about an island, or the Guinea stream had backed it +up along the shore. The stream, however, did not only set up the creek, +but slid through the forest, where the trees rose on arched roots above +the water; and here and there they had to paddle hard to avoid being +drawn into branch-roofed tunnels that smelt like open sewers. The refuse +of leagues of forest seemed to lie rotting there. + +By afternoon Austin's hands were bleeding, and one of his knees was raw +where he pressed it as a point of resistance to paddle from on the +craft's bottom; but he took his place when his turn came, though his +eyes were dazzled, and the headache that had crept upon him was growing +insufferable. He was now distinctly anxious as to when they would reach +the _Cumbria_, for, though Bill said she lay up a big muddy creek north +of the island, he appeared by no means sure that was the one, and Austin +felt he could not logically blame him. Creeks, it was evident, were +bewilderingly plentiful in that country, and there were no distinctive +features in the scenery. Dingy, white-stemmed mangroves, fermenting +mire, and yellow water, were all the same, and as they crept on past +bend and island there was no sign of change. + +The shadows lay black upon the water when they stopped again, all of +them horribly cramped, and aching in every limb; but when they had sat +portentiously silent, with the craft moored to a mangrove root, for half +an hour or so, Bill stood up in the bow. + +"Did you hear anything, Mr. Austin?" he asked. + +Austin fancied that he did, though for a moment or two he was not sure +that it was not the ticking of his watch, for the sound, which was very +faint, had a beat in it. Then it grew a little louder, and he felt a +curious thrill of satisfaction. + +"Engines!" he said sharply. "It's the launch." + +She swung out, apparently from the mangroves, in another few minutes, +and came on towards them, clanking and wheezing horribly, with the +yellow foam piled about her, but Austin felt that he had never seen +anything more welcome than that strip of mire-daubed hull with the plume +of smoke streaming away from it. Then she stopped close alongside them, +and Austin shook hands with Tom as he climbed on board. + +"Did you come across any niggers, sir?" asked the latter. + +"No," said Austin. "How's Mr. Jefferson?" + +"Comin' round," said Tom, with a grin. "I've worked most of the +fever--an' the sunstroke--out of him. It was a big load off me when, as +I took him his mixture one morning, he looks up at me. 'Who the devil +are you poisoning?' says he, quite sensible, an' like himself again." + +"You were coming down to look for us?" + +"We were--an' uncommonly glad to see you. The blame niggers is getting +aggravating. Came down, two canoe loads of 'em, a night or two ago, an' +only sheered off when we tumbled one o' them over with a big lump o' +coal. Wall-eye dropped it on to the man in the bow of her from the +bridge, an' so far as we could make out it doubled him up +considerable." + +Wall-eye was apparently the squinting Spaniard who acted as fireman, and +when he saw Tom glance at him he stood up, with a grimy hand clenched, +and unloosed a flood of Castilian invective. Austin, who smiled as he +watched him, felt that while most of what he said could not be +effectively rendered into cold Anglo-Saxon, it was probably more or less +warranted. In the meanwhile the launch was coming round with backed +propeller, and in another moment or two she was clanking away into the +darkness that descended suddenly, towards the _Cumbria_. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NOCTURNAL VISITORS + + +Jefferson was standing at the open door of the house beneath the +_Cumbria_'s bridge when Austin first caught sight of him, as he groped +his way forward along the slanted deck. The black, impenetrable +obscurity that descends upon the tropic swamps when the air is full of +vapour, hung over the stranded steamer, and the man's gaunt figure cut +with harsh sharpness against the stream of light. The thin duck he wore +clung about him, soaked with perspiration and the all-pervading damp, +emphasising the attenuated spareness of his frame, and Austin could +almost have fancied it was a draped skeleton he was gazing at. Still, he +was a trifle reassured when he felt the firm grasp of a hot, bony hand. + +"So you have come?" said the American. "It's good to get a grip of you. +I guessed you would." + +He drew Austin into the deck-house, and they sat down opposite each +other, and said nothing for almost a minute, though there was a little +smile in Jefferson's face as he leaned back against the bulkhead. His +hair, which had grown long since he left Las Palmas, hung low and wet +upon his forehead, and the big cheek bones showed through the +tight-stretched skin, which was blanched, though there was a faint +yellow tinge in it which relieved its dead whiteness. This had its +significance, for the coast fever has not infrequently an unpleasant +after effect upon the white man's constitution. + +"It isn't quite a sanatorium," he said, as though he guessed his +comrade's thoughts. "Port Royal, Santos, Panama--I know them all--aren't +a patch on these swamps. Still, we needn't worry now you have come." + +Austin smiled as he looked at him. "To be correct, I'm not quite sure +that I did," he said, reflectively. "I mean, it wasn't exactly because I +wished to." + +"Ah!" said Jefferson, as comprehension dawned on him. "Then the quarter +share--that offer stands good--didn't bring you? Well, I was wondering +if she would make you go." + +Austin was a trifle astonished, for, though he had a somewhat hardly +acquired acquaintance with human nature, it had never occurred to him +that the patronage Jacinta extended to her masculine friends naturally +attracted some attention, or that in this particular case the onlookers +might most clearly grasp the points of the game. + +"I can't quite see why she should have wanted me to," he said. + +There was another brief silence, during which the men looked at one +another. This was not a subject either of them had meant to talk about. +Indeed, it was one which, under different circumstances, they would have +kept carefully clear of, but both realised that conventional niceties +did not count for much just then: They were merely men who had +henceforth to face the grim realities of existence with the shadow of +death upon them, and they knew that the primitive humanity in them would +become apparent as the veneer wore through. + +"Still," said Jefferson, "I can think of one reason. There was a time +when Muriel was good to her, and Jacinta can't forget it. She's not that +kind. The first day I met her I felt that she was taking stock of me, +and I knew I'd passed muster when she made you stop the _Estremedura_. +Perhaps, it wasn't very much in itself, but I was thankful. I've done a +few tough things in my time, but I know I'd never have got Muriel if +that girl had been against me. Still, it wasn't altogether because of +Muriel she sent you." + +Austin showed his astonishment this time, and Jefferson smiled. "You +can't quite figure how I came to understand a thing of that kind? Well, +some of you smart folks have made the same mistake before. You don't +seem to remember when you waste ten minutes working a traverse round +what you could say in one, that however you dress it up, human nature's +much the same. Now you're astonished at me. I'm talking. Sometimes I +feel I have to. You want to know just why she really sent you?" + +"To be frank, I have asked myself the question, and couldn't be quite +sure it was altogether because she wanted me to get this unfortunate +steamboat off." + +"It wasn't. You're getting as near to it as one could expect of an +Englishman. It hurts some of you to let anybody know what you really +think. Well, I'll try to make my notion clear to you. There was a lady +in France who threw her glove among the lions long ago, but the man who +went down for it was of no great account after all. He hadn't sense +enough to see the point of the thing." + +"There were apparently folks who sympathised with him," said Austin, +with a reflective air. "I'm not sure the man could reasonably have been +expected to go at all, since the lady in question evidently only wished +to show everybody how far he would venture to please her." + +"Now it seems to me quite likely that she meant to do a good deal more. +The man may have been content to fool his time away making pretty +speeches to the court ladies and walking round dressed in silk while +the rest of them rode out in steel. Can't you fancy that she wanted him +to find out that he had the grit of the boldest of them, and could do +something worth while, too? She probably knew he had, or she would never +have sent him." + +A little colour crept into Austin's face, but he laughed. "One could, no +doubt, imagine a good many other reasons, and most of them would +probably be as wide of the mark. Any way, they don't concern us. If the +thing ever happened, it was a very long while ago. We know better now." + +"Well, I guess you can't help it," and there was a twinkle in +Jefferson's eyes. "Your shell's quite a good fit, and you don't like to +come out of it, though I almost thought you were going to a moment or +two ago." + +"I don't like to be pulled out. One feels that it isn't decent. The +shell's the best of some of us," said Austin. + +"Then we'll come down to business. You brought the giant powder?" + +"A case of it, with fuses and detonators," and Austin's relief at the +change of subject was evident. "Are you contemplating blowing her up?" + +"No, sir. She's worth too much. It is, however, quite likely that we'll +make a hole in the mangrove forest and shake up the bottom of this +creek. That is, when we're ready. There's a good deal to be put through +first." + +"Have you found the gum?" + +"I haven't looked. She's full to the orlops, and we haven't started in +to pump her out. Didn't seem much use in trying while she had so much +weight in her, and we'll want all the coal we've got. When we have hove +most of it and the oil out I'll start the big centrifugal. You see, she +hasn't a donkey on deck. That's why, though it cost me a good deal, I +bought the locomotive boiler. You folks have a library of Shipping +Acts, but you don't show much sense when you let anything under 2,000 +tons go to sea with her pumps run from the main engines. When you most +want steam for pumping it's when your fires are drowning out." + +It was once more evident to Austin that Jefferson knew his business, and +had foreseen most of the difficulties he would have to grapple with. +Still, he fancied, by his face, that he had not quite anticipated all. + +"Where are you putting the oil you take out of her?" he asked. + +"On a strip of sand up a creek. That's one of the few things that are +worrying me. We'll have to get it on board as soon as we float her off +when the rain comes, or the creek will get it ahead of us. The next +point is that it will be a little rough on the men who have to watch it +after working all day long." + +"To watch it! Who is likely to meddle with it here?" + +"Niggers," said Jefferson drily. "They cleaned most everything they +could come at off the boat before I got to her, but they couldn't break +out cargo with the water in her, and didn't know enough to get at the +provisions in the lazaret. Still, while these particular swamps don't +seem to belong to anybody, there's trade everywhere, and oil's a +marketable commodity." + +"Where's the Frenchman who chartered the _Cumbria_?" + +"Dead. I've been up to his place in the launch. I found it caved in, and +trees growing up in it already. Nature straightens things up quite +smartly in this country. Any way, I'll show you round to-morrow; and, in +the meanwhile, it's about time that Spaniard brought you some supper." + +"It seems to me that everybody who had anything to do with this +unfortunate vessel invariably died." + +Jefferson smiled a trifle grimly. "That's a fact," he said. + +Then one of the Canarios brought in a simple meal, and when they had +eaten and talked for another hour, Austin stretched himself out on the +settee and Jefferson climbed into his slanted bunk. They left the light +burning and the door wide open, and both of them lay down dressed as +they were; but while Jefferson seemed to fall into a somewhat restless +doze, Austin found that sleep fled the further from him the more he +courted it that night. It was very hot, for one thing, and stranded +steamer and mangrove forest alike seemed filled with mysterious noises +that stirred his imagination and disturbed his rest. It was only by a +strenuous effort he lay still for a couple of hours, and then, rising +softly, with a little sigh, went out into the night. + +The darkness closed about him, black and impenetrable, when he stepped +out of the stream of light before the deck-house door, and the feeble +flame of the match he struck to light his pipe as he leaned upon the +rail only made it more apparent. He could see nothing whatever when the +match went out, but the oily gurgle of the creek beneath him suggested +the height of the steamer's hove-up side. She lay, so Jefferson had told +him, with her inshore bilge deep in the mire, and two big derrick-booms +slung from the wire hawser that ran from her stern to the mangroves +along what should have been the bank, as a precaution against any +nocturnal call by negroes in canoes. Her outshore side, which he looked +down from, was, he surmised by the slant of deck, between ten and +fifteen feet above the creek. + +It was a little cooler there, and the sounds were less disquieting than +they had been in the room. He could localise and identify some of them +now--the splash of falling moisture, the trickle of the stream, and the +soft fanning of unseen wings as one of the great bats which abound in +that country stooped towards the light. Still, behind these were +mysterious splashings among the mangroves and wallowings in the creek, +while the thick, hot darkness seemed to pulse with life. He could almost +fancy he heard the breathing of unseen things, and it did not seem +strange to him that the dusky inhabitants of that country should believe +in malevolent deities. Indeed, as he leaned upon the rail, with its +darkness enfolding him, he was troubled by a sense of his own +insignificance and a longing to escape from that abode of fear and +shadow. Other men, including those who had come out with a salvage +expedition, had found the floating of the _Cumbria_ too big a thing for +them, and he already understood that there are parts of the tropics +where the white man is apt to find his courage melt away from him as +well as his bodily vigour. + +Then he commenced to wonder dispassionately why Jacinta had sent him, or +if he had, after all, been warranted in considering that she had done +so. She had, though he admitted it unwillingly, at least, not bidden him +go, but she had certainly done what she could to make him understand +that he was wasting his life on board the _Estremedura_. It would have +been a consolation to feel that he was obeying her command and doing her +a definite service, if it was only to bring Jefferson home to Muriel +Gascoyne; but she had not laid one upon him, and even Jefferson seemed +to understand that her purpose went further. + +He was less pleased with the fancy that Jacinta had undertaken what she +apparently considered his reformation. He had been, in some respects, +content as he was, for while there was no other woman he had the same +regard for, he had forced himself to recognise that it was quite out of +the question that she should ever entertain more than kindliness for +him. Austin could be practical, and remembered that young women with her +advantages, as a rule, looked higher than a steamboat purser, while even +if Jefferson succeeded in his venture, and he went home with four or +five thousand pounds, which appeared just then distinctly unlikely, +Jacinta was the only daughter of a man whose income was supposed to +amount to as much a year. + +Austin sighed a little as he decided that he did not really know why he +had come. In the meanwhile he was there, and there was nothing to be +gained by being sorry, especially as he could not even console himself +with the fancy that Jacinta was grieving over him. She was probably, as +usual, far too busy by that time with somebody else's affairs. He was +also averse from permitting himself to feel any glow of +self-congratulation over the fancy that he was doing a chivalrous thing. +In fact, he saw it with realistic clearness of vision as one that was +wholly nonsensical, and it did not occur to him that the essence of all +that was best in the old knightly days might be surviving still, and, +indeed, live on, indestructible, even in the hearts of practical, +undemonstrative Englishmen, as well as garlic-scented Spaniards, and +seafaring Americans. Still, when he had yielded himself instinctively to +Jacinta's will he had vaguely realised that, after all, the bonds of +service are now and then more profitable to a man than dominion. + +In the meanwhile the damp soaked through his clothing, and his physical +nature shrank from the hot steaminess and the sour odours of +putrefaction. It was unpleasant to stand there in that thick darkness, +and even a little hard upon the nerves, but he had had enough of the +deck-house, and he could not sleep, which is by no means an unusual +difficulty with white men in the tropics. It was a relief when at last +a sound that grew louder fixed his attention, and resolved itself into a +measured thudding. Here were evidently canoes coming down the creek, but +Austin was a little uncertain what to do. He had no wish to rouse the +worn-out men, who probably needed all the sleep they could get, if this +was a usual occurrence; but it did not appear advisable that there +should be nobody but himself on deck in case the canoes ran alongside. +He was considering what he should do when Jefferson, who held a glinting +object in his hand, appeared in the door of the deck-house. Then there +was a patter of feet on a ladder below, and another dim figure +materialised out of the darkness. + +"That ---- Funnel-paint come back again," said the half-seen man. + +Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "He's getting monotonous, but he's +taking steep chances this time." + +The beat of paddles slackened a little, there was a murmur of voices +beneath the steamer's side, and Jefferson leaned out, looking down into +the impenetrable blackness beneath him. A scraping sound came out of it, +and apparently moved along, while, when the half-seen man thrust a big +block of coal upon him, Austin turned and strode softly after Jefferson, +who walked forward beside the rail. + +"Better let him have it now, sir," said the other man. "She's quite low +on the other quarter, and if they try swimming round her stern the booms +won't stop them." + +Then there was a vivid streak in the darkness, and a detonation that was +twice repeated, while Austin, who hurled his lump of coal down with all +his strength, caught a whiff of acrid smoke. There was also a splash +below, and a confused clamour that was lost in the hasty thud of paddles +as the invisible canoes got away. Then, while the Canarios came +floundering across the deck, a single voice rose up. + +"Bimeby we done lib for cut you t'roat!" it said. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" said Jefferson, and the big revolver flashed +again. + +There was no answer, and the splash of paddles slowly died away. It was +evident that the affair was over, and Austin fancied that nobody was +much the worse. Jefferson sauntered towards him snapping the spent +shells out of his pistol. + +"Funnel-paint is getting on my nerves. I'll have to drop half a stick of +giant powder on him next time he comes," he said. + +"He didn't make much of a show," said Austin. "You think he meant to +come on board?" + +"If there had been nobody round he would have done so, but how far he'd +have gone then is another question. He probably knows that nigger +stockades are apt to get blown up when a white man disappears, and it's +quite likely his nerve would have failed him. Any way, he's hanging out +at a village up the creek, and we'll probably go round to-morrow with +some giant powder and make a protest. In the meanwhile, I don't know any +reason why you shouldn't go to sleep again." + +Austin went back with him to the house beneath the bridge, and, though +it was not perceptibly cooler, found sleep come to him. His vague +apprehensions had vanished in the face of a definite peril. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TOIL + + +A faint light was creeping into the skipper's room when Austin awakened, +and, seeing his comrade's berth unoccupied, went out on deck. The swamps +were wrapped in woolly vapour, and a column of dingy smoke went up +straight and unwavering from the funnel of the locomotive boiler. The +hot land breeze had died away, and it would be some time yet before that +from the sea set in. In the meanwhile it was almost cool, and very +still; so still, in fact, that Austin was startled when a flock of +parrots, invisible in the mist, swept past, screaming, overhead. + +Then the sounds of man's activity suddenly commenced, for there was a +clatter forward where the Spaniards flung the loose covers from the +hatch, and a harsh rattle of chain mingled with the soft patter of their +naked feet. In another few moments a sharp, musical clinking broke out, +and Austin saw Tom, who had served as a steamer's donkey-man, straighten +his bent back when a rush of white vapour whirled with a strident +hissing about the locomotive boiler, which now drove the winch. He +grinned at Austin, and glanced at the misty creek, far down which a +faint screaming was dying away. + +"Those parrots must be ---- silly things," he said. "What d' they want +to live here for when they can fly?" + +Austin, who decided that there was some reason in the query, strolled +round the house, and came upon Jefferson sitting with his back to it +and the box of dynamite on the deck in front of him. He looked gaunter +and more haggard than ever in the daylight, but he was busy pinching +down a copper cap upon a strip of snaky fuse, which he proceeded to +carefully embed in a roll of semi-plastic material that looked very like +a candle made of yellow wax. + +"What are you doing?" asked Austin. + +"Nipping on a couple of detonators," said Jefferson. "Stand clear of the +one on the deck. They're lined with mercury fulminate, and you want to +take your shoes off when you come near that. Giant powder's innocent by +comparison. I mean to try a stick or two of this consignment." + +"What are you going to try it on?" asked Austin, who stepped back a pace +or two expeditiously. + +Jefferson looked up with a little grim smile. "On the house of the +headman of the village where Funnel-paint lives," he said. "If we can +get in a good morning's work, we'll go up and remonstrate with him this +afternoon. You might take that stick of powder and fuse and wrap it up +in something." + +Austin picked up the yellow roll, and then held it as far as he +conveniently could from him, while Jefferson laughed. + +"I guess you needn't worry. You could pound it with a hammer, or put it +in the fire, and it wouldn't show fight--that is, ninety-nine times out +of the hundred," he said. "Still, there might be considerable trouble on +the other one. The sure way to stir it up is to pat a shred of it with a +piece of wood, though the man who tries it is scarcely likely to see +what it does." + +Austin got rid of the dynamite as speedily as he could, and when he came +back one of the Spaniards was laying out breakfast on the deck. It was +not a sumptuous meal, consisting, as it did, of coffee, a can of meat +that Austin fancied was tainted, ship's bread, which is biscuit, and a +pale fluid that had presumably been butter; but he did not feel hungry, +and Jefferson ate little. In the meanwhile a blaze of light beat through +the mists which melted under it, and flaming yellow creek and dingy +mangroves sprang suddenly into being as by the unrolling of a +transformation scene. Their pale stems dripped slime, and just there +their foliage was blotched and spotted as with smears of flour. It gave +them a diseased appearance, and Austin, who felt he loathed the sight of +them already, remembered that where the mangrove grows the white man not +infrequently dies. He was almost glad when breakfast was over and +Jefferson rose. + +"I want to be quite clear," he said. "You're going to see this thing out +with me on a quarter share?" + +"I am," said Austin. "Anyway, I'll do what I can, though I'm afraid I +haven't given the question of the share much consideration." + +Jefferson looked at him intently. "Well," he said, "I've worried a good +deal about my three-quarters. That's what I came for, and if we float +her off you'll get yours, just as sure as you'll earn it--hard. It's a +big thing you're going into, and you'll find it calling on all the grit +that's in you. We're on results here, and, now you understand that, +we'll start in." + +He went to the forward winch, and Austin, obeying his directions, +descended to the hold with a vague recognition of the fact that there +was a change in Jefferson. As coaling clerk in Grand Canary, Austin had +found him a quiet and somewhat reserved man, who conducted himself in +everything, at least, as conventionally as most of his English friends +in that island. Now it was as though he had sloughed off the veneer so +that the primitive man beneath it appeared, which is a thing that not +infrequently happens in such places as the swamps he was toiling in. His +voice, even, was different. It was harsh, with a suggestion of command; +and the fierce, resolute nature of the man became revealed in it and the +penetrating glance of his steady eyes. + +Austin, however, discovered that he had very little time to think of +Jefferson. The Spaniards were on results, too, and when the chain sling +came rattling down the strenuous toil began. The hold was dim and +shadowy, as well as insufferably hot, and filled with nauseating smells. +The tiers of barrels slanted so that one could scarcely stand on them, +but when somebody gave Austin a handspike he took his place with the +rest, and set about prizing loose the puncheons so that they could get a +sling round them or the hoisting-crabs on the stave-ends. Now and then +the crabs slipped, or tore through the oil-soaked wood when the great +barrel swung up into the sunlight, and it came crashing down; while each +time they made an opening, the rest slipped down, grinding upon each +other, and squeezed it up again. Those on the lower side were +water-borne, but the others were only held in place by those beneath +them on the incline, and the men could not keep the untouched tiers +intact as they would have done had the _Cumbria_ been floating level. + +For the first half hour, Austin, who had never undertaken manual toil +before, felt that his task was beyond the strength of such a man as he. +One can no more acquire facility in labour without some training than he +can in an art or craft, and again and again his untaught muscles failed +to obey the prompting of his will. Then the heavy puncheon generally +rolled back and bruised him, or the slipping handspike left its mark +upon his skin. It was probably fortunate that the Canarios were +cheerful, deft-handed sailormen, courteous, too, and considerate in +their own fashion, for that half hour was, in some respects, a bitter +one. During it the man of taste and leisure had his comparative +uselessness impressed upon him, for, while he gasped, and the dew of +effort dripped from him, it was not alone the slackness of his soft +muscles that became apparent, but his inferiority in quickness, and the +intrepidity which on occasion risks crushed foot and hand or a broken +limb. The men who surpassed him were also benighted aliens, but he +remembered afterwards that there was not one among them who flung a jibe +at him. + +Then it became a trifle easier. His nerves steadied, and the fits of +gasping became less frequent as he warmed to the work. It was, as +Jefferson had mentioned, a big thing they had undertaken, a thing worth +doing, even apart from what they might gain by it, and it occurred to +him that somebody must toil brutally before anything of that kind in +brought to its accomplishment. By and by the strain and stress of it, +the swift flitting of half-naked figures, the upward lurch of the +dripping puncheons, and the clanging of the winch commenced to fire his +blood. There was, after all, a good deal of the primitive in him, and he +had the capacity for finding delight in bodily toil which still lurks +here and there in a cultured Englishman, and presently he flung his +oil-stained jacket away. Then, in a momentary pause, his shirt was +discarded, too, and he knotted his suspenders about his waist. When he +fell in between the grinding puncheons one of them removed most of the +light singlet from him, and he clambered out with a Berserker fit upon +him. He had found his manhood, and vaguely recognised that the curse +laid on man in Eden might be a privilege. Something had awakened in him +he had not felt before, though he had run the _Estremedura_'s lancha +through the spouting surf, and had never been accounted a laggard in +the strenuous English games. + +The chain slings came down faster and faster, while the hammerings of +the winch rang insistently through their rattle. At any cost to the men +below it must not be kept waiting. The blaze of brightness beneath the +hatch became dazzling, and Austin felt his shoulders scorched as he +passed through it. The iron deck above them shed down an intolerable +heat, and still the olive-faced Canarios swayed, and splashed, and +heaved amidst the barrels. Now and then a man said "Car-rai!" or in +incongruous juxtaposition, "Ave Maria!" ejaculating it in gasps, but +there was a puncheon ready when the sling came clashing down, and +Jefferson's voice rang encouragingly through the din. + +"Oh, hump yourselves! Send her up!" he said. "Vamos! Adelante! Dern your +skins! More bareel!" + +Bill grinned at Austin in one momentary stoppage. "The boss is himself +again," he said. "He's shoving her along. We've got to make the time for +our little trip this afternoon. Oh, howling--is that how you slew a +puncheon? You'll manslaughter one of us next time. Cut her as she +rolls." + +Austin gasped with astonishment as well as relief when the winch stopped +at last. The first half hour had appeared interminable, the other hours +had fled, for he saw by the distance the glare of light had moved across +the hold that the sun was overhead. Then he essayed to straighten +himself, and when he had with some difficulty accomplished it went up +the ladder with the rest. When he went out on deck Jefferson was sitting +upon the drum of the winch, and smiled curiously as he scrutinised him. +Austin, whose torn singlet fell away from him clitted with yellow oil, +was almost naked to the waist, as well as very wet from the knees +downwards. One of his canvas shoes had burst, and his hands were +bleeding. He stood still, dazzled by the change of light, and blinked at +his comrade. + +"Well," said Jefferson, reflectively, "I have seen men who looked +smarter, but I guess you'll do. In fact, I'm beginning to feel sure of +you." + +"Thanks!" said Austin. "I suppose in one respect that's a compliment. +Still, I almost think, or, at least, I did when I first went down there, +that if I'd known what was in front of me I'd have stayed in Grand +Canary." + +Jefferson nodded with a curious little smile. "I wonder," he said, +reflectively, "if you ever felt like that before?" + +Austin considered a moment. + +"I'm not going to make any admissions. You probably have?" he said. + +"Quite often," and Jefferson laughed. "It's a thing that happens to most +of us now and then. There are times when the contract looks very big and +the man feels very small. In fact, it's sometimes hard to look straight +at it and not back down. Still, in the case of this one, it has to be +done." + +"I suppose so!" said Austin, and then turned round. "Well, what is it, +Bill?" + +"Here's your shirt an' jacket," said the man. "If you don't want your +skin to come off, you'd better put them on." + +Austin, who thanked him, did so, and then fumbled in the pocket for a +cigarette. The one he found was torn and crushed, but he contrived to +light it, and flung himself down in the shadow of the rail. Jefferson, +who watched him, grinned. + +"You're getting your grip," he said. "Not long ago you'd have slung that +thing into the creek. The man left the sir out, too. Perhaps you noticed +it?" + +"I did. Still, no doubt, after watching my efforts in the hold, he felt +himself warranted. I didn't expect to find things quite the same here as +they are at the Catalina." + +Jefferson laughed softly. "They're not. This is a blame risky +co-operative venture, and when I made it so I put down a big stake on +human nature. We're all on results, and partners in the thing. There's +no respect in this ship. I don't want it. Why should any man touch his +hat to me? Oh, I know we use the fist and handspike on American +ships--when it's necessary--and I skipped round the _Sachem_'s +deck-house once with the cold steel an inch or two behind me; but that's +not the point at all. I want a hundred cents' worth for my dollar from +every man, and I'm going to get it, but I'm boss because I can drive a +winch and break out cargo better than any of the rest of them. At least, +that's one big reason." + +Austin would have grinned at this not very long ago. Jefferson expressed +himself crudely, but Austin was disposed to be less critical after that +morning's labour, and was commencing to realise that his comrade had, in +fact, placed a heavy stake upon the reliability of seafaring humanity. A +taint of suspicious distrust or petty treachery would, he felt, be +sufficient to ruin the venture, for there was one pistol in the ship to +enforce authority, and a dozen men, who might defy it, with wicked +knives. It was also evident that the full dollars' worth would be +demanded from every one of them. Still, Austin smiled. + +"I scarcely think that's the American skipper's usual point of view, +though, of course, it's a commendable one," he said. "After all, one has +to admit that there is, perhaps, some foundation for the equality notion +in a democratic country, but from what I know of yours, while you seem +willing to act upon it in regard to Scandinavians, Teutons, Poles, and +Englishmen, you make Indians and niggers an exception." + +"Exactly! They were made different, and they stop outside. I was +crowding her a little this morning to save time, because I mean to +remonstrate with one of them this afternoon. This ship's mine; I bought +her with good money, and there may be a balance out that's to be settled +with blood as well. Am I to sit down while the black scum take her from +me?" + +"I really think that the longer one looks at this contract the bigger it +gets," said Austin, reflectively. + +Jefferson glanced at the dingy forest, flaming creek, and the +_Cumbria_'s slanted deck with a little glow in his eyes. + +"Well," he said, "that's what gets hold of me. To worry a big contract +through, is--life--to some kinds of men." + +"Perhaps it is, but it was easier painting little pictures. Still, you +see, when you marry Miss Gascoyne you'll have to go round with your +shirt, and, perhaps, a frock coat on, and let up on this kind of thing. +In fact, what you are doing isn't at all what the folks she is +acquainted with would expect from a man with £20,000 in England." + +Jefferson laughed, though there was a certain grimness in his face. +"Well," he said, "there is a good deal to be done everywhere, and +different ways of playing the game. A frock coat wouldn't stop a man +making a show at one of them, although at first he mightn't find it +comfortable. Life's much the same thing everywhere when you mean to take +part in it and hustle. Any way, I've talked enough, and Wall-eye's +coming along with the comida." + +They ate the meal in silence. Austin was glad to rest, and sitting +drowsily content in the shadow, he began to realise the boundless +optimism and something of the adaptability of his companion. Jefferson +had made an excellent coaling clerk at Las Palmas, though he knew +nothing about the business, which demands a good deal of discretion, +when he came there. He had also passed muster with Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel Gascoyne as what they no doubt called a gentleman, which was a +manifestly harder thing, and here in Africa he was a ragged and +fever-worn leader of primitive men, but clearly a successful one. It +seemed to Austin that if he eventually aspired to become a local +influence in any part of sheltered England he would also in all +probability show up equally well. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE + + +They were not long over the meal, and when Austin thrust his plate +aside, Jefferson, who had waited at least five minutes for him, rose +with a little twinkle, which seemed to express whimsical resignation, in +his eyes. + +"And now there's something I'd rather leave alone to be done," he said. +"The launch is ready, and we'll go up and remonstrate with those +niggers. It's a little rough upon a man who is fond of a quiet life." + +"One would scarcely have fancied that quietness had any great attraction +for you," said Austin. "Still, you probably know what pleases you better +than I do." + +Jefferson laughed. "There are folks who seem to like being kicked, but +it's a sensation that doesn't appeal to everybody." + +"You have a case of dynamite, too. Now, I had once an air-gun sent me, a +good many years ago, and I remember how I burned to go out and destroy +the neighbours' cats with it." + +The American's face grew a trifle grim, and he looked at him with +half-closed eyes. "Well," he said, "I suppose that feeling's there, but +in a sense you're wrong. It isn't the only one. We put up a big bluff in +coming here at all, and it's nerve, and nothing else, that will have to +keep us where we are. There are no police or patrolmen in this country +to fall back upon, and you have to face the cold truth, which is this: +If one of those niggers clinched with you or me, he would mop the deck +with us in about two minutes. It's not a nice thing to admit, but there +it is." + +Austin looked thoughtful, as, indeed, he was, for Jefferson, who, it +seemed, could look an unpleasant fact in the face, had gone straight to +the bottom of the question, as he usually did. The white man's +domination, it had to be admitted, largely depended upon his command of +machine guns and magazine rifles, but they had none of these on board +the _Cumbria_. They were no match for the negro as a muscular animal, +and there was only left them what Jefferson called bluff, which +apparently consisted of equal parts of hardihood and arrogance. Still, +there are respects in which it is difficult to distinguish between it +and genuine courage, and it was certainly apt to prove futile in that +land without the latter. Austin realised that since there was nothing +else available, they must do what they could with it, though this was +far from pleasing him. He had a dislike for anything which savoured of +assertive impudence. + +They went up the creek in the little, clanking launch, eight limp and +perspiring white men, with knives and iron bars, under a scorching sun +that burned through their oil-stained garments. They slid through strips +of shadow where the belts of mire they skirted bubbled with the +emanations the heat sucked up from them, and slid across lake-like +reaches where the yellow water was dazzling to look upon. All the time, +endless ranks of mangroves crawled past them, and there was no sound but +the presumptuous clanking of the engine to break the deep silence of the +watery forest. The whole land seemed comatose with heat, and all that +had its being in it probably was so, for it is at night that nature +awakens in the swamps of the fever belt. Man alone was stirring, and the +puny noise of his activity jarred for a few moments on the great +stillness and then sank into it again. + +Austin sat huddled in the launch's stern-sheets with his senses dulled +by the heat and glare, though the desolation of mire and mangroves +reacted on him. He knew, as he sometimes admitted, a little about a good +many things which were of no use to him, and he remembered then that the +vast quadrilateral of Northern Africa west of Egypt had absorbed several +civilisations long before the Portuguese saw its southern shores. They +had vanished, and left no mark on it, and it was plain that in the great +swamp belt, at least, the black man still lived very much as he had done +when the first mangroves crept out into the sea. It is a primitive +country, where man knows only the law of the jungle, and Jefferson, who +grasped that fact, was apparently ready to act upon it in the usual +primitive fashion. + +There was, at first, no sign of life when the launch came into sight of +a little village hemmed in by the swamps. It had its attractiveness in +that country, for the clustering huts stood, half buried in foliage, +beneath towering cottonwoods, with a glaring strip of sand in front of +them. There were bananas, and, as Jefferson recognised, lime trees in +between. Still, by the time they approached the beach men came +floundering hastily out of the huts, and Austin was not greatly consoled +by the sight of them. They were big men, and wore very little to conceal +their splendid muscles. Some of them also carried long canoe paddles, +and one or two had wicked, corkscrew-headed spears. Austin wondered, a +little uneasily, whether they only speared fish with them, and looked +round to see what effect their appearance had upon his companions. + +It was apparently not a great one. Jefferson was quietly grim; Tom, the +donkey-man, scornfully cheerful; while there was a little portentous +glint in the Canarios' eyes. Austin fancied he was the only one who had +the slightest doubt that anything their leader did would not be +altogether warranted. This, however, was comprehensible, for he was +aware that while the American's attitude towards the coloured people is, +perhaps, not altogether what it should be, the Western pioneer never +quite equalled the Iberian in his plan of subjugation. The Spaniard, at +least, did not send out Indian agents, or dole out rations of very +inferior beef. + +They landed without molestation, and straightened themselves to make +what show they could, though there was nothing very imposing about any +of the party. The climate had melted the stiffness out of them, and +their garments, which were stained with oil, and rent by working cargo, +clung about their limbs soaked with perspiration. They looked, Austin +fancied, more like shipwrecked seamen than anything else. In fact, he +felt almost ashamed of himself, and that it was the negroes' own fault +if they did not unceremoniously fling them back into the creek. Still, +he realised that they were men who probably held their lives in their +hands, and had what appeared to be a singularly difficult task in front +of them. They were there to make it clear to the headman that it would +be wise of him to leave them alone, and Austin was quite willing to +supplement Jeffersons' efforts in this, though he was by no means sure +how it was to be accomplished. The negroes, so far as he could see, were +regarding them with a kind of derisive toleration. + +In the meanwhile they were moving forward between patches of bananas, +and under a few glossy limes, while groups of dusky men kept pace with +them behind, until they reached a broad strip of sand with a big +cottonwood tree in the midst of it. There was a hut of rammed soil that +appeared more pretentious than the rest in front of them, and a man +stood waiting in the door of it. Jefferson stopped in the shadow when he +saw him. + +"I'm going to sit down where it's cool," he said. "Any way, if that is +their headman, I'd sooner he came out to us." + +He sat down, with his back to the tree, while the rest clustered round +him, a lean, dominant figure, in spite of his haggard face and the state +of his attire, and it seemed to Austin that there was a suggestion of +arrogant forcefulness in his attitude. The headman stood quietly in his +doorway, looking at him, while the negroes drew in a little closer. They +now seemed uncertain what to make of these audacious strangers, and +waited, glancing towards their leader, though there were, Austin +fancied, forty or fifty of them. + +"Is there anybody here, who speaks English?" asked Jefferson. + +It appeared that there was, for all along that coast there is a constant +demand for labour in the white men's factories, and a man who wore a +piece of cloth hung from his shoulder instead of the waist-rag, stood +forward at a sign from the headman. The latter had little cunning eyes +set in a heavy, fleshy face, and he, too, wore a piece of cloth, a sheet +of white cotton, which flowed about his tub-like body in graceful lines. +Negroes, like other people, fatten when they seize authority and live in +idleness upon the result of others' toil, for even the swamp belt +heathen who asks very little from life must now and then work or starve. +There are no charitable institutions to fall back upon in that country, +where the indigent is apt to be belaboured by his neighbours' paddles. + +Then the headman, who did not leave his hut, conferred with the +interpreter, until the latter turned to Jefferson, whom he had, it +seemed, already pitched upon as leader. + +"Them headman he done say--what the debbil you lib for here for?" he +announced. + +"We have come for Funnel-paint," said Jefferson. + +It was evident that the negro did not understand whom he meant, but when +Jefferson, assisted by the donkey-man, supplied him with a very +unflattering description of the delinquent, comprehension seemed to dawn +on him, and he once more conferred with his master. + +"Him no one of we boy," he said. "Him dam bad 'teamboat bushman, sah. +Lib for here two three day. Now lib for go away." + +Austin, who understood that the term bushman was not used in a +complimentary sense in those swamps, smiled as he noticed that seafaring +men were evidently also regarded there with no great favour, and glanced +at Jefferson inquiringly. + +"He's probably lying," said the latter. "I've trailed Funnel-paint here, +and there's nowhere else he could live. I've been round to see. Any way, +he had a crowd of this rascal's boys with him when he came down to worry +me. We'll let him have that to figure on." + +It cost him some trouble to make his meaning clear to the negro, while +when the latter in turn explained it to the headman, Austin noticed a +retrograde movement among several of those about them. They seemed +desirous of getting a little further away from the domineering white +man. + +"I want those boys," said Jefferson, indicating the negroes who had +edged away. "Then I want some gum or ivory, or anything of that kind +your headman has, as a token he'll send me down Funnel-paint as soon as +he can catch him. He hasn't caught on to half of it. Help me out, +Austin." + +Austin did what he could, and at last it became evident that the +interpreter grasped their meaning. This time there was, however, a +change in the attitude of the negro, which had hitherto appeared to be a +trifle conciliatory. + +"None of my boys have been near your steamer. Go away before we drive +you out," was, at least, the gist of what he said. + +Jefferson made a little contemptuous gesture, and pointed to one of the +negroes. "Tell him I want those boys, and it would be wise of him to +turn them up before the shadow crawls up to where that man is. If he +doesn't, I'll let a Duppy, Ju-Ju, or whatever he calls his fetish +devils, loose on him. He has about fifteen minutes to think the thing +over in." + +Even with the help of the donkey-man they were some time in making this +comprehensible, and Austin glanced at his comrade when the headman's +answer came. It was a curt and uncompromising _non possumus_, and +Jefferson sighed. + +"Of course," he said, "I saw it would come to this from the beginning, +and in one way I'm not sorry. I don't know what I'd have done with +Funnel-paint or his friends if I had got them, except that somehow I'd +'most have scared them out of their lives. Still, it seemed only decent +to give the headman a chance for himself. Now it will suit us +considerably better to scare him and the others all together. I'll wipe +that house of his out of existence inside twenty minutes." + +Austin glanced at the house. It was larger than the others, and +comparatively well built, and, he fancied, probably of as much value to +its owner as a white man's mansion would be to him. This was clearly +not a time to be supersensitive, but he felt a trace of compunction. + +"I don't know that I'd go quite so far myself," he said. "After all, +we're not sure that the headman is responsible." + +"Then," said Jefferson, drily, "we'll make him, and you listen to me. We +may have to do quite a few things that aren't pretty, and we have no use +for sentimentality. We're just a handful of white men, with everything +to grapple with, and we'll be left alone to do it while these devils are +afraid of us, and not a moment longer. The fever may wipe half of us out +at any time, and we have got to make our protest now." + +"It's the giant-powder I'm sticking at. No doubt it's a little absurd of +me--but I don't like it." + +Jefferson laughed a trifle scornfully. "There's a good deal of what we +call buncome in most of you. You don't like things that +don't--look--pretty, pistols among them. Well, am I to be trampled on +whenever it happens that the other man is bigger than I?" + +"The law is supposed to obviate that difficulty in a civilised +community." + +"The man who gets the verdict is usually the one with the biggest +political pull or the most money, in the one I belong to, but that's not +quite the point just now. If you have a notion that the game's all in +our hands, look at them yonder." + +Austin did so, and decided that, after all, Jefferson might be right. +The negroes had clustered together, and there were more of them now, +while all of them had spears or big canoe paddles. It was tolerably +evident that any sign of vacillation would bring them down upon the +handful of white men whose prestige alone had hitherto secured them from +molestation. If they failed to maintain it, and had to depend upon their +physical prowess, the result appeared as certain as it would be +unpleasant. The affair had resolved itself into a case of what Jefferson +termed bluff, a test of coolness and nerve, and Austin glanced a trifle +anxiously at the Spaniards. They were, he fancied, a little uneasy, but +it was clear that they had confidence in their leader, and they sat +still, though he could see one or two of them fingering the wicked +Canary knives. Their courage was, however, not of the kind that stands +the tension of uncertainty well, and he commenced to long that the +shadow would reach the trampled spot where the man Jefferson pointed to +had stood. + +In the meanwhile it was creeping slowly across the hot white sand, and +he felt his heart beat as he watched it and the negroes, who commenced +to murmur and move uneasily. The white man's immobility had its effect +on them, and it seemed that Jefferson had done wisely in confiding in +the latter's ability to bear the longer strain. Still, Austin was not +sure that the impatience of the Spaniards might not spoil everything +after all. As regarded himself, he began to feel a curious and almost +dispassionate interest in the affair which almost prevented him +considering his personal part in it. He also noticed the intensity of +the sunlight, and the blueness of the shadows among the trees, as well +as the mirror-like flashing of the creek. It was, he fancied, the +artistic temperament asserting itself. Then he felt a little quiver run +through him when Jefferson stood up. + +"We have to get it done," he said. "Keep those Canarios close behind +me." + +They moved forward in a little phalanx, carrying staves and iron bars, +though Austin knew that a word would bring out the twinkling steel; and, +somewhat to his astonishment, the negroes fell back before them, and as +they approached it the headman scuttled out of his house. Jefferson +stopped outside it and taking a stick of yellow substance from his +pocket, inserted it in a cranny he raked out in the wall. Then he +lighted the strip of fuse and touched Austin's shoulder. + +"Get those fellows back to the creek, but they're not to run," he said. +"The action of one stick of giant-powder is usually tolerably local, but +I don't want any of the niggers hoisted, either. Where's that +interpreter? Steady, we'll bring them down on us like a swarm of bees if +they see us lighting out before they understand the thing." + +There was, Austin fancied, not much time to waste; but he managed to +impress the fact upon the Canarios that their haste must not be too +evident, and to make the negro understand that it was perilous to +approach the house. Then he overtook the Spaniards, and they moved back +in a body towards the launch, and stopped close by the beach. The +negroes also stood still, and all alike watched the little sputtering +trail of smoke creep up the side of the house. It showed blue in the +sunlight, though there was a pale sparkling in the midst of it. + +Then a streak of light sprang out suddenly, and expanded into a blaze of +radiance. After it came the detonation, and a rolling cloud of thin +vapour, out of which there hurtled powdered soil and blocks of +hard-rammed mud. The vapour thinned and melted, and Austin saw that +there was no longer any front to the headman's house, while, as he +watched it, most of the rest fell in. He looked round to see what effect +it had on the negroes, but could not make out one of them. They had, it +seemed, gone silently and in haste. Then he heard Jefferson sigh as with +relief. + +"Well," he said, "that's one thing done, and I'm glad we have come out +of it with a whole skin. We'll light out before somebody shows them +that we're only human, and spoils the thing." + +They went on board the launch, but Austin felt curiously limp as she +clanked away down stream. The strain of the last half hour had told on +him, though he had not felt it to the full at the time. It was two +hours' steaming before they swept past the _Cumbria_, and a man on her +forecastle waved an arm to indicate that all was right on board her; but +Austin would not have had the time any shorter. He felt it was just as +well that village lay some distance from them. They went on to the strip +of sand where Jefferson had stored the coal and oil, and when they +reached it he stood up suddenly with an imprecation. + +"Four puncheons gone! Funnel-paint has come out ahead of me, after all," +he said. "Well, there's no use in worrying now, when he has got away +with them; but I'm going to stop down here to-night in case he comes +back again." + +Then he swung the launch round with backed propeller, and in another few +minutes they were steaming back up stream towards the _Cumbria_. A tent +of some kind must be extemporised, for it is not wise of a white man to +spend the night unprotected in the fever swamps. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +STARTING THE PUMP + + +The bush was dim with steamy shade when Austin and Jefferson plodded +along a little path behind the beach where the oil was stored. It was +with difficulty they made their way, for the soil was firmer there, and +a dense undergrowth sprang up among the big cottonwoods which replaced +the mangroves. They were draped with creepers, and here and there an +orchid flung its fantastic blossoms about a rotting limb, while the path +twisted in and out among them and through tangled thickets. It was then +the hottest part of the afternoon, and save for the soft fall of the +men's footsteps everything was still. The atmosphere was very like that +of a Turkish bath, and as Austin stumbled along the perspiration dripped +from him. + +He had toiled strenuously from early dawn until darkness closed down, of +late, and though he had, as yet, escaped the fever, every joint in his +body ached, and he was limp and dejected with the heat and weariness. +His only respite from labour had been the few hours spent on watch +beside the landed oil when his turn came, and he had now come down with +two of the Spaniards to relieve Jefferson, who was going back to the +_Cumbria_. The latter glanced towards a ray of brightness that beat into +the dim green shadow, and here and there flung a patch of brilliancy +athwart the great columnar trunks. + +"I've been wondering where this trail goes, and it seems to me there's +an opening close in front of us," he said. "We'll rest when we get +there, and I don't know that I'll be sorry. You have to choose between +stewing and roasting in this country, and, when it lets my skin stay on +me, I almost think the latter's easier." + +Austin felt inclined to agree with him, for they had blundered through +the shadowy bush for half an hour, and its hot, saturated atmosphere +made exertion almost impossible. Still, he said nothing, and in a few +more minutes they came out upon a glaring strip of sand beside another +creek. Jefferson stopped a moment, with a little gesture of +astonishment, in the shadow of a palm. + +"What in the name of wonder have they been turning that sand over for?" +he said. + +Austin walked out of the shadow, blinking in the dazzling brightness the +creek flung back, and saw that the sand had certainly been disturbed +every here and there. It seemed to him that somebody had been digging +holes in it and then had carefully filled them up. + +"There isn't a nigger village nearer than the one where Funnel-paint +lives, or I could have fancied they'd had an epidemic and been burying +their friends," he said. + +Jefferson shook his head. "They wouldn't worry to bring them here," he +said. "Still, somebody has been digging since the last wet season, for +it seems to me that when the rain comes the creek flows over here." + +It occurred to Austin that one or two, at least, of the excavations had +been filled in not long ago, but his comrade made no comment when he +suggested it, and they went back together to the shadow of the palm, +where Jefferson, sitting down thoughtfully, filled a blackened pipe. + +It was several minutes before he broke the silence. + +"There is," he said, at length, "a good deal I can't get the hang of +about the whole affair; but if I knew just how they came to start the +plates that let the water in, I'd have something to figure on. You can't +very well knock holes in an iron steamer's bottom on soft, slimy mud, +and I don't know where they could have found a rock here if they wanted +to." + +"Ah!" said Austin. "Then you think they might have wanted to find one?" + +Jefferson again sat silent for almost a minute, and then slowly shook +his head. "I don't know--I've nothing to go upon," he said. "She's not +even an old, played-out boat. Still, it seems to me that a heavily +freighted steamer, hung up by her nose on the bank, might easily have +started some of her plates when the waters of the creek subsided. Then +she'd settle deeper--it's nice soft mud." + +"But that would be--after--she went ashore." + +"Yes," said Jefferson dryly. "That's the point of it." + +Austin looked thoughtful. It had also occurred to him that there was a +good deal it was difficult to understand about the stranding of the +_Cumbria_, though that, after all, did not appear to concern them +greatly just then. + +"What puzzles me is why the salvage men let go," he said. "You see, +they're accustomed to this kind of thing, and have money behind them." + +Jefferson looked at him with a little smile, and Austin saw that he +guessed his thoughts. Jefferson was as gaunt as ever, a fever-worn +skeleton of a man, dressed, for the most part, in oil-stained rags, +while Austin was quite aware that, so far as outward appearances went, +there was very little that was prepossessing about himself. His big felt +hat hung over his forehead, sodden with grease, and shapeless; his hands +were hard and scarred, his nails were broken, and the rent singlet hung +open almost to his waist. All this seemed to emphasise their feebleness, +and the fact that there was no money behind them, at least. + +"Well," said Jefferson, "that's quite easy. Those salvage men are +specialists, and expect a good deal for the time they put in. Now they +took some oil out of her, but there is reason for believing they were +not sure they'd get the _Cumbria_ off at all, and it would cost a good +deal to charter a light-draught steamer to come up here. They tried +towing it down to a schooner, and lost a good deal of it on the shoals. +Then they towed the schooner in, and had to wait for a smooth surf +before they could get her out, with no more than sixty tons at that. The +game wasn't worth while, and the men were going down with fever." + +"But the gum?" + +"There wasn't a great deal down in the cargo sheets, and, any way, until +they'd hove the oil out they couldn't come at it." + +"You are still sure about the gum yourself?" + +Jefferson laughed softly. "I think I am. I don't quite know where it is, +but the skipper got it--a good deal of it." + +"Still, the steamer would be worth a persistent effort. There was no +doubt about her being there." + +"No," said Jefferson, with a little gesture of comprehension. "Now I +know just what you mean. You're wondering, since those men couldn't +heave her off, what's the use of us trying. Well, specialists make their +mistakes now and then, just like other men, and they took it for granted +that things were normal when they were there. From what I've seen of the +sand strips and the marks on the mangrove trunks, I don't think they +were. You see, there's a good deal we don't know about the tides yet, +and the Guinea stream doesn't always run quite the same along this +coast; while, when there's less than usual of the southwest winds that +help it along, it's quite likely to mean two or three feet less water in +these creeks. Then you can have a wet season that's a little drier than +the other ones, and it's fresh water here--the tide just backs it up." + +"Then you're counting on the present season being a normal one?" + +"Yes," said Jefferson quietly. "I've staked all I have on it--and a good +deal more than that. If it isn't, I might as well have pitched my forty +thousand dollars into the sea." + +He stopped a moment, and then laid a little grey object in Austin's +palm. "What d'you make of that?" + +Austin started as he looked at it. "A pistol bullet!" + +"Exactly," said Jefferson. "It has been through the barrel, too; you can +see the score of the rifling. I picked it up along the trail, but I +don't know how long it lay there, or who fired it. Still, the niggers +don't carry pistols. Well, it's about time I was getting back on board +if we're to start the pump to-night." + +Austin glanced at him sharply, and noticed that there was a suggestion +of tension in his voice, though his face was quiet. It was evident that +a good deal would depend upon the result of the first few hours' +pumping, for unless it lowered the water there would be little +probability of their floating the steamer. Neither of them, however, +said anything further, and when they went back to the beach where the +oil was, Jefferson steamed away in the launch, and Austin, who was left +with two Canarios, lay down in the shadow of a strip of tarpaulin. The +Spaniards, tired with their morning's labour, went to sleep; and Austin, +who filled his pipe several times, found the hours pass very slowly. +There was nothing to hold his attention--only glaring sand, dingy, dim +green mangroves, and tiers of puncheons with patches of whitewash +clinging to them. It flung back an intolerable brightness that hurt his +aching eyes, and he became sensible of a feverish impatience as he lay +watching the shadows lengthen. + +His thoughts were with Jefferson, who was, no doubt, now getting steam +on the locomotive boiler and coupling up the big pump. Unless the latter +did what they expected of it, the toil they had undergone, and +Jefferson's eight thousand pounds, would have been thrown away. That was +very evident, but Austin wondered a little at himself as his impatience +grew upon him, until it was only by an effort he held himself still. + +It was not the quarter share Jefferson offered him which had brought him +there, for he realised that even with five thousand pounds he would +still be, to all intents and purposes, a poor man, and his life on board +the _Estremedura_ had, in most respects, been one that suited him. He +had, in fact, not greatly cared whether the _Cumbria_ could be floated +or not, when he came out, but since then Jefferson's optimism, or +something that was born of the toil they had undertaken, had laid hold +of him, and now he was almost as anxious as his comrade that their +efforts should result in success. In fact, he was feverishly anxious, +and felt that if it would gain them anything he would willingly stake +his life on the venture. Then he smiled as he remembered that he had, +without quite realising it, done so already. + +Still, the long, hot afternoon dragged away, and when the sun dipped, +and black darkness closed down upon the creek, the launch came clanking +up to the beach. She brought two Canarios as well as Bill, the fireman, +and Austin's voice was eager as he greeted the latter. + +"Have you got the pump going yet?" he asked. + +"No," said Bill. "Tom and Mr. Jefferson was packing something when I +came away. He'd given her a spin, and found the engine blowing at a +gland." + +Austin asked him nothing further, but drove the launch at top speed +through the blackness that shrouded the misty creek, and walked straight +to where Jefferson was standing when he reached the _Cumbria_. The red +glow from the open fire-door of the locomotive boiler fell upon him, and +there were signs of tension in his face, while the red trickle from a +hand he had apparently injured smeared his torn jacket. Steam was +roaring from a valve beside him, and Austin could scarcely hear him when +he turned to the donkey-man. + +"Shut the fire-door. She'll go now," he said. "I'll let her shake down +for a minute or two, and then we'll give her everything." + +He walked forward towards where the light of a lamp fell upon the casing +of the pump, which looked like a huge iron drum considerably flattened +in. Then he touched a valve, and the machine became animate with a low +pulsatory wheezing, while something commenced to hum and rattle inside +it. The sound swelled into a fierce rhythmic whirring, the great iron +case vibrated, and Austin could feel the rails he leaned on tremble. +Jefferson turned and looked at him with a little smile, while he laid a +hand, as it were, affectionately upon the pump. + +"Yes," he said, "I've made her go, and she's going to earn me eighty +thousand dollars. She's drawing air just now. Heave your hat down, and +see if she'll take it along." + +Austin, who became sensible that a little draught was shaking his duck +trousers, did as Jefferson suggested, and the big felt hat rolled and +flopped in a ludicrous fashion along the deck. Then it seemed to spring +forward into the blackness, and groping after it, he found it glued to +the iron grid which was screwed to the end of a big pipe. It was with +some little difficulty he tore it loose. Then he saw Jefferson swing up +one hand. + +"Easy, while she's getting her first drink; then, if she's spouting +full, you can let her hum," he said, and turned to Austin. "Now, come +down with me." + +They went down together into the musty hold, and when somebody lowered +the big hose after them, Jefferson, standing upon the ladder, seized the +rope, and looked up at the Canarios clustering round the hatch above. + +"Where's that rake you made?" he said. + +It was handed him, and Austin glanced down at the water, which glistened +oilily under the light of a suspended lamp. It was thick with floating +grease and strewn with fragments of rotten bags. + +"Get hold and keep her clear!" said Jefferson, who thrust the rake upon +him, and then waited a moment before he lowered the hose, while Austin, +glancing round a moment, could see the faces of the men above them. They +were intent, and almost as expectant as his comrade's. + +Then the big pipe sank with a soft splash, and shook out its loose +half-coil, as if alive, while it swelled. It grew hard and rigid, and +the dim, oily water swirled and seethed about the end of it. In another +moment there was a rush of floating objects towards it from the shadows. +Strips of bagging, handspikes, clots of oil, and dunnage wood, came +thicker and thicker, and Jefferson raised his voice. + +"Let her hum!" he said. + +The pipe palpitated as it further straightened itself, and now a hole +opened in the oily water, and half-seen things came up with a rush from +the depths of the flooded hold. Hundreds of little black kernels whirled +and sank in the swing of the eddy, which grew wider as a deep, resonant +hum descended from the deck above. It seemed to Austin that everything +in the hold was coming to the top, but as he watched the bewildering +succession of odds and ends that spun amidst the froth, Jefferson's +voice rose harshly. + +"It's water she's wanting! Keep her clear!" he said. + +Austin contrived to do it for a while, though now and then the whirling +rush of bags and wood almost tore the rake away from him. He was kept +busy for half an hour, while Jefferson stood leaning out from the +ladder, and steadily watching the water. Then the American swung himself +down, with his knife in his hand, and scratched the iron at its level. + +"We'll know in another hour or two whether we're pumping out the +_Cumbria_ or pumping in the creek," he said. "If it's the latter, I've +got to let up on the contract. I can't undertake to dry out this part of +Africa." + +Then he signed to one of the Canarios. "Come down. Ven aca, savvy, and +take this rake." + +They went up together, but as they passed along the deck Jefferson +stopped once more to lay his hand upon the pump. It was running with a +dull, rumbling roar, and the deck trembled about it. + +"She's doing good work," he said. "Now we'll have comida. I daren't go +back there for another hour." + +They went into the deck-house, where the Spaniard who acted as steward +was waiting them, but in passing, Jefferson made a sign to Tom, who +stood in the glow from the fire-door, with a shovel in his hand. + +"All she's worth!" he said. + +They ate as a matter of duty, and because they needed all the strength +the climate had left them, but neither had much appetite, and Austin +knew that Jefferson was listening as eagerly as he was himself to the +deep, vibrating hum that came throbbing through the open door. It was a +relief to both of them to hear, the persistent jingling of a cup that +stood unevenly in its saucer. The pump was running well, but there +remained the momentous question, was it lowering the water? And when the +meal was over, Austin glanced at Jefferson as he pushed his plate aside. + +"Shall I go down and look?" he asked. + +"No," said Jefferson hoarsely. "Any way, if you do, don't come back and +worry me. She's full up, fore and after holds and engine room--and there +are things I don't stand very well. We'll give her two hours, and then, +if she's doing anything worth while, the scratch I made will be dry." + +Austin nodded sympathetically. "Under the circumstances," he said, "two +hours is a long while." + +Jefferson smiled, a curious, wry smile. "It's hard--the toughest thing +one can do--just to keep still; but if I climbed up and down that ladder +for two hours I'd probably break out, and heave somebody into the creek. +There are things you have to get over once for all--and do it quick." + +"I suppose there are," said Austin. "Still, it's the first time I've +made the acquaintance of any of them, and I shouldn't have fancied one +could get a thrill of this kind out of a centrifugal pump. There is, +however, of course, a good deal at stake." + +"Eighty thousand dollars," said Jefferson, "and all the rest of my life. +You don't usually get such chances as the _Cumbria_ is giving us twice." + +Austin found that he, at least, could not keep still, however he tried, +and he went out and paced up and down the slanted deck, where he fell +over things, though he now and then endeavored to talk rationally to Tom +the donkey-man. He did not find the attempt a success, but he saw that +he was not the only one who felt the tension, for the Canarios, in place +of resting, were clustered round the hatch, and apparently staring down +the opening. Jefferson was still in the deck-house each time he passed, +a gaunt, grim-faced object, with a lean hand clenched on an unlighted +pipe, and at last Austin sat down on the deck beside the pump. He liked +to feel the throb of it, but he remembered the half hour he spent there +a long while afterwards. + +Then Jefferson came out of the deck-house, walking slowly, though Austin +fancied it cost him an effort, and they climbed down the ladder +together. The man with the rake stood on the opposite one across the +hatch, and Austin felt his heart beat painfully as he raised the lantern +he held and Jefferson stooped down. He straightened himself slowly, +though the blood was in his face. + +"Dry!" he said hoarsely. "She's lowering it. It's a sure thing, Austin. +If the fever doesn't get us we'll see this contract out." + +Then he turned, and they went up and back to the deck-house, while an +exultant clamour broke out from the Canarios; but Jefferson's lean hand +quivered a little when he laid it on the table as he sat down. + +"If she has started any plates, they're not started much," he said. +"Now, talk about anything you like, so long as it isn't the _Cumbria_. +I've got to slacken down to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ELUSIVE GUM + + +It was in the small hours when Austin wakened, and, listening a moment, +stretched his aching limbs with a little sigh of content. The odds and +ends on the table beside him were rattling merrily, and a deep pulsatory +humming rang stridently through the silence of the swamps. The pump was +running well, for he could hear the steady splash of water falling into +the creek, and once more a little thrill of exultation ran through him. +He was not in most respects a fanciful man, for in him the artistic +temperament was held in due subjection by a knowledge of the world and +shrewd practical sense. Still, there were times when he vaguely +recognised that there might, after all, be a reality behind the fancies +he now and then indulged in with a smile, and that night it seemed to +him that the big centrifugal pump was chanting a song of triumph. + +He had tasted toil, and what toil really is only those know who have +borne it in the steamy heat of the tropics, which saps the white man's +vigour; while he had discovered what, artist as he was, he had not +learned before: that, by way of compensation, man may attain a certain +elusive spirituality by the stern subjugation of his body, even when it +is accomplished by brutal manual labour. As the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo he had watched the struggle for existence between man and man +with good-humoured toleration of its petty wiles and trickeries, but now +it was the cleaner and more primitive struggle between man and matter +he was called upon to take his part in with the faith in the destiny of +his species which is capable of moving mountains, and not infrequently +does so with hydraulic hose and blasting charges, as well as a few odd +thousand tons of iron and water in a stranded steamer. Lying still a +while, he heard the great pump hurling out its announcement of man's +domination to swamp and forest, and then went peacefully to sleep. + +He was astir with the dawn next morning, but when they went down the +ladder into the hold he knew that the change in him had reached a +further stage. Whether the water had sunk or not, he was going to see +that fight out, and go back triumphant, or leave his bones in Africa. It +was not alone to vindicate himself in Jacinta's eyes, for that, though +it counted, too, seemed of less moment now; he was there to justify his +existence, to prove himself a man, which many who have won honours in +this world have, after all, never really done. As a sign of it, he was +wholly practical when, hanging down from the ladder, he laid the fingers +of one hand upon the scratch Jefferson had made on the iron. Then he +held up the hand. + +"Wet to the knuckles only," he said. "Last night the water was on the +thumb." + +They went up, and Jefferson looked at him keenly when they stood on +deck; in fact, as he had done when Austin first clambered, half naked, +out of the hatch. + +"Yes," he said quietly, "she is heaving it out, and you have done more +than start in. You mean staying with it now?" + +Austin laughed. "I'm not sure how you know it, but I really think I do." + +"No?" said Jefferson, with a twinkle in his eyes. "When it's in your +voice, and stamped upon the rest of you. Well, I think we're going to +float her, though it's perhaps not quite a sure thing yet. We seem to +have bluffed off Funnel-paint, but the trouble is, you can't bluff the +fever. In the meanwhile, we'll see if she's draining any out of the +engine room." + +They went in, and stood on the top platform, looking down on the water, +which, so far as they could discern, stood at much the same level as it +had done. Jefferson gazed at it with an air of reflection. + +"If the bulkhead's strained and started so the water could get in, I +don't quite see why it shouldn't run out into the hold again, but +there's evidently no suction that way," he said. "You see how that +tool-case lid is floating. There's another point that strikes me. Those +started plates don't seem to be letting very much water in." + +"As you have already pointed out, there is a good deal it's a little +difficult to understand about the whole thing." + +"Well," said Jefferson gravely, "it doesn't matter in the meanwhile, and +we'll probably find out by and by. The first thing we have to do is to +lay hands on that gum, and until the water's lower we can't start in. +The boys can lay off to-day. Well, what are you wanting, Bill?" + +"Two of the Canariers down!" said the fireman, who appeared in the +doorway. "They was looking groggy yesterday, an' one o' them's talking +silly now. I think it's fever." + +Austin looked at Jefferson, whose face grew a trifle grim. "Ah," he +said, "it's beginning. Well, I had expected we'd have that to grapple +with before very long. We'll go along and look at them." + +They went, and found one of the men raving in the forecastle, while +Austin, who did what he could for him and his comrade, which was very +little, afterwards spent a day of blissful idleness stretched at full +length on the settee in the skipper's room, with a damp-stained +treatise on navigation. He had never imagined that he could peruse a +work of that kind with interest, but it served its purpose, for he felt +he must have something to fix his attention on. In the meanwhile the big +pump hummed on, as it did for another day and night, until on the third +morning Jefferson stopped it and turned steam on the winch again. + +"You have got to keep your eyes open as well as hustle, boys," he said, +as he stood with his hand on the lever. "There'll be forty dollars, +Spanish, for whoever finds the first bag of gum." + +Austin made this clear to them, and they went down the ladder, but two +men who had gone with them before were not there that day. The water had +sunk, and tiers of rotting bags lay, half afloat, in it, giving out a +sickening smell of fermentation. They were filled with little black +nuts, the oleaginous kernels of the palm fruit from which the layer of +oil had been scraped off, and these were evidently worth little in their +damaged condition. Austin, however, had very little time to notice them +in, for the winch above him rattled, and the day of feverish toil began. + +The bags burst when they dragged them into piles and laid them upon the +sling, while when the winch swung them up, a rain of kernels and slimy +water came pattering and splashing down. Putrefying kernels floated up +into every hole they made, and now and then a man sank waist deep among +the crumbling bags. Still, there was no stoppage or slackening of +effort. Forty dollars is a large sum to a seaman of the Canaries, who +can bring up a family on one peseta, which is rather less than +ninepence, a day, while the bonus contingent on getting the _Cumbria_ +off would set up most of them for life. They remembered it that day as +they floundered and waded about the stifling hold, for the work of the +big pump had renewed their ardour. + +Still, the task before them was one most men would have shrunk from. The +heat below decks was suffocating, the smell of the steaming, fermenting +mass of slime and oil and kernels nauseating. The water it swam in was +putrescent, and the weight to be hauled out of it and sent up into the +sunlight apparently enough to keep them busy for months ahead, though +they had, as everybody knew, very little time to move it in. It was to +be a grim struggle between man and inert material, for unless the +_Cumbria_ was hove off when the rains came, it seemed very probable that +she would stay there until she fell to pieces. + +They set about it in silence, which, in the case of Spaniards, was a +significant thing; but nobody had any breath to spare, and Austin gasped +distressfully as he toiled, almost naked, in their midst. His hair was +filled with grease, clots of oil smeared his shoulders, and the bags +that burst as he lifted them abraded his dripping skin. Still, they went +up, opening as they swung out of the dusky hold, and the winch rattled +on, while there could be no rest for any man while sling succeeded +sling. + +He was half blinded by perspiration, the wounds on his raw hands had +opened again, and there were now red patches on his uncovered breast and +arms. His muscles had, however, grown accustomed to the strain since the +first arduous day, and he did a man's part, as their comrade, with the +rest. There were no distinctions down in the stifling hold. It was a +community of effort for the one result, and again Austin wondered at the +forethought of the fever-wasted man above who drove the hammering winch. + +Jefferson was, beyond all question, boss; but with singular clearness of +vision, or, perhaps, that higher, half-conscious faculty of doing the +right thing, that characterises the leader of men, he had recognised +that what he called bluff was of no service here, and had gone straight +to the strength there is in simple human nature. There was, those +untaught sailormen knew, no labour he was not ready to bear his part in, +and no command was flung at them for a show of authority. Jefferson +spent his strength and dollars freely, and while he asked no more than a +hundred cents' worth for the latter, he got it with interest, a +hundredfold. + +It grew hotter and hotter, and there were curiously mingled ejaculations +of Latin prayer and imprecations that had somehow lost their sting. The +man with calumniated ancestry took it as a jest, and amidst the roar of +running chain and fierce rattle of the winch the work went on. The rains +were coming, there was very much to be done, and human courage braced +itself to the task. Hard hands were torn and bleeding, veins showed +gorged on dusky foreheads, muscles rose and bunched themselves under the +olive skin, and Englishman and Iberian gave freely all that was in them, +the sweat of the hard-driven body and tension of controlling will. They +were alone in the land of the shadow, with a deadly climate against +them, but the conflict they were engaged in has been waged before by +Spaniards and Englishmen in half the wilder lands. + +Then the winch stopped suddenly, and Jefferson came backwards down the +ladder. He alighted knee deep in water among the rotten bags, and all +his observations were not recordable. He had put off conventionality, +and was once more the reckless sailor and the optimistic American, so he +spoke of the lower regions, and called the men who had stowed the +_Cumbria_'s cargo condemned loafers in barbarous Castilian and good +American, while the olive-faced Canarios gasped and grinned at him. + +"The man who packed those bags there should be hung," he said. "We can't +break the bulk out until we've shifted most of them. Then I'll send you +down the sling-tub, and we'll heave the stuff to ----! It's sixty +dollars now for the man who finds the gum." + +"No sign of it yet," said Austin. "They'd never have stowed it among the +bulk kernels. They're worth something. Hadn't you better make sure of +them?" + +Jefferson laughed grimly. "They're worth--how do I know? Call it £12 a +ton when they're not rotten. It's the gum we came for, and I'm going to +find it if I tear the ballast tanks and limbeys out of her. Clear that +bag bulkhead, and then stand by for the sling-tub. We'll heave every +blue-flamed kernel over." + +The tub came down by and by, in fact, two of them, and those who had no +shovels bailed up the slimy kernels with their hats and hands; but each +time the chain swung through the hatch the tub below was full. It was +two o'clock when they desisted, and some of them were waist deep in +water then, while soon after they came up the big hose splashed in +again. There were steampipe collars to unbolt and pack, and bolt again, +before that was done; while when Austin came upon Jefferson, he held up +one hand from which the scalded skin was peeling. + +"I can run the ---- winch if I drive her with my mouth and foot," he +said. "Get the comida into you, and then back into the hold again. We're +going to make her hum." + +Austin glanced suggestively towards the men, who stood with backs still +bent with weariness, about the entrance to the forecastle. + +"I suppose so," he said. "Still, the question is, can they stand it +long?" + +Jefferson laughed harshly. "They'll have to. We have the blazing sun +against us, and the evening fever-mist; in fact, 'most everything that +man has to grapple with, and the worst of all is time. Still, they can't +break us. We have got to beat them--the river, the climate, and all the +man-killing meanness nature has in Western Africa." + +He stopped a moment, and, standing very straight, a haggard, grim-faced +scarecrow, flung up his scalded hands towards the brassy heavens in a +wide, appealing gesture. "When you come to the bottom of things, that's +what we were made for. There's something in us that is stronger than +them all." + +Austin said nothing, though once more a little thrill ran through him as +he slipped away quietly in search of his comida. What they were doing +had, he felt, been sung in Epics long ago, and Jefferson had, it seemed, +blundered upon the under-running theme. It was the recognition of the +primal ban again, the ban that had a blessing for man to triumph in, and +by it win dominion over the material world and all there is therein. He +and his comrade were men whose creed was crudely simple, though it was +also, on points they did not often mention, severe; but they bore the +bonds of service, which are never worn without compensation, willingly, +and the tense effort of will and limb had clarified and strengthened the +vague faith in them until they were ready to attempt the impossible. + +Still, Austin had little time for his comida. The men in the forecastle +were very sick indeed, and he packed them in foul blankets, and dosed +them with green-lime water, boiling hot to start the perspiration, which +was, he recognised, likely to accomplish more than his prescriptions. +There were limes in Funnel-paint's village, and they had not scrupled to +requisition them. One of the men lay still, moaning faintly through +blackened lips, and the other, raving, called incoherently on saints and +angels. It seemed to Austin, standing in that reeking den, that there +was small chance for his patients unless they heard him. Two of those +whose names he caught had once, he remembered, been, at least, +fresh-water sailormen, and half unconsciously he also appealed to them. +One creed appeared much the same as another in that dark land, and +something in him cried out instinctively to the great serene influences +beyond the shadow. When he had finished his work of mercy the Spaniards +were stripping the covers off the after hatch, and he had scarcely a +minute for a mouthful before he joined them to heave the kernels up by +hand. They went up, basket after basket, and splashed into the creek, +but there was no sign of a gum bag or package anywhere among them. Bill, +who hove them out through the open gangway, once turned to grin at +Austin, who stood next the hatch. + +"I've never been a millionaire, an' it's ---- unlikely that I'll ever be +one, either; but I know what it must feel like now," he said. "Here are +you an' me slingin' away stuff that's worth twelve pounds a ton, an' one +o' them goes a long way with a man like me." + +Austin said nothing. He had no breath to spare, but he thrust a brimming +basket upon the fireman, and that did just as well. They toiled +throughout that afternoon, under a broiling sun, but when the black +darkness came again they had still found no gum. Then, as they ate +together, Austin looked at Jefferson. + +"You are sure the gum was really put into her?" he said. + +"It was," said Jefferson, with a little grim smile. "Whether it's there +now, or not, is another thing. We'll know when she's empty, and if we +haven't found it then, we'll consider. Not a pound reached Grand Canary, +and it's quite certain that the fellows who went--somewhere else--took +none of it with them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER + + +A week had passed without their finding any gum, when one evening Austin +stood beside Jefferson in the _Cumbria_'s forecastle. It felt as hot as +an oven, though the damp fell in big drops from the iron beams and +trickled down the vessel's unceiled skin, while a smoky lamp supplied it +with insufficient illumination. The faint light showed the hazily +outlined forms of the men sitting limp and apathetic, now the long day's +toil was over, in the acrid smoke of Canary tobacco, and forced up +clearly the drawn face of one who lay beneath it, gazing at Austin with +a glitter in his uncomprehending eyes. Behind him other figures occupied +a part of the shelf-like row of bunks, but they were mere shapeless +bundles of greasy blankets and foul clothing, with only a shock of damp +hair or a claw-like hand projecting from them here and there to show +that they were human. Jefferson said nothing, but his face was a trifle +grim, and he straightened himself wearily when one of the Spaniards rose +and moved into the light. + +"Señor," he said, with a little deprecatory gesture, "for ourselves we +others do not complain, but these men are very sick, and the medicines +of the Señor Austin do not make them better. One of them is my cousin, +another my wife's brother; and there are those in Las Palmas and Galdar +who depend on them. In a week, or, perhaps, a day or two, they die. +Something must be done." + +There was a faint approving murmur from the rest of the men. They had +worked well, but the excitement of the search for the gum was wearing +off, and the strain had commenced to tell. Jefferson smiled wryly as he +glanced at Austin. + +"Hadn't you better ask him what can be done?" he said. + +The Spaniard flung his arms up when Austin translated this. "Who knows?" +he said. "I am only an ignorant sailorman, and cannot tell; but when we +came here the Señor Austin promised us that we should have all that was +reasonable. It is not fitting that men should die and nothing be done to +save them." + +"I scarcely think it is," said Austin. "Still, how to set about the +thing is more than I know. It must be talked over. We may, perhaps, tell +you more to-morrow." + +He touched Jefferson's shoulder, and they went out of the forecastle and +towards the skipper's room silently. When they sat down Jefferson looked +hard at him. + +"Well?" he said. "Two of them are your men." + +Austin made a little sign of comprehension. "I don't remember what I +promised them. I had trouble to get them, but I certainly told them the +place wasn't a healthy one. That, however, doesn't convey a very +sufficient impression to anybody who hasn't been here." + +"No," and Jefferson smiled grimly, "I don't quite think it does. The +point is that you feel yourself responsible to them, though I don't see +why you should. A man has to take his chances when he makes a bargain of +the kind they did." + +Austin stretched himself on the settee wearily, and lighted a cigarette. +He had been feeling unpleasantly limp of late, and his head and back +ached that night. + +"It's a little difficult to define what a bargain really is," he said. +"Still, it seems to me that to make it a just one the contracting +parties should clearly understand, one what he is selling, and the other +what he is buying. In the case in question I knew what I was getting, +but I'm far from sure the Canarios quite realised what they might have +to part with." + +"That is not the business view." + +"I am willing to admit it. I, however, can't help fancying that there is +a certain responsibility attached to buying up men's lives for a few +dollars when they're under the impression that it's their labour they're +selling. In fact, it's one that is a little too big for me." + +Jefferson sat silent for almost a minute, looking at Austin, who met his +gaze steadily, with his eyes half closed. + +"Well," he said, "it isn't the usual view, but there's something to be +said for it. What d'you mean to do?" + +"Put the sick men on board the launch and run them out to sea on the +chance of picking up a West-coast liner, or--and it might suit just as +well--one of the new opposition boats. From what I gathered at Las +Palmas, the men who run them are, for the most part, rather a hard-up +crowd, and you're usually more likely to get a kindness done you by that +kind of people. We have nothing to pay their passage with, you see." + +"You might get one oil puncheon into the launch. Still, you have to +remember that men who go down with fever along shore often die, instead +of coming round, when they get out to sea." + +Austin smiled. "One would fancy that men who stay along shore when they +have fever, as these fellows have it, die invariably." + +Once more Jefferson sat silent a while, gazing at his comrade +thoughtfully. + +"Well," he said, with a little gesture, "I leave the thing to you. +After all, it's quite likely that one's dollars aren't worth what you +lay out to get them, now and then, but that's certainly not the +question. The boat's not making the water I expected, but we haven't +found the gum, and engine room and after hold are still almost full. The +boiler, as you know, has two or three tubes blowing, and we have nothing +to stop them with. That means she's wasting half her steam, and as we +have to keep a full head for the pump and winch, the coal's just +melting. By the time we heave her off there will be very little left, +and I've no fancy for going to sea short of fuel and being picked up as +salvage. It's a point that has been worrying me lately." + +"There is coal to be had at Sierra Leone." + +"And there are a British Consul and Government authorities. You're +loaded down to the water's edge with Shipping Acts, and the _Cumbria_'s +still upon your register. Do you suppose they are going to let her out +again, as she is, if we once go in there?" + +Austin fancied it was scarcely likely. The requirements of the paternal +Board of Trade are, in fact, so onerous that English owners not +infrequently register their ships under another flag; while it occurred +to him that consul and surveyor would have a fit of indignant horror if +they saw how the enactments were complied with on board the _Cumbria_. + +"No, sir," said Jefferson. "She's going straight across to Las Palmas +when she leaves this creek. That's Spanish, and a few dollars go a long +way in Spain. Besides, it's not quite certain that we'll leave the +creeks at all this season." + +Austin straightened himself suddenly. "What do you mean?" + +"Only that I'm not going home without the gum." + +There was a little silence, and during it Austin endeavoured to adopt +an attitude of resignation. It was his belief that the _Cumbria_ would +be floated, or the project given up, when the rains came, that had +animated him through the toil he had undertaken. Another month or two +would, he had expected, see the task accomplished; but now it might, it +seemed, continue indefinitely, and he shrank from the thought of a +longer sojourn in the land of shadow. Then, with a little effort, he +slowly raised his head. + +"To be candid, that is a good deal more than I counted on when I made +the bargain," he said. "Still, I can't well go back on it now. There is +coal to be had in Dakar, too, but it would cost a good deal to bring +even a schooner load here, though we could, per contra, load up oil in +her. Have you the money?" + +Jefferson drummed with his fingers upon the table. "That's the trouble. +I have a little left, but I'm not quite sure I could get it into my +hands without the mailing to and fro of signed papers." + +"Some of the West-coast mailboats call at Dakar. I might get the coal +and a schooner on a bond there. Of course, the people would want a heavy +profit under the circumstances." + +"Three or four times as much as they were entitled to, any way," and a +little glint crept into Jefferson's eyes. "Now, it's quite usual for the +man who does the work to be glad of the odd scraps the man with the +money flings him for his pains, but it's going to be different with this +contract. I haven't the least notion of working here to make the other +fellow rich. If we buy the coal it will be at the market value, cash +down. The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to get it." + +"Well," said Austin, slowly, "a means of raising it has occurred to me. +You see, as seems to have been the case with you, there is money in the +family, and ethically I really think a little of it belongs to me. It +is not--for several reasons--a pleasant thing to ask for it. In fact, I +fancied once I'd have starved before I did so, but it couldn't be harder +than what we have been doing here. One could cable to Las Palmas, and a +credit might be arranged by wire with one of the banking agencies +there." + +"Your people would let you have the money?" + +Austin laughed, a trifle harshly. "Not exactly out of good-will, but, if +I worded that cable cleverly, they might do it to keep me here. I don't +know how it is in your country, but in ours they're seldom very proud of +the poor relation. In fact, some of them would do a good deal to prevent +his turning up to worry them. I think there are occasions when a man is +almost warranted in levying contributions of the kind." + +Jefferson's eyes twinkled. "You are a curious, inconsequent kind of man. +You worry over those Spaniards who have no call on you, and then you +propose to bluff your own people out of their money." + +"If I had been one who always acted logically I should certainly not +have been here. As it is, I'll start to-morrow, and wire my kind +relations that, failing a draft for two hundred pounds, I'm coming home +in rags by the first steamer. I almost think they'll send the money." + +Jefferson stretched out a lean hand suddenly, and laid it on his +comrade's arm. "It's going to hurt you, but you can't get anything worth +while without that. You can send them back their money when we get her +off; but if you let anything stop you now you'll feel mean and sorry all +your life." + +"Yes," said Austin, "I fancy I should. It's rather a pity, but one can't +always be particular. In the meanwhile, I'll see Tom about the launch." + +He went out, and, coming back half an hour later, threw himself down on +the settee, and was fast asleep when Jefferson, who had been busy about +the pump, came in and stood a moment looking down on him. Austin's face +was worn, and thinner than it had been when he reached the _Cumbria_; +the damp stood beaded on it, and his hair lay wet and lank upon his +pallid forehead. + +"I guess the raising of that money is going to be about the hardest +thing you ever did, but you'll do it," said Jefferson. "I've got the +kind of man I want for a partner." + +Austin, who did not hear him, slept on peacefully, and steamed away down +river early next morning; while it was late on the second night, and the +launch was out at sea, when he sat, very wearily, with his hand upon her +helm, looking out across the long, smooth undulations. A half-moon hung +low to the westward, and they came up, heaving in long succession from +under it, ebony black in the hollows, and flecked with blinks of silver +light upon their backs. Austin only saw the latter, for he was looking +into the dusky blueness of the east, though it was only by an effort he +kept himself awake. During the last few days a feeling of limp dejection +had been creeping over him. + +The launch was steaming slowly, with only a little drowsy gurgle about +her propeller as she swung and dipped to the swell, though she rolled +uneasily with the weight of the big oil puncheon high up in her. Bill, +the fireman, was crouched, half asleep, beside the clanking engine, and +two very sick men lay forward beneath a ragged tarpaulin. Though the +surf had been smoother than usual, Austin did not know how he had +brought them all out across the bar. + +There were many stars in the heavens, and by and by, as he blinked at +the soft darkness with aching eyes, he saw one that seemed unusually +low down and moved a little. Then, shaking himself to attention, he made +out a dim glimmer of green, and became sensible of a faint throbbing +that crept softly out of the silence. He leaned forward and touched the +fireman. + +"Open her out," he said. "That's a steamboat coming, and it looks as if +she would go by well to the south." + +Bill pulled at a lever, the engine clanked faster, and the launch +commenced to rail more sharply as she lurched over the long undulations +with an increasing gurgle beneath her side. The sea was oily smooth, and +she rolled southwards fast; but the steamer's lights were rising high, +and the pounding of engines grew louder in a sharp crescendo, until they +could hear the black water frothing under iron bows. Then the launch's +whistle broke into a shrill scream. There was no answer, and Austin +turned to the fireman again. + +"Shake her up! There will not be another boat for a week!" he said. + +Bill pulled the lever over a little further, and stirred the furnace, +and the clanking grew louder, while the launch rolled more violently. +When she swung up, Austin saw a strip of dusky hull that swayed and +heaved in front of them, and then was suddenly lost to view again. + +"She's not one of the mailboats, anyway. They'd be lighted, saloon deck +and poop," he said. "It almost looks as if she would get away from us." + +Bill opened the whistle full, and left it screaming while he sprang up +on the side deck, a black figure holding high a strip of blazing waste. +Its red glare streaked the water, and the burning oil dripped from it in +a sparkling rain, while Austin felt his heart beat when the man flung it +down with an imprecation. Then a deep, vibratory blast came trembling +across the glimmering water, and he saw the piled-up foam fall away +beneath the big iron bows. + +"They've seen us," he said. "She's standing by." + +Five minutes later the launch lay lurching beneath the steamer's high, +black side, while a man leaned out from her slanted bridge above, +looking down into her. + +"What d'you want?" he said. "I'm not going in for cargo unless it's +worth while. We're tolerably full this trip." + +"A passage," said Austin. "There are myself and two sick men. We're +going to Grand Canary." + +"What's the oil for?" + +"To cover the ticket." + +The skipper appeared to be gazing down at him in astonishment. + +"Sixteen pounds' worth, at the most, for three men to Grand Canary! You +have good nerves," he said. + +"I can't go any further, and you see they're very sick." + +The skipper was understood to say that his ship was not a several +adjectived hospital, but Austin only smiled, for he was acquainted with +that kind of man, and aware that he was, at least, as likely to do him a +kindness as an elaborately got up mailboat's skipper. + +"Well," he said, "if you won't have us, I'll take them back and bury +them. It's tolerably sure to come to that. Two of us will not eat much, +any way, and we'll be quite content to sleep on deck." + +There was no answer for a moment, and then, as the bridge came slanting +down, the man who leaned out from it laughed. + +"It's a puncheon of oil to nothing, and I've been hard up myself," he +said. "The next thing is, how the devil are you going to get them up? +We've stowed away our ladder." + +"Then it'll have to be a sling. I'll steady them up when she rises, and +some of your crowd can hand them in." + +It was done with difficulty, for the steamer rolled with a disconcerting +swing, and then Austin grasped Bill's hand before he went up the rope. A +gong clanged sharply, the launch slid astern, and several seamen carried +the two bundles of foul blankets away. While Austin watched them +vacantly a hand fell upon his shoulder, and propelled him into a room +beneath the bridge. Then he heard a harsh voice: + +"There isn't any factory I'm acquainted with hereabouts. Where d'you get +that oil from?" it said. + +Austin sat down on the settee and blinked at the burly, hard-faced man +in front of him. + +"I don't know if you'll be astonished, but we really came by it +legitimately," he said. "In fact, we got it out of a stranded +steamer--one we're endeavouring to heave off, you see." + +The skipper smiled as comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Then you're +one of the ---- fools who bought the _Cumbria_?" + +"I am. Still, I'm not sure that your opinion of us is quite warranted +yet. If it isn't, you'll get more than the one puncheon for taking us +across. In the meanwhile, I'm a little anxious about those men." + +"They're all right. Pills will see to them. We have one. He probably +killed somebody by accident, or did something of that kind, or he +wouldn't be here. Directors had a notion we might pick up a few +passengers. They, however, prefer the liners." + +Austin laughed, and the skipper's eyes slowly twinkled. "The fact is, I +don't blame them," he said. "Any way, you will lie down here until they +get you a room in the poop ready." + +He went out, and an hour or two later Austin was roused by a touch from +a fitful sleep. A young man who stooped over him was regarding him +intently. + +"Put that in your mouth?" he said. + +Austin slipped the little glass tube between his lips, and the doctor +nodded when he passed it back to him. + +"Yes," he said, "you have a very promising case of fever coming on. Get +up and lean on me; the sooner we pack you between the blankets the +better." + +Austin rose unsteadily, and found that he had some difficulty in walking +when they went out upon the slanting deck. He was quite sure of that, +but everything else that he did, or was done to him, during the next few +days, was wrapped in obscurity. Still, he had a hazy notion of the +doctor and another man half dragging him into a little room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT + + +It was fifteen days after he boarded the steamer when Austin reached Las +Palmas in a condition which, at least, prevented him chafing at the +delay as he otherwise would have done. On the second day something went +wrong with the high-pressure engine, and the little, deep-loaded vessel +lay rolling idly athwart the swell, while her engineers dismantled and +re-erected it. Then the trouble they had already had with the condenser +became more acute, so that they would scarcely keep a vacuum, and it +also happened that the trade-breeze she had to steam against blew +unusually fresh that season. + +Austin, however, was not aware of this at the time. He lay rambling +incoherently for several days, and when at last his senses came back to +him, found himself too weak and listless to trouble about anything. He +gained strength rapidly, for the swamp fever does not, as a rule, keep +its victim prostrate long. It either kills him without loss of time, or +allows him to escape for a season; but its effect is frequently mental +as well as physical, and Austin's listlessness remained. He had borne a +heavy strain, and when he went ashore at Las Palmas the inevitable +reaction was intensified by the black dejection the fever had left +behind. It seemed to him that he and Jefferson were only wasting their +efforts, and though he still meant to go on with them, he expected no +result, since he now felt that there was not the slightest probability +of their ever getting the _Cumbria_ off. It was a somewhat unusual mood +for a young Englishman to find himself in, though by no means an +incomprehensible one in case of a man badly shaken by the malaria fever, +while one of Austin's shortcomings was, or so, at least, Jacinta Brown +considered, a too complaisant adaptation of himself to circumstances. +She held the belief that when the latter were unpropitious, a determined +attempt to alter them was much more commendable, and not infrequently +successful. + +In any case, Austin found Pancho Brown was away buying tomatoes when he +called at his office, and the Spanish clerk also informed him that Miss +Brown and Mrs. Hatherly had left Las Palmas for a while. He fancied they +had gone to Madeira, but was not certain, and Austin, who left him a +message for Brown and a letter Jefferson had charged him with to be +forwarded to Miss Gascoyne, went on to the telegraph office more +dejected than ever. Jacinta had, usually, a bracing effect upon those +she came into contact with, and Austin, who felt he needed a mental +stimulant, realised now that one of the things that had sustained him +was the expectation of hearing her express her approval of what he had +done. He had not looked for anything more, but it seemed that he must +also dispense with this consolation. + +He delivered one of the canarios, who was apparently recovering, to his +friends, and saw the other bestowed in the hospital, and then, finding +that he could not loiter about Las Palmas waiting an answer to his +cable, which he did not expect for several days, decided to go across to +Teneriffe with the _Estremedura_. There was no difficulty about this, +though funds were scanty, for the Spanish manager told him he could make +himself at home on board her as long as he liked, if he would instruct +the new sobrecargo in his duties, as he, it appeared, had some +difficulty in understanding them. + +On the night they went to sea he lay upon the settee in the engineers' +mess-room, with Macallister sitting opposite him, and a basket of white +grapes and a garafon of red wine on the table between them. Port and +door were wide open, and the trade-breeze swept through the room, fresh, +and delightfully cool. Austin had also an unusually good cigar in his +hand, and stretched himself on the settee with a little sigh of content +when he had recounted what they had done on board the _Cumbria_. + +"I don't know if we'll ever get her off, and the astonishing thing is, +that since I had the fever I don't seem to care," he said. "In the +meanwhile, it's a relief to get away from her. In fact, I feel I would +like to lie here and take it easy for at least a year." + +Macallister nodded comprehendingly. Austin's face was blanched and +hollow, and he was very thin, while the stamp of weariness and lassitude +was plain on him. Still, as he glanced in his direction a little sparkle +crept into the engineer's eyes. + +"So Jefferson made the pump go, and ran the forehold dry!" he said. +"When ye come to think of it, yon is an ingenious man." + +Austin laughed. "He is also, in some respects, an astonishing one. He +was perfectly at home among the smart people at the Catalina, and I +fancy he would have been equally so in the Bowery, whose inhabitants, +one understands, very much resemble in their manners those of your +Glasgow closes or Edinburgh wynds. In fact, I've wondered, now and then, +if Miss Gascoyne quite realises who she is going to marry. There are +several sides to Jefferson's character, and she has, so far, only seen +one of them." + +"Well," said Macallister, reflectively, "I'm thinking she will never +see the rest. There are men, though they're no exactly plentiful, who +can hide them, and it's scarcely likely that Jefferson will rive a +steamboat out of the African swamps again." + +"Once is quite enough in a lifetime, but it's when the work is done, and +he has to quiet down, I foresee trouble for Jefferson. I'm not sure Miss +Gascoyne's English friends would altogether appreciate him." + +Again Macallister nodded. "Still," he said, "what yon man does not know +he will learn. I would back him to do anything now he has made that +boiler steam. Then ye will mind it's no the clever women who are the +easiest to live with when ye have married them, and there's a good deal +to be said for girls like Miss Gascoyne, who do not see too much. It is +convenient that a wife should be content with her husband, and not be +wanting to change him into somebody else, which is a thing I would not +stand at any price myself." + +Austin grinned, for it was known that Macallister had, at least now and +then, found it advisable to entertain his friends on board the +_Estremedura_ by stealth. The engineer however, did not appear to notice +his smile. + +"Ye will go back when ye get the money?" he said. + +"Of course. I have to see the thing out now, though I don't quite +understand how I ever came to trouble myself about it in the first +place." + +This time it was Macallister who grinned. "I have been in this world a +weary while, and would ye pull the wool over my eyes? Ye are aware that +the notion was driven into ye." + +Austin was astonished, and a trifle annoyed, as he remembered a certain +very similar conversation he had had with Jefferson. It was +disconcerting to find that Macallister was as conversant with his +affairs as his partner had shown himself to be, especially as they had +both apparently drawn the same inference. + +"I wonder what made you say that?" he asked, with lifted brows. + +Macallister laughed. "Well," he said drily, "I'm thinking Miss Brown +knows, as well as I do, that ye would not have gone of your own accord." + +"Why should Miss Brown have the slightest wish that I should go to +Africa?" + +"If ye do not know, how could ye expect me to? Still, it should be plain +to ye that it was not for your health." + +Austin raised himself a trifle, and looked at his comrade steadily. "The +drift of your remarks is tolerably clear. Any way, because I would +sooner you made no more of them, it might be as well to point out that +no girl who cared twopence about a man would send him to the swamps +where the _Cumbria_ is lying." + +"Maybe she would not. There are things I do not know, but ye will mind +that Jacinta Brown is not made on quite the same model as Miss Gascoyne. +She sees a good deal, and if she was not content with her husband she +would up and alter him. I'm thinking it would not matter if it hurt the +pair o' them." + +"The difficulty is that she hasn't got one." + +Macallister laughed softly. "It's one that can be got over, though +Jacinta's particular. It's not everybody who would suit her. Ye are +still wondering why ye went to Africa?" + +"No," said Austin, with a trace of grimness. "I don't think it's worth +while. Mind, I'm not admitting that I didn't go because the notion +pleased me, and if Miss Brown wished me to, it was certainly because of +Muriel Gascoyne." + +"Maybe," said Macallister, with a little incredulous smile. He rose, +and, moving towards the doorway, turned again. "She might tell ye +herself to-morrow. She's now in Santa Cruz." + +He went out, apparently chuckling over something, and Austin +thoughtfully smoked out his cigar. To be a friend of Jacinta Brown's +was, as he had realised already, a somewhat serious thing. It implied +that one must adopt her point of view, and, what was more difficult, to +some extent, at least, sink his own individuality. Macallister and +Jefferson were, he fancied, perhaps right upon one point, and that was +that Jacinta had decided that a little strenuous action might be +beneficial in his case; but if this was so, Austin was not sure that he +was grateful to her. He was willing to do anything that would afford her +pleasure, that was, so long as he could feel she would gain anything +tangible, if it was only the satisfaction of seeing Muriel Gascoyne made +happy through his endeavours. In fact, what he wished was to do her a +definite service, but the notion of being reformed, as it were, against +his wishes, when he was not sure that he needed it, did not please him. +This was carrying a friendly interest considerably too far, and it was +quite certain, he thought, that he could expect nothing more from her. +He almost wished that he had never seen her, which was a desire he had +hovered on the brink of before; but while he considered the matter the +trade-breeze was sighing through the port, and the engines throbbed on +drowsily, while from outside came the hiss and gurgle of parted seas. +Austin heard it all, until the sounds grew fainter, and he went to +sleep. + +It also happened that while he slept and dreamed of her, Jacinta sat +with Muriel Gascoyne in the garden of a certain hotel on the hillside +above Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. The house had been built long ago, +evidently for a Spanish gentleman of means and taste, and its latest +proprietor had sufficient sense to attempt no improvement on its +old-world beauty. It stood on a terrace of the hillside, quiet, quaint, +and cool, with its ancient, bronze-railed balconies, red-tiled roof, and +pink-washed walls, but its garden of palms and oleanders was its +greatest charm. + +On the night in question a full moon hung over the Cañadas' splintered +rampart, and its soft radiance fell upon the white-walled city and smote +a track of glittering silver across the vast plain of sea. The smell of +oleanders and heliotrope was heavy in the air, and a cluster of blossoms +swayed above Jacinta's shoulder. She was just then looking up at a +Spanish officer in dark green uniform, who stood close by, with sword +girt tight to his thigh. He had a dark, forceful face, with the stamp of +distinction on it, but he received no encouragement, though he glanced +at the vacant place on the stone bench suggestively. + +"No," said Jacinta. "I do not think I shall go to-morrow, so you need +not call for me. I have scrambled through the Mercedes Wood several +times already, and we came here to be quiet. That is why we are sitting +outside to-night. There are two or three tiresome people in the house +who will insist upon talking." + +It is seldom necessary to furnish a Spaniard, who is usually skilled in +innuendo, with a second hint, and the officer took his departure +gracefully. When he vanished, with jingling sword, into the shadow of +the palms, Muriel looked at her companion. + +"You meant me to stay?" she said. + +"Of course," said Jacinta. "Still, I didn't mean you to let him see that +I did, and I really did not kick you very hard. Any way, it doesn't +matter. The great thing is that he is gone." + +"You were anxious that he should go?" + +"Yes," said Jacinta. "I feel relieved now. He is, in some respects, a +very silly man. In fact, he has been wanting to marry me for ever so +long." + +"Why?" said Muriel, and stopped abruptly. "Of course, I mean that he is +a Spaniard, you know." + +Jacinta laughed, and apparently indicated herself by a little wave of +her fan. She was once more attired in an evening dress that appeared to +consist largely of black lace, and looked curiously dainty and +sylph-like in the diaphanous drapery. The moonlight was also on her +face. + +"The reason," she said, "ought to be sufficiently plain. He is, as you +point out, certainly Spanish, but there really are a few estimable +gentlemen of that nationality. This one was Governor or Commandante in +some part of Cuba, and I believe he got comparatively rich there. They +usually do. Still, he's a little fond of the casino, and is reported to +be unlucky, while, in spite of my obvious disadvantages, I am the +daughter of Pancho Brown." + +She stopped with another laugh that had a faintly suggestive ring in it. +"There are times when I wish I was somebody else who hadn't a penny!" + +"But it can't be nice to be poor," said Muriel, looking at her with a +trace of bewilderment in her big blue eyes. + +"It is probably distinctly unpleasant. Still, it would be consoling to +feel that your money could neither encourage nor prevent anybody you +liked falling in love with you, and it would, in one sense, be nice to +know that the man you graciously approved of would have to get whatever +you wanted for you. You ought to understand that." + +There was a trace of pride in Muriel's smile. "Of course; but, after +all, there are not many men who can do almost anything, like--Harry +Jefferson. Some of the very nicest ones seem quite unable to make +money." + +"I really don't think there are," and Jacinta's tone was, for no very +apparent reason, slightly different now. "The nicest ones are, as you +suggest, usually lazy. It's sad, but true. Still, you see, if ever I +married, my husband would have to shake off his slothfulness and do +something worth while." + +"But he mightn't want to." + +"Of course," said Jacinta, drily. "He probably wouldn't. Still, he would +have to. I should make him." + +"Ah," said Muriel. "Do you know that you are just a little hard, and I +think when one is too hard one is generally sorry afterwards. Now, I +don't understand it all, but you once told me you had got something you +wished for done, and were sorry you had. I fancied you were even sorrier +than you wished me to know." + +Jacinta sat silent a moment or two, with a curious expression in her +face, as she looked out across the clustered roofs towards the sparkling +sea. It was a custom she had fallen into lately, and it was always +towards the east she gazed. Then she smiled. + +"Well," she said, "perhaps I was, but it was certainly very silly of +me." + +Neither of them spoke again for a while, and by and by a man came out of +the house bearing an envelope upon a tray. Jacinta tore it open, and +Muriel saw the blood surge to her face as she spread out the telegraphic +message. Then the swift colour faded, and there was only a little angry +glint in her eyes. + +"It's from my father, and good news for you," she said. "Tell Muriel +Austin was here. Salvage operations difficult, but he left Jefferson, +who expects to be successful, well. Forwarding letter." + +"Ah!" said Muriel, with a little gasp, "you don't know what a relief +that is to me. But you seem almost angry." + +Jacinta laughed a trifle harshly. "I almost think I am. It isn't exactly +pleasant to find one's self mistaken, and I had expected something +better from Mr. Austin. The difficulties he mentions were evidently too +much for him. You were quite right, my dear. There are not many men like +Jefferson." + +Now Muriel Gascoyne had no very keen perceptions, and was, moreover, +wrapped up in her own and Jefferson's affairs, or she might have seen +that anger was not all that Jacinta was feeling. As it was, overcome by +the relief the message had brought her, she quite failed to notice the +pain in her companion's face or the quivering of her hands. In a minute +or two Jacinta, who waited until she fancied she could do so without it +appearing significant, rose and left her. + +She, however, stopped on the terrace, and once more looked down on the +glittering sea, with one hand closed at her side. Then, as though +remembering something, she turned hastily. + +"I could never have believed you were a coward--and you went out for +me!" she said, and moved towards the hotel with a little air of +resolution, as one who had made a painful decision. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONDEMNED UNHEARD + + +A full moon hung over the white city, and the drowsy murmur of the surf +broke fitfully through the music of the artillery band when Austin sat +listlessly on a bench in the plaza of Santa Cruz. It was about eight +o'clock in the evening, and the plaza was crowded, as usual at that +hour. Peon and officer, merchant and clerk, paced slowly up and down, +enjoying the cool of the evening with their wives and daughters, or sat +in clusters outside the lighted cafés. The band was an excellent one, +the crowd gravely good-humoured, and picturesquely attired, for white +linen, pale-tinted draperies, sombre cloth, and green uniform formed +patches of kaleidoscopic colouring as the stream of humanity flowed by +under the glaring lamplight and the soft radiance of the moon. + +Austin had sat there often before he went to Africa, listening to the +music and watching the spectacle; but neither had any charm for him that +night. The laughter sounded hollow, the waltz the band was playing had +lost its swing, and the streams of light from the cafés hurt his eyes +and irritated him. The deep murmur of the sea alone was faintly +soothing, and remembering how often he had thought of that cool plaza, +with its lights and music, in the steamy blackness of the swamps, he +wondered vaguely what had happened to him. The zest and sparkle seemed +to have gone out of life, and he did not attribute it to the fact that +the melancholia of the swamp belt was still upon him. + +He crossed the plaza, and sitting outside one of the cafés he had +frequented, asked for wine. It was brought him, chilled with snow from +the great peak's summit, but the greeting of the man who kept the café +seemed for once devoid of cordiality, and the wine sour and thin. Still, +the Spaniard stood a minute or two by his chair, and, as it happened, +Jacinta passed just then with a dark-faced Spanish officer. He wore an +exceedingly tight-fitting uniform, but he had a figure that carried it +well, and an unmistakable air of distinction. Jacinta was also smiling +at him, though she turned, and seemed to indicate somebody in the +vicinity with a little gesture. As she did so her eyes rested for a +moment upon Austin, who became for the first time unpleasantly conscious +of his haggard face and hard, scarred hands. There was, he realised, +nothing in the least distinguished about him. Then it was with a faint +sense of dismay he saw that Jacinta did not mean to recognise him, for +she laughed as she turned to her companion, and he heard the soft rustle +of her light draperies as they went on again. + +"That is the Colonel Sarramento?" he said, as carelessly as he could, +though there was a faint flush in his hollow face. + +"It is," said his companion. "Colonel in the military service, though he +has held other offices in Cuba. A man of ability, señor, and now it is +said that he will marry the English merchant's daughter. Why not? The +Señorita Brown is more Spanish than English, and she is certainly rich." + +"I don't know of any reason," said Austin listlessly, and the man turned +away. He had no wish to waste his time upon an Englishman who +apparently did not appreciate his conversation. + +Austin sat still a little while, indignation struggling with his +languor, for he was almost certain that Jacinta had seen him. He had +never flattered himself that she would regard him as anything more than +a friend who was occasionally useful, but he thought she might, at +least, have expressed her appreciation of his latest efforts, and he was +also a trifle puzzled. Jacinta, as a rule, would stop and speak to any +of the barefooted peons she was acquainted with, and he had never known +her to slight an acquaintance without a reason. It seemed only due to +her to make quite sure she had intentionally passed him without +recognition. + +He rose and strolled round the plaza until he met her again face to face +where a stream of garish light fell upon them both. She allowed her eyes +to rest upon him steadily, but it was the look she would have bestowed +on a stranger, and in another moment she had turned to the officer at +her side. Then a bevy of laughing tourists passed between and separated +them. + +After that Austin strolled round the plaza several times in a far from +amiable temper. He was stirred at last, and easy-going as he usually +was, there was in him a certain vein of combativeness which had been +shaken into activity in Africa. It was, he admitted, certainly Jacinta's +privilege to ignore him; but there were occasions on which +conventionalities might be disregarded, and he determined that she +should, at least, make him acquainted with her purpose in doing so. He +did not mean to question it, but to hear it was, he felt, no more than +his due. + +It was some time before he came upon her again, talking to a Spanish +lady, who, seeing him approaching with a suggestion of resolution in his +attitude, had sufficient sense to withdraw a pace or two and sign to +another companion. Jacinta apparently recognised that he was not to be +put off this time, for she indicated the vacant chairs not far away with +a little wave of her fan, and when he drew one out for her sat down and +looked at him. + +"You are persistent," she said. "I am not sure that it was altogether +commendable taste." + +Austin laughed a trifle bitterly, for the pessimistic dejection the +fever leaves does not, as a rule, tend to amiability, and its victim, +while willing to admit that there is nothing worth worrying over, is apt +to make a very human display of temper on very small provocation. + +"One should not expect too much from a steamboat sobrecargo," he said. +"It is scarcely fair to compare him--for example--with a distinguished +Spanish officer." + +"I do not think you are improving matters," said Jacinta. + +"Well," said Austin drily, "I have, you see, just come from a land where +life is rather a grim affair, and one has no time to study its little +amenities. I am, in fact, quite willing to admit that I have left my +usual suavity behind me. Still, I don't think that should count. You +contrived to impress me with the fact that you preferred something more +vigorously brusque before I went out." + +Jacinta met his gaze directly with a little ominous sparkle in her eyes +and straightening brows. She had laid down her fan, and there was a cold +disdain in her face the man could not understand. It was unfortunate he +did not know how Pancho Brown had worded his message, for it contained +no intimation that he was going back to Africa. + +"It's a pity you didn't stay there," she said. + +Austin started a little. He did not see what she could mean, and the +speech appeared a trifle inhuman. + +"It would please me to think you haven't any clear notion what those +swamps are like," he said. "One is, unfortunately, apt to stay there +altogether." + +"Which is a contingency you naturally wished to avoid? I congratulated +you upon your prudence once before. Still, you, at least, seemed quite +acquainted with the characteristics of the fever belt of Western Africa +when you went out. Your friends the mailboats' officers must have told +you. That being so, why did you go?" + +"A persistent dropping will, it is said, in time wear away considerably +harder material than I am composed of. Words are also, one could fancy, +even more efficacious than water in that respect." + +A trace of colour crept into Jacinta's face, and her brows grew +straighter. The lines of her slight form became more rigid, and she was +distinctly imperious in her anger. + +"Oh, I understand!" she said. "Well, I admit that I was the cause of +your going, and now you have come to reproach me for sending you. Well, +I will try to bear it, and if I do show any anger it will not be at what +you say, but at the fact that one who I to some extent believed in +should consider himself warranted in saying anything at all. No doubt, +you will not recognise the distinction, but in the meanwhile you haven't +quite answered my question. You were a free agent, after all, and I +could use no compulsion. Why did you go?" + +Austin's temper had grown no better during the interview, which was +unfortunate for him, because an angry man is usually at a disadvantage +in the presence of a woman whose indignation with him is largely +tempered by a chilling disdain. + +"That," he said, reflectively, "is a point upon which I cannot be quite +certain, though the whole thing was, naturally, in most respects a piece +of egregious folly. Still, your good opinion had its value to me, +especially as it was very evident that I could never expect anything +more. A little brutal candour is, I think, admissible now and then." + +The colour had faded out of Jacinta's face, but the sparkle was a trifle +plainer in her eyes. "So you recognised that! Under the circumstances, +it was wise of you, though how far you were warranted in telling me is a +question we needn't go into now. It is a pity you ever went at all." + +"In one sense I almost think it is," said Austin, gazing at her +bewilderedly. "Still, there is a good deal I can't understand. I am in +the dark, you see." + +"Then I suppose I must try to make it clear to you. I am an essentially +practical person, and any ardour you possess has hitherto been qualified +by a very commendable discretion; but we are not very old, after all, +and there is, fortunately, something in most of us which is occasionally +stronger than the petty prudence we guide ourselves by. Now and then, as +you gracefully suggest, it leads us into folly, which we have, perhaps, +really no great reason to be sorry for. Well, for a little while you +shook off the practical and apparently aspired after the ideal. You went +out to Africa because you fancied it would please me, and it did. One +may admit that a thing of that kind appeals to a woman's vanity. Still, +of course, one could scarcely expect you to adhere to such a purpose. We +have grown too wise to indulge in unprofitable sentimentality, and our +knights errant do not come back upon their shields. They are practical +gentlemen, who appreciate the comfort of a whole skin." + +"I'm afraid you're confusing historical periods, and the times have +certainly changed. They now use an empty gun case in Western Africa, I +believe, and if they can't get that, any old blanket or piece of canvas +that happens to be available." + +"It should be a comfort to know that you need never anticipate anything +so unpleasant." + +This time the colour suffused Austin's pallid face. It was clear that +she was taunting him with cowardice in leaving Jefferson, and her +contempt appeared so wholly unreasonable that he would make no attempt +to vindicate himself. It did not appear likely to be successful in any +case, and the pessimistic bitterness the fever leaves was still upon +him. + +"Well," he said quietly, "I had looked for a slightly different +reception; but it presumably isn't dignified to complain, especially +when it's evident it wouldn't do any good, while I scarcely think there +is anything to be gained by extending our conversation. You see, I am, +naturally, aware that my character is a somewhat indifferent one +already. You will, no doubt, excuse me?" + +Jacinta made him a little inclination over her lifted fan. + +"If you will tell the Señora Anasona yonder that I am waiting, I should +be much obliged," she said. + +It was five minutes later when Austin was admitted to the cable office +as a favour, and handed a despatch from a Las Palmas banking agency. + +"Your draft will be honoured to the extent of £200," it ran. + +He smiled grimly as he thrust it into his pocket, and, wandering round +the plaza again, came upon Muriel Gascoyne and Mrs. Hatherly sitting in +two of the chairs laid out in front of a hotel. He felt tempted to slip +by, but remembered that he had a duty to Jefferson. Mrs. Hatherly shook +hands with him, and though he fancied there was a restraint in her +cordiality, Muriel turned to him impulsively. + +"Tell me everything," she said. "The letter has not arrived." + +"There is a good deal of it," said Austin, with a smile. + +"Then don't waste time." + +Austin roused himself with an effort. Her tense interest and her +simplicity, which, it seemed to him, had in it so much that was +admirable, appealed to him, and he determined that she, at least, should +know what Jefferson had done for her. The artistic temperament had also +its influence on him, and he made her and her companion see the steaming +swamps and feel the stress and strain of effort in the stifling hold, +while it was his pleasure that Jefferson should stalk, a lean, dominant +figure, through all the varied scenes. He felt, when he concluded, that +he had drawn those sombre pictures well, and it would be Jefferson's +fault if he did not henceforward pose before the girl's fancy as a +knightly hero of romance. There were, naturally, difficulties to be +overcome, for he recognised that she must be forced to comprehend that +chivalric purposes must, nowadays, be wrought out by most prosaic means, +and that the clash of the encounter occasionally leaves its mark upon a +man. Still, he saw that he had succeeded when the simple pride shone +through the moisture that gathered in the girl's big blue eyes, and he +was moved to sympathy when she rose with a little gasp. + +"I must tell Jacinta. I don't feel quite able to thank you, Mr. Austin; +but you will understand," she said. + +She left them, and Mrs. Hatherly turned and looked at Austin very +graciously. + +"So you are going back?" she said. + +"Of course," said Austin. "There is a Spanish boat to Las Palmas +to-morrow, and nothing to keep me now I have got the money. I don't mind +admitting that the asking for it was harder than anything I did in +Africa." + +The little lady nodded, with a very kindly light in her eyes. "Yes," she +said, "I can understand that, but in one sense I am not exactly pleased. +Why didn't you come to me?" + +"It sounds very ungracious, madam, but I am already in your debt, and +one is naturally shy about asking favours of that kind from women. I +almost think there are special reasons why it should be so in my case." + +"That, presumably, means somebody has used you badly? Still, it really +isn't wise to generalise too freely, and you were once good enough to +promise that you would consider me as a friend of yours." + +"I could scarcely have fancied you were particularly friendly a little +while ago." + +The little lady smiled again. "I offer you my sincere apologies, Mr. +Austin. And now a question. Did you tell Jacinta what you have told us?" + +"I certainly did not. To be candid, I hadn't the slightest +encouragement. Miss Brown made it quite clear to me that she hadn't a +trace of interest in any of my doings. In fact, she was kind enough to +suggest it was rather a pity I escaped the fever, and hadn't come back +upon my shield." + +"For which she will probably be distinctly annoyed with herself by and +by. I presume you must catch the Spanish steamer, Mr. Austin?" + +"Of course. After all, I shall be glad to get back. People are not so +very exacting in Africa, you see." + +Mrs. Hatherly nodded, though there was a twinkle in her eyes. "Well," +she said, "we will talk of something else in the meanwhile. I am alone +just now, and you cannot decently leave me." + +They discussed a good many things, and it seemed to Austin that his +companion meant to keep him there, and was anxious to gain time. Still, +he could see no reason for it, and failed to understand her remark about +Jacinta, and he sat still with an effort until Muriel came back again. +She appeared a trifle vexed about something. + +"I don't know what has happened to Jacinta, but she wasn't in the least +sympathetic," she said. "She wouldn't even listen when I wanted to talk +about Harry and the _Cumbria_." + +"Where is she now?" asked Mrs. Hatherly. + +"With the Señora Anasona. They are going back to Laguna directly, though +she had, as you know, practically promised to stay with us to-night. The +señora, it seems, wants to drive her across to her finca at Orotava +to-morrow. It is very provoking." + +Mrs. Hatherly changed the subject, and it was a minute or two later when +she turned to Austin again. + +"I suppose it is really necessary that you should cross to Las Palmas +to-morrow," she said casually. "Couldn't you get there in the +_Estremedura_ before the West-coast boat sailed?" + +"There are several things I have to do which can't well be arranged +here." + +"You would insist on getting them all done, even if you knew it would +cost you something?" + +"I really think I should. You see, Jefferson and the others are +practically depending on me, and I daren't omit anything I want, +whatever trouble it might cause me, although, as a matter of fact, I +don't anticipate any, and it will be rather a relief to get away." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "Well, I suppose that is only what one would +expect from you. Muriel, will you tell Jacinta that she has not shown me +the lace she mentioned, and as I think I'll get the woman at Laguna to +make me some, I want to see it before she goes away. I shall have to +keep you another few minutes, Mr. Austin." + +Muriel disappeared into the crowd, and it was a little time before she +came back again. + +"Jacinta has just driven off with the señora," she said. "I can't quite +understand why she didn't come to say good-bye." + +Austin smiled drily. "I think I could guess her reason." + +Mrs. Hatherly rose and held out her hand. "If you can come and see us +to-morrow, please do so," she said. "If not, you will remember now that +whatever happens I am one of your friends." + +"I shall be glad to do so, madam," and Austin made her a little +inclination. "Good friends are scarce, and there are apparently not many +people who believe in me." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE + + +It was in the heat of the afternoon Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel drove into +old-world Laguna, which stands high upon the hill slopes above Santa +Cruz. It was built four hundred years ago, and remains but little +changed, for its early prosperity ebbed away with the trade in the once +famous vintages of Canary, so that it stood until a few years ago with +the grass in its streets, a place of drowsy stillness, picturesque in +its decay, cool, and by no means over clean. Beneath it the hillside +drops, dusty and sun-scorched, to the sea; but on the plateau behind it +are fields of tall sugar-cane, walnuts, eucalyptus, and vines, beyond +which again the shoulders of the great peak are seamed by straggling +pines. Still, when Mrs. Hatherly drove into it, Laguna was once more +awakening, for the British tourist had arrived, with his wife and +daughters, in blue veils and inartistic raiment that roused the +peasants' wonder, besides cameras, and baggage by the carriage load; and +when the tourist comes, quietness and the dignified simplicity of olden +Spain melt before him. + +The Señora Anasona, with whom Jacinta was then residing, however, +belonged to the ancient order, and she had also placed herself and all +her possessions at Mrs. Hatherly's disposal. The latter had already +discovered that to be a friend of Jacinta's counted for a good deal in +those islands. It secured one consideration in unexpected places, and +opened doors at which the tweed-clad tourists' wives might knock in +vain. The Castilian is somewhat behind the times, and, perhaps because +he is seldom troubled with much of it, attaches rather less importance +than some other people do to the possession of money. Muriel, however, +was not certain why her aunt had undertaken that hot and dusty drive, +although she had informed her that if there was a comfortable hotel in +Laguna she might stay there a day or two, because she was not sure that +Santa Cruz suited her, and she had been troubled with certain +premonitory twinges in one shoulder. + +In any case, she faced the scorching sun uncomplainingly, and arriving +at last before an iron-bound door in a blank white wall, was led through +an ill-kept garden, where flowers rioted, a chaos of blazing colour, at +their will, into a big, cool house, which seemed filled with slumbrous +quietness. She was received by a very reposeful lady of middle age in +inconveniently tight-fitting black silk, with the powder thick upon her +pallid face. The Señora Anasona was, as is usual with Spanish women who +have passed their third decade, somnolent in expression, and portly; but +though they could only muster a very little indifferent French between +them, she promptly set her guests at ease. + +"This poor house and all there is in it are yours," she said. "The +friends of the Señorita Jacinta are also mine. Since you have known this +for some time, why have you stayed away so long?" + +It was the usual conventional formula in Spain, but there was a certain +stately graciousness in her gesture which Mrs. Hatherly had never seen +quite equalled before. The latter attempted an appropriate reply in +French, and then inquired for Jacinta, whereupon her hostess smiled. + +"She is in the patio, and, perhaps, asleep," she said. "If not, it is +likely that she will come in. I do not know. One does what one pleases +always in this house of mine, and here one usually sleeps by the +afternoon. What would you? It is a custom of the country, and there is +nothing else to do. One can dream of the times when it was different +with us and Spain." + +"One could fancy in this island that those days have not altogether +passed away, or, at least, that they had left something behind," said +Mrs. Hatherly. "One sees it in even your peons' courtesy, and the +modesty of the women." + +"You did not feel that in Las Palmas?" + +"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "I don't think I did." + +The señora laughed. "Las Palmas is not Spanish now, my friend. They have +coal wharves and harbour works, and heap up the pesetas there. There +are, however, things we others would not exchange for silver. This +house, for example. An Englishman would buy it and make it an hotel." + +"Of course, you would not sell it him?" + +The señora shook her head. "It is not mine," she said. "It belongs to +the Anasonas who are dead. One of them built it four hundred years ago, +and one of them has lived here always, until my husband, Colonel of +Cazadores, died in Cuba. Now I live alone, and remember, until by and by +my nephew comes here after me. The past is all we have in Spain, but one +feels that, after all, it may be worth more than the present--when one +goes to Las Palmas." + +Then a maid brought in a basket of grapes and a little wine, and it was +some time later when the señora turned to Muriel. + +"It seems that Jacinta is not coming in," she said. "Perhaps she would +sooner see you alone in the patio. I do not know. Jacinta does not care +about the conventions. She does what pleases her, and it is also very +often the right thing. One descends from the veranda outside that +window." + +Muriel smiled as she went out, for she was acquainted with Jacinta's +habits, and was beginning to comprehend the customs of the land she +lived in, where time is not considered, and it is always drowsy +afternoon. Then, though she was not an imaginative person, she trod +softly as she went down the steps to the patio, for the influence of the +place laid hold on her. The little white town lay silent under the +cloudless heavens, and had there been any movement of busy life there, +which very seldom happened, the high white walls of the garden would +have shut out the sound. The house was also built round the patio in a +hollow square, and interposed a double barrier between the outer world +and that space of flowers. + +Over it hung bronze-railed balconies, and quaint verandas with old +carved pillars and rich trellises smothered in purple bougainvilla, +while there were oleanders and heavy scented heliotrope in the little +square below. A fountain twinkled in the midst of it, and fat goldfish +from Palma swam slowly round its marble basin; but all was old, +artistic, ill cared for, and steeped in a silence which seemed filled +with the reminiscences of bygone years. Even Jacinta, who lay in a big +cane chair near the fountain, appeared in keeping with the atmosphere of +the place, for she was dressed in gauzy Castilian black, which added a +suggestion of old-fashioned stateliness to her somewhat slender figure, +and an ebony fan of a kind not made nowadays lay across an open book she +had apparently been reading. She looked up with a little smile when she +saw Muriel, and languidly pointed to the canvas lounge beside her. + +"It's comfortable, and I think it's strong," she said. "Any way, the +señora regularly goes to sleep in it. I brought the lounges with me, +because they don't have such things in Spain. I shall probably leave +them here, and if they break down with the señora it is quite certain +nobody will ever think of mending them. One folds one's hands and says +that it doesn't matter at Laguna. You will begin to understand it if you +stay here." + +Muriel laughed. "It's often a little hard to tell what you mean," she +said. "You have been reading?" + +"Mr. Prescott's history of the Spanish occupation of Mexico--you will, +no doubt, be astonished at that?" + +"I am. Still, I have read it, too." + +Jacinta smiled as she unfolded her fan. "I have my moments of +relaxation, and can be sentimental now and then. Sentiment, you see, is +in the atmosphere here. One feels mediæval, as if all the old things of +the olden days had come back again, miracles, and crowned virgins that +fell from the clouds, valour and knightliness, and man's faith in woman. +No doubt there were more, but I don't remember them. They have, of +course, gone out of fashion long ago." + +She spoke lightly, but there was a trace of bitterness in her voice that +Muriel noticed. + +"One doesn't find that atmosphere in the book. The men who went with +Cortez were cruel as well as brutal." + +"They certainly seem to have been so, which is one reason why they +interest me. You see, the Spaniards seized these islands a little before +they discovered Cuba, and I wanted to find out what the men who built +these beautiful homes here were really like when they had work on hand. +As one would have fancied, the grave, ceremonious Don who posed as a +most punctilious gentleman at home became a very different kind of +person when he went to Mexico. The original Adam showed up there. It's +a useful lesson to any one silly enough to idealise the man she is going +to marry." + +Muriel flushed a little. "I think I know what you mean. Mr. Austin tried +to convey the same impression when he told me what they were doing on +board the _Cumbria_. Still, he went a good deal further than you do. He +made me understand that, though there are things that could only be done +rudely and almost brutally, it was often only what was ideal in the men +who did them that sent them to the work at all." + +"Yes," said Jacinta drily. "I fancy he would do it rather well. Mr. +Austin is not much of an artist, and would never be a great one; but he +has the capacity of understanding, or, perhaps, I should say imagining +things. Still, the pity is that he usually stops there. He doesn't want +to do them, and though he once very rashly tried, he was not long in +discovering that the work was a good deal too hard for him. I really +think you should be glad there is a trace of primitive--we'll be candid, +and call it brutality--in Harry Jefferson." + +Again the colour showed in Muriel's face. "It isn't," she said. "It's +only natural forcefulness; but we needn't go into that. I wonder why you +are so angry with Mr. Austin?" + +"Angry?" and Jacinta raised her brows. "Oh, dear no! Still, there are +points on which he did not quite come up to my expectations, and after +the admonitions I have wasted on him I feel a little annoyed with him." + +"Still, isn't that a trifle unreasonable? What could he have done that +he hasn't done? He was ill and worn out, but he wouldn't even stay a day +after he got the money." + +"What money?" and there was a sharp insistency in Jacinta's tone. + +"The money to buy the coal with. They found they hadn't enough, you +know." + +"I don't." + +"Well," said Muriel, "it is really your own fault. You wouldn't let me +tell you about it in the plaza. Mr. Austin had to borrow the money from +his English relatives, though I think it hurt him horribly to ask them. +When he found they would send it he had to catch the first African +steamer." + +Jacinta straightened herself suddenly, and gazed at Muriel with +astonishment and dismay in her face. + +"So he meant to go back all the time?" she said. + +"Of course," said Muriel, and Jacinta, sitting back again, sat very +still, though her companion noticed that one hand had closed tightly on +her fan. + +"When was he to go?" she asked, with a curious quietness. + +"In a day or two. He is in Las Palmas now." + +Then there was a curious silence for almost a minute, and Jacinta, who +could not rouse herself to break it, was glad to see that Muriel had +evidently not remembered that her only information about Austin's doings +was that contained in her father's message. There was no sound but the +soft splashing of the fountain, and Jacinta found the stillness becoming +intolerable. It was a relief when Muriel, who felt that her company was +not appreciated, rose. + +"Perhaps the señora will expect me to go back," she said. "Are you +coming?" + +"I am not," said Jacinta. "I have no doubt your aunt will come out to +see me presently." + +Muriel looked a little puzzled. "You will not mind my going?" + +"Of course not," and Jacinta laughed somewhat curiously. "I have, as +you see, a work on Mexico to keep me company." + +Muriel left her, and she lay still in the chair listening to the +fountain and gazing straight in front of her, until Mrs. Hatherly came +down the veranda stairs alone half an hour later. She sat down and +looked at Jacinta steadily. + +"I suppose you know why I have come to Laguna to-day?" she said. + +"Yes," said Jacinta quietly. "Still, I hadn't the faintest notion a +little while ago. I shall try to bear anything you may think fit to say +to me. Mr. Austin, I understand, is a friend of yours." + +The little lady smiled, for she saw that Jacinta was clever enough to +make no excuses, and she appreciated her candour as well as her good +sense. + +"Well," she said, "I want you to tell me why you sent him to Africa." + +"For one thing, because Muriel was once very kind to me. Mr. Jefferson +was down with fever, and I fancied that, in any case, he could do a good +deal more with a comrade there. Still, that was not all. There were +other reasons." + +"Naturally. It is gratifying to discover how far a man's devotion will +carry him." + +A little flash crept into Jacinta's eyes, but it faded again. "I suppose +I deserve that, but you are wrong. It wasn't to soothe my vanity." + +"No?" and there was a suggestion of incredulity in Mrs. Hatherly's +smile. "Still, one may be excused for pointing out that it really looks +very like it." + +Jacinta made a little movement with her fan. "You can't think worse of +me than I do of myself; but I scarcely fancy I did wrong in sending him. +He was wasting his life here, and I thought I knew what there was in +him. I wanted to rouse it--to waken him. You see, I am talking very +frankly." + +"In that case it must have cost you something to send him to Africa?" + +The colour showed plainly in Jacinta's face. "I think that is another +question. One, too, which you could scarcely expect me to answer you." + +"I'm afraid it was not very delicate," and Mrs. Hatherly's eyes grew +gentler. "Still, didn't you feel that you were presumptuous?" + +"Of course; but I have always done what pleased me, and made others do +it, too. It usually turned out well, you know. I have, however, come to +grief this time, and it would almost be a relief if somebody would shake +me." + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I fancy the feeling will do you good. Still, if +you were right in sending Mr. Austin out, it is just a little +incomprehensible." + +"Then you don't know how I treated him?" + +"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "At least, not exactly. He only admitted that +you did not seem very pleased to see him. Still, I am an old woman, and +that naturally conveyed a good deal to me. Perhaps you do deserve +shaking, but I want to be kind." + +Jacinta turned to her with the colour in her cheeks and a haziness in +her eyes. + +"I taunted him with being a coward and finding the work too hard for +him. The man was ill and jaded, but I had no mercy on him. He said +nothing; he never told me he was going back. How was I to know? The +night my father's message came I felt I could have struck him. If I had +done so, he would probably not have felt it half so much as the +bitterness I heaped upon him." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "It was, perhaps, natural under the +circumstances, but there is a good deal that you are responsible for." + +"What do you mean by under the circumstances?" + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I have not the slightest doubt that you quite +understand, my dear. The question, however, is how you are going to set +it right?" + +Jacinta shivered a little. The colour had already ebbed from her face, +which was a trifle more pallid than usual. + +"It is a thing I may never be able to do," she said. "That is what makes +it so hard. You see, a good many men go out to Africa, and so few come +back again. If it hadn't been for that I don't think I should have +admitted what I have done, but I feel I must have somebody's +comprehension--if I can't expect sympathy." + +"You have mine, my dear," and Mrs. Hatherly laid a beautiful thin hand +gently upon her arm. "Besides, I think Mr. Austin will understand how it +came about when he goes back to Africa." + +Jacinta straightened herself slowly. "Well," she said, "that may happen, +and in any case I know that I sent him, and he was glad to go." + +She met the little lady's sympathetic gaze steadily. "Still, that is so +very little, after all." + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled reassuringly. "My dear," she said, "I think you do +not quite understand all that man is yet. In spite of the climate he and +his comrade are going to be successful." + +Then she turned, and Jacinta rose, for the Señora Anasona and Muriel +were coming down the stairway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE PICTURES + + +Austin had been gone a fortnight when Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat +under the lee of the _Estremedura_'s deck-house one morning, on their +way to Las Palmas. Above them the mastheads swung languidly athwart a +cloudless sweep of blue, and the sea frothed in white incandescence +about the lurching hull below as the little yacht-like steamer reeled +eastwards with a rainbow in the spray that whirled about her bows. +Astern of her the Peak's white cone gleamed above its wrappings of +fleecy mist, and ahead on the far horizon Grand Canary swam a purple +cloud. + +Jacinta was dressed ornately in the latest English mode, and it seemed +to Muriel that she had put on conventional frivolity along with her +attire. Indeed, Muriel had noticed a change in her companion during the +last few days, one that was marked by outbreaks of flippancy and +somewhat ironical humour. An English naval officer leaned upon the back +of her chair, and a tourist of the same nationality stood balancing +himself against the rolling with his hand on the rail that ran along the +deck-house. The latter was looking down at Macallister, who sat upon the +deck with a little box in front of him. + +"I brought up the two or three sketches ye were asking for, Mr. +Coulstin," he said. "The saloon's full of jabbering Spaniards, and the +messroom's over hot." + +The tourist screwed the glass he wore more tightly into his eye. "If +they're equal to the one I saw in the N. W. A. store I may be open to +make a purchase," he said. "I think you told me you were acquainted with +the artist, Miss Brown?" + +"I believe I did," said Jacinta, who was conscious that Macallister was +watching her languidly. "You will, however, no doubt be able to judge +his pictures for yourself." + +Coulston made a little humourous gesture. "I am not a painter, and I +could scarcely venture to call myself a connoisseur. Still, I buy a +picture or two occasionally, and the one I mentioned rather took my +fancy. A sketch or two of that kind would make a pleasant memento." + +"One would fancy that a good photograph would be more reliable, as well +as cheaper," said the naval officer. + +Coulston reproachfully shook his head. "I'm afraid we differ there," he +said. "Leaving out the question of colour, a photograph is necessarily +an artificial thing. It wants life and atmosphere, and you can never put +that into a picture by a mechanical process. Only a man can feel, and +transmute his impressions into material. Accuracy of detail is, after +all, by comparison, a secondary consideration, but perhaps I had better +pull up before my hobby makes a bolt of it." + +"I have heard of people riding a hobby uncomfortably hard," said Jacinta +reflectively. + +"That, I think, is, to be accurate, seldom what happens. If a man has a +genuine hobby, it never needs spurring. It is, in fact, unpleasantly apt +to run away with him on the smallest provocation. Are steamboat men +addicted to making sketches, Mr. Macallister?" + +"No," said Macallister, grinning. "At least its not the usual thing, but +I once sailed with another of them who did. He was second engineer, and +would draw the chief one day. It was very like him, so like that it +cost the man his job, and a wife as well. Says he, 'How could ye expect +me to idealise a man with a mouth like yon?'" + +"But how did that affect his wife?" asked the officer. + +Macallister grinned more broadly, but it was Jacinta he looked at. + +"Ye see," he said, "he had not got one then. He was second engineer, and +would have gone chief in a new boat if he'd stayed with that company. +The young woman was ambitious, and she told him she would not marry him +until he was promoted, on principle. He was a long while over it after +he lost that berth, and then--also on principle--he would not marry +her." + +Jacinta laughed, though Muriel fancied she had seen a momentary +hardening of her face. + +"She probably deserved it, though one can't help concluding that she +wouldn't feel it much," she said. "That is one of the advantages of +being a practical person; but hadn't you better get the drawings out?" + +Macallister took out a sketch in water-colour and held it up. It showed +a strip of a steamer's deck, with the softened sunlight beating down +through an awning upon a man in skipper's uniform who lay, cigar in +hand, in a hammock that swung beneath the spars. He was, to judge from +his expression, languidly contented with everything, and there was a big +glass of amber-coloured liquid on the little table beside him, and a +tier of bottles laid out upon the deck. Beneath it ran the legend, "For +men must work." + +"That," said Jacinta, "is, at least, what they tell their wives." + +The tourist gazed at the drawing, and then turned to her. He was, as she +had discovered already, a painfully didactic person. + +"The conceit," he said, "is a somewhat happy one, though the sketch is, +it seems to me, a little weak in technique. As we admitted, one +difference between a photograph and a painting is that the artist +records his own sensations in the latter, and stamps it with, at least, +a trace of his individuality. In that respect the sketch is, I fancy, +characteristic. The artist, one could imagine, was in full sympathy with +his subject--the far niente--but I am, no doubt, getting prosy." + +For no very apparent reason a little flush of colour crept into +Jacinta's face, and Macallister, who saw it, chuckled as he took out +another sketch. + +"Well," he said, reflectively, "I never met a man who could do nothing +more gracefully than Mr. Austin, but I'll let ye see the rest of them, +since they're in my charge to sell. Mr. Austin, who wants the money, +took a sudden notion he'd go to Africa, and, if they've had a quick run, +he's now humping palm oil puncheons in a stranded steamer's hold. I'm +thinking it will be a big change for him." + +The naval officer laughed softly. "From what I know of the tropics I +fancy you are right. In fact, it's rather difficult to imagine the man I +met at the bull fight doing that kind of thing at all. Salvage work is +necessarily hard under any circumstances, and anywhere, but the last +place I would care to attempt it in is Western Africa. What +sent--him--there?" + +"Ye must not ask me," and a little twinkle, for which Jacinta longed to +shake him, crept into Macallister's eyes. "Now, there are clever folks +who will look at a man, or maybe talk to him awhile, and then label him, +thinking they know just what to expect of him. It does him no great +harm, and it pleases them, until one day he does something that +astonishes them in spite of his label. Then they're apt to get angry +with him. A man, ye see, is, after all, not that unlike an engine. Ye +cannot tell what may be going on in the inside of him, and when the +result's distressing it's most often the fault of injudicious handling." + +Jacinta, to whom he apparently directed his observations, contrived to +regard him with a little smile, and he proceeded to extricate another +sketch, a canvas this time. + +"This one is different," he said. + +Coulston, who apparently concurred with him, gazed at the picture with a +trace of astonishment. It showed a big cargo lancha lurching out, +deep-loaded, through a fringe of tumbling surf with four men straining +at the ponderous oars. The wet rags they wore clung about their limbs, +and there was weariness in their grim, brown faces. Bent backs and set +lips had their significance, and the sketch was stamped with the +suggestion of endurance and endeavour. Yet, as those who saw it felt, +there was triumph in it, too, for while the rollers came seething in to +hurl her back the lancha was clawing off the shore. + +"It's good!" said the navy man. "It's unusually good. Those fellows are +played out, and they know if they slacken down for a moment she'll roll +over with them or go up on the beach. The sea's running in against +her--one finds out by trying it how hard it is to pull off against a +surf--but they're driving her out. Presumably, that's what you call the +motive of the thing." + +The tourist nodded appreciatively. "Yes," he said. "In spite of certain +faults in drawing, it's well worked out. What puzzles me is how the man +who did the other one came to feel it as he evidently did. One could +fancy he had had a revelation, and that in some respects he was a +different man when he painted this. I'll offer you five guineas for it, +Mr. Macallister." + +"Then," said Macallister, promptly, "ye can have it. Eight guineas for +the two, if ye would like the other one. There are two or three more of +them here ye might care to look at." He stopped a moment, and added, as +if in explanation: "I'm anxious to do what I can for Mr. Austin. Many's +the time I've stole his wine and sold his clothes." + +He undid a package, and, first of all, took out a photograph of a young +girl with a comely English face, which Jacinta glanced at somewhat +sharply. Then she became intent when there followed several rudimentary +pencil and pastel sketches of herself, until Macallister handed Coulston +a picture. He turned from it to Jacinta, and looked at her with a +steadiness a young woman less accustomed to masculine criticism would +probably have found disconcerting. + +She lay smiling at him in the canvas lounge, very pretty and very +dainty, with conventional indifference expressed even in her pose. She +was, he fancied, a woman who knew her world thoroughly, and had the +greater influence therein because she seldom asked too much from it. +Then he glanced again at her portrait almost incredulously, for it +showed the little shapely head held well erect, the red lips +straightened and firmly closed, and the glow of a strenuous purpose in +the eyes. Stooping, he laid the picture on her knees with a little +smile. + +Jacinta laughed softly. "Yes," she said, "of course, I know what you +mean. I am essentially modern and frivolous, and not in the least like +that. Still, you see, all of us have our serious moments now and then, +although it is probably fortunate they don't last long." + +"Ah," said Coulston, wilfully neglecting his opportunity, "I almost +fancy a light breaks in on me. One could entitle this inspiration, and +it is, you know, possible to transmit it occasionally. I wonder whether +it would make the idea clearer if we placed the three pictures +together. Mr. Macallister will permit me?" + +He set up the first sketch of the steamboat skipper against the lifeboat +skids, and gazed at it critically. "Assuming that a picture contains +something of its painter's ego, you will observe how the idea of petty +indulgence and his appreciation of sensual comfort is impressed on one," +he said. "Now we will set up the other sketch of the sailormen. There +you see restraint, tense effort, abnegation--and victory--in one sense a +spiritual triumph over the body. It is an interesting question how the +man who painted both could have been brought to grasp what Lieutenant +Onslow calls the motive of the last one; but if we might venture to +place another picture between." + +Jacinta raised her head sharply, and there was an ominous sparkle in her +eyes. "No," she said, with quiet incisiveness, "I would sooner you +didn't. There are certainly men whose hobby, now and then, runs away +with them. Macallister, will you put that portrait back again?" + +She handed it him face downwards, for the others had not seen it, and +Lieutenant Onslow turned to the tourist. + +"I don't quite understand, but I fancy Miss Brown doesn't approve of +vivisection any more than I do," he said. "It really isn't decent to +turn anybody inside out." + +"I wonder," said Coulston, ignoring him, "if you would mind my offering +to buy the three?" + +He was looking steadily at her, but Jacinta contrived for a moment to +catch Macallister's eye. So swift was the flashed glance that the +tourist did not notice it, but Jacinta could convey a good deal with a +look, and the engineer was a man of considerable intelligence. + +"That one is not for sale," he said. + +"No," said Onslow, who held up a strip of pasteboard and a sheet of +brown paper, "I scarcely think it is. In fact, you don't appear to have +noticed that there's a seal on this part of it, and instructions that +this particular packet is not to be opened." + +It seemed to Muriel that a trace of colour once more crept into +Jacinta's face, but Macallister surveyed the wrappings the officer +handed him with a grin. + +"It is not that difficult to slice a seal off and stick it back again," +he said. "It's also a thing Mr. Austin should have remembered. Many a +garafon of wine has he seen opened." + +"So you know that trick!" Onslow laughed. "I'm inclined to think it's +one that has now and then been practised upon our mess." + +Just then Mrs. Hatherly appeared on deck, and the group broke up. Muriel +joined her aunt, Macallister, accompanied by the tourist, went down the +ladder with the box of sketches under his arm, while Jacinta and +Lieutenant Onslow were left alone. The latter stood with his hand on the +lifeboat skids, looking down on her gravely. He was a well-favoured +young man, with an honest, sun-bronzed face. + +"I am," he said, "as you know, going out to take over command of a +West-coast gunboat in a day or two, and it is more than probable that I +shall not have an opportunity like this again. You see, Nasmyth and I +have had a very good time in these islands, and we feel that we owe it +largely to you. In fact, it's perfectly clear to us that things would +have been very different if you hadn't taken us under your gracious +protection. I just want to say that we recognise it, and feel grateful." + +"Well," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I am rather glad you do. Gratitude +that is worth anything carries a certain sense of obligation with it." + +"Of course!" and Onslow smiled. "Only give me the chance of doing +anything I can for you." + +"Do you know whereabouts on the West-coast the Delgado Island lies?" + +"I can readily find out." + +Jacinta glanced at him sharply, and had no doubt concerning the +eagerness in his face. If there was anything he could do to please her +it would certainly be done. + +"There is a stranded steamer somewhere up a creek behind that island, +and I think the men who are trying to salve her have a good many +difficulties to contend with. Among other things, I fancy the niggers +are worrying them." + +"Ah!" said Onslow. "Our ships are not, as a rule, permitted to take any +part in commercial ventures, but there are, of course, exceptions to +everything. According to my instructions, I am also to avoid all +unpleasantness with the seaboard niggers unless they have been provoking +the authorities. Still, I would like to ask if any of the men on board +that steamer is a friend of yours?" + +"One of them is Miss Gascoyne's affianced lover, and she is a very old +friend indeed. However, since you are apparently unable----" + +Onslow checked her with a little smile. "I'm not sure you are really +willing to let me off, and if you were, I shouldn't be pleased, while I +scarcely think you have answered my question very frankly, either. That, +however, doesn't matter. It is permissible for the commander of a coast +patrol gunboat to send a pinnace in to survey a little known creek or +channel, and her crew would, of course, be guided by circumstances if +they came upon a stranded steamer." + +"I presume you would not care to earn Muriel's undying gratitude by +being a trifle more definite?" + +"No," said Onslow, with twinkling eyes. "I esteem Miss Gascoyne's good +opinion, but I really couldn't go any further to win yours. As I pointed +out, one would be guided by circumstances; but men on board stranded +steamers have been supplied with drugs and provisions, as well as lent +naval artificers to advise them as to repairs. I have even heard of a +gunboat's launch carrying out their hawsers and anchors." + +Jacinta rose with a little smile. "I think one could leave it with +confidence to your discretion, and since it seems very likely that you +will come across that steamer, I should be pleased to have your views as +to the selection of a few comforts and provisions." + +Onslow favoured her with them, and, as it happened, met Macallister when +at last he went down the ladder. + +"Ye are going out to Africa, too?" said the latter, with a grin. "She +has been giving ye sailing instructions?" + +Onslow looked at him grimly. "Well," he said, "what the devil has that +to do with you?" + +"Oh, nothing. Just nothing at all. Still, because I see ye are willing, +I would have ye know that there are--two--men from Grand Canary on board +yon steamer already." + +Onslow smiled a trifle drily. "My dear man, I'm not altogether an ass," +he said. + +In the meanwhile Muriel strolled back towards Jacinta, and glanced at +her with a suggestion of astonishment in her face as she sat down. + +"You are different from what you were a little while ago," she said. + +Jacinta laughed. "I daresay I am. I had, as a matter of fact, sunk into +a state of pessimistic apathy, which naturally found expression in +ill-humoured pleasantries lately, but I have been getting to work again. +It has rather a bracing effect, you see. In the meanwhile, it might be +advisable for you to make yourself as nice as possible to Lieutenant +Onslow, who is now coming up on deck again. Go and ask him to show you a +flying fish, or something." + +Muriel went, for she had discovered that there was usually a sufficient +reason for most of what Jacinta did, and the latter lay still in her +chair. + +"There is," she said, "still a fly in the amber. I wonder what he wanted +with that photograph, though, after all, he didn't think it worth while +carrying to Africa." