A ROW ON SHORE.
While Wilfrid and the Allens were talking they were walking briskly in
the direction of their landing-place. They had arrived within a hundred
yards of it, when a party of four men who were lying among a pile of
timber got up and came across towards them. They were rough-looking
fellows, and James Allen said, "I do not like the look of these chaps. I
think they mean mischief. Look out!" As he spoke the men rushed at them.
James Allen gave a loud shout for help and then struck a blow at a man
who rushed at him. The fellow staggered backwards, and with a fierce
exclamation in Portuguese drew a knife. A moment later Allen received a
sharp stab on the shoulder, and was knocked to the ground. The other two
after a short struggle had also been overpowered and borne down, but in
their case the robbers had not used their knives.
They were feeling in their pockets when the step of a man approaching at
full speed was heard. One of the robbers was about to run off, when
another exclaimed: "You coward! It is but one man, which means more
booty. Out with your knives and give him a taste of them as he comes
up!" A moment later the man ran up. The leader stepped forward to meet
him, knife in hand; but as he struck his wrist was grasped, and a
tremendous blow was delivered in his face, hurling him stunned and
bleeding to the ground. With a bound the new-comer threw himself upon
two of the other men. Grasping them by their throats he shook them as if
they had been children, and then dashed their heads together with such
tremendous force that when he loosened his grasp both fell insensible on
the ground. The other robber took to his heels at the top of his speed.
All this had passed so quickly that the struggle was over before Wilfrid
and the Allens could get to their feet.
"Not hurt, I hope?" their rescuer asked anxiously.
"Why, Mr. Atherton, is it you?" Wilfrid exclaimed. "You arrived at a
lucky moment indeed. No, I am not hurt that I know of, beyond a shake."
"Nor I," Bob Allen said.
"I have got a stab in my shoulder," James Allen answered. "I don't know
that it is very deep, but I think it is bleeding a good deal, for I feel
very shaky. That fellow has got my watch," and he pointed to the man who
had been first knocked down.
"Look in his hand, Wilfrid. He won't have had time to put it in his
pocket. If you have lost anything else look in the other fellows' hands
or on the ground close to them."
He lifted James Allen, who was now scarcely able to stand, carried him
to the wood pile, and seated him on a log with his back against another.
Then he took off his coat and waistcoat, and tore open his shirt. "It is
nothing serious," he said. "It is a nasty gash and is bleeding freely,
but I daresay we can stop that; I have bandaged up plenty of worse
wounds in my time." He drew the edge of the wound together, and tied his
handkerchief and that of Wilfrid tightly round it. "That will do for the
present," he said. "Now I will carry you down to the boat," and lifting
the young fellow up as though he were a feather he started with him.
"Shall we do anything with these fellows, Mr. Atherton?" Wilfrid asked.
"No, leave them as they are; what they deserve is to be thrown into the
sea. I daresay their friend will come back to look after them
presently."
In a couple of minutes they arrived at the landing-place, where two men
were sitting in a boat.
"But how did you come to be here, Mr. Atherton?" Wilfrid asked when they
had taken their seats.
"I came to look after you boys, Wilfrid. I got on board about eleven,
and on going down to the cabin found you had not returned, so I thought
I would smoke another cigar and wait up for you. At twelve o'clock the
last party returned, and as I thought you might have some difficulty in
getting on board after that, I got into the boat and rowed ashore, and
engaged the men to wait as long as I wanted them. I thought perhaps you
had missed your way, and did not feel uneasy about you, for there being
three of you together it was scarcely likely you had got into any bad
scrape. I was beginning at last to think you had perhaps gone to an
hotel for the night, and that it was no use waiting any longer, when I
heard your voices coming along the quays. The night is so quiet that I
heard your laugh some distance away, and recognized it. I then strolled
along to meet you, when I saw those four fellows come out into the
moonlight from a shadow in the wood. I guessed that they were up to
mischief, and started to run at once, and was within fifty yards of you
when I saw the scuffle and caught the glint of the moon on the blade of
a knife. Another five or six seconds I was up, and then there was an end
of it. Now we are close to the ship. Go up as quietly as you can, and do
not make a noise as you go into your cabins. It is no use alarming
people. I will carry Jim down."
"I can walk now, I think, Mr. Atherton."
"You might do, but you won't, my lad; for if you did you would probably
start your wound bleeding afresh. You two had best take your shoes off
directly you get on deck."
