Part 18 (1/2)
”Why not?” he asked. ”I have run the risk before, and I am going to do so again. I've got some powerful friends at my back, and with one or two of my worst enemies, Fernandez and his niece, for instance, out of the way, I am fairly confident I shall be able to manage it. I suppose it would be no use asking you to come with me? I could make it worth your while to do so.”
”I would not go with you for all the money in the world,” I answered.
”I have had enough of Equinata to last me a lifetime. I never want to see the place again.”
”Our tastes differ, I see; for I am as anxious to settle there for the remainder of my existence as you are to remain away from it.”
That afternoon I went for a somewhat lengthy stroll through the island. I was ill at ease, and I wanted to make up my mind, if possible, as to how I should act with regard to Fernandez and the Senorita. Common humanity forbade that I should callously leave the island and abandon them to the fate I felt sure awaited them. Yet how could I remain, and what good could I do if I did so? I knew that in his heart Ferguson was well disposed towards me, but even if he were would he dare to interfere? And again, if he did would the others take sides with us or with Silvestre? By the time I reached the beach once more I had come to no sort of decision. For the time being I gave the matter up as a bad job. I was in the act of stepping into the boat that was to take me on board, when a shout from the wood behind attracted my attention. It emanated from Ferguson. When he reached the boat I noticed that he was deathly pale, and that there was a look in his eyes I had never seen there before.
”What is the matter?” I asked. ”You look as if you had seen a ghost!”
”Hus.h.!.+ I'll tell you when we get on board,” he replied. ”It would be impossible to do so now.”
CHAPTER XII
Of one thing you may be sure; that was the fact that I was more than anxious to hear what Ferguson had to tell me. That the man was very much upset I could see, while the hint he had given me in the boat, concerning certain tidings he had to tell me, frightened me beyond measure. Immediately on reaching the yacht I took him to the saloon and poured him out a stiff gla.s.s of grog. He drank it off, and when he had done so, seemed the better for it.
”Now come along to the chart-room,” I said, ”and let me hear what you have to say. We shall be alone there, and I gathered from your manner that what you have to tell me will not bear the presence of eavesdroppers.”
”Come along then,” he replied. ”Let us go up there at once, I shall not rest happy until I have shared this with you.”
We accordingly left the saloon and ascended to the bridge. Once in the chart-room, and when we had shut the door carefully behind us, I seated myself on the chart locker, while Ferguson took possession of the couch.
”Now then, go ahead,” I said. ”What have you discovered?”
”It's the most fiendish plot I ever heard of,” he replied. ”I would not have believed a man could have thought of anything so vile. If I had not chanced to stray where I did no one would have been the wiser.
And then----” He stopped abruptly, as if the thought were too much for him.
”But you have not told me yet what it is you have heard,” I continued, with some sort of impatience.
He rose and went to the door, opened it, looked outside, and then returned once more to his place on the couch.
”This afternoon, as you know,” he began, leaning forward on his seat, as if he were desirous that no one but myself should hear, ”I went ash.o.r.e to see Silvestre. He was anxious, he said, to consult me concerning the business of taking you to Cuba, and also about the landing of himself and the others on the Equinata coast. I had a long talk with him, during which he was all graciousness and condescension.
b.u.t.ter wouldn't have melted in his mouth. He praised all the services we had rendered him. You can have no idea how pleasant he was. When he became President, I was to have command, if I wished it, of an Equinata man-o'-war, etc., and above all others I was to be his trusted naval adviser. No post could be too big for me.”
”It sounds very nice, but he also endeavoured to advise me to return with him,” I said.
”And what reply did you give him?” Ferguson inquired.
”I gave him to understand that I would not go back to Equinata for all the money in the world,” I said. ”I had had quite enough of the place to last me a lifetime.”
”That was my reply exactly,” Ferguson replied. ”The next time they see me there of my own free will, they may treat me as they please.”
”Well, never mind that, continue your story,” I returned. ”What is it you have discovered?”
”Well, after I left Silvestre, I had the misfortune--or the good fortune--as you may consider it, to miss my way. How I came to do so I am unable to say. It is sufficient that I did. You know how thick the jungle is up there! Well! instead of taking the track that brings one down to where we embark, I branched off to the left, and found myself stranded in as thick a bit of scrub as ever I have seen in my life. It was hot enough to roast the scalp on your head, and I was just beginning to think of turning back, when I heard a voice come from thick bushes on my right. 'Hulloa, what on earth is he doing there?'
I said to myself, for I recognized it as belonging to Manuel, the half-caste. The words I heard him utter made me more than a bit suspicious.”
”What was it he said?” I inquired.
”'You can do it easily, n.o.body will ever find out,'” Ferguson replied.