A Crime of the Under-seas Part 6

"Very naturally," he replied. "I have already told you that, I think."

"In that case how do you propose to show that you became aware of the fact that your man _was_ murdered? and if you will excuse my saying so, I cannot help thinking that you will find it an extremely difficult, if not quite impossible, task to prove that our friend Colway-Brown was the man who committed this terrible crime."

"Not at all," he answered. "What about the razor? We know that it is his property, and if it was not with it that the murder was committed, how do you account for it being in his cabin?"

"I am not attempting to account for it at all," I answered. "I am simply endeavouring to show you how futile it would be in all probability to try to bring the crime home to the man whom we suspect."

"Then what do you propose doing?"

I thought for a few moments before I answered.

"Well, as far as I can see, the best plan would be," I said, "to follow our reverend friend up, and when we have got him in a close corner, just to tax him with his crime and threaten to hand him over to Justice if he does not return to you the property he stole. If this is judiciously managed there should not be much difficulty in obtaining from him what you want."

"But supposing he has parted with the pearl in the meantime, what then?

A nice position we should find ourselves in."

"I don't think he is likely to dispose of it just yet," I answered. "You see he would not have an opportunity. He would be afraid to try it on in Thursday Island, where the pearl was known, or, for the matter of that, in Australia at all. What is more, he'll not be likely to hurry, having no notion that there is anybody on his track. He knows he is the only soul who escaped from the wreck, and he is certain to think his victim will remain undiscovered for all time. With a little luck you should be able to catch him before he can get away."

"But you speak of _my_ catching him. Surely you do not intend to let me go on alone? Remember I set such store by your a.s.sistance."

"If you wish it I will, of course, go through the business with you," I answered. "But it looks like being a bigger affair than I at first contemplated, and my time is valuable."

"It shall be made worth your while; you need have no fear on that score.

And now, I suppose, it is no use our remaining here; what shall we do?"

"Up anchor and be off to Thursday Island as fast as we can go," I said promptly.

"And when we get there?"

"Seize the Reverend Colway-Brown as soon as possible, if he's there, and frighten him into handing over the jewel he has so wrongfully taken possession of, by the best methods in our power."

"And if he has left the island?"

"Then we'll follow him like bloodhounds until we catch him, even if we have to go half round the world to do it."

"You mean it?"

"I do," I answered.

"Then shake hands on it."

We shook hands, and in less than a quarter of an hour the schooner was bowling along under a merry breeze towards Thursday Island, and its most important inhabitant, as far as we were concerned, the Reverend Colway-Brown.

CHAPTER IX

The sun was in the act of disappearing behind the fringe of jungle which clothes the western hilltops of Thursday Island, when our schooner pa.s.sed through Prince of Wales' Straits and dropped her anchor off the small township of Port Kennedy. Every one on board was on deck at the moment, and I can vouch for the fact that in two minds at least, those of Mr. Leversidge and myself, there was a feeling of intense excitement.

Ever since we had sat together in the schooner's cabin, and I had told him of the terrible discovery I had made in his agent's berth on board the _Monarch of Macedonia_, we had been longing for the moment to arrive when we should reach the island, and either find ourselves face to face with the Reverend Colway-Brown or learn something which would eventually lead us to him. That he would be foolish enough, after what had happened, to remain any longer in the island than he could help, I did not for a moment suppose. He would naturally be anxious to put as many miles as possible between himself and the wreck, and also to reach some place where he could dispose of the jewel. There were half a hundred reasons why he should not attempt to do so in Thursday Island. In the first place, there was no one there who could give him the price he would be likely to ask, and in the second it must be remembered that it was in this very locality it had first made its appearance and attracted so much attention. To have shown it there, or to have allowed any one to have suspected its presence, would have been an act of the wildest folly, and it was plain that the Reverend Colway-Brown was no fool. For these reasons I felt convinced in my own mind that when we went ash.o.r.e to make inquiries we should find our bird flown.

Prior to sighting the island we had held a conference with the skipper in the deck-house, when Mr. Leversidge had discharged the amount due for the hire of the vessel, and at the same time had supplemented it with a handsome present to her officers and crew. As far as they were concerned I was sure the secret of our visit to the wreck would be in safe hands.

This business matter having been settled to every one's satisfaction, as soon as the anchor was down we collected our baggage and descended into the boat which was waiting for us alongside. As we did so a steamer rounded the point and approached the anchorage. I recognised her and made a note of the fact in my own mind for future use, in case it should be necessary.

