As Frank stood gazing at the scene, George Lechmere touched him.
Frank, looking round, saw that he wished to speak to him privately.
"What is it, George?" he asked, when he had stepped a few paces
from Bertha.
"Look there, Major," George said, handing him a field glass. "I
thought I had settled old scores with him, but the devil has looked
after his own."
"You don't mean to say, George, that it is Carthew again."
"It is he, sure enough, sir. I would have sworn that I had done for
him. If I had thought there had been the slightest doubt about it,
I would have put a pistol ball through his head."
Frank raised the glass to his eyes. Just where the torches were
thickest, he could make out a man's figure raised above the heads
of the rest. He was supported on a litter. His head was swathed
with bandages. He had raised himself into a sitting position,
supported by one arm, while he waved the other passionately. He was
evidently haranguing the crowd.
As Frank looked, he saw the figure sink down. Then there was a deep
roll of the drum, and a fantastic-looking figure, daubed as it
seemed with paint and wearing a huge mask, appeared in his place.
The drum and the horns were silent, and the shouting of the negroes
was at once hushed. This man, too, harangued the crowd, and when he
ceased there was a loud yell and a general movement among the
throng. At that moment, Hawkins came up.
"The chain is up and down, sir. Shall I make sail? The wind is very
light, but I think that it is enough to take her out."
"Yes, make sail, Hawkins, as quickly as you can. I am afraid that
those fellows are coming out to attack us, and I don't want to kill
any of the poor devils. There is a small boat coming out from the
shore towards that craft. The white sailors are on board, and we
shall have them on us, too."
"Up with the anchor," Hawkins shouted. "Make sail at once. Look
sharp, my hearties, work with a will, or we shall have those
niggers on us again."
Never was sail made on the Osprey more quickly, and by the time
that the anchor was apeak all the lower sails were set.
"Shall I tell the blacks to tow their boat behind us?" Hawkins
asked Frank, as the yacht began to steal through the water.
"No; let them tow alongside, Hawkins. I don't suppose the people
ashore know that we have a native boat with us. If they did, they
would be sure that it came from Nipes, and it might set up a feud
and cost them their lives, especially as that Obi scoundrel is
concerned in the affair."
Then he moved away to George Lechmere.
"Don't say a word about that fellow Carthew," he said. "Miss
Greendale thinks he is killed; and it is just as well that she
should continue to think that she is safe from him in the future."
"So far as she is concerned, I think that is true; but I would not
answer for you, Major. You have ruined his plans, and burned his
yacht, and as long as he lives he will never forgive you."
"Well, it is of no use to worry about it now, George; but I expect
that we shall hear more about him someday."
"What are they doing, Frank?" Bertha asked, as he rejoined her. "I
think that they are getting into the boats again."
"Yes. I fancy they are going to try to take us, but they have no
more chance of doing so than they have of flying. The Obi man has
worked them up to a state of frenzy, but it will evaporate pretty
quickly when they get within range of our muskets."
"But we have got the cannon on board, have we not?"
"Yes; but we did not bring off any ammunition with us. It was the
men's idea to bring them as a trophy. However, I have plenty of
powder and can load them with bullets; but I certainly won't use
them if it can be possibly avoided. I have no grudge against the
poor fellows who have been told that we are desperate pirates, and
who are only doing what they believe to be a meritorious action in
trying to capture us."
In a few minutes six boats put out from the shore. The Osprey was
not going through the water more than two miles an hour, though she
had every stitch of canvas spread. Frank had the guns taken aft and
loaded. As the boats came within the circle of the light of the
burning yacht, it could be seen that they were crowded with men,
who encouraged themselves with defiant yells and shouts, which
excited the derision of the Osprey's crew. When they got within a
quarter of a mile they opened a fusillade of musketry, but the
balls dropped in the water some distance astern of the yacht. As
the boats came nearer, however, they began to drop round her.
"Sit down behind the bulwarks," Frank said. "They are not good
shots, but a stray ball might come on board, and there is no use
running risks."
