CHAPTER XXVIII
CENTURIES TO FORGET
"My lord," said Saunders the next day, appearing before his lordshipafter an agitated hour of preparation, "it's come to a point wheresomething's got to be done." He got that far and then turned quitepurple; his collar seemed to be choking him.
"Quite right, Saunders," said Deppingham, replacing his eyeglassnervously, "but who's going to do it and what is there to be done?"
"I'm--er--afraid you don't quite understand, sir," mumbled the littlesolicitor, glancing uneasily over his shoulder. "If what Mr. Chase saysis true, we've got a precious short time to live. Well, we've--we'veconcluded to get all we can out of the time that's left, my lord."
"I see," said the other, but he did not see.
"So I've come to ask if it will be all right with you and her ladyship,sir. We don't want to do anything that would seem forward and out ofplace, sir."
"It's very considerate of you, Saunders; but what the devil are youtalking about?"
"Haven't you heard, sir?"
"That we are to die? Certainly."
"That's not all, sir. Miss--Miss Pelham and I have decided toget--er--get married before it is too late."
Deppingham stared hard for a moment and then grinned broadly.
"You mean, before you die?"
"That's it exactly, my lord. Haw, haw! It _would_ be a bit late,wouldn't it, if we waited till afterward? Haw, haw! Splendid! Butseriously, my lord, we've talked it all over and it strikes us both as avery clever thing to do. We had intended to wait till we got to London,but that seems quite out of the question now. Unless we do it up prettysharp, sir, we are likely to miss it altogether. So I have come to askif you think it will interfere with your arrangements if--if we shouldbe married to-night."
"I'm sure, Saunders, that it won't discommode me in the least," said hislordship genially. "By all means, Saunders, let it be to-night, forto-morrow we may die."
"Will you kindly speak to her ladyship, sir?"
"Gladly. And I'll take it as an honour if you will permit me to giveaway the bride."
"Thank you, my lord," cried Saunders, his face beaming. His lordshipshook hands with him, whereupon his cup of happiness overflowed,notwithstanding the fact that his honeymoon was likely to be of scarcelyany duration whatsoever. "I've already engaged Mr. Bowles, sir, for halfpast eight, and also the banquet hall, sir," he said, with his frankassurance.
"And I'll be happy, Saunders, to see to the wedding supper and therice," said his lordship. "Have you decided where you will go on yourwedding journey?"
"Yes, sir," said Saunders seriously, "God helping us, we'll go toEngland."
The wedding took place that night in the little chapel. It was not animposing celebration; neither was it attended by the gladsome revelrythat usually marks the nuptial event, no matter how humble. The veryfact that these two were being urged to matrimony by the uncertaintiesof life was sufficient to cast a spell of gloom over the guests and highcontracting parties alike. The optimism of Hollingsworth Chase lightenedthe shadows but little.
Chase deliberately took possession of the Princess after the hollowwedding supper had come to an end. He purposely avoided the hanginggarden and kept to the vine-covered balcony overlooking the sea. Hermood had changed. Now she was quite at ease with him; the taunting gleamin her dark eyes presaged evil moments for his peace of mind.
"I'm inspired," he said to her. "A wedding always inspires me."
"It's very strange that you've never married," she retorted. She wasstriding freely by his side, confident in her power to resist sentimentwith mockery.
"Will you be my wife?" he asked abruptly. She caught her breath beforelaughing tolerantly, and then looked into his eyes with a tantalisingingenuousness.
"By no means," she responded. "I am not oppressed by the same views thatactuated Miss Pelham. You see, Mr. Chase, I am quite confident that weare _not_ to die in two weeks."
"I could almost wish that we could die in that time," he said.
"How very diabolical!"
"It may seem odd to you, but I'd rather see you dead than married toPrince Karl." She was silent. He went on: "Would you consent to be mywife if you felt in your heart that we should never leave this island?"
"You are talking nonsense," she said lightly.
"Perhaps. But would you?" he insisted.
"I think I shall go in, Mr. Chase," she said with a warning shake of herhead.
