CHAPTER XIV
THE FIRST WATCH
On his way back to the deck, the captain encountered Suarez. The man'sgestures, and the satisfaction which lit up his wrinkled face, wouldhave told the news he wished to convey if Courtenay were not able tocatch the words "Indianos" and "van." In his excitement the Spaniardpulled the Englishman towards one of the peep-holes in the canvasscreen. Sure enough, the canoes were making off towards Otter Creek.In the marvelously clear light it was easy to see the threatening armsheld out towards the ship by a few men who stood upright. Even theirraucous cries were yet audible. Courtenay was glad he had not missedthis demonstration of hatred. It argued the necessity of continuedwatchfulness.
The general attitude of the crew was one of real annoyance that thefight had not been carried on at close quarters. They had heard a gooddeal of noise and yelling, the starboard squad had experienced thethrill of having a man fall dead in their midst, but, with theexception of Tollemache and the Chilean marksman, the main body of thedefenders took no part in the fray and saw but little of it. And it isone of human nature's queer proclivities that it seeks rather thanshirks a combat when the loins are girt for the smiting.
Walker, though eager to return to his lathe, was no exception to therule. He looked a trifle discontented when the captain found himunscrewing the engine-room hatch.
"That was a pwetty poo-aw scwap, sir," said he. "I did expect to havea smack at some of those magpies, if only for the sake of washin' thepaint an' feath-ahs off 'em with a jet of steam."
"They came quite near enough to be pleasant, Walker. Their flank marchwas almost a surprise; if a swarm of vicious savages had succeeded inreaching the decks--well, we might have beaten them off, but it wouldhave been touch and go."
"Mebbe you-aw wight, cap'n. 'Best look at a bull ov-ah a fence,' asthey say in the Canny Toon. Eh, but I'll have a fine tale to tell whennext I meet my butties on the Quay-side. Did ye ev-ah see such facesas yon, all daubed wi' black an' white! Talk about Chirgwin--"
Courtenay smiled and passed on. He was in no mood for jesting: thedeath of the Chilean fireman had damped his high spirits. The _Kansas_bore tokens in plenty of the battle. Many bullets and arrows hadstruck the ship; the canvas was torn in several places; a number ofport lights were broken, and the open decks fore and aft, as well asthe spar deck, were littered with stones. He picked up some of thesemissiles, man's earliest and latest projectile. They were round andheavy; a few bore the red streaks of oxidized iron; some appeared to beveritable lumps of ore, though the action of water had made them"smooth stones out of the brook." He showed one to Tollemache, whoseemed to possess a good deal of out-of-the-way knowledge, and thelatter instantly pronounced the specimen to be almost pure copperveined with silver.
"Queer thing!" he commented. "You find the worst rotters in anycountry squatted over the richest minerals."
At the time, Courtenay gave slight heed to this bit of crudephilosophy. It was not until he called to mind the Kaffir, theAustralian black, the Alaskan Indian, the primeval nomads ofCalifornia, Colorado, and Northern Siberia, that he saw howextraordinarily true was his friend's dictum. Then he looked on theshores of Good Hope Inlet with a new interest. Would a city everspring up in that desolate land, a city builded of those pebbles whichhad clattered against the solid walls of the _Kansas_? Who could tell?The long romance of gold contained stranger chapters.
But the captain had more important things with which to bother hisbrains than the fanciful laying out of corner lots on the comparativelylevel bluff overlooking Otter Creek. He saw to the reverent burial ofpoor Pietro Gama, entered full details of the fight in the ship's log,and helped Walker to search the suspected coal for a further supply ofdynamite, as the utility of the surface mines had been demonstratedbeyond a doubt. He thought it possible, given the necessary time, torig a device which would be practically invisible. A fresh set ofdummy poles, which the Indians would probably avoid in the event of asecond attack, might deflect the canoes into the area of new mines laidat sea level.
Their utmost diligence brought to light no further supply of theexplosive. Evidently, the prepared lumps of coal, each containing astick of dynamite, which were placed among the bunker at Valparaiso,had been conveyed on board by one man, so it was more than likely therewas not another ounce of the stuff on the ship except the threespecimens first discovered. These, water-soaked and useless, werelocked in a drawer in the chart-house.
