CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
I LEARN SOME DISTURBING NEWS.
The weather had been fine, with moderate breezes from aboutwest-north-west, during the entire period of our sojourn at the island,and we left it under like conditions. Our course for the Horn was asouth-easterly one, which brought the wind nicely over the starboardquarter, and the breeze was of just the right strength to enable us toshow the whole of our starboard flight of studding-sails to it, and tohandsomely reel off our eleven knots per hour by the log. Under thesecircumstances we were not long in running the island out of sight; andwith its disappearance below the horizon I hoped that my troubles--except, of course, such as might arise from bad weather--were at an end.As for the men, their sojourn on the island had done them good, theywere in splendid health and--as might be expected of men in theircondition who had so easily become wealthy--in high spirits, they seemedanxious to get home, and were, one and all, upon their best behaviour,being apparently desirous of conciliating me to the utmost possibleextent, now that their own ends had been served. But although I deemedit sound diplomacy to allow them to believe that their endeavours inthis direction were meeting with perfect success, I could not forgetthat, in the prosecution of their own selfish plans, they had shownthemselves to be callously criminal, and utterly indifferent to all thehardship and suffering, mental and bodily, that they were inflictingupon a young, delicately-nurtured, sensitive woman--to say nothing ofwhat they had caused me to endure; and I determined that, if it lay inmy power to scheme out such a result, they should, one and all, pay thepenalty of their crimes.
The apparently favourable condition of affairs to which I have justreferred continued for fully a week after our departure from the island;and then I received a rude awakening. It happened thus:
The weather was still gloriously fine, but the wind had drawn more outfrom the southward until it was square upon our starboard beam, which,with a decided increase in its strength, had caused us to take in allour studding-sails except the fore-topmast, the boom of which was bracedwell forward. It was close upon sunset; and Harry, the Cockney, was atthe wheel. The sky away to the westward about the setting sun wore adecidedly smoky, windy look, with a corresponding wildness and hardnessand glare of colour that seemed to threaten a blusterous night; so muchso, indeed, that, pausing in my solitary perambulation of the deck, Ihalted near the binnacle to study it. As I did so, the helmsman, withhis eye on the weather leach of the main-topgallant-sail, said:
"Don't look at me, or take any notice of me, sir, because I don't wantthem skowbanks for'ard to see me a-talkin' to you; but I've gotsomethin' very partic'lar as I should like to s'y, if I can only find achaunce."
"Well, fire away then, my lad," said I. "No time like the present. Iam looking to see whether we are going to have a breeze to-night."
The fellow remained silent for a full minute, chewing vigorously at theplug of tobacco in his cheek, and then said, still gazing intentlyaloft:
"The long and the short of it's this, sir. Them two swines, O'Gormanand Price, have been s'yin' that after that business with the Frenchbarque, and the shootin' of Karl and Fritz, it won't never do to let youand the young lidy ever get ashore again."
So Miss Onslow's foreboding had come true, then! We knew too much, andwere no doubt to be sacrificed in cold blood to ensure the safety ofthis piratical gang. But "fore-warned is fore-armed"; moreover, therewas this man Harry clearly disposed to be friendly to us, or why shouldhe take the risk of acquainting me with this terrible news? As Irealised all the fresh anxiety and watchfulness that this informationwould entail upon me, I faltered for a moment under a feeling ofoverwhelming despair; but it was gone instantly; and within the nextsecond or two I had pulled myself together, the fighting instinct hadleapt up, alert and eager, and I was once more ready to do battleagainst the whole ruffianly mob of them for the life and honour of thegirl that I now loved beyond any other earthly thing.
"And what do the men say to it?"
I asked, stepping up on the grating and, hands in pocket, balancingmyself jauntily to the heave and roll of the plunging hull as Icontinued to gaze contemplatively at the windy sky away on our starboardquarter.
"Why," answered, Harry, "it's no use denyin' that they're all of thesame mind as t'other two. They s'ys that you knows enough to hang allhands of us, and that you'd be certain sure to do it, too, if we wasonly to give yer half a chaunce."
