One evening Captain Lester of the _Maritana_, then lying in Sydney
harbour “awaiting orders,” called on Mrs. Brabant at the Royal Hotel.
“I have just received this from Captain Brabant, madam,” he said with
studied, but cold politeness, as he handed her a letter.
She took it with an impatient gesture. “A letter to you and none to me!
Surely he must have written, and the letter has miscarried.”
“No doubt, madam,” replied the captain of the _Maritana_ in the same
stiff tones.
Mrs. Brabant motioned him to a seat as she read the letter, first
telling Minea, the Samoan maid, who was present, to leave the room. The
girl obeyed, and as she passed Lester she gave him such a curious
but friendly glance, that now for the first time he began to have a
suspicion that she was not false to her master. Then, too, it suddenly
flashed across his mind that according to Samoan custom, unknown to her
mistress, Minea was a “sister” to Brabant, who had exchanged names with
her father, a minor chief of a good family, on whose land Brabant had
settled when he first came to Samoa. That alone, he knew, would ensure
the girl's unswerving loyalty and devotion to her “brother”--she could
not conceal from him anything that affected his honour or reputation.
“She'll tell him,” he thought, as he watched Mrs. Brabant read the
letter; “thank God I shall be spared the task.”
Brabant's letter to Lester was very short. It was dated from Vavau,
Friendly Islands, and was as follows:--
“Dear Lester,--I send you this hurried note by the Tongan
Government schooner _Taufaahau_. I am here in the _Loelia_,
inspecting my stations in connection with their transference
to Captain Danvers's company. He is very anxious to realise
his ideal, and I do not wish to keep him waiting. If Mrs.
Brabant is not in Sydney when this reaches you, please
communicate with her as quickly as possible. No doubt she
will be quite anxious to return to Fiji now, and I shall be
here awaiting the _Maritana_. I hope to see you within three
weeks after you receive this. Make the _Maritana_ sail for
all she is worth.
“Yours sincerely,
“John Brabant.”
She handed him the letter. “Thank you, Captain Lester. When do you
propose sailing?”
“I am ready for sea now, madam. I only await your pleasure.”
He did not look at her as he spoke, for he feared that the hatred and
contempt with which he regarded her would show itself in his face.
“I can come on board to-morrow. Will that do?” she asked.
“Certainly, madam, if it will not hurry you too much.”
“Not at all, Captain; I am sick of Sydney, and am only too glad to come
on board the _Maritana_ again.” She spoke with a friendly warmth, but
Lester's distantly polite manner gave her no encouragement.
“Will you not stay and dine with me?” she asked, with a smile; “do say
yes. I feel quite angry that my husband has not written to me. I am
really a deserted wife. Don't you think so, Captain Lester?”
Her forced pleasantry was thrown away.
“I am very sorry, Mrs. Brabant, but as we are to sail to-morrow, I must
hasten on board at once. There are many matters to which I must attend.”
He rose and bowed stiffly, and Nell Brabant extended her hand. He
touched it, and in another moment was gone. She sank back in her chair
with a white face and terror in her eyes. What did he mean by his cold
and distant manner? Did he suspect anything? Did he know anything? How
could he? Minea alone knew that she had left Sydney for a month with
Danvers, and Minea would not betray her! What need to fear anything?
Then, satisfied with her own powers of intrigue, she smiled to herself,
and dismissed Lester's cold face and unresponsive manner from her mind.
When Lester went on board again he took from his pocket a second letter
from Brabant, which was marked “Private and Confidential,” and with
a puzzled brow read it over again. “I want you, Lester, to attend
carefully to my instructions. _You are to consider my other letter as
cancelled_. I wish you, instead of coming to Tonga, to make all possible
haste to 22 10' S. and 170 25' E. I shall meet you there or thereabouts
in the _Loelia_.--Yours sincerely. J. B.”
“What does all this mystery mean, I wonder?” he muttered, as he looked
at an outspread chart on the table; “why should he pick upon the
vicinity of such a God-forsaken spot as Hunter's Island for a
rendezvous? But it's none of my business.” Then he turned in and slept.
*****
Sunset in the South Seas.
The _Loelia_ was lazily head-reaching towards Hunter's Island, about six
miles distant, its grim and rugged outlines showing out clearly under
the yellow streaks of the sinking sun, Pedro Diaz was on deck, drinking
his coffee, when the native seaman who was on the lookout cried--
“Sail ho, sir! Away there on the weather beam.”
Diaz stepped below to Brabant, who was lying in his bunk reading a book.
“Here she is, sir.”
“Ah! three days sooner than I expected her, Pedro. You know what to do,
don't you? Here is the letter for Lester. Get away as quickly as you
can. The night will be fine and clear, and there will be no need to
hoist a light for you.”
He handed the officer a letter addressed to “Captain James Lester,
schooner _Maritana_,” and then rose and began to dress himself.
