Hume was immediately shown into a tiny box of a cabin and the door
locked upon him, an indignity that roused him to wrath, so that he
banged against the frail panels with his fist.
"Look here," said a deep voice from the alley, "if you don't stow that
sharp I'll clap you in irons."
"Leave him to me, Captain, and go on the bridge. Now, sir, will you
oblige me by keeping silence for a few hours?"
Frank recognised the speaker by the rich tones, and immediately was
pacified.
"If you wish it, I will; but please unlock the door."
"Give me your promise that you won't make any disturbance."
"I promise."
"Thank you." She turned the key, and then he heard the rustle of her
dress as she quickly moved away.
He stood looking at the handle for some moments, then sat on the bunk,
with the feeling strongly rooted that he was in for some dark
enterprise; but his mind dwelt less on this than on the stately figure
and beautiful face of this strange girl, whose strong character had been
so forcibly shown.
Who could she be, and what was she doing there--one woman with several
men, and men evidently lawless? Already he longed for the hour when he
could see her again, and once more hear her voice, and the remarkable
and sudden change in the steady current of his life troubled him not at
all.
But presently his natural caution overmastered the swift-born
infatuation which had threatened to make a slave of him, and he roused
himself to take a survey of the little cabin. This, though small,
contained two bunks, was plainly fitted and strongly built. The
port-hole, he noticed by the dim light, was protected by an inner sheet
of steel. This he unscrewed, and opening, too, the round glass, he
framed his face in the brass-rimmed circle. The boat was slipping along
down the dark river at medium speed, the regular beat of her engines
sounding very distinctly in the still night, and her track stretching in
a ghostly gleam, unbroken by any other craft. By craning his neck, he
noticed that she seemed very low in the water, and of unusual length,
and he was puzzled to place her in any category of cargo or passenger
steamers, finally coming to the conclusion that she was one of those
long, swift tugs he had sometimes seen ploughing up the river with a
string of coal barges in tow; a boat probably built for narrow channels,
and to pass under low bridges.
"She's not built for the ocean," he mused, "and when we get into the Bay
she'll play pitch-and-toss, I'll be bound."
Suddenly, quite near, Captain Pardoe spoke:
"Forrard, there!"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"Do you see the Hospital ship?"
"We'll pass her at the next bend, sir."
"Put the lights out as soon as you see her. Who have you got in the
bows?"
"Dick, the Owl," said the officer, with a slight laugh.
"That will do. Aft there, stand by the wheel."
"Ay, ay, sir," came in muffled reply.
"We won't steer her from the bridge, madam," said the Captain, "all the
lights must be out, and the orders passed by mouth."
"Do you think they'll challenge us?" spoke the young lady, her voice
sounding so near that Frank involuntarily drew back his head.
"They'll speak us, but we'll get through right enough. If there's any
trouble it'll be off Sheerness."
"Why there?"
"They'll wire to the coastguard, and they'll signal the guardship."
"That's a man-of-war, isn't it?"
"She is that, miss, but she'll not fire, I hope; and we'll slip by
before she's rubbed her eyes. There are the lights of Gravesend, and
isn't that something black ahead under the bank? You won't go below, I
s'pose, Miss Laura?"
"No, Captain Pardoe; I will stop here."
Suddenly the glare over the bows from the forward lamps died out, there
was a sharp ring of the engineer's bell, a sound of men in hot haste
thrusting at the fires, and the vessel began to quiver and vibrate to
the beat of vast engines working faster and faster.
There was a rush of wind on Frank's face, the dark objects on the shore
swiftly receded into the general blur, and the water foamed up at the
bows and fell away in curling waves.
"Are all the lights out, Mr Webster?"
"Yes, sir; all but a light from a starboard port."
"It's that swab of a passenger," growled the Captain; "I'll have him
tied to his bunk."
Frank, warned that he was guilty of some unpardonable indiscretion,
crawled down from the top bunk, and had just reached the floor, when the
handle turned, there was a quick step, a rustle, and the light was
switched off, not before he had seen the dark eyes flashing in
resentment.
"If you behave in this way, sir, I'll not stand between you and
discipline."
"Really, I did not know I was doing anything wrong."
"Shut the port-hole," she said sharply.
He turned to obey with a frown of protest, when, seemingly not a yard
off, there flamed the lights of a ship's cabin.
"Where are you coming to, you lubber?" shouted out a voice furiously.
There was a jar, an ugly tearing noise, and Frank and the young lady
were thrown at each other.
"I beg your pardon, really," said Frank, as he loosened his hold of her
waist; "but I could not help myself."