The Golden Rock Part 20

"I am sorry you should think so, madam," he answered stiffly.

"Now go off in a pet, and leave me to my own thoughts, which, of course, are very pleasant company for a lonely girl among a lot of morose and fiery men, who cannot see that the strain upon her is almost too much."

She said this with a smile, but Hume noticed that the lips trembled while they smiled, and that in the eyes there was a worn, almost wild, look.

"Take my arm, Miss Laura," he said gently. "Let me tell you my story; it may interest you."

She took his arm with almost a convulsive grasp, and for a moment she bent her head; then with a soft and womanly look she asked him to talk and not to heed her silence. So they paced up and down, six paces one way, six another, and were necessarily thrown together by the narrowness of the pa.s.sage. He talked of his uncle, the tough old hunter, of the simple life he led, of his sacrifice and quiet death, and a sweeter look stole into her face.

"And so," she said, "you have put aside the quest entrusted to you by that good old man and thrown in your lot with me? I thank you, but you must find the Golden Rock."

"If it is there," he said, smiling at her eagerness.

"Oh, it exists; I am sure of it. I can see the gleam of it now;" and she shaded her eyes with her hand.

"But it is not on the sea," he said laughingly.

"I am looking beyond the sea, among your African mountains, to a flame that glows under the rays of the morning sun, and there is a ring of red around the flame. Ah! you will encounter many dangers."

"What will it matter," he said, "since I am alone in the world?"

"It may matter," she whispered, and then withdrew her arm, and hastily quitted the bridge, after one anxious look at the sloop, and a murmured prayer that it would safely reach port.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

A STRANGE VESSEL.

Five days after the stormy scene on the bridge, Frank Hume and Webster were lying forward, upon rugs, on the turtle-sh.e.l.l deck, in the full blaze of a hot sun. The sea was calm, even beyond the power of the _Swift_ to toss up spray, and stretched away, unbroken by so much as a single gleam of white, to the horizon, though astern there lay a long trail, slightly sinuous, over which, with many a sweep and soar, there hawked a pair of gulls. Now and again, from the heave of the water before the fast slipping foot of the _Swift_, there ripped out a flight of flying fish, who, after an unmistakable beat of their glittering wings, shot away to the right and left, to fall with an awkward splash into the sea.

Here and there, propped up against some wide-mouthed ventilator, or stretched in the grateful shadows of the boats, were a few barefooted sailors engaged with needle and thread, while under an awning aft Mr Commins and Miss Anstrade reclined in deck-chairs. The harsh grating noise of the steering gear, and the ceaseless thud of the propellers, alone broke the silence, which, like the silence of vast stretches ash.o.r.e, or of deep-wooded solitudes, hushes the voice of animals and kills speech in men. Out on the bosom of the sea, or on the summit of a mountain, the trifles which interest us among our fellows have little power against the subduing influence of vast unpeopled s.p.a.ces.

All the morning the steamer reached on, always remaining in the centre of the same wide circle, and it was only when the Quartermaster struck eight bells that there was any movement among the brooding men. Webster sat up, and with his hands on his knees, and his cap at the back of his head, looked over the shining waste, then yawned.

"What an eloquent fellow you are, Hume!" he said; "you've got no more conversation and greater powers of observation than a bale of wool.

There's that fellow Commins still talking to the Commodore and oiling his jaw-tackle with iced champagne, the lubber; and to think you might be enjoying the same privileges if you only had the wit to make yourself agreeable."

"I don't care for champagne iced."

"You don't, eh? but maybe you'd care to be seated where he is, within the range of those l.u.s.trous eyes, or was it luminous you called them, for all the world as though you were speaking of a black cat in a coal-cellar? And such cigars as she smokes, too?"

"She doesn't smoke cigars!"

"Man, I saw the glow of one last night, burning red, and lighting, by its reflection, the dark splendour of her eyes, as you magnificently put it."

"It was a cigarette, and you might know, if you were not always between waking and sleeping, that most high-bred Spanish women smoke them, and think no more of it than a dab of powder."