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION + + +Deep stillness hung over the dingy mangroves, and there was not a breath +of air astir, while Austin, who lay among the palm oil puncheons beside +the creek, was oppressed by a sense of suffocation. A few yards away two +Spaniards lay, apparently asleep, huddled, shapeless heaps of ragged +clothing, beneath a strip of tarpaulin raised on poles, and it was then, +though there was no sun visible, a little past the hottest part of the +afternoon. A yellow vapour that seemed suffused with heat had obscured +the heavens for a week or more, and the swamps lay sweltering beneath it +waiting for the rain. Austin longed for it ardently, for there was an +almost unendurable tension in the atmosphere. + +He had shaken off the fever, but he was worn and dazed by toil, for the +strain was not without its effect upon him, and he had become subject to +curious tricks of fancy. He had brought the coal from Dakar, and it now +lay piled upon a down river beach; but he had obtained only two or three +men, and the steamy heat of the swamp belt had melted the sustaining +energy out of the _Cumbria_'s company. Individually, he felt that it was +a hopeless struggle they were making. They had untrammelled nature +against them, and, he could almost fancy, the malevolent spirits of the +bush the negroes believed in. A man, he admitted, could believe in +anything in that country, and he had of late been troubled by a feeling +that something sinister and threatening was hovering near him. + +He was unpleasantly conscious of it then, which was partly why he lay +raised on his elbow, with his eyes fixed on the bush that shut in the +narrow strip of land. It rose before him, laced with tangled creepers, +mysterious, and shadowy, and it seemed to him that somebody or something +was watching him from its dim recesses. He had been conscious of the +same sensation when he plodded with a Spanish seaman along the narrow +trail to the dug up beach, an hour earlier, but it was stronger now, and +instinctively he slipped his hand into a pocket where the pistol he had +bought in Grand Canary lay. Then he laughed in a listless fashion, for +they had seen no more of the negroes since the blowing up of the +headman's house, and he felt that he had not them to fear. There was, in +fact, no tangible cause for apprehension at all. + +Presently something seemed to materialise amidst the shadows where the +creepers streamed from a cottonwood in dense festoons, and, lying still, +with fingers closing on the pistol, he could almost fancy he made out a +dim human form. There was, at least, one black patch among the leaves +that suggested greasy naked skin. It vanished again, however, and +Austin, who felt his heart beating, abused the intolerable glare the +sand flung up that dazzled his vision, and then stiffened himself in +tenser watchfulness as for a moment he made out a pair of rolling eyes. +The creepers rustled, a twig snapped, and he was about to call out, when +one of the Canarios raised himself a trifle. + +"Ave Maria!" he said, with drowsy hoarseness, and, though the words are +frequently used to express astonishment in his country, it was evident +that he meant them as a pious appeal. + +In any case, the creepers became suddenly still again, and Austin, who +rose a trifle stiffly, found nothing when he pushed his way through the +midst of them. There was no sound in the steamy bush, not a leaf seemed +bruised or bent, and he went back again, with the perspiration dripping +from him. Nevertheless, he was annoyed to notice that the Canario was +watching him curiously. + +"Nothing!" he said, with a dramatic gesture. "Nothing that one can see." + +"What do you mean?" asked Austin sharply. + +The Canario flung out an arm again. "Who knows! Though one cannot see +it, it comes now and then. There are evil things in this land of the +devil, and the saints are very far away. This is no place for them." + +Austin sat down again and took out his pipe. He felt that there was +nothing to be gained by continuing the discussion, for of late he had +become almost superstitiously apprehensive himself. He lay watching the +bush for another hour, and then, though it was the last thing he had +intended, went to sleep. He had borne a heavy strain, and his will was +weakening. + +It was dark when he was awakened by a splash of paddles as the +_Cumbria_'s surfboat crept up the creek with the relief watch, and +another hour had passed when they made the craft fast alongside the +gangway and climbed wearily on board the steamer. There was no sound or +light on board her, for half the crew were sick, and the pump had +stopped. She lay, a black mass, amidst the sliding mist, and he stumbled +over the kernel bags upon her slanted deck as he groped his way to his +room in the poop. It was seldom he or Jefferson slept soundly now, and +as they only awakened each other, Austin had moved to a room aft. + +He lighted the oil lamp and flung himself, dressed as he was, into his +berth, but found he could not sleep, though he could not remember how +long he lay awake listening. He could hear mysterious splashings in the +forest and the low gurgle of the creek, while now and then a timber +creaked, or a drop of moisture fell from the iron beams with a splash +that startled him. At last, when his eyes were growing heavy, there was +a different and very faint sound on deck, and as he raised himself the +door that stood a little open swung back gently. The lamp was still +burning, for he found the light comforting, as white men are +occasionally apt to do in that country, and it was with a little gasp of +relief he felt for the pistol beneath his pillow as Funnel-paint came +in. He was almost naked, and the water ran from him, but the strip of +cloth about his loins was bound by a leather belt, with a sheath hung to +it such as seamen wear, and the knife from the latter gleamed in his wet +hand. He, however, dropped it upon the deck, and squatted on the +water-ledge that rose a foot beneath the door. Austin watched him +quietly, for he was, at least, not afraid of Funnel-paint. + +"What the devil do you want?" he said. + +"Halluf them gum," said the negro, with a wicked grin. + +"How are we to give it you when we haven't found a bag of it?" + +The negro grinned again. "S'pose I done tell you where him lib?" + +"If you knew why didn't you get it for yourself?" + +Funnel-paint shook his head. "Them book I got savvy--I no savvy make him +tell me," he said. "You dash me halluf them gum you get them book." + +Austin lay silent, resting on one elbow, for a moment or two. He knew +that book means anything which is written on in that country, and it +occurred to him that if the gum had been hidden ashore, it was very +probable that the man who buried it had made a rough sketch or other +record of the spot. The document, it was conceivable, might have come +into the negro's possession. Still, he was suspicious. + +"There's another boy who speaks English in the headman's village," he +said. + +"Him only dam bushman--no savvy book, no savvy anyt'ing. Him them +headman's boy. Headman he want everyt'ing." + +"Ah!" said Austin, who was more dubious about his visitor's good faith +than ever, since it was clear that it was his intention to trick his +confederate out of his share of the plunder. "I suppose, since you swam +off, you haven't the book about you?" + +The negro let one eyelid droop a little. "You t'ink black man one dam +fool?" + +"No," said Austin, reflectively, "if you understand me, I should rather +call you an infernal rogue. Any way, you lib for get out one time, and +come back to-morrow. I'll palaver with them other white man by then, +savvy?" + +Funnel-paint unobtrusively laid a wet prehensile toe upon the haft of +the knife, but Austin, who was careful not to betray the fact, noticed +it. + +"Them other white man he do go dash me anyt'ing," he said decisively. "I +savvy him. S'pose you done tell him you no go catch them book?" + +"Then how do you fancy I'm going to give you half the gum without his +knowing?" + +Funnel-paint grinned unpleasantly. "Bimeby them white cappy man he die," +he said, as though he were sure of it. "White man sick too much in dis +country. I savvy." + +Austin contrived to hold in check the indignant wrath he felt. A man's +life, he was quite aware, was worth very little in those swamps; and, +because he placed some small value on the one that belonged to him, it +was evidently advisable to proceed circumspectly. Funnel-paint was, he +recognised, a diplomatist in his way, and had said very little, though +that was sufficient to show Austin what his proposition meant. It was, +at least, clear that he was to ask no questions if anything unexpected +happened to Jefferson, and in reward of this he would be permitted to +carry off half the gum. It appeared that Funnel-paint was sure of its +existence, or he would never have ventured to creep on board at night at +all, and Austin decided that since he certainly could not be trusted, +the boldest course was best. The rage he felt also prompted him to it, +and he lay still, considering, with a hand beneath the pillow, and a +flush in his face, while the negro squatted, huge and motionless, on the +door-ledge, watching him with a little cunning smile. It seemed to +Austin that it would simplify matters considerably if he could secure +Funnel-paint's person, though he could not quite see how it was to be +done, especially since it was evident that the negro would be no use to +them dead. + +In the meanwhile there was deep stillness without, intensified by the +oily gurgle of the creek, until Austin fancied he heard another faint +and stealthy sound on deck. Funnel-paint did not appear to notice it, +which was, it seemed to Austin, significant, for he sat still, though +with a scarcely perceptible motion he drew the knife a little nearer to +him with his toe. Austin decided that the proposition he had made was, +after all, probably a blind, and the friends he had expected were now +arriving. + +"Keep still!" he said abruptly, whipping out the pistol. + +The negro started, and would apparently have fallen backwards in his +alarm had he not seized the edge of the cushion on the settee in a wet +hand. Then he gazed at Austin as though in bewilderment or +consternation. + +"Bushman lib!" he said. + +He glanced towards the open ring of the port, and for a second Austin +turned his eyes in the same direction, but that was long enough, for the +big cushion of the settee fell upon his head, and he rolled over under +it. It was a moment or two before he had flung it from him and sprung +out of his berth, and then there was no sign of Funnel-paint, though he +could hear a rush of feet and the sound of a scuffle on deck. They were +also booted feet, and Austin ran out into the black darkness beneath the +poop. He could see nothing for a moment, but he heard a hoarse +ejaculation that was followed by a splash in the creek. Then a shadowy +figure grew out of the blackness, and he dropped the pistol to his side +at the sound of an English voice. + +"All right, Mr. Austin?" it said. + +"I am," said Austin. "Is that you, Bill?" + +The half-seen man assured him that it was, and then followed him back +into the lighted room, where he sat down and held up a hand from which a +red trickle dripped down his arm. + +"The dam brute's got away," he said. "P'r'aps you could fix this up for +me." + +Austin lugged a little chest out from under the settee, and glanced at +the injured hand. "Nothing serious, though I have no doubt it stings," +he said. "You were in one sense lucky in getting it there. How did you +happen to come along?" + +"It was my watch," said Bill. "I had just come down from the bridge-deck +when I thought I heard talking, and that brought me here as quietly as I +could. If I'd had the sense to take my boots off I'd have had him. I +gripped him by the rail, but he shoved the knife into my hand and slung +himself over." + +Austin bound his hand up, and then looked at him thoughtfully. + +"I don't think there's anything to be gained by letting the others +know," he said. "Any way, I'd consider it a favour if you said nothing +about the thing until I've talked it over with Mr. Jefferson." + +Bill grinned comprehendingly. "I'll tell Tom, but nobody else. We have +our own little row with the vermin, and the next time I get my grip on +him there'll be an end of him!" + +He went out, and by and by Austin contrived to go to sleep, while it was +next day, and they sat in the dripping engine room, from which the water +was sinking, when he told Jefferson what had passed. The latter listened +thoughtfully, and then broke into a little hollow laugh. + +"It seems to me that you missed your chance," he said. "Funnel-paint +knows a good deal--I have guessed that for some time--but he has found +out he can't get at the gum without one of us helping him, at last. That +is probably why he has left us alone so long. He wasn't sure whether +there was any of it on board the ship, and was, naturally, willing that +we should decide that point for him." + +"What would he gain by that?" asked Austin. + +"The gum!" and Jefferson laughed again, but not pleasantly. "He's an +inconsequent devil, but he seems to have scraped up a little sense as he +went on with the game. You see, white men are apt to die off suddenly in +this country, and I scarcely think that anybody who could make trouble +knows we're here. Any way, there's no unusual need for worry. It only +means double watches." + +"Still, one could fancy you had a good deal on your mind." + +"I have. We have stripped this ship all but the engine room to the +ballast tanks--there was, you may remember, a manhole lid lifted on the +forward one, which may account for some of the water getting in--and the +five hundred dollars I raised the offer to hasn't produced a pound of +gum. Half the men are down now, and we can't send them all away, while +even if we wanted to they're most of them unwilling to go. They're as +keen on their share--and it's quite a big one--as I am. Then we'll have +the rains on us in a week or two." + +Austin sat silent awhile. He knew that the feverish search for the +treasure had stirred the cupidity of the Latins until they were as +determined on finding it as their leader. Nothing else was thought of, +the sick men raved of it, and, in any case, those who had held out so +long and staunchly had their percentage on the value of the steamer's +hull and cargo to gain. It meant comparative affluence to the barefooted +sailormen. That, however, was only one side of the question, after all, +for while their willingness was evident, their physical capacity for +work was lessening every day. + +"The rains will flood every beach," he said. "If we don't find the gum +before they come, what then?" + +"If it's necessary, we'll stay here until the water falls again. That +is, at least, some of us will." + +Austin rose up slowly with a little sign of comprehension. Two men had +been buried while he was away, and he did not think that many of them +would be left there to see the waters fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN + + +A week had slipped by since the negro's visit, and Austin and Jefferson +were sitting late in the skipper's room. There had been no change in the +weather, and it was then, if possible, hotter than ever. The muggy land +breeze had died away, and a thick woolly mist shut the stranded steamer +in. Door and ports were open wide, but the oil lamp that hung beneath +the beams burned unwaveringly, and the ray of light that streamed out +from the doorway made the blackness outside more apparent. The big pump +was running behind the deck-house, and its deep vibratory humming rang +startlingly through a stillness so intense that it seemed unnatural, as +it hurled the water out of the engine room. + +Austin sat huddled in a corner, attired only in duck trousers, and torn +singlet which came no lower than his elbows, and, for want of buttons, +fell open at his neck. He had an unusually clean skin, and his +sun-scorched lower arms and scarred hands, with the battered knuckles +and broken nails, emphasised by contrast the clear whiteness of his +half-covered chest. That night it was beaded with perspiration, for +which he was sincerely thankful, since there are times in the tropics +when the healing moisture fails to find its way through the fevered +skin, and its afflicted owner burns in torment. + +Jefferson sat on the little table, a blackened pipe in his hand, and +the listless pose of both suggested that the last trace of energy had +been sapped out of them. At last Austin laughed, hollowly and +dejectedly. + +"I don't know why we're sitting here saying nothing when we have to +begin again at five o'clock to-morrow, but I don't feel like sleep," he +said. "In fact, I scarcely think I've slept for more than a couple of +hours at a time since I came back again. I suppose I ought to be in the +forecastle now--four or five of them seemed very sick when I last looked +in--but there's an abominable tension in the air that makes any exertion +out of the question." + +Jefferson nodded. "You can't do anything for them, and there's nobody we +could spare to send with them down river," he said. "They've got to take +their chances with the rest of us now, and it seems to me one might +figure them out as three or four to one if the rains don't come. Still, +if you don't want to do anything, why can't you keep still?" + +"I don't know," and Austin, who had been rolling a damp cigar in his +fingers, flung it down. "If that pump stopped I should probably make an +exhibition of myself. The hum and thump it makes has a soothing effect +on me. It's suggestive. Even here man has something to say. I don't know +whether you understand me." + +Jefferson looked at him curiously. "I guess I do. I'd mix myself a good +strong pick-me-up if I were you. You have had something on your mind the +last day or two." + +"I have," said Austin. "I'm afraid of that infernal Funnel-paint, I +think. I can't help a fancy that we haven't done with him yet; and, +though the connection isn't very apparent, the fact that the first thing +we came across after landing when I came out was a dead nigger, insists +on obtruding itself on my recollection. Bill told me he was singularly +unpleasant to look at." + +Jefferson contrived to laugh. "You take that pick-me-up, and in the +meanwhile let up on your reminiscences. Things of that kind aren't +cheerful--and I'm worried by one or two of them myself." + +Austin, who stooped and picked up the cigar, settled himself afresh on +the settee after lighting it, and half an hour dragged by. Neither of +them felt the least sign of drowsiness yet, and the jingle of the odds +and ends in the rack, and tremble of the stout teak house, was, as he +had said, vaguely reassuring. The big pump was pounding on in spite of +the climate, and neither heat nor fever had any effect on steam. Then he +looked up sharply, and Jefferson straightened himself, for a faint sound +of footsteps came out of the darkness. They were slow and dragging, as +though somebody was groping his way warily towards the light. + +"On deck!" said the American. "What d'you want? Are you there, Wall-eye? +Que hay?" + +There was no answer, but the shuffling steps drew nearer, slowly and +falteringly, as though whatever made them was but indifferently capable +of motion. There was also something unpleasantly suggestive about them, +and Austin now sat very straight, while he saw that Jefferson's lips +were pressed together. There was no apparent reason why they should +shrink from what was coming, but Austin, at least, felt his nerves +tingling. He was overwrought, and white men are apt to become fanciful +when they work too hard in the fever swamps. It is a land where one +realises the presence of influences beyond the definition of human +reason, and he afterwards admitted that he was afraid. + +"Mil diablos!" said Jefferson. "Ven aca! What are you after, outside +there?" + +There was still no answer, though a clatter of booted feet now rose from +the iron deck. It drowned the other footfalls, and Austin found that +clang of nailed shoes curiously reassuring. Then a figure that swayed +from side to side emerged from the blackness and stood mowing in the +stream of light. + +"Good Lord!" said Jefferson, with horror in his voice. "Slam that door +to. Keep it out!" + +Austin rose with a sense of sudden sickness, but the figure had moved +again, and now stood with one foot inside the room and a horrible hand +on the door-jamb, leering at them. It had the shape of a man, but the +resemblance ended there, for there was no sign of human intelligence in +the awful face. The thing had no eyebrows, the hair had almost gone, and +nose and cheeks were formless with corruption, while naked chest and +arms were smeared with festering scars. Austin stood still, shivering, +with one hand clenched hard on the table, until Jefferson snatched a +glinting object from his bunk. + +"Good Lord!" he said again. "It's coming in!" + +The figure seemed to brace itself for another move forwards, and Austin +saw Jefferson straighten himself slowly with a big pistol in his hand. +He did not remember what his comrade said, but the negro seemed to +recoil instinctively before his fierce ejaculation, and, lurching +backwards, faded into a formless shadow in the gloom again. Then +Jefferson's hand fell upon Austin's shoulder. + +"Shake yourself! There's something to be done," he said. "They have a +light forward, and we can't have--that thing--groping among them in the +forecastle." + +They went out, and as they did so a sudden glare of light sprang up. +Tom, the donkey-man, had lighted the air-blast lamp he used when +anything had to be done to pump or boiler at night, and its smoky +radiance showed that Jefferson's shouts had roused the Spaniards. They +were clustered, half dressed, about the head of the ladder which led to +the bridge deck, with consternation in their shadowy faces, glancing at +one another as though afraid to move a step further. Tom leaned against +the rail, holding up the lamp, and the thing that had the shape of a man +sat gibbering on a coil of hawser in the midst of the bridge deck. The +eyes of all who stood there were fixed upon it, but nobody seemed +anxious to come any nearer. + +Jefferson, standing very straight, opened the breech of his pistol, ran +a finger across the back of the chamber, and then closed it with a +little snap which, though the pump was humming, sounded startlingly +distinct. His lips were tightly set, and his face was very grim. The +loathsome figure on the rope mowed and grinned at him. + +"I suppose the thing was human--once," he said. "Still, we can't have it +here. These complaints are contagious, one understands, but I wish it +hadn't happened. He's too like a man." + +He dropped the pistol to his side, as though his nerve had momentarily +failed him, and Austin, who suddenly grasped his purpose, sprang forward +as he raised it again. + +"Hold on!" he said. "Do you realise what it is you propose to do?" + +Jefferson turned to him slowly, and there was a curious stillness among +those who watched them. Austin was glad of the hum of the big pump and +the pounding of the engine, for he felt that silence would have made the +tension unendurable. Then Jefferson smiled, a little wry smile. + +"I know," he said, a trifle hoarsely, "it isn't nice to think of, but +it's no more than happens to a superfluous kitten--and it's necessary. +Heaven knows what the poor devil suffered before he came to this, and we +don't want to. He's animate carrion without reason or sensibility now. +It was only the light brought him here when Funnel-paint somehow sent +him within sight of us." + +Austin saw that this was true. There was no glimmer of human +intelligence in the creature's wandering gaze, but he still bore the +shape of a man, and that counted for a good deal, after all. + +"Jefferson," he said, "it can't be done!" + +His comrade looked at him with half-closed eyes. "Would you wish to live +if you looked like that, or do you want the rest of us to find out what +he went through? I'm responsible for those men yonder--and it's only +antedating the thing a month or two. The life is almost rotted out of +him. Stand clear! We must get it over!" + +It was evident that the Spaniards understood what he meant to do, and a +murmur of concurrence rose from them, for they knew a little about the +more loathsome forms of skin diseases. Men who might have escaped from +the sepulchre walk abroad in the hot Southern countries, where restraint +is unknown and salt fish is a staple food, but, though they have often +themselves to blame, the innocent also suffer in Western Africa, and +none of those who stood by, tense and strung up, had ever seen a man who +looked quite as this one did. + +Then, as Jefferson raised his pistol, Austin seized him by the shoulder +and shook him in a sudden outbreak of fury. + +"You're right," he said, "but you shall not do it! You hear me? Put the +---- thing down!" + +Then there was a sudden clamour, and as the Canarios ran forward +Jefferson struggled vainly. Austin never knew where his strength came +from, but in another moment the pistol slipped from his comrade's hand, +and, reeling backwards, he struck the deck-house. Austin stood in front +of him, with hands clenched, and the veins swollen high on his forehead, +panting hard. + +"It has come to this," he said. "If you move a step, I'll heave you +over the rail! I've strength enough to break your back to-night!" + +Jefferson straightened himself slowly, and waved back the others who +were clustering round. Then he smiled, and made a little gesture of +resignation. + +"I believe you have, but that's not quite the point," he said. "It's the +only thing you have ever asked me, and, if nothing else will satisfy +you, you shall have him. You don't suppose it isn't a relief to me? The +question is, what you're going to do with him? You see, he can't stay +here." + +That, at least, was evident, and for a moment or two Austin gazed about +him stupidly as he grappled with the difficulty. The stricken man still +squatted, unconcerned, upon the hawser, mowing and grimacing, while he +clawed at the hemp in a fashion that suggested the antics of a pleased +animal, with swollen hands. The rest stood still, well apart from him, +with expectancy overcoming the repulsion they felt. Then Tom, the +donkey-man, who was nearest the rail, held up his flaring lamp. + +"There's the canoe he come in still alongside aft," he said. + +Austin gasped with relief. "Heave down a bunch of the red bananas we got +up the creek," he said. "He'll know they are good to eat." + +It was done, and Jefferson smiled again grimly. + +"That," he said, "is easy. Still, have you figured how he is to be +gotten into the canoe? You are hardly going to make him understand what +he is to do." + +"There's only one way. He must be put into it. Under the circumstances, +it's only fitting that I should undertake the thing." + +"No!" and Jefferson's voice rang sharply. "Not you! Offer any of the +rest of them fifty dollars!" + +Austin smiled. "To take a risk I'm responsible for? I think not. I went +sufficiently far when I brought some of them here. Besides, it's +comforting to remember you mayn't be right about the thing being +contagious, after all." + +Jefferson looked at him hard a moment, with the fingers of one hand +closed, and then made a little sign. + +"Well," he said, "if you feel it that way, there's probably nothing to +be gained by protesting. There are disadvantages in being leader." + +Austin turned and touched the negro with his foot, while he pointed to +the ladder. + +"Get up! You lib for canoe one time!" he said. + +The negro mowed and gibbered meaninglessly, and Austin, stooping, +grasped his shoulder, which was clean. With an effort he dragged him to +his feet, and, while the rest fell back from them, drove the man towards +the head of the ladder. Then one of them slipped, and there was a cry of +horror from the rest as the negro clutched the white man, and they +rolled down the ladder into the darkness below together. Tom ran towards +the rail with his lamp, and as Jefferson leaned out from them he saw +Austin shake off the negro's engirdling grasp. + +"Get up!" he said hoarsely, and stirred him with his foot again. + +The man rose half upright, stumbled, and, straightening himself, moved +towards the open gangway with a lurch. Then he vanished suddenly and +there was a crash below. Austin leaned out through the opening, and his +voice rose harsh and strained: + +"Come down, one of you, and cut this warp! The devil's hanging on!" he +said. + +Wall-eye, the Canario, sprang down with his knife, and when Austin +climbed back to the bridge deck the men clustering along the rails saw +a canoe with a shadowy object lying in the stern of her slide through +the blaze of radiance cast by the blast-lamp and vanish into the +blackness outside it. Then Tom put out the light, and a hoarse murmur of +relief rose out of the darkness. + +A minute or two later Austin stood, a trifle grey in face, in the +doorway of the skipper's room, and stepped back suddenly when Jefferson +approached him. + +"Keep off!" he said. "Give me the permanganate out of the side drawer. I +left it there. Miguel, bring me the clothes you washed out of my room in +the poop, and fill me a bucket." + +The last was in Castilian, and one of the Canarios went scrambling down +the ladder, while when he came back with an armful of duck clothing +Jefferson held out a jar to his comrade. + +"No!" said Austin sharply. "Put it down!" + +Jefferson did as he was bidden, and Austin, who stripped the thin +garments from him and flung them over the rail, shook the permanganate +into the bucket, and then, standing stark naked, when it had dissolved, +sluiced himself all over with the pink solution. It was ten minutes +later when he stepped into the room, dripping, with a wet rag about his +waist, and shook his head when Jefferson handed him a towel. + +"I think not," he said. "If there's any efficacy in the thing, I may as +well let it dry in. After all, it's consoling to remember that it mayn't +be necessary." + +Jefferson's fingers quivered as he leaned upon the table. "No. Of course +not!" he said, and added, inconsequently: "I don't think I'm unduly +sensitive, but a very little thing would turn me deadly sick." + +Austin struggled into his duck trousers, and Jefferson, whose face was +also a little more pallid than usual, glanced at him again. + +"You have a beautiful skin," he said. "It's most like a woman's. There's +good clean blood in you." + +"It's one of my few good points," and Austin's smile suggested +comprehension. "I haven't been particularly indulgent in any direction, +considering my opportunities, and I'm rather glad of it now. One could +fancy that the man who seldom let one slip would be unusually apt to get +the promised wages in this country." + +He dragged his singlet over his arms, and a little twinkle slowly crept +into Jefferson's eyes. + +"Well," he said, "you carry your character with you. How long has the +restraining influence been at work on you?" + +"You are a little outside the mark," and a faint flush showed in +Austin's hollow cheeks. "I am, as you know, not a believer in the +unnecessary mortification of the flesh, but there's a trace of the +artistic temperament, if that's the right name for it, in me, and it's +rather apt to make one finickingly dainty." + +Jefferson smiled drily. "That doesn't go quite far enough. I've seen men +of your kind wallow harder than the rest. Still, whatever kept you from +it, you can be thankful now." + +Austin went on with his dressing, and then took a little medical +treatise out of a drawer. He spent some time turning over it before he +looked up. + +"There's nothing that quite fits the thing here, and from what the +West-coast mailboat men told me, craw-craw must be different," he said. +"In the meanwhile, it wouldn't do any harm to soak myself in black +coffee." + +He was about to go out when Jefferson stopped him. "This is a thing that +is better buried, but there's something to be said. From my point of +view, and it's that of the average sensible man, I was right; but yours +goes higher, and in one way I am glad of it. I just want to tell you I'm +satisfied with my partner!" + +Austin smiled at him. "We'll both be guilty of some sentimental nonsense +we may be sorry for afterwards if we continue in that strain, my friend. +Still, there's one thing to consider. Although I couldn't help it, what +I did was, of course, absurd, if you look at it practically, and things +of that kind have their results occasionally." + +Jefferson seemed to shiver, and then clenched a hard, scarred fist. + +"We won't think of it. Your blood's clean," he said. "But if, after all, +trouble comes--I'll get even with that damned Funnel-paint if I spend my +life in Africa trailing him, and have to kill him with my naked hands!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE + + +The grey light was growing clearer, and the mangroves taking shape among +the fleecy mist, when Austin stood looking down upon the creek in the +heavy, windless morning. There was no brightness in the dingy sky, which +hung low above the mastheads, but the water gleamed curiously, and no +longer lapped along the steamer's rusty plates. It lay still beneath her +hove-up bilge, giving up a hot, sour smell, and Jefferson, who came out +of the skipper's room, touched Austin as he gazed at it. + +"The stream should have been setting down by now. Something's backing up +the ebb," he said. "A shift of wind along the shore, most likely. The +rain's coming!" + +Austin glanced up at the lowering heavens, but there was no change in +their uniform greyness, and no drift of cloud. The smoke of the +locomotive boiler went straight up, and the mist hung motionless among +the trees ashore. Still, there was something oppressive and portentous +in the stillness, and his skin was tingling. + +"If it doesn't come soon we'll not have a man left," he said. "It isn't +in flesh and blood to stand this much longer." + +"Then," said Jefferson drily, "the sooner we get to work the better. +There's a good deal to do, and you're not going to feel it quite so much +once you get hold of the spanner." + +The pump had just stopped, and Tom came towards them, rubbing his greasy +hands with a cotton rag, as they moved in the direction of the engine +room. The lower part of it was dripping when they went down, and a foot +or two of water still lay upon the floor-plates where they met the +depressed side, but it was evident that another hour's work of the big +pump would leave the place almost dry. Austin sat down on a tool-locker +lid, with Jefferson standing beside him, but Tom floundered away towards +the stoke-hold, and they could hear him splashing in the water. When he +reappeared with a blinking lamp he crawled up the slippery ladder as +though working out a clue, while it was several minutes before he came +back and leaned against a column opposite Jefferson with the look of a +man who had not found quite what he had expected. + +"Sea-cocks shut!" he said. "Ballast tank full-way cock is screwed up, +too. Of course, they could have closed that with the overhead +screw-gear. You'll remember that manhole cover was off the forward +section." + +Jefferson glanced at Austin, though it was Tom he spoke to. "Did you +expect to find them open?" + +"Well," said the donkey-man, "to be quite straight, I did." + +"I wonder why?" + +Tom glanced at him with a little suggestive grin. "She has two plates +started, but with the boiler blowing away half her steam we haven't very +hard work to run all that came in that way down, and her bilge pump +would have kept her clear. What I want to know is, what all that water +was doing in her?" + +"Ah," said Jefferson, "you must ask another. I guess nobody's going to +find the full answer to that conundrum. There are only two or three men +who could have told us, and we're not going to have an opportunity of +worrying them about it, unless we get the fever, too." + +"Well," said Tom, "the mill's looking good, but it's about time we made +a start on her and got the cylinder covers off and hove the pistons up. +It's quite likely we'll want to spring new rings on them. There should +be some of the spanners in that locker, Mr. Austin." + +Austin rose and lifted the lid, while Tom held the lamp, but the first +thing he saw was a sodden book. He drew it out, dripping, and opened it; +but while a good many of the pulpy pages had fallen out, there were +enough left to show that it was one of the little tables of strengths +and weight of materials an engineer often carries about with him. There +was a rather wide margin round the tabulated figures, and as he vacantly +pulled out one of the wet pages he noticed a little close pencil writing +upon a part of it. + +"Hold that light nearer, Tom. Here's something that looks interesting," +he said. "'Buried Jackson this morning--memo hand his share over to Mary +Nichol.'" + +He signed Tom to move the light again. "There follows an obliterated +address, and the words, 'scarcely think she'll ever get it. My left +arm's almost rotten now.'" + +He stopped again a moment, and his face had grown hard when he went on: +"You see, the thing--is--contagious, and that devil Funnel-paint, or +somebody, has played the same trick before. I wonder if the man who +wrote this looked quite as bad as the nigger did." + +"Hold on!" said Jefferson sharply. "I guess none of us have any use for +that kind of talking, and you swilled yourself with permanganate, any +way." + +"The result will probably be the same, whether one thinks of it or not. +You will, however, notice that the man's name was Jackson, and the +woman's Mary Nicol." + +It was evident that this was a forced attempt to break away from the +subject, and though Tom grinned, it was in a sickly fashion. + +"That's no how astonishing. She was the last," he said. "Hadn't you +better turn over, and see if there's any more of it?" + +Austin contrived to lift another of the pulpy pages, and once more the +close writing appeared, but it was difficult to make out, and their +faces were close together when Tom lowered the lamp. They showed +curiously grave, as well as hollow, in the smoky light, for there was +reason for believing that the man who had made those notes was dead, and +it was clear that the horrible thing which had stricken him might also +come upon them. + +"The last of the bags buried this afternoon," Austin read. "Watson took +a new bearing. W. half N. to the cottonwood, with twist of creek in +line. Forty paces--he made it thirty-nine. Graham says one packet left +in the old place where the niggers got scent of it, and the quills on +the second islet; memo, it makes £50 to me." + +He dropped the book, and Tom came near letting go the lamp, while for a +moment or two afterwards they stared at one another. Austin was +quivering a little, but Jefferson made a restraining gesture as he laid +a hand upon his shoulder. + +"Steady! I guess we've got the clue," he said. "There are two islets two +or three leagues back down the creek. You passed them coming up. Still, +what do they put up in quills?" + +"Gold-dust! The niggers bring it down from the Western Soudan, and I +believe they're ostrich quills. One of the trader fellows told me a good +deal about them over a dinner at the Metropole. A bushman had once stuck +him with a lot of brass filings. Are you going down to look for them?" + +Jefferson, it was evident from his face, laid a strong restraint upon +himself. + +"No," he said, with curious quietness. "Funnel-paint knows nothing about +these islets yet, or he wouldn't have come to you, and it's my first +business to heave this steamer off. To do it we'll want her engines, and +there's a heavy job in front of us before we start them. The rains won't +wait for any man." + +He broke off, for a glare of blue light fell through the open frames +above and flooded the engine room. It flickered on rusty columns and +dripping, discoloured steel, and vanished, leaving grey shadow behind +it, amidst which the smoky lamplight showed feeble and pale. Then there +was a crash that left them dazed and deafened, and in another moment was +followed by a dull crescendo roar, while a splashing trickle ran down +into the engine room. The glass frames quivered under the deluge, and +one could almost have fancied that the heavens had opened. Jefferson +whirled round and gripped the donkey-man's arm, shaking him as he stood +blinking about him in a bewildered fashion. + +"If you tell any of the rest what you have heard, I'll fling you into +the creek! And now up with you, and bring every man who is fit to work. +There's no time to lose," he said. + +Tom made for the ladder, and Austin, who went with him, carrying the +book, was drenched before he reached the skipper's room. The air was +filled with falling water that came down in rods, and blotted out the +mangroves a dozen yards away. Steam rose from the sluicing deck, the +creek boiled beneath the deluge, but there was no longer any trace of +the insufferable tension, and he stood a moment or two relaxing under +the rush of lukewarm water that beat his thin clothing flat against his +skin. Then he splashed forward to the forecastle, where Tom had little +difficulty in rousing the men. They crawled out, gaunt and haggard, in +filthy rags, some of them apparently scarcely fit to stand, for the rain +had come, and every inch the water rose would bring them so much nearer +home. There was no need to urge them when they floundered into the +engine room, and hour after hour they strained and sweated on big +spanner and chain-tackle willingly, while the big cylinder-heads and +pistons were hauled up to the beams. The one thought which animated them +was that the engines would be wanted soon. + +It mattered little that platform-grating and slippery floor-plates +slanted sharply under them, and each ponderous mass they loosened must +be held in with guy and preventer lest it should swing wildly into +vertical equilibrium. That was only one more difficulty, and they had +already beaten down so many. So day after day they worked on sloping +platforms, slipping with naked feet, and only grinned when Tom flung +foul epithets, and now and then a hammer, at one of them. Much of what +he said was incomprehensible, and, in any case, he was lord supreme of +the machinery; and Bill, whose speech was also vitriolic, acted as his +working deputy. The latter had served as greaser in another steamer, and +for the time being even Jefferson deferred to him. + +They stripped her until the big cylinders stood naked on their columns, +and the engine room resembled the erecting shop of a foundry, and then +the work grew harder when the reassembling began. Since the skeleton +engines slanted, nothing would hang or lower as they wanted it, and they +toiled with wedge and lever in semi-darkness by the blinking gleam of +lamps, while the rain that shut the light out roared upon the shut-down +frames above. It was very hot down in the engine room, and when a small +forge was lighted to expand joints they could not spring apart, and to +burn off saponified grease, men with less at stake would probably have +fancied themselves suffocated. Still, each massive piece was cleaned and +polished, keyed home, or bolted fast, and, when the hardest work was +over, the slope of the platforms lessened little by little as the +_Cumbria_ rose upright. It was evident to all of them that the water was +rising in the creek. + +In a month her deck was almost leveled, but the muddy flood that gurgled +about her still lay beneath her corroded water line, and Jefferson +seized the opportunity of laying out an anchor to heave on before the +stream ran too strong. The launch's boiler had given out, and they +lashed her to the surfboat, with the hatch covers as a bracing between, +but they spent an afternoon over it before Jefferson was satisfied, and +the thick, steamy night was closing in when they warped the double craft +under the _Cumbria_'s forecastle. It rose above them blackly, with a +blaze of flickering radiance over it where the blast-lamp hurled a shaft +of fire upwards into the rain. Floundering figures cut against the +uncertain brilliancy, voices came down muffled through the deluge, and +there was a creaking and groaning as the ponderous stream anchor swung +out overhead. + +Austin stood, half naked, on the platform between launch and surfboat, +with the water sluicing from him, and though he had toiled since early +dawn, he was sensible only of a feverish impatience, and no weariness at +all. He had had enough of the dark land, and what they were about to do +was to ensure a start on the journey that would take them out of it. It +grew rapidly darker, the long hull faded, and the flare of the lamp +alone cut, a sheet of orange and saffron, against the blackness above +them. Jefferson's voice fell through it sharply. + +"Stand by!" he said. "We'll ease her down!" + +There was a fresh groaning and creaking. Something big and shadowy that +racked the complaining chain descended towards them, and then there was +a scuffle and a shout on the deck above. Austin heard the rattle of +running chain and a hoarse cry. + +"Jump on it!" Jefferson's voice ran out, fierce with alarm. "Nip the +slack around the bollard. Hang on! Oh, hang on, until he gets a turn!" + +Feet shuffled about the light, there was stertorous gasping, another +cry, and a scream, and again Jefferson's voice broke through the +confused sounds: + +"Stand from under--for your life!" it said. + +The warning was unnecessary, for the Canarios were already crouching +forward in the surfboats bottom, and as Austin sprang in among them +there was a whirr and a crash. The craft swayed beneath him; he could +feel her dipping in the flood, but she rose with a staggering lurch, +slanted slightly, and held down by something huge and heavy. + +"Are you still on top there?" Jefferson asked. + +"We seem to be," said Austin. "Something's gone, but it's too dark to +see. How d'you come to let her go with a run?" + +"Wall-eye let her surge too soon," said Jefferson. "He was getting an +extra turn on, and nipped his hand in. She has 'most wrung it off him. +Handspike your anchor where you can tilt her clear before we slack +cable." + +They contrived to do it somehow, with the flare that was lowered from +the cat-davit dropping blazing oil about them, and then coiled down a +length of the ponderous cable. One of the twin craft was tilted to the +water's edge now, and still the massive iron links came clanking down. +Then, as the last fell with a crash, Jefferson leaned out over the rails +above. + +"Bend the wire on below the break. You'll want a clear link for the +shackle when we couple her up," he said. "Hang on to your anchor until +you're in the mangroves on the other bank. We want to heave towards deep +water out in the stream." + +More barefooted men came swinging down the hanging wire, and they slid +away into the blackness, bumping against the steamer's plates. The twin +craft were top-heavy, and lurched in the grip of the stream. It was a +minute or two before they had cleared the _Cumbria_, and by then they +were almost under her quarter; while when they had crept away from her a +fathom or two all of them knew there was a task in front of them that +would severely tax all their strength. + +They had the uncoiling wire rope to drag them back into line, the stream +swept them down a fathom for every one they made ahead, and, as ill luck +would have it, bore upon the launch's pressed down side so that they +could hear the water gurgling into her in ever faster swirl. Still, they +had to reach the opposite bank, or be hauled back to commence the task +again, and, gasping and panting, they heaved on the wet rope that led +into the rain ahead. Most of them were used to work of that kind, but +during the first five minutes Austin felt his arms grow weary and +nerveless, and the veins distend on his forehead, while a curious +singing commenced in his ears. He choked with every fresh grasp he laid +upon the rope, and a Canario behind him gasped out breathless snatches +of Castilian obscenity. + +Still, in spite of all they could do, the blaze of red light leaping in +the rain showed that they were making nothing, and now and then the rope +ran out again through their clinging hands. There was no sign of the +mangroves on the opposite bank, while the tilt of the platform grew +steeper, and it was evident that the launch was filling under them. +Then, little by little, the wire rope that ran out into the darkness +astern commenced to curve--they could hear the swirl of the stream +across it--and after another five minutes' tense effort they swung into +a slacker flow or reflex eddy. There was, however, no slackening of the +strain, and it was not until a dim, black wall rose up above them that +Austin loosed his grasp upon the rope, and, floundering and stumbling in +the rain and darkness, they strove to clear the anchor. + +It went over with a mighty splash, the platform rose with a jerk under +them; then, as they backed clear, there was a rattle of cable, and they +seized the wire. The lashed craft swung like a pendulum athwart the +stream, the rattling winch hauled them back fathom by fathom to the +_Cumbria_, while, when he had crawled on board her, Austin dropped +limply, and a trifle grey in face, on to the settee in the skipper's +room. + +"Well," he said, "that's done, though I think a little more of it would +have made an end of me. It is rather an astonishing thing, but while I +felt fiercely anxious to get that anchor out before we started, it +hardly seems worth the trouble now." + +"We couldn't heave her off without it," said Jefferson. "That means +going home--eventually." + +"I suppose it does," said Austin, with a little mirthless smile. "Still, +I haven't any home, you see, and I'm not sure that a lazar hospital of +some kind isn't what is awaiting me. You will remember the encouraging +words that fellow left--'My arm's almost rotten now.'" + +Jefferson slowly clenched one scarred hand. "That's a thing we are +neither of us strong enough to think about. It's a little too +horrible--it couldn't happen!" + +"It's scarcely likely in your case, at least. He didn't put his arm +round you, and I had nothing worth mentioning on that night. Men do die +rotten, and I fancied once or twice I felt a suggestive tingling in my +skin." + +Jefferson seemed to be holding himself in hand with a struggle, but +Austin smiled. + +"Well," he said, "if it comes at all, it will get the right one. I'm not +going home to be married. In fact, I was told that it would be rather a +graceful thing to come back upon my shield, though I don't know that I +would like to do so looking as that nigger did. In the meanwhile, I had, +perhaps, better see to Wall-eye's hand." + +He went out into the darkness, and Jefferson stood still, with his lips +set tight, leaning on the table. He was, in some respects, a hard man, +and his sojourn in Africa had not roused his gentler qualities, but just +then he felt an unpleasant physical nausea creeping over him again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +HOVE OFF + + +The rain came down in sheets, and the mangrove roots were hidden by the +yellow flood, when Jefferson stood, dripping, on the _Cumbria_'s bridge. +Her iron deck was level, the stumpy pole masts ran upright into the +drifting mist, and a column of black smoke floated sluggishly from her +rusty funnel. Dingy vapour also rose from the slender one of the +locomotive boiler, and cables--hemp and wire and chain--stretched +between the mangroves and the steamer's bow and stern. Jefferson, +leaning heavily on the bridge rails, considered them each in turn. He +shivered a little, though the rain was warm, and his wet face looked +unusually gaunt and worn; but his eyes were intent and steady, for at +last all was ready for the supreme effort of heaving the _Cumbria_ off. + +He looked down when Austin stopped at the foot of the ladder. His face +and hands were black, and the thin singlet, which was all he wore above +his duck trousers, seemed glued to him. + +"Hadn't you better keep inside the wheelhouse until we start the mill?" +he said. + +Jefferson smiled drily. "Do you think you could? What are you wandering +up and down the deck for?" + +"I'm not. I've been firing the locomotive boiler, and spent the last +twenty minutes in the forecastle. It isn't as dry as it should be +there." + +He spoke lightly, though there was a suggestion of tension in his voice, +and it was evident that both of them were anxious. Indeed, Jefferson +fancied that his comrade found it difficult to stand still at all. + +"Well?" he said. + +"There are a third of them I daren't turn out, and two or three of the +others who are down with Tom look a good deal shakier than I care about. +Still, you see, I couldn't keep them in. They've had about enough of +this country, and I don't blame them. You can figure on about half of us +as reasonably effective, but what everybody wants to know is, when we +are to begin." + +"When you can give me eighty pounds of steam. Then we'll shake her up +for an hour or two with reversed propeller, and heave on everything when +you get up to the hundred. Still, although we have blown a good deal of +the mud out forward, I expect she'll want another fifty before she'll +move." + +Austin glanced at the gap in the forest beneath the bows, across which +the shattered mangroves were strewn. He and Jefferson had gone over all +this before, but since he had stopped by the ladder they must talk of +something, for silence would have been intolerable just then. + +"I'll go down and stir them up, though I'm not sure that they need it," +he said. + +He disappeared round the deck-house, and now there was nobody to see +him, Jefferson paced feverishly up and down the bridge, until Wall-eye, +the steward, came pattering barefoot along the deck, with his arm in a +sling. Jefferson stopped him with a sign. + +"Slip into Mr. Austin's room, and bring me the thermometer he keeps in +the little case," he said. "As usual, no comprenny? Casetta de cuero, +very chiquitita." + +The man went away, and when he came back Jefferson, who went into the +wheelhouse, sucked the little clinical thermometer gravely for a minute +or two. Then he frowned as he looked at it. + +"Ninety-nine, point something. I guess it's coming on again," he said. +"Well, one can go on working when it's a good deal more than that, +especially when he has to." + +He came out, and, leaning down, dropped the case into the hands of the +man below. + +"Put it back, and don't let Mr. Austin know," he said. "Señor Austin no +savvy, you comprenny?" + +Wall-eye grinned as he went away. He could, of course, hold his tongue, +but the little case was sodden already, and it could not have got so wet +as that in Austin's room. + +In the meanwhile Austin had gone down to the stoke-hold. The place was +dimly lighted, and insufferably hot, for, with the _Cumbria_ stationary, +no more air came down the ventilator shafts than the fires would draw, +and they were burning sulkily. In fact, it was only by strenuous labour +that steam could be raised at all. Here and there the pale flicker of an +oil lamp emphasised the gloom, though there were three half-moon patches +of brightness in each of the two boilers, until a fierce red glow beat +out as Tom, the donkey-man, flung open a furnace door. Then Austin +gained some impression of his surroundings. + +The bent figures of half naked men with shovels were forced out of the +shadows. Another man, dripping with perspiration, pushed a clattering +truck, and several more lay, apparently inert, upon the floor-plates, +with water thick with coal grime trickling from them. Only two of them +were professional firemen, and all were weakened by the climate or +shaken by the fever, while as the red light touched them, Austin could +see how worn they were, and the suggestive hollows in their uncovered +skin. There are also things which it is unfit that a white man should +do, and firing in a calm in the tropics is one of them. Austin, +however, had little time to look about him in, for Tom thrust an iron +bar into one of the Spaniards's hands. + +"Stand by with the bucket, you. Now, out with the clinker!" he said. + +It is probable that the last man addressed did not understand what was +said, but he knew how to clean a fire, and stood, half crouching, before +the furnace, with face averted, while he plied the bar. There was a +rattling beneath the grate-bars and an overpowering wave of heat, in the +midst of which the man stood bowed, with thin garments scorching and his +hair frizzling visibly. Austin could hear his gasping breath, and became +possessed by a sense of futile indignation. Toil of that kind was, he +felt, more than could be expected of anything made in the image of a +man. Then the Canario let the bar fall clanging, and seized another, +while the heat grew more intense when he raked out the ash and glowing +clinker from the flaming tunnel. Austin shrank back with a hand upon his +eyes and singlet singeing, and his voice broke through Tom's cry of +"Damp her down!" + +"Por misericordia," he said, "echadle agua!" + +Somebody swung a bucket, and a cloud of steam whirled up; but the man +who had cleaned the fire let his scraper fall, and lurching with a half +strangled cry, went down amidst the vapour. He lay with scorched chest +and arms on the floor-plates, making little stertorous noises, until +Tom, who tore the bucket from his comrade's hands, flung the rest of its +contents over him. + +"Drag him away!" he said, and turned to Austin. "He's the second one, +but he'll come round by and by. Did you come down to look on or give us +a hand?" + +He flung open another door, and Austin took a shovel from a weary man. +He had studied the art of firing up on deck, where it was considerably +cooler, before the locomotive boiler, but he discovered that the work +now demanded from him was an entirely different matter. The heat was +overpowering, the bed of glowing fuel long, and it was only by the +uttermost swing of shoulders and wrench of back and loins that he could +effectively distribute his shovelful. He felt his lowered face +scorching, and the sweat of effort dripped from him, but he toiled on in +Berserker fury while Tom encouraged him. + +"Spread it!" he said. "Next lot well down to the back end. You needn't +be afraid to move yourself. Keep her thin!" + +Austin wondered whether he had any eyebrows left when that furnace was +filled, but it was done at last, and then there was coal to be trimmed +from the bunkers. The dust that whirled about the shovels blackened and +choked him, but he worked on savagely. Every man was needed, with half +the Spaniards sick, and he felt that if this was the cost of success it +was not fitting that he should shirk his part in it. Social distinctions +counted for nothing there; the barriers of creed and nationality had +also melted. They were all privates in that forlorn hope, with death as +the penalty of failure, and while they could not be more, none of them +that day dared be less, than men. + +He never remembered all he did. There was a constant clanging of +shovels, whirring of coal trucks, and slamming of iron doors that opened +to let out fiery heat and radiance and take the flying fuel in. Men came +and went like phantoms, gasping, panting, groaning now and then, and the +voice of their leader rose stridently at intervals. He was a man of low +degree, and his commands were not characterised by any particular +delicacy, but he was the man they needed, and when he emphasised his +instructions with a grimy hand, and now and then the flat of the +shovel, nobody resented it. During one brief interlude he found breath +for a deprecatory word or two with Austin. + +"If she was doing her eight or ten knots it wouldn't be as hard as +this," he said. "Then the ventilators would cool her down. The fires +won't burn themselves now--you have got to make them; but you'll find +her steam sweet and easy when she's going up the trades head to breeze." + +"I wonder," said Austin grimly, "how many of us will be left when she +gets there." + +Then Bill, who had been busy at the locomotive boiler, came down the +ladder with a message, and he and Tom vanished into the engine room, +while Austin, who greatly desired to go with them, put a restraint upon +himself. For some minutes he felt his heart beat as he listened to a +premonitory wheezing and panting, and then his blood seemed to tingle as +this merged into the steady rumble of engines. The faint quiver of the +floor-plates sent a thrill through him, and he drew in a great breath of +relief when beam and angle commenced to tremble. The rumbling grew +steadily louder, the whirl of the reversed propeller shook the ship, and +it was evident that the engines were running well. + +After that, however, the work became harder still, for the big cylinders +must be fed, and it was with a sensation of thankfulness that he had not +broken down beneath the strain Austin dragged himself up the ladder when +a message was brought him that he was wanted to drive the after winch. +It was raining heavily, but he found it a relief to feel the deluge beat +upon his beaded face and scorched skin, though he could scarcely see the +mangroves to which the wire that ran from the winch drum led. It was +shackled to a big bridle, a loop of twisted steel that wound in and out +among a rood or two of the stoutest trees. The winch was also powerful, +and it remained to be seen whether it would heave the _Cumbria_ out of +her miry bed, or pull that portion of the watery forest up bodily. A +great cable that slanted back towards him rose out of the water forward +in a curve, and he could dimly see Jefferson's lean figure outlined +against the drifting mist high up on the bridge. On the forecastle +beyond it more shadowy men stood still, and Austin wondered whether +their hearts beat as his did while they waited. The man beside him +stooped ready, with body bent in a rigid curve, and bare, stiffened +arms, clenching the wire that led to the winch-drum. There was a +minute's waiting, and then Jefferson, moving along the bridge, flung up +a hand. + +"Heave!" he said. + +Austin felt his pulses quicken and a curious sense of exultation as he +unscrewed the valve, for it seemed to him that flesh and blood had borne +the strain too long, and now they had steel and steam to fight for them. +The deck beneath him quivered as the screw whirled faster, and he could +see the poop shaking visibly. Then the winch wheezed and pounded, and +there was a groaning forward as the rattle of the windlass joined in. +Wire and hemp and studded chain rose ripping from the river, creaked and +groaned and strained, but when they had drawn each curve out they could +get no inch of slack in. Austin clenched his fingers on the valve-wheel, +but his eyes were fixed on the lonely figure pacing feverishly up and +down the bridge, and just then he felt all the bitterness of defeat. The +rattle forward died away, and though the winch still whirred and +hammered, none of the wire rope ran over the drum into the crouching +Spaniard's hands. The tension lasted for some minutes, and then +Jefferson's voice came down harshly through the rain. + +"Let up!" he said. "Get down, half of you, and see if you can help them +with the firing. We'll try her again when you have raised more steam." + +There was, by contrast, a curious silence when the roar of steam died +away, and the thudding of the big engines below decks sank to a lower +pitch. The men who could be spared went down in a body, and toiled for +another hour in a frenzy. The fierce Latin blood was up; they knew it +was the last round, and they would not be beaten now. The throbbing +blast which rushed skywards from the blow-off valve when they came up +again showed what they had done, and Austin walked aft, singed and +blackened, to his winch, with his heart in his mouth. It must be now or +never, for it was clear to him that the men were making their last +effort, and the boilers would not bear another pound of steam. + +The windlass was groaning horribly when he opened the valve, and the +whole ship trembled with the whirring of the screw. He saw the drums +spin round futilely for a moment or two, and then the Spaniard, who +crouched behind one of them, howled, as a foot of the uncoiling wire +came back to his hands. Simultaneously, the groaning of the windlass +changed to a clanking rattle, and no sound had ever seemed half so +musical to Austin. The ship shook beneath him, and creaked in all her +frame, while the hammering and rattling swelled into a frantic din as +she commenced to move. He felt as though he were choking, and his sight +momentarily failed him; but as yet the battle was not quite won, and +closing blackened fingers on the valve-wheel, he watched the rope come +home with dazzled eyes. It ran in faster and faster; he could hear the +great stud-cable splashing and grinding as it came in, too, and for five +breathless minutes he held himself to his task, feeling the _Cumbria_ +creep down stream, stern foremost, under him. Then her pace grew faster, +and the clanging of his winch seemed to deafen him, until at last a +shrill-pitched voice fell through the din. + +"Bastante!" it said. "She's clear now! 'Vast heaving!" + +Then the tension slackened as the long, rusty hull swung out into +midstream, and flesh and blood were left shaken, and, as yet, unable to +recover from the suddenly lifted strain in the silence, as winch and +engines stopped. Tom, the donkey-man, was chanting some incoherent +ribaldry forward; here and there a Canario howled or flung up dripping +arms; while the one beside Austin sat down upon the hatch and rocked +himself to and fro as he called upon the Queen of Heaven. Only Jefferson +stood very still, a tall, lean figure, on the bridge, with his torn and +drenched clothing sticking to him, and Austin leaned heavily upon his +winch. He did not wish to move, and was not sure he could have done so +had he wanted to. The _Cumbria_ was clear afloat, and they had won; but +there was nothing he could say or do which would sufficiently celebrate +that triumph. + +Jefferson gave them five minutes to recover their balance, and then his +voice came down again. The windlass clanked its hardest, wire hawsers +splashed, and the _Cumbria_ had swung across to the opposite forest when +the big anchor rose to her bows. In the meanwhile the surfboat had been +busy, too; and when the winch whirred again they slid away, stern +foremost, with propeller churning slowly, against the muddy stream. It +was twenty minutes later when, with a roar of running cable, the anchor +plunged once more, and she brought up abreast of the creek where the +coal and oil were stored. Jefferson came down from his bridge and sat +down on the table in the skipper's room when Austin flung himself on to +the settee, with the water trickling from him. + +"Well," he said, "we have floated her, but there's still a good deal to +be done. There are the coal and oil to get on board, and then we have to +find the gum." + +Austin looked up at him with a little smile. + +"That's rather a prosaic epilogue when one comes to think of it," he +said. + +"Then you can paint a picture of it when you get home, if you fancy it +worth while," said Jefferson drily. + +"I don't think it would be," and Austin smiled again. "After all, a +picture either goes beyond or falls a long way short of the real thing, +and the subject's rather too big for me. Man's domination symbolised by +a staggering scarecrow with a fireman's shovel." + +Jefferson dropped his hand on his shoulder, and gripped it hard. "Well," +he said, "you can drive a winch and sling a palm oil puncheon like a +sailorman. I guess that's 'most as useful as the other thing, any way." + +"Ah!" said Austin, "you're skirting rather a big question, but we are +practical now. Are you going to dig the gum up before you heave in +cargo?" + +"I'm not. It seems to me it's safer where it is in the meanwhile, so +long as Funnel-paint doesn't know where to look for it. If you'll give +me a dose of quinine I'd be obliged to you." + +Austin glanced at him sharply. "Have you any special reason for asking +for it?" + +"I've been in the rain quite a long while now, and it's a good deal +wiser to head off a fever than wriggle out of its clutches once it gets +a good grip on you. One gets cautious in this country." + +Austin said nothing further, for he was by this time well acquainted +with his comrade's characteristics, but he was not quite contented with +the latter's reason when he lugged out the medicine chest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM + + +A half-moon shone in a rift between the massed banks of cloud when +Austin stood looking down into the trench four of the Spaniards were +digging. It ran partly across the islet, which was small and sandy, +intersecting another excavation that had a palm at one end of it, while +a half-rotten cottonwood, from which orchids sprang, stood in line with +the trench the men were toiling in. They were shovelling strenuously, +and the thud of the sand they flung out jarred on the silence, for the +night was very still. Austin could hear the creek lapping on the beach, +and the deep humming of the _Cumbria_'s pump, softened by the distance. +She lay, with a light or two blinking fitfully on board her, half a mile +away, ready at last for sea. Then he glanced at Jefferson, who stood +close beside him, shivering a little, though the night was hot, as he +leaned upon a shovel. + +"We have been at it, at least, a couple of hours," Austin said +suggestively. + +Jefferson laughed. "And we'll be here this time to-morrow unless we find +the case. There's only one on this islet, that fellow said, and, as I +tried to point out, the men who buried it probably wanted to get the +thing done quickly. They'd have run a line from the two trees, and +either dumped the case at the intersection or a few paces outside it on +a given bearing. If we don't strike it in a few minutes we'll work a +traverse." + +Ten minutes passed, and then one of the Canarios cried out excitedly as +he struck something with his shovel. Austin saw his comrade's hands +quiver on the shovel-haft in the moonlight, but that was all, and next +moment two of the Spaniards fell on hands and knees in the sand. They +flung it up in showers with their fingers, while Austin, by an effort, +stood very still, for he felt that he might do things he would be sorry +for afterwards if he let himself go. The Latins were panting in their +eagerness, and wallowing rather like beasts than men amidst the flying +sand. Then one of them, who dragged something out, hove it up and flung +it at Austin's feet with a gasp of consternation. + +"Ah, maldito! Es muy chiquitita!" he said. + +Austin set his lips as he glanced at his comrade, whose face grew +suddenly hard. + +"Yes," he said, with portentous quietness. "It is remarkably small, and +by the way he hove it up there can't be very much in it." + +They stood still a moment, looking down at the little wooden case, while +the Spaniards clustered round them, with eyes that gleamed in the +moonlight, breathing unevenly. Then Jefferson said: "Light that +blast-lamp, and we'll open it." + +Austin's fingers trembled, and he wasted several matches before the +sheet of flame sprang up. Then he fell furiously upon the case with a +hammer and splintered the lid. He plunged his hand in and took out a +quill, which he twisted until it burst, and spilled a little heap of +gleaming grains in his palm. + +"It's gold," he said. + +"Empty the lot!" said Jefferson, and his voice was hoarse. "Your hat is +big enough. It will all go into it." + +There was a low murmur from the Spaniards when Austin obeyed him, and he +handed the wide-brimmed hat to Jefferson. + +"Would you make it four pounds?" asked the latter. + +"I certainly would not." + +Jefferson laughed harshly. "Then it's probably worth some £200," he +said. "It's rather a grim joke, considering what has no doubt been done +for the sake of it." + +He laid the hat down, and one of the Spaniards, glancing at the little +pile of quills, broke into a torrent of horrible maledictions, while +Austin, who said nothing, gazed at his comrade until the latter made a +curious little gesture. + +"There is still the gum," he said. + +Austin smiled sardonically. "If you can still believe in it you are an +optimist of the finest water. Any way, we'll go and look for it. It will +be a relief to get done with the thing." + +They waded to the surfboat, which lay close by on the beach, and slid +down stream to an adjacent island, where they had no difficulty in +finding the tree the man who made the note in the engineers' tables had +alluded to. The moon had, however, sunk behind a cloud, and they toiled +by the light of the blast-lamp for half an hour, until once more one of +the Canarios struck something with his shovel. They dragged it out with +difficulty, and found it to be a heavy, half-rotten bag, with something +that appeared to be a package of plaited fibre inside it. Other bags +followed, and hope was growing strong in them again when they had +disclosed at least a score. Jefferson looked at Austin with a little +smile in his eyes. + +"There's a couple of hundred pounds, any way, in each of those bags, and +if the man who told me was right, that stuff is worth anything over £100 +the ton," he said. "So far as we have prospected, this strip of sand is +full of them. It's going to be more profitable than gold-mining. We'll +get this lot into the surfboat first. Put that lamp out." + +Austin did so, and they staggered through a foot or two of water with +the bags on their backs. Some of them burst as they carried them, but +the fibre packages remained intact, and the big boat was almost loaded +when Austin, who was breathless, seated himself for a moment on her +gunwale. He could see by the silvery gleam on the cloud bank's edge that +the moon was coming through again, and he was glad of the fact, for he +had stumbled and once fallen heavily under his burden when floundering +through the strip of thorny brushwood which fringed the beach. Still, he +agreed with Jefferson that it was not advisable to use the big +blast-light any longer than was absolutely necessary, for they both had +an unpleasant suspicion that they had not done yet with Funnel-paint. It +was, indeed, for that reason they had made the search at night and used +the surfboat, which could be paddled almost silently, instead of the +launch, though Tom had repaired her boiler, and she was then lying +alongside the _Cumbria_, with steam up, ready. + +The black hull of the latter was faintly visible, and as he glanced at +it he fancied that a puff of white steam sprang up where he supposed the +locomotive boiler to be. A moment later a thin, shrill scream rang +through the stillness, and one of the Spaniards, startled by the sound, +fell heavily against the boat with the bag he was carrying. Austin made +a sign to Jefferson, who was staggering across the beach with a bag upon +his back. + +"They're whistling," he said. "I fancy I can hear the launch coming." + +There was another hoarser scream, and when it died away a low thudding +sound crept out of the darkness. Austin swept his gaze upriver, but +could only see the shadowy mangroves, for the moon had not come through +yet. + +"Funnel-paint!" said Jefferson, breathlessly. "There are four more bags +in sight. We'll get her afloat before we go for them." + +They did it up to their waists in water, and it cost them an effort, for +the big boat was heavy now; and then, though the Spaniards glanced +longingly at the _Cumbria_'s blinking lights, Jefferson insisted upon +their carrying down the bags. When that was done, nobody lost any time +in getting on board; and, grasping the paddles, they drove her out into +the stream. + +"Paddle!" said Jefferson grimly. "I guess it's for your lives!" + +It is probable that the Spaniards did not understand him, but they did +what they could, for while the clank of the launch's engines grew louder +the sound of paddles was also rapidly drawing nearer. There were, +however, very few of them, and the boat was big, so that Austin gasped +with relief when at last the little steamer swept round her stern. + +"Stand by for the line!" said Tom, who sprang up on her deck. "They +can't be far off. It's ten minutes, any way, since we first heard their +paddles." + +The tow-line was caught, and tightened with a jerk, and the surfboat +went upstream with the yellow water frothing about her, while Austin +could hear the rhythmic thud of paddles through the clank of +hard-pressed engines. Jefferson said nothing, but stood rigidly still, +with hands clenched on the big steering oar, until they drove alongside +the _Cumbria_. + +"Up with you, Tom, and see they whip those bags in!" he said. "I want +the case you'll find under the settee in my room, too. You'll sing out +for two or three men who can be relied on, Austin." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Austin. + +Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "Head the devils off from the island, +any way, and, if it's necessary, obliterate some of Funnel-paint's +friends. It's fortunate the launch has twice the speed of any canoe." + +He clambered on board the launch, and when a few more men came +scrambling down, swung her out before they could decide whether it would +be wiser to climb back again. After that, he left the helm to Austin, +and moving towards the engine, opened the valve wide. + +"Head her for the islet. If they have had anybody watching us in a +canoe, they'll go there first," he said. + +Austin made a sign of comprehension, but said nothing until his comrade, +sitting down, opened the case he had asked for. Then he became possessed +by unpleasant apprehensions as he saw Jefferson take out several rolls +of giant-powder with fuses attached to them. They looked exactly like +candles now, only the wicks were black, and unusually long. Sitting +still, very grim in face, he tied one or two together, and then nipped a +piece or two off the fuses with his knife. + +"I guess it would be as well to make sure," he said. + +"Of what?" asked Austin. + +"That they'll go off when I want them," and Jefferson laughed a little +grating laugh. "I've had them ready for some while, and took a good deal +of trouble timing the fuses. Now, the effect of giant-powder's usually +local, and I figure one could throw these things far enough for us to +keep outside the striking radius. They'd go better with a little +compression, but there's a big detonator inside them which should stir +them up without it. If these two sticks fell upon a nigger they wouldn't +blow him up. They'd dissolve him right into gases, and it's quite +probable there wouldn't be any trace of him left." + +Austin asked no more questions. Worn as he was by tense effort and the +climate, kept awake as he had been to watch when he might have slept at +night, and troubled by vague apprehensions that the loathsome plague +might be working in his blood, he was ready, and, perhaps, rather more +than that, to turn upon the man who had made their heavy burden more +oppressive still. Indeed, it would have been a relief to him to feel the +jump of a rifle barrel in his hand, but from Jefferson's scheme he +shrank almost aghast. To run amuck, with flashing pistol or smashing +firebar, among the canoes, would have appeared to him a natural thing, +but the calculating quietness of his comrade, who sat so unconcernedly, +making sure that the rolls of plastic material should not fail, struck +him as wholly abnormal, and a trifle horrible. Pistol shot, machete +slash, and spear thrust, were things that one might face; but it seemed +beyond toleration that another man should unloose the tremendous +potentialities pent up in those yellow rolls upon flesh and blood. + +He was, however, quite aware that there was nothing to be gained by +protesting, and while Jefferson went on with his grim preparations he +turned his gaze upriver towards the approaching canoes. He could see +them clearly, black bars that slid with glinting paddles athwart a track +of silvery radiance, for the half-moon had sailed out from behind the +cloud. They were coming on in a phalanx, five or six of them, and the +splash and thud of the paddles rose in a rhythmic din. He swung the +launch's bows a trifle down stream, to run in between them and the +island. + +Then he turned again, and saw Bill, the fireman, watching Jefferson. The +light of the engine lantern was on his face, and it showed wry and +repulsive with its little venomous grin. Forward, the Spaniards were +clustered together, and they were, by their movements, apparently +loosening their wicked knives; but they showed no sign of consternation, +and Austin became sensible of a change in his mood. It seemed to him +that he and they had grown accustomed to fear, and felt it less in the +land of shadow. If they were to be wiped out by a spear thrust, or +Jefferson's giant-powder, which seemed equally likely, nothing that he +could do would avert it; but by degrees he became possessed by a quiet +vindictive anger against the man who had forced this quarrel on them +when their task was almost done. There were, he fancied, fifty or sixty +men in the canoes, and he felt a little thrill of grim satisfaction as +he reflected that if he and his comrades went under they would not go +alone. In fact, he could almost sympathise with Jefferson. + +In the meanwhile the canoes were drawing level with them as they +approached the islet. He could see the wet paddles glinting, and the +naked bodies swing, while presently Jefferson, who made Bill a little +sign to stop the engine, stood up on the deck. The case of giant-powder +lay open at his feet, and Bill laid a glowing iron on the cylinder +covering. The men in the canoes ceased paddling, and while the craft +slid slowly nearer each other there was for a moment or two an +impressive silence, through which Austin fancied he could hear a faint +rhythmic throbbing. Then Jefferson, who cut one of the rolls of +giant-powder through, flung up his hand. + +"Where you lib for, Funnel-paint?" he shouted. + +"Them beach," said the negro, and his voice reached them clearly. "We +done come for them gum. You lib for 'teamboat before we cut you t'roat!" + +"Then I'm going to put the biggest kind of Ju-Ju onto you," said +Jefferson. "You savvy how I blow up them headman's house? If you don't +want to be blown up like it, lib for up river one time, and be ---- to +you!" + +There was probably only one man among them who partly understood him, +but his gesture was fierce and commanding, and the confused splashing +of paddles suggested that some, at least, of the negroes were impressed. +Two of the canoes moved backwards against the stream, and while +Funnel-paint cried out in his own tongue, Jefferson stooped. + +"Touch that on the iron, Bill," he said. + +In another moment he stood very straight again with a dim object that +sparkled in his hand, and then hurled it at the island. It fell amidst +the brushwood, out of which there sprang a sheet of flame that was +followed by a detonation and a great upheaval of flying sand. Then the +paddles splashed confusedly, and in another minute or two the canoes +were a hundred yards away. After that there was silence, broken only by +the voice of Funnel-paint, who seemed to be flinging reproaches at his +friends, and a faint, dull throbbing which Austin fancied was a trifle +plainer than before. Then Jefferson laughed as he took up another stick +of giant-powder. + +"That seems to have scared them, but if they come back again they'll get +the next one in the middle of them," he said. + +"Listen!" said Austin, holding up his hand. "Can't you hear engines?" + +Jefferson swung round sharply, and the scream of a whistle came shrilly +across the water from the _Cumbria_ just then. It was answered by +another of a deeper tone, and a blaze of blue light sprang up, +apparently out of the creek. It showed a black shape that wallowed +through a mass of piled up foam. + +"A launch!" said Jefferson. "A fast one!" + +"No," said Austin. "A pinnace. A gunboat's pinnace. Ah! the canoes are +going." + +There was a sudden thudding of paddles, and the canoes melted into the +darkness as the moon sailed behind a cloud again; but the whirr and +thump of engines drew nearer, and Jefferson reached down for the +lantern. + +"Well," he said, "a good deal depends upon what country she belongs to, +and it's quite likely we're going to have trouble. Still, we have got to +face it now." + +He waved the lantern, and while the whirr of engines slackened a voice +came out of the darkness. + +"Launch ahoy! Is that the _Cumbria_ yonder?" it said in excellent +English. + +Austin took the lantern from Jefferson with a soft laugh. + +"I'll take charge now--you see, I'm acquainted with my countrymen's +little peculiarities," he said, and raised his voice a trifle. "It is. +If you don't mind steaming that far, we should consider it a pleasure to +do anything we can for you." + +"If you have no great objections, I'll come on board now," said the +other man. "Starboard a little! Start her slow!" + +There was a whirring of engines, a little, very trim pinnace crept up +alongside, and a young man in immaculate white uniform stepped on the +launch's deck. + +"Ah!" he said, "Mr. Austin! I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. +What has become of the niggers?" + +"Which niggers?" asked Jefferson, carelessly. + +The young officer looked at him with a little dry smile, and it was +evident that his eyes were keen, for he made a sign to Bill, who was +about to secrete the giant-powder. + +"I am," he said, "under the impression that you know a good deal more +about them than I do. We have rather good glasses, and I certainly made +out four or five canoes. May I ask what that stuff is yonder?" + +"It is what, I believe, is called in America giant-powder," said Austin. +"We found it useful in blowing the mangroves up." + +"Quite so," said the officer. "In fact, we heard the detonation. Still, +I daresay there are several things we should like to ask each other +about, and you suggested going across to your steamer." + +"I did," said Austin. "We should be glad of your company for to-night, +at least, though I'm afraid we can't offer you much to eat. This is my +partner, Jefferson--Lieutenant Onslow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AUSTIN'S TOAST + + +An hour had passed since their first meeting, when Austin, Jefferson, +and two navy men sat round a little table that had been laid out upon +the _Cumbria_'s bridge deck. It was slightly cooler there than it was +below, besides which the mess-rooms reeked with damp and mildew. A lamp +hung from one of the awning spars above them, and its light fell upon +the men's faces and the remnants of the very frugal meal. The handful of +bluejackets who came up in her had apparently gone to sleep beneath an +awning on the flooring of the pinnace, which lay alongside, but a sharp +clinking rose from the lighted engine room, where a couple of naval +artificers were busy with Tom, the donkey-man. The gunboat's surgeon, +who had been round the forecastle, was talking to Austin, while her +commander lay opposite Jefferson, immaculately neat, in a canvas chair. + +"Our tale," he said, "is a very simple one. As we didn't seem to be +wanted anywhere just now, we moored ship snugly in the bight behind the +island, and decided to get a little painting done. She was getting rusty +along the water-line, and one can't get at it well when she's washing +through a swell, you know. Under the circumstances, I seized the +opportunity to do a little rough surveying. We are expected to pick up +any information that may be of use to the Admiralty hydrographers." + +Jefferson lay very limply in his chair, but his eyes twinkled +appreciatively. "Well," he said, "I guess that would look all right in +the log, but any one who had seen you start surveying would wonder why +you brought those cases of provisions as well as engine oil and packing, +and two or three ingots of bearing metal. We were uncommonly glad to get +them and see the artificers, though I'm not sure your Admiralty would +approve of the way you're squandering its stores." + +Onslow laughed. "We are not forbidden to offer assistance to any one in +want of it, and the provisions, at least, do not belong to our +parsimonious Lords. In fact, they were handed me at Las Palmas by a +friend of yours, on the off chance of our falling in with you. Of +course, I could not exactly promise that you would get them, though I +had reasons for believing the thing was possible." + +Jefferson filled a wineglass, and thrust the bottle across the table. + +"I think I know the lady's name," he said. "This is the first wine I've +drunk since I came to Africa, and it will probably be the last until I +get out of it again. To-morrow it's going forward to the sick men in the +forecastle. The lady who sent it is not going to mind my passing the +kindness on." + +"I venture to think she would approve," and Onslow glanced at Austin. +"In fact, I couldn't quite help a fancy she intended it as a +peace-offering. Miss Brown is, as you are probably aware, capable of +conveying an impression without saying anything very definite, and the +one I received from her was that she felt she had been a trifle hard on +somebody. I should, of course, not have presumed to mention it had it +not been borne in on me that it was not intended I should keep that +impression entirely to myself. If I have been mistaken I must apologise +to her and both of you." + +Jefferson stood up with the wineglass in his hand, and the others rose +with him. + +"This," he said, "is a little out of my usual line, but it's her wine +we're drinking, and I can't quite let the occasion pass. 'To Her Serene +Excellency, the cleverest woman in the Canaries, who hasn't forgotten +us!'" + +Austin stood opposite him, a ragged, climate-worn skeleton, with a +little flush in his haggard face, and he looked at the gunboat's +commander. + +"My comrade hasn't gone quite far enough," he said. "The Queen, who can +do no wrong!" + +Then the glasses were emptied, and there was a moment's silence when +they sat down. Three of them were, after all, somewhat reserved +Englishmen, who had, for once, allowed their thoughts to become +apparent; and Commander Onslow, who felt that he had, perhaps, exceeded +his somewhat delicate commission, was distinctly displeased with +himself. He had had a certain conversation with Mrs. Hatherly, who had +been rather frank with him, before he left the Canaries, and the +attitude of the ragged adventurer who had proclaimed his unwavering +devotion to the woman who had sent him there appealed to him, so much +so, in fact, that it made him uncomfortable. It was, he felt, advisable +to change the subject. + +"Considering everything, it was, perhaps, as well we turned up when we +did. You see, those niggers don't belong to us," he said. "I was, I may +admit, rather thankful when they disappeared, since it might have made a +good deal of trouble if we had taken a hand in. Now you understand that, +you may be willing to tell me what you purposed doing with the +giant-powder." + +Jefferson laughed grimly. "If you had come five minutes later I'd have +blown half of them to the devil. We, at least, can't afford to be +particular." + +"You had, presumably, a reason? I wonder if you have any objections to +telling us the rest of it in confidence?" + +Jefferson, who lighted a cigar, told him the story, and Onslow lay back +in his chair, listening with grave attention, while the surgeon leaned +forward with elbows on the table. At last Onslow shook his head. + +"It's interesting, exceedingly," he said. "Still, I don't think I'd +recommend you to tell it in quite that shape to everybody. It would +probably make trouble, and you mightn't find anybody very willing to +believe you. Things of that kind don't happen now--at least, they're not +supposed to--and I fancy it would prove a good deal more convenient just +to mention the simple facts. You bought the steamer stranded, and, with +considerable difficulty, got her off." + +"We had practically decided on doing no more than that already," said +Austin. "Still, I wonder if, now you have heard the story, one could ask +your views?" + +Onslow smiled drily. "I haven't any, and if I were you, I wouldn't worry +about anything beyond the financial aspect of the affair. Nobody is +likely to thank you, and the only men who could tell you what happened +are dead, you know." + +Austin saw that Jefferson also recognised that the advice was good, and, +changing the subject, he spoke to the surgeon. The latter looked +thoughtful. + +"I can't tell you what that man was afflicted with," he said. "There are +several African diseases we are not acquainted with, and a good many of +their troubles are supposed to be contagious. Of course, you could apply +to the College of Tropical Diseases they've lately started in Liverpool, +if you are really interested." + +"I am," said Austin. "In fact, I'm very much so, indeed. You see, I had +practically nothing on, and he got his festering arms round me." + +The surgeon looked at him gravely. "I scarcely think you need worry, but +if you have to do any rough work I would endeavour to avoid any +lacerated bruises, and, as far as possible, keep your skin unbroken." + +"It's a little difficult on board this steamer. There are several raw +patches on my arms now." + +The surgeon promised to attend to them, but just then Onslow turned to +Jefferson. + +"Have you opened up any of the gum yet?" he asked. + +Jefferson said he had not, and was rather anxious to do so, whereupon +Onslow and the surgeon offered to accompany him, and they went down the +ladder together to where the bags still lay upon the forward hatch. + +"I shouldn't wonder if you were right about its value," said the +surgeon, when Jefferson held up the lantern one of the Spaniards had +handed him. "We took a Senegal Frenchman down the coast last trip, and +he had rather a craze upon the subject. There is, I understood from him, +a particular gum the niggers find somewhere between here and the head of +the Niger, for which one could get almost what he liked to ask from the +makers of special high-class varnishes. In fact, the man said that one +of them who had been trying it told him that it must be used in certain +processes whatever its cost might be. The only trouble was that it +appeared very difficult to get hold of, except in the smallest +quantities; but perhaps your Frenchman had got on the track of it." + +Austin tore one of the bags, which were very rotten, across, and then +slit the fibre package beneath it. The surgeon, who stooped beside him, +was the first to thrust his hand into the opening. + +"The nodules seem very uniform in size," he said, and then stood up +suddenly, with astonishment in his face. "I'm almost afraid that +somebody has been beforehand with you." + +"What do you mean?" asked Austin, still tearing at the package. + +The surgeon turned and gazed hard at Jefferson. "This is certainly not +gum. It looks very like an ordinary palm kernel." + +He held up a little, round, black object, and Jefferson's face grew +grim, while he clenched one hand. Then he wrenched the knife from Austin +and fell on his knees, ripping at the fibre package savagely. It opened +beneath the steel, and when its contents poured out on deck he rose with +a little bitter laugh. There was no doubt whatever. They were palm +kernels. A curious silence followed, during which Jefferson leaned +against the rail, looking down upon the bags with expressionless eyes, +until he made a little gesture. + +"Well," he said, very quietly, "it seems we have had our trouble for +nothing. You may as well open the rest of them." + +Austin was not sure how he contrived to do it. He felt suddenly limp and +feeble, but holding himself in hand by an effort, he slit the remaining +bags, and flooded the deck with kernels. There was nothing else, and the +kernels appeared half rotten. + +"This must be a little rough on you," said Onslow, with a trace of +awkwardness. "I understand you expected to find more of the stuff +yonder." + +"I did," said Jefferson. "Funnel-paint can have it now. We have had +about enough of this country, and if your artificers fancy we could +trust that starboard boiler, we'll set about raising steam to take her +out first thing in the morning." + +Onslow made a little gesture of sympathy. "I almost think it is the +wisest thing you can do," he said. "In the meanwhile, it is getting +late, and we have a long trip in front of us to-morrow. I have no doubt +you don't feel much like entertaining anybody just now." + +He and the surgeon withdrew to the rooms prepared for them, and when +Austin, who went with them, came back, he stood a moment by the doorway +of the one beneath the bridge which Jefferson now occupied alone. The +latter looked up at him with half-closed eyes. + +"We have the oil and the ship--and that will have to be enough," he +said, and then straightened himself with a fierce gesture. "Get out, and +sleep--if you feel like it. The thing has shaken me, and I'm not sure +I'm very well." + +Austin went away, but it was almost daylight before sleep came to him, +and he had only been on deck an hour when their guests departed in the +morning. Jefferson, who bade them good-bye at the gangway, stood leaning +on the rail while the pinnace steamed away, and then walked, with +curious heaviness, towards his room. He crawled into his bunk when he +reached it, and lay there, while Austin looked down on him with concern. + +"I've had the fever on me for quite a while, and at last it has gripped +me hard," he said. "I'll probably be raving in an hour or two. Get steam +up as soon as you're able, and take her out of the devilish country." + +Austin was very busy between his comrade's room, forecastle, and +stoke-hold during the rest of that day, and he had very little time for +rest at night, but though half the men were sick, and his own limbs were +aching portentously, it was with a little thrill of exultation he +climbed to the bridge early on the following morning. The windlass was +rattling on the forecastle, Wall-eye stood by the winch astern, and the +surfboat was sliding towards the mangroves, where a big wire hawser was +made fast, in the rain. Austin was not a professional sailor, but he +could handle surfboat and steam launch, and in the good days had sailed +his yacht along the coast at home. He also had confidence in the +grizzled, olive-faced Spaniard who stood gravely behind him, gripping +the steering-wheel. + +The anchor came home to the bows at last, somehow the fever-worn men on +the forecastle hove it in; the after winch hammered when he made a sign, +and the long, rusty hull moved backwards towards the forest as her head +swung slowly round. There was a splash of dripping wire, and he swung up +an arm with a cry of "Largo!" + +Then the winch rattled furiously, a gong clanged below, and a wild, +exultant shouting went up when the _Cumbria_'s engines commenced to +throb. The gaunt, hollow-faced men who stood, dripping, in the rain, had +borne everything but cold, and now they were going home. Austin felt his +eyes grow hazy for a moment as he leaned upon the rails, and then, with +a little shake of his shoulders, he fixed his gaze steadily upon the +mangroves that came sliding back to him ahead. He had, he felt, a task +that would demand all his attention in front of him. + +They slid down stream unchecked until the afternoon, and the _Cumbria_ +steered handily, which, since there were awkward bends to swing round, +was fortunate for all of them; but Austin had misgivings when at last +they approached one that appeared sharper than the rest, for he could +only see the close ranks of dingy mangroves in front of him as he gazed +into the rain and mist. The creek was too narrow to swing the steamer to +an anchor, and it was evident that if she was to get around the bend at +all he most go at it hard, for the yellow stream was running fast with +them, and unless she steamed faster the vessel would not steer. He +signed to the helmsman, who edged her in near one bank to gain a little +room; and then set his lips tight as he clenched his telegraph and rang +for full speed ahead. It was consoling to remember that Tom was below, +for a good donkey-man is, as a rule, more to be trusted than a junior +engineer. + +Ahead, the oily current was sliding through the mangroves as well as +among them, covering all their high-arched roots, and he knew that there +were a good many feet of water there, for the creek was full, and he had +heard of steamers going full tilt into the watery forest at such times. +Still he breathed unevenly as he watched the dingy trees slide past one +another, for the bend was opening very slowly, and there was a long +tongue of mangroves close in front of him. The bridge planks were +trembling beneath him now, and he could hear the thud-thud of the +hard-driven screw; but the stream seemed to be running very fast at the +bend, and, glancing round, he saw something very like fear in the face +of the man who held the wheel. When he looked ahead again the long +tongue of mangroves seemed flying towards him. + +He strode to the end of the bridge and glanced down at the lift of rusty +side. There was a good deal of it above the water, for the _Cumbria_ was +loaded easily, and she was also, he was very glad to remember, light of +draught. He could not check her with an anchor under foot. She would +only swing to it, and that would land her among the mangroves broadside +on. If he backed his propeller he would as surely go ashore, and his +face grew very grim as he made the helmsman a little sign. Since he must +strike the forest, he would strike it fair, as hard as the engines +could drive her, bows on; and he thrust down the telegraph once more +for the last pound of steam. + +The throb of plank and rail grew sharper, the trees seemed rushing at +the forecastle, the helmsman gazed forward with drawn face over his +moving wheel, and a shouting broke out on deck. Austin, however, did not +move at all, save when he raised a hand to the helmsman. Once more, +easy-going artist as he was, the Berserker fit was upon him, and it was +with a light only one or two of his friends had ever seen there in his +eyes he hurled her full speed at the forest. + +She struck it, with a crash that flung two or three of the Spaniards +staggering, and it crumpled up before her. Mangrove boughs came +streaming down on her grinding forecastle, torn limbs clutched at rail +and stanchion, and were smashed by them. Mire was whirled aloft by the +thudding screw, and Austin, gripping his telegraph, laughed a harsh +laugh as he saw that she was going through. How thick that belt of trees +was, or what water flowed among their roots, he did not know, but he +remembered that he had found no bottom among them in other places with a +boathook, now and then. + +In another few moments the white-stemmed trunks fell aside again, and +they drove out once more into clear and swiftly-flowing water. Then the +Spaniards howled together, and Austin, twining his hand in the lanyard, +unloosed the whistle, and hurled back a great vibratory blast at the +beaten forest. It was, he admitted afterward, a somewhat feeble thing, +but he said he felt the occasion demanded something then. + +After that they had no great difficulty, and by nightfall they drove her +out with sluicing decks over the smoking bar, dipping the bleached and +rotten ensign to the little white gunboat that lay rolling behind the +island. Then Austin felt a great weight lifted off him as he flung +himself into a canvas chair upon his bridge. There was now only open sea +in front of them, and he had seen that the big pump could keep the water +down. He felt that he could contrive by some means to make Las Palmas. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IN COMMAND + + +Austin was quite aware that he had his work cut out when he was left in +command of the _Cumbria_, with half her crew sick, and her skipper +raving deliriously. He knew very little about medicine, and certainly no +more about what he termed the astronomical side of navigation, and after +several attempts decided that it was beyond his ability to take an +accurate solar observation. There were, however, other, though not very +reliable, means of approximately ascertaining the ship's position which +he was acquainted with, and he nerved himself afresh for a grapple with +what most men would, under the circumstances, have considered +insuperable difficulties. + +He had two Spaniards who could be trusted to keep the steamer more or +less on the course he gave them, while the _Cumbria_ steerd handily, +which is more than all steamers do. There was a large-scale chart, +considerably mildewed, but still legible, in the skipper's room, as well +as a pilot guide to the West African coast, while the patent log that +towed astern to record the distance run appeared to be working +accurately. He could thus, it was evident, depend in some degree upon +what is termed dead reckoning, which is comparatively reliable in the +case of short distances run in the vicinity of a high, well lighted +coast. The one the _Cumbria_ steamed along was, however, not lighted at +all, and most of it scarcely rose a foot above sea-level, while when he +had ruled the line she was presumed to be travelling on across the +chart, and pricked off the distance the patent log told him she had run, +there remained the question how far the tide and the Guinea stream had +deflected it, and whether the steering and her compasses could be +trusted. + +It was also rather an important question; and when he had, on several +occasions, peered for an hour at a time through Jefferson's glasses in +search of a cape or island which the chart indicated should be met with, +and saw only a hazy line of beach, or a dingy smear on the horizon which +might be mangroves, or, quite as likely, a trail of mist, the +probability of his ever reaching the Canaries seemed very remote indeed. +There would, he fancied, be no great difficulty in obtaining a mate and +two or three seamen from one of the steamers he came across, but in that +case the strangers would expect half the value of the _Cumbria_'s hull +and cargo, and very likely make their claim to it good. He was also +aware that more experienced skippers than he was had put their ships +ashore upon that coast. But what troubled him most was the fact that if +he lost sight of it, or found no point that he could identify, he would +have nothing to start from when he must boldly head her out across the +open ocean. + +She had rolled along at six to eight knots, with the big pump going, for +several days, when a trail of smoke crept out of the Western horizon. +Austin watched it anxiously, and when at last a strip of black hull and +a yellow funnel grew into shape beneath it, summoned the donkey-man, and +with his assistance, which was not especially reliable, worried over the +signal code painted on the flag rack in the wheel-house when he had +stopped the engines. It was almost obliterated, and most of the flags +themselves were missing; but between them they picked out sundry strips +of mildewed bunting and sent them up to the masthead. The little +West-coast mailboat was close alongside now, and flags also commenced to +flutter up between her masts, while her whistle screamed in long and +short blasts. Austin, anxious as he was, laughed a little. + +"That is apparently the Morse code, and it's unfortunate that neither of +us understands it," he said. "I presume it means that they can make +nothing of our flags, and one could hardly blame them. Any way, we have +got to stop her." + +Tom grinned as he pulled an armful of tattered ensigns out of a locker. +"This one should do the trick," he said. "I'd start the whistle." + +Austin drew the lanyard, and when the ensign blew out on the hot air +Union down, the mailboat stopped, and, considering that they were +steamboat men, her crew had a white gig over in a very creditable time. +She came flying towards the _Cumbria_ with four negroes at the oars, and +when she slid alongside a young mate in trim white uniform came up a +rope. + +"You might have slung me the ladder down," he said, gazing about him in +blank astonishment. "Paint is evidently scarce where you come from. I've +seen smarter craft in a wrecker's yard. Still, I can't stop here +talking. What do you want?" + +"A doctor, for one thing," said Austin, to gain time. + +"We have half the crew down in the forecastle." + +The mate walked to the rails and shouted to his boat-boys, while, when +the gig slid away, he pointed up at the drooping flags as he turned to +Austin. + +"I suppose it's artistic, the colouring, I mean," he said. + +"Still, it's a trifle difficult to make out by either code." Austin +laughed. "Come into my room and have a drink. There are one or two +things I want to ask you." + +Five minutes later he spread a mildewed chart on the table as they sat +with a bottle of Jacinta's wine before them. + +"Now," he said, "if you will tell me exactly where we are, I'd be much +obliged to you." + +"You don't know?" and the mate looked at him curiously. + +"Since you can't undertake any salvage operations with the mails on +board, I don't mind admitting that I'm far from sure. You see, we have +only one navigator, and if you were forward just now you would hear him +raving. I've got to take her somehow--on dead reckoning--to the +Canaries." + +The mate opened his mouth and gasped. "Well," he said simply, "may I be +----!" + +"I suppose that's natural, but it isn't much use to me. I've been +creeping along the coast, so far, but it's evident that if I stick to it +I won't reach Las Palmas. I want a definite point from which to make a +start for the ocean run." + +The mate pulled a pin out of the chart, and, measuring with the +dividers, stuck it in again. "You're not quite so much out as I expected +you would be," he said. "It's a straight run to the Isleta, Grand +Canary. Whether you'll ever get there with the compass and the patent +log is another matter, though, of course, if you go on long enough, +you'll fetch some part of America. I don't want to be unduly +inquisitive, but you will have lost, at least, an hour of our time +before I put Pills on board again, and I really think there is a little +you should tell me." + +Austin briefly outlined his adventures, and when he had finished the +mate brought his fist down with a bang on the table. + +"Well," he said, "you have evidently excellent nerves of your own, and +I'm not quite so sure as I was that you'll never get her home. I don't +mind admitting now that at first I thought you were crazy. It's evident +that your compass and patent log are all right, but you'll have to get +your latitude and longitude, at least, occasionally, and I'll bend on +some signals any skipper you come across would understand. If he's +particularly good-natured he might chalk it on a board." + +He stopped a moment with a little sardonic smile. "As a matter of fact, +it's not quite so unusual a question as you might suppose." + +Austin thanked him profusely, and felt a good deal easier when he and +the mailboat's doctor, who arrived presently and gave him good advice, +went away. Then, with a blast of her whistle, the _Cumbria_ steamed on +to the West again, and it was three or four days later, and she was +plunging along with dripping forecastle at a little over six knots +against the trades, when Austin had trouble with Jefferson. He was +asleep in his room, aft, and, awakening suddenly, wondered for a moment +or two what was wrong, until it dawned on him that it was the unusual +quietness which had roused him. Then he sprang from his berth and +hastened out on deck, for it was evident that the engines had stopped. + +There was clear moonlight overhead, and the ship was rolling heavily, +while as he looked forward a clamour broke out beneath the bridge, where +grimy men came scrambling up from the stoke-hole gratings. It was light +enough for him to see their blackened faces and their excited gestures. +Other men were, he fancied, from the pattering on the iron deck, also +moving in that direction from the forecastle; but what most astonished +him was the sight of a gaunt white figure pacing up and down the bridge. +While he gazed at it, Wall-eye came running towards him breathlessly. + +"The Señor Jefferson has stopped the ship!" he said. "He has a pistol, +and Maccario, who is shut up in the wheel-house, shouts us that he will +go back to Africa again!" + +Austin, who knew a little about malarial fever by this time, ran +forward, and met Tom at the foot of the bridge ladder. The latter laid a +grimy finger on his forehead significantly. + +"Right off his dot! I don't know what's to be done," he said. "It would +be easier if he hadn't that pistol." + +A gong clanged beneath them while they considered it, and Tom shook his +head. "He has been ringing all over the telegraph, from full speed to +hard astern," he said. "I don't know if he'd give you the pistol, but +when I got half way up the ladder he said he'd put a bullet into me. Any +way, if you went up and talked to him while I crawled up quiet by the +other ladder, I might get him by the foot or slip in behind him." + +Austin was by no means anxious to face the pistol, but it was evident +that something must be done, and he went up the ladder as unconcernedly +as he could. When he reached the head of it Jefferson beat upon the +wheel-house window with his fist. + +"What's her head to the westwards for?" he said. "Port, hard over! Can't +you hear inside there?" + +The steering engine rattled, and it was evident that the helmsman was +badly afraid, but in another moment Jefferson had swung away from the +wheel-house, and was wrenching at the telegraph again. + +"What's the matter with these engines?" he said. "I want her backed +while I swing her under a ported helm. I'll plug somebody certain if +this is a mutiny." + +He opened the big revolver, and closed it with a suggestive click, while +it cost Austin an effort to walk quietly along the bridge. Jefferson's +eyes were glittering, his hair hung down on his face, which was grey and +drawn, dark with perspiration, and his hands and limbs were quivering. +His voice, however, although a trifle hoarser, was very like his usual +one, so much so, in fact, that Austin found it difficult to believe the +man's mind was unhinged by fever. He whirled round when he heard Austin, +without a trace of recognition in his eyes. + +"Now," he said, "why can't I get what I want done?" + +"You're very sick," said Austin quietly. "Hadn't you better go back to +bed?" + +Jefferson laughed. "Yes," he said, "I guess I am, or these brutes +wouldn't try to take advantage of me. Still, in another minute you're +going to see me make a hole in somebody!" + +He leaned heavily on the bridge rails, with the pistol glinting in his +hand, and Austin endeavoured to answer him soothingly. + +"What do you want to go back to Africa for?" he said. "There wouldn't be +any difficulty about it if it was necessary." + +"Funnel-paint's there. They brought me away when I was sick, or I'd have +killed him." He made a little gesture, and dropped his hoarse voice. +"You see, I had a partner who stood by me through everything, and +Funnel-paint sent down a ---- rotting nigger!" + +"Your partner's all right," said Austin, who saw that Jefferson was as +far from recognising him as ever. "I've excellent reasons for being sure +of it." + +Jefferson leaned towards him confidentially, with one hand on the rails. + +"It hasn't come out, but it's bound to get him. The nigger had his arms +round him. Then he'll have to hide in a dark hole where nobody can see +him, while the flesh rots off him, until he dies." + +Austin could not help a shiver. He knew the thing might happen, and he +realised now that it had also been in Jefferson's mind. Still, it was, +in the meanwhile, his business to get the pistol from the latter, and +then put him in his berth, by force, if necessary. + +"The difficulty is that you can't kill a man twice," he said. "I seem to +have a notion that you hove a stick of dynamite into Funnel-paint's +canoe." + +"I could have done, and I meant to, but my partner was with me. I had to +humour him. That man stood by me." + +Austin stood still, looking at him, a little bewildered by it all. The +mailboat doctors and some of the traders he had met at Las Palmas had +more than once related curious examples of the mental aberration which +now and then results from malarial fever. Still, Jefferson, whom he had +left scarcely fit to raise his head in his bunk, was now apparently +almost sensible; and, what was more astonishing, able, at least, to walk +about. Then, when he wondered how he was to get his comrade down from +the bridge, the latter turned to him with a sudden change of mood. + +"You're keeping me talking while they play some trick on me," he said. +"All right! In another moment you'll be sorry." + +The pistol went up, and Austin set his lips while a little shiver of +dismay ran through him. The ladder he had come up by was some distance +away, the wheel-house, at least, as far, and he stood clear in the +moonlight, realising that the first move he made would probably lead to +Jefferson squeezing the trigger. Then, with sudden bitterness, he +remembered what, it seemed, was in his blood, and felt astonished that +he should be troubled by physical fear. It would be a swifter and +cleaner end if his comrade killed him there. That consideration, +however, only appealed to his reason, and the reflection came that +Jefferson would probably never shake off the recollection of what he had +done; and, knowing it was safest, he braced himself to stand motionless, +while the perspiration dripped from him, steadily eyeing the +fever-crazed man. + +"If you will let me tell you why we are steaming west it would save a +good deal of trouble," he said, as soothingly as he could, though his +voice shook. "You see, you were too sick to understand, and you're not +very well yet." + +Jefferson, somewhat to his astonishment, seemed willing to listen, but +he was, unfortunately, far from the side of the bridge below which +Austin surmised that Tom was crouching. He risked a glance round, but +the helmsman evidently dare not leave the wheel-house, for which Austin +could not blame him, and the Spaniards stood clustered together gazing +up at them from below. Austin decided that if he signed or called to +them Jefferson would use the pistol, though he fancied that one of them +was trying to make him understand something. + +Then suddenly a shadowy form glided out from behind the wheel-house, +where Jefferson could not see it. There was a rush of feet, and a +spring, and Jefferson went down heavily with another man, who wound his +arms round him. They rolled against the bridge rails, and a breathless +voice called to Austin. + +"Get hold of the pistol!" it said. + +Austin wrenched it from his comrade; men came scrambling up the ladder, +and in another moment or two they had Jefferson helpless, and set about +carrying him to his room. When they laid him in his berth his strength +seemed to suddenly melt away, and he lay limp and still, only babbling +incoherently. Austin ventured to give him a sedative, and then, leaving +Wall-eye to watch him, went out on deck. Tom, who was waiting for him, +made a little deprecatory gesture. + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Austin, but he never came near my side of the bridge," +he said. "If I had got up he'd have dropped me with the pistol, and that +wouldn't have done much good to anybody." + +"Of course not," said Austin. "I was uncommonly thankful when Bill got +hold of him. Send him along to my room, and then start your engines." + +In another two or three minutes the _Cumbria_ was steaming west again, +and Bill, the fireman, stood, somewhat sheepishly, in the doorway of +Austin's room. + +"I owe you a good deal, and when the time comes I'll endeavour to +remember it," said the latter. "Still, I don't want Mr. Jefferson ever +to know anything about the thing. You did it cleverly." + +Bill grinned. "Well," he said, "I'm quite glad I did. I felt I had to do +something for my five pounds, any way." + +It dawned upon Austin that once or twice, when he had somewhat risky +work to do, Bill had been near him. + +"What five pounds?" he asked. + +"The five pounds she shoved into my hand one night on board the +_Estremedura_--no--the fact is, I'm feeling a little shaky, and I don't +quite know what I'm saying. The getting hold of Mr. Jefferson has upset +me. When you think of it, it's only natural." + +"Then it has come on very suddenly," said Austin. "You seemed all right +a moment or two ago. Am I to understand that somebody gave you five +pounds to look after me?" + +It was evident to Bill that there was nothing to be gained by further +reticence, and he edged out of the doorway, grinning more broadly than +ever. + +"Well," he said, "I guess she meant you, though she said it was both of +you. Still, you won't tell her, or I sha'n't get any more." + +He had vanished before Austin could ask another question, but the matter +was quite clear to the latter, and his face grew hot while a little +thrill of satisfaction ran through him as he recognised that Jacinta had +felt it worth while to do what she could to ensure his safety. Then he +remembered something else, and his face grew hard as he pulled off his +jacket and glanced at his bare arm. + +He had torn and abraded it heaving in oil and coal, and the gunboat's +surgeon had warned him that it was advisable to keep his skin unbroken. +There were several half-hardened scars upon it now, and another had been +torn away when he fell against the rail in a heavy lurch a day or two +earlier. He had worn no jacket at the time. He had since noticed a +curious tingling sensation in that part of his arm, and, holding it +nearer the lamp, he saw that the flesh was inflamed about the wound. +There was no doubt about the fact. When he pressed it with his thumb all +the lower arm was sore, and he let it fall limply to his side, and sat +down with a little groan. The horrible thing he shrank from had, it +seemed, come upon him. He sat very still for half an hour, grappling +with a numbing sense of dismay, and then, with a little shake of his +shoulders, went back to the bridge, for he had still a duty to his +comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +AUSTIN IS MISSING + + +It was a fine morning, and the signal, "Steamer approaching from the +South," was flying from the staff high up on the Isleta hill, when +Pancho Brown's boat lay heaving on the smooth swell at the entrance to +Las Palmas harbour. Mrs. Hatherly, Jacinta, and Muriel sat in the +stern-sheets, and beyond them two barefooted Canarios were resting on +their oars, while two or three miles away a smear of smoke that half hid +a streak of dusky hull moved towards them across the shining sea. Brown +was watching it attentively with a pair of marine glasses in his hand. + +"You have brought me off several times for nothing, but I almost think +our friends have turned up at last," he said. "Of course, from +Lieutenant Onslow's cable she should have been here several days ago, +but it's very likely the engines would give them trouble. Any way, we'll +know in ten minutes or so. There's the _Sanidad_ going off." + +A launch crept out from the mole, and behind her in the harbour boats +were being got afloat. Coaling clerks, tobacco and wine merchants, and a +miscellaneous crowd of petty dealers, were waiting to step on board, but +two, at least, of Pancho Brown's party had no eyes for them. They were +watching the incoming steamer rise higher out of the shining sea, and +wondering if she was the one they had for the last few days looked for +with tense anxiety. They had Onslow's cable from Sierra Leone, and the +skipper of a big tramp which had come in for coals reported that a small +British steamer had asked him for the latitude and longitude a week +before. Nothing, however, had since been heard of her, and Jacinta had +found the last three or four days as trying as Muriel did. The latter +had, however, borne the suspense bravely, and displayed a sublime +confidence in her lover which Jacinta, for no very obvious reason, found +almost exasperating at times. + +"Can't we go out a little?" she said at last. + +Brown made a sign to the Canarios, who dipped the oars, and as they slid +past the _Carsegarry_, which lay with steam blowing off, and a water +barge alongside, Captain Farquhar leaned over her rails. He had come in +for coal on his way to Liverpool the previous day, and had spent part of +the night with Brown. + +"I really think that is the _Cumbria_," he said. "Any way, she's much +the kind of boat Jefferson described to me, and so far as I can make out +they have a big boiler on deck. I suppose you are going off to her?" + +Brown said they were, and Farquhar glanced at the boat hesitatingly. +"I'd very much like to come with you, but I can't leave just now," he +said. "Still, we won't have filled our tanks up for an hour or two, and +you might tell Mr. Austin that I certainly expect him to pull across and +see me. In fact, although we have steam up, I'll wait until he does." + +Brown made a sign of comprehension, and the boat slid away, while when +she stopped again outside the harbour the eyes of all on board her were +fixed upon the steamer. She had also stopped, and lay rolling wildly, +with the yellow flag at her foremast-head and the _Sanidad_ launch +alongside her; but in another minute or two the flag came fluttering +down, and she moved on again towards the harbour. Brown signed to the +oarsmen to turn the boat's head. + +"There's no doubt that she's the _Cumbria_, and they can't have had +anything very bad on board," he said. + +In another five minutes the _Cumbria_ crept up with them, rolling +wickedly, with the big pump thudding on her deck, and a stream of water +spouting from her side. Rags of awnings fluttered about her, her funnel +was white with salt crust, for the trade-wind blows strong at that +season, and the blistered paint had peeled from her corroded sides. Her +story was written upon her so that even the girls could read, and both +felt that no plainer testimony was needed to the courage of the men who +had brought her home. Then they saw them, Jefferson leaning out, gaunt +and blanched in face, from the bridge rails, and Austin standing amidst +a group of haggard men on the forecastle. Jacinta's heart was beating a +good deal faster than usual, and she saw the sudden tears rise to her +companion's eyes; but as the long, rusty hull forged past them Austin +made no sign. He stood looking straight in front of him, until he turned +to the men about him who were busy with the anchor. + +"He can't have seen us," said Muriel, with astonishment in her tone, and +then touched Brown's arm. "Tell them to row their hardest, please." + +The Canarios bent their backs and the boat swept forward, for the +steamer had already passed ahead of them. Jacinta sat unusually still, +watching her, sensible at once of a vague dismay and a thrill of pride. +She had understanding as well as imagination, and the sight of that +rusty vessel and the worn faces of the men upon her deck had stirred her +curiously. It was, she felt, a notable thing they had done, and she was, +she knew, responsible for the part one of them had played in it. He had +come home with credit, a man who had done something worth while, and +had doubtless learned his strength. She could not fancy him frittering +his life away after that; but still she was perplexed, and a trifle +anxious, for it seemed that he must have seen them, and he had made no +sign. She had, on her part, twice passed him without recognition in the +Plaza at Santa Cruz, and her heart smote her as she remembered it; but +he was not a vindictive man, and must by that time have realised the +misapprehension she had been under concerning him. For that, at least, +she would ask his forgiveness in another few minutes, and her face +burned as she wondered what he would say to her. + +Then she saw the white wash of the _Cumbria_'s propeller as it whirled +astern, and there was a roar of running chain, while two or three +minutes later they were making their way up the lowered ladder amidst a +crowd of petty dealers when Jefferson came across the deck, driving the +latter aside. Jacinta saw that it cost Muriel an effort to hide her +consternation at his appearance, but in another moment she was smiling +at him with shining eyes, and the haggard man's arms were about her. +That the deck was crowded with Spaniards did not seem in the least to +matter to either of them. Jacinta, who would not have done as much, felt +a little thrill of sympathy, and, it was significant, looked round for +Austin. There was, however, no sign of him. + +Then Jefferson, still holding Muriel's arm, drew them out of the press, +and there was a general offering of congratulations and grasping of +hands. + +"I am," he said, "uncommonly glad to be back again, though I'm not sure +we'd have ever got here except for Austin. I have only been on my feet +the last day or two, and he did everything." + +"Where is he?" said Muriel, seeing that Jacinta would not ask. + +"Across at the _Carsegarry_. At least, he told me he was going when he +recognised her." + +"Without coming to shake hands with us?" said Muriel, who flashed a +covert glance at Jacinta. + +"I understand from one of these fellows that Farquhar is just going to +sea, and it's very probable that Austin heard it, too. I have no doubt +he'll be back again in five minutes." + +"You will come ashore with us, and we will expect you and Mr. Austin to +make my house your home in the meanwhile," said Brown. + +"I shall be very glad," said Jefferson. "You will, however, have to +excuse me for an hour or two. I have our Consul to see, and a good many +things to do before I can call my time my own. I wonder if you could get +me a tartana?" + +"Mine is waiting at the Mole," said Brown. + +It was an hour later when they took their places in the vehicle, but +though Brown bade the driver wait a minute or two, there was no +appearance of Austin. Just then the _Carsegarry_ crept down the harbour, +and with a sonorous blast of her whistle steamed out to sea. + +"There is no boat coming. He must have landed on the other mole, and, +perhaps, met somebody he couldn't get away from," said Brown. "I'll +leave word that we are expecting him, and no doubt he'll turn up soon +after we get home." + +They drove away, and that afternoon sat together in Brown's cool patio. +The noise of the bustling city was deadened by the tall white walls, +over which there shone a square of cloudless blue, and the scent of +flowers was heavy in the shadowy space below. Jefferson lay, attired +becomingly once more, in a big cane chair, with a little smile of +content in his hollow face, and a pile of fruit, and a flask of wine, +on the table in front of him. The others sat about him, and a fountain +splashed behind them in the shadow. + +"A very little of this will make me well," he said. "In fact, it is +already a trifle difficult to believe that I could scarcely lift myself +in my berth a few days ago. I think it was the sight of Gomera that +cured me. You see, I was a little doubtful about Austin finding the +Canaries, and when they came to tell me they could see the Peak, +Wall-eye, who was watching me, ran out." + +"What was he watching you for?" asked Muriel. + +"To see I didn't get up. I had my chance then, and I crawled out of my +berth. I believe I fell over several things before I got out on deck, +and then I knew we were all right at last. There was the Peak--high up +in the sky in front of us, with Gomera a blue smudge low down at its +feet. We ran in under the lee, and, because they were played out, and +Tom had trouble with his engines, stayed there three days." + +He stopped a moment, with a little laugh. "I think Austin was 'most +astonished as I was to find he'd brought her home. He'd been running +four or five days on dead reckoning, and wasn't much more than a hundred +miles out." + +"I wonder where he is," said Brown. + +Jefferson looked a trifle perplexed, and it was evident that others of +the party had asked themselves the same question, for there was a +moment's silence until Muriel spoke. + +"If he doesn't come soon I shall feel very vexed with him; but we want +to hear how you got the steamer off," she said. + +Jefferson commenced his tale diffidently, but, because Austin had worked +in the sombre background--more effectively than he could do +already--the rest listened with full comprehension. His unvarnished +narrative was, however, striking enough, and, save for the splashing of +the fountain, and his low voice, there was a suggestive silence in the +patio, until he stopped abruptly when he came to the scene in which +Austin pleaded for the negro. + +"The man wasn't fit to look at," he said. + +"But why did Mr. Austin go near him?" asked Muriel, with a little +shiver. + +"To save his life," said Jefferson, awkwardly. "You see, we couldn't +have him there--and he really wasn't a man then. The thing he had we +believed contagious, and somebody had to put him into his canoe." + +Muriel gazed at him with an expression of perplexity, and it was clear +that she did not quite understand what had taken place on the night in +question, which was, however, not astonishing. Brown appeared a trifle +uncomfortable, and Jefferson was sincerely thankful when Jacinta broke +in. + +"Of course," she said. "He couldn't have stayed there. Mr. Austin put +him into his canoe?" She stopped for a moment, and her voice seemed to +change a trifle. "Did he find it necessary to touch him?" + +"He did. In fact, the nigger got hold of him. One of them slipped on the +bridge deck ladder and they rolled down it together." + +Again there was silence, and all of them looked at Jefferson, who saw +the question in Jacinta's eyes. + +"No," he said. "Nothing came of it, though for a week or so I was +horribly afraid. It isn't men like Austin who take that kind of thing, +and it's possible it mayn't have been infectious, after all." + +Muriel heard Jacinta softly draw in her breath, as though she had been +under a strain which had suddenly relaxed. Then a little colour crept +into her face and a sparkle into her eyes. + +"Yes," said Jefferson, though nobody had spoken, "it was a daring thing. +More, in fact, than I would have done. My partner has the cleanest kind +of real hard sand in him." + +He turned to Muriel with a little deprecatory gesture. "I had more at +stake than he had--and I was afraid that night." + +Jacinta sat still a while, a trifle flushed in face, for the scene +Jefferson had very vaguely pictured had stirred her to the depths. The +man whom she had sent forth had done more than she would ever have asked +of him, and the gallantry of the action brought a dimness to her eyes. +Then she remembered that it was not done recklessly, for he had, it +seemed, decided calmly, which must have made it inexpressibly harder. +There were, she could imagine, circumstances in which a man might more +or less willingly risk his life, but the risk Austin had taken was +horrible, and he stood to gain nothing when he quietly recognised the +responsibility he had taken upon himself. It was with an overwhelming +sense of confusion she remembered the jibes she had flung at him +concerning his discretion, and yet under it there was still the sense of +pride. After all, it was to please her he had gone to Africa. + +"Well," said Jefferson quietly, "you are pleased with him?" + +Jacinta met his gaze unwaveringly, and her voice had a little thrill in +it. + +"Does it matter in the least whether I am pleased or not?" she said. +"Still, since you ask, I scarcely think I have heard of anything that +would surpass what he did that night." + +Jefferson made her a little inclination. "I am," he said gravely, "not +sure that I have, either." + +He went on with his story, but Jacinta scarcely listened to it, for she +was wondering why Austin had not come, and waiting expectantly for the +time when she could, in self-abasement, endeavour to wipe what she had +said from his memory. Still, he did not come, and it was half an hour +later when a barefooted boatman was shown into the patio. He had an +envelope in his hand, and turned to Brown. + +"The Englishman who was in the _Estremedura_ gave me this on board the +_Carsegarry_," he said. "I am sorry I could not bring it before, but +several steamers I had to go to came in, and then it was some time +before I found out that the Señor Jefferson had gone home with you." + +When he went away Brown handed Jefferson the note, while the latter, who +opened it, straightened himself suddenly and seemed to be struggling +with some emotion. Then he passed it to Jacinta. + +"You have good nerves, Miss Brown," he said. "If I had known it would +come to this, I think I would have left the _Cumbria_ there." + +Jacinta took the letter in a steady hand, but her face grew a trifle +blanched as she read. + +"I am going home with Farquhar," the message ran. "I could hardly go in +a passenger boat, and he is fixing me up a room by myself. I didn't care +to tell you when you were just shaking off the fever, but one of my arms +feels very much as that engineer said his did. I am going to see if one +of the big specialists or the Tropical Disease men can do anything for +me." + +Jacinta sat quite still a minute, and then slowly rose. + +"It is horrible, but I suppose even a purpose of the kind he had does +not exempt one from the consequences," she said. "There are things to +attend to. You will excuse me just now." + +They looked at one another when she left them, and then Brown turned to +Jefferson. + +"I wonder if you have any objections to showing me that note?" he said. + +"It doesn't seem to be here," said Muriel. "What can she have done with +it?" + +"Don't worry about looking," said Jefferson sharply. "I can remember it. +It has, in fact, shaken a good deal of the stiffness out of me." + +Muriel gasped with consternation when he told them, and by and by the +group broke up, while it was a somewhat silent party that assembled for +comida an hour later. Jacinta, it was evident, had very little appetite, +though she contrived to join in the somewhat pointless conversation, and +it was not until late that night Brown came upon her alone on the flat +roof. She was leaning on the parapet, and looking out across the sea, +but her eyes were turned northwards now, and she did not hear him until +he gently laid a hand upon her shoulder. Then she turned and looked at +him with despair in her face. She had not expected him, or he would not +have seen it, though there was clear moonlight above them. + +Brown sat down on the parapet, and, taking off his gold-rimmed glasses, +held them in his hand. + +"I think I understand, my dear, and I have something to say," he said. + +Jacinta made no disclaimer. For one thing, she saw it would have been +useless, and she had no strength left in her then. + +"Is it worth while?" she asked. "Would anything that you could say +change what has happened?" + +"No," said Brown, reflectively, "I scarcely think it would. Still, I +would like to mention that we really don't know the thing is incurable. +In fact, it may be a malady which is readily susceptible to the proper +treatment, and he has done wisely in going to England." + +A little gleam of hope crept into Jacinta's eyes. "I had hardly dared to +think of that," she said. + +"Well," said Brown, "I really fancy the thing may not be as serious as +you and Mr. Jefferson, perhaps naturally, seem to fear. Now, as you +know, I was going to England about the new fruit contracts in a week or +two, and there is no particular reason why I shouldn't go the day after +to-morrow. I should make it my business to see Mr. Austin has the best +advice which can be got from the specialists in that country. Only, my +dear, I want to ask a very plain question. Supposing he is cured--what +then?" + +"I'm afraid you must shape the question differently," and a trace of +colour crept into the whiteness of Jacinta's face. + +"Then I will tell you what I know. You sent that man to Africa, and he +went because he was in love with you. He is also a man I have a +considerable liking for--and you are my only child. I am getting old, +and would like to see you safely settled before I go. There are," and he +made a little gesture, "occasions on which one must speak plainly." + +Jacinta's face was crimson at last, but she in no way attempted to +question the correctness of the announcement he had made. + +"Mr. Austin, at least, never told me what you seem to be so sure +about--and it is scarcely likely that he will ever do so now," she said. + +Brown smiled a little, and tapped the palm of his hand with his glasses. + +"My dear," he said, "I think you know better. Of course, you would +never have admitted so much as you have done if I had not had you at a +disadvantage to-night. Well, the first thing is to see what can be done +to cure him. Only, if he comes back, you will, I suppose, know your +mind?" + +He looked at her steadily, and, when Jacinta lowered her eyes, laid his +hand gently on her arm again. + +"I sail by the yellow-funnel boat the day after to-morrow," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +JACINTA CAPITULATES + + +The _Carsegarry_ was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean tramp +species, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on a +very moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondary +consideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, with +the result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as she +fell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long while +on the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letter +from Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas, +waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that his +comrade had got to work again. + +He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that its +optimistic tone had cost Jefferson--who alluded to his apprehensions +about his arm very briefly--an effort, for the fact that he was asked to +cable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest of +the letter concerned financial affairs. + +"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctly +encouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect to +bring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we can +dispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got £10,000, ex-cargo, +as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at up +to £30 the ton, from which it seems to me that your share should +approximate £7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way to +Liverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the address +enclosed." + +This was satisfactory as far as it went. The only trouble was that +Austin was very uncertain whether he would live to spend what he had so +hardly earned. His arm had become exceedingly painful during the voyage, +and after a consultation with the ship broker he telephoned an eminent +specialist. + +"I will expect you at two o'clock," the doctor said. "If it appears +advisable, we can, of course, avail ourselves, as you suggest, of any +views the Tropical Disease men may favour us with. In the meanwhile, I +will arrange for a gentleman who has made considerable progress in +similar researches to meet you." + +Austin went out of the broker's office with three hours to spare, and +wandered aimlessly about the city in a state of tense suspense. He felt +that he could not sit still, and in any case he was dubious as to +whether he was warranted in going back to the hotel. Indeed, he wondered +whether he had any right to be at large at all, and after a while hung +about the wharves, where there was less chance of any one coming into +perilous contact with him. He had never spent such a morning in his +life, and decided that what he had done and borne in Africa was not +worth mention by comparison. Still, the hours dragged by, and at last he +set out for the specialists' surgery without daring to wonder what the +result would be, and found two gentlemen awaiting him there. One of +them, who had grey hair and very keen eyes, motioned him to a chair. + +"Now," he said, "before we proceed to an examination it might be better +if you told us concisely what happened to you in Africa." + +Austin, who sat down, did so, and wondered a little that he was able to +speak coherently and quietly, for every nerve in him seemed tingling +with tense anxiety. Then the man with the grey hair asked him a few +terse questions about the negro's appearance, and when he had described +it as well as he could remember, glanced at his companion. + +"Do you recognise the symptoms?" he said. + +"No," said the other man, who was younger. "There are one or two +complaints not unusual in that country which appear to somewhat resemble +it, but they are seldom so virulent. I would like to talk to Mr. Austin +about it later, but in the meanwhile----" + +"Exactly," and the specialist made a little gesture. "Mr. Austin is, no +doubt, anxious to hear our opinion. If you will permit me----" + +He drew the jacket gently over Austin's swollen arm, and the latter, who +held it out, bare to the shoulder, felt the perspiration start from him +as he watched the doctors bend over the limb. They said nothing for a +space of seconds, and Austin fancied he would remember that time while +he lived. Then, to his astonishment, the grey-haired man glanced at his +companion with a little smile. + +"I fancy this case has lost its special interest to you?" he said. + +The other man nodded. "It has," he said. "Our views evidently coincide." + +"I would venture to point out that any decision you may have arrived at +is, naturally, of considerable importance to me," said Austin, a trifle +sharply. + +The specialist smiled again. "I expect you will be pleased to hear that +it is not a peculiarly African disease you are suffering from. It is, in +fact, no more than a by no means infrequent form of blood poisoning." + +Austin gasped, and felt his heart beat furiously from relief, and the +specialist waited a moment or two before he went on. "It is evident that +you had several lacerations on your lower arm--made by corroded iron, or +something of the kind." + +"I tore the skin rather frequently working cargo, and when the scars had +partly healed opened up rather a nasty wound by falling on the steamer's +rail." + +"Exactly. The result is not astonishing in the case of a man weakened by +fever who has attempted to work harder than is advisable in a country +like the one you mention. In the meanwhile, this arm is going to give +you trouble, and I should recommend you to go into the private ward of +the ---- hospital. I will telephone them if that would suit you?" + +Austin said he placed himself in the doctor's hands, and half an hour +later was being driven to the hospital, where the other man, who was +apparently anxious to know more about the negro, asked permission to +visit him. He also came in due time, but, so far as Austin could +ascertain, never quite decided what the negro was suffering from, though +he admitted that there were African troubles of the kind which were +infectious. + +In the meanwhile, Austin realised how much he needed rest, and how heavy +the strain he had borne had been. He did not even want to read, and was +languidly content to sit still and think of nothing, until one day, when +it was evident that his arm was healing, a nurse came in to announce a +visitor. + +"If it's that doctor man, you can tell him I can't remember anything +more about the nigger, and don't mean to try," he said. + +The nurse laughed. "It isn't," she said. "It's a little gentleman with +gold-rimmed spectacles." + +Austin started. "Ah!" he said. "Will you please tell them to send him +in?" + +In a few more minutes Brown came in, and, sitting down, shook his head +reproachfully. + +"You have really given your friends a good deal of anxiety, and I was +almost afraid I would have to go back without learning what had become +of you," he said. "Still, though I know the thing isn't, fortunately, +what you thought it was, the first question is, how are you?" + +"Recovering," said Austin, with a smile. "I understand that my arm will +be all right again very shortly. It was a very usual trouble. As you +seem to recognise, I let my imagination run away with me." + +"I am very pleased to hear it. Why didn't you cable?" + +"I understood that you had left Las Palmas, and Jefferson was on the +point of doing so. I could scarcely suppose there was any one else who +cared enough about what happened to me to make it necessary." + +Brown looked at him with a curious little smile which Austin found +disconcerting. "There are Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel. I almost think +Jacinta would have liked to know that you and Jefferson were under a +misapprehension, too. Still, that is, perhaps, not very important, after +all. I suppose Jefferson told you that he expects to get a good deal for +the _Cumbria_ and her cargo?" + +"I was pleased to hear that my share might amount to £7,000." + +Brown took off his glasses and held them in one hand, which, as Austin +knew, was a trick of his when he had anything on his mind. + +"I am going to take a liberty," he said. "Have you decided yet what you +will do with it?" + +"No. That was one of the points I meant to wait a little before +grappling with." + +"Well," said Brown, reflectively, "there is something I could suggest, +but I would like to ask another question." He stopped a moment, and +tapped the palm of one hand with his glasses. "Why did you go out to +Africa?" + +"Wouldn't the chance of winning £5,000, which was what Jefferson +estimated my share would be, appear a sufficient reason?" + +"No," said Brown drily. "Not to me. When he first made you the offer you +wouldn't go." + +"I went, however, when I heard that he was sick. It was then a very +natural thing. That ought to satisfy you." + +"I scarcely think it does." + +"Then, if I had any other reasons, though I am not exactly admitting it, +they concern myself alone." + +Brown made a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I don't suppose it +matters in the meanwhile. You have once or twice asked my advice, and +now you have some £7,000, and, I understand, don't know how to lay it +out to the best advantage." + +"Exactly. I don't feel the least desire to undertake the heaving off of +any more steamers." + +Brown leaned forward, and tapped his hand with the glasses. "An +enterprising man could do a good deal with £7,000. It would, for +example, buy him, we'll call it, a third share in a certain rather +profitable fruit and wine business in Las Palmas. That is, of course, on +the understanding that he devoted his whole time and energy to it." + +Austin gazed at him in blank astonishment for a moment or two, and then +a red flush crept into his face. + +"I fancy a third share in the business you are evidently alluding to +would be worth a good deal more than that," he said. + +"Probably," said Brown, with a trace of dryness. "That is, I might get +more for it, but I have no intention of offering it to everybody. I +would like to ask your careful attention for a minute or two, Mr. +Austin." + +He stopped a moment, and his tone had changed when he proceeded. "There +is nothing to be gained by hiding the fact that I am getting old, and I +begin to feel that I would like to take my life a little more easily," +he said. "Indeed, I want somebody I could have confidence in to do the +hardest work for me. I made the business--and I am a little proud of it. +It would not please me to let go of it altogether--and, as a matter of +fact, I have been warned that if I retired to England, the climate would +probably shorten my life for me. You are, perhaps, aware that I came out +to the Canaries originally because my constitution is not an excellent +one." + +He stopped again, and added, with a certain significance: "I have, +however, been told that my ailments are not likely to prove hereditary. +Well, as I mentioned, I do not want to give the business up entirely, +and it would be a matter of grief to me to see it go to pieces in the +hands of an incompetent manager. That is why I have made you the offer." + +Austin met his gaze steadily, though the flush was still in his face. "I +scarcely think anybody would call me an enterprising business man, that +is, at least, from the conventional English point of view." + +Brown chuckled softly. "I believe you know as well as I do that a man of +that kind would not be of the least use in Spain. They would drive him +crazy, and he would probably have insulted half his clients past +forgiveness before he had been a month among them. Now, you understand +the Spaniards, and, what is as much to the purpose, they seem to like +you." + +Austin sat still, looking at him, and at last he saw that Brown's +reserve was breaking down. His hands seemed to be trembling a little, +and there were other signs of anxiety about him. + +"I don't know why you have made me that offer, sir," he said. "There +must be plenty of men more fitted to be the recipient of it." + +"It is, at least, wholly unconditional," and Brown made a little gesture +that curiously became him. "I may say that I had already satisfied +myself about you, or I should never have made it." + +"Then," said Austin, a trifle hoarsely, "I can only thank you--and +endeavour to give you no cause for being sorry afterwards that you fixed +on me." + +They had a little more to say, but the nurse appeared during the course +of it and informed Brown that the surgeon was coming to dress Austin's +arm. + +"Just a minute," said the latter. "Will you be kind enough to pass me +that pad and pencil?" + +She gave it to him, and he scribbled hastily, and then tore off the +sheet and handed it to Brown. + +"I wonder if that message meets with your approval, sir?" he said. + +Brown put on his glasses, and smiled as he read: "Miss Brown, +Casa-Brown, Las Palmas. Ran away without a cause. Almost well. May I +come back as your father's partner?" + +Brown chuckled softly, though there was a curious and somewhat unusual +gentleness in his eyes. + +"It has my full approbation, though, considering the cable company's +charges, isn't it a trifle loquacious?" + +"Does that matter?" asked Austin. + +Brown laughed, and grasped the hand he held out. "No," he said, "I don't +suppose it does. After all, these things only happen once in the average +lifetime. Well, I must evidently go now, but I will come back to see +what Jacinta says to-morrow." + +He went out, and that night Austin got Jacinta's answer. + +"Come!" was all it said, but Austin was well content, and, though he was +not a very sentimental man, went to sleep with the message beneath his +pillow. + +It was, however, rather more than three weeks later when, as a +yellow-funnelled mailboat slid into Las Palmas harbour, Austin, leaning +down from her rail, saw Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly in one of the crowding +boats below. The little lady discreetly remained where she was, and when +Jacinta came up the ladder Austin met her at the head of it. She flashed +a swift glance into his face, and then for a moment turned hers aside. + +"Ah!" she said, "you have forgotten what I said to you, and you are +really well again?" + +Austin laughed, a quiet, exultant laugh. "I was never particularly ill, +but you know all that, and we have ever so much more pleasant things to +talk about," he said. "In the meanwhile, I fancy we are blocking up the +gangway." + +Holding the hand she had given him, he drew her behind the deck-house +masterfully, and looked down on her with a little smile. + +"I almost think you are pleased to see me back," he said. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "if you only knew what the past few weeks have cost +me." + +Austin, laying both hands on her shoulders, stooped and kissed her +twice. "That was worth going to Africa for, and if Jefferson had only +bought the _Cumbria_ sooner I would have ventured to do as much ever so +long ago." + +There was apparently nobody else on that side of the deck-house, and +Jacinta, who did not shake his grasp off, looked up at him with shining +eyes. + +"You are quite sure of that?" she said. + +"The wish to do so was almost irresistible the first time I saw you. It +has been growing stronger ever since." + +Jacinta laughed softly, though the crimson was in her cheeks. "Still, +you would have mastered it. You were always discreet, you know, and that +was why at last I--who have hitherto told all my friends what they ought +to do--had to let some one else make it clear how much I wanted you. +Now, you are going to think very little of me after that?" + +"My dear," said Austin, "you know there was only one thing which could +have kept me away from you." + +"As if that mattered," and Jacinta laughed scornfully. "Now, stoop a +little, though, perhaps, I shouldn't tell you, and if you hadn't gone to +Africa, of course, I shouldn't have done it. I knew when you went away +how badly I wanted you--and I would have done anything to bring you +back, however much it cost me." + +A couple of seamen carrying baggage appeared from behind the deck-house +just then, which naturally cut short their confidences, and Austin made +his way with Jacinta's hand upon his arm towards the boat. He was a +trifle bewildered, as well as exultant, for this was quite a new +Jacinta, one, in fact, he had never encountered before. She gave him +another proof of it when he made an observation that afforded her the +opening as they were rowed across the harbour. + +"No," she said, quite disregarding Mrs. Hatherly, "I am not going to +give you any advice or instructions now you belong to me. After managing +everybody else's affairs successfully for ever so long I made a +deplorable mess of my own, you see." + +"Then what am I to do when we have difficulties to contend with?" said +Austin. "We may have a few now and then." + +"You," said Jacinta sweetly, "will have to get over them. I know you can +do that now, and I am just going to watch you and be pleased with +everything. Isn't that the correct attitude, Mrs. Hatherly?" + +The little lady beamed upon them both. "It is rather an old-fashioned +one, my dear," she said. "Still, I am far from sure that it doesn't work +out as well as the one occasionally adopted by young women now." + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, ="Don Erminio," said Jacinto, "evidently doesn't approve +of his dinner."= was changed to ="Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently +doesn't approve of his dinner."=, =A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one +thing, but you was--insultin'= was changed to =A bit doosoor on the coal +trade is one thing, but yon was--insultin'=, =as he steamer rolled= was +changed to =as the steamer rolled=, and =our launcha ready= was changed to +=our lancha ready=. + +In Chapter III, =Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremeduro's_ captain= was +changed to =Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremedura's_ captain=, and =if Jacinto +ever does= was changed to =if Jacinta ever does=. + +In Chapter IV, =it also occured to him= was changed to =it also occurred to +him=. + +In Chapter V, =a schoner load of onions= was changed to =a schooner load of +onions=, and a missing quotation mark was added after =painting little +pictures on board the _Estremedura_.= + +In Chapter VI, =as he drew in under the Estremedura's side= was changed to +=as he drew in under the _Estremedura's_ side=, and =Isn't that sufficient.= +was changed to =Isn't that sufficient?= + +In Chapter VII, =his silk-covered beast= was changed to =his silk-covered +breast=, =escaped anihilation= was changed to =escaped annihilation=, and +=didn't apear to have any legitimate connection= was changed to =didn't +appear to have any legitimate connection=. + +In Chapter VIII, =the negroes who crosesd it= was changed to =the negroes +who crossed it=, and =somebody seized his soulders= was changed to =somebody +seized his shoulders=. + +In Chapter IX, =drifted etherially athwart= was changed to =drifted +ethereally athwart=. + +In Chapter X, =acompanied the rhythmic splash of oars= was changed to +=accompanied the rhythmic splash of oars=. + +In Chapter XI, =the blurr of steamy mangroves= was changed to =the blur of +steamy mangroves=, =swoopd down beneath= was changed to =swooped down +beneath=, and ="Who the devil are you poisoning?"= was changed to ='Who the +devil are you poisoning?'=. + +In Chapter XIII, a missing period was added after =winch commenced to +fire his blood=. + +In Chapter XV, a quotation mark was deleted before =Those salvage men are +specialists=. + +In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after =Last night the water +was on the thumb.= + +In Chapter XVII, a missing quotation mark was added after ="Well,= and +before =he said, "it isn't the usual view=, and a missing quotation mark +was added after =The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to +get it.=. + +In Chapter XIX, =admissable now and then= was changed to =admissible now +and then=, =he recognised thath she must be forced= was changed to =he +recognised that she must be forced=, =the girls' big blue eyes= was changed +to =the girl's big blue eyes=, and a missing quotation mark was added +before =Couldn't you get there in the _Estremedura_=. + +In Chapter XX, a missing quotation mark was added after ="Well,= and +before =said Muriel, "it is really your own fault=, a quotation mark was +deleted before =Eight guineas for the two=, and a period was changed to a +question mark after =the Delgado Island lies=. + +In Chapter XXI, =That, I think, is, to be acurate= was changed to =That, I +think, is, to be accurate=. + +In Chapter XXII, =one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle= was changed +to =one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle=, and a quotation mark was +deleted after =not afraid of Funnel-paint=. + +In Chapter XXIII, a quotation mark was added after =makes any exertion +out of the question=, a quotation mark was deleted before =Offer any of +the rest of them=, and =clenched a hard, scared fist= was changed to +=clenched a hard, scarred fist=. + +In Chapter XXIV, =even Jefferson deferrd to him= was changed to =even +Jefferson deferrd to him=, =as the Cumbria rose upright= was changed to =as +the _Cumbria_ rose upright=, =In a month her deck was almost leved= was +changed to =In a month her deck was almost leveled=, =You will remember the +encouraging words that fellow left--"My arm's almost rotten now."= was +changed to =You will remember the encouraging words that fellow left--'My +arm's almost rotten now.'"=, and =slowly clenched one scared hand= was +changed to =slowly clenched one scarred hand=. + +In Chapter XXV, =he keeps in the litle case= was changed to =he keeps in +the little case=, =beam and angle comenced to tremble= was changed to =beam +and angle commenced to tremble=, and =Wire and hemp and studded chain +rosed= was changed to =Wire and hemp and studded chain rose=. + +In Chapter XXVI, a missing question mark was added after =Put that lamp +out.=, =keep outside the straking radius= was changed to =keep outside the +striking radius=, =Austim became sensible of a change in his mood= was +changed to =Austin became sensible of a change in his mood=, and =a faint +rythmic throbbing= was changed to =a faint rhythmic throbbing=. + +In Chapter XXVII, quotation marks were added after =keep your skin +unbroken.= and =You may as well open the rest of them.= + +In Chapter XXVIII, =the _Cumbria_ steerd handily= was changed to =the +_Cumbria_ steered handily=, and =the distance run appeared to be working +acurately= was changed to =the distance run appeared to be working +accurately=. + +In Chapter XXX, =an dinformed Brown that the surgeon= was changed to =and +informed Brown that the surgeon=. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For Jacinta, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + +***** This file should be named 38670-8.txt or 38670-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/7/38670/ + +Produced 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: For Jacinta + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: G. W. Hood + +Release Date: January 25, 2012 [EBook #38670] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 388px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="388" height="600" alt="cover of For Jacinta" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 376px;"> +<img src="images/front.jpg" width="376" height="600" alt="Don't you know that it is rather a serious thing to +delay a Spanish mail-boat?" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">"Don't You Know That It Is Rather a Serious Thing to +Delay a Spanish Mail-Boat?"</span>—<em>Page <span class="upright">19</span></em></p> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<h1>FOR JACINTA</h1> + +<p class="center bigtext"><i>By</i> HAROLD BINDLOSS</p> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF<br /> +"ALTON OF SOMASCO," "THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER," +"THE DUST OF CONFLICT," "WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE," ETC.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 235px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="235" height="450" alt="decorative element" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br /> +NEW <span style="word-spacing: 3em;">YORK PUBLISHERS</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>Copyright, 1907</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By Frederick A. Stokes Company</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center smalltext">Published January, 1908</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table class="figcenter" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="chapname smalltext"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jacinta Brown</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">An Overheated Journal</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">On the Veranda</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Big Contract</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Tomato Finca</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">49</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin's Point of View</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">At the Bull Fight</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">72</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jefferson Feels the Strain</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">86</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin Makes a Venture</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jacinta is not Content</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">111</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Land of the Shadow</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Nocturnal Visitors</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">132</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Toil</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">142</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jefferson's Remonstrance</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">152</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Starting the Pump</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Elusive Gum</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">174</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin Goes Down River</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">183</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jacinta Becomes Indignant</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Condemned Unheard</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jacinta Makes no Excuse</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">215</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Pictures</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">225</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Funnel-Paint's Proposition</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">236</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Funnel-Paint Moves Again</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">245</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin Finds a Clue</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">256</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Hove Off</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">267</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jefferson Finds the Gum</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">277</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin's Toast</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">288</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">In Command</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">299</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Austin is Missing</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">310</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jacinta Capitulates</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">322</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FOR_JACINTA" id="FOR_JACINTA"></a>FOR JACINTA</h2> + +<h2 class="chapterone"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JACINTA BROWN</span></h2> + + +<p>It was about seven o'clock in the evening when sobrecargo Austin boarded +the little mail-boat <i>Estremedura</i> as she lay rolling at anchor on the +long, moon-lit heave that worked into the roadstead of Santa Cruz, +Palma. Sobrecargo means much the same thing as purser, and Austin was an +Englishman, though the <i>Estremedura</i> was to all intents and purposes a +Spanish steamer. She traded round the islands of the Canary archipelago +with mules and camels, tomatoes, bananas, onions, and seasick English +tourists, as fortune favoured her. Now, as the heavily sealed document +Austin carried in his pocket declared, she was to sail for Las Palmas, +Grand Canary, with the Cuban mail, by the gracious permission of the +young King of Spain.</p> + +<p>He had trouble on getting on board of her, for there were a good many +bullocks swimming about her side waiting until the red-capped crew +should heave them on board beneath the derrick-boom by means of a rope +twisted round their horns. It probably hurt the bullocks, and now and +then one succumbed to a broken neck during the operation; but the +Castilian, who can face his losses placidly, is not, as a rule, +particularly merciful to his beast. There were also stray sheep, goats, +and donkeys, as well as olive-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>faced peasants with blankets strapped +about their shoulders, wandering about the after portion of the main +deck, which was supposed to be reserved for the second-class passengers, +when Austin stopped a moment by the covered hatch. A big electric light +hung from the spar-deck beams above his head, and he looked about him +with a little ironical smile.</p> + +<p>He was a young man of average stature, and there was nothing especially +distinguished in his appearance, though he had good grey eyes, and a +pleasant bronzed face. He was somewhat lightly made, though he looked +wiry, and held himself well, and there was a certain languidness in his +smile which seemed to suggest that he was not addicted to troubling +greatly about anything. Because the Scotchman who ran the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s engines had sold his white uniform jacket with the +resplendent buttons a day or two before, he was just then attired +somewhat incongruously in a white cap with the very large and imposing +badge of the Spanish mail service clasped into the front of it, a brown +alpaca jacket, white duck trousers, and pipe-clayed shoes. The latter +two items were, however, by no means immaculate, since he had, as a +special favour to the mate, brought off certain sheep and goats in his +despatch-boat, as well as a camel tied astern of it. Spaniards and +Englishmen do not invariably agree, but they lived like brothers on +board the <i>Estremedura</i>, which, however, had its disadvantages. Austin +objected in particular to the community of property.</p> + +<p>That evening the steamer hummed with life, and the clatter of polyglot +tongues. Parsee dealers in silver-thread embroideries, German commercial +travellers, Madeiran Portuguese, Canario hillmen, and Peninsular +Spaniards, moved amidst the straying livestock, while a little group of +Anglo-Saxons naturally sat apart upon the hatch. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> were, as is +usual when Englishmen foregather in a country where wine is cheap, empty +bottles scattered about. The engineer from the sister ship and an +athletic tourist, stripped, at least as far as was permissible, were +wrestling in Cumberland fashion on the hatch, with much delicate +manœuvring of their feet and futile clutches at each other's waists. +Macallister, who, when he felt inclined, superintended the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s machinery, alternately encouraged them sardonically and +solaced himself with one of the bottles. He was a big, gaunt man, and +just then extremely dirty, and when he saw Austin he looked up with a +mischievous twinkle in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I have been waiting for ye anxiously," he said. "Ye may now have the +pleasure of lending me five dollars."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not!" said Austin decisively. "For one thing, I haven't got +them. I very seldom have—as you ought to know."</p> + +<p>Macallister made a little gesture of resignation. "Well," he said, "ye +have always your clothes, and if ye had known us better ye would not +have brought so many of them on board the <i>Estremedura</i>. I'm half +expecting yon Jackson o' Las Palmas, who gave us two dollars for the +last white suit, to come round for some more o' them when we get in."</p> + +<p>Austin tried the door of his room close by, and was consoled to find it +locked, as he had left it.</p> + +<p>"They cost me five, and I naturally never saw a peseta of the money. I +suppose you kept the Correo buttons?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," said Macallister, unabashed. "Ye may observe Miguel, the +quartermaster, walking round in them. It was no a bad bargain—a basket +o' big grapes an' a watermelon."</p> + +<p>Austin bore it patiently. There was, in fact, nothing to be gained by +protesting, and he knew that it was use<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>less to expostulate with +Macallister when he spoke his own tongue, which was not an invariable +custom with him. Then the engineer turned and glanced at the wrestlers, +who were still stamping up and down the hatch with feet spread well +apart, compassionately.</p> + +<p>"They've been at it the whole o' a half hour, an' no a fall to cheer a +body yet. One would think it was dancing they were," he said. "It wasn't +to see that I wasted a tumblerful o' anisow on them."</p> + +<p>Now, anisado is a preparation of spirit and extract of anise seed, which +is esteemed in that country, and Austin looked hard at his comrade, +because he had a jar of it, intended for a Spanish friend, in his room. +He was a trifle uneasy, since a lock is not an insuperable obstacle to +an engineer. The latter, however, changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"It's a kind o' pity about your clothes," he said. "Miss Jacinta Brown +is going across with us to-night, an' she was enquiring kindly after +ye."</p> + +<p>Austin had a good deal of composure, and he often needed it, but the +shrewd Scottish eyes saw the momentary pleasure in his face. Then, +because he did not appreciate Macallister's badinage on that subject, he +went into his room and bolted the door behind him before he switched on +the light and examined the anisado jar. It seemed quite full when he +shook it, and the seal was intact, but on looking closer he saw that the +impression on the latter was not what it had been when he left it. He +was aware that a certain proportion of sea-water may be added to rum +without the average consumer noticing any great difference, but he had +suspicions that a blend of brine and anise was not likely to be +appreciated by its recipient, and he was for a moment or two consumed +with righteous indignation. This, however, passed, for he realised that +his expostulations would be heard with laughter. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> all a part of +the happy-go-lucky life he led, and nobody concerns himself unduly about +anything under the flag of Spain. The Castilian, as a rule, bears his +troubles patiently, which is, perhaps, just as well, since he rarely +sees them coming or makes any attempt to get out of the way of them.</p> + +<p>Austin accordingly busied himself with his papers, and it was an hour +later when he went on deck. The <i>Estremedura</i> had gone to sea by then, +and the lights of the little Spanish town blinked above the broad fringe +of surf astern. High above her the great black cordillera cut hard and +sharp against the luminous blueness of the night, and the long heave of +the Atlantic flashed, white-topped, beneath the moon ahead. She swung +over it with slanted spars and swaying funnel, while the keen +trade-breeze sang in her rigging, and now and then a flying-fish +ricocheted, gleaming, from sea-top to sea-top beneath her side. She was +very well kept above decks, a trim, yacht-like vessel, and for a while +Austin leaned over her quarter-rails, smoking a cigarette, and wondering +when Miss Jacinta Brown would come up on deck. There was a very deaf +Englishman, who insisted on conversing with him in stentorian tones in +the saloon, and he had no desire for his company. In the meanwhile, it +was pleasant to lounge there and watch the moonlight gleam upon the +tumbling seas.</p> + +<p>There were, he admitted, a good many compensations in the life he led. +The warmth and colour of the South appealed to him, and, though they are +not particularly numerous, there are men like him who retain a somewhat +chastened affection for the sea they earn their bread upon. It is true +that he earned very little more than that on board the <i>Estremedura</i>, +and he had once had his aspirations like other men, as well as a +prospect of realising them;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> but when financial disaster overtook the +family firm nobody seemed anxious to secure the services of a young man +without specialised training, who had artistic and somewhat expensive +tastes, which was, perhaps, not altogether astonishing. That was how +Austin eventually came on board the <i>Estremedura</i>, and stayed there, +though there were odd hours when he took himself to task for doing so. +Still, he did not exactly know where he could go if he left her, and the +indifference of the Latins was already infecting him. Men in Spain +believe that the future is quite able to take care of itself.</p> + +<p>By and by, however, a slim, white-clad figure appeared in the entrance +to the saloon companion, and he moved in that direction with evident +alacrity. As one result of being the <i>Estremedura</i>'s sobrecargo, he was +acquainted with everybody of importance in the archipelago, and among +them all there was nobody who figured more prominently than Miss Jacinta +Brown. She was English on both sides, though she had lived in those +islands most of her twenty-five years, and understood the Spaniards, +probably better than they understood themselves, for they are rather an +impulsive than an introspective people. She also understood her +countrymen, and ruled over them, as well as Spanish artillery officers +and Commandantes. It was not very evident how she did it, for there were +a good many Spanish women, at least, almost as pretty, and of much +better birth than she, and she apparently received no great assistance +from her father, for Pancho Brown was a merchant of an unusually solid +and unimaginative description. The wives of the English visitors, +however, did not, as a rule, like Jacinta. They said she was forward, +and it was a pity she had no mother; but when any of them received an +invitation from her it was immediately proclaimed all over the hotel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>She smiled at Austin graciously, and allowed him to place her a deck +chair beneath a big lifeboat, where it was out of the wind, after which +he procured himself another, and sat down and looked at her. Jacinta did +not seem to mind it, and most men would probably have found it difficult +to keep their eyes off her. She was little, shapely, and very dainty, +though she could, as Austin knew, on occasion be essentially dignified. +She had brown hair and eyes, with a little scintillating gleam in them, +and her face was slightly tinted with the warm Andalusian olive, though +there was only English blood in her. She was dressed in white, as usual, +with a simplicity that suggested perfect taste, while, as he watched +her, Austin wondered again exactly where her compelling attractiveness +lay. He had met women with more delicate complexions, finer features, +softer voices, and more imposing carriage; that is, women who possessed +one or two of these advantages, but he had not as yet met any one to be +compared to Jacinta, as he expressed it, in the aggregate. Then it +seemed that she read his thoughts, which was, as he had noticed, a habit +of hers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the dress is a new one. I am rather pleased with it, too," she +said.</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "If I hadn't had the pleasure of making your +acquaintance some time ago, you would have astonished me. As it is——"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Jacinta. "After all, there is no great credit in +telling people of your kind what they are thinking, though I can't help +it now and then. You were wondering what anybody saw in me."</p> + +<p>Now Austin was too wise to fancy for a moment that Jacinta was fishing +for compliments. She knew her own value too well to appreciate them +unless they were par<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>ticularly artistic, and he surmised that she had +merely desired to amuse herself by his embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"If I was, it was very unwise of me," he said. "You are Jacinta—and one +has to be content with that. You can't be analysed."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"I am the <i>Estremedura</i>'s sobrecargo, which is, perhaps, a significant +admission."</p> + +<p>Jacinta nodded comprehension. "I think it is," she said. "Still, since +you considered yourself warranted in approving of my dress, what are you +doing in that jacket on a mail run?"</p> + +<p>"As usual, there is a reason. When I was across at Arucas my comrades +laid hands upon my garments, and disposed of them at a bargain. They had +naturally squandered the money by the time I came back. I am now longing +for a few words with the man who, I understand, is coming down to +purchase some more at an equally alarming sacrifice."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed, but she also looked at him with a little gleam in her +eyes. "Don't you think it's rather a pity you—are—the <i>Estremedura</i>'s +sobrecargo?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I won't pretend to misunderstand +you, but the trouble is that I don't quite see what else I could be. I +cannot dig, and I'm not sure that it would be very pleasant to go round +borrowing odd dollars from my friends, even if they were disposed to +lend them to me, which is scarcely probable. Most of them would, +naturally, tell me to look at them, and see what I might have been if +I'd had their diligence and probity. Besides, I have time to paint +little pictures which rash tourists buy occasionally, and the life one +leads here has its compensations."</p> + +<p>The <i>Estremedura</i>'s whistle hooted just then, and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> Jacinta looked +round a lordly four-masted ship, carrying everything to her royals, +swept up out of the night. She was driving down the trade-breeze a good +twelve knots an hour, and the foam flew up in cascades as her bows went +down, swirled in a broad, snowy smother along the slender streak of +rushing hull. Above it four tapered spires of sailcloth swung back +against the moonlight at every stately roll, and she showed as an +exquisite cameo cut in ebony on a ground of silver and blue. Still, it +was not the colour that formed the strength of that picture, but the +suggestion of effort and irresistible force that was stamped on it. She +drove by majestically, showing a breadth of wet plates that flashed in a +leeward roll, and Jacinta's eyes rested on the bent figure high on the +lifted poop grappling with her wheel.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said. "I suppose it's sometimes brutal, but that is man's +work, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed again, though there was a faint warmth in his cheek. "Of +course, I see the inference," he said. "Still, it really isn't necessary +for everybody to hold a big vessel's wheel, and I would a good deal +sooner you said something nice to me. Nobody likes to be told the truth +about themselves, you know, and I understand now why folks threw big +stones at the goat-skinned prophets long ago."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jacinta, "we will talk of somebody else. I wonder if you +know that Jefferson has been left a fortune, or, at least, part of one?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't. Still, I'm glad to hear it. I like the man. In fact, he's the +straightest one I've come across in his occupation, which, by the way, +is, perhaps, somewhat of an admission, considering that he's an +American."</p> + +<p>"I like most Americans. For one thing, they're usually in earnest."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>"And you like Spaniards, who certainly aren't."</p> + +<p>"We will waive the question. It's rather a coincidence that Jefferson +should have fallen in love about the same time."</p> + +<p>"Do I know the lady, who is, presumably, in earnest, too? I don't like +women who have a purpose openly, though that does not apply to you. You +have usually a good many, but nobody knows anything about them until you +have accomplished them."</p> + +<p>Jacinta ignored the compliment. "I don't think you know her, but she is +a friend of mine. I went to school with her for two years in England."</p> + +<p>"Then, of course, she's nice."</p> + +<p>"That," said Jacinta, "is naturally a matter of opinion. She is, +however, not in the least like me."</p> + +<p>"In that case it's difficult to see how she can be nice at all."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled somewhat sardonically. "Well," she said, "Muriel is +bigger than I am, and more solid—in every way—as well as quiet and +precise. Being the daughter of the clergyman of a forlorn little place +in England, she has, of course, had advantages which have been denied to +me. There are people who have to undertake their own training, or do +without any, you know. She very seldom says anything she does not mean, +and always knows exactly what she is going to do."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that sounds particularly attractive."</p> + +<p>Jacinta lifted her head and looked at him. "Still, she is worth—oh, +ever so much more—than a good many such frivolous people as you or I. +You will see her yourself to-morrow. She is coming across with us to Las +Palmas, and, of course, if you would like to please me——"</p> + +<p>"That goes without saying. To-morrow we will endeavour to turn this ship +upside down. It usually has to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> be done when we have the honour of +carrying a lady from any part of provincial England."</p> + +<p>"I really don't want very much," and Jacinta smiled, at him. "Just the +big forward room for her, and the seat next me at the top of your table. +The nicest things have a way of getting there. Then she is fond of +fruit—and if you could get any of the very big Moscatel, and some of +that membrillo jelly. A few bunches of roses would look nice at our end +of the table, too."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, with a little whimsical gesture of resignation, +"there is, as you know, a Spanish Commandante and his wife in that +forward room, but I suppose we shall have to turn them out. The other +things will naturally follow, but I'm afraid Major-domo Antonio will +call us dreadful names to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Jacinta rose. "You are as nice as I expected you would be," she said. +"Now it is getting chilly, and I have a letter to write."</p> + +<p>She smiled at him and went forward, walking, though she was English, +with a curious buoyant gracefulness as Spanish women do, while Austin +sat still and considered the position. He was quite aware that he would +have trouble with the Spanish Commandante as well as his Major-domo on +the morrow, but that was, after all, of no great importance. When +Jacinta wanted anything she usually obtained it, and it was not a little +to be counted among her friends, since she frequently contrived to do a +good deal for them. There were men as well as women in those islands who +owed more than they were aware of to Jacinta Brown.</p> + +<p>Austin sighed as he remembered it, for he was a penniless sobrecargo, +and she, in those islands, at least, a lady of station. It must be +sufficient for him to do what little he could to please her, and he had, +in fact, once or twice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> done a good deal. He took life easily, but there +was in him a vein of chivalry, which for the most part, however, found +somewhat whimsical expression. Then he recollected that he had still +certain documents to attend to, and going down again locked himself into +his room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL</span></h2> + + +<p>The <i>Estremedura</i> lay rolling gently off the quaint old Spanish city of +Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, most of the following day. It was, indeed, late +in the afternoon when she went to sea, and while the jumble of white +walls and red-tiled roofs faded astern Austin sat in a deck-chair under +a lifeboat, while Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and Miss Muriel Gascoyne, to +whom he had been duly presented, occupied a seat close by. He was not +particularly charmed with the latter's company, and decided that she was +certainly as unlike Jacinta as she very well could be.</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne was a clear-complexioned, blue-eyed young Englishwoman, +solidly put together, and endued with a certain attractiveness; but she +was quiet, and had a disconcerting way of looking at him in a fashion +which vaguely suggested disapproval. There was also what he felt to be a +slightly irritating air of authority about her, which seemed to suggest +that she recognised the responsibility of her station, as one who was +looked up to in a remote corner of rural England. Mrs. Hatherly, her +aunt, was a little, withered old lady, with ruddy cheeks and the stamp +of vigorous health upon her, though she had apparently been ordered +south for the winter. She became visibly interested when Jacinta +contrived to mention that Austin was in charge of the <i>Estremedura</i>'s +medicine chest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>"It really isn't my fault, and I don't do more harm with it than I can +help," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then you have a knowledge of medicine?" asked the red-cheeked lady.</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin, "not in the least. I had to get a sixpenny book from +England to tell me the difference between a scruple and a drachm, and +I'm not sure about some of the measures yet. You see, I entered the +profession quite by accident. The manual in the drug chest was, +naturally, in English, as it was sent on board a Spanish ship, and the +skipper, who couldn't read it, passed it on to me. My first case was a +great success, unfortunately. We were loading pine, and one of the men +contrived to get a splinter into the inner side of his eyelid. I suppose +it was a weakness, but I really couldn't watch him going about in +agony."</p> + +<p>"Is the desire to relieve a fellow creature's suffering a weakness?" +asked Miss Gascoyne.</p> + +<p>Austin appeared to reflect. "I almost think it is when the chances are +tolerably even that you're going to blind him. Still, I got the thing +out, and that man never quite knew the risks he ran. The next week +another of them dropped a hogshead on to his foot, and smashed it +badly—they don't wear boots, you know. He seemed quite convinced that I +could cure him, and, as the risk was his, I undertook the thing. You can +see him on the forecastle yonder, and he isn't limping. After that my +fame went abroad, and they send their cripples off to me at several of +the desolate places we call at. I always give them something, but +whatever quantity of water the manual recommends I put in twice as +much."</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne looked at him curiously. She had not met a young man of +this type before, and was not sure that she approved of him. She also +fancied that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> a trifle egotistical, which he certainly was not, +and it never occurred to her that he was merely rambling on for her +entertainment because he felt it his duty.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that one should always have faith in one's +prescriptions and act upon it?" said her aunt. "I endeavour to do so +when I dose the village people who come to me."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "Well," he said, "you see, I haven't any, and, perhaps +if I had, it would be a little rough on others. Still, as a matter of +fact, they do get better—that is, most of them."</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne looked startled. "Is it right to abuse the ignorant +people's credulity like that?" she said, and stopped a trifle awkwardly, +while a little twinkle crept into Jacinta's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Austin hasn't really killed anybody yet," she said. "You haven't +told us what you think of Teneriffe, Muriel."</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne turned her face astern, and there was appreciation, and +something deeper than that, in her blue eyes, which had seen very little +of the glory of this world as yet. High overhead the great black wall of +the Cañadas cut, a tremendous ebony rampart, against the luminous blue, +and beyond it the peak's white cone gleamed ethereally above its +wrappings of fleecy mist. Beneath, the Atlantic lay a sheet of +glimmering turquoise in the lee of the island, and outside of that there +was a blinding blaze of sunlight on the white-topped sea.</p> + +<p>"It is beautiful—wonderfully beautiful," she said, with a little +tremble in her voice. "Isn't it sad that such a country should be +steeped in superstition?"</p> + +<p>Austin felt the last observation jar upon him, for he knew that the +inhabitants of that land would, in respect of sobriety and morality, +compare very favourably with those of several more enlightened places he +was acquainted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> with at home, and that was going far enough for him. +Still, he could defer to another's convictions when they were evidently +sincere, and it seemed to him that Jacinta's warning glance was a trifle +unnecessary. There was, however, an interruption just then, for a +steward appeared with a laden tray at the door of the captain's room.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't Don Erminio take his comida in the saloon?" asked Jacinta.</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin. "Not when we have English ladies on board. He's a +different man, you know, and some of them will insist on talking Spanish +to him. It's a little trying to have to admit you don't understand your +own language."</p> + +<p>"Vaya!" said a deep voice beyond the open door. "Eso no me gusta," and +while the steward backed out in haste, a couple of plates went flying +over the rail.</p> + +<p>"Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently doesn't approve of his dinner."</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, and looked at Austin gravely.</p> + +<p>"Does he often lose his temper in that fashion?" she asked. "Isn't it +very childish to throw—good food into the sea?"</p> + +<p>"The captain is, when you come to know him, really a very good-natured +man," said Austin. Then he stopped, and stood up suddenly as two figures +came towards them along the deck, and another from the opposite +direction. "It's Monsignor—I wonder what Macallister wants with him."</p> + +<p>A little, portly priest moved forward with a smile of good-humoured +pride, and an ecclesiastic of a very different stamp walked at his side. +The latter was a great man, indeed, a very great man, though he had once +toiled in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> comparative obscurity. Even Miss Gascoyne had apparently +heard of him.</p> + +<p>"If one could venture, I should like to speak to him," she said.</p> + +<p>Neither Jacinta nor Austin seemed to hear her. They were both watching +Macallister, and he, at least, clearly intended to accost the clerics. +He was now dressed immaculately in blue uniform, and in that condition +he was a big, handsome man, but he was also a North British Calvinist, +so far as he had any religious views at all, and accordingly not one who +could reasonably be expected to do homage to a dignitary of Rome. Still, +the little fleshy priest was a friend of his, and when the latter +presented him he bent one knee a trifle and gravely took off his uniform +cap. The ecclesiastic raised two fingers and spoke in Latin. Macallister +smiled at him reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"That isn't exactly what I meant, but it can't do me any harm coming +from a man like you, while if it does me any good I daresay I need it. +You see, I'm one of the goats," he said.</p> + +<p>The great man glanced at his companion, who translated as literally as +he could, though he also explained that the Señor Macallister not +infrequently made things easier for some of the peasants who travelled +third class on board the <i>Estremedura</i>. Then a whimsical but very kindly +twinkle crept into the great man's eyes, and he laid a beautiful, +olive-tinted hand on the shoulder of the mechanic who had graciously +approved of him.