The hotel Catalina, half-way between Las Palmas harbor and the town, was not crowded, and a number of the quests had gone to a ball at the neighboring Metropole. Barbara, going out some time after dinner, found the veranda unoccupied and sat down. Mrs. Cartwright was getting better and did not need her, and Barbara was satisfied to be alone. Her thoughts were disturbing, and trying to banish them for a few minutes, she looked about.
The veranda was long, and the lights from the hotel threw the shadow of the wooden pillars across the dusty grass. Barbara's figure was outlined in a dark silhouette. She did not wear a hat and, since the night was warm, had put nothing over her thin dinner dress. She looked slender and very young.
A strip of parched garden, where a few dusty palms grew, ran down to the road, across which the square block of the Metropole cut the shining sea. Steamers' lights swung gently against the dark background of the Isleta hill. Beyond the Metropole a white belt of surf ran back to the cluster of lights at the foot of the mountain that marked Las Palmas. One heard the languid rollers break upon the beach and the measured crash of surges on the reefs across the isthmus. Sometimes, when the throb of the surf sank, music came from the Metropole. A distant rattle indicated a steam-tram going to the port.
The long line across the harbor was the mole, and Barbara had thought the small steamer, lying near its end, likeTerrier. There was nothing in the soft blue dark behind the mole until one came to the African coast. Then Barbara firmly turned her glance. In a sense, she had sent Lister to Africa, but she was not going to think about him yet. She must not think about him until she had weighed something else.
A few hours since she had got a jar. Walking in the town she saw a man whose figure and step she thought she knew. He was some distance off, and she entered a shop and bought a Spanish fan she did not want. Perhaps her disturbance was ridiculous, but the man was very like Shillito, and their meeting at the busy port was not impossible. Las Palmas was something like an important railway junction. Numerous steamers called, and passengers from all quarters, particularly South America and the West Indies, changed boats. Then Barbara understood that a fugitive from justice was safer in South and Central America than anywhere else. She wondered with keen anxiety whether the man had seen her.
She knew now she had not loved Shillito. He had cunningly worked upon her ignorance, discontent, and longing for romance. Illumination had come on board the train, but although she had found him out and escaped, she had afterwards felt herself humiliated and set apart from happy girls who had nothing to hide. The humiliation was not altogether earned, and the people who knew about her adventure were not numerous, but they were all the people for whom she cared. When she thought about it, she hated Louis Shillito.
The steam-tram stopped at the Metropole and went on to the port, trailing a cloud of dust. When the rattle it made began to die away, Barbara roused herself with a start from her moody thoughts. A man was coming up the path, and when he reached the steps she shrank back against the wall. The light from the hotel touched his face and she saw it was Shillito.
Anger conquered her shrinking, for Barbara had pluck and her temper was hot. When Shillito, lifting his hat, advanced, she got up and stood by a pillar. Her skin had gone very white, but her eyes sparkled and her hands were clenched. Shillito bowed and smiled.
"It looks as if I was lucky!" he remarked, and Barbara imagined his not finding Mrs. Cartwright about accounted for his satisfaction.
"I suppose you saw me in thecalle mayor?" she said.
He nodded. "You went into a shop. Your object was pretty obvious. I allow it hurt."
Barbara gave him a scornful glance. "The statement's ridiculous! Do you imagine you can cheat me now, as you cheated me in Canada?"
"In one way, I did not cheat you. When I said I loved you, I was honest."
"I doubt it! All was dishonest from the beginning. You taught me deceit and made me ashamed for my shabbiness. For your sake I tricked people who loved and trusted me; but to you I was rashly sincere. I trusted you and was willing to give up much in order to marry you."
"You mean you thought you were willing, until you knew the cost?" Shillito rejoined. "Then you saw you couldn't make good and resolved to turn me down."
The blood came to Barbara's skin, but she fronted him steadily.
"I hadfound you out. Had you been something of the man I thought, I might have gone with you and helped to baffle the police; but you were not. You were very dull and played a stupid part. When you thought you had won and I was in your power, I knew you for a brute."
Shillito colored, but forced a smile. "Perhaps I was dull; I was desperate. You had kept me hanging round the summer camp when I knew the police were on my track; and I had been put wise they might hold up the train. A man hitting the trail for liberty doesn't use the manners of a highbrow carpet-knight. I reckoned you were human and your blood was red."
"Ah," said Barbara, "I was very human! Although I was afraid, I felt all the passion hate can rouse. You declared I must stay with you, because I durst not go back; I had broken rules and my fastidious relations would have no more to do with me. Something like that! In a sense, it wasn't true; but you said it with brutal coarseness. When I struck you I meant to hurt; I looked for something that would hurt—"
She stopped and struggled for calm. To indulge her anger was some relief, but she felt the man was dangerous and she must be cool. There was not much use in leaving him and going to her mother, because he would, no doubt, follow and disturb Mrs. Cartwright. It was unlucky her step-father had not arrived; he was coming out, but his boat was not expected for a day or two.
"Oh, well," said Shillito, "let's talk about something else. I didn't calculate to meet you at Las Palmas, but when I saw you in thecalle, I hoped you might, after all, be kind for old times' sake. However, it's obvious you have no use for me, and if you are willing to make it easier, I'll pull out and leave you alone."
Barbara gave him a keen glance. She had known he wanted something.
"How can I make it easier for you to go?"
"You don't see? Well, I've had some adventures since you left me on board the train. I had money, but I'd waited too long to negotiate some of the bonds and my partner robbed me. I made San Francisco and found nothing doing there. Went down the coast to Chile and got fixed for a time at a casino, in which I invested the most part of my wad. One night a Chileno pulled his knife on another who cleaned him out, and when the police got busy the casino shut down. I pushed across for Argentina, but my luck wasn't good, and I made Las Palmas not long since on board an Italian boat. On the whole, I like the dagos, and reckoned I might try Cuba, or perhaps the Philippines—"
"A Lopez boat sails for Havana in two or three days," Barbara interrupted.
"That is so," Shillito agreed, smiling because he noted her relief. "The trouble is, I haven't much money. Five hundred pounds would help me along."
"You thought I would give you five hundred pounds?"
"Sure," said Shillito, coolly. "You're rich; anyhow, Mrs. Cartwright is rich, and I reckoned you would see my staying about the town has drawbacks. For one thing, the English tourists are a gossiping lot. It ought to pay you and your mother to help me get off."
Barbara tried to think. The drawbacks Shillito indicated were plain, and as long as he stayed at Las Palmas she would know no ease of mind, but she had not five hundred pounds, and Mrs. Cartwright must not be disturbed. Moreover, one could not trust the fellow. He might take the money and then use his power again. He had power to humiliate her, but unless she was willing to meet all his claims, she must resist some time.
