and I saw the fog lying about it like apall. It is an agony to know that those dear to you are suffering,perhaps dying, there! I cannot hide my eyes from others; they read mystory truly. "Your friends will be clever if they come to Ken's Islandagain," my husband says. I do not answer him. I shall never answer himagain.
May 15th.--There was a terrible storm on the island last night, and weall went up to the gallery to see the lightning play about the heightsand run in rivulets of fire through the dark clouds above the woods. Aweird spectacle, but one I shall never forget. The very sky seemed toburn at times. We could distinguish the heart of the thicket clearly,and poor people running madly to and fro there as though vainly seekinga shelter from the fire. They tell me to-day that the bungalow isburnt; I do not know whether to be sorry or glad. I am thinking of myfriends. I am thinking of Jasper, thinking of him always.
May 16th.--I learn that there was a stranger left behind in thebungalow, a Doctor Gray, of San Francisco. He landed with Edmond lastweek, and is here for scientific reasons. My husband says that he doesnot like him; but allowed him, nevertheless, to come. He was in thebungalow making experiments when the lightning struck the house anddestroyed it. It is feared that he must have perished in the fire. Myhusband tells me this to-night and is pleased to say it. But what ofJasper, my friend; what of him?
May 16th.--I was passing through the great hall of the house to-night,going to my bed-room, when something happened which made my very heartstand still. I thought that I heard a sound in the shadows, andimagining it to be one of the servants, I asked, "Who is there?" No oneanswered me; and, becoming frightened, I was about to run on, when ahand touched my own, and, turning round quickly, I found myself face toface with Jasper himself, and knew that he had come to save me!
CHAPTER XVI
ROSAMUNDA AND THE IRON DOORS
We had no notion that the doctor had come by any serious hurt, and whenhe fell in a dead faint we stood as men struck by an unseen hand. Lightwe still had, for the rolling lantern continued to burn; but the witsof us, save the wits of one, were completely gone, and three sillierfellows never gaped about an ailing man. Dolly Venn alone--trainedashore to aid the wounded--kept his head through the trouble and madeuse of his learning. The half of a minute was not to be counted beforehe had bared an ugly wound and showed us, not only a sucker stilladhering to the crimson flesh, but a great, gaping cut which thedoctor's own knife had made when he severed the fish's tentacle.
"You, Seth Barker, hold up that lantern," says he to the carpenter, asbold as brass and as ready as a crack physician at a guinea a peep;"give me some linen, one of you--and please be quick about it. I'lltrouble you for a knife, Mister Peter, and a slice of your shirt, ifyou don't mind!"
Now, he had only to say this and I do believe that all four of us beganto tear up our linen and to make ourselves as naked as Adam when theydischarged him from Eden; but Peter Bligh, he was first with it, and hehad out his clasp-knife and cut a length of his Belfast shift beforeyou could say "Jack Robinson."
"'Tis unlikely that I'll match it in these parts, and I've worn it tomy mother's memory," says he while he did it; "but 'tis yours, Dolly,lad, and welcome. And what now?" asks he.
"Be quiet, Mister Peter," says Dolly, sharply; "that's what next. Bequiet and nurse the doctor's leg, and do please keep that lanternsteady."
Well, big men as we were, we kept quiet for the asking, as ignorancealways will when skill is at the helm. Very prettily, I must say, andvery neatly did Dolly begin to bind the wound, and to cut the suckersfrom their hold. The rest of us stood about and looked on and madebelieve we were very useful. It was an odd thing to tell ourselves thata man, who had been hale and hearty five minutes before, might now begoing out on the floor of that hovel. I knew little of Duncan Gray, butwhat little I did know I liked beyond the ordinary; and every time thatDolly took a twist on his bandage or fingered the wound with thetenderness of a woman, I said, "Well done, lad, well done; we'll savehim yet." And this the boy himself believed.
"It's only a cut," said he, "and if there's no poison, he'll be wellenough in a week. But he won't be able to stand, that's certain. I'dgive ten pounds for an antiseptic, I really would!"
