HOW THE MESSAGE WAS DELIVERED
Owing to the return of the rival boat, Peter's agitation passed
unnoticed. A superior person was apologizing for the accident, though
inclined to tax Warden with foolhardiness.
"You have only yourself to blame for that knock on the head, which
might have been far more serious than it is," he said.
"Will you kindly go to--Jericho?" said the man in the water.
The superior person's tone grew more civil when he found that he was
talking to one whom he condescended to regard as an equal.
"Don't you want any assistance?" he inquired.
"No, thanks, unless you will allow me to use your gangway in order to
climb aboard the dinghy."
"By all means. I am sorry the oar caught you. But you annexed the
prize, so I suppose you are satisfied. What was it?"
"A calabash, I fancy. You will see it lying in the boat."
Peter, who was really fascinated by the carved face which drew the
girl's attention in the first instance, suddenly kicked it and turned
it upside down with his wooden leg. The men in the second boat saw only
the glazed yellow rind of an oval gourd, some twelve inches long and
eight or nine in diameter.
"The pot was hardly worth the scurry," laughed one of them.
"If Greeks once strove for a crown of wild olive, why not Englishmen
for a calabash?" said Warden.
There was an element of the ludicrous in the unexpected comment from a
man in his predicament. Every true-born Briton resents any remark that
he does not quite understand, and some among the strangers grinned. The
girl, still holding Warden's wrist as though she feared he would vanish
in the depths if she let go, darted a scornful look at them.
"The truth is that these gentlemen competed because they thought they
were sure to win," she cried.
"It was a fair race, madam," expostulated the leader of the yacht's
boat.
"Y-yes," she admitted. "My presence equalized matters."
As the men were four to two she scored distinctly.
"Give way, Peter," said Warden. "If I laugh I shall swallow more salt
water than is good for me."
He was soon seated astride the bows of the dinghy, which Peter's strong
arms brought quickly alongside the _Sans Souci_. By that time, the
girl's composure was somewhat restored. Warden obviously made so light
of his ducking that she did not allude to it again. As for the gourd,
it rested at her feet, but she seemed to have lost all interest in it.
In truth, she was annoyed with herself for having championed her new
friend's cause, and thus, in a sense, condoned his folly.
It did not occur to her that the _Sans Souci's_ deck was singularly
untenanted, until a gruff voice hailed the occupants of the dinghy from
the top of the gangway.
"Below there," came the cry. "Wotcher want here?"
The girl looked up with a flash of surprise in her expressive face. But
she answered instantly:
"I am Miss Evelyn Dane, and I wish to see Mrs. Baumgartner."
"She's ashore," was the reply.
"Well, I must wait until she returns."
"You can't wait here."
"But that is nonsense. I have come from Oxfordshire at her request."
"It don't matter tuppence where you've come from. No one is allowed
aboard. Them's my orders."
Miss Dane turned bewildered eyes on Warden.
"How can one reason with a surly person like this?" she asked.
"He is incapable of reason--he wants a hiding," said Warden.
A bewhiskered visage of the freak variety glared down at him.
"Does he, you swob," roared the apparition, "an' oo's goin' to give it
'im?"
"_I_ am. Take this lady to the saloon, and come with me to the cutter
yonder. My man will bring you to your bunk in five minutes, or even
less."
"For goodness' sake, Mr. Warden, do not make my ridiculous position
worse," cried the girl, reddening with annoyance. "Mrs. Baumgartner
wrote and urged me to see her without any delay on board this yacht. I
telegraphed her early this morning saying I would be here soon after
midday. What _am_ I to do?"
"If I were you, I would go back to Oxfordshire," he said.
"But I cannot--at least, not until I have spoken to her. I am--poor.
I am practically engaged as companion--another name for governess, I
suspect--to Mrs. Baumgartner's daughter, and I dare not throw away the
chance of obtaining a good situation."
