Part 15 (1/2)
”Nay, I said that I _suspected_ him to be Durward--nothing more.”
”And what more would you have?” cried Ole, whose calm spirit was ruffled with unusual violence at the thought of the hated Durward being actually within his reach. ”For my part I conceive that you are justified in taking him up on suspicion, trying him in a formal way (just to save appearances) on suspicion, and hanging him at once on suspicion. Quite time enough to inquire into the matter after the villain is comfortably sewed up in a hammock with a thirty-pound shot at his heels, and sent to the bottom of the sea for the sharks and crabs to devour. Suspicion is nine points of the law in these regions, Captain Montague, and we never allow the tenth point to interfere with the course of justice one way or another. Hang him, or shoot him if you prefer it, at once; _that_ is what I recommend.”
Just as Thorwald concluded this amiable piece of advice, the deep strong tones of Gascoyne's voice were heard addressing the first lieutenant.
”You had better hoist your royals and skysc.r.a.pers, Mr Mulroy; we shall have a light air off the land presently, and it will require all your canvas to carry the s.h.i.+p round the north point, so as to bring her guns to bear on the village of the savages.”
”The distance seems to me very short,” replied the lieutenant, ”and the _Talisman_ sails faster than you may suppose with a light wind.”
”I doubt not the sailing qualities of your good s.h.i.+p, though I could name a small schooner that would beat them in light wind or storm; but you forget that we have to land our stout ally Mr Thorwald with his men at the Goat's Pa.s.s, and that will compel us to lose time, too much of which has been lost already.”
Without reply, the lieutenant turned on his heel and gave the necessary orders to hoist the additional sails, while the captain hastened on deck, leaving Thorwald to finish his pipe in peace, and ruminate on the suspicions which had been raised in his mind.
In less than half an hour the light wind which Gascoyne had predicted came off the land, first in a series of what sailors term ”cats' paws,”
and then in a steady breeze which lasted several hours, and caused the vessel to slip rapidly through the still water. As he looked anxiously over the bow, Captain Montague felt that he had placed himself completely in the power of the suspected skipper of the _Foam_, for coral reefs surrounded him on all sides, and many of them pa.s.sed so close to the s.h.i.+p's side that he expected every moment to feel the shock that would wreck his vessel and his hopes at the same time. He blamed himself for trusting a man whom he supposed he had such good reason to doubt, but consoled himself by thrusting his hand into his bosom and grasping the handle of a pistol, with which, in the event of the s.h.i.+p striking, he had made up his mind to blow out Gascoyne's brains.
About an hour later the _Talisman_ was hove-to off the Goat's Pa.s.s, and Ole Thorwald was landed with his party at the base of a cliff which rose sheer up from the sea like a wall.
”Are we to go up there?” inquired Ole in a rueful tone of voice, as he surveyed a narrow chasm to which Gascoyne guided him.
”That is the way. It's not so bad as it looks. When you get to the top, follow the little path that leads along the cliffs northward, and you will reach the brow of a hill from which the native village will be visible. Descend and attack it at once, if you find men to fight with-- if not, take possession quietly. Mind you don't take the wrong turn; it leads to places where a wild-cat would not venture even in daylight. If you attend to what I have said, you can't go wrong. Good night. Shove off.”
The oars splashed in the sea at the word, and Gascoyne retained to the s.h.i.+p, leaving Ole to lead his men up the Pa.s.s as he best might.
It seemed as if the pilot had resolved to make sure of the destruction of the s.h.i.+p that night; for, not content with running her within a foot or two of innumerable reefs, he at last steered in so close to the sh.o.r.e that the beetling cliffs actually seemed to overhang the deck. When the sun rose, the breeze died away; but sufficient wind continued to fill the upper sails and to urge the vessel gently onward for some time after the surface of the sea was calm.
Montague endeavoured to conceal and repress his anxiety as long as possible, but when at length a line of breakers without any apparent opening presented themselves right ahead, he went up to Gascoyne and said in a stern under tone--
”Are you aware that you forfeit your life if my vessel strikes?”
”I know it,” replied Gascoyne, coolly throwing away the stump of his cigar and lighting a fresh one, ”but I have no desire either to destroy your vessel or to lose my life; although, to say truth, I should have no objection, in other circ.u.mstances, to attempt the one and to risk the other.”
”Say you so?” said Montague, with a sharp glance at the countenance of the other, where, however, he could perceive nothing but placid good humour ”that speech sounds marvellously warlike, methinks, in the mouth of a sandal-wood trader.”
”Think you, then,” said Gascoyne, with a smile of contempt, ”that it is only your fire-eating men of war who experience bold impulses and heroic desires?”
”Nay, but traders are not wont to aspire to the honour of fighting the s.h.i.+ps that are commissioned to protect them.”
”Truly, if I had sought protection from the wars.h.i.+ps of the king of England, I must have sailed long and far to find it,” returned Gascoyne.
”It is no child's play to navigate these seas, where bloodthirsty savages swarm in their canoes like locusts. Moreover I sail, as I have told you before, in the China Seas where pirates are more common than honest traders. What would you say if I were to take it into my head to protect myself?”
”That you were well able to do so,” answered Montague, with a smile; ”but when I examined the _Foam_ I found no arms save a few cutla.s.ses and rusty muskets that did not seem to have been in recent use.”
”A few bold men can defend themselves with any kind of weapons. My men are stout fellows not used to flinch at the sound of a round shot pa.s.sing over their heads.”
The conversation was interrupted here by the s.h.i.+p rounding a point and suddenly opening up a view of a fine bay, at the head of which, embosomed in trees and dense underwood, stood the native village of which they were in search.
Just in front of this village lay a small but high and thickly wooded island, which, as it were, filled up the head of the bay, sheltering it completely from the ocean, and making the part of the sea which washed the sh.o.r.es in front of the houses resemble a deep and broad ca.n.a.l. This stripe of water was wide and deep enough to permit of a vessel of the largest size pa.s.sing through it; but to any one approaching the place for the first time there seemed to be no pa.s.sage for any sort of craft larger than a native canoe. The island itself was high enough to conceal the _Talisman_ completely from the natives until she was within half gunshot of the sh.o.r.e.