_An Old Enemy._
Charlie Webster's laconic note was naturally our chief topic over
breakfast. "_Tobias escaped--just heard he is on your island. Watch out.
Will follow in a day or two._" The "King" read it out, when I handed him
the note across the table.
"Your friend writes like a true man of action," he added, "like
Cæsar--and also the electric telegraph. We must send word to Sweeney to
be on the look-out for him. I will send Samson the Redoubtable with a
message to him this morning. Meanwhile, we will smoke and think."
Then for the next hour the "King" thought--aloud; while Calypso and I
sat and listened, occasionally throwing in a parenthesis of comment or
suggestion. It was evident, we all agreed, that Calypso had been right.
It had been Tobias and none other whose evil eye had sent her so
breathless back to me, waiting in the shadow of the woods; and it was
the same evil eye that had fallen vulture-like on her golden doubloon
exposed on Sweeney's counter.
Now what were we to think of Tobias?--what really were his notions
about this supposititious treasure?--and what was likely to be his plan
of action? Had he really any private knowledge of the whereabouts of his
alleged ancestral treasure?--or was his first authentic hint of its
whereabouts derived from the manuscript--first overheard while
eavesdropping at John Saunders's office, and afterward purloined from
John Saunders's verandah?
There seemed little doubt that this second surmise was correct; for, if
he had had any previous knowledge, he would have had no need of the
manuscript and long ago he would have gone after the treasure for
himself, and found it or not, as the case might be. Probably there was a
tradition in his family of the existence somewhere of his grandfather's
treasure; but that tradition was very likely the sum of his inheritance;
and doubtless it was the mere accident of his dropping into Saunders's
office that morning which had set him on the track.
It was also likely, indeed practically certain, that he had been able to
make no more out of the manuscript than I had; that he had concluded
that I had somehow or other unearthed more about it than he; and that,
therefore, his most promising clue to its discovery would be my actions.
To keep me in sight was the first step. So far so good.
But thus far, it would appear to him, I had had no very positive
success. Otherwise, I would not still be on the quest. He had probably
been aware of my movements, and may have been lying hidden on the island
longer than we suspected. From some of his spies he had heard of my
presence in the settlement, and, chance having directed him to Sweeney's
store at the moment of Calypso's ringing down that Spanish gold on the
counter, he had somehow connected Calypso's doubloon with me.
At all events, it was clear that there were such coins on the island in
somebody's possession. Then, when he had watched Calypso on her way
home--and, without any doubt, been the spectator of our meeting at the
edge of the wood though we had been unable to catch sight of him--there
would, of course, be a suspicion in his mind that my quest might at last
be approaching success, and that his ancestral millions might be almost
in my hands. That there might be some other treasure on the island with
which neither he nor his grandfather had any concern would not occur to
him, nor would it be likely to trouble him if it did. My presence was
enough to prove that the treasure was his--for was it not his treasure
that I was after? Logic irrefutable! How was he to know that all the
treasure so far discovered was that modest hoard--unearthed, as I had
heard, in the garden--the present whereabouts of which was known only to
Calypso. The "King" had interrupted himself at this point of argument.
"By the way, Calypso, where is it?" he asked unexpectedly, to the sudden
confusion of both of us. "Isn't it time you revealed your mysterious
Aladdin's cave?"
At the word "cave" the submerged rose in Calypso's cheeks almost came to
the surface of their beautiful olive.
"Cave!" she countered manfully, "who said it was a cave?"
"It was merely a figure of speech, which--if I may say so, my
dear--might apply with equal fitness, say--to a silk stocking."
And Calypso laughed through another tide of rose-colour.
"No, Dad, not that either. Never mind where it is. It is perfectly safe,
I assure you."
"But _are_ you sure, my dear? Wouldn't it be safer, after all, here in
the house? How can you be certain that no one but yourself will
accidentally discover it?"
"I am absolutely certain that _no one will,_" she answered, with an
emphasis on the last three words which sent a thrill through me, for I
knew that it was meant for me. Indeed, as she spoke, she furtively gave
me one of those glances of soft fire which had burnt straight through to
my heart in Sweeney's store--a sort of blended challenge and appeal.
"Of course, Dad," she added, "if you insist--you shall have it. But
seriously I think it is safer where it is, and if I were to fetch it,
how can I be sure that no one"--she paused, with a meaning which I, of
course, understood--"Tobias, for instance, would see me going--and
follow me."
"To be sure--to be sure," said the "King." "What do you think, friend
Ulysses?"
"I think it more than likely that she might be followed," I answered,
"and I quite agree with Miss Calypso. I certainly wouldn't advise her to
visit her treasure just now--with the woods probably full of eyes. In
fact," I added, smiling frankly at her, "I could scarcely answer for
myself even--for I confess that she has filled me with an overpowering
curiosity."
And in my heart I stood once more amid the watery gleams and echoes of
that moonlit cavern, struck dumb before that shining princess from
whose mouth and hands had fallen those strange streams of gold.
"So be it then," said the "King"; "and now to consider what our friend
here graphically speaks of as those eyes in the woods. 'The woods were
full of eyes.' Ah! friend Ulysses, you evidently share my taste for the
romantic phrase. Who cares how often it has been used? It is all the
better for that. Like old wine, it has gained with age. One's whole
boyhood seems to be in a phrase like that--Dumas, Scott, Fenimore
Cooper. How often, I wonder, has that divine phrase been written--'the
woods were full of eyes.' And now to think that we are actually living
it--an old boy like myself even. 'The woods were full of eyes.' Bravo!
Ulysses, for it is still a brave and gallant world!"
The "King" then made a determined descent into the practical. The woods,
most probably, _were_ full of eyes. In plain prose, we were almost
certainly being watched. Unless--unless, indeed, my bogus departure for
Nassau had fooled Tobias as we had hoped. But, even so, with that lure
of Calypso's doubloon ever before him, it was too probable that he would
not leave the neighbourhood without some further investigation--"an
investigation," the "King" explained, "which might well take the form
of a midnight raid; murdered in our beds, and so forth."
That being so, being in fact almost a certainty--the "King" spoke as
though he would be a much disappointed man otherwise--we must look to
our garrison. After all, besides ourselves, we had but Samson and
Erebus, and their dark brethren of doubtful courage, while Tobias
probably had command of a round dozen of doughty desperadoes. On the
whole, perhaps, he said, it might be best to avail ourselves of the crew
of the _Flamingo_--"under cover of the dark," he repeated with a smile.
Yes! that must be the first step. We must get them up there that night,
under cover of the dark; keep them well hidden, and--well! await
developments. Charlie Webster might be expected any moment with his
reinforcements, and then!--"Lay on, Macduff!"
While we had been talking, Samson had long since been on his way with
the word to Sweeney to look out for Webster, and, as he had been
admonished to hurry back, it was scarcely noon when he returned,
bringing in exchange a verbal message from Sweeney.
"The pock-marked party," ran the message as delivered by Samson, "had
left the harbour in his sloop that morning. Yes, sar!"
"Ha! ha!" laughed the "King," turning to me. "So two can play at that
game, says Henry P. Tobias, Jr. But if we haven't fooled him, let's make
sure that he hasn't fooled us. We'll bring up your crew all the
same--what do you think?"
"Under cover of the dark," I assented.