The Red Rat's Daughter Part 21

"I saw him this morning," Foote replied. "I told him what arrangements we had made, and he will meet us whenever and wherever we wish. He seemed quite elated over the prospect of the voyage, and told me he thought it awfully good of you to take him. After all, he's not a bad sort of fellow. There is only one thing I don't like about him, and that is his predilection for wishing people to think he is in a delicate state of health."

"And you don't think he is?" said Browne.

"Of course I don't," Jimmy replied. "Why, only this morning I was with him more than an hour, and he didn't cough once; and yet he was continually pointing out to me that it was so necessary for his health--for his lungs, in fact---that he should go out of England at once. It is my idea that he is hypochondriacal."

"Whatever he is, I wish to goodness he had chosen any other time for wanting to accompany us. I have a sort of notion that his presence on board will bring us bad luck."

"Nonsense," said his matter-of-fact friend. "Why should it? Maas could do us no harm, even supposing he wanted to. And he's certain not to have any desire that way."

"Well," answered Browne, "that is what I feel, and yet I can't make out why I should do so." As he said this he pressed the ring Katharine had given him, and remembered that that was his talisman, and that she had told him that, while he wore it, he could come to no harm. With that on his finger, and his love for her in his heart, it would be wonderful indeed if he could not fulfil the task he had set himself to do.

It is strange how ignorant we are of the doings, and indeed of the very lives, of our fellow-men. I do not mean the actions which, in the broad light of day, lie in the ordinary routine of life, but those more important circ.u.mstances which are not seen, but make up, and help to weave the skein of each man's destiny. For instance, had a certain well-known official in the office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who stood upon the platform of Waterloo station, waiting for the train that was to carry him to the residence of a friend at Woking, dreamt for an instant that the three gentlemen he nodded so affably to, and who were standing at the door of a saloon carriage in the same train, were leaving England next day, in order to cause considerable trouble to a Power that, at the moment had shown signs of being friendly, what would his feelings have been? He did not know it, however; so he seated himself in his comfortable smoking-carriage, lit a cigar, and read his Sunday paper, quite unconscious of the circ.u.mstances.

It was nearly eight o'clock before they readied Southampton. When they did they made their way to the harbour, where a steam-launch from the yacht was awaiting them. The _Lotus Blossom_ herself lay off the Royal Pier; and when they reached her, Captain Mason received them at the gangway.

"Well, Mason," said Browne, "is everything ready for the start to-morrow?"

"Everything is ready, sir," Mason replied. "You have only to say when you desire to get off, and we'll up anchor."

Browne thought that he would like to get under way at once; but it could not be. He looked along the snow-white decks and upon the polished bra.s.swork, and thought of the day that he had left the boat when she was anch.o.r.ed in the harbour of Merok, to accompany his guests on their walk to the falls, and of the wonderful things that had happened since then. Before many weeks had pa.s.sed over their heads he hoped that Katherine herself would be standing on these self-same decks. He pictured the delight he would feel in showing her over his trim and beautiful vessel, and thought of the long conversations they would have on deck at night, and of the happiness they would feel when they were speeding towards safety once more, with the rescued man on board. What they were to do with her father, when they had got him, was one thing he wanted to leave to Katherine to decide. He was awakened from these dreams by Foote, who inquired whether he intended to allow his guests to remain on deck all night, or whether he was going to take them below.

"I beg your pardon," said Browne. "It's awfully rude of me to keep you standing here like this. Come along."

They accordingly made their way down the companion-ladder to the saloon below. Everything had been prepared for their reception, and the stewards were already laying dinner as they entered. Having finished that important meal, and drunk the toast of a pleasant voyage, they ascended to the deck once more, when Foote and Maas made their way to the smoking-room, while Browne went up to the bridge to have a talk with the captain. When he descended again, he announced to his guests that the yacht would be got under way as soon as it was light in the morning, and that the first coaling-place would be Gibraltar.

"Bravo!" said Jimmy, rapping the table with his pipe. "Thank goodness, by midday we shall be well out in the Channel."

At the same moment Maas's cigar slipped from between his fingers and dropped on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, but at first could not find it. By the time he had done so the conversation had changed, and Browne had drawn his watch from his pocket. A cry of astonishment escaped him: "Have you any idea what the time is?"

They confessed that they had not.

