Merton's eyes eagerly searched the deck for one beloved form. Mr. Macrae
drew him aside. 'Emmeline is below,' he whispered; 'you will find her in
the saloon.' Merton looked steadfastly at the millionaire, who smiled
with unmistakable meaning. The lover hurried down the companion, while
the _Flora_, which had rapidly got up steam, sped eastward.
Merton entered the saloon, his heart beating as hard as when he had
sought his beloved among the bracken beneath the cliffs at Castle Skrae.
She rose at his entrance; their eyes met, Merton's dim with a supreme
doubt, Emmeline's frank and clear. A blush rose divinely over the white
rose of her face, her lips curved in the resistless AEginetan smile, and,
without a word spoken, the twain were in each other's arms.
* * * * * *
Half an hour later Mr. Macrae, heralding his arrival with a sonorous hem!
entered the saloon. Smiling, he embraced his daughter, who hid her head
on his ample shoulder, while with his right hand the father grasped that
of Merton.
'My daughter is restored to me--and my son,' said the millionaire softly.
There was silence. Mr. Macrae was the first to recover his
self-possession. 'Sit down, dear,' he said, gently disengaging Emmeline,
'and tell me all about it. Who were the wretches? I can forgive them
now.'
Miss Macrae's eyes were bent on the carpet; she seemed reluctant to
speak. At last, in timid and faltering accents, she whispered, 'It was
the Van Huytens boy.'
'Rudolph Van Huytens! I might have guessed it,' cried the millionaire.
'His motive is too plain! His wealth did not equal mine by several
millions. The ransom which he demanded, and but for Tom here' (he
indicated Merton) 'would now possess, exactly reversed our relative
positions. Carrying on his father's ambition, he would, but for Tom,
have held the world's record for opulence. The villain!'
'You do not flatter _me_, father,' said Miss Macrae, 'and you are unjust
to Mr. Van Huytens. He had another, _he_ said a stronger, motive. Me!'
she murmured, blushing like a red rose, and adding, 'he really was rather
nice. The submarine was comfy; the yacht delightful. His sisters and
his aunt were very kind. But--' and the beautiful girl looked up archly
and shyly at Merton.
'In fact if it had not been for Tom,' Mr. Macrae was exclaiming, when
Emmeline laid her lily hand on his lips, and again hid her burning
blushes on his shoulder.
'So Rudolph had no chance?' asked Mr. Macrae gaily.
'I used rather to like him, long ago--before--' murmured Emmeline.
A thrill of happy pride passed through Merton. He also, he remembered of
old, had thought that he loved. But now he privately registered an oath
that he would never make any confessions as to the buried past (a course
which the chronicler earnestly recommends to young readers).
'Now tell us all about your adventures, Emmie,' said Mr. Macrae, sitting
down and taking his daughter's hand in his own.
The narrative may have been anticipated. After Blake was felled, Miss
Macrae, screaming and struggling, had been carried to the boat. The crew
had rapidly pulled round the cliff, the submarine had risen, to the
captive's horrified amazement, from the deep, she had been taken on
board, and, yet more to her surprise, had been welcomed by the Misses Van
Huytens and their aunt. The brother had always behaved with respect,
till, finding that his suit was hopeless, he had avoided her presence as
much as possible, and--
'Had gone for the dollars,' said Macrae.
They had wandered from rocky desert isle to desert isle, in the
archipelago of the Hebrides, meeting at night with a swift attendant
yacht. Usually they had slept on shore under canvas; the corrugated iron
houses had been left behind at 'The Seven Hunters,' with the champagne,
to alleviate the anxiety of Mr. Macrae. Ample supplies of costume and
other necessaries for Miss Macrae had always been at hand.
'They really did me very well,' she said, smiling, 'but I was miserable
about _you_,' and she embraced her father.
'Only about _me_?' asked Mr. Macrae.
'I did not know, I was not sure,' said Emmeline, crying a little, and
laughing rather hysterically.
'You go and lie down, my dear,' said Mr. Macrae. 'Your maid is in your
cabin,' and thither he conducted the overwrought girl, Merton anxiously
following her with his eyes.
'We are neglecting Lord Bude,' said Mr. Macrae. 'Come on deck, Tom, and
tell us how you managed that delightful surprise.'
