'TWIXT CUP AND LIP
Next morning an event occurred sufficiently astonishing to divert
our thoughts from even the all-important topic of the _Island
Queen_. Cookie, who had been up on the high land of the point
gathering firewood, came rushing back to announce that a steamer
had appeared in the offing. All the party dropped their
occupations and ran to look. That the _Rufus Smith_ had returned
at an unexpectedly early date was of course the natural explanation
of the appearance of a vessel in these lonely seas. But through
the glass the new arrival turned out to be not the tubby freighter
but a stranger of clean-cut, rakish build, lying low in the water
and designed for speed rather than carrying capacity.
A mile offshore she lay to, and a boat left her side. Wondering
and disquieted, we returned to the beach to await her coming. Was
it another pirate? What possible errand could bring a steamer to
this remote, unvisited, all but forgotten little island? Had
somebody else heard the story of the _Bonny Lass_ and come after
the doubloons, unknowing that we were beforehand with them? If so,
must we do battle for our rights?
The boat shot in between the points and skimmed swiftly over the
rippling surface of the cove, under the rhythmic strokes of half a
dozen flashing oars. The rowers wore a trim white uniform, and in
the stern a tall figure, likewise white-clad, turned toward us a
dark face under a pith helmet.
As the oarsmen drove the boat upon the beach the man in the stern
sprang agilely ashore. Dugald Shaw stepped forward, and the
stranger approached, doffing his helmet courteously.
"You are the American and English party who landed here some weeks
ago from the _Rufus Smith_?"
His English was easy and correct, though spoken with a pronounced
Spanish accent. His dark high-featured face was the face of a
Spaniard. And his grace was the grace of a Spaniard, as he bowed
sweepingly and handed Mr. Shaw a card.
"Senor Don Enrique Gonzales," said Dugald, bowing in his
stiff-necked fashion, "I am very happy to meet you. But as you
represent His Excellency the President of the Republic of Santa
Marina I suppose you come on business, Senior Gonzales?"
"Precisely. I am enchanted that you apprehend the fact without the
tiresomeness of explanations. For business is a cold, usually a
disagreeable affair, is it not so? That being the case, let us get
it over."
"First do us the honor to be seated, Senor Gonzales."
Comfortably bestowed in a camp-chair in the shade, the Spaniard
resumed:
"My friend, this island belongs, as of course you are aware, to the
republic of which I have the honor to be a citizen. All rights and
privileges, such as harvesting the copra crop, are strictly
conserved by the republic. All persons desiring such are required
to negotiate with the Minister of State of the Republic. And how
much more, when it is a question of treasure--of a very large
treasure, Senor?"
The Scotchman's face was dark.
"I had understood," he replied, without looking in the direction of
Miss Higglesby-Browne, who seemed in the last few moments to have
undergone some mysterious shrinking process, "that negotiations in
the proper quarter had been undertaken and brought to a successful
conclusion--that in short we were here with the express permission
of the government of Santa Marina."
This was a challenge which Miss Browne could not but meet.
"I had," she said hoarsely, "I had the assurance of a--a person
high in the financial circles of the United States, that through
his--his influence with the government of Santa Marina it would not
be necessary--in short, that he could _fix_ the President--I employ
his own terms--for a considerable sum, which I--which my friend
Miss Harding gave him."
"And the name of this influential person?" inquired the Santa
Marinan, suavely.
"Hamilton H. Tubbs," croaked Miss Browne.
Senor Gonzales smiled.
"I remember the name well, madam. It is that of the pretended
holder of a concession from our government, who a few years ago
induced a number of American school-teachers and clergymen and
other financially innocent persons to invest in imaginary coffee
plantations. He had in some doubtful fashion become possessed of a
little entirely worthless land, which formed the basis of his
transactions. His frauds were discovered while he was in our
country, and he was obliged to leave between two days, according to
your so picturesque idiom. Needless to say his application for
permission to visit Leeward Island for any purpose would instantly
have been refused, but as a matter of fact it was never made."
In a benumbed silence we met the blow. The riches that had seemed
within our grasp would never be ours. We had no claim upon them,
for all our toil and peril; no right even to be here upon the
island. Suddenly I began to laugh; faces wearing various shades of
shocked surprise were turned on me. Still I laughed.
"Don't you see," I cried, "how ridiculous it all is? All the time
it is we who have been pirates!"
The Spaniard gave me a smile made brilliant by the gleam of
smoldering black eyes and the shine of white teeth.
