free again. Aye, it was good to hearthem speak.
"Bob Williams," cries the voice. "What ho! my ancient! I guess that'syou, Bob Williams."
"And I guess it isn't," roars Peter Bligh, half mad, like a trueIrishman, at the thought of a fight. "It isn't Bob Williams, and bederned to you! Are you going ashore to Ken's Island or will you swimawhile? It's good water for bathing," says he, "and no charge for themachine. Aye," says he, "by the look of you cold water would not hurtyour skins."
Well, they had nothing to say to this; but we could hear them parleyingamong themselves. And presently; another longboat pulling up to them,the two together drifted in the open and then, without a word, began torow away to the lesser reef, whose gate I had shut not an hour ago.This I saw with very great alarm; for it came to me in an instant thatif they could force the trap--and there were enough of them to do that,seeing that they had rifles in their hands--the whole of the lowerrooms would swarm with their fellows presently, and I did not doubtthat the house would be taken.
"Dolly," cried I, appealing to the lad, when, the Lord knows, my ownhead should have been the one to lead, "Dolly," cried I, "they'll forcethe gate--and what then, Dolly----?"
He had leapt up when the ship moved off, and now, drawing me back, withnervous fingers he began to show me what a man-of-war had taught him.
"No, sir, no," says he, wildly, "no, it's not that. Help me and I'lltell you--and oh, Mister Begg, don't you see that this gun was put hereto cover that very place?" says he.
Well, I had seen it, though in the stress of recent events it hadslipped my memory; and yet it would have been as plain as the nose onthe face to any gunner, even to the youngest. For if Czerny must holdhis house against the world, how should he hold it with one door of twoopen to the sea? That devilish gun, swung there on a peak of the rock,could sweep the waters, turn where you might. It was going to sweep thelesser gate to-night.
"Round with her and quick about it," cries Dolly Venn, and never agladder cry have I heard him utter. "They're coming ashore, captain.They are on the rock already."
I stood up to make sure of it, and saw four men leap from the gig tothe rock which it was life or death for us to hold. And to Dolly Isaid:
"Let go, lad; let go, in Heaven's name!"
He stood to the gun; and clear above all other sounds of the night thesharp reports rang out. That peaceful, sleeping sea awoke to an hourthe like to which Ken's Island will never know again. We cast the gloveto Edmond Czerny and powder spake our message. Henceforth it was hisday or ours, life or death, the gallows or the sea.
There were four men upon the rock when the gun began to spurt its vomitof shot across the sea, and two of them fell almost with the firstreport. I saw a third dragging himself across the crags and pressing ahand madly against every stone as though to quench some burning flame;a fourth crouched down and began to cry to his fellows in the boats formercy's sake to put in for him; but before they could lift a hand orship an oar the fire was among them; and skimming the waves for amoment, then carrying beyond them, it caught them as a hail of burningsteel at last and shut their lips forever. Aye, how shall I tell you ofit truly--the worming, tortured men, the gaping wounds they showed, themadness which sent them headlong into the sea, the sagging boat dippingbeneath them, the despair, the terror, when death came like awhirlwind? These things I shut from my eyes; I would not see them.The sharp reports, the words of agony, the oaths, the ferociousthreats--they came and went as a storm upon the wind. And afterwardswhen silence fell, and I beheld the silver sea, the island wreathedin mists, ships' boats in the distance like dots upon the water, theebbing flames where the steamer burned, the woods wherein honest seamensuffered in the death-trance from which but few would waken, I turnedto my comrades and, hand linked in hand, I said, "Well done!"
CHAPTER XXI
WHICH BRINGS IN THE DAY AND WHAT BEFELL THEREIN
It was just after dawn that Miss Ruth came up from her room below andfound me at my lonely post on the plateau of the watch-tower rock.Dolly Venn was fast asleep by that time, and Peter Bligh and thecarpenter no less willing for a spell of rest. I had sent them to theirbeds when it was plain to me that, whatever might come after, the nighthad nothing more in store for us; and though heavy with sleep myself Iput it by for duty's sake.
