CHAPTER X
THE AMERICAN BAR
"You're wanted at the 'phone, Mr. Britt," said Miss Pelham. It was latein the evening a day or two afterward. Britt went into the booth. He wasnot in there long, but when he came out he found that Miss Pelham haddisappeared. The coincidence was significant; Mr. Saunders was alsomissing from his seat on the window-sill at the far end of the longcorridor. Britt looked his disgust, and muttered somethingcharacteristic. Having no one near with whom he could communicate, heboldly set off for the hanging garden, where Deppingham had installedthe long-idle roulette paraphernalia. The quartette were placingprospective rubies and sapphires on the board, using gun-wads in lieu ofthe real article.
Britt's stocky figure came down through the maze of halls, across thevine-covered bridge and into the midst of a transaction which involvedperhaps a hundred thousand pounds in rubies.
"Say," he said, without ceremony, "the Enemy's in trouble. Bowles justtelephoned. There's a lot of excitement in the town. I don't know whatto make of it."
"Then why the devil are you breaking in here with it?" growledDeppingham, who was growing to hate Britt with an ardour that wasunmanageable.
"This'll interest you, never fear. There's been a row between Von Blitzand the lawyer, and the lawyer has unmercifully threshed Von Blitz. GoodLord, I'd like to have seen it, wouldn't you, Browne? Say, he's allright, isn't he?"
"What was it all about?" demanded Browne. They, were now listening, allattention.
"It seems that Von Blitz is in the habit of licking his wives," saidBritt. "Bowles was so excited he could hardly talk. It must have beenawful if it could get Bowles really awake."
"Miraculous!" said Deppingham conclusively.
"Well, as I get it, the lawyer has concluded to advance the Americanidiosyncrasy known as reform. It's a habit with us, my lady. We'll tryto reform heaven if enough of us get there to form a club. Von Blitzbeats his Persian wives instead of his Persian rugs, therefore he neededreforming. Our friend, the Enemy, met him this evening, and told himthat no white man could beat his wife, singular or plural, while he wasaround. Von Blitz is a big, ugly chap, and he naturally resented theinterference with his divine might. He told the lawyer to go hang orsomething equivalent. The lawyer knocked him down. By George, I'd liketo have seen it! From the way Bowles tells it, he must have knocked himdown so incessantly in the next five minutes that Von Blitz's attemptsto stand up were nothing short of a stutter. Moreover, he wouldn't letVon Blitz stab him worth a cent. Bowles says he's got Von Blitz cowed,and the whole town is walking in circles, it's so dizzy. Von Blitz'swives threaten to kill the lawyer, but I guess they won't. Bowles saysthat all the Persian and Turkish women on the island are crazy about thefellow."
"Mr. Britt!" protested Mrs. Browne.
"Beg pardon. Perhaps Bowles is wrong. Well, to make it short, the lawyerhas got Von Blitz to hating him secretly, and the German has a lot ofinfluence over the people. It may be uncomfortable for our good-lookingfriend. If he didn't seem so well able to look out for himself, I'd feelmighty uneasy about him. After all, he's a white man and a good fellow,I imagine."
"If he should be in great danger down there," said her ladyshipfirmly--perhaps consciously--"we must offer him a safe retreat in thechateau." The others looked at her in surprise. "We can't stand off andsee him murdered, you know," she qualified hastily.
The next morning a messenger came up from the town with a letterdirected to Messrs. Britt and Saunders. It was from the Enemy, andrequested them to meet him in private conference at four that afternoon."I think it will be for the benefit of all concerned if we can gettogether," wrote the Enemy in conclusion.
"He's weakening," mused Britt, experiencing a sense of disappointmentover his countryman's fallibility. "My word for it, Saunders, he's goingto propose an armistice of some sort. He can't keep up the bluff."
"Shocking bad form, writing to us like this," said Saundersreflectively. "As if we'd go into any agreement with the fellow. I'msure Lady Deppingham wouldn't consider it for a moment."
The messenger carried back with him a dignified response in which thecounsellors for Mr. Browne and Lady Deppingham respectfully declined toengage in any conference at this time.
At two o'clock that afternoon the entire force of native servants pickedup their belongings, and marched out of the chateau. Britt stormed andthreatened, but the inscrutable Mohammedans shook their heads andhastened toward the gates. Despair reigned in the chateau; tears andlamentations were no more effective than blasphemy. The major-domo,suave and deferential, gravely informed Mr. Britt that they were leavingat the instigation of their legal adviser, who had but that hour issuedhis instructions.