</p> + +<p>"If he is kind to these poor hill men he is a friend of mine. The +charity it covers many—differences," he said.</p> + +<p>Then, as they came aft together, Austin also took off his cap, and +touched Miss Gascoyne's arm as he turned to the cleric. The girl rose +gravely, with a tinge of height<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>ened colour in her face and a little +inclination, and, though nobody remembered exactly what was said, unless +it was the eminent cleric, who was, as usual with his kind, a polished +man of the world as well, he moved on with the girl on one side of him +and Macallister talking volubly in a most barbarous jargon on the other. +Mrs. Hatherly and the little priest took their places behind them, and +Austin gathered that as a special favour Macallister was going to show +them all his engines. Jacinta leaned back in her seat and laughed +musically.</p> + +<p>"Macallister," she said, "is always unique, and he will probably finish +the entertainment by offering Monsignor a glass of whiskey. It is to be +hoped he doesn't apostrophise his firemen with his usual fluency. Still, +do you know, I am rather pleased with you? You have made Muriel happy."</p> + +<p>"If I have pleased you it is rather more to the purpose," said Austin, +reflectively. "I have, however, noticed that when you express your +approbation there is usually something else to be done."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled. "It is very little, after all, but perhaps I had better +explain. Muriel met Jefferson, who had been to London to see somebody, +on board the <i>Dahomey</i>, and—I'm telling you this in confidence—there +are reasons for believing the usual thing happened. She is really good, +you know, while Jefferson is a somewhat serious man himself, as well as +an American. They treat women rather well in his country—in fact, they +seem to idealise them now and then. Besides, I understand it was +remarkably fine weather."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin, who glanced suggestively across the sunlit heave +towards the dim, blue heights of Grand Canary, "it is, one would +believe, quite easy to fall in love with any one pretty and clever +during fine weather at sea.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> That is, of course, on sufficient +provocation. There are also, I think, Englishmen with some capacity for +idealisation—but hadn't you better go on?"</p> + +<p>Jacinta pursed her lips as she looked at him with an assumption of +severity, but she proceeded. "Now, I had arranged for Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel to spend the winter in Grand Canary, but she has heard of a +doctor in one of the hotels at Madeira, and is bent on going there. +There is, of course, nothing the matter with her; but if she approves of +the doctor in question it is very probable that she will stay in that +hotel until the spring. Still, she is changeable, and if she doesn't go +at once it is possible that she will not go at all. The Madeira boat +leaves Las Palmas about half an hour after we get there, and I don't +want Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel to catch her. Muriel doesn't want to, +either."</p> + +<p>Austin shook his head. "Don't you know that it is rather a serious thing +to delay a Spanish mailboat?" he said. "Still, I suppose you have +decided that it must be done?"</p> + +<p>"I think so," said Jacinta sweetly. "I also fancy you and Macallister +could manage it between you. You have my permission to tell him anything +you think necessary."</p> + +<p>She rose and left him, with this, and Austin, who was not altogether +pleased with his commission, waited until after the four o'clock comida, +when, flinging himself down on a settee in the engineer's room, cigar in +hand, he put the case to Macallister, who grinned. The latter, as a +rule, appeared to find his native idiom more expressive in the evening.</p> + +<p>"I'm no saying Jacinta's no fascinating, an' I've seen ye looking at her +like a laddie eyeing a butterscotch," he said. "Still, it can no be +done. Neither o' our reputations would stand it, for one thing."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>"We have nothing to do with the Madeira boat, and the Lopez boat for +Cuba doesn't sail until an hour after her," said Austin. "Besides, +Jacinta wants it done."</p> + +<p>Macallister looked thoughtful. "Weel," he said, "that is a reason. +Jacinta thinks a good deal of me, an' if I was no married already I +would show ye how to make up to her. I would not sit down, a long way +off, an' look at her. She's no liking ye any the better for that way of +it."</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better leave that out?" said Austin stiffly. "I'm the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s sobrecargo, which is quite sufficient. Can't you have a +burst tube or something of the kind?"</p> + +<p>"A burst tube is apt to result in somebody getting scalded, an' stepping +into boiling water is sore on a Primera Maquinista's feet. Ye'll just +have to make excuses to Jacinta, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>Austin, who knew he could do nothing without Macallister's co-operation, +was wondering what persuasion he could use, when he was joined by an +unexpected ally. A big, aggressive Englishman in tourist apparel +approached the mess-room door and signed to him.</p> + +<p>"You were not in your room," he said, as though this was a grievance.</p> + +<p>Austin looked at him quietly. "I'm afraid I really haven't the faculty +of being in two places at once. Is there anything I can do for you?"</p> + +<p>"There is. I particularly want to catch the Liverpool boat <i>via</i> Madeira +to-night, and the time you get in cuts it rather fine. It occurred to me +that you might be able to hurry her up a little."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry that's out of the question," said Austin, languidly. "You +see, I'm not expected to interfere with this steamer's engines."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>He was wondering how he could best favour the Englishman with a delicate +left-handed compliment, when Macallister, who was once more very dirty, +and wore only a dungaree jacket over his singlet, broke in:</p> + +<p>"I would," he said, "like to see him try."</p> + +<p>"May I ask who you are?" said the passenger, who regarded him +superciliously.</p> + +<p>"Ye may," and there was a portentious gleam in Macallister's eyes. "I'm +only her chief engineer."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the other, who did not consider it advisable to mention that +he had supposed him to be a fireman. "Well, there are, I believe, means +of obtaining a favour from a chief engineer. You naturally don't get +many pickings in this kind of boat."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed softly, for he knew his man. It is now and then +permissible to bestow an honorarium upon a chief engineer over a deal in +coals, but it requires to be done tactfully, and when the stranger +suggestively thrust his hand into his pocket, Macallister hove his six +feet of length upright, and looked down on him, with a big hand clenched +and blazing eyes.</p> + +<p>"Out o' this before I shake some manners intil ye, ye +fifteen-pound-the-round-trip scum!" he said.</p> + +<p>The stranger backed away from him, and then bolted incontinently as +Macallister made for the door. Austin laughed softly when he heard him +falling over things in the dark alleyway, and Macallister sat down +fuming.</p> + +<p>"A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one thing, but yon was—insultin'," +he said, and then looked up with a sudden grin. "I'll fix the waster. +Can ye no smell a crank-pin burning?"</p> + +<p>"I can't," said Austin. "Still, under the circumstances, I'm quite +willing to take your word for it."</p> + +<p>He went up on deck. It was dark now, but the moon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> was shining, and he +was not surprised to see a sooty fireman clambering in haste up the +bridge ladder. Then the throb of the propeller slackened, and when the +<i>Estremedura</i> lay rolling wildly athwart the long, moonlit heave, an +uproar broke out in the engine room below. The Castilian is excitable, +and apt to lose his head when orders which he cannot understand are +hurled at him, while Macallister, when especially diligent, did not +trust to words alone, but used lumps of coal and heavy steel spanners. +He was just then apparently chasing his greasers and firemen up and down +the engine room. There was a rush of apprehensive passengers towards the +open skylights, from which steam as well as bad language ascended, and +Austin, who went with them, found Jacinta by his side.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's nothing dangerous?" she said.</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "If it were Macallister would not be making so much +noise. In fact, I don't think you need worry at all. When Miss Jacinta +Brown expresses her wishes, things are not infrequently apt to happen."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled at him. "I have," she said, "one or two faithful +servants. Shall we move a little nearer and see what he is doing?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid the conversation of one of them is not likely to be of a +kind that Miss Gascoyne, for example, would approve of."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said Jacinta, and followed when Austin made way for her to one +of the skylights' lifted frames.</p> + +<p>The <i>Estremedura</i> was rolling wickedly, and very scantily attired men +were scrambling, apparently without any definite purpose, beneath the +reeling lights which flashed upon the idle machinery. They, however, +seemed to be in bodily fear of Macallister, who held a spouting hose, +while a foamy, soapy lather splashed up from the crank-pit on the big, +shining connecting-rod. Austin could see him dimly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> through a cloud of +steam, though he could think of no reason why any of the latter should +be drifting about the engine room. There were several English passengers +about the skylights, and the one with the aggressive manner was +explaining his views to the rest.</p> + +<p>"The man is either drunk or totally incapable. He is doing nothing but +shout," he said. "You will notice that he spends half the time washing +the connecting-rods, which, as everybody knows, cannot get hot. If we +miss the Madeira boat I shall certainly call upon the company's +manager."</p> + +<p>Perhaps he spoke too loudly, or it may have been an accident, though +Austin, who saw Macallister flounder on the slippery floor-plates as the +steamer rolled, did not think it was. In any case, he drew Jacinta back, +and a moment later a jet from the spouting hose struck with a great +splashing upon the glass. The aggressive passenger, who was looking down +just then, got most of it in his face, and he staggered back, dripping, +and gasping with anger. When he once more became vociferous, Austin led +Jacinta away.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we will not catch that boat, but I really don't think you +ought to hear Mack's retort," he said.</p> + +<p>It was not quite half an hour later when the <i>Estremedura</i> moved on +again, and Macallister informed Austin that he could not allow two +journals to become overheated in the same voyage. It would, he said, be +too much of a coincidence, and some of his subordinates did know a +little about machinery. They had accordingly some few minutes yet in +hand when they swung round the high Isleta cinder heap into sight of Las +Palmas. It gleamed above the surf fringe, a cluster of twinkling lights +at the black hills' feet, and there were other lights, higher up, on +ships' forestays, behind the dusky line of mole. In between, the long +At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>lantic heave flashed beneath the moon, and there was scarcely two +miles of it left. Austin, standing forward with a pair of night-glasses, +and Jacinta beside him, watched the lights close on one another +dejectedly.</p> + +<p>"We'll be in inside ten minutes, and I think the Madeira boat has still +her anchor down," he said. "I had to give the quartermaster orders to +have our lancha ready, and he'll take any passengers straight across to +her."</p> + +<p>"I believe you did what you could," said Jacinta. "Still, you see——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Austin. "You like success?"</p> + +<p>Jacinta looked at him with a little enigmatical smile. "When any of my +friends are concerned, I believe I do."</p> + +<p>Austin went aft, and a little while later found Macallister standing by +the poop, which was piled with banana baskets, among which seasick +Canary peasants lay. The big crane on the end of the mole was now on the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s quarter, and they were sliding into the mouth of the +harbour. Close ahead, with white steam drifting about her forecastle, +lay the Madeira boat.</p> + +<p>"They're heaving up," said the engineer. "Jacinta will no' be pleased +with ye, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>"There's only one thing left," said Austin. "One of us must fall in."</p> + +<p>Macallister grinned. "Then I know which it will be. It was not me who +swam across the harbour last trip. But wait a moment. There's a dozen or +two Spaniards among the baskets, an' I'm thinking nobody would miss one +of them."</p> + +<p>Austin, who knew what his comrade was capable of, seized hold of him, +but Macallister shook his grasp off and disappeared among the baskets. +Then there was a splash in the shadow beneath the ship, a shout, and a +clamour broke out from the crowded deck. A gong clanged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> below, the +captain shouted confused orders from his bridge, and the <i>Estremedura</i> +slid forward, with engines stopped, past a British warship with her +boats at the booms. Then in the midst of the confusion, Austin, who was +leaning on the rail, wondering what had really happened, felt himself +gripped by the waist. They had slid into the shadow of the Isleta, which +lay black upon the water just there.</p> + +<p>"Noo's your chance," said a voice he knew. "It's a hero she'll think ye. +In ye go to the rescue!"</p> + +<p>Austin, who was by no means certain that there was a man in the water at +all, had no intention of going if he could help it, but, as it happened, +he had no option. The <i>Estremedura</i> rolled just then, he felt himself +lifted, and went out, head foremost, over the rail. The steamer had gone +on and left him when he rose to the surface, but there was nobody either +swimming or shouting in the water behind him. He knew it would be a +minute or two yet before they got the big passenger lancha over, but the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s propeller was thrashing astern, and when she came back +towards him he seized the boat-warp already lowered along her side. +Nobody appeared to notice him, for one of the British warship's boats +was then approaching. She flashed by as he crawled in through the opened +gangway, and a man stood up in her.</p> + +<p>"Spanish mail ahoy!" he cried. "Anybody speaking English aboard of you? +If so, tell your skipper to go ahead. We have got the banana basket he +dropped over. He can send for it to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Austin slipped, unnoticed, into his room, but he laughed as he heard the +roar of a whistle, and saw a long, black hull ringed with lights slide +by. It was the Madeira boat, steaming down the harbour.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ON THE VERANDA</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a clear, moonlight night when Pancho Brown, Mrs. Hatherly, and +Erminio Oliviera, the <i>Estremedura</i>'s captain, sat in big cane chairs on +the veranda of the Hotel Catalina, Las Palmas. The Catalina is long and +low, and fronted with a broad veranda, a rather more sightly building +than tourist hotels usually are, and its row of windows blazed that +night. They were, most of them, wide open, and the seductive strains of +a soft Spanish waltz drifted out with the rhythmic patter of feet and +swish of light draperies, for the winter visitors had organised a +concert and informal dance. A similar entertainment was apparently going +on in the aggressively English Metropole, which cut, a huge, square +block of building, against the shining sea a little further up the +straight white road, while the artillery band was playing in the alameda +of the town, a mile or two away. The deep murmur of the Atlantic surf +broke through the music in a drowsy undertone.</p> + +<p>Pancho Brown was essentially English, a little, portly gentleman with a +heavy, good-humoured face. He was precise in dress, a little slow in +speech, and nobody at first sight would have supposed him to be +brilliant, commercially or otherwise. Still, he had made money, which +is, perhaps, the most eloquent testimony to anybody's business ability. +He was then meditatively contemplating his daughter, who was strolling +in the garden with a young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> English officer from the big white warship +in the harbour. A broad blaze of silver stretched back across the sea +towards the hazy blueness in the east beyond which lay Africa, and it +was almost as light as day. Mrs. Hatherly followed his gaze.</p> + +<p>"An only daughter must be a responsibility now and then," she said. "I +have never had one of my own, but for the last few months my niece has +been living with me, and I have had my moments of anxiety."</p> + +<p>Pancho Brown, who fancied she was leading up to something, smiled in a +fashion which suggested good-humoured indifference, though he was quite +aware that his daughter was then talking very confidentially to the +young naval officer.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I do not deserve your sympathy," he said. "Jacinta's mother +died when she was eight years old, but ever since she came home from +school in England Jacinta has taken care of me. In fact, I almost think +it is Jacinta who feels the responsibility. I am getting a little old, +and now and then my business enterprises worry me."</p> + +<p>"And does that young girl know anything about them?"</p> + +<p>"Jacinta," said Brown, "knows a good deal about everything, and it +really doesn't seem to do her any harm. In fact, I sometimes feel that +she knows considerably more than I do. I make mistakes now and then, but +if Jacinta ever does I am not aware of them."</p> + +<p>"Still, a girl with Miss Brown's appearance—and advantages—must +naturally attract a good deal of attention, and, of course, one has——"</p> + +<p>Brown smiled at her indulgently. "When Jacinta chooses her husband I +shall, no doubt, approve of him. I am not sure," he added, with an air +of reflection, "that it would make any great difference if I didn't."</p> + +<p>"You are to be envied," said his companion, with a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> sigh. "I feel +the responsibility circumstances have placed on me is unpleasantly +heavy, and I am almost sorry I missed the Madeira boat two or three +weeks ago. If we had gone in her we should not, of course, have been in +Las Palmas now."</p> + +<p>"It is almost as evident that I should have been left forlorn to-night," +said Brown, with cumbrous gallantry.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly appeared to reflect. "It is a curious thing that Miss +Brown assured me we should not catch the steamer that night, though we +had apparently half an hour to spare; but in one respect it was perhaps +fortunate, after all. If we had gone to Madeira I should not have +consulted Dr. Lane, who seems to understand my case so thoroughly; but, +on the other hand, we should have seen no more of Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"It is not such a long way to Madeira, and there is a steamer every week +or so. From what I know of Mr. Jefferson, I think it is possible he +would have gone there, too."</p> + +<p>"You are well acquainted with him?"</p> + +<p>Brown glanced at her with a faint twinkle in his eyes. "I know a little +about everybody in these islands, madam. Mr. Jefferson is considered a +straight man, and I may mention that he meets with Jacinta's approval. I +almost think I could vouch for his character. I wonder," and he smiled +genially, "if it would be as much to the purpose if I said that he had +just been left eight thousand pounds?"</p> + +<p>"Eight thousand pounds is not very much," and Mrs. Hatherly turned to +him as if for guidance. "Mr. Jefferson called on me this afternoon, and +it would be almost three weeks before I could get a letter from Muriel's +father, who trusted her to me. Of course, a good deal would depend upon +what I said about him; but, after all, Muriel has not a penny of her +own."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>"The sum in question is apt to go a long way when the man who has it is +an American, and I really think you could leave him and Miss Gascoyne to +settle the affair between them." Brown stopped a moment, and then added, +as if by an afterthought: "It is, of course, quite possible that they +have done so already; and, in any case, I am not sure, my dear madam, +that Jefferson would be very greatly discouraged by your opposition. He +is—as has been said—an American."</p> + +<p>The little, red-cheeked lady made a gesture of resignation, but just +then Captain Oliviera, who spoke a little English, and appeared to feel +himself neglected, broke in:</p> + +<p>"You come here for your healt, señora?" he said. "Bueno! My sobrecargo +go by the step, and he is savvy much the medsin. Me, he cure, +frecuentemente, by the morning. Ola, I call him!"</p> + +<p>"Otra vez," said Brown, restrainingly, and Mrs. Hatherly favoured the +captain, who was big and lean and bronzed, with a glance of interested +scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"You are an invalid, too?" she said. "One would scarcely fancy it. In +fact, you seem very robust to me. What do you suffer from?"</p> + +<p>Brown made this a trifle plainer, and Don Erminio smiled. He had no +great sense of fitness, and was slightly reckless in his conversation.</p> + +<p>"Mi t'roat, and the head of me—by the morning," he said, and made a +curious gurgling to give point to the explanation. "El sobrecargo he +laugh and say, 'Aha, mi captain, you want a peek-a-up again.' It is of +mucho effecto. I go call him. He make some for you."</p> + +<p>"Peek-a-up!" said Mrs. Hatherly, and Brown laid his hand restrainingly +upon the gallant skipper's arm.</p> + +<p>"It is a preparation they find beneficial at sea, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> I do not think +it would suit your case," he said, and Oliviera roused himself to a +further effort.</p> + +<p>"Good man, mi sobrecargo. Much education. Also friend of me. I say him +often: 'Carramba! In Spain is no dollar. Why you stay here?' Aha, Señor +Austin savvy. By and by he marry a rich English señorita."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Mrs. Hatherly that Brown's face lost a trifle of its +usual placidity as his eyes rested on his daughter, who was, however, +still apparently talking to the naval officer. The Catalina did not +possess a particularly attractive garden then, but there were a few +dusty palms in it, and any one strolling in their shadow that moonlight +night could see the filmy mists drifting athwart the great black +cordillera, and the wisp of lights that twinkled above the hissing surf +along the sweep of bay until they ended in a cluster where the +white-walled city rose above the tossing spray. There were several pairs +of young men and women who apparently found the prospect attractive, but +Brown did not notice Austin among them. He and Mrs. Hatherly sat in the +shadow, but Oliviera was in the moonlight, which was probably how it +happened that a man who appeared in the lighted doorway close by turned +towards him, evidently without noticing the others.</p> + +<p>"That you, Don Erminio? Then come right along," he said. "I've got to +give somebody a good time, and you have so much human nature it's easy +pleasing you. Get up on your hind feet, and have some champagne—enough +to make your throat bad for a month, if you feel like it."</p> + +<p>Oliviera rose with alacrity. "Aha!" he said. "I come."</p> + +<p>He wasted no time in doing it, though he reluctantly spared a moment to +make his companions a little grave inclination, for Don Erminio was, +after all, a Castilian, and when he had gone the two who were left +looked at one another. The joyous satisfaction in the voice and +attitude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> of the man at the door had its significance for both of them. +Mrs. Hatherly looked troubled, but there was a faint twinkle in her +companion's eyes.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Mr. Jefferson often gives his friends invitations of that +kind?" she said.</p> + +<p>Brown smiled reassuringly. "I almost think I could answer for his +general abstemiousness. Still, there are occasions upon which even the +most sedate of us are apt to relax a little, and wish to share our +satisfaction with our friends."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Mrs. Hatherly, with evident anxiety, "you fancy——"</p> + +<p>"I should almost fancy this is one of the occasions in question."</p> + +<p>The little, red-cheeked lady rose with a sigh. "I have tried to do my +duty," she said. "Now, I think I must find Muriel, if you will excuse +me."</p> + +<p>She left him, and when Brown also sauntered into the hotel the veranda +remained empty until Jacinta came up the broad stairway just as it +happened that Austin came out of the door. She was attired diaphanously +in pale-tinted draperies, and seemed to Austin, almost ethereal as she +stopped a moment at the head of the stairway with the moonlight upon +her. He was, however, quite aware that material things had their value +to Jacinta Brown, and that few young women had a more useful stock of +worldly wisdom. In another moment she saw him, and made him a little +sign with her fan. He drew forward a chair, and then leaned against the +balustrade, looking down on her, for it was evident that Jacinta had +something to say to him.</p> + +<p>"As I haven't seen you since that night on board the <i>Estremedura</i>, I +naturally haven't had an opportunity of complimenting you," she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>"May I ask upon what?" and Austin looked a trifle uneasy.</p> + +<p>"Your discretion. It would, perhaps, have been a little cold for a +moonlight swim, and one's clothing would also be apt to suffer. After +all, there was, of course, no reason why it should afford you any +pleasure to display your gallantry."</p> + +<p>Austin's face flushed. "There have been other occasions when it would +have pleased me to twist Macallister's neck," he said. "No doubt you +overheard what he said to me?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Jacinta, who looked at him quietly over her fan. "It is a +little astonishing that neither of you noticed me. Still, of course, +your attitude was, at least, sensible. What I do not understand is why +you saw fit to change it a minute or two later. I had, I may mention, +left the poop then."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure I understand."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed musically. "Now," she said, "I really believe you do."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, with a doubtful smile, "if you think I went +overboard of my own will to win your approbation, you are mistaken. I +did not go at all. I was, in fact, thrown in. Macallister is, as you +know, a somewhat persistent person."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jacinta. "That explains a good deal. Well, I feel almost +tempted to be grateful to him for doing it, though you were, of course, +sensible. There was really no reason why you should wish me to credit +you with courage and humanity—especially when you didn't possess them."</p> + +<p>Austin hoped she did not see that he winced, for although he had borne a +good deal of her badinage, he felt his face grow hot. He was quite aware +that this girl was not for him, and he had, he believed, succeeded in +prevent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>ing himself falling in love with her. It seemed quite fitting +that she should regard him as one of her servants, and since he could +look for nothing more, he was content with that. He had, however, a +spice of temper, and sometimes she drove him a trifle too hard.</p> + +<p>"Still," he said, "if I ever did anything really worth while, I think I +should insist upon your recognising it, though it is scarcely likely +that I shall have the opportunity."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I scarcely think it is; but, after +all, I have a little to thank you for. You see, you did delay the +<i>Estremedura</i>. I suppose you have not seen Mr. Jefferson during the last +half hour?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin, with a little start of interest. "Has he——"</p> + +<p>"He has. Muriel, at least, has evidently arrived at an understanding +with him. I am not sure they saw me, but I came across them a little +while ago—and they looked supremely happy."</p> + +<p>There was satisfaction in her voice, but it was with a mildly ironical +and yet faintly wistful expression she gazed at the shining sea. It +somewhat astonished Austin, though there was so much about Jacinta that +was incomprehensible to him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I'm glad; but I should scarcely have fancied Miss +Gascoyne would have attracted Jefferson. After all, one would hardly +consider her a young woman who had very much in her. Indeed, I have +wondered why you were so fond of her."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled curiously as she looked at him. "She is wonderful to +Jefferson. There is no grace or goodness that she is not endued with in +his estimation."</p> + +<p>"But if she doesn't possess them?"</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jacinta, decisively, "because he believes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> she does, she +will acquire them. There are women like that, you know, and I am not +sure that sensible people like you and I don't lose the best of life +occasionally. If a man believes a girl of Muriel's kind angelic she is +very apt to unfold shining wings, though nobody else ever fancied that +she had anything of the kind about her."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Austin, who was a little stirred, though he would not admit +it. "No doubt you know. A good many men must have thought that of you."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed again. "No, my friend," she said. "I have met men who +thought me amusing, and two or three who thought me clever—but that is +a very different thing—while it is possible that the others remembered +I was Pancho Brown's daughter. So, you see, my wings have not unfolded. +In fact, I sometimes think they are in danger of shrivelling away."</p> + +<p>There was nothing that Austin could say, for he was the <i>Estremedura</i>'s +sobrecargo, and had never forgotten that Pancho Brown was reputed to be +making several thousand a year. Still, he found silence difficult, and +changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you haven't told me yet why you are so fond of Miss +Gascoyne."</p> + +<p>"She—is—good, and, after all, goodness really does appeal to some of +us. Besides, when I went to an English school, a stranger, more Spanish +than English in thought and sentiment, and most of the others held aloof +from me, she saw I was lonely, and came and made friends with me. I was +glad to cling to her then, and you see I haven't forgotten it."</p> + +<p>There was a tone in the girl's voice which sent a little thrill through +the man. It was very clear that Jacinta did not forget a kindness, and +he had once or twice already had glimpses of her deeper nature. While he +stood silent,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and, as it happened, in the shadow, Miss Gascoyne came +out of the door and approached Jacinta with the moonlight on her face. +Austin was almost startled as he glanced at her.</p> + +<p>When he had last seen Muriel Gascoyne he had considered her a comely +English girl without imagination or sensibility. She had, in fact, +appeared to him narrow in her views, totally unemotional, and more than +a little dull, certainly not the kind of young woman to inspire or +reciprocate passionate admiration in any discerning man. Now, as she +came towards him with her eyes shining and the soft colour in her face, +which was very gentle, she seemed transfigured and almost radiant. She +stooped and kissed Jacinta impulsively.</p> + +<p>"I am so happy, my dear," she said. "We owe ever so much to you."</p> + +<p>Austin had the grace to wish himself somewhere else, though he did not +see how he could get away, but Jacinta, with her usual boldness, turned +in his direction.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "I almost think you owe Mr. Austin a little, too. If +he hadn't stopped the <i>Estremedura</i> you would probably have been in +Madeira now."</p> + +<p>Again Muriel Gascoyne astonished Austin, for though it was evident she +had not been aware of his presence, she showed no embarrassment, and +smiled at him with a simplicity which, though he had not expected it +from her, had in it the essence of all womanly dignity.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "I realise that. Mr. Austin, Harry has been looking for +you everywhere."</p> + +<p>Austin made her a little grave inclination, and then, because she seemed +to expect it, shook hands with her.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that the man you have promised to marry is one of my +friends," he said. "There is not a better one in these islands."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>He did not remember what Miss Gascoyne said, and perhaps it was not of +any particular consequence, but when she left them it happened that he +and Jacinta did not look at one another. There was, in fact, an almost +embarrassing silence, and through it they heard the rhythmic swing of a +soft Spanish waltz, and the deep-toned murmur of the sea. Then Jacinta +laughed.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what you are thinking?" she said.</p> + +<p>Austin smiled, somewhat drily. "I was endeavouring to remember that +there are a good many things the <i>Estremedura</i>'s sobrecargo must +dispense with. It is exceedingly unlikely that anybody will ever leave +me eight thousand pounds."</p> + +<p>"I fancy there are a good many of us who would like to have a good deal +more than we will probably ever get," said Jacinta. "It can only be a +very few who ever hear the celestial music at all, and to them it comes +but once in their life."</p> + +<p>Austin looked at her quietly. "A little while ago I should not have +considered Miss Gascoyne capable of hearing it; but now, and because I +know the man she has promised to marry, I almost think she will, at +least occasionally, be able to catch an echo of it. It must be difficult +to hear that orchestra once and forget it."</p> + +<p>Jacinta turned to him with a curious little smile in her eyes. "You and +I are, of course, sensible people, and fancies of that kind have nothing +to do with us. In the meanwhile, it is really necessary that I should +appear in one or two of the dances."</p> + +<p>Austin made a little gesture that might have expressed anything, and she +rose and left him standing on the veranda.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A BIG CONTRACT</span></h2> + + +<p>It was the day after the dance at the Catalina, and Austin was running +into Las Palmas harbour in a powerful steam launch which had been lent +him to convey certain documents to a Spanish steamer. The trade-breeze +had veered a little further east that day, as it sometimes did, and the +full drift of the long Atlantic sea came rolling inshore. The launch was +wet with spray, which flew up in clouds as she lurched over the +white-topped combers that burst in a chaotic spouting on a black +volcanic reef not far away from her. It also happened that the coaling +company's new tug had broken down a few minutes earlier, and when the +launch drove past the long mole the first thing Austin saw was a +forty-ton coal lighter, loaded to the water's edge, drifting towards the +reef. There was a boat astern of her, out of which a couple of Spanish +peons seemed to be flinging the water, preparatory to abandoning the +lighter to her fate, but Austin could see very little of the latter. The +sea washed clean across her, and she showed no more than a strip of +sluicing side amidst the spray.</p> + +<p>What became of her was no business of his, but when the whistle of a big +grain tramp rolling across the mouth of the harbour, and apparently +waiting for her coal, roared out a warning, it occurred to Austin that +the Spaniards in the boat might have considerable difficulty in pulling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +her clear of the reef against the sea. Accordingly, he unloosed the +launch's whistle, and while it screeched dolefully, put his helm over +and ran down upon the lighter. She was wallowing sideways towards the +reef when he rounded up close alongside and saw, somewhat to his +astonishment, that there was a man still on board. He was very black, +though the spray was dripping from his face, and the seas that swept +over the lighter's deck wet him to the knees. Austin shouted to him:</p> + +<p>"I'll run round to leeward, Jefferson, so you can jump!" he said.</p> + +<p>The wet man swung an arm up. "Stand by to take our rope. I'm not going +to jump."</p> + +<p>Austin considered. He was by no means sure that the launch had power +enough to tow the lighter clear, and the long white seething on the +jagged lava astern of her suggested what would happen if she failed to +do it.</p> + +<p>"Come on board. I haven't steam to pull her off," he said.</p> + +<p>Jefferson made an impatient gesture. "If you want me, you have got to +try."</p> + +<p>Austin wasted no more time. It was evidently valuable then, and he knew +his man. He signed to the Spanish fireman to back the launch astern, and +clutched the rope Jefferson flung him as she drove across the lighter's +bows.</p> + +<p>"I can tow her just as well with you on board here," he roared.</p> + +<p>"I guess you can," and a sea wet Jefferson to the waist as he floundered +aft towards the lighter's stern. "Still, you're going to find it awkward +to steer her, too."</p> + +<p>This was plain enough, and Austin decided that if Jefferson meant to +stay on board it was his affair, while he was far from sure that he +would gain anything by attempting to dissuade him, even had there been +time available.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> As it was, he realised that the lighter would probably +go ashore while they discussed the question, and he signed to the +Spanish fireman, who started the little engine full speed ahead, and +then opened the furnace door. There was a gush of flame from the funnel, +and the tow-rope tightened with a bang that jerked the launch's stern +under. Then, while she was held down by the wallowing lighter a big, +white-topped sea burst across her forward, and for a few seconds Austin, +drenched and battered by the flying spray, could see nothing at all. +When it blew astern he made out Jefferson standing knee deep in water at +the lighter's helm, though there was very little else visible through +the rush of white-streaked brine. Austin shouted to the fireman, who +once more opened the furnace door, for that cold douche had suddenly +made a different man of him.</p> + +<p>He did, for the most part, very little on board the <i>Estremedura</i>, and +took life as easily as he could, but there was another side of his +nature which, though it had been little stirred as yet, came uppermost +then, as it did occasionally when he brought his despatches off at night +in an open roadstead through the trade-wind surf. It was also known to +the <i>Estremedura</i>'s skipper that he had once swum off to the steamer +from the roaring beach at Orotava when no fishermen in the little port +would launch a barquillo out. Thus he felt himself in entire sympathy +with Jefferson as every big comber hove the launch up and the spray +lashed his tingling skin, while for five anxious minutes the issue hung +in the balance. Launch and lighter went astern with the heavier seas, +and barely recovered the lost ground in the smooths when a roller failed +to break quite so fiercely as its predecessors.</p> + +<p>Then the Spanish fireman either raised more steam, or the heavy weight +of coal astern at last acquired momen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>tum, for they commenced to forge +ahead, the launch plunging and rolling, with red flame at her funnel, +and the smoke and spray and sparks blowing aft on Austin, who stood, +dripping to the skin, at the tiller. Ahead, the long seas that hove +themselves up steeply in shoal water came foaming down on him, but there +was a little grim smile in his eyes, and he felt his blood tingle as he +watched them. When he glanced over his shoulder, which it was not +advisable to do unguardedly, he could see Jefferson swung up above him +on the lighter's lifted stern, and the long white smoother that ran +seething up the reef.</p> + +<p>It, however, fell further behind them, until he could put the helm over +and run the lighter into smoother water behind the mole, when Jefferson +flung up his arm again.</p> + +<p>"Swing her alongside the grain boat, and then hold on a minute. I'll +come ashore with you," he said.</p> + +<p>Austin stopped the launch and cast the tow-rope off, and the lighter, +driving forward, slid in under the big grain tramp's side. A few minutes +later Jefferson appeared at her gangway, and when Austin ran in jumped +on board. He was a tall man, and was just then very wet, and as black as +any coal heaver. This, however, rather added to the suggestion of +forcefulness that usually characterised him.</p> + +<p>"That fellow has been waiting several hours for his coal, and as I +couldn't get a man worth anything on to the crane, I ran the thing +myself," he said. "The way the wind was it blew the grit all over me, +and I'm coming across for a wash with you. I'm 'most afraid to walk +through the port as I am just now."</p> + +<p>He laughed happily, and Austin fancied that he understood him, since he +felt that if he had held Miss Gascoyne's promise he would not have liked +to run any risk of meeting her in the state in which Jefferson was just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +then. As it happened, it did not occur to either of them that they had +done anything unusual, which had, perhaps, its significance.</p> + +<p>Austin took him on board the <i>Estremedura</i>, and when he had removed most +of the coal-dust from his person they sat down with a bottle of thin +wine before them in the sobrecargo's room. Jefferson was lean in face +and person, though he was largely made, and had dark eyes that could +smile and yet retain a certain intentness and gravity. His voice had a +little ring in it, and, big as he was, he was seldom altogether still. +When he filled his glass his long fingers tightened on it curiously.</p> + +<p>"I owe you a little for pulling us off just now, but that's by no means +all," he said. "Miss Gascoyne told me how you stopped the boat that +night three weeks ago. Now——"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "We'll take it item by item. When you get started you're +just a little overwhelming. In the first place, what are you coaling +grain tramps for when somebody has left you a fortune?"</p> + +<p>"It's not quite that," said Jefferson. "Forty thousand dollars. They're +busy at the coal wharf, and wanted me to stay on until the month was up, +any way."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you owe them very much," said Austin. "In fact, I'm not +sure that if I'd been you I'd have saved that coal for them; but we'll +get on. I want to congratulate you on another thing, and I really think +you are a lucky man."</p> + +<p>The smile sank out of Jefferson's eyes. "I'm quite sure of it," he said +gravely. "I get wondering sometimes how she ever came to listen to such +a man as I am, who isn't fit to look at her."</p> + +<p>Austin made a little gesture of sympathy. This was not what he would +have said himself, but he was an insular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> Englishman, and the reticence +which usually characterises the species is less highly thought of across +the Atlantic. The average American is more or less addicted to saying +just what he means, which is, after all, usually a convenience to +everybody. Before he could speak Jefferson went on:</p> + +<p>"I've been wanting to thank you for stopping that steamer," he said. +"It's the best turn anybody ever did me, and I'm not going to forget it. +Now——"</p> + +<p>"If you're pleased, I am," said Austin, who did not care for +protestations of gratitude, a trifle hastily. "Any way, you have got +her, and though it's not my business, the question is what you're going +to do. Eight thousand pounds isn't very much, after all, and English +girls are apt to want a good deal, you know."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed. "Forty thousand dollars is quite a nice little sum to +start with; but I've got to double it before I'm married."</p> + +<p>"There are people who would spend most of their life doing it," said +Austin, reflectively. "How long do you propose to allow yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Six months," and there was a snap in Jefferson's voice and eyes. "If I +haven't got eighty thousand dollars in that time I'm going to have no +use for them."</p> + +<p>"When you come to think of it, that isn't very long to make forty +thousand dollars in," said Austin.</p> + +<p>He said nothing further, for he had met other Americans in his time, and +knew the cheerful optimism that not infrequently characterises them.</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked at him steadily with the little glow still in his eyes. +"You stopped the <i>Estremedura</i>, and, in one respect, you're not quite +the same as most Englishmen. They're hide-bound. It takes a month to +find out what they're thinking, and then, quite often, it isn't worth +while.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> Any way, I'm going to talk. I feel I've got to. Wouldn't you +consider Miss Gascoyne was worth taking a big risk for?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin, remembering what he had seen in the girl's face. "I +should almost think she was."</p> + +<p>"You would almost think!" and Jefferson gazed at him a moment in +astonishment. "Well, I guess you were made that way, and you can't help +it. Now, I'm open to tell anybody who cares to listen that that girl was +a revelation to me. She's good all through, there's not a thought in her +that isn't clean and wholesome. After all, that's what a man wants to +fall back upon. Then she's dainty, clever, and refined, with sweetness +and graciousness just oozing out of her. It's all round her like an +atmosphere."</p> + +<p>Austin was slightly amused, though he would not for his life have shown +it. It occurred to him that an excess of the qualities his companion +admired in Miss Gascoyne might prove monotonous, especially if they +were, as in her case, a little too obtrusive. He also fancied that this +was the first time anybody had called her clever. Still, Jefferson's +supreme belief in the woman he loved appealed to him in spite of its +somewhat too vehement expression, and he reflected that there was +probably some truth in Jacinta's observation that the woman whose lover +credited her with all the graces might, at least, acquire some of them. +It seemed that a simple and somewhat narrow-minded English girl, without +imagination, such as Miss Gascoyne was in reality, might still hear what +Jacinta called the celestial music, and, listening, become transformed. +After all, it was not mere passion which vibrated in Jefferson's voice +and had shone in Muriel Gascoyne's eyes, and Austin vaguely realised +that the faith that can believe in the apparently impossible and the +charity that sees no shortcomings are not altogether of this earth. +Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> he brushed these thoughts aside and turned to his companion with a +little smile.</p> + +<p>"How did you ever come to be here, Jefferson?" he asked, irrelevantly. +"It's rather a long way from the land of progress and liberty."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed in a somewhat curious fashion. "Well," he said, +"others have asked me, but I'll tell you, and I've told Miss Gascoyne. I +had a good education, and I'm thankful for it now. There is money in the +family, but it was born in most of us to go to sea. I went because I had +to, and it made trouble. The man who had the money had plotted out quite +a different course for me. Still, I did well enough until the night the +<i>Sachem</i>—there are several of them, but I guess you know the one I +mean—went down. I was mate, but it wasn't in my watch the Dutchman +struck her."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Austin softly, "that explains a good deal! It wasn't exactly +a pleasant story."</p> + +<p>He eat looking at his companion with grave sympathy as the details of a +certain grim tragedy in which the brutally handled crew had turned upon +their persecutors when the ship was sinking under them came back to him. +Knowing tolerably well what usually happens when official enquiry +follows upon a disaster at sea, he had a suspicion that the truth had +never become altogether apparent, though the affair had made a sensation +two or three years earlier. Still, while Jefferson had not mentioned his +part in it, he had already exonerated him.</p> + +<p>"It was so unpleasant that I couldn't find a shipping company on our +side who had any use for the <i>Sachem</i>'s mate," he said, and his voice +sank a little. "Of course, it never all came out, but there were more +than two of the men who went down that night who weren't drowned. Well, +what could you expect of a man with a pistol when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the one friend he had +in that floating hell dropped at his feet with his head adzed open. That +left me and Nolan aft. He was a brute—a murdering, pitiless devil; but +there were he and I with our backs to the jigger-mast, and a few of the +rest left who meant that we should never get into the quarter-boat."</p> + +<p>Austin was a trifle startled. "You told Miss Gascoyne that?" he said. +"How did she take it?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson made a curious little gesture. "Of course," he said simply. "I +had to. She believed in me; but do you think I'm going to tell—you—how +it hurt her?"</p> + +<p>It was borne in upon Austin that, after all, he understood very little +about women. A few days earlier it would have seemed impossible to him +that a girl with Muriel Gascoyne's straitened views should ever have +linked her life with one who had played a leading part in that revolting +tragedy. Now, however, it was evident that there was very little she +would not do for the man who loved her.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry! You'll excuse it," he said. "Still, that scarcely explains +how you came to Las Palmas."</p> + +<p>"I came as deck-hand on board a barque bringing tomato boxes over. They +were busy at the coaling wharf just then, and I got put on. You know the +rest of it. I was left forty thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>"You haven't told me yet how you're going to turn them into eighty +thousand."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming to it. You know we coaled the <i>Cumbria</i> before she went out +to West Africa. A nearly new 1,500-ton tramp she was, light draught at +that, or she'd never have gone where she did. You could put her down at +£15,000 sterling. She went up into the half-charted creeks behind the +shoals and islands south of Senegal, and was lost there. Among other +things, it was a new gum she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> went for. It appears the niggers find gums +worth up to £5 the hundredweight in the bush behind that country. A +Frenchman chartered her, but he's dead now, as is almost everybody +connected with the <i>Cumbria</i>. They've fevers that will wipe you out in a +week or two yonder—more fever, in fact, than anywhere else in Africa. +Well, as everybody knows, they got oil and sundries and a little gum, +and went down with fever while they crawled about those creeks loading +her. She got hard in the mud up one of them, and half of the boys were +buried before they pulled her out at all, and then she hit something +that started a plate or two in her. They couldn't keep the water down, +and they rammed her into a mangrove forest to save her. More of them +died there, and the salvage expedition lost three or four men before +they turned up their contract."</p> + +<p>"That," said Austin, "is what might be termed the official version."</p> + +<p>Jefferson nodded. "What everybody doesn't know is that the skipper +played the Frenchman a crooked game," he said. "There was more gum put +into her than was ever shown in her papers; while they had got at the +trade gin before she went ashore. In fact, I have a notion that it +wasn't very unlike the <i>Sachem</i> affair. I can't quite figure how they +came to start those plates in the soft mud of a mangrove creek. Any way, +the carpenter, who died there, was a countryman of mine. You may +remember I did a few things for him, and the man was grateful. Well, the +result is I know there's a good deal more than £20,000 sterling in the +<i>Cumbria</i>."</p> + +<p>Austin surmised that this was possible. It was not, he knew, seafarers +of unexceptional character who usually ventured into the still little +known creeks of Western Africa, which the coast mailboats' skippers left +alone. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> was also aware that more or less responsible white men are +apt to go a trifle off their balance and give their passions free rein +when under the influence of cheap spirits in that land of pestilence.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said.</p> + +<p>"I've bought her, as she lies, for £6,000."</p> + +<p>Austin gasped. "You will probably die off in two or three weeks after +you put your foot in her."</p> + +<p>"I'm not quite sure. I was at Panama, and never had a touch of fever. +Any way, I'm going, and if you'll stand in with me, I'll put you down a +quarter-share for a dollar."</p> + +<p>It was in one respect a generous offer, but Austin shook his head. "No," +he said decisively. "Have you forgotten that Miss Gascoyne expects you +to marry her?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson's eyes glowed. "I'm remembering it all the time. That's why +I'm going. Would you take a refined and cultured girl and drag her +through all the hard places men of my kind make money in up and down the +world? Has she to give up everything and come down to me? No, sir! It +seems to me, the man who wants to marry a girl of that kind has got to +do something to show he knows her value before he gets her, and it would +be way better for both of us that she should be sorry for me dead than +that I should live to drag her down."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Austin that there was a good deal to be said for this point +of view, and it also occurred to him that there was in this latter-day +American, who had still the grime of the coaling wharf upon him, +something of the spirit which had sent the knight-errant out in the days +of chivalry. Still, he naturally did not say so, for he was, after all, +what Jefferson called a hide-bound Englishman.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you're taking a big risk, but perhaps you are right."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Jefferson rose with the abruptness which usually characterised his +movements.</p> + +<p>"You're not coming?"</p> + +<p>"No. I haven't your inducement, and I'm afraid the contract's too big +for me."</p> + +<p>"You have a week to consider it in," said Jefferson, who opened the +door. "In the meanwhile there's another fellow ready for his coal, and +I'm going along."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TOMATO FINCA</span></h2> + + +<p>Three weeks had passed since his interview with Austin before Jefferson +was ready to sail, and he spent most of the time in strenuous activity. +He had cabled to England for a big centrifugal pump and a second-hand +locomotive-type boiler, while, when they arrived, Macallister said that +five hundred pounds would not tempt him to raise full steam on the +latter. He also purchased a broken-down launch, and, though she was +cheap, the cost of her and the pump, with other necessaries, made a +considerable hole in his remaining £2,000. It was for this reason he +undertook to make the needful repairs himself, with the help of a +steamer's donkey-man who had somehow got left behind, while Austin and +Macallister spent most of the week during which the <i>Estremedura</i> lay at +Las Palmas in the workshop he had extemporised. He appeared to know a +little about machinery, and could, at least, handle hack-saw and file in +a fashion which moved Macallister to approbation, while Austin noticed +that the latter's sardonic smile became less frequent as he and the +American worked together.</p> + +<p>Jefferson was grimly in earnest, and it was evident that his +thoroughness, which overlooked nothing, compelled the engineer's +admiration. It also occurred to Austin that, while there are many ways +in which a lover may prove his devotion, few other men would probably +have cared for the one Jefferson had undertaken. He was not a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> very +knightly figure when he emerged, smeared with rust and scale, from the +second-hand boiler, or crawled about the launch's engines with blackened +face and hands; but Austin, who remembered it was for Muriel Gascoyne he +had staked all his little capital in that desperate venture, forebore to +smile. He knew rather better than Jefferson did that it was a very +forlorn hope indeed the latter was venturing on. One cannot heave a +stranded steamer off without strenuous physical exertion, and the white +man who attempts the latter in a good many parts of Western Africa +incontinently dies.</p> + +<p>At last all was ready, and one night Jefferson steamed off to the +African liner from Las Palmas mole, taking with him the steamboat +donkey-man and another English seafarer, who were at the time +disgracefully drunk, as well as six Spaniards from the coasting +schooners. He said that when he reached the <i>Cumbria</i> he would hire +niggers, who would be quite as reliable, and considerably cheaper. As it +happened, the <i>Estremedura</i> was going to sea that night, bound for the +eastern islands, and Mrs. Hatherly, who was never seasick, and had heard +that the climate of one of them where it scarcely ever rained was good +for rheumatic affections, had determined to visit it in her. Jacinta, +for no very apparent reason, decided to go with her, and it accordingly +came about that most of her few acquaintances were with Muriel Gascoyne +when she said good-bye to Jefferson at the head of the mole. She kissed +him unblushingly, and then, when the launch panted away across the +harbour, turned, a little pale in face, but with a firm step, towards +the <i>Estremedura</i>, and an hour later stood with Jacinta on the saloon +deck, watching the liner's black hull slide down the harbour. Then as +the steamer lurched out past the mole, with a blast of her whistle +throbbing across the dusky heave, Muriel shivered a little.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>"I don't know whether we shall ever meet here again, but I think I could +bear that now, and it really couldn't be so very hard, after all," she +said. "It would have been horrible if he had gone and had not told me."</p> + +<p>Jacinta looked thoughtful, as in fact she was. She was of a more +complex, and, in some respects, more refined nature than her companion, +while her knowledge of the world was almost startlingly extensive; but +wisdom carries one no further than simplicity when one approaches the +barriers that divide man's little life from the hereafter. Indeed, there +is warrant for believing that when at last they are rolled away, it is +not the wise who will see with clearest vision.</p> + +<p>"I am not—quite—sure I understand," she said.</p> + +<p>There was a trace of moisture on Muriel Gascoyne's cheek, but she held +herself erect, and she was tall and large of frame, as well as a +reposeful young woman. Though she probably did not know it, there was a +suggestion of steadfast unchangeableness in her unconscious pose.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, very simply, "he belongs to me and I to him. If he dies +out there—and I know that is possible—it can only be a question of +waiting."</p> + +<p>Jacinta was a little astonished. She felt that there had been a great +and almost incomprehensible change in Muriel Gascoyne since she fell +very simply and naturally in love with Jefferson. It was also very +evident that she was not consoling herself with empty phrases, or +repeating commendable sentiments just because they appealed to her +fancy, as some women will. She seemed to be stating what she felt and +knew.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jacinta, "you knew he might die there, and you could let him +go?"</p> + +<p>Muriel smiled. "My dear, I could not have stopped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> him, and now he is +gone I think I am in one way glad that it was so. I do not want money—I +have always had very little—but, feeling as he did, it was best that he +should go. He would not have blamed me afterwards—of that I am +certain—but I think I know what he would have felt if hardship came, +and I wanted to spare it him." Then, with a faint smile, which seemed to +show that she recognised the anti-climax, she became prosaic again. "One +has to think of such things. Eight thousand pounds will not go so very +far, you know."</p> + +<p>Jacinta left her presently, and, as it happened, came upon Austin soon +after the <i>Estremedura</i> steamed out to sea. He was leaning on the +forward rails while the little, yacht-like vessel—she was only some 600 +tons or so—swung over the long, smooth-backed undulations with slanted +spars and funnel. There was an azure vault above them, strewn with the +lights of heaven, and a sea of deeper blue which heaved oilily below, +for, that night, at least, the trade breeze was almost still.</p> + +<p>"The liner will be clear of the land by now," she said. "I suppose you +are glad you did not go with Jefferson? You never told me that he had +asked you to!"</p> + +<p>Austin, who ignored the last remark, laughed in a somewhat curious +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, reflectively, "in one respect Jefferson is, perhaps, to +be envied. He is, at least, attempting a big thing, and if he gets wiped +out over it, which I think is quite likely, he will be beyond further +trouble, and Miss Gascoyne will be proud of him. In fact, it is she I +should be sorry for. She seems really fond of him."</p> + +<p>"Is that, under the circumstances, very astonishing?"</p> + +<p>"Jefferson is really a very good fellow," said Austin, with a smile. "In +fact, whatever it may be worth, he has my sincere approbation."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>Jacinta made a little gesture of impatience. "Pshaw!" she said. "You +know exactly what I mean. I wonder if there is one among all the men I +have ever met who would—under any circumstances—do as much for me?"</p> + +<p>She glanced at him for a moment in a fashion which sent a thrill through +him; but Austin seldom forgot that he was the <i>Estremedura</i>'s purser. He +had also a horror of cheap protestations, and he avoided the question.</p> + +<p>"You could scarcely expect—me—to know," he said. "Suppose there was +such a man, what would you do for him?"</p> + +<p>There was just a trace of heightened colour in Jacinta's face. "I think, +if it was necessary, and he could make me believe in him as Muriel +believes in Jefferson, I would die for him."</p> + +<p>Austin said nothing for a space, and looked eastwards towards Africa, +across the long, smooth heave of sea, while he listened to the throbbing +of the screw and the swash of the water beneath the steamer's side. He +was quite aware that while Jacinta, on rare occasions, favoured her more +intimate masculine friends with a glimpse of her inner nature, she never +permitted them to presume upon the fact. He had, he felt, made some +little progress in her confidence and favour, but it was quite clear +that it would be inadvisable to venture further without a sign from her. +Jacinta was able to make her servants and admirers understand exactly +what line of conduct it was convenient they should assume. If they +failed to do so, she got rid of them.</p> + +<p>"Whatever is Mrs. Hatherly going to Fuerteventura for?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Dry weather," said Jacinta, with a little smile.</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "One would fancy that Las Palmas was dry and dusty +enough for most people. I suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> you told her there is nowhere she can +stay? They haven't a hotel of any kind in the island."</p> + +<p>"That," said Jacinta, sweetly, "will be your business. You are a friend +of Don Fernando, and he has really a comfortable house. Still, I expect +three days of it will be quite enough for Mrs. Hatherly. You can pick us +up, you know, when you come back from Lanzarote."</p> + +<p>Austin made a little whimsical gesture of resignation. "There is, +presumably, no use in my saying anything. After all, she will be company +for Confidencia."</p> + +<p>"Who is, by the way, a friend of yours, too."</p> + +<p>"I have artistic tastes, as you know. Confidencia is—barring one or +two—the prettiest girl in these islands."</p> + +<p>He moved away, but he turned at the top of the ladder, and Jacinta +smiled.</p> + +<p>"It is almost a pity a taste of that kind does not invariably accompany +an artistic talent," she said.</p> + +<p>Austin went down to his little room, which was almost as hot as an oven, +and strove to occupy himself with his papers. The attempt, however, was +not a success, for his thoughts would follow Jefferson, who was on his +way to Africa with a big centrifugal pump, a ricketty steam launch, and +a second-hand boiler of the locomotive type. In view of his ulterior +purpose, there was, it seemed to Austin, something ludicrously +incongruous about this equipment, though he realised that the gaunt +American possessed in full degree the useful practical point of view in +which he himself fell short. Jefferson was, in some respects, primitive, +but that was, after all, probably fortunate for him. He knew what he +desired, and set about the obtaining of it by the first means available. +Then he dismissed the subject, and climbing into his bunk went to sleep.</p> + +<p>Next morning he took Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> Muriel Gascoyne +ashore, and afterwards went on with the <i>Estremedura</i> to the adjoining +island. It was three days later, and the steamer had come back again, +when he and her captain rode with the three ladies towards the coast, +after a visit to the black volcanic hills. Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel sat +in a crate-like affair upon the back of a camel, with distress in their +faces, for there is probably no more unpleasant form of locomotion to +anyone not used to it than camel-riding. The beast possesses a gait +peculiarly its own, and at every lurch of its shoulders the two women +jolted violently in the crate. The camel, however, proceeded +unconcerned, with long neck moving backwards and forwards like a +piston-rod. The rest rode horses, and a gun and several ensanguined +rabbits lay across the Captain's saddle. He rode like a Castilian, and +not a sailor, and Jacinta had noticed already that Austin was equally at +home in the saddle. The fact had, naturally, its significance for her.</p> + +<p>It was then about two o'clock in the afternoon, and very hot, though the +fresh trade breeze blew long wisps of dust away from under the horses' +feet. Nobody could have called that part of Fuerteventura a beautiful +country, but it had its interest to two of the party, who had never seen +anything quite like it before. Behind them rose low hills, black with +streams of lava, red with calcined rock, and every stone on them was +outlined in harsh colouring in that crystalline atmosphere. In front lay +a desolation of ashes and scoriæ, with tracts of yellow sand, blown +there presumably from Africa, which swirled in little spirals before the +breeze. It was chequered with clumps of euphorbia and thorn, but they, +too, matched the prevailing tones of grey and brown and chrome, and +there was not in all the waste a speck of green. Further still in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> front +of them the sea flamed like a mirror, and a vault of dazzling blue hung +over all.</p> + +<p>They wound down into a hollow, through which, as one could see by the +tortuous belt of stones, a little water now and then flowed, and +dismounted in the scanty shadow of a ruined wall. It had been built high +and solid of blocks of lava centuries ago, perhaps by the first of the +Spanish, or by dusky invaders from Morocco. As it was not quite so hot +there, Austin and the Captain made preparations for a meal when a +bare-legged peon led the beasts away. Then the Captain frowned darkly at +the prospect.</p> + +<p>"Ah, mala gente. Que el infierno los come!" he said, with blazing eyes, +and swung a brown hand up, as though appealing to stones and sky before +he indulged in another burst of eloquence.</p> + +<p>"What is he saying?" asked Muriel Gascoyne. "He seems very angry."</p> + +<p>Austin smiled. "I scarcely think it would be altogether advisable to +enquire, but it is not very astonishing if he is angry," he said. "Don +Erminio is not, as a rule, a success as a business man, and this is a +farm he once invested all his savings in. I am particularly sorry to say +that I did much the same."</p> + +<p>Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, which was, perhaps, not altogether +unnatural, as she gazed at the wilderness in front of her. There were, +she could now see, signs that somebody had made a desultory attempt at +building a wall which was nearly buried again. A few odd heaps of lava +blocks had also been piled up here and there, but the hollow was strewn +with dust and ashes, and looked as though nothing had ever grown there +since that island was hurled, incandescent, out of the sea. It was very +difficult to discover the least evidence of fertility.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>"Ah!" said Jacinta, "so this is the famous Finca de La Empreza +Financial?"</p> + +<p>Oliviera overheard her, and once more made a gesture with arms flung +wide.</p> + +<p>"Mira!" he said. "The cemetery where I bury the hopes of me. O much +tomate, mucho profit. I buy more finca and the cow for me. Aha! There is +also other time I make the commercial venture. I buy two mulo. Very good +mulo. I charge mucho dollar for the steamboat cargo cart. Comes the +locomotura weet the concrete block down Las Palmas mole. The mole is +narrow, the block is big, the man drives the locomotura behind it, he +not can look. Vaya, my two mulo, and the cart, she is in the sea. That +is also ruin me. I say, 'Vaya. In fifty year she is oll the same,' but +when I see the Finca de tomate I have the temper. Alors, weet +permission, me vais chasser the conejo."</p> + +<p>"The unfortunate man!" said Jacinta, when he strode away in search of a +rabbit. "Still, the last of it wasn't quite unexceptional Castilian."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "Don Erminio speaks French almost as well as he does +English. In fact, he's a linguist in his way. Still, I'm not sorry he +didn't insist upon me going shooting with him. It's risky, and I would +sooner he'd borrowed somebody else's gun."</p> + +<p>They made a tolerable lunch, for the <i>Estremedura</i>'s cook knew his +business, and, though it very seldom rains there, some of the finest +grapes to be found anywhere grow in the neighbouring island of +Lanzarote. Then Mrs. Hatherly apparently went to sleep with her back +against the wall, while Muriel sat silent in the shadow, close beside +her. Perhaps the camel ride had shaken her, and perhaps she was thinking +of Jefferson, for she was gazing east towards Africa, across the flaming +sea. Jacinta, as usual, appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> delightfully fresh and cool, as she +sat with her long white dress tucked about her on a block of lava, while +Austin lay, contented, not far from her feet.</p> + +<p>"You never told me you had a share in the Finca," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, "I certainly had. I also made a speech at the +inaugural dinner, and Don Erminio almost wept with pride while I did it. +I had, though he did not mention it, a share in his mule cart, too, and +once or twice bought a schooner load of onions to ship to Havana at his +suggestion. You see, I had then a notion that it was my duty to make a +little money. Somehow, the onions never got to Cuba, and our other +ventures ended—like the Finca."</p> + +<p>"Then you have given up all idea of making money now?"</p> + +<p>"It really didn't seem much use continuing, and, after all, a little +money wouldn't be very much good to me. A chance of making twenty +thousand pounds might, perhaps, rouse me to temporary activity."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Jacinta, looking at him with thoughtful eyes, "you want too +much, my friend. You are not likely to make it by painting little +pictures on board the <i>Estremedura</i>."</p> + +<p>A faint trace of darker colour showed through the bronze in Austin's +cheek. "Yes," he said, "that is exactly what is the matter with me. +Still, as I shall never get it, I am tolerably content with what I have. +Fortunately, I am fond of it—I mean the sea."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jacinta, with a curious little sparkle in her eyes, +"contentment is commendable, though there is something that appeals to +one's fancy in the thought of a man struggling against everything to +acquire the unattainable."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>"So long as it is unattainable, what would be the good? Besides, I am +almost afraid I am not that kind of man."</p> + +<p>Jacinta said nothing further, and half an hour slipped by, until a trail +of smoke with a smear of something beneath it, crept up out of the +glittering sea.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Andalusia</i>," said Austin. "She takes up our western run here under +the new time-table. I hope she's bringing no English folks from Las +Palmas to worry us."</p> + +<p>As it happened, there was a man on board the <i>Andalusia</i> who was to +bring one of the party increased anxiety and distress of mind, but they +did not know that then, and in the meanwhile the peon with the horses +and Don Erminio came back again. He brought no rabbits, but he had +succeeded in badly scratching one of the Damascene barrels of Austin's +gun.</p> + +<p>"The conejo he no can eat the stone, and here there is nothing else," he +explained. "Otra vez—the other time, comes here a señor Engleesman, and +we have the gun, but there is no conejo. Me I say, 'Mira. Conejo into +his hole he go!' Bueno! The Engleesman he put the white rat into that +hole, and wait, oh, he wait mucho tiempo. Me, away I go. I come back, +the Engleesman has bag the Captain of puerto."</p> + +<p>Then he turned with a dramatic gesture to the camel, which stretched out +its little head towards his leg. "Bur-r-r. Hijo de diablo. Aughr-r-r. +Focha camello! Me, I also spick the Avar-r-ack. The condemn camello he +comprehend."</p> + +<p>The long-necked beast at least knelt down as though it did, and Mrs. +Hatherly climbed into the crate with a somewhat apprehensive glance at +the gallant captain.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly decided during the ride to the beach that she had seen +quite enough of that island in the three days she had spent there, and +she had already gone off to the <i>Estremedura</i> with Muriel and Jacinta +when Austin stood smoking on the little mole. Long undulations of +translucent brine seethed close past his feet to break with a drowsy +roar upon the lava reefs, and the <i>Estremedura</i> lay rolling wildly a +quarter of a mile away. A cluster of barefooted men were with difficulty +loading her big lancha beneath the mole with the barley-straw the row of +camels, kneeling in the one straggling street behind him, had brought +down. The men were evidently tired, for they had toiled waist-deep in +the surf since early morning, and Austin decided to spare them the +journey for his despatch gig.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when the lancha was loaded high with the warm yellow bales +he clambered up on them and bade the crew get under way. The long sweeps +dipped, and the craft went stern first towards the reef for a moment or +two before she crawled out to sea, looking very like a cornstack set +adrift as she lurched over the shining swell. Austin lay upon the straw, +smoking tranquilly, for everybody leaves a good deal to chance in Spain, +and now and then flung a little Castilian badinage at the gasping men +who pulled the big sweeps below. As it happened, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> could not see him +because the straw rose behind them in a yellow wall. They were cheerful, +inconsequent fishermen, who would have done a good deal for him, and not +altogether because of the bottle of caña he occasionally gave them.</p> + +<p>They had traversed half the distance, when, opening up a point, they met +a steeper heave, and when the dripping bows went up after the plunge +there was a movement of the barley-straw. Austin felt for a better hold, +but two or three bales fetched away as he did so, and in another moment +he plunged down headforemost into the sea. When he came up he found a +straw bale floating close beside him, and held on by it while he looked +about him. The lancha was apparently going on, and it was evident that +although the men must have heard the straw fall, they were not aware +that he had gone with it. There was, he surmised, no room for the lost +bales, and the men could not have heaved them up on top of the load. It +therefore appeared probable that they purposed unloading the lancha +before they came back for them, and he decided to climb up on the bale.</p> + +<p>He found it unexpectedly difficult, for when he had almost dragged +himself up the bale rolled over and dropped him in again; while, when he +tried to wriggle up the front of it, it stood upright and then fell upon +him. After several attempts he gave it up, and set out for the steamer +with little pieces of barley-straw and spiky ears sticking all over him. +He could swim tolerably well, and swung along comfortably enough over +the smooth-backed swell, for his light clothing did not greatly cumber +him. Still, he did not desire that any one beyond the <i>Estremedura</i>'s +crew should witness his arrival.</p> + +<p>He was, accordingly, by no means pleased to see Jacinta and Miss +Gascoyne stroll out from the deck-house as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> drew in under the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s side, especially as there were no apparent means of +getting on board quietly. The lancha had vanished round the stern, the +ladder was triced up, and the open cargo gangway several feet above the +brine. The steamer also hove up another four or five feet of streaming +plates every time she rolled. Still, it was evident that he could not +stay where he was on the chance of the ladies not noticing him +indefinitely, and as he swam on again Miss Gascoyne broke into a +startled scream.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said, "there's somebody drowning!"</p> + +<p>The cry brought Macallister to the gangway, and he was very grimy in +engine-room disarray. Austin, in the water, saw the wicked twinkle in +his eyes, and was not pleased to hear Jacinta laugh musically.</p> + +<p>"I really don't think he is in any danger," she said.</p> + +<p>Austin set his lips, and swam for the gangway as the <i>Estremedura</i> +rolled down. His flung up hand came within a foot of the opening, and +then he sank back a fathom or more below it as the <i>Estremedura</i> hove +that side of her out of the water. When he swung up again Macallister +was standing above him with a portentiously sharp boat hook, while two +or three grinning seamen clustered round. The girls were also leaning +out from the saloon-deck rails.</p> + +<p>"Will ye no keep still while I hook ye!" said the engineer.</p> + +<p>"If you stick that confounded thing into my clothes I'll endeavour to +make you sorry," said Austin savagely.</p> + +<p>Macallister made a sweep at him, and Austin went down, while one of the +seamen, leaning down, grabbed him by the shoulder, when he rose.</p> + +<p>"Let go!" he sputtered furiously. "Give me your hand instead!"</p> + +<p>He evidently forgot that the seaman, who held on, was not an Englishman, +and next moment he was hove high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> above the water. Then there was a +ripping and tearing, and while the seaman reeled back with a long strip +of alpaca in his hand, Austin splashed into the water. He came up in +time to see Macallister smiling in Jacinta's direction reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"There's no need to be afraid," he said. "Though I'm no sure he's worth +it, I'll save him for ye."</p> + +<p>Now, Jacinta was usually quite capable of making any man who offended +her feel sorry for himself, but the sight of Austin's savage red face as +he gazed at Macallister, with the torn jacket flapping about him in the +water and the barley-straw sticking all over him, was too much for her, +and she broke into a peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>In another moment Macallister contrived to get his boat hook into the +slack of Austin's garments, and when two seamen seized the haft they +hove him out, wrong side uppermost, and incoherent with wrath. When they +dropped him, a tattered, dripping heap, on the deck, Miss Gascoyne +leaned her face upon her hands, and laughed almost hysterically, until +Jacinta touched her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Austin evidently believes he has a good deal to thank his comrade +for. I think you had better come away," she said.</p> + +<p>Austin put himself to some trouble in endeavouring to make Macallister +understand what he thought of him, when they had gone, but the engineer +only grinned.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I'll forgive ye. If I had looked like ye do with two +ladies watching me, I might have been a bit short in temper myself, but +come away to your room. The <i>Andalusia</i>'s boat came across a while ago, +and there's business waiting ye."</p> + +<p>Austin went with him, but stopped a moment when he approached his room. +The door was open, as usual, and a stranger, in grey tourist tweed, upon +whom Englishman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> and clergyman was stamped unmistakably, sat inside the +room. Austin felt that he knew who the man must be.</p> + +<p>"Does he know Miss Gascoyne is on board?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Macallister. "The boat came round under our quarter, and we +landed him through the lower gangway. He said he'd stay here and wait +for ye. He's no sociable, anyway. I've offered him cigars and anisow, +besides some of my special whisky, but he did not seem willing to talk +to me."</p> + +<p>Austin fancied he could understand it. Macallister, who had discarded +his jacket, was very grimy, and his unbuttoned uniform vest failed to +conceal the grease stains on his shirt. Then he remembered that his own +jacket was torn to rags, and he was very wet; but Macallister raised his +voice:</p> + +<p>"Here's Mr. Austin, sir," he said.</p> + +<p>The clergyman, who said nothing, gazed at him, and Austin, who realised +that his appearance was against him, understood his astonishment. He +also fancied that the stranger was one with whom appearances usually +counted a good deal.</p> + +<p>"If you will wait a minute or two while I change my clothes, I will be +at your service, sir," he said. "As you may observe, I have been in the +sea."</p> + +<p>"Swum off to the steamer," said Macallister, with a wicked smile. "It +saves washing. He comes off yon way now and then."</p> + +<p>Austin said nothing, but stepped into the room, and, gathering up an +armful of clothing, departed, leaving a pool of water behind him. The +clergyman, it was evident, did not know what to make of either of them. +A few minutes later Austin, who came back and closed the door, sat down +opposite him.</p> + +<p>"My name is Gascoyne," said the stranger, handing him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> an open note. +"Mr. Brown of Las Palmas, who gave me this introduction, assured me that +I could speak to you confidentially, and that you would be able to tell +me where my daughter and Mrs. Hatherly are staying."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced at him with misgivings. He was a little man, with pale +blue eyes, and hair just streaked with grey. His face was white and +fleshy, without animation or any suggestion of ability in it, but there +had been something in the tone which seemed to indicate that he had, at +least, been accustomed to petty authority. Austin at once set him down +as a man of essentially conventional views, who was deferred to in some +remote English parish; in fact, just the man he would have expected +Muriel Gascoyne's father to be; that is, before she had revealed her +inner self. It was a type he was by no means fond of, and he was quite +aware that circumstances were scarcely likely to prepossess a man of +that description in his favour. Still, Austin was a friend of +Jefferson's, and meant to do what he could for him.</p> + +<p>"I know where Miss Gascoyne is, but you suggested that you had something +to ask me, and I shall be busy by and by," he said.</p> + +<p>Gascoyne appeared anxious, but evidently very uncertain whether it would +be advisable to take him into his confidence.</p> + +<p>"I understand that you are a friend of Mr. Jefferson's?" he said.</p> + +<p>"I am. I may add that I am glad to admit it, and I almost fancy I know +what you mean to ask me."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne, who appeared grateful for this lead, looked at him steadily. +"Perhaps I had better be quite frank. Indeed, Mr. Brown, who informed me +that you could tell more about Jefferson than any one in the islands, +recommended it," he said. "I am, Mr. Austin, a clergyman who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> has never +been outside his own country before, and I think it is advisable that I +should tell you this, because there may be points upon which our views +will not coincide. It was not easy for me to get away now, but the +future of my motherless daughter is a matter of the greatest concern to +me, and I understand that Mr. Jefferson is in Africa. I want you to tell +me candidly—as a gentleman—what kind of man he is."</p> + +<p>Austin felt a little better disposed towards Gascoyne after this. His +anxiety concerning his daughter was evident, and he had, at least, not +adopted quite the attitude Austin had expected. But as Austin was not by +any means brilliant himself, he felt the difficulty of making Gascoyne +understand the character of such a man as Jefferson, while his task was +complicated by the fact that he recognised his responsibility to both of +them. Gascoyne had put him on his honour, and he could not paint +Jefferson as he was not. In the meanwhile he greatly wished to think.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I might offer you a glass of wine, sir, or perhaps you +smoke?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," said Gascoyne, with uncompromising decision. "I am aware +that many of my brethren indulge in these luxuries. I do not."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, "if you will tell me what you have already heard +about Jefferson it might make the way a little plainer."</p> + +<p>"I have been told that he is an American seafarer, it seems of the usual +careless type. Seafarers are, perhaps, liable to special temptations, +and it is generally understood that the lives most of them lead are not +altogether——"</p> + +<p>Austin smiled a little when Gascoyne stopped abruptly. "I'm afraid that +must be admitted, sir. I can, however, assure you that Jefferson is an +abstemious man—Americans are, as a rule, you see—and, though there are +occasions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> when his conversation might not commend itself to you, he has +had an excellent education. Since we are to be perfectly candid, has it +ever occurred to you that it was scarcely likely a dissolute sailor +would meet with Miss Gascoyne's approbation?"</p> + +<p>Gascoyne flushed a trifle. "It did not—though, of course, it should +have. Still, he told her that he was mate of the <i>Sachem</i>, which was a +painful shock to me. I, of course, remember the revolting story."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and his voice was a trifle strained when he went on +again. "I left England, Mr. Austin, within three days of getting my +daughter's letter, and have ever since been in a state of distressing +uncertainty. Mr. Jefferson is in Africa—I cannot even write him. I do +not know where my duty lies."</p> + +<p>Had the man's intense anxiety been less evident, Austin would have been +almost amused. The Reverend Gascoyne appeared to believe that his +affairs were of paramount importance to everybody, as, perhaps, they +were in the little rural parish he came from; but there was something in +his somewhat egotistical simplicity that appealed to the younger man.</p> + +<p>"One has to face unpleasant facts now and then, sir," he said. "There +are times when homicide is warranted at sea, and man's primitive +passions are very apt to show themselves naked in the face of imminent +peril. It is in one respect unfortunate that you have probably never +seen anything of the kind, but one could not expect too much from a man +whose comrade's head had just been shorn open by a drink-frenzied +mutineer. Can you imagine the little handful of officers, driven aft +away from the boats while the ship settled under them, standing still to +be cut down with adze and axe? You must remember, too, that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> were +seafarers and Americans who had few of the advantages you and your +friends enjoy in England."</p> + +<p>He could not help the last piece of irony, but Gascoyne, who did not +seem to notice it, groaned.</p> + +<p>"To think of a man who appears to hold my daughter's confidence being +concerned in such an affair at all is horribly unpleasant to me."</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt it was almost as distressing to Jefferson at the time. +Still, as you have probably never gone in fear of your life for weeks +together, you may not be capable of understanding what he felt, and we +had perhaps better get on a little further."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne seemed to pull himself together. "Mr. Jefferson has, I +understand, no means beyond a certain legacy. It is not, after all, a +large one."</p> + +<p>"If he is alive in six months I feel almost sure he will have twice as +much, which would mean an income of close upon £600 a year from sound +English stock, and that, one would fancy, would not be considered abject +poverty in a good many English rural parishes."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne sighed. "That is true—it is certainly true. You said—if he +were alive?"</p> + +<p>"As he is now on his way to one of the most deadly belts of swamp and +jungle in Western Africa, I think I was warranted. Knowing him as I do, +it is, I fancy, certain that if he does not come back with £16,000 in +six months he will be dead."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Gascoyne, with what was suspiciously like a sigh of relief. +"One understands that it is a particularly unhealthy climate. Still, +when one considers that all is arranged for the best——"</p> + +<p>Austin, who could not help it, smiled sardonically, though he felt he +had an almost hopeless task. It appeared impossible that Gascoyne should +ever understand the char<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>acter of a man like Jefferson. But he meant to +do what he could.</p> + +<p>"It is naturally easier to believe that when circumstances coincide with +our wishes, sir," he said. "Now, I do not exactly charge you with +wishing Jefferson dead, though your face shows that you would not be +sorry. I am, of course, another careless seafarer, a friend of his, and +I can understand that what you have seen of me has not prepossessed you +in my favour. Still, if I can, I am going to show you Jefferson as he +is. To begin with, he believes, as you do, that Miss Gascoyne is far +above him—and in this he is altogether wrong. Miss Gascoyne is +doubtless a good woman, but Jefferson is that harder thing to be, a good +man. His point of view is not yours, it is, perhaps, a wider one; but he +has, what concerns you most directly now, a vague, reverential respect +for all that is best in womanhood, which, I think, is sufficient to +place Miss Gascoyne under a heavy responsibility."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, looking steadily at Gascoyne, who appeared blankly +astonished.</p> + +<p>"Because it was evident to him that a woman of Miss Gascoyne's +conventional upbringing must suffer if brought into contact with the +unpleasant realities of the outside world, he has staked his life +willingly—not recklessly—on the winning of enough to place her +beyond the reach of adversity. He realised that it was, at least, even +chances he never came back from Africa; but it seemed to him better +that she should be proud of him dead than have to pity him and herself +living. I know this, because he told me he would never drag the woman +who loved him down. He fell in love with her without reflection, +instinctively—or, perhaps, because it was arranged so—I do not +understand these things. As surely—conventionalities don't always +count—she fell in love with him, and then he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> had to grapple with the +position. Your daughter could not live, as some women do, unshocked +and cheerfully among rude and primitive peoples whose morality is not +your morality, in the wilder regions of the earth. It was also evident +that she could not live sumptuously in England on the interest of +£8,000. You see what he made of it. If he died, Miss Gascoyne would be +free. If he lived, she could avoid all that would be unpleasant. Isn't +that sufficient? Could there be anything base or mean in a nature +capable of devotion of that description?"</p> + +<p>Gascoyne sat silent almost a minute. Then he said very quietly: "I have +to thank you, Mr. Austin—the more so because I admit I was a little +prejudiced against you. Perhaps men living as I do acquire too narrow a +view. I am glad you told me. And now where is my daughter and Mrs. +Hatherly?"</p> + +<p>"Wait another minute! Jefferson is, as you will recognise, a man of +exceptional courage, but he is also a man of excellent education, and, +so far as that goes, of attractive presence; such a one, in fact, as I +think a girl of Miss Gascoyne's station is by no means certain to come +across again in England. Now, if I have said anything to offend you, it +has not been with that object, and you will excuse it. Your daughter and +Mrs. Hatherly are on board this ship. It seemed better that you should +hear me out before I told you."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Gascoyne. "Well, I think you were right, and again I am much +obliged to you. Will you take me to Mrs. Hatherly?"</p> + +<p>Austin did so, and coming back flung himself down on the settee in +Macallister's room.</p> + +<p>"Give me a drink—a long one. I don't know that I ever talked so much at +once in my life, and I only hope I didn't make a consummate ass of +myself," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"It's no that difficult," said Macallister, reflectively, as he took out +a syphon and a bottle of wine. "Ye made excuses for yourself and +Jefferson?"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "No," he said. "I made none for Jefferson. I think I +rubbed a few not particularly pleasant impressions into the other man. I +felt I had to. It was, of course, a piece of abominable presumption."</p> + +<p>Macallister leaned against the bulkhead and regarded him with a sardonic +grin.</p> + +<p>"I would have liked to have heard ye," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AT THE BULL FIGHT</span></h2> + + +<p>Austin was writing in the saloon, which was a little cooler than his +room, at about eight o'clock that night, while Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly +made ineffectual attempts to read in the ladies' cabin, for the +<i>Estremedura</i> was on her way south again, with the trade-wind combers +tumbling after her. She rolled with a long, rhythmic swing, and now and +then shook and trembled with the jar of her lifted propeller. Muriel +Gascoyne was accordingly alone with her father on the deck above. She +sat in a canvas chair, while Gascoyne leaned upon the rails in front of +her. There was a full moon overhead, and a fantastic panorama of +fire-blackened hills, wastes of ash and lava, whirling clouds of sand, +black rocks lapped by spouting surf, and bays of deepest indigo, +unrolled itself upon one hand. It is, however, probable that neither of +the pair saw much of it, for their thoughts were not concerned with the +volcanic desolation.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity I did not come a few weeks earlier," said Gascoyne with a +sigh.</p> + +<p>Muriel's eyes were a trifle hazy, but her voice was even. "If you had +come then, and insisted upon it, I might have given him up," she said.</p> + +<p>"That means it is irrevocable now? I want you to make quite sure, my +dear. This man does not belong to our world. Even his thoughts must be +different from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> ours. You cannot know anything of his past life—I +scarcely think he could explain it to you. He would regard nothing from +the same standpoint as we do."</p> + +<p>"Still, it cannot have been a bad one. I can't tell you why I am sure of +that, but I know."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne made a little, hopeless gesture. "Muriel," he said, a trifle +hoarsely, "it is a terrible risk—and if you marry him you must +inevitably drift away from me. You are all I have, and I am getting old +and lonely, but that is not of the greatest moment. It would be horrible +to think of you drifting away from all you have been taught to believe +in and hold sacred."</p> + +<p>It was a strong appeal, perhaps the strongest he could have made, for +the girl had been without breadth of view when she left home, and the +boundaries of her outlook had coincided with those of the little rural +parish. Still, in some strange fashion she had gained enlightenment, and +she was resolute, though her blue eyes slowly brimmed with moisture. It +was true that he would be very lonely.</p> + +<p>"Ah," she said, and it was a significant sign that she questioned the +comprehension of the man whom she had regarded as almost infallible a +few weeks earlier, "how can I make you understand? There are, perhaps, +many worlds, and we know there are many kinds of men. They must think +differently, but does that matter so very much, after all? There is the +same humanity in all of us."</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly! In Turks, idolaters, and unbelievers. Humanity in itself +is fallen and evil."</p> + +<p>Muriel smiled. "Father," she said, "you don't believe that there is no +good in all those who have not been taught to believe as we do."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne did not answer her, though it is possible that there were +circumstances under which he would have returned a very slightly +qualified affirmative.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>"There is a perilous optimism abroad," he said.</p> + +<p>"Still," said Muriel, unconscious of the irony of her deprecatory +answer, "Mr. Jefferson is neither a Turk nor an idolater. He is only an +American sailor."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne sighed dejectedly, for there was, it seemed, nothing left for +him to appeal to. The girl's beliefs had gone. The simple, iron-fast +rules of life she had once acknowledged were now apparently discredited; +but even in his concern he was vaguely sensible that an indefinite +something which he did not recognise as the charity that love teaches +was growing up in place of them. Still, he felt its presence as he +watched her, and knew that it could not be altogether born of evil.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said, "how shall I implore you to consider?"</p> + +<p>Muriel smiled out of hazy eyes. "It is too late. He has my promise, and +I belong to him. Nothing that you could say would change that now. He +has gone out—to Africa—believing in me, and I know that he may never +come back again."</p> + +<p>Gascoyne appeared a trifle startled, and remembered a curious remark +that Austin had made to the effect that there was a heavy responsibility +upon his daughter. He could not altogether understand why this should +be, but he almost fancied that she recognised it now. There was also a +finality and decision in the girl's tone which was new to him.</p> + +<p>"I think you know how hard it was for me to get away, but it seemed +necessary. I came out to implore you to give this stranger up," he said.</p> + +<p>The girl rose, and stood looking at him gravely, with one hand on the +chair arm to steady herself as the steamer rolled, and the moonlight +upon her face. It was almost reposeful in its resolution.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>"Father," she said, "you must try to understand. Perhaps I did wrong +when I gave him my promise without consulting you, but it is given, and +irrevocable. He has gone out to Africa—and may die there—believing in +me. I don't think I could make you realise how he believes in me, but, +though, of course, he is wrong, I grow frightened now and then, and +almost hope he may never see me as I really am. That is why +I—daren't—fail him. If there was no other reason I must keep faith +with him."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Gascoyne, very slowly, "I must, at least, try to resign +myself—and perhaps, my apprehensions may turn out to be not quite +warranted, after all. I was horribly afraid a little while ago, but this +man seems to have the faculty of inspiring confidence in those who know +him. They cannot all be mistaken, and the man who is purser on this +steamer seems to believe in him firmly. His views are peculiar, but +there was sense in what he said, and he made me think a little less +hardly of Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>Muriel only smiled. She realised what this admission, insufficient and +grudging as it was, must have cost her father, and—for she had regarded +everything from his point of view until a few weeks ago—she could +sympathise with him. Still, she was glad when she saw Jacinta and Mrs. +Hatherly coming towards them along the deck.</p> + +<p>It was an hour later when Jacinta met Austin at the head of the ladder, +and stopped him with a sign.</p> + +<p>"I have had a long talk with Mr. Gascoyne, and found him a little less +disturbed in mind than I had expected," she said. "I want to know what +you said to him."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I really can't remember, and if I +could it wouldn't be worth while. Of course, I knew what I wanted to +say, but I'm almost afraid I made as great a mess of it as I usually +do."</p> + +<p>"Still, I think Miss Gascoyne is grateful to you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>"That," said Austin, "affords me very little satisfaction, after all. +You see, I didn't exactly do it to please Miss Gascoyne."</p> + +<p>"Then I wonder what motive really influenced you?"</p> + +<p>Austin pursed his lips, as if thinking hard. "I don't quite know. For +one thing, very orthodox people of the Reverend Gascoyne's description +occasionally have an irritating effect upon me. I feel impelled to +readjust their point of view, or, at least to allow them an opportunity +of recognising the advantages of mine, which, however, isn't necessarily +the correct one. I hope this explanation contents you."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled. "I think I shall remember it," she said. "I believe I +generally do when anybody does a thing to please me. Still, Miss +Gascoyne's gratitude will not hurt you."</p> + +<p>Then she swept away, and left him standing meditatively at the head of +the ladder. He saw no more of her that night, and he was busy when the +<i>Estremedura</i> steamed into Las Palmas early next morning, while it was +nearly three weeks later when he met her again at a corrida de toros in +the bull ring at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, which was, perhaps, the last +place where one would have expected to find an English lady.</p> + +<p>The spacious amphitheatre was open to the sky, and all its tiers of +stone benches packed with excited humanity, for half the inhabitants of +the island had apparently gathered to enjoy the sanguinary spectacle. +Black is the colour affected by men who can afford it on a Spanish +holiday, but the white cotton the bare-legged hillmen wore, and the pink +and chrome of their wives' and daughters' dresses, flecked with luminous +colour the sombre ranks of the close-packed multitude. Blazing sunlight +beat down upon them, for it is only the richer citizens who sit in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +shadow, and the topmost row was projected, a filagree of black and +motley, against the hard glaring blue. Below, the arena shone dazzlingly +yellow, and the smell of blood and fresh sawdust came up from it through +the many-toned murmur of the crowd. When this sank a little one could +hear the deep boom of the Atlantic swell crumbling on the lava beach.</p> + +<p>The revolting picador scene was over. Two or three worn-out and +blindfolded horses had been gored or trampled to death, and one +picador's arm had been broken. The tawny, long-horned bull, which had +shown unusual courage, stood panting in the middle of the arena, with a +crimson smear on one shoulder where a lance had scored it deep, and +while the bugles rang, the vast assembly waited for the banderillero +scene in high good humour. Just then a little party descended one of the +avenues on the shady side, and Austin, who had a note from Pancho Brown +in his pocket, with some difficulty made his way to meet them. He was +quite aware that Brown was probably the only Englishman in those islands +who would have been able to reserve desirable places at a corrida de +toros.</p> + +<p>Jacinta, who accompanied him, was attended by his Spanish housekeeper +and two sunburnt English naval officers, but she made room for Austin on +one side of her, and appeared in no way displeased by his indifferently +veiled approbation. Miss Brown had been dressed by a Castilian modeste, +mostly in black lace, that day, and her clustering brown hair was +ornamented by a little mantilla of the same material. It was not a dress +which would have suited every Englishwoman, especially of substantial +type, but Jacinta was slight, and delicately round, and altogether +sylph-like.</p> + +<p>"You venture to approve of this get-up?" she said. "The tourists were a +little horrified at the hotel."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>Austin, who wore white duck, noticed that she smiled at the Governor, +who sat above them amidst his glittering staff, and that almost sufficed +to spoil his satisfaction, though it was only one of the many little +things that emphasised the difference between them. Still, he contrived +to laugh.</p> + +<p>"I expect they were envious. It's bewilderingly effective, and I am a +bit of an artist, as you know," he said. "I was wondering whether you +would have the courage to come."</p> + +<p>"Jacinta," said Pancho Brown, "has courage enough for anything. Still, +she came because I asked her. I make my living out of these people, and, +perhaps, a little more. It was policy."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed. "Well," she said, "I rather like it, and I have been +before. Of course, I mean after they have killed the horses and smashed +the picadores. That part is not only cruel, but ineffective. It's not +inspiriting to see a man padded with leather sit quite still to be +knocked over. They should either wipe it out or give them stuffed +horses. By the way, you don't know my companions."</p> + +<p>The two naval officers acknowledged the introduction with characteristic +brevity. Their eyes were fixed on the arena, and the scene was probably +worth their attention, for there are parts of a bull fight which cannot +be termed revolting, at least, by those who have actually witnessed +them.</p> + +<p>A lithe, well-favoured man, picturesquely attired, skipped into the +ring, holding a crimson cape in one hand, and a couple of little +decorated darts in the other. It was his business to strike them into +the neck or shoulder of the bull, but nowhere else, while their points +were calculated to do no more than exasperate it. The beast watched him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +savagely, pawing up the sand, and the chances appeared somewhat against +the man, since to reach its neck he must approach his silk-covered +breast within an inch or two of the gleaming horns, one of which was +suspiciously reddened.</p> + +<p>Austin could not quite see how he did it, for his motions were +bewilderingly rapid, but he saw the wave of the gaudy cloak and heard +its crisp rustle that was lost in the roar. Then the man was running +round the ring for his life, and the bull thundering along with lowered +head and a dart bristling in its neck, a yard or two behind him. He had +no time to swing himself over the barricade, as hard pressed +banderilleros now and then did, for the deadly horns were almost in the +small of his back. It was a frantic test of speed, highly trained human +agility and endurance against the strength of the beast, and there was +dead silence while they went round the arena once, the man running +desperately, with tense, set face, while Austin fancied he could hear +his gasping breath through the roar of the hoofs. Then, with a splendid +bound, he drew a yard ahead, and another man with a green cape hurled +himself through the opening. Somehow he escaped destruction, and the +bull slid onward with hoofs ploughing up the sand, and the gaudy silk +fluttering about its head. There was a roar of plaudits that could have +been heard miles away at sea, and while from tiers of benches the hats +came sailing down, the bull, which shook the cape off, tore the coloured +rags to fragments.</p> + +<p>"That fellow has good nerves," said one of the navy men. "I don't see +anything very brutal in it, after all. They both start level, and take +their chances, you know."</p> + +<p>Jacinta looked at Austin over her fan, and there was a faint flush in as +much of her face as he could see, as well as a little gleam in her +eyes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>"I'm afraid it—is—a little barbarous," she said. "Everybody says so. +Still, wasn't that banderillero splendid! You see, I have put on +Castilian notions with my clothes. Of course, as an Englishwoman, I +could never venture here."</p> + +<p>Austin was a little annoyed to feel that he was smiling sardonically. +"Well," he said, "I should almost have fancied that you were too +super-refined and ethereal to admire that kind of thing, but I really +believe you do."</p> + +<p>Jacinta waved her fan. "Do not be deceived, my friend. There is a good +deal of the primitive in us all, and it shows up now and then." Then she +laughed. "I wonder how they all get their right hats back again."</p> + +<p>Austin could not tell her, for it was a thing he could never understand; +but while the attendants were still flinging the black sombreros into +the air another banderillero approached the bull. He planted one dart +and then dashed across the ring, but either his nerve failed him, or he +could not trust his speed, for he grasped the top of the barricade and +swung himself over. In another moment the bull struck it with a crash, +and then stood still, half stunned, apparently endeavouring to make out +where the man had gone. There was a storm of hisses and opprobrious +cries.</p> + +<p>"That banderillero," said Jacinta, sweetly, "should have been driven out +of the ring. He ought never to have undertaken a thing that was too big +for him."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that a little hard upon the man?" said Austin. "He probably +didn't know it was too big until he had undertaken it."</p> + +<p>"That's sensible, Miss Brown," said one of the navy men. "When he found +he couldn't run as fast as the bull could what was he to do?"</p> + +<p>"What did a certain gunboat's men do when they found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> themselves quite +unexpectedly in front of the African headman's battery?"</p> + +<p>The navy man flushed a little, for he was young. "Oh," he said, "that +was different. They set their lips and went in, though I don't suppose +any of them liked it. Still, you see, that was what they were there to +do."</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" and Jacinta laughed a little, though there was still a gleam +in her eyes, and it was Austin she looked at. "They did the obvious, as +well as the most artistic thing. It fortunately happens that they're +often very much the same."</p> + +<p>"I'm not quite sure I understand you," said the young officer. "People +who want me to have to talk plain. Still, I suppose one has always a +certain sympathy for the fellow who gets himself killed decently."</p> + +<p>Then, for a time, they became absorbed in the play of the banderilleros, +who, flashing here and there, with cloaks of red, and gold, and green, +passed the bull from one to another up and down the trampled arena. Now, +one of them escaped annihilation by a hairsbreadth, while the thundering +vivas went up to the glaring sky, and a comrade turned the tormented +beast again. Now, a silk-clad athlete swept through the two-foot gap +between deadly horns and flying man, and the bull swung round with a +bellow to pursue him, or stood still, temporarily blinded with the gaudy +cloak about its horns. It was a fascinating exhibition of human nerve +and skill, and Austin saw that Jacinta watched it with slightly parted +lips and a gleam in her eyes, until at last the bugles rang, and most of +the men withdrew, leaving the bull alone in the middle of the arena, +with the foam flakes dripping from its muzzle and its brawny neck +bristling with the little darts. Then there was a general movement and a +great hum of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> voices rose from the close-packed benches. Jacinta waved +her fan, and touched Austin's arm as she looked about her.</p> + +<p>"Surely that is Macallister. But whatever is he doing there?" she said.</p> + +<p>Austin looked up across the long rows of faces, and saw his comrade +sitting, spick and span in the blue Spanish mail uniform, among the +brilliant officers of the Governor's staff. Macallister was a big man, +with a commanding appearance, when he had for the time being done with +the engine room, and Austin, who knew that he could make friends with +anybody, was not astonished to notice that he seemed very much at home.</p> + +<p>"It is rather more than I know," he said. "Still, I should fancy he was +telling them something amusing in execrable Castilian, by the way they +are laughing. I believe Macallister could get anywhere he wanted. He +has, as a matter of fact, dragged me into somewhat astonishing places."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," said one of the navy men. "George, isn't that big +fellow in the uniform yonder the one we saw the other night at the +opera?"</p> + +<p>"It is," said his comrade, with a little soft laugh, as though he +remembered something that had afforded him considerable pleasure.</p> + +<p>Jacinta touched Austin with her fan. "I presume you know what he is +referring to?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, "what I do know is this. Mack and I went to see the +Italian company the other night, and because he, of course, knew +everybody about the place, we went behind the scenes. He, unfortunately, +became interested in the stage machinery, and when he had made spirited +attempts to pull some of it to pieces, I and the improvisatore beguiled +him to a chair in the wings. We gave him a cigar to keep him quiet, as +well as the libretto,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> which he could not read, and, as he seemed +somewhat sleepy, I was thankful to leave him there. I didn't care about +that opera. He never told me what happened after."</p> + +<p>The young officer laughed again. "I daresay I can enlighten you. In the +middle of the last act one of the wings collapsed, and everybody saw a +big Englishman, who had apparently just kicked it over, sitting, half +asleep, in a folding chair. He didn't appear to have any legitimate +connection with the drama, but he brought the house down when he got up +in a hurry and fell over his chair."</p> + +<p>Then the shrill call of the bugles rang through the great building, and +a tall man, with a scarred face, gorgeously dressed, walked into the +arena, holding a three-cornered hat and a long, straight sword. He stood +still a moment, an imposing and curiously graceful figure, with bright +blade lowered, while a tumultuous shout of "Mæstro!" filled the +building; and then, taking a cloak from an attendant, approached the +bull. It was freely smeared with blood, and as it stood, bellowing, and +pawing the sand in murderous rage, it was evident that the Mæstro's task +was not a particularly pleasant one. There was only one way in which he +could kill the bull, and that was to pass his sword over the horns and +down into the brawny chest, near the base of the neck. Should he strike +elsewhere it was probable that the vast assembly would descend and +trample on him, for this was a duel to the death between man and beast, +in which the latter was secured what seemed an even chance by +punctilious etiquette. The Spaniard displays a good deal of sympathy +with a gallant bull.</p> + +<p>The beast seemed to understand that this man was different from the +banderilleros who had previously tormented it, and backed away from him +until he smote it lightly on the nostrils. Then it swept forward in a +savage rush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> but though the man's movements were so quick that one +scarcely noticed them, he was not quite where he had been a moment +earlier, when the bull thundered past him. Still, one horn had ripped a +strip of silk from him. He followed the beast, and struck it with his +hand, and for five or six frenzied minutes the vast audience roared. +This man never ran. He stepped backwards, or twisted, always with grave +gracefulness, in the nick of time, until at last the bull stood still, +as though stupefied with rage or uncertain how to attack its elusive +persecutor.</p> + +<p>Then, as the man walked up to it very quietly and unconcernedly, it +seemed to hump itself together for a furious bound and rush with lowered +head, and there was no sound in the great building until the bright +steel flashed. Man's breast and gleaming horns seemed to meet, but +apparently in the same second the gorgeously clad figure had stepped +aside, and in the next the bull plunged forward and came down upon its +knees.</p> + +<p>There was another roar, and once more from all the close-packed benches +came the rain of hats, cigars, and bundles of cigarettes.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Jacinta, with a little gasp, "I think I have seen enough. +There will be another bull and more picadores now. I never could stand +that part of it. Besides, I have done my duty, and patronised the show."</p> + +<p>They made their way out while the audience waited for another bull, and +certain leather-swathed picadores rode in on decrepit, blindfolded +horses, brought there to be killed; and it was an hour later when, as +they stood beneath the oleanders in a fonda garden looking down upon the +white-walled town, Jacinta mentioned the affair again.</p> + +<p>"Of course, it is a little cruel; but, after all, it appeals to rather +more than the lower passions and lust of slaughter, don't you think?" +she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>"I never saw anything to equal that Mæstro's play in my life," said one +of the young officers. "It was cool daring in the superlative degree."</p> + +<p>"I fancy," said Austin, "you want us to make excuses for your being +there."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed. "Not exactly! I am rather proud of being a law to +myself—and others—you know. Now, I really think that the qualities the +Mæstro possessed appealed to me, though I naturally mean some and not +all of them. I am, after all, as I admitted, a little primitive in some +respects."</p> + +<p>"You mean that you like a man to be daring?" asked the other officer.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" and once more it was Austin Jacinta looked at. "Still, I +don't necessarily mean that everybody should go bull-fighting. There are +other things more worth while."</p> + +<p>"Even than sailing round the Canaries and painting little pictures?" +said Austin.</p> + +<p>Jacinta glanced at him with a curious smile. "Well," she said, "since +you ask me, I almost think there are." Then she stopped a moment, and +stood looking out from among the oleanders towards the glittering heave +of the Atlantic across the white-walled town. Once more a faint gleam +crept into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she added, "what Jefferson is doing—out yonder in Africa."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN</span></h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was wearing through, but it was still almost insufferably +hot when Jefferson stood with his hand upon the valve of the <i>Cumbria</i>'s +forward winch. She lay with her bows wedged into the mangrove forest, +which crawled on high-arched roots over leagues of bubbling mire to the +edge of one of the foulest creeks in Western Africa. It flowed, thick +and yeasty, beneath the steamer's hove-up side, for she lay with a list +to starboard athwart the stream. There was a bend close by, and her +original crew had apparently either failed to swing her round it, which +is an accident that sometimes happens in that country, or driven her +ashore to save her sinking.</p> + +<p>Her iron deck was unpleasantly hot, and the negroes who crossed it +between hatch and surfboat hopped. They, of course, wore no boots, and, +indeed, very little of anything at all beyond a strip of cotton round +their waists. There was not a breath of wind astir, and the saturated +atmosphere, which was heavy with the emanations of the swamps, seemed to +seal the perspiration in the burning skin. Jefferson felt the veins on +his forehead swollen to the bursting point when he stopped the winch and +looked about him while the Spaniards slipped a sling over a palm-oil +puncheon in the hold below.</p> + +<p>He could see nothing but a strip of dazzling water, and the dingy, +white-stemmed mangroves which stretched away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> farther than the eye could +follow, and sighed as he glanced back at the <i>Cumbria</i>. She lay with +deck unpleasantly slanted and one bilge in the mire, a rusty, two-masted +steamer, with the blistered paint peeling off her, and the burnt awnings +hanging from their spars. He did not expect much water in that creek +until the wet season, and in the meanwhile it was necessary to heave the +coal and cargo out of her and send it down stream to a neighbouring +beach. It was very slow work with the handful of men he had, and those +few weeks had set their mark on Jefferson.</p> + +<p>He had never been a fleshy man, and long days of feverish toil under a +burning sun and in the steamy heat of the flooded holds had worn him to +skin and bone. His duck garments hung with a significant slackness about +his gaunt frame, and they were rent in places, as well as blackened and +smeared with oil. His face was grim and hollow, but there was a fierce +steadfastness in his eyes, which seemed filled with curious brilliancy.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to sleep down there? Can't you send up another cask?" he +said.</p> + +<p>A voice came up from the dusky hatch, out of which there flowed a hot, +sour smell of palm oil and putrefying water. "The next tier's jammed up +under the orlop beams," it said. "We might get on a little if we could +break a puncheon out."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laid his hands upon the combing of the hatch and swung himself +over. It was a drop of several yards, and he came down upon the slippery +round of a big puncheon, and reeling across the barrels, fell backwards +against an angle-iron. He was, however, up again in a moment, and stood +blinking about him with eyes dazzled by the change from the almost +intolerable brightness above. Blurred figures were standing more than +ankle deep in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> water on the slanted rows of puncheons, and Jefferson, +who could not see them very well, blinked again when an Englishman, +stripped to the waist, moved towards him. The latter was dripping with +yellow oil and perspiration.</p> + +<p>"It's this one," he said, and kicked a puncheon viciously. "The +derrick-crabs have pulled the tops of the staves off her. They're soaked +an' soft with oil. The water underneath's jamming them up, an' you'll +see how the tier's keyed down by the orlop-beams."</p> + +<p>Jefferson wrenched the iron bar he held away from him and turned to the +rest.</p> + +<p>"There's a patch of the head clear. Two or three of you get a handspike +on to it," he said. "No, shove it lower down. Mas abajo. Now, heave all +together. Vamos. Toda fuerza!"</p> + +<p>They were barefooted Canary Spaniards, of an astonishing ignorance, but +excellent sailormen, and they understood him. Lean, muscular bodies +strained and bent, the dew of effort dripped from them; and, as he +heaved with lips set, the hollows grew deeper in Jefferson's grim face. +No one spoke; there was only a deep, stertorous gasping, until the +puncheon moved a little, and Jefferson, stooping, drove his bar a trifle +lower. Then, while he strained every muscle and sinew in strenuous +effort, the great, slimy barrel rose again, tilted, and rolled out on +its fellows. For a moment it left a space of oily black water where it +had been, and then the puncheons closed in with a crash again. Jefferson +flung the bar down and straightened himself.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said wearily, "you can get ahead."</p> + +<p>He crawled up the ladder with a curious languidness, and while one of +the Englishmen apostrophised the puncheons the Spaniards went back to +their task. The Castilian is not supposed to be remarkable for +diligence, but there is, at least among the lower ranks of men in whom +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> Iberian blood flows, a capacity for patient toil and uncomplaining +endurance which, while not always very apparent, nevertheless shows +itself unmistakably under pressure of circumstances. These were simple +men, who had never been encouraged to think for themselves, and were, +therefore, like other Spaniards of their degree, perhaps, incapable of +undertaking anything on their own initiative, but they could do a great +deal under the right leader, and they had him in Jefferson.</p> + +<p>One of the Englishmen, however, was not quite satisfied. He had been in +the tropics before, and did not like the curious flush in Jefferson's +face or the way the swollen veins showed on his forehead, so he climbed +the ladder after him and leaned upon the winch-drum looking at him +meditatively. The man was very ragged as well as very dirty, and +altogether disreputable, so far as appearance went, while it is probable +that in several respects his character left a good deal to be desired.</p> + +<p>"Here's your hat. It's wet, but that's no harm," he said. "You forgot +it. Hadn't you better put it on quick?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson, who recognised the wisdom of this, did so.</p> + +<p>"That's all right! Well, what—are—you stopping for?" he said.</p> + +<p>The other man still regarded him contemplatively. "I know my place—but +things isn't quite the same aboard this 'ooker as they would be on a +big, two-funnel liner. You couldn't expect it. That's why I come up just +now to speak to you. You're not feelin' well to-day?"</p> + +<p>"It's not worth worrying about. I guess nobody but a nigger ever does +feel well in this country."</p> + +<p>The other man shook his head. "You go slow. I've seen it comin' on," he +said. "You oughtn't to 'a' had your hat off a minute. You see, if you +drop out, how's Bill an' me to get the bonus you promised us?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>Jefferson laughed, though he found, somewhat to his concern, that he +could not see the man very well.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to hold up until I knock the bottom of this contract out," he +said, good-humouredly. "I can't do it if I stop and talk to you. Get a +move on. Light out of this!"</p> + +<p>The man went back. He had done what he felt was his duty, though he had +not expected that it would be of very much use, and Jefferson started +the winch. It hammered and rattled, and the barrels came up, slimy and +dripping, with patches of whitewash still clinging to them. The glare of +it dazzled Jefferson until he could scarcely see them as they swung +beneath the derrick-boom, but he managed to drop them into the surfboat +alongside and pile the rest on deck, when she slid down the creek with a +row of negroes paddling on either side. The steamer had struck the +forest at the time of highest water, and it was necessary to take +everything out of her if she was to be floated during the coming rainy +season.</p> + +<p>He toiled on for another hour, with a racking pain in his head, and the +Canarios toiled in the stifling hold below, until there was a jar and a +rattle, and a big puncheon that should have gone into the surfboat came +down with a crash amidst them, and, bursting, splashed them with yellow +oil. Then the man who had remonstrated with Jefferson went up the ladder +in haste. The winch had stopped, and Jefferson lay across it, amidst a +coil of slack wire, with a suffused face. The man, who stooped over him, +shouted, and the rest who came up helped to carry him to his room +beneath the bridge. The floor was slanted so that one could scarcely +stand on it, and as the berth took the same list, they laid him where +the side of it met the bulkhead. He lay there, speechless, with +half-closed eyes, and water and palm oil soaking from him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>"Now," said the man who had given Jefferson good advice, "you'll get +these Spaniards out of this, Bill. Then you'll go on breaking the +puncheons out. Wall-eye, here, can run the winch for you, but you can +come back in half an hour when I've found out what's wrong with the +skipper."</p> + +<p>Bill seemed to recognise that his comrade had risen to the occasion. +"Well," he said, "I s'pose there's no use in me sayin' anything. All I +want to know is, how you're going to do it?"</p> + +<p>"See that?" and the other man pointed to a chest beneath the settee. +"It's full of medicines, an' there's a book about them. Good ole Board +of Trade!"</p> + +<p>"How d'you know those medicines arn't all gorn?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"They arn't. I've been in. There's a bottle of sweet paregoricky stuff I +came round for a swigg of when Mr. Jefferson wasn't there now and then. +It warms you up kind of comfortin'."</p> + +<p>Bill went away with the Spaniards, and, in place of improving the +occasion by looking for liquor, as he might, perhaps, have been expected +to do, went on with his task. The English sailorman does not always +express himself delicately, but he is, now, at least, very far from +being the dissolute, unintelligent ruffian he is sometimes supposed to +be. There is no doubt of this, for shipowners know their business, and +while there is no lack of Teutons and cheerful, sober Scandinavians, a +certain proportion of English seamen still go to sea in English ships. +The man who sat in Jefferson's room could, at least, understand the +treatise in the medicine chest, although it was one approved by the +Board of Trade, which august body has apparently no great fondness for +lucid explanations. He was, however, still pouring over it when his +comrade thrust his head into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> the doorway again, and it is possible that +Jefferson had not suffered greatly from the fact that he had not as yet +quite decided on any course of treatment.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the newcomer, "I s'pose you know what he—has—got?"</p> + +<p>"Come in, an' sit down there," said the other. "It's fever, for one +thing—I've seen it coming on—an' sunstroke for another. What I'm stuck +at is if I'm to treat them both together."</p> + +<p>Bill looked reflective. "I think I'd take them one at a time. Get the +sunstroke out of him, an' then go for the fever. How d' you start on it, +Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Undo his clothes. That's easy. The buttons is mostly off them, an' he +has hardly any on. Then you put cold water on his head."</p> + +<p>"That's not easy, anyway! Where the blazes are you going to get cold +water from?"</p> + +<p>It was somewhat of a paradox, for while there is plenty of water in +Western Africa, none of it is cold. Tom, however, was once more equal to +the occasion.</p> + +<p>"We could get a big spanner from the engine room, an' put it on his +head," he said. "There's plenty of them. S'pose you go an' bring one. +Any way, we'll swill him with the coldest water we can get."</p> + +<p>They laid a soaked singlet upon his head with a couple of iron spanners +under it, and then sat down to watch the effect. Somewhat to their +astonishment, it did not appear to do him any appreciable good. Darkness +closed down as they waited, and it seemed to grow hotter than ever, +while the thick white steam rose from the swamps. Tom stood up and +lighted the lamp.</p> + +<p>"The fever's easier," he said. "I've had it. You give him the +mixture—it's down in the book—though I don't know what the meaning of +all these sign things is. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> starts him perspiring, an' then it's +thick blankets. We used to give them green-lime water in the mailboats."</p> + +<p>"Where's the green limes?" said Bill. "Any way, I'd give the sunstroke a +decent chance first. Perhaps he'll come out of it himself. I don't know +that it wouldn't be better if he did."</p> + +<p>Jefferson came out of his limp unconsciousness into a raving delirium +that night, and they rolled him in two blankets, while Bill, being left +on watch, wisely threw away the draught his comrade had concocted. +Jefferson was also very little more sensible during the next few days, +and, though the work went on, before the week was over the two lonely +Englishmen found they had another difficulty to grapple with. The sun +was almost overhead, and the iron deck, insufferably hot, when the +surfboat negroes, who had just finished their meal, came forward +together, eight or nine big, naked men, with animal faces and splendid +muscles. Nobody knew where they came from, but when two or three of them +appeared in a canoe, Jefferson had managed to make them understand that +he was willing to pay them for their services, and they forthwith went +away, and came back with several comrades and a man of shorter stature +who had apparently worked on a steamboat or at a white man's factory. +They had worked tolerably well while Jefferson was about to watch them, +but they had now apparently decided on another mode of behaviour, for +the attitude of their leader was unmistakably truculent. The man called +Bill, sitting on the fore hatch, turned at the patter of naked feet, and +looked at him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said sharply, "what the —— are you wanting?"</p> + +<p>"Two bokus them green gin," said the negro. "Two lil' piece of cloff +every boy."</p> + +<p>Tom laughed ironically. "There isn't any green gin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> bokus in the ship, +for one thing. You'll get your cloth-piece when the work is done. That's +all I've got to say to you. Get out of this!"</p> + +<p>The negro made a little forceful gesture. "You no cappy."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bill, drily, "he figures he's a bloomin' admiral in the +meanwhile, and that's good enough for you. Go home again, and don't +worry me."</p> + +<p>"Two cloff-piece," said the negro. "Two cloff-piece every boy. You no +lib for get them, we come down too much boy an' take them 'teamboat from +you."</p> + +<p>The white men looked at one another, and it was evident that they were +uncertain how far the negro might be able to make good his threat. There +was, as it happened, very little to prevent him doing it, and stockaded +factories, as well as stranded steamboats, have been looted in Western +Africa. Still, they remembered that they had the prestige of their +colour to maintain.</p> + +<p>"Oh, get out one time!" said Tom.</p> + +<p>The negro turned upon him. "You no cappy. You low, white 'teamboat +bushman. Too much boy he lib for come down one night an' cut you big fat +t'roat."</p> + +<p>Bill, who was big and brawny, rose with an air of sorrowful resignation. +"This —— nonsense has got to be stopped," he said, and walked +tranquilly towards the negro. "You wouldn't listen to reason, +Black-funnel-paint."</p> + +<p>Then, before the latter quite realised what had happened to him, a grimy +fist descended upon his jaw, and as he staggered backwards somebody +seized his shoulders and whirled him round. In another moment Bill +kicked with all his might, and the negro went out headlong through the +open gangway into the creek alongside. In the meanwhile the Spaniards +came tumbling from the hatch, and, though they were quiet men, they +carried long Canary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> knives. The sight of them was enough for the +negroes, and they followed their leader, plunging from the gangway or +over the rail. Their canoes still lay beneath the quarter, and though +Tom hurled a few big lumps of coal on them as they got under way, they +were flying up the creek in another minute, with paddles flashing.</p> + +<p>Then Bill explained the affair to the Canarios as well as he could, and +afterward drew his comrade back into the shadow of the deck-house to +hold a council. Both of them felt somewhat lonely as they blinked at the +desolation of dingy mangroves which hemmed them in. There was, so far as +they knew, not a white man in that part of Africa, and the intentions of +the negroes were apparently by no means amicable.</p> + +<p>"Funnel-paint may come back an' bring his friends," said Tom. "I don't +know what's to stop him if he wants to. There's not a gun in the ship +except Mr. Jefferson's pistol, an' those Canary fellows' knives, an' we +can't worry Mr. Jefferson about the thing when he's too sick to +understand. If I'd only begun on him for fever he might have been +better."</p> + +<p>"I'm thankful," said Bill, "as he isn't dead. It wouldn't be very +astonishing, but that don't matter."</p> + +<p>"You'd think it mattered a good deal if you was Mr. Jefferson. If I +wasn't that anxious about him I'd let you try your hand an' see how easy +it is worrying out that book. As it is, one of us is enough."</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking," said Bill sourly, "as it's a —— sight too much!"</p> + +<p>Tom glared at him a moment, for one of the effects that climate has upon +a white man's nerves is to keep him in a state of prickly irritation; +but he was more anxious than he cared to confess, too anxious, indeed, +to force a quarrel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>"Well," he said, "I'll ask you what you mean another time. Just now, +we've got to do a little for Mr. Jefferson and a little for ourselves. +Eight pound a month, all found, and a fifty-pound bonus when he gets her +off, isn't to be picked up everywhere, and, of course, there's no +telling when you an' me may get the fever. Now, then, we want a boss who +isn't sick, an' more men, as well as a doctor."</p> + +<p>"Of course. How're you goin' to get 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Not here. They don't grow in the swamps. Somebody's got to go for them, +an' Las Palmas is the best place. You could find a West-coast mailboat +goin' home if you went down the creek in the launch. They've a man or +two sick in the engine room most trips, an' they'd be glad to take you +firin'. Now, before Mr. Jefferson got that sunstroke he showed me two +envelopes. If he was to peg out sudden I was to see the men in Las +Palmas got them, and they'd tell me what to do. Men do peg out at any +time in this country. Well, you look for a liner an' take those letters. +If it's a good boat she'll only be four or five days steaming up the +trades. Mr. Jefferson deserves a chance for his life."</p> + +<p>"What's wrong with takin' him, too; or all of us goin', for that +matter?" asked his companion.</p> + +<p>"Eight pounds a month, an' a bonus! Besides, Mr. Jefferson put all his +money into getting this ship off. If he comes round an' finds it thrown +away he's not going to be grateful to either of us."</p> + +<p>Bill sat silent, evidently thinking hard for a minute or two. "Well," he +said, "there's sense in the thing, an' I'll try it. You'll be all right +with those Canariers. They're nice quiet men, an' if you make 'em say it +over lots of times you can generally understand 'em. Wall-eye can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> bring +the launch back. I'll get out of this when we've steam up."</p> + +<p>It was two hours later when he and one of the Canarios who had worked on +board the coaling company's tug departed, and the rest, clustering along +the <i>Cumbria</i>'s rail, watched them wistfully as the little clanking +craft slid down the creek. They would very much have liked to have gone +in her, and might have done so had not Jefferson had the forethought to +promise them a small share of the profit when the work was done, and fed +them well. There are also men who inspire confidence in those they lead, +and sailormen capable of carrying out a bargain. Thus there were no open +expressions of regret or misgivings when the last of the launch's +smoke-trail melted above the mangroves, though Tom looked very grave as +he clawed the shoulder of an olive-faced Canario seaman who did not +understand him.</p> + +<p>"If that man goes on the loose with what he gets for firin', an' forgets +all about those letters, it won't be nice for us," he said. "In the +meanwhile, we've just got to buck up and lighten the blame old +scrap-iron tank between us."</p> + +<p>He called her a few other names while the Spaniard watched him, smiling, +and, having so relieved himself, went softly into the skipper's room, +where Jefferson lay, a worn-out shadow of a man, wrapped in very dirty +blankets, and babbling incoherently.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE</span></h2> + + +<p>It was late one hot night when Austin first met Captain Farquhar of the +S.S. <i>Carsegarry</i> in a calle of Santa Cruz, and the worthy shipmaster, +being then in a somewhat unpleasant position, was sincerely pleased to +see him. The <i>Carsegarry</i> had reached Las Palmas with three thousand +tons of steam coal some ten days earlier, and, because there are +disadvantages attached to living on board a vessel that is discharging +coal, Farquhar had taken up his abode at the Metropole. He had, as +usual, made friends with almost everybody in the hotel during the first +few days, which said a good deal for his capabilities, considering that +most of them were Englishmen; and then, finding their society pall on +him, went across to Santa Cruz in search of adventure and more congenial +company.</p> + +<p>As it happened, he found the latter in the person of another Englishman +with similar tastes; and one or two of their frolics are remembered in +that island yet. On the night Farquhar came across Austin they had +amused themselves not altogether wisely in a certain café, from which +its proprietor begged them to depart when they had broken one citizen's +guitar and damaged another's clothes. Then, as it was getting late, they +adjourned to the mole, where the Englishman had arranged that a boat at +his command should meet them, and convey Farquhar, who was going back to +Las Palmas next day, on board the <i>Estremedura</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> The boat was not +forthcoming, and the Englishman's temper deteriorated while they waited +half an hour for it, until when at last the splash of oars came out of +the soft darkness he was not only in a very unpleasant humour, but +determined upon showing his companion that he was not a man with whom a +Spanish crew could take liberties.</p> + +<p>There was also a pile of limestone on the mole, and when a shadowy +launch slid into the blackness beneath it he hurled down the biggest +lumps he could find, as well as a torrent of Castilian vituperation. +Then, however, instead of the excuses he had expected, there were +wrathful cries, and the Englishman gasped when he saw dim, white-clad +figures clambering in portentous haste up the adjacent steps.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get out of this—quick!" he said. "I've made a little +mistake. It's somebody else's boat."</p> + +<p>They set about it without waste of time, but there was a good deal of +merchandise lying about the mole, and the Englishman, who fell over some +of it, lay still until a peon came across him peacefully asleep behind a +barrel next morning. Farquhar, however, ran on, snatching up a handspike +as he went, with odd lumps of limestone hurtling behind him; and as he +and his pursuers made a good deal of noise as they sped across the plaza +at the head of the mole, the citizens still left in the cafés turned out +to enjoy the spectacle. English seafarers are tolerated in that city, +but it is, perhaps, their own fault that they are not regarded with any +particular favour, and when Farquhar turned at bay in a doorway and +proceeded to defy all the subjects of Spain, nobody was anxious to stand +between him and the barelegged sailors, who had nasty knives. It might, +in fact, have gone hard with him had not two civiles, with big revolvers +strapped about them, arrived.</p> + +<p>They heard the crowd's explanations with official uncon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>cern, and then, +though it was, perhaps, their duty to place Farquhar in safe custody in +the cuartel, decided on sending for Austin, who was known to be staying +that night in a neighbouring hotel. He had befriended English skippers +already under somewhat similar circumstances, and the civiles, who knew +their business, were quite aware that nobody would thank them for +forcing the affair upon the attention of the English Consul. Austin +came, and saw Farquhar gazing angrily at the civiles and still gripping +his bar, while the crowd stood round and made insulting remarks about +him in Castilian. He at once grasped the position, and made a sign of +concurrence when one of the civiles spoke to him.</p> + +<p>"You take him to his steamer," said the officer. "One of us will come +round in the morning when he understands."</p> + +<p>Austin turned to Farquhar. "Give the man that bar," he said. "Come +along, and I'll send you off to your steamer."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have satisfaction out of some of them first," and Farquhar +made an indignant gesture of protest. "Then I'll knock up the Consul. +I'll show them if a crowd of garlic-eating pigs can run after me."</p> + +<p>"If you stop here you'll probably get it, in the shape of a knife +between your ribs," said Austin, who seized his arm. "A wise man doesn't +drag in the Consul when he wants to keep his berth."</p> + +<p>He forced Farquhar, who still protested vigorously, along, and, because +the civiles marched behind, conveyed him to the mole, where a boat was +procured to take them off to the <i>Estremedura</i>. Farquhar had cooled down +a little by the time they reached her, and appeared grateful when Austin +put him into his berth.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you did save me some trouble, and I'll not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> forget you," he +said. "Take you round all the nice people in Las Palmas and tell them +you're a friend of mine."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure it would be very much of a recommendation," said Austin, +drily.</p> + +<p>Farquhar laughed. "That's where you're mistaken. When I've been a week +in a place I'm friends with everybody worth knowing."</p> + +<p>"If to-night's affair is anything to go by, it's a little difficult to +understand how you manage it," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"It's quite easy to be looked up to, and still have your fun," and +Farquhar lowered his voice confidentially. "When folks think a good deal +of you in one place you have only to go somewhere else when you feel the +fit coming on."</p> + +<p>The <i>Estremedura</i> sailed for Las Palmas next morning, and on arriving +there Austin was somewhat astonished to discover that Farquhar had, in +fact, acquired the good-will of a good many people of consequence in +that city. He was a genial, frolic-loving man, and Austin, who became +sensible of a liking for him, spent a good deal of his leisure on board +the <i>Carsegarry</i>, while, when the <i>Estremedura</i> came back there, he also +consented to advise Farquhar about the getting up of a dance to which +everybody was invited. It was a testimony to the latter's capacity for +making friends that a good many of them came, and among the rest were +Pancho Brown, his daughter, Muriel Gascoyne, and Mrs. Hatherly, as well +as the commander of a Spanish warship, and several officers of +artillery.</p> + +<p>The night was soft and still, and clear moonlight shone down upon the +sea. The trade breeze had fallen away, and only a little cool air came +down from the black Isleta hill, while fleecy mists drifted ethereally +athwart the jagged peaks of the great cordillera. An orchestra of +guitars and mandolins discoursed Spanish music from the poop, and there +was room for bolero and casucha on the big after-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>hatch, while, when the +waltzers had swung round it, the <i>Carsegarry</i>'s engineer made shift to +play the English lancers on his fiddle. Everybody seemed content, and +the genial Farquhar diffused high spirits and good humour.</p> + +<p>Austin had swung through a waltz with Jacinta, though the guitars were +still twinging softly when they climbed the ladder to the bridge-deck, +where canvas chairs were laid out. It was a curious waltz, tinged with +the melancholy there is in most Spanish music, but the crash of a gun +broke through it, and while the roar of a whistle drowned the drowsy +murmur of the surf, the long black hull of an African mailboat slid into +the harbour ringed with lights. Then there followed the rattle of cable, +and Austin fancied that the sight of the steamer had, for no very +apparent reason, its effect upon his companion. She had been cordial +during the evening, but there was a faint suggestion of hardness in her +face as she turned to him.</p> + +<p>"I am especially fond of that waltz," she said. "You may have noticed +there's a trace of what one might call the bizarre in it. No doubt, it's +Eastern. They got it from the Moors."</p> + +<p>"It only struck me as very pretty," said Austin, who surmised by her +expression that Jacinta was preparing the way for what she meant to say. +"I'm afraid I'm not much of a musician."</p> + +<p>"You, at least, dance rather well. There are not many Englishmen who +really do, which is, perhaps, no great disadvantage, after all."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed, though he was a trifle perplexed. "Well," he said, +"though you don't overwhelm me with compliments, as a rule, you have +told me that I could dance before. Now, however, one could almost fancy +that the fact didn't meet with your approval."</p> + +<p>Jacinta looked at him reflectively over her fan. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> scarcely supposed +you would understand, and one does not always feel in the mood to +undertake a logical exposition of their views. Still, here's Muriel, and +she, at least, generally seems to know just what she means. Suppose you +ask her what she thinks of dancing."</p> + +<p>Austin did so, and Miss Gascoyne, who was crossing the deck-bridge with +Farquhar, stopped beside them.</p> + +<p>"I don't think there is any harm in dancing, in itself—in fact, I have +just been waltzing with Captain Farquhar," she said. "Of course, the +disadvantage attached to amusements of any kind is that they may +distract one's attention from more serious things. Don't you think so, +Captain Farquhar?"</p> + +<p>Farquhar caught Austin's eye, and grinned wickedly, but Miss Gascoyne, +who failed to notice this, glanced towards the steamer which had just +come in.</p> + +<p>"That must be the African boat, but I suppose there is no use expecting +any news?" she said quietly, though there was a faint suggestive tremour +in her voice.</p> + +<p>She passed on with Farquhar, and Jacinta glanced at Austin with a little +enquiring smile.</p> + +<p>"If I had a sister who persisted in talking in that aggravatingly +edifying fashion, I should feel tempted to shake her," he said. "Still, +one could forgive her a good deal if only for the way she looked at the +West-coast boat. It suggested that she has as much humanity in her as +there is in the rest of us, after all."</p> + +<p>"Still, don't you think there was a little reason in what she said?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. That is, no doubt, why one objects to it. Well, since it's +difficult to keep the personal equation out, I suppose dancing and +sailing about these islands on board the <i>Estremedura</i> is rather a +wasteful life. Painting little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> pictures probably comes to much the same +thing, too, though there are people who seem to take art seriously."</p> + +<p>Jacinta looked at him steadily. "When one has really an artistic talent +it is different," she said.</p> + +<p>Austin, who hoped she did not notice that he winced, sat silent a space, +gazing out across the glittering sea, and it was not altogether a +coincidence that his eyes were turned eastwards towards Africa, where +Jefferson was toiling in the fever swamps. He wondered if Jacinta knew +his thoughts had also turned in that direction somewhat frequently of +late.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I suppose it is. Some of those pictures must be +pretty, or the tourists wouldn't buy them, but that doesn't go very far, +after all." He stopped a moment, and then went on with a little wry +smile. "No doubt some patients require drastic treatment, and there are +cases where it is necessary to use the knife."</p> + +<p>Jacinta rose, and, dropping her fan to her side, gravely met his gaze.</p> + +<p>"If it wasn't, it would probably not be tried," she said. "One could +fancy that it was, now and then, a little painful to the surgeon."</p> + +<p>Austin walked with her to the ladder, and stopped a moment at the head +of it. "Well," he said, "one has to remember that all men are not built +on the same model, and, what is more to the purpose, they haven't all +the same opportunities. No doubt the latter fact is fortunate for some +of them, since they would probably make a deplorable mess of things if +they undertook a big enterprise."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jacinta, who remembered it afterwards, "one never knows when +the opportunities may present themselves."</p> + +<p>She went down the ladder, and it was about an hour later when a boat +slid alongside, and a man came up, asking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> for Austin. The latter, who +sat on the bridge-deck amidst a group of Farquhar's guests, looked at +him curiously when he handed him an envelope. His garments had evidently +not been made for him, and there were stains of grease and soot on his +coarse serge jacket, while the coal dust had not been wholly washed from +his face. It was not difficult to recognise him as a steamer's fireman.</p> + +<p>"You're Mr. Austin?" he said.</p> + +<p>Austin admitted that he was, and after a glance at the letter turned +round and saw that Muriel Gascoyne, who sat close by, was watching him +with a curious intentness. Then he once more fixed his attention on the +paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"S.S. <i>Cumbria</i>" was written at the top of it, and there followed a +description of the creek, and how the steamer lay, as well as the cargo +in her holds. Then he read: "I'm beginning to understand why those +wrecker fellows let up on the contract, though they hadn't the stake I +have in the game. There are times when I get wondering whether I can +last it out, for it seems to me that white men who work in the sun all +day are apt to drop out suddenly in this country. I make you and Mr. +Pancho Brown my executors in case of anything of that kind happening to +me. If you come across anybody willing to take the <i>Cumbria</i> over as a +business proposition, do what you can, on the understanding that +one-third of the profit goes to Miss Gascoyne, the rest as executors' +and wreckers' remuneration. I don't know how far this statement meets +your law, but I feel I can trust you, any way. In case either party is +not willing to take the thing up, the other may act alone."</p> + +<p>Austin turned to the fireman. "You have another letter for Mr. Brown?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said the man. "Mr. Jefferson——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Austin, who heard a rustle of feminine draperies and what seemed to be a +little gasp of surprise or alarm, made the man a sign.</p> + +<p>"Come into the skipper's room. I've two or three things to ask you," he +said. "Miss Brown, will you please hand that letter to your father?"</p> + +<p>They disappeared into the room beneath the bridge, and it was some time +before they came out again. Then Austin sent the man down the ladder +with a steward to take him to Brown, and leaned against the rail. +Jacinta, Muriel, and Mrs. Hatherly were still sitting there, but the +rest had gone. He told them briefly all he had heard about Jefferson, +and then descended the ladder in search of Brown. The latter met him +with the letter in his hand, and they found a seat in the shadow of the +<i>Carsegarry</i>'s rail. Nobody seemed to notice them, though the fluttering +dresses of the women brushed them as they swung in the waltz.</p> + +<p>"You have read it," said Austin. "What do you think?"</p> + +<p>Pancho Brown tapped the letter with the gold-rimmed glasses he held in +his hand.</p> + +<p>"As a business proposition I would not look at it. The risks are too +great," he said.</p> + +<p>"It struck me like that, too. Still, that's not quite the question. You +see, the man isn't dead."</p> + +<p>"I almost think he is by this time," said Brown, reflectively. "Now, he +did not seem quite sure when he wrote those letters that there was +really any gum in her. At least, he hadn't found it, and I understand +that circumstances had made him a little suspicious about the +<i>Cumbria</i>'s skipper, who we know is dead. Taking oil at present value, +in view of what we would have to pay for a salvage expedition and +chartering, there is, it seems to me, nothing in the thing."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>"I'm not quite sure of that; but you are still presuming Jefferson +dead."</p> + +<p>Brown turned and looked at him. "The first thing we have to do is to +find out. Somebody will have to go across, and, of course, he must be a +reliable man. I should be disposed to go so far as to meet the necessary +expenses, not as a business venture, but because Jacinta would give me +no peace if I didn't."</p> + +<p>"There would be no difficulty about the man."</p> + +<p>Brown turned to him sharply. "You?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. If Jefferson is dead I should probably also undertake to do what I +can to meet his wishes as executor."</p> + +<p>Brown sat silent a space, and then tapped the letter with his glasses +again. "In that case I might go as far as to find, say, £200. It should, +at least, be sufficient to prove if there is any odd chance of getting +the <i>Cumbria</i> off."</p> + +<p>"I think I shall do that with £80, but I should prefer that you did not +provide it. That is, unless you decide to go into the thing on a +business footing, and take your share of the results, as laid down by +Jefferson."</p> + +<p>Brown seemed to be looking hard at him, but they sat in shadow, and +Austin was glad of it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said quietly, though there was a significance in his tone. +"Well, somebody must certainly go across, and if you fail elsewhere you +can always fall back on me for—a loan. When are you going?"</p> + +<p>"By the first boat that calls anywhere near the creek."</p> + +<p>He rose and turned away, but Pancho Brown sat still, with a curious +expression in his face. If any of the dancers had noticed him, it would +probably have occurred to them that he was thinking hard. Pancho Brown +was a quiet man, but he often noticed a good deal more than his daughter +gave him credit for. Still, when at length he rose and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> joined Farquhar +there was nothing in his appearance which suggested that he was either +anxious or displeased.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Austin came upon Mrs. Hatherly, who was wandering up +and down the deck, and she drew him beneath a lifeboat.</p> + +<p>"Miss Gascoyne is, no doubt, distressed? I am sorry for her," he said.</p> + +<p>The little lady held his arm in a tightening grasp. "Of course," she +said, and there was a tremour in her voice. "Still, after all, that does +not concern us most just now. Somebody must go, and see what can be done +for Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin. "I am going."</p> + +<p>"Then—and I am sure you will excuse me—it will cost a good deal, and +you cannot be a rich man, or——"</p> + +<p>"I should not have been on board the <i>Estremedura</i>? You are quite +correct, madam."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly made a little deprecatory gesture. "I am not exactly poor; +in fact, I have more money than I shall live to spend, and I always +meant to leave it to Muriel. It seems to me that it would be wiser to +spend some of it on her now. You will let me give you what you want, Mr. +Austin?"</p> + +<p>Austin stood silent a moment, with a flush in his face, and then gravely +met her gaze.</p> + +<p>"I almost think I could let you lend me forty pounds. With that I shall +have enough in the meanwhile. You will not think me ungracious if I say +that just now I am especially sorry I have not more money of my own?"</p> + +<p>The little lady smiled at him. "Oh, I understand. That is what made me +almost afraid. It cannot be nice to borrow from a woman. Still, I think +you could, if it was necessary, do even harder things."</p> + +<p>"I shall probably have to," said Austin, a trifle drily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> "I don't mind +admitting that what you have suggested is a great relief to me."</p> + +<p>"You would naturally sooner let me lend it you than Mr. Brown?"</p> + +<p>"Why should you suppose that?" and the flush crept back into Austin's +face.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly smiled again. "Ah," she said, "I am an old woman, and have +my fancies, but they are right now and then. I will send you a cheque +to-morrow, and, Mr. Austin, I should like you to think of me as one of +your friends. Do you know that I told Muriel half an hour ago you would +go?"</p> + +<p>Austin made her a little grave inclination, though there was a smile in +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that any of my other friends has so much confidence in +me, madam," he said. "After all, it is another responsibility, and I +shall have to do what I can."</p> + +<p>The little lady smiled at him as she turned away. "Well," she said +quietly, "I think that will be a good deal."</p> + +<p>It was ten minutes later when Austin met Jacinta, and she stopped him +with a sign.</p> + +<p>"You are going to Mr. Jefferson?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin, with a trace of dryness. "I believe so. After all, +he is a friend of mine."</p> + +<p>Jacinta watched him closely, and her pale, olive-tinting was a trifle +warmer in tone than usual. His self-control was excellent, to the little +smile, but she could make a shrewd guess as to what it cost him.</p> + +<p>"Soon?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"In two or three days. That is, if the Compania don't get the Spaniards +to lay hands on me. By the way, you may as well know now that I had to +get Mrs. Hatherly to lend me part, at least, of the necessary money."</p> + +<p>Jacinta flushed visibly. "You will not be vindictive,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> though, of +course, I have now and then been hard on you."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't venture to blame you. As we admitted, there are occasions +on which one has to resort to drastic remedies."</p> + +<p>Jacinta stopped him with a gesture. "Please—you won't," she said. "Of +course, I deserve it, but you will try to forgive me. You can afford +to—now."</p> + +<p>She stood still a moment in the moonlight, an ethereal, white-clad +figure, with a suggestion of uncertainly and apprehension in her face +which very few people had ever seen there before, and then turned +abruptly, with a little smile of relief, as Miss Gascoyne came towards +them.</p> + +<p>"He's going out, Muriel. You will thank him—I don't seem able to," she +said.</p> + +<p>Muriel came forward with outstretched hands, and in another moment +Austin, to his visible embarrassment, felt her warm grasp.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, "Mrs. Hatherly knew you meant to. I feel quite sure I +can trust you to bring him back to me."</p> + +<p>Austin managed to disengage his hands, and smiled a little, though it +was Jacinta he looked at.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said, "I have a sufficient inducement for doing what I +can. Still, you will excuse me. There are one or two points I want to +talk over with Captain Farquhar."</p> + +<p>He turned away, and twenty minutes later Jacinta, standing on the +bridge-deck, alone, watched his boat slide away into the blaze of +moonlight that stretched suggestively towards Africa.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT</span></h2> + + +<p>Darkness was closing down on the faintly shining sea, and the dull +murmur of the surf grew louder as the trade-breeze died away, when +Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat in the stern of a white gig which two +barefooted Canarios pulled across Las Palmas harbour on the evening on +which Austin was to sail. In front of them the spray still tossed in +filmy clouds about the head of the long, dusky mole, and the lonely +Isleta hill cut black as ebony against a cold green transparency, while +skeins of lights twinkled into brilliancy round the sweep of bay. +Jacinta, however, saw nothing of this. She was watching the +<i>Estremedura</i>'s dark hull rise higher above the line of mole, and +listening to one of the boatmen who accompanied the rhythmic splash of +oars with a little melodious song. She long afterwards remembered its +plaintive cadence and the words of it well.</p> + +<p>"Las aves marinas vuelen encima la mar," he sang, and then while the +measured thud and splash grew a trifle faster, "No pueden escapar las +penas del amor."</p> + +<p>He did not seem to know the rest of it, and when she had heard the +stanza several times Jacinta, who saw Muriel's eyes fixed upon her +enquiringly, made a little half-impatient gesture.</p> + +<p>"It's the usual sentimental rubbish, though he sings passably well. +'Even the sea birds cannot escape the pains of love,'" she said. +"Absurd, isn't it? like most of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> men one comes across nowadays, they +probably spend all their time in search of something to eat. Still, I +suppose—you—would sympathise with the man whose perverted imagination +led him to write that song."</p> + +<p>Muriel looked at her with a hint of reproach in her big blue eyes, which +were very reposeful. "I don't think I ever quite understood you, and I +don't now, but I once went to see an English gullery," she said. "There +were rows of nests packed so close that one could scarcely pick a way +between, with little, half-feathered things in most of them. They all +had their mouths open."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed musically. "Of course," she said. "You are delightful. +But never mind me. Go on a little further."</p> + +<p>"It was the big gulls I was thinking of," said Muriel gravely. "They +didn't fly away, but hung just above us in a great white cloud, +wheeling, screaming, and now and then making little swoops at our heads. +It didn't seem to matter what happened to them, but any one could see +they were in an agony of terror lest we should tread upon some of the +little, half-feathered nestlings. I came away as soon as the others +would let me. It seemed a cruelty to frighten them."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said Jacinta, "that you are anticipating, or confusing +things considerably, but I'll try not to offend you by making that a +little plainer, though, I should almost like to. I'm in quite a prickly +humour to-night."</p> + +<p>She sat silent a moment or two, while a trace of colour crept in her +companion's face, looking out towards the eastern haze, as she had done +of late somewhat frequently.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, reflectively, "I feel that it would be a relief to make +you upset and angry. You are so aggravatingly sure of everything, and +serene. Of course, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> is, perhaps, only natural, after all. You have, +in one respect, got just what you wanted, and have sense enough to be +content with it."</p> + +<p>Muriel turned and looked at her with a trace of bewilderment, for there +was an unusual hardness in Jacinta's tone.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't everybody be content in such a case?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear no!" and Jacinta laughed. "I, for one, would begin to look for +flaws in the thing, whatever it was, and wonder if it wouldn't be wiser +to change it for something else. In fact, I don't mind telling you I +feel like that to-night. You see, for a year at least, I have been +trying to bring a certain thing about, and—now I have succeeded—I wish +I hadn't. Of course, you won't understand me, and I don't mean you to; +but you may as well remember that it's a somewhat perilous thing to keep +on giving people good advice. Some day they will probably act upon it."</p> + +<p>"But that ought to please one."</p> + +<p>Jacinta glanced once more into the soft darkness that crept up from the +East with a little shiver. "Well," she said sharply, "in my case it +certainly doesn't."</p> + +<p>They were alongside the <i>Estremedura</i> in another minute, but the seaman +they found on deck did not know where Austin was, and led them down to +Macallister's room. It was beneath the spar-deck, and very hot, for the +dynamo was not running that night, and a big oil lamp lighted it. It was +also full of tobacco smoke, and—for the port was open—the rumble of +the long swell tumbling against the mole came throbbing into it. A big +man in very shabby serge, with a hard face, sat opposite the engineer, +until the latter, seeing the two women, laid a hand upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Out ye get!" he said, and his guest was projected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> suddenly into the +dimly-lighted space about the after-hatch.</p> + +<p>Then he smiled upon the newcomers affably. "Come away in," he said. "Was +it me or Mr. Austin ye came to see?"</p> + +<p>"On this occasion it was Mr. Austin," said Jacinta, who found a place +opposite him, beside Muriel, on a settee. "Of course, that was because +he is going away. Isn't he here?"</p> + +<p>"He is not," and Macallister beamed at her. "In one way, it's not that +much of a pity. There's twice the light-heartedness in me that there is +in Mr. Austin."</p> + +<p>"I can quite believe it. Still, light-heartedness of one kind is now and +then a little inconvenient. Where has he gone?"</p> + +<p>"To the town. I don't expect him until he calls for his man—the one +I've just hove out—when the West-coast mailboat comes in. She won't +stop more than half an hour, but there's no sign of her yet."</p> + +<p>Jacinta sighed whimsically, perhaps to hide what she felt.</p> + +<p>"Then I'm afraid we shall not see him, which is a pity, because I've +been thinking over the nice things I meant to say to him, and now +they're all wasted," she said. "You will tell him that we came to say +good-bye to him, won't you, and that I'm just a little vexed he never +called to tell us anything about his expedition."</p> + +<p>Macallister grinned sardonically, and though Jacinta was usually a very +self-possessed young woman, she appeared to find his gaze a trifle +disconcerting.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I know all about it. He has sold everything he had, +and he borrowed £40. One way or another he has another £60 of his own."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>Jacinta looked up sharply. "He has no more than that?"</p> + +<p>"It's not likely," and Macallister watched her with a faint twinkle in +his eyes. "I do not know why he would not have the £200 Mr. Brown +offered him. Maybe ye do."</p> + +<p>There was a just perceptible trace of colour in Jacinta's cheek. "I +hardly see how you could expect me to when I never heard of it until +this moment," she said. "Would £100 be enough for Mr. Austin?"</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking it would. No for everybody under the same circumstances, +but enough for him. There are folks in these islands who have only seen +the outside of Mr. Austin, which, ye may observe, is in one sense quite +a natural thing."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and smiled upon her genially. "It's not his fault +that he's no quite so well favoured as I am. What would ye expect of an +Englishman? Still, there are men aboard here who have seen what's +underneath—I mean the other side of him—at nights when he brought the +dispatch off through the surf, and once—though that was not his +business—when I was sick, an' they let water down in the starboard +boiler."</p> + +<p>"Still," said Jacinta, "he would naturally have to have so many things."</p> + +<p>"He has four good men, a little box o' drugs, and a case o' dynamite. +Farquhar's going on to Australia with mining stores, and he gave it +him."</p> + +<p>It seemed absurdly insufficient, and Jacinta struggled with an almost +hysterical inclination to laugh. It was, she realised, a very big thing +Austin had undertaken, and his equipment consisted of a case of dynamite +and a box of drugs, which, on his own confession, he knew very little +about. Still, she saw that Macallister, who, she fancied,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> ought to +know, rated manhood far higher than material. It was Muriel who broke +the silence.</p> + +<p>"But they will want a doctor," she said, with a little tremour in her +voice.</p> + +<p>Macallister shook his head. "Ye would not get one to go there for £500, +and he would be no use if he did," he said. "Ye will remember that +malaria fever does not stay on one long. It goes away when it has shaken +the strength out o' ye—and now and then comes back again—while by the +time Austin gets there Mr. Jefferson will be——"</p> + +<p>He stopped with some abruptness, but though she shivered, Muriel looked +at him with steady eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "you mean he will either be better, or that no doctor +could cure him then?"</p> + +<p>Macallister made her a little inclination, and it was done with a grave +deference that Jacinta had scarcely expected from him.</p> + +<p>"Just that," he said. "I'm thinking ye are one of the women a man can +tell the truth to. It is a pity there are not more o' them. It is no a +healthy country Mr. Austin is going to, but I have been five years on +the coast o' it, and ye see me here."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Jacinta, "whether you, who know all about ships and +engines, did not feel tempted to go with Mr. Austin?"</p> + +<p>The engineer smiled curiously. "Tempted!" he said. "It was like trying +to be teetotal with a whisky bottle in the rack above one's bunk; but I +am a married man, with a wife who has a weakness for buying dining-room +suites."</p> + +<p>"Dining-room suites! What have they to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"Just everything," and Macallister sighed. "She will only have the +biggest ones the doors will let in, and she has furnished a good many +dining-rooms altogether. Ye will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> mind that we lived here and there and +everywhere, while she's back in England now. Ye would not meet a better +woman, but on £20 a month ye cannot buy unlimited red-velvet chairs and +sideboards with looking-glasses at the back o' them."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed as she rose. "You will tell Mr. Austin we are sorry we +did not see him."</p> + +<p>"I will," and Macallister stood up, too. "Perhaps ye mean it this time, +and I'm a little sorry for him myself. There are men who get sent off +with bands and speeches and dinners to do a smaller thing, but Mr. +Austin he just slips away with his box o' dynamite and his few +sailormen."</p> + +<p>He stopped and looked hard at her a moment before he turned to Muriel. +"Still, we'll have the big drum out when he brings Mr. Jefferson and the +<i>Cumbria</i> back again, and if there's anything that can be broken left +whole in this ship that night it will be no fault o' mine."</p> + +<p>They went out and left him, but Jacinta stopped when they came upon the +man he had ejected from his room, sitting on the companion stairway and +smoking a very objectionable pipe. She also held a little purse +concealed beneath her hand.</p> + +<p>"You are going back with Mr. Austin to the <i>Cumbria</i>?" she said.</p> + +<p>The man stood up. "In course," he said. "It's eight pound a month, all +found, an' a bonus."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jacinta. "I suppose there is nothing else?"</p> + +<p>The man appeared to ruminate over this, until a light broke in on him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "Mr. Jefferson does the straight thing, an' he fed us +well. That is, as well as he could, considering everything."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled at Muriel. "You will notice the answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> He is a man!" +Then she held out a strip of crinkly paper. "That will make you almost a +month to the good, and if you do everything you can to make things +easier for the man who wants to get the <i>Cumbria</i> off, there will +probably be another waiting for you when you come back again."</p> + +<p>The man, who took the crinkly paper, gazed at it in astonishment, and +then made a little sign of comprehension. "Thank you kindly, miss, but +which one am I to look after special? You see, there's two of them."</p> + +<p>Jacinta was apparently not quite herself that night, for the swift +colour flickered into her face, and stayed there a moment.</p> + +<p>"Both," she said decisively. "Still, you are never to tell anybody about +that note."</p> + +<p>The man once more gazed at her with such evident bewilderment that +Muriel broke into a little half-audible laugh. Then he grinned suddenly, +and touched his battered cap.</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll make it—both," he said.</p> + +<p>They went up the companion, and left him apparently chuckling, but +Jacinta appeared far from pleased when she got into the waiting boat.</p> + +<p>"That was to have gone to England for a hat and one or two things I +really can't do without—though I shall probably have to now," she said. +"Oh, aren't they stupid sometimes—I felt I could have shaken him."</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the man in the fireman's serge went back to +Macallister's room.</p> + +<p>"Give me an envelope—quick!" he said.</p> + +<p>Macallister got him one, and he slipped a strip of paper inside before +he addressed it and tossed it across the table.</p> + +<p>"You'll post that. There's a Castle boat home to-morrow, and I'd sooner +trust you with it than myself," he said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> with a little sigh, which, +however, once more changed to a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"If there's money inside it ye're wise," said Macallister drily. "Still, +what are ye grinning in yon fashion for?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking it's just as well I've only—one—old woman. It would +make a big hole in eight pounds a month—an' a bonus—if I had any more +of 'em. But you get that letter posted before I want it back."</p> + +<p>"Wanting," said Macallister, reflectively, "is no always getting. Maybe, +it's now and then fortunate it is so, after all."</p> + +<p>It was two hours later, and Jacinta stood on the flat roof of Pancho +Brown's house looking down upon the close-packed Spanish town, when the +crash of a mail gun rose from the harbour and was lost in the drowsy +murmur of the surf. Then the other noises in the hot streets below her +went on again, but Jacinta scarcely heard the hum of voices and the +patter of feet as she watched a blinking light slide out from among the +others in the harbour. It rose higher and swung a little as it crept +past the mole, then a cluster of lower lights lengthened into a row of +yellow specks, and she could make out the West-coast liner's dusky hull +that moved out with slanting spars faster into the faintly shining sea. +Jacinta closed one hand as she leaned upon the parapet and watched it, +until she turned with a little start at the sound of footsteps. She was, +one could have fancied, not particularly pleased to see Muriel Gascoyne +then.</p> + +<p>"We were wondering what had become of you, and Mrs. Hatherly is waiting +to go home," said the latter. Then she turned and caught a glimpse of +the moving lights that were closing in on one another and growing dim +again. "That must be the African boat?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>"It is. She is taking out six careless sailormen whose lives are, +perhaps, after all, of some value to them."</p> + +<p>Muriel looked at her, and wished she could see her face. "Every one of +them may be of some value to somebody else."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," and Jacinta laughed curiously. "You obvious people are +now and then to be envied, Muriel."</p> + +<p>"If there is anything you would like to tell me——" and Muriel laid a +hand upon her arm with a gesture of sympathy.</p> + +<p>"There isn't. We all have our discontented fits, and mine is, no doubt, +more than usually unreasonable since everything has turned out as I +wanted it."</p> + +<p>Then she rose and turned towards the stairway with a little laugh which +Muriel fancied had a hint of pride in it. "I really don't think I would +have had anything done differently, after all, and now I must not keep +Mrs. Hatherly waiting."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LAND OF THE SHADOW</span></h2> + + +<p>It was towards the end of the afternoon when the skipper of the +West-coast mailboat, peering through his glasses, made out two palms +that rose apparently straight out of the sea. He watched them for some +minutes, and then took their bearing carefully upon the compass, before +he rang for half speed and called Austin to the bridge.</p> + +<p>"That's your island, and we'll run in until I get under six fathoms," he +said. "After that it will have to be the surfboat, and I fancy you will +be very wet when you get ashore."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Austin that this was more than probable, for although there +was not an air of wind to wrinkle it, a long heave came up in vast, slow +undulations out of the southern horizon, and the little mailboat swung +over them with sharply slanted spars and funnel. She stopped once for a +few moments while the deep-sea lead plunged from her forecastle, and +then, with propeller throbbing slowly, crept on again. She had come out +of her course already under the terms of the bargain Austin had made +with the Las Palmas agent, for some of those steamers have the option of +stopping for odd boatloads of cargo and passengers wherever they can be +found along the surf-swept beaches, and since no offer he could make +would have tempted her skipper to venture further in among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> shoals, +Austin had fixed upon that island as the nearest point of access to the +<i>Cumbria</i>. He did not, however, know how he was to reach her when he got +there.