CHAPTER V
THE ENGLISH INVADE
The granddaughter of Jack Wyckholme, attended by two maids, her husbandand his valet, a clerk from the chambers of Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin,a red cocker, seventeen trunks and a cartload of late novels, which shehad been too busy to read at home, was the first of the bewilderedlegatees to set foot upon the island of Japat. A rather sultry, boresomevoyage across the Arabian Sea in a most unhappy steamer which called atJapat on its way to Sidney, depressed her spirits to some extent but notirretrievably.
She was very pretty, very smart and delightfully arrogant after a mannerof her own. To begin with, Lady Agnes could see no sensible reason whyshe should be compelled to abandon a very promising autumn and winter athome, to say nothing of the following season, for the sake of protectingwhat was rightfully her own against the impudent claims of an unheard-ofAmerican.
She complacently informed her solicitors that it was all rubbish; theycould arrange, if they would, without forcing her to take thisabominable step. Upon reflection, however, and after Mr. Bosworth hadpointed out the risk to her, she was ready enough to take the step,although still insisting that it was abominable.
Mr. Saunders was the polite but excessively middle-class clerk who wentout to keep the legal strings untangled for them. He was soon todiscover that his duties were even more comprehensive.
It was he who saw to it that the luggage was transferred to the lighterwhich came out to the steamer when she dropped anchor off the town ofAratat; it was he who counted the pieces and haggled with the boatmen;it was he who carried off the hand luggage when the native dock boysrefused to engage in the work; it was he who unfortunately dropped asuitcase upon the hallowed tail of the red cocker, an accident whichever afterward gave him a tenacity of grip that no man could understand;it was he who made all of the inquiries, did all of the necessaryswearing, and came last in the procession which wended its indignant wayup the long slope to the chateau on the mountain side.
If Lady Deppingham expected a royal welcome from the inhabitants ofJapat, she was soon to discover her error. Not only was the picturedscene of welcome missing on the afternoon of her arrival, but anoverpowering air of antipathy smote her in the face as she stepped fromthe lighter--conquest in her smile of conciliation. The attitude of thebrown-faced Mohammedans who looked coldly upon the fair visitor was farfrom amiable. They did not fall down and bob their heads; they did noteven incline them in response to her overtures. What was more trying,they glared at the newcomers in a most expressive manner. LadyDeppingham's chin was interrupted in its tilt of defiance by the shudderof alarm which raced through her slender figure. She glanced from rightto left down the lines of swarthy islanders, and saw nothing in theirfaces but surly, bitter unfriendliness. They stood stolidly, stonily ata distance, white-robed lines of resentment personified.
Not a hand was lifted in assistance to the bewildered visitors; not aword, not a smile of encouragement escaped the lips of the silentthrong.
Lady Agnes looked about eagerly in search of a white man's face, butthere was none to be seen except in her own party. A moment of paniccame to her as she stood there on the pier, almost alone, while Saundersand her husband were engaged in the effort to secure help with theboxes. Behind her lay the friendly ocean; ahead the gorgeous landscape,smiling down upon her with the green glow of poison in its sunny face,dark treachery in its heart. On the instant she realised that thesepeople were her enemies, and that they were the real masters of theisland, after all. She found herself wondering whether they meant tosettle the question of ownership then and there, before she could somuch as set her foot upon the coveted soil at the end of the pier. Ahundred knives might hack her to pieces, but even as she shuddered arush of true British doggedness warmed her blood; after all, she wasthere to fight for her rights and she would stand her ground. Almostbefore she realised, the dominant air of superiority which characterisesher nation, no matter whither its subjects may roam, crept out above herbrief touch of timidity, and she found that she could stare defiantlyinto the swarthy ranks.
"Is there no British agent here?" she demanded imperatively, perhaps alittle more shrilly than usual.
No one deigned to answer; glances of indifference, even scorn, passedamong the silent lookers-on, but that was all. It was more than herpride could endure. Her smooth cheeks turned a deeper pink and her blueeyes flashed.
"Does no one here understand the English language?" she demanded. "Idon't mean you, Mr. Saunders," she added sharply, as the little clerkset the suitcase down abruptly and stepped forward, again fumbling hismuch-fumbled straw hat. This was the moment when the red cocker's tailcame to grief. The dog arose with an astonished yelp and fled to hismistress; he had never been so outrageously set upon before in all hispampered life. Seizing the opportunity to vent her feelings upon one whocould understand, even as she poured soothings upon the insulted Pong,whom she clasped in her arms, Lady Agnes transformed the unluckySaunders into a target for a most ably directed volley of wrath. Theshadow of a smile swept down the threatening row of dark faces.
