For a moment the discovery paralysed him, body and mind. Then he turned
and hurried to Jack's cabin. Jack was snoring. Don shook him fiercely by
the shoulder.
“Wake up! The pearls are gone!”
Jack was awake and on his feet in a twinkling. “You're dreaming, old
fellow,” said he, seeing Don in his night-clothes. “You're only half
awake.” Don did not argue the matter. He simply seized Jack by the arm
and dragged him into the main cabin. There the empty locker placed the
truth of his assertion beyond dispute.
“What's to be done?” gasped Jack.
“Let us call Pug,” suggested Don. “He may know something about this.”
Puggles slept on deck. In two minutes they were by his side, and he was
stretching his jaws in a mighty yawn. Great was his astonishment when
he heard of the loss. But he could throw no light on the matter. He had
neither seen nor heard anything suspicious. As for Puggles himself, he
was above suspicion.
“Come down and let us have another look,” said Jack. “It's just
possible, you know, that some one may have been to the locker and
accidentally dropped or knocked the case out upon the floor. I can't
believe it's gone.”
Just as they reached the bottom of the companion-way, Puggles, who
was slightly in advance of his master, stopped short, and called their
attention to an object dangling from the handle of the door. Jack caught
it up and ran to the table, where the lighted candle stood.
“Merely a string of wooden beads,” said he, tossing the object on the
table.
“A native rosary!” cried Don, snatching it up. “I've seen this before
somewhere.”
“Sa'b,” broke in Puggles, his eyes the size and colour of Spanish
onions, “him shark-charmer rosilly, sa'b!”
“The very same!” cried Don. “I recollect seeing it round his neck this
morning.”
“And I recollect seeing it there this evening,” added Jack.
“When we bundled him out of the companionway?”
“Yes.”
“Then how do you account for our finding it on the door-knob, and for
its being broken as it is now?”
“Don't you see? The fellow returned, of course.”
“Returned? When?”
“After we saw him over the side; he never went ashore. He sneaked back,
and then made off in a tremendous hurry. The position, not to say the
condition, in which we found the rosary proves that. Jove! what a pair
of fools we've been. That rascally shark-charmer has diddled us out of
the pearls.”
Don stared at his friend open-mouthed, yet unable to utter a single word
either of assent or doubt, so great was the consternation produced in
his mind by Jack's daring theory as to the disappearance of the pearls,
and the consequences which must follow if it held good.
“You may take it to be a dead certainty,” resumed Jack, following up his
idea, “that when Salambo actually left the ship, the pearls went with
him. We made the rascal walk the plank this morning, and he's bound to
resent that, of course. In fact, the way in which he shook his fist
at us when he went off in the boat shows that he _did_ resent it. Very
well, then, there's a readymade motive for you--revenge.”
“That's all right,” said Don, finding his tongue at last, “I'm not
boggling over the motive: the value of the pearls is enough motive for
any nigger. What puzzles me is this: How did he know we had them in our
possession at all?”
“Why, that's as plain as the nose on your face,” replied Jack; “the
fellow was on shore at the same time we were, was he not?”
“He was.”
“Well, then, suppose he saw us buy the shells, watched us open them,
and, in short, discovered that we had met with a stroke of luck. Then he
follows us back here--you saw him yourself, didn't you?”
“I did,” said Don.
“And you see this, don't you?” dangling the rosary before Don's eyes.
“I do; I'm not blind.”
“Then what the dickens more do you want?”
“The pearls,” said Don, laughing. “I'm convinced, old fellow, so no
more palaver. Our business now is to run the shark-charmer down. What's
the time?”
“Eleven o'clock to the minute.”
“And what start of us do you think he has got?”
“It was about nine when we caught him sneaking, and we turned in at
ten.”
“And out again half an hour later. Then the locker must have been rifled
between ten and halfpast. That would give him, say, forty-five minutes'
start if we were on his track at this identical moment, which we------
What was that? I heard a noise overhead.”
“Some one at the skylight,” said Jack in a whisper. “S-s-sh! I'll slip on
deck and see who it is.”