It was not the first time I had been in Thursday Island by many a score, and I was well acquainted with the customs and peculiarities of the place and its inhabitants. I did not, therefore, waste my time making inquiries in any of the grog shanties beside the beach, but pa.s.sed along the front until I reached the most gorgeous caravanserai of all, the Hotel of All Nations. It was here, I felt certain, if anywhere, that we should hear some tidings of the man we were after. Accordingly, I walked through the verandah, and, with Mr. Leversidge at my heels, entered the bar. The real business hour had not yet arrived, and for this reason, save for a Kanaka asleep in a corner, and a gorgeously upholstered youth polishing gla.s.ses behind the counter, the bar was deserted. It was plain that the latter had never seen me before, or, if he had, that he had forgotten both my name and the circ.u.mstances under which we had last met. I accordingly bade him call his employer to me.

"Good gracious, can it be you, Mr. Collon?" exclaimed the latter as he entered the room and saw me standing before him; "I thought you were in China. Leastways, Bill Smith, of the _Coral Queen_, was only saying yesterday that the mate of the _Chang Tung_ saw you at Foochow the last time he was up there, which was about five months ago."

"Five months is a long time," I said, with a laugh. "It is possible for a good deal to happen in that time. Five months ago, if you had told any of the people who went down in the _Monarch of Macedonia_ what was before them, they would not have believed you."

"That was a bad thing, wasn't it?" he replied, shaking his head. "I suppose you know that the only persons who escaped were brought on here.

As a matter of fact, I took them in."

"I guessed as much," I answered. "I said to my friend here, as we came along, that I felt certain they would come to the Hotel of All Nations."

"Yes; I took them in. The foremast hand, however, went up in the China boat the following day; but the Rev. Colway-Brown stayed longer."

"The deuce he did!" As I said this I glanced at the bar-tender, who was listening with both his ears. I had no desire that he should hear what we had to say, so I drew his employer a little on one side, saying, "By the way, Birch, can we have five minutes with you alone in your own private room?"

"And why not?" he replied. "Surely, if there's one man in this world who's we'come, it's you, d.i.c.k Collon. Come along with me, gentlemen, and let us have our talk together."

A few moments later we were installed in the hospitable landlord's private office, from the windows of which a magnificent view could be obtained of the harbour, the islands beyond, and, on a very clear day, of Cape York, the most northerly coast line of Australia, peeping up miles away to the southward. Many and strange would be the stories that the room could tell were it possible for it to speak. In it men had sold their birthrights to all intents and purposes for a mess of pottage; in it others, who had hitherto been considered n.o.bodies, had learnt the news that the tide of fortune had turned for them, and that for the future they were to take their places among the high-born of the earth.

In that room men flying from justice in the South, who had believed themselves beyond the reach of pursuit and had come ash.o.r.e while the mail-boat coaled, had been arrested. For me alone that room had at least a hundred different memories and a.s.sociations. I had been familiar with it for many years, but this much I can safely say, never had I entered it on such a strange errand as that which was now engrossing all my attention.

"Well, what can I do for you?" asked Birch, when he had invited us to be seated and had closed the door behind him.

"I want to ask a particular favour of you," I said. "I want you to tell me all you know about the Reverend Colway-Brown."

"The man we were speaking of just now?" Birch asked, with an expression of surprise; "the only survivor from the wreck?"

"Exactly," I answered. "My friend here is very much interested in him, and is most anxious to find him."

"In that case I am afraid you have come too late," Birch replied. "He left for Brisbane last week in the _Oodnadatta_. He wanted to get back to Sydney, he said, as soon as possible. We took up a collection for him, and the steamship company granted him a free pa.s.sage South. I reckon the poor chap wanted it, for he'd lost everything he possessed in the world, and came out of that wreck just as near stone broke as a man could well be."

"Feeling pretty miserable, too, I don't doubt," I said.

"Miserable is no word for it," he answered; "you never saw such a doleful chap, nor I'll be bound one half so frightened, in your life.

All the time he was in this house he was just ready to jump away from his own shadow at a moment's notice. As nervous and timid as a baby.

Couldn't bear to be left by himself, and yet as unsociable as could be when you were with him. Small wonder, say I, when you come to think of what he had been through. It's a mystery to me how he came out of it alive."

"Did he tell you much about it while he was here?" inquired Leversidge.

"I suppose he gave you his experiences in detail?"

"That's just the funny part of it," Birch replied. "Do what you would you could not get that poor chap to talk about 'that terrible night,' as he called it. On any other subject he could be interesting enough when he liked, but directly you began to question him about the wreck or anything connected with the vessel, he would put his hands up to his eyes and shudder as if he saw the whole thing happening over again. For my own part I don't think he'll ever be able to forget it. It will be a nightmare to him as long as he lives."

"So I should imagine," said Leversidge, with such unusual emphasis that our host, who was in the act of pouring us out some refreshment, paused and looked at him in surprise.