Cape Lapa, at the east end of Madura Island, was smoky and indistinct on
the port quarter when Captain Barry came out of his stateroom after two
brief hours of sleep. He had kept the deck through the night until the
brigantine was well away; now, with a natural curiosity, he rose early
to take a survey of his new command and her crew. Coming on board at
black midnight he had sensed rather than seen his first officer. How far
that first shadowy impression had satisfied him was evident when he
permitted himself to sleep without verifying it by daylight. His crew he
had only seen as noiseless shapes between dark bulwarks as they slid
rather than ran in response to the officers' orders in getting to sea.
The _Barang_ had a deckhouse companion,--that is, a square house built
over and around the head of the companionway stairs, forming a
convenient chart room for the officers or a snug smoking lounge for
possible passengers. By the open door of this house Barry stood for a
few moments, gazing intently at the picture he had snatched from Leyden,
and which had remained in his pocket after the encounter. Out from the
oval of the mount a sweet girlish face smiled at him. It was the face
of a woman grown, yet retaining the utter innocence and trust of a girl.
The picture had been taken in a studio, the Sumarang photographer's name
was stamped on the card, and Barry felt a wave of anger creeping over
him at the thought that Leyden could get such a picture. Then he thought
it possible that the picture had been bought; for native photographers
are not beyond taking money for pictures they have no right to sell; and
the thought pleased him. He turned the card over, and was again absurdly
pleased to find no signature on the back.
"That's it!" he muttered. "She didn't give him this." He smiled back at
the charming face and fancied it smiled up at him. Such a vision of
fresh, wholesome loveliness had never crossed his horizon before. The
level brows shaded eyes that looked straight out at him, fearless,
unconcealing; the richly curved lips were parted in a dazzling
expression of happiness. Barry gladdened at the sight, then frowned at
the recollection of the discussion at Leyden's table. Such frank,
unsophisticated loveliness was tender prey for the likes of Leyden.
"Not if I know it, he won't!" the skipper muttered under his breath. He
slipped the picture into his pocket and stepped out on deck, taking in
every detail of ship and crew that came into his line of sight.
In the strengthening sunlight of rising morning the brigantine would not
have appealed very strongly to a landsman, or even to a yachtsman. As
Barry discovered later, at breakfast, Little was sadly disappointed at
the lack of polished brass-work, the bareness of the paint, the
all-round creakiness of the ancient fabric. But to a seaman's eye the
absence of brass meant a pleasing lack of irritating work on
ornamentation; the worn paint showed sound timber beneath; there was
just enough creakiness to indicate an amount of free play that made for
pliability and strength.
From forward came the musical swish of brooms and water as the
bare-legged watch scrubbed decks. A burly Hollander stood on the spare
topmast lying in the port scuppers, one leg crooked over the bulwark
rail, scooping water from the ocean with a draw-bucket and discharging
it with consummate skill among the brown legs of the scrubbers.
Barry took notice of the big Dutchman, receiving an impression of quiet,
ponderous efficiency that was yet strangely suggestive of a
velvet-covered steel trap. This impression, however, was only a fleeting
one as to the latter part; it struck Barry just once in that first early
morning view of his ship, when the Hollander gave a softly spoken order
to a brown Javanese, smiling ruddily as he spoke, and the sailor leaped
to obey with fear so apparent in his face and movements that Barry was
forced to grin at the ludicrousness of it.
But the outstanding figure in the scrubbing party was Little, and the
skipper quickly forgot the seaman's fright in amusement at his friend's
antics. Broom in hand, his trousers rolled above his knees, and his
shirt flying open at the neck, his face glowing with the exercise, the
late typewriter salesman darted in and out among the other scrubbers,
leaving the spot he was working on to pounce upon any fresh space of
planking sluiced by the water. Getting in everybody's way, tripping
himself with his own broom, hopping like a cat in a puddle when his toes
were jabbed by the bristles, he displayed three men's energy and
accomplished the work of a one-armed boy.
But his enthusiasm was pleasing to behold. It assured Barry that Little
was not making the trip with a view to growing corpulent in the lazy
luxury of immaculate attire and cabin cushions. The amateur shellback
caught sight of Barry, standing regarding him with an amused grin, and
he ceased his labors. Thrusting his broom into the hands of a sailor,
Little gave a fore-and-aft hitch to his pants in approved Dick Deadeye
style, plucked his forelock, and his joyful voice rang along the decks.
"Ahoy--ahoy! Slack away for'ard, leggo aft! Tara-ra, tara-ra--A life on
the ocean wave is better than going to sea! Keelhaul th' main scuppers;
lash th' anchor to th' mast! Whe-eee! Say, Barry, but this is th' life,
hey?"