While scrutinizing the bunker, Courtenay found a grimy piece of paper,crushed into a ball and amalgamated with coaldust by means of the glue,or other substance, which had been used for making the bombs intendedfor the destruction of the furnaces. He examined it carefully,believing it had the appearance and texture of cartridge paper. Heplaced it in his pocket, and, while changing his clothes before joiningthe others at supper, came on it again with a certain surprise. Heplunged it into a basin of hot water, and it yielded its secret. Itwas the outer wrapper of a stick of dynamite; it bore the circularstamp of the manufacturers, the "Sociedad Anonyma de las Costas delPacifico." This, in itself, meant nothing. The same company probablysupplied hundreds of mines with the five-pound boxes in which dynamiteis packed, and, if the stamp were the only clue, none could possiblysay when or where it had been issued for use.
But miners are apt to be careless; men accustomed to dynamite willhandle it with an astounding disregard for danger. And here was a casein point. Some Spanish overseer, evidently at a loss for a memorandumtablet, had scribbled hieroglyphics with an indelible pencil on thisparticular wrapper. It was clear that the figures and abbreviatedwords referred to the development of a cross-heading and the positionof certain lodes, but Courtenay was quick to see that the official whomade those notes would recognize them. Hence, the mine or store fromwhich the package had been stolen or bought could be identified. Suchevidence was of high circumstantial value. Courtenay put the wrapperin the same drawer as the cartridges, entered in the log the time andmanner of its discovery, and forthwith dismissed it from his mind.
It was almost dark when he went on deck. The wind was keen and chilly.It whistled through the broken windows of the wheel-house, and seemedto have in it a promise of bad weather. But a glance aloft and at thesky beyond the southern headland--Point _Kansas_, as it was called onboard--reassured him. The far-flung arc overhead was cloudless. Thestars of the southern hemisphere, vivid and bright, though lessfamiliar than those of the north, were reflected in the black water.The ship was so still, the surroundings so peaceful, save for the plashof tiny waves created by the breeze, that he was almost startled when asoft voice came from the lower deck:
"Where in the world have you been, Captain Courtenay? Joey is frettingfor you, and I have carried him all over the ship in vain search."
His heart jumped with gladness. Elsie was awaiting him at the foot ofthe companion. Be sure he was by her side without needless delay. Thedog wriggled in her arms, so she said:
"I don't think he ought to run about. His dear little paw is ratherbadly cut, and there may be more broken glass on the deck."
"I hope not, for our Chileans' sake," laughed Courtenay. "I heard Mr.Boyle telling them to sweep it up, and they were hard at work when Iwent to my cabin."
"Oh, is that where you hid yourself? No wonder I could not find you.Of course, Joey knew where you were. How stupid of me!"
"Please don't call yourself names, Elsie. You don't deserve them.And, by the way, may I address you by your Christian name? It slippedout to-day unawares. Not that I feel like apologizing, because Idon't. There are times when the heart speaks, not the guarded tongue."
Luckily, the darkness covered the hot blush which leaped to her cheeks.She gave a nervous little laugh, and strove desperately to parry thiswholly unexpected assault.
"I shall be delighted if you always call me Elsie. It sounds friendly,and I think our circumstances warrant a true friendship."
"Excellent. I suppose you know that my nam
e is Arthur?"
"Yes, but I had no notion of that sort of exchange. You are thecaptain, and a very serious sort of captain at times. I feel like alittle girl when you look at me and tell me not to be naughty. So'Elsie' sounds all right, but I simply dare not call you 'Arthur.'Just imagine what a sensation it would create in the saloon. I shouldfeel creepy all over. And hadn't we better be--"
"Elsie," said he, with a tender note in his voice which thrilled herlike a chord of exquisite music, "I want to tell you something. Theknowledge is forced on me that there is another man on this ship whowishes to make you his wife. But I, too, love you, and I see no reasonwhy I should stand aside for any man on God's earth until you tell mewith your own lips that you prefer him to me."