"Then you were smoking the cigar, and I was awake enough to see that the fierce light of the cigar was closer than the breadth of my hand to the tiny glow of the dainty cigarette. I've been thinking whether I ought to congratulate you or her first."

"Don't be an a.s.s, Webster; I was merely explaining to her the map of the stars."

"Then there's nothing between you?"

"Nothing but the length of the ship."

"Then that relieves my heart of a great pressure, which has sat there ever since I had salt junk for breakfast. I shall propose to the Commodore myself."

"The devil you will!" said Frank, rising to his elbow, and regarding Webster with anxiety.

The Lieutenant sighed, and then winked solemnly.

"Yes, my boy, for I'm sick to death of seeing that red-banded dandy flashing his teeth in the face of her as though he were the only man on board with courage enough to make love to a pretty girl."

"You are fooling."

"Not me. I've been thinking, and it occurred to me that I've lived long enough in a circle. I want to pa.s.s the remainder of my life in a square house with someone like the Commodore, who won't obey orders. She would want to paint the walls yellow to match her complexion, and I would tell the Quartermaster to paint them blue to remind me of the sea. The house would have a flat roof with a flag-post on the weather quarter. I would hoist my colours in the morning, and she would bend on hers in the afternoon, for I've noticed that a woman grows more active as the day dwindles. It is a trait she enjoys in common with cats."

"My dear fellow," said Frank earnestly, "all you have to do is to give her a sketch of that programme, and that will be enough in the way of wooing."

"Can you suggest any improvement?"

"Well, you would do well to hint at the luxury of green blinds for the windows, and pictures on the walls."

"If there is one thing I detest more than soda with whisky, it's satire; you should leave such weapons to that gla.s.s-eyed lubber aft, who always looks at me as if I were a monstrosity, and sets my muscles moving to catch him by the neck. Now, Frank, for the honour of all good men, sail in and win the prize. I mean it. You can see for yourself that the fellow is every kind of a rogue, and though the Commodore doesn't answer well to the helm, it would be a wicked shame to see her taken in tow by that shark. Hang me if the fellow was not rattling dice last night with that black-hearted piccaroon, Juarez."

"Is that a fact?"

"Ay, that it is; and it came across me that the two of them were too friendly for our safety. It was about four bells, and I had gone below to turn in, when I heard the unmistakable rattle, and peeping in through the ventilator above the door, saw the two of them hard at it, with the everlasting bottle at their elbows."

"Have you told the Captain?"

"I did; and he scowled horribly. You know how pleasant he looks when he is put out; and he went down straightway and tumbled the gentle pirate into his cell, at the same time threatening to clap Commins in irons if he sought such congenial society again."

"And--?"

"Commins swore most foully. I never thought the creature had such a command of language; but the skipper asked him if he would complain to the Commodore, when he calmed down rapidly into soft words and treacherous smiles. I tell you he is a plotter, and if anything goes wrong with the rebels--the National party, by compliment--he would sell us for a bra.s.s candlestick. Now, if you will dash in, cut him out as he lies at his moorings in the light of her friendship, I will not bring my fascination to bear upon her."

"I'm afraid it's hopeless," said Frank, with a sigh; "and don't you think we are talking without book?--for we have no reason to suppose that she wishes to be freed from the attentions of Mr Commins, still less that she is in any danger from him."

"You've got too much of the calculating machine in you, Frank--a defect we sailors don't possess. This is a matter not to be reasoned about I can feel in my marrow that the man is a scheming rascal."

The Quartermaster struck eight bells, and Webster went off to take a sight, the Captain having already entered upon that daily task.

They were three days off Cape Verde, having made the islands to take in more coal, and were making across the Atlantic, in a south-westerly course, right out of the track of vessels. When Hume, who was looking forward listlessly, cried out, "Ship ahead!" there was unusual interest aroused, and gla.s.ses were brought to bear upon the distant speck.

"A steamer!" cried Captain Pardoe, "and lying to, for there's not so much as a stain of smoke against the blue of the sky beyond."

The men and officers, now thoroughly aroused from their drowsy torpor, stared at the distant ship which had so suddenly slipped from the horizon into this silent sea.