Barry beckoned him, and Little sauntered aft, rolling like a deep water
man getting rid of a twelve-months' payday.
"Look here, skipper," he said, halting at the deckhouse door, "I can't
see why you don't give me a regular job in this boat. Dutchy there says
I'm a born sailor, by the way I handle a broom. Suppose you sign me on
as chief broom-rastler, or corporal of the starboard bucket rack, or
something, hey? I know I've got Viking blood in me, the sea chatter
comes so natural to me. I ought to be an officer, too; my appetite's
much too good for a common sailor."
"Glad to hear about the appetite, because breakfast is ready," grinned
the skipper, casting a comprehensive glance around his ship before
leading the way below. "Better slick up a bit, though, before going to
table, Little. A piratical atmosphere's all right in its place, but I'll
feel as if I ought to pack a pistol or two if I sit down to eat with a
tough looking specimen like you."
The chief mate ate at the first table that morning, and Barry took the
opportunity to make himself familiar with some general details of the
ship's company. The brigantine was a relic of an ancient period of
shipbuilding, and her main cabin fitted her excellently. Dark, full of
deep recesses in which great square windows opened to the ocean's free
breezes; cosy with an old-world cosiness; picturesque with spacious
skylight dome, in which swung a mahogany rack full of tinkling glasses
and ruby and amber decanters; full of weird, whispering voices of aged
bulkheads and cheeping frames. Such was the cabin. And the chief mate
fitted the cabin as that apartment fitted the ship.
Square as one of the stern ports, his face tanned and grained to the
semblance of a piece of the skylight mahogany; honest as the timber that
went into the building of the ship, Jerry Rolfe attempted no bluff,
either in his table manners or his professional duties. As he ate, his
shoulders swung to the heave of his arms, attacking the food on his
plate as an enemy to be downed catch-as-catch-can style, no holds
barred. Little stared in amazement at first. He shot a quizzical glance
at Barry when the mate absorbed a cupful of scalding coffee with one
gurgling, sucking swallow. But Barry expected only sailorly qualities
and loyalty from his officers; on the first count he was satisfied with
Rolfe, and his doubts were few on the second. He inquired now about the
other member of the afterguard,--the burly Hollander who had
superintended the washing-down.
"Hendrik Vandersee 's his name; bo'sun, acting second mate's his
rating," replied the mate in a plain, official tone. "Dunno anything
about him, sir, only that Mr. Houten sent him aboard and said he's been
highly recommended by somebody as knowing more about the place we're
bound for than any other man in the East."
"Well, what d' you think of him? Good second mate, eh?"
"Oh, Barry," Little broke in exuberantly, "he's the jolliest fat sailor
that ever swabbed a deck. Why, he told me I was a whale of a shellback,
and he's going to teach me...."
"This is business, Little," Barry interrupted, with a trace of
irritation. "Come, Mr. Rolfe; if you've finished your breakfast, you can
relieve Vandersee for his. We can talk as well on deck."
The second mate was relieved and went below. Barry examined him casually
as he passed, and again he was conscious of that same feeling that had
swept through him earlier in the morning. Again there was that vague
suggestion of a steel trap covered with velvet, or kidskin. Not to any
one feature, either, could this suggestion be traced; the man's ruddy
face was open and bland, his eyes sparkled like gems, his bearing was
that of a man who owes no man, either in money or favor.
Barry felt faintly angry with himself for harboring fancies and turned
back to the chief mate.
"I asked what opinion you had formed of the second mate, Mr. Rolfe," he
said, joining the other on the weather side of the poop.
"I never form an opinion of an owner's man, sir--not to talk about it,
anyhow," returned Rolfe slowly. "In any case, you've known him almost as
long as I have; you'll form your own ideas, no matter what mine are. I
only know that Vandersee knows his work, and that he's supposed to know
the Sandang River like one of its own fish."
Barry knew by the length of the mate's speech that he thought little of
his big junior officer. A good, or even fair opinion would have been
simply expressed as yes, or good enough. Having in view the possibility
of conflict when their destination was reached and the necessity for
singleness of purpose among the ship's company, he went quietly to work
on a mental register of every man on board from chief mate down to cook,
to the end that he might have to depend on nobody's judgment save his
own.
The _Barang_ wallowed through the islet-studded seas in a fashion that
brought many a grimace to the skipper's face. Frequently he caught
himself gazing astern and persuaded himself it was the wake he was
looking at; but when he snatched his eyes away from the stern and bent
them forward at the blustering, smashing bow-wave thrown off to the
leeward by the snub-nosed brigantine, he knew that his own wake was one
of his lesser worries. Leyden's schooner was the cause of his
uneasiness; for it would be a sluggish vessel indeed, of her rig and
lines, that could not easily allow the _Barang_ a full day's start in
the run to the river.