Lord Deppingham, a slow and cumbersome young man, stood by nervouslyfingering his eyeglass. For the first time he felt that the clerk wasbetter than a confounded dog, after all. He surprised every one, hiswife most of all, by coolly interfering, not particularly in defence ofthe clerk but in behalf of the Deppingham dignity.
"My dear," he said, waving Saunders into the background, "I think it wasan accident. The dog had no business going to sleep--" he paused andinserted his monocle for the purpose of looking up the precise spotwhere the accident had occurred.
"He wasn't asleep," cried his wife.
"Then, my dear, he has positively no excuse to offer for getting histail in the way of the bag. If he was awake and didn't have senseenough--"
"Oh, rubbish!" exclaimed her ladyship. "I suppose you expect the poordarling to apologise."
"All this has nothing to do with the case. We're more interested inlearning where we are and where we are to go. Permit me to have a lookabout."
His wife stared after him in amazement as he walked over to the canvasawning in front of the low dock building, actually elbowing his waythrough a group of natives. Presently he came back, twisting his leftmustache.
"The fellow in there says that the English agent is employed in thebank. It's straight up this street--by Jove, he called it a street,don't you know," he exclaimed, disdainfully eyeing the narrow, dustypassage ahead. Here and there a rude house or shop stood directly aheadin the middle of the thoroughfare, with happy disregard for effect orconvenience.
"There's the British flag, my lord, just ahead. See the building to theright, sir?" said Mr. Saunders, more respectfully than ever and withreal gratitude in his heart.
"So it is! That's where he is. I wonder why he isn't down here to meetus."
"Very likely he didn't know we were coming," said his wife icily.
"Well, we'll look him up. Come along, everybody--Oh, I say, we can'tleave this luggage unguarded. They say these fellows are the worstrobbers east of London."
It was finally decided, after a rather subdued discussion, that Mr.Saunders should proceed to the bank and rout out the dilatoryrepresentative of the British Government. Saunders looked down thesullen line of faces, and blanched to his toes. He hemmed and hawed andsaid something about his mother, which was wholly lost upon the barrenwaste that temporarily stood for a heart in Lord Deppingham's torso.
"Tell him we'll wait here for him," pursued his lordship. "But remindhim, damn him, that it's inexpressibly hot down here in the sun."
They stood and watched the miserable Saunders tread gingerly up thefilthy street, his knees crooking outwardly from time to time, his toesalways touching the ground first, very much as if he were contemplatingan instantaneous sprint in any direction but the one he was taking. Eventhe placid Deppingham was somewhat disturbed by the significant glancesthat followed their emissary as he passed by each separate knot ofnatives. He was distinctly dism
ayed when a dozen or more of thedark-faced watchers wandered slowly off after Mr. Saunders. It wasclearly observed that Mr. Saunders stepped more nimbly after he becameaware of this fact.
"I do hope Mr. Saunders will come back alive," murmured Bromley, herladyship's maid. The others started, for she had voiced the generalthought.
"He won't come back at all, Bromley, unless he comes back alive," saidhis lordship with a smile. It was a well-known fact that he never smiledexcept when his mind was troubled.
"Goodness, Deppy," said his wife, recognising the symptom, "do youreally think there is danger?"
"My dear Aggy, who said there was any danger?" he exclaimed, and quicklylooked out to sea. "I rather think we'll enjoy it here," he added aftera moment's pause, in which he saw that the steamer was getting underway. The Japat company's tug was returning to the pier. Lord Deppinghamsighed and then drew forth his cigarette case. "There!" he went on,peering intently up the street. "Saunders is gone."
"Gone?" half shrieked her ladyship.
"Into the bank," he added, scratching a match.
"Deppy," she said after a moment, "I hope I was not too hard on the poorfellow."
"Perhaps you won't be so nervous if you sit down and look at the sea,"he said gently, and she immediately knew that he suggested it because heexpected a tragedy in the opposite direction. She dropped Pong withoutanother word, and, her face quite serious, seated herself upon the bigtrunk which he selected. He sat down beside her, and together theywatched the long line of smoke far out at sea.
They expected every minute to hear the shouts of assassins and thescreams of the brave Mr. Saunders. Their apprehensions were sensiblyincreased by the mysterious actions of the half-naked loiterers. Theyseemed to consult among themselves for some time after the departure ofthe clerk, and then, to the horror of the servants, made off in variousdirections, more than one of them handling his ugly kris in an ominousmanner. Bromley was not slow to acquaint his lordship with thesemovements. Deppingham felt a cold chill shoot up his spine, and hecleared his throat as if to shout after the disappearing steamer. But hemaintained a brave front, or, more correctly, a brave back, for herefused to encourage the maid's fears by turning around.