"Don't, please! I'm not asking you to marry me if we _should_ leave theisland. You must give me credit for that," he argued whimsically.
"Ah, I see," she said, apparently very much relieved. "You want me onlywith the understanding that death should be quite close at hand torelieve you. And if I were to become your wife, here and now, and weshould be taken from this dreadful place--what then?"
"You probably would have to go through a long and miserable career asplain Goodwife Chase," he explained.
"If it will make you any happier," she said, with a smile in which therelurked a touch of mischievous triumph, "I can say that I might consentto marry you if I were not so positive that I will leave the islandsoon. You seem to forget that my uncle's yacht is to call here, eventhough your cruisers will not."
"I'll risk even that," he maintained stoutly.
She stopped suddenly, her hand upon his arm.
"Do you really love me?" she demanded earnestly.
"With all my soul, I swear to you," he replied, staggered by the abruptchange in her manner.
"Then don't make it any harder for me," she said. "You know that I couldnot do what you ask. Please, please be fair with me. I--I can't evenjest about it. It is too much to ask of me," she went on with a strangefirmness in her voice. "It would require centuries to make me forgetthat I am a princess, just as centuries were taken up in creating mewhat I am. I am no better than you, dear, but--but--you understand?" Shesaid it so pleadingly, so hopelessly that he understood what it was thatshe could not say to him. "We seldom if ever marry the men whom God hasmade for us to love."
He lifted her hands to his breast and held them there. "If you will justgo on loving me, I'll some day make you forget you're a princess." Shesmiled and shook her head. Her hair gleamed red and bronze in the kindlylight; a soft perfume came up to his nostrils.
* * * * *
The next day three of the native servants became violently ill, seizedby the most appalling convulsions. At first, a thrill of horror ranthrough the chateau. The plague! The plague in reality! Faces blanchedwhite with dread, hearts turned cold and sank like lead; a hundred eyeslooked out to sea with the last gleam of hope in their depths.
But these fears were quickly dissipated. Baillo and the other nativesunhesitatingly announced that the men were not afflicted with the "fatalsickness." As if to bear out these positive assertions, the suffererssoon began to mend. By nightfall they were fairly well recovered. Themysterious seizure, however, was unexplained. Chase alone divined thecause. He brooded darkly over the prospect that suddenly had presenteditself to his comprehension. Poison! He was sure of it! But who thepoisoner?
All previous perils and all that the future seemed to promise wereforgotten in the startling discovery that came with the fall of night.The first disclosures were succeeded by a frantic but ineffectual searchthroughout the grounds; the chateau was ransacked from top to bottom.
Lady Deppingham and Robert Browne were missing! They had disappeared asif swallowed by the earth itself!
Neenah, the wife of Selim, was the last of those in the chateau to seethe heirs. When the sun was low in the west, she observed them strollingleisurely along the outer edge of the moat. They crossed the swifttorrent by the narrow bridge at the base of the cliff and stopped belowthe mouth of the cavern which blew its cool breath out upon the hanginggarden. Later on, she saw them climb the staunch ladder and stand in theblack opening, apparently enjoying the cooling wind that came from thedamp bowels of the mountain. Her attention was called elsewh
ere, andthat was the last glimpse she had of the two people about whom centredthe struggle for untold riches.
It was not an unusual thing for the inhabitants of the chateau to climbto the mouth of the cavern. The men had penetrated its depths forseveral hundred yards, lighting their way by means of electric torches,but no one among them had undertaken the needless task of exploring itto the end. This much they knew: the cavern stretched to endlessdistances, wide in spots, narrow in others, treacherous yet attractivein its ugly, grave-like solitudes.
"God, Chase, they are lost in there!" groaned Deppingham, numb withapprehension. He was trembling like a leaf.
"There's just one thing to do," said Chase, "we've got to explore thatcavern to the end. They may have lost their bearings and strayed offinto one of the lateral passages."
"I--I can't bear the thought of her wandering about in that horribleplace," Deppingham cried as he started resolutely toward the ladders.