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile they were slowly raising the land, or the nearest +approach to it to be found in that part of Africa, which consists of +mire and mangroves intersected everywhere by lanes of water. It lay +ahead, a grey smear streaked with drifting mist against which the palms +that had now grown into a cluster rose dim and indistinct, and a thin +white line stretched between themselves and it. The skipper appeared to +watch the latter anxiously.</p> + +<p>"There's considerable surf running in on the beach, and I'm a little +uneasy about my boat," he said. "I suppose it wouldn't suit you to go on +with us, and look for a better place to get ashore to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin, decisively. "I'm far enough from where I'm going +already, and one would scarcely fancy that there are many facilities for +getting about in this country."</p> + +<p>The skipper made a little gesture of resignation. "That's a fact," he +said. "Well, I can't go back on the agent, but if the boat turns you and +the boys out before you get there you can't blame me."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. He had got many a wet jacket, and had once or twice had +to swim for it, in the surf of the Canary beaches, though he was quite +aware that there are very few places where the sea runs in and breaks as +it does on the hammered coast of Western Africa. Indeed, as he watched +the blur of steamy mangroves grow clearer, and the filmy spouting +increase in whiteness, he could have fancied that nature, in placing +that barrier of tumbling foam along its shore, had meant it as a warning +that the white man was not wanted there. The air was hot and heavy, the +sky a dingy grey, the sea a dim, slatey green, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> there came off +across the steep heave a dull booming like the sound of distant thunder.</p> + +<p>It was not an encouraging prospect, and Austin knew from what he had +heard about the country that he was not likely to be more favourably +impressed with it upon closer acquaintance. He also felt that if there +was not quite so much at stake he could very willingly leave the salving +of the <i>Cumbria</i> to Jefferson and take the next steamer back again. He +could fix upon no sufficient reason for his being there at all, since +the very uncertain profits on a quarter share in the venture did not +account for it. In one respect, also, Jacinta's favourable opinion could +scarcely be of any practical value to him, since she would naturally +marry a man of means by and by, and forget all about him. Still, she +had, dropping now and then a barbed word which rankled in his memory, +striven to stir him to endeavour; and now he was watching the spray +drive across a beach of Western Africa, while he wondered what the +result of it all would be, and whether he or the men he had brought with +him would escape the fever. So far as he was concerned, it did not seem +to greatly matter. He had taken life easily, but he realised that it had +very little to offer him, and it was, perhaps, fortunate that he did so, +since it is, as a rule, broken men and those who have nothing to fall +back upon who accomplish what is most worth doing in the lands that lie +beneath the shadow.</p> + +<p>In any case, it was clear that he had broken down the last bridge behind +him when the mailboat stopped and lay rolling more wildly than ever +athwart the long swell. A big surfboat sank down her side amidst a +clatter of blocks and complaining of davit-falls, down which a cluster +of almost naked black men slid on board. It was not an easy matter to +descend after them. The steamer rolled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> one way, the boat another, while +the latter swung up one moment almost level with her rail and swooped +down beneath a fathom of streaming side the next. Austin, Bill, the +fireman, and the Canarios, however, accomplished it, and there was a +waving of hats among the cluster of passengers who watched them above. +Then the negroes, perched six or seven on either side, took up the +paddles, and Austin was sensible of a momentary sinking of his heart as +the boat slid out from the rolling steamer. She was a part of the +civilisation he had been accustomed to, and when a sonorous blast of her +whistle came throbbing after him in farewell he sighed.</p> + +<p>He would, however, at least not look behind, and sitting in the +stern-sheets, out of the paddlers' way, he tossed the Canarios a bundle +of maize-husk cigarettes, and passed one to Bill, the fireman, who +glanced at it scornfully. Then he made himself as comfortable as he +could upon the box of dynamite while he lighted another, for that +compound of nitro-glycerine is supposed to require a detonator, and +nobody is very particular who has lived in Spain. The black men wanted +cigarettes, too, but Austin did not hand them any. The island was still +a good way off, and it seemed to him advisable that they should devote +their attention to their paddling.</p> + +<p>They did it, swaying rhythmically, with toes in a loop of fibre, and +naked black bodies that straightened suddenly and bent again, while some +kept up a measured hissing and the rest broke into a little doleful +song. A brawny man, with a blue stripe down his forehead, stood upright +grasping the sculling oar astern, and the boat swung along smoothly, +with big, dim slopes of water rolling up astern of her. They, however, +grew steeper as she drew in with the shore, and the easy dip and swing +became a succession of fierce rushes, during which she drove onwards, +lifted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> high, with the foam seething to her gunwale, and then swooped +suddenly into the hollow. When she did so Austin, glancing aft, could +see a great slope of water that grew steeper and steeper as it came +speeding after her.</p> + +<p>Then the slopes became ridges that frothed above and roared, and the +paddles whirled faster, while the big muscles bunched beneath the +helmsman's skin, and the veins began to stand out on his sable forehead. +The boat no longer sailed inshore. She sped like a toboggan on an icy +slide, though it seemed to Austin that the comparison was faulty, +because she went fastest uphill, while when he rose upright for a moment +he could see no shore at all. There was only a succession of parallel +white ridges in front of them and a filmy cloud of spray. The afternoon +was also wearing through, and the vapours from the steaming swamps +obscured the dingy heavens.</p> + +<p>It was even less consoling to glance astern, for the surf that sweeps +the fever coast was evidently rather worse than usual that day, as it is +now and then for no very apparent reason. The ridges had become walls, +with great frothing crests and sides that were smeared with spumy lines. +They had the vast, slow lift and fall of the ocean behind them, and were +running up a smoothly slanted plane of shoals.</p> + +<p>The black men paddled faster, and they no longer sang. They hissed and +shrieked and whistled, while the thud of their paddles rose in a +strenuous rhythm like the tapping of a great drum, and the craft +careered at furious speed beneath them, driven by the sea. The foam +stood feet above her now when she sped along, very like an arrow, and +boiled in over her high, pointed stern every now and then. There was a +foot of brine inside her that swilled to and fro, and every man was +dripping, while the roar of the tumbling rollers had grown bewildering. +They ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>peared to be crumbling upon hammered sand not very far away.</p> + +<p>How the negroes meant to beach her, Austin did not know, and he was +content that it was their business and not his. The Canarios were +evidently uneasy, for, sailormen as they were, they had never run +through surf like this; but they were also of Iberian extraction, and, +when discussion is clearly useless, and the last crisis must be faced, +the Spaniard is, at least, as capable of calm resignation as most other +men. In any case, there is certainly no better boat-boy than the West +African Kroo, and Austin left the affair to the helmsman, when there was +a sudden horrifying crash that threw three or four of the paddlers down +together. It was evident that they had touched bottom, but, fortunately +for them, the swirl of the shore-running sea dragged them off again, and +they went up, not more than half swamped, sideways, with the foam +seething into her, on the next roller. Then the spouting chaos about +them seemed to suddenly melt away, and Austin, wiping the water from his +eyes, saw that they were sliding round a sandy beach into a little bay.</p> + +<p>In another few minutes they were out on the sand, though they toiled for +the next half hour helping the negroes to tilt the great boat and run +her in again when they had emptied the water out of her. It was done at +last, and Austin felt almost sorry, while he was once more sensible of +vague but unpleasant misgivings when the negroes drove her lurching out +into the spray. Night was not very far away, and he had no notion of +where he was to sleep, or what he was to eat, for that matter, since the +provisions the steward had given him were, for the most part, saturated. +A little muddy creek oozed down amidst the mangroves across the bay, and +there were a few huts, apparently made of rammed soil, beside it, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +well as a canoe. The light was going when they reached them, and Bill, +who went into the nearest, came out suddenly.</p> + +<p>"There's a dead nigger inside," he said.</p> + +<p>Austin looked at him with a little smile. He had reasons for surmising +that the man's nerves were good, but his voice had an uncertain tone in +it, and his eyes were anxious.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I suppose one must expect to come across a dead nigger +now and then in this country."</p> + +<p>Bill glanced furtively over his shoulder towards the hut, as though he +desired to be rather farther away from it.</p> + +<p>"That one wasn't nice to look at," he said. "What did they leave him +there for when there's a creek just outside the door, and where are the +rest of them? I'd like to know what he died of. It might be catchin'."</p> + +<p>Austin was once more sensible of a little thrill of apprehension as he +looked about him and considered the question. On the one side a tuft of +palms dominated the narrow strip of sand, but the little ridge of high +land behind it was covered with apparently impenetrable jungle. +Elsewhere the dingy mangroves rose from black depths of mire on slimy +roots and pale stems that glimmered, blanched, amidst the drifting steam +that clung about them. Night was close at hand, and, though there was no +sign of the land breeze yet, the air was thick and heavy with a hot, +sour smell. The clamour of the surf made the deep silence more apparent, +for there was no sound of life about the clustered huts. Austin knew +that the black man is frequently stricken by the pestilence, and as he +stood there on the little strip of desolate beach he felt his courage +melting away from him. The Canarios he also saw were standing close +together and murmuring excitedly, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> every now and then one of them +would glance askance at the huts.</p> + +<p>"If there was any niggers but dead ones in the place they'd have been +out by now," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Cumbria</i> should lie about north from here up the biggest creek," +said Austin. "If we borrowed the canoe yonder you could find your way to +her?"</p> + +<p>"I'd try that, or anything, so long as it was to get out of this."</p> + +<p>He glanced towards the hut again, and Austin, who could not quite +explain it, then or afterwards, became sensible that if he waited much +longer he would say or do something that would not be seemly in one who +was there as leader. He felt that had he been alone he would probably +have turned and run.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, as quietly as he could contrive, "we will run the canoe +down. I believe some of the things they get are infectious now and +then."</p> + +<p>He had no need to repeat the order. The Canarios jumped at the word, and +in another few minutes they had launched the canoe and were paddling her +out of the creek clumsily, as men unaccustomed to the oar might do. It +opened into a wider one, through which the heave of the sea pulsed +languidly, until they crawled round a point and the streamy mangroves +closed in on them. Then suddenly the thick, hot darkness fell.</p> + +<p>They moored the canoe to a slimy stem, and lay down in her, packed like +herrings; but in spite of the mosquitoes Austin slept a little of the +night. He was glad when all the swamps steamed again as the dawn broke +suddenly upon them; and when they had eaten they took up the paddles. +The mists thinned and melted, the sun that sucked the damp from their +dew-soaked clothing scorched their skin, and the glare from the yellow +water became<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> intolerable. Still, it was evident that it would not be +advisable to waste any time, and through the long hot hours the canoe +crept on.</p> + +<p>Now she slid into steamy shadow among the mangrove islets, skirting +belts of mire, and now crept, a slender strip of hull, packed with +wearied and perspiring humanity, across broad reaches of flaming water +that moved on inland under her, streaked with smears of yellow foam. It +was evident to Austin that the flood tide ran longer than usual there, +as it sometimes does about an island, or the Guinea stream had backed it +up along the shore. The stream, however, did not only set up the creek, +but slid through the forest, where the trees rose on arched roots above +the water; and here and there they had to paddle hard to avoid being +drawn into branch-roofed tunnels that smelt like open sewers. The refuse +of leagues of forest seemed to lie rotting there.</p> + +<p>By afternoon Austin's hands were bleeding, and one of his knees was raw +where he pressed it as a point of resistance to paddle from on the +craft's bottom; but he took his place when his turn came, though his +eyes were dazzled, and the headache that had crept upon him was growing +insufferable. He was now distinctly anxious as to when they would reach +the <i>Cumbria</i>, for, though Bill said she lay up a big muddy creek north +of the island, he appeared by no means sure that was the one, and Austin +felt he could not logically blame him. Creeks, it was evident, were +bewilderingly plentiful in that country, and there were no distinctive +features in the scenery. Dingy, white-stemmed mangroves, fermenting +mire, and yellow water, were all the same, and as they crept on past +bend and island there was no sign of change.</p> + +<p>The shadows lay black upon the water when they stopped again, all of +them horribly cramped, and aching in every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> limb; but when they had sat +portentiously silent, with the craft moored to a mangrove root, for half +an hour or so, Bill stood up in the bow.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear anything, Mr. Austin?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Austin fancied that he did, though for a moment or two he was not sure +that it was not the ticking of his watch, for the sound, which was very +faint, had a beat in it. Then it grew a little louder, and he felt a +curious thrill of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Engines!" he said sharply. "It's the launch."</p> + +<p>She swung out, apparently from the mangroves, in another few minutes, +and came on towards them, clanking and wheezing horribly, with the +yellow foam piled about her, but Austin felt that he had never seen +anything more welcome than that strip of mire-daubed hull with the plume +of smoke streaming away from it. Then she stopped close alongside them, +and Austin shook hands with Tom as he climbed on board.</p> + +<p>"Did you come across any niggers, sir?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin. "How's Mr. Jefferson?"</p> + +<p>"Comin' round," said Tom, with a grin. "I've worked most of the +fever—an' the sunstroke—out of him. It was a big load off me when, as +I took him his mixture one morning, he looks up at me. 'Who the devil +are you poisoning?' says he, quite sensible, an' like himself again."</p> + +<p>"You were coming down to look for us?"</p> + +<p>"We were—an' uncommonly glad to see you. The blame niggers is getting +aggravating. Came down, two canoe loads of 'em, a night or two ago, an' +only sheered off when we tumbled one o' them over with a big lump o' +coal. Wall-eye dropped it on to the man in the bow of her from the +bridge, an' so far as we could make out it doubled him up +considerable."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Wall-eye was apparently the squinting Spaniard who acted as fireman, and +when he saw Tom glance at him he stood up, with a grimy hand clenched, +and unloosed a flood of Castilian invective. Austin, who smiled as he +watched him, felt that while most of what he said could not be +effectively rendered into cold Anglo-Saxon, it was probably more or less +warranted. In the meanwhile the launch was coming round with backed +propeller, and in another moment or two she was clanking away into the +darkness that descended suddenly, towards the <i>Cumbria</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">NOCTURNAL VISITORS</span></h2> + + +<p>Jefferson was standing at the open door of the house beneath the +<i>Cumbria</i>'s bridge when Austin first caught sight of him, as he groped +his way forward along the slanted deck. The black, impenetrable +obscurity that descends upon the tropic swamps when the air is full of +vapour, hung over the stranded steamer, and the man's gaunt figure cut +with harsh sharpness against the stream of light. The thin duck he wore +clung about him, soaked with perspiration and the all-pervading damp, +emphasising the attenuated spareness of his frame, and Austin could +almost have fancied it was a draped skeleton he was gazing at. Still, he +was a trifle reassured when he felt the firm grasp of a hot, bony hand.</p> + +<p>"So you have come?" said the American. "It's good to get a grip of you. +I guessed you would."</p> + +<p>He drew Austin into the deck-house, and they sat down opposite each +other, and said nothing for almost a minute, though there was a little +smile in Jefferson's face as he leaned back against the bulkhead. His +hair, which had grown long since he left Las Palmas, hung low and wet +upon his forehead, and the big cheek bones showed through the +tight-stretched skin, which was blanched, though there was a faint +yellow tinge in it which relieved its dead whiteness. This had its +significance, for the coast fever has not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> infrequently an unpleasant +after effect upon the white man's constitution.</p> + +<p>"It isn't quite a sanatorium," he said, as though he guessed his +comrade's thoughts. "Port Royal, Santos, Panama—I know them all—aren't +a patch on these swamps. Still, we needn't worry now you have come."</p> + +<p>Austin smiled as he looked at him. "To be correct, I'm not quite sure +that I did," he said, reflectively. "I mean, it wasn't exactly because I +wished to."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jefferson, as comprehension dawned on him. "Then the quarter +share—that offer stands good—didn't bring you? Well, I was wondering +if she would make you go."</p> + +<p>Austin was a trifle astonished, for, though he had a somewhat hardly +acquired acquaintance with human nature, it had never occurred to him +that the patronage Jacinta extended to her masculine friends naturally +attracted some attention, or that in this particular case the onlookers +might most clearly grasp the points of the game.</p> + +<p>"I can't quite see why she should have wanted me to," he said.</p> + +<p>There was another brief silence, during which the men looked at one +another. This was not a subject either of them had meant to talk about. +Indeed, it was one which, under different circumstances, they would have +kept carefully clear of, but both realised that conventional niceties +did not count for much just then: They were merely men who had +henceforth to face the grim realities of existence with the shadow of +death upon them, and they knew that the primitive humanity in them would +become apparent as the veneer wore through.</p> + +<p>"Still," said Jefferson, "I can think of one reason. There was a time +when Muriel was good to her, and Jacinta can't forget it. She's not that +kind. The first day I met<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> her I felt that she was taking stock of me, +and I knew I'd passed muster when she made you stop the <i>Estremedura</i>. +Perhaps, it wasn't very much in itself, but I was thankful. I've done a +few tough things in my time, but I know I'd never have got Muriel if +that girl had been against me. Still, it wasn't altogether because of +Muriel she sent you."</p> + +<p>Austin showed his astonishment this time, and Jefferson smiled. "You +can't quite figure how I came to understand a thing of that kind? Well, +some of you smart folks have made the same mistake before. You don't +seem to remember when you waste ten minutes working a traverse round +what you could say in one, that however you dress it up, human nature's +much the same. Now you're astonished at me. I'm talking. Sometimes I +feel I have to. You want to know just why she really sent you?"</p> + +<p>"To be frank, I have asked myself the question, and couldn't be quite +sure it was altogether because she wanted me to get this unfortunate +steamboat off."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't. You're getting as near to it as one could expect of an +Englishman. It hurts some of you to let anybody know what you really +think. Well, I'll try to make my notion clear to you. There was a lady +in France who threw her glove among the lions long ago, but the man who +went down for it was of no great account after all. He hadn't sense +enough to see the point of the thing."</p> + +<p>"There were apparently folks who sympathised with him," said Austin, +with a reflective air. "I'm not sure the man could reasonably have been +expected to go at all, since the lady in question evidently only wished +to show everybody how far he would venture to please her."</p> + +<p>"Now it seems to me quite likely that she meant to do a good deal more. +The man may have been content to fool his time away making pretty +speeches to the court<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> ladies and walking round dressed in silk while +the rest of them rode out in steel. Can't you fancy that she wanted him +to find out that he had the grit of the boldest of them, and could do +something worth while, too? She probably knew he had, or she would never +have sent him."</p> + +<p>A little colour crept into Austin's face, but he laughed. "One could, no +doubt, imagine a good many other reasons, and most of them would +probably be as wide of the mark. Any way, they don't concern us. If the +thing ever happened, it was a very long while ago. We know better now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess you can't help it," and there was a twinkle in +Jefferson's eyes. "Your shell's quite a good fit, and you don't like to +come out of it, though I almost thought you were going to a moment or +two ago."</p> + +<p>"I don't like to be pulled out. One feels that it isn't decent. The +shell's the best of some of us," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll come down to business. You brought the giant powder?"</p> + +<p>"A case of it, with fuses and detonators," and Austin's relief at the +change of subject was evident. "Are you contemplating blowing her up?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. She's worth too much. It is, however, quite likely that we'll +make a hole in the mangrove forest and shake up the bottom of this +creek. That is, when we're ready. There's a good deal to be put through +first."</p> + +<p>"Have you found the gum?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't looked. She's full to the orlops, and we haven't started in +to pump her out. Didn't seem much use in trying while she had so much +weight in her, and we'll want all the coal we've got. When we have hove +most of it and the oil out I'll start the big centrifugal. You see, she +hasn't a donkey on deck. That's why, though it cost me a good deal, I +bought the locomotive boiler. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> folks have a library of Shipping +Acts, but you don't show much sense when you let anything under 2,000 +tons go to sea with her pumps run from the main engines. When you most +want steam for pumping it's when your fires are drowning out."</p> + +<p>It was once more evident to Austin that Jefferson knew his business, and +had foreseen most of the difficulties he would have to grapple with. +Still, he fancied, by his face, that he had not quite anticipated all.</p> + +<p>"Where are you putting the oil you take out of her?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"On a strip of sand up a creek. That's one of the few things that are +worrying me. We'll have to get it on board as soon as we float her off +when the rain comes, or the creek will get it ahead of us. The next +point is that it will be a little rough on the men who have to watch it +after working all day long."</p> + +<p>"To watch it! Who is likely to meddle with it here?"</p> + +<p>"Niggers," said Jefferson drily. "They cleaned most everything they +could come at off the boat before I got to her, but they couldn't break +out cargo with the water in her, and didn't know enough to get at the +provisions in the lazaret. Still, while these particular swamps don't +seem to belong to anybody, there's trade everywhere, and oil's a +marketable commodity."</p> + +<p>"Where's the Frenchman who chartered the <i>Cumbria</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Dead. I've been up to his place in the launch. I found it caved in, and +trees growing up in it already. Nature straightens things up quite +smartly in this country. Any way, I'll show you round to-morrow; and, in +the meanwhile, it's about time that Spaniard brought you some supper."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that everybody who had anything to do with this +unfortunate vessel invariably died."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>Jefferson smiled a trifle grimly. "That's a fact," he said.</p> + +<p>Then one of the Canarios brought in a simple meal, and when they had +eaten and talked for another hour, Austin stretched himself out on the +settee and Jefferson climbed into his slanted bunk. They left the light +burning and the door wide open, and both of them lay down dressed as +they were; but while Jefferson seemed to fall into a somewhat restless +doze, Austin found that sleep fled the further from him the more he +courted it that night. It was very hot, for one thing, and stranded +steamer and mangrove forest alike seemed filled with mysterious noises +that stirred his imagination and disturbed his rest. It was only by a +strenuous effort he lay still for a couple of hours, and then, rising +softly, with a little sigh, went out into the night.</p> + +<p>The darkness closed about him, black and impenetrable, when he stepped +out of the stream of light before the deck-house door, and the feeble +flame of the match he struck to light his pipe as he leaned upon the +rail only made it more apparent. He could see nothing whatever when the +match went out, but the oily gurgle of the creek beneath him suggested +the height of the steamer's hove-up side. She lay, so Jefferson had told +him, with her inshore bilge deep in the mire, and two big derrick-booms +slung from the wire hawser that ran from her stern to the mangroves +along what should have been the bank, as a precaution against any +nocturnal call by negroes in canoes. Her outshore side, which he looked +down from, was, he surmised by the slant of deck, between ten and +fifteen feet above the creek.</p> + +<p>It was a little cooler there, and the sounds were less disquieting than +they had been in the room. He could localise and identify some of them +now—the splash of falling mois<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>ture, the trickle of the stream, and the +soft fanning of unseen wings as one of the great bats which abound in +that country stooped towards the light. Still, behind these were +mysterious splashings among the mangroves and wallowings in the creek, +while the thick, hot darkness seemed to pulse with life. He could almost +fancy he heard the breathing of unseen things, and it did not seem +strange to him that the dusky inhabitants of that country should believe +in malevolent deities. Indeed, as he leaned upon the rail, with its +darkness enfolding him, he was troubled by a sense of his own +insignificance and a longing to escape from that abode of fear and +shadow. Other men, including those who had come out with a salvage +expedition, had found the floating of the <i>Cumbria</i> too big a thing for +them, and he already understood that there are parts of the tropics +where the white man is apt to find his courage melt away from him as +well as his bodily vigour.</p> + +<p>Then he commenced to wonder dispassionately why Jacinta had sent him, or +if he had, after all, been warranted in considering that she had done +so. She had, though he admitted it unwillingly, at least, not bidden him +go, but she had certainly done what she could to make him understand +that he was wasting his life on board the <i>Estremedura</i>. It would have +been a consolation to feel that he was obeying her command and doing her +a definite service, if it was only to bring Jefferson home to Muriel +Gascoyne; but she had not laid one upon him, and even Jefferson seemed +to understand that her purpose went further.</p> + +<p>He was less pleased with the fancy that Jacinta had undertaken what she +apparently considered his reformation. He had been, in some respects, +content as he was, for while there was no other woman he had the same +regard for, he had forced himself to recognise that it was quite out of +the question that she should ever entertain more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> than kindliness for +him. Austin could be practical, and remembered that young women with her +advantages, as a rule, looked higher than a steamboat purser, while even +if Jefferson succeeded in his venture, and he went home with four or +five thousand pounds, which appeared just then distinctly unlikely, +Jacinta was the only daughter of a man whose income was supposed to +amount to as much a year.</p> + +<p>Austin sighed a little as he decided that he did not really know why he +had come. In the meanwhile he was there, and there was nothing to be +gained by being sorry, especially as he could not even console himself +with the fancy that Jacinta was grieving over him. She was probably, as +usual, far too busy by that time with somebody else's affairs. He was +also averse from permitting himself to feel any glow of +self-congratulation over the fancy that he was doing a chivalrous thing. +In fact, he saw it with realistic clearness of vision as one that was +wholly nonsensical, and it did not occur to him that the essence of all +that was best in the old knightly days might be surviving still, and, +indeed, live on, indestructible, even in the hearts of practical, +undemonstrative Englishmen, as well as garlic-scented Spaniards, and +seafaring Americans. Still, when he had yielded himself instinctively to +Jacinta's will he had vaguely realised that, after all, the bonds of +service are now and then more profitable to a man than dominion.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the damp soaked through his clothing, and his physical +nature shrank from the hot steaminess and the sour odours of +putrefaction. It was unpleasant to stand there in that thick darkness, +and even a little hard upon the nerves, but he had had enough of the +deck-house, and he could not sleep, which is by no means an unusual +difficulty with white men in the tropics. It was a relief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> when at last +a sound that grew louder fixed his attention, and resolved itself into a +measured thudding. Here were evidently canoes coming down the creek, but +Austin was a little uncertain what to do. He had no wish to rouse the +worn-out men, who probably needed all the sleep they could get, if this +was a usual occurrence; but it did not appear advisable that there +should be nobody but himself on deck in case the canoes ran alongside. +He was considering what he should do when Jefferson, who held a glinting +object in his hand, appeared in the door of the deck-house. Then there +was a patter of feet on a ladder below, and another dim figure +materialised out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>"That —— Funnel-paint come back again," said the half-seen man.</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "He's getting monotonous, but he's +taking steep chances this time."</p> + +<p>The beat of paddles slackened a little, there was a murmur of voices +beneath the steamer's side, and Jefferson leaned out, looking down into +the impenetrable blackness beneath him. A scraping sound came out of it, +and apparently moved along, while, when the half-seen man thrust a big +block of coal upon him, Austin turned and strode softly after Jefferson, +who walked forward beside the rail.</p> + +<p>"Better let him have it now, sir," said the other man. "She's quite low +on the other quarter, and if they try swimming round her stern the booms +won't stop them."</p> + +<p>Then there was a vivid streak in the darkness, and a detonation that was +twice repeated, while Austin, who hurled his lump of coal down with all +his strength, caught a whiff of acrid smoke. There was also a splash +below, and a confused clamour that was lost in the hasty thud of paddles +as the invisible canoes got away. Then, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> the Canarios came +floundering across the deck, a single voice rose up.</p> + +<p>"Bimeby we done lib for cut you t'roat!" it said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go to the devil!" said Jefferson, and the big revolver flashed +again.</p> + +<p>There was no answer, and the splash of paddles slowly died away. It was +evident that the affair was over, and Austin fancied that nobody was +much the worse. Jefferson sauntered towards him snapping the spent +shells out of his pistol.</p> + +<p>"Funnel-paint is getting on my nerves. I'll have to drop half a stick of +giant powder on him next time he comes," he said.</p> + +<p>"He didn't make much of a show," said Austin. "You think he meant to +come on board?"</p> + +<p>"If there had been nobody round he would have done so, but how far he'd +have gone then is another question. He probably knows that nigger +stockades are apt to get blown up when a white man disappears, and it's +quite likely his nerve would have failed him. Any way, he's hanging out +at a village up the creek, and we'll probably go round to-morrow with +some giant powder and make a protest. In the meanwhile, I don't know any +reason why you shouldn't go to sleep again."</p> + +<p>Austin went back with him to the house beneath the bridge, and, though +it was not perceptibly cooler, found sleep come to him. His vague +apprehensions had vanished in the face of a definite peril.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">TOIL</span></h2> + + +<p>A faint light was creeping into the skipper's room when Austin awakened, +and, seeing his comrade's berth unoccupied, went out on deck. The swamps +were wrapped in woolly vapour, and a column of dingy smoke went up +straight and unwavering from the funnel of the locomotive boiler. The +hot land breeze had died away, and it would be some time yet before that +from the sea set in. In the meanwhile it was almost cool, and very +still; so still, in fact, that Austin was startled when a flock of +parrots, invisible in the mist, swept past, screaming, overhead.</p> + +<p>Then the sounds of man's activity suddenly commenced, for there was a +clatter forward where the Spaniards flung the loose covers from the +hatch, and a harsh rattle of chain mingled with the soft patter of their +naked feet. In another few moments a sharp, musical clinking broke out, +and Austin saw Tom, who had served as a steamer's donkey-man, straighten +his bent back when a rush of white vapour whirled with a strident +hissing about the locomotive boiler, which now drove the winch. He +grinned at Austin, and glanced at the misty creek, far down which a +faint screaming was dying away.</p> + +<p>"Those parrots must be —— silly things," he said. "What d' they want +to live here for when they can fly?"</p> + +<p>Austin, who decided that there was some reason in the query, strolled +round the house, and came upon Jefferson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> sitting with his back to it +and the box of dynamite on the deck in front of him. He looked gaunter +and more haggard than ever in the daylight, but he was busy pinching +down a copper cap upon a strip of snaky fuse, which he proceeded to +carefully embed in a roll of semi-plastic material that looked very like +a candle made of yellow wax.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" asked Austin.</p> + +<p>"Nipping on a couple of detonators," said Jefferson. "Stand clear of the +one on the deck. They're lined with mercury fulminate, and you want to +take your shoes off when you come near that. Giant powder's innocent by +comparison. I mean to try a stick or two of this consignment."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to try it on?" asked Austin, who stepped back a pace +or two expeditiously.</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked up with a little grim smile. "On the house of the +headman of the village where Funnel-paint lives," he said. "If we can +get in a good morning's work, we'll go up and remonstrate with him this +afternoon. You might take that stick of powder and fuse and wrap it up +in something."</p> + +<p>Austin picked up the yellow roll, and then held it as far as he +conveniently could from him, while Jefferson laughed.</p> + +<p>"I guess you needn't worry. You could pound it with a hammer, or put it +in the fire, and it wouldn't show fight—that is, ninety-nine times out +of the hundred," he said. "Still, there might be considerable trouble on +the other one. The sure way to stir it up is to pat a shred of it with a +piece of wood, though the man who tries it is scarcely likely to see +what it does."</p> + +<p>Austin got rid of the dynamite as speedily as he could, and when he came +back one of the Spaniards was laying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> out breakfast on the deck. It was +not a sumptuous meal, consisting, as it did, of coffee, a can of meat +that Austin fancied was tainted, ship's bread, which is biscuit, and a +pale fluid that had presumably been butter; but he did not feel hungry, +and Jefferson ate little. In the meanwhile a blaze of light beat through +the mists which melted under it, and flaming yellow creek and dingy +mangroves sprang suddenly into being as by the unrolling of a +transformation scene. Their pale stems dripped slime, and just there +their foliage was blotched and spotted as with smears of flour. It gave +them a diseased appearance, and Austin, who felt he loathed the sight of +them already, remembered that where the mangrove grows the white man not +infrequently dies. He was almost glad when breakfast was over and +Jefferson rose.</p> + +<p>"I want to be quite clear," he said. "You're going to see this thing out +with me on a quarter share?"</p> + +<p>"I am," said Austin. "Anyway, I'll do what I can, though I'm afraid I +haven't given the question of the share much consideration."</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked at him intently. "Well," he said, "I've worried a good +deal about my three-quarters. That's what I came for, and if we float +her off you'll get yours, just as sure as you'll earn it—hard. It's a +big thing you're going into, and you'll find it calling on all the grit +that's in you. We're on results here, and, now you understand that, +we'll start in."</p> + +<p>He went to the forward winch, and Austin, obeying his directions, +descended to the hold with a vague recognition of the fact that there +was a change in Jefferson. As coaling clerk in Grand Canary, Austin had +found him a quiet and somewhat reserved man, who conducted himself in +everything, at least, as conventionally as most of his English friends +in that island. Now it was as though he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> had sloughed off the veneer so +that the primitive man beneath it appeared, which is a thing that not +infrequently happens in such places as the swamps he was toiling in. His +voice, even, was different. It was harsh, with a suggestion of command; +and the fierce, resolute nature of the man became revealed in it and the +penetrating glance of his steady eyes.</p> + +<p>Austin, however, discovered that he had very little time to think of +Jefferson. The Spaniards were on results, too, and when the chain sling +came rattling down the strenuous toil began. The hold was dim and +shadowy, as well as insufferably hot, and filled with nauseating smells. +The tiers of barrels slanted so that one could scarcely stand on them, +but when somebody gave Austin a handspike he took his place with the +rest, and set about prizing loose the puncheons so that they could get a +sling round them or the hoisting-crabs on the stave-ends. Now and then +the crabs slipped, or tore through the oil-soaked wood when the great +barrel swung up into the sunlight, and it came crashing down; while each +time they made an opening, the rest slipped down, grinding upon each +other, and squeezed it up again. Those on the lower side were +water-borne, but the others were only held in place by those beneath +them on the incline, and the men could not keep the untouched tiers +intact as they would have done had the <i>Cumbria</i> been floating level.</p> + +<p>For the first half hour, Austin, who had never undertaken manual toil +before, felt that his task was beyond the strength of such a man as he. +One can no more acquire facility in labour without some training than he +can in an art or craft, and again and again his untaught muscles failed +to obey the prompting of his will. Then the heavy puncheon generally +rolled back and bruised him, or the slipping handspike left its mark +upon his skin. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> probably fortunate that the Canarios were +cheerful, deft-handed sailormen, courteous, too, and considerate in +their own fashion, for that half hour was, in some respects, a bitter +one. During it the man of taste and leisure had his comparative +uselessness impressed upon him, for, while he gasped, and the dew of +effort dripped from him, it was not alone the slackness of his soft +muscles that became apparent, but his inferiority in quickness, and the +intrepidity which on occasion risks crushed foot and hand or a broken +limb. The men who surpassed him were also benighted aliens, but he +remembered afterwards that there was not one among them who flung a jibe +at him.</p> + +<p>Then it became a trifle easier. His nerves steadied, and the fits of +gasping became less frequent as he warmed to the work. It was, as +Jefferson had mentioned, a big thing they had undertaken, a thing worth +doing, even apart from what they might gain by it, and it occurred to +him that somebody must toil brutally before anything of that kind in +brought to its accomplishment. By and by the strain and stress of it, +the swift flitting of half-naked figures, the upward lurch of the +dripping puncheons, and the clanging of the winch commenced to fire his +blood. There was, after all, a good deal of the primitive in him, and he +had the capacity for finding delight in bodily toil which still lurks +here and there in a cultured Englishman, and presently he flung his +oil-stained jacket away. Then, in a momentary pause, his shirt was +discarded, too, and he knotted his suspenders about his waist. When he +fell in between the grinding puncheons one of them removed most of the +light singlet from him, and he clambered out with a Berserker fit upon +him. He had found his manhood, and vaguely recognised that the curse +laid on man in Eden might be a privilege. Something had awakened in him +he had not felt before, though he had run the <i>Estremedura</i>'s lancha +through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the spouting surf, and had never been accounted a laggard in +the strenuous English games.</p> + +<p>The chain slings came down faster and faster, while the hammerings of +the winch rang insistently through their rattle. At any cost to the men +below it must not be kept waiting. The blaze of brightness beneath the +hatch became dazzling, and Austin felt his shoulders scorched as he +passed through it. The iron deck above them shed down an intolerable +heat, and still the olive-faced Canarios swayed, and splashed, and +heaved amidst the barrels. Now and then a man said "Car-rai!" or in +incongruous juxtaposition, "Ave Maria!" ejaculating it in gasps, but +there was a puncheon ready when the sling came clashing down, and +Jefferson's voice rang encouragingly through the din.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hump yourselves! Send her up!" he said. "Vamos! Adelante! Dern your +skins! More bareel!"</p> + +<p>Bill grinned at Austin in one momentary stoppage. "The boss is himself +again," he said. "He's shoving her along. We've got to make the time for +our little trip this afternoon. Oh, howling—is that how you slew a +puncheon? You'll manslaughter one of us next time. Cut her as she +rolls."</p> + +<p>Austin gasped with astonishment as well as relief when the winch stopped +at last. The first half hour had appeared interminable, the other hours +had fled, for he saw by the distance the glare of light had moved across +the hold that the sun was overhead. Then he essayed to straighten +himself, and when he had with some difficulty accomplished it went up +the ladder with the rest. When he went out on deck Jefferson was sitting +upon the drum of the winch, and smiled curiously as he scrutinised him. +Austin, whose torn singlet fell away from him clitted with yellow oil, +was almost naked to the waist, as well as very wet from the knees +downwards. One of his canvas shoes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> had burst, and his hands were +bleeding. He stood still, dazzled by the change of light, and blinked at +his comrade.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jefferson, reflectively, "I have seen men who looked +smarter, but I guess you'll do. In fact, I'm beginning to feel sure of +you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said Austin. "I suppose in one respect that's a compliment. +Still, I almost think, or, at least, I did when I first went down there, +that if I'd known what was in front of me I'd have stayed in Grand +Canary."</p> + +<p>Jefferson nodded with a curious little smile. "I wonder," he said, +reflectively, "if you ever felt like that before?"</p> + +<p>Austin considered a moment.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to make any admissions. You probably have?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Quite often," and Jefferson laughed. "It's a thing that happens to most +of us now and then. There are times when the contract looks very big and +the man feels very small. In fact, it's sometimes hard to look straight +at it and not back down. Still, in the case of this one, it has to be +done."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so!" said Austin, and then turned round. "Well, what is it, +Bill?"</p> + +<p>"Here's your shirt an' jacket," said the man. "If you don't want your +skin to come off, you'd better put them on."</p> + +<p>Austin, who thanked him, did so, and then fumbled in the pocket for a +cigarette. The one he found was torn and crushed, but he contrived to +light it, and flung himself down in the shadow of the rail. Jefferson, +who watched him, grinned.</p> + +<p>"You're getting your grip," he said. "Not long ago you'd have slung that +thing into the creek. The man left the sir out, too. Perhaps you noticed +it?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>"I did. Still, no doubt, after watching my efforts in the hold, he felt +himself warranted. I didn't expect to find things quite the same here as +they are at the Catalina."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed softly. "They're not. This is a blame risky +co-operative venture, and when I made it so I put down a big stake on +human nature. We're all on results, and partners in the thing. There's +no respect in this ship. I don't want it. Why should any man touch his +hat to me? Oh, I know we use the fist and handspike on American +ships—when it's necessary—and I skipped round the <i>Sachem</i>'s +deck-house once with the cold steel an inch or two behind me; but that's +not the point at all. I want a hundred cents' worth for my dollar from +every man, and I'm going to get it, but I'm boss because I can drive a +winch and break out cargo better than any of the rest of them. At least, +that's one big reason."</p> + +<p>Austin would have grinned at this not very long ago. Jefferson expressed +himself crudely, but Austin was disposed to be less critical after that +morning's labour, and was commencing to realise that his comrade had, in +fact, placed a heavy stake upon the reliability of seafaring humanity. A +taint of suspicious distrust or petty treachery would, he felt, be +sufficient to ruin the venture, for there was one pistol in the ship to +enforce authority, and a dozen men, who might defy it, with wicked +knives. It was also evident that the full dollars' worth would be +demanded from every one of them. Still, Austin smiled.</p> + +<p>"I scarcely think that's the American skipper's usual point of view, +though, of course, it's a commendable one," he said. "After all, one has +to admit that there is, perhaps, some foundation for the equality notion +in a democratic country, but from what I know of yours, while you seem +willing to act upon it in regard to Scandinavians, Teutons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> Poles, and +Englishmen, you make Indians and niggers an exception."</p> + +<p>"Exactly! They were made different, and they stop outside. I was +crowding her a little this morning to save time, because I mean to +remonstrate with one of them this afternoon. This ship's mine; I bought +her with good money, and there may be a balance out that's to be settled +with blood as well. Am I to sit down while the black scum take her from +me?"</p> + +<p>"I really think that the longer one looks at this contract the bigger it +gets," said Austin, reflectively.</p> + +<p>Jefferson glanced at the dingy forest, flaming creek, and the +<i>Cumbria</i>'s slanted deck with a little glow in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that's what gets hold of me. To worry a big contract +through, is—life—to some kinds of men."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is, but it was easier painting little pictures. Still, you +see, when you marry Miss Gascoyne you'll have to go round with your +shirt, and, perhaps, a frock coat on, and let up on this kind of thing. +In fact, what you are doing isn't at all what the folks she is +acquainted with would expect from a man with £20,000 in England."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed, though there was a certain grimness in his face. +"Well," he said, "there is a good deal to be done everywhere, and +different ways of playing the game. A frock coat wouldn't stop a man +making a show at one of them, although at first he mightn't find it +comfortable. Life's much the same thing everywhere when you mean to take +part in it and hustle. Any way, I've talked enough, and Wall-eye's +coming along with the comida."</p> + +<p>They ate the meal in silence. Austin was glad to rest, and sitting +drowsily content in the shadow, he began to realise the boundless +optimism and something of the adaptability of his companion. Jefferson +had made an excellent coaling clerk at Las Palmas, though he knew +nothing about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> the business, which demands a good deal of discretion, +when he came there. He had also passed muster with Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel Gascoyne as what they no doubt called a gentleman, which was a +manifestly harder thing, and here in Africa he was a ragged and +fever-worn leader of primitive men, but clearly a successful one. It +seemed to Austin that if he eventually aspired to become a local +influence in any part of sheltered England he would also in all +probability show up equally well.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE</span></h2> + + +<p>They were not long over the meal, and when Austin thrust his plate +aside, Jefferson, who had waited at least five minutes for him, rose +with a little twinkle, which seemed to express whimsical resignation, in +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"And now there's something I'd rather leave alone to be done," he said. +"The launch is ready, and we'll go up and remonstrate with those +niggers. It's a little rough upon a man who is fond of a quiet life."</p> + +<p>"One would scarcely have fancied that quietness had any great attraction +for you," said Austin. "Still, you probably know what pleases you better +than I do."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed. "There are folks who seem to like being kicked, but +it's a sensation that doesn't appeal to everybody."</p> + +<p>"You have a case of dynamite, too. Now, I had once an air-gun sent me, a +good many years ago, and I remember how I burned to go out and destroy +the neighbours' cats with it."</p> + +<p>The American's face grew a trifle grim, and he looked at him with +half-closed eyes. "Well," he said, "I suppose that feeling's there, but +in a sense you're wrong. It isn't the only one. We put up a big bluff in +coming here at all, and it's nerve, and nothing else, that will have to +keep us where we are. There are no police or patrolmen in this country +to fall back upon, and you have to face the cold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> truth, which is this: +If one of those niggers clinched with you or me, he would mop the deck +with us in about two minutes. It's not a nice thing to admit, but there +it is."</p> + +<p>Austin looked thoughtful, as, indeed, he was, for Jefferson, who, it +seemed, could look an unpleasant fact in the face, had gone straight to +the bottom of the question, as he usually did. The white man's +domination, it had to be admitted, largely depended upon his command of +machine guns and magazine rifles, but they had none of these on board +the <i>Cumbria</i>. They were no match for the negro as a muscular animal, +and there was only left them what Jefferson called bluff, which +apparently consisted of equal parts of hardihood and arrogance. Still, +there are respects in which it is difficult to distinguish between it +and genuine courage, and it was certainly apt to prove futile in that +land without the latter. Austin realised that since there was nothing +else available, they must do what they could with it, though this was +far from pleasing him. He had a dislike for anything which savoured of +assertive impudence.</p> + +<p>They went up the creek in the little, clanking launch, eight limp and +perspiring white men, with knives and iron bars, under a scorching sun +that burned through their oil-stained garments. They slid through strips +of shadow where the belts of mire they skirted bubbled with the +emanations the heat sucked up from them, and slid across lake-like +reaches where the yellow water was dazzling to look upon. All the time, +endless ranks of mangroves crawled past them, and there was no sound but +the presumptuous clanking of the engine to break the deep silence of the +watery forest. The whole land seemed comatose with heat, and all that +had its being in it probably was so, for it is at night that nature +awakens in the swamps of the fever belt. Man alone was stirring, and the +puny noise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> of his activity jarred for a few moments on the great +stillness and then sank into it again.</p> + +<p>Austin sat huddled in the launch's stern-sheets with his senses dulled +by the heat and glare, though the desolation of mire and mangroves +reacted on him. He knew, as he sometimes admitted, a little about a good +many things which were of no use to him, and he remembered then that the +vast quadrilateral of Northern Africa west of Egypt had absorbed several +civilisations long before the Portuguese saw its southern shores. They +had vanished, and left no mark on it, and it was plain that in the great +swamp belt, at least, the black man still lived very much as he had done +when the first mangroves crept out into the sea. It is a primitive +country, where man knows only the law of the jungle, and Jefferson, who +grasped that fact, was apparently ready to act upon it in the usual +primitive fashion.</p> + +<p>There was, at first, no sign of life when the launch came into sight of +a little village hemmed in by the swamps. It had its attractiveness in +that country, for the clustering huts stood, half buried in foliage, +beneath towering cottonwoods, with a glaring strip of sand in front of +them. There were bananas, and, as Jefferson recognised, lime trees in +between. Still, by the time they approached the beach men came +floundering hastily out of the huts, and Austin was not greatly consoled +by the sight of them. They were big men, and wore very little to conceal +their splendid muscles. Some of them also carried long canoe paddles, +and one or two had wicked, corkscrew-headed spears. Austin wondered, a +little uneasily, whether they only speared fish with them, and looked +round to see what effect their appearance had upon his companions.</p> + +<p>It was apparently not a great one. Jefferson was quietly grim; Tom, the +donkey-man, scornfully cheerful; while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> there was a little portentous +glint in the Canarios' eyes. Austin fancied he was the only one who had +the slightest doubt that anything their leader did would not be +altogether warranted. This, however, was comprehensible, for he was +aware that while the American's attitude towards the coloured people is, +perhaps, not altogether what it should be, the Western pioneer never +quite equalled the Iberian in his plan of subjugation. The Spaniard, at +least, did not send out Indian agents, or dole out rations of very +inferior beef.</p> + +<p>They landed without molestation, and straightened themselves to make +what show they could, though there was nothing very imposing about any +of the party. The climate had melted the stiffness out of them, and +their garments, which were stained with oil, and rent by working cargo, +clung about their limbs soaked with perspiration. They looked, Austin +fancied, more like shipwrecked seamen than anything else. In fact, he +felt almost ashamed of himself, and that it was the negroes' own fault +if they did not unceremoniously fling them back into the creek. Still, +he realised that they were men who probably held their lives in their +hands, and had what appeared to be a singularly difficult task in front +of them. They were there to make it clear to the headman that it would +be wise of him to leave them alone, and Austin was quite willing to +supplement Jeffersons' efforts in this, though he was by no means sure +how it was to be accomplished. The negroes, so far as he could see, were +regarding them with a kind of derisive toleration.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile they were moving forward between patches of bananas, +and under a few glossy limes, while groups of dusky men kept pace with +them behind, until they reached a broad strip of sand with a big +cottonwood tree in the midst of it. There was a hut of rammed soil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> that +appeared more pretentious than the rest in front of them, and a man +stood waiting in the door of it. Jefferson stopped in the shadow when he +saw him.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to sit down where it's cool," he said. "Any way, if that is +their headman, I'd sooner he came out to us."</p> + +<p>He sat down, with his back to the tree, while the rest clustered round +him, a lean, dominant figure, in spite of his haggard face and the state +of his attire, and it seemed to Austin that there was a suggestion of +arrogant forcefulness in his attitude. The headman stood quietly in his +doorway, looking at him, while the negroes drew in a little closer. They +now seemed uncertain what to make of these audacious strangers, and +waited, glancing towards their leader, though there were, Austin +fancied, forty or fifty of them.</p> + +<p>"Is there anybody here, who speaks English?" asked Jefferson.</p> + +<p>It appeared that there was, for all along that coast there is a constant +demand for labour in the white men's factories, and a man who wore a +piece of cloth hung from his shoulder instead of the waist-rag, stood +forward at a sign from the headman. The latter had little cunning eyes +set in a heavy, fleshy face, and he, too, wore a piece of cloth, a sheet +of white cotton, which flowed about his tub-like body in graceful lines. +Negroes, like other people, fatten when they seize authority and live in +idleness upon the result of others' toil, for even the swamp belt +heathen who asks very little from life must now and then work or starve. +There are no charitable institutions to fall back upon in that country, +where the indigent is apt to be belaboured by his neighbours' paddles.</p> + +<p>Then the headman, who did not leave his hut, conferred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> with the +interpreter, until the latter turned to Jefferson, whom he had, it +seemed, already pitched upon as leader.</p> + +<p>"Them headman he done say—what the debbil you lib for here for?" he +announced.</p> + +<p>"We have come for Funnel-paint," said Jefferson.</p> + +<p>It was evident that the negro did not understand whom he meant, but when +Jefferson, assisted by the donkey-man, supplied him with a very +unflattering description of the delinquent, comprehension seemed to dawn +on him, and he once more conferred with his master.</p> + +<p>"Him no one of we boy," he said. "Him dam bad 'teamboat bushman, sah. +Lib for here two three day. Now lib for go away."</p> + +<p>Austin, who understood that the term bushman was not used in a +complimentary sense in those swamps, smiled as he noticed that seafaring +men were evidently also regarded there with no great favour, and glanced +at Jefferson inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"He's probably lying," said the latter. "I've trailed Funnel-paint here, +and there's nowhere else he could live. I've been round to see. Any way, +he had a crowd of this rascal's boys with him when he came down to worry +me. We'll let him have that to figure on."</p> + +<p>It cost him some trouble to make his meaning clear to the negro, while +when the latter in turn explained it to the headman, Austin noticed a +retrograde movement among several of those about them. They seemed +desirous of getting a little further away from the domineering white +man.</p> + +<p>"I want those boys," said Jefferson, indicating the negroes who had +edged away. "Then I want some gum or ivory, or anything of that kind +your headman has, as a token he'll send me down Funnel-paint as soon as +he can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> catch him. He hasn't caught on to half of it. Help me out, +Austin."</p> + +<p>Austin did what he could, and at last it became evident that the +interpreter grasped their meaning. This time there was, however, a +change in the attitude of the negro, which had hitherto appeared to be a +trifle conciliatory.</p> + +<p>"None of my boys have been near your steamer. Go away before we drive +you out," was, at least, the gist of what he said.</p> + +<p>Jefferson made a little contemptuous gesture, and pointed to one of the +negroes. "Tell him I want those boys, and it would be wise of him to +turn them up before the shadow crawls up to where that man is. If he +doesn't, I'll let a Duppy, Ju-Ju, or whatever he calls his fetish +devils, loose on him. He has about fifteen minutes to think the thing +over in."</p> + +<p>Even with the help of the donkey-man they were some time in making this +comprehensible, and Austin glanced at his comrade when the headman's +answer came. It was a curt and uncompromising <i>non possumus</i>, and +Jefferson sighed.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he said, "I saw it would come to this from the beginning, +and in one way I'm not sorry. I don't know what I'd have done with +Funnel-paint or his friends if I had got them, except that somehow I'd +'most have scared them out of their lives. Still, it seemed only decent +to give the headman a chance for himself. Now it will suit us +considerably better to scare him and the others all together. I'll wipe +that house of his out of existence inside twenty minutes."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced at the house. It was larger than the others, and +comparatively well built, and, he fancied, probably of as much value to +its owner as a white man's man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>sion would be to him. This was clearly +not a time to be supersensitive, but he felt a trace of compunction.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I'd go quite so far myself," he said. "After all, +we're not sure that the headman is responsible."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jefferson, drily, "we'll make him, and you listen to me. We +may have to do quite a few things that aren't pretty, and we have no use +for sentimentality. We're just a handful of white men, with everything +to grapple with, and we'll be left alone to do it while these devils are +afraid of us, and not a moment longer. The fever may wipe half of us out +at any time, and we have got to make our protest now."</p> + +<p>"It's the giant-powder I'm sticking at. No doubt it's a little absurd of +me—but I don't like it."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed a trifle scornfully. "There's a good deal of what we +call buncome in most of you. You don't like things that +don't—look—pretty, pistols among them. Well, am I to be trampled on +whenever it happens that the other man is bigger than I?"</p> + +<p>"The law is supposed to obviate that difficulty in a civilised +community."</p> + +<p>"The man who gets the verdict is usually the one with the biggest +political pull or the most money, in the one I belong to, but that's not +quite the point just now. If you have a notion that the game's all in +our hands, look at them yonder."</p> + +<p>Austin did so, and decided that, after all, Jefferson might be right. +The negroes had clustered together, and there were more of them now, +while all of them had spears or big canoe paddles. It was tolerably +evident that any sign of vacillation would bring them down upon the +handful of white men whose prestige alone had hitherto secured them from +molestation. If they failed to maintain it, and had to depend upon their +physical prowess, the result ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>peared as certain as it would be +unpleasant. The affair had resolved itself into a case of what Jefferson +termed bluff, a test of coolness and nerve, and Austin glanced a trifle +anxiously at the Spaniards. They were, he fancied, a little uneasy, but +it was clear that they had confidence in their leader, and they sat +still, though he could see one or two of them fingering the wicked +Canary knives. Their courage was, however, not of the kind that stands +the tension of uncertainty well, and he commenced to long that the +shadow would reach the trampled spot where the man Jefferson pointed to +had stood.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile it was creeping slowly across the hot white sand, and +he felt his heart beat as he watched it and the negroes, who commenced +to murmur and move uneasily. The white man's immobility had its effect +on them, and it seemed that Jefferson had done wisely in confiding in +the latter's ability to bear the longer strain. Still, Austin was not +sure that the impatience of the Spaniards might not spoil everything +after all. As regarded himself, he began to feel a curious and almost +dispassionate interest in the affair which almost prevented him +considering his personal part in it. He also noticed the intensity of +the sunlight, and the blueness of the shadows among the trees, as well +as the mirror-like flashing of the creek. It was, he fancied, the +artistic temperament asserting itself. Then he felt a little quiver run +through him when Jefferson stood up.</p> + +<p>"We have to get it done," he said. "Keep those Canarios close behind +me."</p> + +<p>They moved forward in a little phalanx, carrying staves and iron bars, +though Austin knew that a word would bring out the twinkling steel; and, +somewhat to his astonishment, the negroes fell back before them, and as +they approached it the headman scuttled out of his house. Jef<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>ferson +stopped outside it and taking a stick of yellow substance from his +pocket, inserted it in a cranny he raked out in the wall. Then he +lighted the strip of fuse and touched Austin's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Get those fellows back to the creek, but they're not to run," he said. +"The action of one stick of giant-powder is usually tolerably local, but +I don't want any of the niggers hoisted, either. Where's that +interpreter? Steady, we'll bring them down on us like a swarm of bees if +they see us lighting out before they understand the thing."</p> + +<p>There was, Austin fancied, not much time to waste; but he managed to +impress the fact upon the Canarios that their haste must not be too +evident, and to make the negro understand that it was perilous to +approach the house. Then he overtook the Spaniards, and they moved back +in a body towards the launch, and stopped close by the beach. The +negroes also stood still, and all alike watched the little sputtering +trail of smoke creep up the side of the house. It showed blue in the +sunlight, though there was a pale sparkling in the midst of it.</p> + +<p>Then a streak of light sprang out suddenly, and expanded into a blaze of +radiance. After it came the detonation, and a rolling cloud of thin +vapour, out of which there hurtled powdered soil and blocks of +hard-rammed mud. The vapour thinned and melted, and Austin saw that +there was no longer any front to the headman's house, while, as he +watched it, most of the rest fell in. He looked round to see what effect +it had on the negroes, but could not make out one of them. They had, it +seemed, gone silently and in haste. Then he heard Jefferson sigh as with +relief.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that's one thing done, and I'm glad we have come out +of it with a whole skin. We'll light out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> before somebody shows them +that we're only human, and spoils the thing."</p> + +<p>They went on board the launch, but Austin felt curiously limp as she +clanked away down stream. The strain of the last half hour had told on +him, though he had not felt it to the full at the time. It was two +hours' steaming before they swept past the <i>Cumbria</i>, and a man on her +forecastle waved an arm to indicate that all was right on board her; but +Austin would not have had the time any shorter. He felt it was just as +well that village lay some distance from them. They went on to the strip +of sand where Jefferson had stored the coal and oil, and when they +reached it he stood up suddenly with an imprecation.</p> + +<p>"Four puncheons gone! Funnel-paint has come out ahead of me, after all," +he said. "Well, there's no use in worrying now, when he has got away +with them; but I'm going to stop down here to-night in case he comes +back again."</p> + +<p>Then he swung the launch round with backed propeller, and in another few +minutes they were steaming back up stream towards the <i>Cumbria</i>. A tent +of some kind must be extemporised, for it is not wise of a white man to +spend the night unprotected in the fever swamps.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">STARTING THE PUMP</span></h2> + + +<p>The bush was dim with steamy shade when Austin and Jefferson plodded +along a little path behind the beach where the oil was stored. It was +with difficulty they made their way, for the soil was firmer there, and +a dense undergrowth sprang up among the big cottonwoods which replaced +the mangroves. They were draped with creepers, and here and there an +orchid flung its fantastic blossoms about a rotting limb, while the path +twisted in and out among them and through tangled thickets. It was then +the hottest part of the afternoon, and save for the soft fall of the +men's footsteps everything was still. The atmosphere was very like that +of a Turkish bath, and as Austin stumbled along the perspiration dripped +from him.</p> + +<p>He had toiled strenuously from early dawn until darkness closed down, of +late, and though he had, as yet, escaped the fever, every joint in his +body ached, and he was limp and dejected with the heat and weariness. +His only respite from labour had been the few hours spent on watch +beside the landed oil when his turn came, and he had now come down with +two of the Spaniards to relieve Jefferson, who was going back to the +<i>Cumbria</i>. The latter glanced towards a ray of brightness that beat into +the dim green shadow, and here and there flung a patch of brilliancy +athwart the great columnar trunks.</p> + +<p>"I've been wondering where this trail goes, and it seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> to me there's +an opening close in front of us," he said. "We'll rest when we get +there, and I don't know that I'll be sorry. You have to choose between +stewing and roasting in this country, and, when it lets my skin stay on +me, I almost think the latter's easier."</p> + +<p>Austin felt inclined to agree with him, for they had blundered through +the shadowy bush for half an hour, and its hot, saturated atmosphere +made exertion almost impossible. Still, he said nothing, and in a few +more minutes they came out upon a glaring strip of sand beside another +creek. Jefferson stopped a moment, with a little gesture of +astonishment, in the shadow of a palm.</p> + +<p>"What in the name of wonder have they been turning that sand over for?" +he said.</p> + +<p>Austin walked out of the shadow, blinking in the dazzling brightness the +creek flung back, and saw that the sand had certainly been disturbed +every here and there. It seemed to him that somebody had been digging +holes in it and then had carefully filled them up.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a nigger village nearer than the one where Funnel-paint +lives, or I could have fancied they'd had an epidemic and been burying +their friends," he said.</p> + +<p>Jefferson shook his head. "They wouldn't worry to bring them here," he +said. "Still, somebody has been digging since the last wet season, for +it seems to me that when the rain comes the creek flows over here."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Austin that one or two, at least, of the excavations had +been filled in not long ago, but his comrade made no comment when he +suggested it, and they went back together to the shadow of the palm, +where Jefferson, sitting down thoughtfully, filled a blackened pipe.</p> + +<p>It was several minutes before he broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"There is," he said, at length, "a good deal I can't get the hang of +about the whole affair; but if I knew just how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> they came to start the +plates that let the water in, I'd have something to figure on. You can't +very well knock holes in an iron steamer's bottom on soft, slimy mud, +and I don't know where they could have found a rock here if they wanted +to."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Austin. "Then you think they might have wanted to find one?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson again sat silent for almost a minute, and then slowly shook +his head. "I don't know—I've nothing to go upon," he said. "She's not +even an old, played-out boat. Still, it seems to me that a heavily +freighted steamer, hung up by her nose on the bank, might easily have +started some of her plates when the waters of the creek subsided. Then +she'd settle deeper—it's nice soft mud."</p> + +<p>"But that would be—after—she went ashore."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jefferson dryly. "That's the point of it."</p> + +<p>Austin looked thoughtful. It had also occurred to him that there was a +good deal it was difficult to understand about the stranding of the +<i>Cumbria</i>, though that, after all, did not appear to concern them +greatly just then.</p> + +<p>"What puzzles me is why the salvage men let go," he said. "You see, +they're accustomed to this kind of thing, and have money behind them."</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked at him with a little smile, and Austin saw that he +guessed his thoughts. Jefferson was as gaunt as ever, a fever-worn +skeleton of a man, dressed, for the most part, in oil-stained rags, +while Austin was quite aware that, so far as outward appearances went, +there was very little that was prepossessing about himself. His big felt +hat hung over his forehead, sodden with grease, and shapeless; his hands +were hard and scarred, his nails were broken, and the rent singlet hung +open almost to his waist. All this seemed to emphasise their feebleness, +and the fact that there was no money behind them, at least.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>"Well," said Jefferson, "that's quite easy. Those salvage men are +specialists, and expect a good deal for the time they put in. Now they +took some oil out of her, but there is reason for believing they were +not sure they'd get the <i>Cumbria</i> off at all, and it would cost a good +deal to charter a light-draught steamer to come up here. They tried +towing it down to a schooner, and lost a good deal of it on the shoals. +Then they towed the schooner in, and had to wait for a smooth surf +before they could get her out, with no more than sixty tons at that. The +game wasn't worth while, and the men were going down with fever."</p> + +<p>"But the gum?"</p> + +<p>"There wasn't a great deal down in the cargo sheets, and, any way, until +they'd hove the oil out they couldn't come at it."</p> + +<p>"You are still sure about the gum yourself?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed softly. "I think I am. I don't quite know where it is, +but the skipper got it—a good deal of it."</p> + +<p>"Still, the steamer would be worth a persistent effort. There was no +doubt about her being there."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jefferson, with a little gesture of comprehension. "Now I +know just what you mean. You're wondering, since those men couldn't +heave her off, what's the use of us trying. Well, specialists make their +mistakes now and then, just like other men, and they took it for granted +that things were normal when they were there. From what I've seen of the +sand strips and the marks on the mangrove trunks, I don't think they +were. You see, there's a good deal we don't know about the tides yet, +and the Guinea stream doesn't always run quite the same along this +coast; while, when there's less than usual of the southwest winds that +help it along, it's quite likely to mean two or three feet less water in +these creeks. Then you can have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> a wet season that's a little drier than +the other ones, and it's fresh water here—the tide just backs it up."</p> + +<p>"Then you're counting on the present season being a normal one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jefferson quietly. "I've staked all I have on it—and a good +deal more than that. If it isn't, I might as well have pitched my forty +thousand dollars into the sea."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and then laid a little grey object in Austin's +palm. "What d'you make of that?"</p> + +<p>Austin started as he looked at it. "A pistol bullet!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Jefferson. "It has been through the barrel, too; you can +see the score of the rifling. I picked it up along the trail, but I +don't know how long it lay there, or who fired it. Still, the niggers +don't carry pistols. Well, it's about time I was getting back on board +if we're to start the pump to-night."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced at him sharply, and noticed that there was a suggestion +of tension in his voice, though his face was quiet. It was evident that +a good deal would depend upon the result of the first few hours' +pumping, for unless it lowered the water there would be little +probability of their floating the steamer. Neither of them, however, +said anything further, and when they went back to the beach where the +oil was, Jefferson steamed away in the launch, and Austin, who was left +with two Canarios, lay down in the shadow of a strip of tarpaulin. The +Spaniards, tired with their morning's labour, went to sleep; and Austin, +who filled his pipe several times, found the hours pass very slowly. +There was nothing to hold his attention—only glaring sand, dingy, dim +green mangroves, and tiers of puncheons with patches of whitewash +clinging to them. It flung back an intolerable brightness that hurt his +aching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> eyes, and he became sensible of a feverish impatience as he lay +watching the shadows lengthen.</p> + +<p>His thoughts were with Jefferson, who was, no doubt, now getting steam +on the locomotive boiler and coupling up the big pump. Unless the latter +did what they expected of it, the toil they had undergone, and +Jefferson's eight thousand pounds, would have been thrown away. That was +very evident, but Austin wondered a little at himself as his impatience +grew upon him, until it was only by an effort he held himself still.</p> + +<p>It was not the quarter share Jefferson offered him which had brought him +there, for he realised that even with five thousand pounds he would +still be, to all intents and purposes, a poor man, and his life on board +the <i>Estremedura</i> had, in most respects, been one that suited him. He +had, in fact, not greatly cared whether the <i>Cumbria</i> could be floated +or not, when he came out, but since then Jefferson's optimism, or +something that was born of the toil they had undertaken, had laid hold +of him, and now he was almost as anxious as his comrade that their +efforts should result in success. In fact, he was feverishly anxious, +and felt that if it would gain them anything he would willingly stake +his life on the venture. Then he smiled as he remembered that he had, +without quite realising it, done so already.</p> + +<p>Still, the long, hot afternoon dragged away, and when the sun dipped, +and black darkness closed down upon the creek, the launch came clanking +up to the beach. She brought two Canarios as well as Bill, the fireman, +and Austin's voice was eager as he greeted the latter.</p> + +<p>"Have you got the pump going yet?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Bill. "Tom and Mr. Jefferson was packing something when I +came away. He'd given her a spin, and found the engine blowing at a +gland."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>Austin asked him nothing further, but drove the launch at top speed +through the blackness that shrouded the misty creek, and walked straight +to where Jefferson was standing when he reached the <i>Cumbria</i>. The red +glow from the open fire-door of the locomotive boiler fell upon him, and +there were signs of tension in his face, while the red trickle from a +hand he had apparently injured smeared his torn jacket. Steam was +roaring from a valve beside him, and Austin could scarcely hear him when +he turned to the donkey-man.</p> + +<p>"Shut the fire-door. She'll go now," he said. "I'll let her shake down +for a minute or two, and then we'll give her everything."</p> + +<p>He walked forward towards where the light of a lamp fell upon the casing +of the pump, which looked like a huge iron drum considerably flattened +in. Then he touched a valve, and the machine became animate with a low +pulsatory wheezing, while something commenced to hum and rattle inside +it. The sound swelled into a fierce rhythmic whirring, the great iron +case vibrated, and Austin could feel the rails he leaned on tremble. +Jefferson turned and looked at him with a little smile, while he laid a +hand, as it were, affectionately upon the pump.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I've made her go, and she's going to earn me eighty +thousand dollars. She's drawing air just now. Heave your hat down, and +see if she'll take it along."</p> + +<p>Austin, who became sensible that a little draught was shaking his duck +trousers, did as Jefferson suggested, and the big felt hat rolled and +flopped in a ludicrous fashion along the deck. Then it seemed to spring +forward into the blackness, and groping after it, he found it glued to +the iron grid which was screwed to the end of a big pipe. It was with +some little difficulty he tore it loose. Then he saw Jefferson swing up +one hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>"Easy, while she's getting her first drink; then, if she's spouting +full, you can let her hum," he said, and turned to Austin. "Now, come +down with me."</p> + +<p>They went down together into the musty hold, and when somebody lowered +the big hose after them, Jefferson, standing upon the ladder, seized the +rope, and looked up at the Canarios clustering round the hatch above.</p> + +<p>"Where's that rake you made?" he said.</p> + +<p>It was handed him, and Austin glanced down at the water, which glistened +oilily under the light of a suspended lamp. It was thick with floating +grease and strewn with fragments of rotten bags.</p> + +<p>"Get hold and keep her clear!" said Jefferson, who thrust the rake upon +him, and then waited a moment before he lowered the hose, while Austin, +glancing round a moment, could see the faces of the men above them. They +were intent, and almost as expectant as his comrade's.</p> + +<p>Then the big pipe sank with a soft splash, and shook out its loose +half-coil, as if alive, while it swelled. It grew hard and rigid, and +the dim, oily water swirled and seethed about the end of it. In another +moment there was a rush of floating objects towards it from the shadows. +Strips of bagging, handspikes, clots of oil, and dunnage wood, came +thicker and thicker, and Jefferson raised his voice.</p> + +<p>"Let her hum!" he said.</p> + +<p>The pipe palpitated as it further straightened itself, and now a hole +opened in the oily water, and half-seen things came up with a rush from +the depths of the flooded hold. Hundreds of little black kernels whirled +and sank in the swing of the eddy, which grew wider as a deep, resonant +hum descended from the deck above. It seemed to Austin that everything +in the hold was coming to the top, but as he watched the bewildering +succession of odds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> and ends that spun amidst the froth, Jefferson's +voice rose harshly.</p> + +<p>"It's water she's wanting! Keep her clear!" he said.</p> + +<p>Austin contrived to do it for a while, though now and then the whirling +rush of bags and wood almost tore the rake away from him. He was kept +busy for half an hour, while Jefferson stood leaning out from the +ladder, and steadily watching the water. Then the American swung himself +down, with his knife in his hand, and scratched the iron at its level.</p> + +<p>"We'll know in another hour or two whether we're pumping out the +<i>Cumbria</i> or pumping in the creek," he said. "If it's the latter, I've +got to let up on the contract. I can't undertake to dry out this part of +Africa."</p> + +<p>Then he signed to one of the Canarios. "Come down. Ven aca, savvy, and +take this rake."</p> + +<p>They went up together, but as they passed along the deck Jefferson +stopped once more to lay his hand upon the pump. It was running with a +dull, rumbling roar, and the deck trembled about it.</p> + +<p>"She's doing good work," he said. "Now we'll have comida. I daren't go +back there for another hour."</p> + +<p>They went into the deck-house, where the Spaniard who acted as steward +was waiting them, but in passing, Jefferson made a sign to Tom, who +stood in the glow from the fire-door, with a shovel in his hand.</p> + +<p>"All she's worth!" he said.</p> + +<p>They ate as a matter of duty, and because they needed all the strength +the climate had left them, but neither had much appetite, and Austin +knew that Jefferson was listening as eagerly as he was himself to the +deep, vibrating hum that came throbbing through the open door. It was a +relief to both of them to hear, the persistent jingling of a cup that +stood unevenly in its saucer. The pump was running<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> well, but there +remained the momentous question, was it lowering the water? And when the +meal was over, Austin glanced at Jefferson as he pushed his plate aside.</p> + +<p>"Shall I go down and look?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Jefferson hoarsely. "Any way, if you do, don't come back and +worry me. She's full up, fore and after holds and engine room—and there +are things I don't stand very well. We'll give her two hours, and then, +if she's doing anything worth while, the scratch I made will be dry."</p> + +<p>Austin nodded sympathetically. "Under the circumstances," he said, "two +hours is a long while."</p> + +<p>Jefferson smiled, a curious, wry smile. "It's hard—the toughest thing +one can do—just to keep still; but if I climbed up and down that ladder +for two hours I'd probably break out, and heave somebody into the creek. +There are things you have to get over once for all—and do it quick."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there are," said Austin. "Still, it's the first time I've +made the acquaintance of any of them, and I shouldn't have fancied one +could get a thrill of this kind out of a centrifugal pump. There is, +however, of course, a good deal at stake."</p> + +<p>"Eighty thousand dollars," said Jefferson, "and all the rest of my life. +You don't usually get such chances as the <i>Cumbria</i> is giving us twice."</p> + +<p>Austin found that he, at least, could not keep still, however he tried, +and he went out and paced up and down the slanted deck, where he fell +over things, though he now and then endeavored to talk rationally to Tom +the donkey-man. He did not find the attempt a success, but he saw that +he was not the only one who felt the tension, for the Canarios, in place +of resting, were clustered round the hatch, and apparently staring down +the opening. Jef<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>ferson was still in the deck-house each time he passed, +a gaunt, grim-faced object, with a lean hand clenched on an unlighted +pipe, and at last Austin sat down on the deck beside the pump. He liked +to feel the throb of it, but he remembered the half hour he spent there +a long while afterwards.</p> + +<p>Then Jefferson came out of the deck-house, walking slowly, though Austin +fancied it cost him an effort, and they climbed down the ladder +together. The man with the rake stood on the opposite one across the +hatch, and Austin felt his heart beat painfully as he raised the lantern +he held and Jefferson stooped down. He straightened himself slowly, +though the blood was in his face.</p> + +<p>"Dry!" he said hoarsely. "She's lowering it. It's a sure thing, Austin. +If the fever doesn't get us we'll see this contract out."</p> + +<p>Then he turned, and they went up and back to the deck-house, while an +exultant clamour broke out from the Canarios; but Jefferson's lean hand +quivered a little when he laid it on the table as he sat down.</p> + +<p>"If she has started any plates, they're not started much," he said. +"Now, talk about anything you like, so long as it isn't the <i>Cumbria</i>. +I've got to slacken down to-night."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELUSIVE GUM</span></h2> + + +<p>It was in the small hours when Austin wakened, and, listening a moment, +stretched his aching limbs with a little sigh of content. The odds and +ends on the table beside him were rattling merrily, and a deep pulsatory +humming rang stridently through the silence of the swamps. The pump was +running well, for he could hear the steady splash of water falling into +the creek, and once more a little thrill of exultation ran through him. +He was not in most respects a fanciful man, for in him the artistic +temperament was held in due subjection by a knowledge of the world and +shrewd practical sense. Still, there were times when he vaguely +recognised that there might, after all, be a reality behind the fancies +he now and then indulged in with a smile, and that night it seemed to +him that the big centrifugal pump was chanting a song of triumph.</p> + +<p>He had tasted toil, and what toil really is only those know who have +borne it in the steamy heat of the tropics, which saps the white man's +vigour; while he had discovered what, artist as he was, he had not +learned before: that, by way of compensation, man may attain a certain +elusive spirituality by the stern subjugation of his body, even when it +is accomplished by brutal manual labour. As the <i>Estremedura</i>'s +sobrecargo he had watched the struggle for existence between man and man +with good-humoured toleration of its petty wiles and trickeries, but now +it was the cleaner and more primitive struggle be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>tween man and matter +he was called upon to take his part in with the faith in the destiny of +his species which is capable of moving mountains, and not infrequently +does so with hydraulic hose and blasting charges, as well as a few odd +thousand tons of iron and water in a stranded steamer. Lying still a +while, he heard the great pump hurling out its announcement of man's +domination to swamp and forest, and then went peacefully to sleep.</p> + +<p>He was astir with the dawn next morning, but when they went down the +ladder into the hold he knew that the change in him had reached a +further stage. Whether the water had sunk or not, he was going to see +that fight out, and go back triumphant, or leave his bones in Africa. It +was not alone to vindicate himself in Jacinta's eyes, for that, though +it counted, too, seemed of less moment now; he was there to justify his +existence, to prove himself a man, which many who have won honours in +this world have, after all, never really done. As a sign of it, he was +wholly practical when, hanging down from the ladder, he laid the fingers +of one hand upon the scratch Jefferson had made on the iron. Then he +held up the hand.</p> + +<p>"Wet to the knuckles only," he said. "Last night the water was on the +thumb."</p> + +<p>They went up, and Jefferson looked at him keenly when they stood on +deck; in fact, as he had done when Austin first clambered, half naked, +out of the hatch.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said quietly, "she is heaving it out, and you have done more +than start in. You mean staying with it now?"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "I'm not sure how you know it, but I really think I do."</p> + +<p>"No?" said Jefferson, with a twinkle in his eyes. "When it's in your +voice, and stamped upon the rest of you. Well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> I think we're going to +float her, though it's perhaps not quite a sure thing yet. We seem to +have bluffed off Funnel-paint, but the trouble is, you can't bluff the +fever. In the meanwhile, we'll see if she's draining any out of the +engine room."</p> + +<p>They went in, and stood on the top platform, looking down on the water, +which, so far as they could discern, stood at much the same level as it +had done. Jefferson gazed at it with an air of reflection.</p> + +<p>"If the bulkhead's strained and started so the water could get in, I +don't quite see why it shouldn't run out into the hold again, but +there's evidently no suction that way," he said. "You see how that +tool-case lid is floating. There's another point that strikes me. Those +started plates don't seem to be letting very much water in."</p> + +<p>"As you have already pointed out, there is a good deal it's a little +difficult to understand about the whole thing."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jefferson gravely, "it doesn't matter in the meanwhile, and +we'll probably find out by and by. The first thing we have to do is to +lay hands on that gum, and until the water's lower we can't start in. +The boys can lay off to-day. Well, what are you wanting, Bill?"</p> + +<p>"Two of the Canariers down!" said the fireman, who appeared in the +doorway. "They was looking groggy yesterday, an' one o' them's talking +silly now. I think it's fever."</p> + +<p>Austin looked at Jefferson, whose face grew a trifle grim. "Ah," he +said, "it's beginning. Well, I had expected we'd have that to grapple +with before very long. We'll go along and look at them."</p> + +<p>They went, and found one of the men raving in the forecastle, while +Austin, who did what he could for him and his comrade, which was very +little, afterwards spent a day of blissful idleness stretched at full +length on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> settee in the skipper's room, with a damp-stained +treatise on navigation. He had never imagined that he could peruse a +work of that kind with interest, but it served its purpose, for he felt +he must have something to fix his attention on. In the meanwhile the big +pump hummed on, as it did for another day and night, until on the third +morning Jefferson stopped it and turned steam on the winch again.</p> + +<p>"You have got to keep your eyes open as well as hustle, boys," he said, +as he stood with his hand on the lever. "There'll be forty dollars, +Spanish, for whoever finds the first bag of gum."</p> + +<p>Austin made this clear to them, and they went down the ladder, but two +men who had gone with them before were not there that day. The water had +sunk, and tiers of rotting bags lay, half afloat, in it, giving out a +sickening smell of fermentation. They were filled with little black +nuts, the oleaginous kernels of the palm fruit from which the layer of +oil had been scraped off, and these were evidently worth little in their +damaged condition. Austin, however, had very little time to notice them +in, for the winch above him rattled, and the day of feverish toil began.</p> + +<p>The bags burst when they dragged them into piles and laid them upon the +sling, while when the winch swung them up, a rain of kernels and slimy +water came pattering and splashing down. Putrefying kernels floated up +into every hole they made, and now and then a man sank waist deep among +the crumbling bags. Still, there was no stoppage or slackening of +effort. Forty dollars is a large sum to a seaman of the Canaries, who +can bring up a family on one peseta, which is rather less than +ninepence, a day, while the bonus contingent on getting the <i>Cumbria</i> +off would set up most of them for life. They remembered it that day as +they floundered and waded about the stifling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> hold, for the work of the +big pump had renewed their ardour.</p> + +<p>Still, the task before them was one most men would have shrunk from. The +heat below decks was suffocating, the smell of the steaming, fermenting +mass of slime and oil and kernels nauseating. The water it swam in was +putrescent, and the weight to be hauled out of it and sent up into the +sunlight apparently enough to keep them busy for months ahead, though +they had, as everybody knew, very little time to move it in. It was to +be a grim struggle between man and inert material, for unless the +<i>Cumbria</i> was hove off when the rains came, it seemed very probable that +she would stay there until she fell to pieces.</p> + +<p>They set about it in silence, which, in the case of Spaniards, was a +significant thing; but nobody had any breath to spare, and Austin gasped +distressfully as he toiled, almost naked, in their midst. His hair was +filled with grease, clots of oil smeared his shoulders, and the bags +that burst as he lifted them abraded his dripping skin. Still, they went +up, opening as they swung out of the dusky hold, and the winch rattled +on, while there could be no rest for any man while sling succeeded +sling.</p> + +<p>He was half blinded by perspiration, the wounds on his raw hands had +opened again, and there were now red patches on his uncovered breast and +arms. His muscles had, however, grown accustomed to the strain since the +first arduous day, and he did a man's part, as their comrade, with the +rest. There were no distinctions down in the stifling hold. It was a +community of effort for the one result, and again Austin wondered at the +forethought of the fever-wasted man above who drove the hammering winch.</p> + +<p>Jefferson was, beyond all question, boss; but with singular clearness of +vision, or, perhaps, that higher, half-con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>scious faculty of doing the +right thing, that characterises the leader of men, he had recognised +that what he called bluff was of no service here, and had gone straight +to the strength there is in simple human nature. There was, those +untaught sailormen knew, no labour he was not ready to bear his part in, +and no command was flung at them for a show of authority. Jefferson +spent his strength and dollars freely, and while he asked no more than a +hundred cents' worth for the latter, he got it with interest, a +hundredfold.</p> + +<p>It grew hotter and hotter, and there were curiously mingled ejaculations +of Latin prayer and imprecations that had somehow lost their sting. The +man with calumniated ancestry took it as a jest, and amidst the roar of +running chain and fierce rattle of the winch the work went on. The rains +were coming, there was very much to be done, and human courage braced +itself to the task. Hard hands were torn and bleeding, veins showed +gorged on dusky foreheads, muscles rose and bunched themselves under the +olive skin, and Englishman and Iberian gave freely all that was in them, +the sweat of the hard-driven body and tension of controlling will. They +were alone in the land of the shadow, with a deadly climate against +them, but the conflict they were engaged in has been waged before by +Spaniards and Englishmen in half the wilder lands.</p> + +<p>Then the winch stopped suddenly, and Jefferson came backwards down the +ladder. He alighted knee deep in water among the rotten bags, and all +his observations were not recordable. He had put off conventionality, +and was once more the reckless sailor and the optimistic American, so he +spoke of the lower regions, and called the men who had stowed the +<i>Cumbria</i>'s cargo condemned loafers in barbarous Castilian and good +American, while the olive-faced Canarios gasped and grinned at him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>"The man who packed those bags there should be hung," he said. "We can't +break the bulk out until we've shifted most of them. Then I'll send you +down the sling-tub, and we'll heave the stuff to ——! It's sixty +dollars now for the man who finds the gum."</p> + +<p>"No sign of it yet," said Austin. "They'd never have stowed it among the +bulk kernels. They're worth something. Hadn't you better make sure of +them?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed grimly. "They're worth—how do I know? Call it £12 a +ton when they're not rotten. It's the gum we came for, and I'm going to +find it if I tear the ballast tanks and limbeys out of her. Clear that +bag bulkhead, and then stand by for the sling-tub. We'll heave every +blue-flamed kernel over."</p> + +<p>The tub came down by and by, in fact, two of them, and those who had no +shovels bailed up the slimy kernels with their hats and hands; but each +time the chain swung through the hatch the tub below was full. It was +two o'clock when they desisted, and some of them were waist deep in +water then, while soon after they came up the big hose splashed in +again. There were steampipe collars to unbolt and pack, and bolt again, +before that was done; while when Austin came upon Jefferson, he held up +one hand from which the scalded skin was peeling.</p> + +<p>"I can run the —— winch if I drive her with my mouth and foot," he +said. "Get the comida into you, and then back into the hold again. We're +going to make her hum."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced suggestively towards the men, who stood with backs still +bent with weariness, about the entrance to the forecastle.</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," he said. "Still, the question is, can they stand it +long?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed harshly. "They'll have to. We have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> the blazing sun +against us, and the evening fever-mist; in fact, 'most everything that +man has to grapple with, and the worst of all is time. Still, they can't +break us. We have got to beat them—the river, the climate, and all the +man-killing meanness nature has in Western Africa."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and, standing very straight, a haggard, grim-faced +scarecrow, flung up his scalded hands towards the brassy heavens in a +wide, appealing gesture. "When you come to the bottom of things, that's +what we were made for. There's something in us that is stronger than +them all."</p> + +<p>Austin said nothing, though once more a little thrill ran through him as +he slipped away quietly in search of his comida. What they were doing +had, he felt, been sung in Epics long ago, and Jefferson had, it seemed, +blundered upon the under-running theme. It was the recognition of the +primal ban again, the ban that had a blessing for man to triumph in, and +by it win dominion over the material world and all there is therein. He +and his comrade were men whose creed was crudely simple, though it was +also, on points they did not often mention, severe; but they bore the +bonds of service, which are never worn without compensation, willingly, +and the tense effort of will and limb had clarified and strengthened the +vague faith in them until they were ready to attempt the impossible.</p> + +<p>Still, Austin had little time for his comida. The men in the forecastle +were very sick indeed, and he packed them in foul blankets, and dosed +them with green-lime water, boiling hot to start the perspiration, which +was, he recognised, likely to accomplish more than his prescriptions. +There were limes in Funnel-paint's village, and they had not scrupled to +requisition them. One of the men lay still, moaning faintly through +blackened lips, and the other, raving, called incoherently on saints and +angels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> It seemed to Austin, standing in that reeking den, that there +was small chance for his patients unless they heard him. Two of those +whose names he caught had once, he remembered, been, at least, +fresh-water sailormen, and half unconsciously he also appealed to them. +One creed appeared much the same as another in that dark land, and +something in him cried out instinctively to the great serene influences +beyond the shadow. When he had finished his work of mercy the Spaniards +were stripping the covers off the after hatch, and he had scarcely a +minute for a mouthful before he joined them to heave the kernels up by +hand. They went up, basket after basket, and splashed into the creek, +but there was no sign of a gum bag or package anywhere among them. Bill, +who hove them out through the open gangway, once turned to grin at +Austin, who stood next the hatch.</p> + +<p>"I've never been a millionaire, an' it's —— unlikely that I'll ever be +one, either; but I know what it must feel like now," he said. "Here are +you an' me slingin' away stuff that's worth twelve pounds a ton, an' one +o' them goes a long way with a man like me."</p> + +<p>Austin said nothing. He had no breath to spare, but he thrust a brimming +basket upon the fireman, and that did just as well. They toiled +throughout that afternoon, under a broiling sun, but when the black +darkness came again they had still found no gum. Then, as they ate +together, Austin looked at Jefferson.</p> + +<p>"You are sure the gum was really put into her?" he said.</p> + +<p>"It was," said Jefferson, with a little grim smile. "Whether it's there +now, or not, is another thing. We'll know when she's empty, and if we +haven't found it then, we'll consider. Not a pound reached Grand Canary, +and it's quite certain that the fellows who went—somewhere else—took +none of it with them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER</span></h2> + + +<p>A week had passed without their finding any gum, when one evening Austin +stood beside Jefferson in the <i>Cumbria</i>'s forecastle. It felt as hot as +an oven, though the damp fell in big drops from the iron beams and +trickled down the vessel's unceiled skin, while a smoky lamp supplied it +with insufficient illumination. The faint light showed the hazily +outlined forms of the men sitting limp and apathetic, now the long day's +toil was over, in the acrid smoke of Canary tobacco, and forced up +clearly the drawn face of one who lay beneath it, gazing at Austin with +a glitter in his uncomprehending eyes. Behind him other figures occupied +a part of the shelf-like row of bunks, but they were mere shapeless +bundles of greasy blankets and foul clothing, with only a shock of damp +hair or a claw-like hand projecting from them here and there to show +that they were human. Jefferson said nothing, but his face was a trifle +grim, and he straightened himself wearily when one of the Spaniards rose +and moved into the light.</p> + +<p>"Señor," he said, with a little deprecatory gesture, "for ourselves we +others do not complain, but these men are very sick, and the medicines +of the Señor Austin do not make them better. One of them is my cousin, +another my wife's brother; and there are those in Las Palmas and Galdar +who depend on them. In a week, or, perhaps, a day or two, they die. +Something must be done."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>There was a faint approving murmur from the rest of the men. They had +worked well, but the excitement of the search for the gum was wearing +off, and the strain had commenced to tell. Jefferson smiled wryly as he +glanced at Austin.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better ask him what can be done?" he said.</p> + +<p>The Spaniard flung his arms up when Austin translated this. "Who knows?" +he said. "I am only an ignorant sailorman, and cannot tell; but when we +came here the Señor Austin promised us that we should have all that was +reasonable. It is not fitting that men should die and nothing be done to +save them."</p> + +<p>"I scarcely think it is," said Austin. "Still, how to set about the +thing is more than I know. It must be talked over. We may, perhaps, tell +you more to-morrow."</p> + +<p>He touched Jefferson's shoulder, and they went out of the forecastle and +towards the skipper's room silently. When they sat down Jefferson looked +hard at him.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said. "Two of them are your men."</p> + +<p>Austin made a little sign of comprehension. "I don't remember what I +promised them. I had trouble to get them, but I certainly told them the +place wasn't a healthy one. That, however, doesn't convey a very +sufficient impression to anybody who hasn't been here."</p> + +<p>"No," and Jefferson smiled grimly, "I don't quite think it does. The +point is that you feel yourself responsible to them, though I don't see +why you should. A man has to take his chances when he makes a bargain of +the kind they did."</p> + +<p>Austin stretched himself on the settee wearily, and lighted a cigarette. +He had been feeling unpleasantly limp of late, and his head and back +ached that night.</p> + +<p>"It's a little difficult to define what a bargain really<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> is," he said. +"Still, it seems to me that to make it a just one the contracting +parties should clearly understand, one what he is selling, and the other +what he is buying. In the case in question I knew what I was getting, +but I'm far from sure the Canarios quite realised what they might have +to part with."</p> + +<p>"That is not the business view."</p> + +<p>"I am willing to admit it. I, however, can't help fancying that there is +a certain responsibility attached to buying up men's lives for a few +dollars when they're under the impression that it's their labour they're +selling. In fact, it's one that is a little too big for me."</p> + +<p>Jefferson sat silent for almost a minute, looking at Austin, who met his +gaze steadily, with his eyes half closed.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "it isn't the usual view, but there's something to be +said for it. What d'you mean to do?"</p> + +<p>"Put the sick men on board the launch and run them out to sea on the +chance of picking up a West-coast liner, or—and it might suit just as +well—one of the new opposition boats. From what I gathered at Las +Palmas, the men who run them are, for the most part, rather a hard-up +crowd, and you're usually more likely to get a kindness done you by that +kind of people. We have nothing to pay their passage with, you see."</p> + +<p>"You might get one oil puncheon into the launch. Still, you have to +remember that men who go down with fever along shore often die, instead +of coming round, when they get out to sea."</p> + +<p>Austin smiled. "One would fancy that men who stay along shore when they +have fever, as these fellows have it, die invariably."</p> + +<p>Once more Jefferson sat silent a while, gazing at his comrade +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, with a little gesture, "I leave the thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> to you. +After all, it's quite likely that one's dollars aren't worth what you +lay out to get them, now and then, but that's certainly not the +question. The boat's not making the water I expected, but we haven't +found the gum, and engine room and after hold are still almost full. The +boiler, as you know, has two or three tubes blowing, and we have nothing +to stop them with. That means she's wasting half her steam, and as we +have to keep a full head for the pump and winch, the coal's just +melting. By the time we heave her off there will be very little left, +and I've no fancy for going to sea short of fuel and being picked up as +salvage. It's a point that has been worrying me lately."</p> + +<p>"There is coal to be had at Sierra Leone."</p> + +<p>"And there are a British Consul and Government authorities. You're +loaded down to the water's edge with Shipping Acts, and the <i>Cumbria</i>'s +still upon your register. Do you suppose they are going to let her out +again, as she is, if we once go in there?"</p> + +<p>Austin fancied it was scarcely likely. The requirements of the paternal +Board of Trade are, in fact, so onerous that English owners not +infrequently register their ships under another flag; while it occurred +to him that consul and surveyor would have a fit of indignant horror if +they saw how the enactments were complied with on board the <i>Cumbria</i>.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said Jefferson. "She's going straight across to Las Palmas +when she leaves this creek. That's Spanish, and a few dollars go a long +way in Spain. Besides, it's not quite certain that we'll leave the +creeks at all this season."</p> + +<p>Austin straightened himself suddenly. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Only that I'm not going home without the gum."</p> + +<p>There was a little silence, and during it Austin endeav<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>oured to adopt +an attitude of resignation. It was his belief that the <i>Cumbria</i> would +be floated, or the project given up, when the rains came, that had +animated him through the toil he had undertaken. Another month or two +would, he had expected, see the task accomplished; but now it might, it +seemed, continue indefinitely, and he shrank from the thought of a +longer sojourn in the land of shadow. Then, with a little effort, he +slowly raised his head.</p> + +<p>"To be candid, that is a good deal more than I counted on when I made +the bargain," he said. "Still, I can't well go back on it now. There is +coal to be had in Dakar, too, but it would cost a good deal to bring +even a schooner load here, though we could, per contra, load up oil in +her. Have you the money?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson drummed with his fingers upon the table. "That's the trouble. +I have a little left, but I'm not quite sure I could get it into my +hands without the mailing to and fro of signed papers."</p> + +<p>"Some of the West-coast mailboats call at Dakar. I might get the coal +and a schooner on a bond there. Of course, the people would want a heavy +profit under the circumstances."</p> + +<p>"Three or four times as much as they were entitled to, any way," and a +little glint crept into Jefferson's eyes. "Now, it's quite usual for the +man who does the work to be glad of the odd scraps the man with the +money flings him for his pains, but it's going to be different with this +contract. I haven't the least notion of working here to make the other +fellow rich. If we buy the coal it will be at the market value, cash +down. The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to get it."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin, slowly, "a means of raising it has occurred to me. +You see, as seems to have been the case with you, there is money in the +family, and ethically I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> really think a little of it belongs to me. It +is not—for several reasons—a pleasant thing to ask for it. In fact, I +fancied once I'd have starved before I did so, but it couldn't be harder +than what we have been doing here. One could cable to Las Palmas, and a +credit might be arranged by wire with one of the banking agencies +there."</p> + +<p>"Your people would let you have the money?"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed, a trifle harshly. "Not exactly out of good-will, but, if +I worded that cable cleverly, they might do it to keep me here. I don't +know how it is in your country, but in ours they're seldom very proud of +the poor relation. In fact, some of them would do a good deal to prevent +his turning up to worry them. I think there are occasions when a man is +almost warranted in levying contributions of the kind."</p> + +<p>Jefferson's eyes twinkled. "You are a curious, inconsequent kind of man. +You worry over those Spaniards who have no call on you, and then you +propose to bluff your own people out of their money."</p> + +<p>"If I had been one who always acted logically I should certainly not +have been here. As it is, I'll start to-morrow, and wire my kind +relations that, failing a draft for two hundred pounds, I'm coming home +in rags by the first steamer. I almost think they'll send the money."</p> + +<p>Jefferson stretched out a lean hand suddenly, and laid it on his +comrade's arm. "It's going to hurt you, but you can't get anything worth +while without that. You can send them back their money when we get her +off; but if you let anything stop you now you'll feel mean and sorry all +your life."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin, "I fancy I should. It's rather a pity, but one can't +always be particular. In the meanwhile, I'll see Tom about the launch."</p> + +<p>He went out, and, coming back half an hour later, threw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> himself down on +the settee, and was fast asleep when Jefferson, who had been busy about +the pump, came in and stood a moment looking down on him. Austin's face +was worn, and thinner than it had been when he reached the <i>Cumbria</i>; +the damp stood beaded on it, and his hair lay wet and lank upon his +pallid forehead.</p> + +<p>"I guess the raising of that money is going to be about the hardest +thing you ever did, but you'll do it," said Jefferson. "I've got the +kind of man I want for a partner."</p> + +<p>Austin, who did not hear him, slept on peacefully, and steamed away down +river early next morning; while it was late on the second night, and the +launch was out at sea, when he sat, very wearily, with his hand upon her +helm, looking out across the long, smooth undulations. A half-moon hung +low to the westward, and they came up, heaving in long succession from +under it, ebony black in the hollows, and flecked with blinks of silver +light upon their backs. Austin only saw the latter, for he was looking +into the dusky blueness of the east, though it was only by an effort he +kept himself awake. During the last few days a feeling of limp dejection +had been creeping over him.</p> + +<p>The launch was steaming slowly, with only a little drowsy gurgle about +her propeller as she swung and dipped to the swell, though she rolled +uneasily with the weight of the big oil puncheon high up in her. Bill, +the fireman, was crouched, half asleep, beside the clanking engine, and +two very sick men lay forward beneath a ragged tarpaulin. Though the +surf had been smoother than usual, Austin did not know how he had +brought them all out across the bar.</p> + +<p>There were many stars in the heavens, and by and by, as he blinked at +the soft darkness with aching eyes, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> saw one that seemed unusually +low down and moved a little. Then, shaking himself to attention, he made +out a dim glimmer of green, and became sensible of a faint throbbing +that crept softly out of the silence. He leaned forward and touched the +fireman.</p> + +<p>"Open her out," he said. "That's a steamboat coming, and it looks as if +she would go by well to the south."</p> + +<p>Bill pulled at a lever, the engine clanked faster, and the launch +commenced to rail more sharply as she lurched over the long undulations +with an increasing gurgle beneath her side. The sea was oily smooth, and +she rolled southwards fast; but the steamer's lights were rising high, +and the pounding of engines grew louder in a sharp crescendo, until they +could hear the black water frothing under iron bows. Then the launch's +whistle broke into a shrill scream. There was no answer, and Austin +turned to the fireman again.</p> + +<p>"Shake her up! There will not be another boat for a week!" he said.</p> + +<p>Bill pulled the lever over a little further, and stirred the furnace, +and the clanking grew louder, while the launch rolled more violently. +When she swung up, Austin saw a strip of dusky hull that swayed and +heaved in front of them, and then was suddenly lost to view again.</p> + +<p>"She's not one of the mailboats, anyway. They'd be lighted, saloon deck +and poop," he said. "It almost looks as if she would get away from us."</p> + +<p>Bill opened the whistle full, and left it screaming while he sprang up +on the side deck, a black figure holding high a strip of blazing waste. +Its red glare streaked the water, and the burning oil dripped from it in +a sparkling rain, while Austin felt his heart beat when the man flung it +down with an imprecation. Then a deep, vibratory blast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> came trembling +across the glimmering water, and he saw the piled-up foam fall away +beneath the big iron bows.</p> + +<p>"They've seen us," he said. "She's standing by."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the launch lay lurching beneath the steamer's high, +black side, while a man leaned out from her slanted bridge above, +looking down into her.</p> + +<p>"What d'you want?" he said. "I'm not going in for cargo unless it's +worth while. We're tolerably full this trip."</p> + +<p>"A passage," said Austin. "There are myself and two sick men. We're +going to Grand Canary."</p> + +<p>"What's the oil for?"</p> + +<p>"To cover the ticket."</p> + +<p>The skipper appeared to be gazing down at him in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen pounds' worth, at the most, for three men to Grand Canary! You +have good nerves," he said.</p> + +<p>"I can't go any further, and you see they're very sick."</p> + +<p>The skipper was understood to say that his ship was not a several +adjectived hospital, but Austin only smiled, for he was acquainted with +that kind of man, and aware that he was, at least, as likely to do him a +kindness as an elaborately got up mailboat's skipper.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "if you won't have us, I'll take them back and bury +them. It's tolerably sure to come to that. Two of us will not eat much, +any way, and we'll be quite content to sleep on deck."</p> + +<p>There was no answer for a moment, and then, as the bridge came slanting +down, the man who leaned out from it laughed.</p> + +<p>"It's a puncheon of oil to nothing, and I've been hard up myself," he +said. "The next thing is, how the devil are you going to get them up? +We've stowed away our ladder."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>"Then it'll have to be a sling. I'll steady them up when she rises, and +some of your crowd can hand them in."</p> + +<p>It was done with difficulty, for the steamer rolled with a disconcerting +swing, and then Austin grasped Bill's hand before he went up the rope. A +gong clanged sharply, the launch slid astern, and several seamen carried +the two bundles of foul blankets away. While Austin watched them +vacantly a hand fell upon his shoulder, and propelled him into a room +beneath the bridge. Then he heard a harsh voice:</p> + +<p>"There isn't any factory I'm acquainted with hereabouts. Where d'you get +that oil from?" it said.</p> + +<p>Austin sat down on the settee and blinked at the burly, hard-faced man +in front of him.</p> + +<p>"I don't know if you'll be astonished, but we really came by it +legitimately," he said. "In fact, we got it out of a stranded +steamer—one we're endeavouring to heave off, you see."</p> + +<p>The skipper smiled as comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Then you're +one of the —— fools who bought the <i>Cumbria</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I am. Still, I'm not sure that your opinion of us is quite warranted +yet. If it isn't, you'll get more than the one puncheon for taking us +across. In the meanwhile, I'm a little anxious about those men."</p> + +<p>"They're all right. Pills will see to them. We have one. He probably +killed somebody by accident, or did something of that kind, or he +wouldn't be here. Directors had a notion we might pick up a few +passengers. They, however, prefer the liners."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed, and the skipper's eyes slowly twinkled. "The fact is, I +don't blame them," he said. "Any way, you will lie down here until they +get you a room in the poop ready."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>He went out, and an hour or two later Austin was roused by a touch from +a fitful sleep. A young man who stooped over him was regarding him +intently.</p> + +<p>"Put that in your mouth?" he said.</p> + +<p>Austin slipped the little glass tube between his lips, and the doctor +nodded when he passed it back to him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "you have a very promising case of fever coming on. Get +up and lean on me; the sooner we pack you between the blankets the +better."</p> + +<p>Austin rose unsteadily, and found that he had some difficulty in walking +when they went out upon the slanting deck. He was quite sure of that, +but everything else that he did, or was done to him, during the next few +days, was wrapped in obscurity. Still, he had a hazy notion of the +doctor and another man half dragging him into a little room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT</span></h2> + + +<p>It was fifteen days after he boarded the steamer when Austin reached Las +Palmas in a condition which, at least, prevented him chafing at the +delay as he otherwise would have done. On the second day something went +wrong with the high-pressure engine, and the little, deep-loaded vessel +lay rolling idly athwart the swell, while her engineers dismantled and +re-erected it. Then the trouble they had already had with the condenser +became more acute, so that they would scarcely keep a vacuum, and it +also happened that the trade-breeze she had to steam against blew +unusually fresh that season.</p> + +<p>Austin, however, was not aware of this at the time. He lay rambling +incoherently for several days, and when at last his senses came back to +him, found himself too weak and listless to trouble about anything. He +gained strength rapidly, for the swamp fever does not, as a rule, keep +its victim prostrate long. It either kills him without loss of time, or +allows him to escape for a season; but its effect is frequently mental +as well as physical, and Austin's listlessness remained. He had borne a +heavy strain, and when he went ashore at Las Palmas the inevitable +reaction was intensified by the black dejection the fever had left +behind. It seemed to him that he and Jefferson were only wasting their +efforts, and though he still meant to go on with them, he expected no +result, since he now felt that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> there was not the slightest probability +of their ever getting the <i>Cumbria</i> off. It was a somewhat unusual mood +for a young Englishman to find himself in, though by no means an +incomprehensible one in case of a man badly shaken by the malaria fever, +while one of Austin's shortcomings was, or so, at least, Jacinta Brown +considered, a too complaisant adaptation of himself to circumstances. +She held the belief that when the latter were unpropitious, a determined +attempt to alter them was much more commendable, and not infrequently +successful.</p> + +<p>In any case, Austin found Pancho Brown was away buying tomatoes when he +called at his office, and the Spanish clerk also informed him that Miss +Brown and Mrs. Hatherly had left Las Palmas for a while. He fancied they +had gone to Madeira, but was not certain, and Austin, who left him a +message for Brown and a letter Jefferson had charged him with to be +forwarded to Miss Gascoyne, went on to the telegraph office more +dejected than ever. Jacinta had, usually, a bracing effect upon those +she came into contact with, and Austin, who felt he needed a mental +stimulant, realised now that one of the things that had sustained him +was the expectation of hearing her express her approval of what he had +done. He had not looked for anything more, but it seemed that he must +also dispense with this consolation.</p> + +<p>He delivered one of the canarios, who was apparently recovering, to his +friends, and saw the other bestowed in the hospital, and then, finding +that he could not loiter about Las Palmas waiting an answer to his +cable, which he did not expect for several days, decided to go across to +Teneriffe with the <i>Estremedura</i>. There was no difficulty about this, +though funds were scanty, for the Spanish manager told him he could make +himself at home on board her as long as he liked, if he would instruct +the new sobrecargo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> in his duties, as he, it appeared, had some +difficulty in understanding them.</p> + +<p>On the night they went to sea he lay upon the settee in the engineers' +mess-room, with Macallister sitting opposite him, and a basket of white +grapes and a garafon of red wine on the table between them. Port and +door were wide open, and the trade-breeze swept through the room, fresh, +and delightfully cool. Austin had also an unusually good cigar in his +hand, and stretched himself on the settee with a little sigh of content +when he had recounted what they had done on board the <i>Cumbria</i>.</p> + +<p>"I don't know if we'll ever get her off, and the astonishing thing is, +that since I had the fever I don't seem to care," he said. "In the +meanwhile, it's a relief to get away from her. In fact, I feel I would +like to lie here and take it easy for at least a year."</p> + +<p>Macallister nodded comprehendingly. Austin's face was blanched and +hollow, and he was very thin, while the stamp of weariness and lassitude +was plain on him. Still, as he glanced in his direction a little sparkle +crept into the engineer's eyes.</p> + +<p>"So Jefferson made the pump go, and ran the forehold dry!" he said. +"When ye come to think of it, yon is an ingenious man."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed. "He is also, in some respects, an astonishing one. He +was perfectly at home among the smart people at the Catalina, and I +fancy he would have been equally so in the Bowery, whose inhabitants, +one understands, very much resemble in their manners those of your +Glasgow closes or Edinburgh wynds. In fact, I've wondered, now and then, +if Miss Gascoyne quite realises who she is going to marry. There are +several sides to Jefferson's character, and she has, so far, only seen +one of them."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Macallister, reflectively, "I'm thinking she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> will never +see the rest. There are men, though they're no exactly plentiful, who +can hide them, and it's scarcely likely that Jefferson will rive a +steamboat out of the African swamps again."</p> + +<p>"Once is quite enough in a lifetime, but it's when the work is done, and +he has to quiet down, I foresee trouble for Jefferson. I'm not sure Miss +Gascoyne's English friends would altogether appreciate him."</p> + +<p>Again Macallister nodded. "Still," he said, "what yon man does not know +he will learn. I would back him to do anything now he has made that +boiler steam. Then ye will mind it's no the clever women who are the +easiest to live with when ye have married them, and there's a good deal +to be said for girls like Miss Gascoyne, who do not see too much. It is +convenient that a wife should be content with her husband, and not be +wanting to change him into somebody else, which is a thing I would not +stand at any price myself."</p> + +<p>Austin grinned, for it was known that Macallister had, at least now and +then, found it advisable to entertain his friends on board the +<i>Estremedura</i> by stealth. The engineer however, did not appear to notice +his smile.</p> + +<p>"Ye will go back when ye get the money?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Of course. I have to see the thing out now, though I don't quite +understand how I ever came to trouble myself about it in the first +place."</p> + +<p>This time it was Macallister who grinned. "I have been in this world a +weary while, and would ye pull the wool over my eyes? Ye are aware that +the notion was driven into ye."</p> + +<p>Austin was astonished, and a trifle annoyed, as he remembered a certain +very similar conversation he had had with Jefferson. It was +disconcerting to find that Macallister was as conversant with his +affairs as his partner had shown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> himself to be, especially as they had +both apparently drawn the same inference.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what made you say that?" he asked, with lifted brows.</p> + +<p>Macallister laughed. "Well," he said drily, "I'm thinking Miss Brown +knows, as well as I do, that ye would not have gone of your own accord."</p> + +<p>"Why should Miss Brown have the slightest wish that I should go to +Africa?"</p> + +<p>"If ye do not know, how could ye expect me to? Still, it should be plain +to ye that it was not for your health."</p> + +<p>Austin raised himself a trifle, and looked at his comrade steadily. "The +drift of your remarks is tolerably clear. Any way, because I would +sooner you made no more of them, it might be as well to point out that +no girl who cared twopence about a man would send him to the swamps +where the <i>Cumbria</i> is lying."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she would not. There are things I do not know, but ye will mind +that Jacinta Brown is not made on quite the same model as Miss Gascoyne. +She sees a good deal, and if she was not content with her husband she +would up and alter him. I'm thinking it would not matter if it hurt the +pair o' them."</p> + +<p>"The difficulty is that she hasn't got one."</p> + +<p>Macallister laughed softly. "It's one that can be got over, though +Jacinta's particular. It's not everybody who would suit her. Ye are +still wondering why ye went to Africa?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin, with a trace of grimness. "I don't think it's worth +while. Mind, I'm not admitting that I didn't go because the notion +pleased me, and if Miss Brown wished me to, it was certainly because of +Muriel Gascoyne."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Macallister, with a little incredulous smile. He rose, +and, moving towards the doorway, turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> again. "She might tell ye +herself to-morrow. She's now in Santa Cruz."</p> + +<p>He went out, apparently chuckling over something, and Austin +thoughtfully smoked out his cigar. To be a friend of Jacinta Brown's +was, as he had realised already, a somewhat serious thing. It implied +that one must adopt her point of view, and, what was more difficult, to +some extent, at least, sink his own individuality. Macallister and +Jefferson were, he fancied, perhaps right upon one point, and that was +that Jacinta had decided that a little strenuous action might be +beneficial in his case; but if this was so, Austin was not sure that he +was grateful to her. He was willing to do anything that would afford her +pleasure, that was, so long as he could feel she would gain anything +tangible, if it was only the satisfaction of seeing Muriel Gascoyne made +happy through his endeavours. In fact, what he wished was to do her a +definite service, but the notion of being reformed, as it were, against +his wishes, when he was not sure that he needed it, did not please him. +This was carrying a friendly interest considerably too far, and it was +quite certain, he thought, that he could expect nothing more from her. +He almost wished that he had never seen her, which was a desire he had +hovered on the brink of before; but while he considered the matter the +trade-breeze was sighing through the port, and the engines throbbed on +drowsily, while from outside came the hiss and gurgle of parted seas. +Austin heard it all, until the sounds grew fainter, and he went to +sleep.</p> + +<p>It also happened that while he slept and dreamed of her, Jacinta sat +with Muriel Gascoyne in the garden of a certain hotel on the hillside +above Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. The house had been built long ago, +evidently for a Spanish gentleman of means and taste, and its latest +proprietor had sufficient sense to attempt no improvement on its +old-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>world beauty. It stood on a terrace of the hillside, quiet, quaint, +and cool, with its ancient, bronze-railed balconies, red-tiled roof, and +pink-washed walls, but its garden of palms and oleanders was its +greatest charm.</p> + +<p>On the night in question a full moon hung over the Cañadas' splintered +rampart, and its soft radiance fell upon the white-walled city and smote +a track of glittering silver across the vast plain of sea. The smell of +oleanders and heliotrope was heavy in the air, and a cluster of blossoms +swayed above Jacinta's shoulder. She was just then looking up at a +Spanish officer in dark green uniform, who stood close by, with sword +girt tight to his thigh. He had a dark, forceful face, with the stamp of +distinction on it, but he received no encouragement, though he glanced +at the vacant place on the stone bench suggestively.</p> + +<p>"No," said Jacinta. "I do not think I shall go to-morrow, so you need +not call for me. I have scrambled through the Mercedes Wood several +times already, and we came here to be quiet. That is why we are sitting +outside to-night. There are two or three tiresome people in the house +who will insist upon talking."</p> + +<p>It is seldom necessary to furnish a Spaniard, who is usually skilled in +innuendo, with a second hint, and the officer took his departure +gracefully. When he vanished, with jingling sword, into the shadow of +the palms, Muriel looked at her companion.</p> + +<p>"You meant me to stay?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jacinta. "Still, I didn't mean you to let him see that +I did, and I really did not kick you very hard. Any way, it doesn't +matter. The great thing is that he is gone."</p> + +<p>"You were anxious that he should go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jacinta. "I feel relieved now. He is, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> some respects, a +very silly man. In fact, he has been wanting to marry me for ever so +long."</p> + +<p>"Why?" said Muriel, and stopped abruptly. "Of course, I mean that he is +a Spaniard, you know."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed, and apparently indicated herself by a little wave of +her fan. She was once more attired in an evening dress that appeared to +consist largely of black lace, and looked curiously dainty and +sylph-like in the diaphanous drapery. The moonlight was also on her +face.</p> + +<p>"The reason," she said, "ought to be sufficiently plain. He is, as you +point out, certainly Spanish, but there really are a few estimable +gentlemen of that nationality. This one was Governor or Commandante in +some part of Cuba, and I believe he got comparatively rich there. They +usually do. Still, he's a little fond of the casino, and is reported to +be unlucky, while, in spite of my obvious disadvantages, I am the +daughter of Pancho Brown."</p> + +<p>She stopped with another laugh that had a faintly suggestive ring in it. +"There are times when I wish I was somebody else who hadn't a penny!"</p> + +<p>"But it can't be nice to be poor," said Muriel, looking at her with a +trace of bewilderment in her big blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"It is probably distinctly unpleasant. Still, it would be consoling to +feel that your money could neither encourage nor prevent anybody you +liked falling in love with you, and it would, in one sense, be nice to +know that the man you graciously approved of would have to get whatever +you wanted for you. You ought to understand that."</p> + +<p>There was a trace of pride in Muriel's smile. "Of course; but, after +all, there are not many men who can do almost anything, like—Harry +Jefferson. Some of the very nicest ones seem quite unable to make +money."</p> + +<p>"I really don't think there are," and Jacinta's tone was, for no very +apparent reason, slightly different now. "The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> nicest ones are, as you +suggest, usually lazy. It's sad, but true. Still, you see, if ever I +married, my husband would have to shake off his slothfulness and do +something worth while."</p> + +<p>"But he mightn't want to."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jacinta, drily. "He probably wouldn't. Still, he would +have to. I should make him."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Muriel. "Do you know that you are just a little hard, and I +think when one is too hard one is generally sorry afterwards. Now, I +don't understand it all, but you once told me you had got something you +wished for done, and were sorry you had. I fancied you were even sorrier +than you wished me to know."</p> + +<p>Jacinta sat silent a moment or two, with a curious expression in her +face, as she looked out across the clustered roofs towards the sparkling +sea. It was a custom she had fallen into lately, and it was always +towards the east she gazed. Then she smiled.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "perhaps I was, but it was certainly very silly of +me."</p> + +<p>Neither of them spoke again for a while, and by and by a man came out of +the house bearing an envelope upon a tray. Jacinta tore it open, and +Muriel saw the blood surge to her face as she spread out the telegraphic +message. Then the swift colour faded, and there was only a little angry +glint in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's from my father, and good news for you," she said. "Tell Muriel +Austin was here. Salvage operations difficult, but he left Jefferson, +who expects to be successful, well. Forwarding letter."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Muriel, with a little gasp, "you don't know what a relief +that is to me. But you seem almost angry."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed a trifle harshly. "I almost think I am. It isn't exactly +pleasant to find one's self mistaken, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> I had expected something +better from Mr. Austin. The difficulties he mentions were evidently too +much for him. You were quite right, my dear. There are not many men like +Jefferson."</p> + +<p>Now Muriel Gascoyne had no very keen perceptions, and was, moreover, +wrapped up in her own and Jefferson's affairs, or she might have seen +that anger was not all that Jacinta was feeling. As it was, overcome by +the relief the message had brought her, she quite failed to notice the +pain in her companion's face or the quivering of her hands. In a minute +or two Jacinta, who waited until she fancied she could do so without it +appearing significant, rose and left her.</p> + +<p>She, however, stopped on the terrace, and once more looked down on the +glittering sea, with one hand closed at her side. Then, as though +remembering something, she turned hastily.</p> + +<p>"I could never have believed you were a coward—and you went out for +me!" she said, and moved towards the hotel with a little air of +resolution, as one who had made a painful decision.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">CONDEMNED UNHEARD</span></h2> + + +<p>A full moon hung over the white city, and the drowsy murmur of the surf +broke fitfully through the music of the artillery band when Austin sat +listlessly on a bench in the plaza of Santa Cruz. It was about eight +o'clock in the evening, and the plaza was crowded, as usual at that +hour. Peon and officer, merchant and clerk, paced slowly up and down, +enjoying the cool of the evening with their wives and daughters, or sat +in clusters outside the lighted cafés. The band was an excellent one, +the crowd gravely good-humoured, and picturesquely attired, for white +linen, pale-tinted draperies, sombre cloth, and green uniform formed +patches of kaleidoscopic colouring as the stream of humanity flowed by +under the glaring lamplight and the soft radiance of the moon.</p> + +<p>Austin had sat there often before he went to Africa, listening to the +music and watching the spectacle; but neither had any charm for him that +night. The laughter sounded hollow, the waltz the band was playing had +lost its swing, and the streams of light from the cafés hurt his eyes +and irritated him. The deep murmur of the sea alone was faintly +soothing, and remembering how often he had thought of that cool plaza, +with its lights and music, in the steamy blackness of the swamps, he +wondered vaguely what had happened to him. The zest and sparkle seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +to have gone out of life, and he did not attribute it to the fact that +the melancholia of the swamp belt was still upon him.</p> + +<p>He crossed the plaza, and sitting outside one of the cafés he had +frequented, asked for wine. It was brought him, chilled with snow from +the great peak's summit, but the greeting of the man who kept the café +seemed for once devoid of cordiality, and the wine sour and thin. Still, +the Spaniard stood a minute or two by his chair, and, as it happened, +Jacinta passed just then with a dark-faced Spanish officer. He wore an +exceedingly tight-fitting uniform, but he had a figure that carried it +well, and an unmistakable air of distinction. Jacinta was also smiling +at him, though she turned, and seemed to indicate somebody in the +vicinity with a little gesture. As she did so her eyes rested for a +moment upon Austin, who became for the first time unpleasantly conscious +of his haggard face and hard, scarred hands. There was, he realised, +nothing in the least distinguished about him. Then it was with a faint +sense of dismay he saw that Jacinta did not mean to recognise him, for +she laughed as she turned to her companion, and he heard the soft rustle +of her light draperies as they went on again.</p> + +<p>"That is the Colonel Sarramento?" he said, as carelessly as he could, +though there was a faint flush in his hollow face.</p> + +<p>"It is," said his companion. "Colonel in the military service, though he +has held other offices in Cuba. A man of ability, señor, and now it is +said that he will marry the English merchant's daughter. Why not? The +Señorita Brown is more Spanish than English, and she is certainly rich."</p> + +<p>"I don't know of any reason," said Austin listlessly, and the man turned +away. He had no wish to waste his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> time upon an Englishman who +apparently did not appreciate his conversation.</p> + +<p>Austin sat still a little while, indignation struggling with his +languor, for he was almost certain that Jacinta had seen him. He had +never flattered himself that she would regard him as anything more than +a friend who was occasionally useful, but he thought she might, at +least, have expressed her appreciation of his latest efforts, and he was +also a trifle puzzled. Jacinta, as a rule, would stop and speak to any +of the barefooted peons she was acquainted with, and he had never known +her to slight an acquaintance without a reason. It seemed only due to +her to make quite sure she had intentionally passed him without +recognition.</p> + +<p>He rose and strolled round the plaza until he met her again face to face +where a stream of garish light fell upon them both. She allowed her eyes +to rest upon him steadily, but it was the look she would have bestowed +on a stranger, and in another moment she had turned to the officer at +her side. Then a bevy of laughing tourists passed between and separated +them.</p> + +<p>After that Austin strolled round the plaza several times in a far from +amiable temper. He was stirred at last, and easy-going as he usually +was, there was in him a certain vein of combativeness which had been +shaken into activity in Africa. It was, he admitted, certainly Jacinta's +privilege to ignore him; but there were occasions on which +conventionalities might be disregarded, and he determined that she +should, at least, make him acquainted with her purpose in doing so. He +did not mean to question it, but to hear it was, he felt, no more than +his due.</p> + +<p>It was some time before he came upon her again, talking to a Spanish +lady, who, seeing him approaching with a suggestion of resolution in his +attitude, had sufficient sense to withdraw a pace or two and sign to +another com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>panion. Jacinta apparently recognised that he was not to be +put off this time, for she indicated the vacant chairs not far away with +a little wave of her fan, and when he drew one out for her sat down and +looked at him.</p> + +<p>"You are persistent," she said. "I am not sure that it was altogether +commendable taste."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed a trifle bitterly, for the pessimistic dejection the +fever leaves does not, as a rule, tend to amiability, and its victim, +while willing to admit that there is nothing worth worrying over, is apt +to make a very human display of temper on very small provocation.</p> + +<p>"One should not expect too much from a steamboat sobrecargo," he said. +"It is scarcely fair to compare him—for example—with a distinguished +Spanish officer."</p> + +<p>"I do not think you are improving matters," said Jacinta.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Austin drily, "I have, you see, just come from a land where +life is rather a grim affair, and one has no time to study its little +amenities. I am, in fact, quite willing to admit that I have left my +usual suavity behind me. Still, I don't think that should count. You +contrived to impress me with the fact that you preferred something more +vigorously brusque before I went out."</p> + +<p>Jacinta met his gaze directly with a little ominous sparkle in her eyes +and straightening brows. She had laid down her fan, and there was a cold +disdain in her face the man could not understand. It was unfortunate he +did not know how Pancho Brown had worded his message, for it contained +no intimation that he was going back to Africa.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity you didn't stay there," she said.</p> + +<p>Austin started a little. He did not see what she could mean, and the +speech appeared a trifle inhuman.</p> + +<p>"It would please me to think you haven't any clear no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>tion what those +swamps are like," he said. "One is, unfortunately, apt to stay there +altogether."</p> + +<p>"Which is a contingency you naturally wished to avoid? I congratulated +you upon your prudence once before. Still, you, at least, seemed quite +acquainted with the characteristics of the fever belt of Western Africa +when you went out. Your friends the mailboats' officers must have told +you. That being so, why did you go?"</p> + +<p>"A persistent dropping will, it is said, in time wear away considerably +harder material than I am composed of. Words are also, one could fancy, +even more efficacious than water in that respect."</p> + +<p>A trace of colour crept into Jacinta's face, and her brows grew +straighter. The lines of her slight form became more rigid, and she was +distinctly imperious in her anger.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I understand!" she said. "Well, I admit that I was the cause of +your going, and now you have come to reproach me for sending you. Well, +I will try to bear it, and if I do show any anger it will not be at what +you say, but at the fact that one who I to some extent believed in +should consider himself warranted in saying anything at all. No doubt, +you will not recognise the distinction, but in the meanwhile you haven't +quite answered my question. You were a free agent, after all, and I +could use no compulsion. Why did you go?"</p> + +<p>Austin's temper had grown no better during the interview, which was +unfortunate for him, because an angry man is usually at a disadvantage +in the presence of a woman whose indignation with him is largely +tempered by a chilling disdain.</p> + +<p>"That," he said, reflectively, "is a point upon which I cannot be quite +certain, though the whole thing was, naturally, in most respects a piece +of egregious folly. Still, your good opinion had its value to me, +especially as it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> very evident that I could never expect anything +more. A little brutal candour is, I think, admissible now and then."</p> + +<p>The colour had faded out of Jacinta's face, but the sparkle was a trifle +plainer in her eyes. "So you recognised that! Under the circumstances, +it was wise of you, though how far you were warranted in telling me is a +question we needn't go into now. It is a pity you ever went at all."</p> + +<p>"In one sense I almost think it is," said Austin, gazing at her +bewilderedly. "Still, there is a good deal I can't understand. I am in +the dark, you see."</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose I must try to make it clear to you. I am an essentially +practical person, and any ardour you possess has hitherto been qualified +by a very commendable discretion; but we are not very old, after all, +and there is, fortunately, something in most of us which is occasionally +stronger than the petty prudence we guide ourselves by. Now and then, as +you gracefully suggest, it leads us into folly, which we have, perhaps, +really no great reason to be sorry for. Well, for a little while you +shook off the practical and apparently aspired after the ideal. You went +out to Africa because you fancied it would please me, and it did. One +may admit that a thing of that kind appeals to a woman's vanity. Still, +of course, one could scarcely expect you to adhere to such a purpose. We +have grown too wise to indulge in unprofitable sentimentality, and our +knights errant do not come back upon their shields. They are practical +gentlemen, who appreciate the comfort of a whole skin."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you're confusing historical periods, and the times have +certainly changed. They now use an empty gun case in Western Africa, I +believe, and if they can't get that, any old blanket or piece of canvas +that happens to be available."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>"It should be a comfort to know that you need never anticipate anything +so unpleasant."</p> + +<p>This time the colour suffused Austin's pallid face. It was clear that +she was taunting him with cowardice in leaving Jefferson, and her +contempt appeared so wholly unreasonable that he would make no attempt +to vindicate himself. It did not appear likely to be successful in any +case, and the pessimistic bitterness the fever leaves was still upon +him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said quietly, "I had looked for a slightly different +reception; but it presumably isn't dignified to complain, especially +when it's evident it wouldn't do any good, while I scarcely think there +is anything to be gained by extending our conversation. You see, I am, +naturally, aware that my character is a somewhat indifferent one +already. You will, no doubt, excuse me?"</p> + +<p>Jacinta made him a little inclination over her lifted fan.</p> + +<p>"If you will tell the Señora Anasona yonder that I am waiting, I should +be much obliged," she said.</p> + +<p>It was five minutes later when Austin was admitted to the cable office +as a favour, and handed a despatch from a Las Palmas banking agency.</p> + +<p>"Your draft will be honoured to the extent of £200," it ran.</p> + +<p>He smiled grimly as he thrust it into his pocket, and, wandering round +the plaza again, came upon Muriel Gascoyne and Mrs. Hatherly sitting in +two of the chairs laid out in front of a hotel. He felt tempted to slip +by, but remembered that he had a duty to Jefferson. Mrs. Hatherly shook +hands with him, and though he fancied there was a restraint in her +cordiality, Muriel turned to him impulsively.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>"Tell me everything," she said. "The letter has not arrived."</p> + +<p>"There is a good deal of it," said Austin, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Then don't waste time."</p> + +<p>Austin roused himself with an effort. Her tense interest and her +simplicity, which, it seemed to him, had in it so much that was +admirable, appealed to him, and he determined that she, at least, should +know what Jefferson had done for her. The artistic temperament had also +its influence on him, and he made her and her companion see the steaming +swamps and feel the stress and strain of effort in the stifling hold, +while it was his pleasure that Jefferson should stalk, a lean, dominant +figure, through all the varied scenes. He felt, when he concluded, that +he had drawn those sombre pictures well, and it would be Jefferson's +fault if he did not henceforward pose before the girl's fancy as a +knightly hero of romance. There were, naturally, difficulties to be +overcome, for he recognised that she must be forced to comprehend that +chivalric purposes must, nowadays, be wrought out by most prosaic means, +and that the clash of the encounter occasionally leaves its mark upon a +man. Still, he saw that he had succeeded when the simple pride shone +through the moisture that gathered in the girl's big blue eyes, and he +was moved to sympathy when she rose with a little gasp.</p> + +<p>"I must tell Jacinta. I don't feel quite able to thank you, Mr. Austin; +but you will understand," she said.</p> + +<p>She left them, and Mrs. Hatherly turned and looked at Austin very +graciously.</p> + +<p>"So you are going back?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Austin. "There is a Spanish boat to Las Palmas +to-morrow, and nothing to keep me now I have got the money. I don't mind +admitting that the asking for it was harder than anything I did in +Africa."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>The little lady nodded, with a very kindly light in her eyes. "Yes," she +said, "I can understand that, but in one sense I am not exactly pleased. +Why didn't you come to me?"</p> + +<p>"It sounds very ungracious, madam, but I am already in your debt, and +one is naturally shy about asking favours of that kind from women. I +almost think there are special reasons why it should be so in my case."</p> + +<p>"That, presumably, means somebody has used you badly? Still, it really +isn't wise to generalise too freely, and you were once good enough to +promise that you would consider me as a friend of yours."</p> + +<p>"I could scarcely have fancied you were particularly friendly a little +while ago."</p> + +<p>The little lady smiled again. "I offer you my sincere apologies, Mr. +Austin. And now a question. Did you tell Jacinta what you have told us?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did not. To be candid, I hadn't the slightest +encouragement. Miss Brown made it quite clear to me that she hadn't a +trace of interest in any of my doings. In fact, she was kind enough to +suggest it was rather a pity I escaped the fever, and hadn't come back +upon my shield."</p> + +<p>"For which she will probably be distinctly annoyed with herself by and +by. I presume you must catch the Spanish steamer, Mr. Austin?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. After all, I shall be glad to get back. People are not so +very exacting in Africa, you see."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly nodded, though there was a twinkle in her eyes. "Well," +she said, "we will talk of something else in the meanwhile. I am alone +just now, and you cannot decently leave me."</p> + +<p>They discussed a good many things, and it seemed to Austin that his +companion meant to keep him there, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> was anxious to gain time. Still, +he could see no reason for it, and failed to understand her remark about +Jacinta, and he sat still with an effort until Muriel came back again. +She appeared a trifle vexed about something.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what has happened to Jacinta, but she wasn't in the least +sympathetic," she said. "She wouldn't even listen when I wanted to talk +about Harry and the <i>Cumbria</i>."</p> + +<p>"Where is she now?" asked Mrs. Hatherly.</p> + +<p>"With the Señora Anasona. They are going back to Laguna directly, though +she had, as you know, practically promised to stay with us to-night. The +señora, it seems, wants to drive her across to her finca at Orotava +to-morrow. It is very provoking."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly changed the subject, and it was a minute or two later when +she turned to Austin again.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is really necessary that you should cross to Las Palmas +to-morrow," she said casually. "Couldn't you get there in the +<i>Estremedura</i> before the West-coast boat sailed?"</p> + +<p>"There are several things I have to do which can't well be arranged +here."</p> + +<p>"You would insist on getting them all done, even if you knew it would +cost you something?"</p> + +<p>"I really think I should. You see, Jefferson and the others are +practically depending on me, and I daren't omit anything I want, +whatever trouble it might cause me, although, as a matter of fact, I +don't anticipate any, and it will be rather a relief to get away."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "Well, I suppose that is only what one would +expect from you. Muriel, will you tell Jacinta that she has not shown me +the lace she mentioned, and as I think I'll get the woman at Laguna to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +make me some, I want to see it before she goes away. I shall have to +keep you another few minutes, Mr. Austin."</p> + +<p>Muriel disappeared into the crowd, and it was a little time before she +came back again.</p> + +<p>"Jacinta has just driven off with the señora," she said. "I can't quite +understand why she didn't come to say good-bye."</p> + +<p>Austin smiled drily. "I think I could guess her reason."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly rose and held out her hand. "If you can come and see us +to-morrow, please do so," she said. "If not, you will remember now that +whatever happens I am one of your friends."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to do so, madam," and Austin made her a little +inclination. "Good friends are scarce, and there are apparently not many +people who believe in me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE</span></h2> + + +<p>It was in the heat of the afternoon Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel drove into +old-world Laguna, which stands high upon the hill slopes above Santa +Cruz. It was built four hundred years ago, and remains but little +changed, for its early prosperity ebbed away with the trade in the once +famous vintages of Canary, so that it stood until a few years ago with +the grass in its streets, a place of drowsy stillness, picturesque in +its decay, cool, and by no means over clean. Beneath it the hillside +drops, dusty and sun-scorched, to the sea; but on the plateau behind it +are fields of tall sugar-cane, walnuts, eucalyptus, and vines, beyond +which again the shoulders of the great peak are seamed by straggling +pines. Still, when Mrs. Hatherly drove into it, Laguna was once more +awakening, for the British tourist had arrived, with his wife and +daughters, in blue veils and inartistic raiment that roused the +peasants' wonder, besides cameras, and baggage by the carriage load; and +when the tourist comes, quietness and the dignified simplicity of olden +Spain melt before him.</p> + +<p>The Señora Anasona, with whom Jacinta was then residing, however, +belonged to the ancient order, and she had also placed herself and all +her possessions at Mrs. Hatherly's disposal. The latter had already +discovered that to be a friend of Jacinta's counted for a good deal in +those islands. It secured one consideration in unexpected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> places, and +opened doors at which the tweed-clad tourists' wives might knock in +vain. The Castilian is somewhat behind the times, and, perhaps because +he is seldom troubled with much of it, attaches rather less importance +than some other people do to the possession of money. Muriel, however, +was not certain why her aunt had undertaken that hot and dusty drive, +although she had informed her that if there was a comfortable hotel in +Laguna she might stay there a day or two, because she was not sure that +Santa Cruz suited her, and she had been troubled with certain +premonitory twinges in one shoulder.</p> + +<p>In any case, she faced the scorching sun uncomplainingly, and arriving +at last before an iron-bound door in a blank white wall, was led through +an ill-kept garden, where flowers rioted, a chaos of blazing colour, at +their will, into a big, cool house, which seemed filled with slumbrous +quietness. She was received by a very reposeful lady of middle age in +inconveniently tight-fitting black silk, with the powder thick upon her +pallid face. The Señora Anasona was, as is usual with Spanish women who +have passed their third decade, somnolent in expression, and portly; but +though they could only muster a very little indifferent French between +them, she promptly set her guests at ease.</p> + +<p>"This poor house and all there is in it are yours," she said. "The +friends of the Señorita Jacinta are also mine. Since you have known this +for some time, why have you stayed away so long?"</p> + +<p>It was the usual conventional formula in Spain, but there was a certain +stately graciousness in her gesture which Mrs. Hatherly had never seen +quite equalled before. The latter attempted an appropriate reply in +French, and then inquired for Jacinta, whereupon her hostess smiled.</p> + +<p>"She is in the patio, and, perhaps, asleep," she said. "If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> not, it is +likely that she will come in. I do not know. One does what one pleases +always in this house of mine, and here one usually sleeps by the +afternoon. What would you? It is a custom of the country, and there is +nothing else to do. One can dream of the times when it was different +with us and Spain."</p> + +<p>"One could fancy in this island that those days have not altogether +passed away, or, at least, that they had left something behind," said +Mrs. Hatherly. "One sees it in even your peons' courtesy, and the +modesty of the women."</p> + +<p>"You did not feel that in Las Palmas?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "I don't think I did."</p> + +<p>The señora laughed. "Las Palmas is not Spanish now, my friend. They have +coal wharves and harbour works, and heap up the pesetas there. There +are, however, things we others would not exchange for silver. This +house, for example. An Englishman would buy it and make it an hotel."</p> + +<p>"Of course, you would not sell it him?"</p> + +<p>The señora shook her head. "It is not mine," she said. "It belongs to +the Anasonas who are dead. One of them built it four hundred years ago, +and one of them has lived here always, until my husband, Colonel of +Cazadores, died in Cuba. Now I live alone, and remember, until by and by +my nephew comes here after me. The past is all we have in Spain, but one +feels that, after all, it may be worth more than the present—when one +goes to Las Palmas."</p> + +<p>Then a maid brought in a basket of grapes and a little wine, and it was +some time later when the señora turned to Muriel.</p> + +<p>"It seems that Jacinta is not coming in," she said. "Perhaps she would +sooner see you alone in the patio. I do not know. Jacinta does not care +about the conventions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> She does what pleases her, and it is also very +often the right thing. One descends from the veranda outside that +window."</p> + +<p>Muriel smiled as she went out, for she was acquainted with Jacinta's +habits, and was beginning to comprehend the customs of the land she +lived in, where time is not considered, and it is always drowsy +afternoon. Then, though she was not an imaginative person, she trod +softly as she went down the steps to the patio, for the influence of the +place laid hold on her. The little white town lay silent under the +cloudless heavens, and had there been any movement of busy life there, +which very seldom happened, the high white walls of the garden would +have shut out the sound. The house was also built round the patio in a +hollow square, and interposed a double barrier between the outer world +and that space of flowers.</p> + +<p>Over it hung bronze-railed balconies, and quaint verandas with old +carved pillars and rich trellises smothered in purple bougainvilla, +while there were oleanders and heavy scented heliotrope in the little +square below. A fountain twinkled in the midst of it, and fat goldfish +from Palma swam slowly round its marble basin; but all was old, +artistic, ill cared for, and steeped in a silence which seemed filled +with the reminiscences of bygone years. Even Jacinta, who lay in a big +cane chair near the fountain, appeared in keeping with the atmosphere of +the place, for she was dressed in gauzy Castilian black, which added a +suggestion of old-fashioned stateliness to her somewhat slender figure, +and an ebony fan of a kind not made nowadays lay across an open book she +had apparently been reading. She looked up with a little smile when she +saw Muriel, and languidly pointed to the canvas lounge beside her.</p> + +<p>"It's comfortable, and I think it's strong," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> "Any way, the +señora regularly goes to sleep in it. I brought the lounges with me, +because they don't have such things in Spain. I shall probably leave +them here, and if they break down with the señora it is quite certain +nobody will ever think of mending them. One folds one's hands and says +that it doesn't matter at Laguna. You will begin to understand it if you +stay here."</p> + +<p>Muriel laughed. "It's often a little hard to tell what you mean," she +said. "You have been reading?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Prescott's history of the Spanish occupation of Mexico—you will, +no doubt, be astonished at that?"</p> + +<p>"I am. Still, I have read it, too."</p> + +<p>Jacinta smiled as she unfolded her fan. "I have my moments of +relaxation, and can be sentimental now and then. Sentiment, you see, is +in the atmosphere here. One feels mediæval, as if all the old things of +the olden days had come back again, miracles, and crowned virgins that +fell from the clouds, valour and knightliness, and man's faith in woman. +No doubt there were more, but I don't remember them. They have, of +course, gone out of fashion long ago."</p> + +<p>She spoke lightly, but there was a trace of bitterness in her voice that +Muriel noticed.</p> + +<p>"One doesn't find that atmosphere in the book. The men who went with +Cortez were cruel as well as brutal."</p> + +<p>"They certainly seem to have been so, which is one reason why they +interest me. You see, the Spaniards seized these islands a little before +they discovered Cuba, and I wanted to find out what the men who built +these beautiful homes here were really like when they had work on hand. +As one would have fancied, the grave, ceremonious Don who posed as a +most punctilious gentleman at home became a very different kind of +person when he went to Mexico. The original Adam showed up there. It's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +a useful lesson to any one silly enough to idealise the man she is going +to marry."</p> + +<p>Muriel flushed a little. "I think I know what you mean. Mr. Austin tried +to convey the same impression when he told me what they were doing on +board the <i>Cumbria</i>. Still, he went a good deal further than you do. He +made me understand that, though there are things that could only be done +rudely and almost brutally, it was often only what was ideal in the men +who did them that sent them to the work at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jacinta drily. "I fancy he would do it rather well. Mr. +Austin is not much of an artist, and would never be a great one; but he +has the capacity of understanding, or, perhaps, I should say imagining +things. Still, the pity is that he usually stops there. He doesn't want +to do them, and though he once very rashly tried, he was not long in +discovering that the work was a good deal too hard for him. I really +think you should be glad there is a trace of primitive—we'll be candid, +and call it brutality—in Harry Jefferson."</p> + +<p>Again the colour showed in Muriel's face. "It isn't," she said. "It's +only natural forcefulness; but we needn't go into that. I wonder why you +are so angry with Mr. Austin?"</p> + +<p>"Angry?" and Jacinta raised her brows. "Oh, dear no! Still, there are +points on which he did not quite come up to my expectations, and after +the admonitions I have wasted on him I feel a little annoyed with him."</p> + +<p>"Still, isn't that a trifle unreasonable? What could he have done that +he hasn't done? He was ill and worn out, but he wouldn't even stay a day +after he got the money."</p> + +<p>"What money?" and there was a sharp insistency in Jacinta's tone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>"The money to buy the coal with. They found they hadn't enough, you +know."</p> + +<p>"I don't."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Muriel, "it is really your own fault. You wouldn't let me +tell you about it in the plaza. Mr. Austin had to borrow the money from +his English relatives, though I think it hurt him horribly to ask them. +When he found they would send it he had to catch the first African +steamer."</p> + +<p>Jacinta straightened herself suddenly, and gazed at Muriel with +astonishment and dismay in her face.</p> + +<p>"So he meant to go back all the time?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Muriel, and Jacinta, sitting back again, sat very +still, though her companion noticed that one hand had closed tightly on +her fan.</p> + +<p>"When was he to go?" she asked, with a curious quietness.</p> + +<p>"In a day or two. He is in Las Palmas now."</p> + +<p>Then there was a curious silence for almost a minute, and Jacinta, who +could not rouse herself to break it, was glad to see that Muriel had +evidently not remembered that her only information about Austin's doings +was that contained in her father's message. There was no sound but the +soft splashing of the fountain, and Jacinta found the stillness becoming +intolerable. It was a relief when Muriel, who felt that her company was +not appreciated, rose.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the señora will expect me to go back," she said. "Are you +coming?"</p> + +<p>"I am not," said Jacinta. "I have no doubt your aunt will come out to +see me presently."</p> + +<p>Muriel looked a little puzzled. "You will not mind my going?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," and Jacinta laughed somewhat curi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>ously. "I have, as +you see, a work on Mexico to keep me company."</p> + +<p>Muriel left her, and she lay still in the chair listening to the +fountain and gazing straight in front of her, until Mrs. Hatherly came +down the veranda stairs alone half an hour later. She sat down and +looked at Jacinta steadily.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know why I have come to Laguna to-day?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jacinta quietly. "Still, I hadn't the faintest notion a +little while ago. I shall try to bear anything you may think fit to say +to me. Mr. Austin, I understand, is a friend of yours."</p> + +<p>The little lady smiled, for she saw that Jacinta was clever enough to +make no excuses, and she appreciated her candour as well as her good +sense.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "I want you to tell me why you sent him to Africa."</p> + +<p>"For one thing, because Muriel was once very kind to me. Mr. Jefferson +was down with fever, and I fancied that, in any case, he could do a good +deal more with a comrade there. Still, that was not all. There were +other reasons."</p> + +<p>"Naturally. It is gratifying to discover how far a man's devotion will +carry him."</p> + +<p>A little flash crept into Jacinta's eyes, but it faded again. "I suppose +I deserve that, but you are wrong. It wasn't to soothe my vanity."</p> + +<p>"No?" and there was a suggestion of incredulity in Mrs. Hatherly's +smile. "Still, one may be excused for pointing out that it really looks +very like it."</p> + +<p>Jacinta made a little movement with her fan. "You can't think worse of +me than I do of myself; but I scarcely fancy I did wrong in sending him. +He was wasting his life here, and I thought I knew what there was in +him. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> wanted to rouse it—to waken him. You see, I am talking very +frankly."</p> + +<p>"In that case it must have cost you something to send him to Africa?"</p> + +<p>The colour showed plainly in Jacinta's face. "I think that is another +question. One, too, which you could scarcely expect me to answer you."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it was not very delicate," and Mrs. Hatherly's eyes grew +gentler. "Still, didn't you feel that you were presumptuous?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; but I have always done what pleased me, and made others do +it, too. It usually turned out well, you know. I have, however, come to +grief this time, and it would almost be a relief if somebody would shake +me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I fancy the feeling will do you good. Still, if +you were right in sending Mr. Austin out, it is just a little +incomprehensible."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't know how I treated him?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "At least, not exactly. He only admitted that +you did not seem very pleased to see him. Still, I am an old woman, and +that naturally conveyed a good deal to me. Perhaps you do deserve +shaking, but I want to be kind."</p> + +<p>Jacinta turned to her with the colour in her cheeks and a haziness in +her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I taunted him with being a coward and finding the work too hard for +him. The man was ill and jaded, but I had no mercy on him. He said +nothing; he never told me he was going back. How was I to know? The +night my father's message came I felt I could have struck him. If I had +done so, he would probably not have felt it half so much as the +bitterness I heaped upon him."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "It was, perhaps, natural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> under the +circumstances, but there is a good deal that you are responsible for."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by under the circumstances?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I have not the slightest doubt that you quite +understand, my dear. The question, however, is how you are going to set +it right?"</p> + +<p>Jacinta shivered a little. The colour had already ebbed from her face, +which was a trifle more pallid than usual.</p> + +<p>"It is a thing I may never be able to do," she said. "That is what makes +it so hard. You see, a good many men go out to Africa, and so few come +back again. If it hadn't been for that I don't think I should have +admitted what I have done, but I feel I must have somebody's +comprehension—if I can't expect sympathy."</p> + +<p>"You have mine, my dear," and Mrs. Hatherly laid a beautiful thin hand +gently upon her arm. "Besides, I think Mr. Austin will understand how it +came about when he goes back to Africa."</p> + +<p>Jacinta straightened herself slowly. "Well," she said, "that may happen, +and in any case I know that I sent him, and he was glad to go."</p> + +<p>She met the little lady's sympathetic gaze steadily. "Still, that is so +very little, after all."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hatherly smiled reassuringly. "My dear," she said, "I think you do +not quite understand all that man is yet. In spite of the climate he and +his comrade are going to be successful."</p> + +<p>Then she turned, and Jacinta rose, for the Señora Anasona and Muriel +were coming down the stairway.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE PICTURES</span></h2> + + +<p>Austin had been gone a fortnight when Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat +under the lee of the <i>Estremedura</i>'s deck-house one morning, on their +way to Las Palmas. Above them the mastheads swung languidly athwart a +cloudless sweep of blue, and the sea frothed in white incandescence +about the lurching hull below as the little yacht-like steamer reeled +eastwards with a rainbow in the spray that whirled about her bows. +Astern of her the Peak's white cone gleamed above its wrappings of +fleecy mist, and ahead on the far horizon Grand Canary swam a purple +cloud.</p> + +<p>Jacinta was dressed ornately in the latest English mode, and it seemed +to Muriel that she had put on conventional frivolity along with her +attire. Indeed, Muriel had noticed a change in her companion during the +last few days, one that was marked by outbreaks of flippancy and +somewhat ironical humour. An English naval officer leaned upon the back +of her chair, and a tourist of the same nationality stood balancing +himself against the rolling with his hand on the rail that ran along the +deck-house. The latter was looking down at Macallister, who sat upon the +deck with a little box in front of him.</p> + +<p>"I brought up the two or three sketches ye were asking for, Mr. +Coulstin," he said. "The saloon's full of jabbering Spaniards, and the +messroom's over hot."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>The tourist screwed the glass he wore more tightly into his eye. "If +they're equal to the one I saw in the N. W. A. store I may be open to +make a purchase," he said. "I think you told me you were acquainted with +the artist, Miss Brown?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I did," said Jacinta, who was conscious that Macallister was +watching her languidly. "You will, however, no doubt be able to judge +his pictures for yourself."</p> + +<p>Coulston made a little humourous gesture. "I am not a painter, and I +could scarcely venture to call myself a connoisseur. Still, I buy a +picture or two occasionally, and the one I mentioned rather took my +fancy. A sketch or two of that kind would make a pleasant memento."</p> + +<p>"One would fancy that a good photograph would be more reliable, as well +as cheaper," said the naval officer.</p> + +<p>Coulston reproachfully shook his head. "I'm afraid we differ there," he +said. "Leaving out the question of colour, a photograph is necessarily +an artificial thing. It wants life and atmosphere, and you can never put +that into a picture by a mechanical process. Only a man can feel, and +transmute his impressions into material. Accuracy of detail is, after +all, by comparison, a secondary consideration, but perhaps I had better +pull up before my hobby makes a bolt of it."</p> + +<p>"I have heard of people riding a hobby uncomfortably hard," said Jacinta +reflectively.