It was broiling hot in the sun, but no one thought of the whiteumbrellas. Saunders was the epitome of every thought.
"Here he comes!" shouted the valet, joyously forgetting his station. Hislordship still stared at the sea. Lady Deppingham's little jaws wereshut tight and her fingers were clenched desperately in the effort tomaintain the proper dignity before her servants.
"Your lordship," said Mr. Saunders, three minutes later, "this is Mr.Bowles, his Majesty's agent here. He is come with me to--"
It was then and not until then that his lordship turned his stare fromthe sea to the clerk and his companion.
"Aw," he interrupted, "glad to see you, I'm sure. Would you be goodenough to tell us how we are to reach the--er--chateau, and why thedevil we can't get anybody to move our luggage?"
Mr. Bowles, who had lived in Japat for sixteen years, was a tortuouslyslow Englishman with the curse of the clime still growing upon him. Hewas half asleep quite a good bit of the time, and wholly asleep duringthe remainder. A middle-aged man was he, yet he looked sixty. Heafterward told Saunders that it seemed to take two days to make one inthe beastly climate; that was why he was misled into putting offeverything until the second day. The department had sent him out longago at the request of Mr. Wyckholme; he had lost the energy to give upthe post.
"Mr.--er--Mr. Saunders, my lord, has told me that you have been unableto secure assistance in removing your belongings--" he began politely,but Deppingham interrupted him.
"Where is the chateau? Are there no vans to be had?"
"Everything is transferred by hand, my lord, and the chateau is twomiles farther up the side of the mountain. It's quite a walk, sir."
"Do you mean to say we are to walk?"
"Yes, my lord, if you expect to go there."
"Of course, we expect to go there. Are there no horses on the beastlyisland?"
"Hundreds, my lord, but they belong to the people and no one but theirowners ride them. One can't take them by the hour, you know. Theservants at the chateau turned Mr. Skaggs's horses out to pasture beforethey left."
"Before who left?"
"The servants, my lord."
Lady Deppingham's eyes grew wide with understanding.
"You don't mean to say that the servants have left the place?" shecried.
"Yes, my lady. They were natives, you know."
"What's that got to do with it?" demanded Deppingham.
"I'm afraid you don't understand the situation," said Mr. Bowlespatiently. "You see, it's really a triangular controversy, if I may beso bold as to say so. Lady Deppingham is one of the angles; Mr. Browne,the American gentleman, is another; the native population is the last.Each wants to be the hypothenuse. While the interests of all three aremerged in the real issue, there is, nevertheless, a decided dispositionall around to make it an entirely one-sided affair."
"I don't believe I grasp--" muttered Deppingham blankly.
"I see perfectly," exclaimed his wife. "The natives are allied againstus, just as we are, in a way, against them and Mr. Browne. Really, itseems quite natural, doesn't it, dear?" turning to her husband.
"Very likely, but very unfortunate. It leaves us to broil our brains outdown here on this pier. I say, Mr.--er--old chap, can't you possiblyengage some sort of transportation for us? Really, you know, we can'tstand here all day."
"I've no doubt I can arrange it, my lord. If you will just wait hereuntil I run back to the bank, I daresay I'll find a way. Perhaps you'dprefer standing under the awning until I return."
The new arrivals glowered after him as he started off toward the bank.Then they moved over to the shelter of the awning.
"Did he say he was going to run?" groaned his lordship. The progress ofBowles rivalled that of the historic tortoise.
It was fully half an hour before he was seen coming down the street,followed by a score or more of natives, their dirty white robes flappingabout their brown legs. At first they could not believe it was Bowles.Lord Deppingham had a sharp thrill of joy, but it was shortlived. Bowleshad changed at least a portion of his garb; he now wore the tight redjacket of the British trooper, while an ancient army cap was strappedjauntily over his ear.
"It's all right, my lord," he said, saluting as he came Up. "They willdo anything I tell 'em to do when I represent the British army. This isthe only uniform on the island, but they've been taught that there aremore where this one came from. These fellows will carry your boxes up tothe chateau, sixpence to the man, if you please, sir; and I've sent fortwo carts to draw your party up the slope. They'll be here in a jiffy,my lady. You'll find the drive a beautiful if not a comfortable one."Then turning majestically to the huddled natives, he waved his slenderstick over the boxes, big and little, and said: "Lively, now! Noloafing! Lively!"
Whereupon the entire collection of boxes, bags and bundles figurativelypicked itself up and walked off in the direction of the chateau. Bowlestriumphantly saluted Lord and Lady Deppingham. The former had a longinglook in his eye as he stared at Bowles and remarked:
"I wish I had a troop of real Tommy Atkinses out here, by Jove."