NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD FRIEND
My uncle was still pacing back and forth when I came out into the
sunset; then, almost at once, the twilight had come and gone, and I
saw him as a deeper shadow moving up and down the deck, with only
the faint sound of his feet to convince me that my eyes saw truly.
The very monotony of his slow, even steps told me that there was no
companionship to be got from him, and at that moment more than
anything else I desired companionship.
What I then did was for me a new step. Leaving the quarter-deck, I
went forward to the steerage and found Sim Muzzy smoking his pipe
with the sailmaker.
"So it's you," he querulously said, when he recognized me, "Now
aren't you sorry you ever left Topham? If I had lost as much as you
have by Seth Upham's going into his second childhood, I vow I'd jump
overboard and be done with life. You're slow enough to look up your
old friends, seems to me."
"But," said I, impatiently, "I've been like to die of seasickness. I
couldn't look you up then, and you never came near me."
"Oh, that's all very well for you to say, but you know I couldn't
come aft without a trouncing from that Neil Gleazen--I'm sure I'd
like to see something awful happen to him to pay him for breaking up
the store!--and you've had plenty of time since. If I didn't show
more fondness for my friends than you do, I'd at least have the good
grace to stay away from them. You've used me very shabbily indeed,
Joe Woods, and I've got the spirit to resent it."
The sailmaker, meanwhile, as if he were not listening with vast
interest to all that Sim had to say against me, looked absently away
and quietly smoked his pipe. But I imagined that I detected in his
eyes a glint of amusement at what he assumed to be my discomfiture,
and angered as much by that as by Sim's petulance, I turned my back
on the two and went on forward to the forecastle, where I found
Abraham Guptil, sprawled full length, in quiet conversation with two
shipmates.
From Abe I got pleasanter greetings.
"Here's Joe Woods," he cried, "one of the best friends Abe Guptil
ever had. You had a hard voyage, didn't you, Joe? I was sorry to
hear you were so bad off, I'd hoped to see more of you."
I threw myself down beside Abe and fell to talking with him and the
others about affairs aft and forward, such as Captain North and his
quarrel with Seth Upham, and the meeting of Gleazen and Matterson,
and Sim Muzzy and his irritating garrulousness, and a score of
things that had happened among the crew. It was all so very friendly
and pleasant, that I was sorry to leave them and go back to my
stateroom, and I did so only when I was like to have fallen asleep
in spite of myself. But on the quarter-deck, when I passed, I saw
Seth Upham still pacing back and forth. He must have known that it
was I, for I came close to him and spoke his name, yet he completely
ignored my presence.
How long he kept it up, I do not know; looking over my shoulder, I
saw last, as I went down the companionway, his stooped figure and
bowed head moving like a shadow back and forth, and back and forth.
Nor do I know just when my drowsy thoughts merged into dreams; but
it seems to me, as I look back upon that night, that my uncle's
bent figure silently pacing the deck haunted me until dawn. Only
when some noise waked me at daybreak, and I crept up the
companionway and found that he was no longer there, did I succeed in
escaping from the spell.
Returning to our stateroom to dress, I came upon Arnold Lamont lying
wide awake.
"Joe," said he, when I was pulling on my clothes, "I am surprised to
hear that Seth Upham ever believed Neil Gleazen to be aught but
penniless."
I turned and looked at him. How could Arnold have learned of the
quarrel between Uncle Seth and Gleazen and Matterson, which only I
had witnessed? Or, if he had not learned of the quarrel and what
transpired in the course of it, where had he heard the story of
Gleazen's empty chests?
Perceiving my amazement, he smiled. "I know many things that happen
on board this vessel, Joe," he said.
"How much," I demanded, "do you know about what happened yesterday?"
"Everything," said he.
"But how?" I cried. I was at my wit's end with curiosity.
"Listen!"
I heard a quick step.
"Joe," he whispered, "you must never tell. Crawl under your blankets
and cover your head so no one can see that you are there."
More puzzled, even, than before, I complied. Whatever Arnold had up
his sleeve, I was convinced that he was not merely making game of
me; and, in truth, I had no sooner concealed myself in my tumbled
berth, which was so deep that this was not hard to do, than a gentle
tap sounded on the door.
"Come in," Arnold said in a low voice.
The door then opened and I heard hesitant steps.
"Well?" Arnold said, when I had heard the latch of the door click
shut again.
"If you please, sir," said a piping little voice, which I knew could
come from only Willie MacDougald, "if you please, sir, they were
laughing hearty at Mr. Upham most of the morning."
"Yes?"