"And what is _your_ opinion upon the matter, my man?" demanded I.
"Well," said he, "I thinks as p'rhaps they're right, so far as thatgoes. But I don't hold with murder; and I said as I thought we might beable to plan out a way of makin' ourselves safe without doin' no hurt toyou and the young lidy. But they wouldn't listen to me; they're all formakin' theirselves _safe_, as they calls it."
"And what is their scheme?" asked I.
"Why, accordin' to their present way of thinking they intends to ast youto make the Brazilian coast, somewheres about twenty mile or so fromsome big port; and they're goin' to tell you as when we've made the landthe brig is to be scuttled, and all hands--you and the lidy included--isto take to the boats and land, givin' ourselves out to be a shipwreckedcrew. But, at the last minute, when all is ready for leaving you andthe lidy is to be seized, lashed hand and foot, and locked up below, togo down with the brig."
"A very pretty, diabolical, cold-blooded scheme," commented I, "and onethat would have been very likely to prove successful, had you not warnedme. I am infinitely obliged to you, my man, and you may rest assuredthat I will not forget, the good turn you have done me in making meacquainted with the plan. I shall endeavour to frustrate it, of course.May I depend upon you to help me?"
"Why, as to that, sir," answered the fellow, "everything'll depend uponwhat you makes up your mind to do. I won't have nothin' to do wi'murderin' of you, that's certain. But, on t'other hand, I don't mean tomix myself up with no job that means havin' my throat cut if the thingdon't happen to turn out all right."
"Just so," said I; "I see your position exactly. I will think thematter over, and see if I cannot devise some practicable scheme to getto windward of those scoundrels, and will then have another talk withyou. Meanwhile, kindly keep your ears open; appear to fall in with theplans of the others, and let me know if any alterations are made--youwill find it greatly to your advantage to do so."
"Thank'ee, sir; I will," answered the man as I wheeled round, directed along, scrutinising glance at the canvas, stepped off the grating andsquinted into the binnacle, and finally resumed my perambulation of thedeck.
Now, here was a nice plot to face, and countermine! A plot that wasonly to be defeated by subtlety and strategy; for, at the most, therewere but three of us, all told, against thirteen ruthless, treacherousmen; and it was not to be forgotten that no dependence whatever was tobe placed upon the man Harry; his scruples apparently drew the line atcold-blooded murder, but on the hither side of that, consideration forhis own safety might tempt him to any conceivable lengths; in short, itneeded but very little consideration to demonstrate that if I was tosecure his active co-operation, I must make it perfectly clear to himthat it would be distinctly to his interest to give it me. Then therewas Miss Onslow. She was a woman of a delicate and refined nature, of amagnificent courage certainly, clever, and resourceful; and thus farcapable, perhaps, of affording valuable suggestions, but by no means tobe involved so tangibly in any scheme against the men as to expose herto their vengeful fury in the event of failure. The question whether Ishould mention this latest development to her at all was one of long andanxious mental debate with me; on the one hand I was intensely desirousto spare this poor girl any further terror and anxiety; while, on theother, I felt doubtful whether, in a matter that so vitally interestedher, I ought not to afford her the opportunity of bringing her keen andclever woman's wit to bear upon the problem that had now thrust itselfupon us. I spent an anxious, sleepless night, revolving countlessschemes in my head, and abandoning them, one after the other
, either asimpracticable, or else too dependent upon chance. The whole of the nextday and the succeeding night was similarly spent by me; and when Isprang feverishly from my bunk, haggard and hollow-eyed withsleeplessness and worry, on the second morning after my conversationwith the man Harry, I had come to the resolution that it was my duty toinform Miss Onslow how matters stood with us, and to afford her theopportunity to assist me with any suggestions that might occur to her.