A brisk breeze holding steadily southeast gave the _Barang_ the fullest
advantage of her square rig and lessened the skipper's anxiety in some
degree; and the Celebes coast stretched along to leeward like a roll of
vapor in due course without any disquieting gleam of canvas having
popped up over the stern-ward sea line.
Then came a day of calms and baffling airs, and a sickening swell rolled
in from the south that made of the brigantine a staggering, squealing
platform, hammering all the Viking spirit out of Little for a while and
forcing him to run to cover like a very greenhorn. Barry visited him in
his cabin from time to time and at first ridiculed his weakness; but
Little was undergoing a treatment in which he had a faith proof against
ridicule. He waved a cheery hand at Barry, and a sickly smile puckered
his pale yellow face.
"'Vast, y' lubber!" he cried, in no manner abashed. "I'm not seasick.
Just undergoing redecoration inside. At present I have a beautiful
greenish-orange feeling in my lower hold; in an hour or so it'll change
to purplish-pink and my face will change from yellow to green. Then I'll
be all right again. Fit to take command when you curl up, old boy."
"Don't you want anything?" inquired Barry, grinning admiringly at the
sufferer's grit. "Brandy or something?"
"Nothing, thanks. Vandersee's been in every half hour during his watch
below; he's got some stuff that goes down like oiled honey and kicks
hard when it lands. He's all right, Barry. His smile's worth a hogshead
o' rum. Says, if I keep quiet here for an hour or so more, he'll have me
fit to fight a roast turkey."
The second mate stepped out of his own berth as Barry left Little, and
the skipper regarded him with a new interest. The ruddy face wore a soft
smile, and the big frame passed across the main cabin on feet light as a
dancer's. He carried a glass of some mixture in his hand and entered
Little's cabin, giving the skipper a deferential nod as he went by.
Barry joined the mate on the poop.
"Queer fellow, Vandersee is," smiled the skipper, joining stride with
the other in his short walk. "You'd think he was a qualified nurse by
the way he's coddling Little. I'll share his watch when he relieves you,
Mr. Rolfe. He may want to administer a few more doses to his patient."
"Huh! I'd be pretty sick before I'd let a smooth duck like him give me
any doses--Beg pardon, Captain Barry. Yes, sir, I think he's quite a
nurse," returned the mate, half committing himself before he could pull
up. Barry let the slight outburst pass without comment.
Vandersee relieved the deck for the first watch, from eight o'clock
until midnight, and Barry remained on deck with him. A red sun had
dipped below the sea line two hours before, and a faint breeze sprang up
at his setting. Now the _Barang_ leaned slightly to full canvas and
snored easily through the phosphorescent seas with a pleasant tinkling
of running wavelets along her sides. Overhead the heavens were luminous
with sparks of ultra brilliance; the decks and sails of the ancient
brigantine were bathed in soft radiance, ruled across and along with
bars of blackest shadow. A softly noisy chorus of sea voices kept rhythm
to the swaying of the tall spars, and from somewhere out in the
shimmering sea came the sob and suck of a broken swell over a submerged
reef.
A brown man stood at the wheel like a brown wooden figure, his arms and
face vaguely illumined by the glow from the binnacle lamp. Forward the
decks were silent and deserted, except in one spot. Here a thin bar of
yellow light slashed in two the shadowed shape of the galley, eclipsed
at intervals as the cook inside moved to and fro in his business of
preparing dough for the morning's bread.
The spell of the night fell over Barry. He sent his thoughts ahead,
dreamily, trying to peer into the future as if to see what it would hold
for him. But the picture invariably dissolved as soon as it was conjured
out of the mists, and in its place glowed the vision of a girl in
Mission dress, simple and sweet: the girl whose good name he had
defended; whose picture now lay in the lid of his chronometer box, where
he must see it every time he went to his room.
Vandersee asked permission and went below to see Little. As he went, he
remarked that it would be the last time his attentions would be
necessary; the seasick Viking would be his own good man again by
morning. Barry was dragged out of his dreams when the second mate spoke
to him; now he shook off his fancies and walked aft to the compass.
Satisfied with the steering, he passed along the poop towards the
deckhouse and leaned against the lee forward corner of it, scanning the
lofty, indistinct leeches of the forward canvas.
Up through the companionway floated Little's voice, and the skipper
smiled at the altered tone of it. It was the voice of a man conscious of
a growing healthy appetite. Vandersee's voice chimed in and died away,
as if the man had gone somewhere else, perhaps in search of food for his
hungry patient. There ensued a space of perhaps ninety seconds when no
voice was audible. Then, like a ghostly hand out of the black beyond,
something whirred past Barry's face, touched the skin lightly in
passing, and thudded into the bellying mainsail.