By this time he had persuaded Bertha to go below. The boats rowed
on until some seventy or eighty yards off the Osprey. The shouting
had gradually died away, for the silence on board the yacht
oppressed them. There was something unnatural about it, and their
superstitious fear of the Obi man disappeared before their dread of
the unknown.
As if affected simultaneously by the disquietude of their
companions, the rowers all stopped work at the same moment.
Dominique had already received instructions, and at once hailed
them in French.
"If you value your lives, turn back. We have the guns of the
brigantine. They are crammed with bullets and are pointed at you.
The owner has but to give the word, and you will all be blown to
pieces. He is a good man, and wishes you no harm. We have come here
not to quarrel with you poor ignorant black fellows, but to rescue
two ladies the villain that ship belongs to had carried off.
Therefore, go away back to your wives and families while you are
able to, for if you come but one foot nearer not one of you will
live to return."
The news, that the Osprey had the cannon from the brigantine on
board, came like a thunderbolt upon the negroes. The prospect of a
fight with the men who had so easily captured the brigantine was
unpleasant enough, but that they were also to encounter cannon was
altogether too much for them, and a general shout of "Don't fire;
we go back!" rose from the boats.
For a minute or two they lay motionless, afraid even to dip an oar
in the water lest it should bring down a storm upon them, but as
the Osprey glided slowly away the rearmost boat began to turn
round, the others followed her example, and they were soon rowing
back even more rapidly than they had come.
"You can cast off that boat, Hawkins, as soon as we are out into
the bay," Frank said, and then went down below.
"Our troubles are all over at last, dear, and we can have a quiet
talk," he said. "As I expected, the negroes lost heart as soon as
they came near, and the threat of a round of grape from the guns
finally settled them. They are off for home, and we shall hear no
more of them. Now you had best be off to bed at once. You have had
a terrible day of it, and it is just two o'clock.
"Ah! that is right," he broke off, as the steward entered carrying
a tray with tea things. "I had forgotten all about that necessity.
You had better call Anna in; she must want a cup too, poor girl."
"Yes, I should like a cup of tea," Bertha said, as she sat down to
the tray, "but I really don't feel so tired as you would think."
"You will feel it all the more afterwards, I am afraid," Frank
replied. "The excitement has kept you up."
"Yes, we felt dreadfully tired, didn't we, Anna, before we gave up?
But the two hours' row in the boat, and all this excitement here,
have made me almost forget it. It seems to me now quite impossible
that it can be only about nine hours since you rushed out so
suddenly with your men. It seems to me quite far off; further than
many things do that happened a week ago. And please to remember
that your advice to go to bed is quite as seasonable in your case
as in mine."
When he had seen them leave the saloon, Frank went on deck for a
last look round.
"I don't think that there is a chance of anything happening before
morning, Hawkins, but you will, of course, keep a sharp lookout and
let me know."
"I will look out, sir. I have sent the four hands who were with you
down to their berths, as soon as the niggers turned back. Lechmere
has turned in, too."
"Is the wind freshening at all?"
"Not yet, sir. I don't suppose that we shall get more than we have
now till day begins to break. Still, we are crawling on and shall
be out in the bay in another quarter of an hour."
When Frank got up at sunrise he found that the yacht was just
rounding the point of the bay. He looked behind. No boat was in
view.
"Nothing moving, I see," he said as the first mate, who was in
charge, came up.
"We have not seen a thing on the water, sir."
"I hardly expected that there would be. It is probable that, as
soon as the boats got back, Carthew sent his skipper or mate off
with a couple of the men to Port au Prince, to lay a complaint for
piracy against me. But, even if they got horses, it would take them
a couple of days to get there; that is, if they are not much better
riders than the majority of sailors are. Then it is likely that
there would be some time lost in formalities, and even if there was
a Government steamer lying in the port, it would take her a long
time to get up steam. Moreover, I am by no means sure that even
Carthew would venture on such an impudent thing as that. It is
certain that we should get into a bad scrape for boarding and
burning a vessel in Haytian waters, but that is all the harm he
could do us. The British Consul would certainly be more likely to
believe the story of the owner of a Royal Squadron yacht, backed by
that of her captain, mates and crew, and by Miss Greendale and her
maid; than the tale of the owner of a vessel that could give no
satisfactory explanation for being here. Besides, he will know that
before a steamer could start in chase we should be certainly two,
or perhaps three, days away, and whether we should make for Jamaica
or Bermuda, or round the northwestern point of the bay, and then
for England, he could have no clue whatever."