"I imagine you put your importance too high," she said. "You can stay, if you like. I certainly will not bribe you to go away."
He studied her for a few moments; Barbara looked resolute, but he thought her resolution forced.
"Very well! Since I can't start for Cuba without money, I must find an occupation at Las Palmas, and I have a plan. You see, I know some Spanish and something about running a gambling joint. The people here are sports, and one or two are willing to put up the money to start a club that ought to attract the English tourists. If I found the thing didn't pay before you went back, I could quit and get after you."
"I think not," said Barbara, desperately. "If you came to England, a cablegram to the Canadian police—"
Shillito laughed. "You wouldn't send a cablegram! If I was caught I could tell a romantic story about the girl who helped me get off. No; I'm not going to bother about your putting the police on my trail!"
He turned his head and Barbara clenched her hand, for a rattle of wheels in the road broke off, as if atartanahad stopped at the gate. If the passengers from the vehicle were coming to the hotel she must get rid of Shillito before they arrived.
"You waste your arguments," she declared. "I will not give you money. If you come back, I will tell themayordomoyou are annoying me and he must not let you in."
"The plan's not very clever," Shillito rejoined. "If I made trouble for the hotel porters, the guests would wonder, and when people have nothing to do but loaf, they like to talk. I expect you'd find their curiosity awkward—" He paused and laughed when he resumed: "You're embarrassed now because somebody will see us!"
Barbara was embarrassed. A man was coming up the path, and she knew her figure and Shillito's cut against the light. When the stranger reached the veranda he would see she was disturbed; but to move back into the gloom, where Shillito would follow her, would be significant. She thought he meant to excite the other's curiosity.
The man stopped for a moment at the bottom of the steps and Barbara turned her head, since she imagined he would think she was quarreling with her lover. Then he ran up the steps, and when he stopped in front of Shillito her heart beat fast. It was Lister, and she knew he had remarked her strained look, for his face was very stern.
"Hallo!" he said. "Are you bothering Miss Hyslop again?" He glanced at Barbara. "I expect the fellow is bothering you?"
For a moment Barbara hesitated, but she had borne a heavy strain and her control was going. Besides, one could trust Lister and he knew ... She signed agreement and he touched Shillito.
"Get off the veranda!"
Shillito did not move. His pose was tense and he looked malevolent.
"You won't help Miss Hyslop by butting in like a clumsy fool. The thing's too delicate for you to meddle—"
"Get off the veranda!" Lister shouted, and threw Shillito back.
He was highly strung, and worn by want of sleep and exhausting labor, but he had some notion of all Barbara had borne on Shillito's account. Although perhaps caution and tact were indicated, he was going to use force. When Shillito struck him he seized the fellow, and rocking in a savage grapple, they fell with a crash against the rails. Lister felt the other's hand at his throat, and straining back, jerked his head away while he tried to lift his antagonist off the ground. He pulled him from the rails and they reeled across the veranda and struck the wall.
A neighboring window rattled with the shock, the heavy tramp of their feet shook the boards, and Barbara knew the noise would soon bring a group of curious servants to the door; besides, all the guests had not gone to the Metropole. Yet she could not meddle. The men's passions were unloosed; they fought like savage animals, driven by an instinctive fury that would not vanish until one was beaten. She looked on, trembling and helpless, while they wrestled, with swaying bodies and hands that felt for a firmer hold. Her face was very white and she got her breath in painful gasps. There was something horribly primitive about the struggle, but it fascinated.
In the meantime, Lister was conscious that he had been rash. Shillito was muscular and fresh, but he was tired. It was plain he could not keep it up for long. Moreover, unless the fight soon ended, people would come to see what the disturbance was about. This would be awkward for Barbara; he wanted to tell her to go away, but could not. He was breathless and Shillito was trying to choke him.
Afterwards he knew he was lucky. They had got near the steps and he threw Shillito against the post at the top. The jar shook the other, his grasp got slack, and Lister saw that for a moment the advantage was his. Using a desperate effort he pushed his antagonist back and struck him a smashing blow. Shillito vanished and a crash in the gloom indicated that he had fallen on an aloe in a tub by the path. Lister leaned against the rail and laughed, because he knew aloe spikes are sharp.
Then he heard steps and voices in the hotel, and turned to Barbara. His face was cut, his hat was gone, and his white jacket was torn. He looked strangely savage and disheveled, but Barbara went to him and her eyes shone. Lister stopped her.
"Don't know if I've helped much, but you must get off!" he gasped. "People are coming. Go in by another door!"
He turned and plunged down the stairs, and Barbara, seeing that Shillito had vanished, ran along the veranda. A few moments afterwards she stood by the window of her room and saw a group of curious servants and one or two tourists in the path at the bottom of the steps. It looked as if they were puzzled, and themayordomogravely examined Lister's battered hat.
Barbara went from the window and sat down. She was horribly overstrained and wanted to cry, but she began to laugh, and for some minutes could not stop. She must get relief from the tension and, after all, in a sense, the thing was humorous.
In the morning Barbara went to the Catalina mole. The short lava pier was not far off, and one got the breeze, although the hotel garden was hot. Besides, she did not want to meet people and talk about the strange disturbance on the veranda. On the whole, she thought nobody imagined she could satisfy the general curiosity. Finding a block of lava in the shade, she sat down and looked about.
A boat crossed the harbor mouth, swinging up on the smooth swell and vanishing when the undulations rolled by. A tug towed a row of barges to an anchored steamer, and the rattle of winches came down the wind. In the background, clouds of dust blew about the coaling wharfs, and a string of flags fluttered from the staff on the Isleta hill. Barbara beckoned a port-guard and inquired what the signal meant.
The Spaniard said an African mail-boat from England was coming in, and Barbara was conscious of some relief. Cartwright was on board and would arrive sooner than she had thought; the boat had obviously not called at Madeira, the time-bills stated. Cartwright would know how to deal with Shillito if he bothered her again. In the meantime she mused about Lister. She had thrilled when he ran up the steps at the hotel, but, in a sense, his arrival just then was awkward.
She turned her head, for the sunshine on the water dazzled her eyes, and the port was not attractive. The limekilns, coal-wharfs, and shabby lava houses had for a background volcanic rocks, bare cinder slopes and tossing dust. Besides, she wanted to think. She would see Lister soon; she wanted to see him, but she shrank. For one thing, the line she ought to take was hard.
By and by she heard a rattle of oars thrown on board a boat behind the neighboring wall; somebody shouted, and Lister came up. His white clothes were clean but crumpled, and Barbara smiled when she saw his hat was new. Crossing the lava pavement, he stopped opposite her and she noted a piece of sticking-plaster on his cheek.
"May I join you for a few minutes?" he asked.
"Of course," she said graciously.
