The Beautiful White Devil Part 20

"You have so far had six lashes for each of the women you killed," she said; "now you will have six more for the man you butchered, and six more on top of them to teach you to respect myself and the name of Woman. Go on!"

By this time the wretched man's pluck was entirely gone. He entreated to be let off, offering large sums of money, to be faithfully paid directly he got ash.o.r.e, if she would only abate one lash. He might, however, as well have appealed to a stone: the second twelve were duly administered, and he was then cast loose. He fell in a heap on the deck, and for some time refused to budge; but, on being promised an additional half-dozen if he did not do as he was ordered, he soon found his feet, and bolted down the gangway into the gig alongside, which immediately set off for the mail steamer.

Half an hour later the boat returned, bringing with her the men whose part it had been to ensure the stoppage of the vessel and the capture of the pa.s.senger. Steam was up by this time, and within five minutes of raising the boat to the davits we were under weigh. In an hour we had lost sight of the mail boat, and were making as straight a course as possible back to the settlement.

That evening I received an invitation from Alie to dine with her in her cabin, and, as may be supposed, I accepted it. But as the lady whom I had only known as Mrs. Beecher, and who had been confined to her cabin by ill-health ever since our leaving Singapore, was present, we only conversed on general topics during the progress of the meal.

When, however, we sought the deck afterwards alone, and came to our favourite spot at the taffrail, Alie said:

"Up to the present you have seen a good many sides of my character, have you not? I hope, among them, they will not make you think too badly of me."

"Make me think badly of you, Alie?" I cried. "That would be impossible. What _have_ I seen? Let me think. First, I have seen you collecting about you and befriending many of the world's unfortunates; second, I have seen you toiling day and night, without thought of yourself, for the welfare of the lives you loved; and, last, I have seen you always just and forbearing, a good ruler and a firm friend.

Is there anything in any of those circ.u.mstances to make me think badly of you? No, no!"

"You are too generous to me, I fear. However, to-day you have seen me in the character of Retribution; you have seen that I can bite as well as bark. I should be sorry if I lost your good esteem. Now, with regard to Mr. Ebbington, I want to consult with you as to the course I should pursue with him."

"I hardly know," I answered. "I have been thinking it over this afternoon. The man is already nearly mad with fear; that flogging this morning was an awful lesson to him."

"I hope it was; but cannot you see the position I am placed in? After all that has pa.s.sed between us, I cannot let him go out into the world again, and yet I do not want to keep him a perpetual prisoner at the settlement. A man of that kind might do serious mischief even there."

I did not know what to advise, so saying I would think about it, we dismissed the subject for the present. Alie was looking across the sea astern.

"We're in for a spell of bad weather, I fear," she said. "Do you see that bank of cloud away to the northeast? I hope it won't delay our getting back to the settlement. I have been watching it coming up, and I don't like the look of it at all."

We walked along together to the bridge, where she gave the officer of the watch some instructions. This done she turned to me and held out her hand.

"Good-night!" she said; "I am going below now to try and get some sleep in case we are to have trouble later. I have left orders that I am to be called if anything unusual transpires."

"Good-night!" I answered, when I had walked to the companion-ladder with her.

As soon as she had left me I lit another cigar, and, seating myself on the rail, fell to smoking and dreaming of the future. Every hour was bringing the time closer for me to bid the woman I loved good-bye, and to go back to England. After that, for a year, I told myself, I would work hard at my profession, and at the end of the time stipulated, she would arrive to be my wife. What my life was to be after that I could not of course determine, but however it should turn out, I would be prepared for it, and with Alie for my wife how could I fail to be happy? As soon as my cigar was finished, I tossed the stump overboard and retired to my cabin.

On entering it I thought I heard a noise, and as it turned out I was not mistaken. To my surprise the occupant was none other than the prisoner, Ebbington. He seemed a trifle disconcerted at my catching him, and began to apologise profusely for his presence there.

"I came in here to consult you professionally, Dr. De Normanville," he managed to get out at last. "But you were not in, so I thought I'd wait. Can you do anything for me? I am not at all well."

"Sit down," I said, pointing to the locker, "and tell me how you feel."

There was something in the poor wretch's face that, much as I detested him, touched a chord of pity in my heart. Thus encouraged, he delivered himself of his symptoms, and asked to be treated. Long before he had finished his tale, however, I had convinced myself that there was nothing, save fright, the matter with him. But I heard him out, and then said:

"Now own up, Ebbington. What was the real reason of this visit? For you know very well you're no more ill than I am."

