The Golden Rock Part 7

"And you have found it?" she said, with an answering smile.

"Yes; I think I have."

"Then you do not think that I am likely to menace the security of England with this craft?"

"I am in ignorance of your intentions still, but I am willing to believe that you are bent upon no desperate or unjust enterprise."

"Desperate it may prove," she said proudly, "but unjust it is not. No, no, believe me, sir, if there is any cause which would claim the sympathy of a brave man it is this upon which I am set."

She rested her fingers on his arm, and looked at him earnestly with eyes dewed with unshed tears.

What emotion could it be, he thought, so powerful as to move one by nature so proud and self-reliant? He felt that further suspicion on his part would be contemptible.

"I am no seaman, madam," he said, "but I may be of some service."

"Mr Webster, will you tell Mr Hume in what way he may best a.s.sist us?"

"Ay, ay, madam."

"Then I leave the ship in your hands, gentlemen, until Captain Pardoe has rested." She bowed her head and left the bridge.

"So, after all, you've taken up arms against your lawful sovereign, and all for the smile of a woman, with not so much to show as the Queen's shilling. Shake, my son!"

"Don't talk rot, and tell me what I'm to do."

"Is that the way to address your superior officer? Harkee, sir, for less than that I've clapped a man in irons. But I forgive you. Put your eye to the business end of this gla.s.s and tell me what craft is steaming up on the weather bows. My eyes are dim for the want of sleep."

What with the swing and plunging of the "catcher," it was some time before Frank could get the object within view, and when he did it was but a fleeting glimpse he had.

"It's a Cape mail-boat," he said; "I can make that out from her red funnels and grey hull."

"Good. Now, would you know a warship if she showed at that distance?"

"Possibly, from her unusual breadth of beam--not to speak of her guns."

"Well, my lad, keep a keen lookout, for there'll be a lookout kept for us off the Isle of Wight, and be most particular in noting small craft.

Set a thief to catch a thief, and as likely as not they'll send a 'catcher' out from Portsmouth, and a cruiser from Plymouth. If you see anything strange in the movements of a steamer, blow down this pipe, and I'll be up in a brace of shakes. I must have a wink before to-night;"

and Webster, fetching a terrific yawn, went off down below.

Hume was left alone on the bridge, and, as far as he could see, there were only two other men on deck--the steersman inside the wheelhouse, and a seaman in a look-out shelter forward. It was a strange turn of the wheel which had placed him there in temporary charge of a torpedo-catcher, bound on he knew not what mad mission, and he shook his head once or twice in grave doubts of his own action, and of the conduct of those who so lightly trusted him--conduct which seemed to him to smack of the reckless. However, he entered upon his task without further thought of the consequences, letting his eyes sweep from right to left over the grey waters, and lingering here and there on a sail or a streamer of smoke. At first he eyed every ship with suspicion and fidgeted when a fishing lugger drove by before the wind, the crew peering under the boom at the long, low, swift craft; but after a time he reasoned he need fear no Craft which sailed on a parallel course up or down channel, and looked out only for sign of a ship making across.

The sun mounted higher in the heavens, the wind fell away, and the _Swift_ grew gradually steadier, and he could walk up and down the bridge without having to hold on at each step.

Close on noon Captain Pardoe came up to take a "sight," retiring to the chart house to work out his bearings. The man at the wheel was relieved, and Mr Webster reappeared, looking as jolly as before, with a merry twinkle in his eye.

"Anything in view, Mr Hume?"

"Nothing but a couple of sailers and an ocean tramp, as I judge that steamer to be."

Webster took a look round to satisfy himself.

"Now," he said, "you go below for a snack and a snooze. You'll find some tack on the table. Tumble into my cabin, as yours is too wet."

Frank, nothing loath, went down, and was soon in a sound sleep, out of which he was aroused well on in the afternoon by a rough shaking, to find Webster bending over him with a sparkle in his eyes.

"There's some fun afoot, my lad, with the prospect of sudden death and damp burial, so hurry up," and the breezy first officer went like a tornado down the narrow alley.

Frank was quickly on deck, and found Webster talking to the look-out man, while Captain Pardoe and Miss Laura were on the bridge anxiously watching some object on the starboard bows. Looking in that direction, he could see nothing but a heavy streamer of smoke tailing away to the north, plainly showing that the steamer was on a course that would intercept the "destroyer." Mounting to the bridge, he sighted the double funnels and heavy top hamper of a large vessel with the unmistakable cut of an ironclad.

"What do you make her?" said the Captain gloomily, more to break the silence than to ask for information.

Frank took the proffered gla.s.s, and bringing it to bear, it revealed two barbette towers, with long guns projecting, sharp bows heavily scrolled with gilt, and a ma.s.s of tumbled waters pouring before her rush.

"She is coming along at a tremendous pace, Captain."

"Ay, eighteen knots, and she'll be across our bows in a quarter of an hour, if she doesn't ram us to gain a little experience."

"I am sure she cannot be in pursuit of us," said Miss Laura, stamping her foot. "How could she hit off our position so exactly, when we have made little smoke and stood well away from the English coast? She may be a French cruiser."

The Captain shook his head.

"They'd log our course as soon as they received all particulars by wire, and from the crow's-nest on the masts they'd see us sooner than we could find them."

"Well, then, we must run away; and if she is only doing eighteen knots we should have no difficulty in escaping."

"True, ma'am, if it was a stern chase; but she'll have us right under her bows."

"And what will you do if she orders us to stop?" and the young lady fixed a burning glance upon the dark and troubled face of the Captain.

"I'll take my orders from you, Miss Laura," he said gravely; "even though she turns her big guns on us."

"Well, then, signal to the engineer to cram on all steam. We won't get under her guns, at any rate."

The Captain smiled, then touched the bell, and the sharp summons below was answered by prompt stoking.

Frank stood back, an amazed and silent witness of this scene on the little bridge. It seemed a thing incredible and unreal that a girl should have control in a matter fraught with such a responsibility and such peril. He glanced keenly at the Captain to see whether or no he were humouring the young lady; but there was no sign in that dark and gloomy face except an air of grim resignation, while, though Miss Laura showed, in the imperious lift of her head and in her flashing eyes, visible tokens of intense feeling, she gave no trace of a mind unhinged.

"Heave the log, Mr Webster."

Webster's voice rang out cheerily; and soon the long line was paying out in the foaming track. A bare-legged and brawny-armed tar, taking the line over his shoulder, staggered forward with it when its swift race had been checked by the minute hand, and Webster himself put his weight into the work, seeing which, Frank went down to help, for it's no child's play towing in the line from the grasp of the rushing waters.

"Twenty-three, sir," sang out Webster; "and no bad speed, too, in the open," he added to Frank.

In a few minutes the s.p.a.ce between the two ships had greatly lessened, and the name of the cruiser could be picked out on her bows.

"Do you see that, Miss Laura? there's no doubt she's after us."

"I see no change in her, Captain."