BARRACLOUGH TAKES A HAND
I did not take Holgate's advice, although I had instinctively made up
my mind that he was sincere in offering it. What reason he had for
expressing kindliness for me--if he had any--I could not say. I
reflected that it might very well be of a piece with his astute plans.
He might seek to serve some purpose by it. I was useful as a doctor
attending to his wounded men, but I knew enough of him to guess that
that alone would not suffice to keep him friendly. There must be
another reason, unless, indeed, it was as he said, and he really had
been captivated by my personal charm! This solution of the problem was
flattering, of course, but I was not disposed to accept it. So deep was
my mistrust of the arch schemer that I racked my brain to find an
explanation for his conduct. This, needless to say, was not conducive
to sleep, and I passed a bad night. It was profoundly still, but
towards dawn the screw began to move again, and I concluded that the
fog had lifted. I got up and looked out of the port, and could discern
dimly the white sheets of the mountains not two furlongs distant. The
_Sea Queen_ began to tramp along at a slow pace at first, but finally,
getting speed, resumed her normal rate of progress. If I knew Holgate
he was still on the bridge, and he would remain there until the danger
was over. If he was an abominable scoundrel, he was indubitably also an
admirable seaman with a sense of duty to his ship.
I fell asleep shortly after that, and when I awoke the sun was full up,
but setting low in the east, glittering upon a field of snowy
pinnacles. I ascended to the state-rooms, and there found Barraclough,
who had just come on duty. He had a cheerful eye, and scanned me
curiously.
"Well, are we going to get through this?" he asked.
"We're going to get out of the Straits, I believe," I answered.
"Ah!" he said, and frowned, as he was accustomed to do when thinking
deeply. He was not a man of much thought.
"And after that?" said he abruptly.
"The deluge," said I, shrugging my shoulders.
"Look here, Phillimore, do you believe we can hold out against
Holgate's forces?" he asked seriously.
"I think we shall have to try," I replied evasively.
"I'm damned if we can," he said bluffly. "It's all infernal nonsense."
"Well, we've got to try," I repeated impatiently.
"Oh, well! yes, we've got to try," he admitted, "unless Holgate will
hear reason."
"Good Lord, man, do you suppose he's risked all this to listen to
reason now?" I asked in amazement.
Barraclough turned away. "Well, you see him. You ought to know," he
growled. "If he doesn't, we're done."
"I don't advise you to tell the others that," I said drily.
He turned on me fiercely. "Who said I would?" he snapped. "Do you take
me for a fool? And who's captain here? Dr. Phillimore, I'll have you
know your place," he cried, in a black passion, unusual in him. "I'm
commanding officer and responsible to none, not even the--Mr. Morland,
by heaven, no--not on this ship, anyway!" And with that remarkable
tempest of unreasonable fury he strode angrily away, leaving me annoyed
and something abashed. Assuredly the situation, the waiting, the
suspense, had played havoc with all our nerves, even with this stolid
English gentleman's. There was the development, in fact, as plain as a
pike-staff. This tension had worn on us. Barraclough lost his temper
for inadequate reasons; the Prince shut himself in his room morosely,
for I shall come to that presently; and Lane growled and grumbled so
that it was difficult to avoid quarrelling with him. Indeed, it was
only by silence that I averted an open collision on more than one
occasion. Little Pye was as nervous as a hen; a sound set him jumping.
As I came up the stairs noiselessly, I encountered him, and his whole
body started.
"Good gracious, man!" said I, with good-humoured contempt, "you'll be
skipping away from your own shadow next. How do you expect to stand up
against Holgate with a spirit like that?"
He was pale even through the strong colour that the sun had beaten into
him. He eyed me without replying for a moment, and then, with the ghost
of his old manner, answered: "I expect I shall sit down to him."
The fingers with which he readjusted the glasses--his favourite
trick--were tremulous.
