I INTERRUPT A TÊTE-À-TÊTE
"An unpleasant scene of violence, mein liebes Fräulein," he remarked,
dabbing his forehead with a red handkerchief, "which might so easily
have been avoided. But, when men take passion instead of reason for
guide--_was wollen Sie_? The war destroyed logical thinking. To-day
it is rare to find anyone capable of taking a perfectly dispassionate
view of life. _Jawohl_!...."
Marjorie wondered vaguely what he meant. His manner was ingratiating;
but she was conscious that he was watching her closely to mark the
effect of his words.
"We Germans lost the war. Therefore, a man like your friend Okewood
believes that everywhere and in all circumstances, the German must be
in a state of inferiority. How short-sighted, meine Gnädige! And what
a blemish this want of logic signifies in an otherwise remarkable
character! To go no farther a-field in search of an illustration than
this delightful island;--war or no war, the fact remains that the
strength of my little party puts the Herr Major in an inferiority of
thirteen to one. How much wiser on his part it would have been to have
recognised this fact yesterday! Let us hope that you will not be so
ill-advised as to ignore it! You take my meaning? How quick you
are!...."
For a minute his thick fingers drummed on the blanket thrown across him.
"Your Herr father has gone to fetch the yacht, _nicht wahr_?"
"It is no use asking me," replied Marjorie. "I have not seen my father
since I landed on the island...."
"_So, so_!" placidly observed Grundt, "another question for friend
Okewood presently. But perhaps you can tell me what has become of Herr
Okewood? Where exactly did you leave him?"
Marjorie was thinking desperately. It was merely a matter of time,
probably of minutes now, she reflected, before I should be captured and
dragged out of the cave. But some instinct prompted her, as she told
me afterwards, to give no information about me until she had actually
seen me once more in Grundt's power. So she simply shrugged her
shoulders.
"I trust that this gesture does not imply," said Clubfoot, "that you do
not know where you left Major Okewood, for that would be acting a lie.
And lying, meine Gnädige, would do you no good in your present
predicament. You must not take advantage of our good nature, _o,
nein_! Do not forget that on a desert island man is apt to sink back
into his primitive state...."
His voice was gentle and caressing; but the implication in his words
was horrible.
"You come to us unbidden. You throw yourself upon our chivalry. _Ja!_
that is all very well. But have you made sure that the conventions of
civilised life obtain in this little island republic of which I am
president? _Hein, hein_, had you thought of that? But won't you
please sit down?"
"I prefer to stand," replied the girl shortly.
"You make me do discredit to our old German courtesy, liebes Fräulein.
I cannot sit while you remain standing, and in this hot sun ....
_bitte_!"
With his spade-like hand he smoothed out a place on the grass under the
shade of his tree. Dully, almost against her will, Marjorie sank down.
A gleam awoke in the cripple's eyes as he pawed the girl's bare arm.
"Listen!" he said, lowering his voice confidentially and leaning
towards her. "The Spaniards of my party come without exception from
the lowest scum of the Central American sea-board. Their table-talk is
enlivened with anecdotes of their--shall we say conquests?--which fill
even me with disgust and dismay. And my Germans, yes,--I, a good
German, must admit it--they, too, have forgotten something of the
conventions of civilised life. For five years or more they have been
outlaws, dirty Boches, the rejected of mankind--they who are of that
race,"--his voice rang out triumphant but then trembled and
broke--"_Gott!_ that is the salt of the earth!"
For an instant he seemed to be genuinely moved. Bitter memories
kindled a spark of anger in his fierce, dark eyes. But the mood passed
swiftly and his voice was gentle, his manner sleek as before when he
resumed.
"You make it difficult, very difficult for me. You come here, a
delicate, fair young maid and you expect to live unscathed in a camp of
rough men; for I do not conceal from you the fact, Miss Garth, that
unless your father is reasonable you may be with us for many days...."