Lister sat down. The sailors had gone off, and except for an officer of theCommandancia, nobody was about.
"I was going to the hotel to look for you. For one thing, I reckoned I ought to apologize. When I came into the veranda and saw Shillito—"
"I think you stopped for a moment at the bottom of the steps!" Barbara remarked.
He colored, but gave her a steady look. "That is so. I admit the thing's ridiculous; but at first I felt I'd better pull out. Then I noted something about your pose; you looked angry."
"Ah," said Barbara. "It was a relief to see I was angry? You were satisfied then?"
"I was really satisfied before. It was impossible you should engage a brute like that in friendly talk. Anyhow, I took the wrong line and might have made things awkward. In fact, the situation needed a lighter touch than mine. All the same, when I saw the fellow was bullying you—"
"You butted in?" Barbara suggested, smiling, although her heart beat.
"Like a bull moose," said Lister with a frown. "I ought to have kept cool, used caution, and frozen him off by a few short arguments. You can picture Cartwright's putting across the job! After all, however, I don't know the arguments I could have used, and I remembered how the fellow had injured you—"
He saw Barbara's color rise, and stopped for a moment. It looked as if he had not used much caution now.
"Since I thought you in Africa, I don't understand how you arrived," she began.
"The thing's not very strange," said Lister. "I saw your name in a visitors' list and meant to ask for you in the morning. Then I ran up against Shillito, who didn't know me, and when he got on board the steam tram, I hired atartana. Thought he might mean trouble and I'd better come along—"
"Well," he resumed, "I'm sorry I handled the job clumsily, since I might have hurt you worse; but I hated the fellow on my own account and saw red. Perhaps it was lucky I was able to throw him down the steps, because I expect neither of us meant to quit until the other was knocked out." He paused and added, with a laugh: "Now I'm cool, I think the chances were I got knocked out. Last time we met he threw me off the car; I reckon my luck has turned!"
Barbara studied him and was moved by pity and some other emotions. He was very thin and his face was pinched. He looked as if he were exhausted by the work she had sent him to do. Barbara admitted that she had sent him. Before Cartwright planned the salvage undertaking she had declared he would find Lister the man for an awkward job.
"You ran some risk for my sake, and I must acknowledge a fresh debt," she said. "I would sooner be your debtor than another's, but sometimes I'm embarrassed. You see, I owe you so much."
"You have paid all by letting me know you," Lister declared.
She was quiet for a few moments, and then asked: "Are you making much progress at the wreck?"
"Our progress is slow, but we are getting there," Lister replied, and seeing her interest, narrated his and Brown's struggles, and his long voyage with a short crew on board the tug.
The story was moving and Barbara's eyes sparkled. Lister had borne much and done all that flesh and blood could do. He was the man she had thought, and she knew it was for her sake that he had labored.
"It's a splendid fight!" she said.
"We haven't won yet," he replied, and was quiet for a few moments. Then his look got very resolute and he went on: "All the same, if the thing is anyhow possible, I'm going to win. You see, I've got to win! When Cartwright engaged me I was engineer on board a cattle boat; a man of no importance, without friends or money, and with no particular chance of making good. Now I've got my chance. If we put across the job a big salvage company turned down, I'll make my mark. Somebody will give me a good post; I'll have got my foot on the ladder that leads to the top."
"I wish you luck," said Barbara. "I expect you will get near the top."
"If you are willing, you can help."
"Ah," said Barbara, with forced quietness, "I think not—"
He stopped her. "I didn't expect to find you willing. My business is to persuade you, and I mean to try. Well, I wasn't boasting, and my drawbacks are plain, but if I make good in Africa, some will be cut out and you can help me remove the others. I've long wanted you, and now my luck's turning. I was going to Catalina to tell you so. If Brown and I floatArcturus, will you marry me?"
Barbara's color came and went, but she said quietly: "When you came to the hotel in the evening you met Shillito!"
"I did," said Lister, with incautious passion. "If I had killed the brute I'd have been justified! However, I threw him on to the aloe tub and ran off. The thing was grotesquely humorous. A boy's fool trick!"
"You ran off for my sake," said Barbara. "I liked you for it. I like you for many things, but I will not marry you."
He saw she was resolute. Her mouth was firm and her hand was tightly closed. He thought he knew the grounds for her refusal, and his heart sank. Barbara was stubborn and very proud. Moreover, the situation was awkward, but the awkwardness must be fronted.
"Let's be frank; perhaps you owe me this," he urged. "Since you allow you do like me, what's to stop our marrying?"
"For one thing, my adventure in Canada," she replied and turned her head.
Lister put his hand on her arm and forced her to look up. "Now you're clean ridiculous! Shillito cheated you; he's a plausible wastrel, but you found him out. It doesn't count at all! Besides, nobody but your relations know."
"You know," said Barbara, and, getting up started along the mole.
Lister tried to brace himself, for he saw she could not be moved. Yet there was something to be said.
"You are the girl I mean to marry," he declared. "Some day, perhaps, you'll see you're indulging a blamed extravagant illusion and I'm going to wait. When you're logical I'll try again."
Barbara forced a smile. "Sometimes I am logical; I feel I'm logical now. But I have left my mother alone rather long and you must let me go."
Lister went with her to the road and got on a tram going to the town. He was hurt and angry, but not altogether daunted. Barbara's ridiculous pride might break and she was worth waiting for. When he returned on board, a small African liner had anchored not far off, and while he watched the boats that swarmed about the ship, one left the others and came towards the tug. The Spanish crew were pulling hard and a passenger occupied the stern. Learmont, lounging near, turned his glasses on the boat.
"I'm not sorry you are boss," he said. "The Old Man is coming!"
A few minutes afterwards Cartwright got over the tug's rail. His face was red, and he looked very stern.
"Why have you left the wreck?" he asked Lister.
"I came for some castings I couldn't get at Sierra Leone. The pump and engine needed mending."
"Then where's Brown?"
"He's busy at the lagoon, sir. There's enough to keep him occupied, unless the pump plays out before I get back."
Cartwright looked relieved, but asked meaningly: "Did you know Mrs. Cartwright and Miss Hyslop were at Las Palmas?"
"I did not know until yesterday evening, twenty-four hours after I arrived; but we'll talk about this again. I expect you want to know how we are getting on at the wreck?"
Cartwright nodded. "I think my curiosity is natural! Let's get out of the sun, and if you have liquor on board, order me a drink. When the mail-boat steamed round the mole and I sawTerrier, I got a nasty jolt."
Lister took him to the captain's room and gave him some sour red Canary wine. Cartwright drained his glass and looked up with an ironical smile.
"If you use stuff like this. Brown ought not to be tempted much! However, you can tell me what you have done at the lagoon, and the difficulties you have met. You needn't bother to smooth down Brown's extravagances, I knew the captain before I knew you."
