I watched the tall, good-looking, well-spoken sailor, and the slim,
willowy figure of his sweetheart gradually vanish amid the deep shadows
of the bushes that bordered the path leading downward from the Head; and
then, oblivious of the peril of rheumatism, seated myself upon the least
dew-sodden boulder that I could find, and proceeded to think out the
momentous communication that had just been made to me.
It was a glorious night. The full moon, some thirty degrees above the
eastern horizon, flashed the whole sea beneath her, outside the reef,
into a vast sheet of tumbling liquid silver, while her beams fell in a
long line of tremulous radiance upon the placid waters of the lagoon,
right up to the edge of the cliff upon which I sat. The sky was
cloudless, and toward the zenith and away down in the west some of the
larger stars beamed with that soft yet brilliant effulgence that is only
to be seen within the tropics, but in her own neighbourhood the stronger
light of the moon had eclipsed them all save the planet Venus that hung
near her, glowing like a silver lamp. So brilliant were the moonbeams
that even the ants, beetles, and other small creeping things that ran
about my feet were distinctly visible, as were the tints of the flowers
that bloomed everywhere, and some of which had the peculiarity of
opening only at night. A soft and gentle breeze was blowing in from the
sea, just strongly enough to stir and rustle the grasses and foliage
about me, and to bring to my ears the deep and ceaseless thunder of the
surf that beat everlastingly upon the distant reef.
The greater part of the Basin was still in shadow, including that where
the _Mercury_ lay, but the moon was high enough for her rays to reach
the upper spars of the ship almost down to her topsail yards, and the
dew-wetted spars and rigging gleamed as though inlaid with wires of
silver. The settlement, temporarily built on the inner shore of the
Basin, was almost as distinctly visible as though it were daylight, its
scattered lights gleaming yellow through the gauze-like mistiness of the
dew-laden atmosphere; and from it the slopes and undulations of the
island delicately receded, until at the peak they assumed almost the
ethereal softness of clouds. It was a glorious scene that the island
presented, slumbering langorously under the brilliant rays of the
tropical moon, more enchanting in some respects than when viewed in the
garish light of the sun; and so strong was the enticement of its beauty
upon me that, but for the dull cramping influence of the doctrines
accepted by the settlers upon which to frame the guiding rules of their
lives, I could without very much difficulty have reconciled myself to
the idea of a sojourn there for the remainder of my days.
But I had already perceived unmistakable evidences of the blighting
effect which was being steadily produced upon certain members of the
community by the consciousness--which I think some of them were only now
beginning to fully realise--that industry and individual effort were to
count for nothing, and that the lazy, useless units were to live a life
of inglorious ease at the expense of the hard workers. I foresaw that a
time was coming when deadly strife would rage between the two sections;
and the prospect was not enticing enough to induce me to throw in my lot
with the rest. Yet, if I did not, my life would be in danger; for it
scarcely needed Gurney's communication of an hour before to impress upon
me the conviction that, sooner or later, Wilde and his followers would
insist upon my giving in my adhesion to them or--taking the consequences
of refusal. And it did not need the gift of the seer to forecast the
precise character of those consequences. I had scouted the idea of
deliberate cold-blooded murder when Gurney had suggested it to me, yet I
had not forgotten that I had already been threatened with death as the
alternative to undertaking the navigation of the ship, during the quest
for a suitable island upon which to settle; and I had very little doubt
that they would have carried out their threat had I persisted in my
refusal.
Now I was again threatened with it. There seemed to be but two
alternatives--submission or flight; and it was but the work of a moment
with me to decide that flight was the more acceptable of the two. But
how to accomplish it? I thought of the longboat; but to fit her for a
long voyage in the open ocean, with any hope of accomplishing it, would
need an amount of preparation that could not possibly escape notice.
And to be detected in the making of such preparations would be to arouse
such suspicion as must inevitably result in the complete defeat of my
plans, followed perhaps by other consequences of a still more serious
character; while to neglect them and attempt flight in the boat, just as
she was, would be madness--an expedient only to be resorted to under
stress of the direst extremity. Hour after hour I sat there racking my
brains in quest of some practicable plan offering a reasonable prospect
of success; but could think of nothing; the scheme upon which I finally
settled being only one degree less mad than that of venturing to sea in
the unprepared longboat. Such as it was, however, I determined to
submit it to Gurney's consideration, and hear what he thought of it.
Accordingly, watching my opportunity, I contrived to get hold of Grace
Hartley, on the following evening, after supper, and whispered to her
that I intended to walk up to the Head again, and would be glad if she
and Gurney would follow me to the spot where we had had our previous
talk together. To which she replied that they would certainly do so;
and half an hour later the pair joined me.