The skylight referred to was situated directly over the cabin table, so
that, its sash being then raised some six inches to admit the night air,
it afforded a ready means of eavesdropping. Springing lightly up the
cabin steps in his stocking feet, Jack took a cautious survey of the
deck. The awning had been taken in at nightfall, and a full moon shone
overhead, making the whole deck as light as day. Close beside the
skylight, lashed against the cabin, stood a water-butt; and bending
carelessly over this he saw one of the native crew. Calling out sharply,
he bade him go forward, and the fellow, muttering some half-audible
excuse about wanting a drink, slunk away.
“A lascar after water; I don't think he was spying,” said Jack, diving
below again. “All the same, we'll keep an eye aloft; that rascally
Salambo may have an accomplice among the crew.”
“Very likely; but as I was saying,” resumed Don, in a lower key, “the
thief has had ample time to make himself scarce. Now the thing is--how
are we to nab him?”
“There are the _peons_. * Why not get the guv to set them on the fellow's
track?”
* Native attendants; pronounced _pewns_.--J..R. H.
“Why, there's just the difficulty,” said Don, with a despairing gesture.
“They all sleep ashore except one or two; and by the time we woke the
governor, explained matters to him, and got the fellows started, there'd
be no end of delay. Besides, the rascal would naturally be on the
look-out for the _peons_, and either give them the slip or bribe them to
let him off.”
“That's so; whatever's done must be done sharp.”
“Just what I was going to say,” continued Don. “The schooner, you see,
sails for Colombo in two or three days' time at the most, and it would
put the governor to no end of inconvenience to despatch half-a-dozen
_peons_ on an errand like this just now. Fact is, I doubt if he'd do it
at all, and we might go whistle for our pearls. No, I've a better plan
than that to propose. There's no need to trouble the guv at all; we'll
go ashore and capture the thief ourselves.”
“Capital!” cried Jack; “I'd like nothing better. When shall we start?”
“At once. There's a bright moon, the fellow has only about an hour's
start, and with ordinary luck we ought to run him down by daybreak at
the very----”
“Hist!” said Jack suddenly; “there's some one at the skylight again.
Wait a minute--I'll soon put an end to his spying.”
Clearing the ladder at a bound, he emerged upon the deck before the
listener was aware of his approach. The spy was actually bending over
the open skylight. He was there for no good or friendly purpose--that
was evident.
“You're not after water this time, anyhow,” said Jack, hauling him off
the cabin with scant ceremony. “Didn't I tell you to go forward?
You'll obey orders next time, perhaps;” and drawing off, he felled him
to the deck with a single blow.
The lascar picked himself up and scuttled forward, muttering curses
beneath his breath.
“There,” said Jack quietly, as he rejoined those below, “we'll not
be spied upon again to-night, I fancy. Now, Don, for the rest of your
plan.”
“That's soon told. I propose that we follow the thief at once. The only
difficulty will be to get on his track.”
“Marster going take me?” queried Puggles anxiously.
“Why, of course,” said Don; “we couldn't manage without you, Pug.”
“Then,” said Puggles, grinning, “me soon putting on track; me knowing
place Salambo sleeping plenty nights.”
“Good; there's something in that,” said Don. “He is sure to go straight
to his den on leaving the schooner, though it's hardly likely he'll
remain there to sleep. Still, he might. 'Twill give us a clue to his
whereabouts, at all events. And now, Jack, ready's the word.”
No time was to be lost, and quietly and quickly their preparations were
completed. These were by no means extensive: they fully expected to
return to the schooner by break of day. A revolver, half-a-dozen rounds
of ammunition, and a few rupees-disposed in their pockets, they stole
noiselessly on deck. The night was one of breathless calm, and the watch
lay stretched upon their backs, snoring away the sultry hours of duty.
Save our three adventurers, not a living thing was astir; not a sound
broke the stillness of the night; and high overhead the moon floated in
ghostly splendour.
