He jumped to our signal locker, picked out a red-and-white flag, tore
off the white part like a maniac, bent it to the halyard, and hoisted it
to our little yardarm, where it drooped in the heated air. Seizing a
pair of glasses he watched the shore as though he expected Jassim to
come paddling out. But Jassim did not come, and in his nervous
condition Mr. Scarlett worked himself into a terrible state of agitation
lest he had disappeared, and was, even now, preparing violent measures
to regain the bracelet.
I think that before Nicholson went away he had taken the precaution of
giving him a very strong sleeping-draught, because he eventually became
calmer and went to sleep.
When he was asleep I took the bracelet away from him and locked it in my
drawer, hoping most devoutly that Jassim would soon come and claim it;
and next morning, without saying anything to him, I took the precaution
of sending the bracelet across to the _Intrepid_, so that the sight of
it should not upset him, and that Jassim, if he came, should not be able
to terrorize him into giving it away before the money was produced.
Jassim did come that day, and his manner was mysterious and threatening;
nor did I like the look in his eyes when Mr. Scarlett bared his arm and
he realized that the bracelet had disappeared and that the gunner had
not now the fear of taking it off.
Jassim evidently wanted to get rid of me; but I would not go.
"When he puts down his twenty thousand rupees he shall have it, not
before," I told Mr. Scarlett. "The bracelet is not on board, and I shall
not tell you where it is. Never you mind where it is." I stopped him
enquiring. "You tell him to bring his money and he shall have it."
As I imagined, Jassim could not produce the money, nor do I think that
he ever intended doing so, hoping all along so to work on the gunner's
fears that he could get it for nothing. The two of them began talking
very excitedly, waving their arms and thumping the little table. From
the fierce looks which Jassim occasionally turned on me I was evidently
being talked about, and was not very popular in that quarter.
I saw that hateful muddy colour spread over Mr. Scarlett's face and his
eyes narrow with fear. He turned to me, hardly able to speak.
"For God's sake, sir, give up the wretched thing," he stuttered. "Tell
me where it is and I will give it him. I don't want any of his money;
all I want is to be quit of it."
"When you've got your money, not before," I said.
"But, sir, remember we are not in England. He swears he'll kill you;
that if you land he will kill you; if you don't he'll find other ways of
killing you. He won't touch me, because I gave his wife that drink of
water. But, sir, it's different with you."
"I gave his son water a month ago," I said, with a sudden inspiration.
Mr. Scarlett was too much agitated to enquire when or where. He turned
to Jassim and asked him something. Jassim replied bitterly.
"He says you shot him, and he died; the drink of water made no
difference. You don't know these people out here," he implored. "Don't
run any risk. I don't want the money, indeed I don't."
Jassim had risen to his feet and stood not three feet from me, glaring
at me as if he would willingly kill me then and there. I saw in his
eyes that what Mr. Scarlett had said was true. I don't know what made
me do it--I certainly never thought, and regretted it immediately
afterwards--but I suddenly locked my arms round him, and before he could
make a move I had tripped him over the railings and dropped him
overboard.
The boat which had brought him off was close there, and he scrambled on
board like a drowned rat, sat down in the stern-sheets, folded his
clinging wet burnous round him, and, without deigning to turn his head
in our direction, was paddled ashore.
"You've done it now, sir," Mr. Scarlett moaned, burying his face in his
hands and sprawling across the table. "For God's sake let's get away
from Muscat."
I tried to pacify him by pointing out that if Jassim killed me he would
lose all chance of finding the snake. "He won't be such a fool as
that," I said.
"He'll want revenge--revenge more than the snake--now, sir," Mr.
Scarlett groaned.
There are times in plenty in most men's lives when, either through anger
or stubbornness, danger does not influence them. This was a case in
point. I had suffered so much from Jassim and his wretched snake that
his threats simply stiffened my back to such an extent that I much
preferred to be killed than give in. The mail steamer was leaving next
day so to make certain that Jassim should not get it, I went aboard the
_Intrepid_, told Popple Opstein what had happened, and after one last
look at the bracelet we packed it up and sent it home to my bankers in
London. At any rate, whatever happened to me (and I did not really
believe that anything would happen) Jassim should never have it, and
later on we might be able to negotiate for the reward of thirty thousand
rupees with the rightful owner, the Khan of Khamia himself.
I breathed more freely when the mail steamer left the harbour, and not
until it had gone did I tell Mr. Scarlett what I had done.
He and I stood watching till she disappeared behind the rocks at the
entrance, and, drawing a deep breath of relief, he said:
"It seems wonderful, sir; don't it, sir? Here for thirteen years it's
been part and parcel of me, and now I'm finished with it. I never want
to set eyes on the beastly thing again."
