Phroso Part 55

'We shall very likely run into a nautical one if we don't look out,'

said I.

However the two approaching vessels seemed to become aware of this danger, for they diverged from one another, so that, if we kept a straight course, we should now pa.s.s them by, one on the port side and one on the starboard. But we should pa.s.s within a couple of hundred yards of both, and that was well in earshot on such a day. I looked at the captain, and the captain looked at me.

'Shall we take him below and smother him?' whispered Denny.

I did not feel at liberty to adopt the suggestion, much to my regret.

The agreement I had made with the captain precluded any a.s.sault on his liberty. I had omitted to provide for the case which had occurred.

Well, that was my fault, and I must stand the consequences of it. My word was pledged to him that he should be treated in all friendliness on one condition, and that he had satisfied. Now to act as Denny suggested would not be to treat him in all friendliness. I shook my head sadly. Hogvardt shouted for orders from the wheel.

'What am I to do, my lord?' he cried. 'Full speed ahead?'

I looked at the captain. I knew he would not pa.s.s the Turkish ship without trying to attract her attention. We were within a quarter of a mile of the vessels now.

'Stop,' I called, and I added quickly, 'Lower away the gig, Denny.'

Denny caught my purpose in a moment; he called a hand and they set to work. The pace of the yacht began to slacken. I glanced at the two ships. Men with gla.s.ses were peering at us from either deck, wondering, no doubt, what our manuvre meant. But the captain knew as well as Denny what it meant, and he leapt forward suddenly and hailed the Turk in his native tongue. What he said I don't know, but it caused a great pother on deck, and they ran up some signal or other; I never remember the code, and the book was not about me.

But now the gig was afloat and the yacht motionless. Looking again, I perceived that both the ships had shut off steam, and were reversing, to arrest their course the sooner. I seized Phroso by the arm. The captain turned for a moment as though to interrupt our pa.s.sage.

'It's as much as your life is worth,' said I, and he gave way. Then, to my amazement, he ran to the side, and, just as he was, leapt overboard and struck out towards the Turk. One instant later I saw why: they were lowering a boat. Alas, our ship was not so eager. The captain must have shouted something very significant.

'Signal for a boat, Hog,' I cried. 'And then come along. Hi, Watkins, come on! Are you ready, Denny?' And I fairly lifted Phroso in my arms and ran with her to the side. She was breathing quickly, and a little laugh gurgled from her lips as Denny received her from my arms into his in the gig.

But we were not safe yet. The Turk had got a start, and his boat was springing merrily over the waves towards us. The captain swam powerfully and gallantly; his fez-covered head bobbed gaily up and down. Ah, now our people were moving! And when they began to move they wasted no time. We wasted none either, but bent to our oars, and, for the second time since I reached Neopalia, I had a thorough good bucketing. But for the Turk's start we should have managed it easily, as we rowed towards the English boat and the divergence which the vessels had made in their course prevented the two from approaching us side by side; but the start was enough to make matters very equal. Now the boat and the captain met. He was in in a second, with wonderful agility; picking him up hardly lost them a stroke. They were coming straight at us, the captain standing in the stern urging them on; but now I saw that the middy in the English boat had caught the idea that there was some fun afoot, for he also stood up and urged on his crew.

The two great ships lay motionless on the water, and gave us all their attention.

'Pull, boys, pull!' I cried. 'It's all right, Phroso, we shall do it!'

Should we? And, if we did not, would the English captain fight for my Phroso? I would have sunk the Turk, with a laugh, for her. But I was afraid that he would not be so obliging as to do it for me.

'The Turk gains,' said Hogvardt, who was our c.o.xswain.

'Hang him! Put your backs into it.'

On went the three boats. The two pursuers were now converging close on us.

'We shall do it by a few yards,' said Hogvardt.

'Thank G.o.d!' I muttered.

'No; we shall be beaten by a few yards,' he said, a moment later.

'They pull well, those fellows.'

But we too pulled well then--though I have no right to say it--and the good little middy and his men did their duty--oh, what a tip these blue-jackets should have if they did the trick!--and the noses of all the boats seemed to be tending to one spot on the bright dancing sea.

To one spot, indeed, they were tending. The Turks were no more than twenty yards off, the English perhaps thirty. The captain gave one last cry of exhortation, the middy responded with a hearty oath. We strained and tugged for dear life. They were on us now--the Turks a little first. Now they were ten yards off--now five--and the English yet ten.

