I may truly say that when I saw the doleful state of the poor wretch,
and how he lay there without so much as a single soul to moisten his
lips or to give him a draught of cold water, I forgot mine own troubles
for the time being, and thought only of his pitiable condition.
I sometimes misdoubt whether I should have felt grieved for such a
wicked and bloody man, who had for years done nothing but commit the
most dreadful crimes, such as murther and piracy and the like, yet
seeing him thus prostrated, lying helpless, and deserted by all his
kind, I could not help my bowels being stirred by compassion; wherefore
I thought neither of the danger from his fever, nor of the many grievous
injuries which he had done, both to myself and to others, but only of
relieving his present distresses.
My first consideration was to make him more clean, wherefore I fetched
some water from a rivulet which I had noticed flow nigh to that place,
and washed his hands and face, and so much of his body as seemed to me
fitting. Then I gathered some fresh palm-leaves, and covered them over
with a bit of sail which I found rolled up in the back part of the hut,
and having thus made thereof a clean and comfortable bed, I carried the
poor wretch thither and laid him upon it.
As I had eaten nothing that morning, I went back into the town and
bought a lump of meat and some fresh fruit, and then back again to the
hut. I noticed here and there some that stood and looked after me,
though they said nothing to me, nor molested me in any manner. I
afterwards found that my guide had so spread the news of my going to
England's hut that many knew it, and accredited me with being a friend
of the pirate's, and even a partaker in his wicked and nefarious deeds.
Whether it was from this or from fear of contagion of the fever I know
not, but certain it is I was never once molested so long as I was upon
that island.
When I returned to the hut it seemed to me that the sick man had less
fever than when I left him, which perhaps happened from the refreshment
of the washing that I had given him, though it might have been that the
crisis of his distemper had arrived, and that his complaint had now
lessened in its intensity.
Some time after mid-day I was sitting beside the sick man, fanning both
him and myself, for though the nights were cool at this season of the
year, the middle of the day was both exceeding hot and sultry. He had
ceased in his incessant and continuous muttering and talking, and was
now lying quite silent, though breathing short and quick with the
fever. Suddenly he spoke. "Who are you?" said he, in a quick, sharp
voice.
I thought at first he was still rambling in his mind, but when I looked
at him I saw that his bloodshot eyes were fixed upon me. I placed my
hand upon his brow, and though still very hot, I fancied that the skin
was not so dry nor so hard as it had been.
"Who are you?" said he again in the same tone.
"There," said I, "lie still and rest. You have been mightily sick."
"Is it Jack Mackra?" said he.
"Yes," said I.
"And what do you do here?" said he.
"I am come to care for you just now," said I; "but now rest quietly, for
I will not answer one single question more, and that I promise you."
He did not seek to speak again, but lay quite still, as though
meditating; and presently, as I sat fanning him, I saw him close his
eyes, and after a while, by his deep and regular breathing, knew that he
was asleep, and that his fever had turned.
As I remember all the circumstances concerning these things, I think
that up to this time I had given little if any thought concerning the
treasure of which I had been in quest; but now, seeing the sick man
fairly asleep, and in what seemed to me a fair way to mend, my mind went
instantly back to it again, for I felt well assured that I should find
it or some signs of it about the place where I then was.
It is not needful to recount all the manner in which I prosecuted my
search for the gem, for not only did I examine every scrap of paper
about the place in hopes of finding some matter concerning it, but I
sounded the walls, and pierced wellnigh every inch of the dirt floor
with a sharpened stick of wood, but found not one single sign of it
anywhere. I even searched in the pockets of the breeches which the sick
man wore, and of his coat and waistcoat, which hung against the wall,
but discovered nothing to reward my search--all that I found there being
a book of needles and thread, a tailor's thimble, a great piece of
tobacco, such as seafaring men always carry with them, a ball of yarn
about half the bigness of an orange, and a hasp-knife.
I cannot tell the bitter disappointment that took possession of me when
my search proved to be of so little avail; for I had felt so sure of
finding the jewel or some traces of it, and had felt so sure of being
able to secure it again, that I could not bear to give up my search, but
continued it after every hope had expired.
When I was at last compelled to acknowledge to myself that I had failed,
I fell into a most unreasonable rage at the poor, helpless,
fever-stricken wretch, though I had but just now been doing all that lay
in my power to aid him and to help him in his trouble and his sickness.
"Why should I not leave him to rot where he is?" I cried, in my anger;
"why should I continue to succor one who has done so much to injure me,
and to rob me of all usefulness and honor in this world?" I ran out of
the cabin, and up and down, as one distracted, hardly knowing whither I
went. But by-and-by it was shown me what was right with more clearness,
and that I should not desert the poor and helpless wretch in his hour of
need: wherefore I went back to the hut and fell to work making a broth
for him against he should awake, for I saw that the fever was broken,
and that he was like to get well.