"How shall I lay her course, sir? The wind has freshened already,
and we are slipping through the water at a good four knots now."
"We will keep along this side, as far as the Point at any rate. If
Carthew has sent for a steamer, he is likely to have ordered a man
down to this headland to see which course we are taking. When we
have got so far that we cannot be made out from there, we will sail
north for Cape la Mole. I think it would be safe enough to lay our
course at once, but I do not wish to run the slightest risk that
can be avoided."
The wind continued to freshen, and to Frank's satisfaction they
were, when Bertha came on deck at eight o'clock, running along the
coast at seven knots an hour.
"Have you slept well?" he asked, as he took her hand.
"Yes. I thought when I lay down that it would be impossible for me
to sleep at all--it had been such a wonderful day, it was all so
strange, so sudden, and so happy--and just as I was thinking so, I
suppose I dropped off and slept till Anna woke me three quarters of
an hour ago, and told me what time it was.
"Frank, I did not say anything yesterday, not even a single word of
thanks, for all that you have done for me; but you know very well
that it was not because I did not feel it, but because if I had
said anything at all I should have broken down, and that was the
very thing that I knew I ought not to do. But you know, don't you,
that I shall have all my life to prove how thankful I am."
"I know, dear, and between us surely nothing need be said. I am as
thankful that I have been the means of saving you, as you can be
that I was almost miraculously enabled to follow your track so
successfully."
"Breakfast is ready, sir," the steward announced from the
companion.
"Coming, steward.
"I have told them, Bertha, to lay for three. I thought that it
would be pleasanter for you to have Anna with you at meals, as I
suppose she has taken them with you since you were carried off."
"Thank you," she said, gratefully. "It won't be quite so nice for
you, I know, but perhaps it will be better."
"Well, Anna, you are looking very well," Frank said as he sat down.
"You must officiate with the coffee, Bertha. I will see after the
eatables."
"Yes, Anna does look well," Bertha said. "She has borne up
capitally, ever since the first two days. We have had all our meals
together in our cabin."
"Miss Greendale has been a great deal braver than I have, sir,"
Anna said, quietly. "She has been wonderfully brave, and though she
is very good to say that I have borne up well, I know very well
that I have not been as brave as I ought; and I could not help
breaking down and crying sometimes, for I did think that we should
never get home again."
"Except carrying you away, Carthew did not behave altogether so
badly, Bertha?"
"No. The first day that we got on board he told me that I was to
stay there until I consented to marry him. I told him that in that
case I should become a permanent resident on board, but that sooner
or later I should be rescued. He only said then, that he hoped that
I should change my mind in time. He admitted that his conduct had
been inexcusable, but that his love for me had driven him to it,
and that he had only won me as many a knight had won a bride before
now.
"At first I made sure that, when we put into a port, I should be
able somehow to make my condition known; but I realised for the
first time what it was going to be, when I saw us stand off the
Lizard and lay her head for the south. Up to that time I had
scarcely exchanged a word with him. I had said at once that unless
I had my meals in my own cabin with Anna, I would eat nothing at
all, and he said, quite courteously, I must confess, that I should
in all respects do as I pleased, consistent with safety.
"From that time he said 'Good morning,' gravely when I came up on
deck with Anna, and made a remark about the weather. I made no
reply, and did not speak until he came to me in the morning, and
said quietly, 'That is the Lizard astern of us, Miss Greendale. We
are bound for the West Indies, the finest cruising ground in the
world, full of quiet little bays where we can anchor for weeks.'
"'It is monstrous,' I said desperately, for I own that for the
first time I was really frightened. 'Some day you will be punished
for this.'
