Part 39 (1/2)

”Oh! I forgot him--he's the boatswain of the _Talisman_. d.i.c.k Price, this is my friend, John b.u.mpus.”

”Glad to know you, d.i.c.k Price.”

”Same to you, and luck, John b.u.mpus.”

The two sea-dogs joined their enormous palms, and shook hands cordially.

After these two had indulged in a little desultory conversation, Will Corrie, who, meanwhile, consulted with Alice in an undertone, brought them back to the point that was uppermost in his mind.

”Now,” said he, ”it comes to this,--we must not let Gascoyne be hanged.”

”Why, Corrie,” cried b.u.mpus, in surprise, ”that's the very thing I was a-thinkin' of w'en I comed up here and found Miss Alice under the tree.”

”I am glad to hear that, Jo; it's what has been on my own mind all the morning. But d.i.c.k Price here is not convinced that he deserves to escape. Now; you tell him all _you_ know about Gascoyne, and I'll tell him all _I_ know, and if he don't believe _us_, Alice and p.o.o.py will tell him all _they_ know, and if that won't do, you and I will take him up by the legs and pitch him into the sea!”

”That bein' how the case stands--fire away,” said d.i.c.k Price with a grin, sitting down on the gra.s.s and busily filling his pipe.

d.i.c.k was not so hard to be convinced as Corrie had feared. The glowing eulogiums of b.u.mpus, and the earnest pleadings of Alice, won him over very soon. He finally agreed to become one of the conspirators.

”But how is the thing to be done?” asked Corrie in some perplexity.

”Ah! that's the pint,” observed d.i.c.k, looking profoundly wise.

”Nothin' easier,” said b.u.mpus, whose pipe was by this time keeping pace with that of his new friend. ”The case is as clear as mud. Here's how it is. Gascoyne is in limbo; well, we are out of limbo. Good. Then, all we've got for to do is to break into limbo and shove Gascoyne out of limbo, and help him to escape. It's all square, you see, lads.”

”Not so square as you seem to think,” said Henry Stuart, who at that moment stepped from behind the stem of the tree, which had prevented the party from observing his approach.

”Why not?” said b.u.mpus, making room for the young man to sit beside Alice, on the gra.s.s.

”Because,” said Henry, ”Gascoyne won't agree to escape.”

”Not agree for to escape!”

”No. If the prison door were opened at this moment, he would not walk out.”

b.u.mpus became very grave, and shook his head. ”Are ye sartin sure o'

this?” said he.

”Quite sure,” replied Henry, who now detailed part of his recent conversation with the pirate captain.

”Then it's all up with him!” said b.u.mpus; ”and the pirate will meet his doom, as I once hear'd a feller say in a play--though I little thought to see it acted in reality.”

”So he will,” added d.i.c.k Price.

Corrie's countenance fell, and Alice grew pale. Even p.o.o.py and Toozle looked a little depressed.

”No, it is _not_ all up with him,” cried Henry Stuart, energetically.

”I have a plan in my head which I think will succeed, but I must have a.s.sistance. It won't do, however, to discuss this before our young friends. I must beg of Alice and p.o.o.py to leave us. I do not mean to say I could not trust you, Alice, but the plan must be made known only to those who have to act in this matter. Rest a.s.sured, dear child, that I shall do my best to make it successful.”

Alice sprang up at once. ”My father told me to follow him some time ago,” said she. ”I have been too long of doing so already. I _do_ hope that you will succeed.”