I did not give over my search for the stone in one day, nor two, nor
three, but continued it whenever the opportunity offered and the pirate
was asleep, but with as little success as at first, though I hunted
everywhere. As for Captain England himself, he began to mend from the
very day upon which I came, for he awoke from his first sleep with his
fever nigh gone, and all the madness cleared away from his head; but he
never once, for a long while, spoke of the strangeness of my caring for
him in his sickness, nor how I came to be there, nor of my reasons for
coming. Nevertheless, from where he lay he followed me with his eyes in
all my motions whenever I was moving about the hut.
One day, however, after I had been there a little over a week, against
which time he was able to lie in a rude hammock, which I had slung up in
front of the door, he asked me of a sudden if any of his cronies had
lent a hand at nursing him when he was sick, and I told him no.
"And how came you to undertake it?" says he.
"Why," said I, "I was here on business, and found you lying nigh dead in
this place."
He looked at me for a little while in a mightily strange way, and then
suddenly burst into a great loud laugh. After that he lay still for a
while, watching me, but presently he spoke again.
"And did you find it?" says he.
"Find what?" I asked, after a bit, for I was struck all aback by the
question, and could not at first find one word to say. But he only burst
out laughing again. "Why," says he, "you psalm-singing, Bible-reading,
straitlaced Puritan skippers are as keen as a sail-needle; you'll come
prying about in a man's house looking for what you would like to find,
and all under pretence of doing an act of humanity, but after all you
find an honest devil of a pirate is a match for you."
I made no answer to this, but my heart sank within me; for I perceived,
what I might have known before, that he had observed the object of my
coming thither.
He soon became strong enough to move about the place a little, and from
that time I noticed a great change in him, and that he seemed to regard
me in a very evil way. One evening when I came into the hut, after an
absence in the town, I saw that he had taken down one of his pistols
from the wall, and was loading it and picking the flint. He kept that
pistol by him for a couple of days, and was forever fingering it,
cocking it, and then lowering the hammer again.
I do not know why he did not shoot me through the brains at this time;
for I verily believe that he had it upon his mind to do so, and that
more than once. And now, in looking back upon the business, it appears
to me to be little less than a miracle that I came forth from this
adventure with my life. Yet had I certainly known that death was waiting
upon me, I doubt that I should have left that place; for in truth, now
that I had escaped from the _Lavinia_, as above narrated, I had nowhere
else to go, nor could I ever show my face in England or amongst my own
people again. Thus matters stood until one morning the whole business
came to an end so suddenly and so unexpectedly that for a long while I
felt as though all might be a dream, from which I should soon awake.
We were sitting together silently, he in a very moody and bitter humor.
He had his pistol lying across his knees, as he used to do at that time.
Suddenly he turned to me as though in a fit of rage. "Why do you stay
about this accursed fever hole?" cried he; "what do you want here, with
your saintly face and your godly airs?"
"I stay here," said I, bitterly, "because I have nowhere else to go."
"And what do you want?" said he.
"That you know," said I, "as well as I myself."
"And do you think," said he, "that I will give it to you?"
"No," said I, "that I do not."
"Look 'ee, Jack Mackra," said he, very slowly, "you are the only man
hereabouts who knows anything of that red pebble" (here he raised his
pistol and aimed it directly at my bosom); "why shouldn't I shoot you
down like a dog, and be done with you forever? I've shot many a better
man than you for less than this."
I felt every nerve thrill as I beheld the pistol set against my breast,
and his cruel, wicked eyes behind the barrel; but I steeled myself to
stand steadily and to face it.
"You may shoot if you choose, Edward England," said I, "for I have
nothing more to live for. I have lost my honor and all except my life
through you, and you might as well take that as the rest."
He withdrew the pistol, and sat regarding me for a while with a most
baleful look, and for a time I do believe that my life hung in the
balance with the weight of a feather to move it either way. Suddenly he
thrust his hand into his bosom and drew forth the ball of yarn which I
had observed amongst other things in his pocket. He flung it at me with
all his might, with a great cry as though of rage and of anguish. "Take
it," he roared, "and may the devil go with you! And now away from here,
and be quick about it, or I will put a bullet through your head even
yet."