Lister told his story, and when he stopped Cartwright filled his glass, raised it to his lips and put it back with a frown.
"Send somebody along the mole to Garcia's shop for two or three bottles of his Amontillado and white Muscatel. Charge the stuff to ship's victualing. When you got Brown out of the factory, did you think it possible he had a private stock of liquor?"
"I'm satisfied he had not. Montgomery gave him the liquor, and I imagine meant to give him too, much."
"It looks like that," Cartwright agreed. "If we take something I suspect for granted, Montgomery's opposition would be logical. I imagine you know part of the cargo was worth much? Expensive stuff in small bulk, you see!"
"I have studied the cargo-lists and plans of the holds, sir."
Cartwright nodded. "We'll find out presently if my notion how the boat was lost is accurate," The cargo's another thing. There may have been conspiracy between merchant and ship-owner; I don't know yet, but if it was conspiracy, this would account for much. Some of the gum shipped was very costly, and African alluvial gold, washed by the negroes, has been found mixed with brass filings."
"Montgomery frankly stated his father loaded the vessel."
"His frankness may have been calculated," Cartwright rejoined and knitted his brows. "Yet I'll admit the young fellow's name is good at Liverpool, and all he sells is up to sample. His father was another sort, but he died, and the house is now well run. However, in the meantime we'll let it go."
He looked up, for a fireman, carrying a basket, came in. Cartwright took the basket and opened a bottle of white wine.
"Take some of this," he said. "I understand you have seen Mrs. Cartwright?"
"Not yet, sir," said Lister, quietly. "I met Miss Hyslop soon before your boat arrived. Perhaps I ought to tell you I asked her if she would marry me if we floated the wreck."
"Ah!" said Cartwright. "But why did you add the stipulation?"
"It ought to be obvious. If we put the undertaking over, I expect to get a post that will enable me to support a wife, although she might be forced to go without things I'd like to give her."
"I see!" said Cartwright, with some dryness. "Well, I don't know if Barbara is extravagant, but she has not used much economy. Was she willing to take the plunge?"
"She was not, sir."
"Then I suppose she stated her grounds for refusing?"
"That is so," said Lister. "Perhaps Miss Hyslop will tell you what they are. I will not."
Cartwright looked at him hard. "All the same, I imagine you did not agree?"
"I did not agree. If I make good at the wreck, I will try again."
"Barbara is pretty obstinate," Cartwright remarked with a smile, and then filled Lister's glass. "I must go; but come to the hotel in the morning. We must talk about the salvage plans."
He went off, but when the boat crossed the harbor he looked back at the tug with twinkling eyes. Lister was honest and had not asked Barbara to marry him until he saw some chance of his supporting a wife. Since Barbara was rich, the thing was amusing. All the same, it was possible the young fellow must wait. Barbara exaggerated and indulged her imagination, but she was firm.
The morning was hot and Barbara, sitting on the hotel veranda, struggled against a flat reaction. The glitter of the sea hurt her eyes, and the dust that blew in clouds from the road smeared her white dress. Her mouth dropped and her pose was languid. To refuse Lister had cost her much, and although she had done so because she felt she ought, the sense of having carried out a duty was not remarkably soothing. It was a relief to know she need not pretend to Cartwright, who occupied a basket-chair opposite. One could not cheat her step-father by false cheerfulness.
"When you disappointed Lister you took the prudent line," he said. "The young fellow has some talent, but he has not yet made his mark. I approve your caution, and expect your mother will agree."
"I wasn't cautious; I didn't argue at all like that," Barbara declared. "Besides, I haven't told mother. She mustn't be disturbed."
Cartwright looked thoughtful. To some extent he was sympathetic, and to some extent amused.
"Then I don't altogether understand why you did refuse!"
"Oh, well," said Barbara, and the blood came to her skin, "for one thing, Mr. Lister waited for some time, and then asked me to marry him, after Shillito arrived." She paused and her look got hard when she resumed: "Perhaps he thought he ought; sometimes he's chivalrous."
Cartwright imagined Barbara was badly hurt, and this accounted for her frankness.
"Your reasoning isn't very obvious, but I think I see a light," he said. "It's possible, however, he asked you because he wanted you, and there is an explanation for his waiting. I understand he hesitated because he doubted if he could support a wife. It looks as if Mr. Lister didn't know you were rich."
"He doesn't know; I think I didn't want him to know," Barbara admitted with some embarrassment.
"Shillito knew, but one learns caution," Cartwright remarked. "Well, Shillito became somewhat of a nuisance, and I don't imagine you want him to look us up again. I rather think I must get to work."
"I hate him!" said Barbara, passionately. "Until your boat was signaled I was horribly alarmed, but then the trouble went. I felt I needn't bother after you arrived." Her voice softened as she added: "You are a clever old dear! One feels safe while you're about!"
"Thank you," said Cartwright. "I am old, but I have some useful talents. Well, is there something else about which you want to talk?"
Barbara hesitated. There was something for which she meant to ask, although her object was not very plain. Perhaps Shillito's demand for money had made her feel its power; moreover, she was independent and liked to control her affairs.
"My birthday was not long since, and I'm entitled to use some of the money that is mine."
"That is so," Cartwright agreed with a twinkle. "All the same, you're not entitled to use much until you marry, and you have just sent off one lover. Would you like me to send you out a sum?"
"I think I'd like a check book, and then I needn't bother people."
Cartwright nodded. Barbara was not extravagant. "Very well. I expect we can trust you, and the money is yours. I can probably arrange for a business house to meet your drafts. I'll see about it when I'm in the town."
He started for Las Palmas presently, and after some inquiries stopped at a Spanish hotel, where he found Shillito. The latter frowned when he saw Cartwright, but went with him to the courtyard and they sat down in the shade.
"Have you bought your ticket for Havana?" Cartwright asked.
"I have not," said Shillito. "So far I haven't decided to leave Las Palmas."
"Then I imagine you had better decidenow. If money is a difficulty, I might lend you enough for a second-class passage, but that is all."
Shillito smiled. "If you want to get rid of me, you'll have to go higher. I reckon it's worth while!"
"I think not," said Cartwright, dryly. "In fact, since I can get rid of you for nothing, I doubt if it's worth the price of a cheap berth on board the Lopez boat. However, I'll risk this, in order to save bothering."
"Bluff! You can cut it out and get to business!"
"Very well. Your call at the Catalina didn't help you much, and if you come again you will not be received by Miss Hyslop, but by me. I have met and beaten fellows like you before. My offer's a second-class berth. You had better take it!"
"Not at all," said Shillito. "Before long you'll want to raise your bid."