Pye was to be counted out in case of an emergency, but Pye somehow set
me thinking. Pye's cowardice was manifest--rampant, if one may use such
a term; yet he had ventured into the fog the night before; not only so,
but upon a deck which was filled in his eyes with horrid enemies,
prowling in search of victims. How had he achieved that spirited
action? It seemed incredible, yet I had come upon him at the foot of
the bridge stairs, and I had his explanation. What induced the timid
rabbit to venture out of his hutch upon such a night and in such
circumstances? Frankly the riddle beat me, and I should have worried
over it had it not been for other matters that seemed more immediately
important. I have spoken of the Prince's seclusion. I admit now that it
had already made an impression on me. He was, as became his nature and
his training, a disciplinarian. Each man had his place and his duties,
and Prince Frederic appeared at due seasons and shared in the
responsibilities. He did not shirk, in accordance with his promise. But
for the rest he had withdrawn himself now for three days from the
general company. His meals were served with his sister and
Mademoiselle, but from what I saw he was most often in his own cabin;
and here it was I got a glimpse of him once again--a glimpse, I mean,
into that strange and compound character.
I forget the occasion, but it was necessary that I should see him, and
I entered the cabin after knocking. When we were done he pulled his
papers before him and sat looking at them dully.
"Have you any literary qualities, Dr. Phillimore?" he asked me, quite
unexpectedly.
I hesitated. "If so, they are quite undeveloped," I replied. "I have no
reason to suppose so."
"Ah!" he sighed, and taking a volume which lay on the table he opened
it. "Do you know German?"
I told him that I could read the language. He nodded.
"It has never been properly appreciated," he said slowly; "the German
literature is wonderful--ah, wonderful!" and he appeared to meditate
over his page; then he set the book down and looked across at me.
"You are married, doctor? Ah, no!" He nodded again, and once more
resumed his meditations. I might have taken it for granted that I was
free to go, but for some reason I lingered. He frowned deeply, and
sighed again.
"There is a passage in Schiller, but you would not know it----"
He gave me no chance of saying, and I answered nothing; only sat and
stared at him.
"There is more music in Germany's little finger than in all the world
else--in composition, I mean," he added.
"That has always been my opinion," I ventured at last.
He turned his dull blue eyes on me, as if wondering what I did there.
"So!" he said, and heaved a bigger sigh from his very heart, as it
seemed. "When the attack is made, doctor----" he broke off, and asked
sharply, "When will they attack, do you say?"
"Any moment now, sir," I replied.
He rose. "We must remember the ladies, doctor," he said.
"Yes, we are not likely to forget them," I replied. He eyed me. "Do you
think----?" and paused.
"That is all, sir," he said with a curt nod.
It was not a ceremonious or even a fitting dismissal seeing the common
peril in which we stood. In that danger surely we should have drifted
together more--drifted into a situation where princes and commoners
were not, where employers and hirelings did not exist. Yet I was not
annoyed, for I had seen some way into his soul, and it was turbid and
tortured. Black care had settled on Prince Frederic, and he looked on
me out of eyes of gloom. The iron had entered into him, and he was no
longer a Prince, but a mortal man undergoing travail and anguish.
By the afternoon we were clear of the Straits, and the nose of the
yacht turned northward. Still there was no sign from the mutineers, and
that being so, I felt myself at liberty to pay my accustomed visit to
Legrand in the forecastle. No one interfered with me, and I did not see
Holgate; but the man on guard at the hatch made no difficulty about
letting me down. As I descended it came into my mind how easy it would
be to dispose of yet another fighting man of the meagre force at the
Prince's disposal by clapping the hatch over my head. It would have
been a grim joke quite in keeping with Holgate's character, and for a
moment I turned as in doubt; but the next second, banishing my
misgivings, I went down to the floor. Captivity was telling on the
prisoners beyond doubt, for here they got no sight of sun, and the
light was that of the gloaming. I remembered that I had forgotten to
take a lantern from the sentry as soon as this twilight gloomed on me,
and I was turning back when I heard a sound.
"Hsst--hsst!----"
I stopped. "Who is that?" I asked in a whisper.
"It's me, Jones, sir," said one of the hands.