"I hope you are not forgetting what I said about the American gunboats,"said Britt ponderously.
"Ah," said Baillo, with a cunning smile, "our man is also a greatAmerican. He can command the gunboats, too, sahib. We have told him thatyou have the great power. He shows us that he can call upon the Englishships as well, for he comes last from London. He can have both, whileyou have only one. Besides, he says you cannot send a message in theair, without the wire, unless he give permission. He have a littlemachine that catch all the lightning in the air and hold it till hereads the message. Our man is a great man--next to Mohammed."
Britt passed his hand over his brow, staggered by these statements.Gnawing at his stubby mustache, he was compelled to stand by helplessly,while they crowded through the gates like a pack of hounds at the callof the master. The deserters were gone; the deserted stood staring afterthem with wonder in their eyes. Suddenly Britt laughed and clappedDeppingham on the back.
"Say, he's smoother than I thought. Most men would have been damnedfools enough to say that it was all poppy-cock about me sending wirelessmessages and calling out navies; but not he! And that machine fortapping the air! Say, we'd better go slow with that fellow. If you sayso, I'll call him up and tell him we'll agree to his little oldconference. What say to that, Browne? And you, Deppy? Think we--"
"See here," roared Deppingham, red as a lobster, "I won't have youcalling me Deppy, confound your--"
"I'll take it all back, my lord. Slip of the tongue. Please overlook it.But, say, shall I call him up on the 'phone and head off the strike?"
"Anything, Mr. Britt, to get back our servants," said Lady Deppingham,who had come up with Mrs. Browne.
"I was just beginning to learn their names and to understand theirEnglish," lamented Mrs. Browne.
When Britt reappeared after a brief stay in the telephone booth he wasperspiring freely, and his face was redder, if possible, than everbefore.
"What did he say?" demanded Mrs. Browne, consumed by curiosity. Brittfanned himself for a moment before answering.
"He was very peremptory at first and very agreeable in the end, Mrs.Browne. I said we'd come down at four-thirty. He asked me to bring somecigarettes. Say, he's a strenuous chap. He wouldn't haggle for asecond."
Britt and Saunders found the Enemy waiting for them under the awning infront of the bank. He was sitting in a long canvas lounging chair, hisfeet stretched out, his hands clasped behind his head. There was afar-away, discontented look in his eyes. A native was fanning himindustriously from behind. There was no uncertainty in their judgment ofhim; he looked a man from the top of his head to the tips of his canvasshoes.
Every line of his long body indicated power, vitality, health. His lean,masterful face, with its clear grey eyes (the suspicion of a sardonicsmile in their depths), struck them at once as that of a man who couldand would do things in the very teeth of the dogs of war.
He arose quickly as they came under the awning. A frank, even joyous,smile now lighted his face, a smile that meant more than either of themcould have suspected. It was the smile of one who had almost forgottenwhat it meant to have the companionship of his fellow-man. Both men weresurprised by the eager, sincere manner in which he greeted them. Heclasped their hands in a grip that belied his terse, uncompromisingmanner at the telephone; his eyes w
ere not those of the domineeringindividual whom conjecture had appraised so vividly a short time before.
"Glad to see you, gentlemen," he said. He was a head taller than either,coatless and hatless, a lean but brawny figure in white crash trousers.His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, displaying hard, sinewyforearms, browned by the sun and wind. "It's very good of you to comedown. I'm sure we won't have to call out the British or Americangunboats to preserve order in our midst. I know something a great dealbetter than gunboats. If you'll come to my shack down the street, I'llmix you a real American cocktail, a mint julep, a brandy smash oranything you like in season. There's a fine mint bed up my way, justback of the bungalow. It's more precious than a ruby mine, let me tellyou. And yet, I'll exchange three hundred carats of mint, Mr. Britt, fora dozen boxes of your Egyptian deities."
Then as they sauntered off into a narrow side street: "Do you know,gentlemen, I made the greatest mistake of my life in failing to bring aton of these little white sticks out with me? I thought of Gordon gin,both kinds of vermouth, brandy, and all that sort of thing, andcompletely forgot the staff of life. I happened to know that you have amillion packages of them, more or less, up at the chateau. My spies toldme. I daresay you know that I have spies up there all the time? Don'tpay any attention to them. You're at liberty to set spies on my trail atany time. Here we are. This is the headquarters for the Mine-owners'Association of Japat."