Warden, who was dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief, did not
reply at once, and Evelyn Dane, in her distress, little guessed the
irrational conceit that danced in his brain just then. But the presence
of Peter, and the torrent of sarcastic objurgation that flowed from
the guardian of the _Sans Souci_, imposed restraint. It was on the tip
of his tongue to suggest that, under the conditions, it would be a
capital notion if they got married, and took a honeymoon cruise in the
_Nancy_!--Long afterward he wondered what would have been the outcome
of any such fantastic proposal. Would she have listened? At any rate,
it amused him at the time to think that there was little difference
between a lover and a lunatic.
But he contented himself with saying:
"I fear I am rather light-headed to-day, Miss Dane. Let us appeal to
Peter the solid, and draw upon his wide experience. Tell us then, O
pilot, what course shall we shape?"
Peter, rapidly restored to the normal by the familiar language coming
from the rail of the yacht, glanced up.
"If I was you, sir, I'd ax monkey-face there wot time 'is missis was
due aboard. Mebbe the young leddy would find her bearin's then, so to
speak."
"Excellent. Do you hear, Cerberus? When does Mrs. Baumgartner return?"
The watchman, taking thought, decided to suspend his taunts.
"Why didn't you ax me that at fust?" he growled. "I'm on'y obeyin'
orders. Seven o'clock, they said. An' it didn't matter 'oo kem here, if
it was the Pope o' Rome hisself, it's as much as my place is worth to
let him aboard."
"That is final, Miss Dane," said Warden. "There are two alternatives
before you. I can either gag and bind the person who has just spoken,
thus securing by force your admission to the yacht, or I can entertain
you on the _Nancy_ until seven o'clock."
"But I ought to go ashore."
"It is not to be dreamed of, I assure you. Cowes is overrun with
excursionists. You will be much happier with Peter and me, and we are
no mean cooks when put on our mettle."
She yielded disconsolately. Dislike of the _Sans Souci_ and every one
connected with that palatial vessel was already germinating in her
mind. If it were not for the considerations outlined in her brief
statement to Warden she would have caught the next ferry to Portsmouth
and allowed Mrs. Baumgartner to make other provision for her daughter's
companionship, or tuition.
"Give me a call when you are let off the chain," said Warden pleasantly
to the watchman, as the dinghy curved apart from the yacht's side.
The girl colored even more deeply. Such behavior was not only
outrageous, but it supplied a safety valve for her own ruffled feelings.
"I wish you would not say such stupid things," she cried vehemently.
"What would happen if that wretched man took you at your word? You
would be mixed up in some horrible brawl, and wholly on my account."
"He will not come, Miss Dane," he said sadly. "Let me explain, however,
that I prodded his thick hide with set purpose. He is alone on the
_Sans Souci_; he blustered because he was afraid we meant to go
aboard, aye or nay. Is it not extraordinary that such a vessel should
be absolutely denuded of owner, guests, servants, and crew? That man
is not a sailor. Unless I am greatly mistaken, he does not belong to
the yacht in any capacity. What does it mean? You may take it from
me that it is unusual, I might almost say phenomenal, for a valuable
steam-yacht in commission to be deserted in that manner."
"But he admitted that 'they,' meaning Mr. and Mrs. Baumgartner, I
suppose, would return early this evening?"
"I am sure he is right in that. But where are the twenty odd domestics
and members of the crew? When Peter and I went ashore at ten o'clock
to-day the _Sans Souci_ was alive with people."
"I only know that Mrs. Baumgartner seems to have been thoughtless where
I am concerned," said the girl, absorbed in her own troubles.
Nevertheless, she brightened considerably when Warden assisted her to
reach the spotless deck of the _Nancy_. By dint of much scrubbing and
polishing, that taut little cutter had no reason to shirk the vivid
sunlight. At the beginning of the cruise she had been fitted with a
new suit of sails and fresh cordage. For the rest, Peter, and Peter's
fourteen-year-old son "Chris," roused now from sound sleep in the cabin
by his father's loud summons, kept brass fittings and woodwork in a
spick-and-span condition that would bear comparison with the best-found
yacht in the roadstead.
