In Strange Company: A Story of Chili and the Southern Seas

by Guy Boothby

  CHAPTER I.

  RAMSAY IS RELEASED FROM CUSTODY.

  To say that I was only astonished by Veneda's information, and theexplanation he gave to my mystery, would be to define it too tamelyaltogether. To tell the truth, at the time I was so completelyoverwhelmed by it as to be unable to grasp, in the least degree, whatsignificance it had for me.

  Strange though it may appear, while the most galling part of the wholebusiness could not but be Juanita's treachery to myself, this was almostatoned for, in my mind, by the remembrance of her singular behaviour onthe evening preceding my arrest. Come what may, with this knowledgebefore me, I shall always cherish the belief that not only was theaffection she pretended to entertain for me perfectly genuine, but alsothat she was alone driven to such extreme measures by the extraordinaryinfluence the Albino possessed over her.

  Poor Juanita! To be unable to feel bitterly towards you may be to showmyself a soft-hearted fool, but whenever I think of that night on theKing's Plain, and remember your sorrowful cry, "Oh, Jack, Jack, if youonly knew; if we could but be our true selves for one little moment!"all reproaches die out of my heart, and in their place springs up agreat pity and a great compassion for you.

  Another thing that gave me plenty to think about was the strange fact ofmy meeting Veneda, of all people, and in such a place! Though as yet Iknew next to nothing of his history, I could not but see that hisconnection with the affair we were both so interested in was genuineenough. As for himself, as soon as he had told me his name he left me,and went without another word to his bed, not to speak again tillmorning.

  When I woke it was just daylight, the door was open, and the prisonerswere passing in and out. So far as I could see, in the part of thebuilding in which I was confined, no recognized employment was found forthem; though in the other wards, I believe, they were taken out underescort, to do the street scavenging, wood-cutting, public gardening,etc.

  A little before seven o'clock a coarse meal was served to us, and whileI was partaking of it, Veneda came up. I made room for him to sit downon the bench beside me, for I was burning to question him further on thesubject that lay nearest to both our hearts.

  "Look here," I said, "for goodness' sake let's get this thing properlysquared up. I've been puzzling my brain over it till I'm nearly crazy. I_must_ understand two or three things more."

  "Go ahead," he replied; "you can't be more anxious to get to the bedrock than I am. What do you want to know?"

  "Well, in the first place, how on earth you managed to die and come tolife again so cleverly? Juanita told me she saw you lying stiff andstark in your bunk."

  "So she did, as far as she knew; but I was only playing 'possum. It wasthe one way out of my difficulty, you see. I knew I had to get rid ofher, and there was no other fashion in which it could be managed."

  "Then the captain was in the secret after all, and his dislike to youwas all assumed?"

  "Every bit! But he was a money-grubbing old dog, was Boulger, and itcost me a cool hundred to bring him up to the scratch. Once that wasdone, all was plain sailing. After leaving Tahiti, cholera, Yellow Jack,fish-poisoning, or some other disease came aboard, and the crew and matewent down before it like ninepins. There was my chance! I pretended togo under to it too. The skipper acted his part like a little man, andwouldn't let Juanita into the cabin for fear of detection. Then, in thenight, I died. Next day, according to her wish, my dummy was takenashore, and buried on Vanua Lava, while I was safely stowed away in theskipper's cabin, until we reached Thursday Island. There _she_ remainedto hunt up a way of getting back to look for that locket."

  "While you?"

  "Next morning I caught a craft sailing this way, intending to pick up amail-boat from Batavia, home. But luck was against me; I ran athwart thehawse of a Dutch officer; put a bullet into him, and got locked up.That's how I came here. Want to know any more?"

  "One thing. Now you're alive, what is going to become of your wife?"

  "My wife? And who may she be? Never heard of the lady."

  "But Juanita?"

  Veneda whistled a long note of astonishment.

  "You don't mean to tell me she's been parading me as her husband?"

  "You're not? You're not Juanita's husband?"

  "You'd better believe I'm not."

  "Then, my God! how I've been fooled!"

  Veneda seemed not to notice my remark, but sat staring at the blue skyabove us. Suddenly he sprang to his feet.

  "Look here, Ramsay," he cried, "come what may, I must get out of this,and you must help me."

  "How can I help you? If it comes to that, I'm in quite as bad a fix asyou are."

