MR. DARLING SETS OUT ON A JOURNEY
This John Darling was no ordinary shell-back. His father was an English
parson, his uncle a Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and his eldest
brother a commander in the Royal Navy. John was poor in worldly gear,
however, and had recently been third officer of the _Durham Castle_. Now
he was without a berth, and was making a bid for fortune of an unusual
and adventurous kind. In London, Sir Ralph Harwood had made him a
private offer of one thousand pounds for the recovery of the necklace of
diamonds and rubies. Darling had landed in St. John's, on his quest,
about six days before his meeting with Dick Lynch. Upon landing he had
learned at the Merchants' Club that the _Royal William_, bound for New
York from London, was reported lost. She had foundered in mid-ocean or
had been shattered upon some desolate coast. The underwriters had paid
up like men--and both the American and English press had lamented the
tragic fate of Miss Flora Lockhart, the young New York singer, who had
so lately won fame in London.
Darling had taken the news of Flora's terrible fate keenly to heart. He
had crossed the ocean with her three years before; and she had haunted
his dreams, waking and sleeping, ever since. Though he had always felt
that his devotion was hopeless, it was no less real for that. And now,
from a drunken fisherman, he had learned that she was alive, in good
health, and a captive!
Mr. Darling went straight to his own hotel from the _Ship Ahoy_. He
cleaned his pistols, made a rough map of the east coast, south of
Witless Bay, from the information obtained from Dick Lynch, packed a
couple of saddle-bags, rolled up a pair of blankets and sent for the
landlord. From the landlord he obtained change for two five-pound Bank
of England notes, information concerning the road from St. John's to the
head of Witless Bay, and hired a horse.
Mr. Darling set out on his adventurous journey after an early breakfast
eaten by candle-light. He felt courageous, invincible. He would rescue
the lady of his long sea-dreams from that black-faced, black-hearted
pirate who was called the skipper of Chance Along. In the flush of this
determination the necklace was forgotten. So confident was he of
success, and so intent upon picturing the rescue of that beautiful
creature who had bewitched him three long, varied sailor-years ago, that
he had covered several miles of his journey before noticing the
stumblings and gruntings of the ill-conditioned beast between his knees.
He departed from the city by way of a road leading westward from the
head of the harbor. This he followed for three miles, through slush and
half-frozen mud, then turned to the left. He forced his horse into a
trot. It pecked badly, and he shot over its bowed head and landed in a
mud-hole. Scrambling to his feet he noticed for the first time the gaunt
ribs, heaving flanks and swollen legs of his steed. He swore heartily,
seized the bridle and dragged the horse forward. The road was
indescribable. Mud, slush and icy water took him to the knee at every
step; but he plugged manfully forward, dragging the protesting horse
after him. So for an hour, across the barren rise of land to the
southward, after which he remounted and rode at the best speed he could
command until the horse stumbled again and again unseated him.
Undaunted, Mr. Darling took his turn on foot again, dragging the puffing
beast along at his muddy heels. The way was nothing but a muddy track
across a desolate barren. It curved steadily to the left and at last
brought him in sight of the irregular coast and the gray sea. By noon he
had reached a miserable, dirty shebeen; and here he dried himself,
sheltered and fed his horse and ate from his own provisions. He rested
there for two hours (for his horse's sake rather than his own), and then
mounted, threw a couple of shillings to the keeper of the house and
continued on his way. He studied the coast-line intently as he
floundered along. He saw that most of the shore ice had melted or broken
away from the land-wash. Plans for the rescue of Flora Lockhart were
taking shape in his mind. Beyond a doubt the rescue would have to be
made by water; and so he studied every sheltered haven and surf-footed
cape as he worked his heroic way southward, now plunging in his
precarious saddle, now plunging with his own legs in the mire.
The figure of another wayfarer came in sight early in the afternoon. The
stranger was on foot. He wore a red blanket round his shoulders and
carried a long gun of ancient pattern. He was a big fellow with a
swarthy face and bad eyes, and his ears were adorned with gold rings.
Mr. Darling did not relish the fellow's looks, and so passed him without
halting, alert, with his right hand on the butt of a pistol in his
pocket. This picturesque ruffian was heading northward. After passing
Mr. Darling he turned and glanced back several times, his interest
doubtless attracted by the respectability of the other's appearance and
the bulging saddle-bags. But he did not stop. Neither did he return. The
young man with the old horse looked to him like a fighter--and even if
the saddle-bags were stuffed with gold they would prove but a flea bite
to the stake which he had in mind.
Mr. Darling and his encumbering steed reached Raggedy Cove about an hour
after sunset. Mr. Darling was in good heart and, thanks to fine lungs
and muscles, and a flawless constitution, was as fit in body as spirit.
He found a bed for himself and a stable for the horse, and an old man
full of information concerning the quickest and easiest way to get to
Witless Bay. This was by water, said the old man. His own son George was
going south along the coast next morning, in a bully. So Darling
boarded the bully next morning, leaving his horse with the old man.