James Allen was carried down and laid on his berth. Mr. Atherton went
and roused the ship's doctor, and then lighted the lamp in the cabin.
"What is all this about?" the surgeon asked as he came in.
"There has been a bit of a scrimmage on shore," Mr. Atherton replied;
"and, as you see, Allen has got a deepish slash from the shoulder down
to the elbow. It has been bleeding very freely, and he is faint from
loss of blood; but I do not think it is serious at all."
"No, it is a deep flesh wound," the doctor said, examining him; "but
there is nothing to be in the slightest degree uneasy about. I will get
a bandage from my cabin, and some lint, and set it all right in five
minutes."
When the arm was bandaged, Mr. Atherton said: "Now I must get you to do
a little plastering for me doctor."
"What! are you wounded, Mr. Atherton?" the others exclaimed in surprise.
"Nothing to speak of, lads; but both those fellows made a slash at me as
I closed with them. I had but just finished their leader and could do no
more than strike wildly as I turned upon them." As he spoke he was
taking off his waistcoat and shirt.
"By Jove, you have had a narrow escape!" the doctor said; "and how you
take it so coolly I cannot make out. Except as to the bleeding, they are
both far more serious than Allen's."
One of the wounds was in the left side, about three inches below the
arm. The man had evidently struck at the heart, but the quickness with
which Mr. Atherton had closed with him had disconcerted his aim; the
knife had struck rather far back, and glancing behind the ribs had cut a
deep gash under the shoulder-blade. The other wound had been given by a
downright blow at the right side, and had laid open the flesh from below
the breast down to the hip.
"It is only a case for plaster," Mr. Atherton said. "It is useful to
have a casing of fat sometimes. It is the same thing with a whale--you
have got to drive a harpoon in very deep to get at the vitals. You see
this wound in front has bled very little."
"You have lost a good deal of blood from the other cut," the surgeon
said. "I will draw the edges of the wounds together with a needle and
thread, and will then put some bandages on. You will have to keep quiet
for some days. Your wounds are much too serious to think of putting
plaster on at present."
"I have had a good deal more serious wounds than these," Mr. Atherton
said cheerfully, "and have had to ride seventy or eighty miles on the
following day. However I will promise you not to go ashore to-morrow;
and as the captain says he expects to be off the next morning, I shall
be able to submit myself to your orders without any great privation."
"Why did you not say that you were wounded, Mr. Atherton?" Wilfrid said
reproachfully as they went to their own cabin and prepared to turn in.
"To tell you the truth, Wilfrid, I hardly thought the wounds were as
deep as they are. My blood was up, you see, and when that is the case
you are scarcely conscious of pain. I felt a sharp shooting sensation on
both sides as I grasped those fellows by the throat, and afterwards I
knew I was bleeding a bit at the back, for I felt the warmth of the
blood down in my shoe; but there was nothing to prevent my carrying
young Allen, and one person can carry a wounded man with much more ease
to him than two can do, unless of course they have got a stretcher."
The next morning there was quite a stir in the ship when it was known
that two of the passengers were wounded, and Mr. and Mrs. Renshaw were
greatly alarmed when they heard of the risk Wilfrid had run. Neither of
the wounded men appeared at breakfast, as the surgeon insisted that both
should lie quiet for at least one day. Mr. Renshaw had paid a visit to
Mr. Atherton directly he had heard from Wilfrid his story of the fray,
and thanked him most warmly for his intervention on behalf of his son.
"Wilfrid said he has very little doubt that they all three would have
been stabbed if you had not come up."
"I do not say they might not," Mr. Atherton said, "because their
resistance had raised the men's anger; and in this country when a man is
angry he generally uses his knife. Besides, dead men raise no alarm.
Still they might have contented themselves with robbing them. However, I
own that it was lucky I was on the spot."
"But it was not a question of luck at all," Mr. Renshaw insisted. "You
were there because you had specially gone ashore to look after these
foolish young fellows, and your being there was the result of your own
thoughtfulness for them, and not in any way of chance."
"There is quite a crowd on the quay, Mr. Renshaw," the captain said when
that gentleman went on deck, "I suppose they have found stains of blood
in the road and conclude that a crime has been committed. Oh, here is
our boat putting out from the landing-place. The steward has been on
shore to get fresh fruit for breakfast; he will tell us what is going
on."