He led them down a flight of steps and into a long, cool-looking roomsome distance below the level of the street. Narrow windows near theceiling let in the light of day and yet kept out much of the oppressiveheat. A huge ice chest stood at one end of the room. At the other endwas his desk; a couch, two chairs, and a small deal table were the onlyother articles of furniture. The floor was covered with rugs; the wallswere hung with ancient weapons of offence and defence.
"The Mine-owners' Association, gentlemen, comprises the entirepopulation of Japat. Here is where I receive my clients; here is wherethey receive their daily loaf, if you will pardon the simile. I sit inthe chairs; they squat on the rugs. We talk about rubies and sapphiresas if they were peanuts. Occasionally we talk about our neighbours.Shall I make three mint juleps? Here, Selim! The ice, the mint and thestraws--and the bottles. Sit down, gentlemen. This is the American barthat Baedeker tells you about--the one you've searched all over Europefor, I daresay."
"Reminds me of home, just a little bit," said Britt, as the tall glasseswere set before them. The Englishman was still clothed in reticence. Hisslim, pinched body seemed more drawn up than ever before; the part inhis thatch of straw-coloured hair was as straight and undeviating as ifit had been laid by rule; his eyes were set and uncompromising. Mr.Saunders was determined that the two Americans should not draw him intoa trap; after what he had seen of their methods, and their amazingsimilarity of operation, he was quite prepared to suspect collusion."They shan't catch me napping," was the sober reflection of ThomasSaunders.
The Enemy planted the mint in its bed of chipped ice. "The sagacity thatTaswell Skaggs displayed in erecting an ice plant and cold storage househere is equalled only by John Wyckholme's foresightedness in maintaininga contemporaneous mint bed. I imagine that you, gentlemen, are hoping toprove the old codgers insane. Between the three of us, and man to man,how can you have the heart to propose anything so unkind when we look,as we now do, upon the result of their extreme soundness of mind? Here'show?"
Selim passed the straws and the three men took a long and simultaneous"pull" at the refreshing julep. Mr. Saunders felt something melt as hedrew the subsequent long and satisfying breath. It was the outer rim ofhis cautious reserve.
"I think we'll take you up on that proposition to trade mint forcigarettes," said Mr. Britt. "Mr. Browne, my client, for one, willsanction the deal. How about your client, Saunders?"
Saunders raised his eyes, but did not at once reply, for the verysignificant reason that he had just begun a second "pull" at his straw.
"I can't say as to Lady Deppingham," he responded, after touching hislips three or four times with his handkerchief, "but I'm quite sure hislordship will make no objection."
"Then we'll consider the deal closed. I'll send one of my boys overto-morrow with a bunch of mint. Telephone up to the bungalow when youneed more. By the way," dropping into a curiously reflective air, "may Iask why Lady Deppingham is permitted to ride alone through theunfrequented and perilous parts of the island?" The question wasdirected to her solicitor, who stared hard for a moment before replying.
"Perilous? What do you mean?"
"Just this, Mr. Saunders," said the Enemy, leaning forward earnestly."I'm not responsible for the acts of these islanders. You'll admit thatthere is some justification in their contention that the island and itstreasures may be snatched away from them, by some hook or crook. Well,there are men among them who would not hesitate to dispose of one orboth of the heirs if they could do it without danger to their interests.What could be more simple, Mr. Saunders, than the death of LadyDeppingham if her horse should stumble and precipitate her to the bottomof one of those deep ravines? She wouldn't be alive to tell how itreally happened and there would be no other witnesses. She's much tooyoung and beautiful to come to that sort of an end."
"My word!" was all that Saunders could say, forgetting his julep incontemplation of the catastrophe.
"He's right," said Britt promptly. "I'll keep my own client on thestraight and public path. He's liable to tip over, too."
"Deuce take your Browne," said Saunders with mild asperity. "He neverrides alone."
"I've noticed that," said the Enemy coolly. "He's usually with LadyDeppingham. It's lucky that Japat is free from gossips, gentlemen."
"Oh, I say," said Saunders, "none of that talk, you know."
"Don't lose your temper, Saunders," remonstrated Britt. "Browne's worthtwo of Deppingham."
"Gentlemen," said the Enemy, "please remember that we are not to discussthe habits of our clients. To change the subject, Britt, that was a--Oh,Selim, please step over to the bank and ask what time it is." As Selimdeparted, the Enemy remarked: "It won't do for him to hear too much. AsI was saying, that was a clever bluff of yours--I mean the gunboatgoblin. I have enlarged upon your story somewhat. You-----"
"Yes," said Britt, "you've added quite a bit to it."