Miss Dane was accommodated with a camp chair aft, while Warden dived
into the cabin to change his clothes. The boy, after a wide-eyed stare
at his employer, was about to busy himself with tying up the dinghy,
when Peter bade him be off and see to the stove if he wished to escape
a rope-ending. Chris was hurt. He had not expected such a greeting from
his revered parent; but he disappeared instantly, and Peter imagined
that his offspring was thus prevented from investigating the mystery
of the gourd, which he took good care to leave in the bottom of the
boat.
As for the girl, her mind was occupied to the exclusion of all else by
the strange combination of events that brought her a guest on board
the _Nancy_. She was not so much perturbed by the absence of Mrs.
Baumgartner as by Warden's manifest disapproval of the lady. A railway
return ticket, sufficient money in her purse to pay for a room in a
hotel, and the existence of a friend of her mother's in Portsmouth,
a friend whose good offices might be invoked if necessary, made her
independent. But she did not want to go back defeated to Oxfordshire.
Her father's carelessness had left her practically at the mercy of
a stepmother, who enjoyed the revenue of a fair estate until death.
The settlement was not to the liking of either woman, and Evelyn was
goaded into an endeavor to escape from it by the knowledge that she was
regarded as an interloper in a house that would ultimately come into
her possession if she survived the second Mrs. Dane.
The well-paid appointment offered by the Baumgartners was apparently
an opening sent by the gods. She had been strongly recommended for the
post by a friend, and there seemed to be no reason whatever why it
should not prove an ideal arrangement for both parties. Yet Warden,
unmistakably a gentleman, if rather eccentric in his ways, evidently
did not view the mining magnate's family with favor. That was a
displeasing fact. Though she had no personal experience of the section
of society which dubs itself the "smart set," she gathered that the
Baumgartners belonged to it, and it was a risky undertaking for a young
woman to constitute herself part and parcel of the household of one of
its leading members.
Her somewhat serious reverie was interrupted by the grateful scent
of cooking that came from a hidden region forward. Warden reappeared
in dry clothing. The cut on his forehead was covered with a strip of
sticking plaster. He was bare-headed, and a slight powdering of gray in
his thick black hair made him look more than his age.
"Our glass and china are of the pilot pattern," he explained, placing a
laden tray on the deck, "but we balance deficiencies in these respects
by a high tone in our cuisine. To-day's luncheon consists of grilled
chicken and bacon, followed by meringues and figs, while the claret was
laid down last week in Plymouth."
"I am so hungry that I can almost dispense with the glass and china,"
she admitted. "But won't you let me help? I am quite domesticated."
"What? Would you rob the cook of his glory? You must eat and admire,
and thank the kindly gales that wafted Peter to the Indian Ocean when
he was putting in his sea service, because he learned there how to use
charcoal in the galley instead of an abominable oil lamp."
"I was born in India," she said with delightful irrelevance.
"Ah, were your people in the army?"
"No. My father was in the Indian Marine. But he retired when I was two
years old--soon after my mother's death. I lost him eight years later,
and, having lived thirteen years with a stepmother, I thought it high
time to begin to earn my own living."
She fancied that this brief biography might encourage him to speak of
the Baumgartners, but Warden's conversation did not run on conventional
lines.
"I find your career most interesting," he said. "Now that we know each
other so well I want to hear more of you. Promise that you will write
every month until early December, and report progress in your new
surroundings. Here is my card. A letter to the Universities Club will
always reach me."
She read:--"Captain Arthur Warden, Deputy Commissioner, Nigeria
Protectorate."
"Why must I stop in December?" she asked, with a smile and a quick
glance under her long eyelashes.
"Because I return to Nigeria about that date, and I shall then supply a
new address."
"Dear me! Are we arranging a regular correspondence?"
"Your effusions can be absolutely curt. Just the date and locality, and
the one word 'Happy' or Miserable,' as the case may be."
The arrival of Chris with a grilled chicken created a diversion. Peter
had to be summoned from the galley. He explained sheepishly that he
thought the meal was of a ceremonious character. They feasted regally,
and all went well until the unhappy Chris asked his father if the
vegetable marrow was to be boiled for dinner.
"Wot marrer?" demanded Peter unguardedly.
"The big one in the dinghy."