He stared for a moment, and then seeing it would be useless arguing with me, said:

"No, I'm not ill, but I want to ask you a question. What does this woman intend doing with me? It's all very well for her to pretend she abducted you; I know better. You were in her confidence at Singapore and you're in it now. For Heaven's sake don't play with me--tell me the truth. Is she going to flog me as she flogged that poor devil this morning, or is she going to hang me, as I hear she did Kwong Fung the pirate?"

"I know no more about what she intends doing with you than you do," I answered; "and if I did, I'm certain I shouldn't tell you. Look here, Mr. Ebbington, I don't want to hit a man when he's down, but I must own, I think, whatever you do get won't be too much for you. You would have betrayed her, if you could have managed it, without a second thought. Now, if I had been in her place--well, I don't somehow think I should have been as merciful as she has been."

His face instantly became black with fury.

"Wouldn't you! wouldn't you?" he hissed; "spy, traitor, coward!

wouldn't you? A fig for you and your thoughts."

I laughed; thereupon he walked up to me, and, with his features convulsed with rage, deliberately spat in my face. I knocked him down, and, having done so, picked him up and threw him outside into the saloon. I then locked my cabin door and went to bed.

I don't suppose, however, I had been asleep more than an hour before I was awakened by a loud hammering at my door. Thinking that the ship must be in danger, I sprang from my bunk and unlocked it as quickly as possible. On looking out I discovered Walworth and the officers'

steward standing before me.

"What on earth is the matter?" I asked, I'm afraid a trifle irritably.

"What on earth are you making all this row about?"

"Something's very much the matter," Walworth answered, taking my arm and drawing me along the saloon. "Ebbington's taken poison."

"The deuce he has!" I cried. "Let me see him at once."

I was thereupon conducted to his cabin, which was on the port side of the vessel, at the further end of the saloon. I found the patient stretched on his back in his bunk, holding an empty laudanum bottle in his hand.

One moment's examination showed me that life was extinct; he had been dead nearly an hour. In this fashion had Alie's difficulty been solved for her, and, perhaps, all things considered, though it seems rather a cruel thing to say, in the best possible manner for all parties.

"Is there no chance at all of saving him?" asked Walworth, who had been watching me intently during my examination.

"Not one!" I answered. "Ebbington's gone where even the Beautiful White Devil's vengeance won't reach him. Poor devil! Fancy coming into the world for such a fate as this!"

"Humph! Frightened out of his senses, I expect. Well, now, I suppose I must go and tell her ladyship. I'm sorry, doctor, to have troubled you in vain."

"Don't mention it. I'm only sorry nothing could be done. Good-night!"

"Good-night!"

I drew the blanket over the face, and then locking the door behind me, went back to my own cabin to think it all out. One thing became perfectly plain to me when I examined my medical chest--and that was, Ebbington's reason for being in my berth.

CHAPTER XI.

A TYPHOON.

At five o'clock next morning, being unable to bear the closeness of my cabin any longer, I dressed myself and went on deck. To my surprise the schooner was stationary, and wrapped in as dense a fog as ever I remember to have seen. So still was the air that every sail hung limp and motionless, and so thick the fog that, when I emerged from the companion hatch, I could hardly distinguish the bulwarks on either side. It was the intense quiet, however, that was at once the most mysterious and the impressive part of the scene. The steady drip of the moisture on the deck, and now and again the faint lip-lap of a wavelet against the side, the creaking of a block in the rigging above my head, or the subdued tones of a man's voice coming from the forrard of the foremast were all the sounds that I could hear. It was most depressing; so, for the sake of companionship, I fumbled my way over to the starboard bulwark, and, having found it, ran it along to the bridge, where I almost fell into some person's arms. The fog here was so thick that I could not see his face, so I inquired his name.

"Walworth," was the reply, "and from your voice you should be Dr. De Normanville."

"Quite right," I answered. "But what a fog this is, to be sure! How long have we been in it?"

"Very nearly three hours," he replied. "It's most unfortunate. By the way, I want to ask a favour of you on her ladyship's account. We are going to bury that poor beggar Ebbington in half an hour. Will you conduct the service?"

"Did her ladyship tell you to ask me?"