"Senorita, with all regret, I must agree."
"Miss Virginia Harding," said Miss Browne with all her old
severity, rejuvenated apparently by this opportunity to put me in
my place, "would do well to consult her dictionary, before applying
opprobrious terms to persons of respectability. A pirate is one
who commits robbery upon the high seas. If such a crime lies at
the door of any member of this expedition I am unaware of it."
"What's in a name?" remarked Dugald Shaw, shrugging. "We were
after other people's property, anyway. I am very sorry about it,
Senor Gonzales, but I would like to ask, if you don't mind telling,
how you happened to learn of our being here, so long as it was not
through the authentic channels. On general principles, I tried to
keep the matter quiet."
"We learned in a manner somewhat--what do you say?--curious,"
returned the Spaniard, who, having presented the men with cigars
and by permission lighted one himself, was making himself extremely
at home and appeared to have no immediate intention of haling us
away to captivity in Santa Marinan dungeons. "But before I go
further, kindly tell me whether you have had any--ah--visitors
during your stay on the island?"
"We have," Mr. Shaw replied, "very troublesome ones."
The Spaniard smiled.
"Then answer your own question. These men, while unloading a
contraband cargo in a port of Mexico near the southern border, grew
too merry in a wineshop, and let it be known where they were bound
when again they put to sea. The news, after some delay, found its
way to our capital. At once the navy of the republic was
despatched to investigate the matter. It is the navy of Santa
Marina, ladies and gentlemen, which at this moment guards the
entrance of the bay." And Senor Gonzales waved an ironic hand in
the direction of the little steamer lying off the island,
"On the way here I put in at Panama, where certain inquiries were
satisfactorily answered. There were those in that port who had
made a shrewd guess at the destination of the party which had
shipped on the _Rufus Smith_. I then pursued my course to Leeward.
But admit, my friends, that I have not by my arrival, caused you
any material loss. Except that I have unfortunately been compelled
to present you to yourselves in the character of--as says the young
lady--pirates--madam, I speak under correction--I have done you no
injury, eh? And that for the simple reason that you have not
discovered what you sought, and hence can not be required to
surrender it."
We looked at one another doubtfully. The ambiguous words of the
Spaniard, the something humorous and mocking which lay behind his
courtly manner, put us quite in the dark.
"Senor Gonzales," replied the Scotchman, after a moment's
hesitation, "it is true that so far only a negligible amount of
what we came to find has rewarded us. But I can not in honesty
conceal from you that we know where to look for the rest of it, and
that we had certainly expected to leave the island with it in our
possession."
The dark indolent eyes of our visitor grew suddenly keen.
Half-veiled by the heavy lashes, they searched the face of Dugald
Shaw. It seemed that what they found in that bold and open
countenance satisfied them. His own face cleared again.
"I think we speak at cross-purposes, Mr. Shaw," he said
courteously, "and that we may better understand each other, I am
going to tell you a little story. At about this season, two years
ago, the navy of Santa Marina, the same which now lies off the
island, was making a voyage of inspection along the coast of the
republic. It was decided to include Leeward in the cruise, as it
had been unvisited for a considerable time. I hold no naval
rank--indeed, we are not a seafaring people, and the captain of _La
Golondrina_ is a person from Massachusetts, Jeremiah Bowles by
name, but as the representative of His Excellency I accompanied _La
Golondrina_. On our arrival at Leeward I came ashore in the boat,
and found to my surprise a small sloop at anchor in the cove.
About the clearing were the signs of recent habitation, yet I knew
that the old German who had had the copra concession here had been
gone for some time. There were no personal trifles left in the
hut, however, and indeed it was plain that weeks had passed since
there had been any one about. No one responded to our shouts and
calls.
"I turned my attention to the sloop. In the cabin, besides a few
clothes, I found something that interested me very much--a large
brass-bound chest, of an antique type such as is common enough in
my own country.
"Of course I had heard of the many legends of treasure buried on
Leeward Island. Consequently I was somewhat prepared to find in
the chest, what in fact I did find there, over a million dollars in
old Spanish coins.
"These coins, which were packed in strong canvas bags, were, as you
may fancy, very quickly transferred to the cutter. We did not
trouble ourselves with the unwieldy chest, and it remains, I
suppose, in the cabin of the sloop, which I observed as we crossed
the cove to have been washed up upon the rocks.