"She'll come out of it all right," said Chase, a sudden compassion inhis eyes.
Drusilla Browne was standing near by, cold and silent with dread, a setexpression in her eyes. Her lips moved slowly and Deppingham heard thebitter words:
"You will find them, Lord Deppingham. You will find them!"
He stopped and passed his hand over his eyes. Then, without a word, hesnatched a rifle from the hands of one of the patrol, and led the way upthe ladder. As he paused at the top to await the approach of hiscompanions, Chase turned to the white-faced Princess and said, betweenhis teeth:
"If Skaggs and Wyckholme had been in the employ of the devil himselfthey could not have foreseen the result of their infernal plotting. I amafraid--mortally afraid!"
"Take care of him, Hollingsworth," she whispered shuddering.
The last glow of sunset, reflected in the western sky, fell upon thetall figure of the Englishman in the mouth of the cavern. Tragedy seemedto be waiting to cast its mantel about him from behind.
"Good-bye, Genevra, my Princess," said Chase softly, and then was offwith Britt and Selim. As he passed Drusilla, he seized her hand andpaused long enough to say:
"It's all right, little woman, take my word for it. If I were you, I'dcry. You'll see things differently through your tears."
The four men, with their lights, vanished from sight a few momentslater. Chase grasped Deppingham's arm and held him back, gravelysuggesting that Selim should lead the way.
They were to learn the truth almost before they had fairly begun theirinvestigations.
The heirs already were in the hands of their enemies, the islanders!
The appalling truth burst upon them with a suddenness that stunned theirsensibilities for many minutes. All doubt was swept away by therevelation.
The eager searchers, shouting as they went, had picked their way downthe steps in the sloping floor of the cavern, down through the windinggalleries and clammy grottoes, their voices booming ever and anonagainst the silent walls with the roar of foghorns. Now they had come towhat was known as "the Cathedral." This was a wide, lofty chamber, hungwith dripping stalactites, far below the level at which they began thedescent. The floor was almost as flat and even as that of a moderndwelling. Here the cavern branched off in three or four directions, likethe tentacles of a monster devilfish, the narrow passages leading no oneknew whither in that tomb-like mountain.
Selim uttered the first shout of surprise and consternation. Then thefour of them rushed forward, their eyes almost starting from theirsockets. An instant later they were standing at the edge of a vast holein the floor--newly made and pregnant with disaster.
A current of air swept up into their faces. The soft, loose earth aboutthe rent in the floor was covered with the prints of naked feet; thebottom of the hole was packed down in places by a multitude of tracks.Chase's bewildered eyes were the first to discover the presence ofloose, scattered masonry in the pile below and the truth dawned upon himsharply. He gave a loud exclamation and then dropped lightly into theshallow hole.
"I've got it!" he shouted, stooping to peer intently ahead. "Von Blitz'spowder kegs did all this. The secret passage runs along here. One of thedischarges blew this hole through the roof of the passage. Here are thewalls of the passage. By heaven, the way is open to the sea!"
"My God, Chase!" cried Deppingham, staggering toward the opening. "Thesefootprints are--God! They've murdered her! They've come in here andsurprised----"
"Go easy, old man! We need to be cool now. It's all as plain as day tome. Rasula and his men were exploring the passage after the discovery ofthe treasure chests. They came upon this new-made hole and then crawledinto the cavern. They surprised Browne and--Yes, here are the prints ofa woman's shoe--and a man's, too. They're gone, God help 'em!"
He climbed out of the hole and rushed about "the Cathedral" in search offurther evidence. Deppingham dropped suddenly to his knees and buriedhis face in his hands, sobbing like a child.
It was all made plain to the searchers. Signs of a fierce struggle werefound near the entrance to the Cathedral. Bobby Browne had made agallant fight. Blood stains marked the smooth floor and walls, and therewas evidence that a body had been dragged across the chamber.
Britt put his hand over his eyes and shuddered. "They've settled thiscontest, Chase, forever!" he groaned.