Part 40 (1/2)

It was evident to Bill that there was nothing to be gained by further reticence, and he edged out of the doorway, grinning more broadly than ever.

”Well,” he said, ”I guess she meant you, though she said it was both of you. Still, you won't tell her, or I sha'n't get any more.”

He had vanished before Austin could ask another question, but the matter was quite clear to the latter, and his face grew hot while a little thrill of satisfaction ran through him as he recognised that Jacinta had felt it worth while to do what she could to ensure his safety. Then he remembered something else, and his face grew hard as he pulled off his jacket and glanced at his bare arm.

He had torn and abraded it heaving in oil and coal, and the gunboat's surgeon had warned him that it was advisable to keep his skin unbroken.

There were several half-hardened scars upon it now, and another had been torn away when he fell against the rail in a heavy lurch a day or two earlier. He had worn no jacket at the time. He had since noticed a curious tingling sensation in that part of his arm, and, holding it nearer the lamp, he saw that the flesh was inflamed about the wound.

There was no doubt about the fact. When he pressed it with his thumb all the lower arm was sore, and he let it fall limply to his side, and sat down with a little groan. The horrible thing he shrank from had, it seemed, come upon him. He sat very still for half an hour, grappling with a numbing sense of dismay, and then, with a little shake of his shoulders, went back to the bridge, for he had still a duty to his comrades.

CHAPTER XXIX

AUSTIN IS MISSING

It was a fine morning, and the signal, ”Steamer approaching from the South,” was flying from the staff high up on the Isleta hill, when Pancho Brown's boat lay heaving on the smooth swell at the entrance to Las Palmas harbour. Mrs. Hatherly, Jacinta, and Muriel sat in the stern-sheets, and beyond them two barefooted Canarios were resting on their oars, while two or three miles away a smear of smoke that half hid a streak of dusky hull moved towards them across the s.h.i.+ning sea. Brown was watching it attentively with a pair of marine gla.s.ses in his hand.

”You have brought me off several times for nothing, but I almost think our friends have turned up at last,” he said. ”Of course, from Lieutenant Onslow's cable she should have been here several days ago, but it's very likely the engines would give them trouble. Any way, we'll know in ten minutes or so. There's the _Sanidad_ going off.”

A launch crept out from the mole, and behind her in the harbour boats were being got afloat. Coaling clerks, tobacco and wine merchants, and a miscellaneous crowd of petty dealers, were waiting to step on board, but two, at least, of Pancho Brown's party had no eyes for them. They were watching the incoming steamer rise higher out of the s.h.i.+ning sea, and wondering if she was the one they had for the last few days looked for with tense anxiety. They had Onslow's cable from Sierra Leone, and the skipper of a big tramp which had come in for coals reported that a small British steamer had asked him for the lat.i.tude and longitude a week before. Nothing, however, had since been heard of her, and Jacinta had found the last three or four days as trying as Muriel did. The latter had, however, borne the suspense bravely, and displayed a sublime confidence in her lover which Jacinta, for no very obvious reason, found almost exasperating at times.

”Can't we go out a little?” she said at last.

Brown made a sign to the Canarios, who dipped the oars, and as they slid past the _Ca.r.s.egarry_, which lay with steam blowing off, and a water barge alongside, Captain Farquhar leaned over her rails. He had come in for coal on his way to Liverpool the previous day, and had spent part of the night with Brown.

”I really think that is the _c.u.mbria_,” he said. ”Any way, she's much the kind of boat Jefferson described to me, and so far as I can make out they have a big boiler on deck. I suppose you are going off to her?”

Brown said they were, and Farquhar glanced at the boat hesitatingly.

”I'd very much like to come with you, but I can't leave just now,” he said. ”Still, we won't have filled our tanks up for an hour or two, and you might tell Mr. Austin that I certainly expect him to pull across and see me. In fact, although we have steam up, I'll wait until he does.”

Brown made a sign of comprehension, and the boat slid away, while when she stopped again outside the harbour the eyes of all on board her were fixed upon the steamer. She had also stopped, and lay rolling wildly, with the yellow flag at her foremast-head and the _Sanidad_ launch alongside her; but in another minute or two the flag came fluttering down, and she moved on again towards the harbour. Brown signed to the oarsmen to turn the boat's head.

”There's no doubt that she's the _c.u.mbria_, and they can't have had anything very bad on board,” he said.

In another five minutes the _c.u.mbria_ crept up with them, rolling wickedly, with the big pump thudding on her deck, and a stream of water spouting from her side. Rags of awnings fluttered about her, her funnel was white with salt crust, for the trade-wind blows strong at that season, and the blistered paint had peeled from her corroded sides. Her story was written upon her so that even the girls could read, and both felt that no plainer testimony was needed to the courage of the men who had brought her home. Then they saw them, Jefferson leaning out, gaunt and blanched in face, from the bridge rails, and Austin standing amidst a group of haggard men on the forecastle. Jacinta's heart was beating a good deal faster than usual, and she saw the sudden tears rise to her companion's eyes; but as the long, rusty hull forged past them Austin made no sign. He stood looking straight in front of him, until he turned to the men about him who were busy with the anchor.

”He can't have seen us,” said Muriel, with astonishment in her tone, and then touched Brown's arm. ”Tell them to row their hardest, please.”

The Canarios bent their backs and the boat swept forward, for the steamer had already pa.s.sed ahead of them. Jacinta sat unusually still, watching her, sensible at once of a vague dismay and a thrill of pride.

She had understanding as well as imagination, and the sight of that rusty vessel and the worn faces of the men upon her deck had stirred her curiously. It was, she felt, a notable thing they had done, and she was, she knew, responsible for the part one of them had played in it. He had come home with credit, a man who had done something worth while, and had doubtless learned his strength. She could not fancy him frittering his life away after that; but still she was perplexed, and a trifle anxious, for it seemed that he must have seen them, and he had made no sign. She had, on her part, twice pa.s.sed him without recognition in the Plaza at Santa Cruz, and her heart smote her as she remembered it; but he was not a vindictive man, and must by that time have realised the misapprehension she had been under concerning him. For that, at least, she would ask his forgiveness in another few minutes, and her face burned as she wondered what he would say to her.

Then she saw the white wash of the _c.u.mbria_'s propeller as it whirled astern, and there was a roar of running chain, while two or three minutes later they were making their way up the lowered ladder amidst a crowd of petty dealers when Jefferson came across the deck, driving the latter aside. Jacinta saw that it cost Muriel an effort to hide her consternation at his appearance, but in another moment she was smiling at him with s.h.i.+ning eyes, and the haggard man's arms were about her.

That the deck was crowded with Spaniards did not seem in the least to matter to either of them. Jacinta, who would not have done as much, felt a little thrill of sympathy, and, it was significant, looked round for Austin. There was, however, no sign of him.

Then Jefferson, still holding Muriel's arm, drew them out of the press, and there was a general offering of congratulations and grasping of hands.

”I am,” he said, ”uncommonly glad to be back again, though I'm not sure we'd have ever got here except for Austin. I have only been on my feet the last day or two, and he did everything.”