"As my curiosity was extremely piqued regarding the owner of the
sloop, the manner in which he had discovered the treasure, and
still more his extraordinary disappearance, I should have wished to
make a thorough search of the island. But the season for storms
was shortly to begin, and already the weather signs were so
threatening that Captain Bowles was reluctant to remain longer in
the neighborhood of the island, which has a bad name for dangerous
shoals and reefs. For the same reason it was thought unwise to
risk a man or two aboard the sloop to sail her to the mainland.
Indeed, we ourselves were glad to get safely home with our
doubloons in the teeth of a tropical gale."
"This is a very interesting story, Senor Gonzales," said Dugald
Shaw quietly, "and as you say, your visit here deprives us of
nothing, but merely saves us further unprofitable labor. We are
grateful to you."
The Spaniard bowed.
"You do me too much honor. But as you remark, the story is
interesting. It has also the element of mystery. For there
remains the question of what became of the owner of the sloop. His
final preparations for leaving the island had evidently been made,
his possessions removed from the hut, provisions for the voyage
brought on board the sloop--and then he had vanished. What had
befallen him? Did the gold carry with it some deadly influence?
One plays, as it were, with this idea, imagining the so melancholy
and bloody history of these old doubloons. How, in the first
place, had he found them? Through chance--by following some
authentic clue? And then, in the moment of success, he
disappears--pouf!" And Senor Gonzales disposed of the unknown by
blowing him airily from the tips of his fingers.
"However, we have the treasure--the main point, is it not? But I
have often wondered--"
"If you would like to hear the rest of the story," said Mr. Shaw,
"we are in a position to enlighten you. That we are so, is due
entirely to this young lady, Miss Virginia Harding."
The Spaniard rose, and made obeisance profoundly. He resumed his
seat, prepared to listen--no longer the government official, but
the cordial and interested guest and friend.
The story, of course, was a long one. Everybody took a hand in the
telling, even Cookie, who was summoned from his retirement in the
kitchen to receive the glory due him as a successful strategist.
The journal of Peter was produced, and the bags of doubloons handed
over to the representative of the little republic. I even offered
to resign the silver shoe-buckle which I had found in the secret
locker on the Island Queen, but this excess of honesty received its
due reward.
"The doubloons being now in the possession of the Santa Marinan
nation, I beg that you will consider as your own the Island Queen
and all it may contain," said Don Enrique to me with as magnificent
an air as though the sand-filled hulk of a wrecked sloop were
really a choice gift to bestow on a young woman.
Plans were discussed for transferring the pirates from the cave to
the cutter, for they were to be taken to Santa Marina to meet
whatever punishment was thought fit for their rather indefinite
ill-doing. They had not murdered us, they had robbed us of nothing
but the provisions they had eaten, they had, after all, as much
right on the island as ourselves. Yet there remained their
high-handed conduct in invading our camp and treating us as
prisoners, with the threat of darker possibilities. I fancy that
Santa Marinan justice works mainly by rule of thumb, and that the
courts do not embarrass themselves much with precedents. Only I
hope they did not shoot the picturesque Tony against a wall.[*]
The power-schooner, manned by a crew from the cutter, was to be
taken to Santa Marina also. Senor Gonzales remained with us for
the day as our guest, and on the next the boats from the cutter
took off the pirates from the cave. We did not see them again.
Through the convenient elasticity of Santa Marinan procedure, Mr.
Tubbs was herded along with the rest, although he might plausibly,
if hypocritically, have pleaded that he had complied with the will
of the invaders under duress. Aunt Jane wept very much, and handed
me _Paeans of Passion_ with the request that she might never see it
again.
We parted from Senor Gonzales not without regrets. It was an
impressive leave-taking--indeed, Senor, Gonzales in his least word
and gesture was impressive. Also, he managed subtly and
respectfully to impart to me the knowledge that he shared Titian's
tastes in the matter of hair. On his departure he made a pretty
little speech, full of compliments and floral specimens, and
bestowed upon me--as being mine by right, he earnestly
protested--the two bags of Spanish doubloons.
[*]Since the above was written, Mr. Shaw has run across Tony on the
San Francisco water-front. Tony tells him that they got off with
three months' imprisonment. The American consul interested himself
and the schooner was restored to her owners, who were Tony's
relations and hence did not prosecute. Before the discharged
prisoners left the republic Captain Magnus was stabbed over a card
game by a native. Mr. Tubbs married a wealthy half-caste woman,
the owner of a fine plantation, but a perfectly genuine Mrs. Tubbs
from Peoria turned up later, and the too much married H. H. was
obliged to achieve one of his over-night flittings.