PLANNING THE PIRATE’S CAPTURE.
“But all this,” said Kane, “does not track the fellow across the briny.”
“I am coming to that.”
“You figure that he has taken her—or is taking her—to Anjou?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“In the first place, Kane, he must have decided, in his own mind, that
this trip of his across the ocean, with Bessie as a passenger on the
_Shadow_, is his last and only chance.”
“I should say so.”
“And at the end of that voyage lies his fate.”
“Humph! Well?”
“Before he decided to take the terrible risk of capturing Bessie and
carrying her away as his prisoner, he must have made up his mind that all
outlawry, save that one act upon which his mind was resolved, must be a
thing of the past.”
“Perhaps so. Who knows?”
“I think I know. I think I am putting myself in the place of that man.
‘Put yourself in his place’ is a pretty good maxim, when you wish to get
at the real inwardness of an act committed by another.”
“I believe that. Go on, please.”
“When he got away with the _Shadow_ and resolved to capture Bessie, he
figuratively took the bit in his teeth.”
“I should say he did.”
“But you must not forget that he could not place himself in a worse
position than that in which he already found himself, so far as his
future and his desires were concerned. In short, old man, he has thought
it all over with great calmness, and, as calmly, he has selected—Bessie,
or death.”
“By Jove, Nick!”
“Without her, life has seemed to him not worth the living; and without
having first had an opportunity to explain things to her, as they really
were, death itself seemed almost impossible. Don’t you understand, that
if he had gone away somewhere and killed himself quietly, that all her
life Bessie would have thought of him—if she thought of him at all—as a
despicable scoundrel?”
“Well, she would have been pretty nearly right.”
“Granted; but not from his standpoint.”
“Well, then——”
“The other side of the picture which he saw was this: He could capture
her; he could take her, a captive, aboard the _Shadow_; he could keep
her there, a passenger, a guest, and an unwilling—or, perhaps, a
willing—listener to his plea. In either case, she would have heard it. In
either case, he would have had an opportunity to explain. In either case,
she would be compelled to listen to him, and in either case, she would in
the end think not so ill of him as she had thought. He believed that he
could prove to her, while she was aboard the pirate cruiser, that he was
not all bad; he believed that he could convince her that it was because
of true love for her that he had dared to do that thing; he believed that
there might be enough romance in her nature to induce her to listen to
him under such circumstances, where she would never have done so else; he
believed that there was a possibility that she might really love him, and
that love would triumph over all obstacles.
“But—and here is the crucial point—he believed that if he failed, that if
she refused utterly to listen to him, that is she scorned him, she would
at least be led to believe in the purity of his motives, and to think of
him after his death as one not so utterly bad as she had pictured him.”
“After his death?”
“Why, yes; for if my idea is at all correct, he means to kill himself at
the end of the voyage, if he finds that he cannot win her forgiveness
and her love. He is a Frenchman, remember; he is romantic; he has staked
his entire fortune, and his life, as well, upon this throw, and if he
loses, he will shrug his shoulders and put a bullet through his brains as
calmly as he stood upon the deck of the _Shadow_ and told you that if you
resisted him, he would shoot.”
“And so, you think——”
“I think—nay, I almost know, that he will take Bessie directly to
Anjou—to that château of his. I think he will treat her as an honored
guest. I believe that she will suffer no inconvenience, and, least of all
do I regard her as in personal danger. And at the end of the cruise of
the _Shadow_, I believe that if she so wills it, he will open wide the
way for her to go free.”
Kane was silent for a long time, as were the others; but at last the
millionaire raised his head again and spoke.
“Nick,” he said, “there is always a chance that you may be wrong, isn’t
there?”
“Yes.”
“Then let us look at both sides of this question.”
“Very well.”
“Suppose that you are all in the wrong?”
“Well?”
“Suppose that your conjectures as to Count Cadillac’s ultimate purpose
are wrong, and that he has no more idea of taking her to Anjou than you
have? We won’t depart from the original theme, that you believe he will
treat her square—for I agree with you about that silk-purse-and-sow’s-ear
business—but suppose that his intention is merely to keep her a prisoner
where she is, on board the _Shadow_, until such time as she will agree to
become his wife; eh?”
“Go ahead, Kane. You have not finished yet.”
“No; I haven’t. Suppose all that; eh? He can live by following up his
piratical profession, and the devil himself can’t catch him. If he is
pursued too hotly, he can go under water and stay there until the pursuit
has drawn off.”
“Granted. What more?”
“Well, there isn’t any more—at least, there isn’t much more. But suppose
all that, now, where would you look for him, in such a case?”
“That is quite a different question, Max.”
“I know it is; but we have got to answer it. You see, Nick, it goes
without saying that we start for Anjou at once. If he is going there with
her, he will arrive there before we could possibly do so ourselves, for
the _Shadow_ is one of the swiftest things I ever saw in the water.”
“She is that.”
“Well, if he is going there, he will be there already when we arrive. If
he is not going there, where will he be?”
“Somewhere at the opposite side of the world, most likely.”
“But where?”
“My dear fellow, I cannot answer that any more than you can.”
“Well, that is what we have got to consider—and just as sure as you are
sitting there, I don’t believe we will find him at his château. No man,
I don’t care a rap how much of a silk purse he happens to be, is going
to give up life, and hope, and everything else, without continuing the
struggle as long as there is a possibility of coming out winner.”
“That is quite true.”
“Well, then, the question comes down to this: If Cadillac does not take
Bessie to his château, where shall we look for them? But wait; you need
not reply to that now, for you have not had time to think about it, and
you are no more capable of answering it than I am, at the present moment.
I will change the question. How shall we look for them?”
“I had thought,” replied Nick slowly, “of taking passage on one of the
fast ocean liners for the other side, and hastening direct to Anjou; but
your last suggestion puts a different face upon it. There is another and
a better way.”
“Now, we are getting at it. What is the other and the better way?
Remember, I don’t care a picayune what it costs, even if it goes up into
the millions.”
“I know that; but I don’t think it will approach the millions.”
“What is it?”
“This: You and I will take the midnight train to Washington. In the
morning, early, we will call upon the President. We will explain the
situation to him, and unless I am greatly mistaken, he will find a way
to place the _Dolphin_ at our disposal at once. She is at the Washington
navy-yard now. I happen to know that. He will also direct the department
of state to cable all over the world to have the _Shadow_ intercepted,
wherever she may appear.”
“Now you’re talking.”
“In that way we will arrive at Anjou quicker than we could if we traveled
by a regular ocean liner, and so had to make part of the journey overland
after we arrived in France. We can go directly to his château, doubtless.
It will not be hard to find.”
“And say, Nick.”
“Yes.”
“It may be that he will have set Bess at liberty before we get there. We
may find that she has gone to Paris or London, and is there awaiting us,
after cabling the fact that she is safe and well.”
“It is possible.”
“Well, I was going to say this: If that should turn out to be the case,
what, then?”
“What, then?” replied Nick. “Why, then you may return to New York with
Bessie, if you like, but you can leave me behind, for I’ve got an
engagement to keep with Count Cadillac; and, Max, I’m going to keep it,
if I have to search over the whole world to find him in order to do it.
I’ve got several questions to ask him, and he’s got a few answers to
give. He has taken one step too far in this business for Nick Carter ever
to let up on him.”
“Bully for you, Nick! But, I say! Suppose—eh?—suppose we should find that
Bessie has forgiven him, and married him?”
For a moment the detective did not reply; but then, very quietly, he said:
“I think, Max, that we won’t try to cross any bridges until we get to
them.”