(The reader will be pleased to observe that, in pursuance of the plan
above indicated, I here begin a second part or chapter of my narrative,
the first dealing with our voyage out as far as the island of Juanna,
and matters of a kindred nature, whilst the following relates to an
entirely different subject, namely, the nature of the trust imposed upon
me, mention only of which has heretofore been made.)
I do not now nor ever have believed that Captain Leach had any other
designs in offering to execute my commission than that of seizing so
excellent an opportunity to see a strange country and people after a
long and tiresome voyage upon the sea. Nevertheless, my allowing him to
go was one of the greatest mistakes in all of my whole life, and cost
me dearly enough before I had redeemed it.
The expedition under him was gone for three days, at the end of which
time he returned, in company with a great canoe manned by a crew of
about twenty tall, strapping black fellows, and with two or three
sitting in the stern-sheets of the craft, bedecked with feathers and
beads, whom I knew to be chiefs or warriors.
In the _Cassandra's_ boat was a stranger who sat beside Captain Leach,
talking very gayly, and who I knew could be none other than Mr.
Longways, the Company's agent.
So soon as the _Cassandra's_ boat had come alongside he skipped up the
side like a monkey, and gave me a very civil bow immediately his feet
touched the deck, which I returned with all the gravity I was able to
command.
Mr. Longways was a lean, slim little man, and was dressed with great
care, and in the very latest fashion that he could obtain; from which,
and his polite, affected manners and grimaces, I perceived that he
rarely had the opportunity of coming upon board of a craft where there
were ladies as passengers.
After Mr. Longways came Captain Leach, and after him the three great,
tall, native chiefs, half naked, and with hair dressed after a most
strange, curious fashion. At first they would have prostrated themselves
at my feet, but I prevented them; whereupon they took my hand and set it
upon their heads, which was anything but pleasant, their hair being
thick with gums and greases.
I presently led the way to my cabin, the chiefs following close at our
heels, and Mr. Longways walking beside me, grimacing like a little old
monkey in a vastly affected manner. Nor could I forbear smiling to see
how he directed his observations towards the ladies, and more especially
Mistress Pamela, who stood at the rail of the deck above. Mr. Longways
carried in his hand a strong iron despatch-box, about the bigness of
those used by the runners at the Bank, and so soon as we had come into
my cabin he clapped it down upon the table with a great noise.
"There!" says he, fetching a deep sigh; "I, for one, am glad to be quit
of it."
"Why," says I, "Mr. Longways, is there then so much in the little
compass of that box?"
"Indeed yes," says he; "enough to make you and me rich men for our
lives."
"I wonder, then," says I, laughing, "that you should bring it so easily
to me, when you might have made off with it yourself, and no one the
wiser."
"No, no," says he, quite seriously, without taking my jest, and jerking
his head towards the black chiefs, who had squatted down upon their hams
nigh to the table--"No, no. Our friends yonder have had their eyes on me
sharply enough, though they do not understand one single word that we
are saying to one another."
While we had been conversing I had fetched out a decanter of port and
five glasses, and had poured out wine for all hands, which the black men
drank with as great pleasure as Mr. Longways and myself.
After Mr. Longways had finished, he smacked his lips and set down his
glass with a great air. "And now," says he, with a comical grimace of
vanity and self-importance, "let us to business without loss of more
time. First of all, I have to ask you, sir, do you know what all this
treasure is for?"
I told him yes; that Mr. Evans had informed me that it was as payment
for certain aid which the East India Company had rendered to the king of
that country.
"And how," says he, very slowly, and cocking his head upon one
side--"and how do you think our King Coffee is to make such payments? By
bills upon the Bank of Africa? No, no. The treasure is all in this box,
every farthing of it; and I, sir, have been chosen by the honorable East
India Company to have sole and entire charge of it for more than two
weeks past." Here he looked at me very hard, as though he thought I
would have made some remark upon what he had told me; but as I said
nothing he presently resumed his discourse, after his own fashion. "I
see," says he, "that you do not appreciate the magnitude of the trust
that hath been imposed upon me. I shall show you, sir." And without more
ado he fetched up a bunch of keys out of his pocket. He looked at them
one after another until he found one somewhat smaller than the rest, and
with very curiously wrought guards. "Look at this," says he; "there are
only three in the world like it. I hold one, King Coffee the other, and
the Governor of Bombay the third." So saying, he thrust the key into the
lock of the despatch-box. "Stop a bit, sir," said I, very seriously,
and laying my hand on his arm. "Have you very well considered what you
are doing? Mr. Evans, the Company's agent, said nothing to me concerning
the nature of the trust that was to be imposed upon me further than it
was of very great value; and without you have received instructions to
tell me further concerning this business, I much misdoubt that the
Company intended me to be further informed as to its nature."
"Why, look 'ee, Captain Mackra," says he, testily, "Tom Evans is one man
and I am another, and I tell you further that I am as important an agent
as he, even though he does live in London and I in this outrageous
heathen country. Even if I had not intended showing you this treasure
before, I would show it to you now, for I do not choose that anybody
should think that Tom Evans is a man of more importance than I." So
saying, and without more ado, he gave a quick turn to the key, and flung
back the lid of the box. I happened just then to glance at the three
chiefs, and saw that they were watching us as a cat watches at a
mouse-hole; but so soon as they saw me observing them they turned their
eyes away so quickly that I hardly felt sure that I had seen them.
Inside of the box was a great lot of dried palm-leaf fibre wrapped
around a ball of cotton, which Mr. Longways lifted very carefully and
gently. Opening this, he came upon a little roll of dressed skin like
the chamois-leather such as the jewellers and watch-makers use, and
which was tied all about very carefully with a stout cord of palm fibre.
Mr. Longways began laboriously to untie the knot in this cord, and,
though I cannot tell why, there was something about the whole business
that set my heart to beating very thickly and heavily within my breast.
Mr. Longways looked up under his brows at me with a very curious leer.
"Did you ever hear," says he, "of The Rose of Paradise?"
[Illustration: MR. LONGWAYS LOOKED UP UNDER HIS BROWN EYES AT ME WITH A
VERY CURIOUS LEER.]