An opportunity occurred shortly after breakfast. I had taken my sightsfor the brig's longitude, worked them out, laid down the result upon thechart, and was abstractedly gazing at the latter as it lay spread outbefore me upon the cabin table, anxiously seeking inspiration from astudy of the coasts, islands, and harbours delineated in miniature uponthe white paper, when the young lady stepped out of her cabin and--firstassuring herself that the steward was not within hearing--came to myside, and, laying her hand upon my shoulder, said:
"I want you to tell me what is the matter. There _is_ something veryseriously wrong, I know, for I was watching you all day yesterday, andit was impossible for me to avoid noticing that while, when in presenceof the men you did your best to wear an unconcerned manner, the momentthat you deemed yourself free from their observation you sank into amood of gloomy abstraction and reverie, the meaning of which was not tobe mistaken. And this morning you look absolutely _ill_ with worry,your forehead is seamed with wrinkles of care and anxiety, and--positively you are turning grey about the temples."
And as she spoke these last words her fingers lightly and--as it seemedto me--caressingly touched me on the temples. It was the first timethat she had ever done such a thing, and her touch thrilled me throughas with an electric shock, moving me to such an extent that I lost myself-control, and forthwith behaved with the recklessness of a madman.I seized her hand, threw my arm about her waist, and, drawing her to me,kissed her on the lips.
"It is your own fault," I exclaimed wildly; "you should not have touchedme so tenderly and caressingly. I love you, I tell you; I love youbeyond all power of speech to describe, and I have been upon the pointof telling you so over and over again, but have been deterred by theknowledge that, unless you can return my love--which you have nevergiven me any reason to suppose is the case--such a confession on my partmust necessarily render your situation infinitely more embarrassing thanit is now. And hitherto I have contrived to remain master of myself;but when you touched my temples just now--"
"Poor fellow," she interrupted, astounding me by nestling in my embrace,with flaming cheeks, but looking up at me with smiling eyes that shonelike stars, as her arm stole up and twined itself about my neck--"is itindeed so bad as that with you? I knew, of course, that you loved me--the symptoms were quite unmistakable--but I scarcely dreamed of yourpassion being so violent as it appears to be. Well, never mind, Charliedear; your very startling, unexpected, and vehement declaration will notproduce the effect you seem to have feared, because, you see, it sohappens that _I return your love_--how could it possibly beotherwise?"--her tone changing from tenderness to pride--"what womanwhose heart is free could possibly fail to love a man whose devotion iswhat yours is, and has been, to me? Yes, dearest, I love you with mywhole heart; and I am proud to think that, despite all my waywardnessand shortcomings, you have contrived to discover in me something worthloving. But _this_ is not what has been worrying you so terribly thislast few days--tell me what it is; I have a _right_ to know, now!"
"Yes," I assented, "you certainly have; but it is terrible news,Florence, and I scarcely know in what words to communicate it to you.Yet, be assured of this, my sweet, that, with the new courage that youhave just imparted to me, I will overcome this peril that looms ahead ofus, deadly though it be!"
And therewith I related to my sweetheart all that had passed betweenHarry and myself, at the same time directing her attention to the factthat this grisly peril was still a long way ahead of us; that it was afar cry from where we were to the Horn; and that even after we hadrounded that wild headland, practically the whole stretch of the easterncoast of South America would have to be traversed before the time wouldbe ripe for the villains to carry out their devilish scheme of murderand destruction. And then I strove to comfort her by directing herattention to the chances of escape that might befall us, the ships weshould be certain to encounter--with the possibility of being able tosurreptitiously communicate with one or more of them, cravingassistance--and of my determination--as a last resource--to cast awaythe ship and take our chance of being able to escape in one of the boatsduring the confusion, rather than tamely navigate her to the spot thatshould be selected by those fiends for the deed of destruction.