"'I must risk that,' he said, quietly. 'Of course, at present you
are angry. It is natural that you should be so, but in time you
will forgive me, and will make allowance for the length to which my
affection for you has driven me. It may be six months, it may be
ten years, but however long it may be, I can promise you that, save
for this initial offence, you will have no cause to complain of me.
I am possessed of boundless patience, and can wait for an
indefinite time. In the end I feel sure that your heart will soften
towards me.'
"That was his tone all along. He was perfectly respectful,
perfectly polite. Sometimes for days not a word would be exchanged
between us; sometimes he would come up and talk, or rather, try to
talk, for it was seldom that he got any answer from me. As a rule I
sat in my deck chair with Anna beside me, and he sat on the other
side of the deck, or walked up and down, smoking or talking with
that man who was with him.
"So it went on till the afternoon when we saw you. As I told you,
he made us go down at once. I could see that he was furiously angry
and excited. The steward came to our cabin early in the morning,
and said that Mr. Carthew requested that we would dress and come up
at once. As I was anxious to know what was going on, I did so; and
he said when we came on deck, 'I am very sorry, Miss Greendale, but
I have to ask you to go on shore with us at once.'
"I had no idea where we were, save that it was somewhere in the
island of San Domingo; but I was ready enough to go ashore,
thinking that I might see some white people that I could appeal to.
"I did speak to some negroes as we landed, but he said, 'It is of
no use your speaking to them, Miss Greendale, for none of them
understands any language but his own.'
"I saw that they did not understand me, at any rate. I was
frightened when I saw that four of the sailors were going with us,
and that a dozen of the blacks, armed with muskets, also formed
round us. I said that I would not go afoot, but Carthew answered:
"'It would pain me greatly were I obliged to take such a step; but
if you will not go, there is no course open to me but to have you
carried. I am sorry that it should be so, but for various reasons
it is imperative that you should take up your abode on shore for
the present.'
"Seeing that it was useless to resist, I started with him. A short
distance on, two blacks came up with the horses, which had
evidently been sent for. We mounted, and were taken up among the
hills to the place where you found us. Every mile that we went I
grew more frightened, for it seemed to me that it was infinitely
worse being in his power up in those hills, than on board his
yacht, where something might happen by which I might be released
from him. Those huts you saw had been built beforehand, so that he
had evidently been preparing to take us there if there should be
any reason for leaving the yacht. There was bedding and a couple of
chairs and a table in ours.
"In the morning, while still speaking politely, he made it evident
to me that he considered he could take a stronger tone than before.
"'I assure you, Miss Greendale,' he said, 'that this poor hut is
but a temporary affair. I will shortly have a more comfortable one
erected for you. You see, your residence here is likely to be a
long one, unless you change your mind. Pray do not nourish any idea
that you can someday escape me. It is out of the question; and
certainly no white man is ever likely to come to this valley, nor
is any negro, except those who live in this village. Its head is an
Obi man, whose will is law to the negroes. Their belief in his
power is unlimited, and I believe that they imagine that he could
slay them with the look of his eye, or turn them into frogs or
toads by his magic power. I pray you to think the matter over
seriously. Why should you waste your life here You did not always
regard me as so hateful; and the love that I bear you is
unchangeable. Even could you, months or years hence, make your
escape, which I regard as impossible, what would your position be
if you returned to England? What story would you have to tell? It
might be a true one, but would it be believed?'
"'I have my maid, sir,' I said, passionately, 'who would confirm my
report of what I have suffered.'
"'No doubt she would,' he said quietly, 'but a maid's testimony as
to her mistress's doings does not go for very much. I endeavoured
to make the voyage, which I foresaw might be a long one, pleasant
to you by requesting you to bring her with you, and I believe that
ladies who elope not unfrequently take their maids with them. But
we need not discuss that. This valley will be your home, Miss
Greendale, until you consent to leave it as my wife. I do not say
that I shall always share your solitude here. I shall cruise about,
and may even for a time return to England, but that will in no way
alter your position. I have been in communication with the Obi
gentleman since I first put into the bay, and he has arranged to
take charge of your safety while I am away. He is not a pleasant
man to look at, and I have no doubt that he is an unmitigated
scoundrel--but his powers are unlimited. If he ordered his
followers to offer you and your maid as sacrifices to his fetish,
they would carry out his orders, not only willingly, but joyfully.