The boat, as it chanced, lay on that side of the schooner farthest
from the shore; and in order to shape their course for the beach it was
necessary to round the vessel's bows. Puggles held the tiller-ropes, but
in doing this he miscalculated his distance, and ran the boat full tilt
against the schooners cable.
“Keep her off, Pug!” cried his master in suppressed, half-angry tones.
“Can't you see where you're steering?”
In the momentary confusion a figure appeared for a moment above the
schooner's bulwarks. Then a glittering object hurtled through the
moonlit air and struck the gun'le of the boat immediately abaft the
thwait on which Jack sat. Jack uttered a stifled cry and dropped his
oar.
“What's the matter?” said Don impatiently, as the boat swung clear of
the cable. “Pull, old fellow; we've no time to lose.”
“Better lose a little time than one's life,” muttered Jack through his
set teeth. “Look here!”
Turning in his seat Don saw, still quivering in the gun'le of the boat
where its point had stuck, a sailor's heavy sheath-knife. In its passage
it had slashed open the shoulder of Jack's coat, grazing the flesh so
closely as to draw blood--the first shed in the quest of the golden
pearl.
Jack passed it off with an air of indifference.
“A mere scratch,” said he; “but a close shave all the same. The work
of that treacherous lascar I knocked down a while back. Saw his ugly
head-piece above the rail just now, don't you know. There's no time to
pay him out now, but if ever he interferes with me again he'll get his
knife back, anyhow!” and wrenching the formidable weapon free of the
plank, he thrust it into his belt and again bent to his oar.
“If that fellow's an accomplice of the shark-charmer, it looks as though
they meant business,” commented Don, seconding his companion's stroke.
“So do we, if it comes to that,” was Jacks significant retort,
For some time they pulled in silence, the creaking of the oars in the
rowlocks and the soft purling of the water about the boat's prow being
the only sounds audible. When within a couple of hundred yards of the
gleaming surfline, Don suddenly broke the silence.
“Hold hard, Jack! Do you make out anything astern there--anything black
on the water?”
“Nothing,” said Jack, after a moment's hesitation.
“It's gone now, but I saw it quite plainly. Struck me it looked like a
man's head. Must have been a dugong.”
“Or the lascar,” suggested Jack. “He's safe to follow us if he's an
accomplice.”
“Hardly safe with so many sharks about,” rejoined Don, “unless his
master has provided him with an extra potent charm.”
Five minutes later, the boat having meanwhile been beached upon the
deserted sands, Puggles was rapidly “pointing” for the bazaar, where the
shark-charmer slept o' nights. That they should find him there to-night,
however, was almost too much to hope. He had probably “made tracks” with
all speed after securing the pearls. All the same, a visit to the bazaar
might furnish some clue to his present whereabouts.
“Stop!” said Don, when within fifty yards of the spot. “The whole place
will be astir in two minutes if we show ourselves, Jack. We'd better
send Pug on ahead to reconnoitre while we wait here. Do you know the hut
he usually sleeps in, Pug?”
“Me finding with me eyes shut, sa'b.”
“Good! Now listen. Make your way to this hut as quietly as you can, and
ascertain whether he's there or not. If he's there, don't wake him, but
come back here as fast as your legs can carry you. If he's not there,
try and find out where he's gone.”
“Put your cloth over your head so he won't recognise you, and say you've
come on business,” put in Jack. “Pretend you want a charm, or something
of that sort.”
“Not a bad idea,” assented Don. “You understand, Pug?”
“Me understanding, sa'b.”
“Then be off with you, sharp!”
Puggles promptly disappeared.
In the course of ten minutes he returned, accompanied by a native
muffled from head to heel in a blanket.
“Surely he can't have induced the old fellow to return with him!”
whispered Jack excitedly.
But in this surmise he was wrong. It was not the shark-charmer.
“Dis one bery nice black man; plenty talk got,” said Puggles, by way of
introduction, when he reached the spot where his master and Jack were
waiting. “Him telling shark-charmer no here; he going one village.”
“Just as I feared,” said Don. “How far is it to this village, Pug!”