Like a flash the skipper swung on his heel. As he turned he caught sight
of the cook at his galley door; his eyes next fell upon the motionless
figure of the helmsman; with the one motion he shoved his head through
the deckhouse window and swept a keen searching look around the
interior. It was undoubtedly empty.
He stepped over to leeward without remark and looked for the missile in
the hollow of the sail foot. Nothing there. But following the canvas
upward, he detected a clean slit in the cloth and passed under the boom
to follow his clue. Then, by the rail in the coil of the
main-gaff-topsail-halliards, he saw something glitter and picked it up.
"A pretty joke gone adrift!" he muttered, balancing the glittering thing
in his palm. "Now who the devil threw that?"
The missile that had fanned his cheek was a heavy-bladed, double-edged
knife, a knife made for throwing if ever one was: such a weapon as no
sailor ever had need of; a thing that could mean only murder when it
left a thrower's hand. And it had come from one of only two possible
directions: from aft, or from the deckhouse; and the deckhouse was
empty. Barry walked swiftly aft and confronted the man at the wheel,
holding up the knife.
"What did you throw this for?" he snapped, boring into the man's placid
face with blazing eyes.
"No t'row heem, sar--no can do--No see 'eem knife lika dat, sar," denied
the little brown man, merely raising his eyes to look at the knife, then
stolidly fastening his gaze upon the compass again.
Barry scrutinized the man keenly and shrugged his shoulders in disgust.
He could have no doubt the man spoke truth. The little, soft-mannered
Javanese people are not as a rule addicted to murder. Like a shadow the
skipper sped to the taffrail and peered over. Nothing was there, save
the big square ports, triced up by chains to admit the air into the
saloon. Back again, Barry asked the sailor:
"Did you see a man up here just before I came aft?"
"No see nobody, sar," replied the man with cherubic simplicity. "Small
bird, I t'ink, he fly by my face one time. Das all."
"Little bird, hell!" snorted the skipper, moving away. He was inclined
to make little of the occurrence, since the solution seemed so hopeless;
but he did not permit himself to blink the fact that mystery had
already crept into the cruise, and that mystery of a deadly sort. It was
only in so far as it concerned him in person that he belittled it.
Vandersee appearing at the companionway, however, reminded him of
Rolfe's partly expressed opinion. He joined the second mate, peered into
his face, and tried to detect some sign that might give him an opening.
The Dutchman's face was bland as ever; his eyes sparkled with humor as
he made some trifling remark about Little's improved condition.
Barry had put the murderous knife into his pocket. He took Vandersee's
arm now, turning him until he faced the mainsail.
"See that slit, Mr. Vandersee?" he said casually, yet watching the man's
face closely. "Might have a man patch that in the morning. Don't think
it's necessary to unbend the sail, is it?"
"No sir. Lower away to the first reef. That'll do. How did it happen,
sir? That's a stout piece of canvas."
"Stout's right, Mr. Vandersee," drawled Barry. "A bird flew through it.
Pretty stout bird, hey?"
"Bird? Surely you're joking, sir," laughed the second mate, his round
face glowing with a jolly grin. "But I'll see that it's attended to."
Barry went below, looked in on Little, who slept like an infant now,
then sat in his own stateroom smoking and feasting his eyes on the
precious photograph in his chronometer case until he heard a seaman
knock at the chief mate's door to call him at midnight. When the seaman
had gone on deck, the skipper stepped over to Rolfe's berth.
"Mr. Rolfe," he said, "did you hold any communication with the shore
before Mr. Little and I came on board?"
"Ye-ow-ow!" yawned the mate, rubbing his eyes vigorously. "Beg pardon,
sir. Communication with the shore? Why, yes--just before we dropped
anchor in Surabaya a boat came off with fresh provisions that Mr. Houten
had ordered by telegraph. That's all, sir."
"Didn't ship anybody, hey?" pursued Barry.
"Ship? Why, no, sir, unless some rat stowed away," returned the puzzled
mate, struggling into his jacket. "Why?"
"Never mind," returned the skipper shortly and retired to his own berth.
He undressed now, putting aside all further consideration of his mystery
until he could attack it in daylight. But on second thoughts he looked
closely to his pistol and placed it beneath his pillow. Then he shot the
bolt of his door and was satisfied that all proper precautions had been
taken.
"Just a little peep at dainty Miss Mission, to say night-night," he
smiled, unfastening the catch on the chronometer case. "Then I'll sleep
on the dirty knife business."
He raised the box lid, started back in doubt, left the box open and
glanced around the desk. Then he rummaged through all the litter on his
table, opened drawers and left them open. He swore torridly, grinding
his teeth with vexation.
The photograph had vanished.