He is a gentleman who, like his class, has a keen eye to the main
chance, and will, I doubt not, take every precaution to prevent a
source of considerable income from escaping him.'
"'You understand,' he went on, in a different manner, 'I do not
wish to threaten you--very far from it. I have endeavoured from the
time that you set foot on board to make you as comfortable as
possible, and to abstain from thrusting myself upon you in the
slightest degree, and I shall always pursue the same course. But
please understand that nothing will shake my resolution. It will
pain me deeply to have to keep you in a place like this, but keep
you I must until you consent to be mine. You must see yourself the
hopelessness, as well as the folly, of holding out. On the one side
is a life wasted here, on the other you will be the wife of a man
who loves you above all things; who has risked everything by the
step that he has taken, and who, when you consent, will devote his
life to your happiness. You will be restored to your friends and to
your position, and nought will be known, except that we made a
runaway match, as many have done before us. Do not answer now. At
any rate I will remain here for a couple of months, and by the end
of that time you may see that the alternative is not so terrible a
one.'
"Then, without another word, he turned and walked away; and nothing
further passed between us until in the afternoon, when you so
suddenly arrived."
"Thank God, he behaved better than I should have given him credit
for," Frank said, when she had finished. "He must have felt
absolutely certain that there was no chance whatever of your
rescue, and that in time you would be forced to accept him, or he
would hardly have refrained from pushing his suit more urgently.
His calculations were well made, and if we had not noticed that
brigantine at Cowes, and I had not had the luck to come upon some
of his crew and pick up his track, he might have been successful."
"You don't think that I should ever have consented to marry him?"
Bertha said, indignantly.
"I am sure that such a thought never entered your head, Bertha; but
you cannot tell what the effect of a hopeless captivity would have
had upon you. The fellow had judged you well, and he saw that the
attitude of respect he adopted would afford him a far better chance
of winning you, than roughness or threats would do. But he might
have resorted to them afterwards, and you were so wholly and
absolutely in his power, that you would almost have been driven to
accept the alternative and become his wife."
She shook her head decidedly.
"I would have killed him first," she said. "I suppose some girls
would say, 'I would have killed myself;' but I should not have
thought of that--at any rate not until I had failed to kill him.
Every woman has the same right to defend herself that a man has,
and I should have no more felt that I was to blame, if I had killed
him, than you would do when you killed a man who had done you no
individual harm, in battle."
"We only want mamma here," she said a little later, as she took her
seat in a deck chair, "to complete the illusion that we are sailing
along somewhere on the Devonshire coast. The hills are higher and
more wooded, but the general idea is the same. I suppose I ought to
feel it very shocking, cruising about with you, without anyone but
Anna with me; but somehow it does not feel so."
"No wonder, dear. You see, we have been looking forward to doing
exactly the same thing in the spring."
"I think we had better not talk about that now," she said,
flushing. "I intend to make believe, till we get to England, that
mamma is down below, and that I may be called at any moment. How
long shall we be before we are there?"
"I cannot say, Bertha. I shall have a talk with Hawkins, presently,
as to what course we had better take. It may be best to sail to
Bermuda. If we find a mail steamer about to start from there, we
might go home in it, and get there a fortnight earlier than we
should do in the yacht, perhaps more. However, that we can talk
over. I can see there may be difficulties, but undoubtedly the
sooner you are home the better. You see, we are well in November
now.
"What day is it?" he reflected.
"I have lost all count, Frank."
He consulted a pocketbook.
"Today is the twenty-first of November. I should think that if we
get favourable winds, we might make Bermuda in a week--ten days at
the outside; and if we could catch a steamer a day or two after
getting there, you might be able to spend your Christmas at
Greendale."