"Well, it's nearly twelve o'clock," he said. "If you won't either of you take anything else, I think the best thing we can do is to get to bed as soon as possible."

So tired was Browne that night that he slept without waking until well on in the following morning. Indeed, it was past nine o'clock when Davis, his man-servant, entered and woke him; he sat up, and rubbed his eyes, as if he could very well have gone on sleeping for another hour or two.

"By Jove! we're under way," he said, as if he were surprised to find the yacht moving. "Where are we, Davis?"

"Off Swanage, sir," the man replied. "Captain Mason couldn't get away quite as early as he hoped to do; but he's making up for lost time now, sir."

"What sort of a day is it?" Browne inquired.

"Beautiful, sir; it couldn't be no better if you'd ordered it special,"

said Davis, who was a bit of a wag in his way, and was privileged as such. "There's just a nice bit of swell running, but no more. Not enough to shake the curls of a schoolmistress, in a manner of speaking."

This Browne discovered to be the case, when he ascended to the deck.

The yacht was bathed in sunshine, and she sat as softly as a duck upon a large green swell, that was as easy as the motion of a rocking-horse.

Far away to starboard the pinewood cliffs of Bournemouth could be descried; while a point on the starboard-bow was Poole Harbour and Swanage headland, with Old Harry peering up out of the sunlit waves.

Browne ascended to the bridge, to find Foote and Captain Mason there.

The latter touched his cap, while Foote came forward and held out his hand.

"Good-morning," said Jimmy. "What do you think of this, my boy? Isn't it better than London? Doesn't it make you feel it's worth something to be alive? I wouldn't change places this morning with any man in England."

"And you may be very sure I would not," said Browne; then, turning to the skipper, he inquired what the yacht was doing.

"Thirteen knots good, sir," the latter replied. "We shall do better, however, when we've put Portland Bill behind us."

As he spoke the breakfast-bell sounded, and simultaneously with it Maas appeared on deck. Browne and Foote descended from the bridge to greet him, and found him in excellent spirits.

"I feel better already," he said, as they went down the companion-ladder and took their places at the table. "How beautiful the air is on deck! Alchemists may say what they please, but this is the Elixir of Life. What a pity it is we cannot bottle it, and introduce it into the crowded ballrooms and dining-rooms during the London season!"

"That's rather an original notion," retorted Jimmy. "Fancy, after a waltz with a heavy partner, taking her off to a room set apart for the purpose, seating her in a chair, and, instead of asking her the usual insipid question, whether she would have an ice, or coffee, or claret cup, inquiring what brand of air she preferred--whether she would have a gallon of Bournemouth, which is relaxing, or Margate, which is bracing, or Folkestone--shall we say?--which is midway between the two.

It could be laid on in town and country houses, and, combined with the phonograph, which would repeat the n.i.g.g.e.r minstrel melodies of the sands, and the biograph, which would show the surrounding scenery, would be a tremendous attraction. Having purchased one of these machines, paterfamilias need not trouble his head about taking his family away for the annual trip to the seaside. Rents would not affect him; he would be free from landladies' overcharges. All he would have to do would be to take his wife and bairns into a room, turn on the various machines, and science would do the rest."

"Perhaps, when you have done talking nonsense," said Browne, "you will be kind enough to hand me the _pate de foie gras_. I remember so many of your wonderful schemes, Jimmy, that I begin to think I know them all by heart."

"In that case you must admit that the majority of them were based upon very sound principles," replied Jimmy. "I remember there was one that might have made a fortune for anybody. It was to be a matrimonial registry for the upper ten, where intending Benedicts could apply for particulars respecting their future wives. For instance, the Duke of A----, being very desirous of marrying, and being also notoriously impecunious, would call at the office and ask for a choice of American heiresses possessing between five and ten millions. Photographs having been submitted to him, and a guarantee as to the money given to him, meetings between the parties could be arranged by the company, and a small commission charged when the marriage was duly solemnized. Then there was another scheme for educating the sons of millionaires in the brands of cigars they should give their friends. For a small commission, Viscount B----, who has smoked himself into the bankruptcy court, would call at their residences three times a week, when he would not only show them how to discriminate between a Trichinopoli and a Burma Pwe, which is difficult to the uninitiated, but also between La Intimidad Excelsos of '94 and Henry Clay Soberanos, which is much more so."