Cartwright got up and crossed the flags; the other frowned and hesitated, but let him go. When he reached the street Cartwright called histartanaand told the driver to take him to the British Vice-Consul's. The Vice-Consul was a merchant who sometimes supplied the Cartwright boats with stores, and he gave his visitor a cigar. Cartwright told him as much about Shillito as he thought useful, and the Vice-Consul weighed his remarks.
"The extradition of a criminal is a long and troublesome business," he observed. "In the meantime the fellow must not be allowed to annoy you, and I imagine my duty is to inform the Spanishjusticia. Don Ramon is tactful, and I think will handle the situation discreetly. Suppose we go to see him?"
He took Cartwright to an old Spanish house, with the royal arms above the door, and a very dignified gentleman received them politely. He allowed the Vice-Consul to tell Cartwright's story in Castilian, and then smiled.
"Señor Graham has our thanks for the warning he has brought," he said. "In this island we are sportsmen. We have our cockpits and casinos, but our aim is to develop our commerce and not make the town a Monte Carlo. Then the play at the casinos must be honest. Our way with cardsharpers is stern."
The Vice-Consul's eyes twinkled. He knew Don Ramon, who resumed: "Señor Cartwright's duty is to inform the British police. No doubt he will do so, but until they apply to ourjusticiain the proper form, I cannot put in prison a British subject for a robbery he did not commit on Spanish soil. Perhaps, however, this is not necessary?"
"On the whole, I don't think it is necessary," Cartwright remarked. "The fellow is a dangerous scoundrel, but I don't know that it is my duty to give you the bother extradition formalities would imply. Still you may find him a nuisance if he stays long."
Don Ramon smiled. "I imagine he will not stay long! My post gives me power to deal with troublesome foreigners. Well, I thank you, and can promise you will not be disturbed again."
He let them go, and when they went out the Vice-Consul laughed.
"You can trust Don Ramon. For one thing, he knows I have some claim; in this country a merchant finds it pays to acknowledge fair treatment by the men who rule. For all that, Don Ramon is just and uses prudently a power we do not give British officials. The Spanish know the advantages of firm control, and I admit their plan works well."
Shillito did not return to the Catalina. When he was playing cards for high stakes one evening, twoguardias civilesentered the gambling house and one touched Shillito's arm.
"You will come with us, señor," he said politely.
Shillito pushed back his chair and looked about. The man carried a pistol, and the civil guards have power to shoot. His comrade watched the door.
"What is your authority for bothering me?" he asked.
"It is possible Don Ramon will tell you. He is waiting," said the other. He took Shillito to the house with the coat of arms, and Don Ramon, sending off the guards, indicated a chair.
"We have heard something about you, and do not think you ought to remain at Las Palmas," he remarked. "In fact, since we understand you meant to go to Cuba, we expect you to start by the Lopez boat."
"I don't mean to go to Cuba," Shillito rejoined.
Don Ramon shrugged. "Well, we do not mind if you sail for another country. Numerous steamers touch here and the choice is yours. So long as you leave Las Palmas—"
Shillito looked at him hard. "I am a British subject and stay where I like!"
"You are obstinate, señor, but I think your statement's rash," Don Ramon observed. "A British subject is governed by British laws, but we will not talk about this."
He paused and studied Shillito, who began to look disturbed. "One would sooner be polite and take the easy line," Don Ramon resumed. "So far this is possible, because you are not on the list sent our Government by the British police, but we have power to examine foreigners about whom we are not satisfied. Well, I doubt if you could satisfy us that you ought to remain, and when we begin to investigate, a demand for your extradition might arrive. If you forced us to inquire about you, a cablegram would soon reach London."
Shillito saw he was beaten and got up.
"I'll buy my ticket for Havana in the morning," he replied.
The Lopez liner was some days late, and in the meantime Lister haunted the office of the engineering company. At length the articles he needed were ready, and one afternoon Cartwright hired a boat to take him and Barbara across the harbor.Terrierlay with full steam up at the end of the long mole, and when her winch began to rattle, Cartwright told the Spanishpeonsto stop rowing. The tug's mooring ropes splashed, her propeller throbbed, and she swung away from the wall.
She was rusty and dingy; the screens along her bridge were cracked and burned by the sun. The boat at her rail was blackened by soot, and when she rolled the weed streamed down from her water-line. She looked very small and overloaded by the stack of coal on deck. The wash round her stern got whiter, ripples ran back from her bows, and when she steamed near Cartwright's boat, her whistle shrieked. Cartwright stood up and waved; Learmont, on the bridge, touched his cap, but for a few moments Barbara fixed her eyes onTerrier'sdeckhouse. Then she blushed and her heart beat, for she saw Lister at the door of the engine-room. He saw her and smiled.
The tug's whistle was drowned by a deeper blast. A big liner, painted black from water-line to funnel-top, was coming out, and Cartwright's boat lay between her and the tug. Barbara gave the great ship a careless glance and then started, for she read the name at the bow. This was the Havana boat.
Studying the groups of passengers at the rails, she thought she saw a face she knew. The face got distinct, and when the liner's lofty side towered above the boat, Shillito, looking down, lifted his cap and bowed with ironical politeness. Barbara turned her head and tried for calm while she watched the tug.
Lister had not gone. Barbara knew he would not go so long as he could see the boat, and standing up, with her hand on Cartwright's shoulder, she waved her handkerchief. Lister's hand went to his cap, but he was getting indistinct andTerrierhad begun to plunge on the long swell outside the wall. She steered for open sea, the big black liner followed the coast, and presently Cartwright signed the men to pull. Then he looked at Barbara and smiled, for he knew she had seen Shillito.
"Things do sometimes happen like that!" he said. "I think the fellow has gone for good, but the other will come back."
Arcturus'holds were empty and a long row of oil puncheons occupied the beach, but the men who had dragged the goods from the water were exhausted by heavy toil in the scorching sun, and some were sick. The divers had bolted on plates to cover the holes in the vessel's bilge before one fell ill and his mate's nerve went. The heat and poisonous vapors from the swamps had broken his health, and he got a bad jar one day his air-pipe entangled and the pump-gang dragged him, unconscious, to the top.
Afterwards, for the most part, Lister undertook the diving, but for long his efforts to reach the floor of the engine-room were baffled. To crawl across slanted gratings and down weedy ladders, while air-pipe and signal-line trailed about the machinery, was horribly dangerous, but he kept it up, although he got slacker and felt his pluck was breaking. Then one afternoon he knew he could not go down again, and he stayed under water long.
Brown, standing by the air-pumps, looked at his watch and waited anxiously. The bubbles broke the surface above the wreck and the signal-line was slack, but Lister had been down longer than he ought. He wars not a diver, and the others who knew their job, had come up sooner. Then Brown had other grounds for anxiety. If Lister were beaten, their chance of floating the wreck was small.