"It's a sort of two-story affair now, don't you know," said Saunders,feeling the effect of the drink. They all laughed heartily, two, atleast, in some surprise. Saunders never let an opportunity escape torepeat the joke to his friends in after life; in fact, he made theopportunity more often than not.
"There's another thing I want to speak of," said the Enemy, arising toprepare the second round of juleps. "I hope you won't take mysuggestions amiss. They're intended for the peace and security of theisland, nothing else. Of course, I could sit back and say nothing,thereby letting your clients cut off their own noses, but it's hardlyfair among white people. Besides, it can have nothing to do with thelegal side of the situation. Well, here it is: I hear that your clientsand their partners for life are in the habit of gambling like fury upthere."
"Gambling?" said Britt. "What rot!"
"The servants say that they play Bridge every night for vast piles ofrubies, and turn the wheel daily for sapphires uncountable. Oh, I get itstraight."
"Why, man, it's all a joke. They use gun wads and simply play that theyare rubies."
"My word," said Saunders, "there isn't a ruby or sapphire in the party."
"That's all right," said the Enemy, standing before them with a bunch ofmint in one hand and the bowl of ice in the other. They could not butsee that his face was serious. "We know it's all right, but the servantsdon't. How do they know that the stakes are not what they're said to be?It may be a joke, but the people think you are playing for real stones,using gun wads as they've seen poker chips used. I've heard that as muchas L50,000 in precious gems change hands in a night. Well, the situationis obvious. Every man in Japat thinks that your people are gambling withj
ewels that belong to the corporation. They think there's somethingcrooked, d'ye see? My advice to you is: Stop that sort of joking. It'snot a joke to the islanders, as you may find out to your sorrow. Takethe tip from me, gentlemen. Let 'em play for pins or peppermint drops,but not for rubies red. Here's your julep, Mr. Saunders. Fresh straw?"
"By Jove," said Saunders, taking a straw, and at the same time staringin open-mouthed wonder at the tall host; "you appal me! It's mostextraordinary. But I see your point clearly, quite clearly. Do you,Britt?"
"Certainly," said Britt with a look of disdain. "I told 'em to lower thelimit long ago."
"This is all offered in a kindly spirit, you understand," said themagnanimous Enemy. "We might as well live comfortably as to dieunseasonably here. Another little suggestion, Mr. Saunders. Please tellLord Deppingham that if he persists in snooping about the ravines insearch of rubies, he'll get an unmanageable bullet in the back of hishead some day soon. He's being watched all the time. The natives resenthis actions, foolish as they may seem to us. This is not child's play.He has no right to a single ruby, even if he should see one and knowwhat it was. Just tell him that, please, Mr. Saunders."
"I shall, confound him," exploded Saunders, smiting the table mightily."He's too damned uppish anyhow. He needs taking down--"
"Ah, Selim," interrupted the Enemy, as the native boy entered, "no mail,eh?"
"No, excellency, the ship is not due to arrive for two weeks."
"Ah, but, Selim, you forget that I am expecting a letter from VonBlitz's wives. They promised to let me know how soon he is able toresume work at the mines."
"I hear you polished him off neatly," said Britt, with a grin.
"Just the rough edges, Mr. Britt. He is now a gem of purest ray serene.By the way, I hope you'll not take my mild suggestions amiss."
"There's nothing I object to except your power to call strikes among ourservants. That seems to me to be rather high-handed," said Brittgood-naturedly.
"No doubt you're right," agreed the other, "but you must remember that Ineeded the cigarettes."
"My word!" muttered Saunders admiringly.
"Look here, old man," said Britt, his cheeks glowing, "it's mighty goodof you to take this trouble for----"
"Don't mention it. I'd only ask in return that we three be a little moresociable hereafter. We're not here to cut each other's throats, youknow, and we've got a deadly half year ahead of us. What say?"
For answer the two lawyers arose and shook hands with the excellentEnemy. When they started for the chateau at seven o'clock, each with sixmint juleps about his person, they were too mellow for analysis. TheEnemy, who had drunk but little, took an arm of each and piloted themsturdily through the town.
"I'd walk up to the chateau if I were you," he said, when they clamouredfor a jinriksha apiece. "It will help pass away the time."
"By Jove," said Saunders, hunting for the Enemy's hand. "I'm going to'nform L-Lord Deppingham that he's 'nsufferable ass an'--an' I don'tcare who knows it."
"Saunders," said Britt, with rare dignity, "take your hand out of mypocket."