"By Jove, we have never given a thought to the calabash that created
all the rumpus," cried Warden. "What about that black face you saw on
it, Miss Dane? I didn't notice it afterwards. Did you?"
"No. I was too excited and frightened. Your son might bring it to us
now, Mr. Evans."
"Beggin' your pardon, miss, we'll leave it till you've finished lunch,"
said Peter, regarding Chris with an eye that boded unutterable things.
"But why, most worthy mariner?" demanded Warden.
"'Cos it's the ugliest phiz that ever grew on a nigger," was the
astonishing answer. "It gev' me a fair turn, it did, an' I'm a pretty
tough subjec'. It's enough to stop a clock. If the young leddy takes my
advice she'll bid me heave it overboard and let it go to the--well, to
where it rightly belongs."
"It's only an old gourd," exclaimed Evelyn, looking from one to the
other in amused surprise.
"Peter," said Warden, laughing, "you have whetted our curiosity with
rare skill. Come, now. What is the joke?"
"I'm in reel earnest, sir--sink me if I ain't. It's--a terror, that's
wot it is."
"Bless my soul, produce it, and let us examine this calabash of parts."
"Not me!" growled Peter, hauling himself upright with amazing rapidity.
"Believe me, sir, I 'ope you won't 'ave the thing aboard the _Nancy_.
Get forrard, you," he went on, glaring at the open-mouthed Chris.
"Start washin' them plates, an' keep yer silly mouth closed, or you'll
catch somethin' you can't eat."
There could be no doubt that the usually placid and genial-spoken Peter
was greatly perturbed. To avoid further questioning, he stumped off
to his quarters in the fore part of the cutter, and swung himself out
of sight, while the girl endeavored vainly to estimate how he could
squeeze his huge bulk through so small a hatchway.
Warden also stood up.
"After that there is but one course open to us," he said, and drew in
the dinghy's painter until he was able to secure the gourd.
He was on his knees when he lifted it in both hands and turned it
round to ascertain what it was that had so upset his stout friend.
In reviewing his first impressions subsequently, he arrived at the
conclusion that close familiarity with the features of the West
African negro must have blunted his mind to the true significance of
the hideous face that scowled at him from the rounded surface of the
calabash. He paid heed only to the excellence of the artist--none to
the message of undying hatred of every good impulse in mankind that was
conveyed by the frowning brows, the cruel mouth, the beady, snake-like
eyes peeping through narrow slits cut in the outer rind. Were not the
lineaments those of a pure negro, he would have imagined that some
long-forgotten _doyen_ of the Satsuma school had amused himself by
concentrating in a human face all that is grotesque and horrible in the
Japanese notion of a demon. But there was no doubting the identity of
the racial type depicted. Warden could even name the very tribe that
supplied the model. A curious crinkled ring that had formed round the
gourd near the upper part of its egg-shaped circumference suggested the
quoit-shaped ivory ornament worn by the men of Oku. Oku used to be a
plague spot in West Africa. It is little better to-day, but its virus
is dissipated by British rule.
Warden's kindling glance soon detected other important details. The
raised ring, and certain rough protuberances that might have borne
a crude likeness to a man's face when the gourd was in its natural
state, were utilized with almost uncanny ingenuity to lend high relief
to the carving. Indeed, the surface had been but slightly scored with
the artist's knife. Half-lowered eyelids, a suggestion of parted lips
and broad nostrils, some deep creases across the brutish forehead,
and a sinister droop to each corner of the mouth--these deft touches
revealed at once the sculptor's restraint and power. The black skin
was simulated by a smooth and shining lacquer, the ivory ring by a
scraping of the rind that laid bare the yellow pith. No characteristic
was over-accentuated. The work offered a rare instance of the art that
conceals art.
And Warden felt that none but an artist worthy to rank with the elect
could have conceived and carried out this study of some fierce negro
despot. That it was a genuine portrait he did not doubt for a moment.