"Yes, sir, and they said it was a shame for him to ruin his
complexion by a-walking all night."
"What else?"
"Yes, sir, and he was asleep all morning--at least, sir, he was in
his berth, but I heard him groaning, sir."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, sir. They didn't seem to like the way you and Joe Woods acted
about their stories of trading niggers, and they said--"
"Ha!" That Arnold rose suddenly, I knew by the creaking of his bunk.
"And they said, sir--" Willie's voice fell as if he were afraid to
go on.
"Yes?"
"And they said--"
"Yes, yes! Come, speak out."
"And they said--" again Willie hesitated, then he continued with a
rush, but in a mere whisper--"that they was going to get rid of you
two."
For a long time there was silence, then Arnold asked in the same low
voice, "Have they laid their plans?"
"They was talking of one thing and another, sir, but in such a way
that I couldn't hear."
Again a long silence followed, which Willie MacDougald broke by
saying, "Please, sir, it was to-day you was to pay me."
"Ah, yes."
I heard a clinking sound as if money were changing hands; then
Willie MacDougald said, "Thank you, sir," and turned the latch.
As he left the stateroom I could not forbear from sticking my head
out of the blankets to look after him. He was so small, so young,
seemingly so innocent! Yet for all his innocence and high voice and
respectful phrases, he had revealed a devilish spirit of hard
bargaining by the tone and manner, if not the words, with which he
demanded his pay; and I was confounded when, as I looked after him,
he turned, met my eyes, and instead of being disconcerted, gave me a
bold, impudent grimace.
"He is a little devil," Arnold said with a smile.
"Do you believe what he tells you?"
"Yes, he does not dare lie to me."
"But," said I, "what of his story that they intend to get rid of
us?"
Arnold smiled again. "I shall put it to good use."
It was evident enough now where Arnold had learned of the quarrel;
and as I noted anew his level, fearless gaze, his clear eyes, and
his erect, commanding carriage, I again recalled his words,--who
could forget them?--"A man does not tell all he knows." More and
more I was coming to realize how little we of Topham had known the
manner of man that this Frenchman truly was.
It was with a paradoxical sense of security, a new confidence in my
old friend, that I accompanied Arnold to breakfast in the great
cabin, where two vacant places and three plates still laid showed
that Gleazen and Matterson had long since come and gone, and that
Seth Upham was still keeping aloof in his own quarters. But little
Willie MacDougald, appearing as ever a picture of childish
innocence, assiduously waited on us; and before we were through,
Matterson came below, flung his great body into a chair and, calling
for gin, settled himself for a friendly chat.
"Yes, lads," he said in his oddly light voice, "I've decided to cast
my lot with you. I'm going to ship as mate. Not that I feel I
ought,--I really scarce can afford the time for a voyage now,--but
Neil Gleazen and Seth Upham wouldn't hear to my not going."
He broadly grinned at me, for he knew well that I had heard every
word that passed between the three the day before.
"Well, lads," he went on, "it's a great country we're going to, and
there's great adventures ahead. Yes,--" he spoke now with a sort of
humorous significance, as if he were playing boldly with an idea and
enjoying it simply because he was confident that we could not detect
what lay behind it,--"Yes, there's great adventures ahead. It's
queer, but even here in Cuba a young man never knows what's going to
overtake him next. I've seen young fellows, with their plans all
laid, switched sudden to quite another set of plans that no one, no,
sir, not no one ever thought they'd tumble into. It's mysterious.
Yes, sir, mysterious it is."
That there was a double meaning behind all this talk, I had no doubt
whatever, and it irritated me that he should tease us as if we were
little children; but I could make no particular sense of what he
said, except so far as Willie MacDougald's tale served to indicate
that it was a threat; and Arnold Lamont, apparently not a whit
disturbed, continued his meal with great composure and, whatever he
may have thought, gave no sign to enlighten me.
We had so little to say to Matterson in reply, that he soon left us,
and for another day we sat idle on deck or amused ourselves as best
we could, The crew had numberless duties to perform, such as
painting and caulking and working on the rigging. Arnold Lamont and
Sim Muzzy got out the chessmen and played for hours, while Matterson
watched them with an interest so intent that I suspected him of
being himself a chess-player; and Gleazen and Uncle Seth
intermittently played at cards. So the day passed, until in the
early evening a boat hailed us, and a sailor came aboard and said
that Captain Jones of the Merry Jack and Eleanor sent his
compliments to Mr. Upham and Mr. Gleazen and would be glad to have
all the gentlemen come visiting and share a bowl of punch, at making
which his steward had an excellent hand.