But for a last stroke we pulled; and then I dropped my oars and sprang to my feet. The nose of the captain's boat was within a yard, and they were backing water so as not to run into us. The middy had given a like order. For a single instant matters seemed to stand still and we to be poised between defeat and victory. Then, even as the captain's hand was on our gunwale, I bent and caught Phroso up in the arms that she sprang to meet, and I fairly flung her across the narrow strait of water that parted us from the English boat. Six strong and eager arms received her, and a cheer rang out from the English ship, for they saw now that it had been a race, and a race for a lady; and I, seeing her safe, turned to the captain, and said:

'Fetch her back from there, if you can, and be d.a.m.ned to you!'

CHAPTER XXIII

THE ISLAND IN A CALM

We did not fight. My friend the captain proposed to rely on his British _confrere's_ sense of justice and of the courtesy which should obtain between two great and friendly nations. To this end he accompanied us on board the ship and laid his case before Captain Beverley, R.N. My argument, which I stated with brevity, but not without vehemence, was threefold: first, that Phroso had committed no offence; secondly, that if she had, it was a political offence; thirdly, was Captain Beverley going to hand over to a crew of dirty Turks the prettiest girl in the Mediterranean? This last point made a decided impression on the officers who were a.s.sisting their commander's deliberations, but it won from him no more than a tolerant smile and a glance through his _pince-nez_ at Phroso, who sat at the table opposite to him, awaiting the award of justice. After I had, in the heat of discussion, called the Turks 'dirty,' I moved round to my friend the captain, apologised humbly, and congratulated him on his gallant and spirited behaviour. He received my advances with courtesy, but firmly restated his claim to Phroso. Captain Beverley appeared a little puzzled.

'And, to add to it all,' he observed to me, 'I thought you were dead;'

for I had told him my name.

'Not at all,' said I, resentfully; 'I am quite alive, and I'm going to marry this lady.'

'You intend to marry her, Lord Wheatley?'

'She has done me the honour to consent and I certainly intend it; unless you're going to send her off to Constantinople--or heaven knows where.'

Beverley arched his brows, but it was not his business to express an opinion, and I heartily forgave him his hinted disapproval, when he said to the captain:

'I really don't see how I can do what you ask. If you had won the tr-- I mean, if you had succeeded in taking the lady on board, I should have had no more to say. As it is, I don't think I can do anything but carry her to a British port. You can prefer your claim to extradition before the Court there, if you're so advised.'

'Bravo!' cried Denny.

'Be good enough to hold your tongue, sir,' said Captain Beverley.

'At least, you will take a note of my demand,' urged the Turk.

'With the utmost pleasure,' responded Captain Beverley, and then and there he took a note. People seem often to find some mystical comfort in having a note taken, though no other consequence appears likely to ensue. Then the captain, being comforted by his note, took his farewell. I walked with him to the side of the vessel.

'I hope you bear no malice,' said I, as I held out my hand, 'and that this affair won't get you into any trouble.'

'Oh, I don't think so,' said he. 'Your ingenuity will be my excuse.'

'You're very good. I hope you'll come and see us in Neopalia some day.'

'You expect to return to Neopalia?'

'Certainly. It's mine--or Phroso's--I don't know which.'

'There's such a thing as forfeiture in our law,' he observed, and with this Parthian shot he walked down and got into his boat. But I was not much frightened.

So, the Turk being thus disposed of, Denny and Hogvardt went back to the yacht, while Phroso, Watkins and I, took up our abode on the ship, and when Captain Beverley had heard the whole story of our adventures in Neopalia he was so overcome by Phroso's gallant conduct that he walked up and down his own deck with her all the evening, while I, making friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, pretended to look very pleased and recited my dealings with Mouraki to an attentive group of officers. And clothes were produced from somewhere for Phroso--our navy is ready for everything--and thus, in the fulness of time, we came to Malta. Here the captain had a wife, and she was as delighted as, I take leave to say, all good women ought to be at the happy ending of our story. And at Malta we waited; but nothing happened. No claim was made for Phroso's extradition; and I may as well state here that no claim ever has been made. But when we came to London, on board a P. and O. steamer, in charge of a benevolent but strict chaperon, I lost no time in calling on the Turkish Amba.s.sador.

I desired to put matters on a satisfactory footing at once. He received me with much courtesy, but expressed the opinion that Phroso and I alike had forfeited any claim which she or I, or either, or both of us, might have possessed to the Island of Neopalia. I was very much annoyed at this att.i.tude; I rose and stood with my back to the fire.

'It is the death of Mouraki Pasha that has so incensed your Government?' I ventured to ask.