It seemed to him that in its creation hate and fear had gone hand in
hand with marvelous craftsmanship. The man who exercised such cunning
on the inferior material provided by a rough-coated calabash was not
only inspired by the pride of conscious power but meant to leave an
imperishable record of a savage tyrant in his worst aspect. A great
Italian painter, limning his idea of the Last Judgment, gratified his
spite by placing all his enemies among the legion of the lost. This
unknown master had taken a more subtle revenge. It was possible that
the black chief, had he seen it, would have admired his counterfeit
presentment. It demanded a more cultured intelligence than Oku society
conferred to enable him to appreciate how plainly an evil soul leered
from out a dreadful mask.
In no respect was the truth of the image more convincing than in
the treatment of the eyes. A minute mosaic of chalcedony was used
to portray white and iris and cornea. Small pieces of clear crystal
formed the pupils, and the rays of light glinted from their depths
with an effect that was appalling in its realism. Thus might the eyes
of a cobra sparkle with vindictive fire. They exercised a diabolical
mesmerism. Warden, rapt in his admiration of a genuine work of art,
remained wholly unconscious of their spell till he heard a faint gasp
of horror from the girl.
He turned and looked at her in quick dismay. All the roses had fled
from her cheeks, leaving her wan indeed. Her own fine eyes were
distended with fright. She, like Peter Evans, gave no heed to the
consummate skill of the designer. She was fascinated at once by that
basilisk glare. It thrilled her to the core, threatened her with
immeasurable wrongs, menaced her with the spite of a demon.
"This is the most wonderful thing of its kind I have ever seen," said
Warden eagerly.
Though he was not yet awakened to the magnetic influence exercised by
the vile visage he could not fail to note the girl's consternation. He
thought to reassure her by pointing out the marvelous craft displayed
in its contriving.
"It is amazing in every sense," he went on, bringing the gourd nearer
for her inspection. "Although the calabash is of a variety unknown
in West Africa, the face gives a perfect likeness of an Oku chief.
There is a man in Oku now who might have sat to the sculptor, though
he is far from possessing the power, the tremendous strength, of the
original. Yet it seems to me to be very old. I cannot, for the life of
me----"
A loud crash interrupted him. Chris, removing the remains of the feast,
had gazed for an instant at the astounding object in Warden's hands.
The boy backed away, and tripped over a coil of rope, with disastrous
result to the crockery he was carrying.
Warden's voice, no less than the laugh with which he greeted Chris's
discomfiture, restored the poise of the girl's wits.
"You obtained that for me, did you not?" she cried with a curious
agitation.
"Yes, of course," said he.
"Then give it to me, please."
He was certainly surprised, but passed the gourd to her without further
comment. She half averted her eyes, took it unhesitatingly, and tried
to pitch it into the water. For its size, it was astonishingly light.
Were it as heavy as she imagined, it must have dropped into the Solent
several yards from the vessel. As it was, it flew unexpectedly high,
struck a rope, and fell back on deck, whence it bounded, with the
irregular bounce of a Rugby football, right into Warden's hands again.
"That was a mad trick," he said almost angrily.
"Oh, please, throw it away," she pleaded.
"Throw away a rare and valuable curio! Why?"
"Because it will bring you nothing but ruin and misery. Can you not see
its awful meaning? Throw it away, I implore you!"
"But that would be a crime, the act of a Vandal. It may be the chiefest
treasure of a connoisseur's collection. Would you have me ape some
fanatic Mussulman hammering to atoms a statue by Phidias?"
"There is no beauty in that monstrous thing. It is--bewitched."
"Oh really, Miss Dane--we are in England, in the twentieth century."
He laughed indulgently, with the air of an elder brother who had
forgiven her for an exhibition of pettish temper. He held out the
calabash at arm's length and viewed it critically. He saw immediately
that the crown inside the ring was misplaced.
"Hello!" he muttered, "you did some damage, then!"
Closer inspection revealed that the fall had loosened a tightly fitting
lid hitherto concealed by the varnish used as a preservative. He
removed it, and peered within.
"A document!" he announced elatedly. "Perhaps, after all, your
unaccountable frenzy was a blessing in disguise. Now, Miss Dane, we
may learn what you termed its 'awful meaning.' But, for pity's sake,
don't yield to impulse and rend the manuscript. You have cracked his
chiefship's skull--I pray you spare his brains."