Barry's thoughts kept him busy along with his duties for half an hour,
by which time the schooner had taken up her boat, and a general transfer
of men had been accomplished. The big pinnace, which belonged to the
invisible gunboat, took on board the Dutch seamen and the survivors of
Leyden's band, leaving the _Barang's_ crew under Rolfe and Blunt on
board the schooner with Barry. Tom Little was in close conversation with
Houten, and Gordon stood by as if quietly awaiting the outcome of it.
Old Bill Blunt was forward, making the decks rattle with his lusty roar
as he drove the little brown sailors to their jobs of preparing for sea.
Outwardly the old fellow had managed to keep intact; it was only when he
cut himself a quid of tobacco by jamming the plug into the sheave of a
block and sawing at it with one hand that it could be noticed his left
hand never left his belt and that his sleeve was dark and soggy.
Mrs. Goring and Natalie Sheldon appeared on deck while Little and Houten
were still talking, and they had regained their color and self-control,
only revealing a slight shudder of recollection when their eyes fell
upon the devastated creek. Houten noticed this and cut short his
consultation.
"So, dot iss settled, Mister Leedle," he said abruptly and met the
ladies with a vast and paternal smile. "Captain Barry, when dot launch I
had comes back from dot gunboat, we schall sail. Mister Leedle has
agreed to go back to the station unt take charge until Mister Gordon
returns, unt he takes dot launch unt some navy mans to stay mit him in
case dose leedle brown mans ouf Leyden's make more bodder. So now mine
boy Hendrik schall tell you somedings, yes?"
Barry kept silent, merely nodding. Vandersee spoke in low tones to
Gordon and Mrs. Goring for a moment, received their aquiescence to his
question, then faced the skipper with an expression of resignation to a
task not entirely to his liking.
"Some of the story is not very pleasant, Barry, so I'll make it brief,"
he said. "It's due to you and to Little, otherwise I'd ask you to let
your doubts remain unanswered. Beginning with my uncle's engagement of
Little and yourself, at that time everybody concerned believed that gold
was to be found on this river,--everybody, that is, except Leyden and
Gordon here. Gordon desires me to tell the entire story, so I am not
going to waste time by repeated apologies. The chief thing in this gold
business is that Houten believed it implicitly, and naturally he wanted
to know where his property was going to. Hence your engagement.
"Now to explain some of the mystery that has bothered you, Captain, it
was discovered by my government some time back that Leyden was operating
a tremendous opium smuggling business, and the entire interior of the
island was in his grip. You'll see now how he could command such numbers
of native fighters to drive you out or kill you. Eventually I was
detailed to the duty of running him down. I am, as you perhaps have
gathered, a lieutenant in the Dutch navy."
"Yes, yes," interrupted Barry, interested, yet hotly impatient to arrive
at matters more closely concerning him personally. "That is all right,
Vandersee. I know that, and that Mrs. Goring is your sister, and that
she came here in my ship and stole my picture and why," he ran on,
giving the lady a reassuring grin as he mentioned the theft of the photo
by the brutal name. "I know, too, the connection between the opium
running and the gold-dust swindle; you told me that; but I can't see yet
why there was any necessity to compel me to keep my hands off that
fellow, since we were all out for him, though on different errands.
Seems to me a lot of useless waste of energy when he could have been
taken weeks ago if you had made me acquainted with the inside of the
business."
As he spoke, Mrs. Goring's face paled, and pain entered her eyes. Gordon
patted her shoulder tenderly, and Natalie soothed her with soft speech.
Vandersee waited for a moment until the pain had been banished by a
brave smile and she nodded to him resolutely, then he resumed in reply
to Barry:
"That is the real story, Captain. Juliana and I have not been blessed
with parents since childhood. Mr. Houten is the only parent my sister
has known. While she lived in his house, she met Gordon, and they soon
became engaged to each other. I think you'll spare her the details,
Barry, when I tell you this: While Gordon was absent on a business trip
Leyden entered Juliana's home, became very intimate with my uncle, and
was soon trusted utterly. Then subtle tales began to trickle in to
Juliana and Mr. Houten about Gordon; and after a while they forced
belief. They grew worse, and as they got blacker, Leyden's influence
with my uncle increased until Houten accepted him as a partner and as a
suitor for my sister's hand." Mrs. Goring shuddered violently, and Barry
sensed that the climax to her story was near. Vandersee went on: "Barry,
my sister fell under the spell of that man, and--"
Vandersee's calm was not equal to his task. It was Gordon who took up
the story, and his voice vibrated with passion:
"The beast took her away and then flung her adrift on the port of
Singapore, Barry! There was a little truth and a lot of lies in those
tales circulated about me. True, I had been using liquor rather more
than was good for a white man out here; but when I heard of this last
piece of villainy, I simply went a complete mucker. I got so low and
vile that I gradually lost my resolve to find him and choke the foul
life out of him. When, after years, he came to me in this river and made
his proposition about using the post as an entry port for his drug under
cover of the gold-dust myth, I was even so far gone down the track as to
agree to everything, if only I could be kept supplied with liquor. I
willingly robbed Houten, although everything I ever had, this post, the
last chance anybody on earth would give me, I owe to him." Gordon
paused, passed a caressing hand along Mrs. Goring's arm, and concluded:
"I only came to my senses, and to a promise of life again, when this
lady came here and found me. Barry, a noble woman is a wonderful work of
God!"