"Oh!" gasped Elsie, and "Oh!" again, but not another word could sheutter, she who had been so voluble a moment ago. The bitter-sweet painof hearing this sudden avowal was almost overpowering. Her ideals ofhonor and truth were shocked; but she was a woman as well as anidealist, and she was stirred to the depths of her soul by theknowledge that she had won the man whose love she craved. Yet it mustnot be: she could never again hold her head high if she yielded to him.She must relinquish him, drive him away from her by an assumed coldnesswhich would wring her very heart-strings. If he came nearer, if hetook her in his arms, she would be unable to resist him. Her impulsewas to fly, to lock herself in her room. But she could not drop thewounded dog on the deck, and Joey, satisfied by his master's presence,snuggled up close to her breast, and made the most of his comfortablequarters. And now, while Courtenay stroked Joey with one hand, heplaced the other on Elsie's shoulder. What a plight for a frightenedmaid who wished to escape! Of course, because she wished that some onewould come to her help, the deck was practically deserted. Certainly,Mr. Boyle did appear at the after end of the corridor; but he seemed toremember something strong and urgent which the crew ought to hear, andhe turned back.
And here was Courtenay speaking again, speaking in the slow anddefinite way of a man who was determined that there should be nolingering doubt as to his meaning.
"I want you to listen to me, Elsie," he said, with a passionateintensity that stilled the rising storm in her bosom. "DoctorChristobal may have pleaded his own cause already. It is not for me tocavil at him for doing that. But I cannot lose you without a word.Whether you marry him or me, or neither of us, I shall love you forever. I want you to know that. It is no new discovery to me. I thinkmy heart went out to you when I carried you in my arms through thegale, and since that hour you and I have had experiences denied to mostmen and women ere they reach the conclusion that they are fit mates forthe voyage of life. Do you feel that, sweetheart? Have we known eachother ten days, or ten years?"
His face was very near to hers now. His arm had encroached so far thatit was around her neck. It was quite dark where they stood in theshadow of the bridge. He could not see the tears in her eyes, but heheard her broken answer:
"Are you--quite--fair--in using such words to me?"
"Fair, Elsie! 'Fair' to whom?"
"Because--oh, how can I tell you? Are you free to--to speak to me inthis way?"
"Elsie, I am pledged to no other woman, if that is what you mean. Whohas been telling you otherwise?"
"No one. Indeed, indeed, I alone am to blame. You will be angry withme, but I could not help it."
She could say no more. If she had uttered another syllable just thenshe would have broken down completely. Joey did not seem to need anyfurther fondling; hence, having a hand at liberty, so to speak,Courtenay placed it under her chin, and lifted her unresisting lips tohis. He kissed her twice, and laughed softly, with a glad confidencethat sent a wave of delight coursing through Elsie's veins.
"Sweetheart," he whispered, "I am sure you would not have allowed me tospeak so plainly if you were going to send me away. Now, I don't wantyou to bind yourself irrevocably to-night. That would certainly not befair. I don't know why I am to be angry, or what it was you couldn'thelp, and I don't care a red cent. All I want to know is this--if the_Kansas_ brings us both back to the outer world once more, have I asgood a chance of winning your love as any other man?"
"But I must tell you. I could not look you in the face again if youdid not hear it. When I was left alone in your cabin, the second time,and the sea came in, a packet of letters fell out of some clothes whichI picked up from the floor. There was one from your sister. I hardlyknew what I was doing, but I saw her name, 'Madge,' and I read a fewwords on the half page above her signature."
His left arm was now so well established that his hand touched hercheek, and he found it wet with tears.
"What wild conceit has crept into your pretty little head?" he cried inamaze, unconsciously raising his voice somewhat. "A letter from mysister! She is the most straightforward woman breathing, I assure you.Never a line has she written to me which could bear any constructionsuch as seems to trouble you. Why, on the contrary, Madge has oftenchaffed me for being so like herself in giving no thought to matrimony."
"It is horrid of me to persist, but I owe it to you to tell you what Isaw. She alluded to your 'affianced wife,' and said that 'under noother circumstances,' whatever they were, would she receive her."
Then Courtenay laughed again, and Elsie found it was absolutelyessential, if Joey were not to be crushed, that her head should bend alittle forward, with the obvious result that it rested on Courtenay'sshoulder.
