Part 23 (1/2)
”Take it off, take it off, baron; the coat does not make the governor,”
he said gravely, with a bow; then he continued: ”Thanks to the advice of De Crussol and the Reverend Father Griffen, the dweller at Devil's Cliff has not been disturbed, baron? You have not visited the place, in spite of the strange stories about it?”
”No, sir, I a.s.sure you, the recommendation of the persons so respectable as Father Griffen and the deceased De Crussol were sufficient. And then the road to Devil's Cliff is impa.s.sable; the rocks bare and rent; it takes two or three hours to climb them; and faith, I a.s.sure you, sir, to make such a journey under the sun of the tropics,” said the baron, wiping his forehead, which was perspiring at the mere thought of such a climb, ”appears to me entirely inadvisable, because, morally, I am convinced that the aforesaid stories have no foundation, and I think in that I am not wrong.”
”Allow me, baron, to ask you some further questions.”
”At your service, sir.”
”The woman called Blue Beard has a counting house at St. Pierre?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Her business man is empowered to send out her vessels which are always destined for France?”
”That, sir, is very easily verified in the clearing books of the captains.
”And these registers?”
”Are there in that case.”
”Will you take the trouble to look them over, baron, and to select from them some dates which I was going to ask of you?”
The governor arose, mounted painfully on a chair, and took down a large volume bound in green leather, placing it on his desk; then, as if this exertion had redoubled the heat he was suffering from and exhausted his strength, he said to De Chemerant: ”Sir, you have been, doubtless, a soldier; you can understand that we live a little carelessly; for, without further parley and asking pardon for the great liberty, I will remove my vest, if you please; it is embroidered in cloth and as heavy as a cuira.s.s.”
”Take it off--take off everything that you wish to,” replied De Chemerant with impervious gravity; ”there is so little left for me to say to you that I trust you will not need to remove more of your apparel. Can you feel a.s.sured, other than from these facts, that the vessels loaded with cargoes by our widow have always been sent to France?”
”Yes, sir,” replied the governor, opening his register; then, following with the end of his finger the tables, he read, ”'For Roch.e.l.le, for Roch.e.l.le, for Bordeaux, for Bordeaux, for Roch.e.l.le, for Roch.e.l.le, for Havre de Grace.' You see, sir, the vessels have always sailed for France.”
”That is well, baron. According to the direction, frequent enough, of vessels of commerce, which leave the counting-house wharves, it follows that Blue Beard (we will adopt the popular surname) can put a vessel to sea very quickly.”
”Doubtless, sir.”
”Has she not a brigantine always ready to put to sea, and which can in two hours be at the Creek of Caymans, not far from Devil's Cliff, where there is a little harbor,” said De Chemerant, consulting his notes once more.
”Yes, sir; this brigantine is called the Chameleon; Blue Beard recently placed it, very generously, at my service (through the mediation of Monsieur Morris, her man of business), to give chase to a Spanish pirate, and there is an old filibuster of a captain called Hurricane, who commands the vessel----”
”We will speak of this filibuster later, sir, but this pirate----”
”Was sunk in the Riviere des Saints.”
”To return to this filibuster, baron; he frequents the house of Blue Beard?”
”Yes, sir.”
”As much so as another bad fellow, a buccaneer by trade?”
”Yes, sir,” said the baron in a dry tone, resolved to confine himself to the secondary role which De Chemerant imposed upon him.
”A Caribbean also is often there?”
”Yes, sir.”