</p> + +<p>"That, I think, is, to be accurate, seldom what happens. If a man has a +genuine hobby, it never needs spurring. It is, in fact, unpleasantly apt +to run away with him on the smallest provocation. Are steamboat men +addicted to making sketches, Mr. Macallister?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Macallister, grinning. "At least its not the usual thing, but +I once sailed with another of them who did. He was second engineer, and +would draw the chief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> one day. It was very like him, so like that it +cost the man his job, and a wife as well. Says he, 'How could ye expect +me to idealise a man with a mouth like yon?'"</p> + +<p>"But how did that affect his wife?" asked the officer.</p> + +<p>Macallister grinned more broadly, but it was Jacinta he looked at.</p> + +<p>"Ye see," he said, "he had not got one then. He was second engineer, and +would have gone chief in a new boat if he'd stayed with that company. +The young woman was ambitious, and she told him she would not marry him +until he was promoted, on principle. He was a long while over it after +he lost that berth, and then—also on principle—he would not marry +her."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed, though Muriel fancied she had seen a momentary +hardening of her face.</p> + +<p>"She probably deserved it, though one can't help concluding that she +wouldn't feel it much," she said. "That is one of the advantages of +being a practical person; but hadn't you better get the drawings out?"</p> + +<p>Macallister took out a sketch in water-colour and held it up. It showed +a strip of a steamer's deck, with the softened sunlight beating down +through an awning upon a man in skipper's uniform who lay, cigar in +hand, in a hammock that swung beneath the spars. He was, to judge from +his expression, languidly contented with everything, and there was a big +glass of amber-coloured liquid on the little table beside him, and a +tier of bottles laid out upon the deck. Beneath it ran the legend, "For +men must work."</p> + +<p>"That," said Jacinta, "is, at least, what they tell their wives."</p> + +<p>The tourist gazed at the drawing, and then turned to her. He was, as she +had discovered already, a painfully didactic person.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>"The conceit," he said, "is a somewhat happy one, though the sketch is, +it seems to me, a little weak in technique. As we admitted, one +difference between a photograph and a painting is that the artist +records his own sensations in the latter, and stamps it with, at least, +a trace of his individuality. In that respect the sketch is, I fancy, +characteristic. The artist, one could imagine, was in full sympathy with +his subject—the far niente—but I am, no doubt, getting prosy."</p> + +<p>For no very apparent reason a little flush of colour crept into +Jacinta's face, and Macallister, who saw it, chuckled as he took out +another sketch.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, reflectively, "I never met a man who could do nothing +more gracefully than Mr. Austin, but I'll let ye see the rest of them, +since they're in my charge to sell. Mr. Austin, who wants the money, +took a sudden notion he'd go to Africa, and, if they've had a quick run, +he's now humping palm oil puncheons in a stranded steamer's hold. I'm +thinking it will be a big change for him."</p> + +<p>The naval officer laughed softly. "From what I know of the tropics I +fancy you are right. In fact, it's rather difficult to imagine the man I +met at the bull fight doing that kind of thing at all. Salvage work is +necessarily hard under any circumstances, and anywhere, but the last +place I would care to attempt it in is Western Africa. What +sent—him—there?"</p> + +<p>"Ye must not ask me," and a little twinkle, for which Jacinta longed to +shake him, crept into Macallister's eyes. "Now, there are clever folks +who will look at a man, or maybe talk to him awhile, and then label him, +thinking they know just what to expect of him. It does him no great +harm, and it pleases them, until one day he does something that +astonishes them in spite of his label. Then they're apt to get angry +with him. A man, ye see, is, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> all, not that unlike an engine. Ye +cannot tell what may be going on in the inside of him, and when the +result's distressing it's most often the fault of injudicious handling."</p> + +<p>Jacinta, to whom he apparently directed his observations, contrived to +regard him with a little smile, and he proceeded to extricate another +sketch, a canvas this time.</p> + +<p>"This one is different," he said.</p> + +<p>Coulston, who apparently concurred with him, gazed at the picture with a +trace of astonishment. It showed a big cargo lancha lurching out, +deep-loaded, through a fringe of tumbling surf with four men straining +at the ponderous oars. The wet rags they wore clung about their limbs, +and there was weariness in their grim, brown faces. Bent backs and set +lips had their significance, and the sketch was stamped with the +suggestion of endurance and endeavour. Yet, as those who saw it felt, +there was triumph in it, too, for while the rollers came seething in to +hurl her back the lancha was clawing off the shore.</p> + +<p>"It's good!" said the navy man. "It's unusually good. Those fellows are +played out, and they know if they slacken down for a moment she'll roll +over with them or go up on the beach. The sea's running in against +her—one finds out by trying it how hard it is to pull off against a +surf—but they're driving her out. Presumably, that's what you call the +motive of the thing."</p> + +<p>The tourist nodded appreciatively. "Yes," he said. "In spite of certain +faults in drawing, it's well worked out. What puzzles me is how the man +who did the other one came to feel it as he evidently did. One could +fancy he had had a revelation, and that in some respects he was a +different man when he painted this. I'll offer you five guineas for it, +Mr. Macallister."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Macallister, promptly, "ye can have it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> Eight guineas for +the two, if ye would like the other one. There are two or three more of +them here ye might care to look at." He stopped a moment, and added, as +if in explanation: "I'm anxious to do what I can for Mr. Austin. Many's +the time I've stole his wine and sold his clothes."</p> + +<p>He undid a package, and, first of all, took out a photograph of a young +girl with a comely English face, which Jacinta glanced at somewhat +sharply. Then she became intent when there followed several rudimentary +pencil and pastel sketches of herself, until Macallister handed Coulston +a picture. He turned from it to Jacinta, and looked at her with a +steadiness a young woman less accustomed to masculine criticism would +probably have found disconcerting.</p> + +<p>She lay smiling at him in the canvas lounge, very pretty and very +dainty, with conventional indifference expressed even in her pose. She +was, he fancied, a woman who knew her world thoroughly, and had the +greater influence therein because she seldom asked too much from it. +Then he glanced again at her portrait almost incredulously, for it +showed the little shapely head held well erect, the red lips +straightened and firmly closed, and the glow of a strenuous purpose in +the eyes. Stooping, he laid the picture on her knees with a little +smile.</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed softly. "Yes," she said, "of course, I know what you +mean. I am essentially modern and frivolous, and not in the least like +that. Still, you see, all of us have our serious moments now and then, +although it is probably fortunate they don't last long."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Coulston, wilfully neglecting his opportunity, "I almost +fancy a light breaks in on me. One could entitle this inspiration, and +it is, you know, possible to transmit it occasionally. I wonder whether +it would make the idea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> clearer if we placed the three pictures +together. Mr. Macallister will permit me?"</p> + +<p>He set up the first sketch of the steamboat skipper against the lifeboat +skids, and gazed at it critically. "Assuming that a picture contains +something of its painter's ego, you will observe how the idea of petty +indulgence and his appreciation of sensual comfort is impressed on one," +he said. "Now we will set up the other sketch of the sailormen. There +you see restraint, tense effort, abnegation—and victory—in one sense a +spiritual triumph over the body. It is an interesting question how the +man who painted both could have been brought to grasp what Lieutenant +Onslow calls the motive of the last one; but if we might venture to +place another picture between."</p> + +<p>Jacinta raised her head sharply, and there was an ominous sparkle in her +eyes. "No," she said, with quiet incisiveness, "I would sooner you +didn't. There are certainly men whose hobby, now and then, runs away +with them. Macallister, will you put that portrait back again?"</p> + +<p>She handed it him face downwards, for the others had not seen it, and +Lieutenant Onslow turned to the tourist.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand, but I fancy Miss Brown doesn't approve of +vivisection any more than I do," he said. "It really isn't decent to +turn anybody inside out."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Coulston, ignoring him, "if you would mind my offering +to buy the three?"</p> + +<p>He was looking steadily at her, but Jacinta contrived for a moment to +catch Macallister's eye. So swift was the flashed glance that the +tourist did not notice it, but Jacinta could convey a good deal with a +look, and the engineer was a man of considerable intelligence.</p> + +<p>"That one is not for sale," he said.</p> + +<p>"No," said Onslow, who held up a strip of pasteboard and a sheet of +brown paper, "I scarcely think it is. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> fact, you don't appear to have +noticed that there's a seal on this part of it, and instructions that +this particular packet is not to be opened."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Muriel that a trace of colour once more crept into +Jacinta's face, but Macallister surveyed the wrappings the officer +handed him with a grin.</p> + +<p>"It is not that difficult to slice a seal off and stick it back again," +he said. "It's also a thing Mr. Austin should have remembered. Many a +garafon of wine has he seen opened."</p> + +<p>"So you know that trick!" Onslow laughed. "I'm inclined to think it's +one that has now and then been practised upon our mess."</p> + +<p>Just then Mrs. Hatherly appeared on deck, and the group broke up. Muriel +joined her aunt, Macallister, accompanied by the tourist, went down the +ladder with the box of sketches under his arm, while Jacinta and +Lieutenant Onslow were left alone. The latter stood with his hand on the +lifeboat skids, looking down on her gravely. He was a well-favoured +young man, with an honest, sun-bronzed face.</p> + +<p>"I am," he said, "as you know, going out to take over command of a +West-coast gunboat in a day or two, and it is more than probable that I +shall not have an opportunity like this again. You see, Nasmyth and I +have had a very good time in these islands, and we feel that we owe it +largely to you. In fact, it's perfectly clear to us that things would +have been very different if you hadn't taken us under your gracious +protection. I just want to say that we recognise it, and feel grateful."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I am rather glad you do. Gratitude +that is worth anything carries a certain sense of obligation with it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>"Of course!" and Onslow smiled. "Only give me the chance of doing +anything I can for you."</p> + +<p>"Do you know whereabouts on the West-coast the Delgado Island lies?"</p> + +<p>"I can readily find out."</p> + +<p>Jacinta glanced at him sharply, and had no doubt concerning the +eagerness in his face. If there was anything he could do to please her +it would certainly be done.</p> + +<p>"There is a stranded steamer somewhere up a creek behind that island, +and I think the men who are trying to salve her have a good many +difficulties to contend with. Among other things, I fancy the niggers +are worrying them."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Onslow. "Our ships are not, as a rule, permitted to take any +part in commercial ventures, but there are, of course, exceptions to +everything. According to my instructions, I am also to avoid all +unpleasantness with the seaboard niggers unless they have been provoking +the authorities. Still, I would like to ask if any of the men on board +that steamer is a friend of yours?"</p> + +<p>"One of them is Miss Gascoyne's affianced lover, and she is a very old +friend indeed. However, since you are apparently unable——"</p> + +<p>Onslow checked her with a little smile. "I'm not sure you are really +willing to let me off, and if you were, I shouldn't be pleased, while I +scarcely think you have answered my question very frankly, either. That, +however, doesn't matter. It is permissible for the commander of a coast +patrol gunboat to send a pinnace in to survey a little known creek or +channel, and her crew would, of course, be guided by circumstances if +they came upon a stranded steamer."</p> + +<p>"I presume you would not care to earn Muriel's undying gratitude by +being a trifle more definite?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>"No," said Onslow, with twinkling eyes. "I esteem Miss Gascoyne's good +opinion, but I really couldn't go any further to win yours. As I pointed +out, one would be guided by circumstances; but men on board stranded +steamers have been supplied with drugs and provisions, as well as lent +naval artificers to advise them as to repairs. I have even heard of a +gunboat's launch carrying out their hawsers and anchors."</p> + +<p>Jacinta rose with a little smile. "I think one could leave it with +confidence to your discretion, and since it seems very likely that you +will come across that steamer, I should be pleased to have your views as +to the selection of a few comforts and provisions."</p> + +<p>Onslow favoured her with them, and, as it happened, met Macallister when +at last he went down the ladder.</p> + +<p>"Ye are going out to Africa, too?" said the latter, with a grin. "She +has been giving ye sailing instructions?"</p> + +<p>Onslow looked at him grimly. "Well," he said, "what the devil has that +to do with you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing. Just nothing at all. Still, because I see ye are willing, +I would have ye know that there are—two—men from Grand Canary on board +yon steamer already."</p> + +<p>Onslow smiled a trifle drily. "My dear man, I'm not altogether an ass," +he said.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Muriel strolled back towards Jacinta, and glanced at +her with a suggestion of astonishment in her face as she sat down.</p> + +<p>"You are different from what you were a little while ago," she said.</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed. "I daresay I am. I had, as a matter of fact, sunk into +a state of pessimistic apathy, which naturally found expression in +ill-humoured pleasantries lately, but I have been getting to work again. +It has rather a bracing effect, you see. In the meanwhile, it might be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +advisable for you to make yourself as nice as possible to Lieutenant +Onslow, who is now coming up on deck again. Go and ask him to show you a +flying fish, or something."</p> + +<p>Muriel went, for she had discovered that there was usually a sufficient +reason for most of what Jacinta did, and the latter lay still in her +chair.</p> + +<p>"There is," she said, "still a fly in the amber. I wonder what he wanted +with that photograph, though, after all, he didn't think it worth while +carrying to Africa."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION</span></h2> + + +<p>Deep stillness hung over the dingy mangroves, and there was not a breath +of air astir, while Austin, who lay among the palm oil puncheons beside +the creek, was oppressed by a sense of suffocation. A few yards away two +Spaniards lay, apparently asleep, huddled, shapeless heaps of ragged +clothing, beneath a strip of tarpaulin raised on poles, and it was then, +though there was no sun visible, a little past the hottest part of the +afternoon. A yellow vapour that seemed suffused with heat had obscured +the heavens for a week or more, and the swamps lay sweltering beneath it +waiting for the rain. Austin longed for it ardently, for there was an +almost unendurable tension in the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>He had shaken off the fever, but he was worn and dazed by toil, for the +strain was not without its effect upon him, and he had become subject to +curious tricks of fancy. He had brought the coal from Dakar, and it now +lay piled upon a down river beach; but he had obtained only two or three +men, and the steamy heat of the swamp belt had melted the sustaining +energy out of the <i>Cumbria</i>'s company. Individually, he felt that it was +a hopeless struggle they were making. They had untrammelled nature +against them, and, he could almost fancy, the malevolent spirits of the +bush the negroes believed in. A man, he admitted, could believe in +anything in that country, and he had of late been trou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>bled by a feeling +that something sinister and threatening was hovering near him.</p> + +<p>He was unpleasantly conscious of it then, which was partly why he lay +raised on his elbow, with his eyes fixed on the bush that shut in the +narrow strip of land. It rose before him, laced with tangled creepers, +mysterious, and shadowy, and it seemed to him that somebody or something +was watching him from its dim recesses. He had been conscious of the +same sensation when he plodded with a Spanish seaman along the narrow +trail to the dug up beach, an hour earlier, but it was stronger now, and +instinctively he slipped his hand into a pocket where the pistol he had +bought in Grand Canary lay. Then he laughed in a listless fashion, for +they had seen no more of the negroes since the blowing up of the +headman's house, and he felt that he had not them to fear. There was, in +fact, no tangible cause for apprehension at all.</p> + +<p>Presently something seemed to materialise amidst the shadows where the +creepers streamed from a cottonwood in dense festoons, and, lying still, +with fingers closing on the pistol, he could almost fancy he made out a +dim human form. There was, at least, one black patch among the leaves +that suggested greasy naked skin. It vanished again, however, and +Austin, who felt his heart beating, abused the intolerable glare the +sand flung up that dazzled his vision, and then stiffened himself in +tenser watchfulness as for a moment he made out a pair of rolling eyes. +The creepers rustled, a twig snapped, and he was about to call out, when +one of the Canarios raised himself a trifle.</p> + +<p>"Ave Maria!" he said, with drowsy hoarseness, and, though the words are +frequently used to express astonishment in his country, it was evident +that he meant them as a pious appeal.</p> + +<p>In any case, the creepers became suddenly still again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> and Austin, who +rose a trifle stiffly, found nothing when he pushed his way through the +midst of them. There was no sound in the steamy bush, not a leaf seemed +bruised or bent, and he went back again, with the perspiration dripping +from him. Nevertheless, he was annoyed to notice that the Canario was +watching him curiously.</p> + +<p>"Nothing!" he said, with a dramatic gesture. "Nothing that one can see."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Austin sharply.</p> + +<p>The Canario flung out an arm again. "Who knows! Though one cannot see +it, it comes now and then. There are evil things in this land of the +devil, and the saints are very far away. This is no place for them."</p> + +<p>Austin sat down again and took out his pipe. He felt that there was +nothing to be gained by continuing the discussion, for of late he had +become almost superstitiously apprehensive himself. He lay watching the +bush for another hour, and then, though it was the last thing he had +intended, went to sleep. He had borne a heavy strain, and his will was +weakening.</p> + +<p>It was dark when he was awakened by a splash of paddles as the +<i>Cumbria</i>'s surfboat crept up the creek with the relief watch, and +another hour had passed when they made the craft fast alongside the +gangway and climbed wearily on board the steamer. There was no sound or +light on board her, for half the crew were sick, and the pump had +stopped. She lay, a black mass, amidst the sliding mist, and he stumbled +over the kernel bags upon her slanted deck as he groped his way to his +room in the poop. It was seldom he or Jefferson slept soundly now, and +as they only awakened each other, Austin had moved to a room aft.</p> + +<p>He lighted the oil lamp and flung himself, dressed as he was, into his +berth, but found he could not sleep, though he could not remember how +long he lay awake listening.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> He could hear mysterious splashings in the +forest and the low gurgle of the creek, while now and then a timber +creaked, or a drop of moisture fell from the iron beams with a splash +that startled him. At last, when his eyes were growing heavy, there was +a different and very faint sound on deck, and as he raised himself the +door that stood a little open swung back gently. The lamp was still +burning, for he found the light comforting, as white men are +occasionally apt to do in that country, and it was with a little gasp of +relief he felt for the pistol beneath his pillow as Funnel-paint came +in. He was almost naked, and the water ran from him, but the strip of +cloth about his loins was bound by a leather belt, with a sheath hung to +it such as seamen wear, and the knife from the latter gleamed in his wet +hand. He, however, dropped it upon the deck, and squatted on the +water-ledge that rose a foot beneath the door. Austin watched him +quietly, for he was, at least, not afraid of Funnel-paint.</p> + +<p>"What the devil do you want?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Halluf them gum," said the negro, with a wicked grin.</p> + +<p>"How are we to give it you when we haven't found a bag of it?"</p> + +<p>The negro grinned again. "S'pose I done tell you where him lib?"</p> + +<p>"If you knew why didn't you get it for yourself?"</p> + +<p>Funnel-paint shook his head. "Them book I got savvy—I no savvy make him +tell me," he said. "You dash me halluf them gum you get them book."</p> + +<p>Austin lay silent, resting on one elbow, for a moment or two. He knew +that book means anything which is written on in that country, and it +occurred to him that if the gum had been hidden ashore, it was very +probable that the man who buried it had made a rough sketch or other +record of the spot. The document, it was conceivable, might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> have come +into the negro's possession. Still, he was suspicious.</p> + +<p>"There's another boy who speaks English in the headman's village," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Him only dam bushman—no savvy book, no savvy anyt'ing. Him them +headman's boy. Headman he want everyt'ing."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Austin, who was more dubious about his visitor's good faith +than ever, since it was clear that it was his intention to trick his +confederate out of his share of the plunder. "I suppose, since you swam +off, you haven't the book about you?"</p> + +<p>The negro let one eyelid droop a little. "You t'ink black man one dam +fool?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin, reflectively, "if you understand me, I should rather +call you an infernal rogue. Any way, you lib for get out one time, and +come back to-morrow. I'll palaver with them other white man by then, +savvy?"</p> + +<p>Funnel-paint unobtrusively laid a wet prehensile toe upon the haft of +the knife, but Austin, who was careful not to betray the fact, noticed +it.</p> + +<p>"Them other white man he do go dash me anyt'ing," he said decisively. "I +savvy him. S'pose you done tell him you no go catch them book?"</p> + +<p>"Then how do you fancy I'm going to give you half the gum without his +knowing?"</p> + +<p>Funnel-paint grinned unpleasantly. "Bimeby them white cappy man he die," +he said, as though he were sure of it. "White man sick too much in dis +country. I savvy."</p> + +<p>Austin contrived to hold in check the indignant wrath he felt. A man's +life, he was quite aware, was worth very little in those swamps; and, +because he placed some small value on the one that belonged to him, it +was evidently advisable to proceed circumspectly. Funnel-paint was, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +recognised, a diplomatist in his way, and had said very little, though +that was sufficient to show Austin what his proposition meant. It was, +at least, clear that he was to ask no questions if anything unexpected +happened to Jefferson, and in reward of this he would be permitted to +carry off half the gum. It appeared that Funnel-paint was sure of its +existence, or he would never have ventured to creep on board at night at +all, and Austin decided that since he certainly could not be trusted, +the boldest course was best. The rage he felt also prompted him to it, +and he lay still, considering, with a hand beneath the pillow, and a +flush in his face, while the negro squatted, huge and motionless, on the +door-ledge, watching him with a little cunning smile. It seemed to +Austin that it would simplify matters considerably if he could secure +Funnel-paint's person, though he could not quite see how it was to be +done, especially since it was evident that the negro would be no use to +them dead.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile there was deep stillness without, intensified by the +oily gurgle of the creek, until Austin fancied he heard another faint +and stealthy sound on deck. Funnel-paint did not appear to notice it, +which was, it seemed to Austin, significant, for he sat still, though +with a scarcely perceptible motion he drew the knife a little nearer to +him with his toe. Austin decided that the proposition he had made was, +after all, probably a blind, and the friends he had expected were now +arriving.</p> + +<p>"Keep still!" he said abruptly, whipping out the pistol.</p> + +<p>The negro started, and would apparently have fallen backwards in his +alarm had he not seized the edge of the cushion on the settee in a wet +hand. Then he gazed at Austin as though in bewilderment or +consternation.</p> + +<p>"Bushman lib!" he said.</p> + +<p>He glanced towards the open ring of the port, and for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> second Austin +turned his eyes in the same direction, but that was long enough, for the +big cushion of the settee fell upon his head, and he rolled over under +it. It was a moment or two before he had flung it from him and sprung +out of his berth, and then there was no sign of Funnel-paint, though he +could hear a rush of feet and the sound of a scuffle on deck. They were +also booted feet, and Austin ran out into the black darkness beneath the +poop. He could see nothing for a moment, but he heard a hoarse +ejaculation that was followed by a splash in the creek. Then a shadowy +figure grew out of the blackness, and he dropped the pistol to his side +at the sound of an English voice.</p> + +<p>"All right, Mr. Austin?" it said.</p> + +<p>"I am," said Austin. "Is that you, Bill?"</p> + +<p>The half-seen man assured him that it was, and then followed him back +into the lighted room, where he sat down and held up a hand from which a +red trickle dripped down his arm.</p> + +<p>"The dam brute's got away," he said. "P'r'aps you could fix this up for +me."</p> + +<p>Austin lugged a little chest out from under the settee, and glanced at +the injured hand. "Nothing serious, though I have no doubt it stings," +he said. "You were in one sense lucky in getting it there. How did you +happen to come along?"</p> + +<p>"It was my watch," said Bill. "I had just come down from the bridge-deck +when I thought I heard talking, and that brought me here as quietly as I +could. If I'd had the sense to take my boots off I'd have had him. I +gripped him by the rail, but he shoved the knife into my hand and slung +himself over."</p> + +<p>Austin bound his hand up, and then looked at him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>"I don't think there's anything to be gained by letting the others +know," he said. "Any way, I'd consider it a favour if you said nothing +about the thing until I've talked it over with Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>Bill grinned comprehendingly. "I'll tell Tom, but nobody else. We have +our own little row with the vermin, and the next time I get my grip on +him there'll be an end of him!"</p> + +<p>He went out, and by and by Austin contrived to go to sleep, while it was +next day, and they sat in the dripping engine room, from which the water +was sinking, when he told Jefferson what had passed. The latter listened +thoughtfully, and then broke into a little hollow laugh.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that you missed your chance," he said. "Funnel-paint +knows a good deal—I have guessed that for some time—but he has found +out he can't get at the gum without one of us helping him, at last. That +is probably why he has left us alone so long. He wasn't sure whether +there was any of it on board the ship, and was, naturally, willing that +we should decide that point for him."</p> + +<p>"What would he gain by that?" asked Austin.</p> + +<p>"The gum!" and Jefferson laughed again, but not pleasantly. "He's an +inconsequent devil, but he seems to have scraped up a little sense as he +went on with the game. You see, white men are apt to die off suddenly in +this country, and I scarcely think that anybody who could make trouble +knows we're here. Any way, there's no unusual need for worry. It only +means double watches."</p> + +<p>"Still, one could fancy you had a good deal on your mind."</p> + +<p>"I have. We have stripped this ship all but the engine room to the +ballast tanks—there was, you may remember, a manhole lid lifted on the +forward one, which may account for some of the water getting in—and the +five hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> dollars I raised the offer to hasn't produced a pound of +gum. Half the men are down now, and we can't send them all away, while +even if we wanted to they're most of them unwilling to go. They're as +keen on their share—and it's quite a big one—as I am. Then we'll have +the rains on us in a week or two."</p> + +<p>Austin sat silent awhile. He knew that the feverish search for the +treasure had stirred the cupidity of the Latins until they were as +determined on finding it as their leader. Nothing else was thought of, +the sick men raved of it, and, in any case, those who had held out so +long and staunchly had their percentage on the value of the steamer's +hull and cargo to gain. It meant comparative affluence to the barefooted +sailormen. That, however, was only one side of the question, after all, +for while their willingness was evident, their physical capacity for +work was lessening every day.</p> + +<p>"The rains will flood every beach," he said. "If we don't find the gum +before they come, what then?"</p> + +<p>"If it's necessary, we'll stay here until the water falls again. That +is, at least, some of us will."</p> + +<p>Austin rose up slowly with a little sign of comprehension. Two men had +been buried while he was away, and he did not think that many of them +would be left there to see the waters fall.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN</span></h2> + + +<p>A week had slipped by since the negro's visit, and Austin and Jefferson +were sitting late in the skipper's room. There had been no change in the +weather, and it was then, if possible, hotter than ever. The muggy land +breeze had died away, and a thick woolly mist shut the stranded steamer +in. Door and ports were open wide, but the oil lamp that hung beneath +the beams burned unwaveringly, and the ray of light that streamed out +from the doorway made the blackness outside more apparent. The big pump +was running behind the deck-house, and its deep vibratory humming rang +startlingly through a stillness so intense that it seemed unnatural, as +it hurled the water out of the engine room.</p> + +<p>Austin sat huddled in a corner, attired only in duck trousers, and torn +singlet which came no lower than his elbows, and, for want of buttons, +fell open at his neck. He had an unusually clean skin, and his +sun-scorched lower arms and scarred hands, with the battered knuckles +and broken nails, emphasised by contrast the clear whiteness of his +half-covered chest. That night it was beaded with perspiration, for +which he was sincerely thankful, since there are times in the tropics +when the healing moisture fails to find its way through the fevered +skin, and its afflicted owner burns in torment.</p> + +<p>Jefferson sat on the little table, a blackened pipe in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> hand, and +the listless pose of both suggested that the last trace of energy had +been sapped out of them. At last Austin laughed, hollowly and +dejectedly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why we're sitting here saying nothing when we have to +begin again at five o'clock to-morrow, but I don't feel like sleep," he +said. "In fact, I scarcely think I've slept for more than a couple of +hours at a time since I came back again. I suppose I ought to be in the +forecastle now—four or five of them seemed very sick when I last looked +in—but there's an abominable tension in the air that makes any exertion +out of the question."</p> + +<p>Jefferson nodded. "You can't do anything for them, and there's nobody we +could spare to send with them down river," he said. "They've got to take +their chances with the rest of us now, and it seems to me one might +figure them out as three or four to one if the rains don't come. Still, +if you don't want to do anything, why can't you keep still?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," and Austin, who had been rolling a damp cigar in his +fingers, flung it down. "If that pump stopped I should probably make an +exhibition of myself. The hum and thump it makes has a soothing effect +on me. It's suggestive. Even here man has something to say. I don't know +whether you understand me."</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked at him curiously. "I guess I do. I'd mix myself a good +strong pick-me-up if I were you. You have had something on your mind the +last day or two."</p> + +<p>"I have," said Austin. "I'm afraid of that infernal Funnel-paint, I +think. I can't help a fancy that we haven't done with him yet; and, +though the connection isn't very apparent, the fact that the first thing +we came across after landing when I came out was a dead nigger, insists +on obtruding itself on my recollection. Bill told me he was singularly +unpleasant to look at."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>Jefferson contrived to laugh. "You take that pick-me-up, and in the +meanwhile let up on your reminiscences. Things of that kind aren't +cheerful—and I'm worried by one or two of them myself."</p> + +<p>Austin, who stooped and picked up the cigar, settled himself afresh on +the settee after lighting it, and half an hour dragged by. Neither of +them felt the least sign of drowsiness yet, and the jingle of the odds +and ends in the rack, and tremble of the stout teak house, was, as he +had said, vaguely reassuring. The big pump was pounding on in spite of +the climate, and neither heat nor fever had any effect on steam. Then he +looked up sharply, and Jefferson straightened himself, for a faint sound +of footsteps came out of the darkness. They were slow and dragging, as +though somebody was groping his way warily towards the light.</p> + +<p>"On deck!" said the American. "What d'you want? Are you there, Wall-eye? +Que hay?"</p> + +<p>There was no answer, but the shuffling steps drew nearer, slowly and +falteringly, as though whatever made them was but indifferently capable +of motion. There was also something unpleasantly suggestive about them, +and Austin now sat very straight, while he saw that Jefferson's lips +were pressed together. There was no apparent reason why they should +shrink from what was coming, but Austin, at least, felt his nerves +tingling. He was overwrought, and white men are apt to become fanciful +when they work too hard in the fever swamps. It is a land where one +realises the presence of influences beyond the definition of human +reason, and he afterwards admitted that he was afraid.</p> + +<p>"Mil diablos!" said Jefferson. "Ven aca! What are you after, outside +there?"</p> + +<p>There was still no answer, though a clatter of booted feet now rose from +the iron deck. It drowned the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> footfalls, and Austin found that +clang of nailed shoes curiously reassuring. Then a figure that swayed +from side to side emerged from the blackness and stood mowing in the +stream of light.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" said Jefferson, with horror in his voice. "Slam that door +to. Keep it out!"</p> + +<p>Austin rose with a sense of sudden sickness, but the figure had moved +again, and now stood with one foot inside the room and a horrible hand +on the door-jamb, leering at them. It had the shape of a man, but the +resemblance ended there, for there was no sign of human intelligence in +the awful face. The thing had no eyebrows, the hair had almost gone, and +nose and cheeks were formless with corruption, while naked chest and +arms were smeared with festering scars. Austin stood still, shivering, +with one hand clenched hard on the table, until Jefferson snatched a +glinting object from his bunk.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he said again. "It's coming in!"</p> + +<p>The figure seemed to brace itself for another move forwards, and Austin +saw Jefferson straighten himself slowly with a big pistol in his hand. +He did not remember what his comrade said, but the negro seemed to +recoil instinctively before his fierce ejaculation, and, lurching +backwards, faded into a formless shadow in the gloom again. Then +Jefferson's hand fell upon Austin's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Shake yourself! There's something to be done," he said. "They have a +light forward, and we can't have—that thing—groping among them in the +forecastle."</p> + +<p>They went out, and as they did so a sudden glare of light sprang up. +Tom, the donkey-man, had lighted the air-blast lamp he used when +anything had to be done to pump or boiler at night, and its smoky +radiance showed that Jefferson's shouts had roused the Spaniards. They +were clustered, half dressed, about the head of the ladder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> which led to +the bridge deck, with consternation in their shadowy faces, glancing at +one another as though afraid to move a step further. Tom leaned against +the rail, holding up the lamp, and the thing that had the shape of a man +sat gibbering on a coil of hawser in the midst of the bridge deck. The +eyes of all who stood there were fixed upon it, but nobody seemed +anxious to come any nearer.</p> + +<p>Jefferson, standing very straight, opened the breech of his pistol, ran +a finger across the back of the chamber, and then closed it with a +little snap which, though the pump was humming, sounded startlingly +distinct. His lips were tightly set, and his face was very grim. The +loathsome figure on the rope mowed and grinned at him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the thing was human—once," he said. "Still, we can't have it +here. These complaints are contagious, one understands, but I wish it +hadn't happened. He's too like a man."</p> + +<p>He dropped the pistol to his side, as though his nerve had momentarily +failed him, and Austin, who suddenly grasped his purpose, sprang forward +as he raised it again.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he said. "Do you realise what it is you propose to do?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson turned to him slowly, and there was a curious stillness among +those who watched them. Austin was glad of the hum of the big pump and +the pounding of the engine, for he felt that silence would have made the +tension unendurable. Then Jefferson smiled, a little wry smile.</p> + +<p>"I know," he said, a trifle hoarsely, "it isn't nice to think of, but +it's no more than happens to a superfluous kitten—and it's necessary. +Heaven knows what the poor devil suffered before he came to this, and we +don't want to. He's animate carrion without reason or sensibility now. +It was only the light brought him here when Funnel-paint somehow sent +him within sight of us."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>Austin saw that this was true. There was no glimmer of human +intelligence in the creature's wandering gaze, but he still bore the +shape of a man, and that counted for a good deal, after all.</p> + +<p>"Jefferson," he said, "it can't be done!"</p> + +<p>His comrade looked at him with half-closed eyes. "Would you wish to live +if you looked like that, or do you want the rest of us to find out what +he went through? I'm responsible for those men yonder—and it's only +antedating the thing a month or two. The life is almost rotted out of +him. Stand clear! We must get it over!"</p> + +<p>It was evident that the Spaniards understood what he meant to do, and a +murmur of concurrence rose from them, for they knew a little about the +more loathsome forms of skin diseases. Men who might have escaped from +the sepulchre walk abroad in the hot Southern countries, where restraint +is unknown and salt fish is a staple food, but, though they have often +themselves to blame, the innocent also suffer in Western Africa, and +none of those who stood by, tense and strung up, had ever seen a man who +looked quite as this one did.</p> + +<p>Then, as Jefferson raised his pistol, Austin seized him by the shoulder +and shook him in a sudden outbreak of fury.</p> + +<p>"You're right," he said, "but you shall not do it! You hear me? Put the +---- thing down!"</p> + +<p>Then there was a sudden clamour, and as the Canarios ran forward +Jefferson struggled vainly. Austin never knew where his strength came +from, but in another moment the pistol slipped from his comrade's hand, +and, reeling backwards, he struck the deck-house. Austin stood in front +of him, with hands clenched, and the veins swollen high on his forehead, +panting hard.</p> + +<p>"It has come to this," he said. "If you move a step,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> I'll heave you +over the rail! I've strength enough to break your back to-night!"</p> + +<p>Jefferson straightened himself slowly, and waved back the others who +were clustering round. Then he smiled, and made a little gesture of +resignation.</p> + +<p>"I believe you have, but that's not quite the point," he said. "It's the +only thing you have ever asked me, and, if nothing else will satisfy +you, you shall have him. You don't suppose it isn't a relief to me? The +question is, what you're going to do with him? You see, he can't stay +here."</p> + +<p>That, at least, was evident, and for a moment or two Austin gazed about +him stupidly as he grappled with the difficulty. The stricken man still +squatted, unconcerned, upon the hawser, mowing and grimacing, while he +clawed at the hemp in a fashion that suggested the antics of a pleased +animal, with swollen hands. The rest stood still, well apart from him, +with expectancy overcoming the repulsion they felt. Then Tom, the +donkey-man, who was nearest the rail, held up his flaring lamp.</p> + +<p>"There's the canoe he come in still alongside aft," he said.</p> + +<p>Austin gasped with relief. "Heave down a bunch of the red bananas we got +up the creek," he said. "He'll know they are good to eat."</p> + +<p>It was done, and Jefferson smiled again grimly.</p> + +<p>"That," he said, "is easy. Still, have you figured how he is to be +gotten into the canoe? You are hardly going to make him understand what +he is to do."</p> + +<p>"There's only one way. He must be put into it. Under the circumstances, +it's only fitting that I should undertake the thing."</p> + +<p>"No!" and Jefferson's voice rang sharply. "Not you! Offer any of the +rest of them fifty dollars!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>Austin smiled. "To take a risk I'm responsible for? I think not. I went +sufficiently far when I brought some of them here. Besides, it's +comforting to remember you mayn't be right about the thing being +contagious, after all."</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked at him hard a moment, with the fingers of one hand +closed, and then made a little sign.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "if you feel it that way, there's probably nothing to +be gained by protesting. There are disadvantages in being leader."</p> + +<p>Austin turned and touched the negro with his foot, while he pointed to +the ladder.</p> + +<p>"Get up! You lib for canoe one time!" he said.</p> + +<p>The negro mowed and gibbered meaninglessly, and Austin, stooping, +grasped his shoulder, which was clean. With an effort he dragged him to +his feet, and, while the rest fell back from them, drove the man towards +the head of the ladder. Then one of them slipped, and there was a cry of +horror from the rest as the negro clutched the white man, and they +rolled down the ladder into the darkness below together. Tom ran towards +the rail with his lamp, and as Jefferson leaned out from them he saw +Austin shake off the negro's engirdling grasp.</p> + +<p>"Get up!" he said hoarsely, and stirred him with his foot again.</p> + +<p>The man rose half upright, stumbled, and, straightening himself, moved +towards the open gangway with a lurch. Then he vanished suddenly and +there was a crash below. Austin leaned out through the opening, and his +voice rose harsh and strained:</p> + +<p>"Come down, one of you, and cut this warp! The devil's hanging on!" he +said.</p> + +<p>Wall-eye, the Canario, sprang down with his knife, and when Austin +climbed back to the bridge deck the men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> clustering along the rails saw +a canoe with a shadowy object lying in the stern of her slide through +the blaze of radiance cast by the blast-lamp and vanish into the +blackness outside it. Then Tom put out the light, and a hoarse murmur of +relief rose out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>A minute or two later Austin stood, a trifle grey in face, in the +doorway of the skipper's room, and stepped back suddenly when Jefferson +approached him.</p> + +<p>"Keep off!" he said. "Give me the permanganate out of the side drawer. I +left it there. Miguel, bring me the clothes you washed out of my room in +the poop, and fill me a bucket."</p> + +<p>The last was in Castilian, and one of the Canarios went scrambling down +the ladder, while when he came back with an armful of duck clothing +Jefferson held out a jar to his comrade.</p> + +<p>"No!" said Austin sharply. "Put it down!"</p> + +<p>Jefferson did as he was bidden, and Austin, who stripped the thin +garments from him and flung them over the rail, shook the permanganate +into the bucket, and then, standing stark naked, when it had dissolved, +sluiced himself all over with the pink solution. It was ten minutes +later when he stepped into the room, dripping, with a wet rag about his +waist, and shook his head when Jefferson handed him a towel.</p> + +<p>"I think not," he said. "If there's any efficacy in the thing, I may as +well let it dry in. After all, it's consoling to remember that it mayn't +be necessary."</p> + +<p>Jefferson's fingers quivered as he leaned upon the table. "No. Of course +not!" he said, and added, inconsequently: "I don't think I'm unduly +sensitive, but a very little thing would turn me deadly sick."</p> + +<p>Austin struggled into his duck trousers, and Jefferson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> whose face was +also a little more pallid than usual, glanced at him again.</p> + +<p>"You have a beautiful skin," he said. "It's most like a woman's. There's +good clean blood in you."</p> + +<p>"It's one of my few good points," and Austin's smile suggested +comprehension. "I haven't been particularly indulgent in any direction, +considering my opportunities, and I'm rather glad of it now. One could +fancy that the man who seldom let one slip would be unusually apt to get +the promised wages in this country."</p> + +<p>He dragged his singlet over his arms, and a little twinkle slowly crept +into Jefferson's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you carry your character with you. How long has the +restraining influence been at work on you?"</p> + +<p>"You are a little outside the mark," and a faint flush showed in +Austin's hollow cheeks. "I am, as you know, not a believer in the +unnecessary mortification of the flesh, but there's a trace of the +artistic temperament, if that's the right name for it, in me, and it's +rather apt to make one finickingly dainty."</p> + +<p>Jefferson smiled drily. "That doesn't go quite far enough. I've seen men +of your kind wallow harder than the rest. Still, whatever kept you from +it, you can be thankful now."</p> + +<p>Austin went on with his dressing, and then took a little medical +treatise out of a drawer. He spent some time turning over it before he +looked up.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing that quite fits the thing here, and from what the +West-coast mailboat men told me, craw-craw must be different," he said. +"In the meanwhile, it wouldn't do any harm to soak myself in black +coffee."</p> + +<p>He was about to go out when Jefferson stopped him. "This is a thing that +is better buried, but there's some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>thing to be said. From my point of +view, and it's that of the average sensible man, I was right; but yours +goes higher, and in one way I am glad of it. I just want to tell you I'm +satisfied with my partner!"</p> + +<p>Austin smiled at him. "We'll both be guilty of some sentimental nonsense +we may be sorry for afterwards if we continue in that strain, my friend. +Still, there's one thing to consider. Although I couldn't help it, what +I did was, of course, absurd, if you look at it practically, and things +of that kind have their results occasionally."</p> + +<p>Jefferson seemed to shiver, and then clenched a hard, scarred fist.</p> + +<p>"We won't think of it. Your blood's clean," he said. "But if, after all, +trouble comes—I'll get even with that damned Funnel-paint if I spend my +life in Africa trailing him, and have to kill him with my naked hands!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE</span></h2> + + +<p>The grey light was growing clearer, and the mangroves taking shape among +the fleecy mist, when Austin stood looking down upon the creek in the +heavy, windless morning. There was no brightness in the dingy sky, which +hung low above the mastheads, but the water gleamed curiously, and no +longer lapped along the steamer's rusty plates. It lay still beneath her +hove-up bilge, giving up a hot, sour smell, and Jefferson, who came out +of the skipper's room, touched Austin as he gazed at it.</p> + +<p>"The stream should have been setting down by now. Something's backing up +the ebb," he said. "A shift of wind along the shore, most likely. The +rain's coming!"</p> + +<p>Austin glanced up at the lowering heavens, but there was no change in +their uniform greyness, and no drift of cloud. The smoke of the +locomotive boiler went straight up, and the mist hung motionless among +the trees ashore. Still, there was something oppressive and portentous +in the stillness, and his skin was tingling.</p> + +<p>"If it doesn't come soon we'll not have a man left," he said. "It isn't +in flesh and blood to stand this much longer."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jefferson drily, "the sooner we get to work the better. +There's a good deal to do, and you're not going to feel it quite so much +once you get hold of the spanner."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>The pump had just stopped, and Tom came towards them, rubbing his greasy +hands with a cotton rag, as they moved in the direction of the engine +room. The lower part of it was dripping when they went down, and a foot +or two of water still lay upon the floor-plates where they met the +depressed side, but it was evident that another hour's work of the big +pump would leave the place almost dry. Austin sat down on a tool-locker +lid, with Jefferson standing beside him, but Tom floundered away towards +the stoke-hold, and they could hear him splashing in the water. When he +reappeared with a blinking lamp he crawled up the slippery ladder as +though working out a clue, while it was several minutes before he came +back and leaned against a column opposite Jefferson with the look of a +man who had not found quite what he had expected.</p> + +<p>"Sea-cocks shut!" he said. "Ballast tank full-way cock is screwed up, +too. Of course, they could have closed that with the overhead +screw-gear. You'll remember that manhole cover was off the forward +section."</p> + +<p>Jefferson glanced at Austin, though it was Tom he spoke to. "Did you +expect to find them open?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said the donkey-man, "to be quite straight, I did."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why?"</p> + +<p>Tom glanced at him with a little suggestive grin. "She has two plates +started, but with the boiler blowing away half her steam we haven't very +hard work to run all that came in that way down, and her bilge pump +would have kept her clear. What I want to know is, what all that water +was doing in her?"</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Jefferson, "you must ask another. I guess nobody's going to +find the full answer to that conundrum. There are only two or three men +who could have told us,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> and we're not going to have an opportunity of +worrying them about it, unless we get the fever, too."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Tom, "the mill's looking good, but it's about time we made +a start on her and got the cylinder covers off and hove the pistons up. +It's quite likely we'll want to spring new rings on them. There should +be some of the spanners in that locker, Mr. Austin."</p> + +<p>Austin rose and lifted the lid, while Tom held the lamp, but the first +thing he saw was a sodden book. He drew it out, dripping, and opened it; +but while a good many of the pulpy pages had fallen out, there were +enough left to show that it was one of the little tables of strengths +and weight of materials an engineer often carries about with him. There +was a rather wide margin round the tabulated figures, and as he vacantly +pulled out one of the wet pages he noticed a little close pencil writing +upon a part of it.</p> + +<p>"Hold that light nearer, Tom. Here's something that looks interesting," +he said. "'Buried Jackson this morning—memo hand his share over to Mary +Nichol.'"</p> + +<p>He signed Tom to move the light again. "There follows an obliterated +address, and the words, 'scarcely think she'll ever get it. My left +arm's almost rotten now.'"</p> + +<p>He stopped again a moment, and his face had grown hard when he went on: +"You see, the thing—is—contagious, and that devil Funnel-paint, or +somebody, has played the same trick before. I wonder if the man who +wrote this looked quite as bad as the nigger did."</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" said Jefferson sharply. "I guess none of us have any use for +that kind of talking, and you swilled yourself with permanganate, any +way."</p> + +<p>"The result will probably be the same, whether one thinks of it or not. +You will, however, notice that the man's name was Jackson, and the +woman's Mary Nicol."</p> + +<p>It was evident that this was a forced attempt to break<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> away from the +subject, and though Tom grinned, it was in a sickly fashion.</p> + +<p>"That's no how astonishing. She was the last," he said. "Hadn't you +better turn over, and see if there's any more of it?"</p> + +<p>Austin contrived to lift another of the pulpy pages, and once more the +close writing appeared, but it was difficult to make out, and their +faces were close together when Tom lowered the lamp. They showed +curiously grave, as well as hollow, in the smoky light, for there was +reason for believing that the man who had made those notes was dead, and +it was clear that the horrible thing which had stricken him might also +come upon them.</p> + +<p>"The last of the bags buried this afternoon," Austin read. "Watson took +a new bearing. W. half N. to the cottonwood, with twist of creek in +line. Forty paces—he made it thirty-nine. Graham says one packet left +in the old place where the niggers got scent of it, and the quills on +the second islet; memo, it makes £50 to me."</p> + +<p>He dropped the book, and Tom came near letting go the lamp, while for a +moment or two afterwards they stared at one another. Austin was +quivering a little, but Jefferson made a restraining gesture as he laid +a hand upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Steady! I guess we've got the clue," he said. "There are two islets two +or three leagues back down the creek. You passed them coming up. Still, +what do they put up in quills?"</p> + +<p>"Gold-dust! The niggers bring it down from the Western Soudan, and I +believe they're ostrich quills. One of the trader fellows told me a good +deal about them over a dinner at the Metropole. A bushman had once stuck +him with a lot of brass filings. Are you going down to look for them?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>Jefferson, it was evident from his face, laid a strong restraint upon +himself.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, with curious quietness. "Funnel-paint knows nothing about +these islets yet, or he wouldn't have come to you, and it's my first +business to heave this steamer off. To do it we'll want her engines, and +there's a heavy job in front of us before we start them. The rains won't +wait for any man."</p> + +<p>He broke off, for a glare of blue light fell through the open frames +above and flooded the engine room. It flickered on rusty columns and +dripping, discoloured steel, and vanished, leaving grey shadow behind +it, amidst which the smoky lamplight showed feeble and pale. Then there +was a crash that left them dazed and deafened, and in another moment was +followed by a dull crescendo roar, while a splashing trickle ran down +into the engine room. The glass frames quivered under the deluge, and +one could almost have fancied that the heavens had opened. Jefferson +whirled round and gripped the donkey-man's arm, shaking him as he stood +blinking about him in a bewildered fashion.</p> + +<p>"If you tell any of the rest what you have heard, I'll fling you into +the creek! And now up with you, and bring every man who is fit to work. +There's no time to lose," he said.</p> + +<p>Tom made for the ladder, and Austin, who went with him, carrying the +book, was drenched before he reached the skipper's room. The air was +filled with falling water that came down in rods, and blotted out the +mangroves a dozen yards away. Steam rose from the sluicing deck, the +creek boiled beneath the deluge, but there was no longer any trace of +the insufferable tension, and he stood a moment or two relaxing under +the rush of lukewarm water that beat his thin clothing flat against his +skin. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> he splashed forward to the forecastle, where Tom had little +difficulty in rousing the men. They crawled out, gaunt and haggard, in +filthy rags, some of them apparently scarcely fit to stand, for the rain +had come, and every inch the water rose would bring them so much nearer +home. There was no need to urge them when they floundered into the +engine room, and hour after hour they strained and sweated on big +spanner and chain-tackle willingly, while the big cylinder-heads and +pistons were hauled up to the beams. The one thought which animated them +was that the engines would be wanted soon.</p> + +<p>It mattered little that platform-grating and slippery floor-plates +slanted sharply under them, and each ponderous mass they loosened must +be held in with guy and preventer lest it should swing wildly into +vertical equilibrium. That was only one more difficulty, and they had +already beaten down so many. So day after day they worked on sloping +platforms, slipping with naked feet, and only grinned when Tom flung +foul epithets, and now and then a hammer, at one of them. Much of what +he said was incomprehensible, and, in any case, he was lord supreme of +the machinery; and Bill, whose speech was also vitriolic, acted as his +working deputy. The latter had served as greaser in another steamer, and +for the time being even Jefferson deferred to him.</p> + +<p>They stripped her until the big cylinders stood naked on their columns, +and the engine room resembled the erecting shop of a foundry, and then +the work grew harder when the reassembling began. Since the skeleton +engines slanted, nothing would hang or lower as they wanted it, and they +toiled with wedge and lever in semi-darkness by the blinking gleam of +lamps, while the rain that shut the light out roared upon the shut-down +frames above. It was very hot down in the engine room, and when a small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +forge was lighted to expand joints they could not spring apart, and to +burn off saponified grease, men with less at stake would probably have +fancied themselves suffocated. Still, each massive piece was cleaned and +polished, keyed home, or bolted fast, and, when the hardest work was +over, the slope of the platforms lessened little by little as the +<i>Cumbria</i> rose upright. It was evident to all of them that the water was +rising in the creek.</p> + +<p>In a month her deck was almost leveled, but the muddy flood that gurgled +about her still lay beneath her corroded water line, and Jefferson +seized the opportunity of laying out an anchor to heave on before the +stream ran too strong. The launch's boiler had given out, and they +lashed her to the surfboat, with the hatch covers as a bracing between, +but they spent an afternoon over it before Jefferson was satisfied, and +the thick, steamy night was closing in when they warped the double craft +under the <i>Cumbria</i>'s forecastle. It rose above them blackly, with a +blaze of flickering radiance over it where the blast-lamp hurled a shaft +of fire upwards into the rain. Floundering figures cut against the +uncertain brilliancy, voices came down muffled through the deluge, and +there was a creaking and groaning as the ponderous stream anchor swung +out overhead.</p> + +<p>Austin stood, half naked, on the platform between launch and surfboat, +with the water sluicing from him, and though he had toiled since early +dawn, he was sensible only of a feverish impatience, and no weariness at +all. He had had enough of the dark land, and what they were about to do +was to ensure a start on the journey that would take them out of it. It +grew rapidly darker, the long hull faded, and the flare of the lamp +alone cut, a sheet of orange and saffron, against the blackness above +them. Jefferson's voice fell through it sharply.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>"Stand by!" he said. "We'll ease her down!"</p> + +<p>There was a fresh groaning and creaking. Something big and shadowy that +racked the complaining chain descended towards them, and then there was +a scuffle and a shout on the deck above. Austin heard the rattle of +running chain and a hoarse cry.</p> + +<p>"Jump on it!" Jefferson's voice ran out, fierce with alarm. "Nip the +slack around the bollard. Hang on! Oh, hang on, until he gets a turn!"</p> + +<p>Feet shuffled about the light, there was stertorous gasping, another +cry, and a scream, and again Jefferson's voice broke through the +confused sounds:</p> + +<p>"Stand from under—for your life!" it said.</p> + +<p>The warning was unnecessary, for the Canarios were already crouching +forward in the surfboats bottom, and as Austin sprang in among them +there was a whirr and a crash. The craft swayed beneath him; he could +feel her dipping in the flood, but she rose with a staggering lurch, +slanted slightly, and held down by something huge and heavy.</p> + +<p>"Are you still on top there?" Jefferson asked.</p> + +<p>"We seem to be," said Austin. "Something's gone, but it's too dark to +see. How d'you come to let her go with a run?"</p> + +<p>"Wall-eye let her surge too soon," said Jefferson. "He was getting an +extra turn on, and nipped his hand in. She has 'most wrung it off him. +Handspike your anchor where you can tilt her clear before we slack +cable."</p> + +<p>They contrived to do it somehow, with the flare that was lowered from +the cat-davit dropping blazing oil about them, and then coiled down a +length of the ponderous cable. One of the twin craft was tilted to the +water's edge now, and still the massive iron links came clanking down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +Then, as the last fell with a crash, Jefferson leaned out over the rails +above.</p> + +<p>"Bend the wire on below the break. You'll want a clear link for the +shackle when we couple her up," he said. "Hang on to your anchor until +you're in the mangroves on the other bank. We want to heave towards deep +water out in the stream."</p> + +<p>More barefooted men came swinging down the hanging wire, and they slid +away into the blackness, bumping against the steamer's plates. The twin +craft were top-heavy, and lurched in the grip of the stream. It was a +minute or two before they had cleared the <i>Cumbria</i>, and by then they +were almost under her quarter; while when they had crept away from her a +fathom or two all of them knew there was a task in front of them that +would severely tax all their strength.</p> + +<p>They had the uncoiling wire rope to drag them back into line, the stream +swept them down a fathom for every one they made ahead, and, as ill luck +would have it, bore upon the launch's pressed down side so that they +could hear the water gurgling into her in ever faster swirl. Still, they +had to reach the opposite bank, or be hauled back to commence the task +again, and, gasping and panting, they heaved on the wet rope that led +into the rain ahead. Most of them were used to work of that kind, but +during the first five minutes Austin felt his arms grow weary and +nerveless, and the veins distend on his forehead, while a curious +singing commenced in his ears. He choked with every fresh grasp he laid +upon the rope, and a Canario behind him gasped out breathless snatches +of Castilian obscenity.</p> + +<p>Still, in spite of all they could do, the blaze of red light leaping in +the rain showed that they were making nothing, and now and then the rope +ran out again through their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> clinging hands. There was no sign of the +mangroves on the opposite bank, while the tilt of the platform grew +steeper, and it was evident that the launch was filling under them. +Then, little by little, the wire rope that ran out into the darkness +astern commenced to curve—they could hear the swirl of the stream +across it—and after another five minutes' tense effort they swung into +a slacker flow or reflex eddy. There was, however, no slackening of the +strain, and it was not until a dim, black wall rose up above them that +Austin loosed his grasp upon the rope, and, floundering and stumbling in +the rain and darkness, they strove to clear the anchor.</p> + +<p>It went over with a mighty splash, the platform rose with a jerk under +them; then, as they backed clear, there was a rattle of cable, and they +seized the wire. The lashed craft swung like a pendulum athwart the +stream, the rattling winch hauled them back fathom by fathom to the +<i>Cumbria</i>, while, when he had crawled on board her, Austin dropped +limply, and a trifle grey in face, on to the settee in the skipper's +room.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that's done, though I think a little more of it would +have made an end of me. It is rather an astonishing thing, but while I +felt fiercely anxious to get that anchor out before we started, it +hardly seems worth the trouble now."</p> + +<p>"We couldn't heave her off without it," said Jefferson. "That means +going home—eventually."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it does," said Austin, with a little mirthless smile. "Still, +I haven't any home, you see, and I'm not sure that a lazar hospital of +some kind isn't what is awaiting me. You will remember the encouraging +words that fellow left—'My arm's almost rotten now.'"</p> + +<p>Jefferson slowly clenched one scarred hand. "That's a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> thing we are +neither of us strong enough to think about. It's a little too +horrible—it couldn't happen!"</p> + +<p>"It's scarcely likely in your case, at least. He didn't put his arm +round you, and I had nothing worth mentioning on that night. Men do die +rotten, and I fancied once or twice I felt a suggestive tingling in my +skin."</p> + +<p>Jefferson seemed to be holding himself in hand with a struggle, but +Austin smiled.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "if it comes at all, it will get the right one. I'm not +going home to be married. In fact, I was told that it would be rather a +graceful thing to come back upon my shield, though I don't know that I +would like to do so looking as that nigger did. In the meanwhile, I had, +perhaps, better see to Wall-eye's hand."</p> + +<p>He went out into the darkness, and Jefferson stood still, with his lips +set tight, leaning on the table. He was, in some respects, a hard man, +and his sojourn in Africa had not roused his gentler qualities, but just +then he felt an unpleasant physical nausea creeping over him again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">HOVE OFF</span></h2> + + +<p>The rain came down in sheets, and the mangrove roots were hidden by the +yellow flood, when Jefferson stood, dripping, on the <i>Cumbria</i>'s bridge. +Her iron deck was level, the stumpy pole masts ran upright into the +drifting mist, and a column of black smoke floated sluggishly from her +rusty funnel. Dingy vapour also rose from the slender one of the +locomotive boiler, and cables—hemp and wire and chain—stretched +between the mangroves and the steamer's bow and stern. Jefferson, +leaning heavily on the bridge rails, considered them each in turn. He +shivered a little, though the rain was warm, and his wet face looked +unusually gaunt and worn; but his eyes were intent and steady, for at +last all was ready for the supreme effort of heaving the <i>Cumbria</i> off.</p> + +<p>He looked down when Austin stopped at the foot of the ladder. His face +and hands were black, and the thin singlet, which was all he wore above +his duck trousers, seemed glued to him.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better keep inside the wheelhouse until we start the mill?" +he said.</p> + +<p>Jefferson smiled drily. "Do you think you could? What are you wandering +up and down the deck for?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not. I've been firing the locomotive boiler, and spent the last +twenty minutes in the forecastle. It isn't as dry as it should be +there."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>He spoke lightly, though there was a suggestion of tension in his voice, +and it was evident that both of them were anxious. Indeed, Jefferson +fancied that his comrade found it difficult to stand still at all.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said.</p> + +<p>"There are a third of them I daren't turn out, and two or three of the +others who are down with Tom look a good deal shakier than I care about. +Still, you see, I couldn't keep them in. They've had about enough of +this country, and I don't blame them. You can figure on about half of us +as reasonably effective, but what everybody wants to know is, when we +are to begin."</p> + +<p>"When you can give me eighty pounds of steam. Then we'll shake her up +for an hour or two with reversed propeller, and heave on everything when +you get up to the hundred. Still, although we have blown a good deal of +the mud out forward, I expect she'll want another fifty before she'll +move."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced at the gap in the forest beneath the bows, across which +the shattered mangroves were strewn. He and Jefferson had gone over all +this before, but since he had stopped by the ladder they must talk of +something, for silence would have been intolerable just then.</p> + +<p>"I'll go down and stir them up, though I'm not sure that they need it," +he said.</p> + +<p>He disappeared round the deck-house, and now there was nobody to see +him, Jefferson paced feverishly up and down the bridge, until Wall-eye, +the steward, came pattering barefoot along the deck, with his arm in a +sling. Jefferson stopped him with a sign.</p> + +<p>"Slip into Mr. Austin's room, and bring me the thermometer he keeps in +the little case," he said. "As usual, no comprenny? Casetta de cuero, +very chiquitita."</p> + +<p>The man went away, and when he came back Jefferson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> who went into the +wheelhouse, sucked the little clinical thermometer gravely for a minute +or two. Then he frowned as he looked at it.</p> + +<p>"Ninety-nine, point something. I guess it's coming on again," he said. +"Well, one can go on working when it's a good deal more than that, +especially when he has to."</p> + +<p>He came out, and, leaning down, dropped the case into the hands of the +man below.</p> + +<p>"Put it back, and don't let Mr. Austin know," he said. "Señor Austin no +savvy, you comprenny?"</p> + +<p>Wall-eye grinned as he went away. He could, of course, hold his tongue, +but the little case was sodden already, and it could not have got so wet +as that in Austin's room.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Austin had gone down to the stoke-hold. The place was +dimly lighted, and insufferably hot, for, with the <i>Cumbria</i> stationary, +no more air came down the ventilator shafts than the fires would draw, +and they were burning sulkily. In fact, it was only by strenuous labour +that steam could be raised at all. Here and there the pale flicker of an +oil lamp emphasised the gloom, though there were three half-moon patches +of brightness in each of the two boilers, until a fierce red glow beat +out as Tom, the donkey-man, flung open a furnace door. Then Austin +gained some impression of his surroundings.</p> + +<p>The bent figures of half naked men with shovels were forced out of the +shadows. Another man, dripping with perspiration, pushed a clattering +truck, and several more lay, apparently inert, upon the floor-plates, +with water thick with coal grime trickling from them. Only two of them +were professional firemen, and all were weakened by the climate or +shaken by the fever, while as the red light touched them, Austin could +see how worn they were, and the suggestive hollows in their uncovered +skin. There are also things which it is unfit that a white man should +do,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> and firing in a calm in the tropics is one of them. Austin, +however, had little time to look about him in, for Tom thrust an iron +bar into one of the Spaniards's hands.</p> + +<p>"Stand by with the bucket, you. Now, out with the clinker!" he said.</p> + +<p>It is probable that the last man addressed did not understand what was +said, but he knew how to clean a fire, and stood, half crouching, before +the furnace, with face averted, while he plied the bar. There was a +rattling beneath the grate-bars and an overpowering wave of heat, in the +midst of which the man stood bowed, with thin garments scorching and his +hair frizzling visibly. Austin could hear his gasping breath, and became +possessed by a sense of futile indignation. Toil of that kind was, he +felt, more than could be expected of anything made in the image of a +man. Then the Canario let the bar fall clanging, and seized another, +while the heat grew more intense when he raked out the ash and glowing +clinker from the flaming tunnel. Austin shrank back with a hand upon his +eyes and singlet singeing, and his voice broke through Tom's cry of +"Damp her down!"</p> + +<p>"Por misericordia," he said, "echadle agua!"</p> + +<p>Somebody swung a bucket, and a cloud of steam whirled up; but the man +who had cleaned the fire let his scraper fall, and lurching with a half +strangled cry, went down amidst the vapour. He lay with scorched chest +and arms on the floor-plates, making little stertorous noises, until +Tom, who tore the bucket from his comrade's hands, flung the rest of its +contents over him.</p> + +<p>"Drag him away!" he said, and turned to Austin. "He's the second one, +but he'll come round by and by. Did you come down to look on or give us +a hand?"</p> + +<p>He flung open another door, and Austin took a shovel from a weary man. +He had studied the art of firing up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> on deck, where it was considerably +cooler, before the locomotive boiler, but he discovered that the work +now demanded from him was an entirely different matter. The heat was +overpowering, the bed of glowing fuel long, and it was only by the +uttermost swing of shoulders and wrench of back and loins that he could +effectively distribute his shovelful. He felt his lowered face +scorching, and the sweat of effort dripped from him, but he toiled on in +Berserker fury while Tom encouraged him.</p> + +<p>"Spread it!" he said. "Next lot well down to the back end. You needn't +be afraid to move yourself. Keep her thin!"</p> + +<p>Austin wondered whether he had any eyebrows left when that furnace was +filled, but it was done at last, and then there was coal to be trimmed +from the bunkers. The dust that whirled about the shovels blackened and +choked him, but he worked on savagely. Every man was needed, with half +the Spaniards sick, and he felt that if this was the cost of success it +was not fitting that he should shirk his part in it. Social distinctions +counted for nothing there; the barriers of creed and nationality had +also melted. They were all privates in that forlorn hope, with death as +the penalty of failure, and while they could not be more, none of them +that day dared be less, than men.</p> + +<p>He never remembered all he did. There was a constant clanging of +shovels, whirring of coal trucks, and slamming of iron doors that opened +to let out fiery heat and radiance and take the flying fuel in. Men came +and went like phantoms, gasping, panting, groaning now and then, and the +voice of their leader rose stridently at intervals. He was a man of low +degree, and his commands were not characterised by any particular +delicacy, but he was the man they needed, and when he emphasised his +instructions with a grimy hand, and now and then the flat of the +shovel,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> nobody resented it. During one brief interlude he found breath +for a deprecatory word or two with Austin.</p> + +<p>"If she was doing her eight or ten knots it wouldn't be as hard as +this," he said. "Then the ventilators would cool her down. The fires +won't burn themselves now—you have got to make them; but you'll find +her steam sweet and easy when she's going up the trades head to breeze."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Austin grimly, "how many of us will be left when she +gets there."</p> + +<p>Then Bill, who had been busy at the locomotive boiler, came down the +ladder with a message, and he and Tom vanished into the engine room, +while Austin, who greatly desired to go with them, put a restraint upon +himself. For some minutes he felt his heart beat as he listened to a +premonitory wheezing and panting, and then his blood seemed to tingle as +this merged into the steady rumble of engines. The faint quiver of the +floor-plates sent a thrill through him, and he drew in a great breath of +relief when beam and angle commenced to tremble. The rumbling grew +steadily louder, the whirl of the reversed propeller shook the ship, and +it was evident that the engines were running well.</p> + +<p>After that, however, the work became harder still, for the big cylinders +must be fed, and it was with a sensation of thankfulness that he had not +broken down beneath the strain Austin dragged himself up the ladder when +a message was brought him that he was wanted to drive the after winch. +It was raining heavily, but he found it a relief to feel the deluge beat +upon his beaded face and scorched skin, though he could scarcely see the +mangroves to which the wire that ran from the winch drum led. It was +shackled to a big bridle, a loop of twisted steel that wound in and out +among a rood or two of the stoutest trees. The winch was also powerful, +and it remained to be seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> whether it would heave the <i>Cumbria</i> out of +her miry bed, or pull that portion of the watery forest up bodily. A +great cable that slanted back towards him rose out of the water forward +in a curve, and he could dimly see Jefferson's lean figure outlined +against the drifting mist high up on the bridge. On the forecastle +beyond it more shadowy men stood still, and Austin wondered whether +their hearts beat as his did while they waited. The man beside him +stooped ready, with body bent in a rigid curve, and bare, stiffened +arms, clenching the wire that led to the winch-drum. There was a +minute's waiting, and then Jefferson, moving along the bridge, flung up +a hand.</p> + +<p>"Heave!" he said.</p> + +<p>Austin felt his pulses quicken and a curious sense of exultation as he +unscrewed the valve, for it seemed to him that flesh and blood had borne +the strain too long, and now they had steel and steam to fight for them. +The deck beneath him quivered as the screw whirled faster, and he could +see the poop shaking visibly. Then the winch wheezed and pounded, and +there was a groaning forward as the rattle of the windlass joined in. +Wire and hemp and studded chain rose ripping from the river, creaked and +groaned and strained, but when they had drawn each curve out they could +get no inch of slack in. Austin clenched his fingers on the valve-wheel, +but his eyes were fixed on the lonely figure pacing feverishly up and +down the bridge, and just then he felt all the bitterness of defeat. The +rattle forward died away, and though the winch still whirred and +hammered, none of the wire rope ran over the drum into the crouching +Spaniard's hands. The tension lasted for some minutes, and then +Jefferson's voice came down harshly through the rain.</p> + +<p>"Let up!" he said. "Get down, half of you, and see if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> you can help them +with the firing. We'll try her again when you have raised more steam."</p> + +<p>There was, by contrast, a curious silence when the roar of steam died +away, and the thudding of the big engines below decks sank to a lower +pitch. The men who could be spared went down in a body, and toiled for +another hour in a frenzy. The fierce Latin blood was up; they knew it +was the last round, and they would not be beaten now. The throbbing +blast which rushed skywards from the blow-off valve when they came up +again showed what they had done, and Austin walked aft, singed and +blackened, to his winch, with his heart in his mouth. It must be now or +never, for it was clear to him that the men were making their last +effort, and the boilers would not bear another pound of steam.</p> + +<p>The windlass was groaning horribly when he opened the valve, and the +whole ship trembled with the whirring of the screw. He saw the drums +spin round futilely for a moment or two, and then the Spaniard, who +crouched behind one of them, howled, as a foot of the uncoiling wire +came back to his hands. Simultaneously, the groaning of the windlass +changed to a clanking rattle, and no sound had ever seemed half so +musical to Austin. The ship shook beneath him, and creaked in all her +frame, while the hammering and rattling swelled into a frantic din as +she commenced to move. He felt as though he were choking, and his sight +momentarily failed him; but as yet the battle was not quite won, and +closing blackened fingers on the valve-wheel, he watched the rope come +home with dazzled eyes. It ran in faster and faster; he could hear the +great stud-cable splashing and grinding as it came in, too, and for five +breathless minutes he held himself to his task, feeling the <i>Cumbria</i> +creep down stream, stern foremost, under him. Then her pace grew faster, +and the clanging of his winch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> seemed to deafen him, until at last a +shrill-pitched voice fell through the din.</p> + +<p>"Bastante!" it said. "She's clear now! 'Vast heaving!"</p> + +<p>Then the tension slackened as the long, rusty hull swung out into +midstream, and flesh and blood were left shaken, and, as yet, unable to +recover from the suddenly lifted strain in the silence, as winch and +engines stopped. Tom, the donkey-man, was chanting some incoherent +ribaldry forward; here and there a Canario howled or flung up dripping +arms; while the one beside Austin sat down upon the hatch and rocked +himself to and fro as he called upon the Queen of Heaven. Only Jefferson +stood very still, a tall, lean figure, on the bridge, with his torn and +drenched clothing sticking to him, and Austin leaned heavily upon his +winch. He did not wish to move, and was not sure he could have done so +had he wanted to. The <i>Cumbria</i> was clear afloat, and they had won; but +there was nothing he could say or do which would sufficiently celebrate +that triumph.</p> + +<p>Jefferson gave them five minutes to recover their balance, and then his +voice came down again. The windlass clanked its hardest, wire hawsers +splashed, and the <i>Cumbria</i> had swung across to the opposite forest when +the big anchor rose to her bows. In the meanwhile the surfboat had been +busy, too; and when the winch whirred again they slid away, stern +foremost, with propeller churning slowly, against the muddy stream. It +was twenty minutes later when, with a roar of running cable, the anchor +plunged once more, and she brought up abreast of the creek where the +coal and oil were stored. Jefferson came down from his bridge and sat +down on the table in the skipper's room when Austin flung himself on to +the settee, with the water trickling from him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "we have floated her, but there's still a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> good deal to +be done. There are the coal and oil to get on board, and then we have to +find the gum."</p> + +<p>Austin looked up at him with a little smile.</p> + +<p>"That's rather a prosaic epilogue when one comes to think of it," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Then you can paint a picture of it when you get home, if you fancy it +worth while," said Jefferson drily.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it would be," and Austin smiled again. "After all, a +picture either goes beyond or falls a long way short of the real thing, +and the subject's rather too big for me. Man's domination symbolised by +a staggering scarecrow with a fireman's shovel."</p> + +<p>Jefferson dropped his hand on his shoulder, and gripped it hard. "Well," +he said, "you can drive a winch and sling a palm oil puncheon like a +sailorman. I guess that's 'most as useful as the other thing, any way."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Austin, "you're skirting rather a big question, but we are +practical now. Are you going to dig the gum up before you heave in +cargo?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not. It seems to me it's safer where it is in the meanwhile, so +long as Funnel-paint doesn't know where to look for it. If you'll give +me a dose of quinine I'd be obliged to you."</p> + +<p>Austin glanced at him sharply. "Have you any special reason for asking +for it?"</p> + +<p>"I've been in the rain quite a long while now, and it's a good deal +wiser to head off a fever than wriggle out of its clutches once it gets +a good grip on you. One gets cautious in this country."</p> + +<p>Austin said nothing further, for he was by this time well acquainted +with his comrade's characteristics, but he was not quite contented with +the latter's reason when he lugged out the medicine chest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM</span></h2> + + +<p>A half-moon shone in a rift between the massed banks of cloud when +Austin stood looking down into the trench four of the Spaniards were +digging. It ran partly across the islet, which was small and sandy, +intersecting another excavation that had a palm at one end of it, while +a half-rotten cottonwood, from which orchids sprang, stood in line with +the trench the men were toiling in. They were shovelling strenuously, +and the thud of the sand they flung out jarred on the silence, for the +night was very still. Austin could hear the creek lapping on the beach, +and the deep humming of the <i>Cumbria</i>'s pump, softened by the distance. +She lay, with a light or two blinking fitfully on board her, half a mile +away, ready at last for sea. Then he glanced at Jefferson, who stood +close beside him, shivering a little, though the night was hot, as he +leaned upon a shovel.</p> + +<p>"We have been at it, at least, a couple of hours," Austin said +suggestively.</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed. "And we'll be here this time to-morrow unless we find +the case. There's only one on this islet, that fellow said, and, as I +tried to point out, the men who buried it probably wanted to get the +thing done quickly. They'd have run a line from the two trees, and +either dumped the case at the intersection or a few paces outside it on +a given bearing. If we don't strike it in a few minutes we'll work a +traverse."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes passed, and then one of the Canarios cried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> out excitedly as +he struck something with his shovel. Austin saw his comrade's hands +quiver on the shovel-haft in the moonlight, but that was all, and next +moment two of the Spaniards fell on hands and knees in the sand. They +flung it up in showers with their fingers, while Austin, by an effort, +stood very still, for he felt that he might do things he would be sorry +for afterwards if he let himself go. The Latins were panting in their +eagerness, and wallowing rather like beasts than men amidst the flying +sand. Then one of them, who dragged something out, hove it up and flung +it at Austin's feet with a gasp of consternation.</p> + +<p>"Ah, maldito! Es muy chiquitita!" he said.</p> + +<p>Austin set his lips as he glanced at his comrade, whose face grew +suddenly hard.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, with portentous quietness. "It is remarkably small, and +by the way he hove it up there can't be very much in it."</p> + +<p>They stood still a moment, looking down at the little wooden case, while +the Spaniards clustered round them, with eyes that gleamed in the +moonlight, breathing unevenly. Then Jefferson said: "Light that +blast-lamp, and we'll open it."</p> + +<p>Austin's fingers trembled, and he wasted several matches before the +sheet of flame sprang up. Then he fell furiously upon the case with a +hammer and splintered the lid. He plunged his hand in and took out a +quill, which he twisted until it burst, and spilled a little heap of +gleaming grains in his palm.</p> + +<p>"It's gold," he said.</p> + +<p>"Empty the lot!" said Jefferson, and his voice was hoarse. "Your hat is +big enough. It will all go into it."</p> + +<p>There was a low murmur from the Spaniards when Austin obeyed him, and he +handed the wide-brimmed hat to Jefferson.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>"Would you make it four pounds?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>"I certainly would not."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed harshly. "Then it's probably worth some £200," he +said. "It's rather a grim joke, considering what has no doubt been done +for the sake of it."</p> + +<p>He laid the hat down, and one of the Spaniards, glancing at the little +pile of quills, broke into a torrent of horrible maledictions, while +Austin, who said nothing, gazed at his comrade until the latter made a +curious little gesture.</p> + +<p>"There is still the gum," he said.</p> + +<p>Austin smiled sardonically. "If you can still believe in it you are an +optimist of the finest water. Any way, we'll go and look for it. It will +be a relief to get done with the thing."</p> + +<p>They waded to the surfboat, which lay close by on the beach, and slid +down stream to an adjacent island, where they had no difficulty in +finding the tree the man who made the note in the engineers' tables had +alluded to. The moon had, however, sunk behind a cloud, and they toiled +by the light of the blast-lamp for half an hour, until once more one of +the Canarios struck something with his shovel. They dragged it out with +difficulty, and found it to be a heavy, half-rotten bag, with something +that appeared to be a package of plaited fibre inside it. Other bags +followed, and hope was growing strong in them again when they had +disclosed at least a score. Jefferson looked at Austin with a little +smile in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"There's a couple of hundred pounds, any way, in each of those bags, and +if the man who told me was right, that stuff is worth anything over £100 +the ton," he said. "So far as we have prospected, this strip of sand is +full of them. It's going to be more profitable than gold-mining. We'll +get this lot into the surfboat first. Put that lamp out."</p> + +<p>Austin did so, and they staggered through a foot or two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> of water with +the bags on their backs. Some of them burst as they carried them, but +the fibre packages remained intact, and the big boat was almost loaded +when Austin, who was breathless, seated himself for a moment on her +gunwale. He could see by the silvery gleam on the cloud bank's edge that +the moon was coming through again, and he was glad of the fact, for he +had stumbled and once fallen heavily under his burden when floundering +through the strip of thorny brushwood which fringed the beach. Still, he +agreed with Jefferson that it was not advisable to use the big +blast-light any longer than was absolutely necessary, for they both had +an unpleasant suspicion that they had not done yet with Funnel-paint. It +was, indeed, for that reason they had made the search at night and used +the surfboat, which could be paddled almost silently, instead of the +launch, though Tom had repaired her boiler, and she was then lying +alongside the <i>Cumbria</i>, with steam up, ready.</p> + +<p>The black hull of the latter was faintly visible, and as he glanced at +it he fancied that a puff of white steam sprang up where he supposed the +locomotive boiler to be. A moment later a thin, shrill scream rang +through the stillness, and one of the Spaniards, startled by the sound, +fell heavily against the boat with the bag he was carrying. Austin made +a sign to Jefferson, who was staggering across the beach with a bag upon +his back.</p> + +<p>"They're whistling," he said. "I fancy I can hear the launch coming."</p> + +<p>There was another hoarser scream, and when it died away a low thudding +sound crept out of the darkness. Austin swept his gaze upriver, but +could only see the shadowy mangroves, for the moon had not come through +yet.</p> + +<p>"Funnel-paint!" said Jefferson, breathlessly. "There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> are four more bags +in sight. We'll get her afloat before we go for them."</p> + +<p>They did it up to their waists in water, and it cost them an effort, for +the big boat was heavy now; and then, though the Spaniards glanced +longingly at the <i>Cumbria</i>'s blinking lights, Jefferson insisted upon +their carrying down the bags. When that was done, nobody lost any time +in getting on board; and, grasping the paddles, they drove her out into +the stream.</p> + +<p>"Paddle!" said Jefferson grimly. "I guess it's for your lives!"</p> + +<p>It is probable that the Spaniards did not understand him, but they did +what they could, for while the clank of the launch's engines grew louder +the sound of paddles was also rapidly drawing nearer. There were, +however, very few of them, and the boat was big, so that Austin gasped +with relief when at last the little steamer swept round her stern.</p> + +<p>"Stand by for the line!" said Tom, who sprang up on her deck. "They +can't be far off. It's ten minutes, any way, since we first heard their +paddles."</p> + +<p>The tow-line was caught, and tightened with a jerk, and the surfboat +went upstream with the yellow water frothing about her, while Austin +could hear the rhythmic thud of paddles through the clank of +hard-pressed engines. Jefferson said nothing, but stood rigidly still, +with hands clenched on the big steering oar, until they drove alongside +the <i>Cumbria</i>.</p> + +<p>"Up with you, Tom, and see they whip those bags in!" he said. "I want +the case you'll find under the settee in my room, too. You'll sing out +for two or three men who can be relied on, Austin."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" asked Austin.</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "Head the devils off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> from the island, +any way, and, if it's necessary, obliterate some of Funnel-paint's +friends. It's fortunate the launch has twice the speed of any canoe."</p> + +<p>He clambered on board the launch, and when a few more men came +scrambling down, swung her out before they could decide whether it would +be wiser to climb back again. After that, he left the helm to Austin, +and moving towards the engine, opened the valve wide.</p> + +<p>"Head her for the islet. If they have had anybody watching us in a +canoe, they'll go there first," he said.</p> + +<p>Austin made a sign of comprehension, but said nothing until his comrade, +sitting down, opened the case he had asked for. Then he became possessed +by unpleasant apprehensions as he saw Jefferson take out several rolls +of giant-powder with fuses attached to them. They looked exactly like +candles now, only the wicks were black, and unusually long. Sitting +still, very grim in face, he tied one or two together, and then nipped a +piece or two off the fuses with his knife.</p> + +<p>"I guess it would be as well to make sure," he said.</p> + +<p>"Of what?" asked Austin.</p> + +<p>"That they'll go off when I want them," and Jefferson laughed a little +grating laugh. "I've had them ready for some while, and took a good deal +of trouble timing the fuses. Now, the effect of giant-powder's usually +local, and I figure one could throw these things far enough for us to +keep outside the striking radius. They'd go better with a little +compression, but there's a big detonator inside them which should stir +them up without it. If these two sticks fell upon a nigger they wouldn't +blow him up. They'd dissolve him right into gases, and it's quite +probable there wouldn't be any trace of him left."</p> + +<p>Austin asked no more questions. Worn as he was by tense effort and the +climate, kept awake as he had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> to watch when he might have slept at +night, and troubled by vague apprehensions that the loathsome plague +might be working in his blood, he was ready, and, perhaps, rather more +than that, to turn upon the man who had made their heavy burden more +oppressive still. Indeed, it would have been a relief to him to feel the +jump of a rifle barrel in his hand, but from Jefferson's scheme he +shrank almost aghast. To run amuck, with flashing pistol or smashing +firebar, among the canoes, would have appeared to him a natural thing, +but the calculating quietness of his comrade, who sat so unconcernedly, +making sure that the rolls of plastic material should not fail, struck +him as wholly abnormal, and a trifle horrible. Pistol shot, machete +slash, and spear thrust, were things that one might face; but it seemed +beyond toleration that another man should unloose the tremendous +potentialities pent up in those yellow rolls upon flesh and blood.</p> + +<p>He was, however, quite aware that there was nothing to be gained by +protesting, and while Jefferson went on with his grim preparations he +turned his gaze upriver towards the approaching canoes. He could see +them clearly, black bars that slid with glinting paddles athwart a track +of silvery radiance, for the half-moon had sailed out from behind the +cloud. They were coming on in a phalanx, five or six of them, and the +splash and thud of the paddles rose in a rhythmic din. He swung the +launch's bows a trifle down stream, to run in between them and the +island.</p> + +<p>Then he turned again, and saw Bill, the fireman, watching Jefferson. The +light of the engine lantern was on his face, and it showed wry and +repulsive with its little venomous grin. Forward, the Spaniards were +clustered together, and they were, by their movements, apparently +loosening their wicked knives; but they showed no sign of consternation, +and Austin became sensible of a change in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> mood. It seemed to him +that he and they had grown accustomed to fear, and felt it less in the +land of shadow. If they were to be wiped out by a spear thrust, or +Jefferson's giant-powder, which seemed equally likely, nothing that he +could do would avert it; but by degrees he became possessed by a quiet +vindictive anger against the man who had forced this quarrel on them +when their task was almost done. There were, he fancied, fifty or sixty +men in the canoes, and he felt a little thrill of grim satisfaction as +he reflected that if he and his comrades went under they would not go +alone. In fact, he could almost sympathise with Jefferson.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the canoes were drawing level with them as they +approached the islet. He could see the wet paddles glinting, and the +naked bodies swing, while presently Jefferson, who made Bill a little +sign to stop the engine, stood up on the deck. The case of giant-powder +lay open at his feet, and Bill laid a glowing iron on the cylinder +covering. The men in the canoes ceased paddling, and while the craft +slid slowly nearer each other there was for a moment or two an +impressive silence, through which Austin fancied he could hear a faint +rhythmic throbbing. Then Jefferson, who cut one of the rolls of +giant-powder through, flung up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Where you lib for, Funnel-paint?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"Them beach," said the negro, and his voice reached them clearly. "We +done come for them gum. You lib for 'teamboat before we cut you t'roat!"</p> + +<p>"Then I'm going to put the biggest kind of Ju-Ju onto you," said +Jefferson. "You savvy how I blow up them headman's house? If you don't +want to be blown up like it, lib for up river one time, and be —— to +you!"</p> + +<p>There was probably only one man among them who partly understood him, +but his gesture was fierce and com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>manding, and the confused splashing +of paddles suggested that some, at least, of the negroes were impressed. +Two of the canoes moved backwards against the stream, and while +Funnel-paint cried out in his own tongue, Jefferson stooped.</p> + +<p>"Touch that on the iron, Bill," he said.</p> + +<p>In another moment he stood very straight again with a dim object that +sparkled in his hand, and then hurled it at the island. It fell amidst +the brushwood, out of which there sprang a sheet of flame that was +followed by a detonation and a great upheaval of flying sand. Then the +paddles splashed confusedly, and in another minute or two the canoes +were a hundred yards away. After that there was silence, broken only by +the voice of Funnel-paint, who seemed to be flinging reproaches at his +friends, and a faint, dull throbbing which Austin fancied was a trifle +plainer than before. Then Jefferson laughed as he took up another stick +of giant-powder.</p> + +<p>"That seems to have scared them, but if they come back again they'll get +the next one in the middle of them," he said.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" said Austin, holding up his hand. "Can't you hear engines?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson swung round sharply, and the scream of a whistle came shrilly +across the water from the <i>Cumbria</i> just then. It was answered by +another of a deeper tone, and a blaze of blue light sprang up, +apparently out of the creek. It showed a black shape that wallowed +through a mass of piled up foam.</p> + +<p>"A launch!" said Jefferson. "A fast one!"</p> + +<p>"No," said Austin. "A pinnace. A gunboat's pinnace. Ah! the canoes are +going."</p> + +<p>There was a sudden thudding of paddles, and the canoes melted into the +darkness as the moon sailed behind a cloud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> again; but the whirr and +thump of engines drew nearer, and Jefferson reached down for the +lantern.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "a good deal depends upon what country she belongs to, +and it's quite likely we're going to have trouble. Still, we have got to +face it now."</p> + +<p>He waved the lantern, and while the whirr of engines slackened a voice +came out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Launch ahoy! Is that the <i>Cumbria</i> yonder?" it said in excellent +English.</p> + +<p>Austin took the lantern from Jefferson with a soft laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'll take charge now—you see, I'm acquainted with my countrymen's +little peculiarities," he said, and raised his voice a trifle. "It is. +If you don't mind steaming that far, we should consider it a pleasure to +do anything we can for you."</p> + +<p>"If you have no great objections, I'll come on board now," said the +other man. "Starboard a little! Start her slow!"</p> + +<p>There was a whirring of engines, a little, very trim pinnace crept up +alongside, and a young man in immaculate white uniform stepped on the +launch's deck.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, "Mr. Austin! I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. +What has become of the niggers?"</p> + +<p>"Which niggers?" asked Jefferson, carelessly.</p> + +<p>The young officer looked at him with a little dry smile, and it was +evident that his eyes were keen, for he made a sign to Bill, who was +about to secrete the giant-powder.</p> + +<p>"I am," he said, "under the impression that you know a good deal more +about them than I do. We have rather good glasses, and I certainly made +out four or five canoes. May I ask what that stuff is yonder?"</p> + +<p>"It is what, I believe, is called in America giant-powder," said Austin. +"We found it useful in blowing the mangroves up."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>"Quite so," said the officer. "In fact, we heard the detonation. Still, +I daresay there are several things we should like to ask each other +about, and you suggested going across to your steamer."</p> + +<p>"I did," said Austin. "We should be glad of your company for to-night, +at least, though I'm afraid we can't offer you much to eat. This is my +partner, Jefferson—Lieutenant Onslow."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN'S TOAST</span></h2> + + +<p>An hour had passed since their first meeting, when Austin, Jefferson, +and two navy men sat round a little table that had been laid out upon +the <i>Cumbria</i>'s bridge deck. It was slightly cooler there than it was +below, besides which the mess-rooms reeked with damp and mildew. A lamp +hung from one of the awning spars above them, and its light fell upon +the men's faces and the remnants of the very frugal meal. The handful of +bluejackets who came up in her had apparently gone to sleep beneath an +awning on the flooring of the pinnace, which lay alongside, but a sharp +clinking rose from the lighted engine room, where a couple of naval +artificers were busy with Tom, the donkey-man. The gunboat's surgeon, +who had been round the forecastle, was talking to Austin, while her +commander lay opposite Jefferson, immaculately neat, in a canvas chair.</p> + +<p>"Our tale," he said, "is a very simple one. As we didn't seem to be +wanted anywhere just now, we moored ship snugly in the bight behind the +island, and decided to get a little painting done. She was getting rusty +along the water-line, and one can't get at it well when she's washing +through a swell, you know. Under the circumstances, I seized the +opportunity to do a little rough surveying. We are expected to pick up +any information that may be of use to the Admiralty hydrographers."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>Jefferson lay very limply in his chair, but his eyes twinkled +appreciatively. "Well," he said, "I guess that would look all right in +the log, but any one who had seen you start surveying would wonder why +you brought those cases of provisions as well as engine oil and packing, +and two or three ingots of bearing metal. We were uncommonly glad to get +them and see the artificers, though I'm not sure your Admiralty would +approve of the way you're squandering its stores."</p> + +<p>Onslow laughed. "We are not forbidden to offer assistance to any one in +want of it, and the provisions, at least, do not belong to our +parsimonious Lords. In fact, they were handed me at Las Palmas by a +friend of yours, on the off chance of our falling in with you. Of +course, I could not exactly promise that you would get them, though I +had reasons for believing the thing was possible."</p> + +<p>Jefferson filled a wineglass, and thrust the bottle across the table.</p> + +<p>"I think I know the lady's name," he said. "This is the first wine I've +drunk since I came to Africa, and it will probably be the last until I +get out of it again. To-morrow it's going forward to the sick men in the +forecastle. The lady who sent it is not going to mind my passing the +kindness on."</p> + +<p>"I venture to think she would approve," and Onslow glanced at Austin. +"In fact, I couldn't quite help a fancy she intended it as a +peace-offering. Miss Brown is, as you are probably aware, capable of +conveying an impression without saying anything very definite, and the +one I received from her was that she felt she had been a trifle hard on +somebody. I should, of course, not have presumed to mention it had it +not been borne in on me that it was not intended I should keep that +impression entirely to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> myself. If I have been mistaken I must apologise +to her and both of you."</p> + +<p>Jefferson stood up with the wineglass in his hand, and the others rose +with him.</p> + +<p>"This," he said, "is a little out of my usual line, but it's her wine +we're drinking, and I can't quite let the occasion pass. 'To Her Serene +Excellency, the cleverest woman in the Canaries, who hasn't forgotten +us!'"</p> + +<p>Austin stood opposite him, a ragged, climate-worn skeleton, with a +little flush in his haggard face, and he looked at the gunboat's +commander.</p> + +<p>"My comrade hasn't gone quite far enough," he said. "The Queen, who can +do no wrong!"</p> + +<p>Then the glasses were emptied, and there was a moment's silence when +they sat down. Three of them were, after all, somewhat reserved +Englishmen, who had, for once, allowed their thoughts to become +apparent; and Commander Onslow, who felt that he had, perhaps, exceeded +his somewhat delicate commission, was distinctly displeased with +himself. He had had a certain conversation with Mrs. Hatherly, who had +been rather frank with him, before he left the Canaries, and the +attitude of the ragged adventurer who had proclaimed his unwavering +devotion to the woman who had sent him there appealed to him, so much +so, in fact, that it made him uncomfortable. It was, he felt, advisable +to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Considering everything, it was, perhaps, as well we turned up when we +did. You see, those niggers don't belong to us," he said. "I was, I may +admit, rather thankful when they disappeared, since it might have made a +good deal of trouble if we had taken a hand in. Now you understand that, +you may be willing to tell me what you purposed doing with the +giant-powder."</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed grimly. "If you had come five min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>utes later I'd have +blown half of them to the devil. We, at least, can't afford to be +particular."</p> + +<p>"You had, presumably, a reason? I wonder if you have any objections to +telling us the rest of it in confidence?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson, who lighted a cigar, told him the story, and Onslow lay back +in his chair, listening with grave attention, while the surgeon leaned +forward with elbows on the table. At last Onslow shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It's interesting, exceedingly," he said. "Still, I don't think I'd +recommend you to tell it in quite that shape to everybody. It would +probably make trouble, and you mightn't find anybody very willing to +believe you. Things of that kind don't happen now—at least, they're not +supposed to—and I fancy it would prove a good deal more convenient just +to mention the simple facts. You bought the steamer stranded, and, with +considerable difficulty, got her off."</p> + +<p>"We had practically decided on doing no more than that already," said +Austin. "Still, I wonder if, now you have heard the story, one could ask +your views?"</p> + +<p>Onslow smiled drily. "I haven't any, and if I were you, I wouldn't worry +about anything beyond the financial aspect of the affair. Nobody is +likely to thank you, and the only men who could tell you what happened +are dead, you know."</p> + +<p>Austin saw that Jefferson also recognised that the advice was good, and, +changing the subject, he spoke to the surgeon. The latter looked +thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you what that man was afflicted with," he said. "There are +several African diseases we are not acquainted with, and a good many of +their troubles are supposed to be contagious. Of course, you could apply +to the College of Tropical Diseases they've lately started in Liverpool, +if you are really interested."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>"I am," said Austin. "In fact, I'm very much so, indeed. You see, I had +practically nothing on, and he got his festering arms round me."</p> + +<p>The surgeon looked at him gravely. "I scarcely think you need worry, but +if you have to do any rough work I would endeavour to avoid any +lacerated bruises, and, as far as possible, keep your skin unbroken."</p> + +<p>"It's a little difficult on board this steamer. There are several raw +patches on my arms now."</p> + +<p>The surgeon promised to attend to them, but just then Onslow turned to +Jefferson.</p> + +<p>"Have you opened up any of the gum yet?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Jefferson said he had not, and was rather anxious to do so, whereupon +Onslow and the surgeon offered to accompany him, and they went down the +ladder together to where the bags still lay upon the forward hatch.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder if you were right about its value," said the +surgeon, when Jefferson held up the lantern one of the Spaniards had +handed him. "We took a Senegal Frenchman down the coast last trip, and +he had rather a craze upon the subject. There is, I understood from him, +a particular gum the niggers find somewhere between here and the head of +the Niger, for which one could get almost what he liked to ask from the +makers of special high-class varnishes. In fact, the man said that one +of them who had been trying it told him that it must be used in certain +processes whatever its cost might be. The only trouble was that it +appeared very difficult to get hold of, except in the smallest +quantities; but perhaps your Frenchman had got on the track of it."</p> + +<p>Austin tore one of the bags, which were very rotten, across, and then +slit the fibre package beneath it. The surgeon, who stooped beside him, +was the first to thrust his hand into the opening.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>"The nodules seem very uniform in size," he said, and then stood up +suddenly, with astonishment in his face. "I'm almost afraid that +somebody has been beforehand with you."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Austin, still tearing at the package.</p> + +<p>The surgeon turned and gazed hard at Jefferson. "This is certainly not +gum. It looks very like an ordinary palm kernel."</p> + +<p>He held up a little, round, black object, and Jefferson's face grew +grim, while he clenched one hand. Then he wrenched the knife from Austin +and fell on his knees, ripping at the fibre package savagely. It opened +beneath the steel, and when its contents poured out on deck he rose with +a little bitter laugh. There was no doubt whatever. They were palm +kernels. A curious silence followed, during which Jefferson leaned +against the rail, looking down upon the bags with expressionless eyes, +until he made a little gesture.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, very quietly, "it seems we have had our trouble for +nothing. You may as well open the rest of them."</p> + +<p>Austin was not sure how he contrived to do it. He felt suddenly limp and +feeble, but holding himself in hand by an effort, he slit the remaining +bags, and flooded the deck with kernels. There was nothing else, and the +kernels appeared half rotten.</p> + +<p>"This must be a little rough on you," said Onslow, with a trace of +awkwardness. "I understand you expected to find more of the stuff +yonder."</p> + +<p>"I did," said Jefferson. "Funnel-paint can have it now. We have had +about enough of this country, and if your artificers fancy we could +trust that starboard boiler, we'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> set about raising steam to take her +out first thing in the morning."</p> + +<p>Onslow made a little gesture of sympathy. "I almost think it is the +wisest thing you can do," he said. "In the meanwhile, it is getting +late, and we have a long trip in front of us to-morrow. I have no doubt +you don't feel much like entertaining anybody just now."</p> + +<p>He and the surgeon withdrew to the rooms prepared for them, and when +Austin, who went with them, came back, he stood a moment by the doorway +of the one beneath the bridge which Jefferson now occupied alone. The +latter looked up at him with half-closed eyes.</p> + +<p>"We have the oil and the ship—and that will have to be enough," he +said, and then straightened himself with a fierce gesture. "Get out, and +sleep—if you feel like it. The thing has shaken me, and I'm not sure +I'm very well."</p> + +<p>Austin went away, but it was almost daylight before sleep came to him, +and he had only been on deck an hour when their guests departed in the +morning. Jefferson, who bade them good-bye at the gangway, stood leaning +on the rail while the pinnace steamed away, and then walked, with +curious heaviness, towards his room. He crawled into his bunk when he +reached it, and lay there, while Austin looked down on him with concern.</p> + +<p>"I've had the fever on me for quite a while, and at last it has gripped +me hard," he said. "I'll probably be raving in an hour or two. Get steam +up as soon as you're able, and take her out of the devilish country."</p> + +<p>Austin was very busy between his comrade's room, forecastle, and +stoke-hold during the rest of that day, and he had very little time for +rest at night, but though half the men were sick, and his own limbs were +aching portentously, it was with a little thrill of exultation he +climbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> to the bridge early on the following morning. The windlass was +rattling on the forecastle, Wall-eye stood by the winch astern, and the +surfboat was sliding towards the mangroves, where a big wire hawser was +made fast, in the rain. Austin was not a professional sailor, but he +could handle surfboat and steam launch, and in the good days had sailed +his yacht along the coast at home. He also had confidence in the +grizzled, olive-faced Spaniard who stood gravely behind him, gripping +the steering-wheel.</p> + +<p>The anchor came home to the bows at last, somehow the fever-worn men on +the forecastle hove it in; the after winch hammered when he made a sign, +and the long, rusty hull moved backwards towards the forest as her head +swung slowly round. There was a splash of dripping wire, and he swung up +an arm with a cry of "Largo!"</p> + +<p>Then the winch rattled furiously, a gong clanged below, and a wild, +exultant shouting went up when the <i>Cumbria</i>'s engines commenced to +throb. The gaunt, hollow-faced men who stood, dripping, in the rain, had +borne everything but cold, and now they were going home. Austin felt his +eyes grow hazy for a moment as he leaned upon the rails, and then, with +a little shake of his shoulders, he fixed his gaze steadily upon the +mangroves that came sliding back to him ahead. He had, he felt, a task +that would demand all his attention in front of him.</p> + +<p>They slid down stream unchecked until the afternoon, and the <i>Cumbria</i> +steered handily, which, since there were awkward bends to swing round, +was fortunate for all of them; but Austin had misgivings when at last +they approached one that appeared sharper than the rest, for he could +only see the close ranks of dingy mangroves in front of him as he gazed +into the rain and mist. The creek was too narrow to swing the steamer to +an anchor, and it was evident that if she was to get around the bend at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +all he most go at it hard, for the yellow stream was running fast with +them, and unless she steamed faster the vessel would not steer. He +signed to the helmsman, who edged her in near one bank to gain a little +room; and then set his lips tight as he clenched his telegraph and rang +for full speed ahead. It was consoling to remember that Tom was below, +for a good donkey-man is, as a rule, more to be trusted than a junior +engineer.</p> + +<p>Ahead, the oily current was sliding through the mangroves as well as +among them, covering all their high-arched roots, and he knew that there +were a good many feet of water there, for the creek was full, and he had +heard of steamers going full tilt into the watery forest at such times. +Still he breathed unevenly as he watched the dingy trees slide past one +another, for the bend was opening very slowly, and there was a long +tongue of mangroves close in front of him. The bridge planks were +trembling beneath him now, and he could hear the thud-thud of the +hard-driven screw; but the stream seemed to be running very fast at the +bend, and, glancing round, he saw something very like fear in the face +of the man who held the wheel. When he looked ahead again the long +tongue of mangroves seemed flying towards him.</p> + +<p>He strode to the end of the bridge and glanced down at the lift of rusty +side. There was a good deal of it above the water, for the <i>Cumbria</i> was +loaded easily, and she was also, he was very glad to remember, light of +draught. He could not check her with an anchor under foot. She would +only swing to it, and that would land her among the mangroves broadside +on. If he backed his propeller he would as surely go ashore, and his +face grew very grim as he made the helmsman a little sign. Since he must +strike the forest, he would strike it fair, as hard as the engines +could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> drive her, bows on; and he thrust down the telegraph once more +for the last pound of steam.</p> + +<p>The throb of plank and rail grew sharper, the trees seemed rushing at +the forecastle, the helmsman gazed forward with drawn face over his +moving wheel, and a shouting broke out on deck. Austin, however, did not +move at all, save when he raised a hand to the helmsman. Once more, +easy-going artist as he was, the Berserker fit was upon him, and it was +with a light only one or two of his friends had ever seen there in his +eyes he hurled her full speed at the forest.</p> + +<p>She struck it, with a crash that flung two or three of the Spaniards +staggering, and it crumpled up before her. Mangrove boughs came +streaming down on her grinding forecastle, torn limbs clutched at rail +and stanchion, and were smashed by them. Mire was whirled aloft by the +thudding screw, and Austin, gripping his telegraph, laughed a harsh +laugh as he saw that she was going through. How thick that belt of trees +was, or what water flowed among their roots, he did not know, but he +remembered that he had found no bottom among them in other places with a +boathook, now and then.</p> + +<p>In another few moments the white-stemmed trunks fell aside again, and +they drove out once more into clear and swiftly-flowing water. Then the +Spaniards howled together, and Austin, twining his hand in the lanyard, +unloosed the whistle, and hurled back a great vibratory blast at the +beaten forest. It was, he admitted afterward, a somewhat feeble thing, +but he said he felt the occasion demanded something then.</p> + +<p>After that they had no great difficulty, and by nightfall they drove her +out with sluicing decks over the smoking bar, dipping the bleached and +rotten ensign to the little white gunboat that lay rolling behind the +island. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> Austin felt a great weight lifted off him as he flung +himself into a canvas chair upon his bridge. There was now only open sea +in front of them, and he had seen that the big pump could keep the water +down. He felt that he could contrive by some means to make Las Palmas.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">IN COMMAND</span></h2> + + +<p>Austin was quite aware that he had his work cut out when he was left in +command of the <i>Cumbria</i>, with half her crew sick, and her skipper +raving deliriously. He knew very little about medicine, and certainly no +more about what he termed the astronomical side of navigation, and after +several attempts decided that it was beyond his ability to take an +accurate solar observation. There were, however, other, though not very +reliable, means of approximately ascertaining the ship's position which +he was acquainted with, and he nerved himself afresh for a grapple with +what most men would, under the circumstances, have considered +insuperable difficulties.</p> + +<p>He had two Spaniards who could be trusted to keep the steamer more or +less on the course he gave them, while the <i>Cumbria</i> steerd handily, +which is more than all steamers do. There was a large-scale chart, +considerably mildewed, but still legible, in the skipper's room, as well +as a pilot guide to the West African coast, while the patent log that +towed astern to record the distance run appeared to be working +accurately. He could thus, it was evident, depend in some degree upon +what is termed dead reckoning, which is comparatively reliable in the +case of short distances run in the vicinity of a high, well lighted +coast. The one the <i>Cumbria</i> steamed along was, however, not lighted at +all, and most of it scarcely rose a foot above<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> sea-level, while when he +had ruled the line she was presumed to be travelling on across the +chart, and pricked off the distance the patent log told him she had run, +there remained the question how far the tide and the Guinea stream had +deflected it, and whether the steering and her compasses could be +trusted.</p> + +<p>It was also rather an important question; and when he had, on several +occasions, peered for an hour at a time through Jefferson's glasses in +search of a cape or island which the chart indicated should be met with, +and saw only a hazy line of beach, or a dingy smear on the horizon which +might be mangroves, or, quite as likely, a trail of mist, the +probability of his ever reaching the Canaries seemed very remote indeed. +There would, he fancied, be no great difficulty in obtaining a mate and +two or three seamen from one of the steamers he came across, but in that +case the strangers would expect half the value of the <i>Cumbria</i>'s hull +and cargo, and very likely make their claim to it good. He was also +aware that more experienced skippers than he was had put their ships +ashore upon that coast. But what troubled him most was the fact that if +he lost sight of it, or found no point that he could identify, he would +have nothing to start from when he must boldly head her out across the +open ocean.</p> + +<p>She had rolled along at six to eight knots, with the big pump going, for +several days, when a trail of smoke crept out of the Western horizon. +Austin watched it anxiously, and when at last a strip of black hull and +a yellow funnel grew into shape beneath it, summoned the donkey-man, and +with his assistance, which was not especially reliable, worried over the +signal code painted on the flag rack in the wheel-house when he had +stopped the engines. It was almost obliterated, and most of the flags +themselves were missing; but between them they picked out sundry strips<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +of mildewed bunting and sent them up to the masthead. The little +West-coast mailboat was close alongside now, and flags also commenced to +flutter up between her masts, while her whistle screamed in long and +short blasts. Austin, anxious as he was, laughed a little.</p> + +<p>"That is apparently the Morse code, and it's unfortunate that neither of +us understands it," he said. "I presume it means that they can make +nothing of our flags, and one could hardly blame them. Any way, we have +got to stop her."</p> + +<p>Tom grinned as he pulled an armful of tattered ensigns out of a locker. +"This one should do the trick," he said. "I'd start the whistle."</p> + +<p>Austin drew the lanyard, and when the ensign blew out on the hot air +Union down, the mailboat stopped, and, considering that they were +steamboat men, her crew had a white gig over in a very creditable time. +She came flying towards the <i>Cumbria</i> with four negroes at the oars, and +when she slid alongside a young mate in trim white uniform came up a +rope.</p> + +<p>"You might have slung me the ladder down," he said, gazing about him in +blank astonishment. "Paint is evidently scarce where you come from. I've +seen smarter craft in a wrecker's yard. Still, I can't stop here +talking. What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"A doctor, for one thing," said Austin, to gain time.</p> + +<p>"We have half the crew down in the forecastle."</p> + +<p>The mate walked to the rails and shouted to his boat-boys, while, when +the gig slid away, he pointed up at the drooping flags as he turned to +Austin.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's artistic, the colouring, I mean," he said.</p> + +<p>"Still, it's a trifle difficult to make out by either code." Austin +laughed. "Come into my room and have a drink. There are one or two +things I want to ask you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>Five minutes later he spread a mildewed chart on the table as they sat +with a bottle of Jacinta's wine before them.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "if you will tell me exactly where we are, I'd be much +obliged to you."</p> + +<p>"You don't know?" and the mate looked at him curiously.</p> + +<p>"Since you can't undertake any salvage operations with the mails on +board, I don't mind admitting that I'm far from sure. You see, we have +only one navigator, and if you were forward just now you would hear him +raving. I've got to take her somehow—on dead reckoning—to the +Canaries."</p> + +<p>The mate opened his mouth and gasped. "Well," he said simply, "may I be +----!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's natural, but it isn't much use to me. I've been +creeping along the coast, so far, but it's evident that if I stick to it +I won't reach Las Palmas. I want a definite point from which to make a +start for the ocean run."</p> + +<p>The mate pulled a pin out of the chart, and, measuring with the +dividers, stuck it in again. "You're not quite so much out as I expected +you would be," he said. "It's a straight run to the Isleta, Grand +Canary. Whether you'll ever get there with the compass and the patent +log is another matter, though, of course, if you go on long enough, +you'll fetch some part of America. I don't want to be unduly +inquisitive, but you will have lost, at least, an hour of our time +before I put Pills on board again, and I really think there is a little +you should tell me."</p> + +<p>Austin briefly outlined his adventures, and when he had finished the +mate brought his fist down with a bang on the table.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you have evidently excellent nerves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> of your own, and +I'm not quite so sure as I was that you'll never get her home. I don't +mind admitting now that at first I thought you were crazy. It's evident +that your compass and patent log are all right, but you'll have to get +your latitude and longitude, at least, occasionally, and I'll bend on +some signals any skipper you come across would understand. If he's +particularly good-natured he might chalk it on a board."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment with a little sardonic smile. "As a matter of fact, +it's not quite so unusual a question as you might suppose."</p> + +<p>Austin thanked him profusely, and felt a good deal easier when he and +the mailboat's doctor, who arrived presently and gave him good advice, +went away. Then, with a blast of her whistle, the <i>Cumbria</i> steamed on +to the West again, and it was three or four days later, and she was +plunging along with dripping forecastle at a little over six knots +against the trades, when Austin had trouble with Jefferson. He was +asleep in his room, aft, and, awakening suddenly, wondered for a moment +or two what was wrong, until it dawned on him that it was the unusual +quietness which had roused him. Then he sprang from his berth and +hastened out on deck, for it was evident that the engines had stopped.</p> + +<p>There was clear moonlight overhead, and the ship was rolling heavily, +while as he looked forward a clamour broke out beneath the bridge, where +grimy men came scrambling up from the stoke-hole gratings. It was light +enough for him to see their blackened faces and their excited gestures. +Other men were, he fancied, from the pattering on the iron deck, also +moving in that direction from the forecastle; but what most astonished +him was the sight of a gaunt white figure pacing up and down the bridge. +While he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> gazed at it, Wall-eye came running towards him breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"The Señor Jefferson has stopped the ship!" he said. "He has a pistol, +and Maccario, who is shut up in the wheel-house, shouts us that he will +go back to Africa again!"</p> + +<p>Austin, who knew a little about malarial fever by this time, ran +forward, and met Tom at the foot of the bridge ladder. The latter laid a +grimy finger on his forehead significantly.</p> + +<p>"Right off his dot! I don't know what's to be done," he said. "It would +be easier if he hadn't that pistol."</p> + +<p>A gong clanged beneath them while they considered it, and Tom shook his +head. "He has been ringing all over the telegraph, from full speed to +hard astern," he said. "I don't know if he'd give you the pistol, but +when I got half way up the ladder he said he'd put a bullet into me. Any +way, if you went up and talked to him while I crawled up quiet by the +other ladder, I might get him by the foot or slip in behind him."</p> + +<p>Austin was by no means anxious to face the pistol, but it was evident +that something must be done, and he went up the ladder as unconcernedly +as he could. When he reached the head of it Jefferson beat upon the +wheel-house window with his fist.</p> + +<p>"What's her head to the westwards for?" he said. "Port, hard over! Can't +you hear inside there?"</p> + +<p>The steering engine rattled, and it was evident that the helmsman was +badly afraid, but in another moment Jefferson had swung away from the +wheel-house, and was wrenching at the telegraph again.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with these engines?" he said. "I want her backed +while I swing her under a ported helm. I'll plug somebody certain if +this is a mutiny."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>He opened the big revolver, and closed it with a suggestive click, while +it cost Austin an effort to walk quietly along the bridge. Jefferson's +eyes were glittering, his hair hung down on his face, which was grey and +drawn, dark with perspiration, and his hands and limbs were quivering. +His voice, however, although a trifle hoarser, was very like his usual +one, so much so, in fact, that Austin found it difficult to believe the +man's mind was unhinged by fever. He whirled round when he heard Austin, +without a trace of recognition in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "why can't I get what I want done?"</p> + +<p>"You're very sick," said Austin quietly. "Hadn't you better go back to +bed?"</p> + +<p>Jefferson laughed. "Yes," he said, "I guess I am, or these brutes +wouldn't try to take advantage of me. Still, in another minute you're +going to see me make a hole in somebody!"</p> + +<p>He leaned heavily on the bridge rails, with the pistol glinting in his +hand, and Austin endeavoured to answer him soothingly.</p> + +<p>"What do you want to go back to Africa for?" he said. "There wouldn't be +any difficulty about it if it was necessary."</p> + +<p>"Funnel-paint's there. They brought me away when I was sick, or I'd have +killed him." He made a little gesture, and dropped his hoarse voice. +"You see, I had a partner who stood by me through everything, and +Funnel-paint sent down a —— rotting nigger!"</p> + +<p>"Your partner's all right," said Austin, who saw that Jefferson was as +far from recognising him as ever. "I've excellent reasons for being sure +of it."</p> + +<p>Jefferson leaned towards him confidentially, with one hand on the rails.</p> + +<p>"It hasn't come out, but it's bound to get him. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> nigger had his arms +round him. Then he'll have to hide in a dark hole where nobody can see +him, while the flesh rots off him, until he dies."</p> + +<p>Austin could not help a shiver. He knew the thing might happen, and he +realised now that it had also been in Jefferson's mind. Still, it was, +in the meanwhile, his business to get the pistol from the latter, and +then put him in his berth, by force, if necessary.</p> + +<p>"The difficulty is that you can't kill a man twice," he said. "I seem to +have a notion that you hove a stick of dynamite into Funnel-paint's +canoe."</p> + +<p>"I could have done, and I meant to, but my partner was with me. I had to +humour him. That man stood by me."</p> + +<p>Austin stood still, looking at him, a little bewildered by it all. The +mailboat doctors and some of the traders he had met at Las Palmas had +more than once related curious examples of the mental aberration which +now and then results from malarial fever. Still, Jefferson, whom he had +left scarcely fit to raise his head in his bunk, was now apparently +almost sensible; and, what was more astonishing, able, at least, to walk +about. Then, when he wondered how he was to get his comrade down from +the bridge, the latter turned to him with a sudden change of mood.</p> + +<p>"You're keeping me talking while they play some trick on me," he said. +"All right! In another moment you'll be sorry."</p> + +<p>The pistol went up, and Austin set his lips while a little shiver of +dismay ran through him. The ladder he had come up by was some distance +away, the wheel-house, at least, as far, and he stood clear in the +moonlight, realising that the first move he made would probably lead to +Jefferson squeezing the trigger. Then, with sudden bitter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>ness, he +remembered what, it seemed, was in his blood, and felt astonished that +he should be troubled by physical fear. It would be a swifter and +cleaner end if his comrade killed him there. That consideration, +however, only appealed to his reason, and the reflection came that +Jefferson would probably never shake off the recollection of what he had +done; and, knowing it was safest, he braced himself to stand motionless, +while the perspiration dripped from him, steadily eyeing the +fever-crazed man.</p> + +<p>"If you will let me tell you why we are steaming west it would save a +good deal of trouble," he said, as soothingly as he could, though his +voice shook. "You see, you were too sick to understand, and you're not +very well yet."</p> + +<p>Jefferson, somewhat to his astonishment, seemed willing to listen, but +he was, unfortunately, far from the side of the bridge below which +Austin surmised that Tom was crouching. He risked a glance round, but +the helmsman evidently dare not leave the wheel-house, for which Austin +could not blame him, and the Spaniards stood clustered together gazing +up at them from below. Austin decided that if he signed or called to +them Jefferson would use the pistol, though he fancied that one of them +was trying to make him understand something.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly a shadowy form glided out from behind the wheel-house, +where Jefferson could not see it. There was a rush of feet, and a +spring, and Jefferson went down heavily with another man, who wound his +arms round him. They rolled against the bridge rails, and a breathless +voice called to Austin.</p> + +<p>"Get hold of the pistol!" it said.</p> + +<p>Austin wrenched it from his comrade; men came scrambling up the ladder, +and in another moment or two they had Jefferson helpless, and set about +carrying him to his room. When they laid him in his berth his strength +seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> to suddenly melt away, and he lay limp and still, only babbling +incoherently. Austin ventured to give him a sedative, and then, leaving +Wall-eye to watch him, went out on deck. Tom, who was waiting for him, +made a little deprecatory gesture.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Mr. Austin, but he never came near my side of the bridge," +he said. "If I had got up he'd have dropped me with the pistol, and that +wouldn't have done much good to anybody."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Austin. "I was uncommonly thankful when Bill got +hold of him. Send him along to my room, and then start your engines."</p> + +<p>In another two or three minutes the <i>Cumbria</i> was steaming west again, +and Bill, the fireman, stood, somewhat sheepishly, in the doorway of +Austin's room.</p> + +<p>"I owe you a good deal, and when the time comes I'll endeavour to +remember it," said the latter. "Still, I don't want Mr. Jefferson ever +to know anything about the thing. You did it cleverly."</p> + +<p>Bill grinned. "Well," he said, "I'm quite glad I did. I felt I had to do +something for my five pounds, any way."</p> + +<p>It dawned upon Austin that once or twice, when he had somewhat risky +work to do, Bill had been near him.</p> + +<p>"What five pounds?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The five pounds she shoved into my hand one night on board the +<i>Estremedura</i>—no—the fact is, I'm feeling a little shaky, and I don't +quite know what I'm saying. The getting hold of Mr. Jefferson has upset +me. When you think of it, it's only natural."</p> + +<p>"Then it has come on very suddenly," said Austin. "You seemed all right +a moment or two ago. Am I to understand that somebody gave you five +pounds to look after me?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>It was evident to Bill that there was nothing to be gained by further +reticence, and he edged out of the doorway, grinning more broadly than +ever.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I guess she meant you, though she said it was both of +you. Still, you won't tell her, or I sha'n't get any more."</p> + +<p>He had vanished before Austin could ask another question, but the matter +was quite clear to the latter, and his face grew hot while a little +thrill of satisfaction ran through him as he recognised that Jacinta had +felt it worth while to do what she could to ensure his safety. Then he +remembered something else, and his face grew hard as he pulled off his +jacket and glanced at his bare arm.</p> + +<p>He had torn and abraded it heaving in oil and coal, and the gunboat's +surgeon had warned him that it was advisable to keep his skin unbroken. +There were several half-hardened scars upon it now, and another had been +torn away when he fell against the rail in a heavy lurch a day or two +earlier. He had worn no jacket at the time. He had since noticed a +curious tingling sensation in that part of his arm, and, holding it +nearer the lamp, he saw that the flesh was inflamed about the wound. +There was no doubt about the fact. When he pressed it with his thumb all +the lower arm was sore, and he let it fall limply to his side, and sat +down with a little groan. The horrible thing he shrank from had, it +seemed, come upon him. He sat very still for half an hour, grappling +with a numbing sense of dismay, and then, with a little shake of his +shoulders, went back to the bridge, for he had still a duty to his +comrades.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AUSTIN IS MISSING</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a fine morning, and the signal, "Steamer approaching from the +South," was flying from the staff high up on the Isleta hill, when +Pancho Brown's boat lay heaving on the smooth swell at the entrance to +Las Palmas harbour. Mrs. Hatherly, Jacinta, and Muriel sat in the +stern-sheets, and beyond them two barefooted Canarios were resting on +their oars, while two or three miles away a smear of smoke that half hid +a streak of dusky hull moved towards them across the shining sea. Brown +was watching it attentively with a pair of marine glasses in his hand.</p> + +<p>"You have brought me off several times for nothing, but I almost think +our friends have turned up at last," he said. "Of course, from +Lieutenant Onslow's cable she should have been here several days ago, +but it's very likely the engines would give them trouble. Any way, we'll +know in ten minutes or so. There's the <i>Sanidad</i> going off."</p> + +<p>A launch crept out from the mole, and behind her in the harbour boats +were being got afloat. Coaling clerks, tobacco and wine merchants, and a +miscellaneous crowd of petty dealers, were waiting to step on board, but +two, at least, of Pancho Brown's party had no eyes for them. They were +watching the incoming steamer rise higher out of the shining sea, and +wondering if she was the one they had for the last few days looked for +with tense anxiety.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> They had Onslow's cable from Sierra Leone, and the +skipper of a big tramp which had come in for coals reported that a small +British steamer had asked him for the latitude and longitude a week +before. Nothing, however, had since been heard of her, and Jacinta had +found the last three or four days as trying as Muriel did. The latter +had, however, borne the suspense bravely, and displayed a sublime +confidence in her lover which Jacinta, for no very obvious reason, found +almost exasperating at times.</p> + +<p>"Can't we go out a little?" she said at last.</p> + +<p>Brown made a sign to the Canarios, who dipped the oars, and as they slid +past the <i>Carsegarry</i>, which lay with steam blowing off, and a water +barge alongside, Captain Farquhar leaned over her rails. He had come in +for coal on his way to Liverpool the previous day, and had spent part of +the night with Brown.</p> + +<p>"I really think that is the <i>Cumbria</i>," he said. "Any way, she's much +the kind of boat Jefferson described to me, and so far as I can make out +they have a big boiler on deck. I suppose you are going off to her?"</p> + +<p>Brown said they were, and Farquhar glanced at the boat hesitatingly. +"I'd very much like to come with you, but I can't leave just now," he +said. "Still, we won't have filled our tanks up for an hour or two, and +you might tell Mr. Austin that I certainly expect him to pull across and +see me. In fact, although we have steam up, I'll wait until he does."</p> + +<p>Brown made a sign of comprehension, and the boat slid away, while when +she stopped again outside the harbour the eyes of all on board her were +fixed upon the steamer. She had also stopped, and lay rolling wildly, +with the yellow flag at her foremast-head and the <i>Sanidad</i> launch +alongside her; but in another minute or two the flag came fluttering +down, and she moved on again towards the har<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>bour. Brown signed to the +oarsmen to turn the boat's head.</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt that she's the <i>Cumbria</i>, and they can't have had +anything very bad on board," he said.</p> + +<p>In another five minutes the <i>Cumbria</i> crept up with them, rolling +wickedly, with the big pump thudding on her deck, and a stream of water +spouting from her side. Rags of awnings fluttered about her, her funnel +was white with salt crust, for the trade-wind blows strong at that +season, and the blistered paint had peeled from her corroded sides. Her +story was written upon her so that even the girls could read, and both +felt that no plainer testimony was needed to the courage of the men who +had brought her home. Then they saw them, Jefferson leaning out, gaunt +and blanched in face, from the bridge rails, and Austin standing amidst +a group of haggard men on the forecastle. Jacinta's heart was beating a +good deal faster than usual, and she saw the sudden tears rise to her +companion's eyes; but as the long, rusty hull forged past them Austin +made no sign. He stood looking straight in front of him, until he turned +to the men about him who were busy with the anchor.</p> + +<p>"He can't have seen us," said Muriel, with astonishment in her tone, and +then touched Brown's arm. "Tell them to row their hardest, please."</p> + +<p>The Canarios bent their backs and the boat swept forward, for the +steamer had already passed ahead of them. Jacinta sat unusually still, +watching her, sensible at once of a vague dismay and a thrill of pride. +She had understanding as well as imagination, and the sight of that +rusty vessel and the worn faces of the men upon her deck had stirred her +curiously. It was, she felt, a notable thing they had done, and she was, +she knew, responsible for the part one of them had played in it. He had +come home with credit, a man who had done something worth while,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> and +had doubtless learned his strength. She could not fancy him frittering +his life away after that; but still she was perplexed, and a trifle +anxious, for it seemed that he must have seen them, and he had made no +sign. She had, on her part, twice passed him without recognition in the +Plaza at Santa Cruz, and her heart smote her as she remembered it; but +he was not a vindictive man, and must by that time have realised the +misapprehension she had been under concerning him. For that, at least, +she would ask his forgiveness in another few minutes, and her face +burned as she wondered what he would say to her.</p> + +<p>Then she saw the white wash of the <i>Cumbria</i>'s propeller as it whirled +astern, and there was a roar of running chain, while two or three +minutes later they were making their way up the lowered ladder amidst a +crowd of petty dealers when Jefferson came across the deck, driving the +latter aside. Jacinta saw that it cost Muriel an effort to hide her +consternation at his appearance, but in another moment she was smiling +at him with shining eyes, and the haggard man's arms were about her. +That the deck was crowded with Spaniards did not seem in the least to +matter to either of them. Jacinta, who would not have done as much, felt +a little thrill of sympathy, and, it was significant, looked round for +Austin. There was, however, no sign of him.</p> + +<p>Then Jefferson, still holding Muriel's arm, drew them out of the press, +and there was a general offering of congratulations and grasping of +hands.</p> + +<p>"I am," he said, "uncommonly glad to be back again, though I'm not sure +we'd have ever got here except for Austin. I have only been on my feet +the last day or two, and he did everything."</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" said Muriel, seeing that Jacinta would not ask.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>"Across at the <i>Carsegarry</i>. At least, he told me he was going when he +recognised her."</p> + +<p>"Without coming to shake hands with us?" said Muriel, who flashed a +covert glance at Jacinta.</p> + +<p>"I understand from one of these fellows that Farquhar is just going to +sea, and it's very probable that Austin heard it, too. I have no doubt +he'll be back again in five minutes."</p> + +<p>"You will come ashore with us, and we will expect you and Mr. Austin to +make my house your home in the meanwhile," said Brown.</p> + +<p>"I shall be very glad," said Jefferson. "You will, however, have to +excuse me for an hour or two. I have our Consul to see, and a good many +things to do before I can call my time my own. I wonder if you could get +me a tartana?"</p> + +<p>"Mine is waiting at the Mole," said Brown.</p> + +<p>It was an hour later when they took their places in the vehicle, but +though Brown bade the driver wait a minute or two, there was no +appearance of Austin. Just then the <i>Carsegarry</i> crept down the harbour, +and with a sonorous blast of her whistle steamed out to sea.</p> + +<p>"There is no boat coming. He must have landed on the other mole, and, +perhaps, met somebody he couldn't get away from," said Brown. "I'll +leave word that we are expecting him, and no doubt he'll turn up soon +after we get home."</p> + +<p>They drove away, and that afternoon sat together in Brown's cool patio. +The noise of the bustling city was deadened by the tall white walls, +over which there shone a square of cloudless blue, and the scent of +flowers was heavy in the shadowy space below. Jefferson lay, attired +becomingly once more, in a big cane chair, with a little smile of +content in his hollow face, and a pile of fruit, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> a flask of wine, +on the table in front of him. The others sat about him, and a fountain +splashed behind them in the shadow.</p> + +<p>"A very little of this will make me well," he said. "In fact, it is +already a trifle difficult to believe that I could scarcely lift myself +in my berth a few days ago. I think it was the sight of Gomera that +cured me. You see, I was a little doubtful about Austin finding the +Canaries, and when they came to tell me they could see the Peak, +Wall-eye, who was watching me, ran out."</p> + +<p>"What was he watching you for?" asked Muriel.</p> + +<p>"To see I didn't get up. I had my chance then, and I crawled out of my +berth. I believe I fell over several things before I got out on deck, +and then I knew we were all right at last. There was the Peak—high up +in the sky in front of us, with Gomera a blue smudge low down at its +feet. We ran in under the lee, and, because they were played out, and +Tom had trouble with his engines, stayed there three days."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, with a little laugh. "I think Austin was 'most +astonished as I was to find he'd brought her home. He'd been running +four or five days on dead reckoning, and wasn't much more than a hundred +miles out."</p> + +<p>"I wonder where he is," said Brown.</p> + +<p>Jefferson looked a trifle perplexed, and it was evident that others of +the party had asked themselves the same question, for there was a +moment's silence until Muriel spoke.</p> + +<p>"If he doesn't come soon I shall feel very vexed with him; but we want +to hear how you got the steamer off," she said.</p> + +<p>Jefferson commenced his tale diffidently, but, because Austin had worked +in the sombre background—more ef<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>fectively than he could do +already—the rest listened with full comprehension. His unvarnished +narrative was, however, striking enough, and, save for the splashing of +the fountain, and his low voice, there was a suggestive silence in the +patio, until he stopped abruptly when he came to the scene in which +Austin pleaded for the negro.</p> + +<p>"The man wasn't fit to look at," he said.</p> + +<p>"But why did Mr. Austin go near him?" asked Muriel, with a little +shiver.</p> + +<p>"To save his life," said Jefferson, awkwardly. "You see, we couldn't +have him there—and he really wasn't a man then. The thing he had we +believed contagious, and somebody had to put him into his canoe."</p> + +<p>Muriel gazed at him with an expression of perplexity, and it was clear +that she did not quite understand what had taken place on the night in +question, which was, however, not astonishing. Brown appeared a trifle +uncomfortable, and Jefferson was sincerely thankful when Jacinta broke +in.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she said. "He couldn't have stayed there. Mr. Austin put +him into his canoe?" She stopped for a moment, and her voice seemed to +change a trifle. "Did he find it necessary to touch him?"</p> + +<p>"He did. In fact, the nigger got hold of him. One of them slipped on the +bridge deck ladder and they rolled down it together."</p> + +<p>Again there was silence, and all of them looked at Jefferson, who saw +the question in Jacinta's eyes.</p> + +<p>"No," he said. "Nothing came of it, though for a week or so I was +horribly afraid. It isn't men like Austin who take that kind of thing, +and it's possible it mayn't have been infectious, after all."</p> + +<p>Muriel heard Jacinta softly draw in her breath, as though she had been +under a strain which had suddenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> relaxed. Then a little colour crept +into her face and a sparkle into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jefferson, though nobody had spoken, "it was a daring thing. +More, in fact, than I would have done. My partner has the cleanest kind +of real hard sand in him."</p> + +<p>He turned to Muriel with a little deprecatory gesture. "I had more at +stake than he had—and I was afraid that night."</p> + +<p>Jacinta sat still a while, a trifle flushed in face, for the scene +Jefferson had very vaguely pictured had stirred her to the depths. The +man whom she had sent forth had done more than she would ever have asked +of him, and the gallantry of the action brought a dimness to her eyes. +Then she remembered that it was not done recklessly, for he had, it +seemed, decided calmly, which must have made it inexpressibly harder. +There were, she could imagine, circumstances in which a man might more +or less willingly risk his life, but the risk Austin had taken was +horrible, and he stood to gain nothing when he quietly recognised the +responsibility he had taken upon himself. It was with an overwhelming +sense of confusion she remembered the jibes she had flung at him +concerning his discretion, and yet under it there was still the sense of +pride. After all, it was to please her he had gone to Africa.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jefferson quietly, "you are pleased with him?"</p> + +<p>Jacinta met his gaze unwaveringly, and her voice had a little thrill in +it.</p> + +<p>"Does it matter in the least whether I am pleased or not?" she said. +"Still, since you ask, I scarcely think I have heard of anything that +would surpass what he did that night."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>Jefferson made her a little inclination. "I am," he said gravely, "not +sure that I have, either."</p> + +<p>He went on with his story, but Jacinta scarcely listened to it, for she +was wondering why Austin had not come, and waiting expectantly for the +time when she could, in self-abasement, endeavour to wipe what she had +said from his memory. Still, he did not come, and it was half an hour +later when a barefooted boatman was shown into the patio. He had an +envelope in his hand, and turned to Brown.</p> + +<p>"The Englishman who was in the <i>Estremedura</i> gave me this on board the +<i>Carsegarry</i>," he said. "I am sorry I could not bring it before, but +several steamers I had to go to came in, and then it was some time +before I found out that the Señor Jefferson had gone home with you."</p> + +<p>When he went away Brown handed Jefferson the note, while the latter, who +opened it, straightened himself suddenly and seemed to be struggling +with some emotion. Then he passed it to Jacinta.</p> + +<p>"You have good nerves, Miss Brown," he said. "If I had known it would +come to this, I think I would have left the <i>Cumbria</i> there."</p> + +<p>Jacinta took the letter in a steady hand, but her face grew a trifle +blanched as she read.</p> + +<p>"I am going home with Farquhar," the message ran. "I could hardly go in +a passenger boat, and he is fixing me up a room by myself. I didn't care +to tell you when you were just shaking off the fever, but one of my arms +feels very much as that engineer said his did. I am going to see if one +of the big specialists or the Tropical Disease men can do anything for +me."</p> + +<p>Jacinta sat quite still a minute, and then slowly rose.</p> + +<p>"It is horrible, but I suppose even a purpose of the kind he had does +not exempt one from the consequences," she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> said. "There are things to +attend to. You will excuse me just now."</p> + +<p>They looked at one another when she left them, and then Brown turned to +Jefferson.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you have any objections to showing me that note?" he said.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem to be here," said Muriel. "What can she have done with +it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about looking," said Jefferson sharply. "I can remember it. +It has, in fact, shaken a good deal of the stiffness out of me."</p> + +<p>Muriel gasped with consternation when he told them, and by and by the +group broke up, while it was a somewhat silent party that assembled for +comida an hour later. Jacinta, it was evident, had very little appetite, +though she contrived to join in the somewhat pointless conversation, and +it was not until late that night Brown came upon her alone on the flat +roof. She was leaning on the parapet, and looking out across the sea, +but her eyes were turned northwards now, and she did not hear him until +he gently laid a hand upon her shoulder. Then she turned and looked at +him with despair in her face. She had not expected him, or he would not +have seen it, though there was clear moonlight above them.</p> + +<p>Brown sat down on the parapet, and, taking off his gold-rimmed glasses, +held them in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I think I understand, my dear, and I have something to say," he said.</p> + +<p>Jacinta made no disclaimer. For one thing, she saw it would have been +useless, and she had no strength left in her then.</p> + +<p>"Is it worth while?" she asked. "Would anything that you could say +change what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Brown, reflectively, "I scarcely think it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> would. Still, I +would like to mention that we really don't know the thing is incurable. +In fact, it may be a malady which is readily susceptible to the proper +treatment, and he has done wisely in going to England."</p> + +<p>A little gleam of hope crept into Jacinta's eyes. "I had hardly dared to +think of that," she said.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Brown, "I really fancy the thing may not be as serious as +you and Mr. Jefferson, perhaps naturally, seem to fear. Now, as you +know, I was going to England about the new fruit contracts in a week or +two, and there is no particular reason why I shouldn't go the day after +to-morrow. I should make it my business to see Mr. Austin has the best +advice which can be got from the specialists in that country. Only, my +dear, I want to ask a very plain question. Supposing he is cured—what +then?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you must shape the question differently," and a trace of +colour crept into the whiteness of Jacinta's face.</p> + +<p>"Then I will tell you what I know. You sent that man to Africa, and he +went because he was in love with you. He is also a man I have a +considerable liking for—and you are my only child. I am getting old, +and would like to see you safely settled before I go. There are," and he +made a little gesture, "occasions on which one must speak plainly."</p> + +<p>Jacinta's face was crimson at last, but she in no way attempted to +question the correctness of the announcement he had made.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Austin, at least, never told me what you seem to be so sure +about—and it is scarcely likely that he will ever do so now," she said.</p> + +<p>Brown smiled a little, and tapped the palm of his hand with his glasses.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said, "I think you know better. Of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> course, you would +never have admitted so much as you have done if I had not had you at a +disadvantage to-night. Well, the first thing is to see what can be done +to cure him. Only, if he comes back, you will, I suppose, know your +mind?"</p> + +<p>He looked at her steadily, and, when Jacinta lowered her eyes, laid his +hand gently on her arm again.</p> + +<p>"I sail by the yellow-funnel boat the day after to-morrow," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JACINTA CAPITULATES</span></h2> + + +<p>The <i>Carsegarry</i> was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean tramp +species, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on a +very moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondary +consideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, with +the result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as she +fell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long while +on the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letter +from Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas, +waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that his +comrade had got to work again.</p> + +<p>He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that its +optimistic tone had cost Jefferson—who alluded to his apprehensions +about his arm very briefly—an effort, for the fact that he was asked to +cable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest of +the letter concerned financial affairs.</p> + +<p>"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctly +encouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect to +bring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we can +dispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got £10,000, ex-cargo, +as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at up +to £30 the ton, from which it seems to me that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> your share should +approximate £7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way to +Liverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the address +enclosed."</p> + +<p>This was satisfactory as far as it went. The only trouble was that +Austin was very uncertain whether he would live to spend what he had so +hardly earned. His arm had become exceedingly painful during the voyage, +and after a consultation with the ship broker he telephoned an eminent +specialist.</p> + +<p>"I will expect you at two o'clock," the doctor said. "If it appears +advisable, we can, of course, avail ourselves, as you suggest, of any +views the Tropical Disease men may favour us with. In the meanwhile, I +will arrange for a gentleman who has made considerable progress in +similar researches to meet you."</p> + +<p>Austin went out of the broker's office with three hours to spare, and +wandered aimlessly about the city in a state of tense suspense. He felt +that he could not sit still, and in any case he was dubious as to +whether he was warranted in going back to the hotel. Indeed, he wondered +whether he had any right to be at large at all, and after a while hung +about the wharves, where there was less chance of any one coming into +perilous contact with him. He had never spent such a morning in his +life, and decided that what he had done and borne in Africa was not +worth mention by comparison. Still, the hours dragged by, and at last he +set out for the specialists' surgery without daring to wonder what the +result would be, and found two gentlemen awaiting him there. One of +them, who had grey hair and very keen eyes, motioned him to a chair.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "before we proceed to an examination it might be better +if you told us concisely what happened to you in Africa."</p> + +<p>Austin, who sat down, did so, and wondered a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> that he was able to +speak coherently and quietly, for every nerve in him seemed tingling +with tense anxiety. Then the man with the grey hair asked him a few +terse questions about the negro's appearance, and when he had described +it as well as he could remember, glanced at his companion.</p> + +<p>"Do you recognise the symptoms?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No," said the other man, who was younger. "There are one or two +complaints not unusual in that country which appear to somewhat resemble +it, but they are seldom so virulent. I would like to talk to Mr. Austin +about it later, but in the meanwhile——"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," and the specialist made a little gesture. "Mr. Austin is, no +doubt, anxious to hear our opinion. If you will permit me——"</p> + +<p>He drew the jacket gently over Austin's swollen arm, and the latter, who +held it out, bare to the shoulder, felt the perspiration start from him +as he watched the doctors bend over the limb. They said nothing for a +space of seconds, and Austin fancied he would remember that time while +he lived. Then, to his astonishment, the grey-haired man glanced at his +companion with a little smile.</p> + +<p>"I fancy this case has lost its special interest to you?" he said.</p> + +<p>The other man nodded. "It has," he said. "Our views evidently coincide."</p> + +<p>"I would venture to point out that any decision you may have arrived at +is, naturally, of considerable importance to me," said Austin, a trifle +sharply.</p> + +<p>The specialist smiled again. "I expect you will be pleased to hear that +it is not a peculiarly African disease you are suffering from. It is, in +fact, no more than a by no means infrequent form of blood poisoning."</p> + +<p>Austin gasped, and felt his heart beat furiously from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> relief, and the +specialist waited a moment or two before he went on. "It is evident that +you had several lacerations on your lower arm—made by corroded iron, or +something of the kind."</p> + +<p>"I tore the skin rather frequently working cargo, and when the scars had +partly healed opened up rather a nasty wound by falling on the steamer's +rail."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. The result is not astonishing in the case of a man weakened by +fever who has attempted to work harder than is advisable in a country +like the one you mention. In the meanwhile, this arm is going to give +you trouble, and I should recommend you to go into the private ward of +the —— hospital. I will telephone them if that would suit you?"</p> + +<p>Austin said he placed himself in the doctor's hands, and half an hour +later was being driven to the hospital, where the other man, who was +apparently anxious to know more about the negro, asked permission to +visit him. He also came in due time, but, so far as Austin could +ascertain, never quite decided what the negro was suffering from, though +he admitted that there were African troubles of the kind which were +infectious.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Austin realised how much he needed rest, and how heavy +the strain he had borne had been. He did not even want to read, and was +languidly content to sit still and think of nothing, until one day, when +it was evident that his arm was healing, a nurse came in to announce a +visitor.</p> + +<p>"If it's that doctor man, you can tell him I can't remember anything +more about the nigger, and don't mean to try," he said.</p> + +<p>The nurse laughed. "It isn't," she said. "It's a little gentleman with +gold-rimmed spectacles."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>Austin started. "Ah!" he said. "Will you please tell them to send him +in?"</p> + +<p>In a few more minutes Brown came in, and, sitting down, shook his head +reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"You have really given your friends a good deal of anxiety, and I was +almost afraid I would have to go back without learning what had become +of you," he said. "Still, though I know the thing isn't, fortunately, +what you thought it was, the first question is, how are you?"</p> + +<p>"Recovering," said Austin, with a smile. "I understand that my arm will +be all right again very shortly. It was a very usual trouble. As you +seem to recognise, I let my imagination run away with me."</p> + +<p>"I am very pleased to hear it. Why didn't you cable?"</p> + +<p>"I understood that you had left Las Palmas, and Jefferson was on the +point of doing so. I could scarcely suppose there was any one else who +cared enough about what happened to me to make it necessary."</p> + +<p>Brown looked at him with a curious little smile which Austin found +disconcerting. "There are Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel. I almost think +Jacinta would have liked to know that you and Jefferson were under a +misapprehension, too. Still, that is, perhaps, not very important, after +all. I suppose Jefferson told you that he expects to get a good deal for +the <i>Cumbria</i> and her cargo?"</p> + +<p>"I was pleased to hear that my share might amount to £7,000."</p> + +<p>Brown took off his glasses and held them in one hand, which, as Austin +knew, was a trick of his when he had anything on his mind.</p> + +<p>"I am going to take a liberty," he said. "Have you decided yet what you +will do with it?"</p> + +<p>"No. That was one of the points I meant to wait a little before +grappling with."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>"Well," said Brown, reflectively, "there is something I could suggest, +but I would like to ask another question." He stopped a moment, and +tapped the palm of one hand with his glasses. "Why did you go out to +Africa?"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't the chance of winning £5,000, which was what Jefferson +estimated my share would be, appear a sufficient reason?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Brown drily. "Not to me. When he first made you the offer you +wouldn't go."</p> + +<p>"I went, however, when I heard that he was sick. It was then a very +natural thing. That ought to satisfy you."</p> + +<p>"I scarcely think it does."</p> + +<p>"Then, if I had any other reasons, though I am not exactly admitting it, +they concern myself alone."</p> + +<p>Brown made a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I don't suppose it +matters in the meanwhile. You have once or twice asked my advice, and +now you have some £7,000, and, I understand, don't know how to lay it +out to the best advantage."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. I don't feel the least desire to undertake the heaving off of +any more steamers."</p> + +<p>Brown leaned forward, and tapped his hand with the glasses. "An +enterprising man could do a good deal with £7,000. It would, for +example, buy him, we'll call it, a third share in a certain rather +profitable fruit and wine business in Las Palmas. That is, of course, on +the understanding that he devoted his whole time and energy to it."</p> + +<p>Austin gazed at him in blank astonishment for a moment or two, and then +a red flush crept into his face.</p> + +<p>"I fancy a third share in the business you are evidently alluding to +would be worth a good deal more than that," he said.</p> + +<p>"Probably," said Brown, with a trace of dryness. "That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> is, I might get +more for it, but I have no intention of offering it to everybody. I +would like to ask your careful attention for a minute or two, Mr. +Austin."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and his tone had changed when he proceeded. "There +is nothing to be gained by hiding the fact that I am getting old, and I +begin to feel that I would like to take my life a little more easily," +he said. "Indeed, I want somebody I could have confidence in to do the +hardest work for me. I made the business—and I am a little proud of it. +It would not please me to let go of it altogether—and, as a matter of +fact, I have been warned that if I retired to England, the climate would +probably shorten my life for me. You are, perhaps, aware that I came out +to the Canaries originally because my constitution is not an excellent +one."</p> + +<p>He stopped again, and added, with a certain significance: "I have, +however, been told that my ailments are not likely to prove hereditary. +Well, as I mentioned, I do not want to give the business up entirely, +and it would be a matter of grief to me to see it go to pieces in the +hands of an incompetent manager. That is why I have made you the offer."</p> + +<p>Austin met his gaze steadily, though the flush was still in his face. "I +scarcely think anybody would call me an enterprising business man, that +is, at least, from the conventional English point of view."</p> + +<p>Brown chuckled softly. "I believe you know as well as I do that a man of +that kind would not be of the least use in Spain. They would drive him +crazy, and he would probably have insulted half his clients past +forgiveness before he had been a month among them. Now, you understand +the Spaniards, and, what is as much to the purpose, they seem to like +you."</p> + +<p>Austin sat still, looking at him, and at last he saw that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> Brown's +reserve was breaking down. His hands seemed to be trembling a little, +and there were other signs of anxiety about him.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why you have made me that offer, sir," he said. "There +must be plenty of men more fitted to be the recipient of it."</p> + +<p>"It is, at least, wholly unconditional," and Brown made a little gesture +that curiously became him. "I may say that I had already satisfied +myself about you, or I should never have made it."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Austin, a trifle hoarsely, "I can only thank you—and +endeavour to give you no cause for being sorry afterwards that you fixed +on me."</p> + +<p>They had a little more to say, but the nurse appeared during the course +of it and informed Brown that the surgeon was coming to dress Austin's +arm.</p> + +<p>"Just a minute," said the latter. "Will you be kind enough to pass me +that pad and pencil?"</p> + +<p>She gave it to him, and he scribbled hastily, and then tore off the +sheet and handed it to Brown.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if that message meets with your approval, sir?" he said.</p> + +<p>Brown put on his glasses, and smiled as he read: "Miss Brown, +Casa-Brown, Las Palmas. Ran away without a cause. Almost well. May I +come back as your father's partner?"</p> + +<p>Brown chuckled softly, though there was a curious and somewhat unusual +gentleness in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"It has my full approbation, though, considering the cable company's +charges, isn't it a trifle loquacious?"</p> + +<p>"Does that matter?" asked Austin.</p> + +<p>Brown laughed, and grasped the hand he held out. "No," he said, "I don't +suppose it does. After all, these things only happen once in the average +lifetime. Well, I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> evidently go now, but I will come back to see +what Jacinta says to-morrow."</p> + +<p>He went out, and that night Austin got Jacinta's answer.</p> + +<p>"Come!" was all it said, but Austin was well content, and, though he was +not a very sentimental man, went to sleep with the message beneath his +pillow.</p> + +<p>It was, however, rather more than three weeks later when, as a +yellow-funnelled mailboat slid into Las Palmas harbour, Austin, leaning +down from her rail, saw Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly in one of the crowding +boats below. The little lady discreetly remained where she was, and when +Jacinta came up the ladder Austin met her at the head of it. She flashed +a swift glance into his face, and then for a moment turned hers aside.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "you have forgotten what I said to you, and you are +really well again?"</p> + +<p>Austin laughed, a quiet, exultant laugh. "I was never particularly ill, +but you know all that, and we have ever so much more pleasant things to +talk about," he said. "In the meanwhile, I fancy we are blocking up the +gangway."</p> + +<p>Holding the hand she had given him, he drew her behind the deck-house +masterfully, and looked down on her with a little smile.</p> + +<p>"I almost think you are pleased to see me back," he said.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jacinta, "if you only knew what the past few weeks have cost +me."</p> + +<p>Austin, laying both hands on her shoulders, stooped and kissed her +twice. "That was worth going to Africa for, and if Jefferson had only +bought the <i>Cumbria</i> sooner I would have ventured to do as much ever so +long ago."</p> + +<p>There was apparently nobody else on that side of the deck-house, and +Jacinta, who did not shake his grasp off, looked up at him with shining +eyes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>"You are quite sure of that?" she said.</p> + +<p>"The wish to do so was almost irresistible the first time I saw you. It +has been growing stronger ever since."</p> + +<p>Jacinta laughed softly, though the crimson was in her cheeks. "Still, +you would have mastered it. You were always discreet, you know, and that +was why at last I—who have hitherto told all my friends what they ought +to do—had to let some one else make it clear how much I wanted you. +Now, you are going to think very little of me after that?"</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Austin, "you know there was only one thing which could +have kept me away from you."</p> + +<p>"As if that mattered," and Jacinta laughed scornfully. "Now, stoop a +little, though, perhaps, I shouldn't tell you, and if you hadn't gone to +Africa, of course, I shouldn't have done it. I knew when you went away +how badly I wanted you—and I would have done anything to bring you +back, however much it cost me."</p> + +<p>A couple of seamen carrying baggage appeared from behind the deck-house +just then, which naturally cut short their confidences, and Austin made +his way with Jacinta's hand upon his arm towards the boat. He was a +trifle bewildered, as well as exultant, for this was quite a new +Jacinta, one, in fact, he had never encountered before. She gave him +another proof of it when he made an observation that afforded her the +opening as they were rowed across the harbour.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, quite disregarding Mrs. Hatherly, "I am not going to +give you any advice or instructions now you belong to me. After managing +everybody else's affairs successfully for ever so long I made a +deplorable mess of my own, you see."</p> + +<p>"Then what am I to do when we have difficulties to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> contend with?" said +Austin. "We may have a few now and then."</p> + +<p>"You," said Jacinta sweetly, "will have to get over them. I know you can +do that now, and I am just going to watch you and be pleased with +everything. Isn't that the correct attitude, Mrs. Hatherly?"</p> + +<p>The little lady beamed upon them both. "It is rather an old-fashioned +one, my dear," she said. "Still, I am far from sure that it doesn't work +out as well as the one occasionally adopted by young women now."</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END.</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter II, <b>"Don Erminio," said Jacinto, "evidently doesn't approve +of his dinner."</b> was changed to <b>"Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently +doesn't approve of his dinner."</b>, <b>A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one +thing, but you was—insultin'</b> was changed to <b>A bit doosoor on the coal +trade is one thing, but yon was—insultin'</b>, <b>as he steamer rolled</b> was +changed to <b>as the steamer rolled</b>, and <b>our launcha ready</b> was changed to +<b>our lancha ready</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter III, <b>Erminio Oliviera, the <i>Estremeduro's</i> captain</b> was +changed to <b>Erminio Oliviera, the <i>Estremedura's</i> captain</b>, and <b>if Jacinto +ever does</b> was changed to <b>if Jacinta ever does</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter IV, <b>it also occured to him</b> was changed to <b>it also occurred to +him</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter V, <b>a schoner load of onions</b> was changed to <b>a schooner load of +onions</b>, and a missing quotation mark was added after <b>painting little +pictures on board the <i>Estremedura</i>.</b></p> + +<p>In Chapter VI, <b>as he drew in under the Estremedura's side</b> was changed to +<b>as he drew in under the <i>Estremedura's</i> side</b>, and <b>Isn't that sufficient.