"Well, Mr Troubridge," exclaimed Gurney, as we met, "I hope this
summons means that you have succeeded in hitting upon some scheme which
will enable us all three to get away from here without delay; for I may
as well tell you that the council have to-day decided to complete the
loading of the _Mercury_ and dispatch her to Canton forthwith. And,
although Wilde did not say so in so many words, I have every reason to
believe that the pretty little programme which I sketched out to you
last night is to be carried through."
"So much the greater reason why you and I, Gurney, should make up our
minds at once what is to be done," said I.
"Yes; you are right," answered Gurney. "For I have not yet told you the
whole of the story, nor how it affects Grace and me. I, as one of the
council, am to go in the ship, ostensibly for the purpose of transacting
the commercial part of the business--the disposal of the ship and cargo,
the purchase of another vessel, and of a cargo of tea, and so on; but
actually--as I have only too much reason to fear--in order that, during
my absence, Wilde may have an opportunity to force Grace to marry him."
"I see," said I. "Well, Gurney, the only scheme that I have thus far
been able to think of is of so mad and desperate a character that I
gravely doubt whether you will feel justified in having anything to do
with it."
"Let us hear what it is, Mr Troubridge," answered Gurney. "It will
have to be something pretty desperate to choke Grace and me off it; for
I can tell you we are growing more than a trifle desperate ourselves."
"Well," said I, "to put the scheme baldly, I simply propose that we
three shall run off with the ship, sail her to Sydney, hand her over to
the authorities, telling the whole truth, and take our chance of what
may follow. I doubt whether they would deal hardly with either of us.
Miss Hartley is of course quite blameless; they would never dream of
holding her in the least degree responsible for the theft of the ship
and cargo; nor do I believe they would be very hard upon me, seeing that
Wilde and the rest compelled me to fall in with their plans. And as for
yourself, the fact that you had assisted me to restore the ship to her
proper owners would probably be accepted as a set-off against your share
of the crime of stealing the ship, especially in view of the fact that
we had brought in a cargo of sandalwood in place of the much less
valuable cargo which the settlers have appropriated. Now, what do you
think of it?"
"Well," answered Gurney slowly, as he turned my plan over in his mind,
"the proposal that two men and a girl shall attempt to navigate a ship
of eight hundred tons from here to Sydney--a matter of four thousand
miles or more, I suppose--has certainly, as you say, more than a
suggestion of madness about it. Yet I believe that we could do it, Mr
Troubridge--I was in Plymouth Sound, a trifle over two years ago, when a
ship nearly as big as the _Mercury_ came in. She was from Rio; and the
second mate, an apprentice, and one ordinary seaman comprised the whole
of her crew. She sailed from Rio with her full complement; and when she
was only three days at sea an outbreak of yellow fever occurred aboard
her. First one, and then another, and another of her crew was struck
down; but the skipper would not put back. He had a fair wind, and he
insisted that the men's best chance of shaking off the fever lay in
keeping the ship at sea. And they did so, although the men continued to
die until, by the time that they reached the latitude of the Azores,
only the three I have named remained alive. Meanwhile, as the crew
dwindled and the ship became short-handed, they snugged her down until
at last they had nothing set but the close-reefed fore and main topsails
and the fore topmast staysail, and under that canvas she entered the
Sound, hove-to, and signalled for assistance. Oh yes, I am sure we
could do it, provided, of course, that we kept our health; and we should
have to take our chance of that. It would be hard work, certainly, but
there are two of us, both fairly strong, and--as the second mate of that
ship I told you of answered, when he was asked how they managed--one can
do a lot of work with a tackle or two. And as to how the authorities
might be disposed to regard my share of the stealing of the ship, I
would take my chance of that. Gracie here can bear witness that I was
never in favour of the scheme, and only joined in it with a good grace
because there seemed nothing else to be done. Now, as to the best time
for making the attempt, what is your idea about that?"
"Well," said I, "in view of the fact that it has actually been decided
to send the ship to sea, I think it will be well to wait until the cargo
is all in, and the hatches on. That will give us an opportunity to get
all our traps aboard without exciting suspicion. Then, on the night of
the day prior to the sailing of the ship, we three must go off to her,
slip her cable, make sail--as much as we can manage--and trust that we
may be able to reach open water before our flight is discovered. If the
completion of the loading can by any means be delayed until the moon
rises about an hour after midnight, so much the better."
"Oh, as to that!" answered Gurney; "the deliberate way of working that
the people have got into will make it quite a week before the loading is
finished, which will bring moonrise to somewhere about the time you
mention. The moon will have taken off to about her third quarter by
then; but even so she will give us light enough to find our way out
through the reef, which is all that we need trouble about."