"That would be very nice. The difficulty would be, that I might
afterwards meet some of the people who were with us on the
steamer."
"It would not be likely," he said. "Still, we can talk it over. At
any rate, from the Bermudas we can send a letter to your mother,
and set her mind at rest."
The captain and Purvis, consulting the book of sailing directions,
came to the conclusion that the passage via the Bermudas would be
distinctly the best and shortest. The wind was abeam and steady,
and with all sail set the Osprey maintained a speed of nine knots
an hour until Bermuda was in sight. They were still undecided as to
whether they had better go home by the mail, but it was settled for
them by their finding, on entering the port, that the steamer had
touched there the day before and gone on the same evening, and that
it was not probable that any other steamer would be sailing for
England for another ten days.
They stopped only long enough to lay in a store of fresh provisions
and water, of which the supply was now beginning to run very short.
Indeed, had not the wind been so steady, all hands would have been
placed on half rations of water.
Bertha did not land. She was nervously afraid of meeting anyone who
might recognise her afterwards, and six hours after entering the
port the Osprey was again under way. The wind, as is usual at
Barbadoes, was blowing from the southwest; and it held with them
the whole way home, so that after a remarkably quick run they
dropped anchor off Southampton on the fifteenth of December. Frank
had already made all arrangements with the captain to lay up the
Osprey at once.
"I shall want her out again in the first week in April, so that she
will not be long in winter quarters."
On landing, Frank despatched a telegram to Lady Greendale:
"Returned all safe and well. Just starting for town. Shall be with
you about six o'clock."
The train was punctual, and five minutes before six Frank arrived
with Bertha at Lady Greendale's. He had already told Bertha that he
should not come in.
"It is much better that you should be alone with her for a time.
She will have innumerable questions to ask, and would, of course,
prefer to have you to herself. I will come round tomorrow morning
after breakfast."
Anna had been instructed very carefully, by her mistress, not to
say anything of what had happened, and in order that she might
avoid questions, George Lechmere had seen her into a cab for
Liverpool Street, as she wished to spend a week with some friends
at Chelmsford. Then she was to join Bertha at Greendale.
Frank went to his chambers, where George Lechmere had driven with
the luggage. The next morning he went early to Lady Greendale's, so
early that he found her and Bertha at breakfast.
"My dear Frank," the former said, embracing him warmly, "how can I
ever thank you for all that you have done for us! Bertha has been
telling me all about how you rescued her. I hear that you were
wounded, too."
"The wound was of no great importance, and, as you see, I have
thrown aside my sling this morning. Yes, we went through some
exciting adventures, which will furnish us with a store of memories
all our lives.
"How have you been, Lady Greendale? I am glad to see that, at any
rate, you are looking well."
"I have had a terribly anxious time of it, as you may suppose; but
your letters were always so bright and hopeful that they helped me
wonderfully. The first fortnight was the worst. Your letter from
Gibraltar was a great relief, and of course the next, saying that
you had heard that the yacht really did touch at Madeira, showed
that you were on the right track. When you wrote from Madeira, I
sent to Wild's for the largest map of the West Indies that they
had, and thus when I got your letters, I was able to follow your
course and understand all about it. You are looking better than
when I saw you last."
"You should have seen him when I first met him, mamma. I hardly
knew him, he looked so thin and worn; but during the last three
weeks he has filled out again, and he seems to me to be looking
quite himself."
"And Bertha is looking well, too."
"So I ought to do, mamma. I don't think I ever looked very bad, in
spite of my troubles, and the splendid voyage we have had would
have set anyone up."
"It has been a wonderful comfort to me," Lady Greendale said, "that
I have met hardly anyone that I know. The last three weeks or so I
have met two or three people, but I only said that I was up in town
for a short time. Of course, they asked after you, and I said that
you were not with me, as you were spending a short time with some
people whom you knew. We intend to go down home tomorrow."
"The best thing that you can do, Lady Greendale. I shall be down
for Christmas, and the first week in April, you know, I am to carry
her off. So, you see, this excursion of ours has not altered any of
our plans."