</b> +was changed to <b>Isn't that sufficient?</b></p> + +<p>In Chapter VII, <b>his silk-covered beast</b> was changed to <b>his silk-covered +breast</b>, <b>escaped anihilation</b> was changed to <b>escaped annihilation</b>, and +<b>didn't apear to have any legitimate connection</b> was changed to <b>didn't +appear to have any legitimate connection</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, <b>the negroes who crosesd it</b> was changed to <b>the negroes +who crossed it</b>, and <b>somebody seized his soulders</b> was changed to <b>somebody +seized his shoulders</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, <b>drifted etherially athwart</b> was changed to <b>drifted +ethereally athwart</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, <b>acompanied the rhythmic splash of oars</b> was changed to +<b>accompanied the rhythmic splash of oars</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XI, <b>the blurr of steamy mangroves</b> was changed to <b>the blur of +steamy mangroves</b>, <b>swoopd down beneath</b> was changed to <b>swooped down +beneath</b>, and <b>"Who the devil are you poisoning?"</b> was changed to <b>'Who the +devil are you poisoning?'</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIII, a missing period was added after <b>winch commenced to +fire his blood</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XV, a quotation mark was deleted before <b>Those salvage men are +specialists</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after <b>Last night the water +was on the thumb.</b></p> + +<p>In Chapter XVII, a missing quotation mark was added after <b>"Well,</b> and +before <b>he said, "it isn't the usual view</b>, and a missing quotation mark +was added after <b>The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to +get it.</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIX, <b>admissable now and then</b> was changed to <b>admissible now +and then</b>, <b>he recognised thath she must be forced</b> was changed to <b>he +recognised that she must be forced</b>, <b>the girls' big blue eyes</b> was changed +to <b>the girl's big blue eyes</b>, and a missing quotation mark was added +before <b>Couldn't you get there in the <i>Estremedura</i></b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XX, a missing quotation mark was added after <b>"Well,</b> and +before <b>said Muriel, "it is really your own fault</b>, a quotation mark was +deleted before <b>Eight guineas for the two</b>, and a period was changed to a +question mark after <b>the Delgado Island lies</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXI, <b>That, I think, is, to be acurate</b> was changed to <b>That, I +think, is, to be accurate</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXII, <b>one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle</b> was changed +to <b>one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle</b>, and a quotation mark was +deleted after <b>not afraid of Funnel-paint</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIII, a quotation mark was added after <b>makes any exertion +out of the question</b>, a quotation mark was deleted before <b>Offer any of +the rest of them</b>, and <b>clenched a hard, scared fist</b> was changed to +<b>clenched a hard, scarred fist</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIV, <b>even Jefferson deferrd to him</b> was changed to <b>even +Jefferson deferrd to him</b>, <b>as the Cumbria rose upright</b> was changed to <b>as +the <i>Cumbria</i> rose upright</b>, <b>In a month her deck was almost leved</b> was +changed to <b>In a month her deck was almost leveled</b>, <b>You will remember the +encouraging words that fellow left—"My arm's almost rotten now."</b> was +changed to <b>You will remember the encouraging words that fellow left—'My +arm's almost rotten now.'"</b>, and <b>slowly clenched one scared hand</b> was +changed to <b>slowly clenched one scarred hand</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXV, <b>he keeps in the litle case</b> was changed to <b>he keeps in +the little case</b>, <b>beam and angle comenced to tremble</b> was changed to <b>beam +and angle commenced to tremble</b>, and <b>Wire and hemp and studded chain +rosed</b> was changed to <b>Wire and hemp and studded chain rose</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVI, a missing question mark was added after <b>Put that lamp +out.</b>, <b>keep outside the straking radius</b> was changed to <b>keep outside the +striking radius</b>, <b>Austim became sensible of a change in his mood</b> was +changed to <b>Austin became sensible of a change in his mood</b>, and <b>a faint +rythmic throbbing</b> was changed to <b>a faint rhythmic throbbing</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, quotation marks were added after <b>keep your skin +unbroken.</b> and <b>You may as well open the rest of them.</b></p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVIII, <b>the <i>Cumbria</i> steerd handily</b> was changed to <b>the +<i>Cumbria</i> steered handily</b>, and <b>the distance run appeared to be working +acurately</b> was changed to <b>the distance run appeared to be working +accurately</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXX, <b>an dinformed Brown that the surgeon</b> was changed to <b>and +informed Brown that the surgeon</b>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For Jacinta, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + +***** This file should be named 38670-h.htm or 38670-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/7/38670/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: For Jacinta + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: G. W. Hood + +Release Date: January 25, 2012 [EBook #38670] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +FOR JACINTA + + + + +[Illustration: "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT IS RATHER A SERIOUS THING TO +DELAY A SPANISH MAIL-BOAT?"--Page 19] + + + + +FOR JACINTA + +By HAROLD BINDLOSS + +AUTHOR OF "ALTON OF SOMASCO," "THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER," +"THE DUST OF CONFLICT," "WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE," ETC. + +[Illustration] + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +NEW YORK PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1907 +BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +All rights reserved + +Published January, 1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. JACINTA BROWN 1 + II. AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL 13 + III. ON THE VERANDA 26 + IV. A BIG CONTRACT 37 + V. THE TOMATO FINCA 49 + VI. AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW 60 + VII. AT THE BULL FIGHT 72 + VIII. JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN 86 + IX. AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE 98 + X. JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT 111 + XI. THE LAND OF THE SHADOW 121 + XII. NOCTURNAL VISITORS 132 + XIII. TOIL 142 + XIV. JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE 152 + XV. STARTING THE PUMP 163 + XVI. ELUSIVE GUM 174 + XVII. AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER 183 + XVIII. JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT 194 + XIX. CONDEMNED UNHEARD 204 + XX. JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE 215 + XXI. THE PICTURES 225 + XXII. FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION 236 + XXIII. FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN 245 + XXIV. AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE 256 + XXV. HOVE OFF 267 + XXVI. JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM 277 + XXVII. AUSTIN'S TOAST 288 + XXVIII. IN COMMAND 299 + XXIX. AUSTIN IS MISSING 310 + XXX. JACINTA CAPITULATES 322 + + + + +FOR JACINTA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JACINTA BROWN + + +It was about seven o'clock in the evening when sobrecargo Austin boarded +the little mail-boat _Estremedura_ as she lay rolling at anchor on the +long, moon-lit heave that worked into the roadstead of Santa Cruz, +Palma. Sobrecargo means much the same thing as purser, and Austin was an +Englishman, though the _Estremedura_ was to all intents and purposes a +Spanish steamer. She traded round the islands of the Canary archipelago +with mules and camels, tomatoes, bananas, onions, and seasick English +tourists, as fortune favoured her. Now, as the heavily sealed document +Austin carried in his pocket declared, she was to sail for Las Palmas, +Grand Canary, with the Cuban mail, by the gracious permission of the +young King of Spain. + +He had trouble on getting on board of her, for there were a good many +bullocks swimming about her side waiting until the red-capped crew +should heave them on board beneath the derrick-boom by means of a rope +twisted round their horns. It probably hurt the bullocks, and now and +then one succumbed to a broken neck during the operation; but the +Castilian, who can face his losses placidly, is not, as a rule, +particularly merciful to his beast. There were also stray sheep, goats, +and donkeys, as well as olive-faced peasants with blankets strapped +about their shoulders, wandering about the after portion of the main +deck, which was supposed to be reserved for the second-class passengers, +when Austin stopped a moment by the covered hatch. A big electric light +hung from the spar-deck beams above his head, and he looked about him +with a little ironical smile. + +He was a young man of average stature, and there was nothing especially +distinguished in his appearance, though he had good grey eyes, and a +pleasant bronzed face. He was somewhat lightly made, though he looked +wiry, and held himself well, and there was a certain languidness in his +smile which seemed to suggest that he was not addicted to troubling +greatly about anything. Because the Scotchman who ran the +_Estremedura_'s engines had sold his white uniform jacket with the +resplendent buttons a day or two before, he was just then attired +somewhat incongruously in a white cap with the very large and imposing +badge of the Spanish mail service clasped into the front of it, a brown +alpaca jacket, white duck trousers, and pipe-clayed shoes. The latter +two items were, however, by no means immaculate, since he had, as a +special favour to the mate, brought off certain sheep and goats in his +despatch-boat, as well as a camel tied astern of it. Spaniards and +Englishmen do not invariably agree, but they lived like brothers on +board the _Estremedura_, which, however, had its disadvantages. Austin +objected in particular to the community of property. + +That evening the steamer hummed with life, and the clatter of polyglot +tongues. Parsee dealers in silver-thread embroideries, German commercial +travellers, Madeiran Portuguese, Canario hillmen, and Peninsular +Spaniards, moved amidst the straying livestock, while a little group of +Anglo-Saxons naturally sat apart upon the hatch. There were, as is +usual when Englishmen foregather in a country where wine is cheap, empty +bottles scattered about. The engineer from the sister ship and an +athletic tourist, stripped, at least as far as was permissible, were +wrestling in Cumberland fashion on the hatch, with much delicate +manA"uvring of their feet and futile clutches at each other's waists. +Macallister, who, when he felt inclined, superintended the +_Estremedura_'s machinery, alternately encouraged them sardonically and +solaced himself with one of the bottles. He was a big, gaunt man, and +just then extremely dirty, and when he saw Austin he looked up with a +mischievous twinkle in his eyes. + +"I have been waiting for ye anxiously," he said. "Ye may now have the +pleasure of lending me five dollars." + +"I'm afraid not!" said Austin decisively. "For one thing, I haven't got +them. I very seldom have--as you ought to know." + +Macallister made a little gesture of resignation. "Well," he said, "ye +have always your clothes, and if ye had known us better ye would not +have brought so many of them on board the _Estremedura_. I'm half +expecting yon Jackson o' Las Palmas, who gave us two dollars for the +last white suit, to come round for some more o' them when we get in." + +Austin tried the door of his room close by, and was consoled to find it +locked, as he had left it. + +"They cost me five, and I naturally never saw a peseta of the money. I +suppose you kept the Correo buttons?" + +"I did not," said Macallister, unabashed. "Ye may observe Miguel, the +quartermaster, walking round in them. It was no a bad bargain--a basket +o' big grapes an' a watermelon." + +Austin bore it patiently. There was, in fact, nothing to be gained by +protesting, and he knew that it was useless to expostulate with +Macallister when he spoke his own tongue, which was not an invariable +custom with him. Then the engineer turned and glanced at the wrestlers, +who were still stamping up and down the hatch with feet spread well +apart, compassionately. + +"They've been at it the whole o' a half hour, an' no a fall to cheer a +body yet. One would think it was dancing they were," he said. "It wasn't +to see that I wasted a tumblerful o' anisow on them." + +Now, anisado is a preparation of spirit and extract of anise seed, which +is esteemed in that country, and Austin looked hard at his comrade, +because he had a jar of it, intended for a Spanish friend, in his room. +He was a trifle uneasy, since a lock is not an insuperable obstacle to +an engineer. The latter, however, changed the subject. + +"It's a kind o' pity about your clothes," he said. "Miss Jacinta Brown +is going across with us to-night, an' she was enquiring kindly after +ye." + +Austin had a good deal of composure, and he often needed it, but the +shrewd Scottish eyes saw the momentary pleasure in his face. Then, +because he did not appreciate Macallister's badinage on that subject, he +went into his room and bolted the door behind him before he switched on +the light and examined the anisado jar. It seemed quite full when he +shook it, and the seal was intact, but on looking closer he saw that the +impression on the latter was not what it had been when he left it. He +was aware that a certain proportion of sea-water may be added to rum +without the average consumer noticing any great difference, but he had +suspicions that a blend of brine and anise was not likely to be +appreciated by its recipient, and he was for a moment or two consumed +with righteous indignation. This, however, passed, for he realised that +his expostulations would be heard with laughter. It was all a part of +the happy-go-lucky life he led, and nobody concerns himself unduly about +anything under the flag of Spain. The Castilian, as a rule, bears his +troubles patiently, which is, perhaps, just as well, since he rarely +sees them coming or makes any attempt to get out of the way of them. + +Austin accordingly busied himself with his papers, and it was an hour +later when he went on deck. The _Estremedura_ had gone to sea by then, +and the lights of the little Spanish town blinked above the broad fringe +of surf astern. High above her the great black cordillera cut hard and +sharp against the luminous blueness of the night, and the long heave of +the Atlantic flashed, white-topped, beneath the moon ahead. She swung +over it with slanted spars and swaying funnel, while the keen +trade-breeze sang in her rigging, and now and then a flying-fish +ricocheted, gleaming, from sea-top to sea-top beneath her side. She was +very well kept above decks, a trim, yacht-like vessel, and for a while +Austin leaned over her quarter-rails, smoking a cigarette, and wondering +when Miss Jacinta Brown would come up on deck. There was a very deaf +Englishman, who insisted on conversing with him in stentorian tones in +the saloon, and he had no desire for his company. In the meanwhile, it +was pleasant to lounge there and watch the moonlight gleam upon the +tumbling seas. + +There were, he admitted, a good many compensations in the life he led. +The warmth and colour of the South appealed to him, and, though they are +not particularly numerous, there are men like him who retain a somewhat +chastened affection for the sea they earn their bread upon. It is true +that he earned very little more than that on board the _Estremedura_, +and he had once had his aspirations like other men, as well as a +prospect of realising them; but when financial disaster overtook the +family firm nobody seemed anxious to secure the services of a young man +without specialised training, who had artistic and somewhat expensive +tastes, which was, perhaps, not altogether astonishing. That was how +Austin eventually came on board the _Estremedura_, and stayed there, +though there were odd hours when he took himself to task for doing so. +Still, he did not exactly know where he could go if he left her, and the +indifference of the Latins was already infecting him. Men in Spain +believe that the future is quite able to take care of itself. + +By and by, however, a slim, white-clad figure appeared in the entrance +to the saloon companion, and he moved in that direction with evident +alacrity. As one result of being the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, he was +acquainted with everybody of importance in the archipelago, and among +them all there was nobody who figured more prominently than Miss Jacinta +Brown. She was English on both sides, though she had lived in those +islands most of her twenty-five years, and understood the Spaniards, +probably better than they understood themselves, for they are rather an +impulsive than an introspective people. She also understood her +countrymen, and ruled over them, as well as Spanish artillery officers +and Commandantes. It was not very evident how she did it, for there were +a good many Spanish women, at least, almost as pretty, and of much +better birth than she, and she apparently received no great assistance +from her father, for Pancho Brown was a merchant of an unusually solid +and unimaginative description. The wives of the English visitors, +however, did not, as a rule, like Jacinta. They said she was forward, +and it was a pity she had no mother; but when any of them received an +invitation from her it was immediately proclaimed all over the hotel. + +She smiled at Austin graciously, and allowed him to place her a deck +chair beneath a big lifeboat, where it was out of the wind, after which +he procured himself another, and sat down and looked at her. Jacinta did +not seem to mind it, and most men would probably have found it difficult +to keep their eyes off her. She was little, shapely, and very dainty, +though she could, as Austin knew, on occasion be essentially dignified. +She had brown hair and eyes, with a little scintillating gleam in them, +and her face was slightly tinted with the warm Andalusian olive, though +there was only English blood in her. She was dressed in white, as usual, +with a simplicity that suggested perfect taste, while, as he watched +her, Austin wondered again exactly where her compelling attractiveness +lay. He had met women with more delicate complexions, finer features, +softer voices, and more imposing carriage; that is, women who possessed +one or two of these advantages, but he had not as yet met any one to be +compared to Jacinta, as he expressed it, in the aggregate. Then it +seemed that she read his thoughts, which was, as he had noticed, a habit +of hers. + +"Yes, the dress is a new one. I am rather pleased with it, too," she +said. + +Austin laughed. "If I hadn't had the pleasure of making your +acquaintance some time ago, you would have astonished me. As it is----" + +"Never mind," said Jacinta. "After all, there is no great credit in +telling people of your kind what they are thinking, though I can't help +it now and then. You were wondering what anybody saw in me." + +Now Austin was too wise to fancy for a moment that Jacinta was fishing +for compliments. She knew her own value too well to appreciate them +unless they were particularly artistic, and he surmised that she had +merely desired to amuse herself by his embarrassment. + +"If I was, it was very unwise of me," he said. "You are Jacinta--and one +has to be content with that. You can't be analysed." + +"And you?" + +"I am the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, which is, perhaps, a significant +admission." + +Jacinta nodded comprehension. "I think it is," she said. "Still, since +you considered yourself warranted in approving of my dress, what are you +doing in that jacket on a mail run?" + +"As usual, there is a reason. When I was across at Arucas my comrades +laid hands upon my garments, and disposed of them at a bargain. They had +naturally squandered the money by the time I came back. I am now longing +for a few words with the man who, I understand, is coming down to +purchase some more at an equally alarming sacrifice." + +Jacinta laughed, but she also looked at him with a little gleam in her +eyes. "Don't you think it's rather a pity you--are--the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo?" + +"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I won't pretend to misunderstand +you, but the trouble is that I don't quite see what else I could be. I +cannot dig, and I'm not sure that it would be very pleasant to go round +borrowing odd dollars from my friends, even if they were disposed to +lend them to me, which is scarcely probable. Most of them would, +naturally, tell me to look at them, and see what I might have been if +I'd had their diligence and probity. Besides, I have time to paint +little pictures which rash tourists buy occasionally, and the life one +leads here has its compensations." + +The _Estremedura_'s whistle hooted just then, and as Jacinta looked +round a lordly four-masted ship, carrying everything to her royals, +swept up out of the night. She was driving down the trade-breeze a good +twelve knots an hour, and the foam flew up in cascades as her bows went +down, swirled in a broad, snowy smother along the slender streak of +rushing hull. Above it four tapered spires of sailcloth swung back +against the moonlight at every stately roll, and she showed as an +exquisite cameo cut in ebony on a ground of silver and blue. Still, it +was not the colour that formed the strength of that picture, but the +suggestion of effort and irresistible force that was stamped on it. She +drove by majestically, showing a breadth of wet plates that flashed in a +leeward roll, and Jacinta's eyes rested on the bent figure high on the +lifted poop grappling with her wheel. + +"Ah!" she said. "I suppose it's sometimes brutal, but that is man's +work, isn't it?" + +Austin laughed again, though there was a faint warmth in his cheek. "Of +course, I see the inference," he said. "Still, it really isn't necessary +for everybody to hold a big vessel's wheel, and I would a good deal +sooner you said something nice to me. Nobody likes to be told the truth +about themselves, you know, and I understand now why folks threw big +stones at the goat-skinned prophets long ago." + +"Well," said Jacinta, "we will talk of somebody else. I wonder if you +know that Jefferson has been left a fortune, or, at least, part of one?" + +"I didn't. Still, I'm glad to hear it. I like the man. In fact, he's the +straightest one I've come across in his occupation, which, by the way, +is, perhaps, somewhat of an admission, considering that he's an +American." + +"I like most Americans. For one thing, they're usually in earnest." + +"And you like Spaniards, who certainly aren't." + +"We will waive the question. It's rather a coincidence that Jefferson +should have fallen in love about the same time." + +"Do I know the lady, who is, presumably, in earnest, too? I don't like +women who have a purpose openly, though that does not apply to you. You +have usually a good many, but nobody knows anything about them until you +have accomplished them." + +Jacinta ignored the compliment. "I don't think you know her, but she is +a friend of mine. I went to school with her for two years in England." + +"Then, of course, she's nice." + +"That," said Jacinta, "is naturally a matter of opinion. She is, +however, not in the least like me." + +"In that case it's difficult to see how she can be nice at all." + +Jacinta smiled somewhat sardonically. "Well," she said, "Muriel is +bigger than I am, and more solid--in every way--as well as quiet and +precise. Being the daughter of the clergyman of a forlorn little place +in England, she has, of course, had advantages which have been denied to +me. There are people who have to undertake their own training, or do +without any, you know. She very seldom says anything she does not mean, +and always knows exactly what she is going to do." + +"I'm not sure that sounds particularly attractive." + +Jacinta lifted her head and looked at him. "Still, she is worth--oh, +ever so much more--than a good many such frivolous people as you or I. +You will see her yourself to-morrow. She is coming across with us to Las +Palmas, and, of course, if you would like to please me----" + +"That goes without saying. To-morrow we will endeavour to turn this ship +upside down. It usually has to be done when we have the honour of +carrying a lady from any part of provincial England." + +"I really don't want very much," and Jacinta smiled, at him. "Just the +big forward room for her, and the seat next me at the top of your table. +The nicest things have a way of getting there. Then she is fond of +fruit--and if you could get any of the very big Moscatel, and some of +that membrillo jelly. A few bunches of roses would look nice at our end +of the table, too." + +"Well," said Austin, with a little whimsical gesture of resignation, +"there is, as you know, a Spanish Commandante and his wife in that +forward room, but I suppose we shall have to turn them out. The other +things will naturally follow, but I'm afraid Major-domo Antonio will +call us dreadful names to-morrow." + +Jacinta rose. "You are as nice as I expected you would be," she said. +"Now it is getting chilly, and I have a letter to write." + +She smiled at him and went forward, walking, though she was English, +with a curious buoyant gracefulness as Spanish women do, while Austin +sat still and considered the position. He was quite aware that he would +have trouble with the Spanish Commandante as well as his Major-domo on +the morrow, but that was, after all, of no great importance. When +Jacinta wanted anything she usually obtained it, and it was not a little +to be counted among her friends, since she frequently contrived to do a +good deal for them. There were men as well as women in those islands who +owed more than they were aware of to Jacinta Brown. + +Austin sighed as he remembered it, for he was a penniless sobrecargo, +and she, in those islands, at least, a lady of station. It must be +sufficient for him to do what little he could to please her, and he had, +in fact, once or twice done a good deal. He took life easily, but there +was in him a vein of chivalry, which for the most part, however, found +somewhat whimsical expression. Then he recollected that he had still +certain documents to attend to, and going down again locked himself into +his room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN OVERHEATED JOURNAL + + +The _Estremedura_ lay rolling gently off the quaint old Spanish city of +Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, most of the following day. It was, indeed, late +in the afternoon when she went to sea, and while the jumble of white +walls and red-tiled roofs faded astern Austin sat in a deck-chair under +a lifeboat, while Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and Miss Muriel Gascoyne, to +whom he had been duly presented, occupied a seat close by. He was not +particularly charmed with the latter's company, and decided that she was +certainly as unlike Jacinta as she very well could be. + +Miss Gascoyne was a clear-complexioned, blue-eyed young Englishwoman, +solidly put together, and endued with a certain attractiveness; but she +was quiet, and had a disconcerting way of looking at him in a fashion +which vaguely suggested disapproval. There was also what he felt to be a +slightly irritating air of authority about her, which seemed to suggest +that she recognised the responsibility of her station, as one who was +looked up to in a remote corner of rural England. Mrs. Hatherly, her +aunt, was a little, withered old lady, with ruddy cheeks and the stamp +of vigorous health upon her, though she had apparently been ordered +south for the winter. She became visibly interested when Jacinta +contrived to mention that Austin was in charge of the _Estremedura_'s +medicine chest. + +"It really isn't my fault, and I don't do more harm with it than I can +help," he said. + +"Then you have a knowledge of medicine?" asked the red-cheeked lady. + +"No," said Austin, "not in the least. I had to get a sixpenny book from +England to tell me the difference between a scruple and a drachm, and +I'm not sure about some of the measures yet. You see, I entered the +profession quite by accident. The manual in the drug chest was, +naturally, in English, as it was sent on board a Spanish ship, and the +skipper, who couldn't read it, passed it on to me. My first case was a +great success, unfortunately. We were loading pine, and one of the men +contrived to get a splinter into the inner side of his eyelid. I suppose +it was a weakness, but I really couldn't watch him going about in +agony." + +"Is the desire to relieve a fellow creature's suffering a weakness?" +asked Miss Gascoyne. + +Austin appeared to reflect. "I almost think it is when the chances are +tolerably even that you're going to blind him. Still, I got the thing +out, and that man never quite knew the risks he ran. The next week +another of them dropped a hogshead on to his foot, and smashed it +badly--they don't wear boots, you know. He seemed quite convinced that I +could cure him, and, as the risk was his, I undertook the thing. You can +see him on the forecastle yonder, and he isn't limping. After that my +fame went abroad, and they send their cripples off to me at several of +the desolate places we call at. I always give them something, but +whatever quantity of water the manual recommends I put in twice as +much." + +Miss Gascoyne looked at him curiously. She had not met a young man of +this type before, and was not sure that she approved of him. She also +fancied that he was a trifle egotistical, which he certainly was not, +and it never occurred to her that he was merely rambling on for her +entertainment because he felt it his duty. + +"Don't you think that one should always have faith in one's +prescriptions and act upon it?" said her aunt. "I endeavour to do so +when I dose the village people who come to me." + +Austin laughed. "Well," he said, "you see, I haven't any, and, perhaps +if I had, it would be a little rough on others. Still, as a matter of +fact, they do get better--that is, most of them." + +Miss Gascoyne looked startled. "Is it right to abuse the ignorant +people's credulity like that?" she said, and stopped a trifle awkwardly, +while a little twinkle crept into Jacinta's eyes. + +"Mr. Austin hasn't really killed anybody yet," she said. "You haven't +told us what you think of Teneriffe, Muriel." + +Miss Gascoyne turned her face astern, and there was appreciation, and +something deeper than that, in her blue eyes, which had seen very little +of the glory of this world as yet. High overhead the great black wall of +the CaA+-adas cut, a tremendous ebony rampart, against the luminous blue, +and beyond it the peak's white cone gleamed ethereally above its +wrappings of fleecy mist. Beneath, the Atlantic lay a sheet of +glimmering turquoise in the lee of the island, and outside of that there +was a blinding blaze of sunlight on the white-topped sea. + +"It is beautiful--wonderfully beautiful," she said, with a little +tremble in her voice. "Isn't it sad that such a country should be +steeped in superstition?" + +Austin felt the last observation jar upon him, for he knew that the +inhabitants of that land would, in respect of sobriety and morality, +compare very favourably with those of several more enlightened places he +was acquainted with at home, and that was going far enough for him. +Still, he could defer to another's convictions when they were evidently +sincere, and it seemed to him that Jacinta's warning glance was a trifle +unnecessary. There was, however, an interruption just then, for a +steward appeared with a laden tray at the door of the captain's room. + +"Doesn't Don Erminio take his comida in the saloon?" asked Jacinta. + +"No," said Austin. "Not when we have English ladies on board. He's a +different man, you know, and some of them will insist on talking Spanish +to him. It's a little trying to have to admit you don't understand your +own language." + +"Vaya!" said a deep voice beyond the open door. "Eso no me gusta," and +while the steward backed out in haste, a couple of plates went flying +over the rail. + +"Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently doesn't approve of his dinner." + +Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, and looked at Austin gravely. + +"Does he often lose his temper in that fashion?" she asked. "Isn't it +very childish to throw--good food into the sea?" + +"The captain is, when you come to know him, really a very good-natured +man," said Austin. Then he stopped, and stood up suddenly as two figures +came towards them along the deck, and another from the opposite +direction. "It's Monsignor--I wonder what Macallister wants with him." + +A little, portly priest moved forward with a smile of good-humoured +pride, and an ecclesiastic of a very different stamp walked at his side. +The latter was a great man, indeed, a very great man, though he had once +toiled in comparative obscurity. Even Miss Gascoyne had apparently +heard of him. + +"If one could venture, I should like to speak to him," she said. + +Neither Jacinta nor Austin seemed to hear her. They were both watching +Macallister, and he, at least, clearly intended to accost the clerics. +He was now dressed immaculately in blue uniform, and in that condition +he was a big, handsome man, but he was also a North British Calvinist, +so far as he had any religious views at all, and accordingly not one who +could reasonably be expected to do homage to a dignitary of Rome. Still, +the little fleshy priest was a friend of his, and when the latter +presented him he bent one knee a trifle and gravely took off his uniform +cap. The ecclesiastic raised two fingers and spoke in Latin. Macallister +smiled at him reassuringly. + +"That isn't exactly what I meant, but it can't do me any harm coming +from a man like you, while if it does me any good I daresay I need it. +You see, I'm one of the goats," he said. + +The great man glanced at his companion, who translated as literally as +he could, though he also explained that the SeA+-or Macallister not +infrequently made things easier for some of the peasants who travelled +third class on board the _Estremedura_. Then a whimsical but very kindly +twinkle crept into the great man's eyes, and he laid a beautiful, +olive-tinted hand on the shoulder of the mechanic who had graciously +approved of him. + +"If he is kind to these poor hill men he is a friend of mine. The +charity it covers many--differences," he said. + +Then, as they came aft together, Austin also took off his cap, and +touched Miss Gascoyne's arm as he turned to the cleric. The girl rose +gravely, with a tinge of heightened colour in her face and a little +inclination, and, though nobody remembered exactly what was said, unless +it was the eminent cleric, who was, as usual with his kind, a polished +man of the world as well, he moved on with the girl on one side of him +and Macallister talking volubly in a most barbarous jargon on the other. +Mrs. Hatherly and the little priest took their places behind them, and +Austin gathered that as a special favour Macallister was going to show +them all his engines. Jacinta leaned back in her seat and laughed +musically. + +"Macallister," she said, "is always unique, and he will probably finish +the entertainment by offering Monsignor a glass of whiskey. It is to be +hoped he doesn't apostrophise his firemen with his usual fluency. Still, +do you know, I am rather pleased with you? You have made Muriel happy." + +"If I have pleased you it is rather more to the purpose," said Austin, +reflectively. "I have, however, noticed that when you express your +approbation there is usually something else to be done." + +Jacinta smiled. "It is very little, after all, but perhaps I had better +explain. Muriel met Jefferson, who had been to London to see somebody, +on board the _Dahomey_, and--I'm telling you this in confidence--there +are reasons for believing the usual thing happened. She is really good, +you know, while Jefferson is a somewhat serious man himself, as well as +an American. They treat women rather well in his country--in fact, they +seem to idealise them now and then. Besides, I understand it was +remarkably fine weather." + +"Yes," said Austin, who glanced suggestively across the sunlit heave +towards the dim, blue heights of Grand Canary, "it is, one would +believe, quite easy to fall in love with any one pretty and clever +during fine weather at sea. That is, of course, on sufficient +provocation. There are also, I think, Englishmen with some capacity for +idealisation--but hadn't you better go on?" + +Jacinta pursed her lips as she looked at him with an assumption of +severity, but she proceeded. "Now, I had arranged for Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel to spend the winter in Grand Canary, but she has heard of a +doctor in one of the hotels at Madeira, and is bent on going there. +There is, of course, nothing the matter with her; but if she approves of +the doctor in question it is very probable that she will stay in that +hotel until the spring. Still, she is changeable, and if she doesn't go +at once it is possible that she will not go at all. The Madeira boat +leaves Las Palmas about half an hour after we get there, and I don't +want Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel to catch her. Muriel doesn't want to, +either." + +Austin shook his head. "Don't you know that it is rather a serious thing +to delay a Spanish mailboat?" he said. "Still, I suppose you have +decided that it must be done?" + +"I think so," said Jacinta sweetly. "I also fancy you and Macallister +could manage it between you. You have my permission to tell him anything +you think necessary." + +She rose and left him, with this, and Austin, who was not altogether +pleased with his commission, waited until after the four o'clock comida, +when, flinging himself down on a settee in the engineer's room, cigar in +hand, he put the case to Macallister, who grinned. The latter, as a +rule, appeared to find his native idiom more expressive in the evening. + +"I'm no saying Jacinta's no fascinating, an' I've seen ye looking at her +like a laddie eyeing a butterscotch," he said. "Still, it can no be +done. Neither o' our reputations would stand it, for one thing." + +"We have nothing to do with the Madeira boat, and the Lopez boat for +Cuba doesn't sail until an hour after her," said Austin. "Besides, +Jacinta wants it done." + +Macallister looked thoughtful. "Weel," he said, "that is a reason. +Jacinta thinks a good deal of me, an' if I was no married already I +would show ye how to make up to her. I would not sit down, a long way +off, an' look at her. She's no liking ye any the better for that way of +it." + +"Hadn't you better leave that out?" said Austin stiffly. "I'm the +_Estremedura_'s sobrecargo, which is quite sufficient. Can't you have a +burst tube or something of the kind?" + +"A burst tube is apt to result in somebody getting scalded, an' stepping +into boiling water is sore on a Primera Maquinista's feet. Ye'll just +have to make excuses to Jacinta, I'm thinking." + +Austin, who knew he could do nothing without Macallister's co-operation, +was wondering what persuasion he could use, when he was joined by an +unexpected ally. A big, aggressive Englishman in tourist apparel +approached the mess-room door and signed to him. + +"You were not in your room," he said, as though this was a grievance. + +Austin looked at him quietly. "I'm afraid I really haven't the faculty +of being in two places at once. Is there anything I can do for you?" + +"There is. I particularly want to catch the Liverpool boat _via_ Madeira +to-night, and the time you get in cuts it rather fine. It occurred to me +that you might be able to hurry her up a little." + +"I'm sorry that's out of the question," said Austin, languidly. "You +see, I'm not expected to interfere with this steamer's engines." + +He was wondering how he could best favour the Englishman with a delicate +left-handed compliment, when Macallister, who was once more very dirty, +and wore only a dungaree jacket over his singlet, broke in: + +"I would," he said, "like to see him try." + +"May I ask who you are?" said the passenger, who regarded him +superciliously. + +"Ye may," and there was a portentious gleam in Macallister's eyes. "I'm +only her chief engineer." + +"Ah!" said the other, who did not consider it advisable to mention that +he had supposed him to be a fireman. "Well, there are, I believe, means +of obtaining a favour from a chief engineer. You naturally don't get +many pickings in this kind of boat." + +Austin laughed softly, for he knew his man. It is now and then +permissible to bestow an honorarium upon a chief engineer over a deal in +coals, but it requires to be done tactfully, and when the stranger +suggestively thrust his hand into his pocket, Macallister hove his six +feet of length upright, and looked down on him, with a big hand clenched +and blazing eyes. + +"Out o' this before I shake some manners intil ye, ye +fifteen-pound-the-round-trip scum!" he said. + +The stranger backed away from him, and then bolted incontinently as +Macallister made for the door. Austin laughed softly when he heard him +falling over things in the dark alleyway, and Macallister sat down +fuming. + +"A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one thing, but yon was--insultin'," +he said, and then looked up with a sudden grin. "I'll fix the waster. +Can ye no smell a crank-pin burning?" + +"I can't," said Austin. "Still, under the circumstances, I'm quite +willing to take your word for it." + +He went up on deck. It was dark now, but the moon was shining, and he +was not surprised to see a sooty fireman clambering in haste up the +bridge ladder. Then the throb of the propeller slackened, and when the +_Estremedura_ lay rolling wildly athwart the long, moonlit heave, an +uproar broke out in the engine room below. The Castilian is excitable, +and apt to lose his head when orders which he cannot understand are +hurled at him, while Macallister, when especially diligent, did not +trust to words alone, but used lumps of coal and heavy steel spanners. +He was just then apparently chasing his greasers and firemen up and down +the engine room. There was a rush of apprehensive passengers towards the +open skylights, from which steam as well as bad language ascended, and +Austin, who went with them, found Jacinta by his side. + +"I suppose it's nothing dangerous?" she said. + +Austin laughed. "If it were Macallister would not be making so much +noise. In fact, I don't think you need worry at all. When Miss Jacinta +Brown expresses her wishes, things are not infrequently apt to happen." + +Jacinta smiled at him. "I have," she said, "one or two faithful +servants. Shall we move a little nearer and see what he is doing?" + +"I'm afraid the conversation of one of them is not likely to be of a +kind that Miss Gascoyne, for example, would approve of." + +"Pshaw!" said Jacinta, and followed when Austin made way for her to one +of the skylights' lifted frames. + +The _Estremedura_ was rolling wickedly, and very scantily attired men +were scrambling, apparently without any definite purpose, beneath the +reeling lights which flashed upon the idle machinery. They, however, +seemed to be in bodily fear of Macallister, who held a spouting hose, +while a foamy, soapy lather splashed up from the crank-pit on the big, +shining connecting-rod. Austin could see him dimly through a cloud of +steam, though he could think of no reason why any of the latter should +be drifting about the engine room. There were several English passengers +about the skylights, and the one with the aggressive manner was +explaining his views to the rest. + +"The man is either drunk or totally incapable. He is doing nothing but +shout," he said. "You will notice that he spends half the time washing +the connecting-rods, which, as everybody knows, cannot get hot. If we +miss the Madeira boat I shall certainly call upon the company's +manager." + +Perhaps he spoke too loudly, or it may have been an accident, though +Austin, who saw Macallister flounder on the slippery floor-plates as the +steamer rolled, did not think it was. In any case, he drew Jacinta back, +and a moment later a jet from the spouting hose struck with a great +splashing upon the glass. The aggressive passenger, who was looking down +just then, got most of it in his face, and he staggered back, dripping, +and gasping with anger. When he once more became vociferous, Austin led +Jacinta away. + +"I'm afraid we will not catch that boat, but I really don't think you +ought to hear Mack's retort," he said. + +It was not quite half an hour later when the _Estremedura_ moved on +again, and Macallister informed Austin that he could not allow two +journals to become overheated in the same voyage. It would, he said, be +too much of a coincidence, and some of his subordinates did know a +little about machinery. They had accordingly some few minutes yet in +hand when they swung round the high Isleta cinder heap into sight of Las +Palmas. It gleamed above the surf fringe, a cluster of twinkling lights +at the black hills' feet, and there were other lights, higher up, on +ships' forestays, behind the dusky line of mole. In between, the long +Atlantic heave flashed beneath the moon, and there was scarcely two +miles of it left. Austin, standing forward with a pair of night-glasses, +and Jacinta beside him, watched the lights close on one another +dejectedly. + +"We'll be in inside ten minutes, and I think the Madeira boat has still +her anchor down," he said. "I had to give the quartermaster orders to +have our lancha ready, and he'll take any passengers straight across to +her." + +"I believe you did what you could," said Jacinta. "Still, you see----" + +"Oh, yes," said Austin. "You like success?" + +Jacinta looked at him with a little enigmatical smile. "When any of my +friends are concerned, I believe I do." + +Austin went aft, and a little while later found Macallister standing by +the poop, which was piled with banana baskets, among which seasick +Canary peasants lay. The big crane on the end of the mole was now on the +_Estremedura_'s quarter, and they were sliding into the mouth of the +harbour. Close ahead, with white steam drifting about her forecastle, +lay the Madeira boat. + +"They're heaving up," said the engineer. "Jacinta will no' be pleased +with ye, I'm thinking." + +"There's only one thing left," said Austin. "One of us must fall in." + +Macallister grinned. "Then I know which it will be. It was not me who +swam across the harbour last trip. But wait a moment. There's a dozen or +two Spaniards among the baskets, an' I'm thinking nobody would miss one +of them." + +Austin, who knew what his comrade was capable of, seized hold of him, +but Macallister shook his grasp off and disappeared among the baskets. +Then there was a splash in the shadow beneath the ship, a shout, and a +clamour broke out from the crowded deck. A gong clanged below, the +captain shouted confused orders from his bridge, and the _Estremedura_ +slid forward, with engines stopped, past a British warship with her +boats at the booms. Then in the midst of the confusion, Austin, who was +leaning on the rail, wondering what had really happened, felt himself +gripped by the waist. They had slid into the shadow of the Isleta, which +lay black upon the water just there. + +"Noo's your chance," said a voice he knew. "It's a hero she'll think ye. +In ye go to the rescue!" + +Austin, who was by no means certain that there was a man in the water at +all, had no intention of going if he could help it, but, as it happened, +he had no option. The _Estremedura_ rolled just then, he felt himself +lifted, and went out, head foremost, over the rail. The steamer had gone +on and left him when he rose to the surface, but there was nobody either +swimming or shouting in the water behind him. He knew it would be a +minute or two yet before they got the big passenger lancha over, but the +_Estremedura_'s propeller was thrashing astern, and when she came back +towards him he seized the boat-warp already lowered along her side. +Nobody appeared to notice him, for one of the British warship's boats +was then approaching. She flashed by as he crawled in through the opened +gangway, and a man stood up in her. + +"Spanish mail ahoy!" he cried. "Anybody speaking English aboard of you? +If so, tell your skipper to go ahead. We have got the banana basket he +dropped over. He can send for it to-morrow." + +Austin slipped, unnoticed, into his room, but he laughed as he heard the +roar of a whistle, and saw a long, black hull ringed with lights slide +by. It was the Madeira boat, steaming down the harbour. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ON THE VERANDA + + +It was a clear, moonlight night when Pancho Brown, Mrs. Hatherly, and +Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremedura_'s captain, sat in big cane chairs on +the veranda of the Hotel Catalina, Las Palmas. The Catalina is long and +low, and fronted with a broad veranda, a rather more sightly building +than tourist hotels usually are, and its row of windows blazed that +night. They were, most of them, wide open, and the seductive strains of +a soft Spanish waltz drifted out with the rhythmic patter of feet and +swish of light draperies, for the winter visitors had organised a +concert and informal dance. A similar entertainment was apparently going +on in the aggressively English Metropole, which cut, a huge, square +block of building, against the shining sea a little further up the +straight white road, while the artillery band was playing in the alameda +of the town, a mile or two away. The deep murmur of the Atlantic surf +broke through the music in a drowsy undertone. + +Pancho Brown was essentially English, a little, portly gentleman with a +heavy, good-humoured face. He was precise in dress, a little slow in +speech, and nobody at first sight would have supposed him to be +brilliant, commercially or otherwise. Still, he had made money, which +is, perhaps, the most eloquent testimony to anybody's business ability. +He was then meditatively contemplating his daughter, who was strolling +in the garden with a young English officer from the big white warship +in the harbour. A broad blaze of silver stretched back across the sea +towards the hazy blueness in the east beyond which lay Africa, and it +was almost as light as day. Mrs. Hatherly followed his gaze. + +"An only daughter must be a responsibility now and then," she said. "I +have never had one of my own, but for the last few months my niece has +been living with me, and I have had my moments of anxiety." + +Pancho Brown, who fancied she was leading up to something, smiled in a +fashion which suggested good-humoured indifference, though he was quite +aware that his daughter was then talking very confidentially to the +young naval officer. + +"I am afraid I do not deserve your sympathy," he said. "Jacinta's mother +died when she was eight years old, but ever since she came home from +school in England Jacinta has taken care of me. In fact, I almost think +it is Jacinta who feels the responsibility. I am getting a little old, +and now and then my business enterprises worry me." + +"And does that young girl know anything about them?" + +"Jacinta," said Brown, "knows a good deal about everything, and it +really doesn't seem to do her any harm. In fact, I sometimes feel that +she knows considerably more than I do. I make mistakes now and then, but +if Jacinta ever does I am not aware of them." + +"Still, a girl with Miss Brown's appearance--and advantages--must +naturally attract a good deal of attention, and, of course, one has----" + +Brown smiled at her indulgently. "When Jacinta chooses her husband I +shall, no doubt, approve of him. I am not sure," he added, with an air +of reflection, "that it would make any great difference if I didn't." + +"You are to be envied," said his companion, with a little sigh. "I feel +the responsibility circumstances have placed on me is unpleasantly +heavy, and I am almost sorry I missed the Madeira boat two or three +weeks ago. If we had gone in her we should not, of course, have been in +Las Palmas now." + +"It is almost as evident that I should have been left forlorn to-night," +said Brown, with cumbrous gallantry. + +Mrs. Hatherly appeared to reflect. "It is a curious thing that Miss +Brown assured me we should not catch the steamer that night, though we +had apparently half an hour to spare; but in one respect it was perhaps +fortunate, after all. If we had gone to Madeira I should not have +consulted Dr. Lane, who seems to understand my case so thoroughly; but, +on the other hand, we should have seen no more of Mr. Jefferson." + +"It is not such a long way to Madeira, and there is a steamer every week +or so. From what I know of Mr. Jefferson, I think it is possible he +would have gone there, too." + +"You are well acquainted with him?" + +Brown glanced at her with a faint twinkle in his eyes. "I know a little +about everybody in these islands, madam. Mr. Jefferson is considered a +straight man, and I may mention that he meets with Jacinta's approval. I +almost think I could vouch for his character. I wonder," and he smiled +genially, "if it would be as much to the purpose if I said that he had +just been left eight thousand pounds?" + +"Eight thousand pounds is not very much," and Mrs. Hatherly turned to +him as if for guidance. "Mr. Jefferson called on me this afternoon, and +it would be almost three weeks before I could get a letter from Muriel's +father, who trusted her to me. Of course, a good deal would depend upon +what I said about him; but, after all, Muriel has not a penny of her +own." + +"The sum in question is apt to go a long way when the man who has it is +an American, and I really think you could leave him and Miss Gascoyne to +settle the affair between them." Brown stopped a moment, and then added, +as if by an afterthought: "It is, of course, quite possible that they +have done so already; and, in any case, I am not sure, my dear madam, +that Jefferson would be very greatly discouraged by your opposition. He +is--as has been said--an American." + +The little, red-cheeked lady made a gesture of resignation, but just +then Captain Oliviera, who spoke a little English, and appeared to feel +himself neglected, broke in: + +"You come here for your healt, seA+-ora?" he said. "Bueno! My sobrecargo +go by the step, and he is savvy much the medsin. Me, he cure, +frecuentemente, by the morning. Ola, I call him!" + +"Otra vez," said Brown, restrainingly, and Mrs. Hatherly favoured the +captain, who was big and lean and bronzed, with a glance of interested +scrutiny. + +"You are an invalid, too?" she said. "One would scarcely fancy it. In +fact, you seem very robust to me. What do you suffer from?" + +Brown made this a trifle plainer, and Don Erminio smiled. He had no +great sense of fitness, and was slightly reckless in his conversation. + +"Mi t'roat, and the head of me--by the morning," he said, and made a +curious gurgling to give point to the explanation. "El sobrecargo he +laugh and say, 'Aha, mi captain, you want a peek-a-up again.' It is of +mucho effecto. I go call him. He make some for you." + +"Peek-a-up!" said Mrs. Hatherly, and Brown laid his hand restrainingly +upon the gallant skipper's arm. + +"It is a preparation they find beneficial at sea, though I do not think +it would suit your case," he said, and Oliviera roused himself to a +further effort. + +"Good man, mi sobrecargo. Much education. Also friend of me. I say him +often: 'Carramba! In Spain is no dollar. Why you stay here?' Aha, SeA+-or +Austin savvy. By and by he marry a rich English seA+-orita." + +It occurred to Mrs. Hatherly that Brown's face lost a trifle of its +usual placidity as his eyes rested on his daughter, who was, however, +still apparently talking to the naval officer. The Catalina did not +possess a particularly attractive garden then, but there were a few +dusty palms in it, and any one strolling in their shadow that moonlight +night could see the filmy mists drifting athwart the great black +cordillera, and the wisp of lights that twinkled above the hissing surf +along the sweep of bay until they ended in a cluster where the +white-walled city rose above the tossing spray. There were several pairs +of young men and women who apparently found the prospect attractive, but +Brown did not notice Austin among them. He and Mrs. Hatherly sat in the +shadow, but Oliviera was in the moonlight, which was probably how it +happened that a man who appeared in the lighted doorway close by turned +towards him, evidently without noticing the others. + +"That you, Don Erminio? Then come right along," he said. "I've got to +give somebody a good time, and you have so much human nature it's easy +pleasing you. Get up on your hind feet, and have some champagne--enough +to make your throat bad for a month, if you feel like it." + +Oliviera rose with alacrity. "Aha!" he said. "I come." + +He wasted no time in doing it, though he reluctantly spared a moment to +make his companions a little grave inclination, for Don Erminio was, +after all, a Castilian, and when he had gone the two who were left +looked at one another. The joyous satisfaction in the voice and +attitude of the man at the door had its significance for both of them. +Mrs. Hatherly looked troubled, but there was a faint twinkle in her +companion's eyes. + +"I wonder if Mr. Jefferson often gives his friends invitations of that +kind?" she said. + +Brown smiled reassuringly. "I almost think I could answer for his +general abstemiousness. Still, there are occasions upon which even the +most sedate of us are apt to relax a little, and wish to share our +satisfaction with our friends." + +"Then," said Mrs. Hatherly, with evident anxiety, "you fancy----" + +"I should almost fancy this is one of the occasions in question." + +The little, red-cheeked lady rose with a sigh. "I have tried to do my +duty," she said. "Now, I think I must find Muriel, if you will excuse +me." + +She left him, and when Brown also sauntered into the hotel the veranda +remained empty until Jacinta came up the broad stairway just as it +happened that Austin came out of the door. She was attired diaphanously +in pale-tinted draperies, and seemed to Austin, almost ethereal as she +stopped a moment at the head of the stairway with the moonlight upon +her. He was, however, quite aware that material things had their value +to Jacinta Brown, and that few young women had a more useful stock of +worldly wisdom. In another moment she saw him, and made him a little +sign with her fan. He drew forward a chair, and then leaned against the +balustrade, looking down on her, for it was evident that Jacinta had +something to say to him. + +"As I haven't seen you since that night on board the _Estremedura_, I +naturally haven't had an opportunity of complimenting you," she said. + +"May I ask upon what?" and Austin looked a trifle uneasy. + +"Your discretion. It would, perhaps, have been a little cold for a +moonlight swim, and one's clothing would also be apt to suffer. After +all, there was, of course, no reason why it should afford you any +pleasure to display your gallantry." + +Austin's face flushed. "There have been other occasions when it would +have pleased me to twist Macallister's neck," he said. "No doubt you +overheard what he said to me?" + +"I did," said Jacinta, who looked at him quietly over her fan. "It is a +little astonishing that neither of you noticed me. Still, of course, +your attitude was, at least, sensible. What I do not understand is why +you saw fit to change it a minute or two later. I had, I may mention, +left the poop then." + +"I'm not sure I understand." + +Jacinta laughed musically. "Now," she said, "I really believe you do." + +"Well," said Austin, with a doubtful smile, "if you think I went +overboard of my own will to win your approbation, you are mistaken. I +did not go at all. I was, in fact, thrown in. Macallister is, as you +know, a somewhat persistent person." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta. "That explains a good deal. Well, I feel almost +tempted to be grateful to him for doing it, though you were, of course, +sensible. There was really no reason why you should wish me to credit +you with courage and humanity--especially when you didn't possess them." + +Austin hoped she did not see that he winced, for although he had borne a +good deal of her badinage, he felt his face grow hot. He was quite aware +that this girl was not for him, and he had, he believed, succeeded in +preventing himself falling in love with her. It seemed quite fitting +that she should regard him as one of her servants, and since he could +look for nothing more, he was content with that. He had, however, a +spice of temper, and sometimes she drove him a trifle too hard. + +"Still," he said, "if I ever did anything really worth while, I think I +should insist upon your recognising it, though it is scarcely likely +that I shall have the opportunity." + +"No," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I scarcely think it is; but, after +all, I have a little to thank you for. You see, you did delay the +_Estremedura_. I suppose you have not seen Mr. Jefferson during the last +half hour?" + +"No," said Austin, with a little start of interest. "Has he----" + +"He has. Muriel, at least, has evidently arrived at an understanding +with him. I am not sure they saw me, but I came across them a little +while ago--and they looked supremely happy." + +There was satisfaction in her voice, but it was with a mildly ironical +and yet faintly wistful expression she gazed at the shining sea. It +somewhat astonished Austin, though there was so much about Jacinta that +was incomprehensible to him. + +"Well," he said, "I'm glad; but I should scarcely have fancied Miss +Gascoyne would have attracted Jefferson. After all, one would hardly +consider her a young woman who had very much in her. Indeed, I have +wondered why you were so fond of her." + +Jacinta smiled curiously as she looked at him. "She is wonderful to +Jefferson. There is no grace or goodness that she is not endued with in +his estimation." + +"But if she doesn't possess them?" + +"Then," said Jacinta, decisively, "because he believes she does, she +will acquire them. There are women like that, you know, and I am not +sure that sensible people like you and I don't lose the best of life +occasionally. If a man believes a girl of Muriel's kind angelic she is +very apt to unfold shining wings, though nobody else ever fancied that +she had anything of the kind about her." + +"Ah!" said Austin, who was a little stirred, though he would not admit +it. "No doubt you know. A good many men must have thought that of you." + +Jacinta laughed again. "No, my friend," she said. "I have met men who +thought me amusing, and two or three who thought me clever--but that is +a very different thing--while it is possible that the others remembered +I was Pancho Brown's daughter. So, you see, my wings have not unfolded. +In fact, I sometimes think they are in danger of shrivelling away." + +There was nothing that Austin could say, for he was the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo, and had never forgotten that Pancho Brown was reputed to be +making several thousand a year. Still, he found silence difficult, and +changed the subject. + +"Well," he said, "you haven't told me yet why you are so fond of Miss +Gascoyne." + +"She--is--good, and, after all, goodness really does appeal to some of +us. Besides, when I went to an English school, a stranger, more Spanish +than English in thought and sentiment, and most of the others held aloof +from me, she saw I was lonely, and came and made friends with me. I was +glad to cling to her then, and you see I haven't forgotten it." + +There was a tone in the girl's voice which sent a little thrill through +the man. It was very clear that Jacinta did not forget a kindness, and +he had once or twice already had glimpses of her deeper nature. While he +stood silent, and, as it happened, in the shadow, Miss Gascoyne came +out of the door and approached Jacinta with the moonlight on her face. +Austin was almost startled as he glanced at her. + +When he had last seen Muriel Gascoyne he had considered her a comely +English girl without imagination or sensibility. She had, in fact, +appeared to him narrow in her views, totally unemotional, and more than +a little dull, certainly not the kind of young woman to inspire or +reciprocate passionate admiration in any discerning man. Now, as she +came towards him with her eyes shining and the soft colour in her face, +which was very gentle, she seemed transfigured and almost radiant. She +stooped and kissed Jacinta impulsively. + +"I am so happy, my dear," she said. "We owe ever so much to you." + +Austin had the grace to wish himself somewhere else, though he did not +see how he could get away, but Jacinta, with her usual boldness, turned +in his direction. + +"Well," she said, "I almost think you owe Mr. Austin a little, too. If +he hadn't stopped the _Estremedura_ you would probably have been in +Madeira now." + +Again Muriel Gascoyne astonished Austin, for though it was evident she +had not been aware of his presence, she showed no embarrassment, and +smiled at him with a simplicity which, though he had not expected it +from her, had in it the essence of all womanly dignity. + +"Yes," she said, "I realise that. Mr. Austin, Harry has been looking for +you everywhere." + +Austin made her a little grave inclination, and then, because she seemed +to expect it, shook hands with her. + +"I am glad that the man you have promised to marry is one of my +friends," he said. "There is not a better one in these islands." + +He did not remember what Miss Gascoyne said, and perhaps it was not of +any particular consequence, but when she left them it happened that he +and Jacinta did not look at one another. There was, in fact, an almost +embarrassing silence, and through it they heard the rhythmic swing of a +soft Spanish waltz, and the deep-toned murmur of the sea. Then Jacinta +laughed. + +"I wonder what you are thinking?" she said. + +Austin smiled, somewhat drily. "I was endeavouring to remember that +there are a good many things the _Estremedura_'s sobrecargo must +dispense with. It is exceedingly unlikely that anybody will ever leave +me eight thousand pounds." + +"I fancy there are a good many of us who would like to have a good deal +more than we will probably ever get," said Jacinta. "It can only be a +very few who ever hear the celestial music at all, and to them it comes +but once in their life." + +Austin looked at her quietly. "A little while ago I should not have +considered Miss Gascoyne capable of hearing it; but now, and because I +know the man she has promised to marry, I almost think she will, at +least occasionally, be able to catch an echo of it. It must be difficult +to hear that orchestra once and forget it." + +Jacinta turned to him with a curious little smile in her eyes. "You and +I are, of course, sensible people, and fancies of that kind have nothing +to do with us. In the meanwhile, it is really necessary that I should +appear in one or two of the dances." + +Austin made a little gesture that might have expressed anything, and she +rose and left him standing on the veranda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A BIG CONTRACT + + +It was the day after the dance at the Catalina, and Austin was running +into Las Palmas harbour in a powerful steam launch which had been lent +him to convey certain documents to a Spanish steamer. The trade-breeze +had veered a little further east that day, as it sometimes did, and the +full drift of the long Atlantic sea came rolling inshore. The launch was +wet with spray, which flew up in clouds as she lurched over the +white-topped combers that burst in a chaotic spouting on a black +volcanic reef not far away from her. It also happened that the coaling +company's new tug had broken down a few minutes earlier, and when the +launch drove past the long mole the first thing Austin saw was a +forty-ton coal lighter, loaded to the water's edge, drifting towards the +reef. There was a boat astern of her, out of which a couple of Spanish +peons seemed to be flinging the water, preparatory to abandoning the +lighter to her fate, but Austin could see very little of the latter. The +sea washed clean across her, and she showed no more than a strip of +sluicing side amidst the spray. + +What became of her was no business of his, but when the whistle of a big +grain tramp rolling across the mouth of the harbour, and apparently +waiting for her coal, roared out a warning, it occurred to Austin that +the Spaniards in the boat might have considerable difficulty in pulling +her clear of the reef against the sea. Accordingly, he unloosed the +launch's whistle, and while it screeched dolefully, put his helm over +and ran down upon the lighter. She was wallowing sideways towards the +reef when he rounded up close alongside and saw, somewhat to his +astonishment, that there was a man still on board. He was very black, +though the spray was dripping from his face, and the seas that swept +over the lighter's deck wet him to the knees. Austin shouted to him: + +"I'll run round to leeward, Jefferson, so you can jump!" he said. + +The wet man swung an arm up. "Stand by to take our rope. I'm not going +to jump." + +Austin considered. He was by no means sure that the launch had power +enough to tow the lighter clear, and the long white seething on the +jagged lava astern of her suggested what would happen if she failed to +do it. + +"Come on board. I haven't steam to pull her off," he said. + +Jefferson made an impatient gesture. "If you want me, you have got to +try." + +Austin wasted no more time. It was evidently valuable then, and he knew +his man. He signed to the Spanish fireman to back the launch astern, and +clutched the rope Jefferson flung him as she drove across the lighter's +bows. + +"I can tow her just as well with you on board here," he roared. + +"I guess you can," and a sea wet Jefferson to the waist as he floundered +aft towards the lighter's stern. "Still, you're going to find it awkward +to steer her, too." + +This was plain enough, and Austin decided that if Jefferson meant to +stay on board it was his affair, while he was far from sure that he +would gain anything by attempting to dissuade him, even had there been +time available. As it was, he realised that the lighter would probably +go ashore while they discussed the question, and he signed to the +Spanish fireman, who started the little engine full speed ahead, and +then opened the furnace door. There was a gush of flame from the funnel, +and the tow-rope tightened with a bang that jerked the launch's stern +under. Then, while she was held down by the wallowing lighter a big, +white-topped sea burst across her forward, and for a few seconds Austin, +drenched and battered by the flying spray, could see nothing at all. +When it blew astern he made out Jefferson standing knee deep in water at +the lighter's helm, though there was very little else visible through +the rush of white-streaked brine. Austin shouted to the fireman, who +once more opened the furnace door, for that cold douche had suddenly +made a different man of him. + +He did, for the most part, very little on board the _Estremedura_, and +took life as easily as he could, but there was another side of his +nature which, though it had been little stirred as yet, came uppermost +then, as it did occasionally when he brought his despatches off at night +in an open roadstead through the trade-wind surf. It was also known to +the _Estremedura_'s skipper that he had once swum off to the steamer +from the roaring beach at Orotava when no fishermen in the little port +would launch a barquillo out. Thus he felt himself in entire sympathy +with Jefferson as every big comber hove the launch up and the spray +lashed his tingling skin, while for five anxious minutes the issue hung +in the balance. Launch and lighter went astern with the heavier seas, +and barely recovered the lost ground in the smooths when a roller failed +to break quite so fiercely as its predecessors. + +Then the Spanish fireman either raised more steam, or the heavy weight +of coal astern at last acquired momentum, for they commenced to forge +ahead, the launch plunging and rolling, with red flame at her funnel, +and the smoke and spray and sparks blowing aft on Austin, who stood, +dripping to the skin, at the tiller. Ahead, the long seas that hove +themselves up steeply in shoal water came foaming down on him, but there +was a little grim smile in his eyes, and he felt his blood tingle as he +watched them. When he glanced over his shoulder, which it was not +advisable to do unguardedly, he could see Jefferson swung up above him +on the lighter's lifted stern, and the long white smoother that ran +seething up the reef. + +It, however, fell further behind them, until he could put the helm over +and run the lighter into smoother water behind the mole, when Jefferson +flung up his arm again. + +"Swing her alongside the grain boat, and then hold on a minute. I'll +come ashore with you," he said. + +Austin stopped the launch and cast the tow-rope off, and the lighter, +driving forward, slid in under the big grain tramp's side. A few minutes +later Jefferson appeared at her gangway, and when Austin ran in jumped +on board. He was a tall man, and was just then very wet, and as black as +any coal heaver. This, however, rather added to the suggestion of +forcefulness that usually characterised him. + +"That fellow has been waiting several hours for his coal, and as I +couldn't get a man worth anything on to the crane, I ran the thing +myself," he said. "The way the wind was it blew the grit all over me, +and I'm coming across for a wash with you. I'm 'most afraid to walk +through the port as I am just now." + +He laughed happily, and Austin fancied that he understood him, since he +felt that if he had held Miss Gascoyne's promise he would not have liked +to run any risk of meeting her in the state in which Jefferson was just +then. As it happened, it did not occur to either of them that they had +done anything unusual, which had, perhaps, its significance. + +Austin took him on board the _Estremedura_, and when he had removed most +of the coal-dust from his person they sat down with a bottle of thin +wine before them in the sobrecargo's room. Jefferson was lean in face +and person, though he was largely made, and had dark eyes that could +smile and yet retain a certain intentness and gravity. His voice had a +little ring in it, and, big as he was, he was seldom altogether still. +When he filled his glass his long fingers tightened on it curiously. + +"I owe you a little for pulling us off just now, but that's by no means +all," he said. "Miss Gascoyne told me how you stopped the boat that +night three weeks ago. Now----" + +Austin laughed. "We'll take it item by item. When you get started you're +just a little overwhelming. In the first place, what are you coaling +grain tramps for when somebody has left you a fortune?" + +"It's not quite that," said Jefferson. "Forty thousand dollars. They're +busy at the coal wharf, and wanted me to stay on until the month was up, +any way." + +"I don't think you owe them very much," said Austin. "In fact, I'm not +sure that if I'd been you I'd have saved that coal for them; but we'll +get on. I want to congratulate you on another thing, and I really think +you are a lucky man." + +The smile sank out of Jefferson's eyes. "I'm quite sure of it," he said +gravely. "I get wondering sometimes how she ever came to listen to such +a man as I am, who isn't fit to look at her." + +Austin made a little gesture of sympathy. This was not what he would +have said himself, but he was an insular Englishman, and the reticence +which usually characterises the species is less highly thought of across +the Atlantic. The average American is more or less addicted to saying +just what he means, which is, after all, usually a convenience to +everybody. Before he could speak Jefferson went on: + +"I've been wanting to thank you for stopping that steamer," he said. +"It's the best turn anybody ever did me, and I'm not going to forget it. +Now----" + +"If you're pleased, I am," said Austin, who did not care for +protestations of gratitude, a trifle hastily. "Any way, you have got +her, and though it's not my business, the question is what you're going +to do. Eight thousand pounds isn't very much, after all, and English +girls are apt to want a good deal, you know." + +Jefferson laughed. "Forty thousand dollars is quite a nice little sum to +start with; but I've got to double it before I'm married." + +"There are people who would spend most of their life doing it," said +Austin, reflectively. "How long do you propose to allow yourself?" + +"Six months," and there was a snap in Jefferson's voice and eyes. "If I +haven't got eighty thousand dollars in that time I'm going to have no +use for them." + +"When you come to think of it, that isn't very long to make forty +thousand dollars in," said Austin. + +He said nothing further, for he had met other Americans in his time, and +knew the cheerful optimism that not infrequently characterises them. + +Jefferson looked at him steadily with the little glow still in his eyes. +"You stopped the _Estremedura_, and, in one respect, you're not quite +the same as most Englishmen. They're hide-bound. It takes a month to +find out what they're thinking, and then, quite often, it isn't worth +while. Any way, I'm going to talk. I feel I've got to. Wouldn't you +consider Miss Gascoyne was worth taking a big risk for?" + +"Yes," said Austin, remembering what he had seen in the girl's face. "I +should almost think she was." + +"You would almost think!" and Jefferson gazed at him a moment in +astonishment. "Well, I guess you were made that way, and you can't help +it. Now, I'm open to tell anybody who cares to listen that that girl was +a revelation to me. She's good all through, there's not a thought in her +that isn't clean and wholesome. After all, that's what a man wants to +fall back upon. Then she's dainty, clever, and refined, with sweetness +and graciousness just oozing out of her. It's all round her like an +atmosphere." + +Austin was slightly amused, though he would not for his life have shown +it. It occurred to him that an excess of the qualities his companion +admired in Miss Gascoyne might prove monotonous, especially if they +were, as in her case, a little too obtrusive. He also fancied that this +was the first time anybody had called her clever. Still, Jefferson's +supreme belief in the woman he loved appealed to him in spite of its +somewhat too vehement expression, and he reflected that there was +probably some truth in Jacinta's observation that the woman whose lover +credited her with all the graces might, at least, acquire some of them. +It seemed that a simple and somewhat narrow-minded English girl, without +imagination, such as Miss Gascoyne was in reality, might still hear what +Jacinta called the celestial music, and, listening, become transformed. +After all, it was not mere passion which vibrated in Jefferson's voice +and had shone in Muriel Gascoyne's eyes, and Austin vaguely realised +that the faith that can believe in the apparently impossible and the +charity that sees no shortcomings are not altogether of this earth. +Then he brushed these thoughts aside and turned to his companion with a +little smile. + +"How did you ever come to be here, Jefferson?" he asked, irrelevantly. +"It's rather a long way from the land of progress and liberty." + +Jefferson laughed in a somewhat curious fashion. "Well," he said, +"others have asked me, but I'll tell you, and I've told Miss Gascoyne. I +had a good education, and I'm thankful for it now. There is money in the +family, but it was born in most of us to go to sea. I went because I had +to, and it made trouble. The man who had the money had plotted out quite +a different course for me. Still, I did well enough until the night the +_Sachem_--there are several of them, but I guess you know the one I +mean--went down. I was mate, but it wasn't in my watch the Dutchman +struck her." + +"Ah!" said Austin softly, "that explains a good deal! It wasn't exactly +a pleasant story." + +He eat looking at his companion with grave sympathy as the details of a +certain grim tragedy in which the brutally handled crew had turned upon +their persecutors when the ship was sinking under them came back to him. +Knowing tolerably well what usually happens when official enquiry +follows upon a disaster at sea, he had a suspicion that the truth had +never become altogether apparent, though the affair had made a sensation +two or three years earlier. Still, while Jefferson had not mentioned his +part in it, he had already exonerated him. + +"It was so unpleasant that I couldn't find a shipping company on our +side who had any use for the _Sachem_'s mate," he said, and his voice +sank a little. "Of course, it never all came out, but there were more +than two of the men who went down that night who weren't drowned. Well, +what could you expect of a man with a pistol when the one friend he had +in that floating hell dropped at his feet with his head adzed open. That +left me and Nolan aft. He was a brute--a murdering, pitiless devil; but +there were he and I with our backs to the jigger-mast, and a few of the +rest left who meant that we should never get into the quarter-boat." + +Austin was a trifle startled. "You told Miss Gascoyne that?" he said. +"How did she take it?" + +Jefferson made a curious little gesture. "Of course," he said simply. "I +had to. She believed in me; but do you think I'm going to tell--you--how +it hurt her?" + +It was borne in upon Austin that, after all, he understood very little +about women. A few days earlier it would have seemed impossible to him +that a girl with Muriel Gascoyne's straitened views should ever have +linked her life with one who had played a leading part in that revolting +tragedy. Now, however, it was evident that there was very little she +would not do for the man who loved her. + +"I'm sorry! You'll excuse it," he said. "Still, that scarcely explains +how you came to Las Palmas." + +"I came as deck-hand on board a barque bringing tomato boxes over. They +were busy at the coaling wharf just then, and I got put on. You know the +rest of it. I was left forty thousand dollars." + +"You haven't told me yet how you're going to turn them into eighty +thousand." + +"I'm coming to it. You know we coaled the _Cumbria_ before she went out +to West Africa. A nearly new 1,500-ton tramp she was, light draught at +that, or she'd never have gone where she did. You could put her down at +AL15,000 sterling. She went up into the half-charted creeks behind the +shoals and islands south of Senegal, and was lost there. Among other +things, it was a new gum she went for. It appears the niggers find gums +worth up to AL5 the hundredweight in the bush behind that country. A +Frenchman chartered her, but he's dead now, as is almost everybody +connected with the _Cumbria_. They've fevers that will wipe you out in a +week or two yonder--more fever, in fact, than anywhere else in Africa. +Well, as everybody knows, they got oil and sundries and a little gum, +and went down with fever while they crawled about those creeks loading +her. She got hard in the mud up one of them, and half of the boys were +buried before they pulled her out at all, and then she hit something +that started a plate or two in her. They couldn't keep the water down, +and they rammed her into a mangrove forest to save her. More of them +died there, and the salvage expedition lost three or four men before +they turned up their contract." + +"That," said Austin, "is what might be termed the official version." + +Jefferson nodded. "What everybody doesn't know is that the skipper +played the Frenchman a crooked game," he said. "There was more gum put +into her than was ever shown in her papers; while they had got at the +trade gin before she went ashore. In fact, I have a notion that it +wasn't very unlike the _Sachem_ affair. I can't quite figure how they +came to start those plates in the soft mud of a mangrove creek. Any way, +the carpenter, who died there, was a countryman of mine. You may +remember I did a few things for him, and the man was grateful. Well, the +result is I know there's a good deal more than AL20,000 sterling in the +_Cumbria_." + +Austin surmised that this was possible. It was not, he knew, seafarers +of unexceptional character who usually ventured into the still little +known creeks of Western Africa, which the coast mailboats' skippers left +alone. He was also aware that more or less responsible white men are +apt to go a trifle off their balance and give their passions free rein +when under the influence of cheap spirits in that land of pestilence. + +"Well?" he said. + +"I've bought her, as she lies, for AL6,000." + +Austin gasped. "You will probably die off in two or three weeks after +you put your foot in her." + +"I'm not quite sure. I was at Panama, and never had a touch of fever. +Any way, I'm going, and if you'll stand in with me, I'll put you down a +quarter-share for a dollar." + +It was in one respect a generous offer, but Austin shook his head. "No," +he said decisively. "Have you forgotten that Miss Gascoyne expects you +to marry her?" + +Jefferson's eyes glowed. "I'm remembering it all the time. That's why +I'm going. Would you take a refined and cultured girl and drag her +through all the hard places men of my kind make money in up and down the +world? Has she to give up everything and come down to me? No, sir! It +seems to me, the man who wants to marry a girl of that kind has got to +do something to show he knows her value before he gets her, and it would +be way better for both of us that she should be sorry for me dead than +that I should live to drag her down." + +It seemed to Austin that there was a good deal to be said for this point +of view, and it also occurred to him that there was in this latter-day +American, who had still the grime of the coaling wharf upon him, +something of the spirit which had sent the knight-errant out in the days +of chivalry. Still, he naturally did not say so, for he was, after all, +what Jefferson called a hide-bound Englishman. + +"Well," he said, "you're taking a big risk, but perhaps you are right." + +Jefferson rose with the abruptness which usually characterised his +movements. + +"You're not coming?" + +"No. I haven't your inducement, and I'm afraid the contract's too big +for me." + +"You have a week to consider it in," said Jefferson, who opened the +door. "In the meanwhile there's another fellow ready for his coal, and +I'm going along." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TOMATO FINCA + + +Three weeks had passed since his interview with Austin before Jefferson +was ready to sail, and he spent most of the time in strenuous activity. +He had cabled to England for a big centrifugal pump and a second-hand +locomotive-type boiler, while, when they arrived, Macallister said that +five hundred pounds would not tempt him to raise full steam on the +latter. He also purchased a broken-down launch, and, though she was +cheap, the cost of her and the pump, with other necessaries, made a +considerable hole in his remaining AL2,000. It was for this reason he +undertook to make the needful repairs himself, with the help of a +steamer's donkey-man who had somehow got left behind, while Austin and +Macallister spent most of the week during which the _Estremedura_ lay at +Las Palmas in the workshop he had extemporised. He appeared to know a +little about machinery, and could, at least, handle hack-saw and file in +a fashion which moved Macallister to approbation, while Austin noticed +that the latter's sardonic smile became less frequent as he and the +American worked together. + +Jefferson was grimly in earnest, and it was evident that his +thoroughness, which overlooked nothing, compelled the engineer's +admiration. It also occurred to Austin that, while there are many ways +in which a lover may prove his devotion, few other men would probably +have cared for the one Jefferson had undertaken. He was not a very +knightly figure when he emerged, smeared with rust and scale, from the +second-hand boiler, or crawled about the launch's engines with blackened +face and hands; but Austin, who remembered it was for Muriel Gascoyne he +had staked all his little capital in that desperate venture, forebore to +smile. He knew rather better than Jefferson did that it was a very +forlorn hope indeed the latter was venturing on. One cannot heave a +stranded steamer off without strenuous physical exertion, and the white +man who attempts the latter in a good many parts of Western Africa +incontinently dies. + +At last all was ready, and one night Jefferson steamed off to the +African liner from Las Palmas mole, taking with him the steamboat +donkey-man and another English seafarer, who were at the time +disgracefully drunk, as well as six Spaniards from the coasting +schooners. He said that when he reached the _Cumbria_ he would hire +niggers, who would be quite as reliable, and considerably cheaper. As it +happened, the _Estremedura_ was going to sea that night, bound for the +eastern islands, and Mrs. Hatherly, who was never seasick, and had heard +that the climate of one of them where it scarcely ever rained was good +for rheumatic affections, had determined to visit it in her. Jacinta, +for no very apparent reason, decided to go with her, and it accordingly +came about that most of her few acquaintances were with Muriel Gascoyne +when she said good-bye to Jefferson at the head of the mole. She kissed +him unblushingly, and then, when the launch panted away across the +harbour, turned, a little pale in face, but with a firm step, towards +the _Estremedura_, and an hour later stood with Jacinta on the saloon +deck, watching the liner's black hull slide down the harbour. Then as +the steamer lurched out past the mole, with a blast of her whistle +throbbing across the dusky heave, Muriel shivered a little. + +"I don't know whether we shall ever meet here again, but I think I could +bear that now, and it really couldn't be so very hard, after all," she +said. "It would have been horrible if he had gone and had not told me." + +Jacinta looked thoughtful, as in fact she was. She was of a more +complex, and, in some respects, more refined nature than her companion, +while her knowledge of the world was almost startlingly extensive; but +wisdom carries one no further than simplicity when one approaches the +barriers that divide man's little life from the hereafter. Indeed, there +is warrant for believing that when at last they are rolled away, it is +not the wise who will see with clearest vision. + +"I am not--quite--sure I understand," she said. + +There was a trace of moisture on Muriel Gascoyne's cheek, but she held +herself erect, and she was tall and large of frame, as well as a +reposeful young woman. Though she probably did not know it, there was a +suggestion of steadfast unchangeableness in her unconscious pose. + +"Now," she said, very simply, "he belongs to me and I to him. If he dies +out there--and I know that is possible--it can only be a question of +waiting." + +Jacinta was a little astonished. She felt that there had been a great +and almost incomprehensible change in Muriel Gascoyne since she fell +very simply and naturally in love with Jefferson. It was also very +evident that she was not consoling herself with empty phrases, or +repeating commendable sentiments just because they appealed to her +fancy, as some women will. She seemed to be stating what she felt and +knew. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "you knew he might die there, and you could let him +go?" + +Muriel smiled. "My dear, I could not have stopped him, and now he is +gone I think I am in one way glad that it was so. I do not want money--I +have always had very little--but, feeling as he did, it was best that he +should go. He would not have blamed me afterwards--of that I am +certain--but I think I know what he would have felt if hardship came, +and I wanted to spare it him." Then, with a faint smile, which seemed to +show that she recognised the anti-climax, she became prosaic again. "One +has to think of such things. Eight thousand pounds will not go so very +far, you know." + +Jacinta left her presently, and, as it happened, came upon Austin soon +after the _Estremedura_ steamed out to sea. He was leaning on the +forward rails while the little, yacht-like vessel--she was only some 600 +tons or so--swung over the long, smooth-backed undulations with slanted +spars and funnel. There was an azure vault above them, strewn with the +lights of heaven, and a sea of deeper blue which heaved oilily below, +for, that night, at least, the trade breeze was almost still. + +"The liner will be clear of the land by now," she said. "I suppose you +are glad you did not go with Jefferson? You never told me that he had +asked you to!" + +Austin, who ignored the last remark, laughed in a somewhat curious +fashion. + +"Well," he said, reflectively, "in one respect Jefferson is, perhaps, to +be envied. He is, at least, attempting a big thing, and if he gets wiped +out over it, which I think is quite likely, he will be beyond further +trouble, and Miss Gascoyne will be proud of him. In fact, it is she I +should be sorry for. She seems really fond of him." + +"Is that, under the circumstances, very astonishing?" + +"Jefferson is really a very good fellow," said Austin, with a smile. "In +fact, whatever it may be worth, he has my sincere approbation." + +Jacinta made a little gesture of impatience. "Pshaw!" she said. "You +know exactly what I mean. I wonder if there is one among all the men I +have ever met who would--under any circumstances--do as much for me?" + +She glanced at him for a moment in a fashion which sent a thrill through +him; but Austin seldom forgot that he was the _Estremedura_'s purser. He +had also a horror of cheap protestations, and he avoided the question. + +"You could scarcely expect--me--to know," he said. "Suppose there was +such a man, what would you do for him?" + +There was just a trace of heightened colour in Jacinta's face. "I think, +if it was necessary, and he could make me believe in him as Muriel +believes in Jefferson, I would die for him." + +Austin said nothing for a space, and looked eastwards towards Africa, +across the long, smooth heave of sea, while he listened to the throbbing +of the screw and the swash of the water beneath the steamer's side. He +was quite aware that while Jacinta, on rare occasions, favoured her more +intimate masculine friends with a glimpse of her inner nature, she never +permitted them to presume upon the fact. He had, he felt, made some +little progress in her confidence and favour, but it was quite clear +that it would be inadvisable to venture further without a sign from her. +Jacinta was able to make her servants and admirers understand exactly +what line of conduct it was convenient they should assume. If they +failed to do so, she got rid of them. + +"Whatever is Mrs. Hatherly going to Fuerteventura for?" he asked. + +"Dry weather," said Jacinta, with a little smile. + +Austin laughed. "One would fancy that Las Palmas was dry and dusty +enough for most people. I suppose you told her there is nowhere she can +stay? They haven't a hotel of any kind in the island." + +"That," said Jacinta, sweetly, "will be your business. You are a friend +of Don Fernando, and he has really a comfortable house. Still, I expect +three days of it will be quite enough for Mrs. Hatherly. You can pick us +up, you know, when you come back from Lanzarote." + +Austin made a little whimsical gesture of resignation. "There is, +presumably, no use in my saying anything. After all, she will be company +for Confidencia." + +"Who is, by the way, a friend of yours, too." + +"I have artistic tastes, as you know. Confidencia is--barring one or +two--the prettiest girl in these islands." + +He moved away, but he turned at the top of the ladder, and Jacinta +smiled. + +"It is almost a pity a taste of that kind does not invariably accompany +an artistic talent," she said. + +Austin went down to his little room, which was almost as hot as an oven, +and strove to occupy himself with his papers. The attempt, however, was +not a success, for his thoughts would follow Jefferson, who was on his +way to Africa with a big centrifugal pump, a ricketty steam launch, and +a second-hand boiler of the locomotive type. In view of his ulterior +purpose, there was, it seemed to Austin, something ludicrously +incongruous about this equipment, though he realised that the gaunt +American possessed in full degree the useful practical point of view in +which he himself fell short. Jefferson was, in some respects, primitive, +but that was, after all, probably fortunate for him. He knew what he +desired, and set about the obtaining of it by the first means available. +Then he dismissed the subject, and climbing into his bunk went to sleep. + +Next morning he took Jacinta, Mrs. Hatherly, and Muriel Gascoyne +ashore, and afterwards went on with the _Estremedura_ to the adjoining +island. It was three days later, and the steamer had come back again, +when he and her captain rode with the three ladies towards the coast, +after a visit to the black volcanic hills. Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel sat +in a crate-like affair upon the back of a camel, with distress in their +faces, for there is probably no more unpleasant form of locomotion to +anyone not used to it than camel-riding. The beast possesses a gait +peculiarly its own, and at every lurch of its shoulders the two women +jolted violently in the crate. The camel, however, proceeded +unconcerned, with long neck moving backwards and forwards like a +piston-rod. The rest rode horses, and a gun and several ensanguined +rabbits lay across the Captain's saddle. He rode like a Castilian, and +not a sailor, and Jacinta had noticed already that Austin was equally at +home in the saddle. The fact had, naturally, its significance for her. + +It was then about two o'clock in the afternoon, and very hot, though the +fresh trade breeze blew long wisps of dust away from under the horses' +feet. Nobody could have called that part of Fuerteventura a beautiful +country, but it had its interest to two of the party, who had never seen +anything quite like it before. Behind them rose low hills, black with +streams of lava, red with calcined rock, and every stone on them was +outlined in harsh colouring in that crystalline atmosphere. In front lay +a desolation of ashes and scoriA|, with tracts of yellow sand, blown +there presumably from Africa, which swirled in little spirals before the +breeze. It was chequered with clumps of euphorbia and thorn, but they, +too, matched the prevailing tones of grey and brown and chrome, and +there was not in all the waste a speck of green. Further still in front +of them the sea flamed like a mirror, and a vault of dazzling blue hung +over all. + +They wound down into a hollow, through which, as one could see by the +tortuous belt of stones, a little water now and then flowed, and +dismounted in the scanty shadow of a ruined wall. It had been built high +and solid of blocks of lava centuries ago, perhaps by the first of the +Spanish, or by dusky invaders from Morocco. As it was not quite so hot +there, Austin and the Captain made preparations for a meal when a +bare-legged peon led the beasts away. Then the Captain frowned darkly at +the prospect. + +"Ah, mala gente. Que el infierno los come!" he said, with blazing eyes, +and swung a brown hand up, as though appealing to stones and sky before +he indulged in another burst of eloquence. + +"What is he saying?" asked Muriel Gascoyne. "He seems very angry." + +Austin smiled. "I scarcely think it would be altogether advisable to +enquire, but it is not very astonishing if he is angry," he said. "Don +Erminio is not, as a rule, a success as a business man, and this is a +farm he once invested all his savings in. I am particularly sorry to say +that I did much the same." + +Miss Gascoyne appeared astonished, which was, perhaps, not altogether +unnatural, as she gazed at the wilderness in front of her. There were, +she could now see, signs that somebody had made a desultory attempt at +building a wall which was nearly buried again. A few odd heaps of lava +blocks had also been piled up here and there, but the hollow was strewn +with dust and ashes, and looked as though nothing had ever grown there +since that island was hurled, incandescent, out of the sea. It was very +difficult to discover the least evidence of fertility. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "so this is the famous Finca de La Empreza +Financial?" + +Oliviera overheard her, and once more made a gesture with arms flung +wide. + +"Mira!" he said. "The cemetery where I bury the hopes of me. O much +tomate, mucho profit. I buy more finca and the cow for me. Aha! There is +also other time I make the commercial venture. I buy two mulo. Very good +mulo. I charge mucho dollar for the steamboat cargo cart. Comes the +locomotura weet the concrete block down Las Palmas mole. The mole is +narrow, the block is big, the man drives the locomotura behind it, he +not can look. Vaya, my two mulo, and the cart, she is in the sea. That +is also ruin me. I say, 'Vaya. In fifty year she is oll the same,' but +when I see the Finca de tomate I have the temper. Alors, weet +permission, me vais chasser the conejo." + +"The unfortunate man!" said Jacinta, when he strode away in search of a +rabbit. "Still, the last of it wasn't quite unexceptional Castilian." + +Austin laughed. "Don Erminio speaks French almost as well as he does +English. In fact, he's a linguist in his way. Still, I'm not sorry he +didn't insist upon me going shooting with him. It's risky, and I would +sooner he'd borrowed somebody else's gun." + +They made a tolerable lunch, for the _Estremedura_'s cook knew his +business, and, though it very seldom rains there, some of the finest +grapes to be found anywhere grow in the neighbouring island of +Lanzarote. Then Mrs. Hatherly apparently went to sleep with her back +against the wall, while Muriel sat silent in the shadow, close beside +her. Perhaps the camel ride had shaken her, and perhaps she was thinking +of Jefferson, for she was gazing east towards Africa, across the flaming +sea. Jacinta, as usual, appeared delightfully fresh and cool, as she +sat with her long white dress tucked about her on a block of lava, while +Austin lay, contented, not far from her feet. + +"You never told me you had a share in the Finca," she said. + +"Well," said Austin, "I certainly had. I also made a speech at the +inaugural dinner, and Don Erminio almost wept with pride while I did it. +I had, though he did not mention it, a share in his mule cart, too, and +once or twice bought a schooner load of onions to ship to Havana at his +suggestion. You see, I had then a notion that it was my duty to make a +little money. Somehow, the onions never got to Cuba, and our other +ventures ended--like the Finca." + +"Then you have given up all idea of making money now?" + +"It really didn't seem much use continuing, and, after all, a little +money wouldn't be very much good to me. A chance of making twenty +thousand pounds might, perhaps, rouse me to temporary activity." + +"Ah," said Jacinta, looking at him with thoughtful eyes, "you want too +much, my friend. You are not likely to make it by painting little +pictures on board the _Estremedura_." + +A faint trace of darker colour showed through the bronze in Austin's +cheek. "Yes," he said, "that is exactly what is the matter with me. +Still, as I shall never get it, I am tolerably content with what I have. +Fortunately, I am fond of it--I mean the sea." + +"Of course," said Jacinta, with a curious little sparkle in her eyes, +"contentment is commendable, though there is something that appeals to +one's fancy in the thought of a man struggling against everything to +acquire the unattainable." + +"So long as it is unattainable, what would be the good? Besides, I am +almost afraid I am not that kind of man." + +Jacinta said nothing further, and half an hour slipped by, until a trail +of smoke with a smear of something beneath it, crept up out of the +glittering sea. + +"The _Andalusia_," said Austin. "She takes up our western run here under +the new time-table. I hope she's bringing no English folks from Las +Palmas to worry us." + +As it happened, there was a man on board the _Andalusia_ who was to +bring one of the party increased anxiety and distress of mind, but they +did not know that then, and in the meanwhile the peon with the horses +and Don Erminio came back again. He brought no rabbits, but he had +succeeded in badly scratching one of the Damascene barrels of Austin's +gun. + +"The conejo he no can eat the stone, and here there is nothing else," he +explained. "Otra vez--the other time, comes here a seA+-or Engleesman, and +we have the gun, but there is no conejo. Me I say, 'Mira. Conejo into +his hole he go!' Bueno! The Engleesman he put the white rat into that +hole, and wait, oh, he wait mucho tiempo. Me, away I go. I come back, +the Engleesman has bag the Captain of puerto." + +Then he turned with a dramatic gesture to the camel, which stretched out +its little head towards his leg. "Bur-r-r. Hijo de diablo. Aughr-r-r. +Focha camello! Me, I also spick the Avar-r-ack. The condemn camello he +comprehend." + +The long-necked beast at least knelt down as though it did, and Mrs. +Hatherly climbed into the crate with a somewhat apprehensive glance at +the gallant captain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW + + +Mrs. Hatherly decided during the ride to the beach that she had seen +quite enough of that island in the three days she had spent there, and +she had already gone off to the _Estremedura_ with Muriel and Jacinta +when Austin stood smoking on the little mole. Long undulations of +translucent brine seethed close past his feet to break with a drowsy +roar upon the lava reefs, and the _Estremedura_ lay rolling wildly a +quarter of a mile away. A cluster of barefooted men were with difficulty +loading her big lancha beneath the mole with the barley-straw the row of +camels, kneeling in the one straggling street behind him, had brought +down. The men were evidently tired, for they had toiled waist-deep in +the surf since early morning, and Austin decided to spare them the +journey for his despatch gig. + +Accordingly, when the lancha was loaded high with the warm yellow bales +he clambered up on them and bade the crew get under way. The long sweeps +dipped, and the craft went stern first towards the reef for a moment or +two before she crawled out to sea, looking very like a cornstack set +adrift as she lurched over the shining swell. Austin lay upon the straw, +smoking tranquilly, for everybody leaves a good deal to chance in Spain, +and now and then flung a little Castilian badinage at the gasping men +who pulled the big sweeps below. As it happened, they could not see him +because the straw rose behind them in a yellow wall. They were cheerful, +inconsequent fishermen, who would have done a good deal for him, and not +altogether because of the bottle of caA+-a he occasionally gave them. + +They had traversed half the distance, when, opening up a point, they met +a steeper heave, and when the dripping bows went up after the plunge +there was a movement of the barley-straw. Austin felt for a better hold, +but two or three bales fetched away as he did so, and in another moment +he plunged down headforemost into the sea. When he came up he found a +straw bale floating close beside him, and held on by it while he looked +about him. The lancha was apparently going on, and it was evident that +although the men must have heard the straw fall, they were not aware +that he had gone with it. There was, he surmised, no room for the lost +bales, and the men could not have heaved them up on top of the load. It +therefore appeared probable that they purposed unloading the lancha +before they came back for them, and he decided to climb up on the bale. + +He found it unexpectedly difficult, for when he had almost dragged +himself up the bale rolled over and dropped him in again; while, when he +tried to wriggle up the front of it, it stood upright and then fell upon +him. After several attempts he gave it up, and set out for the steamer +with little pieces of barley-straw and spiky ears sticking all over him. +He could swim tolerably well, and swung along comfortably enough over +the smooth-backed swell, for his light clothing did not greatly cumber +him. Still, he did not desire that any one beyond the _Estremedura_'s +crew should witness his arrival. + +He was, accordingly, by no means pleased to see Jacinta and Miss +Gascoyne stroll out from the deck-house as he drew in under the +_Estremedura_'s side, especially as there were no apparent means of +getting on board quietly. The lancha had vanished round the stern, the +ladder was triced up, and the open cargo gangway several feet above the +brine. The steamer also hove up another four or five feet of streaming +plates every time she rolled. Still, it was evident that he could not +stay where he was on the chance of the ladies not noticing him +indefinitely, and as he swam on again Miss Gascoyne broke into a +startled scream. + +"Oh!" she said, "there's somebody drowning!" + +The cry brought Macallister to the gangway, and he was very grimy in +engine-room disarray. Austin, in the water, saw the wicked twinkle in +his eyes, and was not pleased to hear Jacinta laugh musically. + +"I really don't think he is in any danger," she said. + +Austin set his lips, and swam for the gangway as the _Estremedura_ +rolled down. His flung up hand came within a foot of the opening, and +then he sank back a fathom or more below it as the _Estremedura_ hove +that side of her out of the water. When he swung up again Macallister +was standing above him with a portentiously sharp boat hook, while two +or three grinning seamen clustered round. The girls were also leaning +out from the saloon-deck rails. + +"Will ye no keep still while I hook ye!" said the engineer. + +"If you stick that confounded thing into my clothes I'll endeavour to +make you sorry," said Austin savagely. + +Macallister made a sweep at him, and Austin went down, while one of the +seamen, leaning down, grabbed him by the shoulder, when he rose. + +"Let go!" he sputtered furiously. "Give me your hand instead!" + +He evidently forgot that the seaman, who held on, was not an Englishman, +and next moment he was hove high above the water. Then there was a +ripping and tearing, and while the seaman reeled back with a long strip +of alpaca in his hand, Austin splashed into the water. He came up in +time to see Macallister smiling in Jacinta's direction reassuringly. + +"There's no need to be afraid," he said. "Though I'm no sure he's worth +it, I'll save him for ye." + +Now, Jacinta was usually quite capable of making any man who offended +her feel sorry for himself, but the sight of Austin's savage red face as +he gazed at Macallister, with the torn jacket flapping about him in the +water and the barley-straw sticking all over him, was too much for her, +and she broke into a peal of laughter. + +In another moment Macallister contrived to get his boat hook into the +slack of Austin's garments, and when two seamen seized the haft they +hove him out, wrong side uppermost, and incoherent with wrath. When they +dropped him, a tattered, dripping heap, on the deck, Miss Gascoyne +leaned her face upon her hands, and laughed almost hysterically, until +Jacinta touched her shoulder. + +"Mr. Austin evidently believes he has a good deal to thank his comrade +for. I think you had better come away," she said. + +Austin put himself to some trouble in endeavouring to make Macallister +understand what he thought of him, when they had gone, but the engineer +only grinned. + +"Well," he said, "I'll forgive ye. If I had looked like ye do with two +ladies watching me, I might have been a bit short in temper myself, but +come away to your room. The _Andalusia_'s boat came across a while ago, +and there's business waiting ye." + +Austin went with him, but stopped a moment when he approached his room. +The door was open, as usual, and a stranger, in grey tourist tweed, upon +whom Englishman and clergyman was stamped unmistakably, sat inside the +room. Austin felt that he knew who the man must be. + +"Does he know Miss Gascoyne is on board?" he asked. + +"No," said Macallister. "The boat came round under our quarter, and we +landed him through the lower gangway. He said he'd stay here and wait +for ye. He's no sociable, anyway. I've offered him cigars and anisow, +besides some of my special whisky, but he did not seem willing to talk +to me." + +Austin fancied he could understand it. Macallister, who had discarded +his jacket, was very grimy, and his unbuttoned uniform vest failed to +conceal the grease stains on his shirt. Then he remembered that his own +jacket was torn to rags, and he was very wet; but Macallister raised his +voice: + +"Here's Mr. Austin, sir," he said. + +The clergyman, who said nothing, gazed at him, and Austin, who realised +that his appearance was against him, understood his astonishment. He +also fancied that the stranger was one with whom appearances usually +counted a good deal. + +"If you will wait a minute or two while I change my clothes, I will be +at your service, sir," he said. "As you may observe, I have been in the +sea." + +"Swum off to the steamer," said Macallister, with a wicked smile. "It +saves washing. He comes off yon way now and then." + +Austin said nothing, but stepped into the room, and, gathering up an +armful of clothing, departed, leaving a pool of water behind him. The +clergyman, it was evident, did not know what to make of either of them. +A few minutes later Austin, who came back and closed the door, sat down +opposite him. + +"My name is Gascoyne," said the stranger, handing him an open note. +"Mr. Brown of Las Palmas, who gave me this introduction, assured me that +I could speak to you confidentially, and that you would be able to tell +me where my daughter and Mrs. Hatherly are staying." + +Austin glanced at him with misgivings. He was a little man, with pale +blue eyes, and hair just streaked with grey. His face was white and +fleshy, without animation or any suggestion of ability in it, but there +had been something in the tone which seemed to indicate that he had, at +least, been accustomed to petty authority. Austin at once set him down +as a man of essentially conventional views, who was deferred to in some +remote English parish; in fact, just the man he would have expected +Muriel Gascoyne's father to be; that is, before she had revealed her +inner self. It was a type he was by no means fond of, and he was quite +aware that circumstances were scarcely likely to prepossess a man of +that description in his favour. Still, Austin was a friend of +Jefferson's, and meant to do what he could for him. + +"I know where Miss Gascoyne is, but you suggested that you had something +to ask me, and I shall be busy by and by," he said. + +Gascoyne appeared anxious, but evidently very uncertain whether it would +be advisable to take him into his confidence. + +"I understand that you are a friend of Mr. Jefferson's?" he said. + +"I am. I may add that I am glad to admit it, and I almost fancy I know +what you mean to ask me." + +Gascoyne, who appeared grateful for this lead, looked at him steadily. +"Perhaps I had better be quite frank. Indeed, Mr. Brown, who informed me +that you could tell more about Jefferson than any one in the islands, +recommended it," he said. "I am, Mr. Austin, a clergyman who has never +been outside his own country before, and I think it is advisable that I +should tell you this, because there may be points upon which our views +will not coincide. It was not easy for me to get away now, but the +future of my motherless daughter is a matter of the greatest concern to +me, and I understand that Mr. Jefferson is in Africa. I want you to tell +me candidly--as a gentleman--what kind of man he is." + +Austin felt a little better disposed towards Gascoyne after this. His +anxiety concerning his daughter was evident, and he had, at least, not +adopted quite the attitude Austin had expected. But as Austin was not by +any means brilliant himself, he felt the difficulty of making Gascoyne +understand the character of such a man as Jefferson, while his task was +complicated by the fact that he recognised his responsibility to both of +them. Gascoyne had put him on his honour, and he could not paint +Jefferson as he was not. In the meanwhile he greatly wished to think. + +"I wonder if I might offer you a glass of wine, sir, or perhaps you +smoke?" he said. + +"No, thanks," said Gascoyne, with uncompromising decision. "I am aware +that many of my brethren indulge in these luxuries. I do not." + +"Well," said Austin, "if you will tell me what you have already heard +about Jefferson it might make the way a little plainer." + +"I have been told that he is an American seafarer, it seems of the usual +careless type. Seafarers are, perhaps, liable to special temptations, +and it is generally understood that the lives most of them lead are not +altogether----" + +Austin smiled a little when Gascoyne stopped abruptly. "I'm afraid that +must be admitted, sir. I can, however, assure you that Jefferson is an +abstemious man--Americans are, as a rule, you see--and, though there are +occasions when his conversation might not commend itself to you, he has +had an excellent education. Since we are to be perfectly candid, has it +ever occurred to you that it was scarcely likely a dissolute sailor +would meet with Miss Gascoyne's approbation?" + +Gascoyne flushed a trifle. "It did not--though, of course, it should +have. Still, he told her that he was mate of the _Sachem_, which was a +painful shock to me. I, of course, remember the revolting story." + +He stopped a moment, and his voice was a trifle strained when he went on +again. "I left England, Mr. Austin, within three days of getting my +daughter's letter, and have ever since been in a state of distressing +uncertainty. Mr. Jefferson is in Africa--I cannot even write him. I do +not know where my duty lies." + +Had the man's intense anxiety been less evident, Austin would have been +almost amused. The Reverend Gascoyne appeared to believe that his +affairs were of paramount importance to everybody, as, perhaps, they +were in the little rural parish he came from; but there was something in +his somewhat egotistical simplicity that appealed to the younger man. + +"One has to face unpleasant facts now and then, sir," he said. "There +are times when homicide is warranted at sea, and man's primitive +passions are very apt to show themselves naked in the face of imminent +peril. It is in one respect unfortunate that you have probably never +seen anything of the kind, but one could not expect too much from a man +whose comrade's head had just been shorn open by a drink-frenzied +mutineer. Can you imagine the little handful of officers, driven aft +away from the boats while the ship settled under them, standing still to +be cut down with adze and axe? You must remember, too, that they were +seafarers and Americans who had few of the advantages you and your +friends enjoy in England." + +He could not help the last piece of irony, but Gascoyne, who did not +seem to notice it, groaned. + +"To think of a man who appears to hold my daughter's confidence being +concerned in such an affair at all is horribly unpleasant to me." + +"I have no doubt it was almost as distressing to Jefferson at the time. +Still, as you have probably never gone in fear of your life for weeks +together, you may not be capable of understanding what he felt, and we +had perhaps better get on a little further." + +Gascoyne seemed to pull himself together. "Mr. Jefferson has, I +understand, no means beyond a certain legacy. It is not, after all, a +large one." + +"If he is alive in six months I feel almost sure he will have twice as +much, which would mean an income of close upon AL600 a year from sound +English stock, and that, one would fancy, would not be considered abject +poverty in a good many English rural parishes." + +Gascoyne sighed. "That is true--it is certainly true. You said--if he +were alive?" + +"As he is now on his way to one of the most deadly belts of swamp and +jungle in Western Africa, I think I was warranted. Knowing him as I do, +it is, I fancy, certain that if he does not come back with AL16,000 in +six months he will be dead." + +"Ah," said Gascoyne, with what was suspiciously like a sigh of relief. +"One understands that it is a particularly unhealthy climate. Still, +when one considers that all is arranged for the best----" + +Austin, who could not help it, smiled sardonically, though he felt he +had an almost hopeless task. It appeared impossible that Gascoyne should +ever understand the character of a man like Jefferson. But he meant to +do what he could. + +"It is naturally easier to believe that when circumstances coincide with +our wishes, sir," he said. "Now, I do not exactly charge you with +wishing Jefferson dead, though your face shows that you would not be +sorry. I am, of course, another careless seafarer, a friend of his, and +I can understand that what you have seen of me has not prepossessed you +in my favour. Still, if I can, I am going to show you Jefferson as he +is. To begin with, he believes, as you do, that Miss Gascoyne is far +above him--and in this he is altogether wrong. Miss Gascoyne is +doubtless a good woman, but Jefferson is that harder thing to be, a good +man. His point of view is not yours, it is, perhaps, a wider one; but he +has, what concerns you most directly now, a vague, reverential respect +for all that is best in womanhood, which, I think, is sufficient to +place Miss Gascoyne under a heavy responsibility." + +He stopped a moment, looking steadily at Gascoyne, who appeared blankly +astonished. + +"Because it was evident to him that a woman of Miss Gascoyne's +conventional upbringing must suffer if brought into contact with the +unpleasant realities of the outside world, he has staked his life +willingly--not recklessly--on the winning of enough to place her +beyond the reach of adversity. He realised that it was, at least, even +chances he never came back from Africa; but it seemed to him better +that she should be proud of him dead than have to pity him and herself +living. I know this, because he told me he would never drag the woman +who loved him down. He fell in love with her without reflection, +instinctively--or, perhaps, because it was arranged so--I do not +understand these things. As surely--conventionalities don't always +count--she fell in love with him, and then he had to grapple with the +position. Your daughter could not live, as some women do, unshocked +and cheerfully among rude and primitive peoples whose morality is not +your morality, in the wilder regions of the earth. It was also evident +that she could not live sumptuously in England on the interest of +AL8,000. You see what he made of it. If he died, Miss Gascoyne would be +free. If he lived, she could avoid all that would be unpleasant. Isn't +that sufficient? Could there be anything base or mean in a nature +capable of devotion of that description?" + +Gascoyne sat silent almost a minute. Then he said very quietly: "I have +to thank you, Mr. Austin--the more so because I admit I was a little +prejudiced against you. Perhaps men living as I do acquire too narrow a +view. I am glad you told me. And now where is my daughter and Mrs. +Hatherly?" + +"Wait another minute! Jefferson is, as you will recognise, a man of +exceptional courage, but he is also a man of excellent education, and, +so far as that goes, of attractive presence; such a one, in fact, as I +think a girl of Miss Gascoyne's station is by no means certain to come +across again in England. Now, if I have said anything to offend you, it +has not been with that object, and you will excuse it. Your daughter and +Mrs. Hatherly are on board this ship. It seemed better that you should +hear me out before I told you." + +"Ah," said Gascoyne. "Well, I think you were right, and again I am much +obliged to you. Will you take me to Mrs. Hatherly?" + +Austin did so, and coming back flung himself down on the settee in +Macallister's room. + +"Give me a drink--a long one. I don't know that I ever talked so much at +once in my life, and I only hope I didn't make a consummate ass of +myself," he said. + +"It's no that difficult," said Macallister, reflectively, as he took out +a syphon and a bottle of wine. "Ye made excuses for yourself and +Jefferson?" + +Austin laughed. "No," he said. "I made none for Jefferson. I think I +rubbed a few not particularly pleasant impressions into the other man. I +felt I had to. It was, of course, a piece of abominable presumption." + +Macallister leaned against the bulkhead and regarded him with a sardonic +grin. + +"I would have liked to have heard ye," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT THE BULL FIGHT + + +Austin was writing in the saloon, which was a little cooler than his +room, at about eight o'clock that night, while Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly +made ineffectual attempts to read in the ladies' cabin, for the +_Estremedura_ was on her way south again, with the trade-wind combers +tumbling after her. She rolled with a long, rhythmic swing, and now and +then shook and trembled with the jar of her lifted propeller. Muriel +Gascoyne was accordingly alone with her father on the deck above. She +sat in a canvas chair, while Gascoyne leaned upon the rails in front of +her. There was a full moon overhead, and a fantastic panorama of +fire-blackened hills, wastes of ash and lava, whirling clouds of sand, +black rocks lapped by spouting surf, and bays of deepest indigo, +unrolled itself upon one hand. It is, however, probable that neither of +the pair saw much of it, for their thoughts were not concerned with the +volcanic desolation. + +"It is a pity I did not come a few weeks earlier," said Gascoyne with a +sigh. + +Muriel's eyes were a trifle hazy, but her voice was even. "If you had +come then, and insisted upon it, I might have given him up," she said. + +"That means it is irrevocable now? I want you to make quite sure, my +dear. This man does not belong to our world. Even his thoughts must be +different from ours. You cannot know anything of his past life--I +scarcely think he could explain it to you. He would regard nothing from +the same standpoint as we do." + +"Still, it cannot have been a bad one. I can't tell you why I am sure of +that, but I know." + +Gascoyne made a little, hopeless gesture. "Muriel," he said, a trifle +hoarsely, "it is a terrible risk--and if you marry him you must +inevitably drift away from me. You are all I have, and I am getting old +and lonely, but that is not of the greatest moment. It would be horrible +to think of you drifting away from all you have been taught to believe +in and hold sacred." + +It was a strong appeal, perhaps the strongest he could have made, for +the girl had been without breadth of view when she left home, and the +boundaries of her outlook had coincided with those of the little rural +parish. Still, in some strange fashion she had gained enlightenment, and +she was resolute, though her blue eyes slowly brimmed with moisture. It +was true that he would be very lonely. + +"Ah," she said, and it was a significant sign that she questioned the +comprehension of the man whom she had regarded as almost infallible a +few weeks earlier, "how can I make you understand? There are, perhaps, +many worlds, and we know there are many kinds of men. They must think +differently, but does that matter so very much, after all? There is the +same humanity in all of us." + +"Undoubtedly! In Turks, idolaters, and unbelievers. Humanity in itself +is fallen and evil." + +Muriel smiled. "Father," she said, "you don't believe that there is no +good in all those who have not been taught to believe as we do." + +Gascoyne did not answer her, though it is possible that there were +circumstances under which he would have returned a very slightly +qualified affirmative. + +"There is a perilous optimism abroad," he said. + +"Still," said Muriel, unconscious of the irony of her deprecatory +answer, "Mr. Jefferson is neither a Turk nor an idolater. He is only an +American sailor." + +Gascoyne sighed dejectedly, for there was, it seemed, nothing left for +him to appeal to. The girl's beliefs had gone. The simple, iron-fast +rules of life she had once acknowledged were now apparently discredited; +but even in his concern he was vaguely sensible that an indefinite +something which he did not recognise as the charity that love teaches +was growing up in place of them. Still, he felt its presence as he +watched her, and knew that it could not be altogether born of evil. + +"My dear," he said, "how shall I implore you to consider?" + +Muriel smiled out of hazy eyes. "It is too late. He has my promise, and +I belong to him. Nothing that you could say would change that now. He +has gone out--to Africa--believing in me, and I know that he may never +come back again." + +Gascoyne appeared a trifle startled, and remembered a curious remark +that Austin had made to the effect that there was a heavy responsibility +upon his daughter. He could not altogether understand why this should +be, but he almost fancied that she recognised it now. There was also a +finality and decision in the girl's tone which was new to him. + +"I think you know how hard it was for me to get away, but it seemed +necessary. I came out to implore you to give this stranger up," he said. + +The girl rose, and stood looking at him gravely, with one hand on the +chair arm to steady herself as the steamer rolled, and the moonlight +upon her face. It was almost reposeful in its resolution. + +"Father," she said, "you must try to understand. Perhaps I did wrong +when I gave him my promise without consulting you, but it is given, and +irrevocable. He has gone out to Africa--and may die there--believing in +me. I don't think I could make you realise how he believes in me, but, +though, of course, he is wrong, I grow frightened now and then, and +almost hope he may never see me as I really am. That is why +I--daren't--fail him. If there was no other reason I must keep faith +with him." + +"Then," said Gascoyne, very slowly, "I must, at least, try to resign +myself--and perhaps, my apprehensions may turn out to be not quite +warranted, after all. I was horribly afraid a little while ago, but this +man seems to have the faculty of inspiring confidence in those who know +him. They cannot all be mistaken, and the man who is purser on this +steamer seems to believe in him firmly. His views are peculiar, but +there was sense in what he said, and he made me think a little less +hardly of Mr. Jefferson." + +Muriel only smiled. She realised what this admission, insufficient and +grudging as it was, must have cost her father, and--for she had regarded +everything from his point of view until a few weeks ago--she could +sympathise with him. Still, she was glad when she saw Jacinta and Mrs. +Hatherly coming towards them along the deck. + +It was an hour later when Jacinta met Austin at the head of the ladder, +and stopped him with a sign. + +"I have had a long talk with Mr. Gascoyne, and found him a little less +disturbed in mind than I had expected," she said. "I want to know what +you said to him." + +"Well," said Austin, reflectively, "I really can't remember, and if I +could it wouldn't be worth while. Of course, I knew what I wanted to +say, but I'm almost afraid I made as great a mess of it as I usually +do." + +"Still, I think Miss Gascoyne is grateful to you." + +"That," said Austin, "affords me very little satisfaction, after all. +You see, I didn't exactly do it to please Miss Gascoyne." + +"Then I wonder what motive really influenced you?" + +Austin pursed his lips, as if thinking hard. "I don't quite know. For +one thing, very orthodox people of the Reverend Gascoyne's description +occasionally have an irritating effect upon me. I feel impelled to +readjust their point of view, or, at least to allow them an opportunity +of recognising the advantages of mine, which, however, isn't necessarily +the correct one. I hope this explanation contents you." + +Jacinta smiled. "I think I shall remember it," she said. "I believe I +generally do when anybody does a thing to please me. Still, Miss +Gascoyne's gratitude will not hurt you." + +Then she swept away, and left him standing meditatively at the head of +the ladder. He saw no more of her that night, and he was busy when the +_Estremedura_ steamed into Las Palmas early next morning, while it was +nearly three weeks later when he met her again at a corrida de toros in +the bull ring at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, which was, perhaps, the last +place where one would have expected to find an English lady. + +The spacious amphitheatre was open to the sky, and all its tiers of +stone benches packed with excited humanity, for half the inhabitants of +the island had apparently gathered to enjoy the sanguinary spectacle. +Black is the colour affected by men who can afford it on a Spanish +holiday, but the white cotton the bare-legged hillmen wore, and the pink +and chrome of their wives' and daughters' dresses, flecked with luminous +colour the sombre ranks of the close-packed multitude. Blazing sunlight +beat down upon them, for it is only the richer citizens who sit in the +shadow, and the topmost row was projected, a filagree of black and +motley, against the hard glaring blue. Below, the arena shone dazzlingly +yellow, and the smell of blood and fresh sawdust came up from it through +the many-toned murmur of the crowd. When this sank a little one could +hear the deep boom of the Atlantic swell crumbling on the lava beach. + +The revolting picador scene was over. Two or three worn-out and +blindfolded horses had been gored or trampled to death, and one +picador's arm had been broken. The tawny, long-horned bull, which had +shown unusual courage, stood panting in the middle of the arena, with a +crimson smear on one shoulder where a lance had scored it deep, and +while the bugles rang, the vast assembly waited for the banderillero +scene in high good humour. Just then a little party descended one of the +avenues on the shady side, and Austin, who had a note from Pancho Brown +in his pocket, with some difficulty made his way to meet them. He was +quite aware that Brown was probably the only Englishman in those islands +who would have been able to reserve desirable places at a corrida de +toros. + +Jacinta, who accompanied him, was attended by his Spanish housekeeper +and two sunburnt English naval officers, but she made room for Austin on +one side of her, and appeared in no way displeased by his indifferently +veiled approbation. Miss Brown had been dressed by a Castilian modeste, +mostly in black lace, that day, and her clustering brown hair was +ornamented by a little mantilla of the same material. It was not a dress +which would have suited every Englishwoman, especially of substantial +type, but Jacinta was slight, and delicately round, and altogether +sylph-like. + +"You venture to approve of this get-up?" she said. "The tourists were a +little horrified at the hotel." + +Austin, who wore white duck, noticed that she smiled at the Governor, +who sat above them amidst his glittering staff, and that almost sufficed +to spoil his satisfaction, though it was only one of the many little +things that emphasised the difference between them. Still, he contrived +to laugh. + +"I expect they were envious. It's bewilderingly effective, and I am a +bit of an artist, as you know," he said. "I was wondering whether you +would have the courage to come." + +"Jacinta," said Pancho Brown, "has courage enough for anything. Still, +she came because I asked her. I make my living out of these people, and, +perhaps, a little more. It was policy." + +Jacinta laughed. "Well," she said, "I rather like it, and I have been +before. Of course, I mean after they have killed the horses and smashed +the picadores. That part is not only cruel, but ineffective. It's not +inspiriting to see a man padded with leather sit quite still to be +knocked over. They should either wipe it out or give them stuffed +horses. By the way, you don't know my companions." + +The two naval officers acknowledged the introduction with characteristic +brevity. Their eyes were fixed on the arena, and the scene was probably +worth their attention, for there are parts of a bull fight which cannot +be termed revolting, at least, by those who have actually witnessed +them. + +A lithe, well-favoured man, picturesquely attired, skipped into the +ring, holding a crimson cape in one hand, and a couple of little +decorated darts in the other. It was his business to strike them into +the neck or shoulder of the bull, but nowhere else, while their points +were calculated to do no more than exasperate it. The beast watched him +savagely, pawing up the sand, and the chances appeared somewhat against +the man, since to reach its neck he must approach his silk-covered +breast within an inch or two of the gleaming horns, one of which was +suspiciously reddened. + +Austin could not quite see how he did it, for his motions were +bewilderingly rapid, but he saw the wave of the gaudy cloak and heard +its crisp rustle that was lost in the roar. Then the man was running +round the ring for his life, and the bull thundering along with lowered +head and a dart bristling in its neck, a yard or two behind him. He had +no time to swing himself over the barricade, as hard pressed +banderilleros now and then did, for the deadly horns were almost in the +small of his back. It was a frantic test of speed, highly trained human +agility and endurance against the strength of the beast, and there was +dead silence while they went round the arena once, the man running +desperately, with tense, set face, while Austin fancied he could hear +his gasping breath through the roar of the hoofs. Then, with a splendid +bound, he drew a yard ahead, and another man with a green cape hurled +himself through the opening. Somehow he escaped destruction, and the +bull slid onward with hoofs ploughing up the sand, and the gaudy silk +fluttering about its head. There was a roar of plaudits that could have +been heard miles away at sea, and while from tiers of benches the hats +came sailing down, the bull, which shook the cape off, tore the coloured +rags to fragments. + +"That fellow has good nerves," said one of the navy men. "I don't see +anything very brutal in it, after all. They both start level, and take +their chances, you know." + +Jacinta looked at Austin over her fan, and there was a faint flush in as +much of her face as he could see, as well as a little gleam in her +eyes. + +"I'm afraid it--is--a little barbarous," she said. "Everybody says so. +Still, wasn't that banderillero splendid! You see, I have put on +Castilian notions with my clothes. Of course, as an Englishwoman, I +could never venture here." + +Austin was a little annoyed to feel that he was smiling sardonically. +"Well," he said, "I should almost have fancied that you were too +super-refined and ethereal to admire that kind of thing, but I really +believe you do." + +Jacinta waved her fan. "Do not be deceived, my friend. There is a good +deal of the primitive in us all, and it shows up now and then." Then she +laughed. "I wonder how they all get their right hats back again." + +Austin could not tell her, for it was a thing he could never understand; +but while the attendants were still flinging the black sombreros into +the air another banderillero approached the bull. He planted one dart +and then dashed across the ring, but either his nerve failed him, or he +could not trust his speed, for he grasped the top of the barricade and +swung himself over. In another moment the bull struck it with a crash, +and then stood still, half stunned, apparently endeavouring to make out +where the man had gone. There was a storm of hisses and opprobrious +cries. + +"That banderillero," said Jacinta, sweetly, "should have been driven out +of the ring. He ought never to have undertaken a thing that was too big +for him." + +"Isn't that a little hard upon the man?" said Austin. "He probably +didn't know it was too big until he had undertaken it." + +"That's sensible, Miss Brown," said one of the navy men. "When he found +he couldn't run as fast as the bull could what was he to do?" + +"What did a certain gunboat's men do when they found themselves quite +unexpectedly in front of the African headman's battery?" + +The navy man flushed a little, for he was young. "Oh," he said, "that +was different. They set their lips and went in, though I don't suppose +any of them liked it. Still, you see, that was what they were there to +do." + +"Exactly!" and Jacinta laughed a little, though there was still a gleam +in her eyes, and it was Austin she looked at. "They did the obvious, as +well as the most artistic thing. It fortunately happens that they're +often very much the same." + +"I'm not quite sure I understand you," said the young officer. "People +who want me to have to talk plain. Still, I suppose one has always a +certain sympathy for the fellow who gets himself killed decently." + +Then, for a time, they became absorbed in the play of the banderilleros, +who, flashing here and there, with cloaks of red, and gold, and green, +passed the bull from one to another up and down the trampled arena. Now, +one of them escaped annihilation by a hairsbreadth, while the thundering +vivas went up to the glaring sky, and a comrade turned the tormented +beast again. Now, a silk-clad athlete swept through the two-foot gap +between deadly horns and flying man, and the bull swung round with a +bellow to pursue him, or stood still, temporarily blinded with the gaudy +cloak about its horns. It was a fascinating exhibition of human nerve +and skill, and Austin saw that Jacinta watched it with slightly parted +lips and a gleam in her eyes, until at last the bugles rang, and most of +the men withdrew, leaving the bull alone in the middle of the arena, +with the foam flakes dripping from its muzzle and its brawny neck +bristling with the little darts. Then there was a general movement and a +great hum of voices rose from the close-packed benches. Jacinta waved +her fan, and touched Austin's arm as she looked about her. + +"Surely that is Macallister. But whatever is he doing there?" she said. + +Austin looked up across the long rows of faces, and saw his comrade +sitting, spick and span in the blue Spanish mail uniform, among the +brilliant officers of the Governor's staff. Macallister was a big man, +with a commanding appearance, when he had for the time being done with +the engine room, and Austin, who knew that he could make friends with +anybody, was not astonished to notice that he seemed very much at home. + +"It is rather more than I know," he said. "Still, I should fancy he was +telling them something amusing in execrable Castilian, by the way they +are laughing. I believe Macallister could get anywhere he wanted. He +has, as a matter of fact, dragged me into somewhat astonishing places." + +"I shouldn't wonder," said one of the navy men. "George, isn't that big +fellow in the uniform yonder the one we saw the other night at the +opera?" + +"It is," said his comrade, with a little soft laugh, as though he +remembered something that had afforded him considerable pleasure. + +Jacinta touched Austin with her fan. "I presume you know what he is +referring to?" + +"Well," said Austin, "what I do know is this. Mack and I went to see the +Italian company the other night, and because he, of course, knew +everybody about the place, we went behind the scenes. He, unfortunately, +became interested in the stage machinery, and when he had made spirited +attempts to pull some of it to pieces, I and the improvisatore beguiled +him to a chair in the wings. We gave him a cigar to keep him quiet, as +well as the libretto, which he could not read, and, as he seemed +somewhat sleepy, I was thankful to leave him there. I didn't care about +that opera. He never told me what happened after." + +The young officer laughed again. "I daresay I can enlighten you. In the +middle of the last act one of the wings collapsed, and everybody saw a +big Englishman, who had apparently just kicked it over, sitting, half +asleep, in a folding chair. He didn't appear to have any legitimate +connection with the drama, but he brought the house down when he got up +in a hurry and fell over his chair." + +Then the shrill call of the bugles rang through the great building, and +a tall man, with a scarred face, gorgeously dressed, walked into the +arena, holding a three-cornered hat and a long, straight sword. He stood +still a moment, an imposing and curiously graceful figure, with bright +blade lowered, while a tumultuous shout of "MA|stro!" filled the +building; and then, taking a cloak from an attendant, approached the +bull. It was freely smeared with blood, and as it stood, bellowing, and +pawing the sand in murderous rage, it was evident that the MA|stro's task +was not a particularly pleasant one. There was only one way in which he +could kill the bull, and that was to pass his sword over the horns and +down into the brawny chest, near the base of the neck. Should he strike +elsewhere it was probable that the vast assembly would descend and +trample on him, for this was a duel to the death between man and beast, +in which the latter was secured what seemed an even chance by +punctilious etiquette. The Spaniard displays a good deal of sympathy +with a gallant bull. + +The beast seemed to understand that this man was different from the +banderilleros who had previously tormented it, and backed away from him +until he smote it lightly on the nostrils. Then it swept forward in a +savage rush but though the man's movements were so quick that one +scarcely noticed them, he was not quite where he had been a moment +earlier, when the bull thundered past him. Still, one horn had ripped a +strip of silk from him. He followed the beast, and struck it with his +hand, and for five or six frenzied minutes the vast audience roared. +This man never ran. He stepped backwards, or twisted, always with grave +gracefulness, in the nick of time, until at last the bull stood still, +as though stupefied with rage or uncertain how to attack its elusive +persecutor. + +Then, as the man walked up to it very quietly and unconcernedly, it +seemed to hump itself together for a furious bound and rush with lowered +head, and there was no sound in the great building until the bright +steel flashed. Man's breast and gleaming horns seemed to meet, but +apparently in the same second the gorgeously clad figure had stepped +aside, and in the next the bull plunged forward and came down upon its +knees. + +There was another roar, and once more from all the close-packed benches +came the rain of hats, cigars, and bundles of cigarettes. + +"Ah," said Jacinta, with a little gasp, "I think I have seen enough. +There will be another bull and more picadores now. I never could stand +that part of it. Besides, I have done my duty, and patronised the show." + +They made their way out while the audience waited for another bull, and +certain leather-swathed picadores rode in on decrepit, blindfolded +horses, brought there to be killed; and it was an hour later when, as +they stood beneath the oleanders in a fonda garden looking down upon the +white-walled town, Jacinta mentioned the affair again. + +"Of course, it is a little cruel; but, after all, it appeals to rather +more than the lower passions and lust of slaughter, don't you think?" +she said. + +"I never saw anything to equal that MA|stro's play in my life," said one +of the young officers. "It was cool daring in the superlative degree." + +"I fancy," said Austin, "you want us to make excuses for your being +there." + +Jacinta laughed. "Not exactly! I am rather proud of being a law to +myself--and others--you know. Now, I really think that the qualities the +MA|stro possessed appealed to me, though I naturally mean some and not +all of them. I am, after all, as I admitted, a little primitive in some +respects." + +"You mean that you like a man to be daring?" asked the other officer. + +"Of course!" and once more it was Austin Jacinta looked at. "Still, I +don't necessarily mean that everybody should go bull-fighting. There are +other things more worth while." + +"Even than sailing round the Canaries and painting little pictures?" +said Austin. + +Jacinta glanced at him with a curious smile. "Well," she said, "since +you ask me, I almost think there are." Then she stopped a moment, and +stood looking out from among the oleanders towards the glittering heave +of the Atlantic across the white-walled town. Once more a faint gleam +crept into her eyes. + +"I wonder," she added, "what Jefferson is doing--out yonder in Africa." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JEFFERSON FEELS THE STRAIN + + +The afternoon was wearing through, but it was still almost insufferably +hot when Jefferson stood with his hand upon the valve of the _Cumbria_'s +forward winch. She lay with her bows wedged into the mangrove forest, +which crawled on high-arched roots over leagues of bubbling mire to the +edge of one of the foulest creeks in Western Africa. It flowed, thick +and yeasty, beneath the steamer's hove-up side, for she lay with a list +to starboard athwart the stream. There was a bend close by, and her +original crew had apparently either failed to swing her round it, which +is an accident that sometimes happens in that country, or driven her +ashore to save her sinking. + +Her iron deck was unpleasantly hot, and the negroes who crossed it +between hatch and surfboat hopped. They, of course, wore no boots, and, +indeed, very little of anything at all beyond a strip of cotton round +their waists. There was not a breath of wind astir, and the saturated +atmosphere, which was heavy with the emanations of the swamps, seemed to +seal the perspiration in the burning skin. Jefferson felt the veins on +his forehead swollen to the bursting point when he stopped the winch and +looked about him while the Spaniards slipped a sling over a palm-oil +puncheon in the hold below. + +He could see nothing but a strip of dazzling water, and the dingy, +white-stemmed mangroves which stretched away farther than the eye could +follow, and sighed as he glanced back at the _Cumbria_. She lay with +deck unpleasantly slanted and one bilge in the mire, a rusty, two-masted +steamer, with the blistered paint peeling off her, and the burnt awnings +hanging from their spars. He did not expect much water in that creek +until the wet season, and in the meanwhile it was necessary to heave the +coal and cargo out of her and send it down stream to a neighbouring +beach. It was very slow work with the handful of men he had, and those +few weeks had set their mark on Jefferson. + +He had never been a fleshy man, and long days of feverish toil under a +burning sun and in the steamy heat of the flooded holds had worn him to +skin and bone. His duck garments hung with a significant slackness about +his gaunt frame, and they were rent in places, as well as blackened and +smeared with oil. His face was grim and hollow, but there was a fierce +steadfastness in his eyes, which seemed filled with curious brilliancy. + +"Are you going to sleep down there? Can't you send up another cask?" he +said. + +A voice came up from the dusky hatch, out of which there flowed a hot, +sour smell of palm oil and putrefying water. "The next tier's jammed up +under the orlop beams," it said. "We might get on a little if we could +break a puncheon out." + +Jefferson laid his hands upon the combing of the hatch and swung himself +over. It was a drop of several yards, and he came down upon the slippery +round of a big puncheon, and reeling across the barrels, fell backwards +against an angle-iron. He was, however, up again in a moment, and stood +blinking about him with eyes dazzled by the change from the almost +intolerable brightness above. Blurred figures were standing more than +ankle deep in water on the slanted rows of puncheons, and Jefferson, +who could not see them very well, blinked again when an Englishman, +stripped to the waist, moved towards him. The latter was dripping with +yellow oil and perspiration. + +"It's this one," he said, and kicked a puncheon viciously. "The +derrick-crabs have pulled the tops of the staves off her. They're soaked +an' soft with oil. The water underneath's jamming them up, an' you'll +see how the tier's keyed down by the orlop-beams." + +Jefferson wrenched the iron bar he held away from him and turned to the +rest. + +"There's a patch of the head clear. Two or three of you get a handspike +on to it," he said. "No, shove it lower down. Mas abajo. Now, heave all +together. Vamos. Toda fuerza!" + +They were barefooted Canary Spaniards, of an astonishing ignorance, but +excellent sailormen, and they understood him. Lean, muscular bodies +strained and bent, the dew of effort dripped from them; and, as he +heaved with lips set, the hollows grew deeper in Jefferson's grim face. +No one spoke; there was only a deep, stertorous gasping, until the +puncheon moved a little, and Jefferson, stooping, drove his bar a trifle +lower. Then, while he strained every muscle and sinew in strenuous +effort, the great, slimy barrel rose again, tilted, and rolled out on +its fellows. For a moment it left a space of oily black water where it +had been, and then the puncheons closed in with a crash again. Jefferson +flung the bar down and straightened himself. + +"Now," he said wearily, "you can get ahead." + +He crawled up the ladder with a curious languidness, and while one of +the Englishmen apostrophised the puncheons the Spaniards went back to +their task. The Castilian is not supposed to be remarkable for +diligence, but there is, at least among the lower ranks of men in whom +the Iberian blood flows, a capacity for patient toil and uncomplaining +endurance which, while not always very apparent, nevertheless shows +itself unmistakably under pressure of circumstances. These were simple +men, who had never been encouraged to think for themselves, and were, +therefore, like other Spaniards of their degree, perhaps, incapable of +undertaking anything on their own initiative, but they could do a great +deal under the right leader, and they had him in Jefferson. + +One of the Englishmen, however, was not quite satisfied. He had been in +the tropics before, and did not like the curious flush in Jefferson's +face or the way the swollen veins showed on his forehead, so he climbed +the ladder after him and leaned upon the winch-drum looking at him +meditatively. The man was very ragged as well as very dirty, and +altogether disreputable, so far as appearance went, while it is probable +that in several respects his character left a good deal to be desired. + +"Here's your hat. It's wet, but that's no harm," he said. "You forgot +it. Hadn't you better put it on quick?" + +Jefferson, who recognised the wisdom of this, did so. + +"That's all right! Well, what--are--you stopping for?" he said. + +The other man still regarded him contemplatively. "I know my place--but +things isn't quite the same aboard this 'ooker as they would be on a +big, two-funnel liner. You couldn't expect it. That's why I come up just +now to speak to you. You're not feelin' well to-day?" + +"It's not worth worrying about. I guess nobody but a nigger ever does +feel well in this country." + +The other man shook his head. "You go slow. I've seen it comin' on," he +said. "You oughtn't to 'a' had your hat off a minute. You see, if you +drop out, how's Bill an' me to get the bonus you promised us?" + +Jefferson laughed, though he found, somewhat to his concern, that he +could not see the man very well. + +"I'm going to hold up until I knock the bottom of this contract out," he +said, good-humouredly. "I can't do it if I stop and talk to you. Get a +move on. Light out of this!" + +The man went back. He had done what he felt was his duty, though he had +not expected that it would be of very much use, and Jefferson started +the winch. It hammered and rattled, and the barrels came up, slimy and +dripping, with patches of whitewash still clinging to them. The glare of +it dazzled Jefferson until he could scarcely see them as they swung +beneath the derrick-boom, but he managed to drop them into the surfboat +alongside and pile the rest on deck, when she slid down the creek with a +row of negroes paddling on either side. The steamer had struck the +forest at the time of highest water, and it was necessary to take +everything out of her if she was to be floated during the coming rainy +season. + +He toiled on for another hour, with a racking pain in his head, and the +Canarios toiled in the stifling hold below, until there was a jar and a +rattle, and a big puncheon that should have gone into the surfboat came +down with a crash amidst them, and, bursting, splashed them with yellow +oil. Then the man who had remonstrated with Jefferson went up the ladder +in haste. The winch had stopped, and Jefferson lay across it, amidst a +coil of slack wire, with a suffused face. The man, who stooped over him, +shouted, and the rest who came up helped to carry him to his room +beneath the bridge. The floor was slanted so that one could scarcely +stand on it, and as the berth took the same list, they laid him where +the side of it met the bulkhead. He lay there, speechless, with +half-closed eyes, and water and palm oil soaking from him. + +"Now," said the man who had given Jefferson good advice, "you'll get +these Spaniards out of this, Bill. Then you'll go on breaking the +puncheons out. Wall-eye, here, can run the winch for you, but you can +come back in half an hour when I've found out what's wrong with the +skipper." + +Bill seemed to recognise that his comrade had risen to the occasion. +"Well," he said, "I s'pose there's no use in me sayin' anything. All I +want to know is, how you're going to do it?" + +"See that?" and the other man pointed to a chest beneath the settee. +"It's full of medicines, an' there's a book about them. Good ole Board +of Trade!" + +"How d'you know those medicines arn't all gorn?" asked Bill. + +"They arn't. I've been in. There's a bottle of sweet paregoricky stuff I +came round for a swigg of when Mr. Jefferson wasn't there now and then. +It warms you up kind of comfortin'." + +Bill went away with the Spaniards, and, in place of improving the +occasion by looking for liquor, as he might, perhaps, have been expected +to do, went on with his task. The English sailorman does not always +express himself delicately, but he is, now, at least, very far from +being the dissolute, unintelligent ruffian he is sometimes supposed to +be. There is no doubt of this, for shipowners know their business, and +while there is no lack of Teutons and cheerful, sober Scandinavians, a +certain proportion of English seamen still go to sea in English ships. +The man who sat in Jefferson's room could, at least, understand the +treatise in the medicine chest, although it was one approved by the +Board of Trade, which august body has apparently no great fondness for +lucid explanations. He was, however, still pouring over it when his +comrade thrust his head into the doorway again, and it is possible that +Jefferson had not suffered greatly from the fact that he had not as yet +quite decided on any course of treatment. + +"Well," said the newcomer, "I s'pose you know what he--has--got?" + +"Come in, an' sit down there," said the other. "It's fever, for one +thing--I've seen it coming on--an' sunstroke for another. What I'm stuck +at is if I'm to treat them both together." + +Bill looked reflective. "I think I'd take them one at a time. Get the +sunstroke out of him, an' then go for the fever. How d' you start on it, +Tom?" + +"Undo his clothes. That's easy. The buttons is mostly off them, an' he +has hardly any on. Then you put cold water on his head." + +"That's not easy, anyway! Where the blazes are you going to get cold +water from?" + +It was somewhat of a paradox, for while there is plenty of water in +Western Africa, none of it is cold. Tom, however, was once more equal to +the occasion. + +"We could get a big spanner from the engine room, an' put it on his +head," he said. "There's plenty of them. S'pose you go an' bring one. +Any way, we'll swill him with the coldest water we can get." + +They laid a soaked singlet upon his head with a couple of iron spanners +under it, and then sat down to watch the effect. Somewhat to their +astonishment, it did not appear to do him any appreciable good. Darkness +closed down as they waited, and it seemed to grow hotter than ever, +while the thick white steam rose from the swamps. Tom stood up and +lighted the lamp. + +"The fever's easier," he said. "I've had it. You give him the +mixture--it's down in the book--though I don't know what the meaning of +all these sign things is. That starts him perspiring, an' then it's +thick blankets. We used to give them green-lime water in the mailboats." + +"Where's the green limes?" said Bill. "Any way, I'd give the sunstroke a +decent chance first. Perhaps he'll come out of it himself. I don't know +that it wouldn't be better if he did." + +Jefferson came out of his limp unconsciousness into a raving delirium +that night, and they rolled him in two blankets, while Bill, being left +on watch, wisely threw away the draught his comrade had concocted. +Jefferson was also very little more sensible during the next few days, +and, though the work went on, before the week was over the two lonely +Englishmen found they had another difficulty to grapple with. The sun +was almost overhead, and the iron deck, insufferably hot, when the +surfboat negroes, who had just finished their meal, came forward +together, eight or nine big, naked men, with animal faces and splendid +muscles. Nobody knew where they came from, but when two or three of them +appeared in a canoe, Jefferson had managed to make them understand that +he was willing to pay them for their services, and they forthwith went +away, and came back with several comrades and a man of shorter stature +who had apparently worked on a steamboat or at a white man's factory. +They had worked tolerably well while Jefferson was about to watch them, +but they had now apparently decided on another mode of behaviour, for +the attitude of their leader was unmistakably truculent. The man called +Bill, sitting on the fore hatch, turned at the patter of naked feet, and +looked at him. + +"Well," he said sharply, "what the ---- are you wanting?" + +"Two bokus them green gin," said the negro. "Two lil' piece of cloff +every boy." + +Tom laughed ironically. "There isn't any green gin bokus in the ship, +for one thing. You'll get your cloth-piece when the work is done. That's +all I've got to say to you. Get out of this!" + +The negro made a little forceful gesture. "You no cappy." + +"Well," said Bill, drily, "he figures he's a bloomin' admiral in the +meanwhile, and that's good enough for you. Go home again, and don't +worry me." + +"Two cloff-piece," said the negro. "Two cloff-piece every boy. You no +lib for get them, we come down too much boy an' take them 'teamboat from +you." + +The white men looked at one another, and it was evident that they were +uncertain how far the negro might be able to make good his threat. There +was, as it happened, very little to prevent him doing it, and stockaded +factories, as well as stranded steamboats, have been looted in Western +Africa. Still, they remembered that they had the prestige of their +colour to maintain. + +"Oh, get out one time!" said Tom. + +The negro turned upon him. "You no cappy. You low, white 'teamboat +bushman. Too much boy he lib for come down one night an' cut you big fat +t'roat." + +Bill, who was big and brawny, rose with an air of sorrowful resignation. +"This ---- nonsense has got to be stopped," he said, and walked +tranquilly towards the negro. "You wouldn't listen to reason, +Black-funnel-paint." + +Then, before the latter quite realised what had happened to him, a grimy +fist descended upon his jaw, and as he staggered backwards somebody +seized his shoulders and whirled him round. In another moment Bill +kicked with all his might, and the negro went out headlong through the +open gangway into the creek alongside. In the meanwhile the Spaniards +came tumbling from the hatch, and, though they were quiet men, they +carried long Canary knives. The sight of them was enough for the +negroes, and they followed their leader, plunging from the gangway or +over the rail. Their canoes still lay beneath the quarter, and though +Tom hurled a few big lumps of coal on them as they got under way, they +were flying up the creek in another minute, with paddles flashing. + +Then Bill explained the affair to the Canarios as well as he could, and +afterward drew his comrade back into the shadow of the deck-house to +hold a council. Both of them felt somewhat lonely as they blinked at the +desolation of dingy mangroves which hemmed them in. There was, so far as +they knew, not a white man in that part of Africa, and the intentions of +the negroes were apparently by no means amicable. + +"Funnel-paint may come back an' bring his friends," said Tom. "I don't +know what's to stop him if he wants to. There's not a gun in the ship +except Mr. Jefferson's pistol, an' those Canary fellows' knives, an' we +can't worry Mr. Jefferson about the thing when he's too sick to +understand. If I'd only begun on him for fever he might have been +better." + +"I'm thankful," said Bill, "as he isn't dead. It wouldn't be very +astonishing, but that don't matter." + +"You'd think it mattered a good deal if you was Mr. Jefferson. If I +wasn't that anxious about him I'd let you try your hand an' see how easy +it is worrying out that book. As it is, one of us is enough." + +"I'm thinking," said Bill sourly, "as it's a ---- sight too much!" + +Tom glared at him a moment, for one of the effects that climate has upon +a white man's nerves is to keep him in a state of prickly irritation; +but he was more anxious than he cared to confess, too anxious, indeed, +to force a quarrel. + +"Well," he said, "I'll ask you what you mean another time. Just now, +we've got to do a little for Mr. Jefferson and a little for ourselves. +Eight pound a month, all found, and a fifty-pound bonus when he gets her +off, isn't to be picked up everywhere, and, of course, there's no +telling when you an' me may get the fever. Now, then, we want a boss who +isn't sick, an' more men, as well as a doctor." + +"Of course. How're you goin' to get 'em?" + +"Not here. They don't grow in the swamps. Somebody's got to go for them, +an' Las Palmas is the best place. You could find a West-coast mailboat +goin' home if you went down the creek in the launch. They've a man or +two sick in the engine room most trips, an' they'd be glad to take you +firin'. Now, before Mr. Jefferson got that sunstroke he showed me two +envelopes. If he was to peg out sudden I was to see the men in Las +Palmas got them, and they'd tell me what to do. Men do peg out at any +time in this country. Well, you look for a liner an' take those letters. +If it's a good boat she'll only be four or five days steaming up the +trades. Mr. Jefferson deserves a chance for his life." + +"What's wrong with takin' him, too; or all of us goin', for that +matter?" asked his companion. + +"Eight pounds a month, an' a bonus! Besides, Mr. Jefferson put all his +money into getting this ship off. If he comes round an' finds it thrown +away he's not going to be grateful to either of us." + +Bill sat silent, evidently thinking hard for a minute or two. "Well," he +said, "there's sense in the thing, an' I'll try it. You'll be all right +with those Canariers. They're nice quiet men, an' if you make 'em say it +over lots of times you can generally understand 'em. Wall-eye can bring +the launch back. I'll get out of this when we've steam up." + +It was two hours later when he and one of the Canarios who had worked on +board the coaling company's tug departed, and the rest, clustering along +the _Cumbria_'s rail, watched them wistfully as the little clanking +craft slid down the creek. They would very much have liked to have gone +in her, and might have done so had not Jefferson had the forethought to +promise them a small share of the profit when the work was done, and fed +them well. There are also men who inspire confidence in those they lead, +and sailormen capable of carrying out a bargain. Thus there were no open +expressions of regret or misgivings when the last of the launch's +smoke-trail melted above the mangroves, though Tom looked very grave as +he clawed the shoulder of an olive-faced Canario seaman who did not +understand him. + +"If that man goes on the loose with what he gets for firin', an' forgets +all about those letters, it won't be nice for us," he said. "In the +meanwhile, we've just got to buck up and lighten the blame old +scrap-iron tank between us." + +He called her a few other names while the Spaniard watched him, smiling, +and, having so relieved himself, went softly into the skipper's room, +where Jefferson lay, a worn-out shadow of a man, wrapped in very dirty +blankets, and babbling incoherently. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AUSTIN MAKES A VENTURE + + +It was late one hot night when Austin first met Captain Farquhar of the +S.S. _Carsegarry_ in a calle of Santa Cruz, and the worthy shipmaster, +being then in a somewhat unpleasant position, was sincerely pleased to +see him. The _Carsegarry_ had reached Las Palmas with three thousand +tons of steam coal some ten days earlier, and, because there are +disadvantages attached to living on board a vessel that is discharging +coal, Farquhar had taken up his abode at the Metropole. He had, as +usual, made friends with almost everybody in the hotel during the first +few days, which said a good deal for his capabilities, considering that +most of them were Englishmen; and then, finding their society pall on +him, went across to Santa Cruz in search of adventure and more congenial +company. + +As it happened, he found the latter in the person of another Englishman +with similar tastes; and one or two of their frolics are remembered in +that island yet. On the night Farquhar came across Austin they had +amused themselves not altogether wisely in a certain cafA(C), from which +its proprietor begged them to depart when they had broken one citizen's +guitar and damaged another's clothes. Then, as it was getting late, they +adjourned to the mole, where the Englishman had arranged that a boat at +his command should meet them, and convey Farquhar, who was going back to +Las Palmas next day, on board the _Estremedura_. The boat was not +forthcoming, and the Englishman's temper deteriorated while they waited +half an hour for it, until when at last the splash of oars came out of +the soft darkness he was not only in a very unpleasant humour, but +determined upon showing his companion that he was not a man with whom a +Spanish crew could take liberties. + +There was also a pile of limestone on the mole, and when a shadowy +launch slid into the blackness beneath it he hurled down the biggest +lumps he could find, as well as a torrent of Castilian vituperation. +Then, however, instead of the excuses he had expected, there were +wrathful cries, and the Englishman gasped when he saw dim, white-clad +figures clambering in portentous haste up the adjacent steps. + +"We'll have to get out of this--quick!" he said. "I've made a little +mistake. It's somebody else's boat." + +They set about it without waste of time, but there was a good deal of +merchandise lying about the mole, and the Englishman, who fell over some +of it, lay still until a peon came across him peacefully asleep behind a +barrel next morning. Farquhar, however, ran on, snatching up a handspike +as he went, with odd lumps of limestone hurtling behind him; and as he +and his pursuers made a good deal of noise as they sped across the plaza +at the head of the mole, the citizens still left in the cafA(C)s turned out +to enjoy the spectacle. English seafarers are tolerated in that city, +but it is, perhaps, their own fault that they are not regarded with any +particular favour, and when Farquhar turned at bay in a doorway and +proceeded to defy all the subjects of Spain, nobody was anxious to stand +between him and the barelegged sailors, who had nasty knives. It might, +in fact, have gone hard with him had not two civiles, with big revolvers +strapped about them, arrived. + +They heard the crowd's explanations with official unconcern, and then, +though it was, perhaps, their duty to place Farquhar in safe custody in +the cuartel, decided on sending for Austin, who was known to be staying +that night in a neighbouring hotel. He had befriended English skippers +already under somewhat similar circumstances, and the civiles, who knew +their business, were quite aware that nobody would thank them for +forcing the affair upon the attention of the English Consul. Austin +came, and saw Farquhar gazing angrily at the civiles and still gripping +his bar, while the crowd stood round and made insulting remarks about +him in Castilian. He at once grasped the position, and made a sign of +concurrence when one of the civiles spoke to him. + +"You take him to his steamer," said the officer. "One of us will come +round in the morning when he understands." + +Austin turned to Farquhar. "Give the man that bar," he said. "Come +along, and I'll send you off to your steamer." + +"I'm going to have satisfaction out of some of them first," and Farquhar +made an indignant gesture of protest. "Then I'll knock up the Consul. +I'll show them if a crowd of garlic-eating pigs can run after me." + +"If you stop here you'll probably get it, in the shape of a knife +between your ribs," said Austin, who seized his arm. "A wise man doesn't +drag in the Consul when he wants to keep his berth." + +He forced Farquhar, who still protested vigorously, along, and, because +the civiles marched behind, conveyed him to the mole, where a boat was +procured to take them off to the _Estremedura_. Farquhar had cooled down +a little by the time they reached her, and appeared grateful when Austin +put him into his berth. + +"Perhaps you did save me some trouble, and I'll not forget you," he +said. "Take you round all the nice people in Las Palmas and tell them +you're a friend of mine." + +"I'm not sure it would be very much of a recommendation," said Austin, +drily. + +Farquhar laughed. "That's where you're mistaken. When I've been a week +in a place I'm friends with everybody worth knowing." + +"If to-night's affair is anything to go by, it's a little difficult to +understand how you manage it," said Austin. + +"It's quite easy to be looked up to, and still have your fun," and +Farquhar lowered his voice confidentially. "When folks think a good deal +of you in one place you have only to go somewhere else when you feel the +fit coming on." + +The _Estremedura_ sailed for Las Palmas next morning, and on arriving +there Austin was somewhat astonished to discover that Farquhar had, in +fact, acquired the good-will of a good many people of consequence in +that city. He was a genial, frolic-loving man, and Austin, who became +sensible of a liking for him, spent a good deal of his leisure on board +the _Carsegarry_, while, when the _Estremedura_ came back there, he also +consented to advise Farquhar about the getting up of a dance to which +everybody was invited. It was a testimony to the latter's capacity for +making friends that a good many of them came, and among the rest were +Pancho Brown, his daughter, Muriel Gascoyne, and Mrs. Hatherly, as well +as the commander of a Spanish warship, and several officers of +artillery. + +The night was soft and still, and clear moonlight shone down upon the +sea. The trade breeze had fallen away, and only a little cool air came +down from the black Isleta hill, while fleecy mists drifted ethereally +athwart the jagged peaks of the great cordillera. An orchestra of +guitars and mandolins discoursed Spanish music from the poop, and there +was room for bolero and casucha on the big after-hatch, while, when the +waltzers had swung round it, the _Carsegarry_'s engineer made shift to +play the English lancers on his fiddle. Everybody seemed content, and +the genial Farquhar diffused high spirits and good humour. + +Austin had swung through a waltz with Jacinta, though the guitars were +still twinging softly when they climbed the ladder to the bridge-deck, +where canvas chairs were laid out. It was a curious waltz, tinged with +the melancholy there is in most Spanish music, but the crash of a gun +broke through it, and while the roar of a whistle drowned the drowsy +murmur of the surf, the long black hull of an African mailboat slid into +the harbour ringed with lights. Then there followed the rattle of cable, +and Austin fancied that the sight of the steamer had, for no very +apparent reason, its effect upon his companion. She had been cordial +during the evening, but there was a faint suggestion of hardness in her +face as she turned to him. + +"I am especially fond of that waltz," she said. "You may have noticed +there's a trace of what one might call the bizarre in it. No doubt, it's +Eastern. They got it from the Moors." + +"It only struck me as very pretty," said Austin, who surmised by her +expression that Jacinta was preparing the way for what she meant to say. +"I'm afraid I'm not much of a musician." + +"You, at least, dance rather well. There are not many Englishmen who +really do, which is, perhaps, no great disadvantage, after all." + +Austin laughed, though he was a trifle perplexed. "Well," he said, +"though you don't overwhelm me with compliments, as a rule, you have +told me that I could dance before. Now, however, one could almost fancy +that the fact didn't meet with your approval." + +Jacinta looked at him reflectively over her fan. "I scarcely supposed +you would understand, and one does not always feel in the mood to +undertake a logical exposition of their views. Still, here's Muriel, and +she, at least, generally seems to know just what she means. Suppose you +ask her what she thinks of dancing." + +Austin did so, and Miss Gascoyne, who was crossing the deck-bridge with +Farquhar, stopped beside them. + +"I don't think there is any harm in dancing, in itself--in fact, I have +just been waltzing with Captain Farquhar," she said. "Of course, the +disadvantage attached to amusements of any kind is that they may +distract one's attention from more serious things. Don't you think so, +Captain Farquhar?" + +Farquhar caught Austin's eye, and grinned wickedly, but Miss Gascoyne, +who failed to notice this, glanced towards the steamer which had just +come in. + +"That must be the African boat, but I suppose there is no use expecting +any news?" she said quietly, though there was a faint suggestive tremour +in her voice. + +She passed on with Farquhar, and Jacinta glanced at Austin with a little +enquiring smile. + +"If I had a sister who persisted in talking in that aggravatingly +edifying fashion, I should feel tempted to shake her," he said. "Still, +one could forgive her a good deal if only for the way she looked at the +West-coast boat. It suggested that she has as much humanity in her as +there is in the rest of us, after all." + +"Still, don't you think there was a little reason in what she said?" + +"Of course. That is, no doubt, why one objects to it. Well, since it's +difficult to keep the personal equation out, I suppose dancing and +sailing about these islands on board the _Estremedura_ is rather a +wasteful life. Painting little pictures probably comes to much the same +thing, too, though there are people who seem to take art seriously." + +Jacinta looked at him steadily. "When one has really an artistic talent +it is different," she said. + +Austin, who hoped she did not notice that he winced, sat silent a space, +gazing out across the glittering sea, and it was not altogether a +coincidence that his eyes were turned eastwards towards Africa, where +Jefferson was toiling in the fever swamps. He wondered if Jacinta knew +his thoughts had also turned in that direction somewhat frequently of +late. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose it is. Some of those pictures must be +pretty, or the tourists wouldn't buy them, but that doesn't go very far, +after all." He stopped a moment, and then went on with a little wry +smile. "No doubt some patients require drastic treatment, and there are +cases where it is necessary to use the knife." + +Jacinta rose, and, dropping her fan to her side, gravely met his gaze. + +"If it wasn't, it would probably not be tried," she said. "One could +fancy that it was, now and then, a little painful to the surgeon." + +Austin walked with her to the ladder, and stopped a moment at the head +of it. "Well," he said, "one has to remember that all men are not built +on the same model, and, what is more to the purpose, they haven't all +the same opportunities. No doubt the latter fact is fortunate for some +of them, since they would probably make a deplorable mess of things if +they undertook a big enterprise." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, who remembered it afterwards, "one never knows when +the opportunities may present themselves." + +She went down the ladder, and it was about an hour later when a boat +slid alongside, and a man came up, asking for Austin. The latter, who +sat on the bridge-deck amidst a group of Farquhar's guests, looked at +him curiously when he handed him an envelope. His garments had evidently +not been made for him, and there were stains of grease and soot on his +coarse serge jacket, while the coal dust had not been wholly washed from +his face. It was not difficult to recognise him as a steamer's fireman. + +"You're Mr. Austin?" he said. + +Austin admitted that he was, and after a glance at the letter turned +round and saw that Muriel Gascoyne, who sat close by, was watching him +with a curious intentness. Then he once more fixed his attention on the +paper in his hand. + +"S.S. _Cumbria_" was written at the top of it, and there followed a +description of the creek, and how the steamer lay, as well as the cargo +in her holds. Then he read: "I'm beginning to understand why those +wrecker fellows let up on the contract, though they hadn't the stake I +have in the game. There are times when I get wondering whether I can +last it out, for it seems to me that white men who work in the sun all +day are apt to drop out suddenly in this country. I make you and Mr. +Pancho Brown my executors in case of anything of that kind happening to +me. If you come across anybody willing to take the _Cumbria_ over as a +business proposition, do what you can, on the understanding that +one-third of the profit goes to Miss Gascoyne, the rest as executors' +and wreckers' remuneration. I don't know how far this statement meets +your law, but I feel I can trust you, any way. In case either party is +not willing to take the thing up, the other may act alone." + +Austin turned to the fireman. "You have another letter for Mr. Brown?" + +"Yes, sir," said the man. "Mr. Jefferson----" + +Austin, who heard a rustle of feminine draperies and what seemed to be a +little gasp of surprise or alarm, made the man a sign. + +"Come into the skipper's room. I've two or three things to ask you," he +said. "Miss Brown, will you please hand that letter to your father?" + +They disappeared into the room beneath the bridge, and it was some time +before they came out again. Then Austin sent the man down the ladder +with a steward to take him to Brown, and leaned against the rail. +Jacinta, Muriel, and Mrs. Hatherly were still sitting there, but the +rest had gone. He told them briefly all he had heard about Jefferson, +and then descended the ladder in search of Brown. The latter met him +with the letter in his hand, and they found a seat in the shadow of the +_Carsegarry_'s rail. Nobody seemed to notice them, though the fluttering +dresses of the women brushed them as they swung in the waltz. + +"You have read it," said Austin. "What do you think?" + +Pancho Brown tapped the letter with the gold-rimmed glasses he held in +his hand. + +"As a business proposition I would not look at it. The risks are too +great," he said. + +"It struck me like that, too. Still, that's not quite the question. You +see, the man isn't dead." + +"I almost think he is by this time," said Brown, reflectively. "Now, he +did not seem quite sure when he wrote those letters that there was +really any gum in her. At least, he hadn't found it, and I understand +that circumstances had made him a little suspicious about the +_Cumbria_'s skipper, who we know is dead. Taking oil at present value, +in view of what we would have to pay for a salvage expedition and +chartering, there is, it seems to me, nothing in the thing." + +"I'm not quite sure of that; but you are still presuming Jefferson +dead." + +Brown turned and looked at him. "The first thing we have to do is to +find out. Somebody will have to go across, and, of course, he must be a +reliable man. I should be disposed to go so far as to meet the necessary +expenses, not as a business venture, but because Jacinta would give me +no peace if I didn't." + +"There would be no difficulty about the man." + +Brown turned to him sharply. "You?" + +"Yes. If Jefferson is dead I should probably also undertake to do what I +can to meet his wishes as executor." + +Brown sat silent a space, and then tapped the letter with his glasses +again. "In that case I might go as far as to find, say, AL200. It should, +at least, be sufficient to prove if there is any odd chance of getting +the _Cumbria_ off." + +"I think I shall do that with AL80, but I should prefer that you did not +provide it. That is, unless you decide to go into the thing on a +business footing, and take your share of the results, as laid down by +Jefferson." + +Brown seemed to be looking hard at him, but they sat in shadow, and +Austin was glad of it. + +"Ah!" he said quietly, though there was a significance in his tone. +"Well, somebody must certainly go across, and if you fail elsewhere you +can always fall back on me for--a loan. When are you going?" + +"By the first boat that calls anywhere near the creek." + +He rose and turned away, but Pancho Brown sat still, with a curious +expression in his face. If any of the dancers had noticed him, it would +probably have occurred to them that he was thinking hard. Pancho Brown +was a quiet man, but he often noticed a good deal more than his daughter +gave him credit for. Still, when at length he rose and joined Farquhar +there was nothing in his appearance which suggested that he was either +anxious or displeased. + +In the meanwhile Austin came upon Mrs. Hatherly, who was wandering up +and down the deck, and she drew him beneath a lifeboat. + +"Miss Gascoyne is, no doubt, distressed? I am sorry for her," he said. + +The little lady held his arm in a tightening grasp. "Of course," she +said, and there was a tremour in her voice. "Still, after all, that does +not concern us most just now. Somebody must go, and see what can be done +for Mr. Jefferson." + +"Yes," said Austin. "I am going." + +"Then--and I am sure you will excuse me--it will cost a good deal, and +you cannot be a rich man, or----" + +"I should not have been on board the _Estremedura_? You are quite +correct, madam." + +Mrs. Hatherly made a little deprecatory gesture. "I am not exactly poor; +in fact, I have more money than I shall live to spend, and I always +meant to leave it to Muriel. It seems to me that it would be wiser to +spend some of it on her now. You will let me give you what you want, Mr. +Austin?" + +Austin stood silent a moment, with a flush in his face, and then gravely +met her gaze. + +"I almost think I could let you lend me forty pounds. With that I shall +have enough in the meanwhile. You will not think me ungracious if I say +that just now I am especially sorry I have not more money of my own?" + +The little lady smiled at him. "Oh, I understand. That is what made me +almost afraid. It cannot be nice to borrow from a woman. Still, I think +you could, if it was necessary, do even harder things." + +"I shall probably have to," said Austin, a trifle drily. "I don't mind +admitting that what you have suggested is a great relief to me." + +"You would naturally sooner let me lend it you than Mr. Brown?" + +"Why should you suppose that?" and the flush crept back into Austin's +face. + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled again. "Ah," she said, "I am an old woman, and have +my fancies, but they are right now and then. I will send you a cheque +to-morrow, and, Mr. Austin, I should like you to think of me as one of +your friends. Do you know that I told Muriel half an hour ago you would +go?" + +Austin made her a little grave inclination, though there was a smile in +his eyes. + +"I am not sure that any of my other friends has so much confidence in +me, madam," he said. "After all, it is another responsibility, and I +shall have to do what I can." + +The little lady smiled at him as she turned away. "Well," she said +quietly, "I think that will be a good deal." + +It was ten minutes later when Austin met Jacinta, and she stopped him +with a sign. + +"You are going to Mr. Jefferson?" she said. + +"Yes," said Austin, with a trace of dryness. "I believe so. After all, +he is a friend of mine." + +Jacinta watched him closely, and her pale, olive-tinting was a trifle +warmer in tone than usual. His self-control was excellent, to the little +smile, but she could make a shrewd guess as to what it cost him. + +"Soon?" she asked. + +"In two or three days. That is, if the Compania don't get the Spaniards +to lay hands on me. By the way, you may as well know now that I had to +get Mrs. Hatherly to lend me part, at least, of the necessary money." + +Jacinta flushed visibly. "You will not be vindictive, though, of +course, I have now and then been hard on you." + +"I shouldn't venture to blame you. As we admitted, there are occasions +on which one has to resort to drastic remedies." + +Jacinta stopped him with a gesture. "Please--you won't," she said. "Of +course, I deserve it, but you will try to forgive me. You can afford +to--now." + +She stood still a moment in the moonlight, an ethereal, white-clad +figure, with a suggestion of uncertainly and apprehension in her face +which very few people had ever seen there before, and then turned +abruptly, with a little smile of relief, as Miss Gascoyne came towards +them. + +"He's going out, Muriel. You will thank him--I don't seem able to," she +said. + +Muriel came forward with outstretched hands, and in another moment +Austin, to his visible embarrassment, felt her warm grasp. + +"Oh," she said, "Mrs. Hatherly knew you meant to. I feel quite sure I +can trust you to bring him back to me." + +Austin managed to disengage his hands, and smiled a little, though it +was Jacinta he looked at. + +"I think," he said, "I have a sufficient inducement for doing what I +can. Still, you will excuse me. There are one or two points I want to +talk over with Captain Farquhar." + +He turned away, and twenty minutes later Jacinta, standing on the +bridge-deck, alone, watched his boat slide away into the blaze of +moonlight that stretched suggestively towards Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JACINTA IS NOT CONTENT + + +Darkness was closing down on the faintly shining sea, and the dull +murmur of the surf grew louder as the trade-breeze died away, when +Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat in the stern of a white gig which two +barefooted Canarios pulled across Las Palmas harbour on the evening on +which Austin was to sail. In front of them the spray still tossed in +filmy clouds about the head of the long, dusky mole, and the lonely +Isleta hill cut black as ebony against a cold green transparency, while +skeins of lights twinkled into brilliancy round the sweep of bay. +Jacinta, however, saw nothing of this. She was watching the +_Estremedura_'s dark hull rise higher above the line of mole, and +listening to one of the boatmen who accompanied the rhythmic splash of +oars with a little melodious song. She long afterwards remembered its +plaintive cadence and the words of it well. + +"Las aves marinas vuelen encima la mar," he sang, and then while the +measured thud and splash grew a trifle faster, "No pueden escapar las +penas del amor." + +He did not seem to know the rest of it, and when she had heard the +stanza several times Jacinta, who saw Muriel's eyes fixed upon her +enquiringly, made a little half-impatient gesture. + +"It's the usual sentimental rubbish, though he sings passably well. +'Even the sea birds cannot escape the pains of love,'" she said. +"Absurd, isn't it? like most of the men one comes across nowadays, they +probably spend all their time in search of something to eat. Still, I +suppose--you--would sympathise with the man whose perverted imagination +led him to write that song." + +Muriel looked at her with a hint of reproach in her big blue eyes, which +were very reposeful. "I don't think I ever quite understood you, and I +don't now, but I once went to see an English gullery," she said. "There +were rows of nests packed so close that one could scarcely pick a way +between, with little, half-feathered things in most of them. They all +had their mouths open." + +Jacinta laughed musically. "Of course," she said. "You are delightful. +But never mind me. Go on a little further." + +"It was the big gulls I was thinking of," said Muriel gravely. "They +didn't fly away, but hung just above us in a great white cloud, +wheeling, screaming, and now and then making little swoops at our heads. +It didn't seem to matter what happened to them, but any one could see +they were in an agony of terror lest we should tread upon some of the +little, half-feathered nestlings. I came away as soon as the others +would let me. It seemed a cruelty to frighten them." + +"It seems to me," said Jacinta, "that you are anticipating, or confusing +things considerably, but I'll try not to offend you by making that a +little plainer, though, I should almost like to. I'm in quite a prickly +humour to-night." + +She sat silent a moment or two, while a trace of colour crept in her +companion's face, looking out towards the eastern haze, as she had done +of late somewhat frequently. + +"Yes," she said, reflectively, "I feel that it would be a relief to make +you upset and angry. You are so aggravatingly sure of everything, and +serene. Of course, that is, perhaps, only natural, after all. You have, +in one respect, got just what you wanted, and have sense enough to be +content with it." + +Muriel turned and looked at her with a trace of bewilderment, for there +was an unusual hardness in Jacinta's tone. + +"Wouldn't everybody be content in such a case?" she asked. + +"Oh, dear no!" and Jacinta laughed. "I, for one, would begin to look for +flaws in the thing, whatever it was, and wonder if it wouldn't be wiser +to change it for something else. In fact, I don't mind telling you I +feel like that to-night. You see, for a year at least, I have been +trying to bring a certain thing about, and--now I have succeeded--I wish +I hadn't. Of course, you won't understand me, and I don't mean you to; +but you may as well remember that it's a somewhat perilous thing to keep +on giving people good advice. Some day they will probably act upon it." + +"But that ought to please one." + +Jacinta glanced once more into the soft darkness that crept up from the +East with a little shiver. "Well," she said sharply, "in my case it +certainly doesn't." + +They were alongside the _Estremedura_ in another minute, but the seaman +they found on deck did not know where Austin was, and led them down to +Macallister's room. It was beneath the spar-deck, and very hot, for the +dynamo was not running that night, and a big oil lamp lighted it. It was +also full of tobacco smoke, and--for the port was open--the rumble of +the long swell tumbling against the mole came throbbing into it. A big +man in very shabby serge, with a hard face, sat opposite the engineer, +until the latter, seeing the two women, laid a hand upon his shoulder. + +"Out ye get!" he said, and his guest was projected suddenly into the +dimly-lighted space about the after-hatch. + +Then he smiled upon the newcomers affably. "Come away in," he said. "Was +it me or Mr. Austin ye came to see?" + +"On this occasion it was Mr. Austin," said Jacinta, who found a place +opposite him, beside Muriel, on a settee. "Of course, that was because +he is going away. Isn't he here?" + +"He is not," and Macallister beamed at her. "In one way, it's not that +much of a pity. There's twice the light-heartedness in me that there is +in Mr. Austin." + +"I can quite believe it. Still, light-heartedness of one kind is now and +then a little inconvenient. Where has he gone?" + +"To the town. I don't expect him until he calls for his man--the one +I've just hove out--when the West-coast mailboat comes in. She won't +stop more than half an hour, but there's no sign of her yet." + +Jacinta sighed whimsically, perhaps to hide what she felt. + +"Then I'm afraid we shall not see him, which is a pity, because I've +been thinking over the nice things I meant to say to him, and now +they're all wasted," she said. "You will tell him that we came to say +good-bye to him, won't you, and that I'm just a little vexed he never +called to tell us anything about his expedition." + +Macallister grinned sardonically, and though Jacinta was usually a very +self-possessed young woman, she appeared to find his gaze a trifle +disconcerting. + +"Well," he said, "I know all about it. He has sold everything he had, +and he borrowed AL40. One way or another he has another AL60 of his own." + +Jacinta looked up sharply. "He has no more than that?" + +"It's not likely," and Macallister watched her with a faint twinkle in +his eyes. "I do not know why he would not have the AL200 Mr. Brown +offered him. Maybe ye do." + +There was a just perceptible trace of colour in Jacinta's cheek. "I +hardly see how you could expect me to when I never heard of it until +this moment," she said. "Would AL100 be enough for Mr. Austin?" + +"I'm thinking it would. No for everybody under the same circumstances, +but enough for him. There are folks in these islands who have only seen +the outside of Mr. Austin, which, ye may observe, is in one sense quite +a natural thing." + +He stopped a moment, and smiled upon her genially. "It's not his fault +that he's no quite so well favoured as I am. What would ye expect of an +Englishman? Still, there are men aboard here who have seen what's +underneath--I mean the other side of him--at nights when he brought the +dispatch off through the surf, and once--though that was not his +business--when I was sick, an' they let water down in the starboard +boiler." + +"Still," said Jacinta, "he would naturally have to have so many things." + +"He has four good men, a little box o' drugs, and a case o' dynamite. +Farquhar's going on to Australia with mining stores, and he gave it +him." + +It seemed absurdly insufficient, and Jacinta struggled with an almost +hysterical inclination to laugh. It was, she realised, a very big thing +Austin had undertaken, and his equipment consisted of a case of dynamite +and a box of drugs, which, on his own confession, he knew very little +about. Still, she saw that Macallister, who, she fancied, ought to +know, rated manhood far higher than material. It was Muriel who broke +the silence. + +"But they will want a doctor," she said, with a little tremour in her +voice. + +Macallister shook his head. "Ye would not get one to go there for AL500, +and he would be no use if he did," he said. "Ye will remember that +malaria fever does not stay on one long. It goes away when it has shaken +the strength out o' ye--and now and then comes back again--while by the +time Austin gets there Mr. Jefferson will be----" + +He stopped with some abruptness, but though she shivered, Muriel looked +at him with steady eyes. + +"Ah!" she said, "you mean he will either be better, or that no doctor +could cure him then?" + +Macallister made her a little inclination, and it was done with a grave +deference that Jacinta had scarcely expected from him. + +"Just that," he said. "I'm thinking ye are one of the women a man can +tell the truth to. It is a pity there are not more o' them. It is no a +healthy country Mr. Austin is going to, but I have been five years on +the coast o' it, and ye see me here." + +"I wonder," said Jacinta, "whether you, who know all about ships and +engines, did not feel tempted to go with Mr. Austin?" + +The engineer smiled curiously. "Tempted!" he said. "It was like trying +to be teetotal with a whisky bottle in the rack above one's bunk; but I +am a married man, with a wife who has a weakness for buying dining-room +suites." + +"Dining-room suites! What have they to do with it?" + +"Just everything," and Macallister sighed. "She will only have the +biggest ones the doors will let in, and she has furnished a good many +dining-rooms altogether. Ye will mind that we lived here and there and +everywhere, while she's back in England now. Ye would not meet a better +woman, but on AL20 a month ye cannot buy unlimited red-velvet chairs and +sideboards with looking-glasses at the back o' them." + +Jacinta laughed as she rose. "You will tell Mr. Austin we are sorry we +did not see him." + +"I will," and Macallister stood up, too. "Perhaps ye mean it this time, +and I'm a little sorry for him myself. There are men who get sent off +with bands and speeches and dinners to do a smaller thing, but Mr. +Austin he just slips away with his box o' dynamite and his few +sailormen." + +He stopped and looked hard at her a moment before he turned to Muriel. +"Still, we'll have the big drum out when he brings Mr. Jefferson and the +_Cumbria_ back again, and if there's anything that can be broken left +whole in this ship that night it will be no fault o' mine." + +They went out and left him, but Jacinta stopped when they came upon the +man he had ejected from his room, sitting on the companion stairway and +smoking a very objectionable pipe. She also held a little purse +concealed beneath her hand. + +"You are going back with Mr. Austin to the _Cumbria_?" she said. + +The man stood up. "In course," he said. "It's eight pound a month, all +found, an' a bonus." + +"Ah!" said Jacinta. "I suppose there is nothing else?" + +The man appeared to ruminate over this, until a light broke in on him. + +"Well," he said, "Mr. Jefferson does the straight thing, an' he fed us +well. That is, as well as he could, considering everything." + +Jacinta smiled at Muriel. "You will notice the answer. He is a man!" +Then she held out a strip of crinkly paper. "That will make you almost a +month to the good, and if you do everything you can to make things +easier for the man who wants to get the _Cumbria_ off, there will +probably be another waiting for you when you come back again." + +The man, who took the crinkly paper, gazed at it in astonishment, and +then made a little sign of comprehension. "Thank you kindly, miss, but +which one am I to look after special? You see, there's two of them." + +Jacinta was apparently not quite herself that night, for the swift +colour flickered into her face, and stayed there a moment. + +"Both," she said decisively. "Still, you are never to tell anybody about +that note." + +The man once more gazed at her with such evident bewilderment that +Muriel broke into a little half-audible laugh. Then he grinned suddenly, +and touched his battered cap. + +"Well, we'll make it--both," he said. + +They went up the companion, and left him apparently chuckling, but +Jacinta appeared far from pleased when she got into the waiting boat. + +"That was to have gone to England for a hat and one or two things I +really can't do without--though I shall probably have to now," she said. +"Oh, aren't they stupid sometimes--I felt I could have shaken him." + +In the meanwhile the man in the fireman's serge went back to +Macallister's room. + +"Give me an envelope--quick!" he said. + +Macallister got him one, and he slipped a strip of paper inside before +he addressed it and tossed it across the table. + +"You'll post that. There's a Castle boat home to-morrow, and I'd sooner +trust you with it than myself," he said, with a little sigh, which, +however, once more changed to a chuckle. + +"If there's money inside it ye're wise," said Macallister drily. "Still, +what are ye grinning in yon fashion for?" + +"I was thinking it's just as well I've only--one--old woman. It would +make a big hole in eight pounds a month--an' a bonus--if I had any more +of 'em. But you get that letter posted before I want it back." + +"Wanting," said Macallister, reflectively, "is no always getting. Maybe, +it's now and then fortunate it is so, after all." + +It was two hours later, and Jacinta stood on the flat roof of Pancho +Brown's house looking down upon the close-packed Spanish town, when the +crash of a mail gun rose from the harbour and was lost in the drowsy +murmur of the surf. Then the other noises in the hot streets below her +went on again, but Jacinta scarcely heard the hum of voices and the +patter of feet as she watched a blinking light slide out from among the +others in the harbour. It rose higher and swung a little as it crept +past the mole, then a cluster of lower lights lengthened into a row of +yellow specks, and she could make out the West-coast liner's dusky hull +that moved out with slanting spars faster into the faintly shining sea. +Jacinta closed one hand as she leaned upon the parapet and watched it, +until she turned with a little start at the sound of footsteps. She was, +one could have fancied, not particularly pleased to see Muriel Gascoyne +then. + +"We were wondering what had become of you, and Mrs. Hatherly is waiting +to go home," said the latter. Then she turned and caught a glimpse of +the moving lights that were closing in on one another and growing dim +again. "That must be the African boat?" + +"It is. She is taking out six careless sailormen whose lives are, +perhaps, after all, of some value to them." + +Muriel looked at her, and wished she could see her face. "Every one of +them may be of some value to somebody else." + +"I suppose so," and Jacinta laughed curiously. "You obvious people are +now and then to be envied, Muriel." + +"If there is anything you would like to tell me----" and Muriel laid a +hand upon her arm with a gesture of sympathy. + +"There isn't. We all have our discontented fits, and mine is, no doubt, +more than usually unreasonable since everything has turned out as I +wanted it." + +Then she rose and turned towards the stairway with a little laugh which +Muriel fancied had a hint of pride in it. "I really don't think I would +have had anything done differently, after all, and now I must not keep +Mrs. Hatherly waiting." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LAND OF THE SHADOW + + +It was towards the end of the afternoon when the skipper of the +West-coast mailboat, peering through his glasses, made out two palms +that rose apparently straight out of the sea. He watched them for some +minutes, and then took their bearing carefully upon the compass, before +he rang for half speed and called Austin to the bridge. + +"That's your island, and we'll run in until I get under six fathoms," he +said. "After that it will have to be the surfboat, and I fancy you will +be very wet when you get ashore." + +It seemed to Austin that this was more than probable, for although there +was not an air of wind to wrinkle it, a long heave came up in vast, slow +undulations out of the southern horizon, and the little mailboat swung +over them with sharply slanted spars and funnel. She stopped once for a +few moments while the deep-sea lead plunged from her forecastle, and +then, with propeller throbbing slowly, crept on again. She had come out +of her course already under the terms of the bargain Austin had made +with the Las Palmas agent, for some of those steamers have the option of +stopping for odd boatloads of cargo and passengers wherever they can be +found along the surf-swept beaches, and since no offer he could make +would have tempted her skipper to venture further in among the shoals, +Austin had fixed upon that island as the nearest point of access to the +_Cumbria_. He did not, however, know how he was to reach her when he got +there. + +In the meanwhile they were slowly raising the land, or the nearest +approach to it to be found in that part of Africa, which consists of +mire and mangroves intersected everywhere by lanes of water. It lay +ahead, a grey smear streaked with drifting mist against which the palms +that had now grown into a cluster rose dim and indistinct, and a thin +white line stretched between themselves and it. The skipper appeared to +watch the latter anxiously. + +"There's considerable surf running in on the beach, and I'm a little +uneasy about my boat," he said. "I suppose it wouldn't suit you to go on +with us, and look for a better place to get ashore to-morrow?" + +"No," said Austin, decisively. "I'm far enough from where I'm going +already, and one would scarcely fancy that there are many facilities for +getting about in this country." + +The skipper made a little gesture of resignation. "That's a fact," he +said. "Well, I can't go back on the agent, but if the boat turns you and +the boys out before you get there you can't blame me." + +Austin laughed. He had got many a wet jacket, and had once or twice had +to swim for it, in the surf of the Canary beaches, though he was quite +aware that there are very few places where the sea runs in and breaks as +it does on the hammered coast of Western Africa. Indeed, as he watched +the blur of steamy mangroves grow clearer, and the filmy spouting +increase in whiteness, he could have fancied that nature, in placing +that barrier of tumbling foam along its shore, had meant it as a warning +that the white man was not wanted there. The air was hot and heavy, the +sky a dingy grey, the sea a dim, slatey green, and there came off +across the steep heave a dull booming like the sound of distant thunder. + +It was not an encouraging prospect, and Austin knew from what he had +heard about the country that he was not likely to be more favourably +impressed with it upon closer acquaintance. He also felt that if there +was not quite so much at stake he could very willingly leave the salving +of the _Cumbria_ to Jefferson and take the next steamer back again. He +could fix upon no sufficient reason for his being there at all, since +the very uncertain profits on a quarter share in the venture did not +account for it. In one respect, also, Jacinta's favourable opinion could +scarcely be of any practical value to him, since she would naturally +marry a man of means by and by, and forget all about him. Still, she +had, dropping now and then a barbed word which rankled in his memory, +striven to stir him to endeavour; and now he was watching the spray +drive across a beach of Western Africa, while he wondered what the +result of it all would be, and whether he or the men he had brought with +him would escape the fever. So far as he was concerned, it did not seem +to greatly matter. He had taken life easily, but he realised that it had +very little to offer him, and it was, perhaps, fortunate that he did so, +since it is, as a rule, broken men and those who have nothing to fall +back upon who accomplish what is most worth doing in the lands that lie +beneath the shadow. + +In any case, it was clear that he had broken down the last bridge behind +him when the mailboat stopped and lay rolling more wildly than ever +athwart the long swell. A big surfboat sank down her side amidst a +clatter of blocks and complaining of davit-falls, down which a cluster +of almost naked black men slid on board. It was not an easy matter to +descend after them. The steamer rolled one way, the boat another, while +the latter swung up one moment almost level with her rail and swooped +down beneath a fathom of streaming side the next. Austin, Bill, the +fireman, and the Canarios, however, accomplished it, and there was a +waving of hats among the cluster of passengers who watched them above. +Then the negroes, perched six or seven on either side, took up the +paddles, and Austin was sensible of a momentary sinking of his heart as +the boat slid out from the rolling steamer. She was a part of the +civilisation he had been accustomed to, and when a sonorous blast of her +whistle came throbbing after him in farewell he sighed. + +He would, however, at least not look behind, and sitting in the +stern-sheets, out of the paddlers' way, he tossed the Canarios a bundle +of maize-husk cigarettes, and passed one to Bill, the fireman, who +glanced at it scornfully. Then he made himself as comfortable as he +could upon the box of dynamite while he lighted another, for that +compound of nitro-glycerine is supposed to require a detonator, and +nobody is very particular who has lived in Spain. The black men wanted +cigarettes, too, but Austin did not hand them any. The island was still +a good way off, and it seemed to him advisable that they should devote +their attention to their paddling. + +They did it, swaying rhythmically, with toes in a loop of fibre, and +naked black bodies that straightened suddenly and bent again, while some +kept up a measured hissing and the rest broke into a little doleful +song. A brawny man, with a blue stripe down his forehead, stood upright +grasping the sculling oar astern, and the boat swung along smoothly, +with big, dim slopes of water rolling up astern of her. They, however, +grew steeper as she drew in with the shore, and the easy dip and swing +became a succession of fierce rushes, during which she drove onwards, +lifted high, with the foam seething to her gunwale, and then swooped +suddenly into the hollow. When she did so Austin, glancing aft, could +see a great slope of water that grew steeper and steeper as it came +speeding after her. + +Then the slopes became ridges that frothed above and roared, and the +paddles whirled faster, while the big muscles bunched beneath the +helmsman's skin, and the veins began to stand out on his sable forehead. +The boat no longer sailed inshore. She sped like a toboggan on an icy +slide, though it seemed to Austin that the comparison was faulty, +because she went fastest uphill, while when he rose upright for a moment +he could see no shore at all. There was only a succession of parallel +white ridges in front of them and a filmy cloud of spray. The afternoon +was also wearing through, and the vapours from the steaming swamps +obscured the dingy heavens. + +It was even less consoling to glance astern, for the surf that sweeps +the fever coast was evidently rather worse than usual that day, as it is +now and then for no very apparent reason. The ridges had become walls, +with great frothing crests and sides that were smeared with spumy lines. +They had the vast, slow lift and fall of the ocean behind them, and were +running up a smoothly slanted plane of shoals. + +The black men paddled faster, and they no longer sang. They hissed and +shrieked and whistled, while the thud of their paddles rose in a +strenuous rhythm like the tapping of a great drum, and the craft +careered at furious speed beneath them, driven by the sea. The foam +stood feet above her now when she sped along, very like an arrow, and +boiled in over her high, pointed stern every now and then. There was a +foot of brine inside her that swilled to and fro, and every man was +dripping, while the roar of the tumbling rollers had grown bewildering. +They appeared to be crumbling upon hammered sand not very far away. + +How the negroes meant to beach her, Austin did not know, and he was +content that it was their business and not his. The Canarios were +evidently uneasy, for, sailormen as they were, they had never run +through surf like this; but they were also of Iberian extraction, and, +when discussion is clearly useless, and the last crisis must be faced, +the Spaniard is, at least, as capable of calm resignation as most other +men. In any case, there is certainly no better boat-boy than the West +African Kroo, and Austin left the affair to the helmsman, when there was +a sudden horrifying crash that threw three or four of the paddlers down +together. It was evident that they had touched bottom, but, fortunately +for them, the swirl of the shore-running sea dragged them off again, and +they went up, not more than half swamped, sideways, with the foam +seething into her, on the next roller. Then the spouting chaos about +them seemed to suddenly melt away, and Austin, wiping the water from his +eyes, saw that they were sliding round a sandy beach into a little bay. + +In another few minutes they were out on the sand, though they toiled for +the next half hour helping the negroes to tilt the great boat and run +her in again when they had emptied the water out of her. It was done at +last, and Austin felt almost sorry, while he was once more sensible of +vague but unpleasant misgivings when the negroes drove her lurching out +into the spray. Night was not very far away, and he had no notion of +where he was to sleep, or what he was to eat, for that matter, since the +provisions the steward had given him were, for the most part, saturated. +A little muddy creek oozed down amidst the mangroves across the bay, and +there were a few huts, apparently made of rammed soil, beside it, as +well as a canoe. The light was going when they reached them, and Bill, +who went into the nearest, came out suddenly. + +"There's a dead nigger inside," he said. + +Austin looked at him with a little smile. He had reasons for surmising +that the man's nerves were good, but his voice had an uncertain tone in +it, and his eyes were anxious. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose one must expect to come across a dead nigger +now and then in this country." + +Bill glanced furtively over his shoulder towards the hut, as though he +desired to be rather farther away from it. + +"That one wasn't nice to look at," he said. "What did they leave him +there for when there's a creek just outside the door, and where are the +rest of them? I'd like to know what he died of. It might be catchin'." + +Austin was once more sensible of a little thrill of apprehension as he +looked about him and considered the question. On the one side a tuft of +palms dominated the narrow strip of sand, but the little ridge of high +land behind it was covered with apparently impenetrable jungle. +Elsewhere the dingy mangroves rose from black depths of mire on slimy +roots and pale stems that glimmered, blanched, amidst the drifting steam +that clung about them. Night was close at hand, and, though there was no +sign of the land breeze yet, the air was thick and heavy with a hot, +sour smell. The clamour of the surf made the deep silence more apparent, +for there was no sound of life about the clustered huts. Austin knew +that the black man is frequently stricken by the pestilence, and as he +stood there on the little strip of desolate beach he felt his courage +melting away from him. The Canarios he also saw were standing close +together and murmuring excitedly, while every now and then one of them +would glance askance at the huts. + +"If there was any niggers but dead ones in the place they'd have been +out by now," said Bill. + +"The _Cumbria_ should lie about north from here up the biggest creek," +said Austin. "If we borrowed the canoe yonder you could find your way to +her?" + +"I'd try that, or anything, so long as it was to get out of this." + +He glanced towards the hut again, and Austin, who could not quite +explain it, then or afterwards, became sensible that if he waited much +longer he would say or do something that would not be seemly in one who +was there as leader. He felt that had he been alone he would probably +have turned and run. + +"Well," he said, as quietly as he could contrive, "we will run the canoe +down. I believe some of the things they get are infectious now and +then." + +He had no need to repeat the order. The Canarios jumped at the word, and +in another few minutes they had launched the canoe and were paddling her +out of the creek clumsily, as men unaccustomed to the oar might do. It +opened into a wider one, through which the heave of the sea pulsed +languidly, until they crawled round a point and the streamy mangroves +closed in on them. Then suddenly the thick, hot darkness fell. + +They moored the canoe to a slimy stem, and lay down in her, packed like +herrings; but in spite of the mosquitoes Austin slept a little of the +night. He was glad when all the swamps steamed again as the dawn broke +suddenly upon them; and when they had eaten they took up the paddles. +The mists thinned and melted, the sun that sucked the damp from their +dew-soaked clothing scorched their skin, and the glare from the yellow +water became intolerable. Still, it was evident that it would not be +advisable to waste any time, and through the long hot hours the canoe +crept on. + +Now she slid into steamy shadow among the mangrove islets, skirting +belts of mire, and now crept, a slender strip of hull, packed with +wearied and perspiring humanity, across broad reaches of flaming water +that moved on inland under her, streaked with smears of yellow foam. It +was evident to Austin that the flood tide ran longer than usual there, +as it sometimes does about an island, or the Guinea stream had backed it +up along the shore. The stream, however, did not only set up the creek, +but slid through the forest, where the trees rose on arched roots above +the water; and here and there they had to paddle hard to avoid being +drawn into branch-roofed tunnels that smelt like open sewers. The refuse +of leagues of forest seemed to lie rotting there. + +By afternoon Austin's hands were bleeding, and one of his knees was raw +where he pressed it as a point of resistance to paddle from on the +craft's bottom; but he took his place when his turn came, though his +eyes were dazzled, and the headache that had crept upon him was growing +insufferable. He was now distinctly anxious as to when they would reach +the _Cumbria_, for, though Bill said she lay up a big muddy creek north +of the island, he appeared by no means sure that was the one, and Austin +felt he could not logically blame him. Creeks, it was evident, were +bewilderingly plentiful in that country, and there were no distinctive +features in the scenery. Dingy, white-stemmed mangroves, fermenting +mire, and yellow water, were all the same, and as they crept on past +bend and island there was no sign of change. + +The shadows lay black upon the water when they stopped again, all of +them horribly cramped, and aching in every limb; but when they had sat +portentiously silent, with the craft moored to a mangrove root, for half +an hour or so, Bill stood up in the bow. + +"Did you hear anything, Mr. Austin?" he asked. + +Austin fancied that he did, though for a moment or two he was not sure +that it was not the ticking of his watch, for the sound, which was very +faint, had a beat in it. Then it grew a little louder, and he felt a +curious thrill of satisfaction. + +"Engines!" he said sharply. "It's the launch." + +She swung out, apparently from the mangroves, in another few minutes, +and came on towards them, clanking and wheezing horribly, with the +yellow foam piled about her, but Austin felt that he had never seen +anything more welcome than that strip of mire-daubed hull with the plume +of smoke streaming away from it. Then she stopped close alongside them, +and Austin shook hands with Tom as he climbed on board. + +"Did you come across any niggers, sir?" asked the latter. + +"No," said Austin. "How's Mr. Jefferson?" + +"Comin' round," said Tom, with a grin. "I've worked most of the +fever--an' the sunstroke--out of him. It was a big load off me when, as +I took him his mixture one morning, he looks up at me. 'Who the devil +are you poisoning?' says he, quite sensible, an' like himself again." + +"You were coming down to look for us?" + +"We were--an' uncommonly glad to see you. The blame niggers is getting +aggravating. Came down, two canoe loads of 'em, a night or two ago, an' +only sheered off when we tumbled one o' them over with a big lump o' +coal. Wall-eye dropped it on to the man in the bow of her from the +bridge, an' so far as we could make out it doubled him up +considerable." + +Wall-eye was apparently the squinting Spaniard who acted as fireman, and +when he saw Tom glance at him he stood up, with a grimy hand clenched, +and unloosed a flood of Castilian invective. Austin, who smiled as he +watched him, felt that while most of what he said could not be +effectively rendered into cold Anglo-Saxon, it was probably more or less +warranted. In the meanwhile the launch was coming round with backed +propeller, and in another moment or two she was clanking away into the +darkness that descended suddenly, towards the _Cumbria_. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NOCTURNAL VISITORS + + +Jefferson was standing at the open door of the house beneath the +_Cumbria_'s bridge when Austin first caught sight of him, as he groped +his way forward along the slanted deck. The black, impenetrable +obscurity that descends upon the tropic swamps when the air is full of +vapour, hung over the stranded steamer, and the man's gaunt figure cut +with harsh sharpness against the stream of light. The thin duck he wore +clung about him, soaked with perspiration and the all-pervading damp, +emphasising the attenuated spareness of his frame, and Austin could +almost have fancied it was a draped skeleton he was gazing at. Still, he +was a trifle reassured when he felt the firm grasp of a hot, bony hand. + +"So you have come?" said the American. "It's good to get a grip of you. +I guessed you would." + +He drew Austin into the deck-house, and they sat down opposite each +other, and said nothing for almost a minute, though there was a little +smile in Jefferson's face as he leaned back against the bulkhead. His +hair, which had grown long since he left Las Palmas, hung low and wet +upon his forehead, and the big cheek bones showed through the +tight-stretched skin, which was blanched, though there was a faint +yellow tinge in it which relieved its dead whiteness. This had its +significance, for the coast fever has not infrequently an unpleasant +after effect upon the white man's constitution. + +"It isn't quite a sanatorium," he said, as though he guessed his +comrade's thoughts. "Port Royal, Santos, Panama--I know them all--aren't +a patch on these swamps. Still, we needn't worry now you have come." + +Austin smiled as he looked at him. "To be correct, I'm not quite sure +that I did," he said, reflectively. "I mean, it wasn't exactly because I +wished to." + +"Ah!" said Jefferson, as comprehension dawned on him. "Then the quarter +share--that offer stands good--didn't bring you? Well, I was wondering +if she would make you go." + +Austin was a trifle astonished, for, though he had a somewhat hardly +acquired acquaintance with human nature, it had never occurred to him +that the patronage Jacinta extended to her masculine friends naturally +attracted some attention, or that in this particular case the onlookers +might most clearly grasp the points of the game. + +"I can't quite see why she should have wanted me to," he said. + +There was another brief silence, during which the men looked at one +another. This was not a subject either of them had meant to talk about. +Indeed, it was one which, under different circumstances, they would have +kept carefully clear of, but both realised that conventional niceties +did not count for much just then: They were merely men who had +henceforth to face the grim realities of existence with the shadow of +death upon them, and they knew that the primitive humanity in them would +become apparent as the veneer wore through. + +"Still," said Jefferson, "I can think of one reason. There was a time +when Muriel was good to her, and Jacinta can't forget it. She's not that +kind. The first day I met her I felt that she was taking stock of me, +and I knew I'd passed muster when she made you stop the _Estremedura_. +Perhaps, it wasn't very much in itself, but I was thankful. I've done a +few tough things in my time, but I know I'd never have got Muriel if +that girl had been against me. Still, it wasn't altogether because of +Muriel she sent you." + +Austin showed his astonishment this time, and Jefferson smiled. "You +can't quite figure how I came to understand a thing of that kind? Well, +some of you smart folks have made the same mistake before. You don't +seem to remember when you waste ten minutes working a traverse round +what you could say in one, that however you dress it up, human nature's +much the same. Now you're astonished at me. I'm talking. Sometimes I +feel I have to. You want to know just why she really sent you?" + +"To be frank, I have asked myself the question, and couldn't be quite +sure it was altogether because she wanted me to get this unfortunate +steamboat off." + +"It wasn't. You're getting as near to it as one could expect of an +Englishman. It hurts some of you to let anybody know what you really +think. Well, I'll try to make my notion clear to you. There was a lady +in France who threw her glove among the lions long ago, but the man who +went down for it was of no great account after all. He hadn't sense +enough to see the point of the thing." + +"There were apparently folks who sympathised with him," said Austin, +with a reflective air. "I'm not sure the man could reasonably have been +expected to go at all, since the lady in question evidently only wished +to show everybody how far he would venture to please her." + +"Now it seems to me quite likely that she meant to do a good deal more. +The man may have been content to fool his time away making pretty +speeches to the court ladies and walking round dressed in silk while +the rest of them rode out in steel. Can't you fancy that she wanted him +to find out that he had the grit of the boldest of them, and could do +something worth while, too? She probably knew he had, or she would never +have sent him." + +A little colour crept into Austin's face, but he laughed. "One could, no +doubt, imagine a good many other reasons, and most of them would +probably be as wide of the mark. Any way, they don't concern us. If the +thing ever happened, it was a very long while ago. We know better now." + +"Well, I guess you can't help it," and there was a twinkle in +Jefferson's eyes. "Your shell's quite a good fit, and you don't like to +come out of it, though I almost thought you were going to a moment or +two ago." + +"I don't like to be pulled out. One feels that it isn't decent. The +shell's the best of some of us," said Austin. + +"Then we'll come down to business. You brought the giant powder?" + +"A case of it, with fuses and detonators," and Austin's relief at the +change of subject was evident. "Are you contemplating blowing her up?" + +"No, sir. She's worth too much. It is, however, quite likely that we'll +make a hole in the mangrove forest and shake up the bottom of this +creek. That is, when we're ready. There's a good deal to be put through +first." + +"Have you found the gum?" + +"I haven't looked. She's full to the orlops, and we haven't started in +to pump her out. Didn't seem much use in trying while she had so much +weight in her, and we'll want all the coal we've got. When we have hove +most of it and the oil out I'll start the big centrifugal. You see, she +hasn't a donkey on deck. That's why, though it cost me a good deal, I +bought the locomotive boiler. You folks have a library of Shipping +Acts, but you don't show much sense when you let anything under 2,000 +tons go to sea with her pumps run from the main engines. When you most +want steam for pumping it's when your fires are drowning out." + +It was once more evident to Austin that Jefferson knew his business, and +had foreseen most of the difficulties he would have to grapple with. +Still, he fancied, by his face, that he had not quite anticipated all. + +"Where are you putting the oil you take out of her?" he asked. + +"On a strip of sand up a creek. That's one of the few things that are +worrying me. We'll have to get it on board as soon as we float her off +when the rain comes, or the creek will get it ahead of us. The next +point is that it will be a little rough on the men who have to watch it +after working all day long." + +"To watch it! Who is likely to meddle with it here?" + +"Niggers," said Jefferson drily. "They cleaned most everything they +could come at off the boat before I got to her, but they couldn't break +out cargo with the water in her, and didn't know enough to get at the +provisions in the lazaret. Still, while these particular swamps don't +seem to belong to anybody, there's trade everywhere, and oil's a +marketable commodity." + +"Where's the Frenchman who chartered the _Cumbria_?" + +"Dead. I've been up to his place in the launch. I found it caved in, and +trees growing up in it already. Nature straightens things up quite +smartly in this country. Any way, I'll show you round to-morrow; and, in +the meanwhile, it's about time that Spaniard brought you some supper." + +"It seems to me that everybody who had anything to do with this +unfortunate vessel invariably died." + +Jefferson smiled a trifle grimly. "That's a fact," he said. + +Then one of the Canarios brought in a simple meal, and when they had +eaten and talked for another hour, Austin stretched himself out on the +settee and Jefferson climbed into his slanted bunk. They left the light +burning and the door wide open, and both of them lay down dressed as +they were; but while Jefferson seemed to fall into a somewhat restless +doze, Austin found that sleep fled the further from him the more he +courted it that night. It was very hot, for one thing, and stranded +steamer and mangrove forest alike seemed filled with mysterious noises +that stirred his imagination and disturbed his rest. It was only by a +strenuous effort he lay still for a couple of hours, and then, rising +softly, with a little sigh, went out into the night. + +The darkness closed about him, black and impenetrable, when he stepped +out of the stream of light before the deck-house door, and the feeble +flame of the match he struck to light his pipe as he leaned upon the +rail only made it more apparent. He could see nothing whatever when the +match went out, but the oily gurgle of the creek beneath him suggested +the height of the steamer's hove-up side. She lay, so Jefferson had told +him, with her inshore bilge deep in the mire, and two big derrick-booms +slung from the wire hawser that ran from her stern to the mangroves +along what should have been the bank, as a precaution against any +nocturnal call by negroes in canoes. Her outshore side, which he looked +down from, was, he surmised by the slant of deck, between ten and +fifteen feet above the creek. + +It was a little cooler there, and the sounds were less disquieting than +they had been in the room. He could localise and identify some of them +now--the splash of falling moisture, the trickle of the stream, and the +soft fanning of unseen wings as one of the great bats which abound in +that country stooped towards the light. Still, behind these were +mysterious splashings among the mangroves and wallowings in the creek, +while the thick, hot darkness seemed to pulse with life. He could almost +fancy he heard the breathing of unseen things, and it did not seem +strange to him that the dusky inhabitants of that country should believe +in malevolent deities. Indeed, as he leaned upon the rail, with its +darkness enfolding him, he was troubled by a sense of his own +insignificance and a longing to escape from that abode of fear and +shadow. Other men, including those who had come out with a salvage +expedition, had found the floating of the _Cumbria_ too big a thing for +them, and he already understood that there are parts of the tropics +where the white man is apt to find his courage melt away from him as +well as his bodily vigour. + +Then he commenced to wonder dispassionately why Jacinta had sent him, or +if he had, after all, been warranted in considering that she had done +so. She had, though he admitted it unwillingly, at least, not bidden him +go, but she had certainly done what she could to make him understand +that he was wasting his life on board the _Estremedura_. It would have +been a consolation to feel that he was obeying her command and doing her +a definite service, if it was only to bring Jefferson home to Muriel +Gascoyne; but she had not laid one upon him, and even Jefferson seemed +to understand that her purpose went further. + +He was less pleased with the fancy that Jacinta had undertaken what she +apparently considered his reformation. He had been, in some respects, +content as he was, for while there was no other woman he had the same +regard for, he had forced himself to recognise that it was quite out of +the question that she should ever entertain more than kindliness for +him. Austin could be practical, and remembered that young women with her +advantages, as a rule, looked higher than a steamboat purser, while even +if Jefferson succeeded in his venture, and he went home with four or +five thousand pounds, which appeared just then distinctly unlikely, +Jacinta was the only daughter of a man whose income was supposed to +amount to as much a year. + +Austin sighed a little as he decided that he did not really know why he +had come. In the meanwhile he was there, and there was nothing to be +gained by being sorry, especially as he could not even console himself +with the fancy that Jacinta was grieving over him. She was probably, as +usual, far too busy by that time with somebody else's affairs. He was +also averse from permitting himself to feel any glow of +self-congratulation over the fancy that he was doing a chivalrous thing. +In fact, he saw it with realistic clearness of vision as one that was +wholly nonsensical, and it did not occur to him that the essence of all +that was best in the old knightly days might be surviving still, and, +indeed, live on, indestructible, even in the hearts of practical, +undemonstrative Englishmen, as well as garlic-scented Spaniards, and +seafaring Americans. Still, when he had yielded himself instinctively to +Jacinta's will he had vaguely realised that, after all, the bonds of +service are now and then more profitable to a man than dominion. + +In the meanwhile the damp soaked through his clothing, and his physical +nature shrank from the hot steaminess and the sour odours of +putrefaction. It was unpleasant to stand there in that thick darkness, +and even a little hard upon the nerves, but he had had enough of the +deck-house, and he could not sleep, which is by no means an unusual +difficulty with white men in the tropics. It was a relief when at last +a sound that grew louder fixed his attention, and resolved itself into a +measured thudding. Here were evidently canoes coming down the creek, but +Austin was a little uncertain what to do. He had no wish to rouse the +worn-out men, who probably needed all the sleep they could get, if this +was a usual occurrence; but it did not appear advisable that there +should be nobody but himself on deck in case the canoes ran alongside. +He was considering what he should do when Jefferson, who held a glinting +object in his hand, appeared in the door of the deck-house. Then there +was a patter of feet on a ladder below, and another dim figure +materialised out of the darkness. + +"That ---- Funnel-paint come back again," said the half-seen man. + +Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "He's getting monotonous, but he's +taking steep chances this time." + +The beat of paddles slackened a little, there was a murmur of voices +beneath the steamer's side, and Jefferson leaned out, looking down into +the impenetrable blackness beneath him. A scraping sound came out of it, +and apparently moved along, while, when the half-seen man thrust a big +block of coal upon him, Austin turned and strode softly after Jefferson, +who walked forward beside the rail. + +"Better let him have it now, sir," said the other man. "She's quite low +on the other quarter, and if they try swimming round her stern the booms +won't stop them." + +Then there was a vivid streak in the darkness, and a detonation that was +twice repeated, while Austin, who hurled his lump of coal down with all +his strength, caught a whiff of acrid smoke. There was also a splash +below, and a confused clamour that was lost in the hasty thud of paddles +as the invisible canoes got away. Then, while the Canarios came +floundering across the deck, a single voice rose up. + +"Bimeby we done lib for cut you t'roat!" it said. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" said Jefferson, and the big revolver flashed +again. + +There was no answer, and the splash of paddles slowly died away. It was +evident that the affair was over, and Austin fancied that nobody was +much the worse. Jefferson sauntered towards him snapping the spent +shells out of his pistol. + +"Funnel-paint is getting on my nerves. I'll have to drop half a stick of +giant powder on him next time he comes," he said. + +"He didn't make much of a show," said Austin. "You think he meant to +come on board?" + +"If there had been nobody round he would have done so, but how far he'd +have gone then is another question. He probably knows that nigger +stockades are apt to get blown up when a white man disappears, and it's +quite likely his nerve would have failed him. Any way, he's hanging out +at a village up the creek, and we'll probably go round to-morrow with +some giant powder and make a protest. In the meanwhile, I don't know any +reason why you shouldn't go to sleep again." + +Austin went back with him to the house beneath the bridge, and, though +it was not perceptibly cooler, found sleep come to him. His vague +apprehensions had vanished in the face of a definite peril. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TOIL + + +A faint light was creeping into the skipper's room when Austin awakened, +and, seeing his comrade's berth unoccupied, went out on deck. The swamps +were wrapped in woolly vapour, and a column of dingy smoke went up +straight and unwavering from the funnel of the locomotive boiler. The +hot land breeze had died away, and it would be some time yet before that +from the sea set in. In the meanwhile it was almost cool, and very +still; so still, in fact, that Austin was startled when a flock of +parrots, invisible in the mist, swept past, screaming, overhead. + +Then the sounds of man's activity suddenly commenced, for there was a +clatter forward where the Spaniards flung the loose covers from the +hatch, and a harsh rattle of chain mingled with the soft patter of their +naked feet. In another few moments a sharp, musical clinking broke out, +and Austin saw Tom, who had served as a steamer's donkey-man, straighten +his bent back when a rush of white vapour whirled with a strident +hissing about the locomotive boiler, which now drove the winch. He +grinned at Austin, and glanced at the misty creek, far down which a +faint screaming was dying away. + +"Those parrots must be ---- silly things," he said. "What d' they want +to live here for when they can fly?" + +Austin, who decided that there was some reason in the query, strolled +round the house, and came upon Jefferson sitting with his back to it +and the box of dynamite on the deck in front of him. He looked gaunter +and more haggard than ever in the daylight, but he was busy pinching +down a copper cap upon a strip of snaky fuse, which he proceeded to +carefully embed in a roll of semi-plastic material that looked very like +a candle made of yellow wax. + +"What are you doing?" asked Austin. + +"Nipping on a couple of detonators," said Jefferson. "Stand clear of the +one on the deck. They're lined with mercury fulminate, and you want to +take your shoes off when you come near that. Giant powder's innocent by +comparison. I mean to try a stick or two of this consignment." + +"What are you going to try it on?" asked Austin, who stepped back a pace +or two expeditiously. + +Jefferson looked up with a little grim smile. "On the house of the +headman of the village where Funnel-paint lives," he said. "If we can +get in a good morning's work, we'll go up and remonstrate with him this +afternoon. You might take that stick of powder and fuse and wrap it up +in something." + +Austin picked up the yellow roll, and then held it as far as he +conveniently could from him, while Jefferson laughed. + +"I guess you needn't worry. You could pound it with a hammer, or put it +in the fire, and it wouldn't show fight--that is, ninety-nine times out +of the hundred," he said. "Still, there might be considerable trouble on +the other one. The sure way to stir it up is to pat a shred of it with a +piece of wood, though the man who tries it is scarcely likely to see +what it does." + +Austin got rid of the dynamite as speedily as he could, and when he came +back one of the Spaniards was laying out breakfast on the deck. It was +not a sumptuous meal, consisting, as it did, of coffee, a can of meat +that Austin fancied was tainted, ship's bread, which is biscuit, and a +pale fluid that had presumably been butter; but he did not feel hungry, +and Jefferson ate little. In the meanwhile a blaze of light beat through +the mists which melted under it, and flaming yellow creek and dingy +mangroves sprang suddenly into being as by the unrolling of a +transformation scene. Their pale stems dripped slime, and just there +their foliage was blotched and spotted as with smears of flour. It gave +them a diseased appearance, and Austin, who felt he loathed the sight of +them already, remembered that where the mangrove grows the white man not +infrequently dies. He was almost glad when breakfast was over and +Jefferson rose. + +"I want to be quite clear," he said. "You're going to see this thing out +with me on a quarter share?" + +"I am," said Austin. "Anyway, I'll do what I can, though I'm afraid I +haven't given the question of the share much consideration." + +Jefferson looked at him intently. "Well," he said, "I've worried a good +deal about my three-quarters. That's what I came for, and if we float +her off you'll get yours, just as sure as you'll earn it--hard. It's a +big thing you're going into, and you'll find it calling on all the grit +that's in you. We're on results here, and, now you understand that, +we'll start in." + +He went to the forward winch, and Austin, obeying his directions, +descended to the hold with a vague recognition of the fact that there +was a change in Jefferson. As coaling clerk in Grand Canary, Austin had +found him a quiet and somewhat reserved man, who conducted himself in +everything, at least, as conventionally as most of his English friends +in that island. Now it was as though he had sloughed off the veneer so +that the primitive man beneath it appeared, which is a thing that not +infrequently happens in such places as the swamps he was toiling in. His +voice, even, was different. It was harsh, with a suggestion of command; +and the fierce, resolute nature of the man became revealed in it and the +penetrating glance of his steady eyes. + +Austin, however, discovered that he had very little time to think of +Jefferson. The Spaniards were on results, too, and when the chain sling +came rattling down the strenuous toil began. The hold was dim and +shadowy, as well as insufferably hot, and filled with nauseating smells. +The tiers of barrels slanted so that one could scarcely stand on them, +but when somebody gave Austin a handspike he took his place with the +rest, and set about prizing loose the puncheons so that they could get a +sling round them or the hoisting-crabs on the stave-ends. Now and then +the crabs slipped, or tore through the oil-soaked wood when the great +barrel swung up into the sunlight, and it came crashing down; while each +time they made an opening, the rest slipped down, grinding upon each +other, and squeezed it up again. Those on the lower side were +water-borne, but the others were only held in place by those beneath +them on the incline, and the men could not keep the untouched tiers +intact as they would have done had the _Cumbria_ been floating level. + +For the first half hour, Austin, who had never undertaken manual toil +before, felt that his task was beyond the strength of such a man as he. +One can no more acquire facility in labour without some training than he +can in an art or craft, and again and again his untaught muscles failed +to obey the prompting of his will. Then the heavy puncheon generally +rolled back and bruised him, or the slipping handspike left its mark +upon his skin. It was probably fortunate that the Canarios were +cheerful, deft-handed sailormen, courteous, too, and considerate in +their own fashion, for that half hour was, in some respects, a bitter +one. During it the man of taste and leisure had his comparative +uselessness impressed upon him, for, while he gasped, and the dew of +effort dripped from him, it was not alone the slackness of his soft +muscles that became apparent, but his inferiority in quickness, and the +intrepidity which on occasion risks crushed foot and hand or a broken +limb. The men who surpassed him were also benighted aliens, but he +remembered afterwards that there was not one among them who flung a jibe +at him. + +Then it became a trifle easier. His nerves steadied, and the fits of +gasping became less frequent as he warmed to the work. It was, as +Jefferson had mentioned, a big thing they had undertaken, a thing worth +doing, even apart from what they might gain by it, and it occurred to +him that somebody must toil brutally before anything of that kind in +brought to its accomplishment. By and by the strain and stress of it, +the swift flitting of half-naked figures, the upward lurch of the +dripping puncheons, and the clanging of the winch commenced to fire his +blood. There was, after all, a good deal of the primitive in him, and he +had the capacity for finding delight in bodily toil which still lurks +here and there in a cultured Englishman, and presently he flung his +oil-stained jacket away. Then, in a momentary pause, his shirt was +discarded, too, and he knotted his suspenders about his waist. When he +fell in between the grinding puncheons one of them removed most of the +light singlet from him, and he clambered out with a Berserker fit upon +him. He had found his manhood, and vaguely recognised that the curse +laid on man in Eden might be a privilege. Something had awakened in him +he had not felt before, though he had run the _Estremedura_'s lancha +through the spouting surf, and had never been accounted a laggard in +the strenuous English games. + +The chain slings came down faster and faster, while the hammerings of +the winch rang insistently through their rattle. At any cost to the men +below it must not be kept waiting. The blaze of brightness beneath the +hatch became dazzling, and Austin felt his shoulders scorched as he +passed through it. The iron deck above them shed down an intolerable +heat, and still the olive-faced Canarios swayed, and splashed, and +heaved amidst the barrels. Now and then a man said "Car-rai!" or in +incongruous juxtaposition, "Ave Maria!" ejaculating it in gasps, but +there was a puncheon ready when the sling came clashing down, and +Jefferson's voice rang encouragingly through the din. + +"Oh, hump yourselves! Send her up!" he said. "Vamos! Adelante! Dern your +skins! More bareel!" + +Bill grinned at Austin in one momentary stoppage. "The boss is himself +again," he said. "He's shoving her along. We've got to make the time for +our little trip this afternoon. Oh, howling--is that how you slew a +puncheon? You'll manslaughter one of us next time. Cut her as she +rolls." + +Austin gasped with astonishment as well as relief when the winch stopped +at last. The first half hour had appeared interminable, the other hours +had fled, for he saw by the distance the glare of light had moved across +the hold that the sun was overhead. Then he essayed to straighten +himself, and when he had with some difficulty accomplished it went up +the ladder with the rest. When he went out on deck Jefferson was sitting +upon the drum of the winch, and smiled curiously as he scrutinised him. +Austin, whose torn singlet fell away from him clitted with yellow oil, +was almost naked to the waist, as well as very wet from the knees +downwards. One of his canvas shoes had burst, and his hands were +bleeding. He stood still, dazzled by the change of light, and blinked at +his comrade. + +"Well," said Jefferson, reflectively, "I have seen men who looked +smarter, but I guess you'll do. In fact, I'm beginning to feel sure of +you." + +"Thanks!" said Austin. "I suppose in one respect that's a compliment. +Still, I almost think, or, at least, I did when I first went down there, +that if I'd known what was in front of me I'd have stayed in Grand +Canary." + +Jefferson nodded with a curious little smile. "I wonder," he said, +reflectively, "if you ever felt like that before?" + +Austin considered a moment. + +"I'm not going to make any admissions. You probably have?" he said. + +"Quite often," and Jefferson laughed. "It's a thing that happens to most +of us now and then. There are times when the contract looks very big and +the man feels very small. In fact, it's sometimes hard to look straight +at it and not back down. Still, in the case of this one, it has to be +done." + +"I suppose so!" said Austin, and then turned round. "Well, what is it, +Bill?" + +"Here's your shirt an' jacket," said the man. "If you don't want your +skin to come off, you'd better put them on." + +Austin, who thanked him, did so, and then fumbled in the pocket for a +cigarette. The one he found was torn and crushed, but he contrived to +light it, and flung himself down in the shadow of the rail. Jefferson, +who watched him, grinned. + +"You're getting your grip," he said. "Not long ago you'd have slung that +thing into the creek. The man left the sir out, too. Perhaps you noticed +it?" + +"I did. Still, no doubt, after watching my efforts in the hold, he felt +himself warranted. I didn't expect to find things quite the same here as +they are at the Catalina." + +Jefferson laughed softly. "They're not. This is a blame risky +co-operative venture, and when I made it so I put down a big stake on +human nature. We're all on results, and partners in the thing. There's +no respect in this ship. I don't want it. Why should any man touch his +hat to me? Oh, I know we use the fist and handspike on American +ships--when it's necessary--and I skipped round the _Sachem_'s +deck-house once with the cold steel an inch or two behind me; but that's +not the point at all. I want a hundred cents' worth for my dollar from +every man, and I'm going to get it, but I'm boss because I can drive a +winch and break out cargo better than any of the rest of them. At least, +that's one big reason." + +Austin would have grinned at this not very long ago. Jefferson expressed +himself crudely, but Austin was disposed to be less critical after that +morning's labour, and was commencing to realise that his comrade had, in +fact, placed a heavy stake upon the reliability of seafaring humanity. A +taint of suspicious distrust or petty treachery would, he felt, be +sufficient to ruin the venture, for there was one pistol in the ship to +enforce authority, and a dozen men, who might defy it, with wicked +knives. It was also evident that the full dollars' worth would be +demanded from every one of them. Still, Austin smiled. + +"I scarcely think that's the American skipper's usual point of view, +though, of course, it's a commendable one," he said. "After all, one has +to admit that there is, perhaps, some foundation for the equality notion +in a democratic country, but from what I know of yours, while you seem +willing to act upon it in regard to Scandinavians, Teutons, Poles, and +Englishmen, you make Indians and niggers an exception." + +"Exactly! They were made different, and they stop outside. I was +crowding her a little this morning to save time, because I mean to +remonstrate with one of them this afternoon. This ship's mine; I bought +her with good money, and there may be a balance out that's to be settled +with blood as well. Am I to sit down while the black scum take her from +me?" + +"I really think that the longer one looks at this contract the bigger it +gets," said Austin, reflectively. + +Jefferson glanced at the dingy forest, flaming creek, and the +_Cumbria_'s slanted deck with a little glow in his eyes. + +"Well," he said, "that's what gets hold of me. To worry a big contract +through, is--life--to some kinds of men." + +"Perhaps it is, but it was easier painting little pictures. Still, you +see, when you marry Miss Gascoyne you'll have to go round with your +shirt, and, perhaps, a frock coat on, and let up on this kind of thing. +In fact, what you are doing isn't at all what the folks she is +acquainted with would expect from a man with AL20,000 in England." + +Jefferson laughed, though there was a certain grimness in his face. +"Well," he said, "there is a good deal to be done everywhere, and +different ways of playing the game. A frock coat wouldn't stop a man +making a show at one of them, although at first he mightn't find it +comfortable. Life's much the same thing everywhere when you mean to take +part in it and hustle. Any way, I've talked enough, and Wall-eye's +coming along with the comida." + +They ate the meal in silence. Austin was glad to rest, and sitting +drowsily content in the shadow, he began to realise the boundless +optimism and something of the adaptability of his companion. Jefferson +had made an excellent coaling clerk at Las Palmas, though he knew +nothing about the business, which demands a good deal of discretion, +when he came there. He had also passed muster with Mrs. Hatherly and +Muriel Gascoyne as what they no doubt called a gentleman, which was a +manifestly harder thing, and here in Africa he was a ragged and +fever-worn leader of primitive men, but clearly a successful one. It +seemed to Austin that if he eventually aspired to become a local +influence in any part of sheltered England he would also in all +probability show up equally well. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +JEFFERSON'S REMONSTRANCE + + +They were not long over the meal, and when Austin thrust his plate +aside, Jefferson, who had waited at least five minutes for him, rose +with a little twinkle, which seemed to express whimsical resignation, in +his eyes. + +"And now there's something I'd rather leave alone to be done," he said. +"The launch is ready, and we'll go up and remonstrate with those +niggers. It's a little rough upon a man who is fond of a quiet life." + +"One would scarcely have fancied that quietness had any great attraction +for you," said Austin. "Still, you probably know what pleases you better +than I do." + +Jefferson laughed. "There are folks who seem to like being kicked, but +it's a sensation that doesn't appeal to everybody." + +"You have a case of dynamite, too. Now, I had once an air-gun sent me, a +good many years ago, and I remember how I burned to go out and destroy +the neighbours' cats with it." + +The American's face grew a trifle grim, and he looked at him with +half-closed eyes. "Well," he said, "I suppose that feeling's there, but +in a sense you're wrong. It isn't the only one. We put up a big bluff in +coming here at all, and it's nerve, and nothing else, that will have to +keep us where we are. There are no police or patrolmen in this country +to fall back upon, and you have to face the cold truth, which is this: +If one of those niggers clinched with you or me, he would mop the deck +with us in about two minutes. It's not a nice thing to admit, but there +it is." + +Austin looked thoughtful, as, indeed, he was, for Jefferson, who, it +seemed, could look an unpleasant fact in the face, had gone straight to +the bottom of the question, as he usually did. The white man's +domination, it had to be admitted, largely depended upon his command of +machine guns and magazine rifles, but they had none of these on board +the _Cumbria_. They were no match for the negro as a muscular animal, +and there was only left them what Jefferson called bluff, which +apparently consisted of equal parts of hardihood and arrogance. Still, +there are respects in which it is difficult to distinguish between it +and genuine courage, and it was certainly apt to prove futile in that +land without the latter. Austin realised that since there was nothing +else available, they must do what they could with it, though this was +far from pleasing him. He had a dislike for anything which savoured of +assertive impudence. + +They went up the creek in the little, clanking launch, eight limp and +perspiring white men, with knives and iron bars, under a scorching sun +that burned through their oil-stained garments. They slid through strips +of shadow where the belts of mire they skirted bubbled with the +emanations the heat sucked up from them, and slid across lake-like +reaches where the yellow water was dazzling to look upon. All the time, +endless ranks of mangroves crawled past them, and there was no sound but +the presumptuous clanking of the engine to break the deep silence of the +watery forest. The whole land seemed comatose with heat, and all that +had its being in it probably was so, for it is at night that nature +awakens in the swamps of the fever belt. Man alone was stirring, and the +puny noise of his activity jarred for a few moments on the great +stillness and then sank into it again. + +Austin sat huddled in the launch's stern-sheets with his senses dulled +by the heat and glare, though the desolation of mire and mangroves +reacted on him. He knew, as he sometimes admitted, a little about a good +many things which were of no use to him, and he remembered then that the +vast quadrilateral of Northern Africa west of Egypt had absorbed several +civilisations long before the Portuguese saw its southern shores. They +had vanished, and left no mark on it, and it was plain that in the great +swamp belt, at least, the black man still lived very much as he had done +when the first mangroves crept out into the sea. It is a primitive +country, where man knows only the law of the jungle, and Jefferson, who +grasped that fact, was apparently ready to act upon it in the usual +primitive fashion. + +There was, at first, no sign of life when the launch came into sight of +a little village hemmed in by the swamps. It had its attractiveness in +that country, for the clustering huts stood, half buried in foliage, +beneath towering cottonwoods, with a glaring strip of sand in front of +them. There were bananas, and, as Jefferson recognised, lime trees in +between. Still, by the time they approached the beach men came +floundering hastily out of the huts, and Austin was not greatly consoled +by the sight of them. They were big men, and wore very little to conceal +their splendid muscles. Some of them also carried long canoe paddles, +and one or two had wicked, corkscrew-headed spears. Austin wondered, a +little uneasily, whether they only speared fish with them, and looked +round to see what effect their appearance had upon his companions. + +It was apparently not a great one. Jefferson was quietly grim; Tom, the +donkey-man, scornfully cheerful; while there was a little portentous +glint in the Canarios' eyes. Austin fancied he was the only one who had +the slightest doubt that anything their leader did would not be +altogether warranted. This, however, was comprehensible, for he was +aware that while the American's attitude towards the coloured people is, +perhaps, not altogether what it should be, the Western pioneer never +quite equalled the Iberian in his plan of subjugation. The Spaniard, at +least, did not send out Indian agents, or dole out rations of very +inferior beef. + +They landed without molestation, and straightened themselves to make +what show they could, though there was nothing very imposing about any +of the party. The climate had melted the stiffness out of them, and +their garments, which were stained with oil, and rent by working cargo, +clung about their limbs soaked with perspiration. They looked, Austin +fancied, more like shipwrecked seamen than anything else. In fact, he +felt almost ashamed of himself, and that it was the negroes' own fault +if they did not unceremoniously fling them back into the creek. Still, +he realised that they were men who probably held their lives in their +hands, and had what appeared to be a singularly difficult task in front +of them. They were there to make it clear to the headman that it would +be wise of him to leave them alone, and Austin was quite willing to +supplement Jeffersons' efforts in this, though he was by no means sure +how it was to be accomplished. The negroes, so far as he could see, were +regarding them with a kind of derisive toleration. + +In the meanwhile they were moving forward between patches of bananas, +and under a few glossy limes, while groups of dusky men kept pace with +them behind, until they reached a broad strip of sand with a big +cottonwood tree in the midst of it. There was a hut of rammed soil that +appeared more pretentious than the rest in front of them, and a man +stood waiting in the door of it. Jefferson stopped in the shadow when he +saw him. + +"I'm going to sit down where it's cool," he said. "Any way, if that is +their headman, I'd sooner he came out to us." + +He sat down, with his back to the tree, while the rest clustered round +him, a lean, dominant figure, in spite of his haggard face and the state +of his attire, and it seemed to Austin that there was a suggestion of +arrogant forcefulness in his attitude. The headman stood quietly in his +doorway, looking at him, while the negroes drew in a little closer. They +now seemed uncertain what to make of these audacious strangers, and +waited, glancing towards their leader, though there were, Austin +fancied, forty or fifty of them. + +"Is there anybody here, who speaks English?" asked Jefferson. + +It appeared that there was, for all along that coast there is a constant +demand for labour in the white men's factories, and a man who wore a +piece of cloth hung from his shoulder instead of the waist-rag, stood +forward at a sign from the headman. The latter had little cunning eyes +set in a heavy, fleshy face, and he, too, wore a piece of cloth, a sheet +of white cotton, which flowed about his tub-like body in graceful lines. +Negroes, like other people, fatten when they seize authority and live in +idleness upon the result of others' toil, for even the swamp belt +heathen who asks very little from life must now and then work or starve. +There are no charitable institutions to fall back upon in that country, +where the indigent is apt to be belaboured by his neighbours' paddles. + +Then the headman, who did not leave his hut, conferred with the +interpreter, until the latter turned to Jefferson, whom he had, it +seemed, already pitched upon as leader. + +"Them headman he done say--what the debbil you lib for here for?" he +announced. + +"We have come for Funnel-paint," said Jefferson. + +It was evident that the negro did not understand whom he meant, but when +Jefferson, assisted by the donkey-man, supplied him with a very +unflattering description of the delinquent, comprehension seemed to dawn +on him, and he once more conferred with his master. + +"Him no one of we boy," he said. "Him dam bad 'teamboat bushman, sah. +Lib for here two three day. Now lib for go away." + +Austin, who understood that the term bushman was not used in a +complimentary sense in those swamps, smiled as he noticed that seafaring +men were evidently also regarded there with no great favour, and glanced +at Jefferson inquiringly. + +"He's probably lying," said the latter. "I've trailed Funnel-paint here, +and there's nowhere else he could live. I've been round to see. Any way, +he had a crowd of this rascal's boys with him when he came down to worry +me. We'll let him have that to figure on." + +It cost him some trouble to make his meaning clear to the negro, while +when the latter in turn explained it to the headman, Austin noticed a +retrograde movement among several of those about them. They seemed +desirous of getting a little further away from the domineering white +man. + +"I want those boys," said Jefferson, indicating the negroes who had +edged away. "Then I want some gum or ivory, or anything of that kind +your headman has, as a token he'll send me down Funnel-paint as soon as +he can catch him. He hasn't caught on to half of it. Help me out, +Austin." + +Austin did what he could, and at last it became evident that the +interpreter grasped their meaning. This time there was, however, a +change in the attitude of the negro, which had hitherto appeared to be a +trifle conciliatory. + +"None of my boys have been near your steamer. Go away before we drive +you out," was, at least, the gist of what he said. + +Jefferson made a little contemptuous gesture, and pointed to one of the +negroes. "Tell him I want those boys, and it would be wise of him to +turn them up before the shadow crawls up to where that man is. If he +doesn't, I'll let a Duppy, Ju-Ju, or whatever he calls his fetish +devils, loose on him. He has about fifteen minutes to think the thing +over in." + +Even with the help of the donkey-man they were some time in making this +comprehensible, and Austin glanced at his comrade when the headman's +answer came. It was a curt and uncompromising _non possumus_, and +Jefferson sighed. + +"Of course," he said, "I saw it would come to this from the beginning, +and in one way I'm not sorry. I don't know what I'd have done with +Funnel-paint or his friends if I had got them, except that somehow I'd +'most have scared them out of their lives. Still, it seemed only decent +to give the headman a chance for himself. Now it will suit us +considerably better to scare him and the others all together. I'll wipe +that house of his out of existence inside twenty minutes." + +Austin glanced at the house. It was larger than the others, and +comparatively well built, and, he fancied, probably of as much value to +its owner as a white man's mansion would be to him. This was clearly +not a time to be supersensitive, but he felt a trace of compunction. + +"I don't know that I'd go quite so far myself," he said. "After all, +we're not sure that the headman is responsible." + +"Then," said Jefferson, drily, "we'll make him, and you listen to me. We +may have to do quite a few things that aren't pretty, and we have no use +for sentimentality. We're just a handful of white men, with everything +to grapple with, and we'll be left alone to do it while these devils are +afraid of us, and not a moment longer. The fever may wipe half of us out +at any time, and we have got to make our protest now." + +"It's the giant-powder I'm sticking at. No doubt it's a little absurd of +me--but I don't like it." + +Jefferson laughed a trifle scornfully. "There's a good deal of what we +call buncome in most of you. You don't like things that +don't--look--pretty, pistols among them. Well, am I to be trampled on +whenever it happens that the other man is bigger than I?" + +"The law is supposed to obviate that difficulty in a civilised +community." + +"The man who gets the verdict is usually the one with the biggest +political pull or the most money, in the one I belong to, but that's not +quite the point just now. If you have a notion that the game's all in +our hands, look at them yonder." + +Austin did so, and decided that, after all, Jefferson might be right. +The negroes had clustered together, and there were more of them now, +while all of them had spears or big canoe paddles. It was tolerably +evident that any sign of vacillation would bring them down upon the +handful of white men whose prestige alone had hitherto secured them from +molestation. If they failed to maintain it, and had to depend upon their +physical prowess, the result appeared as certain as it would be +unpleasant. The affair had resolved itself into a case of what Jefferson +termed bluff, a test of coolness and nerve, and Austin glanced a trifle +anxiously at the Spaniards. They were, he fancied, a little uneasy, but +it was clear that they had confidence in their leader, and they sat +still, though he could see one or two of them fingering the wicked +Canary knives. Their courage was, however, not of the kind that stands +the tension of uncertainty well, and he commenced to long that the +shadow would reach the trampled spot where the man Jefferson pointed to +had stood. + +In the meanwhile it was creeping slowly across the hot white sand, and +he felt his heart beat as he watched it and the negroes, who commenced +to murmur and move uneasily. The white man's immobility had its effect +on them, and it seemed that Jefferson had done wisely in confiding in +the latter's ability to bear the longer strain. Still, Austin was not +sure that the impatience of the Spaniards might not spoil everything +after all. As regarded himself, he began to feel a curious and almost +dispassionate interest in the affair which almost prevented him +considering his personal part in it. He also noticed the intensity of +the sunlight, and the blueness of the shadows among the trees, as well +as the mirror-like flashing of the creek. It was, he fancied, the +artistic temperament asserting itself. Then he felt a little quiver run +through him when Jefferson stood up. + +"We have to get it done," he said. "Keep those Canarios close behind +me." + +They moved forward in a little phalanx, carrying staves and iron bars, +though Austin knew that a word would bring out the twinkling steel; and, +somewhat to his astonishment, the negroes fell back before them, and as +they approached it the headman scuttled out of his house. Jefferson +stopped outside it and taking a stick of yellow substance from his +pocket, inserted it in a cranny he raked out in the wall. Then he +lighted the strip of fuse and touched Austin's shoulder. + +"Get those fellows back to the creek, but they're not to run," he said. +"The action of one stick of giant-powder is usually tolerably local, but +I don't want any of the niggers hoisted, either. Where's that +interpreter? Steady, we'll bring them down on us like a swarm of bees if +they see us lighting out before they understand the thing." + +There was, Austin fancied, not much time to waste; but he managed to +impress the fact upon the Canarios that their haste must not be too +evident, and to make the negro understand that it was perilous to +approach the house. Then he overtook the Spaniards, and they moved back +in a body towards the launch, and stopped close by the beach. The +negroes also stood still, and all alike watched the little sputtering +trail of smoke creep up the side of the house. It showed blue in the +sunlight, though there was a pale sparkling in the midst of it. + +Then a streak of light sprang out suddenly, and expanded into a blaze of +radiance. After it came the detonation, and a rolling cloud of thin +vapour, out of which there hurtled powdered soil and blocks of +hard-rammed mud. The vapour thinned and melted, and Austin saw that +there was no longer any front to the headman's house, while, as he +watched it, most of the rest fell in. He looked round to see what effect +it had on the negroes, but could not make out one of them. They had, it +seemed, gone silently and in haste. Then he heard Jefferson sigh as with +relief. + +"Well," he said, "that's one thing done, and I'm glad we have come out +of it with a whole skin. We'll light out before somebody shows them +that we're only human, and spoils the thing." + +They went on board the launch, but Austin felt curiously limp as she +clanked away down stream. The strain of the last half hour had told on +him, though he had not felt it to the full at the time. It was two +hours' steaming before they swept past the _Cumbria_, and a man on her +forecastle waved an arm to indicate that all was right on board her; but +Austin would not have had the time any shorter. He felt it was just as +well that village lay some distance from them. They went on to the strip +of sand where Jefferson had stored the coal and oil, and when they +reached it he stood up suddenly with an imprecation. + +"Four puncheons gone! Funnel-paint has come out ahead of me, after all," +he said. "Well, there's no use in worrying now, when he has got away +with them; but I'm going to stop down here to-night in case he comes +back again." + +Then he swung the launch round with backed propeller, and in another few +minutes they were steaming back up stream towards the _Cumbria_. A tent +of some kind must be extemporised, for it is not wise of a white man to +spend the night unprotected in the fever swamps. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +STARTING THE PUMP + + +The bush was dim with steamy shade when Austin and Jefferson plodded +along a little path behind the beach where the oil was stored. It was +with difficulty they made their way, for the soil was firmer there, and +a dense undergrowth sprang up among the big cottonwoods which replaced +the mangroves. They were draped with creepers, and here and there an +orchid flung its fantastic blossoms about a rotting limb, while the path +twisted in and out among them and through tangled thickets. It was then +the hottest part of the afternoon, and save for the soft fall of the +men's footsteps everything was still. The atmosphere was very like that +of a Turkish bath, and as Austin stumbled along the perspiration dripped +from him. + +He had toiled strenuously from early dawn until darkness closed down, of +late, and though he had, as yet, escaped the fever, every joint in his +body ached, and he was limp and dejected with the heat and weariness. +His only respite from labour had been the few hours spent on watch +beside the landed oil when his turn came, and he had now come down with +two of the Spaniards to relieve Jefferson, who was going back to the +_Cumbria_. The latter glanced towards a ray of brightness that beat into +the dim green shadow, and here and there flung a patch of brilliancy +athwart the great columnar trunks. + +"I've been wondering where this trail goes, and it seems to me there's +an opening close in front of us," he said. "We'll rest when we get +there, and I don't know that I'll be sorry. You have to choose between +stewing and roasting in this country, and, when it lets my skin stay on +me, I almost think the latter's easier." + +Austin felt inclined to agree with him, for they had blundered through +the shadowy bush for half an hour, and its hot, saturated atmosphere +made exertion almost impossible. Still, he said nothing, and in a few +more minutes they came out upon a glaring strip of sand beside another +creek. Jefferson stopped a moment, with a little gesture of +astonishment, in the shadow of a palm. + +"What in the name of wonder have they been turning that sand over for?" +he said. + +Austin walked out of the shadow, blinking in the dazzling brightness the +creek flung back, and saw that the sand had certainly been disturbed +every here and there. It seemed to him that somebody had been digging +holes in it and then had carefully filled them up. + +"There isn't a nigger village nearer than the one where Funnel-paint +lives, or I could have fancied they'd had an epidemic and been burying +their friends," he said. + +Jefferson shook his head. "They wouldn't worry to bring them here," he +said. "Still, somebody has been digging since the last wet season, for +it seems to me that when the rain comes the creek flows over here." + +It occurred to Austin that one or two, at least, of the excavations had +been filled in not long ago, but his comrade made no comment when he +suggested it, and they went back together to the shadow of the palm, +where Jefferson, sitting down thoughtfully, filled a blackened pipe. + +It was several minutes before he broke the silence. + +"There is," he said, at length, "a good deal I can't get the hang of +about the whole affair; but if I knew just how they came to start the +plates that let the water in, I'd have something to figure on. You can't +very well knock holes in an iron steamer's bottom on soft, slimy mud, +and I don't know where they could have found a rock here if they wanted +to." + +"Ah!" said Austin. "Then you think they might have wanted to find one?" + +Jefferson again sat silent for almost a minute, and then slowly shook +his head. "I don't know--I've nothing to go upon," he said. "She's not +even an old, played-out boat. Still, it seems to me that a heavily +freighted steamer, hung up by her nose on the bank, might easily have +started some of her plates when the waters of the creek subsided. Then +she'd settle deeper--it's nice soft mud." + +"But that would be--after--she went ashore." + +"Yes," said Jefferson dryly. "That's the point of it." + +Austin looked thoughtful. It had also occurred to him that there was a +good deal it was difficult to understand about the stranding of the +_Cumbria_, though that, after all, did not appear to concern them +greatly just then. + +"What puzzles me is why the salvage men let go," he said. "You see, +they're accustomed to this kind of thing, and have money behind them." + +Jefferson looked at him with a little smile, and Austin saw that he +guessed his thoughts. Jefferson was as gaunt as ever, a fever-worn +skeleton of a man, dressed, for the most part, in oil-stained rags, +while Austin was quite aware that, so far as outward appearances went, +there was very little that was prepossessing about himself. His big felt +hat hung over his forehead, sodden with grease, and shapeless; his hands +were hard and scarred, his nails were broken, and the rent singlet hung +open almost to his waist. All this seemed to emphasise their feebleness, +and the fact that there was no money behind them, at least. + +"Well," said Jefferson, "that's quite easy. Those salvage men are +specialists, and expect a good deal for the time they put in. Now they +took some oil out of her, but there is reason for believing they were +not sure they'd get the _Cumbria_ off at all, and it would cost a good +deal to charter a light-draught steamer to come up here. They tried +towing it down to a schooner, and lost a good deal of it on the shoals. +Then they towed the schooner in, and had to wait for a smooth surf +before they could get her out, with no more than sixty tons at that. The +game wasn't worth while, and the men were going down with fever." + +"But the gum?" + +"There wasn't a great deal down in the cargo sheets, and, any way, until +they'd hove the oil out they couldn't come at it." + +"You are still sure about the gum yourself?" + +Jefferson laughed softly. "I think I am. I don't quite know where it is, +but the skipper got it--a good deal of it." + +"Still, the steamer would be worth a persistent effort. There was no +doubt about her being there." + +"No," said Jefferson, with a little gesture of comprehension. "Now I +know just what you mean. You're wondering, since those men couldn't +heave her off, what's the use of us trying. Well, specialists make their +mistakes now and then, just like other men, and they took it for granted +that things were normal when they were there. From what I've seen of the +sand strips and the marks on the mangrove trunks, I don't think they +were. You see, there's a good deal we don't know about the tides yet, +and the Guinea stream doesn't always run quite the same along this +coast; while, when there's less than usual of the southwest winds that +help it along, it's quite likely to mean two or three feet less water in +these creeks. Then you can have a wet season that's a little drier than +the other ones, and it's fresh water here--the tide just backs it up." + +"Then you're counting on the present season being a normal one?" + +"Yes," said Jefferson quietly. "I've staked all I have on it--and a good +deal more than that. If it isn't, I might as well have pitched my forty +thousand dollars into the sea." + +He stopped a moment, and then laid a little grey object in Austin's +palm. "What d'you make of that?" + +Austin started as he looked at it. "A pistol bullet!" + +"Exactly," said Jefferson. "It has been through the barrel, too; you can +see the score of the rifling. I picked it up along the trail, but I +don't know how long it lay there, or who fired it. Still, the niggers +don't carry pistols. Well, it's about time I was getting back on board +if we're to start the pump to-night." + +Austin glanced at him sharply, and noticed that there was a suggestion +of tension in his voice, though his face was quiet. It was evident that +a good deal would depend upon the result of the first few hours' +pumping, for unless it lowered the water there would be little +probability of their floating the steamer. Neither of them, however, +said anything further, and when they went back to the beach where the +oil was, Jefferson steamed away in the launch, and Austin, who was left +with two Canarios, lay down in the shadow of a strip of tarpaulin. The +Spaniards, tired with their morning's labour, went to sleep; and Austin, +who filled his pipe several times, found the hours pass very slowly. +There was nothing to hold his attention--only glaring sand, dingy, dim +green mangroves, and tiers of puncheons with patches of whitewash +clinging to them. It flung back an intolerable brightness that hurt his +aching eyes, and he became sensible of a feverish impatience as he lay +watching the shadows lengthen. + +His thoughts were with Jefferson, who was, no doubt, now getting steam +on the locomotive boiler and coupling up the big pump. Unless the latter +did what they expected of it, the toil they had undergone, and +Jefferson's eight thousand pounds, would have been thrown away. That was +very evident, but Austin wondered a little at himself as his impatience +grew upon him, until it was only by an effort he held himself still. + +It was not the quarter share Jefferson offered him which had brought him +there, for he realised that even with five thousand pounds he would +still be, to all intents and purposes, a poor man, and his life on board +the _Estremedura_ had, in most respects, been one that suited him. He +had, in fact, not greatly cared whether the _Cumbria_ could be floated +or not, when he came out, but since then Jefferson's optimism, or +something that was born of the toil they had undertaken, had laid hold +of him, and now he was almost as anxious as his comrade that their +efforts should result in success. In fact, he was feverishly anxious, +and felt that if it would gain them anything he would willingly stake +his life on the venture. Then he smiled as he remembered that he had, +without quite realising it, done so already. + +Still, the long, hot afternoon dragged away, and when the sun dipped, +and black darkness closed down upon the creek, the launch came clanking +up to the beach. She brought two Canarios as well as Bill, the fireman, +and Austin's voice was eager as he greeted the latter. + +"Have you got the pump going yet?" he asked. + +"No," said Bill. "Tom and Mr. Jefferson was packing something when I +came away. He'd given her a spin, and found the engine blowing at a +gland." + +Austin asked him nothing further, but drove the launch at top speed +through the blackness that shrouded the misty creek, and walked straight +to where Jefferson was standing when he reached the _Cumbria_. The red +glow from the open fire-door of the locomotive boiler fell upon him, and +there were signs of tension in his face, while the red trickle from a +hand he had apparently injured smeared his torn jacket. Steam was +roaring from a valve beside him, and Austin could scarcely hear him when +he turned to the donkey-man. + +"Shut the fire-door. She'll go now," he said. "I'll let her shake down +for a minute or two, and then we'll give her everything." + +He walked forward towards where the light of a lamp fell upon the casing +of the pump, which looked like a huge iron drum considerably flattened +in. Then he touched a valve, and the machine became animate with a low +pulsatory wheezing, while something commenced to hum and rattle inside +it. The sound swelled into a fierce rhythmic whirring, the great iron +case vibrated, and Austin could feel the rails he leaned on tremble. +Jefferson turned and looked at him with a little smile, while he laid a +hand, as it were, affectionately upon the pump. + +"Yes," he said, "I've made her go, and she's going to earn me eighty +thousand dollars. She's drawing air just now. Heave your hat down, and +see if she'll take it along." + +Austin, who became sensible that a little draught was shaking his duck +trousers, did as Jefferson suggested, and the big felt hat rolled and +flopped in a ludicrous fashion along the deck. Then it seemed to spring +forward into the blackness, and groping after it, he found it glued to +the iron grid which was screwed to the end of a big pipe. It was with +some little difficulty he tore it loose. Then he saw Jefferson swing up +one hand. + +"Easy, while she's getting her first drink; then, if she's spouting +full, you can let her hum," he said, and turned to Austin. "Now, come +down with me." + +They went down together into the musty hold, and when somebody lowered +the big hose after them, Jefferson, standing upon the ladder, seized the +rope, and looked up at the Canarios clustering round the hatch above. + +"Where's that rake you made?" he said. + +It was handed him, and Austin glanced down at the water, which glistened +oilily under the light of a suspended lamp. It was thick with floating +grease and strewn with fragments of rotten bags. + +"Get hold and keep her clear!" said Jefferson, who thrust the rake upon +him, and then waited a moment before he lowered the hose, while Austin, +glancing round a moment, could see the faces of the men above them. They +were intent, and almost as expectant as his comrade's. + +Then the big pipe sank with a soft splash, and shook out its loose +half-coil, as if alive, while it swelled. It grew hard and rigid, and +the dim, oily water swirled and seethed about the end of it. In another +moment there was a rush of floating objects towards it from the shadows. +Strips of bagging, handspikes, clots of oil, and dunnage wood, came +thicker and thicker, and Jefferson raised his voice. + +"Let her hum!" he said. + +The pipe palpitated as it further straightened itself, and now a hole +opened in the oily water, and half-seen things came up with a rush from +the depths of the flooded hold. Hundreds of little black kernels whirled +and sank in the swing of the eddy, which grew wider as a deep, resonant +hum descended from the deck above. It seemed to Austin that everything +in the hold was coming to the top, but as he watched the bewildering +succession of odds and ends that spun amidst the froth, Jefferson's +voice rose harshly. + +"It's water she's wanting! Keep her clear!" he said. + +Austin contrived to do it for a while, though now and then the whirling +rush of bags and wood almost tore the rake away from him. He was kept +busy for half an hour, while Jefferson stood leaning out from the +ladder, and steadily watching the water. Then the American swung himself +down, with his knife in his hand, and scratched the iron at its level. + +"We'll know in another hour or two whether we're pumping out the +_Cumbria_ or pumping in the creek," he said. "If it's the latter, I've +got to let up on the contract. I can't undertake to dry out this part of +Africa." + +Then he signed to one of the Canarios. "Come down. Ven aca, savvy, and +take this rake." + +They went up together, but as they passed along the deck Jefferson +stopped once more to lay his hand upon the pump. It was running with a +dull, rumbling roar, and the deck trembled about it. + +"She's doing good work," he said. "Now we'll have comida. I daren't go +back there for another hour." + +They went into the deck-house, where the Spaniard who acted as steward +was waiting them, but in passing, Jefferson made a sign to Tom, who +stood in the glow from the fire-door, with a shovel in his hand. + +"All she's worth!" he said. + +They ate as a matter of duty, and because they needed all the strength +the climate had left them, but neither had much appetite, and Austin +knew that Jefferson was listening as eagerly as he was himself to the +deep, vibrating hum that came throbbing through the open door. It was a +relief to both of them to hear, the persistent jingling of a cup that +stood unevenly in its saucer. The pump was running well, but there +remained the momentous question, was it lowering the water? And when the +meal was over, Austin glanced at Jefferson as he pushed his plate aside. + +"Shall I go down and look?" he asked. + +"No," said Jefferson hoarsely. "Any way, if you do, don't come back and +worry me. She's full up, fore and after holds and engine room--and there +are things I don't stand very well. We'll give her two hours, and then, +if she's doing anything worth while, the scratch I made will be dry." + +Austin nodded sympathetically. "Under the circumstances," he said, "two +hours is a long while." + +Jefferson smiled, a curious, wry smile. "It's hard--the toughest thing +one can do--just to keep still; but if I climbed up and down that ladder +for two hours I'd probably break out, and heave somebody into the creek. +There are things you have to get over once for all--and do it quick." + +"I suppose there are," said Austin. "Still, it's the first time I've +made the acquaintance of any of them, and I shouldn't have fancied one +could get a thrill of this kind out of a centrifugal pump. There is, +however, of course, a good deal at stake." + +"Eighty thousand dollars," said Jefferson, "and all the rest of my life. +You don't usually get such chances as the _Cumbria_ is giving us twice." + +Austin found that he, at least, could not keep still, however he tried, +and he went out and paced up and down the slanted deck, where he fell +over things, though he now and then endeavored to talk rationally to Tom +the donkey-man. He did not find the attempt a success, but he saw that +he was not the only one who felt the tension, for the Canarios, in place +of resting, were clustered round the hatch, and apparently staring down +the opening. Jefferson was still in the deck-house each time he passed, +a gaunt, grim-faced object, with a lean hand clenched on an unlighted +pipe, and at last Austin sat down on the deck beside the pump. He liked +to feel the throb of it, but he remembered the half hour he spent there +a long while afterwards. + +Then Jefferson came out of the deck-house, walking slowly, though Austin +fancied it cost him an effort, and they climbed down the ladder +together. The man with the rake stood on the opposite one across the +hatch, and Austin felt his heart beat painfully as he raised the lantern +he held and Jefferson stooped down. He straightened himself slowly, +though the blood was in his face. + +"Dry!" he said hoarsely. "She's lowering it. It's a sure thing, Austin. +If the fever doesn't get us we'll see this contract out." + +Then he turned, and they went up and back to the deck-house, while an +exultant clamour broke out from the Canarios; but Jefferson's lean hand +quivered a little when he laid it on the table as he sat down. + +"If she has started any plates, they're not started much," he said. +"Now, talk about anything you like, so long as it isn't the _Cumbria_. +I've got to slacken down to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ELUSIVE GUM + + +It was in the small hours when Austin wakened, and, listening a moment, +stretched his aching limbs with a little sigh of content. The odds and +ends on the table beside him were rattling merrily, and a deep pulsatory +humming rang stridently through the silence of the swamps. The pump was +running well, for he could hear the steady splash of water falling into +the creek, and once more a little thrill of exultation ran through him. +He was not in most respects a fanciful man, for in him the artistic +temperament was held in due subjection by a knowledge of the world and +shrewd practical sense. Still, there were times when he vaguely +recognised that there might, after all, be a reality behind the fancies +he now and then indulged in with a smile, and that night it seemed to +him that the big centrifugal pump was chanting a song of triumph. + +He had tasted toil, and what toil really is only those know who have +borne it in the steamy heat of the tropics, which saps the white man's +vigour; while he had discovered what, artist as he was, he had not +learned before: that, by way of compensation, man may attain a certain +elusive spirituality by the stern subjugation of his body, even when it +is accomplished by brutal manual labour. As the _Estremedura_'s +sobrecargo he had watched the struggle for existence between man and man +with good-humoured toleration of its petty wiles and trickeries, but now +it was the cleaner and more primitive struggle between man and matter +he was called upon to take his part in with the faith in the destiny of +his species which is capable of moving mountains, and not infrequently +does so with hydraulic hose and blasting charges, as well as a few odd +thousand tons of iron and water in a stranded steamer. Lying still a +while, he heard the great pump hurling out its announcement of man's +domination to swamp and forest, and then went peacefully to sleep. + +He was astir with the dawn next morning, but when they went down the +ladder into the hold he knew that the change in him had reached a +further stage. Whether the water had sunk or not, he was going to see +that fight out, and go back triumphant, or leave his bones in Africa. It +was not alone to vindicate himself in Jacinta's eyes, for that, though +it counted, too, seemed of less moment now; he was there to justify his +existence, to prove himself a man, which many who have won honours in +this world have, after all, never really done. As a sign of it, he was +wholly practical when, hanging down from the ladder, he laid the fingers +of one hand upon the scratch Jefferson had made on the iron. Then he +held up the hand. + +"Wet to the knuckles only," he said. "Last night the water was on the +thumb." + +They went up, and Jefferson looked at him keenly when they stood on +deck; in fact, as he had done when Austin first clambered, half naked, +out of the hatch. + +"Yes," he said quietly, "she is heaving it out, and you have done more +than start in. You mean staying with it now?" + +Austin laughed. "I'm not sure how you know it, but I really think I do." + +"No?" said Jefferson, with a twinkle in his eyes. "When it's in your +voice, and stamped upon the rest of you. Well, I think we're going to +float her, though it's perhaps not quite a sure thing yet. We seem to +have bluffed off Funnel-paint, but the trouble is, you can't bluff the +fever. In the meanwhile, we'll see if she's draining any out of the +engine room." + +They went in, and stood on the top platform, looking down on the water, +which, so far as they could discern, stood at much the same level as it +had done. Jefferson gazed at it with an air of reflection. + +"If the bulkhead's strained and started so the water could get in, I +don't quite see why it shouldn't run out into the hold again, but +there's evidently no suction that way," he said. "You see how that +tool-case lid is floating. There's another point that strikes me. Those +started plates don't seem to be letting very much water in." + +"As you have already pointed out, there is a good deal it's a little +difficult to understand about the whole thing." + +"Well," said Jefferson gravely, "it doesn't matter in the meanwhile, and +we'll probably find out by and by. The first thing we have to do is to +lay hands on that gum, and until the water's lower we can't start in. +The boys can lay off to-day. Well, what are you wanting, Bill?" + +"Two of the Canariers down!" said the fireman, who appeared in the +doorway. "They was looking groggy yesterday, an' one o' them's talking +silly now. I think it's fever." + +Austin looked at Jefferson, whose face grew a trifle grim. "Ah," he +said, "it's beginning. Well, I had expected we'd have that to grapple +with before very long. We'll go along and look at them." + +They went, and found one of the men raving in the forecastle, while +Austin, who did what he could for him and his comrade, which was very +little, afterwards spent a day of blissful idleness stretched at full +length on the settee in the skipper's room, with a damp-stained +treatise on navigation. He had never imagined that he could peruse a +work of that kind with interest, but it served its purpose, for he felt +he must have something to fix his attention on. In the meanwhile the big +pump hummed on, as it did for another day and night, until on the third +morning Jefferson stopped it and turned steam on the winch again. + +"You have got to keep your eyes open as well as hustle, boys," he said, +as he stood with his hand on the lever. "There'll be forty dollars, +Spanish, for whoever finds the first bag of gum." + +Austin made this clear to them, and they went down the ladder, but two +men who had gone with them before were not there that day. The water had +sunk, and tiers of rotting bags lay, half afloat, in it, giving out a +sickening smell of fermentation. They were filled with little black +nuts, the oleaginous kernels of the palm fruit from which the layer of +oil had been scraped off, and these were evidently worth little in their +damaged condition. Austin, however, had very little time to notice them +in, for the winch above him rattled, and the day of feverish toil began. + +The bags burst when they dragged them into piles and laid them upon the +sling, while when the winch swung them up, a rain of kernels and slimy +water came pattering and splashing down. Putrefying kernels floated up +into every hole they made, and now and then a man sank waist deep among +the crumbling bags. Still, there was no stoppage or slackening of +effort. Forty dollars is a large sum to a seaman of the Canaries, who +can bring up a family on one peseta, which is rather less than +ninepence, a day, while the bonus contingent on getting the _Cumbria_ +off would set up most of them for life. They remembered it that day as +they floundered and waded about the stifling hold, for the work of the +big pump had renewed their ardour. + +Still, the task before them was one most men would have shrunk from. The +heat below decks was suffocating, the smell of the steaming, fermenting +mass of slime and oil and kernels nauseating. The water it swam in was +putrescent, and the weight to be hauled out of it and sent up into the +sunlight apparently enough to keep them busy for months ahead, though +they had, as everybody knew, very little time to move it in. It was to +be a grim struggle between man and inert material, for unless the +_Cumbria_ was hove off when the rains came, it seemed very probable that +she would stay there until she fell to pieces. + +They set about it in silence, which, in the case of Spaniards, was a +significant thing; but nobody had any breath to spare, and Austin gasped +distressfully as he toiled, almost naked, in their midst. His hair was +filled with grease, clots of oil smeared his shoulders, and the bags +that burst as he lifted them abraded his dripping skin. Still, they went +up, opening as they swung out of the dusky hold, and the winch rattled +on, while there could be no rest for any man while sling succeeded +sling. + +He was half blinded by perspiration, the wounds on his raw hands had +opened again, and there were now red patches on his uncovered breast and +arms. His muscles had, however, grown accustomed to the strain since the +first arduous day, and he did a man's part, as their comrade, with the +rest. There were no distinctions down in the stifling hold. It was a +community of effort for the one result, and again Austin wondered at the +forethought of the fever-wasted man above who drove the hammering winch. + +Jefferson was, beyond all question, boss; but with singular clearness of +vision, or, perhaps, that higher, half-conscious faculty of doing the +right thing, that characterises the leader of men, he had recognised +that what he called bluff was of no service here, and had gone straight +to the strength there is in simple human nature. There was, those +untaught sailormen knew, no labour he was not ready to bear his part in, +and no command was flung at them for a show of authority. Jefferson +spent his strength and dollars freely, and while he asked no more than a +hundred cents' worth for the latter, he got it with interest, a +hundredfold. + +It grew hotter and hotter, and there were curiously mingled ejaculations +of Latin prayer and imprecations that had somehow lost their sting. The +man with calumniated ancestry took it as a jest, and amidst the roar of +running chain and fierce rattle of the winch the work went on. The rains +were coming, there was very much to be done, and human courage braced +itself to the task. Hard hands were torn and bleeding, veins showed +gorged on dusky foreheads, muscles rose and bunched themselves under the +olive skin, and Englishman and Iberian gave freely all that was in them, +the sweat of the hard-driven body and tension of controlling will. They +were alone in the land of the shadow, with a deadly climate against +them, but the conflict they were engaged in has been waged before by +Spaniards and Englishmen in half the wilder lands. + +Then the winch stopped suddenly, and Jefferson came backwards down the +ladder. He alighted knee deep in water among the rotten bags, and all +his observations were not recordable. He had put off conventionality, +and was once more the reckless sailor and the optimistic American, so he +spoke of the lower regions, and called the men who had stowed the +_Cumbria_'s cargo condemned loafers in barbarous Castilian and good +American, while the olive-faced Canarios gasped and grinned at him. + +"The man who packed those bags there should be hung," he said. "We can't +break the bulk out until we've shifted most of them. Then I'll send you +down the sling-tub, and we'll heave the stuff to ----! It's sixty +dollars now for the man who finds the gum." + +"No sign of it yet," said Austin. "They'd never have stowed it among the +bulk kernels. They're worth something. Hadn't you better make sure of +them?" + +Jefferson laughed grimly. "They're worth--how do I know? Call it AL12 a +ton when they're not rotten. It's the gum we came for, and I'm going to +find it if I tear the ballast tanks and limbeys out of her. Clear that +bag bulkhead, and then stand by for the sling-tub. We'll heave every +blue-flamed kernel over." + +The tub came down by and by, in fact, two of them, and those who had no +shovels bailed up the slimy kernels with their hats and hands; but each +time the chain swung through the hatch the tub below was full. It was +two o'clock when they desisted, and some of them were waist deep in +water then, while soon after they came up the big hose splashed in +again. There were steampipe collars to unbolt and pack, and bolt again, +before that was done; while when Austin came upon Jefferson, he held up +one hand from which the scalded skin was peeling. + +"I can run the ---- winch if I drive her with my mouth and foot," he +said. "Get the comida into you, and then back into the hold again. We're +going to make her hum." + +Austin glanced suggestively towards the men, who stood with backs still +bent with weariness, about the entrance to the forecastle. + +"I suppose so," he said. "Still, the question is, can they stand it +long?" + +Jefferson laughed harshly. "They'll have to. We have the blazing sun +against us, and the evening fever-mist; in fact, 'most everything that +man has to grapple with, and the worst of all is time. Still, they can't +break us. We have got to beat them--the river, the climate, and all the +man-killing meanness nature has in Western Africa." + +He stopped a moment, and, standing very straight, a haggard, grim-faced +scarecrow, flung up his scalded hands towards the brassy heavens in a +wide, appealing gesture. "When you come to the bottom of things, that's +what we were made for. There's something in us that is stronger than +them all." + +Austin said nothing, though once more a little thrill ran through him as +he slipped away quietly in search of his comida. What they were doing +had, he felt, been sung in Epics long ago, and Jefferson had, it seemed, +blundered upon the under-running theme. It was the recognition of the +primal ban again, the ban that had a blessing for man to triumph in, and +by it win dominion over the material world and all there is therein. He +and his comrade were men whose creed was crudely simple, though it was +also, on points they did not often mention, severe; but they bore the +bonds of service, which are never worn without compensation, willingly, +and the tense effort of will and limb had clarified and strengthened the +vague faith in them until they were ready to attempt the impossible. + +Still, Austin had little time for his comida. The men in the forecastle +were very sick indeed, and he packed them in foul blankets, and dosed +them with green-lime water, boiling hot to start the perspiration, which +was, he recognised, likely to accomplish more than his prescriptions. +There were limes in Funnel-paint's village, and they had not scrupled to +requisition them. One of the men lay still, moaning faintly through +blackened lips, and the other, raving, called incoherently on saints and +angels. It seemed to Austin, standing in that reeking den, that there +was small chance for his patients unless they heard him. Two of those +whose names he caught had once, he remembered, been, at least, +fresh-water sailormen, and half unconsciously he also appealed to them. +One creed appeared much the same as another in that dark land, and +something in him cried out instinctively to the great serene influences +beyond the shadow. When he had finished his work of mercy the Spaniards +were stripping the covers off the after hatch, and he had scarcely a +minute for a mouthful before he joined them to heave the kernels up by +hand. They went up, basket after basket, and splashed into the creek, +but there was no sign of a gum bag or package anywhere among them. Bill, +who hove them out through the open gangway, once turned to grin at +Austin, who stood next the hatch. + +"I've never been a millionaire, an' it's ---- unlikely that I'll ever be +one, either; but I know what it must feel like now," he said. "Here are +you an' me slingin' away stuff that's worth twelve pounds a ton, an' one +o' them goes a long way with a man like me." + +Austin said nothing. He had no breath to spare, but he thrust a brimming +basket upon the fireman, and that did just as well. They toiled +throughout that afternoon, under a broiling sun, but when the black +darkness came again they had still found no gum. Then, as they ate +together, Austin looked at Jefferson. + +"You are sure the gum was really put into her?" he said. + +"It was," said Jefferson, with a little grim smile. "Whether it's there +now, or not, is another thing. We'll know when she's empty, and if we +haven't found it then, we'll consider. Not a pound reached Grand Canary, +and it's quite certain that the fellows who went--somewhere else--took +none of it with them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER + + +A week had passed without their finding any gum, when one evening Austin +stood beside Jefferson in the _Cumbria_'s forecastle. It felt as hot as +an oven, though the damp fell in big drops from the iron beams and +trickled down the vessel's unceiled skin, while a smoky lamp supplied it +with insufficient illumination. The faint light showed the hazily +outlined forms of the men sitting limp and apathetic, now the long day's +toil was over, in the acrid smoke of Canary tobacco, and forced up +clearly the drawn face of one who lay beneath it, gazing at Austin with +a glitter in his uncomprehending eyes. Behind him other figures occupied +a part of the shelf-like row of bunks, but they were mere shapeless +bundles of greasy blankets and foul clothing, with only a shock of damp +hair or a claw-like hand projecting from them here and there to show +that they were human. Jefferson said nothing, but his face was a trifle +grim, and he straightened himself wearily when one of the Spaniards rose +and moved into the light. + +"SeA+-or," he said, with a little deprecatory gesture, "for ourselves we +others do not complain, but these men are very sick, and the medicines +of the SeA+-or Austin do not make them better. One of them is my cousin, +another my wife's brother; and there are those in Las Palmas and Galdar +who depend on them. In a week, or, perhaps, a day or two, they die. +Something must be done." + +There was a faint approving murmur from the rest of the men. They had +worked well, but the excitement of the search for the gum was wearing +off, and the strain had commenced to tell. Jefferson smiled wryly as he +glanced at Austin. + +"Hadn't you better ask him what can be done?" he said. + +The Spaniard flung his arms up when Austin translated this. "Who knows?" +he said. "I am only an ignorant sailorman, and cannot tell; but when we +came here the SeA+-or Austin promised us that we should have all that was +reasonable. It is not fitting that men should die and nothing be done to +save them." + +"I scarcely think it is," said Austin. "Still, how to set about the +thing is more than I know. It must be talked over. We may, perhaps, tell +you more to-morrow." + +He touched Jefferson's shoulder, and they went out of the forecastle and +towards the skipper's room silently. When they sat down Jefferson looked +hard at him. + +"Well?" he said. "Two of them are your men." + +Austin made a little sign of comprehension. "I don't remember what I +promised them. I had trouble to get them, but I certainly told them the +place wasn't a healthy one. That, however, doesn't convey a very +sufficient impression to anybody who hasn't been here." + +"No," and Jefferson smiled grimly, "I don't quite think it does. The +point is that you feel yourself responsible to them, though I don't see +why you should. A man has to take his chances when he makes a bargain of +the kind they did." + +Austin stretched himself on the settee wearily, and lighted a cigarette. +He had been feeling unpleasantly limp of late, and his head and back +ached that night. + +"It's a little difficult to define what a bargain really is," he said. +"Still, it seems to me that to make it a just one the contracting +parties should clearly understand, one what he is selling, and the other +what he is buying. In the case in question I knew what I was getting, +but I'm far from sure the Canarios quite realised what they might have +to part with." + +"That is not the business view." + +"I am willing to admit it. I, however, can't help fancying that there is +a certain responsibility attached to buying up men's lives for a few +dollars when they're under the impression that it's their labour they're +selling. In fact, it's one that is a little too big for me." + +Jefferson sat silent for almost a minute, looking at Austin, who met his +gaze steadily, with his eyes half closed. + +"Well," he said, "it isn't the usual view, but there's something to be +said for it. What d'you mean to do?" + +"Put the sick men on board the launch and run them out to sea on the +chance of picking up a West-coast liner, or--and it might suit just as +well--one of the new opposition boats. From what I gathered at Las +Palmas, the men who run them are, for the most part, rather a hard-up +crowd, and you're usually more likely to get a kindness done you by that +kind of people. We have nothing to pay their passage with, you see." + +"You might get one oil puncheon into the launch. Still, you have to +remember that men who go down with fever along shore often die, instead +of coming round, when they get out to sea." + +Austin smiled. "One would fancy that men who stay along shore when they +have fever, as these fellows have it, die invariably." + +Once more Jefferson sat silent a while, gazing at his comrade +thoughtfully. + +"Well," he said, with a little gesture, "I leave the thing to you. +After all, it's quite likely that one's dollars aren't worth what you +lay out to get them, now and then, but that's certainly not the +question. The boat's not making the water I expected, but we haven't +found the gum, and engine room and after hold are still almost full. The +boiler, as you know, has two or three tubes blowing, and we have nothing +to stop them with. That means she's wasting half her steam, and as we +have to keep a full head for the pump and winch, the coal's just +melting. By the time we heave her off there will be very little left, +and I've no fancy for going to sea short of fuel and being picked up as +salvage. It's a point that has been worrying me lately." + +"There is coal to be had at Sierra Leone." + +"And there are a British Consul and Government authorities. You're +loaded down to the water's edge with Shipping Acts, and the _Cumbria_'s +still upon your register. Do you suppose they are going to let her out +again, as she is, if we once go in there?" + +Austin fancied it was scarcely likely. The requirements of the paternal +Board of Trade are, in fact, so onerous that English owners not +infrequently register their ships under another flag; while it occurred +to him that consul and surveyor would have a fit of indignant horror if +they saw how the enactments were complied with on board the _Cumbria_. + +"No, sir," said Jefferson. "She's going straight across to Las Palmas +when she leaves this creek. That's Spanish, and a few dollars go a long +way in Spain. Besides, it's not quite certain that we'll leave the +creeks at all this season." + +Austin straightened himself suddenly. "What do you mean?" + +"Only that I'm not going home without the gum." + +There was a little silence, and during it Austin endeavoured to adopt +an attitude of resignation. It was his belief that the _Cumbria_ would +be floated, or the project given up, when the rains came, that had +animated him through the toil he had undertaken. Another month or two +would, he had expected, see the task accomplished; but now it might, it +seemed, continue indefinitely, and he shrank from the thought of a +longer sojourn in the land of shadow. Then, with a little effort, he +slowly raised his head. + +"To be candid, that is a good deal more than I counted on when I made +the bargain," he said. "Still, I can't well go back on it now. There is +coal to be had in Dakar, too, but it would cost a good deal to bring +even a schooner load here, though we could, per contra, load up oil in +her. Have you the money?" + +Jefferson drummed with his fingers upon the table. "That's the trouble. +I have a little left, but I'm not quite sure I could get it into my +hands without the mailing to and fro of signed papers." + +"Some of the West-coast mailboats call at Dakar. I might get the coal +and a schooner on a bond there. Of course, the people would want a heavy +profit under the circumstances." + +"Three or four times as much as they were entitled to, any way," and a +little glint crept into Jefferson's eyes. "Now, it's quite usual for the +man who does the work to be glad of the odd scraps the man with the +money flings him for his pains, but it's going to be different with this +contract. I haven't the least notion of working here to make the other +fellow rich. If we buy the coal it will be at the market value, cash +down. The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to get it." + +"Well," said Austin, slowly, "a means of raising it has occurred to me. +You see, as seems to have been the case with you, there is money in the +family, and ethically I really think a little of it belongs to me. It +is not--for several reasons--a pleasant thing to ask for it. In fact, I +fancied once I'd have starved before I did so, but it couldn't be harder +than what we have been doing here. One could cable to Las Palmas, and a +credit might be arranged by wire with one of the banking agencies +there." + +"Your people would let you have the money?" + +Austin laughed, a trifle harshly. "Not exactly out of good-will, but, if +I worded that cable cleverly, they might do it to keep me here. I don't +know how it is in your country, but in ours they're seldom very proud of +the poor relation. In fact, some of them would do a good deal to prevent +his turning up to worry them. I think there are occasions when a man is +almost warranted in levying contributions of the kind." + +Jefferson's eyes twinkled. "You are a curious, inconsequent kind of man. +You worry over those Spaniards who have no call on you, and then you +propose to bluff your own people out of their money." + +"If I had been one who always acted logically I should certainly not +have been here. As it is, I'll start to-morrow, and wire my kind +relations that, failing a draft for two hundred pounds, I'm coming home +in rags by the first steamer. I almost think they'll send the money." + +Jefferson stretched out a lean hand suddenly, and laid it on his +comrade's arm. "It's going to hurt you, but you can't get anything worth +while without that. You can send them back their money when we get her +off; but if you let anything stop you now you'll feel mean and sorry all +your life." + +"Yes," said Austin, "I fancy I should. It's rather a pity, but one can't +always be particular. In the meanwhile, I'll see Tom about the launch." + +He went out, and, coming back half an hour later, threw himself down on +the settee, and was fast asleep when Jefferson, who had been busy about +the pump, came in and stood a moment looking down on him. Austin's face +was worn, and thinner than it had been when he reached the _Cumbria_; +the damp stood beaded on it, and his hair lay wet and lank upon his +pallid forehead. + +"I guess the raising of that money is going to be about the hardest +thing you ever did, but you'll do it," said Jefferson. "I've got the +kind of man I want for a partner." + +Austin, who did not hear him, slept on peacefully, and steamed away down +river early next morning; while it was late on the second night, and the +launch was out at sea, when he sat, very wearily, with his hand upon her +helm, looking out across the long, smooth undulations. A half-moon hung +low to the westward, and they came up, heaving in long succession from +under it, ebony black in the hollows, and flecked with blinks of silver +light upon their backs. Austin only saw the latter, for he was looking +into the dusky blueness of the east, though it was only by an effort he +kept himself awake. During the last few days a feeling of limp dejection +had been creeping over him. + +The launch was steaming slowly, with only a little drowsy gurgle about +her propeller as she swung and dipped to the swell, though she rolled +uneasily with the weight of the big oil puncheon high up in her. Bill, +the fireman, was crouched, half asleep, beside the clanking engine, and +two very sick men lay forward beneath a ragged tarpaulin. Though the +surf had been smoother than usual, Austin did not know how he had +brought them all out across the bar. + +There were many stars in the heavens, and by and by, as he blinked at +the soft darkness with aching eyes, he saw one that seemed unusually +low down and moved a little. Then, shaking himself to attention, he made +out a dim glimmer of green, and became sensible of a faint throbbing +that crept softly out of the silence. He leaned forward and touched the +fireman. + +"Open her out," he said. "That's a steamboat coming, and it looks as if +she would go by well to the south." + +Bill pulled at a lever, the engine clanked faster, and the launch +commenced to rail more sharply as she lurched over the long undulations +with an increasing gurgle beneath her side. The sea was oily smooth, and +she rolled southwards fast; but the steamer's lights were rising high, +and the pounding of engines grew louder in a sharp crescendo, until they +could hear the black water frothing under iron bows. Then the launch's +whistle broke into a shrill scream. There was no answer, and Austin +turned to the fireman again. + +"Shake her up! There will not be another boat for a week!" he said. + +Bill pulled the lever over a little further, and stirred the furnace, +and the clanking grew louder, while the launch rolled more violently. +When she swung up, Austin saw a strip of dusky hull that swayed and +heaved in front of them, and then was suddenly lost to view again. + +"She's not one of the mailboats, anyway. They'd be lighted, saloon deck +and poop," he said. "It almost looks as if she would get away from us." + +Bill opened the whistle full, and left it screaming while he sprang up +on the side deck, a black figure holding high a strip of blazing waste. +Its red glare streaked the water, and the burning oil dripped from it in +a sparkling rain, while Austin felt his heart beat when the man flung it +down with an imprecation. Then a deep, vibratory blast came trembling +across the glimmering water, and he saw the piled-up foam fall away +beneath the big iron bows. + +"They've seen us," he said. "She's standing by." + +Five minutes later the launch lay lurching beneath the steamer's high, +black side, while a man leaned out from her slanted bridge above, +looking down into her. + +"What d'you want?" he said. "I'm not going in for cargo unless it's +worth while. We're tolerably full this trip." + +"A passage," said Austin. "There are myself and two sick men. We're +going to Grand Canary." + +"What's the oil for?" + +"To cover the ticket." + +The skipper appeared to be gazing down at him in astonishment. + +"Sixteen pounds' worth, at the most, for three men to Grand Canary! You +have good nerves," he said. + +"I can't go any further, and you see they're very sick." + +The skipper was understood to say that his ship was not a several +adjectived hospital, but Austin only smiled, for he was acquainted with +that kind of man, and aware that he was, at least, as likely to do him a +kindness as an elaborately got up mailboat's skipper. + +"Well," he said, "if you won't have us, I'll take them back and bury +them. It's tolerably sure to come to that. Two of us will not eat much, +any way, and we'll be quite content to sleep on deck." + +There was no answer for a moment, and then, as the bridge came slanting +down, the man who leaned out from it laughed. + +"It's a puncheon of oil to nothing, and I've been hard up myself," he +said. "The next thing is, how the devil are you going to get them up? +We've stowed away our ladder." + +"Then it'll have to be a sling. I'll steady them up when she rises, and +some of your crowd can hand them in." + +It was done with difficulty, for the steamer rolled with a disconcerting +swing, and then Austin grasped Bill's hand before he went up the rope. A +gong clanged sharply, the launch slid astern, and several seamen carried +the two bundles of foul blankets away. While Austin watched them +vacantly a hand fell upon his shoulder, and propelled him into a room +beneath the bridge. Then he heard a harsh voice: + +"There isn't any factory I'm acquainted with hereabouts. Where d'you get +that oil from?" it said. + +Austin sat down on the settee and blinked at the burly, hard-faced man +in front of him. + +"I don't know if you'll be astonished, but we really came by it +legitimately," he said. "In fact, we got it out of a stranded +steamer--one we're endeavouring to heave off, you see." + +The skipper smiled as comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Then you're +one of the ---- fools who bought the _Cumbria_?" + +"I am. Still, I'm not sure that your opinion of us is quite warranted +yet. If it isn't, you'll get more than the one puncheon for taking us +across. In the meanwhile, I'm a little anxious about those men." + +"They're all right. Pills will see to them. We have one. He probably +killed somebody by accident, or did something of that kind, or he +wouldn't be here. Directors had a notion we might pick up a few +passengers. They, however, prefer the liners." + +Austin laughed, and the skipper's eyes slowly twinkled. "The fact is, I +don't blame them," he said. "Any way, you will lie down here until they +get you a room in the poop ready." + +He went out, and an hour or two later Austin was roused by a touch from +a fitful sleep. A young man who stooped over him was regarding him +intently. + +"Put that in your mouth?" he said. + +Austin slipped the little glass tube between his lips, and the doctor +nodded when he passed it back to him. + +"Yes," he said, "you have a very promising case of fever coming on. Get +up and lean on me; the sooner we pack you between the blankets the +better." + +Austin rose unsteadily, and found that he had some difficulty in walking +when they went out upon the slanting deck. He was quite sure of that, +but everything else that he did, or was done to him, during the next few +days, was wrapped in obscurity. Still, he had a hazy notion of the +doctor and another man half dragging him into a little room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JACINTA BECOMES INDIGNANT + + +It was fifteen days after he boarded the steamer when Austin reached Las +Palmas in a condition which, at least, prevented him chafing at the +delay as he otherwise would have done. On the second day something went +wrong with the high-pressure engine, and the little, deep-loaded vessel +lay rolling idly athwart the swell, while her engineers dismantled and +re-erected it. Then the trouble they had already had with the condenser +became more acute, so that they would scarcely keep a vacuum, and it +also happened that the trade-breeze she had to steam against blew +unusually fresh that season. + +Austin, however, was not aware of this at the time. He lay rambling +incoherently for several days, and when at last his senses came back to +him, found himself too weak and listless to trouble about anything. He +gained strength rapidly, for the swamp fever does not, as a rule, keep +its victim prostrate long. It either kills him without loss of time, or +allows him to escape for a season; but its effect is frequently mental +as well as physical, and Austin's listlessness remained. He had borne a +heavy strain, and when he went ashore at Las Palmas the inevitable +reaction was intensified by the black dejection the fever had left +behind. It seemed to him that he and Jefferson were only wasting their +efforts, and though he still meant to go on with them, he expected no +result, since he now felt that there was not the slightest probability +of their ever getting the _Cumbria_ off. It was a somewhat unusual mood +for a young Englishman to find himself in, though by no means an +incomprehensible one in case of a man badly shaken by the malaria fever, +while one of Austin's shortcomings was, or so, at least, Jacinta Brown +considered, a too complaisant adaptation of himself to circumstances. +She held the belief that when the latter were unpropitious, a determined +attempt to alter them was much more commendable, and not infrequently +successful. + +In any case, Austin found Pancho Brown was away buying tomatoes when he +called at his office, and the Spanish clerk also informed him that Miss +Brown and Mrs. Hatherly had left Las Palmas for a while. He fancied they +had gone to Madeira, but was not certain, and Austin, who left him a +message for Brown and a letter Jefferson had charged him with to be +forwarded to Miss Gascoyne, went on to the telegraph office more +dejected than ever. Jacinta had, usually, a bracing effect upon those +she came into contact with, and Austin, who felt he needed a mental +stimulant, realised now that one of the things that had sustained him +was the expectation of hearing her express her approval of what he had +done. He had not looked for anything more, but it seemed that he must +also dispense with this consolation. + +He delivered one of the canarios, who was apparently recovering, to his +friends, and saw the other bestowed in the hospital, and then, finding +that he could not loiter about Las Palmas waiting an answer to his +cable, which he did not expect for several days, decided to go across to +Teneriffe with the _Estremedura_. There was no difficulty about this, +though funds were scanty, for the Spanish manager told him he could make +himself at home on board her as long as he liked, if he would instruct +the new sobrecargo in his duties, as he, it appeared, had some +difficulty in understanding them. + +On the night they went to sea he lay upon the settee in the engineers' +mess-room, with Macallister sitting opposite him, and a basket of white +grapes and a garafon of red wine on the table between them. Port and +door were wide open, and the trade-breeze swept through the room, fresh, +and delightfully cool. Austin had also an unusually good cigar in his +hand, and stretched himself on the settee with a little sigh of content +when he had recounted what they had done on board the _Cumbria_. + +"I don't know if we'll ever get her off, and the astonishing thing is, +that since I had the fever I don't seem to care," he said. "In the +meanwhile, it's a relief to get away from her. In fact, I feel I would +like to lie here and take it easy for at least a year." + +Macallister nodded comprehendingly. Austin's face was blanched and +hollow, and he was very thin, while the stamp of weariness and lassitude +was plain on him. Still, as he glanced in his direction a little sparkle +crept into the engineer's eyes. + +"So Jefferson made the pump go, and ran the forehold dry!" he said. +"When ye come to think of it, yon is an ingenious man." + +Austin laughed. "He is also, in some respects, an astonishing one. He +was perfectly at home among the smart people at the Catalina, and I +fancy he would have been equally so in the Bowery, whose inhabitants, +one understands, very much resemble in their manners those of your +Glasgow closes or Edinburgh wynds. In fact, I've wondered, now and then, +if Miss Gascoyne quite realises who she is going to marry. There are +several sides to Jefferson's character, and she has, so far, only seen +one of them." + +"Well," said Macallister, reflectively, "I'm thinking she will never +see the rest. There are men, though they're no exactly plentiful, who +can hide them, and it's scarcely likely that Jefferson will rive a +steamboat out of the African swamps again." + +"Once is quite enough in a lifetime, but it's when the work is done, and +he has to quiet down, I foresee trouble for Jefferson. I'm not sure Miss +Gascoyne's English friends would altogether appreciate him." + +Again Macallister nodded. "Still," he said, "what yon man does not know +he will learn. I would back him to do anything now he has made that +boiler steam. Then ye will mind it's no the clever women who are the +easiest to live with when ye have married them, and there's a good deal +to be said for girls like Miss Gascoyne, who do not see too much. It is +convenient that a wife should be content with her husband, and not be +wanting to change him into somebody else, which is a thing I would not +stand at any price myself." + +Austin grinned, for it was known that Macallister had, at least now and +then, found it advisable to entertain his friends on board the +_Estremedura_ by stealth. The engineer however, did not appear to notice +his smile. + +"Ye will go back when ye get the money?" he said. + +"Of course. I have to see the thing out now, though I don't quite +understand how I ever came to trouble myself about it in the first +place." + +This time it was Macallister who grinned. "I have been in this world a +weary while, and would ye pull the wool over my eyes? Ye are aware that +the notion was driven into ye." + +Austin was astonished, and a trifle annoyed, as he remembered a certain +very similar conversation he had had with Jefferson. It was +disconcerting to find that Macallister was as conversant with his +affairs as his partner had shown himself to be, especially as they had +both apparently drawn the same inference. + +"I wonder what made you say that?" he asked, with lifted brows. + +Macallister laughed. "Well," he said drily, "I'm thinking Miss Brown +knows, as well as I do, that ye would not have gone of your own accord." + +"Why should Miss Brown have the slightest wish that I should go to +Africa?" + +"If ye do not know, how could ye expect me to? Still, it should be plain +to ye that it was not for your health." + +Austin raised himself a trifle, and looked at his comrade steadily. "The +drift of your remarks is tolerably clear. Any way, because I would +sooner you made no more of them, it might be as well to point out that +no girl who cared twopence about a man would send him to the swamps +where the _Cumbria_ is lying." + +"Maybe she would not. There are things I do not know, but ye will mind +that Jacinta Brown is not made on quite the same model as Miss Gascoyne. +She sees a good deal, and if she was not content with her husband she +would up and alter him. I'm thinking it would not matter if it hurt the +pair o' them." + +"The difficulty is that she hasn't got one." + +Macallister laughed softly. "It's one that can be got over, though +Jacinta's particular. It's not everybody who would suit her. Ye are +still wondering why ye went to Africa?" + +"No," said Austin, with a trace of grimness. "I don't think it's worth +while. Mind, I'm not admitting that I didn't go because the notion +pleased me, and if Miss Brown wished me to, it was certainly because of +Muriel Gascoyne." + +"Maybe," said Macallister, with a little incredulous smile. He rose, +and, moving towards the doorway, turned again. "She might tell ye +herself to-morrow. She's now in Santa Cruz." + +He went out, apparently chuckling over something, and Austin +thoughtfully smoked out his cigar. To be a friend of Jacinta Brown's +was, as he had realised already, a somewhat serious thing. It implied +that one must adopt her point of view, and, what was more difficult, to +some extent, at least, sink his own individuality. Macallister and +Jefferson were, he fancied, perhaps right upon one point, and that was +that Jacinta had decided that a little strenuous action might be +beneficial in his case; but if this was so, Austin was not sure that he +was grateful to her. He was willing to do anything that would afford her +pleasure, that was, so long as he could feel she would gain anything +tangible, if it was only the satisfaction of seeing Muriel Gascoyne made +happy through his endeavours. In fact, what he wished was to do her a +definite service, but the notion of being reformed, as it were, against +his wishes, when he was not sure that he needed it, did not please him. +This was carrying a friendly interest considerably too far, and it was +quite certain, he thought, that he could expect nothing more from her. +He almost wished that he had never seen her, which was a desire he had +hovered on the brink of before; but while he considered the matter the +trade-breeze was sighing through the port, and the engines throbbed on +drowsily, while from outside came the hiss and gurgle of parted seas. +Austin heard it all, until the sounds grew fainter, and he went to +sleep. + +It also happened that while he slept and dreamed of her, Jacinta sat +with Muriel Gascoyne in the garden of a certain hotel on the hillside +above Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. The house had been built long ago, +evidently for a Spanish gentleman of means and taste, and its latest +proprietor had sufficient sense to attempt no improvement on its +old-world beauty. It stood on a terrace of the hillside, quiet, quaint, +and cool, with its ancient, bronze-railed balconies, red-tiled roof, and +pink-washed walls, but its garden of palms and oleanders was its +greatest charm. + +On the night in question a full moon hung over the CaA+-adas' splintered +rampart, and its soft radiance fell upon the white-walled city and smote +a track of glittering silver across the vast plain of sea. The smell of +oleanders and heliotrope was heavy in the air, and a cluster of blossoms +swayed above Jacinta's shoulder. She was just then looking up at a +Spanish officer in dark green uniform, who stood close by, with sword +girt tight to his thigh. He had a dark, forceful face, with the stamp of +distinction on it, but he received no encouragement, though he glanced +at the vacant place on the stone bench suggestively. + +"No," said Jacinta. "I do not think I shall go to-morrow, so you need +not call for me. I have scrambled through the Mercedes Wood several +times already, and we came here to be quiet. That is why we are sitting +outside to-night. There are two or three tiresome people in the house +who will insist upon talking." + +It is seldom necessary to furnish a Spaniard, who is usually skilled in +innuendo, with a second hint, and the officer took his departure +gracefully. When he vanished, with jingling sword, into the shadow of +the palms, Muriel looked at her companion. + +"You meant me to stay?" she said. + +"Of course," said Jacinta. "Still, I didn't mean you to let him see that +I did, and I really did not kick you very hard. Any way, it doesn't +matter. The great thing is that he is gone." + +"You were anxious that he should go?" + +"Yes," said Jacinta. "I feel relieved now. He is, in some respects, a +very silly man. In fact, he has been wanting to marry me for ever so +long." + +"Why?" said Muriel, and stopped abruptly. "Of course, I mean that he is +a Spaniard, you know." + +Jacinta laughed, and apparently indicated herself by a little wave of +her fan. She was once more attired in an evening dress that appeared to +consist largely of black lace, and looked curiously dainty and +sylph-like in the diaphanous drapery. The moonlight was also on her +face. + +"The reason," she said, "ought to be sufficiently plain. He is, as you +point out, certainly Spanish, but there really are a few estimable +gentlemen of that nationality. This one was Governor or Commandante in +some part of Cuba, and I believe he got comparatively rich there. They +usually do. Still, he's a little fond of the casino, and is reported to +be unlucky, while, in spite of my obvious disadvantages, I am the +daughter of Pancho Brown." + +She stopped with another laugh that had a faintly suggestive ring in it. +"There are times when I wish I was somebody else who hadn't a penny!" + +"But it can't be nice to be poor," said Muriel, looking at her with a +trace of bewilderment in her big blue eyes. + +"It is probably distinctly unpleasant. Still, it would be consoling to +feel that your money could neither encourage nor prevent anybody you +liked falling in love with you, and it would, in one sense, be nice to +know that the man you graciously approved of would have to get whatever +you wanted for you. You ought to understand that." + +There was a trace of pride in Muriel's smile. "Of course; but, after +all, there are not many men who can do almost anything, like--Harry +Jefferson. Some of the very nicest ones seem quite unable to make +money." + +"I really don't think there are," and Jacinta's tone was, for no very +apparent reason, slightly different now. "The nicest ones are, as you +suggest, usually lazy. It's sad, but true. Still, you see, if ever I +married, my husband would have to shake off his slothfulness and do +something worth while." + +"But he mightn't want to." + +"Of course," said Jacinta, drily. "He probably wouldn't. Still, he would +have to. I should make him." + +"Ah," said Muriel. "Do you know that you are just a little hard, and I +think when one is too hard one is generally sorry afterwards. Now, I +don't understand it all, but you once told me you had got something you +wished for done, and were sorry you had. I fancied you were even sorrier +than you wished me to know." + +Jacinta sat silent a moment or two, with a curious expression in her +face, as she looked out across the clustered roofs towards the sparkling +sea. It was a custom she had fallen into lately, and it was always +towards the east she gazed. Then she smiled. + +"Well," she said, "perhaps I was, but it was certainly very silly of +me." + +Neither of them spoke again for a while, and by and by a man came out of +the house bearing an envelope upon a tray. Jacinta tore it open, and +Muriel saw the blood surge to her face as she spread out the telegraphic +message. Then the swift colour faded, and there was only a little angry +glint in her eyes. + +"It's from my father, and good news for you," she said. "Tell Muriel +Austin was here. Salvage operations difficult, but he left Jefferson, +who expects to be successful, well. Forwarding letter." + +"Ah!" said Muriel, with a little gasp, "you don't know what a relief +that is to me. But you seem almost angry." + +Jacinta laughed a trifle harshly. "I almost think I am. It isn't exactly +pleasant to find one's self mistaken, and I had expected something +better from Mr. Austin. The difficulties he mentions were evidently too +much for him. You were quite right, my dear. There are not many men like +Jefferson." + +Now Muriel Gascoyne had no very keen perceptions, and was, moreover, +wrapped up in her own and Jefferson's affairs, or she might have seen +that anger was not all that Jacinta was feeling. As it was, overcome by +the relief the message had brought her, she quite failed to notice the +pain in her companion's face or the quivering of her hands. In a minute +or two Jacinta, who waited until she fancied she could do so without it +appearing significant, rose and left her. + +She, however, stopped on the terrace, and once more looked down on the +glittering sea, with one hand closed at her side. Then, as though +remembering something, she turned hastily. + +"I could never have believed you were a coward--and you went out for +me!" she said, and moved towards the hotel with a little air of +resolution, as one who had made a painful decision. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CONDEMNED UNHEARD + + +A full moon hung over the white city, and the drowsy murmur of the surf +broke fitfully through the music of the artillery band when Austin sat +listlessly on a bench in the plaza of Santa Cruz. It was about eight +o'clock in the evening, and the plaza was crowded, as usual at that +hour. Peon and officer, merchant and clerk, paced slowly up and down, +enjoying the cool of the evening with their wives and daughters, or sat +in clusters outside the lighted cafA(C)s. The band was an excellent one, +the crowd gravely good-humoured, and picturesquely attired, for white +linen, pale-tinted draperies, sombre cloth, and green uniform formed +patches of kaleidoscopic colouring as the stream of humanity flowed by +under the glaring lamplight and the soft radiance of the moon. + +Austin had sat there often before he went to Africa, listening to the +music and watching the spectacle; but neither had any charm for him that +night. The laughter sounded hollow, the waltz the band was playing had +lost its swing, and the streams of light from the cafA(C)s hurt his eyes +and irritated him. The deep murmur of the sea alone was faintly +soothing, and remembering how often he had thought of that cool plaza, +with its lights and music, in the steamy blackness of the swamps, he +wondered vaguely what had happened to him. The zest and sparkle seemed +to have gone out of life, and he did not attribute it to the fact that +the melancholia of the swamp belt was still upon him. + +He crossed the plaza, and sitting outside one of the cafA(C)s he had +frequented, asked for wine. It was brought him, chilled with snow from +the great peak's summit, but the greeting of the man who kept the cafA(C) +seemed for once devoid of cordiality, and the wine sour and thin. Still, +the Spaniard stood a minute or two by his chair, and, as it happened, +Jacinta passed just then with a dark-faced Spanish officer. He wore an +exceedingly tight-fitting uniform, but he had a figure that carried it +well, and an unmistakable air of distinction. Jacinta was also smiling +at him, though she turned, and seemed to indicate somebody in the +vicinity with a little gesture. As she did so her eyes rested for a +moment upon Austin, who became for the first time unpleasantly conscious +of his haggard face and hard, scarred hands. There was, he realised, +nothing in the least distinguished about him. Then it was with a faint +sense of dismay he saw that Jacinta did not mean to recognise him, for +she laughed as she turned to her companion, and he heard the soft rustle +of her light draperies as they went on again. + +"That is the Colonel Sarramento?" he said, as carelessly as he could, +though there was a faint flush in his hollow face. + +"It is," said his companion. "Colonel in the military service, though he +has held other offices in Cuba. A man of ability, seA+-or, and now it is +said that he will marry the English merchant's daughter. Why not? The +SeA+-orita Brown is more Spanish than English, and she is certainly rich." + +"I don't know of any reason," said Austin listlessly, and the man turned +away. He had no wish to waste his time upon an Englishman who +apparently did not appreciate his conversation. + +Austin sat still a little while, indignation struggling with his +languor, for he was almost certain that Jacinta had seen him. He had +never flattered himself that she would regard him as anything more than +a friend who was occasionally useful, but he thought she might, at +least, have expressed her appreciation of his latest efforts, and he was +also a trifle puzzled. Jacinta, as a rule, would stop and speak to any +of the barefooted peons she was acquainted with, and he had never known +her to slight an acquaintance without a reason. It seemed only due to +her to make quite sure she had intentionally passed him without +recognition. + +He rose and strolled round the plaza until he met her again face to face +where a stream of garish light fell upon them both. She allowed her eyes +to rest upon him steadily, but it was the look she would have bestowed +on a stranger, and in another moment she had turned to the officer at +her side. Then a bevy of laughing tourists passed between and separated +them. + +After that Austin strolled round the plaza several times in a far from +amiable temper. He was stirred at last, and easy-going as he usually +was, there was in him a certain vein of combativeness which had been +shaken into activity in Africa. It was, he admitted, certainly Jacinta's +privilege to ignore him; but there were occasions on which +conventionalities might be disregarded, and he determined that she +should, at least, make him acquainted with her purpose in doing so. He +did not mean to question it, but to hear it was, he felt, no more than +his due. + +It was some time before he came upon her again, talking to a Spanish +lady, who, seeing him approaching with a suggestion of resolution in his +attitude, had sufficient sense to withdraw a pace or two and sign to +another companion. Jacinta apparently recognised that he was not to be +put off this time, for she indicated the vacant chairs not far away with +a little wave of her fan, and when he drew one out for her sat down and +looked at him. + +"You are persistent," she said. "I am not sure that it was altogether +commendable taste." + +Austin laughed a trifle bitterly, for the pessimistic dejection the +fever leaves does not, as a rule, tend to amiability, and its victim, +while willing to admit that there is nothing worth worrying over, is apt +to make a very human display of temper on very small provocation. + +"One should not expect too much from a steamboat sobrecargo," he said. +"It is scarcely fair to compare him--for example--with a distinguished +Spanish officer." + +"I do not think you are improving matters," said Jacinta. + +"Well," said Austin drily, "I have, you see, just come from a land where +life is rather a grim affair, and one has no time to study its little +amenities. I am, in fact, quite willing to admit that I have left my +usual suavity behind me. Still, I don't think that should count. You +contrived to impress me with the fact that you preferred something more +vigorously brusque before I went out." + +Jacinta met his gaze directly with a little ominous sparkle in her eyes +and straightening brows. She had laid down her fan, and there was a cold +disdain in her face the man could not understand. It was unfortunate he +did not know how Pancho Brown had worded his message, for it contained +no intimation that he was going back to Africa. + +"It's a pity you didn't stay there," she said. + +Austin started a little. He did not see what she could mean, and the +speech appeared a trifle inhuman. + +"It would please me to think you haven't any clear notion what those +swamps are like," he said. "One is, unfortunately, apt to stay there +altogether." + +"Which is a contingency you naturally wished to avoid? I congratulated +you upon your prudence once before. Still, you, at least, seemed quite +acquainted with the characteristics of the fever belt of Western Africa +when you went out. Your friends the mailboats' officers must have told +you. That being so, why did you go?" + +"A persistent dropping will, it is said, in time wear away considerably +harder material than I am composed of. Words are also, one could fancy, +even more efficacious than water in that respect." + +A trace of colour crept into Jacinta's face, and her brows grew +straighter. The lines of her slight form became more rigid, and she was +distinctly imperious in her anger. + +"Oh, I understand!" she said. "Well, I admit that I was the cause of +your going, and now you have come to reproach me for sending you. Well, +I will try to bear it, and if I do show any anger it will not be at what +you say, but at the fact that one who I to some extent believed in +should consider himself warranted in saying anything at all. No doubt, +you will not recognise the distinction, but in the meanwhile you haven't +quite answered my question. You were a free agent, after all, and I +could use no compulsion. Why did you go?" + +Austin's temper had grown no better during the interview, which was +unfortunate for him, because an angry man is usually at a disadvantage +in the presence of a woman whose indignation with him is largely +tempered by a chilling disdain. + +"That," he said, reflectively, "is a point upon which I cannot be quite +certain, though the whole thing was, naturally, in most respects a piece +of egregious folly. Still, your good opinion had its value to me, +especially as it was very evident that I could never expect anything +more. A little brutal candour is, I think, admissible now and then." + +The colour had faded out of Jacinta's face, but the sparkle was a trifle +plainer in her eyes. "So you recognised that! Under the circumstances, +it was wise of you, though how far you were warranted in telling me is a +question we needn't go into now. It is a pity you ever went at all." + +"In one sense I almost think it is," said Austin, gazing at her +bewilderedly. "Still, there is a good deal I can't understand. I am in +the dark, you see." + +"Then I suppose I must try to make it clear to you. I am an essentially +practical person, and any ardour you possess has hitherto been qualified +by a very commendable discretion; but we are not very old, after all, +and there is, fortunately, something in most of us which is occasionally +stronger than the petty prudence we guide ourselves by. Now and then, as +you gracefully suggest, it leads us into folly, which we have, perhaps, +really no great reason to be sorry for. Well, for a little while you +shook off the practical and apparently aspired after the ideal. You went +out to Africa because you fancied it would please me, and it did. One +may admit that a thing of that kind appeals to a woman's vanity. Still, +of course, one could scarcely expect you to adhere to such a purpose. We +have grown too wise to indulge in unprofitable sentimentality, and our +knights errant do not come back upon their shields. They are practical +gentlemen, who appreciate the comfort of a whole skin." + +"I'm afraid you're confusing historical periods, and the times have +certainly changed. They now use an empty gun case in Western Africa, I +believe, and if they can't get that, any old blanket or piece of canvas +that happens to be available." + +"It should be a comfort to know that you need never anticipate anything +so unpleasant." + +This time the colour suffused Austin's pallid face. It was clear that +she was taunting him with cowardice in leaving Jefferson, and her +contempt appeared so wholly unreasonable that he would make no attempt +to vindicate himself. It did not appear likely to be successful in any +case, and the pessimistic bitterness the fever leaves was still upon +him. + +"Well," he said quietly, "I had looked for a slightly different +reception; but it presumably isn't dignified to complain, especially +when it's evident it wouldn't do any good, while I scarcely think there +is anything to be gained by extending our conversation. You see, I am, +naturally, aware that my character is a somewhat indifferent one +already. You will, no doubt, excuse me?" + +Jacinta made him a little inclination over her lifted fan. + +"If you will tell the SeA+-ora Anasona yonder that I am waiting, I should +be much obliged," she said. + +It was five minutes later when Austin was admitted to the cable office +as a favour, and handed a despatch from a Las Palmas banking agency. + +"Your draft will be honoured to the extent of AL200," it ran. + +He smiled grimly as he thrust it into his pocket, and, wandering round +the plaza again, came upon Muriel Gascoyne and Mrs. Hatherly sitting in +two of the chairs laid out in front of a hotel. He felt tempted to slip +by, but remembered that he had a duty to Jefferson. Mrs. Hatherly shook +hands with him, and though he fancied there was a restraint in her +cordiality, Muriel turned to him impulsively. + +"Tell me everything," she said. "The letter has not arrived." + +"There is a good deal of it," said Austin, with a smile. + +"Then don't waste time." + +Austin roused himself with an effort. Her tense interest and her +simplicity, which, it seemed to him, had in it so much that was +admirable, appealed to him, and he determined that she, at least, should +know what Jefferson had done for her. The artistic temperament had also +its influence on him, and he made her and her companion see the steaming +swamps and feel the stress and strain of effort in the stifling hold, +while it was his pleasure that Jefferson should stalk, a lean, dominant +figure, through all the varied scenes. He felt, when he concluded, that +he had drawn those sombre pictures well, and it would be Jefferson's +fault if he did not henceforward pose before the girl's fancy as a +knightly hero of romance. There were, naturally, difficulties to be +overcome, for he recognised that she must be forced to comprehend that +chivalric purposes must, nowadays, be wrought out by most prosaic means, +and that the clash of the encounter occasionally leaves its mark upon a +man. Still, he saw that he had succeeded when the simple pride shone +through the moisture that gathered in the girl's big blue eyes, and he +was moved to sympathy when she rose with a little gasp. + +"I must tell Jacinta. I don't feel quite able to thank you, Mr. Austin; +but you will understand," she said. + +She left them, and Mrs. Hatherly turned and looked at Austin very +graciously. + +"So you are going back?" she said. + +"Of course," said Austin. "There is a Spanish boat to Las Palmas +to-morrow, and nothing to keep me now I have got the money. I don't mind +admitting that the asking for it was harder than anything I did in +Africa." + +The little lady nodded, with a very kindly light in her eyes. "Yes," she +said, "I can understand that, but in one sense I am not exactly pleased. +Why didn't you come to me?" + +"It sounds very ungracious, madam, but I am already in your debt, and +one is naturally shy about asking favours of that kind from women. I +almost think there are special reasons why it should be so in my case." + +"That, presumably, means somebody has used you badly? Still, it really +isn't wise to generalise too freely, and you were once good enough to +promise that you would consider me as a friend of yours." + +"I could scarcely have fancied you were particularly friendly a little +while ago." + +The little lady smiled again. "I offer you my sincere apologies, Mr. +Austin. And now a question. Did you tell Jacinta what you have told us?" + +"I certainly did not. To be candid, I hadn't the slightest +encouragement. Miss Brown made it quite clear to me that she hadn't a +trace of interest in any of my doings. In fact, she was kind enough to +suggest it was rather a pity I escaped the fever, and hadn't come back +upon my shield." + +"For which she will probably be distinctly annoyed with herself by and +by. I presume you must catch the Spanish steamer, Mr. Austin?" + +"Of course. After all, I shall be glad to get back. People are not so +very exacting in Africa, you see." + +Mrs. Hatherly nodded, though there was a twinkle in her eyes. "Well," +she said, "we will talk of something else in the meanwhile. I am alone +just now, and you cannot decently leave me." + +They discussed a good many things, and it seemed to Austin that his +companion meant to keep him there, and was anxious to gain time. Still, +he could see no reason for it, and failed to understand her remark about +Jacinta, and he sat still with an effort until Muriel came back again. +She appeared a trifle vexed about something. + +"I don't know what has happened to Jacinta, but she wasn't in the least +sympathetic," she said. "She wouldn't even listen when I wanted to talk +about Harry and the _Cumbria_." + +"Where is she now?" asked Mrs. Hatherly. + +"With the SeA+-ora Anasona. They are going back to Laguna directly, though +she had, as you know, practically promised to stay with us to-night. The +seA+-ora, it seems, wants to drive her across to her finca at Orotava +to-morrow. It is very provoking." + +Mrs. Hatherly changed the subject, and it was a minute or two later when +she turned to Austin again. + +"I suppose it is really necessary that you should cross to Las Palmas +to-morrow," she said casually. "Couldn't you get there in the +_Estremedura_ before the West-coast boat sailed?" + +"There are several things I have to do which can't well be arranged +here." + +"You would insist on getting them all done, even if you knew it would +cost you something?" + +"I really think I should. You see, Jefferson and the others are +practically depending on me, and I daren't omit anything I want, +whatever trouble it might cause me, although, as a matter of fact, I +don't anticipate any, and it will be rather a relief to get away." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "Well, I suppose that is only what one would +expect from you. Muriel, will you tell Jacinta that she has not shown me +the lace she mentioned, and as I think I'll get the woman at Laguna to +make me some, I want to see it before she goes away. I shall have to +keep you another few minutes, Mr. Austin." + +Muriel disappeared into the crowd, and it was a little time before she +came back again. + +"Jacinta has just driven off with the seA+-ora," she said. "I can't quite +understand why she didn't come to say good-bye." + +Austin smiled drily. "I think I could guess her reason." + +Mrs. Hatherly rose and held out her hand. "If you can come and see us +to-morrow, please do so," she said. "If not, you will remember now that +whatever happens I am one of your friends." + +"I shall be glad to do so, madam," and Austin made her a little +inclination. "Good friends are scarce, and there are apparently not many +people who believe in me." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JACINTA MAKES NO EXCUSE + + +It was in the heat of the afternoon Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel drove into +old-world Laguna, which stands high upon the hill slopes above Santa +Cruz. It was built four hundred years ago, and remains but little +changed, for its early prosperity ebbed away with the trade in the once +famous vintages of Canary, so that it stood until a few years ago with +the grass in its streets, a place of drowsy stillness, picturesque in +its decay, cool, and by no means over clean. Beneath it the hillside +drops, dusty and sun-scorched, to the sea; but on the plateau behind it +are fields of tall sugar-cane, walnuts, eucalyptus, and vines, beyond +which again the shoulders of the great peak are seamed by straggling +pines. Still, when Mrs. Hatherly drove into it, Laguna was once more +awakening, for the British tourist had arrived, with his wife and +daughters, in blue veils and inartistic raiment that roused the +peasants' wonder, besides cameras, and baggage by the carriage load; and +when the tourist comes, quietness and the dignified simplicity of olden +Spain melt before him. + +The SeA+-ora Anasona, with whom Jacinta was then residing, however, +belonged to the ancient order, and she had also placed herself and all +her possessions at Mrs. Hatherly's disposal. The latter had already +discovered that to be a friend of Jacinta's counted for a good deal in +those islands. It secured one consideration in unexpected places, and +opened doors at which the tweed-clad tourists' wives might knock in +vain. The Castilian is somewhat behind the times, and, perhaps because +he is seldom troubled with much of it, attaches rather less importance +than some other people do to the possession of money. Muriel, however, +was not certain why her aunt had undertaken that hot and dusty drive, +although she had informed her that if there was a comfortable hotel in +Laguna she might stay there a day or two, because she was not sure that +Santa Cruz suited her, and she had been troubled with certain +premonitory twinges in one shoulder. + +In any case, she faced the scorching sun uncomplainingly, and arriving +at last before an iron-bound door in a blank white wall, was led through +an ill-kept garden, where flowers rioted, a chaos of blazing colour, at +their will, into a big, cool house, which seemed filled with slumbrous +quietness. She was received by a very reposeful lady of middle age in +inconveniently tight-fitting black silk, with the powder thick upon her +pallid face. The SeA+-ora Anasona was, as is usual with Spanish women who +have passed their third decade, somnolent in expression, and portly; but +though they could only muster a very little indifferent French between +them, she promptly set her guests at ease. + +"This poor house and all there is in it are yours," she said. "The +friends of the SeA+-orita Jacinta are also mine. Since you have known this +for some time, why have you stayed away so long?" + +It was the usual conventional formula in Spain, but there was a certain +stately graciousness in her gesture which Mrs. Hatherly had never seen +quite equalled before. The latter attempted an appropriate reply in +French, and then inquired for Jacinta, whereupon her hostess smiled. + +"She is in the patio, and, perhaps, asleep," she said. "If not, it is +likely that she will come in. I do not know. One does what one pleases +always in this house of mine, and here one usually sleeps by the +afternoon. What would you? It is a custom of the country, and there is +nothing else to do. One can dream of the times when it was different +with us and Spain." + +"One could fancy in this island that those days have not altogether +passed away, or, at least, that they had left something behind," said +Mrs. Hatherly. "One sees it in even your peons' courtesy, and the +modesty of the women." + +"You did not feel that in Las Palmas?" + +"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "I don't think I did." + +The seA+-ora laughed. "Las Palmas is not Spanish now, my friend. They have +coal wharves and harbour works, and heap up the pesetas there. There +are, however, things we others would not exchange for silver. This +house, for example. An Englishman would buy it and make it an hotel." + +"Of course, you would not sell it him?" + +The seA+-ora shook her head. "It is not mine," she said. "It belongs to +the Anasonas who are dead. One of them built it four hundred years ago, +and one of them has lived here always, until my husband, Colonel of +Cazadores, died in Cuba. Now I live alone, and remember, until by and by +my nephew comes here after me. The past is all we have in Spain, but one +feels that, after all, it may be worth more than the present--when one +goes to Las Palmas." + +Then a maid brought in a basket of grapes and a little wine, and it was +some time later when the seA+-ora turned to Muriel. + +"It seems that Jacinta is not coming in," she said. "Perhaps she would +sooner see you alone in the patio. I do not know. Jacinta does not care +about the conventions. She does what pleases her, and it is also very +often the right thing. One descends from the veranda outside that +window." + +Muriel smiled as she went out, for she was acquainted with Jacinta's +habits, and was beginning to comprehend the customs of the land she +lived in, where time is not considered, and it is always drowsy +afternoon. Then, though she was not an imaginative person, she trod +softly as she went down the steps to the patio, for the influence of the +place laid hold on her. The little white town lay silent under the +cloudless heavens, and had there been any movement of busy life there, +which very seldom happened, the high white walls of the garden would +have shut out the sound. The house was also built round the patio in a +hollow square, and interposed a double barrier between the outer world +and that space of flowers. + +Over it hung bronze-railed balconies, and quaint verandas with old +carved pillars and rich trellises smothered in purple bougainvilla, +while there were oleanders and heavy scented heliotrope in the little +square below. A fountain twinkled in the midst of it, and fat goldfish +from Palma swam slowly round its marble basin; but all was old, +artistic, ill cared for, and steeped in a silence which seemed filled +with the reminiscences of bygone years. Even Jacinta, who lay in a big +cane chair near the fountain, appeared in keeping with the atmosphere of +the place, for she was dressed in gauzy Castilian black, which added a +suggestion of old-fashioned stateliness to her somewhat slender figure, +and an ebony fan of a kind not made nowadays lay across an open book she +had apparently been reading. She looked up with a little smile when she +saw Muriel, and languidly pointed to the canvas lounge beside her. + +"It's comfortable, and I think it's strong," she said. "Any way, the +seA+-ora regularly goes to sleep in it. I brought the lounges with me, +because they don't have such things in Spain. I shall probably leave +them here, and if they break down with the seA+-ora it is quite certain +nobody will ever think of mending them. One folds one's hands and says +that it doesn't matter at Laguna. You will begin to understand it if you +stay here." + +Muriel laughed. "It's often a little hard to tell what you mean," she +said. "You have been reading?" + +"Mr. Prescott's history of the Spanish occupation of Mexico--you will, +no doubt, be astonished at that?" + +"I am. Still, I have read it, too." + +Jacinta smiled as she unfolded her fan. "I have my moments of +relaxation, and can be sentimental now and then. Sentiment, you see, is +in the atmosphere here. One feels mediA|val, as if all the old things of +the olden days had come back again, miracles, and crowned virgins that +fell from the clouds, valour and knightliness, and man's faith in woman. +No doubt there were more, but I don't remember them. They have, of +course, gone out of fashion long ago." + +She spoke lightly, but there was a trace of bitterness in her voice that +Muriel noticed. + +"One doesn't find that atmosphere in the book. The men who went with +Cortez were cruel as well as brutal." + +"They certainly seem to have been so, which is one reason why they +interest me. You see, the Spaniards seized these islands a little before +they discovered Cuba, and I wanted to find out what the men who built +these beautiful homes here were really like when they had work on hand. +As one would have fancied, the grave, ceremonious Don who posed as a +most punctilious gentleman at home became a very different kind of +person when he went to Mexico. The original Adam showed up there. It's +a useful lesson to any one silly enough to idealise the man she is going +to marry." + +Muriel flushed a little. "I think I know what you mean. Mr. Austin tried +to convey the same impression when he told me what they were doing on +board the _Cumbria_. Still, he went a good deal further than you do. He +made me understand that, though there are things that could only be done +rudely and almost brutally, it was often only what was ideal in the men +who did them that sent them to the work at all." + +"Yes," said Jacinta drily. "I fancy he would do it rather well. Mr. +Austin is not much of an artist, and would never be a great one; but he +has the capacity of understanding, or, perhaps, I should say imagining +things. Still, the pity is that he usually stops there. He doesn't want +to do them, and though he once very rashly tried, he was not long in +discovering that the work was a good deal too hard for him. I really +think you should be glad there is a trace of primitive--we'll be candid, +and call it brutality--in Harry Jefferson." + +Again the colour showed in Muriel's face. "It isn't," she said. "It's +only natural forcefulness; but we needn't go into that. I wonder why you +are so angry with Mr. Austin?" + +"Angry?" and Jacinta raised her brows. "Oh, dear no! Still, there are +points on which he did not quite come up to my expectations, and after +the admonitions I have wasted on him I feel a little annoyed with him." + +"Still, isn't that a trifle unreasonable? What could he have done that +he hasn't done? He was ill and worn out, but he wouldn't even stay a day +after he got the money." + +"What money?" and there was a sharp insistency in Jacinta's tone. + +"The money to buy the coal with. They found they hadn't enough, you +know." + +"I don't." + +"Well," said Muriel, "it is really your own fault. You wouldn't let me +tell you about it in the plaza. Mr. Austin had to borrow the money from +his English relatives, though I think it hurt him horribly to ask them. +When he found they would send it he had to catch the first African +steamer." + +Jacinta straightened herself suddenly, and gazed at Muriel with +astonishment and dismay in her face. + +"So he meant to go back all the time?" she said. + +"Of course," said Muriel, and Jacinta, sitting back again, sat very +still, though her companion noticed that one hand had closed tightly on +her fan. + +"When was he to go?" she asked, with a curious quietness. + +"In a day or two. He is in Las Palmas now." + +Then there was a curious silence for almost a minute, and Jacinta, who +could not rouse herself to break it, was glad to see that Muriel had +evidently not remembered that her only information about Austin's doings +was that contained in her father's message. There was no sound but the +soft splashing of the fountain, and Jacinta found the stillness becoming +intolerable. It was a relief when Muriel, who felt that her company was +not appreciated, rose. + +"Perhaps the seA+-ora will expect me to go back," she said. "Are you +coming?" + +"I am not," said Jacinta. "I have no doubt your aunt will come out to +see me presently." + +Muriel looked a little puzzled. "You will not mind my going?" + +"Of course not," and Jacinta laughed somewhat curiously. "I have, as +you see, a work on Mexico to keep me company." + +Muriel left her, and she lay still in the chair listening to the +fountain and gazing straight in front of her, until Mrs. Hatherly came +down the veranda stairs alone half an hour later. She sat down and +looked at Jacinta steadily. + +"I suppose you know why I have come to Laguna to-day?" she said. + +"Yes," said Jacinta quietly. "Still, I hadn't the faintest notion a +little while ago. I shall try to bear anything you may think fit to say +to me. Mr. Austin, I understand, is a friend of yours." + +The little lady smiled, for she saw that Jacinta was clever enough to +make no excuses, and she appreciated her candour as well as her good +sense. + +"Well," she said, "I want you to tell me why you sent him to Africa." + +"For one thing, because Muriel was once very kind to me. Mr. Jefferson +was down with fever, and I fancied that, in any case, he could do a good +deal more with a comrade there. Still, that was not all. There were +other reasons." + +"Naturally. It is gratifying to discover how far a man's devotion will +carry him." + +A little flash crept into Jacinta's eyes, but it faded again. "I suppose +I deserve that, but you are wrong. It wasn't to soothe my vanity." + +"No?" and there was a suggestion of incredulity in Mrs. Hatherly's +smile. "Still, one may be excused for pointing out that it really looks +very like it." + +Jacinta made a little movement with her fan. "You can't think worse of +me than I do of myself; but I scarcely fancy I did wrong in sending him. +He was wasting his life here, and I thought I knew what there was in +him. I wanted to rouse it--to waken him. You see, I am talking very +frankly." + +"In that case it must have cost you something to send him to Africa?" + +The colour showed plainly in Jacinta's face. "I think that is another +question. One, too, which you could scarcely expect me to answer you." + +"I'm afraid it was not very delicate," and Mrs. Hatherly's eyes grew +gentler. "Still, didn't you feel that you were presumptuous?" + +"Of course; but I have always done what pleased me, and made others do +it, too. It usually turned out well, you know. I have, however, come to +grief this time, and it would almost be a relief if somebody would shake +me." + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I fancy the feeling will do you good. Still, if +you were right in sending Mr. Austin out, it is just a little +incomprehensible." + +"Then you don't know how I treated him?" + +"No," said Mrs. Hatherly. "At least, not exactly. He only admitted that +you did not seem very pleased to see him. Still, I am an old woman, and +that naturally conveyed a good deal to me. Perhaps you do deserve +shaking, but I want to be kind." + +Jacinta turned to her with the colour in her cheeks and a haziness in +her eyes. + +"I taunted him with being a coward and finding the work too hard for +him. The man was ill and jaded, but I had no mercy on him. He said +nothing; he never told me he was going back. How was I to know? The +night my father's message came I felt I could have struck him. If I had +done so, he would probably not have felt it half so much as the +bitterness I heaped upon him." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "It was, perhaps, natural under the +circumstances, but there is a good deal that you are responsible for." + +"What do you mean by under the circumstances?" + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled. "I have not the slightest doubt that you quite +understand, my dear. The question, however, is how you are going to set +it right?" + +Jacinta shivered a little. The colour had already ebbed from her face, +which was a trifle more pallid than usual. + +"It is a thing I may never be able to do," she said. "That is what makes +it so hard. You see, a good many men go out to Africa, and so few come +back again. If it hadn't been for that I don't think I should have +admitted what I have done, but I feel I must have somebody's +comprehension--if I can't expect sympathy." + +"You have mine, my dear," and Mrs. Hatherly laid a beautiful thin hand +gently upon her arm. "Besides, I think Mr. Austin will understand how it +came about when he goes back to Africa." + +Jacinta straightened herself slowly. "Well," she said, "that may happen, +and in any case I know that I sent him, and he was glad to go." + +She met the little lady's sympathetic gaze steadily. "Still, that is so +very little, after all." + +Mrs. Hatherly smiled reassuringly. "My dear," she said, "I think you do +not quite understand all that man is yet. In spite of the climate he and +his comrade are going to be successful." + +Then she turned, and Jacinta rose, for the SeA+-ora Anasona and Muriel +were coming down the stairway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE PICTURES + + +Austin had been gone a fortnight when Jacinta and Muriel Gascoyne sat +under the lee of the _Estremedura_'s deck-house one morning, on their +way to Las Palmas. Above them the mastheads swung languidly athwart a +cloudless sweep of blue, and the sea frothed in white incandescence +about the lurching hull below as the little yacht-like steamer reeled +eastwards with a rainbow in the spray that whirled about her bows. +Astern of her the Peak's white cone gleamed above its wrappings of +fleecy mist, and ahead on the far horizon Grand Canary swam a purple +cloud. + +Jacinta was dressed ornately in the latest English mode, and it seemed +to Muriel that she had put on conventional frivolity along with her +attire. Indeed, Muriel had noticed a change in her companion during the +last few days, one that was marked by outbreaks of flippancy and +somewhat ironical humour. An English naval officer leaned upon the back +of her chair, and a tourist of the same nationality stood balancing +himself against the rolling with his hand on the rail that ran along the +deck-house. The latter was looking down at Macallister, who sat upon the +deck with a little box in front of him. + +"I brought up the two or three sketches ye were asking for, Mr. +Coulstin," he said. "The saloon's full of jabbering Spaniards, and the +messroom's over hot." + +The tourist screwed the glass he wore more tightly into his eye. "If +they're equal to the one I saw in the N.A W.A A. store I may be open to +make a purchase," he said. "I think you told me you were acquainted with +the artist, Miss Brown?" + +"I believe I did," said Jacinta, who was conscious that Macallister was +watching her languidly. "You will, however, no doubt be able to judge +his pictures for yourself." + +Coulston made a little humourous gesture. "I am not a painter, and I +could scarcely venture to call myself a connoisseur. Still, I buy a +picture or two occasionally, and the one I mentioned rather took my +fancy. A sketch or two of that kind would make a pleasant memento." + +"One would fancy that a good photograph would be more reliable, as well +as cheaper," said the naval officer. + +Coulston reproachfully shook his head. "I'm afraid we differ there," he +said. "Leaving out the question of colour, a photograph is necessarily +an artificial thing. It wants life and atmosphere, and you can never put +that into a picture by a mechanical process. Only a man can feel, and +transmute his impressions into material. Accuracy of detail is, after +all, by comparison, a secondary consideration, but perhaps I had better +pull up before my hobby makes a bolt of it." + +"I have heard of people riding a hobby uncomfortably hard," said Jacinta +reflectively. + +"That, I think, is, to be accurate, seldom what happens. If a man has a +genuine hobby, it never needs spurring. It is, in fact, unpleasantly apt +to run away with him on the smallest provocation. Are steamboat men +addicted to making sketches, Mr. Macallister?" + +"No," said Macallister, grinning. "At least its not the usual thing, but +I once sailed with another of them who did. He was second engineer, and +would draw the chief one day. It was very like him, so like that it +cost the man his job, and a wife as well. Says he, 'How could ye expect +me to idealise a man with a mouth like yon?'" + +"But how did that affect his wife?" asked the officer. + +Macallister grinned more broadly, but it was Jacinta he looked at. + +"Ye see," he said, "he had not got one then. He was second engineer, and +would have gone chief in a new boat if he'd stayed with that company. +The young woman was ambitious, and she told him she would not marry him +until he was promoted, on principle. He was a long while over it after +he lost that berth, and then--also on principle--he would not marry +her." + +Jacinta laughed, though Muriel fancied she had seen a momentary +hardening of her face. + +"She probably deserved it, though one can't help concluding that she +wouldn't feel it much," she said. "That is one of the advantages of +being a practical person; but hadn't you better get the drawings out?" + +Macallister took out a sketch in water-colour and held it up. It showed +a strip of a steamer's deck, with the softened sunlight beating down +through an awning upon a man in skipper's uniform who lay, cigar in +hand, in a hammock that swung beneath the spars. He was, to judge from +his expression, languidly contented with everything, and there was a big +glass of amber-coloured liquid on the little table beside him, and a +tier of bottles laid out upon the deck. Beneath it ran the legend, "For +men must work." + +"That," said Jacinta, "is, at least, what they tell their wives." + +The tourist gazed at the drawing, and then turned to her. He was, as she +had discovered already, a painfully didactic person. + +"The conceit," he said, "is a somewhat happy one, though the sketch is, +it seems to me, a little weak in technique. As we admitted, one +difference between a photograph and a painting is that the artist +records his own sensations in the latter, and stamps it with, at least, +a trace of his individuality. In that respect the sketch is, I fancy, +characteristic. The artist, one could imagine, was in full sympathy with +his subject--the far niente--but I am, no doubt, getting prosy." + +For no very apparent reason a little flush of colour crept into +Jacinta's face, and Macallister, who saw it, chuckled as he took out +another sketch. + +"Well," he said, reflectively, "I never met a man who could do nothing +more gracefully than Mr. Austin, but I'll let ye see the rest of them, +since they're in my charge to sell. Mr. Austin, who wants the money, +took a sudden notion he'd go to Africa, and, if they've had a quick run, +he's now humping palm oil puncheons in a stranded steamer's hold. I'm +thinking it will be a big change for him." + +The naval officer laughed softly. "From what I know of the tropics I +fancy you are right. In fact, it's rather difficult to imagine the man I +met at the bull fight doing that kind of thing at all. Salvage work is +necessarily hard under any circumstances, and anywhere, but the last +place I would care to attempt it in is Western Africa. What +sent--him--there?" + +"Ye must not ask me," and a little twinkle, for which Jacinta longed to +shake him, crept into Macallister's eyes. "Now, there are clever folks +who will look at a man, or maybe talk to him awhile, and then label him, +thinking they know just what to expect of him. It does him no great +harm, and it pleases them, until one day he does something that +astonishes them in spite of his label. Then they're apt to get angry +with him. A man, ye see, is, after all, not that unlike an engine. Ye +cannot tell what may be going on in the inside of him, and when the +result's distressing it's most often the fault of injudicious handling." + +Jacinta, to whom he apparently directed his observations, contrived to +regard him with a little smile, and he proceeded to extricate another +sketch, a canvas this time. + +"This one is different," he said. + +Coulston, who apparently concurred with him, gazed at the picture with a +trace of astonishment. It showed a big cargo lancha lurching out, +deep-loaded, through a fringe of tumbling surf with four men straining +at the ponderous oars. The wet rags they wore clung about their limbs, +and there was weariness in their grim, brown faces. Bent backs and set +lips had their significance, and the sketch was stamped with the +suggestion of endurance and endeavour. Yet, as those who saw it felt, +there was triumph in it, too, for while the rollers came seething in to +hurl her back the lancha was clawing off the shore. + +"It's good!" said the navy man. "It's unusually good. Those fellows are +played out, and they know if they slacken down for a moment she'll roll +over with them or go up on the beach. The sea's running in against +her--one finds out by trying it how hard it is to pull off against a +surf--but they're driving her out. Presumably, that's what you call the +motive of the thing." + +The tourist nodded appreciatively. "Yes," he said. "In spite of certain +faults in drawing, it's well worked out. What puzzles me is how the man +who did the other one came to feel it as he evidently did. One could +fancy he had had a revelation, and that in some respects he was a +different man when he painted this. I'll offer you five guineas for it, +Mr. Macallister." + +"Then," said Macallister, promptly, "ye can have it. Eight guineas for +the two, if ye would like the other one. There are two or three more of +them here ye might care to look at." He stopped a moment, and added, as +if in explanation: "I'm anxious to do what I can for Mr. Austin. Many's +the time I've stole his wine and sold his clothes." + +He undid a package, and, first of all, took out a photograph of a young +girl with a comely English face, which Jacinta glanced at somewhat +sharply. Then she became intent when there followed several rudimentary +pencil and pastel sketches of herself, until Macallister handed Coulston +a picture. He turned from it to Jacinta, and looked at her with a +steadiness a young woman less accustomed to masculine criticism would +probably have found disconcerting. + +She lay smiling at him in the canvas lounge, very pretty and very +dainty, with conventional indifference expressed even in her pose. She +was, he fancied, a woman who knew her world thoroughly, and had the +greater influence therein because she seldom asked too much from it. +Then he glanced again at her portrait almost incredulously, for it +showed the little shapely head held well erect, the red lips +straightened and firmly closed, and the glow of a strenuous purpose in +the eyes. Stooping, he laid the picture on her knees with a little +smile. + +Jacinta laughed softly. "Yes," she said, "of course, I know what you +mean. I am essentially modern and frivolous, and not in the least like +that. Still, you see, all of us have our serious moments now and then, +although it is probably fortunate they don't last long." + +"Ah," said Coulston, wilfully neglecting his opportunity, "I almost +fancy a light breaks in on me. One could entitle this inspiration, and +it is, you know, possible to transmit it occasionally. I wonder whether +it would make the idea clearer if we placed the three pictures +together. Mr. Macallister will permit me?" + +He set up the first sketch of the steamboat skipper against the lifeboat +skids, and gazed at it critically. "Assuming that a picture contains +something of its painter's ego, you will observe how the idea of petty +indulgence and his appreciation of sensual comfort is impressed on one," +he said. "Now we will set up the other sketch of the sailormen. There +you see restraint, tense effort, abnegation--and victory--in one sense a +spiritual triumph over the body. It is an interesting question how the +man who painted both could have been brought to grasp what Lieutenant +Onslow calls the motive of the last one; but if we might venture to +place another picture between." + +Jacinta raised her head sharply, and there was an ominous sparkle in her +eyes. "No," she said, with quiet incisiveness, "I would sooner you +didn't. There are certainly men whose hobby, now and then, runs away +with them. Macallister, will you put that portrait back again?" + +She handed it him face downwards, for the others had not seen it, and +Lieutenant Onslow turned to the tourist. + +"I don't quite understand, but I fancy Miss Brown doesn't approve of +vivisection any more than I do," he said. "It really isn't decent to +turn anybody inside out." + +"I wonder," said Coulston, ignoring him, "if you would mind my offering +to buy the three?" + +He was looking steadily at her, but Jacinta contrived for a moment to +catch Macallister's eye. So swift was the flashed glance that the +tourist did not notice it, but Jacinta could convey a good deal with a +look, and the engineer was a man of considerable intelligence. + +"That one is not for sale," he said. + +"No," said Onslow, who held up a strip of pasteboard and a sheet of +brown paper, "I scarcely think it is. In fact, you don't appear to have +noticed that there's a seal on this part of it, and instructions that +this particular packet is not to be opened." + +It seemed to Muriel that a trace of colour once more crept into +Jacinta's face, but Macallister surveyed the wrappings the officer +handed him with a grin. + +"It is not that difficult to slice a seal off and stick it back again," +he said. "It's also a thing Mr. Austin should have remembered. Many a +garafon of wine has he seen opened." + +"So you know that trick!" Onslow laughed. "I'm inclined to think it's +one that has now and then been practised upon our mess." + +Just then Mrs. Hatherly appeared on deck, and the group broke up. Muriel +joined her aunt, Macallister, accompanied by the tourist, went down the +ladder with the box of sketches under his arm, while Jacinta and +Lieutenant Onslow were left alone. The latter stood with his hand on the +lifeboat skids, looking down on her gravely. He was a well-favoured +young man, with an honest, sun-bronzed face. + +"I am," he said, "as you know, going out to take over command of a +West-coast gunboat in a day or two, and it is more than probable that I +shall not have an opportunity like this again. You see, Nasmyth and I +have had a very good time in these islands, and we feel that we owe it +largely to you. In fact, it's perfectly clear to us that things would +have been very different if you hadn't taken us under your gracious +protection. I just want to say that we recognise it, and feel grateful." + +"Well," said Jacinta, reflectively, "I am rather glad you do. Gratitude +that is worth anything carries a certain sense of obligation with it." + +"Of course!" and Onslow smiled. "Only give me the chance of doing +anything I can for you." + +"Do you know whereabouts on the West-coast the Delgado Island lies?" + +"I can readily find out." + +Jacinta glanced at him sharply, and had no doubt concerning the +eagerness in his face. If there was anything he could do to please her +it would certainly be done. + +"There is a stranded steamer somewhere up a creek behind that island, +and I think the men who are trying to salve her have a good many +difficulties to contend with. Among other things, I fancy the niggers +are worrying them." + +"Ah!" said Onslow. "Our ships are not, as a rule, permitted to take any +part in commercial ventures, but there are, of course, exceptions to +everything. According to my instructions, I am also to avoid all +unpleasantness with the seaboard niggers unless they have been provoking +the authorities. Still, I would like to ask if any of the men on board +that steamer is a friend of yours?" + +"One of them is Miss Gascoyne's affianced lover, and she is a very old +friend indeed. However, since you are apparently unable----" + +Onslow checked her with a little smile. "I'm not sure you are really +willing to let me off, and if you were, I shouldn't be pleased, while I +scarcely think you have answered my question very frankly, either. That, +however, doesn't matter. It is permissible for the commander of a coast +patrol gunboat to send a pinnace in to survey a little known creek or +channel, and her crew would, of course, be guided by circumstances if +they came upon a stranded steamer." + +"I presume you would not care to earn Muriel's undying gratitude by +being a trifle more definite?" + +"No," said Onslow, with twinkling eyes. "I esteem Miss Gascoyne's good +opinion, but I really couldn't go any further to win yours. As I pointed +out, one would be guided by circumstances; but men on board stranded +steamers have been supplied with drugs and provisions, as well as lent +naval artificers to advise them as to repairs. I have even heard of a +gunboat's launch carrying out their hawsers and anchors." + +Jacinta rose with a little smile. "I think one could leave it with +confidence to your discretion, and since it seems very likely that you +will come across that steamer, I should be pleased to have your views as +to the selection of a few comforts and provisions." + +Onslow favoured her with them, and, as it happened, met Macallister when +at last he went down the ladder. + +"Ye are going out to Africa, too?" said the latter, with a grin. "She +has been giving ye sailing instructions?" + +Onslow looked at him grimly. "Well," he said, "what the devil has that +to do with you?" + +"Oh, nothing. Just nothing at all. Still, because I see ye are willing, +I would have ye know that there are--two--men from Grand Canary on board +yon steamer already." + +Onslow smiled a trifle drily. "My dear man, I'm not altogether an ass," +he said. + +In the meanwhile Muriel strolled back towards Jacinta, and glanced at +her with a suggestion of astonishment in her face as she sat down. + +"You are different from what you were a little while ago," she said. + +Jacinta laughed. "I daresay I am. I had, as a matter of fact, sunk into +a state of pessimistic apathy, which naturally found expression in +ill-humoured pleasantries lately, but I have been getting to work again. +It has rather a bracing effect, you see. In the meanwhile, it might be +advisable for you to make yourself as nice as possible to Lieutenant +Onslow, who is now coming up on deck again. Go and ask him to show you a +flying fish, or something." + +Muriel went, for she had discovered that there was usually a sufficient +reason for most of what Jacinta did, and the latter lay still in her +chair. + +"There is," she said, "still a fly in the amber. I wonder what he wanted +with that photograph, though, after all, he didn't think it worth while +carrying to Africa." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FUNNEL-PAINT'S PROPOSITION + + +Deep stillness hung over the dingy mangroves, and there was not a breath +of air astir, while Austin, who lay among the palm oil puncheons beside +the creek, was oppressed by a sense of suffocation. A few yards away two +Spaniards lay, apparently asleep, huddled, shapeless heaps of ragged +clothing, beneath a strip of tarpaulin raised on poles, and it was then, +though there was no sun visible, a little past the hottest part of the +afternoon. A yellow vapour that seemed suffused with heat had obscured +the heavens for a week or more, and the swamps lay sweltering beneath it +waiting for the rain. Austin longed for it ardently, for there was an +almost unendurable tension in the atmosphere. + +He had shaken off the fever, but he was worn and dazed by toil, for the +strain was not without its effect upon him, and he had become subject to +curious tricks of fancy. He had brought the coal from Dakar, and it now +lay piled upon a down river beach; but he had obtained only two or three +men, and the steamy heat of the swamp belt had melted the sustaining +energy out of the _Cumbria_'s company. Individually, he felt that it was +a hopeless struggle they were making. They had untrammelled nature +against them, and, he could almost fancy, the malevolent spirits of the +bush the negroes believed in. A man, he admitted, could believe in +anything in that country, and he had of late been troubled by a feeling +that something sinister and threatening was hovering near him. + +He was unpleasantly conscious of it then, which was partly why he lay +raised on his elbow, with his eyes fixed on the bush that shut in the +narrow strip of land. It rose before him, laced with tangled creepers, +mysterious, and shadowy, and it seemed to him that somebody or something +was watching him from its dim recesses. He had been conscious of the +same sensation when he plodded with a Spanish seaman along the narrow +trail to the dug up beach, an hour earlier, but it was stronger now, and +instinctively he slipped his hand into a pocket where the pistol he had +bought in Grand Canary lay. Then he laughed in a listless fashion, for +they had seen no more of the negroes since the blowing up of the +headman's house, and he felt that he had not them to fear. There was, in +fact, no tangible cause for apprehension at all. + +Presently something seemed to materialise amidst the shadows where the +creepers streamed from a cottonwood in dense festoons, and, lying still, +with fingers closing on the pistol, he could almost fancy he made out a +dim human form. There was, at least, one black patch among the leaves +that suggested greasy naked skin. It vanished again, however, and +Austin, who felt his heart beating, abused the intolerable glare the +sand flung up that dazzled his vision, and then stiffened himself in +tenser watchfulness as for a moment he made out a pair of rolling eyes. +The creepers rustled, a twig snapped, and he was about to call out, when +one of the Canarios raised himself a trifle. + +"Ave Maria!" he said, with drowsy hoarseness, and, though the words are +frequently used to express astonishment in his country, it was evident +that he meant them as a pious appeal. + +In any case, the creepers became suddenly still again, and Austin, who +rose a trifle stiffly, found nothing when he pushed his way through the +midst of them. There was no sound in the steamy bush, not a leaf seemed +bruised or bent, and he went back again, with the perspiration dripping +from him. Nevertheless, he was annoyed to notice that the Canario was +watching him curiously. + +"Nothing!" he said, with a dramatic gesture. "Nothing that one can see." + +"What do you mean?" asked Austin sharply. + +The Canario flung out an arm again. "Who knows! Though one cannot see +it, it comes now and then. There are evil things in this land of the +devil, and the saints are very far away. This is no place for them." + +Austin sat down again and took out his pipe. He felt that there was +nothing to be gained by continuing the discussion, for of late he had +become almost superstitiously apprehensive himself. He lay watching the +bush for another hour, and then, though it was the last thing he had +intended, went to sleep. He had borne a heavy strain, and his will was +weakening. + +It was dark when he was awakened by a splash of paddles as the +_Cumbria_'s surfboat crept up the creek with the relief watch, and +another hour had passed when they made the craft fast alongside the +gangway and climbed wearily on board the steamer. There was no sound or +light on board her, for half the crew were sick, and the pump had +stopped. She lay, a black mass, amidst the sliding mist, and he stumbled +over the kernel bags upon her slanted deck as he groped his way to his +room in the poop. It was seldom he or Jefferson slept soundly now, and +as they only awakened each other, Austin had moved to a room aft. + +He lighted the oil lamp and flung himself, dressed as he was, into his +berth, but found he could not sleep, though he could not remember how +long he lay awake listening. He could hear mysterious splashings in the +forest and the low gurgle of the creek, while now and then a timber +creaked, or a drop of moisture fell from the iron beams with a splash +that startled him. At last, when his eyes were growing heavy, there was +a different and very faint sound on deck, and as he raised himself the +door that stood a little open swung back gently. The lamp was still +burning, for he found the light comforting, as white men are +occasionally apt to do in that country, and it was with a little gasp of +relief he felt for the pistol beneath his pillow as Funnel-paint came +in. He was almost naked, and the water ran from him, but the strip of +cloth about his loins was bound by a leather belt, with a sheath hung to +it such as seamen wear, and the knife from the latter gleamed in his wet +hand. He, however, dropped it upon the deck, and squatted on the +water-ledge that rose a foot beneath the door. Austin watched him +quietly, for he was, at least, not afraid of Funnel-paint. + +"What the devil do you want?" he said. + +"Halluf them gum," said the negro, with a wicked grin. + +"How are we to give it you when we haven't found a bag of it?" + +The negro grinned again. "S'pose I done tell you where him lib?" + +"If you knew why didn't you get it for yourself?" + +Funnel-paint shook his head. "Them book I got savvy--I no savvy make him +tell me," he said. "You dash me halluf them gum you get them book." + +Austin lay silent, resting on one elbow, for a moment or two. He knew +that book means anything which is written on in that country, and it +occurred to him that if the gum had been hidden ashore, it was very +probable that the man who buried it had made a rough sketch or other +record of the spot. The document, it was conceivable, might have come +into the negro's possession. Still, he was suspicious. + +"There's another boy who speaks English in the headman's village," he +said. + +"Him only dam bushman--no savvy book, no savvy anyt'ing. Him them +headman's boy. Headman he want everyt'ing." + +"Ah!" said Austin, who was more dubious about his visitor's good faith +than ever, since it was clear that it was his intention to trick his +confederate out of his share of the plunder. "I suppose, since you swam +off, you haven't the book about you?" + +The negro let one eyelid droop a little. "You t'ink black man one dam +fool?" + +"No," said Austin, reflectively, "if you understand me, I should rather +call you an infernal rogue. Any way, you lib for get out one time, and +come back to-morrow. I'll palaver with them other white man by then, +savvy?" + +Funnel-paint unobtrusively laid a wet prehensile toe upon the haft of +the knife, but Austin, who was careful not to betray the fact, noticed +it. + +"Them other white man he do go dash me anyt'ing," he said decisively. "I +savvy him. S'pose you done tell him you no go catch them book?" + +"Then how do you fancy I'm going to give you half the gum without his +knowing?" + +Funnel-paint grinned unpleasantly. "Bimeby them white cappy man he die," +he said, as though he were sure of it. "White man sick too much in dis +country. I savvy." + +Austin contrived to hold in check the indignant wrath he felt. A man's +life, he was quite aware, was worth very little in those swamps; and, +because he placed some small value on the one that belonged to him, it +was evidently advisable to proceed circumspectly. Funnel-paint was, he +recognised, a diplomatist in his way, and had said very little, though +that was sufficient to show Austin what his proposition meant. It was, +at least, clear that he was to ask no questions if anything unexpected +happened to Jefferson, and in reward of this he would be permitted to +carry off half the gum. It appeared that Funnel-paint was sure of its +existence, or he would never have ventured to creep on board at night at +all, and Austin decided that since he certainly could not be trusted, +the boldest course was best. The rage he felt also prompted him to it, +and he lay still, considering, with a hand beneath the pillow, and a +flush in his face, while the negro squatted, huge and motionless, on the +door-ledge, watching him with a little cunning smile. It seemed to +Austin that it would simplify matters considerably if he could secure +Funnel-paint's person, though he could not quite see how it was to be +done, especially since it was evident that the negro would be no use to +them dead. + +In the meanwhile there was deep stillness without, intensified by the +oily gurgle of the creek, until Austin fancied he heard another faint +and stealthy sound on deck. Funnel-paint did not appear to notice it, +which was, it seemed to Austin, significant, for he sat still, though +with a scarcely perceptible motion he drew the knife a little nearer to +him with his toe. Austin decided that the proposition he had made was, +after all, probably a blind, and the friends he had expected were now +arriving. + +"Keep still!" he said abruptly, whipping out the pistol. + +The negro started, and would apparently have fallen backwards in his +alarm had he not seized the edge of the cushion on the settee in a wet +hand. Then he gazed at Austin as though in bewilderment or +consternation. + +"Bushman lib!" he said. + +He glanced towards the open ring of the port, and for a second Austin +turned his eyes in the same direction, but that was long enough, for the +big cushion of the settee fell upon his head, and he rolled over under +it. It was a moment or two before he had flung it from him and sprung +out of his berth, and then there was no sign of Funnel-paint, though he +could hear a rush of feet and the sound of a scuffle on deck. They were +also booted feet, and Austin ran out into the black darkness beneath the +poop. He could see nothing for a moment, but he heard a hoarse +ejaculation that was followed by a splash in the creek. Then a shadowy +figure grew out of the blackness, and he dropped the pistol to his side +at the sound of an English voice. + +"All right, Mr. Austin?" it said. + +"I am," said Austin. "Is that you, Bill?" + +The half-seen man assured him that it was, and then followed him back +into the lighted room, where he sat down and held up a hand from which a +red trickle dripped down his arm. + +"The dam brute's got away," he said. "P'r'aps you could fix this up for +me." + +Austin lugged a little chest out from under the settee, and glanced at +the injured hand. "Nothing serious, though I have no doubt it stings," +he said. "You were in one sense lucky in getting it there. How did you +happen to come along?" + +"It was my watch," said Bill. "I had just come down from the bridge-deck +when I thought I heard talking, and that brought me here as quietly as I +could. If I'd had the sense to take my boots off I'd have had him. I +gripped him by the rail, but he shoved the knife into my hand and slung +himself over." + +Austin bound his hand up, and then looked at him thoughtfully. + +"I don't think there's anything to be gained by letting the others +know," he said. "Any way, I'd consider it a favour if you said nothing +about the thing until I've talked it over with Mr. Jefferson." + +Bill grinned comprehendingly. "I'll tell Tom, but nobody else. We have +our own little row with the vermin, and the next time I get my grip on +him there'll be an end of him!" + +He went out, and by and by Austin contrived to go to sleep, while it was +next day, and they sat in the dripping engine room, from which the water +was sinking, when he told Jefferson what had passed. The latter listened +thoughtfully, and then broke into a little hollow laugh. + +"It seems to me that you missed your chance," he said. "Funnel-paint +knows a good deal--I have guessed that for some time--but he has found +out he can't get at the gum without one of us helping him, at last. That +is probably why he has left us alone so long. He wasn't sure whether +there was any of it on board the ship, and was, naturally, willing that +we should decide that point for him." + +"What would he gain by that?" asked Austin. + +"The gum!" and Jefferson laughed again, but not pleasantly. "He's an +inconsequent devil, but he seems to have scraped up a little sense as he +went on with the game. You see, white men are apt to die off suddenly in +this country, and I scarcely think that anybody who could make trouble +knows we're here. Any way, there's no unusual need for worry. It only +means double watches." + +"Still, one could fancy you had a good deal on your mind." + +"I have. We have stripped this ship all but the engine room to the +ballast tanks--there was, you may remember, a manhole lid lifted on the +forward one, which may account for some of the water getting in--and the +five hundred dollars I raised the offer to hasn't produced a pound of +gum. Half the men are down now, and we can't send them all away, while +even if we wanted to they're most of them unwilling to go. They're as +keen on their share--and it's quite a big one--as I am. Then we'll have +the rains on us in a week or two." + +Austin sat silent awhile. He knew that the feverish search for the +treasure had stirred the cupidity of the Latins until they were as +determined on finding it as their leader. Nothing else was thought of, +the sick men raved of it, and, in any case, those who had held out so +long and staunchly had their percentage on the value of the steamer's +hull and cargo to gain. It meant comparative affluence to the barefooted +sailormen. That, however, was only one side of the question, after all, +for while their willingness was evident, their physical capacity for +work was lessening every day. + +"The rains will flood every beach," he said. "If we don't find the gum +before they come, what then?" + +"If it's necessary, we'll stay here until the water falls again. That +is, at least, some of us will." + +Austin rose up slowly with a little sign of comprehension. Two men had +been buried while he was away, and he did not think that many of them +would be left there to see the waters fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FUNNEL-PAINT MOVES AGAIN + + +A week had slipped by since the negro's visit, and Austin and Jefferson +were sitting late in the skipper's room. There had been no change in the +weather, and it was then, if possible, hotter than ever. The muggy land +breeze had died away, and a thick woolly mist shut the stranded steamer +in. Door and ports were open wide, but the oil lamp that hung beneath +the beams burned unwaveringly, and the ray of light that streamed out +from the doorway made the blackness outside more apparent. The big pump +was running behind the deck-house, and its deep vibratory humming rang +startlingly through a stillness so intense that it seemed unnatural, as +it hurled the water out of the engine room. + +Austin sat huddled in a corner, attired only in duck trousers, and torn +singlet which came no lower than his elbows, and, for want of buttons, +fell open at his neck. He had an unusually clean skin, and his +sun-scorched lower arms and scarred hands, with the battered knuckles +and broken nails, emphasised by contrast the clear whiteness of his +half-covered chest. That night it was beaded with perspiration, for +which he was sincerely thankful, since there are times in the tropics +when the healing moisture fails to find its way through the fevered +skin, and its afflicted owner burns in torment. + +Jefferson sat on the little table, a blackened pipe in his hand, and +the listless pose of both suggested that the last trace of energy had +been sapped out of them. At last Austin laughed, hollowly and +dejectedly. + +"I don't know why we're sitting here saying nothing when we have to +begin again at five o'clock to-morrow, but I don't feel like sleep," he +said. "In fact, I scarcely think I've slept for more than a couple of +hours at a time since I came back again. I suppose I ought to be in the +forecastle now--four or five of them seemed very sick when I last looked +in--but there's an abominable tension in the air that makes any exertion +out of the question." + +Jefferson nodded. "You can't do anything for them, and there's nobody we +could spare to send with them down river," he said. "They've got to take +their chances with the rest of us now, and it seems to me one might +figure them out as three or four to one if the rains don't come. Still, +if you don't want to do anything, why can't you keep still?" + +"I don't know," and Austin, who had been rolling a damp cigar in his +fingers, flung it down. "If that pump stopped I should probably make an +exhibition of myself. The hum and thump it makes has a soothing effect +on me. It's suggestive. Even here man has something to say. I don't know +whether you understand me." + +Jefferson looked at him curiously. "I guess I do. I'd mix myself a good +strong pick-me-up if I were you. You have had something on your mind the +last day or two." + +"I have," said Austin. "I'm afraid of that infernal Funnel-paint, I +think. I can't help a fancy that we haven't done with him yet; and, +though the connection isn't very apparent, the fact that the first thing +we came across after landing when I came out was a dead nigger, insists +on obtruding itself on my recollection. Bill told me he was singularly +unpleasant to look at." + +Jefferson contrived to laugh. "You take that pick-me-up, and in the +meanwhile let up on your reminiscences. Things of that kind aren't +cheerful--and I'm worried by one or two of them myself." + +Austin, who stooped and picked up the cigar, settled himself afresh on +the settee after lighting it, and half an hour dragged by. Neither of +them felt the least sign of drowsiness yet, and the jingle of the odds +and ends in the rack, and tremble of the stout teak house, was, as he +had said, vaguely reassuring. The big pump was pounding on in spite of +the climate, and neither heat nor fever had any effect on steam. Then he +looked up sharply, and Jefferson straightened himself, for a faint sound +of footsteps came out of the darkness. They were slow and dragging, as +though somebody was groping his way warily towards the light. + +"On deck!" said the American. "What d'you want? Are you there, Wall-eye? +Que hay?" + +There was no answer, but the shuffling steps drew nearer, slowly and +falteringly, as though whatever made them was but indifferently capable +of motion. There was also something unpleasantly suggestive about them, +and Austin now sat very straight, while he saw that Jefferson's lips +were pressed together. There was no apparent reason why they should +shrink from what was coming, but Austin, at least, felt his nerves +tingling. He was overwrought, and white men are apt to become fanciful +when they work too hard in the fever swamps. It is a land where one +realises the presence of influences beyond the definition of human +reason, and he afterwards admitted that he was afraid. + +"Mil diablos!" said Jefferson. "Ven aca! What are you after, outside +there?" + +There was still no answer, though a clatter of booted feet now rose from +the iron deck. It drowned the other footfalls, and Austin found that +clang of nailed shoes curiously reassuring. Then a figure that swayed +from side to side emerged from the blackness and stood mowing in the +stream of light. + +"Good Lord!" said Jefferson, with horror in his voice. "Slam that door +to. Keep it out!" + +Austin rose with a sense of sudden sickness, but the figure had moved +again, and now stood with one foot inside the room and a horrible hand +on the door-jamb, leering at them. It had the shape of a man, but the +resemblance ended there, for there was no sign of human intelligence in +the awful face. The thing had no eyebrows, the hair had almost gone, and +nose and cheeks were formless with corruption, while naked chest and +arms were smeared with festering scars. Austin stood still, shivering, +with one hand clenched hard on the table, until Jefferson snatched a +glinting object from his bunk. + +"Good Lord!" he said again. "It's coming in!" + +The figure seemed to brace itself for another move forwards, and Austin +saw Jefferson straighten himself slowly with a big pistol in his hand. +He did not remember what his comrade said, but the negro seemed to +recoil instinctively before his fierce ejaculation, and, lurching +backwards, faded into a formless shadow in the gloom again. Then +Jefferson's hand fell upon Austin's shoulder. + +"Shake yourself! There's something to be done," he said. "They have a +light forward, and we can't have--that thing--groping among them in the +forecastle." + +They went out, and as they did so a sudden glare of light sprang up. +Tom, the donkey-man, had lighted the air-blast lamp he used when +anything had to be done to pump or boiler at night, and its smoky +radiance showed that Jefferson's shouts had roused the Spaniards. They +were clustered, half dressed, about the head of the ladder which led to +the bridge deck, with consternation in their shadowy faces, glancing at +one another as though afraid to move a step further. Tom leaned against +the rail, holding up the lamp, and the thing that had the shape of a man +sat gibbering on a coil of hawser in the midst of the bridge deck. The +eyes of all who stood there were fixed upon it, but nobody seemed +anxious to come any nearer. + +Jefferson, standing very straight, opened the breech of his pistol, ran +a finger across the back of the chamber, and then closed it with a +little snap which, though the pump was humming, sounded startlingly +distinct. His lips were tightly set, and his face was very grim. The +loathsome figure on the rope mowed and grinned at him. + +"I suppose the thing was human--once," he said. "Still, we can't have it +here. These complaints are contagious, one understands, but I wish it +hadn't happened. He's too like a man." + +He dropped the pistol to his side, as though his nerve had momentarily +failed him, and Austin, who suddenly grasped his purpose, sprang forward +as he raised it again. + +"Hold on!" he said. "Do you realise what it is you propose to do?" + +Jefferson turned to him slowly, and there was a curious stillness among +those who watched them. Austin was glad of the hum of the big pump and +the pounding of the engine, for he felt that silence would have made the +tension unendurable. Then Jefferson smiled, a little wry smile. + +"I know," he said, a trifle hoarsely, "it isn't nice to think of, but +it's no more than happens to a superfluous kitten--and it's necessary. +Heaven knows what the poor devil suffered before he came to this, and we +don't want to. He's animate carrion without reason or sensibility now. +It was only the light brought him here when Funnel-paint somehow sent +him within sight of us." + +Austin saw that this was true. There was no glimmer of human +intelligence in the creature's wandering gaze, but he still bore the +shape of a man, and that counted for a good deal, after all. + +"Jefferson," he said, "it can't be done!" + +His comrade looked at him with half-closed eyes. "Would you wish to live +if you looked like that, or do you want the rest of us to find out what +he went through? I'm responsible for those men yonder--and it's only +antedating the thing a month or two. The life is almost rotted out of +him. Stand clear! We must get it over!" + +It was evident that the Spaniards understood what he meant to do, and a +murmur of concurrence rose from them, for they knew a little about the +more loathsome forms of skin diseases. Men who might have escaped from +the sepulchre walk abroad in the hot Southern countries, where restraint +is unknown and salt fish is a staple food, but, though they have often +themselves to blame, the innocent also suffer in Western Africa, and +none of those who stood by, tense and strung up, had ever seen a man who +looked quite as this one did. + +Then, as Jefferson raised his pistol, Austin seized him by the shoulder +and shook him in a sudden outbreak of fury. + +"You're right," he said, "but you shall not do it! You hear me? Put the +---- thing down!" + +Then there was a sudden clamour, and as the Canarios ran forward +Jefferson struggled vainly. Austin never knew where his strength came +from, but in another moment the pistol slipped from his comrade's hand, +and, reeling backwards, he struck the deck-house. Austin stood in front +of him, with hands clenched, and the veins swollen high on his forehead, +panting hard. + +"It has come to this," he said. "If you move a step, I'll heave you +over the rail! I've strength enough to break your back to-night!" + +Jefferson straightened himself slowly, and waved back the others who +were clustering round. Then he smiled, and made a little gesture of +resignation. + +"I believe you have, but that's not quite the point," he said. "It's the +only thing you have ever asked me, and, if nothing else will satisfy +you, you shall have him. You don't suppose it isn't a relief to me? The +question is, what you're going to do with him? You see, he can't stay +here." + +That, at least, was evident, and for a moment or two Austin gazed about +him stupidly as he grappled with the difficulty. The stricken man still +squatted, unconcerned, upon the hawser, mowing and grimacing, while he +clawed at the hemp in a fashion that suggested the antics of a pleased +animal, with swollen hands. The rest stood still, well apart from him, +with expectancy overcoming the repulsion they felt. Then Tom, the +donkey-man, who was nearest the rail, held up his flaring lamp. + +"There's the canoe he come in still alongside aft," he said. + +Austin gasped with relief. "Heave down a bunch of the red bananas we got +up the creek," he said. "He'll know they are good to eat." + +It was done, and Jefferson smiled again grimly. + +"That," he said, "is easy. Still, have you figured how he is to be +gotten into the canoe? You are hardly going to make him understand what +he is to do." + +"There's only one way. He must be put into it. Under the circumstances, +it's only fitting that I should undertake the thing." + +"No!" and Jefferson's voice rang sharply. "Not you! Offer any of the +rest of them fifty dollars!" + +Austin smiled. "To take a risk I'm responsible for? I think not. I went +sufficiently far when I brought some of them here. Besides, it's +comforting to remember you mayn't be right about the thing being +contagious, after all." + +Jefferson looked at him hard a moment, with the fingers of one hand +closed, and then made a little sign. + +"Well," he said, "if you feel it that way, there's probably nothing to +be gained by protesting. There are disadvantages in being leader." + +Austin turned and touched the negro with his foot, while he pointed to +the ladder. + +"Get up! You lib for canoe one time!" he said. + +The negro mowed and gibbered meaninglessly, and Austin, stooping, +grasped his shoulder, which was clean. With an effort he dragged him to +his feet, and, while the rest fell back from them, drove the man towards +the head of the ladder. Then one of them slipped, and there was a cry of +horror from the rest as the negro clutched the white man, and they +rolled down the ladder into the darkness below together. Tom ran towards +the rail with his lamp, and as Jefferson leaned out from them he saw +Austin shake off the negro's engirdling grasp. + +"Get up!" he said hoarsely, and stirred him with his foot again. + +The man rose half upright, stumbled, and, straightening himself, moved +towards the open gangway with a lurch. Then he vanished suddenly and +there was a crash below. Austin leaned out through the opening, and his +voice rose harsh and strained: + +"Come down, one of you, and cut this warp! The devil's hanging on!" he +said. + +Wall-eye, the Canario, sprang down with his knife, and when Austin +climbed back to the bridge deck the men clustering along the rails saw +a canoe with a shadowy object lying in the stern of her slide through +the blaze of radiance cast by the blast-lamp and vanish into the +blackness outside it. Then Tom put out the light, and a hoarse murmur of +relief rose out of the darkness. + +A minute or two later Austin stood, a trifle grey in face, in the +doorway of the skipper's room, and stepped back suddenly when Jefferson +approached him. + +"Keep off!" he said. "Give me the permanganate out of the side drawer. I +left it there. Miguel, bring me the clothes you washed out of my room in +the poop, and fill me a bucket." + +The last was in Castilian, and one of the Canarios went scrambling down +the ladder, while when he came back with an armful of duck clothing +Jefferson held out a jar to his comrade. + +"No!" said Austin sharply. "Put it down!" + +Jefferson did as he was bidden, and Austin, who stripped the thin +garments from him and flung them over the rail, shook the permanganate +into the bucket, and then, standing stark naked, when it had dissolved, +sluiced himself all over with the pink solution. It was ten minutes +later when he stepped into the room, dripping, with a wet rag about his +waist, and shook his head when Jefferson handed him a towel. + +"I think not," he said. "If there's any efficacy in the thing, I may as +well let it dry in. After all, it's consoling to remember that it mayn't +be necessary." + +Jefferson's fingers quivered as he leaned upon the table. "No. Of course +not!" he said, and added, inconsequently: "I don't think I'm unduly +sensitive, but a very little thing would turn me deadly sick." + +Austin struggled into his duck trousers, and Jefferson, whose face was +also a little more pallid than usual, glanced at him again. + +"You have a beautiful skin," he said. "It's most like a woman's. There's +good clean blood in you." + +"It's one of my few good points," and Austin's smile suggested +comprehension. "I haven't been particularly indulgent in any direction, +considering my opportunities, and I'm rather glad of it now. One could +fancy that the man who seldom let one slip would be unusually apt to get +the promised wages in this country." + +He dragged his singlet over his arms, and a little twinkle slowly crept +into Jefferson's eyes. + +"Well," he said, "you carry your character with you. How long has the +restraining influence been at work on you?" + +"You are a little outside the mark," and a faint flush showed in +Austin's hollow cheeks. "I am, as you know, not a believer in the +unnecessary mortification of the flesh, but there's a trace of the +artistic temperament, if that's the right name for it, in me, and it's +rather apt to make one finickingly dainty." + +Jefferson smiled drily. "That doesn't go quite far enough. I've seen men +of your kind wallow harder than the rest. Still, whatever kept you from +it, you can be thankful now." + +Austin went on with his dressing, and then took a little medical +treatise out of a drawer. He spent some time turning over it before he +looked up. + +"There's nothing that quite fits the thing here, and from what the +West-coast mailboat men told me, craw-craw must be different," he said. +"In the meanwhile, it wouldn't do any harm to soak myself in black +coffee." + +He was about to go out when Jefferson stopped him. "This is a thing that +is better buried, but there's something to be said. From my point of +view, and it's that of the average sensible man, I was right; but yours +goes higher, and in one way I am glad of it. I just want to tell you I'm +satisfied with my partner!" + +Austin smiled at him. "We'll both be guilty of some sentimental nonsense +we may be sorry for afterwards if we continue in that strain, my friend. +Still, there's one thing to consider. Although I couldn't help it, what +I did was, of course, absurd, if you look at it practically, and things +of that kind have their results occasionally." + +Jefferson seemed to shiver, and then clenched a hard, scarred fist. + +"We won't think of it. Your blood's clean," he said. "But if, after all, +trouble comes--I'll get even with that damned Funnel-paint if I spend my +life in Africa trailing him, and have to kill him with my naked hands!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AUSTIN FINDS A CLUE + + +The grey light was growing clearer, and the mangroves taking shape among +the fleecy mist, when Austin stood looking down upon the creek in the +heavy, windless morning. There was no brightness in the dingy sky, which +hung low above the mastheads, but the water gleamed curiously, and no +longer lapped along the steamer's rusty plates. It lay still beneath her +hove-up bilge, giving up a hot, sour smell, and Jefferson, who came out +of the skipper's room, touched Austin as he gazed at it. + +"The stream should have been setting down by now. Something's backing up +the ebb," he said. "A shift of wind along the shore, most likely. The +rain's coming!" + +Austin glanced up at the lowering heavens, but there was no change in +their uniform greyness, and no drift of cloud. The smoke of the +locomotive boiler went straight up, and the mist hung motionless among +the trees ashore. Still, there was something oppressive and portentous +in the stillness, and his skin was tingling. + +"If it doesn't come soon we'll not have a man left," he said. "It isn't +in flesh and blood to stand this much longer." + +"Then," said Jefferson drily, "the sooner we get to work the better. +There's a good deal to do, and you're not going to feel it quite so much +once you get hold of the spanner." + +The pump had just stopped, and Tom came towards them, rubbing his greasy +hands with a cotton rag, as they moved in the direction of the engine +room. The lower part of it was dripping when they went down, and a foot +or two of water still lay upon the floor-plates where they met the +depressed side, but it was evident that another hour's work of the big +pump would leave the place almost dry. Austin sat down on a tool-locker +lid, with Jefferson standing beside him, but Tom floundered away towards +the stoke-hold, and they could hear him splashing in the water. When he +reappeared with a blinking lamp he crawled up the slippery ladder as +though working out a clue, while it was several minutes before he came +back and leaned against a column opposite Jefferson with the look of a +man who had not found quite what he had expected. + +"Sea-cocks shut!" he said. "Ballast tank full-way cock is screwed up, +too. Of course, they could have closed that with the overhead +screw-gear. You'll remember that manhole cover was off the forward +section." + +Jefferson glanced at Austin, though it was Tom he spoke to. "Did you +expect to find them open?" + +"Well," said the donkey-man, "to be quite straight, I did." + +"I wonder why?" + +Tom glanced at him with a little suggestive grin. "She has two plates +started, but with the boiler blowing away half her steam we haven't very +hard work to run all that came in that way down, and her bilge pump +would have kept her clear. What I want to know is, what all that water +was doing in her?" + +"Ah," said Jefferson, "you must ask another. I guess nobody's going to +find the full answer to that conundrum. There are only two or three men +who could have told us, and we're not going to have an opportunity of +worrying them about it, unless we get the fever, too." + +"Well," said Tom, "the mill's looking good, but it's about time we made +a start on her and got the cylinder covers off and hove the pistons up. +It's quite likely we'll want to spring new rings on them. There should +be some of the spanners in that locker, Mr. Austin." + +Austin rose and lifted the lid, while Tom held the lamp, but the first +thing he saw was a sodden book. He drew it out, dripping, and opened it; +but while a good many of the pulpy pages had fallen out, there were +enough left to show that it was one of the little tables of strengths +and weight of materials an engineer often carries about with him. There +was a rather wide margin round the tabulated figures, and as he vacantly +pulled out one of the wet pages he noticed a little close pencil writing +upon a part of it. + +"Hold that light nearer, Tom. Here's something that looks interesting," +he said. "'Buried Jackson this morning--memo hand his share over to Mary +Nichol.'" + +He signed Tom to move the light again. "There follows an obliterated +address, and the words, 'scarcely think she'll ever get it. My left +arm's almost rotten now.'" + +He stopped again a moment, and his face had grown hard when he went on: +"You see, the thing--is--contagious, and that devil Funnel-paint, or +somebody, has played the same trick before. I wonder if the man who +wrote this looked quite as bad as the nigger did." + +"Hold on!" said Jefferson sharply. "I guess none of us have any use for +that kind of talking, and you swilled yourself with permanganate, any +way." + +"The result will probably be the same, whether one thinks of it or not. +You will, however, notice that the man's name was Jackson, and the +woman's Mary Nicol." + +It was evident that this was a forced attempt to break away from the +subject, and though Tom grinned, it was in a sickly fashion. + +"That's no how astonishing. She was the last," he said. "Hadn't you +better turn over, and see if there's any more of it?" + +Austin contrived to lift another of the pulpy pages, and once more the +close writing appeared, but it was difficult to make out, and their +faces were close together when Tom lowered the lamp. They showed +curiously grave, as well as hollow, in the smoky light, for there was +reason for believing that the man who had made those notes was dead, and +it was clear that the horrible thing which had stricken him might also +come upon them. + +"The last of the bags buried this afternoon," Austin read. "Watson took +a new bearing. W. half N. to the cottonwood, with twist of creek in +line. Forty paces--he made it thirty-nine. Graham says one packet left +in the old place where the niggers got scent of it, and the quills on +the second islet; memo, it makes AL50 to me." + +He dropped the book, and Tom came near letting go the lamp, while for a +moment or two afterwards they stared at one another. Austin was +quivering a little, but Jefferson made a restraining gesture as he laid +a hand upon his shoulder. + +"Steady! I guess we've got the clue," he said. "There are two islets two +or three leagues back down the creek. You passed them coming up. Still, +what do they put up in quills?" + +"Gold-dust! The niggers bring it down from the Western Soudan, and I +believe they're ostrich quills. One of the trader fellows told me a good +deal about them over a dinner at the Metropole. A bushman had once stuck +him with a lot of brass filings. Are you going down to look for them?" + +Jefferson, it was evident from his face, laid a strong restraint upon +himself. + +"No," he said, with curious quietness. "Funnel-paint knows nothing about +these islets yet, or he wouldn't have come to you, and it's my first +business to heave this steamer off. To do it we'll want her engines, and +there's a heavy job in front of us before we start them. The rains won't +wait for any man." + +He broke off, for a glare of blue light fell through the open frames +above and flooded the engine room. It flickered on rusty columns and +dripping, discoloured steel, and vanished, leaving grey shadow behind +it, amidst which the smoky lamplight showed feeble and pale. Then there +was a crash that left them dazed and deafened, and in another moment was +followed by a dull crescendo roar, while a splashing trickle ran down +into the engine room. The glass frames quivered under the deluge, and +one could almost have fancied that the heavens had opened. Jefferson +whirled round and gripped the donkey-man's arm, shaking him as he stood +blinking about him in a bewildered fashion. + +"If you tell any of the rest what you have heard, I'll fling you into +the creek! And now up with you, and bring every man who is fit to work. +There's no time to lose," he said. + +Tom made for the ladder, and Austin, who went with him, carrying the +book, was drenched before he reached the skipper's room. The air was +filled with falling water that came down in rods, and blotted out the +mangroves a dozen yards away. Steam rose from the sluicing deck, the +creek boiled beneath the deluge, but there was no longer any trace of +the insufferable tension, and he stood a moment or two relaxing under +the rush of lukewarm water that beat his thin clothing flat against his +skin. Then he splashed forward to the forecastle, where Tom had little +difficulty in rousing the men. They crawled out, gaunt and haggard, in +filthy rags, some of them apparently scarcely fit to stand, for the rain +had come, and every inch the water rose would bring them so much nearer +home. There was no need to urge them when they floundered into the +engine room, and hour after hour they strained and sweated on big +spanner and chain-tackle willingly, while the big cylinder-heads and +pistons were hauled up to the beams. The one thought which animated them +was that the engines would be wanted soon. + +It mattered little that platform-grating and slippery floor-plates +slanted sharply under them, and each ponderous mass they loosened must +be held in with guy and preventer lest it should swing wildly into +vertical equilibrium. That was only one more difficulty, and they had +already beaten down so many. So day after day they worked on sloping +platforms, slipping with naked feet, and only grinned when Tom flung +foul epithets, and now and then a hammer, at one of them. Much of what +he said was incomprehensible, and, in any case, he was lord supreme of +the machinery; and Bill, whose speech was also vitriolic, acted as his +working deputy. The latter had served as greaser in another steamer, and +for the time being even Jefferson deferred to him. + +They stripped her until the big cylinders stood naked on their columns, +and the engine room resembled the erecting shop of a foundry, and then +the work grew harder when the reassembling began. Since the skeleton +engines slanted, nothing would hang or lower as they wanted it, and they +toiled with wedge and lever in semi-darkness by the blinking gleam of +lamps, while the rain that shut the light out roared upon the shut-down +frames above. It was very hot down in the engine room, and when a small +forge was lighted to expand joints they could not spring apart, and to +burn off saponified grease, men with less at stake would probably have +fancied themselves suffocated. Still, each massive piece was cleaned and +polished, keyed home, or bolted fast, and, when the hardest work was +over, the slope of the platforms lessened little by little as the +_Cumbria_ rose upright. It was evident to all of them that the water was +rising in the creek. + +In a month her deck was almost leveled, but the muddy flood that gurgled +about her still lay beneath her corroded water line, and Jefferson +seized the opportunity of laying out an anchor to heave on before the +stream ran too strong. The launch's boiler had given out, and they +lashed her to the surfboat, with the hatch covers as a bracing between, +but they spent an afternoon over it before Jefferson was satisfied, and +the thick, steamy night was closing in when they warped the double craft +under the _Cumbria_'s forecastle. It rose above them blackly, with a +blaze of flickering radiance over it where the blast-lamp hurled a shaft +of fire upwards into the rain. Floundering figures cut against the +uncertain brilliancy, voices came down muffled through the deluge, and +there was a creaking and groaning as the ponderous stream anchor swung +out overhead. + +Austin stood, half naked, on the platform between launch and surfboat, +with the water sluicing from him, and though he had toiled since early +dawn, he was sensible only of a feverish impatience, and no weariness at +all. He had had enough of the dark land, and what they were about to do +was to ensure a start on the journey that would take them out of it. It +grew rapidly darker, the long hull faded, and the flare of the lamp +alone cut, a sheet of orange and saffron, against the blackness above +them. Jefferson's voice fell through it sharply. + +"Stand by!" he said. "We'll ease her down!" + +There was a fresh groaning and creaking. Something big and shadowy that +racked the complaining chain descended towards them, and then there was +a scuffle and a shout on the deck above. Austin heard the rattle of +running chain and a hoarse cry. + +"Jump on it!" Jefferson's voice ran out, fierce with alarm. "Nip the +slack around the bollard. Hang on! Oh, hang on, until he gets a turn!" + +Feet shuffled about the light, there was stertorous gasping, another +cry, and a scream, and again Jefferson's voice broke through the +confused sounds: + +"Stand from under--for your life!" it said. + +The warning was unnecessary, for the Canarios were already crouching +forward in the surfboats bottom, and as Austin sprang in among them +there was a whirr and a crash. The craft swayed beneath him; he could +feel her dipping in the flood, but she rose with a staggering lurch, +slanted slightly, and held down by something huge and heavy. + +"Are you still on top there?" Jefferson asked. + +"We seem to be," said Austin. "Something's gone, but it's too dark to +see. How d'you come to let her go with a run?" + +"Wall-eye let her surge too soon," said Jefferson. "He was getting an +extra turn on, and nipped his hand in. She has 'most wrung it off him. +Handspike your anchor where you can tilt her clear before we slack +cable." + +They contrived to do it somehow, with the flare that was lowered from +the cat-davit dropping blazing oil about them, and then coiled down a +length of the ponderous cable. One of the twin craft was tilted to the +water's edge now, and still the massive iron links came clanking down. +Then, as the last fell with a crash, Jefferson leaned out over the rails +above. + +"Bend the wire on below the break. You'll want a clear link for the +shackle when we couple her up," he said. "Hang on to your anchor until +you're in the mangroves on the other bank. We want to heave towards deep +water out in the stream." + +More barefooted men came swinging down the hanging wire, and they slid +away into the blackness, bumping against the steamer's plates. The twin +craft were top-heavy, and lurched in the grip of the stream. It was a +minute or two before they had cleared the _Cumbria_, and by then they +were almost under her quarter; while when they had crept away from her a +fathom or two all of them knew there was a task in front of them that +would severely tax all their strength. + +They had the uncoiling wire rope to drag them back into line, the stream +swept them down a fathom for every one they made ahead, and, as ill luck +would have it, bore upon the launch's pressed down side so that they +could hear the water gurgling into her in ever faster swirl. Still, they +had to reach the opposite bank, or be hauled back to commence the task +again, and, gasping and panting, they heaved on the wet rope that led +into the rain ahead. Most of them were used to work of that kind, but +during the first five minutes Austin felt his arms grow weary and +nerveless, and the veins distend on his forehead, while a curious +singing commenced in his ears. He choked with every fresh grasp he laid +upon the rope, and a Canario behind him gasped out breathless snatches +of Castilian obscenity. + +Still, in spite of all they could do, the blaze of red light leaping in +the rain showed that they were making nothing, and now and then the rope +ran out again through their clinging hands. There was no sign of the +mangroves on the opposite bank, while the tilt of the platform grew +steeper, and it was evident that the launch was filling under them. +Then, little by little, the wire rope that ran out into the darkness +astern commenced to curve--they could hear the swirl of the stream +across it--and after another five minutes' tense effort they swung into +a slacker flow or reflex eddy. There was, however, no slackening of the +strain, and it was not until a dim, black wall rose up above them that +Austin loosed his grasp upon the rope, and, floundering and stumbling in +the rain and darkness, they strove to clear the anchor. + +It went over with a mighty splash, the platform rose with a jerk under +them; then, as they backed clear, there was a rattle of cable, and they +seized the wire. The lashed craft swung like a pendulum athwart the +stream, the rattling winch hauled them back fathom by fathom to the +_Cumbria_, while, when he had crawled on board her, Austin dropped +limply, and a trifle grey in face, on to the settee in the skipper's +room. + +"Well," he said, "that's done, though I think a little more of it would +have made an end of me. It is rather an astonishing thing, but while I +felt fiercely anxious to get that anchor out before we started, it +hardly seems worth the trouble now." + +"We couldn't heave her off without it," said Jefferson. "That means +going home--eventually." + +"I suppose it does," said Austin, with a little mirthless smile. "Still, +I haven't any home, you see, and I'm not sure that a lazar hospital of +some kind isn't what is awaiting me. You will remember the encouraging +words that fellow left--'My arm's almost rotten now.'" + +Jefferson slowly clenched one scarred hand. "That's a thing we are +neither of us strong enough to think about. It's a little too +horrible--it couldn't happen!" + +"It's scarcely likely in your case, at least. He didn't put his arm +round you, and I had nothing worth mentioning on that night. Men do die +rotten, and I fancied once or twice I felt a suggestive tingling in my +skin." + +Jefferson seemed to be holding himself in hand with a struggle, but +Austin smiled. + +"Well," he said, "if it comes at all, it will get the right one. I'm not +going home to be married. In fact, I was told that it would be rather a +graceful thing to come back upon my shield, though I don't know that I +would like to do so looking as that nigger did. In the meanwhile, I had, +perhaps, better see to Wall-eye's hand." + +He went out into the darkness, and Jefferson stood still, with his lips +set tight, leaning on the table. He was, in some respects, a hard man, +and his sojourn in Africa had not roused his gentler qualities, but just +then he felt an unpleasant physical nausea creeping over him again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +HOVE OFF + + +The rain came down in sheets, and the mangrove roots were hidden by the +yellow flood, when Jefferson stood, dripping, on the _Cumbria_'s bridge. +Her iron deck was level, the stumpy pole masts ran upright into the +drifting mist, and a column of black smoke floated sluggishly from her +rusty funnel. Dingy vapour also rose from the slender one of the +locomotive boiler, and cables--hemp and wire and chain--stretched +between the mangroves and the steamer's bow and stern. Jefferson, +leaning heavily on the bridge rails, considered them each in turn. He +shivered a little, though the rain was warm, and his wet face looked +unusually gaunt and worn; but his eyes were intent and steady, for at +last all was ready for the supreme effort of heaving the _Cumbria_ off. + +He looked down when Austin stopped at the foot of the ladder. His face +and hands were black, and the thin singlet, which was all he wore above +his duck trousers, seemed glued to him. + +"Hadn't you better keep inside the wheelhouse until we start the mill?" +he said. + +Jefferson smiled drily. "Do you think you could? What are you wandering +up and down the deck for?" + +"I'm not. I've been firing the locomotive boiler, and spent the last +twenty minutes in the forecastle. It isn't as dry as it should be +there." + +He spoke lightly, though there was a suggestion of tension in his voice, +and it was evident that both of them were anxious. Indeed, Jefferson +fancied that his comrade found it difficult to stand still at all. + +"Well?" he said. + +"There are a third of them I daren't turn out, and two or three of the +others who are down with Tom look a good deal shakier than I care about. +Still, you see, I couldn't keep them in. They've had about enough of +this country, and I don't blame them. You can figure on about half of us +as reasonably effective, but what everybody wants to know is, when we +are to begin." + +"When you can give me eighty pounds of steam. Then we'll shake her up +for an hour or two with reversed propeller, and heave on everything when +you get up to the hundred. Still, although we have blown a good deal of +the mud out forward, I expect she'll want another fifty before she'll +move." + +Austin glanced at the gap in the forest beneath the bows, across which +the shattered mangroves were strewn. He and Jefferson had gone over all +this before, but since he had stopped by the ladder they must talk of +something, for silence would have been intolerable just then. + +"I'll go down and stir them up, though I'm not sure that they need it," +he said. + +He disappeared round the deck-house, and now there was nobody to see +him, Jefferson paced feverishly up and down the bridge, until Wall-eye, +the steward, came pattering barefoot along the deck, with his arm in a +sling. Jefferson stopped him with a sign. + +"Slip into Mr. Austin's room, and bring me the thermometer he keeps in +the little case," he said. "As usual, no comprenny? Casetta de cuero, +very chiquitita." + +The man went away, and when he came back Jefferson, who went into the +wheelhouse, sucked the little clinical thermometer gravely for a minute +or two. Then he frowned as he looked at it. + +"Ninety-nine, point something. I guess it's coming on again," he said. +"Well, one can go on working when it's a good deal more than that, +especially when he has to." + +He came out, and, leaning down, dropped the case into the hands of the +man below. + +"Put it back, and don't let Mr. Austin know," he said. "SeA+-or Austin no +savvy, you comprenny?" + +Wall-eye grinned as he went away. He could, of course, hold his tongue, +but the little case was sodden already, and it could not have got so wet +as that in Austin's room. + +In the meanwhile Austin had gone down to the stoke-hold. The place was +dimly lighted, and insufferably hot, for, with the _Cumbria_ stationary, +no more air came down the ventilator shafts than the fires would draw, +and they were burning sulkily. In fact, it was only by strenuous labour +that steam could be raised at all. Here and there the pale flicker of an +oil lamp emphasised the gloom, though there were three half-moon patches +of brightness in each of the two boilers, until a fierce red glow beat +out as Tom, the donkey-man, flung open a furnace door. Then Austin +gained some impression of his surroundings. + +The bent figures of half naked men with shovels were forced out of the +shadows. Another man, dripping with perspiration, pushed a clattering +truck, and several more lay, apparently inert, upon the floor-plates, +with water thick with coal grime trickling from them. Only two of them +were professional firemen, and all were weakened by the climate or +shaken by the fever, while as the red light touched them, Austin could +see how worn they were, and the suggestive hollows in their uncovered +skin. There are also things which it is unfit that a white man should +do, and firing in a calm in the tropics is one of them. Austin, +however, had little time to look about him in, for Tom thrust an iron +bar into one of the Spaniards's hands. + +"Stand by with the bucket, you. Now, out with the clinker!" he said. + +It is probable that the last man addressed did not understand what was +said, but he knew how to clean a fire, and stood, half crouching, before +the furnace, with face averted, while he plied the bar. There was a +rattling beneath the grate-bars and an overpowering wave of heat, in the +midst of which the man stood bowed, with thin garments scorching and his +hair frizzling visibly. Austin could hear his gasping breath, and became +possessed by a sense of futile indignation. Toil of that kind was, he +felt, more than could be expected of anything made in the image of a +man. Then the Canario let the bar fall clanging, and seized another, +while the heat grew more intense when he raked out the ash and glowing +clinker from the flaming tunnel. Austin shrank back with a hand upon his +eyes and singlet singeing, and his voice broke through Tom's cry of +"Damp her down!" + +"Por misericordia," he said, "echadle agua!" + +Somebody swung a bucket, and a cloud of steam whirled up; but the man +who had cleaned the fire let his scraper fall, and lurching with a half +strangled cry, went down amidst the vapour. He lay with scorched chest +and arms on the floor-plates, making little stertorous noises, until +Tom, who tore the bucket from his comrade's hands, flung the rest of its +contents over him. + +"Drag him away!" he said, and turned to Austin. "He's the second one, +but he'll come round by and by. Did you come down to look on or give us +a hand?" + +He flung open another door, and Austin took a shovel from a weary man. +He had studied the art of firing up on deck, where it was considerably +cooler, before the locomotive boiler, but he discovered that the work +now demanded from him was an entirely different matter. The heat was +overpowering, the bed of glowing fuel long, and it was only by the +uttermost swing of shoulders and wrench of back and loins that he could +effectively distribute his shovelful. He felt his lowered face +scorching, and the sweat of effort dripped from him, but he toiled on in +Berserker fury while Tom encouraged him. + +"Spread it!" he said. "Next lot well down to the back end. You needn't +be afraid to move yourself. Keep her thin!" + +Austin wondered whether he had any eyebrows left when that furnace was +filled, but it was done at last, and then there was coal to be trimmed +from the bunkers. The dust that whirled about the shovels blackened and +choked him, but he worked on savagely. Every man was needed, with half +the Spaniards sick, and he felt that if this was the cost of success it +was not fitting that he should shirk his part in it. Social distinctions +counted for nothing there; the barriers of creed and nationality had +also melted. They were all privates in that forlorn hope, with death as +the penalty of failure, and while they could not be more, none of them +that day dared be less, than men. + +He never remembered all he did. There was a constant clanging of +shovels, whirring of coal trucks, and slamming of iron doors that opened +to let out fiery heat and radiance and take the flying fuel in. Men came +and went like phantoms, gasping, panting, groaning now and then, and the +voice of their leader rose stridently at intervals. He was a man of low +degree, and his commands were not characterised by any particular +delicacy, but he was the man they needed, and when he emphasised his +instructions with a grimy hand, and now and then the flat of the +shovel, nobody resented it. During one brief interlude he found breath +for a deprecatory word or two with Austin. + +"If she was doing her eight or ten knots it wouldn't be as hard as +this," he said. "Then the ventilators would cool her down. The fires +won't burn themselves now--you have got to make them; but you'll find +her steam sweet and easy when she's going up the trades head to breeze." + +"I wonder," said Austin grimly, "how many of us will be left when she +gets there." + +Then Bill, who had been busy at the locomotive boiler, came down the +ladder with a message, and he and Tom vanished into the engine room, +while Austin, who greatly desired to go with them, put a restraint upon +himself. For some minutes he felt his heart beat as he listened to a +premonitory wheezing and panting, and then his blood seemed to tingle as +this merged into the steady rumble of engines. The faint quiver of the +floor-plates sent a thrill through him, and he drew in a great breath of +relief when beam and angle commenced to tremble. The rumbling grew +steadily louder, the whirl of the reversed propeller shook the ship, and +it was evident that the engines were running well. + +After that, however, the work became harder still, for the big cylinders +must be fed, and it was with a sensation of thankfulness that he had not +broken down beneath the strain Austin dragged himself up the ladder when +a message was brought him that he was wanted to drive the after winch. +It was raining heavily, but he found it a relief to feel the deluge beat +upon his beaded face and scorched skin, though he could scarcely see the +mangroves to which the wire that ran from the winch drum led. It was +shackled to a big bridle, a loop of twisted steel that wound in and out +among a rood or two of the stoutest trees. The winch was also powerful, +and it remained to be seen whether it would heave the _Cumbria_ out of +her miry bed, or pull that portion of the watery forest up bodily. A +great cable that slanted back towards him rose out of the water forward +in a curve, and he could dimly see Jefferson's lean figure outlined +against the drifting mist high up on the bridge. On the forecastle +beyond it more shadowy men stood still, and Austin wondered whether +their hearts beat as his did while they waited. The man beside him +stooped ready, with body bent in a rigid curve, and bare, stiffened +arms, clenching the wire that led to the winch-drum. There was a +minute's waiting, and then Jefferson, moving along the bridge, flung up +a hand. + +"Heave!" he said. + +Austin felt his pulses quicken and a curious sense of exultation as he +unscrewed the valve, for it seemed to him that flesh and blood had borne +the strain too long, and now they had steel and steam to fight for them. +The deck beneath him quivered as the screw whirled faster, and he could +see the poop shaking visibly. Then the winch wheezed and pounded, and +there was a groaning forward as the rattle of the windlass joined in. +Wire and hemp and studded chain rose ripping from the river, creaked and +groaned and strained, but when they had drawn each curve out they could +get no inch of slack in. Austin clenched his fingers on the valve-wheel, +but his eyes were fixed on the lonely figure pacing feverishly up and +down the bridge, and just then he felt all the bitterness of defeat. The +rattle forward died away, and though the winch still whirred and +hammered, none of the wire rope ran over the drum into the crouching +Spaniard's hands. The tension lasted for some minutes, and then +Jefferson's voice came down harshly through the rain. + +"Let up!" he said. "Get down, half of you, and see if you can help them +with the firing. We'll try her again when you have raised more steam." + +There was, by contrast, a curious silence when the roar of steam died +away, and the thudding of the big engines below decks sank to a lower +pitch. The men who could be spared went down in a body, and toiled for +another hour in a frenzy. The fierce Latin blood was up; they knew it +was the last round, and they would not be beaten now. The throbbing +blast which rushed skywards from the blow-off valve when they came up +again showed what they had done, and Austin walked aft, singed and +blackened, to his winch, with his heart in his mouth. It must be now or +never, for it was clear to him that the men were making their last +effort, and the boilers would not bear another pound of steam. + +The windlass was groaning horribly when he opened the valve, and the +whole ship trembled with the whirring of the screw. He saw the drums +spin round futilely for a moment or two, and then the Spaniard, who +crouched behind one of them, howled, as a foot of the uncoiling wire +came back to his hands. Simultaneously, the groaning of the windlass +changed to a clanking rattle, and no sound had ever seemed half so +musical to Austin. The ship shook beneath him, and creaked in all her +frame, while the hammering and rattling swelled into a frantic din as +she commenced to move. He felt as though he were choking, and his sight +momentarily failed him; but as yet the battle was not quite won, and +closing blackened fingers on the valve-wheel, he watched the rope come +home with dazzled eyes. It ran in faster and faster; he could hear the +great stud-cable splashing and grinding as it came in, too, and for five +breathless minutes he held himself to his task, feeling the _Cumbria_ +creep down stream, stern foremost, under him. Then her pace grew faster, +and the clanging of his winch seemed to deafen him, until at last a +shrill-pitched voice fell through the din. + +"Bastante!" it said. "She's clear now! 'Vast heaving!" + +Then the tension slackened as the long, rusty hull swung out into +midstream, and flesh and blood were left shaken, and, as yet, unable to +recover from the suddenly lifted strain in the silence, as winch and +engines stopped. Tom, the donkey-man, was chanting some incoherent +ribaldry forward; here and there a Canario howled or flung up dripping +arms; while the one beside Austin sat down upon the hatch and rocked +himself to and fro as he called upon the Queen of Heaven. Only Jefferson +stood very still, a tall, lean figure, on the bridge, with his torn and +drenched clothing sticking to him, and Austin leaned heavily upon his +winch. He did not wish to move, and was not sure he could have done so +had he wanted to. The _Cumbria_ was clear afloat, and they had won; but +there was nothing he could say or do which would sufficiently celebrate +that triumph. + +Jefferson gave them five minutes to recover their balance, and then his +voice came down again. The windlass clanked its hardest, wire hawsers +splashed, and the _Cumbria_ had swung across to the opposite forest when +the big anchor rose to her bows. In the meanwhile the surfboat had been +busy, too; and when the winch whirred again they slid away, stern +foremost, with propeller churning slowly, against the muddy stream. It +was twenty minutes later when, with a roar of running cable, the anchor +plunged once more, and she brought up abreast of the creek where the +coal and oil were stored. Jefferson came down from his bridge and sat +down on the table in the skipper's room when Austin flung himself on to +the settee, with the water trickling from him. + +"Well," he said, "we have floated her, but there's still a good deal to +be done. There are the coal and oil to get on board, and then we have to +find the gum." + +Austin looked up at him with a little smile. + +"That's rather a prosaic epilogue when one comes to think of it," he +said. + +"Then you can paint a picture of it when you get home, if you fancy it +worth while," said Jefferson drily. + +"I don't think it would be," and Austin smiled again. "After all, a +picture either goes beyond or falls a long way short of the real thing, +and the subject's rather too big for me. Man's domination symbolised by +a staggering scarecrow with a fireman's shovel." + +Jefferson dropped his hand on his shoulder, and gripped it hard. "Well," +he said, "you can drive a winch and sling a palm oil puncheon like a +sailorman. I guess that's 'most as useful as the other thing, any way." + +"Ah!" said Austin, "you're skirting rather a big question, but we are +practical now. Are you going to dig the gum up before you heave in +cargo?" + +"I'm not. It seems to me it's safer where it is in the meanwhile, so +long as Funnel-paint doesn't know where to look for it. If you'll give +me a dose of quinine I'd be obliged to you." + +Austin glanced at him sharply. "Have you any special reason for asking +for it?" + +"I've been in the rain quite a long while now, and it's a good deal +wiser to head off a fever than wriggle out of its clutches once it gets +a good grip on you. One gets cautious in this country." + +Austin said nothing further, for he was by this time well acquainted +with his comrade's characteristics, but he was not quite contented with +the latter's reason when he lugged out the medicine chest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +JEFFERSON FINDS THE GUM + + +A half-moon shone in a rift between the massed banks of cloud when +Austin stood looking down into the trench four of the Spaniards were +digging. It ran partly across the islet, which was small and sandy, +intersecting another excavation that had a palm at one end of it, while +a half-rotten cottonwood, from which orchids sprang, stood in line with +the trench the men were toiling in. They were shovelling strenuously, +and the thud of the sand they flung out jarred on the silence, for the +night was very still. Austin could hear the creek lapping on the beach, +and the deep humming of the _Cumbria_'s pump, softened by the distance. +She lay, with a light or two blinking fitfully on board her, half a mile +away, ready at last for sea. Then he glanced at Jefferson, who stood +close beside him, shivering a little, though the night was hot, as he +leaned upon a shovel. + +"We have been at it, at least, a couple of hours," Austin said +suggestively. + +Jefferson laughed. "And we'll be here this time to-morrow unless we find +the case. There's only one on this islet, that fellow said, and, as I +tried to point out, the men who buried it probably wanted to get the +thing done quickly. They'd have run a line from the two trees, and +either dumped the case at the intersection or a few paces outside it on +a given bearing. If we don't strike it in a few minutes we'll work a +traverse." + +Ten minutes passed, and then one of the Canarios cried out excitedly as +he struck something with his shovel. Austin saw his comrade's hands +quiver on the shovel-haft in the moonlight, but that was all, and next +moment two of the Spaniards fell on hands and knees in the sand. They +flung it up in showers with their fingers, while Austin, by an effort, +stood very still, for he felt that he might do things he would be sorry +for afterwards if he let himself go. The Latins were panting in their +eagerness, and wallowing rather like beasts than men amidst the flying +sand. Then one of them, who dragged something out, hove it up and flung +it at Austin's feet with a gasp of consternation. + +"Ah, maldito! Es muy chiquitita!" he said. + +Austin set his lips as he glanced at his comrade, whose face grew +suddenly hard. + +"Yes," he said, with portentous quietness. "It is remarkably small, and +by the way he hove it up there can't be very much in it." + +They stood still a moment, looking down at the little wooden case, while +the Spaniards clustered round them, with eyes that gleamed in the +moonlight, breathing unevenly. Then Jefferson said: "Light that +blast-lamp, and we'll open it." + +Austin's fingers trembled, and he wasted several matches before the +sheet of flame sprang up. Then he fell furiously upon the case with a +hammer and splintered the lid. He plunged his hand in and took out a +quill, which he twisted until it burst, and spilled a little heap of +gleaming grains in his palm. + +"It's gold," he said. + +"Empty the lot!" said Jefferson, and his voice was hoarse. "Your hat is +big enough. It will all go into it." + +There was a low murmur from the Spaniards when Austin obeyed him, and he +handed the wide-brimmed hat to Jefferson. + +"Would you make it four pounds?" asked the latter. + +"I certainly would not." + +Jefferson laughed harshly. "Then it's probably worth some AL200," he +said. "It's rather a grim joke, considering what has no doubt been done +for the sake of it." + +He laid the hat down, and one of the Spaniards, glancing at the little +pile of quills, broke into a torrent of horrible maledictions, while +Austin, who said nothing, gazed at his comrade until the latter made a +curious little gesture. + +"There is still the gum," he said. + +Austin smiled sardonically. "If you can still believe in it you are an +optimist of the finest water. Any way, we'll go and look for it. It will +be a relief to get done with the thing." + +They waded to the surfboat, which lay close by on the beach, and slid +down stream to an adjacent island, where they had no difficulty in +finding the tree the man who made the note in the engineers' tables had +alluded to. The moon had, however, sunk behind a cloud, and they toiled +by the light of the blast-lamp for half an hour, until once more one of +the Canarios struck something with his shovel. They dragged it out with +difficulty, and found it to be a heavy, half-rotten bag, with something +that appeared to be a package of plaited fibre inside it. Other bags +followed, and hope was growing strong in them again when they had +disclosed at least a score. Jefferson looked at Austin with a little +smile in his eyes. + +"There's a couple of hundred pounds, any way, in each of those bags, and +if the man who told me was right, that stuff is worth anything over AL100 +the ton," he said. "So far as we have prospected, this strip of sand is +full of them. It's going to be more profitable than gold-mining. We'll +get this lot into the surfboat first. Put that lamp out." + +Austin did so, and they staggered through a foot or two of water with +the bags on their backs. Some of them burst as they carried them, but +the fibre packages remained intact, and the big boat was almost loaded +when Austin, who was breathless, seated himself for a moment on her +gunwale. He could see by the silvery gleam on the cloud bank's edge that +the moon was coming through again, and he was glad of the fact, for he +had stumbled and once fallen heavily under his burden when floundering +through the strip of thorny brushwood which fringed the beach. Still, he +agreed with Jefferson that it was not advisable to use the big +blast-light any longer than was absolutely necessary, for they both had +an unpleasant suspicion that they had not done yet with Funnel-paint. It +was, indeed, for that reason they had made the search at night and used +the surfboat, which could be paddled almost silently, instead of the +launch, though Tom had repaired her boiler, and she was then lying +alongside the _Cumbria_, with steam up, ready. + +The black hull of the latter was faintly visible, and as he glanced at +it he fancied that a puff of white steam sprang up where he supposed the +locomotive boiler to be. A moment later a thin, shrill scream rang +through the stillness, and one of the Spaniards, startled by the sound, +fell heavily against the boat with the bag he was carrying. Austin made +a sign to Jefferson, who was staggering across the beach with a bag upon +his back. + +"They're whistling," he said. "I fancy I can hear the launch coming." + +There was another hoarser scream, and when it died away a low thudding +sound crept out of the darkness. Austin swept his gaze upriver, but +could only see the shadowy mangroves, for the moon had not come through +yet. + +"Funnel-paint!" said Jefferson, breathlessly. "There are four more bags +in sight. We'll get her afloat before we go for them." + +They did it up to their waists in water, and it cost them an effort, for +the big boat was heavy now; and then, though the Spaniards glanced +longingly at the _Cumbria_'s blinking lights, Jefferson insisted upon +their carrying down the bags. When that was done, nobody lost any time +in getting on board; and, grasping the paddles, they drove her out into +the stream. + +"Paddle!" said Jefferson grimly. "I guess it's for your lives!" + +It is probable that the Spaniards did not understand him, but they did +what they could, for while the clank of the launch's engines grew louder +the sound of paddles was also rapidly drawing nearer. There were, +however, very few of them, and the boat was big, so that Austin gasped +with relief when at last the little steamer swept round her stern. + +"Stand by for the line!" said Tom, who sprang up on her deck. "They +can't be far off. It's ten minutes, any way, since we first heard their +paddles." + +The tow-line was caught, and tightened with a jerk, and the surfboat +went upstream with the yellow water frothing about her, while Austin +could hear the rhythmic thud of paddles through the clank of +hard-pressed engines. Jefferson said nothing, but stood rigidly still, +with hands clenched on the big steering oar, until they drove alongside +the _Cumbria_. + +"Up with you, Tom, and see they whip those bags in!" he said. "I want +the case you'll find under the settee in my room, too. You'll sing out +for two or three men who can be relied on, Austin." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Austin. + +Jefferson laughed unpleasantly. "Head the devils off from the island, +any way, and, if it's necessary, obliterate some of Funnel-paint's +friends. It's fortunate the launch has twice the speed of any canoe." + +He clambered on board the launch, and when a few more men came +scrambling down, swung her out before they could decide whether it would +be wiser to climb back again. After that, he left the helm to Austin, +and moving towards the engine, opened the valve wide. + +"Head her for the islet. If they have had anybody watching us in a +canoe, they'll go there first," he said. + +Austin made a sign of comprehension, but said nothing until his comrade, +sitting down, opened the case he had asked for. Then he became possessed +by unpleasant apprehensions as he saw Jefferson take out several rolls +of giant-powder with fuses attached to them. They looked exactly like +candles now, only the wicks were black, and unusually long. Sitting +still, very grim in face, he tied one or two together, and then nipped a +piece or two off the fuses with his knife. + +"I guess it would be as well to make sure," he said. + +"Of what?" asked Austin. + +"That they'll go off when I want them," and Jefferson laughed a little +grating laugh. "I've had them ready for some while, and took a good deal +of trouble timing the fuses. Now, the effect of giant-powder's usually +local, and I figure one could throw these things far enough for us to +keep outside the striking radius. They'd go better with a little +compression, but there's a big detonator inside them which should stir +them up without it. If these two sticks fell upon a nigger they wouldn't +blow him up. They'd dissolve him right into gases, and it's quite +probable there wouldn't be any trace of him left." + +Austin asked no more questions. Worn as he was by tense effort and the +climate, kept awake as he had been to watch when he might have slept at +night, and troubled by vague apprehensions that the loathsome plague +might be working in his blood, he was ready, and, perhaps, rather more +than that, to turn upon the man who had made their heavy burden more +oppressive still. Indeed, it would have been a relief to him to feel the +jump of a rifle barrel in his hand, but from Jefferson's scheme he +shrank almost aghast. To run amuck, with flashing pistol or smashing +firebar, among the canoes, would have appeared to him a natural thing, +but the calculating quietness of his comrade, who sat so unconcernedly, +making sure that the rolls of plastic material should not fail, struck +him as wholly abnormal, and a trifle horrible. Pistol shot, machete +slash, and spear thrust, were things that one might face; but it seemed +beyond toleration that another man should unloose the tremendous +potentialities pent up in those yellow rolls upon flesh and blood. + +He was, however, quite aware that there was nothing to be gained by +protesting, and while Jefferson went on with his grim preparations he +turned his gaze upriver towards the approaching canoes. He could see +them clearly, black bars that slid with glinting paddles athwart a track +of silvery radiance, for the half-moon had sailed out from behind the +cloud. They were coming on in a phalanx, five or six of them, and the +splash and thud of the paddles rose in a rhythmic din. He swung the +launch's bows a trifle down stream, to run in between them and the +island. + +Then he turned again, and saw Bill, the fireman, watching Jefferson. The +light of the engine lantern was on his face, and it showed wry and +repulsive with its little venomous grin. Forward, the Spaniards were +clustered together, and they were, by their movements, apparently +loosening their wicked knives; but they showed no sign of consternation, +and Austin became sensible of a change in his mood. It seemed to him +that he and they had grown accustomed to fear, and felt it less in the +land of shadow. If they were to be wiped out by a spear thrust, or +Jefferson's giant-powder, which seemed equally likely, nothing that he +could do would avert it; but by degrees he became possessed by a quiet +vindictive anger against the man who had forced this quarrel on them +when their task was almost done. There were, he fancied, fifty or sixty +men in the canoes, and he felt a little thrill of grim satisfaction as +he reflected that if he and his comrades went under they would not go +alone. In fact, he could almost sympathise with Jefferson. + +In the meanwhile the canoes were drawing level with them as they +approached the islet. He could see the wet paddles glinting, and the +naked bodies swing, while presently Jefferson, who made Bill a little +sign to stop the engine, stood up on the deck. The case of giant-powder +lay open at his feet, and Bill laid a glowing iron on the cylinder +covering. The men in the canoes ceased paddling, and while the craft +slid slowly nearer each other there was for a moment or two an +impressive silence, through which Austin fancied he could hear a faint +rhythmic throbbing. Then Jefferson, who cut one of the rolls of +giant-powder through, flung up his hand. + +"Where you lib for, Funnel-paint?" he shouted. + +"Them beach," said the negro, and his voice reached them clearly. "We +done come for them gum. You lib for 'teamboat before we cut you t'roat!" + +"Then I'm going to put the biggest kind of Ju-Ju onto you," said +Jefferson. "You savvy how I blow up them headman's house? If you don't +want to be blown up like it, lib for up river one time, and be ---- to +you!" + +There was probably only one man among them who partly understood him, +but his gesture was fierce and commanding, and the confused splashing +of paddles suggested that some, at least, of the negroes were impressed. +Two of the canoes moved backwards against the stream, and while +Funnel-paint cried out in his own tongue, Jefferson stooped. + +"Touch that on the iron, Bill," he said. + +In another moment he stood very straight again with a dim object that +sparkled in his hand, and then hurled it at the island. It fell amidst +the brushwood, out of which there sprang a sheet of flame that was +followed by a detonation and a great upheaval of flying sand. Then the +paddles splashed confusedly, and in another minute or two the canoes +were a hundred yards away. After that there was silence, broken only by +the voice of Funnel-paint, who seemed to be flinging reproaches at his +friends, and a faint, dull throbbing which Austin fancied was a trifle +plainer than before. Then Jefferson laughed as he took up another stick +of giant-powder. + +"That seems to have scared them, but if they come back again they'll get +the next one in the middle of them," he said. + +"Listen!" said Austin, holding up his hand. "Can't you hear engines?" + +Jefferson swung round sharply, and the scream of a whistle came shrilly +across the water from the _Cumbria_ just then. It was answered by +another of a deeper tone, and a blaze of blue light sprang up, +apparently out of the creek. It showed a black shape that wallowed +through a mass of piled up foam. + +"A launch!" said Jefferson. "A fast one!" + +"No," said Austin. "A pinnace. A gunboat's pinnace. Ah! the canoes are +going." + +There was a sudden thudding of paddles, and the canoes melted into the +darkness as the moon sailed behind a cloud again; but the whirr and +thump of engines drew nearer, and Jefferson reached down for the +lantern. + +"Well," he said, "a good deal depends upon what country she belongs to, +and it's quite likely we're going to have trouble. Still, we have got to +face it now." + +He waved the lantern, and while the whirr of engines slackened a voice +came out of the darkness. + +"Launch ahoy! Is that the _Cumbria_ yonder?" it said in excellent +English. + +Austin took the lantern from Jefferson with a soft laugh. + +"I'll take charge now--you see, I'm acquainted with my countrymen's +little peculiarities," he said, and raised his voice a trifle. "It is. +If you don't mind steaming that far, we should consider it a pleasure to +do anything we can for you." + +"If you have no great objections, I'll come on board now," said the +other man. "Starboard a little! Start her slow!" + +There was a whirring of engines, a little, very trim pinnace crept up +alongside, and a young man in immaculate white uniform stepped on the +launch's deck. + +"Ah!" he said, "Mr. Austin! I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. +What has become of the niggers?" + +"Which niggers?" asked Jefferson, carelessly. + +The young officer looked at him with a little dry smile, and it was +evident that his eyes were keen, for he made a sign to Bill, who was +about to secrete the giant-powder. + +"I am," he said, "under the impression that you know a good deal more +about them than I do. We have rather good glasses, and I certainly made +out four or five canoes. May I ask what that stuff is yonder?" + +"It is what, I believe, is called in America giant-powder," said Austin. +"We found it useful in blowing the mangroves up." + +"Quite so," said the officer. "In fact, we heard the detonation. Still, +I daresay there are several things we should like to ask each other +about, and you suggested going across to your steamer." + +"I did," said Austin. "We should be glad of your company for to-night, +at least, though I'm afraid we can't offer you much to eat. This is my +partner, Jefferson--Lieutenant Onslow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AUSTIN'S TOAST + + +An hour had passed since their first meeting, when Austin, Jefferson, +and two navy men sat round a little table that had been laid out upon +the _Cumbria_'s bridge deck. It was slightly cooler there than it was +below, besides which the mess-rooms reeked with damp and mildew. A lamp +hung from one of the awning spars above them, and its light fell upon +the men's faces and the remnants of the very frugal meal. The handful of +bluejackets who came up in her had apparently gone to sleep beneath an +awning on the flooring of the pinnace, which lay alongside, but a sharp +clinking rose from the lighted engine room, where a couple of naval +artificers were busy with Tom, the donkey-man. The gunboat's surgeon, +who had been round the forecastle, was talking to Austin, while her +commander lay opposite Jefferson, immaculately neat, in a canvas chair. + +"Our tale," he said, "is a very simple one. As we didn't seem to be +wanted anywhere just now, we moored ship snugly in the bight behind the +island, and decided to get a little painting done. She was getting rusty +along the water-line, and one can't get at it well when she's washing +through a swell, you know. Under the circumstances, I seized the +opportunity to do a little rough surveying. We are expected to pick up +any information that may be of use to the Admiralty hydrographers." + +Jefferson lay very limply in his chair, but his eyes twinkled +appreciatively. "Well," he said, "I guess that would look all right in +the log, but any one who had seen you start surveying would wonder why +you brought those cases of provisions as well as engine oil and packing, +and two or three ingots of bearing metal. We were uncommonly glad to get +them and see the artificers, though I'm not sure your Admiralty would +approve of the way you're squandering its stores." + +Onslow laughed. "We are not forbidden to offer assistance to any one in +want of it, and the provisions, at least, do not belong to our +parsimonious Lords. In fact, they were handed me at Las Palmas by a +friend of yours, on the off chance of our falling in with you. Of +course, I could not exactly promise that you would get them, though I +had reasons for believing the thing was possible." + +Jefferson filled a wineglass, and thrust the bottle across the table. + +"I think I know the lady's name," he said. "This is the first wine I've +drunk since I came to Africa, and it will probably be the last until I +get out of it again. To-morrow it's going forward to the sick men in the +forecastle. The lady who sent it is not going to mind my passing the +kindness on." + +"I venture to think she would approve," and Onslow glanced at Austin. +"In fact, I couldn't quite help a fancy she intended it as a +peace-offering. Miss Brown is, as you are probably aware, capable of +conveying an impression without saying anything very definite, and the +one I received from her was that she felt she had been a trifle hard on +somebody. I should, of course, not have presumed to mention it had it +not been borne in on me that it was not intended I should keep that +impression entirely to myself. If I have been mistaken I must apologise +to her and both of you." + +Jefferson stood up with the wineglass in his hand, and the others rose +with him. + +"This," he said, "is a little out of my usual line, but it's her wine +we're drinking, and I can't quite let the occasion pass. 'To Her Serene +Excellency, the cleverest woman in the Canaries, who hasn't forgotten +us!'" + +Austin stood opposite him, a ragged, climate-worn skeleton, with a +little flush in his haggard face, and he looked at the gunboat's +commander. + +"My comrade hasn't gone quite far enough," he said. "The Queen, who can +do no wrong!" + +Then the glasses were emptied, and there was a moment's silence when +they sat down. Three of them were, after all, somewhat reserved +Englishmen, who had, for once, allowed their thoughts to become +apparent; and Commander Onslow, who felt that he had, perhaps, exceeded +his somewhat delicate commission, was distinctly displeased with +himself. He had had a certain conversation with Mrs. Hatherly, who had +been rather frank with him, before he left the Canaries, and the +attitude of the ragged adventurer who had proclaimed his unwavering +devotion to the woman who had sent him there appealed to him, so much +so, in fact, that it made him uncomfortable. It was, he felt, advisable +to change the subject. + +"Considering everything, it was, perhaps, as well we turned up when we +did. You see, those niggers don't belong to us," he said. "I was, I may +admit, rather thankful when they disappeared, since it might have made a +good deal of trouble if we had taken a hand in. Now you understand that, +you may be willing to tell me what you purposed doing with the +giant-powder." + +Jefferson laughed grimly. "If you had come five minutes later I'd have +blown half of them to the devil. We, at least, can't afford to be +particular." + +"You had, presumably, a reason? I wonder if you have any objections to +telling us the rest of it in confidence?" + +Jefferson, who lighted a cigar, told him the story, and Onslow lay back +in his chair, listening with grave attention, while the surgeon leaned +forward with elbows on the table. At last Onslow shook his head. + +"It's interesting, exceedingly," he said. "Still, I don't think I'd +recommend you to tell it in quite that shape to everybody. It would +probably make trouble, and you mightn't find anybody very willing to +believe you. Things of that kind don't happen now--at least, they're not +supposed to--and I fancy it would prove a good deal more convenient just +to mention the simple facts. You bought the steamer stranded, and, with +considerable difficulty, got her off." + +"We had practically decided on doing no more than that already," said +Austin. "Still, I wonder if, now you have heard the story, one could ask +your views?" + +Onslow smiled drily. "I haven't any, and if I were you, I wouldn't worry +about anything beyond the financial aspect of the affair. Nobody is +likely to thank you, and the only men who could tell you what happened +are dead, you know." + +Austin saw that Jefferson also recognised that the advice was good, and, +changing the subject, he spoke to the surgeon. The latter looked +thoughtful. + +"I can't tell you what that man was afflicted with," he said. "There are +several African diseases we are not acquainted with, and a good many of +their troubles are supposed to be contagious. Of course, you could apply +to the College of Tropical Diseases they've lately started in Liverpool, +if you are really interested." + +"I am," said Austin. "In fact, I'm very much so, indeed. You see, I had +practically nothing on, and he got his festering arms round me." + +The surgeon looked at him gravely. "I scarcely think you need worry, but +if you have to do any rough work I would endeavour to avoid any +lacerated bruises, and, as far as possible, keep your skin unbroken." + +"It's a little difficult on board this steamer. There are several raw +patches on my arms now." + +The surgeon promised to attend to them, but just then Onslow turned to +Jefferson. + +"Have you opened up any of the gum yet?" he asked. + +Jefferson said he had not, and was rather anxious to do so, whereupon +Onslow and the surgeon offered to accompany him, and they went down the +ladder together to where the bags still lay upon the forward hatch. + +"I shouldn't wonder if you were right about its value," said the +surgeon, when Jefferson held up the lantern one of the Spaniards had +handed him. "We took a Senegal Frenchman down the coast last trip, and +he had rather a craze upon the subject. There is, I understood from him, +a particular gum the niggers find somewhere between here and the head of +the Niger, for which one could get almost what he liked to ask from the +makers of special high-class varnishes. In fact, the man said that one +of them who had been trying it told him that it must be used in certain +processes whatever its cost might be. The only trouble was that it +appeared very difficult to get hold of, except in the smallest +quantities; but perhaps your Frenchman had got on the track of it." + +Austin tore one of the bags, which were very rotten, across, and then +slit the fibre package beneath it. The surgeon, who stooped beside him, +was the first to thrust his hand into the opening. + +"The nodules seem very uniform in size," he said, and then stood up +suddenly, with astonishment in his face. "I'm almost afraid that +somebody has been beforehand with you." + +"What do you mean?" asked Austin, still tearing at the package. + +The surgeon turned and gazed hard at Jefferson. "This is certainly not +gum. It looks very like an ordinary palm kernel." + +He held up a little, round, black object, and Jefferson's face grew +grim, while he clenched one hand. Then he wrenched the knife from Austin +and fell on his knees, ripping at the fibre package savagely. It opened +beneath the steel, and when its contents poured out on deck he rose with +a little bitter laugh. There was no doubt whatever. They were palm +kernels. A curious silence followed, during which Jefferson leaned +against the rail, looking down upon the bags with expressionless eyes, +until he made a little gesture. + +"Well," he said, very quietly, "it seems we have had our trouble for +nothing. You may as well open the rest of them." + +Austin was not sure how he contrived to do it. He felt suddenly limp and +feeble, but holding himself in hand by an effort, he slit the remaining +bags, and flooded the deck with kernels. There was nothing else, and the +kernels appeared half rotten. + +"This must be a little rough on you," said Onslow, with a trace of +awkwardness. "I understand you expected to find more of the stuff +yonder." + +"I did," said Jefferson. "Funnel-paint can have it now. We have had +about enough of this country, and if your artificers fancy we could +trust that starboard boiler, we'll set about raising steam to take her +out first thing in the morning." + +Onslow made a little gesture of sympathy. "I almost think it is the +wisest thing you can do," he said. "In the meanwhile, it is getting +late, and we have a long trip in front of us to-morrow. I have no doubt +you don't feel much like entertaining anybody just now." + +He and the surgeon withdrew to the rooms prepared for them, and when +Austin, who went with them, came back, he stood a moment by the doorway +of the one beneath the bridge which Jefferson now occupied alone. The +latter looked up at him with half-closed eyes. + +"We have the oil and the ship--and that will have to be enough," he +said, and then straightened himself with a fierce gesture. "Get out, and +sleep--if you feel like it. The thing has shaken me, and I'm not sure +I'm very well." + +Austin went away, but it was almost daylight before sleep came to him, +and he had only been on deck an hour when their guests departed in the +morning. Jefferson, who bade them good-bye at the gangway, stood leaning +on the rail while the pinnace steamed away, and then walked, with +curious heaviness, towards his room. He crawled into his bunk when he +reached it, and lay there, while Austin looked down on him with concern. + +"I've had the fever on me for quite a while, and at last it has gripped +me hard," he said. "I'll probably be raving in an hour or two. Get steam +up as soon as you're able, and take her out of the devilish country." + +Austin was very busy between his comrade's room, forecastle, and +stoke-hold during the rest of that day, and he had very little time for +rest at night, but though half the men were sick, and his own limbs were +aching portentously, it was with a little thrill of exultation he +climbed to the bridge early on the following morning. The windlass was +rattling on the forecastle, Wall-eye stood by the winch astern, and the +surfboat was sliding towards the mangroves, where a big wire hawser was +made fast, in the rain. Austin was not a professional sailor, but he +could handle surfboat and steam launch, and in the good days had sailed +his yacht along the coast at home. He also had confidence in the +grizzled, olive-faced Spaniard who stood gravely behind him, gripping +the steering-wheel. + +The anchor came home to the bows at last, somehow the fever-worn men on +the forecastle hove it in; the after winch hammered when he made a sign, +and the long, rusty hull moved backwards towards the forest as her head +swung slowly round. There was a splash of dripping wire, and he swung up +an arm with a cry of "Largo!" + +Then the winch rattled furiously, a gong clanged below, and a wild, +exultant shouting went up when the _Cumbria_'s engines commenced to +throb. The gaunt, hollow-faced men who stood, dripping, in the rain, had +borne everything but cold, and now they were going home. Austin felt his +eyes grow hazy for a moment as he leaned upon the rails, and then, with +a little shake of his shoulders, he fixed his gaze steadily upon the +mangroves that came sliding back to him ahead. He had, he felt, a task +that would demand all his attention in front of him. + +They slid down stream unchecked until the afternoon, and the _Cumbria_ +steered handily, which, since there were awkward bends to swing round, +was fortunate for all of them; but Austin had misgivings when at last +they approached one that appeared sharper than the rest, for he could +only see the close ranks of dingy mangroves in front of him as he gazed +into the rain and mist. The creek was too narrow to swing the steamer to +an anchor, and it was evident that if she was to get around the bend at +all he most go at it hard, for the yellow stream was running fast with +them, and unless she steamed faster the vessel would not steer. He +signed to the helmsman, who edged her in near one bank to gain a little +room; and then set his lips tight as he clenched his telegraph and rang +for full speed ahead. It was consoling to remember that Tom was below, +for a good donkey-man is, as a rule, more to be trusted than a junior +engineer. + +Ahead, the oily current was sliding through the mangroves as well as +among them, covering all their high-arched roots, and he knew that there +were a good many feet of water there, for the creek was full, and he had +heard of steamers going full tilt into the watery forest at such times. +Still he breathed unevenly as he watched the dingy trees slide past one +another, for the bend was opening very slowly, and there was a long +tongue of mangroves close in front of him. The bridge planks were +trembling beneath him now, and he could hear the thud-thud of the +hard-driven screw; but the stream seemed to be running very fast at the +bend, and, glancing round, he saw something very like fear in the face +of the man who held the wheel. When he looked ahead again the long +tongue of mangroves seemed flying towards him. + +He strode to the end of the bridge and glanced down at the lift of rusty +side. There was a good deal of it above the water, for the _Cumbria_ was +loaded easily, and she was also, he was very glad to remember, light of +draught. He could not check her with an anchor under foot. She would +only swing to it, and that would land her among the mangroves broadside +on. If he backed his propeller he would as surely go ashore, and his +face grew very grim as he made the helmsman a little sign. Since he must +strike the forest, he would strike it fair, as hard as the engines +could drive her, bows on; and he thrust down the telegraph once more +for the last pound of steam. + +The throb of plank and rail grew sharper, the trees seemed rushing at +the forecastle, the helmsman gazed forward with drawn face over his +moving wheel, and a shouting broke out on deck. Austin, however, did not +move at all, save when he raised a hand to the helmsman. Once more, +easy-going artist as he was, the Berserker fit was upon him, and it was +with a light only one or two of his friends had ever seen there in his +eyes he hurled her full speed at the forest. + +She struck it, with a crash that flung two or three of the Spaniards +staggering, and it crumpled up before her. Mangrove boughs came +streaming down on her grinding forecastle, torn limbs clutched at rail +and stanchion, and were smashed by them. Mire was whirled aloft by the +thudding screw, and Austin, gripping his telegraph, laughed a harsh +laugh as he saw that she was going through. How thick that belt of trees +was, or what water flowed among their roots, he did not know, but he +remembered that he had found no bottom among them in other places with a +boathook, now and then. + +In another few moments the white-stemmed trunks fell aside again, and +they drove out once more into clear and swiftly-flowing water. Then the +Spaniards howled together, and Austin, twining his hand in the lanyard, +unloosed the whistle, and hurled back a great vibratory blast at the +beaten forest. It was, he admitted afterward, a somewhat feeble thing, +but he said he felt the occasion demanded something then. + +After that they had no great difficulty, and by nightfall they drove her +out with sluicing decks over the smoking bar, dipping the bleached and +rotten ensign to the little white gunboat that lay rolling behind the +island. Then Austin felt a great weight lifted off him as he flung +himself into a canvas chair upon his bridge. There was now only open sea +in front of them, and he had seen that the big pump could keep the water +down. He felt that he could contrive by some means to make Las Palmas. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IN COMMAND + + +Austin was quite aware that he had his work cut out when he was left in +command of the _Cumbria_, with half her crew sick, and her skipper +raving deliriously. He knew very little about medicine, and certainly no +more about what he termed the astronomical side of navigation, and after +several attempts decided that it was beyond his ability to take an +accurate solar observation. There were, however, other, though not very +reliable, means of approximately ascertaining the ship's position which +he was acquainted with, and he nerved himself afresh for a grapple with +what most men would, under the circumstances, have considered +insuperable difficulties. + +He had two Spaniards who could be trusted to keep the steamer more or +less on the course he gave them, while the _Cumbria_ steerd handily, +which is more than all steamers do. There was a large-scale chart, +considerably mildewed, but still legible, in the skipper's room, as well +as a pilot guide to the West African coast, while the patent log that +towed astern to record the distance run appeared to be working +accurately. He could thus, it was evident, depend in some degree upon +what is termed dead reckoning, which is comparatively reliable in the +case of short distances run in the vicinity of a high, well lighted +coast. The one the _Cumbria_ steamed along was, however, not lighted at +all, and most of it scarcely rose a foot above sea-level, while when he +had ruled the line she was presumed to be travelling on across the +chart, and pricked off the distance the patent log told him she had run, +there remained the question how far the tide and the Guinea stream had +deflected it, and whether the steering and her compasses could be +trusted. + +It was also rather an important question; and when he had, on several +occasions, peered for an hour at a time through Jefferson's glasses in +search of a cape or island which the chart indicated should be met with, +and saw only a hazy line of beach, or a dingy smear on the horizon which +might be mangroves, or, quite as likely, a trail of mist, the +probability of his ever reaching the Canaries seemed very remote indeed. +There would, he fancied, be no great difficulty in obtaining a mate and +two or three seamen from one of the steamers he came across, but in that +case the strangers would expect half the value of the _Cumbria_'s hull +and cargo, and very likely make their claim to it good. He was also +aware that more experienced skippers than he was had put their ships +ashore upon that coast. But what troubled him most was the fact that if +he lost sight of it, or found no point that he could identify, he would +have nothing to start from when he must boldly head her out across the +open ocean. + +She had rolled along at six to eight knots, with the big pump going, for +several days, when a trail of smoke crept out of the Western horizon. +Austin watched it anxiously, and when at last a strip of black hull and +a yellow funnel grew into shape beneath it, summoned the donkey-man, and +with his assistance, which was not especially reliable, worried over the +signal code painted on the flag rack in the wheel-house when he had +stopped the engines. It was almost obliterated, and most of the flags +themselves were missing; but between them they picked out sundry strips +of mildewed bunting and sent them up to the masthead. The little +West-coast mailboat was close alongside now, and flags also commenced to +flutter up between her masts, while her whistle screamed in long and +short blasts. Austin, anxious as he was, laughed a little. + +"That is apparently the Morse code, and it's unfortunate that neither of +us understands it," he said. "I presume it means that they can make +nothing of our flags, and one could hardly blame them. Any way, we have +got to stop her." + +Tom grinned as he pulled an armful of tattered ensigns out of a locker. +"This one should do the trick," he said. "I'd start the whistle." + +Austin drew the lanyard, and when the ensign blew out on the hot air +Union down, the mailboat stopped, and, considering that they were +steamboat men, her crew had a white gig over in a very creditable time. +She came flying towards the _Cumbria_ with four negroes at the oars, and +when she slid alongside a young mate in trim white uniform came up a +rope. + +"You might have slung me the ladder down," he said, gazing about him in +blank astonishment. "Paint is evidently scarce where you come from. I've +seen smarter craft in a wrecker's yard. Still, I can't stop here +talking. What do you want?" + +"A doctor, for one thing," said Austin, to gain time. + +"We have half the crew down in the forecastle." + +The mate walked to the rails and shouted to his boat-boys, while, when +the gig slid away, he pointed up at the drooping flags as he turned to +Austin. + +"I suppose it's artistic, the colouring, I mean," he said. + +"Still, it's a trifle difficult to make out by either code." Austin +laughed. "Come into my room and have a drink. There are one or two +things I want to ask you." + +Five minutes later he spread a mildewed chart on the table as they sat +with a bottle of Jacinta's wine before them. + +"Now," he said, "if you will tell me exactly where we are, I'd be much +obliged to you." + +"You don't know?" and the mate looked at him curiously. + +"Since you can't undertake any salvage operations with the mails on +board, I don't mind admitting that I'm far from sure. You see, we have +only one navigator, and if you were forward just now you would hear him +raving. I've got to take her somehow--on dead reckoning--to the +Canaries." + +The mate opened his mouth and gasped. "Well," he said simply, "may I be +----!" + +"I suppose that's natural, but it isn't much use to me. I've been +creeping along the coast, so far, but it's evident that if I stick to it +I won't reach Las Palmas. I want a definite point from which to make a +start for the ocean run." + +The mate pulled a pin out of the chart, and, measuring with the +dividers, stuck it in again. "You're not quite so much out as I expected +you would be," he said. "It's a straight run to the Isleta, Grand +Canary. Whether you'll ever get there with the compass and the patent +log is another matter, though, of course, if you go on long enough, +you'll fetch some part of America. I don't want to be unduly +inquisitive, but you will have lost, at least, an hour of our time +before I put Pills on board again, and I really think there is a little +you should tell me." + +Austin briefly outlined his adventures, and when he had finished the +mate brought his fist down with a bang on the table. + +"Well," he said, "you have evidently excellent nerves of your own, and +I'm not quite so sure as I was that you'll never get her home. I don't +mind admitting now that at first I thought you were crazy. It's evident +that your compass and patent log are all right, but you'll have to get +your latitude and longitude, at least, occasionally, and I'll bend on +some signals any skipper you come across would understand. If he's +particularly good-natured he might chalk it on a board." + +He stopped a moment with a little sardonic smile. "As a matter of fact, +it's not quite so unusual a question as you might suppose." + +Austin thanked him profusely, and felt a good deal easier when he and +the mailboat's doctor, who arrived presently and gave him good advice, +went away. Then, with a blast of her whistle, the _Cumbria_ steamed on +to the West again, and it was three or four days later, and she was +plunging along with dripping forecastle at a little over six knots +against the trades, when Austin had trouble with Jefferson. He was +asleep in his room, aft, and, awakening suddenly, wondered for a moment +or two what was wrong, until it dawned on him that it was the unusual +quietness which had roused him. Then he sprang from his berth and +hastened out on deck, for it was evident that the engines had stopped. + +There was clear moonlight overhead, and the ship was rolling heavily, +while as he looked forward a clamour broke out beneath the bridge, where +grimy men came scrambling up from the stoke-hole gratings. It was light +enough for him to see their blackened faces and their excited gestures. +Other men were, he fancied, from the pattering on the iron deck, also +moving in that direction from the forecastle; but what most astonished +him was the sight of a gaunt white figure pacing up and down the bridge. +While he gazed at it, Wall-eye came running towards him breathlessly. + +"The SeA+-or Jefferson has stopped the ship!" he said. "He has a pistol, +and Maccario, who is shut up in the wheel-house, shouts us that he will +go back to Africa again!" + +Austin, who knew a little about malarial fever by this time, ran +forward, and met Tom at the foot of the bridge ladder. The latter laid a +grimy finger on his forehead significantly. + +"Right off his dot! I don't know what's to be done," he said. "It would +be easier if he hadn't that pistol." + +A gong clanged beneath them while they considered it, and Tom shook his +head. "He has been ringing all over the telegraph, from full speed to +hard astern," he said. "I don't know if he'd give you the pistol, but +when I got half way up the ladder he said he'd put a bullet into me. Any +way, if you went up and talked to him while I crawled up quiet by the +other ladder, I might get him by the foot or slip in behind him." + +Austin was by no means anxious to face the pistol, but it was evident +that something must be done, and he went up the ladder as unconcernedly +as he could. When he reached the head of it Jefferson beat upon the +wheel-house window with his fist. + +"What's her head to the westwards for?" he said. "Port, hard over! Can't +you hear inside there?" + +The steering engine rattled, and it was evident that the helmsman was +badly afraid, but in another moment Jefferson had swung away from the +wheel-house, and was wrenching at the telegraph again. + +"What's the matter with these engines?" he said. "I want her backed +while I swing her under a ported helm. I'll plug somebody certain if +this is a mutiny." + +He opened the big revolver, and closed it with a suggestive click, while +it cost Austin an effort to walk quietly along the bridge. Jefferson's +eyes were glittering, his hair hung down on his face, which was grey and +drawn, dark with perspiration, and his hands and limbs were quivering. +His voice, however, although a trifle hoarser, was very like his usual +one, so much so, in fact, that Austin found it difficult to believe the +man's mind was unhinged by fever. He whirled round when he heard Austin, +without a trace of recognition in his eyes. + +"Now," he said, "why can't I get what I want done?" + +"You're very sick," said Austin quietly. "Hadn't you better go back to +bed?" + +Jefferson laughed. "Yes," he said, "I guess I am, or these brutes +wouldn't try to take advantage of me. Still, in another minute you're +going to see me make a hole in somebody!" + +He leaned heavily on the bridge rails, with the pistol glinting in his +hand, and Austin endeavoured to answer him soothingly. + +"What do you want to go back to Africa for?" he said. "There wouldn't be +any difficulty about it if it was necessary." + +"Funnel-paint's there. They brought me away when I was sick, or I'd have +killed him." He made a little gesture, and dropped his hoarse voice. +"You see, I had a partner who stood by me through everything, and +Funnel-paint sent down a ---- rotting nigger!" + +"Your partner's all right," said Austin, who saw that Jefferson was as +far from recognising him as ever. "I've excellent reasons for being sure +of it." + +Jefferson leaned towards him confidentially, with one hand on the rails. + +"It hasn't come out, but it's bound to get him. The nigger had his arms +round him. Then he'll have to hide in a dark hole where nobody can see +him, while the flesh rots off him, until he dies." + +Austin could not help a shiver. He knew the thing might happen, and he +realised now that it had also been in Jefferson's mind. Still, it was, +in the meanwhile, his business to get the pistol from the latter, and +then put him in his berth, by force, if necessary. + +"The difficulty is that you can't kill a man twice," he said. "I seem to +have a notion that you hove a stick of dynamite into Funnel-paint's +canoe." + +"I could have done, and I meant to, but my partner was with me. I had to +humour him. That man stood by me." + +Austin stood still, looking at him, a little bewildered by it all. The +mailboat doctors and some of the traders he had met at Las Palmas had +more than once related curious examples of the mental aberration which +now and then results from malarial fever. Still, Jefferson, whom he had +left scarcely fit to raise his head in his bunk, was now apparently +almost sensible; and, what was more astonishing, able, at least, to walk +about. Then, when he wondered how he was to get his comrade down from +the bridge, the latter turned to him with a sudden change of mood. + +"You're keeping me talking while they play some trick on me," he said. +"All right! In another moment you'll be sorry." + +The pistol went up, and Austin set his lips while a little shiver of +dismay ran through him. The ladder he had come up by was some distance +away, the wheel-house, at least, as far, and he stood clear in the +moonlight, realising that the first move he made would probably lead to +Jefferson squeezing the trigger. Then, with sudden bitterness, he +remembered what, it seemed, was in his blood, and felt astonished that +he should be troubled by physical fear. It would be a swifter and +cleaner end if his comrade killed him there. That consideration, +however, only appealed to his reason, and the reflection came that +Jefferson would probably never shake off the recollection of what he had +done; and, knowing it was safest, he braced himself to stand motionless, +while the perspiration dripped from him, steadily eyeing the +fever-crazed man. + +"If you will let me tell you why we are steaming west it would save a +good deal of trouble," he said, as soothingly as he could, though his +voice shook. "You see, you were too sick to understand, and you're not +very well yet." + +Jefferson, somewhat to his astonishment, seemed willing to listen, but +he was, unfortunately, far from the side of the bridge below which +Austin surmised that Tom was crouching. He risked a glance round, but +the helmsman evidently dare not leave the wheel-house, for which Austin +could not blame him, and the Spaniards stood clustered together gazing +up at them from below. Austin decided that if he signed or called to +them Jefferson would use the pistol, though he fancied that one of them +was trying to make him understand something. + +Then suddenly a shadowy form glided out from behind the wheel-house, +where Jefferson could not see it. There was a rush of feet, and a +spring, and Jefferson went down heavily with another man, who wound his +arms round him. They rolled against the bridge rails, and a breathless +voice called to Austin. + +"Get hold of the pistol!" it said. + +Austin wrenched it from his comrade; men came scrambling up the ladder, +and in another moment or two they had Jefferson helpless, and set about +carrying him to his room. When they laid him in his berth his strength +seemed to suddenly melt away, and he lay limp and still, only babbling +incoherently. Austin ventured to give him a sedative, and then, leaving +Wall-eye to watch him, went out on deck. Tom, who was waiting for him, +made a little deprecatory gesture. + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Austin, but he never came near my side of the bridge," +he said. "If I had got up he'd have dropped me with the pistol, and that +wouldn't have done much good to anybody." + +"Of course not," said Austin. "I was uncommonly thankful when Bill got +hold of him. Send him along to my room, and then start your engines." + +In another two or three minutes the _Cumbria_ was steaming west again, +and Bill, the fireman, stood, somewhat sheepishly, in the doorway of +Austin's room. + +"I owe you a good deal, and when the time comes I'll endeavour to +remember it," said the latter. "Still, I don't want Mr. Jefferson ever +to know anything about the thing. You did it cleverly." + +Bill grinned. "Well," he said, "I'm quite glad I did. I felt I had to do +something for my five pounds, any way." + +It dawned upon Austin that once or twice, when he had somewhat risky +work to do, Bill had been near him. + +"What five pounds?" he asked. + +"The five pounds she shoved into my hand one night on board the +_Estremedura_--no--the fact is, I'm feeling a little shaky, and I don't +quite know what I'm saying. The getting hold of Mr. Jefferson has upset +me. When you think of it, it's only natural." + +"Then it has come on very suddenly," said Austin. "You seemed all right +a moment or two ago. Am I to understand that somebody gave you five +pounds to look after me?" + +It was evident to Bill that there was nothing to be gained by further +reticence, and he edged out of the doorway, grinning more broadly than +ever. + +"Well," he said, "I guess she meant you, though she said it was both of +you. Still, you won't tell her, or I sha'n't get any more." + +He had vanished before Austin could ask another question, but the matter +was quite clear to the latter, and his face grew hot while a little +thrill of satisfaction ran through him as he recognised that Jacinta had +felt it worth while to do what she could to ensure his safety. Then he +remembered something else, and his face grew hard as he pulled off his +jacket and glanced at his bare arm. + +He had torn and abraded it heaving in oil and coal, and the gunboat's +surgeon had warned him that it was advisable to keep his skin unbroken. +There were several half-hardened scars upon it now, and another had been +torn away when he fell against the rail in a heavy lurch a day or two +earlier. He had worn no jacket at the time. He had since noticed a +curious tingling sensation in that part of his arm, and, holding it +nearer the lamp, he saw that the flesh was inflamed about the wound. +There was no doubt about the fact. When he pressed it with his thumb all +the lower arm was sore, and he let it fall limply to his side, and sat +down with a little groan. The horrible thing he shrank from had, it +seemed, come upon him. He sat very still for half an hour, grappling +with a numbing sense of dismay, and then, with a little shake of his +shoulders, went back to the bridge, for he had still a duty to his +comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +AUSTIN IS MISSING + + +It was a fine morning, and the signal, "Steamer approaching from the +South," was flying from the staff high up on the Isleta hill, when +Pancho Brown's boat lay heaving on the smooth swell at the entrance to +Las Palmas harbour. Mrs. Hatherly, Jacinta, and Muriel sat in the +stern-sheets, and beyond them two barefooted Canarios were resting on +their oars, while two or three miles away a smear of smoke that half hid +a streak of dusky hull moved towards them across the shining sea. Brown +was watching it attentively with a pair of marine glasses in his hand. + +"You have brought me off several times for nothing, but I almost think +our friends have turned up at last," he said. "Of course, from +Lieutenant Onslow's cable she should have been here several days ago, +but it's very likely the engines would give them trouble. Any way, we'll +know in ten minutes or so. There's the _Sanidad_ going off." + +A launch crept out from the mole, and behind her in the harbour boats +were being got afloat. Coaling clerks, tobacco and wine merchants, and a +miscellaneous crowd of petty dealers, were waiting to step on board, but +two, at least, of Pancho Brown's party had no eyes for them. They were +watching the incoming steamer rise higher out of the shining sea, and +wondering if she was the one they had for the last few days looked for +with tense anxiety. They had Onslow's cable from Sierra Leone, and the +skipper of a big tramp which had come in for coals reported that a small +British steamer had asked him for the latitude and longitude a week +before. Nothing, however, had since been heard of her, and Jacinta had +found the last three or four days as trying as Muriel did. The latter +had, however, borne the suspense bravely, and displayed a sublime +confidence in her lover which Jacinta, for no very obvious reason, found +almost exasperating at times. + +"Can't we go out a little?" she said at last. + +Brown made a sign to the Canarios, who dipped the oars, and as they slid +past the _Carsegarry_, which lay with steam blowing off, and a water +barge alongside, Captain Farquhar leaned over her rails. He had come in +for coal on his way to Liverpool the previous day, and had spent part of +the night with Brown. + +"I really think that is the _Cumbria_," he said. "Any way, she's much +the kind of boat Jefferson described to me, and so far as I can make out +they have a big boiler on deck. I suppose you are going off to her?" + +Brown said they were, and Farquhar glanced at the boat hesitatingly. +"I'd very much like to come with you, but I can't leave just now," he +said. "Still, we won't have filled our tanks up for an hour or two, and +you might tell Mr. Austin that I certainly expect him to pull across and +see me. In fact, although we have steam up, I'll wait until he does." + +Brown made a sign of comprehension, and the boat slid away, while when +she stopped again outside the harbour the eyes of all on board her were +fixed upon the steamer. She had also stopped, and lay rolling wildly, +with the yellow flag at her foremast-head and the _Sanidad_ launch +alongside her; but in another minute or two the flag came fluttering +down, and she moved on again towards the harbour. Brown signed to the +oarsmen to turn the boat's head. + +"There's no doubt that she's the _Cumbria_, and they can't have had +anything very bad on board," he said. + +In another five minutes the _Cumbria_ crept up with them, rolling +wickedly, with the big pump thudding on her deck, and a stream of water +spouting from her side. Rags of awnings fluttered about her, her funnel +was white with salt crust, for the trade-wind blows strong at that +season, and the blistered paint had peeled from her corroded sides. Her +story was written upon her so that even the girls could read, and both +felt that no plainer testimony was needed to the courage of the men who +had brought her home. Then they saw them, Jefferson leaning out, gaunt +and blanched in face, from the bridge rails, and Austin standing amidst +a group of haggard men on the forecastle. Jacinta's heart was beating a +good deal faster than usual, and she saw the sudden tears rise to her +companion's eyes; but as the long, rusty hull forged past them Austin +made no sign. He stood looking straight in front of him, until he turned +to the men about him who were busy with the anchor. + +"He can't have seen us," said Muriel, with astonishment in her tone, and +then touched Brown's arm. "Tell them to row their hardest, please." + +The Canarios bent their backs and the boat swept forward, for the +steamer had already passed ahead of them. Jacinta sat unusually still, +watching her, sensible at once of a vague dismay and a thrill of pride. +She had understanding as well as imagination, and the sight of that +rusty vessel and the worn faces of the men upon her deck had stirred her +curiously. It was, she felt, a notable thing they had done, and she was, +she knew, responsible for the part one of them had played in it. He had +come home with credit, a man who had done something worth while, and +had doubtless learned his strength. She could not fancy him frittering +his life away after that; but still she was perplexed, and a trifle +anxious, for it seemed that he must have seen them, and he had made no +sign. She had, on her part, twice passed him without recognition in the +Plaza at Santa Cruz, and her heart smote her as she remembered it; but +he was not a vindictive man, and must by that time have realised the +misapprehension she had been under concerning him. For that, at least, +she would ask his forgiveness in another few minutes, and her face +burned as she wondered what he would say to her. + +Then she saw the white wash of the _Cumbria_'s propeller as it whirled +astern, and there was a roar of running chain, while two or three +minutes later they were making their way up the lowered ladder amidst a +crowd of petty dealers when Jefferson came across the deck, driving the +latter aside. Jacinta saw that it cost Muriel an effort to hide her +consternation at his appearance, but in another moment she was smiling +at him with shining eyes, and the haggard man's arms were about her. +That the deck was crowded with Spaniards did not seem in the least to +matter to either of them. Jacinta, who would not have done as much, felt +a little thrill of sympathy, and, it was significant, looked round for +Austin. There was, however, no sign of him. + +Then Jefferson, still holding Muriel's arm, drew them out of the press, +and there was a general offering of congratulations and grasping of +hands. + +"I am," he said, "uncommonly glad to be back again, though I'm not sure +we'd have ever got here except for Austin. I have only been on my feet +the last day or two, and he did everything." + +"Where is he?" said Muriel, seeing that Jacinta would not ask. + +"Across at the _Carsegarry_. At least, he told me he was going when he +recognised her." + +"Without coming to shake hands with us?" said Muriel, who flashed a +covert glance at Jacinta. + +"I understand from one of these fellows that Farquhar is just going to +sea, and it's very probable that Austin heard it, too. I have no doubt +he'll be back again in five minutes." + +"You will come ashore with us, and we will expect you and Mr. Austin to +make my house your home in the meanwhile," said Brown. + +"I shall be very glad," said Jefferson. "You will, however, have to +excuse me for an hour or two. I have our Consul to see, and a good many +things to do before I can call my time my own. I wonder if you could get +me a tartana?" + +"Mine is waiting at the Mole," said Brown. + +It was an hour later when they took their places in the vehicle, but +though Brown bade the driver wait a minute or two, there was no +appearance of Austin. Just then the _Carsegarry_ crept down the harbour, +and with a sonorous blast of her whistle steamed out to sea. + +"There is no boat coming. He must have landed on the other mole, and, +perhaps, met somebody he couldn't get away from," said Brown. "I'll +leave word that we are expecting him, and no doubt he'll turn up soon +after we get home." + +They drove away, and that afternoon sat together in Brown's cool patio. +The noise of the bustling city was deadened by the tall white walls, +over which there shone a square of cloudless blue, and the scent of +flowers was heavy in the shadowy space below. Jefferson lay, attired +becomingly once more, in a big cane chair, with a little smile of +content in his hollow face, and a pile of fruit, and a flask of wine, +on the table in front of him. The others sat about him, and a fountain +splashed behind them in the shadow. + +"A very little of this will make me well," he said. "In fact, it is +already a trifle difficult to believe that I could scarcely lift myself +in my berth a few days ago. I think it was the sight of Gomera that +cured me. You see, I was a little doubtful about Austin finding the +Canaries, and when they came to tell me they could see the Peak, +Wall-eye, who was watching me, ran out." + +"What was he watching you for?" asked Muriel. + +"To see I didn't get up. I had my chance then, and I crawled out of my +berth. I believe I fell over several things before I got out on deck, +and then I knew we were all right at last. There was the Peak--high up +in the sky in front of us, with Gomera a blue smudge low down at its +feet. We ran in under the lee, and, because they were played out, and +Tom had trouble with his engines, stayed there three days." + +He stopped a moment, with a little laugh. "I think Austin was 'most +astonished as I was to find he'd brought her home. He'd been running +four or five days on dead reckoning, and wasn't much more than a hundred +miles out." + +"I wonder where he is," said Brown. + +Jefferson looked a trifle perplexed, and it was evident that others of +the party had asked themselves the same question, for there was a +moment's silence until Muriel spoke. + +"If he doesn't come soon I shall feel very vexed with him; but we want +to hear how you got the steamer off," she said. + +Jefferson commenced his tale diffidently, but, because Austin had worked +in the sombre background--more effectively than he could do +already--the rest listened with full comprehension. His unvarnished +narrative was, however, striking enough, and, save for the splashing of +the fountain, and his low voice, there was a suggestive silence in the +patio, until he stopped abruptly when he came to the scene in which +Austin pleaded for the negro. + +"The man wasn't fit to look at," he said. + +"But why did Mr. Austin go near him?" asked Muriel, with a little +shiver. + +"To save his life," said Jefferson, awkwardly. "You see, we couldn't +have him there--and he really wasn't a man then. The thing he had we +believed contagious, and somebody had to put him into his canoe." + +Muriel gazed at him with an expression of perplexity, and it was clear +that she did not quite understand what had taken place on the night in +question, which was, however, not astonishing. Brown appeared a trifle +uncomfortable, and Jefferson was sincerely thankful when Jacinta broke +in. + +"Of course," she said. "He couldn't have stayed there. Mr. Austin put +him into his canoe?" She stopped for a moment, and her voice seemed to +change a trifle. "Did he find it necessary to touch him?" + +"He did. In fact, the nigger got hold of him. One of them slipped on the +bridge deck ladder and they rolled down it together." + +Again there was silence, and all of them looked at Jefferson, who saw +the question in Jacinta's eyes. + +"No," he said. "Nothing came of it, though for a week or so I was +horribly afraid. It isn't men like Austin who take that kind of thing, +and it's possible it mayn't have been infectious, after all." + +Muriel heard Jacinta softly draw in her breath, as though she had been +under a strain which had suddenly relaxed. Then a little colour crept +into her face and a sparkle into her eyes. + +"Yes," said Jefferson, though nobody had spoken, "it was a daring thing. +More, in fact, than I would have done. My partner has the cleanest kind +of real hard sand in him." + +He turned to Muriel with a little deprecatory gesture. "I had more at +stake than he had--and I was afraid that night." + +Jacinta sat still a while, a trifle flushed in face, for the scene +Jefferson had very vaguely pictured had stirred her to the depths. The +man whom she had sent forth had done more than she would ever have asked +of him, and the gallantry of the action brought a dimness to her eyes. +Then she remembered that it was not done recklessly, for he had, it +seemed, decided calmly, which must have made it inexpressibly harder. +There were, she could imagine, circumstances in which a man might more +or less willingly risk his life, but the risk Austin had taken was +horrible, and he stood to gain nothing when he quietly recognised the +responsibility he had taken upon himself. It was with an overwhelming +sense of confusion she remembered the jibes she had flung at him +concerning his discretion, and yet under it there was still the sense of +pride. After all, it was to please her he had gone to Africa. + +"Well," said Jefferson quietly, "you are pleased with him?" + +Jacinta met his gaze unwaveringly, and her voice had a little thrill in +it. + +"Does it matter in the least whether I am pleased or not?" she said. +"Still, since you ask, I scarcely think I have heard of anything that +would surpass what he did that night." + +Jefferson made her a little inclination. "I am," he said gravely, "not +sure that I have, either." + +He went on with his story, but Jacinta scarcely listened to it, for she +was wondering why Austin had not come, and waiting expectantly for the +time when she could, in self-abasement, endeavour to wipe what she had +said from his memory. Still, he did not come, and it was half an hour +later when a barefooted boatman was shown into the patio. He had an +envelope in his hand, and turned to Brown. + +"The Englishman who was in the _Estremedura_ gave me this on board the +_Carsegarry_," he said. "I am sorry I could not bring it before, but +several steamers I had to go to came in, and then it was some time +before I found out that the SeA+-or Jefferson had gone home with you." + +When he went away Brown handed Jefferson the note, while the latter, who +opened it, straightened himself suddenly and seemed to be struggling +with some emotion. Then he passed it to Jacinta. + +"You have good nerves, Miss Brown," he said. "If I had known it would +come to this, I think I would have left the _Cumbria_ there." + +Jacinta took the letter in a steady hand, but her face grew a trifle +blanched as she read. + +"I am going home with Farquhar," the message ran. "I could hardly go in +a passenger boat, and he is fixing me up a room by myself. I didn't care +to tell you when you were just shaking off the fever, but one of my arms +feels very much as that engineer said his did. I am going to see if one +of the big specialists or the Tropical Disease men can do anything for +me." + +Jacinta sat quite still a minute, and then slowly rose. + +"It is horrible, but I suppose even a purpose of the kind he had does +not exempt one from the consequences," she said. "There are things to +attend to. You will excuse me just now." + +They looked at one another when she left them, and then Brown turned to +Jefferson. + +"I wonder if you have any objections to showing me that note?" he said. + +"It doesn't seem to be here," said Muriel. "What can she have done with +it?" + +"Don't worry about looking," said Jefferson sharply. "I can remember it. +It has, in fact, shaken a good deal of the stiffness out of me." + +Muriel gasped with consternation when he told them, and by and by the +group broke up, while it was a somewhat silent party that assembled for +comida an hour later. Jacinta, it was evident, had very little appetite, +though she contrived to join in the somewhat pointless conversation, and +it was not until late that night Brown came upon her alone on the flat +roof. She was leaning on the parapet, and looking out across the sea, +but her eyes were turned northwards now, and she did not hear him until +he gently laid a hand upon her shoulder. Then she turned and looked at +him with despair in her face. She had not expected him, or he would not +have seen it, though there was clear moonlight above them. + +Brown sat down on the parapet, and, taking off his gold-rimmed glasses, +held them in his hand. + +"I think I understand, my dear, and I have something to say," he said. + +Jacinta made no disclaimer. For one thing, she saw it would have been +useless, and she had no strength left in her then. + +"Is it worth while?" she asked. "Would anything that you could say +change what has happened?" + +"No," said Brown, reflectively, "I scarcely think it would. Still, I +would like to mention that we really don't know the thing is incurable. +In fact, it may be a malady which is readily susceptible to the proper +treatment, and he has done wisely in going to England." + +A little gleam of hope crept into Jacinta's eyes. "I had hardly dared to +think of that," she said. + +"Well," said Brown, "I really fancy the thing may not be as serious as +you and Mr. Jefferson, perhaps naturally, seem to fear. Now, as you +know, I was going to England about the new fruit contracts in a week or +two, and there is no particular reason why I shouldn't go the day after +to-morrow. I should make it my business to see Mr. Austin has the best +advice which can be got from the specialists in that country. Only, my +dear, I want to ask a very plain question. Supposing he is cured--what +then?" + +"I'm afraid you must shape the question differently," and a trace of +colour crept into the whiteness of Jacinta's face. + +"Then I will tell you what I know. You sent that man to Africa, and he +went because he was in love with you. He is also a man I have a +considerable liking for--and you are my only child. I am getting old, +and would like to see you safely settled before I go. There are," and he +made a little gesture, "occasions on which one must speak plainly." + +Jacinta's face was crimson at last, but she in no way attempted to +question the correctness of the announcement he had made. + +"Mr. Austin, at least, never told me what you seem to be so sure +about--and it is scarcely likely that he will ever do so now," she said. + +Brown smiled a little, and tapped the palm of his hand with his glasses. + +"My dear," he said, "I think you know better. Of course, you would +never have admitted so much as you have done if I had not had you at a +disadvantage to-night. Well, the first thing is to see what can be done +to cure him. Only, if he comes back, you will, I suppose, know your +mind?" + +He looked at her steadily, and, when Jacinta lowered her eyes, laid his +hand gently on her arm again. + +"I sail by the yellow-funnel boat the day after to-morrow," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +JACINTA CAPITULATES + + +The _Carsegarry_ was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean tramp +species, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on a +very moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondary +consideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, with +the result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as she +fell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long while +on the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letter +from Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas, +waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that his +comrade had got to work again. + +He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that its +optimistic tone had cost Jefferson--who alluded to his apprehensions +about his arm very briefly--an effort, for the fact that he was asked to +cable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest of +the letter concerned financial affairs. + +"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctly +encouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect to +bring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we can +dispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got AL10,000, ex-cargo, +as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at up +to AL30 the ton, from which it seems to me that your share should +approximate AL7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way to +Liverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the address +enclosed." + +This was satisfactory as far as it went. The only trouble was that +Austin was very uncertain whether he would live to spend what he had so +hardly earned. His arm had become exceedingly painful during the voyage, +and after a consultation with the ship broker he telephoned an eminent +specialist. + +"I will expect you at two o'clock," the doctor said. "If it appears +advisable, we can, of course, avail ourselves, as you suggest, of any +views the Tropical Disease men may favour us with. In the meanwhile, I +will arrange for a gentleman who has made considerable progress in +similar researches to meet you." + +Austin went out of the broker's office with three hours to spare, and +wandered aimlessly about the city in a state of tense suspense. He felt +that he could not sit still, and in any case he was dubious as to +whether he was warranted in going back to the hotel. Indeed, he wondered +whether he had any right to be at large at all, and after a while hung +about the wharves, where there was less chance of any one coming into +perilous contact with him. He had never spent such a morning in his +life, and decided that what he had done and borne in Africa was not +worth mention by comparison. Still, the hours dragged by, and at last he +set out for the specialists' surgery without daring to wonder what the +result would be, and found two gentlemen awaiting him there. One of +them, who had grey hair and very keen eyes, motioned him to a chair. + +"Now," he said, "before we proceed to an examination it might be better +if you told us concisely what happened to you in Africa." + +Austin, who sat down, did so, and wondered a little that he was able to +speak coherently and quietly, for every nerve in him seemed tingling +with tense anxiety. Then the man with the grey hair asked him a few +terse questions about the negro's appearance, and when he had described +it as well as he could remember, glanced at his companion. + +"Do you recognise the symptoms?" he said. + +"No," said the other man, who was younger. "There are one or two +complaints not unusual in that country which appear to somewhat resemble +it, but they are seldom so virulent. I would like to talk to Mr. Austin +about it later, but in the meanwhile----" + +"Exactly," and the specialist made a little gesture. "Mr. Austin is, no +doubt, anxious to hear our opinion. If you will permit me----" + +He drew the jacket gently over Austin's swollen arm, and the latter, who +held it out, bare to the shoulder, felt the perspiration start from him +as he watched the doctors bend over the limb. They said nothing for a +space of seconds, and Austin fancied he would remember that time while +he lived. Then, to his astonishment, the grey-haired man glanced at his +companion with a little smile. + +"I fancy this case has lost its special interest to you?" he said. + +The other man nodded. "It has," he said. "Our views evidently coincide." + +"I would venture to point out that any decision you may have arrived at +is, naturally, of considerable importance to me," said Austin, a trifle +sharply. + +The specialist smiled again. "I expect you will be pleased to hear that +it is not a peculiarly African disease you are suffering from. It is, in +fact, no more than a by no means infrequent form of blood poisoning." + +Austin gasped, and felt his heart beat furiously from relief, and the +specialist waited a moment or two before he went on. "It is evident that +you had several lacerations on your lower arm--made by corroded iron, or +something of the kind." + +"I tore the skin rather frequently working cargo, and when the scars had +partly healed opened up rather a nasty wound by falling on the steamer's +rail." + +"Exactly. The result is not astonishing in the case of a man weakened by +fever who has attempted to work harder than is advisable in a country +like the one you mention. In the meanwhile, this arm is going to give +you trouble, and I should recommend you to go into the private ward of +the ---- hospital. I will telephone them if that would suit you?" + +Austin said he placed himself in the doctor's hands, and half an hour +later was being driven to the hospital, where the other man, who was +apparently anxious to know more about the negro, asked permission to +visit him. He also came in due time, but, so far as Austin could +ascertain, never quite decided what the negro was suffering from, though +he admitted that there were African troubles of the kind which were +infectious. + +In the meanwhile, Austin realised how much he needed rest, and how heavy +the strain he had borne had been. He did not even want to read, and was +languidly content to sit still and think of nothing, until one day, when +it was evident that his arm was healing, a nurse came in to announce a +visitor. + +"If it's that doctor man, you can tell him I can't remember anything +more about the nigger, and don't mean to try," he said. + +The nurse laughed. "It isn't," she said. "It's a little gentleman with +gold-rimmed spectacles." + +Austin started. "Ah!" he said. "Will you please tell them to send him +in?" + +In a few more minutes Brown came in, and, sitting down, shook his head +reproachfully. + +"You have really given your friends a good deal of anxiety, and I was +almost afraid I would have to go back without learning what had become +of you," he said. "Still, though I know the thing isn't, fortunately, +what you thought it was, the first question is, how are you?" + +"Recovering," said Austin, with a smile. "I understand that my arm will +be all right again very shortly. It was a very usual trouble. As you +seem to recognise, I let my imagination run away with me." + +"I am very pleased to hear it. Why didn't you cable?" + +"I understood that you had left Las Palmas, and Jefferson was on the +point of doing so. I could scarcely suppose there was any one else who +cared enough about what happened to me to make it necessary." + +Brown looked at him with a curious little smile which Austin found +disconcerting. "There are Mrs. Hatherly and Muriel. I almost think +Jacinta would have liked to know that you and Jefferson were under a +misapprehension, too. Still, that is, perhaps, not very important, after +all. I suppose Jefferson told you that he expects to get a good deal for +the _Cumbria_ and her cargo?" + +"I was pleased to hear that my share might amount to AL7,000." + +Brown took off his glasses and held them in one hand, which, as Austin +knew, was a trick of his when he had anything on his mind. + +"I am going to take a liberty," he said. "Have you decided yet what you +will do with it?" + +"No. That was one of the points I meant to wait a little before +grappling with." + +"Well," said Brown, reflectively, "there is something I could suggest, +but I would like to ask another question." He stopped a moment, and +tapped the palm of one hand with his glasses. "Why did you go out to +Africa?" + +"Wouldn't the chance of winning AL5,000, which was what Jefferson +estimated my share would be, appear a sufficient reason?" + +"No," said Brown drily. "Not to me. When he first made you the offer you +wouldn't go." + +"I went, however, when I heard that he was sick. It was then a very +natural thing. That ought to satisfy you." + +"I scarcely think it does." + +"Then, if I had any other reasons, though I am not exactly admitting it, +they concern myself alone." + +Brown made a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I don't suppose it +matters in the meanwhile. You have once or twice asked my advice, and +now you have some AL7,000, and, I understand, don't know how to lay it +out to the best advantage." + +"Exactly. I don't feel the least desire to undertake the heaving off of +any more steamers." + +Brown leaned forward, and tapped his hand with the glasses. "An +enterprising man could do a good deal with AL7,000. It would, for +example, buy him, we'll call it, a third share in a certain rather +profitable fruit and wine business in Las Palmas. That is, of course, on +the understanding that he devoted his whole time and energy to it." + +Austin gazed at him in blank astonishment for a moment or two, and then +a red flush crept into his face. + +"I fancy a third share in the business you are evidently alluding to +would be worth a good deal more than that," he said. + +"Probably," said Brown, with a trace of dryness. "That is, I might get +more for it, but I have no intention of offering it to everybody. I +would like to ask your careful attention for a minute or two, Mr. +Austin." + +He stopped a moment, and his tone had changed when he proceeded. "There +is nothing to be gained by hiding the fact that I am getting old, and I +begin to feel that I would like to take my life a little more easily," +he said. "Indeed, I want somebody I could have confidence in to do the +hardest work for me. I made the business--and I am a little proud of it. +It would not please me to let go of it altogether--and, as a matter of +fact, I have been warned that if I retired to England, the climate would +probably shorten my life for me. You are, perhaps, aware that I came out +to the Canaries originally because my constitution is not an excellent +one." + +He stopped again, and added, with a certain significance: "I have, +however, been told that my ailments are not likely to prove hereditary. +Well, as I mentioned, I do not want to give the business up entirely, +and it would be a matter of grief to me to see it go to pieces in the +hands of an incompetent manager. That is why I have made you the offer." + +Austin met his gaze steadily, though the flush was still in his face. "I +scarcely think anybody would call me an enterprising business man, that +is, at least, from the conventional English point of view." + +Brown chuckled softly. "I believe you know as well as I do that a man of +that kind would not be of the least use in Spain. They would drive him +crazy, and he would probably have insulted half his clients past +forgiveness before he had been a month among them. Now, you understand +the Spaniards, and, what is as much to the purpose, they seem to like +you." + +Austin sat still, looking at him, and at last he saw that Brown's +reserve was breaking down. His hands seemed to be trembling a little, +and there were other signs of anxiety about him. + +"I don't know why you have made me that offer, sir," he said. "There +must be plenty of men more fitted to be the recipient of it." + +"It is, at least, wholly unconditional," and Brown made a little gesture +that curiously became him. "I may say that I had already satisfied +myself about you, or I should never have made it." + +"Then," said Austin, a trifle hoarsely, "I can only thank you--and +endeavour to give you no cause for being sorry afterwards that you fixed +on me." + +They had a little more to say, but the nurse appeared during the course +of it and informed Brown that the surgeon was coming to dress Austin's +arm. + +"Just a minute," said the latter. "Will you be kind enough to pass me +that pad and pencil?" + +She gave it to him, and he scribbled hastily, and then tore off the +sheet and handed it to Brown. + +"I wonder if that message meets with your approval, sir?" he said. + +Brown put on his glasses, and smiled as he read: "Miss Brown, +Casa-Brown, Las Palmas. Ran away without a cause. Almost well. May I +come back as your father's partner?" + +Brown chuckled softly, though there was a curious and somewhat unusual +gentleness in his eyes. + +"It has my full approbation, though, considering the cable company's +charges, isn't it a trifle loquacious?" + +"Does that matter?" asked Austin. + +Brown laughed, and grasped the hand he held out. "No," he said, "I don't +suppose it does. After all, these things only happen once in the average +lifetime. Well, I must evidently go now, but I will come back to see +what Jacinta says to-morrow." + +He went out, and that night Austin got Jacinta's answer. + +"Come!" was all it said, but Austin was well content, and, though he was +not a very sentimental man, went to sleep with the message beneath his +pillow. + +It was, however, rather more than three weeks later when, as a +yellow-funnelled mailboat slid into Las Palmas harbour, Austin, leaning +down from her rail, saw Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly in one of the crowding +boats below. The little lady discreetly remained where she was, and when +Jacinta came up the ladder Austin met her at the head of it. She flashed +a swift glance into his face, and then for a moment turned hers aside. + +"Ah!" she said, "you have forgotten what I said to you, and you are +really well again?" + +Austin laughed, a quiet, exultant laugh. "I was never particularly ill, +but you know all that, and we have ever so much more pleasant things to +talk about," he said. "In the meanwhile, I fancy we are blocking up the +gangway." + +Holding the hand she had given him, he drew her behind the deck-house +masterfully, and looked down on her with a little smile. + +"I almost think you are pleased to see me back," he said. + +"Ah!" said Jacinta, "if you only knew what the past few weeks have cost +me." + +Austin, laying both hands on her shoulders, stooped and kissed her +twice. "That was worth going to Africa for, and if Jefferson had only +bought the _Cumbria_ sooner I would have ventured to do as much ever so +long ago." + +There was apparently nobody else on that side of the deck-house, and +Jacinta, who did not shake his grasp off, looked up at him with shining +eyes. + +"You are quite sure of that?" she said. + +"The wish to do so was almost irresistible the first time I saw you. It +has been growing stronger ever since." + +Jacinta laughed softly, though the crimson was in her cheeks. "Still, +you would have mastered it. You were always discreet, you know, and that +was why at last I--who have hitherto told all my friends what they ought +to do--had to let some one else make it clear how much I wanted you. +Now, you are going to think very little of me after that?" + +"My dear," said Austin, "you know there was only one thing which could +have kept me away from you." + +"As if that mattered," and Jacinta laughed scornfully. "Now, stoop a +little, though, perhaps, I shouldn't tell you, and if you hadn't gone to +Africa, of course, I shouldn't have done it. I knew when you went away +how badly I wanted you--and I would have done anything to bring you +back, however much it cost me." + +A couple of seamen carrying baggage appeared from behind the deck-house +just then, which naturally cut short their confidences, and Austin made +his way with Jacinta's hand upon his arm towards the boat. He was a +trifle bewildered, as well as exultant, for this was quite a new +Jacinta, one, in fact, he had never encountered before. She gave him +another proof of it when he made an observation that afforded her the +opening as they were rowed across the harbour. + +"No," she said, quite disregarding Mrs. Hatherly, "I am not going to +give you any advice or instructions now you belong to me. After managing +everybody else's affairs successfully for ever so long I made a +deplorable mess of my own, you see." + +"Then what am I to do when we have difficulties to contend with?" said +Austin. "We may have a few now and then." + +"You," said Jacinta sweetly, "will have to get over them. I know you can +do that now, and I am just going to watch you and be pleased with +everything. Isn't that the correct attitude, Mrs. Hatherly?" + +The little lady beamed upon them both. "It is rather an old-fashioned +one, my dear," she said. "Still, I am far from sure that it doesn't work +out as well as the one occasionally adopted by young women now." + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, ="Don Erminio," said Jacinto, "evidently doesn't approve +of his dinner."= was changed to ="Don Erminio," said Jacinta, "evidently +doesn't approve of his dinner."=, =A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one +thing, but you was--insultin'= was changed to =A bit doosoor on the coal +trade is one thing, but yon was--insultin'=, =as he steamer rolled= was +changed to =as the steamer rolled=, and =our launcha ready= was changed to +=our lancha ready=. + +In Chapter III, =Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremeduro's_ captain= was +changed to =Erminio Oliviera, the _Estremedura's_ captain=, and =if Jacinto +ever does= was changed to =if Jacinta ever does=. + +In Chapter IV, =it also occured to him= was changed to =it also occurred to +him=. + +In Chapter V, =a schoner load of onions= was changed to =a schooner load of +onions=, and a missing quotation mark was added after =painting little +pictures on board the _Estremedura_.= + +In Chapter VI, =as he drew in under the Estremedura's side= was changed to +=as he drew in under the _Estremedura's_ side=, and =Isn't that sufficient.= +was changed to =Isn't that sufficient?= + +In Chapter VII, =his silk-covered beast= was changed to =his silk-covered +breast=, =escaped anihilation= was changed to =escaped annihilation=, and +=didn't apear to have any legitimate connection= was changed to =didn't +appear to have any legitimate connection=. + +In Chapter VIII, =the negroes who crosesd it= was changed to =the negroes +who crossed it=, and =somebody seized his soulders= was changed to =somebody +seized his shoulders=. + +In Chapter IX, =drifted etherially athwart= was changed to =drifted +ethereally athwart=. + +In Chapter X, =acompanied the rhythmic splash of oars= was changed to +=accompanied the rhythmic splash of oars=. + +In Chapter XI, =the blurr of steamy mangroves= was changed to =the blur of +steamy mangroves=, =swoopd down beneath= was changed to =swooped down +beneath=, and ="Who the devil are you poisoning?"= was changed to ='Who the +devil are you poisoning?'=. + +In Chapter XIII, a missing period was added after =winch commenced to +fire his blood=. + +In Chapter XV, a quotation mark was deleted before =Those salvage men are +specialists=. + +In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after =Last night the water +was on the thumb.= + +In Chapter XVII, a missing quotation mark was added after ="Well,= and +before =he said, "it isn't the usual view=, and a missing quotation mark +was added after =The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to +get it.=. + +In Chapter XIX, =admissable now and then= was changed to =admissible now +and then=, =he recognised thath she must be forced= was changed to =he +recognised that she must be forced=, =the girls' big blue eyes= was changed +to =the girl's big blue eyes=, and a missing quotation mark was added +before =Couldn't you get there in the _Estremedura_=. + +In Chapter XX, a missing quotation mark was added after ="Well,= and +before =said Muriel, "it is really your own fault=, a quotation mark was +deleted before =Eight guineas for the two=, and a period was changed to a +question mark after =the Delgado Island lies=. + +In Chapter XXI, =That, I think, is, to be acurate= was changed to =That, I +think, is, to be accurate=. + +In Chapter XXII, =one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle= was changed +to =one of the Canorios raised himself a trifle=, and a quotation mark was +deleted after =not afraid of Funnel-paint=. + +In Chapter XXIII, a quotation mark was added after =makes any exertion +out of the question=, a quotation mark was deleted before =Offer any of +the rest of them=, and =clenched a hard, scared fist= was changed to +=clenched a hard, scarred fist=. + +In Chapter XXIV, =even Jefferson deferrd to him= was changed to =even +Jefferson deferrd to him=, =as the Cumbria rose upright= was changed to =as +the _Cumbria_ rose upright=, =In a month her deck was almost leved= was +changed to =In a month her deck was almost leveled=, =You will remember the +encouraging words that fellow left--"My arm's almost rotten now."= was +changed to =You will remember the encouraging words that fellow left--'My +arm's almost rotten now.'"=, and =slowly clenched one scared hand= was +changed to =slowly clenched one scarred hand=. + +In Chapter XXV, =he keeps in the litle case= was changed to =he keeps in +the little case=, =beam and angle comenced to tremble= was changed to =beam +and angle commenced to tremble=, and =Wire and hemp and studded chain +rosed= was changed to =Wire and hemp and studded chain rose=. + +In Chapter XXVI, a missing question mark was added after =Put that lamp +out.=, =keep outside the straking radius= was changed to =keep outside the +striking radius=, =Austim became sensible of a change in his mood= was +changed to =Austin became sensible of a change in his mood=, and =a faint +rythmic throbbing= was changed to =a faint rhythmic throbbing=. + +In Chapter XXVII, quotation marks were added after =keep your skin +unbroken.= and =You may as well open the rest of them.= + +In Chapter XXVIII, =the _Cumbria_ steerd handily= was changed to =the +_Cumbria_ steered handily=, and =the distance run appeared to be working +acurately= was changed to =the distance run appeared to be working +accurately=. + +In Chapter XXX, =an dinformed Brown that the surgeon= was changed to =and +informed Brown that the surgeon=. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For Jacinta, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR JACINTA *** + +***** This file should be named 38670.txt or 38670.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/7/38670/ + +Produced by 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