He broke off suggestively. The girl dared not look at him for fear of
the thought unspoken she might read in his leering eyes.
"Would you be surprised to learn? it is always best to be frank, _nicht
wahr_?--that it will require an armed guard to keep these men away from
you at night?...."
At that Marjorie revolted. She sprang to her feet and walked away,
sickened at the picture he had suggested to her by every word. Grundt
made no attempt to follow her.
"I am sure you will be reasonable," he murmured.
A man burst turbulently into the hollow. It was von Hagel. He was
smeared all over with grey dust and his heavy boots showed white gashes
where the rocks had cut them. He was pale and the livid weal across
his right cheek seemed to distort his features.
"Well?" said Grundt sternly.
The young man made a helpless gesture of the hands. Slowly Clubfoot
sat up erect and a heavy scowl drew his eyebrows together. One could
almost see the young German quake as he stood before his leader, dumb,
confused, aimlessly moving his hands. At last he faltered out:--
"He is not there!"
A convulsion of anger seemed to shake the huge cripple. The
close-shaven hair of his scalp moved, his heavy nostrils twitched as
solidly, viciously, his great jowl set.
"Not there!" he ejaculated hoarsely, his voice strangling with anger.
"What do you mean 'not there'? Black Pablo's orders were to bring him
down to me. Why has he not done so? Himmelkreuzdonnerwetter!"--his
hairy hands beat on his knee with rage--"why don't you answer me?"
"We.... we.... gained the top shelf unobserved," stammered out von
Hagel. "It was deserted. There is only one cave.... with a clear drop
down. The steps appear to have quite recently broken away. Pablo,
Schröder and I went with torches--they let us down with ropes. We came
to a lower chamber where some native dead are buried. At the end was
the narrow air-slit through which the girl escaped...."
"And the _Engländer_ was not there, you say?"
"No!"
"_Schafskopf_! He was never there!"
"We saw him enter it. Besides, we found burnt matches on the ground
and the ashes of his pipe...."
"Then he went out by the air-hole...."
"It is too narrow. Ramon, who is slightly built, could not get
through...."
"And there is no other cave?"
"No!"
"Evidently he left by the way he entered, and escaped under the noses
of your sentries...."
"Impossible, Herr Doktor! By the way he went in, without ropes, both
ascent and descent are out of the question! And since early morning
the path, which is the only means of access to the cliff, has been
guarded...."
Shaking with ague, Clubfoot was struggling to regain his self-control.
"_Erlauben Sie_!" he said in a voice half-suffocated with rage, "let us
get this right. I do not admit miracles. We know that the _Engländer_
and the girl took refuge in this cave. _Gut_! The girl, we know, came
out through the air-hole. Where is then the man?"
Von Hagel looked at Marjorie.
"Why not ask the girl?" he suggested.
"You've heard what he said," screamed Clubfoot, whipping round and
shaking his finger at Marjorie. "Where did you leave this man?"
Then Marjorie told them she had left me in the cave.
"_Sehen Sie?_" roared Clubfoot. "He's escaped under your very snouts,
_schweinhunde_ that you are! He's in that cave yet! Get out of my
sight, you dog! And send Black Pablo here! Tell him he has to reckon
with me now! And by God if I have to go to him myself----"
Von Hagel had turned and fled. The cripple had risen to his knees.
The perspiration poured off his face as, with trembling limbs, he
vainly strove to overcome the weakness that mastered him, while he
mouthed and mumbled a stream of threats.
Then from the sea a gun spoke, a single report that broke the brooding
silence of the island and went echoing and clanging among the tall,
grave rocks. Clubfoot's babble ceased on the instant. He desisted
from his attempt to rise to his feet and remained immobile save for the
trembling of his great torso. Slowly he turned his head and looked at
Marjorie who, transfixed with fear, was watching him.
Thus I found them as, a moment later, I stepped into the hollow.
"Sit down, Grundt!" I said.