The steward had gone ashore before the news of the encounter had been
spread by the surgeon.
"What is the excitement about on shore?" the captain asked him as he
stepped on deck.
"Well, sir, as far as I could learn from a chap who spoke a little
English, there have been bad doings on shore in the night. Two men were
found this morning lying dead there. There is nothing uncommon about
that; but they say there are no wounds on them, except that their skulls
are stove in, as if they had both been struck by a beam of wood at the
back of the head. But besides that there were two or three pools of
blood in the road. It seems one man walked back into the town, for there
are marks of his feet as if he stepped in the blood before starting in
that direction. Then there is a line of blood spots down to the
landing-place and down the steps, as if somebody had got into a boat.
Nobody seems to make head nor tail of the business."
"Well, we must keep this quiet if we can," the captain said, turning to
Mr. Renshaw. "If it were known that any of our people were concerned in
this affair they might keep us here for three weeks or a month while it
is being investigated, or insist upon Mr. Atherton and your son and the
Allens remaining behind as witnesses. Mr. Ryan," he called to the
first-mate, "just come here a moment. This matter is more serious than
we thought. It seems that Mr. Atherton, who, as we have heard, dashed
the heads of two of these fellows together, killed them on the spot."
"Sure and I thought as much when young Allen was telling me about it,"
the mate said. "I have seen Mr. Atherton at work before this, and I
thought to myself that unless those fellows' skulls were made of iron,
and thick at that, they must have gone in when he brought them
together."
"The worst of it is," the captain went on, "they have traced marks of
blood down to the landing-stage, and of course have suspicion that
someone concerned in the affair took a boat, and either came off to one
of the ships or went away in one of the fishing craft. You know what
these fellows are; if they find out that anyone on board is mixed up in
the matter, they will keep the ship here for a month."
"That is true enough, sir. It is mighty lucky we would be if we got away
in a month."
"The first thing is to see about the boatmen," the captain said. "Of
course if they tell the authorities they brought a wounded man on board
here late last night there is an end of it; but if they hold their
tongues, and we all keep our own council, the thing may not leak out
to-day, and we will have our anchor up and get out this evening if we
can. You had better tell all the crew that not a word is to be said
about the matter, and I will impress the same on the passengers. When
they know that a careless word may lead to a month's detention, you may
be sure there will be no talking. But before you speak to them I will go
down and see Mr. Atherton, and hear what he says about the boatmen." He
returned in two or three minutes. "I hope it will be all right," he
said. "Atherton gave them a pound apiece, and told them to hold their
tongues. He thinks it is probable they will do so, for they would know
well enough that they would, as likely as not, be clapped into prison
and kept there while the investigation was going on. So there is a
strong hope that it may not leak out through them. You must stop all
leave ashore, Mr. Ryan. Tell the men whose turn it is to go, they shall
have their spree at Buenos Ayres. If they were to get drunk it would be
as likely as not to slip out."
"I will see to it, sir."
Directly breakfast was over the captain took a boat and went ashore. He
had duly impressed upon all the passengers the absolute necessity for
silence, and several of these went ashore with him. He returned half an
hour later, having been up to the British Consulate.
"The affair is making quite a stir in the town. Not on account of two
men being found dead, there is nothing uncommon in that, especially as
they have been recognized as two notorious ruffians; but the whole
circumstances of the affair puzzle them.
"The doctors who have examined the bodies have arrived pretty well at
the truth, and say that both men have been gripped by the throat, for
the marks of the fingers are plainly visible, and their heads dashed
together. But although this is, as we know, perfectly true, no one
believes it; for the doctors themselves admit that it does not appear to
them possible that any man would have had the strength requisite to
completely batter in the skulls of two others, as has been done in this
case. The police are searching the town for the man whose footsteps led
in that direction, and as they know all the haunts of these ruffians and
their associates it is likely enough that they will find him, especially
as his face is sure to bear marks of Atherton's handiwork. Still, if
they do find him, and he tells all he knows of the business, they will
not be much nearer to tracing the actors in it to this ship. It is not
probable that he recovered his senses until long after they were on
board the boat, and can only say that while engaged in attempting to rob
some passers-by he was suddenly knocked down. But even this they are not
likely to get out of him first, for he will know that he used a knife,
and is not likely to put himself in the way of punishment if he can help
it. I came off at once, because I heard at the Consulate that the police
are going to search every ship in the harbour to see if they can find
some wounded man, or get some clue to the mystery, so I must ask the
doctor if his two patients are fit to be dressed and go up on deck."