"Precisely," I agreed. "Then am I to understand that you and Miss
Hartley definitely agree to throw in your lot with me in this desperate
attempt?"
"Yes, Mr Troubridge, you certainly may," answered Gurney. "At least,"
he corrected himself, "I can answer for myself. And as to Gracie here,
what say you, little woman?"
"I say, of course, that I would infinitely prefer to go with you and Mr
Troubridge," answered the girl. "The only thing is," she continued,
"that I am afraid I shall be a frightful trouble to you both. And yet I
don't know; I can cook your meals for you; and I can steer the ship in
fine weather, can't I, George?"
"Ay, that you can, as well as any man in the ship," answered Gurney. "I
taught her myself, Mr Troubridge, long before you appeared upon the
scene."
"I foresee, Miss Hartley," said I, "that, so far from being a trouble to
us, you will be absolutely indispensable to our success. And now,
Gurney, I think we had better part; for, under all the circumstances, I
believe it will scarcely be wise for you and me to be seen very much
together. Watch the progress of events in the council, and let me know
if anything should transpire of a character likely to interfere with our
plans."
On the evening of the following day, upon my return to the settlement
from the scene of the surveying operations, I found awaiting me a formal
intimation from the council of its determination forthwith to complete
the loading of the _Mercury_ and dispatch her to sea at the earliest
possible moment; and I was instructed to deliver over all documents and
papers of every kind relating to the survey of the island to my
coadjutor, Meadows, who would henceforth have sole charge of the survey;
also, I was to proceed on board the ship on the following morning,
accompanied by the men--former members of the crew--named in the margin,
for the purpose of submitting the hull, spars, sails, and rigging to a
thorough overhaul, in order to ensure that the ship was fit and ready in
all respects to undertake a voyage to China; and to prepare an inventory
of such provisions and stores as might be required for the voyage. And,
lastly, when these orders had been carried out, I was to report in
person to the council and receive my final instructions relative to the
voyage.
I found that my crew was to consist of twenty men, all told, namely,
eighteen seamen, one cook, and a cabin steward; and of the eighteen
seamen Gurney was to act in the capacity of chief mate, and Tudsbery,
the carpenter, as second. Gurney, being a member of the council, was
excused from participation in the overhauling operations, Polson--who
was also a member of the council--being sent in his stead. I could not,
at the time, quite understand the reason for this somewhat singular
arrangement; for I did not for an instant accept the official
explanation that Polson, from his former association with the ship as
boatswain, was considered to possess a more intimate knowledge than
Gurney of the minutiae of the ship's equipment. However, it was all
made clear to me afterwards.
With these twenty men, then, I proceeded on board the _Mercury_ on a
certain morning, and proceeded to give her and all her gear a thorough
overhaul, although I knew it to be simply a waste of time and energy,
the overhaul having already been made, all defective or doubtful gear
replaced, and the sails loosed and aired once every week since. Still,
I did not in the least object, for it was all to my personal advantage
that if perchance any trifling defect had been thus far overlooked, it
should now be made good. While the rest of the hands, under Polson and
Tudsbery, were going systematically to work upon the overhauling process
I set the cook and steward to work to take careful stock of the contents
of the lazarette, with the object of ensuring that there should be a
sufficiency of provisions to last us through the voyage. I also had the
water tanks emptied, and filled up with pure spring water. And while
all this was being done a strong gang was put to the task of bringing
down the sandalwood, loading it into the ship's boats, and bringing it
alongside, when it was carefully stowed in the hold, the object being to
so stow it as to make the ship receive the utmost possible quantity for
which she had capacity.
On the fourth day the overhaul of the ship was completed; and on the
morning of the fifth day I presented myself before the council, to hand
in my report and receive my full instructions. The report was a very
simple document, merely informing the council that the final overhaul
had been most carefully executed; that no defects of any description had
been discovered; that the supply of provisions in the lazarette had been
found to be sufficient for the proposed voyage; and that I was ready to
proceed to sea at a moment's notice. The report was received with a
formal expression of the council's satisfaction; and I was then informed
that as it was anticipated that the loading of the ship would be
completed on the morrow, I was to make every preparation for the sailing
of the ship on the day afterward, when the crew would be sent on board
immediately after breakfast, and when I was to present myself before the
council for my final instructions.
I left the apartment that had been dignified with the name of council
chamber exceedingly well satisfied with what had transpired, and
especially so at the information that the crew were not to join the ship
until the day of sailing. For this was precisely the point upon which I
had been experiencing a good deal of anxiety of late. For this reason.