'Oh, pardon me, sir,' said Merton, 'I am under oath, I am solemnly bound
to Logan and others never to reveal the circumstances. It was necessary
to keep you uninformed, that you might honourably make your arrangement
to meet Mr. Van Huytens without being aware that you had a submarine
consort. Logan takes any dishonour on himself, and he wished to offer
Mr. Van Huytens--as that is his name--every satisfaction, but I dissuaded
him. His connection with the affair cannot be kept too secret. Though
Logan put me forward, you really owe all to _him_.'
'But without _you_, I should never have had his aid,' said Mr. Macrae:
'Where _is_ Lord Fastcastle?' he asked.
'In the friendly submarine,' said Merton.
'Oh, I think I can guess!' said Mr. Macrae, smiling. 'I shall ask no
more questions. Let us join Lord Bude.'
If the reader is curious as to how the rescue was managed, it is enough
to say that Logan was the cousin and intimate friend of Admiral
Chirnside, that the Admiral was commanding a fleet engaged in naval
manoeuvres around the North coast, that he had a flotilla of submarines,
and that the point of ocean where the pirates met the _Flora Macdonald_
was not far west of the Orkneys.
On deck Bude asked Merton how Logan (for he knew that Logan was the
guiding spirit) had guessed the secret of the submarine.
'Do you remember,' said Merton, 'that when you came back from "The Seven
Hunters," you reported that the fishermen had a silly story of seeing a
dragon flying above the empty sea?'
'I remember, _un dragon volant_,' said Bude.
'And Logan asked you not to tell Mr. Macrae?'
'Yes, but I don't understand.'
'A dragon is the Scotch word for a kite--not the bird--a boy's kite. You
did not know; _I_ did not know, but Mr. Macrae would have known, being a
Scot, and Logan wanted to keep his plan dark, and the kite had let him
into the secret of the submarine.'
'I still don't see how.'
'Why the submarine must have been flying a kite, with a pendent wire, to
catch messages from Blake and the wireless machine at Castle Skrae. How
else could a kite--"a dragon," the sailor said--have been flying above
the empty sea?'
'Logan is rather sharp,' said Bude.
'But, Mr. Macrae,' asked Merton, 'how about the false Gianesi?'
'Oh, when Gianesi came of course we settled _his_ business. We had him
tight, as a conspirator. He had been met, when expelled for misdeeds
from Gianesi's and Giambresi's, by a beautiful young man, to whom he sold
himself. He believed the beautiful young man to be the devil, but, of
course, it was our friend Blake. _He_, in turn, must have been purchased
by Van Huytens while he was lecturing in America as a poet-Fenian. In
fact, he really had a singular genius for electric engineering; he had
done very well at some German university. But he was a fellow of no
principle! We are well quit of a rogue. I turned his unlucky victim,
the false Gianesi, loose, with money enough for life to keep him honest
if he chooses. His pension stops if ever a word of the method of rescue
comes out. The same with my crew. They shall all be rich men, for their
station, _till_ the tale is whispered and reaches my ears. In that
case--all pensions stop. I think we can trust the crew of the friendly
submarine to keep their own counsel.'
'Certainly!' said Merton. 'Wealth has its uses after all,' he thought in
his heart.
* * * * * *
Merton and Logan gave a farewell dinner in autumn to the Disentanglers--to
such of them as were still unmarried. In her napkin each lady of the
Society found a cheque on Coutts for 25,000_l_. signed with the magic
name Ronald Macrae.
The millionaire had insisted on being allowed to perform this act of
munificence, the salvage for the recovered millions, he said.
Miss Martin, after dinner, carried Mr. Macrae's health in a toast. In a
humorous speech she announced her own approaching nuptials, and intimated
that she had the permission of the other ladies present to make the same
general confession for all of them.
'Like every novel of my own,' said Miss Martin, smiling, 'this enterprise
of the Disentanglers has a HAPPY ENDING.'
Footnotes:
{232} Part III. No. I, 1896. Baptist Mission Press. Calcutta, 1897.
{242} See also Monsieur Henri Junod, in _Les Ba-Ronga_. Attinger,
Neuchatel, 1898. Unlike Mr. Skertchley, M. Junod has not himself seen
the creature.
{406} Periscope not necessary with conning tower out of water. Man
could see out of port.