"I believe that," replied Barry quietly. "So that is why you stowed away
in my ship, Mrs. Goring? If I had known, you should never have been
refused a passage when you asked."
"That was not all, Captain," smiled the woman, her face transfigured by
her triumph. "I came chiefly to be at hand when this sweet girl needed a
friend," she said, patting Natalie's hand. "We knew she was to have a
terrible awakening. We, I particularly, knew the man who had fascinated
her. Besides that, I came to help my brother; and, above all, Captain, I
came to satisfy myself whether love could really die."
Natalie had listened intently to a story she already had heard, and at
Mrs. Goring's concluding words she shivered slightly and added: "And by
God's grace, it cannot--if it is love."
Barry glanced inquiringly at the girl, and she blushed rosily. He said
softly: "You have something to say in this, I'm sure, for you made a
remark about the success of my expedition that was quite at variance
with some of your earlier remarks to me."
"Why--I have scarcely anything to say," Natalie hesitated with
heightened color. "I ought to tell you why I seemed to doubt you,
though. That is due to you, after you have lost your ship and everything
in my behalf. I am ashamed to tell it, but I was completely fascinated
by that man. I believed in him utterly, and so did the Mission folks.
You can believe that when I gave up the Mission work at his word and
placed myself under his protection from your crew of pirates, as he
called you."
"Go on," urged Barry, as she paused.
"That is all, I think, Captain. While I believed him, of course I
doubted you, whom I had met but once or twice. Then after Mr. Gordon
recovered and I heard a dispute one day between him and Leyden, when
Gordon and I had been left alone for an hour, I saw a light and demanded
to know the truth of Mrs. Goring, whom I had grown to love. The story
she told was duplicated by Mr. Gordon, and again by Lieutenant
Vandersee, backed up by a stolen glimpse at the _Padang's_ papers,
showing she had cleared for Europe, and not for Batavia, as I had been
led to believe. I was forced to see the horrible situation I had placed
myself in; for if this schooner ever got out to sea--" She stopped in
distress, and Barry pressed her hand gently. He asked quietly:
"And you believe in me now, Natalie?"
"I have never doubted you since that horrible day I saw you on the ant
hill. But since that day I, too, have played a part. Mrs. Goring's
proved wrongs and my own narrow escape steeled me to help Vandersee, as
he asked me. I did my poor best, Captain; but I am so glad it's all
over."
Barry realized that the tale was told. His first impulse was to give
Gordon a hard hand-grip of friendship; his second to tell Mrs. Goring
his high opinion of her courage and loyalty. He followed both impulses,
but felt a little embarrassment in addressing the lady of various names.
He took Mrs. Goring's hand in his and remarked with a smile:
"I scarcely know how to address you now. Is it Mrs. Goring? or have I
got it wrong? Should it be Mrs. Gordon? Pardon me if I'm floundering."
"Not Gordon, yet, Captain," she replied, and again the hint of pain in
her eyes was banished by a resolute smile. "I am still Miss Vandersee. I
have never been married. I took a married name after--after--well, there
was a little one, you know," she murmured softly, "a tiny life to be
guarded from the poison of tongues. So I stole a name for its sake. It
is dead now. I am Miss Vandersee."
A deep silence was marked by the men walking away and leaving the two
women to their own thoughts; and the relief was welcomed when Vandersee
reported the steam launch in sight. In five minutes it was alongside,
and the men in her held the ladder for Little. The ex-typewriter
salesman travelled light enough now, for all his worldly belongings
reposed somewhere among the drenched and shattered interior of the
brigantine.
"Well, so long, Jack Barry, old scout!" he shouted, after he had made
his _adieux_ to the rest. "We've had a lot o' sport since I dug you out
o' the dumps in Batavia. I'm staying here until Mr. and Mrs. Gordon come
to relieve me; then I'll see you again, either in Java, or at the post,
if you decide to try Celebes again. Stick to Cornelius, Jack. He's
tickled silly with you; never mind about the ship you lost. So-long,
all!"