As I told her of the fate that had been planned for us, I saw her blanchto the lips, and her eyes grow wide and glassy with horror; butpresently her colour returned and her mouth set in firm, resolute lines;and when at length I ceased to speak, she said:
"My poor Charlie, no wonder that you look worn and worried! But takecourage, dear; I cannot believe that God will permit those wretches tomurder us in cold blood. He will surely inspire you with an idea thatwill enable you to defeat and prevent an act of such atrociouswickedness; and I have a sure conviction that in His own good time weshall be accorded a happy deliverance out of all our troubles, and thatyou will by and by enjoy the satisfaction of happily reuniting me to mydear father--and receiving the usual reward accorded to theall-conquering prince in the fairy tale."
"God grant it, my dearest!" I exclaimed fervently, as I kissed her."And now," said I, "I must go on deck, I suppose, and endeavour toappear as though I had not a care in the world; for if those fellowsnotice that I am looking gloomy and preoccupied, they will at once guessthat I suspect something, and may in that case so precipitate theirplans as to render our case more desperate than ever."
"We will go together," said the brave girl, "and you shall have anexample of the deep duplicity of which I am capable. I will defy anyone of them to detect the faintest shadow of care on my brow!"
And therewith she retired to her cabin, and presently emerged again,attired for the deck.
It was a glorious morning of true Pacific weather, with the wind blowinga merry breeze from about west-north-west; the sky, an exquisitely pureand delicate turquoise blue, flecked with patches of fleecy,prismatic-tinted cloud that here and there darkened the sapphire of thesparkling, foam-flecked ocean with broad spaces of deep, rich, violetshadow. As for the brig, she was swarming along at a nine-knot paceunder all plain sail supplemented by her starboard studding-sail, withher mast-heads sweeping in wide arcs athwart the blue as she swayed androse and sank in long, floating rushes over the rugged ridges of thepursuing swell, while dazzling sunshine and purple shadow chased eachother in and out of the hollows of her canvas and athwart her grimydecks. There was a thin, eddying coil of bluish smoke hurrying from thegalley chimney under the high-arching foot of the fore-course and outover the port cat-head; and the watch, having no sail-trimming to attendto, were squatted upon their hams on the fore deck, playing cards. Thehooker needed no looking after in such weather as this, and the onlyindividual, beside ourselves, abaft the mainmast was the helmsman.
Miss Onslow's appearance on deck never failed to attract the notice ofthe men, although she had made a point of being up and down every day,and all day long, and I soon discovered that we were the objects of thestealthy regard not only of the group on the forecastle but also of theman at the wheel. But no child could have appeared more completely freefrom care than she was; she chatted with me about Calcutta, and Simla,described the characteristics of the several castes and classes ofnatives, illustrating her description with amusing anecdotes that evencoaxed a smile upon the sullen, wooden visage of the fellow at thewheel, and spoke of being reunited to her father with an absoluteconfidence that left no room for even a shadow of suspicion that sheentertained the slightest doubt upon that subject.
A considerable period now elapsed without the occurrence of any incidentworthy of mention, except
that I observed in the men a quiteextraordinary devotion to card-playing; they did no work of any kindwhatsoever beyond such necessary duties as making, shortening, ortrimming sale, as occasion demanded; and when they were not doing thisthey were playing cards. I was at first somewhat puzzled to account forthe feverish and unflagging zeal with which this particular form ofamusement was pursued by all hands; for although sailors are fond of anoccasional quiet game of cards, they are, as a rule, by no meansdevotees of the pasteboards. But at length I obtained enlightenmentfrom the man Harry: they were gambling with the gems for stakes! Thisintelligence disquieted me greatly, for I foresaw possibilities oftrouble in it; and by and by it came. Meanwhile, however, I neglectedno opportunity to seek intelligence as to any change in the views ofthese men with regard to the ultimate disposal of myself and MissOnslow, and learned from time to time--my informant, of course, beingHarry--that, so far, nothing had transpired justifying the suspicionthat any departure from the original plan was contemplated. This was,in a measure, gratifying, in so far at least as that it still left me afair amount of time to evolve some satisfactory scheme for oursalvation--a task in which I had not yet succeeded, although I hadconsidered I might almost say hundreds of ideas, only to discard them aseither impracticable or unreliable.