"I must show you the whole of that letter," he cried, "and the otherswhich are tied up in the same bundle. You will see me blush, I admit,but it will not be from a sense of perfidy. But there is one thing youhave forgotten, Elsie--" and his voice dropped to a tense whisperagain--"In telling me your secret, which is no secret, you have givenme my answer. Your heart must have crept out a little way to meetmine, dear, or my sister's words would not have perplexed you. So thatis why you have avoided me during the past few days! But there! Now,indeed, I am not acting quite fairly. It is unfair to ask you toconfess when I want you to wait until we win clear of our presentdifficulties before you decide whether or not you can find it to yourliking to make a poor sailor-man happy."
Joey was a highly accommodating dog under certain conditions. He hadcurled up so complacently that Elsie found she could hold him quiteeasily with one arm. So the other went out in the darkness until itrested timidly on her lover's disengaged shoulder.
"It is easy to confess that which is already known," she murmured."Whether we are fated to live one day or fifty years, it will be allthe same to me, dear."
She lifted her face again to his, and would have returned the kisses hegave her were it not that they lost their one-sided character thistime. It was an odd place for love-making, this darkened nook on thedeck of a disabled and beleaguered ship. But a man and a woman recklittle of time or locality when the call of love's spring-time soundsin their ears. That magic summons can be heard but once, and it iswell with the world, for those two at least, while its ecstasy floodsthe soul.
There was a chance that Joey might have been partly suffocated--though,to all appearance, he meant to die a willing martyr--had not Suarezleaned over the upper rail, and asked, in his grating accents, if heheard the senor captain's voice below.
Elsie, all tremulous and rosy, and profoundly thankful for thedarkness, withdrew herself from Courtenay's embrace and answered theArgentine.
"Ah," said Suarez, "I am glad you are there too, senorita. Will youtell him that I am very hungry, and that I have not been relieved atthe proper time. I have been waiting half an hour or more."
"There!" cried the captain, squeezing Elsie's arm, "that comes of usingso many unnecessary explanations. I ought to have adopted therecognized Jack Tar method and just grabbed you round the waist withoutceremony. I wonder where Boyle is. He and Christobal take the firstwatch, and it must be two bells, or later. I will hunt them up.Good-by, sweetheart. Meet you at supper in ten minutes."
It was a strange and peculiar fact
that Boyle had cornered Christobalin the saloon, and had insisted on telling him various remarkableanecdotes concerning the one-legged skipper of the _Flower of theOcean_ brig. It was still more odd that when Christobal yielded to afit of unwonted and melancholy silence after learning from Suarez thatthe senor captain had been talking to the senorita for a very long timeon the promenade deck, Boyle should feel inclined to sing.
The chief officer's musical attainments were not of the highest, andhis repertory was archaic. But there must be some explanation of hisunwonted and melancholy chanting. He always spoke of Elsie with theutmost admiration, and it was no secret that he rendered Courtenay asort of hero-worship hidden under the guise of an exaggerated belief inthe good luck which followed the captain of the _Kansas_ in all hisdoings. And then, with a chilling inspiration, Christobal knew why thechief officer had caused him to miss the hour for relieving the watch.Boyle had seen those two together, and had planned to leave themundisturbed!
The Spaniard was a dignified man; he had inherited from his Englishmother a saving sense of humor. It was intolerable that the pleasantrelations existing between the few survivors on board the Kansas shouldbe disturbed by reason of any failure on his part to acquiesce inElsie's right to bestow her affections where she listed. He wonderedif the girl had come on deck after supper; her habit was to retireearly, as she rose soon after the sun. He had seen her for a momentonly in passing out of the saloon, and there was a suspiciousbrightness in her eyes for which solicitude on the dog's behalf wouldhardly account. Why not put his fortunes to the test that night andhave done with it? Yes, that was the right course. He would ceasethis petty watchfulness, this campaign of planning and contriving lestothers should monopolize more of her smiles and pleasant words than he.A simple question would determine his fate. Either she washeart-whole, or not; at any rate, he would receive a straight answer.
So it was on the cards that Elsie would be the amazed recipient of twoproposals in one evening, which is a better average than most women arefavored with in a lifetime. Christobal had entered the chart-housewith the fixed intent of warning Boyle that he was going below for amoment to ask Miss Maxwell to come on deck, when a hurried step on thebridge companion caused the imminent words to be withheld.