  "No, I think not," he continued gravely. "I shouldn't be at allsurprised if you find yourself at liberty to-night."

  "What do you mean?" I asked, jumping at the hope he held out. "What doyou think can bring such a thing about?"

  "Never mind, you wait and see. But if you do get off, will you pledgeyourself to assist me?"

  "If I do get off," I said, "I could inform the consul of your beinghere, and he would get you out himself."

  "No, no, that would never do; I've been thinking it over. If the consulgets wind of it, he'll make inquiries; then the matter will get bruitedabout, and will be certain to come to the ears of the Albino's agents."

  "Agents?"

  "Why, of course. You don't imagine that little devil hasn't arranged forsomebody to watch your movements here, and at the same time to huntabout for me! Bless your heart, now that he knows I'm alive, I'd bet athousand pounds to a half-penny he finds out I'm in here."

  "Good heavens," I cried, "it's a perfect network of plots andcounterplots, and I seem fated not to understand it. Now you're alive,and still the possessor of your money, what do they want that locketfor? They can never hope to find out where you buried the gold."

  "Buried the what?"

  "The gold you obtained by your last legacy when you were in SanFrancisco."

  "Sonny, they've been playing you again. What do you mean? I never hadany legacy."

  Thereupon I set to work and told him the story Juanita had told me. Helaughed uproariously, then smacking me on the shoulder said--

  "You just help me to get out of here, and you'll see what I'm worth. Ipromise you'll not find me ungrateful."

  "Well, if I do get off," I answered, "I give you my word that I'll do mybest for you."

  We shook hands gravely upon it, and I continued--

  "In what way do you propose to effect your escape? If we're going tomake any plans, we'd better set to work upon them at once."

  "Walk over here with me and I'll tell you all I think."

  With that we began to pace the courtyard, and Veneda to propound histheory.

  "Now," he said, "my idea is this. You see that further wall?"

  I nodded. It was, as I have said before, a stone affair, perhaps thirtyfeet in height, surmounted by a bristling _cheval de frise_.

  "Well, on the other side of it, as far as I can gather from the nativeslocked up in here, is a road, with a big paddy field on the other sideof that again. At night, a sentry or patrol of some kind passes roundthe entire building once every ten minutes, and naturally our attemptmust be made between his visits."

  "But how do you propose to get over it?" I asked, looking at the wall'sapparently unscalable height.

  "Very easily," my intrepid companion replied, "if you will only carryout my instructions to the letter."

  "Let me hear what they are, and I'll do the best I can for you."

  "Well, in the first place you will procure from one of the stores inthe town, sixty feet of strong rope. With this carefully disguised youwill wait till midnight; then you must engage a small kharti (nativecab) with a good strong Malay boy driver, and proceed to the other sideof this wall. When you get there, and only then, you will say to theboy--by the way, do you speak Malay?"

  "No; unfortunately I don't."

  "That's a pity, but it can't be helped."

  He stopped and
thought for a moment, then borrowing a pencil and a pieceof paper, wrote something on it.

  "There are two sentences," he said, and he repeated them once or twiceto enable me to pick up the proper accent. "This one means, 'To thegaol'--that, 'You shall have ten guilders if you help me.' Say them overto me."

  I repeated them till I was tired, and only then did he seem satisfied.

  "I think he'll _sumjao_ you now," he said.

  "And when I get here," I continued, "what am I to do?"

  "Then you will uncoil the rope and throw one end over the wall, to theleft, there. I will make it fast round my waist, and you and the boymust manage between you to pull me up to the top. It'll be a struggle,but you must do it somehow."

  "And if the sentry should appear while we're at it, what then?"

  "Well, in that case," he said with a laugh, "I'll leave it to your owninstinct to know what to do with him; but I should suggest timing it sothat you'll just miss him."

  "And how are you going to manage to get into this courtyard after you'vebeen locked up for the night?"

  "Leave that to me, I'll work it. Perhaps I shan't go in at all."

  "And when you're out, what are your plans?"

  "Tanjong Priok, as slippery as the Malay can take us. Then we must getinto the docks, borrow a boat, and set sail for the islands, to hidethere till we can get on to Singapore or Ceylon. Batavia will be no sortof place for either of us after that. You'll stand by me, Ramsay?"

  "I've given you my word," I said; "I can't say more than that, can I?"

