Part 29 (1/2)
”You can give it to me.”
”No--to the captain himself, or to no one.”
He looked at me critically and said curtly, ”B'en, mon gars, we will see!”
which might mean anything--threat or promise. But my thoughts during the night only confirmed me in my way.
Next morning after breakfast the same man came seeking me.
”Come then,” he said, ”and say your say,” and he led me along to the quarterdeck, where the captain stood with some of his officers. He was a tall, good-looking man, very handsomely dressed. I came to know him later as Captain Charles Duchatel.
”This is the man, M. le capitaine,” said my guide, pus.h.i.+ng me to the front.
”Well, my man,” said the captain, pleasantly enough, ”what is the important information you have to give me?”
”M. le capitaine will perhaps permit me to explain, in the first place, that I am an Englishman,” said I, with a bow.
”Truly you speak like one, mon gars,” he laughed.
”That is because I am of the Norman Isles, monsieur. I am from Sercq, by Guernsey.”
”Well!” he nodded.
”And therefore monsieur will see that it is not possible for me to fight against my own country.” And I went on quickly, in spite of the frown I saw gathering on his face. ”I will do any duty put upon me to the best of my power, but fight against my country I cannot.”
He looked at me curiously, and said sharply, ”A sailor on board s.h.i.+p obeys orders. Is it not so?”
”Surely, monsieur. But I am a prisoner. And as an Englishman I cannot fight against my country. Could monsieur do so in like case?”
”This is rank mutiny, you know.”
”I do not mean it so, monsieur, I a.s.sure you.”
”And was this the important information you had to give me?”
”No, monsieur, it was this. The man who brought me prisoner on board here,--monsieur knows him?”
”Undoubtedly! He has made himself known.”
”Better perhaps than you imagine, monsieur. The merchants of Havre and Cherbourg will thank you for this that I tell you now. Torode to the English, Main Rouge to the French--he lives on Herm, the next isle to Sercq, where I myself live. He is the most successful privateer in all these waters. And why? I will tell you, monsieur. It is because he robs French s.h.i.+ps as an English privateer, and English s.h.i.+ps as a French privateer. He changes his skin as he goes and plunders under both flags.”
”Really! That is a fine fairy tale. On my word it is worthy almost of La Fontaine himself. And what proof do you offer of all this, my man?”
”Truly none, monsieur, except myself--that I am here for knowing it.”
”And Main Rouge knew that you knew it?”
”That is why I am here, monsieur.”
”And alive! Main Rouge is no old woman, my man.”