It was Courtenay, who had run up from the saloon to procure thosefateful letters which had so nearly parted Elsie and himself. He hadlaughingly refused to tell her their history. That would spoil theireffect, he said. She must take them to her state-room and read them ather leisure. Then she would see their true inwardness, and hisfeelings would be spared, as he could not deny that the majority ofthem had been written by ladies.
On his way, he looked into the wheel-house. There was no light in theinterior. Boyle, wrapped in a heavy coat, was seated in the mostsheltered corner.
"All quiet?" asked the captain, in his brisk way.
"Nothin' doin', sir," answered Boyle.
"I expect you are both feeling pretty tired. Tollemache and I proposeto relieve you at six bells."
"But why?" demanded Christobal. "It is you who have passed an excitingday. I am ready to mount guard until dawn. Tollemache can join me nowif he likes, as Mr. Boyle ought to be in bed."
"I'm all right," said Boyle, gruffly. "I am only sitting here becausemy back is stiff."
Courtenay glanced at the somber shadow of Point _Kansas_, silhouettedagainst the deep blue of the seaward arc.
"Suarez has retired to roost," he said. "He seems to be quite assuredthat the Indians will never deliver a night attack."
"To-day's hammering should teach them to leave the _Kansas_ alone infuture," said Christobal.
"I hope so, but Suarez and Tollemache agree that they are mostpersistent wretches. Now, Boyle, you must obey the doctor. I am goingback to the saloon to give Miss Maxwell some documents I wish her tosee. Then, Tollemache and I will relieve the pair of you. All right,Christobal; I promise to take my share of the blankets in the morning.I shall be ready for a nap at four o'clock. At present I feelparticularly wide-awake."
He went to the cabin. They heard him unlock the door and enter. Atthat instant a startling hail came from two sailors stationed on thepoop.
"Indianos!" they yelled.
The three men were on the spar deck a second later, straining theireyes into the black vagueness of the water.
"Indianos!" shouted two other sailors on the forecastle, and from thespar deck it seemed to be possible to distinguish several black objectsmoving towards the ship.
"The siren, Boyle," cried Courtenay, striking a match. At once theswelling note of the fog-horn smote the air and thundered away intremendous sound waves. Soon a hissing, fiery serpent ran up the portwall of the chart-house, and a fine star rocket soared into the sky.It illuminated a wide area of the bay, and revealed a number of crowdedcanoes darting in on the ship from all sides. Courtenay grasped thelines connected with the remaining mines and hauled for dear life.Already the Indian rifle fire was crackling with vivid spurts of flame,and stones and arrows were beginning to patter on the deck and bangagainst the steel plates. Two of the dynamite bombs exploded with theusual din, but it was impossible to ascertain their effect owing to theyelling of the Indians.
The loud summons of the siren brought all hands from below; arms werehastily secured, the fore and aft awnings closed, and Walker made shiftto hammer the engine-room door tight. The increasing violence of thestone-slinging showed that the Alaculofs meant to press home this time.Whatever their dread of the fiends who roam the world in the dark, theyhad conquered it, and this latest phase in the stormy history of theship threatened to be its most trying one.
Courtenay, who seemed to be everywhere at once, lighted torches whichwere fastened to the empty davits in readiness for a night alarm. Hehad used the last rocket on board, but the flares would burn forfifteen minutes at least. By their light the defenders were able toshoot or smash the skulls of several savages who climbed up roughlycontrived grapnells fashioned out of bent sticks and thongs of hide.But there were only thirteen men to repel an attack which developed atfifty points simultaneously. Ere the torches flickered in theirsockets the savages had swarmed over poop and bows. They were tearingat the canvas shields and sweeping the hurricane deck with showers ofmissiles. Tollemache was injured, and Walker. Courtenay had hisforehead cut open. Suarez fell insensible while he was bellowingcurses through the megaphone in the vain hope of frightening thedetermined enemy. Two Chileans were down, one struck with a stone andthe other shot through the lungs.
So, at last, the _Kansas_ was in the grip of a savage and implacablefoe. Courtenay, while hauling a steam hose to the weakest point, theafter part of the promenade deck, met Christobal. He clutched theSpaniard in a way there could be no mistaking.
"Go below!" he muttered in a terrible voice. "I cannot leave the deck.You must go. And, for God's sake, don't tell her! Let her die withoutknowing!"