The cheery fellow dropped into the launch and waved her on her way up
the river with a lordly air of command that brought a grin of
reminiscence to Barry's face. Then Houten's rumbling voice boomed in his
ear, and he heard his destiny and that of all hands.
"Captain Barry, you have done well. Noddings dot I expected you to do
vas undone. I am satisfied. Friendt Leedle iss to be mine superintendent
in Java ven Gordon unt the niece he iss stealing from me are retty to
return to the post. Yah, Captain, dot iss deir choice. Gordon iss to be
mine partner, anyvay. As for Captain Barry, I dond't know," he chuckled,
regarding the skipper with eyes that twinkled and shot between Barry's
face and Natalie just behind him. The girl colored like a peony, as if
some unsuspected instinct within her told her whither his words were
driving. "I haf better ships as the old _Barang_, Captain, unt in my
launch alongside I haf some pags ouf goldt dust dot iss to be a wedding
present for a leedle lady I know ouf py der name ouf Natalie. Yes? No?
How iss it, mine childrens?"
Natalie ran below, overcome with confusion. The old trader turned to
Barry, his whimsical humor giving place to cold business. "For now,
Barry, I haf to say take this schooner to Surabaya. It iss at the orders
ouf dot navy mans. Hendrik has to rejoin his ship, unt it will take a
week or so to clean oop all dose leedle things left py dose opium
runners, I come mit you, too, unt if you are short ouf a mate, I can
stand a watch yet. Now schall we start? Hendrik joins his ship outside."
"Man the windlass, Rolfe, and heave away!" shouted Barry, alight with
excitement at what he had surprised on Natalie's face as she ran below.
The mention of wedding presents might be a little premature; but Jack
Barry knew enough to seize his chance and at least do his best to make
it mature. He saw the mate take his men to the windlass, and cast a look
at the boom-sails, all ready to hoist, since they had simply been let go
when the schooner anchored and not made fast.
"Blunt!" he hailed.
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Can you handle a watch with that crippled fin?"
"Crippled? Bless ye, Cap'n, I ain't crippled!"
"That arm, man."
"Huh! Ain't I got one left? Come on, Bullies! Clap on to them
halliards!"
"All right," cried Barry. "Hoist away. Mains'l first."
Barry ran below to look out charts and rulers and the other navigating
implements necessary for simple point-to-point navigation. He found
Natalie sitting in the main saloon with her chin in her cupped hand,
gazing into the future. Her eyes grew dusky and her face flooded with
color as he stopped by her chair and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, lady mine," he said, finding sudden boldness in her confusion.
"Are you thinking of what old Cornelius said?"
"Not entirely," she replied, meeting his gaze with eyes that swiftly
changed to disconcerting clearness. "Why should it be necessary for Mr.
Houten to say anything?"
Barry had graduated from the awkward class, though perhaps not long ago.
He swept her up in his arms, triumphantly aware that she struggled and
submitted, and his lips sought hers in a first kiss. But suddenly, when
her submission seemed absolute, Natalie revealed a strength that amazed
and puzzled him. She writhed free from his grasp and said with a low
little laugh:
"I was not thinking about what Cornelius said--but of what you once
said to Juliana--Jack!"
He was staggered for a second, then he remembered, and would have
followed her. But she ran into her own cabin and shut the door upon him.
His duties compelled him to hurry, for the cable was coming in fast, and
overhead the heavy canvas began to rattle and flap in the wind as the
schooner swung. He entered the cabin that had been used as a chart room
and rummaged the desk for parallel rulers and dividers; but a soft step
behind him brought him to a stand quickly. Natalie stood beside him, a
soft glow on her face, her eyes shining like stars now, and in her hand
she held out a photograph to him.
"You said that when next you took this, it would be when I placed it in
your cabin," she said, meeting his eyes with a blushing challenge.
Their souls met, spoke, and understood. She did not refuse him her lips
now but surrendered with glad abandon. The hoarse roar of Rolfe,
reporting the anchor apeak, and the bellowing bass of old Bill Blunt
giving the word to belay the peak halliards, failed to disturb them. A
second shout from the mate was answered by Barry's:
"Avast heaving a bit! I'm not ready yet."
But Natalie shyly looked up into his face and gave him her first order:
"No, Jack, tell them to heave away--that's how you say it, isn't it? Let
us hurry home, before I tire of my terrible pirate."
"Pirate gladly, girl of mine. Am I not taking gold out of Celebes?"
"Sordid creature!" she pouted, averting her lips in mock displeasure.
But in her face was a light that shone from her heart, and that heart
knew quite well what gold Jack Barry was carrying away from Celebes.