Now, I was watching all alone, my rifle between my knees and my eyesupon the breaking skies, when I heard a quick step behind me, and,turning round, I saw Miss Ruth herself, and felt her gentle hand uponmy shoulder.
"I couldn't sleep, Jasper," said she, a little sadly I thought. "Youare not angry with me for being here, Jasper?"
It blew cold with the dawn, and I was glad to see that she had wrappedher head in a warm white woollen shawl--for these little things stickin a man's memory--and that her dress was such as a woman might wear inthat bleak place. She had dark rings about her eyes--which I havealways said could look at you as the eyes of no other woman in all theworld; and I began to think how odd it was that we two, whom fortunehad cast out to this lonely rock together, should have said so littleto each other, spoken such rare words since the ship put me ashore atthe gate of her island home.
"Miss Ruth," said I, "it's small wonder what you tell me. This night isnever to be forgotten by you and I, surely. Sometimes, even now, Ithink that I am dreaming it all. Why, look at it. Not two months ago Iwas in London hiring a ship from Philips, Westbury, and Co. You, Ibelieved, were away in the Pacific, where all things beautiful shouldbe. I saw you, Miss Ruth, in an island home, happy and contented, as itwas the wish of us all that you should be. There were never lighterhearts on a quarterdeck than those which set out to do your bidding.'It's Miss Ruth's fancy,' we told ourselves, 'that her friends shouldbring a message from the West, and be ready to serve her if she has themind to employ them.' What other need could we think of? Be sure nowhisper of this devil's house or of yonder island where honest men willdie to-day was heard by any man among us. We came to do your bidding asyou had asked us. It was for you to say 'go' or 'stay.' We neverthought what the truth would be--even now it seems to me a horridnightmare which a man remembers when he is waking."
She drew a little closer to me, and stood gazing wistfully across thewestward seas, beyond which lay home and liberty. Perchance herthoughts were away to the pretty town of Nice, where she had given herlove to the man who had betrayed her, and had dreamed, as young girlswill, of all that marriage and afterwards might mean to her.
"If it were only that, Jasper," she said, slowly, "just a dream andnothing more! But we know that it is not. Ah, think, if these thingsmean so much to you, what they have meant to me. I came away fromEurope believing that heaven would open at my feet. I said that a goodman loved me, and I gave myself heart and soul to him. Just a sillylittle girl I was, who never asked questions, and trusted--yes, trustedall who said they loved her. And then the truth, and a weary woman tohear it! From little things which I would not see, it came speaking tome in greater things which I dare not pass by, until I knew--knew thebest and the worst of it! And all my castles came tumbling down, andthe picture was shut out, and I thought it was forever. The message Ispoke to the sea would never be answered, or would be answered when Ino longer lived to hear it spoken. Do you blame a woman's weakness? WasI wrong to believe that you would forget the promise?"
"I never forgot it, Miss Ruth," was my answer, "never for a moment.'May-be,' said I to Peter Bligh, 'she'll laugh when I go ashore;may-be--but it is a thousand to one against that--she'll have need ofme.' When I saw Ken's Island looming off my port-bow, why I said, 'It'sjust such a picture of a place as a rich man would pitch upon for anisland home. It's a garden land,' said I, 'a sunny haven in this goodPacific sea.' Judge how far I was from the truth, Miss Ruth, how littleI knew of this prison-house that, God helping me, shall stand open tothe world before many days have come and gone."
She was silent for a spell, for her eyes were searching the distantisland, and she seemed to be scanning its fog-bound heights and mistyvalleys as though to read that
secret of the night of which I hoped noman had told her.
"The ship that came ashore last night, Jasper?" she asked, of a sudden."What have they done to the ship?"
I put my hand upon her arm and led her forward to the sea's edge,whence we could espy both the sword-fish reef and the ashes of herbungalow at the island's heart. The day had broken by this time, quickand beautiful as ever in the Pacific Ocean. Sunny waves rolled up toour very feet. There were glittering caps of rock gleaming above theisland of death. Czerny's yacht lay, the picture of a ship, eastward inthe offing. The longboats, twelve of them, and each loaded