Asiatic Breezes Part 21

"Something has happened here," replied the commander, loud enough to be heard by all in the boudoir. "But here are the four young men in whom you are all more or less interested, and you can see that they are not injured."

"Have you been hurt, Mr. Belgrave?" asked Miss Blanche, by whose side Louis had taken his place when he entered the apartment, as he was very much in the habit of doing when the party a.s.sembled.

"Not a hair of my head has been damaged," he replied.

"As soon as we are under way, and get clear of the sh.o.r.e, I shall tell you the whole story of certain events which have transpired in Khrysoko Bay during our absence," continued the commander. "I am willing to add that it will make quite a thrilling narrative. About two o'clock to-morrow afternoon I expect the Guardian-Mother and the Maud will be at Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Ca.n.a.l."

The mothers hugged their boys again even for the separation of eighteen hours, and the hands of the others were duly shaken. Mrs. Blossom did not attempt to hug the Milesian this time.

"What has happened here, Felix?" she asked in a low tone; for the good lady would have been glad to get at the solution of the mystery, in order that she might give a hint of it to the others.

"Captain Ringgold will tell you all about it; it would take me six hours to do so, and I have not the time," replied Felix as he bolted through the door.

"Six hours!" exclaimed the amiable lady. "Then we shall have to sit up about all night to hear the story. I wonder what the boys have been doing in this lonely place."

She was no wiser than the rest of the party. The two sons tore themselves away from their mothers, and Louis was permitted to take the hand of Miss Blanche in bidding her adieu. The commander had sent four of the old sailors on board of the little steamer to stand the watches during the trip; for the "Big Four" were believed to be thoroughly exhausted after a night in the gale and the most exciting day of all their lives. This was certainly true of Captain Scott, for he had hardly slept a wink in the last thirty-six hours, and the others were tired enough.

The chief engineer had been notified of the immediate departure of the Maud, and the fasts were cast off as soon as the ship's company went on board. Stevens, the carpenter of the ship, had repaired the damage done in the galley, and a supply of provisions had been put on board.

Captain Scott had submitted the question as to whether anything was to be done in regard to the ship's company of the Fatime. The matter had been decided at once. Captain Mazagan had declared war against the Maud, and had proceeded to enforce his preposterous demand. He had made a failure of it, and outside of the call of ordinary humanity, the commander believed that it was not his duty to look out for the comfort of the marauders. A sufficient supply of provisions had been sent to those on sh.o.r.e, and the pirate himself was under treatment on board of the ship. What was to be done with him was a question for the future.

Captain Scott remained in the pilot-house of the Maud till the steamer was well off the cape, and then gave out the course, south and a half west. It was Morris's watch, and he insisted on remaining on the forecastle, as he had obtained a portion of his sleep the night before.

The ship soon followed her consort; and as soon as the commander had given out the course he hastened to the boudoir, where the party were awaiting his appearance.

"It is hardly necessary for me to give the nautical points involved in 'The Battle of Khrysoko,'" said Captain Ringgold, as he laid the diagram of the captain of the Maud on the table.

"I beg your pardon, Captain--involved in what?" interrupted Mr.

Woolridge, who seemed to be bothered by the proper name.

"'The Battle of Khrysoko,'" repeated the commander with a smile. "That is the name the boys gave to the affair, calling it after the bay in which it occurred, though it is rather a high-sounding designation for it."

"Are we to understand that a battle has been fought here, Captain Ringgold?" inquired the magnate of the Fifth Avenue, as Louis had called him.

"It did not rise to the dignity of a regular naval engagement, though it took place on the waters of the bay," replied the captain. "Perhaps if we call it a contest for superiority, it would cover the idea better.

But this party are not prepared to understand what has taken place in Khrysoko Bay; and I must admit that I have concealed from you for the last three months certain features of our voyage, a knowledge of which would have rendered some of you very nervous and unhappy.

"I did not consult Dr. Hawkes in relation to the effect upon one of his patients, but I am confident he would have advised me to do as I have done. I am equally confident that another of your number would very soon have become one of his patients if I had been imprudent enough to put her in possession of all the facts in the situation. If I had done so at Athens, Zante, or Alexandria, I am almost certain that the Guardian-Mother would have been speeding her way across the Atlantic to New York; for some of the party would have insisted upon abandoning the voyage as projected.

"My only confidants in the inside history of this voyage for the last six months, or since we visited Mogadore, were the four young men who have just left you. Now I will relate this inside history, and give all the facts without any reservation whatever. I must begin back at Mogadore; and as I mention the incidents of our cruise so far, you will remember all of them. 'The Battle of Khrysoko' is the last chapter of the story, and for the present at least, and I hope forever, has removed all danger from our path."

By this time the entire party were all attention. The captain began his review of the incidents of the voyage at Mogadore. He used the time judiciously, but it took him a full hour to bring the history down to the final event. Whatever had been dark and mysterious in the past was made plain. The discovery of the plot made by Louis in the cafe at Gallipoli made a tremendous impression, and Dr. Hawkes had to attend to Mrs. Belgrave, she became so excited and nervous.

The stirring events in the bay were given very cautiously by the speaker, though he told the whole truth. He stated enough of the nautical situation to enable the party to understand the affair; and he warmly commended Captain Scott for the decisive act by which he had finished the encounter, after he had used every effort to escape a conflict.

"And did that wicked pirate actually fire cannon-b.a.l.l.s into the Maud while Louis was on board of her?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, very much excited.

"He put one shot through her, though Louis was on the upper deck, firing his rifle into the enemy, and he was in no danger," replied the commander.

It was midnight when the narrative and the comments upon it were finished. The doctor attended to his patient in the cabin, and then to the other in the hospital. Mazagan felt better, and wanted to talk; but Dr. Hawkes would not permit him to do so. The party retired with enough to think about.

