Part 9 (2/2)

”I never lost them, Rufus, but my fortune isn't what I want to talk to you about, it's yours.”

Dalton slouched back against one of the crates. ”Is that so? Maybe you better explain yourself.”

”It has to do with a certain valuable statuea”

Dalton immediately straightened up. ”What the devil are you blathering about?”

”I think you know. A golden horse, decorated with jewels that you procured in Foilhummerum the night we left.”

”What nonsense,” he scoffed, but there was no conviction in his voice. ”Why don't you tell me your story?”

Paddy looked around as though gathering his thoughts. ”Let's see. What if the horse that you tucked away here on the s.h.i.+p had been found by a person who immediately recognized its worth? And what if this person had himself hidden it so that he could take it with him when we docked in Newfoundland? I'm guessing this fortunate soul would now be a wealthy gentleman in the making.”

Dalton's face went an impressive shade of red and Ailish, watching from behind the safety of several artfully arranged boxes, wondered if his puffed up head was going to explode.

”Who has it?” Dalton raged.

Smiling, Paddy stroked his chin. ”Well, now, I'd say you have five hundred suspects, including those lads you brought with you as muscle.”

Dalton looked at his henchmen. ”We'll get to the bottom of this right now. Keep him here until I get back.”

The two enforcers hefted iron pipes threateningly as they moved toward Paddy. Dalton stormed out and Ailish, ghostlike, followed after him.

Dalton led her through the vast expanse of the s.h.i.+p and down pa.s.sageways she'd never seen before. Belowdecks was a labyrinth with intersecting hallways, stairs to unknown pa.s.sages and a dizzying number of doors to who knew where.

Ailish was grateful they were on a s.h.i.+p as she knew no matter how twisted around she became, if she kept going up, eventually, she would be topside and all made clear.

They were deep in the lower decks and the dim lighting, instead of working in her favour, now made it hard to see which way they were going. It was dusty and dirty down here and they were alone. Her footsteps seemed very loud as she trailed after Dalton. She was afraid to move closer as he might discover her following and then he'da she didn't want to think of what he'd do if he caught her.

Ailish rounded another of the thousand corners, to find Dalton hurrying down a particularly long corridor that opened onto three possible exits. She darted back out of sight and waited to see which of the identical doors he would choose. As she watched, he approached the hatchways at the end of the pa.s.sage. He reached his large hand out for one of the doorsa ”O'Connor, what are you doing skulking around down here, lad?”

With a start, she spun to see Cyrus Field and Captain Anderson approaching.

”Me, Mr. Field? What am I doing down here, sir?” She didn't know what to say, nothing brilliant came to her. She had no choice but to tell the truth. ”Actually sir, I'm quite lost. I've never been in this part of the s.h.i.+p before and I seem to have gotten myself turned about.” Truer words had never been spoken. She had no idea where she was.

Captain Anderson looked sympathetic. ”I know boy, this s.h.i.+p is as big as a floating city and one needs a guide to navigate. We only took this black pa.s.sageway because it's a shortcut to the bridge. Where were you heading and we'll give you directions?”

At that moment, Ailish heard the clang of an iron door banging shut.

The two gentleman stood waiting. Ailish tried to think of an appropriate answer. ”Where was I goinga?” She must sound like a right eejit. She stepped into the hallway where she'd last seen Dalton. He was gone and there was no way to tell which of the doors he'd taken.

”I'm going to the machinery storage hold,” she said dejectedly. It had been a good plan a” unless you ran into the captain and a wealthy American. She had failed again and wherever Dalton had secreted that statue, it would remain hidden.

15.

Treasure Chest

.-- a. . .-. . .-- .- a - a. . a. --- .-. a . ..-. --- ..- -. -..

Following the captain's directions, Ailish made her way from the dank lowest decks where she'd been following Dalton and up to the machinery hold where the henchmen had Paddy. As she navigated, she tried to think of how to fix the mess she was in. She needed a new plan. Unbidden, her mind filled with images of last night's dream. It had seemed so real, so vivid, and in it she had been successful not only in finding the horse, but in clearing Paddy. Now she could do neither.

She turned into the companionway that led to the hold. With a whoof the wind was knocked out of her. Her arms were grabbed so hard she thought they were going to be ripped out of their sockets.

”Why are you following me, boy?”

She looked up into the sweaty, red face of Rufus Dalton. ”I'm not following you, sir!” She squeaked. Sadly true, she wasn't any more.

”You're lying! That was you below just now. You've been up to something from the first time I laid eyes on you.” He squeezed her arms and she winced in pain.

”No, Mr. Dalton.” Her pulse was pounding now. ”I was on my way to see Mr. Field and I took a wrong turn. Maybe I was on the same deck as you, but that was merely coincidence. I have to deliver an important messagea from Captain Anderson, sir.” She hoped this would make him free her. No one interfered with the captain's business.

”I've had it with you, O'Connor.”

He roughly thrust her away from him and she smashed into the bulkhead. Pain lanced down her spine.

Dalton pointed a dirty finger at her. ”Now, shove off and remember, stop messing where you don't belong.”

She inched away from him, her aching back hugging the wall, then turned and fled up the stairs. Rubbing her sore arms, she glanced down at her sleeves and stopped. There were black smudges where his big hairy mitts had grabbed her.

She remembered the filth on Dalton's s.h.i.+rt and trousers, and the coal dust in the tunnel in the boiler room where he'd nearly caught her. Swirling black dust, like in her dream last night. Davy's smiling face seemed to float before her. This is a dusty business, he'd said.

Everything came together at once and it hit her like a rogue wave. The coal bunkers! It had been there in front of her all the time, black dirty coal dust pointing the way to her golden horse. She was sure of it.

Scrambling back to the stairs, Ailish raced down flight after flight to the lowest deck on the s.h.i.+p. She came to the weighty door that led to the giant boilers and shouldered her way through. The noise was deafening as steam escaped in boiling jets and furnaces roared with a fiery fury.

Ahead, she saw the tunnel through the coal bunkers. Her footfalls echoed in the confined s.p.a.ce as she ran through the cold iron pa.s.sage.

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