At the moment of which I am now about to speak--we were drawing close ontoward the meridian of the Horn, but well to the south of it; and theweather was what sailors call "dirty"--a dark, scowling sky overhead,charged with sleet and rain squalls that, when we ran into them, lashedus and stung the skin like whips; the atmosphere was nippingly raw, andthick enough to veil and blot out everything at a distance of more thanfour miles; and the wind was blowing so fresh from the southward thatthe men had at length been compelled to unwillingly turn out and snugthe brig down to double-reefed topsails, with the mainsail stowed.There was a very steep and ugly beam sea running, and the brig wasrolling to it as though bent on rolling the masts out of her; while thedecks were mid-leg deep with the water that she dished in over the railat every roll with a regularity that I was very far from appreciating.Worst of all, there was no pretence whatever on the part of the men towatch the ship or keep a lookout--the scoundrels were well aware that Imight be depended on for that; the only man on deck was the helmsman;and from the condition of those who came staggering aft from time totime at the stroke of the bell to relieve the wheel, I more thansuspected that a drinking bout was under way in the forecastle. Such acondition of affairs was amply sufficient at any time to create withinme a sense of profound uneasiness, much more so at that especial time;for we were then in a part of the ocean notorious for sudden, savagegales, thick weather, and floating ice as deadly as any reef that evertrapped a ship; and the safety of the brig, and of all hands, might atany moment be fatally imperilled by the slightest lack of alertness, orthe briefest powerlessness on the part of the crew. It was thisconviction alone that restrained me from an immediate endeavour torecapture the brig; the conditions were propitious, for as I have saidall hands were below with the exception of the helmsman. The cook, itis true, was in his galley; but if I chose to arm myself with thepistols that had been presented to me by the Frenchman aboard the _MarieRenaud_, it would be no such desperate matter to slip for'ard and clapthe hatch over the fore-scuttle, secure the cook in his galley, and thencompel the half-drunken helmsman to surrender. But to resort to suchmeasures as those where we then were would have been sheer madness; andthe idea no sooner occurred to me than it was dismissed asimpracticable. But although impracticable just then, it might not be solater on, when we should have arrived in less perilous latitudes; and Ithere and then resolved to do everything that in me lay to facilitatesuch a _coup_ on the first suitable occasion.
Meanwhile, it was little short of madness for the men to drink to excessunder the then prevailing conditions of weather and situation; and Idetermined to remonstrate with O'Gorman for permitting such perilousindulgence. So I went aft and took the wheel, directing the man whom Irelieved to ask O'Gorman to come aft, as I wished to speak to him.
The fellow slouched away forward, lurching and slipping along the wetdecks, and disappeared down the fore-scuttle. I deemed it notimprobable that he would avail himself of the opportunity to helphimself to another drink, and that it might possibly be quite fiveminutes, or even ten, before he returned aft to resume his duty; but afull half-hour elapsed, and still the fellow remained invisible. I hadby this time very nearly come to the end of my stock of patience, andwas on the point of yelling to the cook--who kept close as a limpet tothe shelter of his galley, with the weather-door fast shut--to run tothe forecastle and summon someone to relieve me, when I became aware ofa din of excited shouts and yells arising from the fore-scuttle, thatmomentarily grew in intensity until the disturbance was violent enoughto suggest that all pandemonium had broken adrift in that smallforecastle. The cook, from his position, in the galley, heard the rowmuch more distinctly than I did, and, forsaking his pots and pans,rushed forward, where he stood gaping down through the scuttle in anattitude expressive of combined interest and consternation. I shoutedto him to let me know what it all meant, but his attention was socompletely absorbed by what was happening below that he had no ears forme; while, as for me, I had my hands quite full with the brig, and darednot release my grasp of the wheel for a single instant lest she shouldbroach-to and get her decks swept, or possibly be dismasted.