Sail Ho! Part 107

"Don't go yet," she said.

"I must," I cried. "I want to stop, but Mr Brymer uses me now as his tongue and fists. I have to give all his orders to the men."

I went to where the mate was seated, received his orders, had them executed, and then met Mr Frewen coming out of Walters' cabin.

"Oh, there you are, Dale," he cried. "Go in and talk to that poor wretch for a few minutes. You must try and cheer him up, or he'll die, as sure as I'm here."

"Oh, I say, don't tell me that," I cried. "I don't like him, and I think he behaved horridly, but I don't want him to die."

I hurried into my messmate's cabin, and found him lying there so ghastly and strange-looking that I shivered, and began to move on tip-toe.

"Come and sit down a minute, Dale," he said in a weak voice; and I at once seated myself close to his bunk.

"Want some water?"

"No," he said sadly; "I want nothing now, only for you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"I can't write, but I want you to promise me when you get home to go to my father and mother, and of course they'll know everything from the papers; but I want you, my messmate, to tell them I was not quite such a wretch as I seem to have been."

"Oh, never mind about that now," I said. "Get well, and go and tell them yourself."

"No," he said calmly; "I shall not get well. I could see it in Mr Frewen's eyes. I'm very glad now. If I got well, of course I should have to be tried and punished, and be a convict. I should deserve it, but the judge and lawyers would be very hard, and I don't want them to try me."

"Oh, come, Walters, old chap," I cried in a choking voice, "don't take it like that." And I caught his hand in mine, and felt him press it feebly, as his face lit-up with a pleasant smile, which made him look quite changed.

"Yes," he said, quite cheerfully, but almost in a whisper, "I must take it like that now. Old Jarette aimed too well."

He lay looking straight out of the bright cabin-window; while I tried to speak, but found no words would come. I knew that the wind had dropped again, for the ship had grown steady once more; but I forgot all about the approaching boats, and could only sit holding Walters' hand, and watching his altered face.

"Yes," he said at last, "Jarette aimed too straight, Dale, old fellow, it has all been a mistake. I was a weak, conceited fool, and thought every one was against me, when it was all my fault. I know it now. Any fellow can make himself liked if he only tries--no, without trying, if he'll only go straight and act like a man. But somehow I couldn't. I got jealous of you, and wild because people made so much of you. And I said you hated me, and did all you could to make things worse, but it wasn't true, Dale, old fellow. It was all my fault."

"Yes, yes; but that's all over, old chap," I said huskily. "You'll get well, and do your bit of punishment, and make a fresh start."

He looked at me with a smile on his poor wan face, and I never realised before how good-looking he was. And then I shuddered, for he said quietly--

"Yes, I shall make a fresh start--somewhere else."

"Walters!" I whispered.

"Yes, somewhere else," he repeated. "It was all wrong; and just when I was at my worst, that wretch, who had been watching me and reading it all, came to me, and, as if he were some evil spirit, kept on day after day, laughing and jeering at me, till he regularly worked round me like the snake he is, and flattered, and planned, and talked of the future, till in my weak, vain folly I drank it all in. For I was weak, and he was strong; and at last, though I didn't know it then, I was his slave, Dale, and ready to do every bit of villainy he wished. But there, I need not tell you any more. I only want you, knowing all you do, to go to my poor old father and mother and tell them everything--how it all happened. It will be better than for them only to know it from the papers. They will understand then how it was I went wrong so quickly, right to the bitter end."

"No," I cried; "you shall go and confess it all yourself."

He laughed gently.

"Oh no. I'm glad Jarette aimed so straight, Dale. It was the kindest thing he could do. It's all over now. Can't you see it's best?"

"No," I said more firmly. "It would be best for you to get well, and prove in the future as a man, that you have repented your weakness as a boy."

"Yes, perhaps," he said, after a long pause; "but it is not to be so.

I'm not going to be tried here, Dale, where no one can tell everything, and understand how weak I was, and how, from the first day, I bitterly repented giving that man such power over me. I'm going to be judged there, Dale, where everything is known."

He closed his eyes as he spoke, and I was going to steal away, but his grasp tightened on my hand.

"Don't leave me, Dale," he whispered. "You'll promise all this, won't you?"

"If it is necessary," I said; "but you--"

He opened his eyes, and looked at me, smiling gently, and I ceased speaking, for I knew that my words were not true as I sat beside him all through that hot day waiting.

Mr Frewen came in from time to time, but he said little, and Walters appeared to be dozing for the most part.

"Better stay," Mr Frewen whispered; and then in answer to my questioning look, he shook his head, and I knew that it was all over.

It was close upon sundown, and the interior of the cabin was filled with an orange glow when Mr Frewen came in again.

Walters seemed to be fast asleep, quite free from pain, and breathing easily.

"You must be terribly faint, my lad. You have had nothing," the doctor whispered.

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Bob Hampton brought me a biscuit and some soup, and Miss Denning brought me some tea just now."

"Heaven bless her!" he muttered. Then in a quick whisper--"We shall have to call you up presently, my lad."

"Why?"

"The enemy are closing in. They'll make a desperate fight of it this time, and every help we can muster is necessary. Eh! Want me?" he said, as there was a tap on the door.

He went out, and I was thinking whether I could withdraw my hand without waking Walters, so as to get out on deck and help, when he opened his eyes and looked round quickly as if he wondered where he was.

Then he saw me and smiled.

"Don't forget, Dale," he whispered. "Now I want Miss Denning."

He loosened my hand, and I went out to find her waiting close by the door.

"Walters wants to see you, Miss Denning," I said, and she bowed her head and crept silently into the ruddily-lit cabin, and knelt down by where Walters lay.

"Yes," he said, holding out his hands. "Thank you. But you tell them-- how sorry--they will listen--to you.--Now--'Our Father'--"

Helena Denning's voice took up the words and went on in a low appealing murmur, and as I looked wildly in Walters' face, I saw his lips moving till she uttered the words--"and forgive us our trespa.s.ses--"

Then his lips became motionless, his gaze fixed on the golden glory in the heavens, and I started wildly to my feet, for at that moment there was a tremendous roar. The heavily-charged cannon had been fired, and I knew that the enemy were close at hand.

I gave one glance at Miss Denning, who knelt there now, crouching low, with her face buried in her hands, and then ran on deck ready to help repel the attack.

For there were the two boats close into the port-gangway, and the men in them frantically gesticulating and waving their hands.