I knew what he meant all right; but the others didn't, and Peter Bligh,he must come in with his foolishness.
"They're mortal rare in these parts," said he; "I've come across manythings in the Pacific, but anyskeptics isn't one of 'em. May-be he'llnot need 'em, Dolly. We was twenty-four men down on the Ohio withyellow-jack, and not an ounce of anyskeptics did I swallow! And here Iam, hale and hearty, as you'll admit."
"And talking loud," said Seth Barker, "talking very loud, gentlemen!"
It was wisdom, upon my word, for not one of us, I swear (until SethBarker spoke), had remembered where we were or what was like to comeafterwards. Voices we had heard, human voices above us, when first weentered the cellar; and now, when the warning was uttered, we stooddumb for some minutes and heard them again.
"Douse the glim--douse it," cries Peter, in a big whisper; "they'recoming down, or I'm a Dutchman!"
He turned the lantern and blew it out as he spoke. The rest of uscrouched down and held our breath. For ten seconds, perhaps, we heardthe deep, rough voices of men in the rooms above us. Then the trap-dooropened suddenly, and a beam of light fell upon the pavement not fiveyards from where we stood. At the same moment a shaggy head peeredthrough the aperture, and a man cast a quick glance downward to thecellar.
"No," said the man, as though speaking to some one behind him, "it'sbeen took, as I told you."
To which the other voice answered:
"Well more blarmed fool you for not corking good rum when you see it!"
They closed the trap upon the words, and we breathed once more. Thelesson they had taught us could not be forgotten. We were sobered menwhen we lighted the lantern with one of Seth Barker's matches, andturned it again on the doctor's face.
"In whispers, if you please," said I, "as few as you like. We are in atight place, my lads, and talk won't get us out of it. It's the doctorfirst and ourselves afterwards, remember."
Dr. Gray, truly, was a little better by this time, and sitting up likea dazed man, he looked first at Dolly Venn and then at his foot, andlast of all at the strange place in which he lay.
"Why, yes," he exclaimed at last, "I remember; a cut and a fool whowalked on it. It serves me right, and the end is better than thebeginning."
"The lad did it," said I; "he was always a wonder with linen and thescissors, was Dolly Venn."
"To say nothing of a square foot of my shirt," put in Peter Bligh,obstinately. "'Tis worth while getting a bit of a cut, doctor, just tosee Dolly Venn sew it up again."
The doctor laughed with us, for he knew a seaman's manner and the lighttalk which follows even the gravest mishap aboard a ship. That our menmeant well towards him he could not doubt; and his next duty was totell us as much.
"You are good fellows," said he, "and I'm much obliged to you, MasterDolly. If you will put your hand inside my coat, you will find abrandy-flask there, and I'll drink your health. Don't worry your headsabout me, but think of yourselves. One of you, remember, must go andsee Czerny now; I think it had better be you, captain."
I said yes, I would go willingly; and added, "when the right timecomes." The time was not yet, I knew--when men walked above our headsand were waking. But when it came I would not hold back for myshipmates' sake.
We had a few biscuits among us, which prudent men had put in theirpockets after last night's meal; and, my own flask being full of water,we sat down in the darkness of the cellar and made such a meal as wecould. Minute by minute now it became more plain to me that I must doas Duncan Gray said, and go up to find Czerny himself. Food we hadnone, save the few biscuits in our hands; salt was the water in thecrimson pool behind us. Beyond that were the caverns and the fog. Itwas just all or nothing; the plain challenge to the master of thisplace, "Give us shelter and food" or the sleep which knows no waking.Do you wonder that I ma
de up my mind to risk all on a journey which,were it for life or death, would carry us, at last, beyond the doubtand uncertainty?
We passed the afternoon sleeping and dozing, as tired men might. Voiceswe heard from time to time; the moan of the sea was always with us--astrange, wild song, long-drawn and rolling, as though the water playedabove our very heads in the gentle sport of a Pacific calm. At adwelling more remarkable than the one we were about to enter no man hasknocked or will knock in all the years to come. We were like humananimals which burrow in a rocky bank a mile from any land. There weremysteries and wonders above,