At length, the bubbles began to move towards the hulk, the ladder shook, and a dull, red reflection shone through the water. Then the copper helmet broke the surface, rose a few inches, and stopped, and Brown ran to the gangway. Lister was exhausted and his worn-out body could not meet the change of pressure. They dragged him on board and took off his helmet and canvas dress. For some minutes he lay like a log, and then opened his eyes and looked at Brown.
"Cartwright was on the track!" he gasped. "We can go ahead—"
The sun was low, but the pitch in the seams was liquid and smeared the hot planks, and Brown pulled Lister into the shade. For a time he was quiet, but by and by he said, "When the tide falls we'll start the pump and let her go all night. I must get up and tell Jones to clean the fire."
"I'll tell him. You stay there until we get some food," Brown replied.
The cook served the meal on deck, but they had hardly begun when he lighted a storm-lamp. As soon as the red sun dipped thick vapor floated off from the swamps, the water got oily black, and dark clouds rolled across the sky. Flickering lightning illumined the tumbling surf and sandy beach, but there was no thunder and the night was calm. The hulk and tug were moored at opposite sides of the wreck, forward of her engine room, and thick wire ropes that ran between them had been dragged back under the vessel for some distance from her bow. The ropes, however, were not yet hauled tight. When the cook took away the plates Brown made a rough calculation.
"We have caulked all hatches and gratings forward, and stopped the ventilators," he said. "I reckon the water will leave the deck long enough for the pump to give her fore-end some buoyancy. If she rises with the flood tide, well heave the cables aft, until we can get a hold that will lift her bow from the ground. Then you can pump out the fore hold and we'll make a fresh start aft. We'll soon know if Cartwright's notion is correct."
"We knownow; I'll satisfy you in the morning," Lister rejoined and his confidence was not exaggerated.
A steamer's hull below her load-line is pierced in places to admit water for the condensers and ballast tanks. Lister had found some inlets open, but now they were shut.
"I'll own old Cartwright's a great man," Brown said thoughtfully. "When he takes on a job he studies things all round. The salvage folks, no doubt, reckoned on the possibility that the valves were open, but they couldn't get at the controls and didn't know all Cartwright knew—" He paused and added with a laugh: "I wonder how much the other fellows got for the job! But it's time we started."
Lister got up with an effort and went to the pump, which presently began to throb. The mended engine ran well and the regular splash of water, flung out from the big discharge pipe, drowned the languid rumble of the surf. The hull shook; shadowy figures crossed the beam of light from the furnace, and vanished in the dark. Twinkling lamps threw broken reflections on the water that looked like black silk, lightning flashed in the background, and when the swell broke with phosphorescent sparkles about the wreck Lister marked the height the pale illumination crept up her plates. She would not lift that tide, but the pump was clearing the hold, and he hoped much water was not coming in. If the leakage was not excessive, her bow ought to rise when the next tide flowed.
For some hours he kept his watch, dragging himself wearily about the engine and pump. He had helpers, but control was his, and to an engineer a machine is not a dead mass of metal. Lister, so to speak, felt the pump had individuality and temperament, like a spirited horse. Sometimes it must be humored and sometimes urged; it would run faster for a man whose touch was firm but light than for another. Perhaps he was fanciful, and he was certainly over-strung, but he imagined the big, rattling machine knew his hand.
At length when he looked at the gauge glass he found he could not see the line that marked the water-level. His head swam and his legs shook, and calling a fireman to keep watch, he sat down in the coal. He wanted to get to the awning, out of the dew, but could not, and leaning against the rough blocks, he went to sleep.
In the morning, he knew the fever that bothered him now and then had returned. For all that, he must hold out and he began his labor in the burning sun. When the flood tide rippled about the wreck it was obvious the pump was getting the water down. The bows lifted, and starting the winches, they hauled aft the ropes. If they could keep it, before long they might heave her from the sand.
It was a time of stubborn effort and crushing strain. Some of the men were sick and all had lost their vigor. The fierce sun had not burned but bleached their skin; their blood was poisoned by the miasma the land breeze blew off at night. For all that, Cartwright's promise was they should share his reward and somehow they held on.
At length, in the scorching heat one afternoon when the flood tide began to run, they hauled the hulk and tug abaft the wreck's engine-room and made the great ropes fast. If Lister's calculations were accurate, the pump had thrown out enough water, and the buoyancy of the other craft would lift the wreck's stern. If not—but he refused to think about this.
The sea breeze had dropped and the smoke of the engine went straight up. There was not a line on the glittering lagoon. The sea looked like melted silver; one felt it give out light and heat. The men's eyes ached and the intolerable sun pierced their double hats and dulled their brains. When all was ready, they waited and watched the sandy water creep upArcturus'plates until the ropes stretched and groaned and the hulk began to list. On the wreck's other side, the tug's mast and funnel slanted.
Arcturuswas not yet afloat, and the big wire-ropes, running beneath her bilge, held down the helping craft. The ends were made fast by hemp lashings and somebody had put an ax beside the post. For all that, Lister did not think Brown would give the order to cut; he himself would not. If they did not float Arcturus now, she must remain in the sand for good. He would hold on until the rising tide flowed across the tug.
In the meantime, he watched the pump. The engine carried a dangerous load and the spouting discharge pipe was swollen. Throbbing and rattling, she fought the water that heldArcturusdown. A greaser touched the crosshead-slides with a tallow swab, and a panting fireman thrust a bar through the furnace door. Their skin was blackened by sweat and coal dust; soaked singlets, tight like gloves, clung to their lean bodies. Nobody else, however, was actively occupied. The negroes lay on the deck and the white men lounged in the shade of the awning. They had done all that flesh and blood could do, in a climate that breaks the white man's strength, and now the tide ought to finish their labor. But they did not know, and some doubted.
The ropes cracked and the hulk's list got sharp. On one side, her deck was very near the water. She was broad, but ifArcturusdid not lift, it was obvious she must soon capsize. Lister opened the engine throttle until the valve-wheel would not turn. The cylinders shook, a gland blew steam, and the pump clashed and rocked. All the same, he knew himself ridiculous. The extra water the pump lifted would not help much now. They had a few minutes, and then, if nobody cut the ropes, the hulk would go down.
The massive oak mooring-post groaned and the deck-seams opened with the strain; the wire-ropes were rigid; one could see no hint of curve. The water touched the hulk's deck and began to creep up. Then it stopped, the hulk shook, and the wreck's long side slowly got upright.
"She's off!" said Brown hoarsely. Somebody blew the tug's whistle, and one or two shouted, but this was all. They had won a very stubborn fight, but winning had cost them much, and Lister felt their triumph was strangely flat. He smiled and owned he would be satisfied to lie down and sleep.