The doctor on being consulted said that he should certainly have
preferred that they should have remained quiet all day, but he did not
know that it would do them any harm to get on deck for a bit. And
accordingly in half an hour Mr. Atherton and James Allen came up. The
doctor, who had assisted them to dress, accompanied them.
"Now, Mr. Atherton, you had better seat yourself in that great
deck-chair of yours with the leg-rest. If you sit there quietly reading
when they come on board they are not likely to suspect you of being a
desperate character, or to appreciate your inches and width of shoulder.
Allen had better sit quiet till they get alongside, and then slip that
sling into his pocket and walk up and down talking to one of the ladies,
with his thumb in his waistcoat so as to support his arm. He looks pale
and shaky; but they are not accustomed to much colour here, and he will
pass well enough."
As soon as Mr. Atherton had taken his seat Mrs. Renshaw and Marion came
up to him. "How can we thank you enough, Mr. Atherton, for the risks you
have run to succour Wilfrid, and for your kind consideration in going on
shore to wait for him?"
"It was nothing, Mrs. Renshaw. I own to enjoying a scrimmage when I can
go into one with the feeling of being in the right. You know that I am a
very lazy man, but it is just your lazy men who do enjoy exerting
themselves occasionally."
"It was grand!" Marion broke in; "and you ought not to talk as if it was
nothing, Mr. Atherton. Wilfrid said that he thought it was all over with
him till he saw a big man flying down the road."
"A perfect colossus of Rhodes!" Mr. Atherton laughed.
"It is not a thing to joke about," Marion went on earnestly. "It may
seem very little to you, Mr. Atherton, but it is everything to us."
"Don't you know that one always jokes when one is serious, Miss Renshaw?
You know that in church any little thing that you would scarcely notice
at any other time makes you inclined to laugh. Some day in the far
distance, when you become a woman, you will know the truth of the
saying, that smiles and tears are very close to each other."
"I am getting to be a woman now," Marion said with some dignity; for Mr.
Atherton always persisted in treating her as if she were a child, which,
as she was nearly seventeen, was a standing grievance to her.
"Age does not make a woman, Miss Renshaw. I saw you skipping three days
ago with little Kate Mitford and your brother and young Allen, and you
enjoyed it as much as any of them."
"We were trying which could keep up the longest," Marion said; "Wilfrid
and I against the other two. You were looking on, and I believe you
would have liked to have skipped too."
"I think I should," Mr. Atherton agreed. "You young people do not skip
half as well as we used to when I was a boy; and I should have given you
a lesson if I had not been afraid of shaking the ship's timbers to
pieces."
"How absurd you are, Mr. Atherton!" Marion said pettishly. "Of course
you are not thin, but you always talk of yourself as if you were
something monstrous."
Mr. Atherton laughed. His diversion had had the desired effect, and had
led them away from the subject of the fight on shore.
"There is a galley putting off from shore with a lot of officials on
board," the captain said, coming up at this moment. "They are rowing to
the next ship, and I suppose they will visit us next."
A quarter of an hour later the galley came alongside, and three
officials mounted the gangway. The captain went forward to meet them.
"Is there anything I can do for you, gentlemen?"
"There has been a crime committed on shore," the leader of the party
said, "and it is suspected that some of those concerned in the matter
are on board one of the ships in the harbour. I have authority to make a
strict search on board each."
"You are perfectly welcome to do so, sir," the captain said. "One of
our officers will show you over the ship."
"I must trouble you to show me your list of passengers and crew, and to
muster the men on deck. But first I must ask you, Did any of your boats
return on board late?"
"No," the captain replied. "Our last boat was hauled up to the davits at
half-past nine. There was a heavy day's work before the men to-day, and
I therefore refused leave on shore."
The men were ordered to be mustered, and while they were collecting the
second-mate went round the ship with the officials, and they saw that no
one was below in his berth. The men's names were called over from the
list, and the officials satisfied that all were present and in good
health.
"Now for the passengers," he said
"I cannot ask them to muster," the captain observed, "but I will walk
round with you and point out those on the list. There are some eight or
ten on shore. They will doubtless be off to lunch; and if you leave an
officer on board he will see that they are by no means the sort of
people to take part in such an affair as that which has happened on
shore."
