Part 38 (2/2)

When I did so two late arrivals were hurrying up to a carriage--one tall, one of ht; both in cloaks and couish, but certainly neither of the-room door, but, plainly, fro A guard, with some surly remonstrances, shut them in, and the train started

Esens--the name had not surprisedin strength all the afternoon For the last time I referred to the map, pulpy and blurred with the day's exposure, and tried to etch it into ed by degrees on the Benser Tief until theyfor Davies to help h tide at Bensersiel would be about eleven, and for two hours, I reht), there were from five to six feet of water in the harbour

We should reach Esens at 850 Would they drive, as von Bruning had done a week ago? I tightened my belt, stamped my mud-burdened boots, and thanked God for the Munich beer Whither were they going from Bensersiel, and in what; and hoas I to follow them? These were nebulous questions, but I was in fettle for anything; boat-stealing was a bagatelle Fortune, I thought, smiled; Romance beckoned; even the sea looked kind Ay, and I do not know but that I to unstiffen and flutter those nerveless wings

XXVII The Luck of the Stoay

AT Esens Station I reversed ot to the door of egress first of all, gave up ate of the station under cover of darkness Fortune s at all, and there were only half a dozen passengers Two of these were the cloaked gentlemen who had been so nearly left behind at Norden, and another was von Bruning The latter walked well in advance of the first pair, but at the gate on to the high road the three showed a common purpose, in that, unlike the rest, who turned towards Esens town, they turned southwards; much to my perplexity, for this was the contrary direction to Bensersiel and the sea I, withup the rear, and, as their faithful shadow, turned to the right too, without foreseeing the consequence

When it was too late to turn back I saw that, fifty yards ahead, the road was barred by the gates of a level crossing, and that the four of us must inevitably accumulate at the barrier till the train had steamed away This, in fact, happened, and for a roup, elaborately indifferent to one another, silent, but I ahter tickled all ates were opened the three seeed briskly on ahead, and stopped after a fewI went cautiously back and found that they had disappeared; in which direction was not long in doubt, for I ca into the fields on the left or west of the road, and though I could see no one I heard the distant s collectedly, placed one foot on the path, thought better of it, and turned back towards Esens I kneithout reference to thethem to the Benser Tief at a point soht have followed theht was none too dark, and I had th to husband; and staed it a wiser use of time and sinew to anticipate the them to reach it by way of the devious Tief, to examine which was, I felt convinced, one of their objects

It was nine o'clock of a fresh wild night, a halo round the beclouded h quiet Esens, and in an hour I was close to Bensersiel, and could hear the sea In the rooted idea that I should find Gri visitors, I left the road short of the village, and made a circuit to the harbour by way of the sea-wall The los of the inn shed a ware circle gathered over cards, and dominated as of old by the assertive little posth-pitched, excitable voice I could clearly distinguish, as he sat with his cap on the back of his head and a 'feine schnapps' at his elbow The harbour itself looked exactly the sao The post-boat lay in her old berth at the eastern jetty, herover the rail I hailed the the in a few minutes; the as off-shore, the h 'Did I want a passage?' 'No, I thought I would wait' Positive that ot here so soon, I nevertheless kept an eye on the galliot till she let go her stern-rope and slid away One contingency was eliminated Some loiterers dispersed, and all port business appeared to be ended for the night

Three-quarters of an hour of strained suspense ensued Most of it I spent on le between the dyke and the western jetty, whence I had a strategic survey of the basin; but I was driven at times to relieve inaction by sallies which increased in audacity

I scouted on the road beyond the bridge, hovered round the lock, and peered in at the inn parlour; but nowhere could I see a trace of Gri object in the harbour (they were very few), dropped on to two lighters and pried under tarpaulins, boarded a deserted tug and two or three clu-post Only one of these had the look of readiness, the rest being devoid of oars and rowlocks; a discouraging state of things for a prospective boat-lifter It was the sight of these rowboats that suggested a last and , if boat there were, ht be not in the harbour at all, but soh state of the tide, it would have water and to spare Back to the dyke then; but as I peered seaward on the way, contingencies evaporated and a solid fact supervened, for I saw the lights of a steaain e before she had swept in between the piers, and with a fitful swizzling of her screas turning and backing down to a berth just ahead of one of the lighters, and not fifty feet fro-place A deck-hand juruff directions The vessel was a s, and theoff his engines, he jumped ashore also, looked at his watch in the beae It was Gri tarpaulin coat and a sou'wester I watched hiht from the innand disappear in the direction of the canal

Another sailor now appeared and helped his fellow to tie up the tug

The two together then went aft and began to set about soe was perilous, so I set about a job ofan oilskin jacket and trousers overmy peaked cap for a sou'-wester This operation was proarb of two sailors, who in hauling on the forarp caht

