Part 4 (1/2)
”She--she'd left the door up--heat was stifling,” explained Blake. ”I had gone off north, exploring. The beast was crawling in--But I've got to remember he wasn't responsible--a paranoiac!”
”Ah, yes. And then?” questioned the Englishman, tugging nervously at the tip of his little blond mustache.
”Then--then--” muttered Blake. ”He got what was coming to him. Cyclone struck like a tornado. Door whirled down and knocked him out of the opening--smashed him!”
”The end he had earned!”
”Yes--even if he wasn't responsible, he had become just that--a beast.
She had saved his life, too--night I ran down to the beach after eating a poison fish. Barricade hadn't been finished. He was down with the fever. They were attacked--jackals, hyenas. She got him safe inside the tree, with the yelling curs jumping at her.”
”My word! she did that?--she? Of all the young ladies I've ever known, she was the very last I should have expected--”
”What! you've met her before?” demanded Blake.
”Then she hasn't told you?” replied his friend. ”Lady Bayrose was one of my old friends, y'know. Met 'em aboard s.h.i.+p--sailed on the same steamer, after my run home.”
”You did?” muttered Blake, in blank astonishment. ”You know her?”
”You must have heard me sing out to her from the boat. Yes, I--er--had the voyage with her through the Mediterranean and down the Red Sea. But Lady Bayrose got tiffed at me, and at Aden s.h.i.+fted to a Cape boat. I had to go on to India alone.”
”India?” queried Blake.
”Trailing Hawkins. He first went to India. But he doubled back and 'round to Cape Colony.”
”So that's why you didn't get here sooner,” said Blake.
”Yes. Didn't notice that the _Impala_ was posted. Didn't know either you or Miss Leslie was aboard her until after I learned you'd thrown up the management of that Rand mine. Traced you to Cape Town. Odd that you and she and Hawkins should all have booked on the same steamer!”
”Think so?” said Blake. ”I don't. Winthrope--Hawkins, that is--was smooth enough to know he'd not be suspected if travelling as a member of Lady Bayrose's party. He had already wormed himself into her favor.
As for me--well, they had come to look at the mine, and I had shown Jenny through the workings. Does that make it clear why I threw up the job and followed them to Cape Town?”
”She had not given you any reason to--surely, not any encouragement?
No, I can't believe it!”
”Course not, you British doughhead! It was all the other way 'round.
Think I didn't realize? She, a lady, and me--what I am! But I couldn't help it--I just couldn't help myself, Jimmy. Knew her father, too--all about his millions and how he made them! He did me--twice. You'd think the very name would have turned me. Yet the minute I set eyes on her--say!”
”You're certainly hard hit!” murmured the young earl. He flushed, bit his lip, hesitated, and burst out with impulsive generosity: ”Gad, old man! If it's true--if she really--er--has come to love you, I own that you've won her fair and square--all this, y'know.” He waved his hand around in a sweeping gesture. ”Saved her from all this. Yes--if it's really true!”
Blake looked away, and spoke in a hushed voice: ”It's--it's true, Jimmy! Only a little while ago, there on the cliff edge when we saw your steamer, she--she told me. It started yesterday after I bluffed off the lion. You see, she--”
”Lion?” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lord James.
”Yes.” Blake flung up his head in an impatient gesture. ”The beast tried to stalk us. Jumped back into the gra.s.s when I circled out at him. I got the gra.s.s fired before he screwed up courage to tackle me.--Don't cut in!--It was then that Jenny--she--she tried to say something. But I streaked for home. This morning, though, when I saw we were safe, I was weak enough to let her--speak out.”
Lord James hesitated just perceptibly, and then caught his friend's big, ill-used hand in a cordial clasp. ”So--you're engaged!
Congratulations!”
”If only it was just that!” cried Blake. He flushed red under his thick coat of tan. ”I--I suppose I've got to tell you, Jimmy--I must. I need your help to carry out my plan.”
”Your plan?” repeated the Englishman wonderingly.