The officials went round the deck, but saw nothing whatever to excite
their suspicion. Marion Renshaw was laughing and talking with Mr.
Atherton, Miss Mitford walking up and down the poop in conversation with
James Allen. After they had finished their investigations, the officials
left one of their party to inspect the remaining passengers as they came
on board, and to check them off the list. They then again took their
seats in the galley and were rowed to the next ship.
By dint of great exertions the cargo was got out by sunset, the sails
were at once loosened and the anchor weighed, and before the short
twilight had faded away the _Flying Scud_ was making her way with a
gentle breeze towards the mouth of the harbour.
"We are well out of that," Mr. Atherton said as he looked back at the
lights of the city.
"I think you are very well out of it indeed, in more senses than one,"
said the surgeon, who was standing next to him; "but you have had a
wonderfully close shave of it, Mr. Atherton. Another inch and either of
those blows might have been fatal. Besides, had you been detained for a
month or six weeks, it is as likely as not that, what with the heat and
what with the annoyance, your wound would have taken a bad turn. Now,
you must let me exercise my authority and order you to your berth
immediately. You ought not to have been out of it. Of the two evils,
getting up and detention, I chose the least; but I should be glad now if
you would go off at once. If you do not, I can assure you I may have you
on my hands all the rest of the voyage."
"I will obey orders, doctor. The more willingly because for the last
hour or two my back has been smarting unmercifully. I do not feel the
other wound much."
"That is because you have been sitting still. You will find it hurt you
when you come to walk. Please go down carefully; a sudden movement might
start your wounds again."
It was two or three days before Mr. Atherton again appeared on deck. His
left arm was bandaged tightly to his body so as to prevent any movement
of the shoulder-blade, and he walked stiffly to the deck-chair, which
had been piled with cushions in readiness.
"I am glad to be out again, Mrs. Renshaw," Mr. Atherton said as she
arranged the cushions to suit him. "Your husband, with Wilfrid and the
two Allens, have kept me company, one or other of them, all the time, so
I cannot say I have been dull. But it was much hotter below than it is
here. However, I know the doctor was right in keeping me below, for the
slightest movement gave me a great deal of pain. However, the wounds are
going on nicely, and I hope by the time we get to Buenos Ayres I shall
be fit for a trip on shore again."
"I hardly think so, Mr. Atherton; for if the weather continues as it is
now--it is a nice steady breeze, and we have been running ever since we
left Rio--I think we shall be there long before you are fit to go
ashore."
"I do not particularly care about it," Mr. Atherton said. "Buenos Ayres
is not like Rio, but is for the most part quite a modern town, and even
in situation has little to recommend it. Besides, we shall be so far off
that there will be no running backwards and forwards between the ship
and the shore as there was at Rio. Of course it depends a good deal on
the amount of the water coming down the river, but vessels sometimes
have to anchor twelve miles above the town."
"I am sure I have no desire to go ashore," Mrs. Renshaw said, "and after
the narrow escape Wilfrid had at Rio I should be glad if he did not set
foot there again until we arrive at the end of the voyage."
"He is not likely to get into a scrape again," Mr. Atherton said. "Of
course it would have been wiser not to have stopped so late as they did
in a town of whose ways they knew nothing; but you may be sure he will
be careful another time. Besides, I fancy from what I have heard things
are better managed there, and the population are more peaceable and
orderly than at Rio. But, indeed, such an adventure as that which befell
them might very well have happened to any stranger wandering late at
night in the slums of any of our English seaports."
There was a general feeling of disappointment among the passengers when
the _Flying Scud_ dropped anchor in the turbid waters of the La Plata.
The shore was some five or six miles away, and was low and
uninteresting. The towers and spires of the churches of Buenos Ayres
were plainly visible, but of the town itself little could be seen. As
soon as the anchor was dropped the captain's gig was lowered, and he
started for shore to make arrangements for landing the cargo. The next
morning a steam tug brought out several flats, and the work of unloading
commenced. A few passengers went ashore in the tug, but none of the
Renshaws left the ship. Two days sufficed for getting out the goods for
Buenos Ayres. The passengers who had been staying at hotels on shore
came off with the last tug to the ship. Their stay ashore had been a
pleasant one, and they liked the town, which, in point of cleanliness
and order, they considered to be in advance of Rio.