My uncle seized upon the invitation with alacrity, for it seemed
that he had met Captain Jones in Havana two days since. He called to
Gleazen and Matterson, saying with something of his old sharp,
pompous manner that they certainly must come, too, and that he was
going also to bring Arnold, Sim, and me, at which, I perceived, the
two exchanged smiles.
Sim came running aft, ready to complain at the slightest
provocation, but too pleased with the prospect of an outing to burst
forth on no grounds at all; Neil Gleazen and my uncle led the way
toward the quarter-boat in which we were to go; and Arnold followed
them.
It did not escape me that both Gleazen and Matterson had held their
tongues since the sailor delivered his master's invitation, and
that, as they passed me, they exchanged nudges. I was all but
tempted into staying on board the Adventure. As I meditated on
Willie MacDougald's story, and Matterson's allusions,--how
significant they were, I could not know,--the silence of the two
alarmed me more than direct threats would have done. Why should
Gleazen and Matterson look at each other and smile when all the
rest--all, that is, except myself--were going down by the chains
ahead of them? Would they not, unless they had known more than we
about this Captain Jones and his ship, the Merry Jack and Eleanor,
have asked questions, or perhaps even have declined to go?
Whatever my thoughts, I had no chance to express them; so over the
side I went, close after the rest, and down into the boat where the
sailors waited at their oars. To none of us did it occur that it was
in any way contrary to the usual etiquette to take Sim Muzzy with
us. Except that force of circumstances had placed him in the
steerage, his position aboard the Adventure was the same as Arnold's
and mine, or even Gleazen's, for that matter.
Poor Sim! For once he forgot to complain and came with us as gayly
as the fly that walked into the spider's parlor. And yet I now hold
the opinion,--I was a long, long time in coming to it,--that after
all fate was very kind to Simeon Muzzy.
He settled himself importantly in the boat and began to talk a blue
streak, as the saying is, about one thing and another, until I would
almost have tossed him overboard. Uncle Seth, too, frowned at him,
and the strange sailors smiled, and Gleazen and Matterson spoke
together in Spanish and laughed as if they shared a lively joke. But
Arnold Lamont leaned back and half closed his eyes and appeared to
hear nothing of what was going on.
All the way to the Merry Jack and Eleanor, which lay about a quarter
of a mile from the Adventure, Gleazen and Matterson continued at
intervals to exchange remarks in Spanish; and although Uncle Seth
and Arnold Lamont completely ignored them, Sim, who by now had got
so used to foreign tongues that they no longer astonished and
confused him, took it hard that he could make nothing of what they
said and went into a lively tantrum about it, at which the strange
sailors chuckled as they rowed.
Passing under the counter of the vessel, we continued to the
gangway; but just as we came about the stern, Arnold touched my hand
and by a motion so slight as to pass almost unnoticed drew my
attention to a man-of-war that lay perhaps a cable's length away.
Under cover of the loud exchange of greetings and the bustle that
occurred when the others were going aboard, he whispered, "We are
safe for the time being. See! Yonder is a frigate. But either you or
I must stay on deck, and if there is aught of an outcry below, he
must call for help in such a way that there shall be no doubt of its
coming."
"What do you mean?" I whispered.
"Hush! They are watching us."
As we followed the others, Arnold stopped by the bulwark and half
leaned, half fell, against it.
"Pardon me, gentlemen," he said in that slow, precise voice, "For
the moment I am ill. It is a mere attack of dizziness, but I dare
not go below. I must stay in the open air. I beg you will pardon me.
I intend no rudeness."
His face did look pale in the half-light, and the others, whatever
their suspicions may have been, said nothing to indicate that they
doubted him. When Captain Jones of the Merry Jack and Eleanor came
toward us a second time and again with oily courtesy asked us all to
the cabin, Gleazen and Matterson made excuses for Arnold, and the
rest of us went down into the gloomy space below and left him in the
gangway whence he could watch the hills, which were now dark against
the evening sky, and the black masts of the frigate, which stood by
like sentries guarding our lives and fortunes.
There was a fetid, sickening odor about the ship, such as I had
never before experienced, and the cabin reeked of rum and tobacco.
The skipper had the face of a human brute, and the mate's right hand
was twisted all out of shape, as if some heavy weapon had once
smashed the bones of it. The more I looked about the dark, low
cabin, and the more I saw and heard of the skipper and his mate, the
more I wished I were on deck with Arnold. But the punch was brewed
in a colossal bowl and gave forth a fragrance of spices, and Sim
Muzzy drank with the rest, and for a while the five of them were as
jolly as the name of the ship would indicate.