Brown gave an order;Terrier'spropeller splashed noisily, andArcturusbegan to move. Somehow it looked impossible, but she was moving. They took her slowly and cautiously across the lagoon, and when the tide was full put her on the sand. There was much to do yet and Lister wondered whether he could hold out until all was done.
In the evening Montgomery came off on board a boat pulled by four sturdy Kroos. He was very thin and haggard, but the fever had left him. When his boat got near, Brown, frowning savagely, went to the rail.
"What d'you want?" he asked.
"Let me come on board. If we can't, agree, I'll go back in a few minutes," Montgomery replied, and climbing the bulwarks, went to the awning and lighted a cigarette.
"You have floated her, but the job's not finished," he said. "I expect you mean to bring off the cargo you landed and you'll need a fresh gang of native boys. Well, I can help."
"You imply you can bother us if we don't agree?" Brown remarked.
"Something like that! I can certainly make things awkward. However, all I want is to go with you when you open the lazaret where the boxes of gold were stored."
"Ah!" said Brown. "I expect you see what your wanting to go indicates? Looks as if you knew something about the wreck."
"I imagine I do know something," Montgomery admitted quietly. "At the beginning, I reckoned you would not float her, but in order to run no risk, I meant to hinder you as much as possible. Now I'm beaten, I'm going to be frank—"
He paused and resumed in a low voice: "When I was left control of a respected business house I was young and ambitious. It was plain the house had weathered a bad storm, but our fortunes were mending and I thought they could be built up again. Well, I think I was honest, and when one ofArcturus'crew demanded money I got a jar. Since my father loaded the ship, I expect you see where the fellow's threats led?"
"I see the line Cartwright might take," Brown remarked dryly. "If the boxes don't hold gold, he could break you! We have found out enough already to give him a strong pull on the boat's last owners. They're in his power."
"He won't use his power. Cartwright is not that sort! Besides, the company is bankrupt."
"You are not bankrupt. Do you know what sort Lister and I are?"
Montgomery smiled. "It's not important. If there is no gold in the boxes, I don't want to carry on the house's business. You can do what you like—"
He stopped for a few moments and Lister began to feel some sympathy. The man was desperate and had obviously borne much.
"My staying at the factory was a strain," Montgomery continued. "I was ill and when at length I saw you might succeed, the suspense was horrible. You see, I risked the honor of the house, my marriage, my fortune. All I had and cared about!"
"Were you to be married?" Lister asked.
Montgomery signed agreement. "The wedding was put off. While it looked as if my mended fortune was built on fraud and I had known, and agreed to, the trick, I could not marry a high-principled girl."
Brown knitted his brows and was quiet for some moments. Then he said, "You are now willing to get us the boys we want and help us where you can?"
"That is so," Montgomery agreed.
"Very well!" said Brown. "We expect to open the lazaret at daybreak and you can come with us. You had better send off your boat and stop on board."
The sun was rising and the mist rolled back from the lagoon. The tide was low andArcturus'rusty side rose high above the smooth green water. Damp weed hung from the beams in her poop cabin and a dull light came down through the broken glass. A sailor, kneeling on the slimy planks, tried to force a corroded ring-bolt from its niche; another trimmed a smoky lantern. Lister, Brown and Montgomery waited. In the half-light, their faces looked gray and worn. The sun had given them a dull pallor, and on the West African coast nobody sleeps much.
After a few minutes the sailor opened the swollen trap-door and then went down, Brown carrying the lantern. As a rule a ship's lazaret is a small, dark strong-room, used for stowing liquor and articles of value.Arcturuswas wet and smelt of salt. A row of shelves crossed the bulkhead and some water lay in the angle where the slanted floor met the side sheathing. A thin jacket and an officer's peaked cap were in the water. Brown indicated the objects.
"Looks as if somebody had stripped before he got to work, and then left without bothering about his clothes," he said. "I don't know if I expected this, but we'll examine the thing later." He lifted the lantern and the flickering beam touched five or six small, thick boxes. "Well, there's some of the gold!"
Lister seized a box and tried to lift it up, but stopped.
"It feels like gold," he said and signed to a sailor. "Help me get the stuff on deck, Watson."
They carried the boxes up the ladder and Brown brought the cap and jacket.
"Second-mate's clothes," he said, indicating the bands round the cuffs and cap. The imitation gold-lace had gone green but clung to the rotten material.
"Something in the pocket," he added and taking out a small wet book put it in the sun. "We'll look at this again, and now for the first box! I may want you to state you saw me break the seals."
Sitting in the shade of the poop, they opened the box, which was filled with fine dull-yellow grains. Then Lister sent a man to the boat for some things he had brought, and when the fellow came back hung a small steel cup from a spring-balance.
"The scale's pretty accurate; I use it on board," he said. "Well, I got the specific gravity of gold, zinc and copper from my pocket-tables, and made a few experiments with some bearing metals. They're all brasses; alloys of copper and zinc, with a little lead and tin in some. I weighed and measured two or three small ingots and afterwards calculated what they'd weigh, if their cubic size was the capacity of the cup. I'll give you the figures."
He did so and then filled the cup with the yellow grains and held up the balance. Montgomery, leaning forward, looked over his shoulder.
"Weighs more than your heaviest bearing metal! It's gold!" he exclaimed hoarsely.
"Yes," said Lister, "it's obviously gold. Perhaps we needn't open the other boxes. When we get on board well weigh them against this lot. So far as I can reckon after heaving them up the ladder, well not find much difference."
Montgomery sat down, as if he were too limp to stand. "But these are not all the boxes that were shipped—"
Brown went for the pocket-book he had put to dry and took out some papers. "This thing belonged to Gordon Herries, second officer."
"Mr. Herries?" exclaimed the sailor Watson. "The second-mate as was drowned when the surf-boat capsized!"
"What do you know about it?" Brown asked.
"I know something, sir," said Watson, but Montgomery stopped him and turned to the others.
"It seems the second mate tried tosavethe stuff."
"Looks like that," Brown agreed and signed to the sailor. "Now tell us all you do know."
"We was lying in Forcados river, shifting cargo to the Lagos boat alongside. Barret, my townie, was on board her; he'd made a run inArcturus, and told me about the wreck. When she struck, Mr. Herries swung out number two surf-boat and Barret was her bowman. He went to the lazaret with Herries and they got up some bags of special gum and some heavy boxes. Barret thought they were gold, but hadn't seen them put on board. Then a big comber hit the poop, smashed the skylights, and flooded the lazaret. They reckoned she was going over and had some bother to get out. Well, they got the surf-boat off her side; she was pretty full with a load of Kroo boys and three or four white men. In the surf, the steering oar broke, she yawed across a sea, and turned out the lot. Some held on to her, but she rolled over and Barret made for the beach. They all landed but Mr. Herries; Barret thought the boat hit him. Gum and boxes went down in the surf."