George, the navigator of the bully, was an inquisitive young man; but
his eyes were steady and his face honest. In spite of his prying
questions, he won Mr. Darling's good-will by the way he handled his
boat. Of all branches of human skill, that of seamanship appealed most
strongly to John Darling's heart and head. He respected a smart sailor
just as intensely as he despised a bungling one. He was an unusually
fine sailor himself, and could handle any vessel, large or small, as
easily as he could navigate it. So he answered a few of the fisherman's
questions good-naturedly, and asked a great many in return. George Wick
had heard of Chance Along, but had never been there. And why should he
have been there? Nobody ever went to Chance Along. Yes, he had once seen
Black Dennis Nolan.
"'Twas back in September, sir," he said. "Sure, didn't he put into
Raggedy Cove one night--him an' his fore-an'-after--bound from St.
John's, wid a freight o' grub an' gear. But what business would ye be
havin' wid the likes o' him, sir?"
Darling ignored the question and asked another. No, George Wick was not
familiar with the coast south of Witless Bay; but he had always heard
that it was a desperate bad coast.
"What is your business in Witless Bay?" asked Darling.
The young fisherman pointed to four boxes of plug tobacco in the bottom
of the bully.
"They bes for Skipper Walsh," he said. "I trades 'em for fish, an' then
I heads back for Raggedy Cove."
"If you will sail me right around to Chance Along I will pay you well
for it," said Darling. "My business in Chance Along is important--yes,
very important. It would be worth five sovereigns to you, my man--that
little trip."
George Wick looked interested, but shook his head.
"It bes a bad coast, sir," he said, "an' clean unbeknownst to me. An'
now it would be desperate, sir, what wid the ice a-chokin' all the
little coves so ye couldn't run in from a squall o' wind, sir."
"The shore-ice is gone, as you can see for yourself, and the drift-ice
will not be down this way until near June," replied Darling. "But don't
make any more excuses, George. You are not the man I want, anyway, for
I see that you are no good for anything but asking questions. I'll be
able to find some lad in Witless Bay, with a boat of some sort, who
isn't afraid of the coast to the southward."
George Wick sulked for a few minutes, then asked, "What bes yer business
wid Black Dennis Nolan, anyhow, sir? Bes ye a constable, sir, or
anything like that?"
"My business is of a private nature," replied Mr. Darling. "I am a
sailor, not a constable--an officer of the Merchant Marine."
"Aye, sir, I knowed ye for a sailor," said the other; "but there was a
crew of constables along this way back in November, rigged out like
fishermen an' swearin' as how they _was_ fishermen. They went south; an'
they soon come back wid empty hands. We was all t'inkin' in Raggedy Cove
as how some vessel had maybe bin broke up afore it was deserted by the
crew, as is the custom wid some folks in some harbors. An' when I see ye
wid business in Chance Along, sir--well, Black Dennis Nolan do surely
look to me like a man who'd be breakin' into a ship widout waitin' for
her crew to desart her."
Mr. Darling smiled. "You are a smart man, George Wick," he said.
The bully rounded into Witless Bay and worked up to the settlement at
the head of it without accident. Wick handed over his tobacco to Skipper
Walsh; and then, with an eye on Mr. Darling, said he would call in a few
days later for his trade of fish. Darling nodded, and purchased tea,
hard-bread and bacon from the skipper. Later, he and George filled a
small keg with water and put it aboard, and bought two sealing-guns and
a supply of powder and slugs. They headed down the bay at the first gray
wash of dawn. After three hours of hauling across the wind they rounded
the southern headland of the bay. They made an easting of more than a
mile before heading due south. Mr. Darling took the tiller now, and
George manned the sheet. Darling produced a pair of marine glasses and
the chart which he had made from information received from Dick Lynch.
They skirted a lee-shore and had to beat up to windward again and again
to clear themselves. Before sunset they ran into a tiny, sheltered cove
and made camp.
It was shortly after noon of the next day that Mr. Darling, diligently
scrutinizing the shore through his glasses, saw something that caught
his attention. He edged the bully in and looked again.
"By heaven, it is a man's leg!" he exclaimed. He passed the glasses
forward to Wick and pointed the direction.
"Sure," said Wick. "Sure, sir, it bes some poor divil wid a skinnywopper
on his leg--so it bain't nobody from a wrack, ye kin lay to that."
They ran the bully shoreward and lowered the sail. Darling sprang to the
land-wash and found the battered body of a man wedged tight between two
icy rocks at the foot of the cliff. It was frozen stiff; but it was
evident that it had not always been frozen. The crabs had found it, and
even the heavy clothing was torn to strips. Mr. Darling stooped and took
a little, red-bound casket from the torn breast. With his back to George
Wick he opened it with trembling fingers. The diamonds and rubies of
Lady Harwood's necklace flashed up at him!