I was most anxious that the ship should go to sea with her hatches on,
and the longboat at least properly stowed. But, on the other hand, I
greatly feared that when matters had reached this point the crew would
be ordered aboard, say on the evening of the day preceding the sailing
of the ship. And, if this should happen, my plan of making off with the
ship must almost inevitably fail, for it would be practically impossible
for Gurney and myself to overpower the remaining nineteen of the crew,
who, apart from other considerations, would certainly have their
suspicions aroused as soon as Grace Hartley's presence on board should
be discovered, as it soon must be.
I shrewdly suspected that this arrangement relative to the embarkation
of the crew at the last moment prior to the sailing of the ship must be
due to Gurney, who would, of course, perceive quite as clearly as myself
how vital to our success such an arrangement must be, and I tried to get
a word with him to ascertain whether this was actually the case. But I
found it impossible to do so; and I accordingly devoted the remainder of
the day to getting my chest aboard, taking possession of my cabin, and
carefully studying the charts with the view of deciding upon the most
desirable route to be followed on the voyage to Sydney. Late in the
afternoon Gurney and Tudsbery also brought their chests aboard, but even
then I was unable to get any private word with the former, because of
the constant presence of the latter. Moreover, it appeared to me that
Gurney was rather markedly avoiding me, a circumstance that caused me a
good deal of uneasiness. But at the last moment, just as all hands were
going ashore at the close of the day's work, my co-adventurer came and
stood beside me at the gangway for an instant and, without saying a
word, or even looking at me, felt for my hand, and thrust into it what
seemed to be a small, tightly folded piece of paper, immediately
afterwards passing through the gangway and down the ship's side. I
waited until everybody else had left the deck, and then, carefully
thrusting the paper into my breeches pocket, followed.
Arrived at length at the quarters that I occupied while ashore, I drew
forth from my pocket what proved to be, as I had suspected from the feel
of it, a sheet of paper folded into a very small compass, and, opening
it, read as follows:--
"I have just learned, through the merest chance, that it has been
arranged that the crew shall go aboard to-morrow, instead of next day,
which means that we must act to-night. Please meet me, therefore, among
the big rocks on the Basin beach under the South Head as soon after
supper as you conveniently can; and, if I should not be there when you
arrive, kindly wait for me. I have chosen that spot for our rendezvous
on account of its secluded character, and because nobody cares to go
there after dark."
This was awkward news indeed; for, as Gurney had remarked in his
communication, it meant that we must act--that is to say, must make our
escape--that same night, although the hatches were off, and all the
boats were ashore. Of course the fact that the hatches were off was the
merest trifle, for Gurney and I could soon clap them on and batten them
down; but I did not at all like the idea of going to sea without even so
much as a single boat on board; while, of all the boats belonging to the
ship, I should most have preferred the longboat, because she was a fine,
wholesome boat, and in the event of anything untoward happening we
should stand a far better chance in her than in any of the others.
However, there was no help for it; it would be better for us to escape
without boats than not at all. And yet, when I came to think of it,
there was no reason why we should go to sea entirely without boats; we
should require one in which to make the passage from the shore to the
ship, and surely it ought not to be beyond the power of two men--and a
girl--to hoist one of the quarter boats to the davits, for, as Gurney
had said, a good deal of work can be done with the aid of a tackle or
two. And if we could hoist one quarter boat, why not both? Ay, and it
might even be possible to get in the longboat as well, if time and
opportunity permitted--but perhaps that was almost too much good luck to
expect. Still, I had the germ of a plan in my mind, and I determined to
talk to Gurney about it.
Supper, the last meal of the day, was served at seven o'clock, and was
over and done with before eight, by which time it was quite dark, save
for such light as the stars afforded. While this light was quite
sufficient to enable one to see one's way about the island, it was not
powerful enough to reveal objects at any great distance. The conditions
were, therefore, quite favourable for our purpose, and when I left the
building in which supper had been served I sauntered off in an aimless
sort of way, as though going for a stroll toward the peak before turning
in for the night. But when I had gone about a quarter of a mile, and
had satisfied myself that no one was about--for the settlers were, as a
rule, early birds, and usually turned in almost immediately after
supper--I made a detour which took me, by way of a slight hollow, down
to the inner beach, along which I passed towards the rendezvous
mentioned by Gurney. This spot was situated beneath the cliffs on the
Basin side of the South Head, where an outcrop of big basalt rocks
occurred, and was always of so dark and gloomy and weird a character
that it was generally shunned even during the hours of daylight, while
at night time nobody ever went near the place if they could possibly
avoid it. As I drew near it I once or twice fancied that someone was
following me, and, thinking that it might possibly be Gurney, I waited
to let him overtake me; but as nobody appeared I supposed I must have
been mistaken, and went on again, presently arriving among the rocks.
The next moment two figures emerged from among the shadows, and Gurney
and his sweetheart stood before me.