I walked towards him, for the light that streamed in by the open
hatchway sufficed to reveal him.
"Anything wrong with you?" said I casually.
"Well, I could do with a bit more light and a smoke, sir," said the
man, respectfully cheerful. But it was not his words; it was his action
that arrested me, for he jerked his thumb incessantly as he spoke
towards the darker recesses of the hold.
"All right, my man," said I. "I'll speak to Mr. Holgate. He oughtn't to
keep you in such close confinement if you are to remain human beings."
So saying, I waded into the deeper shadows, and as I did I felt my hand
seized and dragged downwards.
"S-s-s-h!" said a very still voice, and I obeyed.
What was it? I was drawn downward, and at last I knelt. I knew now, and
somehow my heart leaped within me. I had never really understood
Legrand; I had taken him for a very ordinary ship's officer; but I had
come slowly to another conclusion. I bent down.
"Heart pretty bad," I said in a mechanical way.
"There's only one way out," whispered a voice below me, "and that's
through the bulkheads into the engine-room. I've been waiting, and I
think I can do it."
"I don't like the look of the eyes," I remarked indifferently. "Does he
eat well?"
"Not very well, sir; it's a job to get him to take it," said Jones.
"We've had four days at it with a knife," said the whisper, "and by
thunder we see light now. We'll get through, Phillimore. How do you
stand?"
"Sleep at all well?" I inquired.
"I couldn't say, sir," said Jones, "just lays there like a log."
"Attack may be made at any moment," I whispered back. "There are some
ten of us holding the state-rooms and the ladies."
He gripped my hand, and I rose to my feet. "Well, I'm afraid I can't do
any more," I said. "He's going on pretty much the same. Good-bye, men."
They returned the farewell, and I made my way to the ladder and
ascended. The guard with emotionless face helped me out, and the first
man my eyes fell on was Holgate, standing with his hands in his
pockets, looking at me. He whistled as he eyed me, and his teeth showed
in his grin.
"For sheer arduous pursuit of duty I don't know your equal, doctor,"
said he. "You just hang on to work as if you loved it. How's the
patient?"
I told him that it was a question of time, but that there was no reason
why Legrand should not get over the injury to his spine--"not that he
will ever be the same man again," I added.
"No," said he reflectively, "he won't. And he wants time, does he?
Well, perhaps we can give him time--though, mark you, my lad, I don't
promise it," he said, with his ugly fang showing in a smile.
He took ten paces along the deck with me, seeming to be wrapped up in
his thoughts, and then he paused.
"Tell me, doctor, are you in this move?" he asked brusquely.
"What move?" I asked in turn. "What do you mean?"
He waved a hand towards the upper deck. "Why, Barraclough's, of
course," he replied. "Are you working with him? Because, if so, I'd
like to know, if only for amusement."
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking of," I replied.
"You're not making terms, eh?" said he, heavily leaden of face. "By
gosh, you might be, doctor, but you ain't! More fool you. Then it's
Barraclough, is it, playing on his own." He chuckled. "That man treated
me as pretty dirt all along, didn't he? I'll go bail it was public
property. Barraclough's real blue blood. Prick him and see. My son,
he's got to be pricked, but I'm no surgeon."
"I understand nothing of all this," I replied. "You enjoy
mystification, Holgate, and your talents are remarkable. You can beat
Sir John out of his boots. But I wish you'd used your talents
elsewhere. Better have buried them. For you've given us a stiff job,
and we've simply got to lick you."
You will see that I broke out here in his own vein. I had come to the
conclusion that this was my best card to play. I could sum up Holgate
to a point, but I did not know him all through, and I was wise enough
to recognise that. I think if I had been under thirty, and not over
that sagacious age, I should have judged more rashly. But I had that
unknown area of Holgate's character to meet, and I thought to meet it
by emulating his own bearing. I am not by nature communicative, but I
feigned the virtue. I spoke to him as an equal, exchanging views upon
the situation as one might exchange them on a cricket match. And I
believe he appreciated my tone.