In a few minutes the cutter's boat, with Pedro Diaz and four hands, was
pulling towards the _Maritana_ which was coming along under a six-knot
breeze. The moment the boat left the side Brabant set the gaff topsail
and square-sail, and headed the Loelia towards the north end of the
island. Just as she disappeared from the view of those on board the
approaching vessel, Pedro Diaz came within hailing distance. He stood
up.
“_Maritana_ ahoy!”
Lester's voice replied to his hail, the schooner was brought to the
wind, the boat ranged alongside, and Diaz ascended.
“How are you, Lester?” he said, shaking hands with his friend. “I have
no time to talk. Read this letter at once, and let me get away with all
speed.”
Lester was impressed with the emphatic manner in which he spoke, and
without a single question opened Brabant's letter. Then an exclamation
of astonishment burst from him.
“What does it all mean, Pedro? I----”
The Chileno waved his hand impatiently, and shrugged his shoulders. “We
must obey orders, Lester.”
“Of course. I shall let Mrs. Brabant know at once.” Then he read the
letter a second time.
“Dear Lester,--Please ask Mrs. Brabant to get together some
of her luggage as quickly as possible, and come on board the
_Loelia_, which is the better vessel of the two as far as
comfort goes. Minea can remain on board the _Maritana_. You
will find further orders awaiting you at Levuka.”
That was all. Lester stepped below, and found his passenger seated at
the cabin table.
“That vessel is the _Loelia_ madam, and Diaz has just come aboard with
this letter;” and he handed it to her.
“What an extraordinary thing! Why did not my husband come for me
himself if he is so anxious for me to join him on the _Loelia_. Is she
close-to?”
“Yes, but not in sight. I think Captain Brabant was afraid of the wind
failing, and the cutter drifting in on the weather side of the island,
for he has gone round to the lee side.”
Calling Minea, Mrs. Brabant hurriedly packed some necessary clothing,
telling the girl the reason for such haste, and in a few minutes she
sent word on deck that she was ready. Diaz was already in the boat,
steer-oar in hand, and talking to Lester, who was leaning over the rail,
wondering why his former comrade seemed so embarrassed, and impatient to
get away.
Mrs. Brabant held out her hand. “Good-bye, Captain Lester. I hope you
will have a quick passage to Levuka. Goodbye, Minea.”
She descended the ladder into the boat, and took her seat, Diaz lifted
his hat, and then gave the word to push off.
“Good-bye, Pedro,” said Lester.
The Chileno looked up.
“Good-bye, Jim, old comrade.”
The men stretched to their oars, and the whaleboat shot out towards
the dark shadow of the island as the crew of the _Maritana_ went to the
braces, the yards swung round, and she stood away to the eastward, and
Lester, with a strange feeling of unrest oppressing him, leant with
folded arms upon the rail, and wondered why Pedro Diaz had given such a
tone of sadness to his last words.
The night was clear with the light of myriad stars, as the boat swept
through the gently heaving sea. Diaz, standing grim and sombre-faced at
the steer-oar, had not spoken a word since the boat left the ship. His
eyes looked straight ahead.
Mrs. Brabant had never liked the dark, sullen-faced Chilian, but now
there came into her heart such a sudden, horrible feeling of loneliness
that she felt she would be glad to hear him speak.
“Is my husband quite well, Mr. Diaz?”
“Quite well, madam,” he replied, still staring straight before him.
His voice appalled her, and she made no further effort to break the
dreadful silence as she looked at the black bulk of the island, along
whose fissured sides there every now and then ran ragged sheets of smoky
flame. The boat rounded the island, and then when opposite the little
bay, Diaz swung her head round, and headed directly for the shore.
“Are we landing here?” asked the woman in a faint, terrified voice.
“Yes.”
The boat touched the shore, the crew jumped out, carried Mrs. Brabant's
two boxes to the beach, placed a lighted boat-lantern on one, and then
Diaz silently held out his hand to assist her on shore.
She stepped out, and then stood facing him for a moment, her cheek
showing the pallor of deadly fear. Then the seaman thrust his hand in
the breast of his coat, and handed her a letter. In another instant,
without a word of farewell, he had leapt into the boat again, which at
once pushed off--and she was alone.
*****
When daylight broke it revealed two figures on the lonely beach--one a
woman, who lay prone upon the ground, and wept in silent anguish, and
the other a man, whose frightful aspect made him look scarcely human.
He was kneeling beside one of the boxes, glaring with the eyes of one
almost mad with horror at a letter he had taken from the woman's hand
when he discovered her lying unconscious.
“I have known everything from the very first. Danvers said
in one of his letters to you that life with you would be
happiness unutterable, even in a desert place. I have
brought you here to meet him. He has waited long.
“John Brabant.”
And never again were Danvers and Nell Brabant seen by men, and John
Brabant and the _Loelia_ and her crew were supposed to have been lost at
sea.