  "Not if you're the man I take you to be. Anyhow I'll trust you."

  Just at that moment a stir was observable in the yard; the great gate atthe end swung open, and a party of police entered. They came to where Istood, and signified that I should accompany them.

  "Good luck," cried Veneda as I rose to go; "don't forget me."

  I waved my hand to him and off we set. Once more our route lay in thedirection of the consul's office, and arriving there, I was ushered intohis presence forthwith. It seemed to me that on this occasion heregarded me in rather a somewhat different light.

  "I suppose you're aware," he began, when the case was opened, "of theserious nature of the charge against you?"

  I told him I was.

  "Have you anything more to say on the subject?"

  "Nothing, but that I am the victim of a villainous conspiracy," Ianswered. "I certainly did struggle with the man, and I don't deny thatI hit him, but it was in purest self-defence. He was a noted badcharacter, and only came aboard at Thursday Island as a stowaway. On theoccasion in question I had reprimanded him several times without anyeffect, and I was in the act of doing so again when he rushed at me. HadI not closed with him, he would have dashed my brains out with abelaying-pin. It was my fault that he died, but though I struck him, Ihad not the very faintest intention of killing him. I don't know wholaid the charge against me, but that it was preferred simply to get meout of the way, I am as certain as that I stand before you now."

  Thereupon, being permitted, I set to work and told him my story, just asI had told it to Veneda the preceding night. He listened with the utmostattention, and having asked me one or two questions, said--

  "I am inclined to believe you. There is certainly something veryunderhand somewhere."

  Stopping his examination, he wrote something on a sheet of paper, andringing a bell, ordered that it should be despatched immediately. It wasa telegram, I discovered later, to Thursday Island. Having done this,he recommenced his examination, and finally remarked--"I have sent forsome information about you; until I receive it, you will be detainedhere."

  Turning to the police, he said something in Dutch, whereupon I wasmarched into another room, and locked up. During the period of waitingmy thoughts were none of the pleasantest. From a consideration of my ownposition, they wandered to the strange story Veneda had told me, andthence, by natural transition, to Juanita and her professed love formyself. From Juanita they passed back, across what seemed a vastinterval of years, to my first love Maud; and as I allowed my mind todwell upon her sweet face, her ladylike manners, her gentle disposition,and her general refinement, a great home-sickness came upon me, and Iresolved then and there, that if ever the opportunity offered, I wouldforsake my wandering life, and go back to England, like the prodigalson, never to leave it again so long as I should live.

  While these thoughts were thronging my brain, I was again summoned intothe consul's presence. This time he greeted me with a smile.

  "Mr. Ramsay," he said, "I have been making inquiries in Thursday Islandabout you, and partly on their account, and partly in consideration ofthe fact that the _Mother of Pearl_ and all the witnesses against youhave seen fit to decamp, goodness only knows where, I have decided torelease you from custody, on the ground that there is not sufficientreliable evidence to warrant your detention. You may thank your starsthat you have got off so easily, and I hope this will be a lesson to youto keep out of such company in the future."

  I thanked him warmly for his action in the matter, and at the same timeasked him if my bag had been taken away from the Hotel des Indes. Ithad, and he gave instructions to his clerk that it should be handed overto me. I was particularly anxious about this, for I had nearly fortypounds of the three hundred the Albino had given me in it, and I knew Ishould want all the money I could get to ensure success in the perilousenterprise which lay before me.

  After answering the consul's inquiries as to what I intended to do withmyself now that my ship had sailed without me, by saying that I had notyet made up my mind, I left his office, and departed in the direction ofthe town.

  As we drove through it on the ill-starred day of our arrival, I hadnoticed some Stores, which I now thought would be likely to contain thearticle I required. I was right, and obtaining what I sought in the wayof rope, I returned to my hotel, took a room, and composed myself torest until it should be time to set off on the business of the night.

  As darkness fell it began to rain, and continued to pour down until wellafter ten o'clock. Fortunately not a sign of the moon was to be seen; athick pall of clouds obscured the entire sky. Having nothing to do, Isat and smoked in my verandah all the evening, and it was not untilafter eleven that I commenced any preparations for my departure. Then,stowing my money and what few little things I valued among my effectsabout my person, and carrying the big parcel of rope, wrapped up in asunsuspicious a manner as possible, under my arm, I closed my bedroomdoor, and passed out across the garden into the streaming street.