"If you had as little character as Sir John and more prudence, I would
have bet on your future, doctor," he said soberly. "But you must play
your own cards. And if Sir John wants terms, he must be generous.
Generosity becomes the victor."
He smiled, and nodded farewell, and I left him considerably puzzled. I
had no guess as to what he meant by his talk of Barraclough and terms.
It could only mean one thing on the face of it, and that was that
Barraclough had been in communication with him. If so, was this by the
Prince's desire? And if so again, why had not I heard of it? Our
company was so small and our plight so desperate that it was unseemly
to confine policy or diplomacy within a narrow circle. Surely, we had
all a right to a knowledge of what was forward--at least, all of us who
were in positions of responsibility. As I went back I was consumed with
annoyance that such an important matter as a possible compromise with
the mutineers had been concealed from me. But then, was it a compromise
authorised by the Prince? If I had read that obstinate and that
fanatical proud heart aright, I could not credit it.
When I reached the state-rooms I inquired for Barraclough, and then
remembered that he would be on duty in the saloon. I immediately sought
him there, but found only Grant, who informed me that he had relieved
Sir John at his orders half an hour earlier. He could not give any
information beyond that. It was possible Barraclough had gone to his
cabin, and so I repaired thither; but without success. I made inquiries
of Ellison, who had not seen the first officer, and of the steward, who
was in a like case.
It was Lane who gave me the clue, in a vein which I will set down
without comment.
"He's on a perch, and crowing like a rooster, is the bart. You need not
look for flies on Barraclough, doctor. He's his own chauffeur this
trip. I don't fancy the joy myself, but the bart. is rorty, and what
would you say to Mademoiselle, eh?"
"Oh, let's be plain, Lane!" I said impatiently.
He jerked his thumb across the corridor. "Mademoiselle wants a partner
at dominoes, matador, or bridge, doctor, and the bart. plays a good
game. If you have to choose between your maid and a bart., you bet your
life you'll pocket the bart. Oh, this trip's about enough for me!
Where's it going to end, and where are we?" He made a wry face and sank
in a heap on his chair. "If you've got any influence with Holgate make
him come in. I'm sick of this damn sentry-go. If it suits Germans, it
don't suit a true-born Englishman."
"Is Sir John with Mademoiselle?" I asked simply.
"Guess again and you'll guess wrong," said Lane moodily, kicking his
feet about.
I was not interested in his feelings at the moment. My mind was
occupied with other considerations, but it certainly gave me pause that
what I had myself seen was apparently now common knowledge. That Sir
John had been fascinated by the coquettish Parisian was obvious to me;
if it was obvious to Lane, was it hidden from others who were more
concerned? I had my answer as regards one almost immediately.
If Sir John were in the ladies' boudoir, it was not for me to disturb
him, and I turned away and passed out of the corridor.
As I was preparing to descend to the cabins I heard the low strains of
the small organ which the piety of a former owner of the _Sea Queen_
had placed at the end of the music gallery. I entered, and in the
customary twilight made out a figure at the farther end of the room.
Perhaps it was the dim light that gave the old air its significance. It
had somewhat the effect upon me that music in a church heard faintly
and moving with simple solemnity has always had. What is there that
speaks so gravely in the wind notes and reeds of an organ?
Ein feste burg ist unser Gott.
I knew the words as familiarly as I knew the music, and yet that was
almost the last place and time in which I should have expected to hear
it. It was not Mademoiselle who played so low and soft to hear. Oh, I
felt sure of that! The touch was lighter, graver and quieter. I drew
near the player and listened. I had heard Mademoiselle sing that
wonderful song, "Adelaide," and she had sung it divinely. But I would
have given a dozen "Adelaide's" for that simple air, rendered by no
voice, but merely by sympathetic fingers on those austere keys. I
listened, as I say, and into my heart crept something--I know not
what--that gave me a feeling of fulness of heart, of a surcharge of
strange and not wholly painful sentiment.
I was still battling with these sensations when the music ceased and
the player arose. She started slightly on seeing me, and I found myself
stammering an excuse for my presence.