"I remember yet another scheme," said Maas quietly, as he helped himself to some caviare from a dish before him. "You told me once of a scheme you were perfecting for forming a company to help long-sentenced burglars of proved ability to escape from penal servitude, in order that they should work for the society on the co-operative principle.

If my memory serves me, it was to be a most remunerative speculation.

The only flaw in it that I could see was the difficulty in arranging the convict's escape, and the danger, that would accrue to those helping him, in case they were discovered."

CHAPTER XX

Had a bombsh.e.l.l fallen through the skylight of the saloon and settled itself in the centre of the table, it could scarcely have caused greater consternation than did Maas's simple remark. Browne felt that his face was visibly paling, and that guilt must be written on every inch of it. As for Jimmy, his mouth opened and shut like that of an expiring fish. He could scarcely believe he had heard aright. He had certainly once in an idle moment joked in the fashion Maas had attributed to him; but what had induced the latter to remember and to bring it up now, of all times, when their nerves were so tightly stretched? Maas's face, however, was all innocence. He seemed not to have noticed the amazement he had caused, but ate his caviare with the air of a man who had said something worthy, the point of which had fallen a trifle flat. It was not until the meal was over, and they had ascended to the deck once more, that Browne found an opportunity of having a few words with Jimmy.

"What on earth did he mean by that?" he asked. "Do you think he can have heard anything? Or do you think he only suspects?"

"Neither," said Jimmy. "I'll tell you what I think it was; it was a perfectly simple remark, which by sheer ill-luck just happened to touch us in the wrong place. It was, as the shooters say, an unintentional bull's-eye. But, by Jove! I must confess that it made me feel pretty bad at the moment."

"Then you think we need not attach any importance to it?"

"I'm quite sure we need not," his friend replied. "Look at it in this way: if the man had known anything he most certainly would not have said anything about it. If we had suspected him of knowing our secret, and had put ourselves out in order to bring him to the point, and he had kept silence, then we might have thought otherwise; as it is, I am positive we need not be afraid."

As if to rea.s.sure them, Maas said nothing further on the subject. He was full of good-humour, absorbed the sunshine like a Neapolitan, and seemed to enjoy every hour he lived. He also did his best to make the others do likewise. He talked upon every conceivable subject, and did not feel in the least annoyed when the others appeared occupied. They pa.s.sed Plymouth soon after twelve next day, and said good-bye to Old England shortly afterwards. How little those on board guessed what was to happen before they could see her sh.o.r.es again? Five days later they were at Gibraltar, anch.o.r.ed in the harbour beneath the shadow of the batteries. Though he grudged every minute, and though he had seen the Rock a dozen times before, Browne accompanied them ash.o.r.e, explored the Galleries, and lunched at the Officers' Mess.

"What rum beggars we are, to be sure!" said young Bramthwaite, of the 43rd Midlandshire, to Browne, as they lit their cigars afterwards.

"Here are you, posting off for the East, and as anxious as you can be to turn your back on Old England; while I, poor beggar, am quartered here, and am longing to get home with all my might and main. Do you think, if I had your chance, I would go abroad? Not I."

"Circ.u.mstances alter cases," returned Browne. "If you were in my place you would want to be out of England. You should just have seen London as we left. Fogs, sleet, snow, drizzle, day after day, while here you are wrapped in continual sunshine. I don't see that you have much to grumble at."

"Don't you?" said his friend. "Well, I do. Let us take my own case again. I am just up from a baddish attack of Rock-fever. I feel as weak as a cat--not fit for anything. And what good does it do me? I don't even have the luck to be properly ill, so that I could compel them to invalid me. And, to make matters worse, my brother writes that they are having the most ripping hunting in the shires; from his letters I gather that the pheasants have never been better; and, with it all, here I am, like the Johnny in the heathen mythology, chained to this rock, and unable to get away."

Browne consoled him to the best of his ability, and shortly afterwards collected his party and returned to the yacht. The work of coaling was completed, and Captain Mason, who resembled a badly blacked Christy Minstrel, was ready to start as soon as his owner desired. Browne, nothing loath, gave the order, and accordingly they steamed out of the harbour, past the Rock, and were in blue seas once more. They would not touch anywhere again until they reached Port Said.

That night on deck Browne was lamenting the fact that the yacht did not travel faster than she did.