It was so--or, rather, standing aslant--on the rough sea-wall, with crannies of brick for foothold and the water plashi+ng belowMy chain of thought, I fancy, was this--the tug is to carryin a rowboat, yet I intend to shadow , and the first and soundest step is to mimic her crew But the next step was a hardfinished their job sat side by side on the bulwarks and lit their pipes However, a little panto They see to the inn and fro One of them walked a few paces inn-wards and beckoned to the other, who in his turn called soht, and then joined his mate in a scuttle to the inn Even while I watched the panto off my boots, and it had not been consu over thefeet A dozen noiseless steps and I was over the bulwarks between the wheel and the s-place The conventional stoay hides in the hold, but there was only a stokehold here, occupied moreover; nor was there an empty apple-barrel, such as Jim of Treasure Island found so useful As far as I could see--and I dared not venture far for fear of the skylight--the surface of the deck offered nothing secure But on the farther or starboard side, rather abaft the bea outboard, to which coue prescience of its after utility, pointed irresistibly In any case, discriently entered e The tackles creaked a trifle, oars and seats impeded me; but well before the thirsty truants had returned I was settled on the floor boards between tarts, so placed that I could, if necessary, peep over the gunwale

The two sailors returned at a run, and very soon after voices approached, and I recognized that of Herr Schenkel chattering volubly He and Gri and went down a companion-way aft, near which, as I peeped over, I saw a second skylight, no bigger than the 'Dulcibella's', illuminated frolasses, and in a ed It was apparent that Herr Schenkel was inclined to stay and et rid of hied that to-ave orders to cast off, and at length observed with an angry oath that the water was falling, and he ht, he went to the wheel and rang up his engines Herr Schenkel landed and strutted off in high dudgeon, while the tug's screw began to revolve We had only glided a few yards on when the engines stopped, a short blast of the whistle sounded, and, before I had had time to recast the future, I heard a scurry of footsteps from the direction of the dyke, first on the bank, next on the deck The last of these new arrivals panted audibly as he got aboard and dropped on the planks with an unelastic thud

Her co left the harbour, but not alone

While slowly gathering way the hull checked all at once with a sharp jerk, recovered, and increased its speed We had sohter, of course, that had been lying astern of us

Now I kneas in that lighter, because I had been to see, half an hour ago It was no lethal cargo, but coal, common household coal; not a full load of it, I reood-sized mound amidshi+ps, tri

'Well,' thought I, 'this is intelligible enough Grimm was ostensibly there to call for a load of coal for Me to Memmert?' At the same time I recalled a phrase overheard at the depot, 'Only one--half a load' Why half a load?

For soood deal of movement on deck, and of orders shouted by Grihter Presently, however, the tug wary, and an ordered peace reigned on board I also realized that having issued from the boomed channel we had turned ard, for the wind, which had been blowing us fair, no strongly over the port beam

I peeped out ofas I made no noise, and observed proper prudence, I was perfectly safe _until the boat anted_ There were no deck lahts diffused but a sickly radiance, and I was abaft the side-lights I was abaft the wheel also, though thrillingly near it in point of distance--about twelve feet, I should say; and Gri The wheel, I should mention here, was raised, as you often see them, on a sort of pulpit, approached by two or three steps and fenced by a breast-high arc of boarding Only one of the creas visible, and he was acting as look-out in the extrehts--for a second had been hoisted in sign of towage--glistening on his oilskin back The other hter, which I could dimly locate by the pale foaether aft, three of the over the taffrail, with their backs turned toand the thud on the planks had preparedfrom I did not knoere tall, and one of these ht to be four, I reckoned; but three were all I could see

And what of the third? It ', the unknown superior at whose instance and for whose behoof this secret expedition had been planned And who could he be? Many times, needless to say, I had asked myself that question, but never till nohen I had found the rendezvous and joined the expedition, did it beco import

'Any weather' was another of those stored-up phrases that were _apropos_ It was a dirty, squally night, not very cold, for the wind still hung in the SSW--an off-shore wind on this coast, causing no appreciable sea on the shoal spaces ere traversing In the edly to overcoht or fog in these intricate waters; and, by screwing round and round, succeeded so far as to discover and identify two flashi+ng lights--one alternately red and white, far and faint astern; the other right ahead and rather stronger, giving white flashes only The first and least fa; the second, well known to ht on the centre of Norderney Island, about ten miles away

I had no accurate idea of the tiht we must have started about a quarter past eleven We were travelling fast, the funnel belching out s appeared to be a powerful little craft, and her load was coeneral situation As for my own predicament, I was in no mood to brood on the hazards of this -s at Memmert The crisis, I knew, had coht me here h wooing I backed my luck and watched