“Him telling one two legs,” replied Puggles, meaning leagues. “Village
'long shore; marster giving one rupee, dis'black man showing way.”
Without further parley the rupee was transferred from Don's pocket to
the stranger's outstretched palm, and off they started. After following
the beach for about a mile, their guide turned his back upon the sea and
struck inland, leading them a tortuous course amid ghostly, interminable
sand-hills, where the mournful sighing of the night-wind through the
tall silver-grass, and the howling of predatory jackals, added to the
weird loneliness of the scene. A blurred furrow in the yielding sand
formed the only footpath. So slow was their progress that when at last
the guide pointed out the village a halfmile ahead, Don, on consulting
his watch, found it to be three o'clock. They had wasted fully two hours
in walking six miles.
While they were still some little distance short of the village, the
guide stopped, and pointing out a pool of water which shone like a boss
of polished silver amid the sand-hills, asked leave to go and slake his
thirst. His request granted, he disappeared amid the dunes.
“Do you know,” said Jack, while they were impatiently awaiting his
return, “I fancy I've seen that fellow before, though I can't for the
life of me recall where.”
The guide not returning, they at length went in search of him. But Pug's
“bery nice black man” was nowhere to be seen.
“Looks as if he meant to leave us in the lurch,” Jack began, when a
shout of “Him here got, sa'b!” from Puggles, brought them back to the
footpath at a run.
The new-comer, however, was not the missing guide, but a stranger. He
had been belated at the bazaar, he told them, and was now making his
way home to the village close by. In answer to inquiries concerning the
shark-charmer, he imparted a startling piece of news.
The shark-charmer had indeed taken his departure from the bazaar,
but not to this village. He had, the stranger asserted, embarked in a
coasting vessel bound for the opposite side of the Strait.
Don uttered an exclamation of impatience and dismay.
“He will be safe on the Madras coast by daybreak!” he cried.
“Him there coming from, sa'b,” put in Puggles.
“And that lying guide,” added Jack savagely, “was an accomplice, left
behind to throw us off the scent. Don't you remember you saw some one
swimming after the boat? I'll lay any odds 'twas the lascar. He got
to the bazaar ahead of us--he could easily manage that, you know,
by running along the sands--muffled himself up so that I shouldn't
recognise him, and then led us on this fool's errand while his master
made off. Well, good-bye to the golden pearl!”
“Not a bit of it!” cried Don resolutely. “I, for one, shan't relinquish
the quest, come what may. Back we go to the schooner! Then, with the
governor's consent, we'll go further. Point, Pug!”
Jack seconding this proposal heartily, they rewarded the communicative
native, and with unflagging determination retraced their steps. By four
o'clock they had traversed something more than half the distance. The
dawn star was now high above the eastern horizon. A rosy flush in the
same quarter warned them that day was rapidly approaching. Suddenly, out
of the gray distance ahead, a dull booming sound floated to their ears.
“The schooner's signal gun!” exclaimed Don. “Why, it's too early yet
by a good hour for the boats to put out. What's the governor about, I
wonder?”
“There it goes again!” cried Jack. “I never knew it to be fired twice of
a morning, did you?”
“Never,” said Don uneasily. “Come, let us get on!”
Off again at their best speed, until at length the heavy path was
exchanged for the smooth, hard sand of the beach. On this it was
possible to make better time, and by five o'clock they were within half
a mile or so of the bazaar. It was now daylight; but a sharp bend in the
coast-line, and the sand-hills which here rose steeply from the beach
on their left, as yet concealed both the landing-place and the schooner
from view.
Puggles, who in spite of his shortness of limb had throughout maintained
the lead by several rods, suddenly stopped, and fell to shouting and
gesticulating wildly. Breaking into a run, Don and Jack speedily came up
with him.
“Look, sa'b, look!” gasped Puggles, pointing down the coast with shaking
hand.
Far away on the horizon appeared the white canvas of a vessel bowling
along before the fresh land breeze, with a fleet of fishing-boats
spreading their fustian-hued wings in her wake.
The spot where our adventurers had last seen the schooner at anchor was
deserted. She was gone!