"Very good," said Brown. "Now get off and send somebody to help heave the boxes on board."
Montgomery turned his head and leaned against the poop. Lister saw he trembled as if the reaction from the strain was keen. After a few moments he braced himself.
"It's done with! I think all the boxes held gold, but they're gone."
Brown indicated the cloud of spray that tossed above the advancing lines of foam. The long rollers had crashed on the bar from the beginning and would never stop.
"All the surf gets it keeps," he said. "If there is a secret, I reckon the secret's safe! However, we have to talk about something else. You can get us some native boys?"
"I'll send you a fresh gang. If my new agent arrives soon, I'll go with you as far as Sierra Leone. Since you're short-handed, I might perhaps help, and I've had enough of the factory."
The others agreed and soon afterwards got to work. When the negroes Montgomery sent arrived all the cargo worth salving was re-stowed, and he bought the hulk for a floating store. Then, one night when the moon and tide were full,Terriersteamed slowly across the lagoon. Two massive ropes trailed across her stern andArcturus'high dark bow towered above her phosphorescent wake. The land breeze blew behind her and the surf had not the fury the sea breeze gives by day, but whenTerrierplunged into the turmoil Brown watched the tow ropes with anxious eyes.
Arcturusrolled and sheered about, putting a horrible strain on the hawsers, and sometimes for a minute or two it looked as if she went astern. Flame blew from the tug's funnel, lighting the black trail of smoke; steam roared at her escape-pipe, and the engines throbbed hard. The ebb tide, however, was beginning to run and helped her across the shoals. The leadsman got deeper water, the rollers got smooth, and presently the swell was long and regular and the spray cloud melted astern. In the morning, a faint dark line to starboard was all that indicated the African coast. Next day Brown steered for the land and called Montgomery to the bridge.
"I reckon to make an anchorage before dark," he said. "We'll give the boys the rest they need and sendTerriertoSarLeone for coal. Learmont will land you."
"Then you're not going to takeArcturusinto port?" Montgomery remarked with some surprise.
"I am not. Cartwright expects me to save him as much as possible and there are British officers and Board of Trade rules atSarLeone. You don't imagine they'd let me start for Las Palmas? Surveys, reports, repairs and sending for another tug, might cost two or three thousand pounds. Then half my crew are sick and some are helpless, though I reckon they'll pick up sooner at sea than in an African hospital."
"It's a big risk. After all, I owe you much and know something about curing malarial fever. Besides, I'm a yachtsman and can steer and use the lead. If you'll take me, I'll go all the way. However, you ought to send Lister off. He can't hold out."
"He claims he can," Brown said dryly. "We have argued about his going to Grand Canary by a mail-boat, but he's obstinate. Means to finish the job; that's his sort! Anyhow, it's possible the Trade breeze will brace him up, and if he did go, the chances of my takingArcturusto Liverpool are not good."
Montgomery stayed on board and when the tug returned with coal they hove anchor and began the long run to Las Palmas. For a time, Lister kept the engines going and superintended the pump on board the wreck, but he could not sleep and in the morning it was hard to drag himself from his bunk and start another laborious day. The strain was horrible and he was weakening fast, but it would be cooler soon and perhaps he might hold out until they met the invigorating Northeast breeze.
In the meantime, Cartwright went back to Liverpool, Mrs. Cartwright got better, and Barbara waited for news. She had refused Lister, but to refuse had cost her more than she had thought. After a time Cartwright wrote and stated that the tug and Arcturus had started home. No fresh news arrived and Barbara tried to hide her suspense, until one morning a small African liner steamed into port. Some passengers landed and when they lunched at the hotel one talked about his going off with the first officer to a ship that signaled for help.
"It was a moving picture," he said. "The rusty, weed-coated steamer rolling on the blue combers, and the little, battered tug, holding her head-to-sea. The breeze was strong and for some days they had not made three knots an hour. Well, I know something about fever, but they wereall sick;the engineer delirious and very weak—"
Barbara, sitting near the passenger, made an effort for calm. Her heart beat and her breath came fast. Nobody remarked her abrupt movement and the other went on:
"Coal, food and fresh water were running out; their medicine chest was empty. Everything was foul with soot, coal-dust and salt. I expect it was long since they were able to clean decks. The skipper was in a hammock under the bridge-awning and could not get up. An African trader, Montgomery of a Liverpool house, seemed to have control. His skin was yellow, like a mulatto's."
A young American doctor to whom Barbara had been talking looked up.
"Jaundice after malaria!" he remarked. "I don't know West Africa, but I was at Panama! Was malaria all the rest had got?"
"It was not," the passenger replied meaningly. "However, if you know Panama—"
"Did you try to tow the ship?" Barbara interrupted.
"The mate thought it impossible. She was big and foul with weed, our boat is small, and we could not delay much because of the mails. We sent a surf-boat across with water and food, and then steamed on."
Barbara looked about the table. Mrs. Cartwright was at the other end and Barbara thought she had not heard. She touched the young doctor.
"Will you help me on board the African steamer? I must see the captain."
"Why, certainly! We'll look for a boat," the other replied and they went off.
Barbara saw the captain and when she stated that the owner ofArcturuswas her step-father he sent for the chief mate, who narrated his visit to the wreck.
"You took the ship's doctor," said Barbara. "Is he now on board?"
The mate said he imagined the doctor had not landed and Barbara turned to Wheeler.
"Go and find him! Find out all you can!"
For some time afterwards she talked to the ship's officers, and when Wheeler returned went back to her boat. While thepeonsrowed them to the mole she asked Wheeler for his pocket-book and wrote an address.
"Don Luis Sarmiento is the best doctor in the town and had something to do with a fever hospital in Cuba," she said. "If you tell him I sent you, he will help. Take all the medicine he can give you and then go to Leopard Trading Company and buy whatever you think sick men would need. Bring me the bills."
"If I get all that would be useful, it will cost you high," said Wheeler and helped her up the steps at the mole.
"That is not important. Get the things!"
"Very well. But the ship is six hundred miles off. How are you going to put the truck on board?"
"I'm going to see about that next," Barbara replied and indicated a cloud of dust rolling along the road. "There's the steam tram. Don't talk; hustle!"
Wheeler lifted his cap and running along the mole jumped on board the tram.
When he had gone Barbara went to the office of an important English merchant house and asked for the junior partner. She was strangely calm, although she knew that when the strain was over she would pay. In the meantime, she needed help and admitted it was lucky young men liked her; she had not hesitated to use her charm on the American. The junior partner was keen to help, and going with her to a coaling office, offered to charter a powerful Spanish tug the company had recently bought. The manager agreed and Barbara made a calculation.