From that moment Mr. Scarlett began very rapidly to mend. He grew
stouter, his eyes lost their hunted look, and though he worried much
about the risks I was running, still it is a different thing to worry
about other people's risks from worrying about one's own, and he rapidly
recovered his spirits.
I made light of any danger and took no precaution whatever, until one
night, shortly afterwards, I was awakened by the noise of a scuffle and
a splash in the water alongside.
"What's that?" I sang out, springing up.
Webster answered out of the darkness: "It's all right, sir. It's that
Arab chap you hove overboard the other day. He was trying to creep on
board over the stern. I spotted him, sir, and popped him back into the
'ditch'."
Another day I was bathing with the _Intrepids_, and we were skylarking
afterwards on the beach, when a bullet hit the sand close to me and we
heard the report of a revolver. Spotting someone moving behind a rock
we all darted in that direction, but when we reached it saw no one.
I don't mind saying that those two things happening made me extremely
nervous, and made me stick pretty close to the "_B.A._".
I could now realize what mental agony Mr. Scarlett had suffered, and
though perhaps I did not show it as much I felt it most acutely. The
boot was on the other foot now with a vengeance, and it was I who, when
it grew dark, looked longingly at the little hot oven of a cabin and
felt a great temptation to lock myself in until daylight.
A few days after the revolver-shot incident Mr. Scarlett astonished me
by asking leave to go ashore for a walk in Muscat itself. Remember that
he had not dared to land since he and I had had that first walk there
and had run across Jassim. Away he went, taking Jaffa and Webster with
him, and they did not return on board until long after I had finished
dinner.
Mr. Scarlett was chuckling--I had never seen him so pleased with
himself--Jaffa had a contented smile on his face, and Webster so far
forgot himself as to wink at me.
"Hallo, what have you been doing?" I asked.
"He's all right, sir," the gunner said, rubbing his hands. "Mr. Jassim
won't be worrying you again for some time."
"What has happened?" I asked eagerly. "Have you killed him?"
"Well, sir, not exactly, but we just happened to meet him--after we'd
been hunting round for him all the afternoon--and we just happened to
have a bit of a row, and there just happened to be a couple of the
Sultan's soldiers handy. I made a bobbery, Jaffa and I calling out that
he had stolen money from us, and off they took him up there," and Mr.
Scarlett jerked his thumb towards the big fort on the right, whose
towers and battlemented walls showed out in the moonlight over our
heads. "There he'll stay, sir, as long as we like to pay for his keep.
It cost us five chips to the soldiers and another twenty to the sheikh
in charge of the fort. It was well worth it. Don't you think so, sir?
So long as we pay the governor of that fort or jail, call it what you
like, five rupees a day he'll keep him there and feed him," Mr. Scarlett
said, emphasizing the "feed him" as if that made his action quite
meritorious.
Well, it was a very "low-down" game to play, and if I had known they
were going to play it I should have put a "stopper" on it; but now the
man was under lock and key it was so much a relief that I had not the
honest courage to blame the gunner or take steps to have Jassim set
free.
After that Mr. Scarlett visited the jail nearly every day, to assure
himself that Jassim was still there; nor was he content until he had
peered through a grating overlooking the court-yard in which untried
prisoners were kept, and seen him. He seemed to take a fiendish delight
in those visits, and I must say that I fully shared his satisfaction,
for, to me, the resulting comfort and relief from anxiety was cheap at
the price--only five rupees a day. It may have been a cowardly,
despicable thing to do, but I don't believe that anyone placed in the
same circumstances would have done otherwise.
We had now been very nearly a month at Muscat, and the artificers from
the _Intrepid_ had not quite finished my engine-room defects, when one
morning, four or five days after Jassim had been secured, an urgent
signal came from Commander Duckworth that he wanted to see me at once.
I had a presentiment that something had gone wrong at Jask.
I was right. As I went into his cabin the Commander sang out: "You'll
have to go across to Jask after all, and as soon as ever you are ready.
There's more trouble there. One of the European telegraph people has
been killed somewhere along the coast by a marauding lot of brigands who
have cut the wire again. Fisher dare not send his people to repair it
without an escort, so you had better go across and see what you can do.
When can you start?"
"By midnight, sir," I told him, having taken the precaution of finding
out before I left the "_B.A._".
"Right you are! Off you go! I don't fancy that there is anything
serious. If there is you can telegraph for me and I will bring the
_Intrepid_ along. Good-bye! Good luck!"
What a grand chap he was! I left his cabin feeling that he had not
hampered me with any restrictions whatsoever, and had placed entire
confidence in my judgment. If only senior officers would always treat
their juniors in that way they would not so often have to grumble at the
way they are served--and, what is more important still--they would make
more efficient officers of them.