At the time stated by the commander, the Guardian-Mother and the Maud were off the red light on the end of the breakwater at the entrance to the Suez Ca.n.a.l.

CHAPTER XVIII

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUEZ Ca.n.a.l

The sea was quite smooth when the Guardian-Mother and her tender arrived off Port Said. There was about thirty feet of water off the breakwater; and though there was an extensive basin at the town, the commander preferred to anchor outside for purposes he had in view. The trip to Cyprus had interrupted the educational work of the tourists, and this was the grand object ever uppermost in his mind.

Though this instructive element of the cruise around the world had been prominent in his thoughts before the steamer sailed from New York, it was rather indefinite in its details, so that he had failed to make some preparations for the work which the experience of a year now suggested to him. In the lectures, conferences, talks, and explanations to individuals, the professor and himself had felt the want of suitable maps on a large scale.

At Alexandria he had obtained a large map of Egypt, though it was not just what was wanted; but it had answered the purpose tolerably well.

The subjects which would be next in order were full of interest to him, and were likely to be so to the members of the party; for they included some of the older countries of the world, such as Syria, Babylonia, a.s.syria, Persia, and Arabia. Geographically they were comparatively unfamiliar to the members of the party, who, unlike the professor, the surgeon, and Uncle Moses, had not been liberally educated.

The instruction given at the various places on the voyage, and the studies of the students on the wing, had demonstrated that such maps were indispensable. But Captain Ringgold was a man of expedients. Every steamer, especially those engaged in making long voyages, has a paint-shop on board, more or less abundantly supplied with all necessary material. All seamen are required to do plain painting; for such a ship as the Guardian-Mother had to be kept in the nicest condition.

At Alexandria and Cairo the commander had procured such additional material as was needed for the production of the maps desired. Some of the sailors were more skilful in the use of the brush than others; and as soon as the captain mentioned his purpose to the first and second officers, they were able to point out a couple of men who had some artistic ideas in their composition.

All the crew were able seamen, and every one of them was skilled in the use of the sail-needle and palm, though of course in different degrees, as in all other occupations. Some of these had sewed the canvas together on which the maps were to be drawn and painted. It was not expected that anything which would pa.s.s the scrutiny of an artist would be produced; only such work as would answer the purpose of ill.u.s.tration.

In Mr. P. Lord Gaskette, the second officer of the ship, Captain Ringgold found his ablest a.s.sistant. He was a graduate of one of the most noted colleges of the United States, and had made some progress in the study of the legal profession. Unfortunately his health had failed him, and he had turned his attention to artistic pursuits for the sake of the out-door life to be obtained in sketching. He had taken some lessons in drawing and painting; but his physician had insisted that he should go to sea. He had been seven years a wanderer over the world, having shipped before the mast, and reached his present position.

In the paint-shop he was quite at home. He was a.s.sisted by the two seamen the most skilled with the brush, while he did the drawing himself. The large atlas of the world, a very expensive work, belonging to the commander, supplied accurate maps on a small scale, and these were transferred to the canvas, eight feet square. During the voyage to Cyprus three of these maps had been finished. One of them was the Delta of Egypt, including the Suez Ca.n.a.l; and the commander declared that it was handsome enough to adorn any schoolroom.

The Maud had made fast to the ship as usual when she came to anchor, and the "Big Four" were to report on board as soon as they had put their craft to rights. The party had mounted the promenade as soon as the low sh.o.r.e was in sight, and were looking about them at the various objects in view. Several large English steamers were in sight, including one of the P. & O. Line, and the Ophir, the largest and finest of the Orient Line, both bound to India and other countries of the Orient.

"How is your patient this afternoon, Dr. Hawkes?" asked the commander, as he met the physician on his way to the promenade.

"He is doing very well. He has very little pain now; and I think he will be as well as ever in a fortnight or three weeks, if he will only be reasonable," replied the doctor.

"Reasonable? Doesn't he wish to get well?" asked the commander.

"He wants to talk, and evidently has something on his mind. He desires an interview with you, Captain, and has asked me to obtain it for him; but I refused to do anything of the kind, for he has some fever hanging about him, and must be kept as quiet as possible."

"I don't know that I have any business with him, or he with me. I consider him one of the most unmitigated villains that ever walked the earth or sailed the seas," added Captain Ringgold. "The scoundrel does not seem to have common-sense; for he puts forward the most absurd claims that ever were invented, and it would not surprise me at all if he advanced another against me or Louis, in spite of the overwhelming defeat he has just sustained."

"He is the coolest and most impudent rascal I ever heard of. He asks Louis for a vast sum of money, and then politely requests him to become a prisoner in the cabin of the Fatime as security for the payment of the sum by his trustee;" and the doctor shook his fat sides with laughter at the absurdity.

"Very likely he has some such proposition to make to me. He really believes, I think, that he has a fair claim for what he has lost, or failed to obtain, by the miscarriage of all his plots to make a prisoner of Louis and Miss Blanche. All I desire is to get rid of the villain; and as soon as you inform me that he is off your hands I shall put him on sh.o.r.e."

The captain and the doctor joined the party on the promenade. Mr.

Gaskette and his a.s.sistant were hanging one of the maps completed on the upper deck, where the conferences were usually held. He had a.s.signed subjects to several members of the party, and he seemed to be anxious to have them disposed of; for he declared that this locality was one of the most interesting corners of the world to him.

On the promenade the mothers had their sons by their side, and Mrs.

Blossom had secured possession of Felix in some manner that did not appear; but the good woman seemed to be superlatively happy. The commander did not take a seat, but took a stand in front of the company.

He described the two big steamers that were approaching, in answer to a question put by Mrs. Belgrave.