I knew as quick as lightning what it was that was wrapped in the ball of
yarn, and leaping forward I snatched it up and ran as fast as I was able
away from that place. I heard another roar, and at the same time the
shot of a pistol and the whiz of a bullet, and my hat went spinning off
before me as though twitched from off my head. I did not tarry to pick
it up, but ran on without stopping: but even yet, to this day, I cannot
tell whether Edward England missed me through purpose or through the
trembling of weakness; for he was a dead-shot, and I myself once saw him
snap the stem of a wineglass with a pistol bullet at an ordinary in
Jamaica. As for me, the whole thing had happened so quickly and so
unexpectedly that I had no time either for joy or exultation, but
continued to run on bareheaded as though bereft of my wits; for I knew I
held in my hand not only the great ruby, but also my honor and all that
was dear to me in my life.
But although England had so freely given me the stone, I knew that I
must remain in that place no longer. I still had between five and six
guineas left of the money which I had brought ashore with me when I left
the _Lavinia_. With this I hired a French fisherman to transport me to
Madagascar, where I hoped to be able to work my passage either to Europe
or back to the East Indies.
As fortune would have it, we fell in with an English bark, the
_Kensington_, bound for Calcut, off the north coast of that land, and I
secured a berth aboard of her, shipping as an ordinary seaman; for I had
no mind to tell my name, and so be forced to disclose the secret of the
great treasure which I had with me. After arriving at Calcut I was
fortunate enough to be able to find a vessel ready to sail for Bombay,
whereon I secured a berth, and so arrived safe at that place about the
middle of March.
I had unrolled the ball of yarn and looked at the stone so soon as I had
been able to do so after getting it into my possession. Then, finding
that it was safe and unhurt, as I had seen it last, I had rolled it up
again, for I could perceive that there was no better hiding-place for it
than the one the cunning pirate had provided. So for all this last
voyage I had carried a fortune of three hundred and fifty thousand
pounds in my pocket, wrapped up in a ball of yarn.
* * * * *
It was early in the morning when we arrived at Bombay, and so soon as I
was able I disclosed my name and condition to the captain under whom I
had sailed, and contrived to impress him with the importance of my
commission, without disclosing anything to him in regard to the stone.
He was very complacent to me, and would have had me dress myself in a
more fitting manner, and in some of his own clothes, for I was clad no
better than the other seamen with whom I had consociated for all this
time; but I was too impatient to delay my going ashore for one moment
longer than was needful, so he kindly sent me off without any further
stay.
I went straight to the Residency, and though the attendants would have
stayed me, I so insisted, both with words and with force, that they were
constrained to show me directly into the presence of the Governor.
I found him seated with Mistress Pamela at breakfast, beneath the shade
of a wide veranda overlooking a beautiful and luxuriant garden. The
Governor arose as I came forward, looking very much surprised at my
boldness in so forcing my presence upon his privacy. As for Mistress
Pamela, I beheld her eyes grow wide and her face as white as marble, and
thereby knew that she had recognized me upon the instant.
I came direct to the table, and drawing forth the jewel, still wrapped
in the yarn (for my agitation had been so great that I had not thought
to unroll the covering from the stone), I laid it upon the table, with
my hands trembling as though with an ague.
"What does all this mean?" cried the Governor. "Who are you, and what do
you want?" For I was mightily changed in my appearance by the rough life
through which I had passed, and he did not recognize me.
But I only pointed to the ball of yarn. "Open it," I cried; "for God's
sake, open it!"
I saw a sudden light come into Mistress Pamela's eyes. She clasped her
hands, and repeated after me, "Open it, open it!" The Governor himself
seemed to be impressed by our emotion; for, instead of troubling himself
to unwind the yarn, he snatched up a bread-knife and cut through the
strands, so that they fell apart, and the jewel rolled out upon the
white linen table-cover.
The Governor gazed upon it as though thunderstruck. Presently he slowly
raised his eyes and looked at me. "What is this?" said he.
In the mean time I had somewhat recovered from my excessive emotion.
"Sir," said I, "it is the Rose of Paradise."
"And you?"
"I am Captain John Mackra."
The Governor grasped my hand, and shook it most warmly. "Sir," said he,
"Captain Mackra, I am vastly delighted to find you such a man as my
niece has always maintained you to be. The little rebel has led me a
most disturbed and disquieted life ever since I was constrained to order
you back to England under restraint. I now leave you a captive in her
hands, trusting to her to give you a famous dish of tea, whilst I go and
consign this great treasure to some place of safe-keeping. I shall soon
return, for I am most impatient to hear your narrative of those events
which led to the recovery of this stone."
So saying, he turned and left us, bearing the Rose of Paradise with him,
and I sat down to a dish of tea with Mistress Pamela.
When the Governor returned he had first to listen to other matters than
those concerning the Rose of Paradise; for, with his consent, Pamela
Boon had promised to be my wife.