"I was looking for Sir John Barraclough."
"Come," she said, after a moment's pause, "I will find him for you."
I followed her into the corridor, until she paused outside a door and
opened it abruptly without knocking. I waited without, but I heard her
voice, strangely harsh and clear.
"Sir John Barraclough, you are being sought by Dr. Phillimore."
Three minutes later Barraclough joined me, red and discomposed.
"Anything the matter?" he growled.
I knew now that I had been used as a definite excuse to get rid of
Barraclough, whose presence was not welcome to the Princess Alix; and
with that knowledge I framed my answer.
"Yes; what terms have you made with Holgate?"
He started as if I had struck him, stared at me, and his jaw came out
in a heavy obstinate fashion he had.
"What's that to you?"
"Only this," said I, "that my life is as valuable to me as yours or the
Prince's to you or him, and that therefore I have a right to know."
He laughed shortly. "I'm commanding officer."
"Oh, I'm sick of these airs!" I replied. "If you will not answer me, I
will go to the Prince and get an answer from him. He, at least, will
see the reasonableness of my request for information."
He changed his attitude at that. "You needn't do that, Phillimore,"
said he. "I can tell you all you need know. After all, as you say,
you've a certain right." He looked at me with his hard unfriendly look,
and I met him with one of expectancy. "You know what my opinion is," he
resumed. "It's only a bluff to say that we have a chance against
Holgate. He's got the ship, and he's got the men. I want to see if we
can't make some arrangement."
"And he will?" I inquired sceptically.
Barraclough hesitated. "He's inclined to. He's to let me know. I think
he's a bit impressed by our bluff all the same, and if we could hit on
a suitable middle course----" He stopped. "Hang it, there are the
women, Phillimore!" he said vehemently.
"And you suppose Holgate will take them into consideration?" I said.
"Well, perhaps he may. I don't think either you or I really know much
of Holgate. But I think I know more than you. He's sociable and
friendly, isn't he? One wouldn't take him for a rascally mutineer."
"He's a most infernal ruffian," said he with an oath.
"Yet you would trust him in the matter of terms," I suggested.
Barraclough frowned. "We've got to," he said curtly, "unless you can
show me a way to hold out."
"Oh! men have been in worse cases than ours and emerged all right--a
little battered, no doubt. And then there's the coal. We can't cruise
indefinitely. Holgate's got to put in somewhere."
"Oh, he's not going to wait for that!" said Barraclough moodily. "Look
here, Phillimore; have you a guess at what he means to do?"
"I have about ten guesses," I replied, shaking my head, "and none of
them fits the case. What's he going to do with us? That's his real
difficulty and ours. The money problem's simple. I can't see what's at
the back of that black mind, but I don't think it's hopeful for
us--women included."
"There you are," he exploded savagely. "Anything if we can prevent the
worst."
"Yes," I assented. "Provided you can trust to Holgate's word. But would
he let us off at any price and run the risk? And, moreover, the Prince.
What of him?"
"He would refuse. He wouldn't budge. He's a nuisance," said Barraclough
moodily. "He's our stumbling-block."
"Quite so; and if we all caved in but Mr. Morland, what must his fate
be? And we should look on, shouldn't we? And then go home in a tramp
steamer, a happy family party with a nice little secret of our own.
Ten, twelve, well, say, sixteen of us. I can see Holgate trusting to
that, and comfortably lolling back in Yokohama deck-chairs; and I can
also see Sir John Barraclough reporting the total loss of the yacht
_Sea Queen_, captain and owner and so-and-so going down with her.
I can read it all in the papers here, and now; it will be excellent
food for the ha'pennies!"
The frown deepened on his face as I proceeded, but, contrary to my
expectation, he did not display any temper at my mocking speech. He
shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll admit the difficulties. It looks like impossibility, but so's the
alternative. I'm in despair."
"There's only one thing will solve the problem," I said. He looked up.
"Action."
"You mean----"
"Holgate won't wait till his coal's out. He's free for an attack now."
"In God's name, let him!" said Barraclough viciously.