BY GOOD HAP I DISCOVER A FRESH PIECE OF VILLAINY.
I say I fell asleep the happiest of men, with sweet, delightful thoughts
of that dear creature who lay separated from me but by the thickness of
a few paneled boards; yet were my senses not so completely lulled to
forgetfulness but that they were quick to take alarm at that which
menaced her security, for suddenly I awoke, hearing a sound at that door
which opened to the deck which I had, as aforesaid, made fast on the
inner side.
Sitting bolt upright I could see naught, for the darkness was
impenetrable; but it was enough that I had ears to know some one was
trying the door. Slowly I heard the latch grating as it was lifted in
the catch, and then the door creak as it was pressed from without; but,
thanks be to God, the bolt held firm. There was no light on the deck, or
I should have caught some glimmer through the silk blinds of the
windows; I could see no more than if I had been stone blind. And the
only other sound I heard was a sweeping down of rain upon the deck
overhead. Presently the latch fell again, as my strained hearing could
well perceive, and then there was a pause of some minutes, when again
the latch was lifted slowly, and the door gave a smart crack under the
pressure against it.
At the first sound I had started to my feet and opened my jack-knife;
and thus I stood all the while this attempt was making, with my hair on
end and my tongue cleaving to my gullet in a terrible fear, not of the
mischief that might befall me, but that in such darkness I might fail to
kill him who would harm Lady Biddy.
The latch fell for the second time, and there was no further attempt to
open the door, but for a long while I stood there with my knife clenched
in my hand.
When I came to reason on this attempt, I concluded that Rodrigues had no
hand in it, for it was not his manner to go that way to work, but rather
some villain of his crew; whosoever it was, that bolt saved his life for
the time, for I do believe that had he been powerful as Hercules, I
should have rent him to pieces before he set foot in the chamber where
Lady Biddy lay.
I slept no more that night, you may be sure, nor did I deem it safe to
put up my knife until the windows in the gallery becoming faintly
visible showed that day was at hand. And now, feeling there was no
further danger for the present, I opened the little gallery door, and
creeping out into the rain, made a shift to cleanse myself somewhat, and
set my hair in order, using my fingers for a comb.
By the time this was done, and I had gone back into the cabin, and got
my coat, etc., our common safety demanded that I should arouse Lady
Biddy, which I did by scratching gently against the partition as we had
arranged overnight, and she replied by scratching the wainscot on her
side. When she was dressed she came out from her room, and I saw the
upper part of her graceful figure and her small head, revealed against
the light, now pretty well advanced, on the gallery windows. Then
stooping low that I might not likewise be revealed to any one peering
through the fore windows, I crept into the cabin she had left, which, to
my senses, was like any flower-garden with the fresh perfume of her
breath.
Anon she came back to that chamber, and giving me her hand told me (to
my questioning) that she had slept well; and I told her nothing of what
had happened in the night, that no trouble should disturb her repose if
it pleased Providence to keep us prisoners there another night.
Then we fell to discoursing (very low) as to our conduct during the day.
With reluctance I advised her to keep in the outer chamber, that
Rodrigues might suspect nothing, owning that for our deliverance I saw
no better help than to be guided by circumstances as they arose.
She made no objection to this counsel. "But," says she, "What shall I do
if that villain comes to me?" (meaning Rodrigues.)
To this I replied (though it went against the grain), that whilst he
behaved civilly she would do well to tolerate his visits and listen to
what he said. "For," says I, "though you hold the door, and exclude him
for a minute, he can, if he will, burst it open, and by thus bringing
about one act of violence may you lead to another. To force we can only
oppose force, and his power is out of all proportion to ours; wherefore
it behoves us to use such strategy as we may, for only thus can we live
to take advantage of a better opportunity."
"You are right," says she, with such submissiveness in her voice as I
had never expected to hear. "I will do as you bid me. But should he
overstep the bounds of civility?"
"Then," says I, grinding my teeth, "be sure that, whatever may
afterwards befall, he shall die."
Soon after this the boy raps at the outer door, and brings in Lady
Biddy's breakfast. Having set it on the table and placed a chair for her
very orderly, he moves as if he would go into the inner cabin, when Lady
Biddy, catching him quickly by the arm, cries:
"Where are you going, child? What do you want in there?"
"Why, madam," says he, "I am but going to make your bed, and set your
cabin in order, as my master bade me."
"Nay," says she, "I can do all there is to be done myself."
With that she leads the boy to the door and sends him away; so was I
again saved from discovery.
To make sure that no one was watching her, Lady Biddy pulled up the
blinds in the fore windows, and finding she was unobserved, this kind
soul, even before she tasted a morsel herself, whips a portion of her
victuals into a dish and brings it to me for my comfort, and sure no
food was ever so seasoned to excite the appetite as this to which her
kindness gave its savor.
As she brought the dish to me, so she took it away, and at the same time
a book from the store of her goods which Rodrigues had caused to be
brought into the cabin.
Seating herself on the sofett, she disposed herself to read, yet with
little ability to distract her thoughts, for every moment she expected
to see Rodrigues; and while she was thus employed, the boy comes to take
away the dishes, etc., and this being done and the crumbs swept up, he
again crosses towards the inner cabin. Whereupon, in a terrible taking,
Lady Biddy, starting up once more, checks him--
"Why will you persever in entering my chamber?" cries she, "when I tell
you I will do all that is necessary there?"
"'Tis no fault of mine," says the child. "My master told me to fetch
some clothes of his from the chest, and I must do his bidding."
"Tell me what you need and I will get it," says Lady Biddy, going to the
betwixt door; and then seeing at a glance that I had concealed myself,
she adds, in a tone of indifference, "Nay, fetch them yourself," and so
goes back with her book to the sofett.
I had crept to my old hiding-place under the cot when the boy first came
into the next cabin, for fear of accident, and now, as I lay there, I
could see all that he did. First of all, he went to the chest and duly
laid out a suit of clothes; then taking a quick glance through the
half-open door to make sure Lady Biddy was not observing him, he turns
about, and going to one corner of the cabin, strips up the carpet, does
something to the boards (which I could not see for my position), and
then as swiftly turns back the carpet to its place. This done, the
little villain shuts to the drawer of the chest with a bang, and goes
out of the room with the clothes in his arms, as if that had been all
his errand.
I lost no time in creeping out and crossing to that corner of the cabin
to see what that boy had been about; and, at a glance, I perceived the
whole business as I turned back the carpet. Here, in the boards, was a
hinged hatch or trap door with a ring whereby to raise it, and a bolt to
make it secure--ring, bolt, and hinge being sunk in the boards, flush,
and neatly done as any joiner's work. The bolt was slipped back so that
the trap could be opened from below, and I doubted not that this had
been the work of that little villain boy. Moreover, as I had concluded
that he who tried the door in the night was not Rodrigues, so I surmised
that this undoing of the hatch was not of his ordering (since there was
no reason for his going about in this fashion), but rather the
independent measures of the boy to get into the cabin for pilfering
purposes, or of some one of the crew who had won over the boy to his
will for more villainous purpose. For the present I contented myself
with shooting back the bolt, returning the carpet to its place, and
getting back to my hiding-place under the cot.